We Didn't Start the Fire

Thanks to one Flarahety twin, I had that song in my head last night even as the rain was lulling me to sleep. That would be Ryan, one of Chris's friends, one of the fantastic five who drove up to Door Co. to go camping this fine Memorial Day weekend--the rest of us being Chris, Tricia, Rachael, and I. A sweet combo of peeps for a good time if I do say so myself.

We arrived at Tricia's parents' 20 acres of property sometime around 8pm Friday and the fun began. Thankfully, the five of us fit perfectly into the camper that was already set up. AND a fire was already started in the big fire pit by her family who was sitting around enjoying some beverages and tasty treats. It made for a nice relaxing beginning to the weekend, despite the fact that it was fricken freezing even in the camper and in a two person sleeping bag WITH an extra comforter on top. Brrrr.

The next day was actually pretty nice. Tricia's bro and gf came to join the party, as did Renae and Graham, adding to the particularly festive occasion. No rain until late evening, and the sun almost peeked out for a while in the afternoon--at least enough to give me an extra blush to my cheeks...and nose. Although, I'm not entirely sure some of that rosiness didn't come from a heat source a bit closer than the sun. You see, not only is a tradition for Tricia's family to have huge bonfire/campfires every time they go camping, but they are also in the process of clearing out trees and brush from their somewhat wild property. Put those factors together, and you get one huge ass, mo fo-gigantic fire. Seriously folks, this pile was 9 feet tall and about 15-20 feet in diameter (at least). Us kids created some auxillary piles of logs and branches nearby, carrying and dragging the wood from piles and areas from all over the place.

Despite it's huge potential, I wasn't too worried about the fire that would erupt from the pile. We had cleared out the brush around the pile, and the grass around it was very damp and trampled. So when her dad started pouring on the kerosene and starting the flames, we got right in there and helped the fire along. And then...we started backing away from the fire. Then we started HURRYING away from the fire, dragging chairs with us. Some were worried, others just watched the flames while drinking a beer. What did I do?

I was pulling back chairs while watching the fire with complete amazement and horror. Her mom was asking, should we call the fire department? Should we? She was all worried, and I don't blame her. I said she REALLY should call, and this is why. The flames were 25 feet in length, and I"m not talking straight up in the air--that wouldn't have worried me. No, the flames were going sideways, thanks to the gusts of wind, and the fire was roaring. They looked like they would reach the pile of brush that was put just a little too close to the pile. AND, the fire was spreading from the base outwards, consuming the damp grass. For about two minutes, I was afraid the property was going to be set ablaze like in those nature videos about wildfires, with little animals scurrying out of the smoke.

Actually, that part really happened. After we started the fire, but shortly before it completely erupted into a mountain of flame, a baby bunny ran out from the middle of the pile like it's tail was on fire (thankfully, it wasn't on fire). But it was scared shitless. Tricia tried picking it up, but then it fell out of her hands, and scurried away.

Very thankfully, the flaming grass put itself out after creating a big blackened radius around the pile. And the fire died down surprisingly fast after that one big burst, so that the panicking only lasted a minute or so. Good thing we didn't have to call the fire dept. or I guess it would have been a $1000 fine--yuck. Perhaps next time they won't be making such a big bonfire in such a big wind.

One sad addition to the bunny story. Later that evening, we were sitting around eating and drinking and having a good time, when another bunny ran right up to us, within just a few feet of where we were sitting. This time, it was an adult bunny, and it stopped and looked at us for a few moments, as if to say, "You mother fucking bastards! You killed my babies!" and then it ran off. I felt so bad :( It stopped by once again, and I tried to communicate to it that the baby ran that way...but for some reason, she just didn't understand. Hopefully they reunited, or maybe the baby's old enough to survive on it's own. ::sigh:: The causualties of fire.

On a lighter note, the rest of the weekend was free of anymore traumatized wildlife. We went hiking at Penninsula State Park--man my legs HURT!, played Dominoes and drank tea while it was pouring outside, and built our own campfire with damp wood and just one little match--Girl Scout skills at their best! It was a quality weekend in nature with some good friends, and Tricia's very nice family.

I'd say, not a bad bit of camping, especially since the last time I went was almost 5 years ago, right before I went off to college. And as I recall, that time wasn't exactly ideal with ultra super hot weather during the day and a bad thunderstorm at night. And what the fuck's with having my fucking period both times now? I'm telling you right now: I'm going camping again this summer and NEXT time there will be tenting and there will be shagging!

Burnin down the house

I've been burning like a mo fo lately. Yes, I did have a dream that I set the basement on fire and then put out the flames with my comforter, but I'm not talking about fire. I'm referring to all the wicked CDs I've been burning using my wonderful CD-RW drive. Ah yes, the joys of being able to create and listen to CD mixes of my favorite tunes.

The best part is bringing the CDs to work so I don't have to listen to Spanish polka music, WIXX same old shit that they play over and over and over again, or my same old CDs that tend to be too alternative, punk, or mellow for the tastes of my coworkers.
Sure, I love listening to Inucubus, Death Cab for Cutie, and nameless other musical greats ranging from swing, celtic, musicals, to hard rock. Something just tells me they wouldn't be rocking along to Rent with me. Eh, their loss.

It's not that I don't enjoy listening to tons of different kinds of music; I just don't own that many CDs...I'm cheap AND I'm too chicken to download more music from the internet. Perhaps someday I'll get some more tunes, but for now I'm happy with the sweet additions to my collection from generous friends. Don't worry, I'll make it up to you ;)

Too many babies!! Too many babies!!!

There's a little joke for Jenni, Chad, and Tricia if she's paying attention ;) This was the big week--Jenni and Chad just had their bundle of joy, little Erik last Tuesday. YAY for parenthood! Man, I can't wait to see these parents in action--you guys are going to be more hilarious than Amy and Geoff. And I just know your little boy is going to one amusing kid, all the way to adulthood. Good luck you two!

As if to add more babies onto the fire...I mean...bleah, I'm sounding like Jesse. What I mean is, I've had an overload of babies in my environment today. After finding out Jenni had her baby, I then proceeded to a baby shower for the sister-in-law of one of my coworkers--pretty far removed,hm? There were plenty of women there, and even MORE KIDS! There were 2 infants, 2 kids about 1 year old, 3 three-year-olds, and a few more kids ranging up to age 15. And the worst part was, almost every single one of them was friggen adorable.

::sigh:: And then I remember that there's a reason why I don't want kids for maybe another five years--I like hanging out with them for a while, but after a couple hours, I'm ready to put them back. So, if I could like, rent a kid like I'd rent a movie, I could deal with that, but I have a feeling that wouldn't go over very well as a business. I suppose that's what babysitting is for. Too bad that now I don't get paid for it. I swear I made a MINT when I was in middle school. So....anybody need a babysitter? I'll do it for free if I can eat your food, watch movies, call my friends, and bring my boyfriend over to make out...I mean help.

Please, can I go mom?

Tonight my mom and I were talking about the trips we'd like to take when we have the time. Ever since I set foot on European soil, I knew I'd be doing much more traveling in my life. In fact, I would say my trip to Boston and then my brother's wedding in Aruba are what really gave me the travel bug. It would take weeks and weeks to see all the places and do all the things I'd love to do all over the world. Where would I go first? Such a hard decision...let's see:

*Ireland and Scotland--I'd love to hike and tour all over those countries, checking out castles (like "famous" Castle Doune--"You've got two empty halves of coconuts and you're bangin 'em together!", local pubs, the Book of Kell, the Blarney Stone, the beautiful coastline, Dublin, Edinbourgh, and some small towns inbetween). I'm pretty sure that if I do go there, my mom's going with me--no way she'd miss out on that trip.

*Germany, Switzerland, and Sweden--I've been to Germany, but I couldn't tour the "Romantic Rhine" since it was during the winter season. Rick Steves made it sound so beautiful and rich with old culture, villages, castles, hills and valleys dotting the river along the way. Switzerland has the picturesque mountain scenes, and Sweden has my old roommate Angelica that I promised I would visit. Sounds like a do-able trip, doesn't it?

*New Zealand--Tricia said her roommate Rachel might be moving there for a while, so of course she'd like to visit her. And who wouldn't? It'd be awesome to see even a portion of the great landscapes shown in Lord of the Rings, AND New Zealand has plenty of fun and exciting activities to keep a person busy. My mom said maybe New Zealand will be next on her list of places to go--sounds like an adventure. She just hopes she could talk my dad into going somewhere besides Aruba. Hey, plane tickets are just about 1,500 (give or take a couple hundred).

*Japan--Something about the huge city of Tokyo just makes me want to go there some day. And Japan has plenty of cool things like volcanoes, mountains...not sure what else, but I know there's a lot. I mean geez, with all the anime I've watched, how could I not want to check out the culture that could produce such good and messed up programming? Too bad Japan is the most expensive place to visit.

*The Mediterranean--I'm talking Greece, Italy, and maybe a couple islands around there. I'd love to see the old architecture, and lots of historical places, not to mention the nice beach lines, and maybe Vatican City too. I probably wouldn't venture too far towards the Middle East...and I'm not sure I'd plan this trip now, but maybe in a few years things will cool down a little. It'd be sweet to see Egypt, but I'm pretty sure that's a really bad idea, and I also hear that the pryamids are sort of a let down when you see them in person. Still, I think I'd be impressed. Just as long as I'm not completely stripped of my possessions or killed in the process.

Oh, I could go on and on. The Yucatan Penninsula of Mexico, another trip to England, Australia, Russia...pretty much anywhere, as long as it's fairly safe and there's a nice hostel or hotel nearby. Only question is, who's going with me?

School ends, learning begins

Here's a high five to Chris who now is certifiably a well-learned scholar, a university graduate. Now the fun begins, right Jenny? Eh, I'll bet you'll do better than I have when it comes to finding a job. Cuz you know, you'll use your sexy masculine wiles to score a good position. Man that just sounded wrong. Thank God for the weekend!

