9-day, whirlwind spring break--Part I in Ireland

What a trip! Jenna and I left a day early for spring break (we skipped a teacher work day Friday, April 8th). We took the two-hour-long train ride to Frankfurt on Thursday after school. We had a 9:40 p.m. flight to Dublin, Ireland. The flight was two hours, but because of the time zones, we landed in Dublin at 10:40 p.m. We flew Lufthansa... it is SO nice. Lots of room, nice service, good snacks. From Dublin airport, we took the Aircoach bus into Central Dublin and got off at the Trinity College stop. Our hostel was up the hill a good ways from Trinity College (and with suitcases and a backpack, it seems much farther!).

We arrived at our hostel thinking it would be very nice, at least from everything we found online about it.... It wasn't. It was a huge, old, dingy building with a winding staircase. For me this wasn't a problem because my suitcase wasn't too big or too heavy. And luckily we were on the first floor--aka one floor up from the ground floor. Ground floor here is considered 0. Jenna, however, decided to take a HUGE suitcase on spring break. Not a good idea. And it was a heavy one too. Everywhere we went, someone had to help her. If we were in a hostel, I could take my bag upstairs and then come down to help her. When we were in public, though, I couldn't help her, so she was lucky that strangers offered to come to her aid. Though who wants random people carrying your bag up a flight of stairs in the metro station?? Whatever.

So back to this hostel... it was gross. The rooms were dingy and the linens seems pretty clean (I found out later they for sure wash the bedding after every use, thank goodness). We stayed in a room with six beds... so three bunks. There was no bathroom for each room... my first hostel experience with a shared bathroom for an entire floor or entire hostel. There were separate showers for men and women, but they were NASTY. Just icky.... thank goodness I found some men's flipflops to buy at the PX last month. Men and women had to share toilets, though... two stalls. Gross.

Anyway, it was midnight or later before we got checked in and got to bed. We were each assigned a specific bed in the room. Mine happened to be on the top above a stranger. Jenna was in a bottom bunk next to the bed under me (if that makes sense). This next bit is a little graphic, so if you don't want to read, skip ahead to the next paragraph. I woke up in the middle of the night to the bed rocking. I realized the person under me was totally have sex with someone. I was pissed and so grossed out. Afterward, the dude got out of bed and went to the bathroom. When he came back in I made sure to give him the evil eye. I was so mad. The next morning I said something to Jenna about it.... She informed me that there was no other person in the bed with him! Yes. He was masturbating, but apparently thrusting so hard like he was having sex with someone, that it was rocking the whole bunk. SICK! Jenna had the bed next to his.... lucky her.

We got up early the next morning for a breakfast of bread and water (haha... okay, maybe there was a toaster, some jam, and some orange juice and instant coffee) before we departed on our Shamrocker Southern Tour. The tour departed from our hostel, which was another reason we chose to stay in Kinlay House. We left around 8:30 a.m. on Friday, April 8th.

We first stopped in the town of Abbeyleix to go into a SuperValu grocery store to get some food to hold us over through the lunching hours. Our first "stop" was in Cashel to see Cashel Rock. It is an old, old structure that has been a castle, a Christian church, a monastery, a stronghold, and where the High Kings of Munster once lived. How interesting, eh?

That was a quick stop because we were on our way to kiss the Blarney Stone! And yes, I kissed the Blarney Stone and I now have the "gift of the gab!" Blarney Castle is very pretty and well-preserved. The castle grounds are very pretty too. Not only is there a castle, but other stuff to explore there as well, such as the Druid's Cave, the Poison Garden, the Rock Close, and the Dungeon. So cool. Once you've climbed up the narrow, winding staircase to the top of the castle, you must lay on the ground, grab the two bars on the wall, bend backwards while some worker holds on to you, shimmy down as far as you can to kiss the Blarney Stone. The stone is just a stone on the outer wall of the castle... clear at the bottom.

Needless to say, that was a bit of an adventure! So I of course bought a magnet that is a bright red pair of lips that says "I kissed the Blarney Stone."

After exploring the grounds for a while, putting a euro penny in the witches stone (it's a rock that looks like a witches face.. and I don't know why you leave coins on her), and standing in the middle of the Druid's Circle so no evil spirits could harm me, we were off to Killarney until the next morning. We stayed in a pretty nice hostel, called Neptune's Hostel. We were in a 6-bed room with a girl from Tazmania on holiday, two girls studying in London from California and Pennsylvania, and a Canadian girl working and living in Dublin. It was a pretty fun group. Our room was nice, had a decent amount of space, and we had our own bathroom.

Jenna and I chilled out for a little bit, checked our email, used some weird pay phone to call home, and then set out for dinner. We ate at Murphy's pub. I had the shepherd's pie. It was SO good... I was hoping it would be made with lamb, but instead this one was beef. But it's beef, some peas, some carrots, and some green beans in this mush kind of thing with a layer of smashed potatoes on top. Very filling. Had a cider to wash it down. Also very good.

After dinner, we went to a place called Courtney's for a pint. The guy at our hostel recommended it to us. There was a live band playing. Afterward, we met the people on our tour at a place called O'Connor's. That place was crowded! I was in such a bad mood there, I just wanted to go back to the room and go to bed. After that, though, we all went to this discotheque at the Grand Hotel. It was really cool. The room you walk into has a live band playing and then the room back through the doors is the discotheque. Both were really cool. Killarney is a big party town if you couldn't tell. In fact, all of Ireland is a party town.

