lost words

My heart feels full of love and gratitude, but my mind almost refuses to allow it (my heart) to express itself. I guess I'll make it try anyways.

This weekend I acted like an Army wife, well at least one without a hubby. I went to a Silpada Jewelry party, the semi- formal auction put on by the PTA (the place to be), walked around town, went swimming and spent quality time with my girlfriends. Oh! And I got my first piece of Polish pottery! A must for any Army wife, I can see why it is addicting...

Doing all that made me realize partly why I have not really been bitten by the travel bug as much as I thought I would be. I have so much to do right here in Garmisch, the Zugspitz's are absolutely beautiful, the weather has been the nicest it's been in years, and I am surrounded by people that love me. What more could I ask for? Ummm, well... maybe a class that listens :) I am hoping and praying that this week we have a good week, with spring break right around the corner, I can forsee a good week, behavior wise, being a little far fetched.

Speaking of spring break I am going to London and Ireland. I currently don't really have plans. Just a plane ticket, any advice would be appreciated :) I have also decided that on one of my two weeks travel after student teaching that I am going to take a cruise around Greece. Sounds like fun, huh?

Only one more week until fabulous Easter!!! We are having a sunrise service at 6:45 :) Woohoo, I cannot wait!

As with every weekend, and day for that matter that I am out here I am taught a lesson, Lesson learned this weekend: I should stay away from Italian waiters, maybe just Italian men in general...

Ten Things I learned at Stark Beer Fest

1. If someone tells you that it's a sneaky beer, that probably means you should not even finish your own, let alone help others finish theirs.

2. German men do not always ask if they can buy you a drink. They just do and it's huge.

3. Beer halls are HUGE and LOUD

4. If you have a dirndl you should definitely wear it to any sort of fest. Everyone does :) Guys look cute in lederhosen, it lets them get away with more.

5. Don't tell your friend that the beers they are drinking are equivilent to eating an entire loaf of bread or at least 16 slices for each beer. It might take some of the enjoyment out of the beer :)

6. Festivals here are more fun/accepting than the ones in the states. People don't really start fights here. If you fall on them they just smile and help you up.

7. It is okay to dance on tables, and the guys usually start it.

8. The German guy sitting across from me knew about 10 words: they included beautiful, cute, fine, really, very, girlfriend, wife and my baby. He used them all on me and told anyone who he saw that I was his girlfriend. Alicia and I think we should start up a business that makes pick up line books in all different languages.

9. When going to a beer fest make sure you go with friends who are stronger than the beer.

10. When all else fails, give someone your purse, hold their hand and follow directions without being a goober :)

Thank you Katherine, Jennifer, Nicholas, and Alicia for a fabulous beer fest experience. It was fabulously fun and German :)

for real.

Yesterday I actually expereinced Garmisch as someone who lives here would :)

I woke up and headed out on a fabulously, beautiful day dressed up in my snow and ski gear and waited for the bus, which was late. I met up with Rene and we walked about a mile to the Hausberg to ski. When we got up on the bunny hill it was beautiful!! We were the only two up there so I was able to walk her through the steps of skiing that I knew. By the end of our time there we had both gone on the bigger lift and survived the ride down.

We walked back into town ( I was still carrying all my stuff). Stopped and had luch at La Baita's and had pizza and pesto pasta. We then stopped at Norma's the German grocery store and bakery. I bought a poppy seed loaf and it is so yummy. I walked the rest of the mile back to base and took a bath and then a nap.

I decided I had not walked enough, so I headed downtown in hopes of finding something to do. When I got downtown there was a lot of music and even more people. I went into the main park, and it was ridiculously full of people, almost all German and Turkish, typically when I go out here, it ends up being a lot of Americans. It was fun watching them sing at the top of their lungs along to their German favorites accompanied by the fist pumping and jumping. Of course they played everyone's favorite, Bryan Adam's Summer of '69, I think I have heard that song more since I have been here than I ever have back in the states, they love it!

They kept talking about a DJ Bubu, I asked a bilingual German and they told me that he was a great DJ who held concerts and thing like that... interesting. He came out and reminded me of a Vegas show. He had backup dancers and lip syncers. He was not that great, it was kind of disappointing.

So it turns out that this entire town party was to give awards to the skiers from the World Cup. Lindsey Vonn won overall. Pretty cool.... Anywho, it just went to show Germans know how to party and celebrate :):)

World Cup Races :)

My class got to walk to the slopes today as a school field trip and watch the women's downhill skiing portion of the World Cup races that are being held in Garmisch. It was so much fun! We were all sporting our red, white, and blue and posters that we made in class yesterday. This has to be the most beautiful place to student teach. Watching the skiers fly down the hill made me wish I was up on the slopes rather than in the classroom :)It was amazing seeing how strong the skiers
were as they walked through the crowds and talked with the kids who were starstruck.