Feeling shitty and great at the same time

Dudes! I'm getting a Dell! Yep, last night I bit the $1228 and got myself a modestly kick-ass laptop. That means, I'm going from a huge ass heavy, clunky 5-year-old PC with 450 mhz processor, 12 GB hard drive, and 96 MB RAM to a brand-spankin new laptop with 3.02 Pentium 4 HT processor, 30 GB hard drive (like I need anything bigger), 512 MB RAM, and handy CD-RW/DVD. It arrives this week and I am ULTRA excited. I've been wanting a new computer for about 3 years now. I just hope that it arrives alright--not sure how much I like something so precious traveling by mail to my door while I'm away at work. Maybe I should tell my parents about it, hm?

And in other happy news, I GOT MY MN TEACHING LICENSE!!!!! ::high fives all around:: It looks like a shitty green piece of paper that they couldn't even send in a nice big envelope--instead they folded it, and it's just like, a typed out chart saying what level I can teach and shit. Goes to show that WI is just better ;) Then again, this is just a temporary 1 year license that I will have to renew after I take my Praxis II test and some lame ass human relations course (as though I haven't friggen had enough of those). Having this license FINALLY is awesome, though, cuz it means any application from now on can have my MN license file folder number on it and I can say I DO INDEED have a license, so I don't have to write the lame not that I am still in the application process.

Ah yes, good things can happen on days when I feel like crap and decide to cut out of work early.

Isn't amazing how well online translators don't work?

For those of you not semi-fluent in Spanish, you could always try translating my post with Babel Fish from Altavista, though I warn you that some words don't translate quite the way they should. The main gist of it is still there though--note: if you're not into anything remotely sappy, translating the post probably isn't the thing for you.

My weekend was nice and balanced, with some girl time via Shelly and Tricia, and family time via parents and grandparents. Didn't get around to highlighting my hair, so that will have to be a project for Shelly and I this week. As though that's top on my list :P I'll admit, I've been a slacker lately on applications. It's hard to be motivated when there's so much going on to distract me over a weekend. Right now though, I'm feeling all...tired, sort of stressed, and mostly just completely sick of thinking about career options. Just give me a job, any job, or stick me in grad school...all I really want is to live with Tricia in St. Paul, and have a kick ass time in the Twin Cities. Is that too much to ask? ::sigh::

I just gotta keep going, send out applications, check out the possibility of grad school, and focus on the fact that I can be out of here in less than 3 months. Time has never gone so fast and slow at the same time, I swear.

Solo en mis fotos estás

Es la noche, y estoy sola y cansada. Pero todavía no puedo dormir porque soy pensando de la persona que es el amor de mi vida. Él no puede entender qué escribo en la pagina, aunque él puede entender qué está en mi corazon. Yo sé que estoy tonto a poner palabras tan personal para toda la gente a leer, pero es importante para mi a decir qué está en mi mente a veces. ? Entiendes ? Gracias. No quiero decir más, solamente que voy a soñar de cosas bonitas y él.

You make me sad

So I get a promotion and a raise, right? I am now allowed to write down "production coordinator" as my current employment position. Great news all around, though it means keeping it on the down low for a while as far as family goes, since I work with my sister-in-law and I'm not sure how she'll take it yet. I'm pretty well floored, knowing that the extra cash is going to be VERY helpful this fall with all of my new expenses: rent, energy, car insurance, school loans, cell phone, cable internet, etc. However, this newfound idea of cash to come has me dreaming of new ways to "invest."

For example, I plan on getting a new laptop soon--that was my plan all along--but now, won't it be tempting to add on a coulple hundred bucks for some upgrades? And hey, you know my wardrobe could use updating too. Last but not least, here's the kicker. With an extra $1000 and more, wouldn't it be tempting to arrange a getaway to visit Jenny in bonny and beautiful home away from home London?! Soooo unbelievably tempting. Not exactly a good idea to have in my head when I'm still sending out applications and waiting for a miracle teaching job for the fall. ::sigh:: The dangers of getting a promotion.

I can't fucking wait

Reason #567 that I'm glad I'll be moving out in August:

Helping out with projects and then getting blamed when something goes wrong. :P

Cliffhangers are so cruel

New episodes of Inuyasha started tonight and will be continuing every Sat. night. YAY!!!!! But you know, as excited as I am about that, having to wait an entire week for the next new episode pretty well blows. Granted, during the week are the slightly older episodes that I'm taping which might satiate me a little. Except, you know I won't stay satisfied for long ;)

Agh, my life's like a friggen cliffhanger right now. I just want to get on with it! But nooooo, I've got to wait, just like waiting for the next new season of my favorite series. ::sigh:: I suppose I should be thankful that there IS another season coming up--the season where I FINALLY move out of this house!!!! Cuz it would really suck if I were cancelled due to lack of interest....Alright, maybe that's taking the metaphor too far.

Ding Dong Ding Dong, Wedding Bells

Not mine, of course, but this weekend my cousin Nate got married and we all ventured to the celebration. At first I was a little hesitant, thinking it wuuld end up kinda lame with my mom's ultra silly family all there, and Chris being thrown into the throng of them. But, much to my enjoyment, it turned out to be a super fun time.

During the wedding, my immediate family sat together in the back of the church since little Matthew needed to be near the door in case he got whiney. It also meant that we could be as obnoxious to each other as we wanted without disturbing the ceremony, much. I tell you, if you ever feel bored at a church event, just bring my brother Scott along, and you'll be laughing your ass off...much to the disturbance of those next to you. It's like he's completely annoying and yet totally hilarious at the same time...except for when he stuck the wedding program in the back of my dress. Then I just wanted to kick his ass.

The reception was better than expected as well. Once we finally found the place, there was plenty of good food to eat and people to talk to. It would be have been nice if the dance had started a bit sooner after the dinner--I swear it took forever for them to set up. But we got a game of darts in--naturally, Chris kicked my ass at cricket. I knew when the dance started that there was a chance the songs might totally blow, but when it started out with "In the Mood," I had a feeling I might have a good time. And Chris was an awesome sport about dancing to anything from slow dances to "Love Shack" to the "Electric Slide"--even though he had to learn how to do it. I felt so happy; I've never been with someone who was so carefree and confident about putting himself out on the dancefloor. Such a welcome change. We had tons of fun being silly and sexy at the same time.

And it was so great to see how well he socialized with my family. It takes a kick-ass kind of guy with patience of steel to actually seem enthused about chatting with my mom's gabby sisters or with my dad after he's had a few beers. Hell, I wanted to try to escape from my parents and Scott made me promise to keep Dad from sitting next to him, but Chris, he took it head on and impressed all of us. Add some fun in the hotel with a swimming pool, hot tub, pizza, MXC, and a road trip with fun conversation and singing along with Death Cab for Cutie....I'm telling you, if I don't hold on to this guy, I'm going to seriously kick my own ass.

Do you want a friggen blood sample too?

I swear to an almighty piece of crap job application system....if I have to friggen fill out another friggen page...You see, I'm working on an application, one of many, for a school district near the Twin Cities. Every district has their own unique application, and as I'm finding, some are short and sweet with 2 pages...except they want a copy of every document I can muster, others are online and fairly simple, and this one I've just been working on...that one takes the cake. And I don't mean cuz it's "cake!" I mean it's the longest fucking application I've ever encountered. Hell, it's probably longer than the contract they'd make me sign.

It started out like any application: name, school history, references. But then, they throw in things like a survey on my training in several teaching aspects, job related experiences and interests, and a FRIGGEN ESSAY SECTION! What is this, a college application?! I thought having to write an Educational Philosophy statement was something I had to do (3 different times) to get INTO the School of Ed, not something I'd have to regurgitate 2 years later in the form of some bullshit screening process.

Granted, the essay section and the added questions and surveys will probably do me more good than harm, since I do lack in teaching experience. It'll be a place for my language skills to shine...or something. But dang it, how indepth does an application have to be? Isn't there such thing as an interview or portfolio later? Are they going to pry into my personal life next? I tell you, I just can't wait to turn to page 13 to find out. Page 13...and I haven't even put down my employment history! Fucking A!

I give up for the night. I thought I could finish it, but man, for some small city, they're sure big on paper work. Looks like I'll be working on that one tomorrow too. I'd probably be better off moving on to another district--heck, I could probably finish two of them in the time it'll take to finish the second half of this one. Anyone else encounter stupid fucking applications like that? Applying for jobs is such an assholic bitch. Or a bitchy asshole. Take your pick :P

I got off on good behavior

Is it just me, or does that sound wrong? Anyway, I'm out of work early today, not actually because they like me, but because they ran out of work for me to do. So, I was out after first break, which means I lucked out in getting some extra time to get ready for the weekend. For instance, I've got a cake baking right now, the frosting is completely set to go, I can have lunch with my mom, and pick up a few things I forgot to pack, all before my doctor appointment at 1:30 today. Yay for temporary employment! Granted, I could use the $10/h, but I say, who the fuck cares? Yeah, that's what I'll tell the credit card company :P

Maybe I'll even have an hour to check out a couple stores in the mall on the way to the clinic. I'm sorely in need of GZ appropriate clothing, especially a skirt. Who knows, perhaps I'll luck out and find something perfect for tonight. If not, at least I'll have tried, instead of always relying on my pathetic supply of mix and match clothing I've picked up here and there. I'll come up with something I'm sure, but I'd rather not have to wear pants if I can help it. Somehow, I just don't feel as sexy in a pair of even silky pants, not nearly as much as I would in a swanky little skirt and thigh highs. ;)

Aight, time to get into gear. Lots to do and not that much time to do it in. Later yo!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS!!!! :)

(Please, Excuse the mushy address here) Hope you have a fan-skippin-tastic birthday, my love! Can't wait to see you this weekend. GZ, cake, friends...it's gonna rock. Talk to you later! :)

Thank God that's over!

The suspence that is. Tonight was my brother Chris's 30th bday party, a good time all around. That's not how I thought it was going to go last night, however. I was afraid it was going to turn into an all out bitch fest between Beth and my dad.