So I spent most of my time in the room with the live band. Which, by the way, this band was so weird. It was a bunch of old dudes and one younger guy in suits.. the young one was the lead singer. They only played covers.... and ALL sorts of covers. The one that sticks out most in my mind is "Oh Baby, Baby" by Britney Spears. haha. But I spent most of my time chatting it up with the Australian, Toboggan Tom. Tom was some guy who also seemed slightly socially awkward like me (not into being social butterflies, dancing to weird cover bands, and perhaps a little "smarter than the average bear"---quote from the young Kevin Cox), so we ended up talking for a lot of the night. Oh, and he wore a toboggan... one of those hipsters. He is living in Dublin currently and decided to go on a tour with Paddywagon (that is the competing company to Shamrocker). Anyhow, he was nice and cute. And that was my evening: listening to a weird cover band and Toboggan Tom talk.

Side note: There are sheep everywhere and I love them.

The next day was a beautiful coastal day along the Dingle Peninsula. We stopped at Inch Beach, which is actually three miles long, where I got to see a car stuck in the sand and the driver trying to dig it out.. made for some good amusement. We stopped at some old lady's house to see ancient bee huts. These bee huts are mostly all out on the very harsh islands off the coast where people aren't allowed to live anymore, but a few on are on the mainland. These bee huts were manned by monks and were built without mortar. How interesting.

Inch beach:

Ancient bee huts:

Okay, so after the bee huts we went to Coumenoule Beach, which is the most westerly point in Ireland. Parts of the movie Far and Away with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were filmed here. It was really pretty. I was going to dip my feet in the water so I could let Ireland steal part of my soul (which I can only get back if I visit Ireland within the next 10 years.. or 20 years... I can't remember), but I decided against it because I didn't want to get my feet all dirty with sand and then have dirty, wet socks the rest of the day.

Finally it was time for lunch! We went to a fishing village, Dingle an Daigean en Cuis ("Dingle Dingle by the sea" in Irish). This is a part of the country where they still speak Irish rather than English. All signs in Ireland, such as street signs, are in Irish and then in English. People in this part of the country speak English, but Irish is the main language. I ate some fresh fish and chips from a place called Harrington's, and it was delightful. Did a little shopping and bought a really cute purple, wool, capey ponchoey sweatery thing. Got some ice cream from Murphy's.... caramel and sea salt. Sea salt ice cream... it is SO good. And paired with the caramel...mmmmm. Best ice cream I think I've ever had. Honest.

Also in Dingle, it is said this one dolphin has been hanging around the harbors since the 1980s. His name in Fungi (Fun-jee). It is said he likes people better than dolphins. Anyway, there's a bitchin statue of Fungi right by the harbor! So our tour group had a contest to see who could get the funniest picture with Fungi. However, I think Carol, the tourguide, forgot about the contest because we never compared pictures. haha. But here's mine:

and a couple other pictures of Dingle's harbor:

After Dingle, we left Kerry County and drove into County Clare. We made a stop in the town of Adare, where there are hundreds of years old thatched-roof cottages. So cute and so cool. Just killed a bit of time and had a rest break.

Then we were on to Ennis for the night after crossing the Shannon River. In Ennis we stayed at the nicest hostel in Ireland, Rowan Tree Hostel.. for real, it won the award this past year. And it was very nice. It's haunted too. We stayed in the newer part of the hostel, though, not the old house part. So we had no hauntings. But it was very nice and roomy and had a nice bathroom. Stayed with the same girls again.

The six of us ate dinner at a place that was slightly expensive and served small portions. We went out to a couple of pubs, but they sucked.. Ennis is full of creepy, old men. I couldn't stand to be around them, so I hung out with the California girl and the Tazmanian girl. This was a better choice, but not by much. The two of them had some weird dudes from Ohio who were following them around on our whole tour. These dudes were just visiting Ireland, had rented a car, met these girls in Killarney, and followed our tour ever since that first night in Killarney. So. Weird. We saw them every single place we went. But the four of them were being all coupley... my night sucked! haha.

Although.. we were having a contest on our tour to see who could get the best "souvenir." The souvenir had to be given to you. You could not buy it. You could not steal it. In one of the pubs was a band made up of twentysomething, cute guys. From them, I got a guitar string in the paper envelop still and a guitar pick. I did not win, but oh well! Some Stephen dude won the contest... he got actual stuff from stores.. a keychain, a deck of cards, and something else too. Ha!

So the final day of our tour was Sunday, April 10. We went to the Cliffs of Moher, which was absolutely so freakin stinkin cool. Huge. These cliffs are also known as the Cliffs of Insanity on the Princess Bride. But it was very neat. Spent some time hiking up there to see the great views.

After the Cliffs, we stopped in Galway for lunch. Jenna and I ate at a neat place called the King's Head. There was a weird king's head mannequin-looking thing along the stairs... I guess that was it. But I was in major need for some vegetables, so I got a chicken caesar salad. It was good. After that, we drove back to Dublin and arrived around 5 p.m.

Jenna and I stayed at the Kinlay House again that night... oh joy. We got there to find out we were put in separate rooms.. Great! So I got into my room and put my pajamas out on my bed and got my shower stuff out so I could just be organized for later. Jenna and I went out to see a few sights in Dublin, like Christ Church Cathedral (which was right beside our hostel), St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin Castle, and other buildings. We decided to eat at a local place where I got the Beef and Guinness stew/pie. It was so good. It's just like a vegetable and beef kind of stew where they use Guinness as broth. It's very good. After dinner we walked around and went into a pub called the Mercantile. It was really neat. They had a lot of different bands playing small sets. They were all really good. We chatted it up with a couple cute boys. One was Galeo (unfortunately he's gay... aren't all the cute ones gay, it seems??), but the other I can't tell you his name because I couldn't understand him with his Irish accent! haha!

