An article I found interesting. It's from the NY Times about how important the education system in the US should be. Well in the same NY Times they are talking about how the spending cuts are going to affect the NY schools. Got to love education.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/opinion/13kristof.html?th&emc=th
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
I post!
I got sick. LAME. It is a very normal icky head cold. What can one do? Well get lots of sleep, don't go out without a scarf, don't go for 20 mile bike rides because it is supposed to be the last beautiful day this week. I mean I would never do the last thing, but I did wear my helmet. I mean I would definitely have worn my helmet if I were to have gone on said ride.
School has been ups and downs. Somedays I have great conversations and lessons with the kids, and other days I feel like I am boring them to tears. It is hard to be in so many different classes. I am just starting to get an idea of which classes I can do what material in. It is also hard jumping between so many teachers, because I usually only have about 15 minutes to discuss lessons with them. Hopefully today I did my last politics lesson for a while. It has been interesting being an American abroad. I was super excited when I woke up last Wednesday, and it has been great to talk to everyone over here. I am still amazed at how much the US elections affect the rest of the world, and am glade that I am not a conservative republican. You would have to defend yourself a lot. I am very proud to be an american again, and it will be interesting to see what happens. I must admit that because of being sick, and having a guest this weekend I am a bit behind on my news paper reading. Reading the news is hard work, and stressful. Everyday there is a new news paper. Although it does feel good to know what is happening in the world. Even if at the moment there isn't all that much good news. I am trying to no longer live in the suz bubble.
I must now prepare for my English lesson. Wednesdays are soo long. This post is kind of all over the place, but today it is hard to concentrate.
School has been ups and downs. Somedays I have great conversations and lessons with the kids, and other days I feel like I am boring them to tears. It is hard to be in so many different classes. I am just starting to get an idea of which classes I can do what material in. It is also hard jumping between so many teachers, because I usually only have about 15 minutes to discuss lessons with them. Hopefully today I did my last politics lesson for a while. It has been interesting being an American abroad. I was super excited when I woke up last Wednesday, and it has been great to talk to everyone over here. I am still amazed at how much the US elections affect the rest of the world, and am glade that I am not a conservative republican. You would have to defend yourself a lot. I am very proud to be an american again, and it will be interesting to see what happens. I must admit that because of being sick, and having a guest this weekend I am a bit behind on my news paper reading. Reading the news is hard work, and stressful. Everyday there is a new news paper. Although it does feel good to know what is happening in the world. Even if at the moment there isn't all that much good news. I am trying to no longer live in the suz bubble.
I must now prepare for my English lesson. Wednesdays are soo long. This post is kind of all over the place, but today it is hard to concentrate.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
I teaches the Children
The short version: I learned everything I needed to know to be a teacher in the week at Saalbach, and I proved this during my first month of teaching that I am in fact a super teacher.
Ok so maybe that isn't completely the truth....
The long version: I realized that I have now been in Europe over a month, and that it is due time for email number 2. I made it to Saalbach. We had to arrive between 2 and 4, and conveniently there was a bus that got there at 3. I figured going with the mean is always a good idea. It was very easy to spot the other assistants on the train, because a) they usually had large bags with them, b) they spoke English, and c) the American ones had the glazed jetlag stare. I was very glad that I had a week to dejetlag, and had stopped off in Bad Ischl and didn't have to lug all of my luggage around with me. There was a hoard of us that over took the bus to Saalbach. The program was not only for Americans, but also students from the UK. Now I had pretty low expectations for this extravaganza. How can one learn to teach in a week? There were 4 teachers that were in charge of us. They were great, and they gave us is a bunch of resources where we could look up lesson ideas. They explained exactly what our job is, and most importantly I learned about how to get paid, and that I am not insured if a helicopter picks me off the side of a mountain. I have to become part of the Alpinverein, or something. It's still on my list of things I need to take care of. That list is as usual rather long.
We did not only spend all day learning, but we had to create a social network among the TAs. I learned that the British enjoy going out to what they would call a pub. I would call it a bar. They also had the advantage that they weren't suffering from jet lag, but I think even under normal conditions I would not able to keep up some of them. By the time Friday came around, I was looking forward to sleeping in my own bed. My head was full of information, and expectations, and my body craved sleep. The other excitement that I learned at Saalbach is there are two other teaching assistant in Bad Ischl. One is from England and her name is Heather, and the other is a French teaching assistant and his name is Florent. They are both nice, and it's good to have someone that I can hang out with on the weekends. We also bounce ideas off each other. I taught Heather all about the USA political system. Even though she is not American, she had to teach US politics. I felt sorry for her, and since I have also spent the last two weeks teaching politics. More on that later.