Yesterday, Beth informed me that she was down right pissed off that my dad was so impatient and inconsiderate. She had helped out the campaign at the house during the day, which was nice of her to do. After she got back home, she later called to ask about the folding table and chairs that we said we would bring over to the house for the party today. I was on the phone with her talking about this, and mentioned Chris coming over to pick up the stuff. But my dad was still thinking he'd have to help out, getting something down from the attic, even though he wanted to finish up some campaigning shit (when he really should have called it quits for the day). So he yelled.

Anyone who's met my dad knows how friggen loud he can be. And he was loud enough to be heard over the phone. Beth got upset that he would make such a fuss after she went out of her way to help him with the campaign. So she hung up and said she didn't need his help. I yelled at dad for yelling while I was on the phone and getting involved and messing up something I didn't need his help with to begin with. Of course, then he got mad at me for that. He left the house.

Meanwhile, I call Beth back to talk her down and make sure they have the stuff they need for the party. I talk to Chris, but he opts to hand off the phone to Beth. Great. Beth gets on and she's upset, all crying and shit. She not only is upset about the table thing, but about feeling slighted by not being mentioned on the back of my dad's campaign lit. Not only that, she's upset because she feels there is a history of being slighted, especially now that the baby is around and my parents are all just paying attention to him. First it was Chris getting the attention, now it's little Matthew. UGH.

And I had to listen to it all, and be supportive, when I was just like DEAL WITH IT!!!! My parents aren't perfect, far from it. Especially my dad, who can be a total asshole sometimes. But we all know that. Beth knew that getting into this family. It doesn't mean she has to take his shit; it just means she's gotta either put up or shut up about it. I do it all the dang time. Sometimes I talk back (rationally of course), sometimes I stay quiet, sometimes I just vent about it later. I don't let it fester inside me though, nor do I take it as a personal afront. So he's an asshole. Everyone's an asshole sometimes. Even I am, I'm certain. (alright, no comments on that one please). I can still love and care about someone even if I think he's an asshole from time to time. That's just the way love, family, and friends go.

Anyway, I mentioned the conversation with both of my parents--my dad last night and my mom this morning. My dad got all on the defensive and offensive, saying he's not going to change just cuz she's oversensitive. I agree that she is rather sensitive, but that doesn't mean he doesn't do and say things that are offensive, and that he should try and be more careful about it. He wasn't too pleased about a lecture from me, but he did behave himself today. ::whew:: My mom was much more calm about it, and did think that Beth had some points, though she of course denied that she had much part in it, and did say she was a bit too sensitive. Mom's much easier to talk about that stuff though, cuz she actually considers my advice, and talks with me about it rationally. I think I reached her just fine, and she'll be more careful about it too. ::double whew::

I know this isn't the end of it. IT NEVER IS. IT WILL NEVER END. But whatever. You know, not everyone likes their inlaws. In fact, most don't, I'll bet. I'd say most just stand them for the sake of their spouse. You have to love your parents, and I suppose to an effect you have to at least act like you love your inlaws. But you don't have to be with the more than you want. There's a reason Chris and Beth live in GB, and not in Milwaukee where her parents live. I mean geez, if she wants to avoid her own parents, finding them a pain in the ass, then how can she complain about her inlaws? Why'd they move closer to them? Very interesting...Maybe, just MAYBE, someone's overreacting. Just a suggestion.

God knows I'm out of here as soon as I can.

Want to hear something funny?

I've solved the mystery of my missing blog entry that I SWORE I had posted and published. As it turns out, I did indeed post and publish it with no problem at all. So why doesn't it show up? Answer: I posted it on the wrong blog. Somehow, I managed to click on the button for my OLD blog that was abandonded a year and a half ago. It's been so long since I looked at it that I forgot I still can post entries on it.

The bad news is, the entry kind of blows so I'm not going to bother copying, pasting, and posting it on here. It'll just have to be a mystery for you now. Just deal with it :P

Oh that's cheap

I had a blog all set to go and I swear I hit the "post & publish" button; however, there's no blog posting to be found anywhere. Not that it was anything special, but still, what a pain in the ass.

Anyway, here's the latest news bulletin:

*My sister-in-law Jennifer just got an apprenticeship with the hair stylist with whom she really wanted to get the position. She'll get paid minimum wage plus half of her tips, but the products are free and she'll be working towards her own licensure.

*Last night I babysat my adorable nephew over at Chris and Beth's house for a few hours. The kid kicks ass, but I can safely say I'm not anxious to take him home with me.

*My brother Scott asked for a promotion today, and no word yet on whether he got it or not. He thinks he probably won't since he's so young, but it was worth a shot.

*For the last week, I've been taking my dogs for a walk everday after work. It's not much, but it's a definite start to a healthier lifestyle for the mutts and me.

*Saturday I have the pleasure of partaking in a campaign literature drop for my dad--any volunteers? C'mon, there's free food!

*Tonight I get a haircut--just a trim this time. I'm a fan of my lastest punky hair look.

*On Tuesday I watched the last episode in the series of Robin: Witch Hunter. ::sniff sniff tear:: :(

*Also on Tuesday, I went out for chimichangas and martinis (a change of establishment inbetween there) with Amy, Shelly and Jennifer. It was an interesting combination of folks, and the first time I actually hung out with Jennifer without Scott being around (aside from everyday at work). I certainly had a good time, and I think the others did too. Mmmmm a Tiramisu flavored martini. Yum.

*I'm still job searching and working on appplications and resumes. God I'm slow. I better get a good job or I'll kick my own ass this fall.

That's all for now. Yeah, I know I'm not too interesting lately. But hey, next week will be all busy with my brother Chris's 30th bday party, his bday, and then my boyfriend Chris's bday and subsequent party that weekend. Not to mention, a fabulous visit to the dentist...great :P

Would you recognize me?

Today I had the pleasure of not being recognized by a couple former classmates of mine. Yay for new haircuts and a good make up day! They weren't people who were snotty or overly self-important; just a couple girls I used to know. It makes me wonder what it'd be like to run into some other people from my NDA days. Eh, the only ones I'd want to see are the ones I still keep in contact with. The rest just aren't worth my time. Although, it'd be nice to find out whatever happened to my frosh year (okay all four years) crush. My guess is that he's either an important part of a successful business, or he's passed out on his fraternity floor.

Halleluja! Halleluja! Halleluja, Halleluja, Halleeeeluja!

Praise be to whatever higher being/existence that we may or may not believe in! For I have actually accomplished something! What is it you ask? All in good time, my friends.

You see, I think I've reached the breaking point. I am at the point where I would do anything, even the unthinkable, to avoid the extremely time-consuming, annoying, and completely pivotal task of applying for fall teaching jobs. Don't get me wrong; I WANT a job, I NEED a job, and I want to know that I HAVE a job as soon as possible. However, it's taking all the motivation I don't have to go about the business of searching and applying. I mean, geez, remember my edition of KRAP devoted to a dissertation on procrastination? Even THAT writing was just to avoid school work. So you see, I will find just about any activity to take the place of job searching. Today it was finally taking our obese (well one is for sure) dogs for a walk. Tomorrow, who knows.

Take these fine examples of my latest procrastination (in order of least to greatest desperation):
*Baldur's Gate II for PS2--Not only did I spend countless hours (okay, 17:36) playing the game; I beat the game and started over again to try and kick more ass in EXTREME MODE.

*Family QT--Lately I've been hanging out with my family a lot more frequently. Whether it be going out to the bars, playing/swearing at Mario Kart, or watching a movie together, it's brought us closer together.

*Anime--I started out just watching and taping Inuyasha, but now I'm totally hooked on Robin: Witch Hunter as well, not to mention I typically tune in to Family Guy and Futurama too since they come on right before the others. I'm such a dork sometimes. (Don't even think about commenting on that one :P )

*Cleaning my room--When on earth did I convert from a staunch believer in cleaning only in life or death situations to someone who actually enjoys organizing her crap?

*Campaigning--I have no idea what could compel me to volunteer so much time helping my dad with his local political campaign. It's either the father-daughter bond ::cough:: guilt trip ::cough:: or I like the exercise...( I think we all know the answer to that one).

Perhaps now that I've blogged about it, I've gotten it all out of my system, and I can start working in ernest on my job applications. Oh crap...but wasn't blogging just another medium for procrastination. Shit.

P.S. Did you notice that I survived the Ides of March without regression this year? Yay for me!

I don't wanna be told to grow up

Apparently I'm like a kid again. Not that I claim to have matured much since then, but what I mean is, my brother Scott and his wife Jennifer sometimes seem to be like my adopted parents. Or at least Jennifer mentioned that having me around is kinda like having a kid. I wasn't quite sure how to take that comment, but I took it in stride, figuring there was no harm meant be it.

You see, Scott has been looking out for me for quite a long time, even more so in the last few years. He looks at my life and sees what I've done or not done with my young years and tries to help me do more. Let me give an example: a few years ago, Scott and Jennifer went on vacation to Orlando, Florida and invited me and my boyfriend at the time ::cough::dumbass Mike::cough:: to go along with them. I wasn't sure, since it would mean taking a week off of work, but they bought me a ticket anyway. It turned out that Mike was an idiot and thought that working for a week would be a better idea, (even though I offered to even pay for half his ticket, which wasn't even that expensive) and he wasn't willing to even think of another possibility. I'm still a little disappointed in not going and wasting that plane ticket. What a dork.

Anyways, as I was saying, so Scott tends to try to make sure I enjoy the adventures in life, like when he gave me money towards my time in Aruba and in London. And now that I'm here in town, he does little things for me to include me in activities. When he goes out on the weekend with Jennifer, there are times he invites me along, or even tonight, I went over and played video games with them. They've got me so spoiled that, like Jennifer said, it's like I'm their adopted kid. Though I'd rather think of myself as a kid sister. "Kid Sister (Kid Sister), Kid Sister (Kid Sister)...Kid Sister and me!"

Eh, just wait until they actually DO have kids. Those are going to be some spoiled but good little tykes, I tell you that. Who knows when that will be, though they are talking about it for possibly after they buy a house this summer. The world is turning and turning.