When I got back to the hostel there was some older man in my bed. I couldn't figure out what in the world was going on and where he'd put my stuff(!), so I turned the light on. He was a total jerk and was telling me to turn the light out. I was calmly telling him he was in my bed and I couldn't find where he'd moved all my stuff. He just kept telling me that that was his bed and he'd slept there the night before and "will you just turn the light off?!!" I was so pissed. I was trying to quickly locate and gather all my crap up while he was yelling at me so I could just shower, put pjs on, and go to bed. I went downstairs to the front desk just to make sure I wasn't crazy and that that bed was actually my bed. It was. The man at the desk was very nice and asked if I wanted him to go talk to the guy. I said no because it'd only make the situation worse and thanked him anyway. Jenna and I showered in the icky stalls next to each other and went off to our separate rooms. When I got back, the man was much nicer and apologized. He said he didn't realize they assigned beds. That was nice, I guess.

We slept in the next morning and set off for the airport around noon or so. We took the Airlink bus to the airport. We had no problems getting checked in and made our flight well in advance. We got there early enough they tried to get us to take an earlier flight, but we declined so we could eat McDonalds. :)

It's been a while

It's been a while since I've written. The past couple of weeks since my Italy trip, I've just stayed in Baumholder. Weekends were filled with eating in town, going to the trashy bar for some laughs, having cookouts with my student teacher friends, going to the girls' and boys' soccer games (by the way, our boys' varsity team is SO good), and going to my teacher's house for a very nice dinner one Saturday evening.

Last weekend, I made it back to Bernkastel-Kues with Terry so I could buy a pair of Birkenstocks. I'd regretted not buying a pair when I was there before... they have them for pretty decent prices there. I ended up getting a pair of Papillo sandals, which are the style, girly, color, patterned Birkenstocks. Terry and I also enjoyed a boat ride down the Mosel River. The weather was gorgeous; I definitely got some sun.

The weather has just been pretty nice here for a while now; we've kind of lucked out. It's been sunny most days and anywhere from the 50s through the 70s. Today it was probably about 70 and sunny. I was a little toasty walking home from school.

I have been crazy busy. Student teaching is just getting busy, but I've also got a lot of crap to do for Ball State so I can graduate. It's a pointless pain in the rear. I have been working so hard the past week trying to get all of this stuff done. I'm almost there.

I will be back in time for graduation. I didn't know if I was going to walk, especially because my dad wasn't going to be able to get there. He is officially coming to Germany, but had to get back for that Saturday. Kristin has to be at the county tourney golf meet since he is the coach. Therefore, my dad has to run the store that day. I talked to my dad on the phone yesterday and he said they're just going to close the store that day. :) How sweet. Speaking of my dad, I got an awesome Easter package in the mail this week. Tons of Easter candy, a cool metallic-colored Easter egg coloring kit, and a [child's] t-shirt that says says something about "since 1989." Dad said he thought, "I know something else from 1989." C'est moi.

This week has been very stressful. I've had about 11 hours of sleep in three days. I feel just drained.

So some of you may know I was kind of seeing someone before I left for Germany. Many things went wrong there and it officially ended on Monday night. Honestly, I do feel relieved about it, but it was just a stressful, long, late night. And I lost another friend along the way (that whole old friend, guy loyalty thing, I guess).

Of course, the main reason why things will not work out between us is because I met someone here who I really like. He's a soldier. I said I would never date another soldier. I thought I would never be interested in a soldier. I guess I was wrong. I've known him for a month and just really like him a lot. Only a couple people back home have heard about him from me, so to most everyone reading this, it is probably a surprise.

Anyway, he is really nice. Probably the nicest guy I have ever dated. And so cute. And funny, and silly. And intelligent. And he speaks Creole-French because that was the language he grew up speaking. I honestly like him a lot. Unfortunately, though, he was deployed last week. That was sad to deal with. And of course I worry--he's in Afghanistan for crying out loud.

Yesterday at school we found out that two Baumholder soldiers were killed in Afghanistan. One was the father of a second grader and a fourth grader at Smith Elementary on base. Talk about hitting close to home. The two soldiers were training Afghan police. One of those Afghans turned out to be a "bad guy" (whoever the hell the bad guys even are) and shot the American soldiers.

When I heard the news, I was just stunned. It freaked me out. I knew my friend was okay because I'd talked to him briefly the night before, but it still really scared me. I was eating lunch with the JROTC officer in the teacher's lounge and I asked him what kind of soldiers work with the Afghan police. He told me it is usually infantry or soldiers whose jobs are more related to police-type duties. My friend is a mechanic. He often goes out on missions to recover vehicles that need to be brought back to post to be worked on. But he sometimes goes on other missions too. My conversation with Major Schwab put me at ease a little bit.

This evening I was finally able to talk to my friend for a good length of time. We chitchatted about different things. I brought up the two Baumholder soldiers because I wasn't sure if he knew. He was there. There there. He was there when it happened. (Talk about being freaked out.) He was in charge of a vehicle transporting Afghans and was transmitting messages on the radio (RTO and Vehicle Commander). So he was there and heard the shots, so he got down.

He's been there since last Tuesday. One week. And this has happened already. Not to mention he spent a couple evenings ago in a bunker because of riots right outside his base... Thanks to that preacher in Florida burning Qu'rans, Muslims are pissed. Our soldiers are getting hurt and killed because of it.

Yeah, I think the Afghanistan situation is not good. Why is the US there again?? What is the point of this war? Why do we have to be the world's police? Why can't we just worry about our own country and get out of these other countries?