All the American women skiers were so kind to let the entire school population mob them and take pictures and autogaphs. Gold Medalist Lindsey Vonn was the prized autograph giver today, all my students proudly displayed her signature somewhere on themselves, mostly on ski jackets and gloves.

As a group I would say we had a fantastic time, the weather was freezing though... about 14 degrees. I thought I was going to be a popsicle by the time I got back to the classroom around one.

The student's got a lot of the skiers signatures and made some memories that I hope will last them a lifetime.

feel the love.

It is amazing seeing people who are so loving :)

This week Marilee was here in Garmisch with me, supervising me. I didn't expect her visit to help me as much as it did. She really is amazing at what she does. Having her coming so early in my student teaching I think really helped me get ready to make changes and go forward. She helped me see that my mess of classroom management is something that can be changed, something that there can be hope for. I had pretty much written that off... This week is going to be fun. My heart has always been in teaching, but it feels different now. If I want to get better where I am, I will need to be more proactive, but that is something that I can do and that I am ready to do. Woohoo!

Aside from just our mandatory teaching and observing we ate so much good food and had fun every moment we were together. Wednesday night we did American Idol night with traditional German food at Shanda's. Thursday night we had Bollywood, yummy Indian food with a lot of flavor. Friday night we went to Debbie's house and she made us Mexican food :) :) It was so so yummy! Saturday we went to Munich and ate at some pasta and pizza place.

So you would think that with all this food we woiuld be lethargic, no such chance. Marilee is the power-walking queen and I was honored to be in the court. We put quite a few mile on our sneakers and enjoyed good conversation, sights and smiles.

This week/end has been a breath of fresh air and for it I am thankful. Today I was able to relax and go to church. After church I was took a nap and finally caught up on sleep from my weekend in Prague. I'm finishing up my lesson planning for the week and seriously thinking about my classroom management expectations in each lesson. While writing lessons and channel surfing, I stumbled across a show called Sunday's Best... it's American Idol for gospel singers. Amazing. I also watched the end of an Extreme Home Makeover that made me bawl like a baby, some one gave 7 kids full ride scholarships. How can we report on so much bad when the world is full of so much good? I love letting people surprise me with their goodness. :)

I hope you are having a lovely weekend. Much love for you.

Prague happened :)

To start, let me just say Prague was fabulous :) I didn't really expect much from a less - than 48 hour trip, but I of course was pleasantly surprised.

Friday my travels went perfectly, I arrived in Prague at 10:30, Madonna was waiting at the train station for me (first time in a long time that some one who said they were going to meet me to pick me up was there when I got there). By the grace of God I found her right away on our first attempt to connect :)

We hopped on the subway and headed to meet up with Zennon, Madonna's friend. We hung out and watched curling at a pub... well I made fun of it and then we went out dancing. So much fun! The people in Prague have such a different way of dancing, not so much in how they move, but in the way they seem to feel about it. Their heart is in the dancing, it is not about a show to be noticed or a ploy to find someone to go home with, but a sincere expression of self.

Saturday morning started with Auntie Madonna and I taking a walk. She tried to help me slow down my pace to enjoy, well Prague. I tried... I think by the end of the trip I may have gotten better at just taking my time. We stopped at a cafe and had the most AMAZING croissants of my life. I don't think another one will ever measure up. Who would've thought? And I thought we were silly for waiting for the cafe to open. After our walk and my personal tour by and over-qualified tour guide we went back to Zennon's flat where he had made us a fabulous breakfast and laid it all out so nicely. His sincere hospitality made me feel like a princess.

Zennon then drove us to go see Foxy Lady, my Auntie's beloved horse, who is older than I am. Our day was perfect for anything outdoors, clear blue skies and a warm sun. Watching Madonna run to Lady may have been one of the highlights of my trip. I can't think of her without thinking of horses and vice versa. The love and emotion that was present the entire time we were at the stables was practically unexplainable. The moments I saw easily moved me to tears that I let shamelessly fall. I captured a few photos, but I don't think any really do the moment justice.

After riding Lady and enjoying the sun we headed to the castle! Which I found out means the grounds of the living quarters, the church, the garden and all that jazz. It was just beautiful! We spent a good amount of time just taking in the grand splendor of Prague. It was fun being there with some one who considered it home. We also walked on the St. Charles Bridge which had so much of a feel of history and hope.

We went out to dinner with Donna's friends and all had a nice time, I would like to think that some of them also became my friends that night too :) After dinner and plenty of after dinner conversation we went out the disco where we proceeded to dance until about 4am :) Now if I could just get my friends out here to go dancing until 4am...

Sunday morning I headed back to Garmisch with a full stomach, a camera bursting with pictures, a beautiful cashmere and silk scarf, and a heart overflowing with love and gratitude.