My oldest brother Christopher turns 30 this April, and coincidently, my boyfriend Chris turns 23 the day after. And me, I'm still searching for jobs in MN so I can get my ass over there as soon as possible. I wish I had more money saved up to start with, but I guess thankfully, after this Friday, I'll be able to pay off the last of my credit card bills from my European travels and such. Then I'll be at zero and ready to work up from there. Anything from that moment on will be my savings for the summer and fall. I just have to work enough and make enough to be able to get the things I want and need. But hey, I'll sacrifice a new laptop if it means getting out there sooner. May not sound like much, but it's been something I've been wanting for quite a long time. Let's just say there's a little something else I want just a bit more :)

So there's an update for you. Disjointed and not particularly well-written;however, at this point, I'm just amused that I finally got around to blogging again. There's just so many other things to do at home. ... Woah, did I just say that? Hm...maybe it IS a good thing I've got a physical coming up next month--there's gotta be something wrong with me. Seriously though, with family, an occasional friend, work, video games, internet, and the endless process of upkeeping my room and house...blogging just isn't hitting to top of my things to do. It also doesn't help that, well, I've just been doing a lot of trivial things, nothing to really "write home about." I get up, go to work, go home, eat dinner, find something to do for the evening, watch amime from 11-12, and go to bed. Exciting, hm? Yeah, exactly.

But hey, I've been tooling around with the idea of (oh stop that--you know what I mean) bring back to life a new and improved brand-spanking-new edition of KRAP. That whet your appettite? (oh come on--geez) Personally, I think it sounds like a plan.

I get so lonely baby, I get so lonely...

Alright, so I suck. I haven't updated in about two weeks, and I don't have an excuse that is in anyway valid or interesting. I've just been working, hanging with friends or family, watching my regular shows on TV, or doing some more organizing of my schtuff. You'd think that since I was working on fixing up my blog that I would have been more attentative to it...but well, no. Anyways, I'm here now, even if I don't have a whole lot to say.

Last weekend I was in MN visiting Chris, Tricia, and Jenny, and a good time was had by all :) I love going to the Cities and having fun with everyone, but every time I leave, I have this overwhelming sense of...the overwhelming difficulty of trying to move out there. I have this urgent want and need to be there this summer, as soon as possible. But it's going to be a challenge trying to find a good teaching job in the area this fall, quickly locating a decent summer job there that pays enough for me to move to MN and quit my job here in GB, AND figuring out what kind of an apartment I'll be able to get once I'm there. Unfortunately, my hoped for roomie has aspirations for England once again. Totally awesome opportunity for her and I think it's friggen great that she'd be able to do that. Just sad that we'll have to postpone the creation of our kick-ass pad complete with all of those snazzy decorating ideas.

I think I might actually have more stuff to say next time I blog. I promise I'll work harder, REALLY. But for now, time for bed. Later dudes :)

Okay, I give up

I've tried and tried and tried to get a blog that is hosted by Tripod, still using Blogger as a publisher. But apparently this time the tried and true "Guess, Test, and Revise" technique just isn't going to cut it. I guess I'll just have to wait until I either learn more about web publishing, or find someone else to help me that does. ::sigh:: Oh well. At least I can change the colors and links on THIS blog.

Lo siento, mis amigos

Hey dudes, sorry I've been MIA for so long. I've been busy doing highly important things like watching TV, hanging out with friends and family, and procrastinating in any way possible to avoid cleaning my room--in fact, that's why I'm blogging right now. Anyway, I love my blog, but it's REALLY in need of major revamping. I'm not quite sure how much it's going to involve yet, but I'm thinking a total reformatting is in order. I'll see if I can keep this same site and everything, but it might be easier to start a new one, as sad as that would be. We shall see in time. That time hopefully being in the next few days. I'll keep ya posted ;)

Sexy At Any Size

Isn't it nice to know that Fredericks of Hollywood supports men and women of all shapes and sizes? I know I'm assured by their catchy little slogan. And for all of those who might disagree, shame on you. I mean, geez, it's just a coincidence that everyone in the catalogue is thin, ripped, stacked and well-packaged.

I'm kicking out fiercely at the world around me...what went wrong?

Tonight I received an email that shocked me. It was from one of my former students, telling me that she tried committing suicide. Her reason? Because she it's almost Valentine's Day and no boys like her. And a boy that she does like just ignores her. AGGH!!

What do you say to something like that? I tried as best I could to write something inspiring for her. How do you tell a 14-year-old that she's not alone in the world? That there's much more to life than boys? That romantic love isn't the most urgent and important thing?

She's a unique and sensitive girl, and her difficulties getting along with others socially doesn't help matters. But God, how do you tell a girl that all of the hurt and pain of being a teenager will pass? How can you tell her that you understand what she is going through? That you've felt those feelings but worked through it and moved on?

I remember those days in middle school, when I had crush after crush on impossible guys who couldn't have cared less. The other girls (aside from a couple close friends) would make matters worse by picking at my faults and insecurities. It's a terrible age. My body was developing, yet it was years before I was really comfortable with my form. And there's so much pressure SO MUCH PRESSURE to be attractive, have a boyfriend, and be a part of the crowd. Those pressures have probably even grown since then, now that young people are being introduced into sexuality sooner and sooner.

But we can't blame society, we can't blame THEM. It just doesn't do any good that way. We've got to work with what we have, help the kids that need our help. Get them involved, get them understanding their potential, get them making goals in working towards those dreams they fear are unattainable. And remind them that family, friends, counselors, and teachers...they all care; they all want to help.

UGH, but does all of that sound like bullshit to a 14-year-old? Can one email from one older friend make any difference at all--make her feel even a tiny bit better? I hope so.

So don't expect to see me sleeping in my bed...

Because I'm up doing some much needed organizing in my room. I simply can't stand it any more. I'm going to clean this dang thing even if it means staying home all dang weekend. ::sigh:: And it will probably take all weekend. But I've got to start somewhere, right?

Where does this sudden burst of cleaning enthusiasm come from? 1) There's nothing worthwhile to watch on TV. 2) I'm kind of tired of my DVDs and VHS tapes right now. 3) My parents are boring and went to bed early. 4) I did'nt feel like getting out of my work clothes today to go out with Shelly or play video games over at my brother's place (he just bought BG2 for Xbox). And 5) My room is so annoyingly messy that I don't enjoy spending time in it. That was the main reason.

I mean, how am I supposed to have the ambition to sit and do some writing, blogging, or scrapbooking down here if I can't stand spending more time down here than my nocturnal activities require? It's like when I lived in EC--I just couldn't get myself to sit down and do homework if there was straightening to be done in my room. Strange, hm? Who'd have thought that I of all people could get annoyed by a messy room? My mother certainly has a hard time believing it. Hey, it's gotta get messy before it gets clean. That's just the way it is. Take my word for it.

Como se dice "I forgot how to speak Spanish coherently?"

As some of you know, I took 4 years of Spanish classes in high school (ncluding 2 years of "Honors Spanish"), earned a membership into the Spanish National Honors Society, AND took 1 year of university level Spanish classes. Well, let me tell you...that just really didn't mean jack when I was trying to actually hold a conversation with fluent Spanish-speakers.

Yeah, I was warned by my high school Spanish teacher that if you don't regularly speak the second language, you'll lose the most of it within the first year. After that, it's a slow decline. And now that it's almost 4 years since my last Spanish class, I struggle even with the most basic of nouns, verbs and conjugations. For instance, today I when asked if I was married I answered that I was only a little tired. Hey, it doesn't help that loud machines are running in the background.

But it's cool cuz some of the workers are making an effort to talk with me, showing great patience with my horrible Spanish. There are a couple workers that actually speak fluent English and they talked with me a little too. If the conversations keep going, maybe I'll actually regain some of my lost language skills. If anything, it made stuffing boxes a little more bareable AND after only 3 hours of brain-wracking, I remembered how to say "to sing."

We are living in an Imperial world, and I am an Imperial girl...

Come on, sing it with me! Okay, so this little spoof of a song has nothing to do with this blog entry, except that I was thinking of possible lyrics for such a song while today at work I was mindlessly filling boxes with exfoliating and moisturizing sea salt bath crystals packages (say that 5 times fast). I think Weird Al and I should could come up with a good one. Of course, knowing the excessive Star Wars fans out there, I'm sure that such a song already exists.

Now, on to the topic at hand..."I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it!" Yes, I'm totally psyched that I'll be driving to MN tomorrow after work. No work on Friday for me, thanks to a little "appointment" I have. Tee hee hee. But hey, I didn't even have to fib--all I said was that I need to get to an appointment in MN on Friday, which is totally true: Tricia put me in her date book :) So I have an appointment to get down on my b-day! Yay for me turning 23! Then I'lll officially be older than dirt--according to some circles.

And it looks like a night at GZ is in order for Thursday night unless something else comes up. You know what that means ;) I'm thinking short, I'm thinking black, I'm thinking zippered....in short, I'm thinking totally hot. Can't imagine it? or maybe you just would rather not imagine it :P Or maybe you would ;) What can I say, it's "Bondage Night" and though I'm not really into the whole dominatrix and porn thing, dressing up in funky, sexy, stylin' outfits and dancing the night away with great friends is my idea of fun :)

So, see you on the dance floor! Or, if "Bondage Night" at wonderful club Ground Zero isn't your thing, then you can always just wish me a happy birthday and I guess that will be alright...for now ;) Now to figure out what the heck is going to match that snazzy black skirt I bought in London....

Early to bed, early to rise...make me vomit

Tomorrow I get to start work at a packaging plant, but this time I get to FILL boxes instead of make them. Yippee. Eh, it's a job. And thankfully, it's temporary. Despite my intense dislike for getting up before 8am, I suppose getting up and being at work from 7-3 will be good for me. Especially since I haven't exactly accomplished much in the last week aside from cooking now and then. My room's still a hole, and I have plenty of projects I should be doing. At least after tomorrow I'll have an excuse ;) Wish me luck, friends!

Okay, bear with me

I'm trying to update this blog, which is much in need of an overhaul. Pink was good for a while, and I liked the various hues, but I'm sorry, enough is enough of the pink theme. Time to move on. Unfortunately, blogger has crappy templates, so I'm not going to mess with that much yet. Eventually, I'd like to see about getting my site hosted by Tripod so I can use more pictures. But first I have to figure out how to do that without losing all of my shit. So far, I've just lost the ONE PICTURE on this dang site by trying to put up a different one. ::sigh:: Eventually I'll get it figured out.