I have learned so much about the military and these wars while living and teaching here. It has opened my eyes. I am thankful that I have had the chance to learn all of this--to learn the truth (or close to the truth) of what is going on. Everyday I read the Stars and Stripes newspaper, full of world news and what is actually going on with our country in Afghanistan, Japan, Libya, Iraq. It worries me, though. Especially since I know someone over there.

An old high school friend, Patrick Windjack, is stationed here. We've ran into each other a few different times in Baumholder and hung out. I used to drive him to marching band practice. Such a small world. He deploys at the end of April. Great. Another friend I have over there.

This week is just taking a toll on me. I need sleep. I need stress relief. I just had to go and meet that boy...

On the positive side, I leave for spring break tomorrow. I take the 530 train to Frankfurt. I fly to Dublin, Ireland at 940. Friday morning I leave on a tour of Southern Ireland. I have two friends who have gone on this same tour--they both said it was great. I am so excited. So that lasts through Sunday. Monday afternoon I fly to London. On Wednesday I take a day trip to Stonehenge, Bath, and Windsor Castle. On Thursday I fly to Amsterdam. On Friday I take a half-day trip to Zaanse Schans Windmills, Marken, and Volendam. I get to see windmills, cheese-making and wooden clog-making, and fishing villages. On Saturday we take a bus back to Germany. Busy week, but it will be awesome. I can't wait.

Speaking of spring break, I need to pack....

*Note: if this was difficult or flighty to read, I apologize. I usually put a little more effort into my blogs, but this is just kind of words spewing out my fingertips. I apologize for the lack of updating lately.

Italy

It's been a while since my last update. This past week was incredibly busy. BUT last weekend (the weekend of March 18, 19, 20), I went to Italy! Jenna and I took a United European Airline bus tour for military persons and anyone associated with the military. We left on Thursday evening from Baumholder at 6 p.m. The bus went to different bases in Germany to pick people up. We were the first stop. Oh joy.

We rode the bus ALL through the night to get to Bologna, Italy around 8 a.m. the next morning. I was smashed against the window. The heat was also ALL on the wall under the window. I was roasting for a lot of the trip. I did manage to get some decent sleep, though.

One of my students happened to be on the trip with his mom and three siblings. That was kind of funny. This boy is in ninth grade and definitely has a crush on me. He is just so funny. Always smiling like a fool when he talks to me. Jenna said he blushed everytime I talked to him on the trip. She also said she noticed his younger sister teasing him a lot about me. Pretty funny. He's a nice young man, though.

So we got to Bologna around 8 or 8:30. Italian flags were hanging everywhere. The day before had been the 150th celebration of Italy. We had a tour that started around 9 a.m. The weather started out a little cloudy, but cleared up after the first couple of hours. It ended up being sunny with beautiful blue skies. I didn't wear my jacket for a while either.

We got to go in the Town Hall. It was a huge building. We were able to see the room where marriage ceremonies take place and also another really big hall. What is really interesting at the Town Hall is that the stairs are really strange. They are at a strange slant and are very big. It's basically a slope with ridges that separate the "steps." And the "steps" are really big and awkward. Reason why? They were stairs for horses. Interesting, eh?

We went into the Basilica di San Domenico, which is the church for the patron saint of Bologna. It is the main church right in the main square near the Town Hall. It was built over 700 years ago.

Bologna is also known for its university founded in 1088. So we got to go to the main university building. We saw the Theatro Anatomico, which is the classroom where human dissections took place. The room is like a theater where the stage is down in the middle of the floor. Seats are all around the main floor in the middle and go up so students could look down to see the dissection. The room was actually destroyed during a bombing during WWI or II, so it was just a replica of the original. It was still really cool.

During the days when dissections were taking place, it was a big market to sell a dead body. When there weren't any bodies, people would follow funerals and then dig up the recently-dead bodies to sell to the university.

After that we got to see the old library room. There were a lot of very old books in cabinets along all the walls. Graduations also take place in that room. There were chairs and a stage set up.

We also went to see a really old church Santo Stefano, which is actually comprised of four different churches all connected. The oldest one dates back to the year 200 BCE. That oldest church is very simple and holds the sarcophagi of two martyrs. This whole site is very important because it contains a crypt from 1019 and precious art pieces. Another church is a replica of Christ's tomb and holds the remains of the patron San Petronio. It was really neat to see this church. There are a couple of neat courtyards there too.

After this, we ate lunch at a local restaurant. We were so hungry that we ordered entirely too much food. We ordered an appetizer plate of bread, cheese, and lunch meat. For my main course I had this pasta, sausage, purple-colored thing. It was so strange, but it was pretty good. There was a piece of baked cheese on top. It was so strange. Haha. It was really purple. I took a picture of it, but it just didn't turn out well.

After lunch, Jenna and I went to the market. There is a market in Bologna on Fridays and Saturdays. I got so much cool stuff! And for great prices too. I bought a couple of necklages and a ring, a cute summery dress, a pair of shoes, and a pair of sunglasses.

We left Bologna around 4 p.m. to go to Hotel Ibis in Padova. It was about an hour and a half drive. Our room was nice. Since we had been touring all day from having been on a bus all night, we could not wait to take showers! Wonderful. There were two other young, single people on the trip just across the aisle and a row in front of us, so the four of us all palled around together. Charlie and Sharon--they're both soldiers at other bases. Anyhow, the four of us were all going to go to dinner together. They came to our room around 7:45, but I was konked out on the bed. Haha. I didn't realize how tired I was. Plus, our room was REALLY hot.

