Fri, March 27- Edinburgh
Today has been crazy and amazing at the same time. I woke up at 4:25 this morning, in order to get on a train at 5, to head to Bremen, to catch a flight to Edinburgh. Needless to say, Sean did not get enough sleep. At all. Karen and I made the train, and attempted to sleep all the way to Bremen, with little success, at least, on my part. We got to Bremen, got on our ryanair flight, and took off. When we got to Edinburgh airport, there wasn’t much around. The airport is kinda in the middle of nowhere, so we took a bus into downtown. On the way, we passed out Hostel, which is right downtown, perfect! We got into the central area of Edinburgh, found the tourist office, and got some maps of the city, as well as some info packets on what’s going on. We went to the hostel, checked in, and put our rather heavy bags into our lockers, before heading back out to explore. We had a nice lunch at a place called “Standing Order,” which is a giant bar, and has great, cheap food. We then decided to climb “Arthur’s Seat” which is one of the hills right near downtown. We hiked along the ridgeline, took some amazing pictures of the scenery and ourselves, and then decided we might as well go for the summit. As we approached it, it started raining sideways. The wind had been blowing pretty hard most of the way up, but towards the very top, it was really intense, basically, I could lean into the wind, and it would keep me upright. (pictures as proof will be posted soon). We got to the top, took pics, and then headed back down. On the way down, it started to rain a bit more heavily, but nothing serious. We walked back into the city, through the Prince Gardens, which were gorgeous and green. I’m planning on going back there tomorrow after our official tour to take pictures of the flowers for Meagan. I also found her the perfect house, and took pics of that as well… At the hostel, we met a few other kids, got talking to them, and ended up going to the bar downstairs with them for happy hour. Two of them are from Dublin, one is from New Zealand somewhere. They were all pretty fun, and I had a fun time hanging out with them. Karen and I then headed out to grab some dinner: authentic fish & chips, of course… No deep-fried mars bar this time, but I will get there. The grease overload was too much as it was. Had a fun reaction to said dinner, and the roof of my mouth then peeled off. Yummy! Edinburgh is beautiful and fun, so far, and I can’t wait to explore more of it officially tomorrow!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
sunny!
YAY! today it's sunny and warm outside! 50 degrees!! has spring decided to show up? nope... snow in the forecast on friday.
Yesterday was a really fun/interesting day. I couldn’t go down to Frankfurt with Julian and Martin and Rac to drop Rac off at the airport, because I had to teach two classes yesterday morning by myself. (gulp) I had to teach one of my 6th grade classes, who tend to be screaming monsters, but they actually behaved themselves! At least, comparatively… They apologized to me for being screaming demons last week, and even brought me chocolate, which was a surprise… I then went on to teach one of my favorite 11th grade classes. All the kids write and understand English perfectly, but refuse to talk out loud, in English, in class. I like them because they all have fun senses of humor, and some character, but they don’t talk, at all!! Its very difficult to teach at them when there’s no reaction. I had them working in small groups, on “the Giver,” and when they had to talk, two of the groups actually did rock/paper/scissors to see who had to stand up and say anything. Any attempt on my part to involved them in a discussion was futile, so I spent most of the 45 minutes talking at them, and watching them stare at their own desks. Not great for someone who’s losing his voice… oh well! After that, I had a 6th grade class that was a little rowdy, and a 5th that’s awesome and fun, and then I went home. Hung out at home for a bit, then went grocery shopping (it was sunny and 45ish yesterday!!) and then came home, cooked dinner REALLY fast, and then ran off to stammtisch with Karen. Stamm was fun, a new kid came for the first time. He had spent a year in Maine, and his English was really good. After that, came home, ate some more, and Karen and I watched a soccer game with Julian. When it was over, we decided it was time to FINALLY watch the end of 28 days later. I told Karen to tell me if it got too scary, and we could turn it off. An hour later, movie was over, and Karen was curled up into a ball on my couch, her entire body covered by one of my blankets muttering “we need to watch something else” and “oh my god” over and over again. So, I entertained her with some mindless spoof comedy flick, and then sent her safely home. I’m quite proud of her for getting through it, I must say..
Today, my first class, an 8, had an exam, so I don’t have to go in for it, so I got to sleep in, and my next class is at 12:20. Then, I’m free again.
OOH, question for any film geeks: I’m reading “the giver” with my 11th grade class. Do you know of any movies that I could show to them that have anything to do with it, just so I can get them maybe a little bit more interested or involved?? Karen suggested “Pleasantville” to show the color thingy… any others?? Thx!
Yesterday was a really fun/interesting day. I couldn’t go down to Frankfurt with Julian and Martin and Rac to drop Rac off at the airport, because I had to teach two classes yesterday morning by myself. (gulp) I had to teach one of my 6th grade classes, who tend to be screaming monsters, but they actually behaved themselves! At least, comparatively… They apologized to me for being screaming demons last week, and even brought me chocolate, which was a surprise… I then went on to teach one of my favorite 11th grade classes. All the kids write and understand English perfectly, but refuse to talk out loud, in English, in class. I like them because they all have fun senses of humor, and some character, but they don’t talk, at all!! Its very difficult to teach at them when there’s no reaction. I had them working in small groups, on “the Giver,” and when they had to talk, two of the groups actually did rock/paper/scissors to see who had to stand up and say anything. Any attempt on my part to involved them in a discussion was futile, so I spent most of the 45 minutes talking at them, and watching them stare at their own desks. Not great for someone who’s losing his voice… oh well! After that, I had a 6th grade class that was a little rowdy, and a 5th that’s awesome and fun, and then I went home. Hung out at home for a bit, then went grocery shopping (it was sunny and 45ish yesterday!!) and then came home, cooked dinner REALLY fast, and then ran off to stammtisch with Karen. Stamm was fun, a new kid came for the first time. He had spent a year in Maine, and his English was really good. After that, came home, ate some more, and Karen and I watched a soccer game with Julian. When it was over, we decided it was time to FINALLY watch the end of 28 days later. I told Karen to tell me if it got too scary, and we could turn it off. An hour later, movie was over, and Karen was curled up into a ball on my couch, her entire body covered by one of my blankets muttering “we need to watch something else” and “oh my god” over and over again. So, I entertained her with some mindless spoof comedy flick, and then sent her safely home. I’m quite proud of her for getting through it, I must say..
Today, my first class, an 8, had an exam, so I don’t have to go in for it, so I got to sleep in, and my next class is at 12:20. Then, I’m free again.
OOH, question for any film geeks: I’m reading “the giver” with my 11th grade class. Do you know of any movies that I could show to them that have anything to do with it, just so I can get them maybe a little bit more interested or involved?? Karen suggested “Pleasantville” to show the color thingy… any others?? Thx!
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