Top Ten Reasons It's Good to Be Home

10. TV and VCR--can you say "Movies!!!"
9. Driving anywhere, anytime.
8. Sleeping in.
7. Free food.
6. Sleeping in.
5. My computer :)
4. Sleeping in.
3. Puppies.
2. Family and friends to hang out with.
1. Someone to share a bed with.

Top Ten Reasons Home Is Lame

10. Phone ringing every half hour from 8am on.
9. My room's a hole that needs organizing.
8. Sitting on my ass too much when I need exercise.
7. Household chores.
6. Sub-zero temperatures.
5. My dad's campaigning.
4. Family conflicts.
3. No job and a miniscule amount of money.
2. Did I mention SUB FRIGGEN ZERO TEMPERATURES?!
1. One loooong spring.

My name is Katie and I like to fly

Okay, so the only one who will get that joke is Jenni. I hope she enjoys it ;)

As for the rest of you blokes, I'm happy and sad to say that tomorrow's the day I fly home. In fact, in about 12 hours I will be all aboard, hopefully sitting near my wonderful travel companion and enjoying a nice smooth flight. Just in case, I think I'm going to refrain from mowing down a bunch of junk food before the flight. It just didn't go over very well last time.

For certain, the streets of London will call me back someday--according to the dating rules that'll be no sooner than at least two weeks from now. My guess is that London's a smooth one, and it'll probably be next year sometime. Always playing it cool :P

Even with the bit of melancholy of leaving, I'm ultra excited about going home. After weeks of living as a foreigner, it'll be great to be among the familiar again. It may be cold, it may not be overly thrilling, but it's home and it contains the people I love. And in the end, the people are just more important than the place. Besides, there's nothing saying I can't grab a few new traveling companions on my next adventure.

Check ya on the flipside! Of the world that is ;)

42.5 hours...but who's counting?

In less than two days I'll be in Chicago.
In almost two days I'll be home.

In two days I'll be petting my dogs, hugging my parents, and calling my friends.
In two days I'll be giving my boyfriend a huge hug and kiss.
In two days I'll be kicking ass once more with my "twin."
In two days I'll be sharing exciting stories with my brothers and sisters-in-law.
In two days I'll be watching my nephew crawl across the floor to me.
In two days I'll be absorbing wonderfully pointless American television.
In two days I'll be drinking a cup of flavored, bottom-less coffee at Caffe Espresso.
In two days I'll be eating stove-top popcorn while watching a movie.
In two days I'll be staring at all of the luggage I should unpack but will not.
In two days I'll be sleeping in my own bed with my own fluffy blankets and pillow.

In two days I'll be dreaming of ways I can afford to travel back to Europe.

Absence makes the heart grow...sick of traveling

Hello all, sorry to just slip out of existence for a week there. Jenny and I have just concluded our "whirlwind" tour of France, Germany, and Austria, having just arrived at our hostel in London about 45 min ago. That might not mean much to you out there in the Central Time Zone, but I can tell you that trying to get a night bus and taxi to a dang hostel at 1:30am friggen sucks. Actually, our whole day of travel pretty much blew goats all to hell. But I'll not get into that.

Okay, maybe I will. First, of all, it was OUR fault for deciding to save a few euros by first taking a train to Frankfurt from Berlin, knowing that it cost €20 less out of the Frankfurt airport (this is via Ryanair). Now, let me tell you a little something about Ryanair: Ryanair has no concept of distance or location.

So we get our tickets for flying from Frankfurt to London Standsted, thinking "Hey, aren't we savvy travelers? We just saved ourselves money by getting a 'free' trip to Frankfurt via our last flexi-day on our Eurrail passes (that we weren't going to use anyway) and then flying out of there. Piece of cake!" Mmmm, hmm, yeah. Next time we'll do a bit more research.

You see, "Frankfurt-Hahn Airport" is where Ryanair said we'd be flying from to get to London. No problem right? Yeah, if you don't mind a 1 hour 45 min BUS ride to a place called Hahn. I'm sorry, but a place that is 100some km away from Frankfurt IS NOT FRANKFURT! STOP ADVERTISING IT AS SUCH!!!

I understand that Ryanair is a cheap little airline that uses cheap little airports that are distances away from the main city, but even London Stansted is only 45 min away and there's a nice quick train to use that is actually LESS cost than the bus ticket for Frankfurt-Hahn from the train station. Oh, that reminds me. Let me tell you a little something about cheap airports.

Jenny and I got in the line to check our bags, stuck behind a crowd of about 20 pre-adolescent boys on a "football" team with their coaches. Thankfully, they got through quickly. The same cannot be said for me. I went up the the desk, put my bags on the platform and was promptly and bitchily told that my bags were to heavy. If I wanted to check 2 bags, it would cost me an extra €66. My ticket to get ON THE DAMN PLANE only cost me €19.00. Needless to say, I was a bit frazzled. Now what?

Well, she said my smaller bags were too big to have as a carry on, which was such bullshit, since I basically took the same amount with me by the end. I DID end up discarding: a handful of dirty socks; my bottles of shampoo, soap, hairspray, hairgel, febreeze, and body spray; stupid papers I didn't really need with me; my pajama shirt; and a few other things I can't even thinkg of right now. I was ready to throw out almost anything in my frustration. I wish I had kept the soap. That might have been nice for tomorrow. Guess I'll be borrowing Jenny's. Or just be really dirty. Dang.

After this whole ordeal of spewing the contents of my suitcase on the ground and throwing out some of my replacable possessions, I managed to get the weight of the suitcase down to only 2kg over (costing me €12). At that point, I just wanted on the damn plane, no matter the friggen cost. And my carryons were fine. Whew. So we get on the plane. Ordeal over, right? Nah uh.

Another thing about small, cheap airlines...they're bumpy. It certainly didn't help that Jenny and I had plenty of junk food before we got on our flight, thinking we'd be hungry later if we didn't. Oh, I definitely wasn't hungry. All of my energy was spent concentrating on not being sick on the plane. Thankfully, I was successful, though it was comforting to know that I did have a handy Ziploc bag in my purse to use in case of "emergency evacuation."

Customs took forever, getting our bags took forever and a day, and then we got on yet another train. But we were finally heading to London--YAY! Only, the Tube doesn't run that late, so we had to take night busses. The one to King's Cross was easy to manage, but from there...all we found were seedy characters trying to sell us bus tickets or to get us into their illegal unmarked taxis. We gave up on the bus and opted to find a MARKED taxi, which took a little wait. When we saw one approaching, I was ready to do anything to hail it. I wonder if he would have been impressed by my unshaved, sneaker footed leg?

But we're here now, and friggen tired, so now it's off to bed. I just felt the need to vent all that. Besides, we're so exhausted now that we're overtired. Anyone up for a run to the 24 hour corner store?

Oh yes. It's very nice.

Like a grail-shaped beacon, it has both called us from our humble beginning and led us through perils that are far too perilious. But since our time in Paris, it has been our quest. We have walked and ridden since the snows of winter covered this land, through the kingdoms of Munich, Salzburg, and Vienna.

And it has taunted us like so many Frenchmen, "We French persons outwit you a second time, perfidious English mousedropping hoarders ... I wave my private parts at your aunties, you brightly-coloured, mealy-templed, cranberry-smelling, electric donkey-bottom biters," with inadequate imitations strewn about like so many bones.

Still, we journeyed on. We knew that... somewhere out there ... there must (intro music) Stop that! Stop that. Okay, well, I better get on with it.

Jenny and I made an important discovery: a crepe stand here in Vienna. Not just any crepe stand, but one that actually attempts to make crepes with Nuttella-esque ingredients. It's still not QUITE the same, but it's better than nothing.

I know what you're thinking: the most important thing you've seen or done in the last few days of touring around some of the oldest and grandest cities in the world was find a semi-decent crepe stand? I understand your concern, and I can answer that. Yes.

And a Happy New Beer!

New Year's Eve greetings to all! Tonight is the time of festivities celebrating the coming of a new year and new beginnings. I can't say I'll be partying a lot tonight due to the cold and wet weather here in Munich, but then, isn't having a beer for breakfast a party in and of itself?

Remember to think of a cool resolution for the new year. I'll have to think about mine for a while. Time's running out here at the internet cafe at the moment. But I'll probably be back here later. It's open until 2am tonight. Doesn't that sound like a blast of a New Year's party? I'm such a geek. To all of you who are going out tonight, be safe and have fun! Oh, and remember to toast your long lost friend who's freezing in Bavaria!

Did I say death camps? I meant happy camps.

All kidding and South Park references aside, today we took a train out to Dachau. An unbelievably moving experience. On approach to the concentration camp, it was surprising to see that there is a nice little town right next door. Most of the people in the town either didn't know the extent of the brutalities going on at the camp or they were too scared to acknowledge it. It certainly didn't help that most of the information came from a bunch of propaganda.

The SS made it very deceiving, only giving the German community the information they wanted them to know. I was disgusted to find out that they even gave people tours of the concentration camp, which were of course diligently orchestrated to show only the people who were the healthiest and had the most stereotypical physical attributes of the "inferior" races, such as the supposedly big nose of the Jewish "race."

They even went so far as to describe the wonderful recreational activities for the prisoners: swimming in the camp pool (actually a huge pond of filthy water and fluids that would have made anyone sick who entered it) or playing music (the SS did play, but any prisoners writing songs or poetry could be severely punished or killed). Imagine the prisoners' intense frustration at being unable to communicate the real horrors of life in the camp, while the SS made sure it seem like Dachau was just a work camp where prisoners, enemies of the state, would be educated in the work ethic while doing a service to the country with the prisoner's help (slave labor) in industry and repair work.

When the public did finally realize the truth of the attrocities taking place at the camp, they were horrified--I can't imagine living there and knowing that your town is associated with such a violent history.