Anyhow, about 15 minutes later I woke up. Jenna and I were going to see if we could order food from anywhere or get room service at least. We were looking at the menu when I saw the fine print informing all food is frozen and just heated up. We passed on room service. So we got real clothes on and went to the front desk to ask for a taxi to go someplace to eat. We ended up eating at a really neat pizza place. We shared a pizza and got fountain Fantas. We decided to get ice cream for dessert. This particular ice cream they put espresso on top of. Very interesting, but good nontheless.

After dinner we went back to the hotel. I fell asleep pretty quickly and had a great, restful night. The next morning we ate a good breakfast at the hotel and were on our way to Florence. Our tour guide thought it was only and hour and a half drive to Florence, but we quickly found out it actually takes two and a half hours to get there.

When we got there, it was cloudy and looked like it could rain. It did spit a few sprinkles around noon, but then cleared up and was beautiful. I didn't really wear my jacket at all once the sun came out.

We had another tour for about an hour and half when we got there. We saw the outside of the library. We saw The Duomo (cathedral), Baptistery St. John, and Santa Croce. These three are all right beside of each other and kind of connected. They are pretty cool and pretty. Michelangelo, Rossini, Machiavelli, and Galileo Galilei are all buried in the Santa Croce.

We went to the different squares in Florence and learned some history. We ended our tour in the main square where the town hall is located. In this square are a lot of replicas of old Roman statues. That is really neat. Jenna, Sharon, and I ate at outside at Ristorante Pizza Orcagna in the main square. It was yummy and so cool to eat in that location. We shared a small bottle of the house wine and each had out own small pizza.

Are you wondering why Charlie wasn't with us? He overslept. He was such a chump. He showed up Thursday night to get on the bus with a bottle of wine, which he drank. He told us he'd already drank a bottle before that too. He also drank six bottles of beer on the bus. On German buses, you can buy drinks (soda, water, and beer). At one point, he woke our tour guide up at about four in the morning (Thursday night) to buy a bottle of beer. (I was asleep for this; Jenna informed me the next day) Anyhow, she asked him how many he'd had and informed him this one would be his last. Haha! Anyway, he was obviously wiped out Friday, so he overslept Saturday and missed our bus to Florence.

Back to my day now. So after lunch, the three of us set off for the old bridge, Ponte Vecchio, to see some pretty scenery. There are a lot of artists set up on the sidewalks and piazzas, so we took a look at what they had. After that, Sharon and I walked up this big hill right past the Giardino delle Rose (Rose Garden) to look out over Florence. It was so pretty. Up there is a replica of the statue David. There were vendors up there. I bought a couple of cool t-shirts for five euros each. Normally I don't buy really touristy things like that. I also bought a zippie sweatshirt for 10 euros. They all say Italia or Firenze.

So after that we decided to take it easy and get some gelato, which was SO good. We chilled out and bargained for a couple of prints from African guys selling stuff on the streets. It was pretty fun and funny. As we were going back to the bus, it started to get cloudy again and as we were leaving Florence it started to rain a little.

When we got back to the bus, we were surprised to see Charlie! He got a train to Florence and just happened to find our bus. Weird.

Anyway, so we got back to the hotel. After a bit, the four of us decided to go get dinner together. Charlie had the bright idea to just get a cab to the "main" area in Padova. So we got there and started walking... not finding any place to eat. And we were starving. I really wanted some pasta! I never got my pasta. We finally found a place that was more lunchy. I got a panini and it was pretty good. We shared a bottle of wine with dinner.

After dinner we started walking and decided to go into this place we called the Blue Bar. We really don't know the name of it, but all the lights inside were blue. It looked pretty cool, but once we got in there and sat down at a table we realized it was kind of dirty. haha. It was funny. I had a mojito; it was good. We had a fun time just talking and laughing.

When we were ready to go back to the hotel we asked if we could call a cab. The place didn't have a phone and none of our cells worked there. So off we went walking. We couldn't find any main traffic areas where there were cabs, so we asked a couple of police men where to go. They pointed us in the right direction. I was pretty proud of myself. I saw a cab coming, I stepped out into the street a little bit, raised my arm... and the cab stopped! We hopped in and went back to the hotel.

The next morning was another good breakfast at the hotel. They had a fancy coffee machine that made all kinds of different copies. There were also about four sizes of cups to choose from. The morning before none of us could figure the thing out so I asked someone who worked there. I learned how to work the thing AND learned what cups to use for the different cups. Haha. So Sunday morning I knew what cups to use and how to use thing.

At 8 a.m. we left for Venice, which was only about a 30 minute drive away. The weather was the best yet of the whole weekend. We got to Venice and had to take a 25 minute boat ride to the main part. Once there, we had all the time to ourselves. The four of us palled around all morning and afternoon. The canals are cool and the little streets/sidewalks wind around everywhere. We did a lot of shopping. There is Murano glass everywhere.

I made quite a few purchases in Venice. I got a couple Murano wine bottle stoppers, two Murano rings, a scarf, and a couple of glass decorative pieces. We ate lunch at the main canal by the Rialto Bridge at a place called Cafe Saraceno. It was really nice. We sat outside in the sun. It was lovely and warm. I had a macaroni type dish with a red sauce and tuna in it. It was really good. We had bread and shared wine again. It was a really nice lunch.

After that we had to get back to the dock for our boat. We realized we got lost. We had a map and could not figure out how to get back because of the little windy streets/sidewalks that are really narrow. We finally got back after running. We were only a couple of minutes late and luckily the boat hadn't left yet.