So somehow a month has gone by since Saalbach. I have lessons that go great, and I have lessons that could be better. My job is to make the kids speak English with me for 50 minutes. I am not supposed to be in the class alone, and it is not my job to correct papers, grade test, or do grammar (which is good cause I don't know no grammar). I am supposed to work 13 hrs a week, but last week was the first week where I didn't have a class canceled. I work 7 hours in one school the HAK, and 6 hours at a the HBLA. I'm still figuring out their school system, so here is a very simplified description of my schools: the HAK is a high school that specializes in business and soccer, and the HBLA specializes in social work, and tourism. The HBLA is mostly girls, so in a class of 26 there will be 1-2 boys, on the other hand at the HAK, because of the soccer I have classes that are only boys. An other big difference between the schools is at the HAK they often split language classes, so I only have 8-10 students in class, at the HBLA it's usually 20-26. I just figured out that I actually work with 22 different classes, because many classes I only go to every other week. (there is still a class I haven't yet met). Yup I have no chance ever learning their names.
The first two week I mostly just introduced myself to the classes, and then did 50 minutes of small talk. I am super good at small talk in English now. What are your hobbies? What do you do on the week end? What is your least favorite food? Apparently Maggie you are not alone, a lot of people don't like carrots. Then I had to start preparing lessons of my own. The first couple were a little rough. It was hard because I had only met the classes once, and I had no idea what level English they had. Apparently the excerpts I used from Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a Dream" speech was a bit to hard. Yup that lesson bombed. But on the other hand my lesson on American Politics is going quite well. So far I have done lessons on Civil Rights, Politics, Death Penalty, Politics, US government, Politics, Affirmative Action, Politics, and Halloween. All things that you don't really learn about as a Math/German major. I've actually spent quite a lot of time researching. I am even trying to read the news paper, and tried to watch the news every day when I had a TV. I'm becoming a real live adult. Another sign that I've entered the adult world, my bed time is now between 9 and 10 PM. Some days I don't even make it that late. This whole having to be at school before 8 am is lame, but I am usually done by noon, and I do get every other Friday off. I like that. I'm also working on the whole preparing for lessons a head of time. Still haven't managed to not to have to get up early on Monday morning to finish my lessons. Not good. I should be a real teacher now, and not procrastinate. I'm trying I really am.
There are also advantages to going to so many different classes such as I can reuse lessons. As you might have noticed I have been teaching politics a lot. First I make the students teach me about the Austrian elections. They just had elections in Austria where for the first time you only had to be 16 to vote, so they should know something about politics. Some classes do, and one class of 17-18 year olds couldn't tell me what it meant to be liberal or conservative. 16 is way too early to vote. In a class there was usually 2 or 3 kids who knew something about the Austrian system, but overall they have no clue. I must also admit that politics were very low on the list of things I cared at 16. Ok until about 2 weeks ago when I started teaching politics. Yup politics is a scary world. I hope that you all have/are going to vote. Until I came over here I did not realize how much the rest of the world is paying attention to this election. I have yet to meet a fan of McCain. They watch Obama with hope that he will indeed be a change from Bush's aggressive politics. Another thing that I have found very interesting over here is the Austrians are very cautious when talking politics. Most unless you know them well would never tell you which party/candidate they support. One student told me that they didn't even know how their parents normally voted. There are 5 major parties in Austria, but I don't really understand it well enough to explain it here. Oh the other super sad news is after spending the last 2 weeks of my life talking about politics, my absentee ballot never arrived. I applied for it almost a month ago. So yup the first time in my life that I actually really care to vote I can't. LAME.
So that is the skooling. Besides skooling the youths I've been gallivanting around some. Here are some pictures of the area of Austria I live in: http://picasaweb.google.com/smonaco1 Yup it's amazing. You should all come and visit me. This past weekend I moved out of the Ferienwohnung into my new apartment. It was the apartment of the mother in law of the teachers at one of the other schools in Bad Ischl. She want to be able to use it in the summer, so they rented it to me relatively cheaply and it is huge. I have 3, yup that would be THREE, balconies. I have a east, south, and north baconey. So I can follow the sun all day. No one has lived in it for the last three years, but they have been using it on an off. I did have to redecorate though. Every surface was covered with schnick schnacks. Unfortunately I did not take a before and after picture. My German friend Linda visited me last weekend to help me move. So instead of moving being a chore, it was fun. We work on one room, and then either take a break, play cards, eat, go for a walk, or just enjoy one sitting on one of my many balconies. I don't know if I can say it enough, but Bad Ischl is absolutely beautiful, and I have lots of extra room in my huge apartment for visitors. You are all invited.