The chilly evening air and snow lining the ground helped add to the bleak effect of the camp. There was A LOT of information to absorb there, but it helped that most of it had English translations. It was a good history lesson, tracing the beginnings of the Nazi party, Hitler's rise to power, and the concentration camp system. By far the hardest part was touring through the crematorium.

The gas chamber there at Dachau was never used, but it didn't prevent me from feeling really creeped out walking through the room with those vents in the floor and ceiling. I can't believe they had the dark humor to put the label "Bath house" above the vaulted door. And seeing the ovens...that was almost more than I could handle. As it was, I took a picture and got out of there, walking through the room where they used to store the bodies before they burned them. Yeah, it was a very sobering experience.

One of the most striking things about it was the how it looked from the outside. I expected a stoic, industrial looking structure, cold and impersonal. What I saw was a pleasant looking brick building, with terracota shingles, and a big cheery chimney. It made me feel sick just thinking about the sort of mentality it would take to build such a structure and then make it look homey. I am glad I went though--seeing all of it made the Holocaust that much more real to me. And the memorial site at Dachau is very well done, nothing touristy about it.

Tomorrow Jenny and I are probably going to check out the Science and Techonology Museum here--it's supposed to be Smithsonian-quality, and sounds like a good way to spend our Monday, when many sites are closed here for cleaning and maintenance. Tuesday we're likely heading to Füssen to see the fairy-tale castles of "Mad" King Ludwig II. I'm looking forward to that trip--it will take most of a day with the 2 hour train ride, but from what I've heard and seen, it will be worth it.

We still haven't had beer, sauerkraut or sausage since we arrived, but we have had our first pretzel. It was okay, but we've come across one that look tastier, so I'm sure we'll try some other ones. We also saw a man in liderhosen in the subway. I'm sure there will be all sorts of German experiences to share with you by the time we leave. I'll keep you posted :)

Gutentag, darling, gutentag

München, otherwise known as Munich, has become our new home for the next few days. After an exhausting 9 hour train ride from Paris (with fine catering including a shared croissant, a bottle of juice, cookies that were more air than sugar, two shared sandwiches--one of an eggy concoction--and water in glass bottles...all for price equivalent of a steak dinner and wine in Paris) we arrived at our hostel. Remind me to stock up on snacks from a grocery store before my next long train ride.

The hostel doesn't seem half bad, although the stupid European hostel idea of not accepting credit cards and asking for cash up front is a real pain in the assets. Unlike our last hostel, this one decided to forgo the ratty blankets and rental sheets and has clean and comfy bedding. However, we're sleeping in a dorm style room, which means that instead of sleeping in a four-person room, we'll be sharing a room with 20 other travelers. Oh yeah, we're talking 10 bunkbeds scrunched in one room that has a bit of a divider wall in the middle. It's going to be like one big slumber party...except there won't be any movies...or popcorn...and we're in Germany. Yeah, just like a slumber party.

Merry Christmas--I aim to tease

With Christmas having arrived and left its drink ring stain on the table, I thought it would be an appropriate oppurtunity to compile a countdown of 12 paricularly memorable gifts that "gay Paris" has bestowed upon my traveling companion and myself....HOWEVER, you will have to be patient for I have not yet compiled this magnificent list since we have not yet finished our trip.

Until then, you'll just have to amuse yourselves imagining what that fine future blog entry will entail while I tantalize you with these few highlights as a preview:

*Eiffel tower sparkling like a big brown diamond
*Baguettes for breakfast
*Crepes for breakfast, crepes for lunch, crepes for dinner...oh, and crepes for dessert
*The Tube could kick Le Metro's ass
*The Louvre, Arc de Triumph, Champs-Eleysey, Versailles...check
*Christmas Eve at Notre Dame with Jenny and 3 glasses of wine
AND
*Christmas Day with the gamers hard at it here at the Internet Cafe

Hope you all are having a great Christmas!! Take care :)

Held in our hearts

This week has seen the loss of someone very special. A good man, who though he had many blessings in his life including a wonderful family, should not have had to leave us so soon. There are no words adequate enough to give my sincere sympathies.

Christmas, Christmas time is near

Becky sent me a Chipmunks themed Christmas e-card (well, me and about 20 other people, but it was thoughtful all the same) and it was cute. Too bad I couldn't hear the sound on this crappy cafe computer (nice alliteration, eh?), but I could imagine a few Chipmunk tunes while I read the email. For instance, All I Want for Chirstmas, and Christmast Time--one of my favorites: "Want a plane that loops-the-loop, me, I want a hoola-hoop!" So cute.

I heard more songs at the meeting I attended for student teaching tonight. Nice classic Christmas tunes by Bing Crosby and a bunch of other oldies, all floating over the boredom that had me wanting to nod off. Thankfully, it was our last meeting, and it didn't last too terribly long. If they hadn't given us some food, I might have been more annoyed by the only partially interesting 1.5 hours of discussion. But the good news is, I found a smoothie shop on the way to the meeting--go fruit!

I need the fruit, all the fruit I can get, to battle this cold that's setting in. I think the Ben n Jerry's helped too--chocolate is the solution to many problems, all the important ones at least. The rest can be covered by a pint.

Wish I had thought of this myself

Skimming The Onion can be great fun. This is an old article I came upon while looking for the one Blogger had linked to (which doesn't work for some reason) and it's freegin hilarious. At least I think so, but then...read it, and you'll know why.

Let it sud, let it sud, let it sud!

Yes, sud, my friend. Tonight there was a Scandinavian Christmas party here at ISH, complete with a warm meal, paper crowns, a gingerbread house contest, and fake snow--actually soapy suds flying about. I really wish I had brought down my camera--the event was a sight to behold.

There were about ten of us squeezed around the table, all either student teachers or friends, and we were giddy with getting free food and the idea of creating our own gingerbread house. The hosts had given us all the supplies needed: the basic gingerbread house walls, roof, and chimney, all of which we had to use a tube of frosting to stick together. They also supplied us with some candy things to decorate the house with. Naturally, being the creative team we were, we were not satisfied to use those simple, meager supplies. We improvised.

We put the regular house together as directed, except we decided it would be cool if the house had some interior lighting, so...we put one of the small votive candles inside before we closed it up. We had no fear of our house burning down, but we did have some water near by just in case. To make the chimney look more realistic, we added a crumpled napkin stuck halfway in it to pose as smoke. Very clever.

The problem was trying to figure out how we could make our house extra special. How could we give our house that ingenious kick to win that bottle of wine? We Wisconsites just couldn't pass up on some free alcohol. The solution? Rice pudding.

A wonderful bowl of rice pudding happened to be leftover from our dinner, and we marvelled at how snow-like it appeared. Great! We had the perfect trimming to our roof and along the bottom for that natural, wintery look. Add to that some plastic snowflake confetti that was scattered on the table (far from edible) and some candy shaped to spell out "ISH" and we figured we had ourselves a winner. But we still weren't satisfied. What was missing?

I should note that at this point, we could see our house was melting a bit in the middle, where the flame was overheating our poor little house. In fear that the meltdown would lead to a collapse, we temporarily put out the flame. The only problem was figuring out a way to relight it. We'd worry abou that later.

Ah yes, we needed a path to the house. We used some face-down cards that were one of the many cheap little Christmas party favors to form a brick pathway. A few other votive candles lined the pathway, and nicely highlighted our handy work. What else? We used some of the silver cylindrical wrappers from our party favors to make a few small towers to line the path as well. (They looked sort of like small castle turrets)

Speaking of castles--one of our first ideas was to make the house into a castle using those same turret-shaped cylinders, but we had ditched that idea thinking we didn't have enough time. Since I wasn't directly involved in the building, I figured I'd play around with the turrets and make my own little castle. My tablemates were impressed, and thought the castle should be part of our display. And so, a quaint fairy-tale castle stood adjacent to the house, with its own little playing card/brick pathway.

To complete the deal, we found a way to relight our candle without damaging the frame. One person took a skinny long piece of cardboard that was on the table, lit the end in one of the pathway votives, and through the direction of others peering through the little windows, revitalized our interior lighting. A masterpiece.

Could there be any doubt as to the champion of this contest? Oh yes, it was us, and I have since tasted the fruits of our labor--grape in particular ;) hehehe, Once they awarded the winners, they said they would give one more bottle of wine to the first table to destroy their house--just as the house was finishing those words, one of the girls grabbed our bottle of wine and roughly smashed our house right down the center like she was christening a ship. It was priceless. I think they were hestitant to give us another prize, so they gave the wine to another table house house had collapsed earlier in the night. Oh well, not like we really needed it anyway. But it was funny as hell.

The only question is: who are the poor sods that have to clean up after our mess?

It was the best of times, it was the boringest of times

No, I'm not saying that A Tale of Two Cities is boring; actually I'm really enjoying the novel so far. It helps so much to be in London, and to have toured around some key areas of England, becoming more familiar with the geography around here. What's boring is the last bit of school I have left. Tomorrow I'm being observed by my cooperating teacher again--you'd think I should be nervous, considering I don't have my lesson plan all drawn up, but really, I'm just too tired of it all to care.

The kids are alright and the teachers are fine too. I just want to get out of the confines of an 8-4 day and be free to run around London and then on to Europe, with no more worries about my future employment. It's not even school that is bothering me--it's the job hunting. I know I need to do more of it before I go traveling with Jenny so that I'm not COMPLETELY screwed when I get back to GB. ::sigh:: All this responsibility for my own future weighing down on me. I'm looking forward to forgetting about that for a few weeks :P

On a totally different, almost completely pointless and more positive note, I have an excess of pizza in my fridge--anyone want some?

Swing low sweet chariot...am I in the 19th century South?

Rugby fans and onlookers crowded the square and such today, seeing the parade and big to do here in town. I can't say I joined them 1) because I haven't felt good today 2) I'm not a rugby fan 3) I'm not British and 4) I didn't feel like being in a crowd. It still makes me wonder how on earth they got it into their heads to use the song "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" as a victory song. It's a song from during the time of slavery in the U.S., something the then African-American slaves would sing about dying and going to heaven. Somehow, I'm not quite getting the connection with a British sport. Maybe it's just me.