We took the boat back and got on the bus around 2:15 to head back to Germany. We drove through the Alps in Switzerland. Roads in Italy were being redone. The one lane was really bumpy and traffic was SO backed up. It was painful. Because Baumholder was the first base to get picked up on Thursday evening, we were the last people to get dropped off on Sunday night. We got home at 3:30 a.m.

I wake up at 5:30 or so Monday through Friday, so needless to say, Monday was a little rough. It was a great trip, though. Lovely weather. I got some sun on my skin. I love Italy, especially Florence. I think I could live in Italy.

Terra Nova Terror

This week at school has been rather uneventful as it is Terra Nova testing week. Terra Nova is the standardized test DoDDs schools take, like the ISTEP in Indiana. Each day is filled with anywhere from an hour and a half to two and a half hours of testing. Monday was reading, Tuesday language, Wednesday math, Thursday is science, and Friday is social studies. There's a good possibility I mixed Thursday and Friday up, but you get the picture.

Because of the testing each morning, the schedule is all sorts of messed up the rest of the day. Yesterday was super hectic with two classes during two different periods of the day. Talk about loud and crowded. During seventh period yesterday it was a rowdy class (they've been coming in the library for a couple weeks), but they also had a sub, so they were even crazier. The other class during seventh period was a middle school class. Enough said. It was crazy. I had to raise my voice and get kinda mean even.

Today was ULTRA boring. We had nothing going on in the library today. It was kind of nice. Tomorrow I have to help with Terra Nova a little bit. I have to go relieve one of the teachers while the students are testing so he can just take a little break. Basically I just have to make sure students are taking the test: no cheating, no talking, no cell phones, etc.

Tomorrow evening, Jenna and I are leaving for a three-day weekend in Italy! I am so excited. Both of our teachers said it was okay if we miss Friday at school. We're taking a bus tour that departs at 6 p.m. We'll mainly be in Venice with two smaller trips to Florence and Bologna. I am just so excited. Rain is predicted some, but oh well. I can't really help it. It'll be a good weekend.

Bernkastel-Kues

This weekend, many BSU folks already had plans, but Terry and I did not. So last Sunday, she asked if I wanted to do something the next Saturday; we decided on traveling to Bernkastel-Kues. We'd made a stop in Bernkastel-Kues once before, but didn't get to explore.

She picked me up on Saturday morning and off we went! It's only about an hour drive. We always have fun in the car, talking and laughing. Not to mention, it's a pretty drive, even though it's on hair-pin curves on the side of a mountain part of the way.

Bernkastel is such a lovely place. It's quaint and so German. Half-timbered buildings everywhere. It's along the Mosel River and is a major place for wine. Vineyards surround the entire town on steep hillsides. It's absolutely gorgeous. Plus, we had awesome weather. It started out as partly sunny, but ended up being sunny with beautiful blue skies. The high for the day was 57 degrees. I'm not sure what the temperature ended up being, but it was the nicest day we've had yet.

We ate lunch outside at a little cafe, Cafe Alter Klosterhof. We sat in the sun. It was so warm, I took my jacket off. I enjoyed a bowl of gulaschsuppe-hausgemacht, homemade gulaschsoup. I've had it once before; it's basically like a vegetable soup with beef and a tomato-y sauce. It's really good. I also had a glass of Bernkasteler Kurfurstlag, which was a mild white wine. For dessert we both had a piece of black forest cake. It was all delicious and very enjoyable.

While we were sitting at lunch, Terry commented on how quaint and quiet Bernkastel is. She said, "There aren't babies crying or dogs barking--It's like everyone is on drugs." Haha! She's so funny.

We explored Bernkastel, founded in 1291, and all of the half-timbered buildings, taking lots of photos. Bernkastel has a lot of great little shops too. I made many purchases on Saturday. :) I bought a purse I couldn't resist and two wallets. I also bought two pottery cups, which I think are for drinking wine out of. On the outside of them are grapes and leaves. Very pretty. I also bought a pottery butter dish. It's a round dish with a lid. I love it! I especially love these purchases because they'll always remind me of Germany.

School and such

I'm starting to feel really weird about how far into the semester it's getting. I don't want to leave. The weather is getting nicer, the days are getting longer. I am just having an absolute blast this semester. I love traveling here. I love my students and many of the teachers. I feel like I've probably changed since I've been here and I'm just really nervous to go back home and have to hang out in Muncie all summer. The only thing I'll be glad to go home for is all the people I miss. I am getting so excited for my dad to visit. He gets here the day after I finish student teaching. We get to travel around for six or so days before heading back.

This past week at school I had quite a few students ask me how long I was going to be here or when I would be leaving. They all acted sad and asked if I could stay longer or if I could come back and visit. So sweet. I will miss these students so much. I just really like them.

A few of my students will be gone this week on the senior trip--I'm going to miss them! I'll be glad to see them next week.

Friday

After school on Friday I went to IKEA in Manheim (about an hour and a half from Baumholder) with my teacher and another teacher. We had a great time! IKEA has so much cool furniture and other home goods. AND it's cheap. I ended up buying an apple cutter, two coffee mugs, a one-flower vase, a coffee thermos, and a bed spread (the kind you insert the actual comforter into). I love it all! Plus, the mugs and apple cutter are in my green. "My green" is the bright, limeish green that I already have many kitchen things in. My Gram will enjoy my purchases, I'm sure.

It's been a good weekend and I'm sad to see it over. Tomorrow I'm back in the grind of being at school at 7 a.m. This week will be kind of messed up, too, because students are taking the Terra Nova tests each day. Terra Nova is the DoDDs standardized test, like ISTEP in Indiana.

Librarian or.... auto parts?

