A little bit of this and that

So I know I haven't posted in a while, but to be honest there really isn't too much going on that is post worthy. It is cold here and so I am really not doing much outside of work and the house. I am a little angry at myself for not going to the gym in the last couple of weeks, but I have been exhausted. So here are a few things that only deserve a few lines about my life right now:

1. I am handing out the first report cards of the year on Friday. They act like this is the biggest day in their lives. Teachers are freaking out about them and they only have to do them 2 times a year. I can't stand all the complaining.

2. To keep on the same subject of school and complaining, our staff is turning into the worst I have ever seen. I think it has to do with our common working space. For those of you who are teachers understand that when you get together at lunch or near the copy machine you start to talk about students, work load, other teachers, etc. This happens what once or twice a day for a few minutes at a time. Imagine if you did most of your planning in the same room with the rest of the staff. It is non-stop and it is making me resent people at work. We do not have computers or internet in our classrooms, so the we do all our computing in one room, the same room. This needs to change.

3. Completely changing the subject to my apartment. I still love my apartment and my roommate is cool. She actually left for Vienna two Fridays ago and I think will return this weekend. So it has been nice having the place by myself. However last Wednesday, so a week ago, I went to make a pizza and when I opened the oven there was a 1/4 of a chicken sitting in there. At some point before that Friday, my roommate had cooked a chicken, ate part of it and stuck it back in the oven, for me to find later. Now I know she didn't do this on purpose, but come on. It was quite gross. It had been sitting there for at least 5 days. Now I know what your saying to yourself, you didn't use the oven in 5 days, and this is true. For those of you that know me best, know I am not much of a cook and so it is understandable the oven wasn't used for 5 days.

4. Cat hair: I bought dark sheets for my bed this fall and really think they look nice. But only the 5 minutes after I put them on my bed. Because at that time the fat cat in my house comes and lies all over them. He is white and orange and so his fur really sticks out like a sore thumb. It looks gross, and I don't like it. It is just frustrating.

5. I have spent a lot of time this week researching places I want to see in Madrid. I leave in a week and I am spending 4 days there. I have looked on countless websites and watched a number of videos on things that I think would be cool to see. I am pretty excited to get out of Berlin and see more stuff.

6. I would just like to say that my trip to the states was wonderful, and I really miss everyone a lot. I hope that everything is going well in Kansas City, or where ever you may be, and I can't wait to see everyone again. You know there is always a place in Berlin, if anyone wants to come visit.

Thats all I've got right now. Hopefully I will have some good things to share after Madrid.

Disappointments

So I was planning on going skiing in the Austrian Alps this February for my break, we had the hotel booked and everything, then everyone went and canceled on me. Luckily the hotel was not in my name, but I am still quite disappointed about not being able to go. When I found this out, I immediately starting looking for cheap flights to other places I would like to travel in Europe, and happen to find a decent deal to Madrid. So it looks like I am heading off to Spain for 4 days. I am very glad I am only going for 4 days because that will give me a chance to do some stuff around Berlin and relax a bit.

I am a little nervous about this trip because it is the first one I am taking by myself, but I knew the time would come eventually. I am excited to be in a little bit warmer weather and excited to see the city. I now need to start researching some of the things I want to see. I also am interested in seeing if there is anything outside the city I might want to take a day trip to see. I think it will be good for me to go on this little vacation on my own. Give me a chance to clear my mind and have some "me" time. I got a new camera for Christmas so I will take lots of pictures of the city.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful January, I know mine has been super busy. Miss you all.

I made it back to Berlin

So I made it back to Berlin just in time for snow. Sorry I didn't post earlier, I was really busy and extremely tired. The jet lag coming back is the worst.





I got back on Sunday and had to start work on Monday. Lets just say I did not sleep well the night before. I woke up multiple times until around 2 am where I then couldn't fall back to sleep until 5 which was a huge mistake, because by that point it was almost time for me to get up for work. And that was a very hard task.





When I woke up at 2 I noticed that it was an orange color outside, and so I had to go see what was going on. It had snowed and the street lights were bouncing of it and making the area look orange. It was so beautiful I had to take a picture. The first picture in the slide show above is of what I saw out my window that first night at 2am. The next picture is of my street the next morning covered in snow. And the last picture was one I took on the plane when we were leaving Milan. These were the mountains I saw and I just thought they were amazing.

Enjoy!

P.S I have tried to write this excert for 4 days now, but I can never get the pictures to work out.

Happy New Year

So the new year is here and I have been thinking about where I was last year at the same time. I had no idea this time last year that I would be living in Berlin, teaching first grade. When I think about the next year, I wonder where I will be. I can't help but wonder how my life might be different. I would like to think I would have seen more of the world by this time next year. I also hope that I am more fluent in the German language. But most of all I hope that I am happy and that my family is happy.

I leave for Berlin on Saturday and I will not return until next Christmas. I am sad that I will not see my friends and family for that long, and I wish everyone a great year. Also if you are ever in Europe and want to stop by Berlin, I have a couch. I will miss everyone. Please keep in touch and keep me posted on what is going on.