"AaWeeeeee um weee um aaWeeyum bambaway!"

In the jungle, the London jungle, The Lion King tonight. A good show. A very good show. The costumes were just...wow, impressive doesn't begin to describe them, primarily African influenced but with the added dimension of taking on a bigger, three dimensional shape--after a while, I stopped noticing the human beings behind them. The use of lighting was spectacular--great contrasts of light and shadow, and a few tricks too. It was very powerfully done and adds some plot thickeners to the original animated film. All in all, well worth a night at the theatre.

I can't say it was my favorite musical...I'm not even sure what my favorite would be. Every musical I have seen has been completely unique from the others. But The Lion King tonight was a special treat, and I'm glad my brother suggested it. I do sort of wish the theater was a bit better though. It was small, which is okay since that meant we weren't that far from the stage.

However, the seating is not in "stadium" form, so the stupid bald dude in front of me took up half the stage in my line of sight with his huge shiny melon. I had to tip my head to the side and lean over a bit to get a good view for a lot of it, but he would shift, so I moved my head around. That meant the young boy behind me had to move his head to see the stage when MY head was blocking his view, which I overheard him saying to his little friend. I really didn't care--not when I was paying £40 to see this musical. If I could deal with it, so could the 10 year old. So :P

Spoiled Sweet--Rotten is such an icky word

This week has been like a mini pleasure cruise thus far, thanks to my family visiting me. My brother Scott and his wife Jennifer are here, and my mom and her friend Donna are here, both sets staying at different hotels in the area. Of course, I've been able to take advantage of their hotels, having a bath and a nice night of rest with my mom since the three of us were all going to Leeds, Cantebury and Dover the next morning. What a trip!

Leeds Castle was beautiful, inside and out...I just longed to have the place to myself, filled with warm fires and lights, sitting by one of many window seats over-looking the swans in the moat and the splendid gardens while writing some countryside inspired masterpiece. Unfortunately, Mom, Donna and I spent too much time in the gift shop thereby limiting our already limited time, making it a very rushed tour through the castle. But I think I saw enough.

We were on a bus tour that also included going to Cantebury and Dover. Cantebury was a pleasant surprise. I hadn't even realized everything that was there, until I was walking between the columns and looking up at centuries old stained glass windows and silenlty wondering at the site where Thomas Beckett was killed.

Dover was just a quick photo stop where there was a fantastic view of the white cliffs, Dover Castle, and the WWII bunkers hidden in the cliffs. Oh, and the English Channel spreading across the horizon where a bit of France is just visible. Naturally I was the first to wander down to the shore (after taking a few pictures), walk up to the edge of the water, and touch my hand down into the waters...and then have a nice little wave come and get one of my feet all wet. But I picked up a stone, so I have a little bit of Dover to take back with me.

And now it's Tuesday, back to the grindstone here at school. It's getting more and more difficult to concentrate on my student teaching when there's so much else to do. Last night I went out to a place called The Gaucho Grill for a fabulous Argentine steak dinner...mmmmm. We all went to that--Scott and Jennifer had been there the night before, but thought well enough of it to take Mom, Donna and I there with them another night. Scott paid for the Merlot, Mom paid for my dinner, and I just ate my fill, happy as a clam...or cow :) Yeah, it was nice.

After dinner, I took everyone to a pub--they asked if I knew any good ones around and I'm like, dudes, there's pub on every other corner here...But they wanted something I might suggest. Well, honestly I haven't been to that many here, since there is a bar right at ISH. But I did remember one that I had stopped in that seemed unique. It took a bit to retrace my steps, but I didn't take them one foot off track (though maybe a little out of the way from the station, but at least then I knew where I was going) and we found the pub: The Sherlock Holmes.

It's a neat, traditional little pub, with soft chairs and plenty of Sherlock Holmes memoirbelia. Seems that my choice was right on--it was nice and quiet, plenty of room, and everyone found something they liked to drink. All in all, a successful little trip, even if we did get a little sidetracked later when we crossed over the Golden Jubilee Bridge for a little late night sight-seeing. But we all made it back before the Tube closed for the night, with Scott and Jennifer escorting me back to the student house.

::sigh:: The bell has rung, signaling to me that my time is done here for blogging. I'll put some links in as soon as I have another free moment this afternoon. For now, it's off to ICT.

Oh I love to eat turkey on Thanksgiving...

Adam Sandler has it right, there's just nothing better than a good ole turkey dinner on Thanksgiving. Granted, I could have done without the brussel spouts, and adding a couple pieces of random sausage to the plate was an interesting concept, but I guess despite the painful payment of £26.50...it was a worthwhile meal. I mean, I did get a nice glass of Pinot Grigio with it, and the meal WAS quite tasty. But still, woah, it was just a bit over-priced in my opinion. It makes what the student house here was offering sound actually reasonable. I guess I just didn't expect it to be so pricey, especially after Jenny and I had that nice Italian meal of wine, dinner, and dessert all for less than what I just payed. Oh well, it was Thanksgiving. I guess I could just be thankful that I'm somehow able to pay for this dinner, even if it does mean cafeteria food the rest of my time here. Eh, like my stomach can really tell the difference anyway ;)

How were all of your Thanksgivings? I'm betting they were a bit more relaxed than mine, since all of you folks in the States got today and tomorrow off :P Jerks. Just kidding. Hope you all had a good time, plenty of food, and lots of fun with your family and friends. For now, it's time for me to sleep off the turkey. Later ;)

Tea Party: Would you like one cake, or five?

Mmmmmm, I'm so stuffed right now. I've just had my fill of tea (with milk), cakes, and shortbread....and plenty of conversation. The best part was, I wasn't the only babbler. The host herself just went off on this huge story about her trip to St. Petersburg, and all the misadventures they had. I couldn't believe how many things totally went wrong for her. She was with a travel group, and they had a not overly helpful travel guide. During the course of the trip, their plane was delayed, one person missed the flight, they were held up at customs, they had to walk down numerous flights of stairs and through the lobby just to use the bathroom and shower every day in their hostel, one man had his passport stolen on the metro, they had to hurry to get to a ballet that they ended up buying tickets for through the black market since the travel guide didn't want to bother helping them find any for the ballet they wanted, all while wading through a huge crowd of people parading through the city in support of communism, and after it all....she had a blast. I love traveling.

Splish Splash I was taken to Bath

I did get pretty wet this weekend, but it was more the rain pouring all over me and tredding through wet grass and puddles that got me. Just a quick update on things here before this card runs out in a minute. I saw Stonehenge, Avebury, Lakock, and Castle Combe this weekend, and it was a blast. This coming weekend my mom and brother and his wife are coming. It's going to be busy but it's going to be fun. Time to run! I'll write more later. ;)

Reading like a mo fo

Wow, the last couple weeks I've been in a reading frenzy. I've read Holes, R. A. Salvatore's The Lone Drow, Of Mice and Men, The Iron Man, and started reading Michael Crichton's Timeline. It just feels GREAT to be reading so much, either because the kids at the school are reading the novels or just for fun. After Timeline I'll be out of personal books to read, so I might just have to stop in the school library and swipe a book or two to read for a while. Or I might drop by a bookstore and grab a classic I've been meaning to read. So many possibilities.

As for my writing, I haven't accomplished much more than a poem and a few random lines, some brainstorming for lesson plans, and some blogging and journaling. Still, it feels good to get some of the much needed journaling done, and it IS good practice for the fiction I SHOULD be writing.

I do plan on working on Meandering Evengale this week, first writing an entry out in a notebook and then typing it and posting it--much cheaper and effective that way. I want to write a quality entry to follow up Tricia's most excellent addition to the story :) Time to get creative.

Of course, I can't forget about my student teaching and the lesson planning and formal journaling I must complete in the 4.5 weeks I have left here. Doesn't sound like much, does it? And for all I need to get finished in that time...it certainly isn't much time. I need to keep up with my daily log, do some case studies of particular students, reflect on differences between the American and British education systems, and do various other things to show what I'm doing and learning durning this second half of term.

::sigh:: And today in the staff room I saw a newsletter on the table advertising a couple teaching job openings in the district. No openings for an English teacher nor am I really looking for any jobs in the UK for that matter (though if a super sweet job was offered, it WOULD be tempting despite the complete upheaval of my life that it would cause :P), but it was a poignant reminder of the job search I SHOULD be doing. It's past mid-November, and I want to have a job by February. I've certainly got my work cut out for me.

But my work at the school is proving to be a very worthwhile experience. I may not be doing much teaching, but I AM learning to make myself useful where I can. The head teacher has me working with the English, Drama, and ICT departments, which I think spreads me pretty thin to be doing any seriously effective teaching. However, working with the Drama classes might show me a few tricks I can use in my own English classroom. And helping students during their ICT classes, answering questions about certain computer programs one-on-one with the students, could be an invaluable asset to my own computer education. And that's not all.

In addition, the ICT teacher mentioned that their website needs a lot of work, but there is no one available to devout their time to it...sounds like a door knocking to me. It would be such an awesome opportunity for me to learn more about web design! Only problem is that I might not know enough to even begin tackling such an ambtious task. But I'm willing to try if the ICT staff is willing to help me out. I'd even pick up a book or two on webdesign and do some of my own experimenting with Front Page and such. Even if I make very little progress, it's totally worth a shot if it means getting more experience in an area I'm interested in.

AND, wouldn't all of these different experiences in English, Drama, and ICT look wonderful on a resume? ::sigh:: Making a resume --> looking for a job --> hours of frustration --> many rejections --> finally finding a job that I probably won't like but I'll need to take it cuz it's the best thing I can find. Bleah, whatever. Anything's gotta be better than working in a box factory :P

"Single Serving Friends" or Moments to Be Remembered?

You know that scene in Fight Club when the main character is on the airplane and talks about "single serving friends," the people that come and go especially when travelling, who you talk to for a while but that's about it? I was reminded of that on the train today on the way back from Lancaster.