This morning was beautiful. I walk uphill to school for 15 minutes every morning at 6:45. Base is peaceful at that early hour and the sun is just coming up. It was lovely out this morning; it was not cold, it was not windy, the sky was a blue-periwinkle color with pink starting to light up the clouds. I stopped and took a picture.

For student teaching, we have to do a unit plan with a class for 10 days; it's called LAMP (Learning Assessment Model Project). We have to do a pre-test, the unit, and then a post-test to see if our students improved. This is a little difficult to do in the library.

What I'm doing, though, is working with a senior English class on their research papers. They are coming to the library once or twice a week where I work with them and then they get time to research and work on their papers. Today was technically Day 3 of the unit. But it was also like Day 4 because their teacher, Dr. M., had them come into the library to research on Monday morning. She signed up for that just before school began that morning. I didn't do any kind of lesson with them that morning, but just helped them one-on-one with researching.

Today we talked about keyword searches and subject searches. They did not seem to know the difference even though we talked about it two weeks ago this Friday. They were also just not searching well, so I did a lesson to help clarify some things with them. And I think it helped!

Once they went to research, I noticed they were all doing much better and we were finally getting somewhere! Dr. M. said it usually takes about four days of work before they start getting somewhere and start finding good information. I felt so relieved after today.

Today was also good because we just had a lot of fun during that period. I think the students have finally warmed up to me and are more comfortable with me. We just had a good time and laughed a lot.... and got somewhere with their research. It was great.

Toward the end of class, Dr. M. stopped me for a moment and told me I have a really nice voice. She said I have authority in my voice, but also seem interested in what we're talking about. She said my voice is nice to listen to and isn't boring or too much. She said that is a really important quality to have, which made me feel great! It made me feel like maybe I am going into the right profession.

__________________________________________________

With all this crap going on in education in the U.S. I'm starting to feel a little concerned. I have no idea if I will find a job.... and it's really scary. It's a scary time to be graduating from college. I am so afraid I'm just going to have to wait tables somewhere or work at Starbucks or Best Buy. I have no idea what kind of job I will have or where my job will be. My life could end up anywhere in just a few months. Whoa. Scary, but kind of cool. I guess that's the perk of being a young, single, recent college graduate.

Something that would make me more hirable for a school looking to cut back on budgets is that I'm fresh out of college=no experience=cheap. I don't have a master's degree=cheap. So, I'd be okay with getting a job in a school... At least for a while. I don't want to work for jack shit the rest of my career. So I'm thinking there could be a chance I do the school librarian thing for a few years until I feel like I deserve more money, then I'll find a different profession.

I don't know what else I could do. Maybe public library, but I'd definitely want to be in the children's area. That means getting my master's in library science and I'm not sure if I want to do that. I don't know that I like libraries that much.

I also have always been really into historic preservation. Maybe I could get a masters in that. I met someone this past winter who is in the historic preservation masters program at Ball State. I asked him if it's possible to get into that program without having a bachelor's degree in architecture; he said, "Yes, they take anyone." Good to know.

Another thought is that maybe I should just go into the auto parts family business after working for a few years in the big, bad, real world. I could totally learn about auto parts and succeed. Plus, it'd be kinda sweet to be your own boss. It'd also be a little worrisome... since it is your income and all. Plus, how fitting would it be of me? The oldest Cox kid, taking over the family business. Totally.

I've always been sad thinking that someday Farmland Auto Parts will no longer exist. Baxter and Cameron, my cousins, have never expressed much interest in taking over the business (except Cameron's class journal in first grade that said when he grew up he wanted to work at the "otto parts"). I never wanted to take over the store, but I did want it to still exist. So maybe I'll just have to take it upon myself to keep the family business in operation. I'm thinking Baxter could possibly be interested in this too. He and I could definitely take over the Auto Parts.

I was talking to a few of my BSU classmates here. We were on a train traveling to Munich a couple weekends ago, talking about all the shit going on in education right now. It dawned on me that maybe I should take over the business. I was talking about how awesome it would be: I would be my own boss, have pretty good hours, have a job that's not super-stressful (like teaching is!), could ride my bike or walk to work in nice weather (if I lived in Farmland), and could wear jeans and flannel everyday! I said this last part with enthusiasm and a big, genuine smile on my face. One girl exclaimed, "That sounds awful!," referring to the flannel and jeans. I said, "I think it'd be awesome!"

So there's my thoughts about my future.

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In my jungle of a library :)

The pretty amaryllis behind my computer:

Halfway Through+Fasching

I can't believe this past week was Week 8. That means I am halfway done with my student teaching in Germany. I feel very bittersweet about the whole thing. I will be very sad to leave the people here. I will be sad because I want to see so much more that I do not have the time to see. But I am ready to go home and be around my family and friends and to get back into my "normal" routine. This past week I started feeling homesick for everyone back home. I miss my people.

This past week at school was long. I'm not sure why it felt this way, but I think it was like that for all the teachers. It was Read Across America Week, which celebrates Dr. Seuss's birthday. It's really aimed more for elementary, but on March 2 (which is Dr. Seuss's birthday) I decided to decorate a little bit for the occasion. I printed off a big banner to hang on a book display case that said, "Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!!" It had a picture at each end of it.

Then I also printed off a regular sized piece of paper that said the same, but had a picture with a lot of different Dr. Seuss characters and hung it on the front door to the library. I also printed off a picture of a lot of characters and hung it by my front desk.

I printed off some Cat in the Hat hats and taped them up in different places in the library. The Baumholder mascot is a pirate; we're the Buccaneers. SO, I made a Dr. Seuss hat for the pirate mobile that hangs by my front desk!! I left that up because both Judy and I like it.