Ok Congratulations to all of you that made it through my novel. I hope that it was at least a bit entertaining. I think next time I may have to write it in chapters like Claire writes her updates. I hope to revitalize my blog http://suzmonaco.blogspot.com/ Right now it is just the emails I have sent out so far, plus my Bike and Build updates. I will also try to keep my pictures up to date. I give you all permission to send me annoying emails if I slack.
Ok so maybe that isn't completely the truth....
The long version: I realized that I have now been in Europe over a month, and that it is due time for email number 2. I made it to Saalbach. We had to arrive between 2 and 4, and conveniently there was a bus that got there at 3. I figured going with the mean is always a good idea. It was very easy to spot the other assistants on the train, because a) they usually had large bags with them, b) they spoke English, and c) the American ones had the glazed jetlag stare. I was very glad that I had a week to dejetlag, and had stopped off in Bad Ischl and didn't have to lug all of my luggage around with me. There was a hoard of us that over took the bus to Saalbach. The program was not only for Americans, but also students from the UK. Now I had pretty low expectations for this extravaganza. How can one learn to teach in a week? There were 4 teachers that were in charge of us. They were great, and they gave us is a bunch of resources where we could look up lesson ideas. They explained exactly what our job is, and most importantly I learned about how to get paid, and that I am not insured if a helicopter picks me off the side of a mountain. I have to become part of the Alpinverein, or something. It's still on my list of things I need to take care of. That list is as usual rather long.
We did not only spend all day learning, but we had to create a social network among the TAs. I learned that the British enjoy going out to what they would call a pub. I would call it a bar. They also had the advantage that they weren't suffering from jet lag, but I think even under normal conditions I would not able to keep up some of them. By the time Friday came around, I was looking forward to sleeping in my own bed. My head was full of information, and expectations, and my body craved sleep. The other excitement that I learned at Saalbach is there are two other teaching assistant in Bad Ischl. One is from England and her name is Heather, and the other is a French teaching assistant and his name is Florent. They are both nice, and it's good to have someone that I can hang out with on the weekends. We also bounce ideas off each other. I taught Heather all about the USA political system. Even though she is not American, she had to teach US politics. I felt sorry for her, and since I have also spent the last two weeks teaching politics. More on that later.
So somehow a month has gone by since Saalbach. I have lessons that go great, and I have lessons that could be better. My job is to make the kids speak English with me for 50 minutes. I am not supposed to be in the class alone, and it is not my job to correct papers, grade test, or do grammar (which is good cause I don't know no grammar). I am supposed to work 13 hrs a week, but last week was the first week where I didn't have a class canceled. I work 7 hours in one school the HAK, and 6 hours at a the HBLA. I'm still figuring out their school system, so here is a very simplified description of my schools: the HAK is a high school that specializes in business and soccer, and the HBLA specializes in social work, and tourism. The HBLA is mostly girls, so in a class of 26 there will be 1-2 boys, on the other hand at the HAK, because of the soccer I have classes that are only boys. An other big difference between the schools is at the HAK they often split language classes, so I only have 8-10 students in class, at the HBLA it's usually 20-26. I just figured out that I actually work with 22 different classes, because many classes I only go to every other week. (there is still a class I haven't yet met). Yup I have no chance ever learning their names.
The first two week I mostly just introduced myself to the classes, and then did 50 minutes of small talk. I am super good at small talk in English now. What are your hobbies? What do you do on the week end? What is your least favorite food? Apparently Maggie you are not alone, a lot of people don't like carrots. Then I had to start preparing lessons of my own. The first couple were a little rough. It was hard because I had only met the classes once, and I had no idea what level English they had. Apparently the excerpts I used from Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a Dream" speech was a bit to hard. Yup that lesson bombed. But on the other hand my lesson on American Politics is going quite well. So far I have done lessons on Civil Rights, Politics, Death Penalty, Politics, US government, Politics, Affirmative Action, Politics, and Halloween. All things that you don't really learn about as a Math/German major. I've actually spent quite a lot of time researching. I am even trying to read the news paper, and tried to watch the news every day when I had a TV. I'm becoming a real live adult. Another sign that I've entered the adult world, my bed time is now between 9 and 10 PM. Some days I don't even make it that late. This whole having to be at school before 8 am is lame, but I am usually done by noon, and I do get every other Friday off. I like that. I'm also working on the whole preparing for lessons a head of time. Still haven't managed to not to have to get up early on Monday morning to finish my lessons. Not good. I should be a real teacher now, and not procrastinate. I'm trying I really am.