There was a nice fellow sitting at one of the table setup kind of seats, so I thought I'd take the spot across from him since there weren't many other spots open and he looked like he might be interesting. Sure enough, he went to the same "uni" as Jenny at Lancaster and was on his way home for the 1.5 hour daily commute. We talked a while about travelling in the US, the sights in Britain, and life in our respective towns.

When we arrived at his hometown of Crewe, we wished each other luck and said good-bye. We never exchanged names.

I spent about 7 hours on the plane to London next to a young woman named Anette, but I didn't know her name until I asked her about 2 hours into the flight. I spent about 2 hours on a train to Lancaster this weekend chatting with a friendly older woman named Julie, and didn't even realize I didn't know her name until I tried to tell Jenny whose mobile phone I was using to call her. Single serving friends. But coincidently, both of those ladies were teachers in some area of Britain. Funny, hm?

Maybe they are just temporary aquaintances, but they did the job spendidly. I've never been bored on a trip. And the same goes for the random people I've met at the bar downstairs, or at the school I'm working at. Such interesting people to meet from all over the place. All it takes is a few friendly words of greeting and a whole stream of conversation can come forth. Or I could have silently sat down, put on my headphones, and tuned out the world. Perhaps there's time for both.

Highlights from the Weekend

*Listening as middle-aged + Italian men debate smoking cigarettes in restaurants, and then Jenny and I joining the debate, telling our views are about it as Americans.

*At that same Italian restaurant eating the best meal I've had since I arrived...mmmm, spinach tortelloni sprinkled with real, fresh parmesean, the house white wine, and smooth coffee ice cream covered in a shell of white chocolate with a resevoir of creamy chocolate in the center. Each bite was a reminder of why I love good food and am really sick of cafeteria food twice a day.

*Riding the lion at Trafalgar Square ;) Nice ass.

*The beautiful red, orange, and yellow curtain of leaves covering an entire wall near St. James's Park.

*Watching a procession of carriages, horses, guards, and dignitaries on their way towards Buckingham Palace. Oooh, and the palace itself with all the gold guilded gates. Too bad we didn't see the changing of the guard--another time.

*Staying up until 6:30am (after a night at the bar downstairs) watching late night BBC shows like the movie Maurice...so gay ;) No really, it was all about homosexuality in the early 1900s. And Hugh Grant went from looking like his young hot self to this dude with nasty slicked back hair and a bad mustache (he reminded me of the old Strong Bad, you know, from the days of The Sneak and such). And then watching a bad sitcom, a mind-boggling game show, and a wonderful little kid's song about Tigers..."Raowww, Raowww."

*And last but not least, making travel plans at 2am in the women's bathroom.

Weekend with Jenny

Yep! This weekend Jenny's comin' to visit :) And it's totally going to rock. We'll do the tourist thing, we'll do the I-know-a-bit-about-London thing, and most of all, we'll just have lots of fun running around the big city (and sleeping in, of course ;) It's been so long! Yep, this will rock. And maybe there'll be popcorn too...if I can locate some. Anyway, it's late, I'm tired, better head to bed so I can get a few things done tomorrow afternoon. Later ;)

And for my next trick...

An interesting day at the school. Yep, quite. Today was fairly typical, with observing and helping where I can. First I was with a double class (two class periods in a row) of 9th year English, and then I went upstairs after break (there's a 15 min break every morning at 10:30) to see 10th year English. Sounds pretty normal, right? Yeah...So I got there, and my cooperating teacher isn't there. I figure she's a bit late, so I stand outside the door, waiting.

Then another teacher comes along, sees me waiting, and opens the door for me so I can sit down. That was nice. I used the time to continue reading Holes, which the 8th year students are reading (I've wanted to read it for quite a while). I got another short chapter in, and then the bell rang, and students started congregating outside the room. A couple peeped in, saw me, and asked if I was their teacher today. I said no, I'm a student teacher, and their teacher is coming, she's just running a bit late. So, they waited a while, and then asked to come in, and I'm like sure. But they then decided outside the classroom was a better idea. Really didn't matter to me, as long as they were well-behaved.

Shyeah, right, like a group of 14-15 year olds, left mainly to themselves with no real figure of authority nearby are going to behave. I decided to stand up and see about getting them in the classroom where they could sit down, since there seemed to be too many in the small hallway, and they were getting loud. I told them they could go have a seat in the classroom. My words were totally lost on them. Instead, they decided to start pushing each other around, in a very closed space, so that about 5 young men, all bigger than me, were jostling each other, pushing, shoving, and punching, all within a few feet of me.

I was like....FUCK! What the hell do I do?! So I yelled at them, told them to stop. I wasn't about to jump into the fray because I wasn't sure they'd stop a fist if my face was in front of it or not. They seemed to be mostly play-fighting, but some of those pushes and punches were coming in harder than they should. But as much as I yelled, they just ignored me. And then my savior arrived.

No crown of thorns or cross, but he saved me nonetheless. One of the other teachers came, and when he arrived, they calmed a bit. He got them to sit down in the classroom, though they were still quite loud. He then turned to me, and said he would go downstairs and look for the teacher. I'm like....great....Me, alone again, with a class that has already proven it can and will ignore every word I say. What do I do?

Think fast, Katie, think fast! What can I do to catch their attention and keep it long enough that they won't tear each other, or myself, apart? Singing and dancing was out of the question (except maybe at last resort). The students wouldn't give much information as to what they're lessons were, so I had no idea what they've been talking about in class, plus classwork from a pseudoteacher would not go over very well. So I did the first thing that came to my head: tell a story.

I announce to the class, "Alright class, can I have your attention? Who would like to hear a story?" At the last question, the majority of them shot their hands up in the air, turned their faces towards me, and for the most part, shut up. I'm like...sweet! Now what the hell do I say?

I didn't have a story book on me, nor did I have a fan-skippin-tastic story to tell that I could think of at that very stressful and pivotal moment. So I decided to make do with my own little tale. Not very creative, but it did get their attention for a while.

"There once was a student teacher, who came here from the United States. She just arrived Saturday, and it was her first time abroad. She came to a new school, and had to learn very much in a very short time, about the education system, the student, and the teachers." At this, the students were like, ohhhh, because of course they understood that I was just talking about myself. But they still were mostly attentive. "She knows she must stand out (I pointed at my clothing and such) by the way she looks and by her very apparent American accent. She is going to be helping out in the classroom, and eventually teaching, until Christmas."

Here I was losing a bit of their attention, but I luuured them back in with, "In fact, I will be working with your class, and a few others. And later, I will be teaching one or two classes in particular. And I get to decide which ones. Whichever one I like." I knew that maybe it wouldn't matter much to them, but on the other hand, the other classes seemed rather intrigued at the idea of having me as their teacher.

So, this took up about 5 min. The other teacher came back, but still not their regular teacher. Apparently she was finishing up a meeting with a parent, and she'd be on her way soon. That left a few open minutes...that didn't look too pretty from my perspective. Neither of us really knew what to do, and all the kids could tell us was that they had been working with poetry. Unfortunately, I had no poetry with me to share, and my efforts at asking what they thought about poetry went completely unheeded as they went back to their roaring and goofing around. Again, I had to think, think, think fast...

A game! Yes! A prize! Yes! Okay, I knew what to do. I had some American souvenirs with me I planned to use as small gifts before the end of my term here, that just happened to be in my bookbag. What could I pull from my bag of tricks? Ah yes....that would work just nicely.

"Okay students, who would like a prize?" Again, hands shot up, students were cheering, yeah! Good, got their attention. "If you can answer this question--with your hand raised and NO shouting out the answer--I will give you a small prize. Tell me, what team is this the symbol for?" I pasted a familiar symbol on the white board.

Hands shot up, and I called on each one individually. "The Giants?" "The Chicago Bulls?" "Georgetown?"...the list went on, all completely wrong, some for not even the right sport. It was great :) I gave them a hint. "Okay, the team is in the Midwest." (They have no clue what that means). "This team won the first and second Superbowls." (no clue) "Alright, the team is in Wisconsin." More guesses all around, but again, no clue. Then the teacher arrived. YESSSSS!

The kids were left in suspence. They wanted to know the answer. "Would you like to know the answer? It begins with a G...(no clue) It is a color." Finally, "Green!"
"Yes, the Green Bay Packers, which is where I am from."

The teacher started class, and I sat down, drained but feeling good. A student asked, "So what was the prize?"
"Oh, just some stickers"
The class laughed. Sweet :)

Time Time Time, see what's become of me

Okay, that's annoying. I changed the time to GMT, so that my posts here in London would actually show the time here. All well and good, except that changes ALL the times, so all my older posts are all stupid. I wonder if there's some way I can fix that...

The Way Out

I'm in London! I mean, London, England, me here now!!!! This so fucking rocks! My roomies are nice, both English Ed. majors. It's cool, though I'd like to meet some other international students or natives, just getting outside the typical US and the accent and all that. Jenny's experience at Lancaster just sounds so cool, with it being primarily British flatmates. But here, they group you together by location, but oh well. There's places...DUDE! BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY, on the radio, NOW!!! sweet...that makes my day :) "Look up to the skies and seeeee" Ah yes, an affirmation of my American roots...Wayne's World, what a wonderful movie.

Anyway, I should walk around, meet people, check things out. My roomies are all tired, but I'm wide awake and ready to go, thanks to my nap. As I had started saying, there are places like this internet cafe, a bar, and other social areas in which I can meet people from all over the world. I'd love to blog more, but I've spent way too much time sitting around on my own in the last 24 hours. Time to be social. "ME! Galileo, Figaro...He's just a poor boy from a poor family....Will you let me go, NO! we will not let you go...will not let you go, will not let you go, will not let you go, No no no no no no no!...for MEEEEEEEE!" Okay, I'm done singing. Hard to keep up with "type singing" on a foreign keyboard where the buttons are in just a tiny bit different places, so I make more typos. "oooooooh, oh yeah, oh yeah...Nothing really matters--anyone can see. Nothing really matters, nothing really matters, to me...Any way the wind blows ::sustained cymbol/gong::" Okay, I'm sad, I know ;) Well, off I go. Perhaps I'll come around later, when mayhap some of you US blokes are about. I guess it's only 2pm there. Later dudes :)