Also this past week at school was the science fair. There were 200 entries.... oy. The science fair was on Thursday. Students set up their projects at 2 p.m., but then the fair was actually after school from 3-5. The library was so busy all day with students finishing their projects. They used so much paper, printer ink, rubber cement, glue, and scissors. We did get everything back, though! It became rather irritating because they obviously were making things up and had put no time or effort into their projects. Sad.

But I went to the science fair for a little bit after school. It was absolute chaos in the gym, which is where the fair was held. Students were loud, running around, being immature with their friends. I made my way around the fair looking for students who I know better or students who I said I'd go see their projects. I hardly found any of them. The few I did find I could hardly hear what they were telling me about their projects because of all the madness in the gym.

Friday was just a long day in general. School seemed to drag on and on. After school a lot of students were finishing their history projects that are due Monday. How weird! Students staying after school on a Friday....obviously procrastination. Judy finally had to kick them out.

We went to the mail room, where I had a letter from my grandparents! Talk about really making me feel homesick. I love their letters. Then we went to the PX to kill some time.... we were going to the school play later that evening.

At the PX I needed to buy a new hairbrush. That morning I had dropped mine on the floor, my really hard floor, and it broke into two pieces. Handle. Brush. It was hard to style my hair! haha.

After killing time there, we met Beth, the Wetzel ET, at Judy's favorite doner kabob place in Baumholder. There we hung out until about 6:30. We headed to the playhouse then to meet Urgen, the super nice German maintenance man at school. The play started at 7 and last for THREE hours. Goodness, it was so long. They did The Music Man. It was a combined play with the school drama club and the community theater. Ages of actors ranged from 7 to old. The production was good, the actors were good, choreography was good, sets and costumes were great, everything was smooth. But a few singers were completely tone deaf. It was pretty painful.

I was about to go crazy about three hours of sitting in really uncomfortable chairs. I was so ready to go home; I was very tired. I finally got home after 10 p.m., got combobulated, showered, and was asleep by midnight. I slept until 10 a.m. on Saturday. Then napped form 3-4:45 Saturday afternoon. It was glorious; I needed that sleep so badly.

That evening, Jenna, Terry, Emma, Kristi, and I ate in town at the Statkrug. They cook over an open fire there; it is so cool. It's good food and a really neat, cozy atmosphere. After dinner, we went to the Eis Cafe in town, which is finally open for the season! It was amazing, just like we'd heard. I've realized something they do in Germany is put alcohol with some of their ice cream dishes. We each tried one. I had the lemon ice cream with champagne. It was delicious.

Originally I was supposed to go on a really long day trip on Saturday to see a couple castles on the Romantic Road in Bavaria, one being the big castle Cinderella's castle is modeled after. But because of the two airmen who were shot and killed on the bus going from Frankfurt airport to Ramstein Airforce Base, our tour was canceled. Ramstein was on curfew all week. I didn't think Baumholder was, but someone later told me we had a curfew all week of 10 p.m. I'm still not sure if this is true or not. No one informed me.

Anyhow, so our trip would've left really early in the morning, therefore violating curfew. Plus, I'm guessing they didn't want big groups of Americans traveling around together drawing attention to ourselves. Better safe than sorry. The military has decided the shooting was an isolated incident.

We weren't for sure what we should do on Saturday since our trip was canceled. Terry, Jenna, Quintin, and myself were the ones originally going on that tour. Kristi didn't have any weekend plans so she decided to join us on our alternative plans. We kicked around the idea of taking a trip on Saturday, but decided against it. Instead, we went to Mainz (pronouned Miiiinz) on Sunday for the Fasching parade. Fasching is Carnivale or Mardi Gras.

The Germans take Fasching very seriously. They get into the holiday! It is so fun. It is a weeklong affair. For instance, one day is Women's Day. All the women can be baddasses all day long... they can even cut off men's ties! So funny.

So the Fasching parade in Mainz is the second largest one in Germany, according to Radley, the ET at my school. There are tons of people in it of all ages. There are many marching bands, baton twirlers, dancers, walkers, ax carriers, horse riders, floats, all kinds of stuff. These people are in all kinds of get-ups too. Some look more traditionally Germany, some have the 1700s white wig look, some are clowns. It just varies.

People in the crowd are very into the parade too. Most everyone dresses crazy. There are a lot of colors, especially red, blue, yellow. There are crazy hats, scarves, sun glasses, wigs, entire outfits. Some people dress as an animal, some look like Indians ( like Native American Indians), some look like cowboys and cowgirls. It is just so interesting.

During the parade, everyone in it marches along and yells "Halo!" and everyone in the crowd responds back with "Halo!" It was just SO fun. Today might have been one of my favorite days yet, going to Mainz. I feel like it is one of the most German things I've done.

Mainz was about an hour and a half drive from Baumholder. A few people who were going to go canceled, so it ended up being the trio Lindsey, Jenna, and Terry. We had so much fun. We left around 9:30 and go their just in time to buy a crazy hat and get a FABULOUS viewing spot for the parade, which started just a few minutes once we got along the side of the street. After the parade, we grabbed a brat for lunch. There was a band playing and everyone in the streets was listening, singing, and dancing. It was just so fun.

We observed all that for a while and then got some ice cream at an eis cafe. It was amazing. I had the stracciatella, which is basically like chocolate chip, but its not chips but just swirls of chocolate kind of.

After that we headed back home. We were back by about 4 p.m. The day had been gray during our drive to Mainz, but once we got there it cleared up and was sunny (but cold!). It stayed sunny; the drive home was beautiful. Seeing the clear blue skies, all the hills and mountains with little villages scattered around. Lovely day.