There are also advantages to going to so many different classes such as I can reuse lessons. As you might have noticed I have been teaching politics a lot. First I make the students teach me about the Austrian elections. They just had elections in Austria where for the first time you only had to be 16 to vote, so they should know something about politics. Some classes do, and one class of 17-18 year olds couldn't tell me what it meant to be liberal or conservative. 16 is way too early to vote. In a class there was usually 2 or 3 kids who knew something about the Austrian system, but overall they have no clue. I must also admit that politics were very low on the list of things I cared at 16. Ok until about 2 weeks ago when I started teaching politics. Yup politics is a scary world. I hope that you all have/are going to vote. Until I came over here I did not realize how much the rest of the world is paying attention to this election. I have yet to meet a fan of McCain. They watch Obama with hope that he will indeed be a change from Bush's aggressive politics. Another thing that I have found very interesting over here is the Austrians are very cautious when talking politics. Most unless you know them well would never tell you which party/candidate they support. One student told me that they didn't even know how their parents normally voted. There are 5 major parties in Austria, but I don't really understand it well enough to explain it here. Oh the other super sad news is after spending the last 2 weeks of my life talking about politics, my absentee ballot never arrived. I applied for it almost a month ago. So yup the first time in my life that I actually really care to vote I can't. LAME.
So that is the skooling. Besides skooling the youths I've been gallivanting around some. Here are some pictures of the area of Austria I live in: http://picasaweb.google.com/
Ok Congratulations to all of you that made it through my novel. I hope that it was at least a bit entertaining. I think next time I may have to write it in chapters like Claire writes her updates. I hope to revitalize my blog http://suzmonaco.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Long Update
This post is actually an email I sent out on Sept 30th. If I didn't send it to you it's not cause I don't love you. Send me an email, and I promise to write back.
The Short Version:
I made it to Austria, and it is nice here. Next week I have a seminar on how to teach, and the week after that I start teaching.
Long Version:
After Bike and Build my life became quite a bit less exciting. I worked at the Anchor Inn as a waitress, and slept, and worked, but made quite a bit of money. I also got rather sick of people. I have officially decided that being a waitress, even though if you work at the right place it pays well, it is not my dream job. I did manage to have some fun while I was back in Maine. I baked some cakes with my new Kitchen Aid Mixer that my grandparents got me for graduation. Unfortunately it was too big and heavy to make the trip across the big pond. In typical college/American tradition this usually occurred around midnight since my partner in crime Katherine Koch also waitresses and our days off never coincided . I also was able to have
a party on Louds Island with some of my friends. There was a full moon and sitting the Bushnell's Beach I realized it is one of the pretty places in the world. I guess I'll just have to go back there someday. I wanted to keep riding, but in Maine it was unsafe to ride home from work in the dark. My days off were usually filled either with sleeping, or attempting to get ready for Austria I did not get that many rides in. OK I will be honest I got two over 10 miles rides
in. My poor bike. I miss it already. It did not make it to Austria, because as much as I love it, it wasn't worth the $250 it would have been to fly it one way. It would almost have been cheaper to buy it it's own seat on the plane. I also finally got the quilt that my mother and I have been working on since the beginning of college put together. Now we just have to finish the boarder, put the back on, and quilt it. Yup it should be ready in time for my great grand children.
So after putting everything I own in a suitcase, and 2 backpacks I was off. First stop was Munich. In typical Suz fashion of leaving everything to the last minute I didn't actually know I had a place to stay in Bad Ischl until about a week before hand, and then I didn't know when I could move in until two days before I left the country. Oops. Although I was proud that I had one of my two bags pack a whole 40 hours before my plane left. They were on the heavy side. I knew that I could bring 50 lbs (23 kilos) per bag with me. So I am standing there checking my bags in, and my Dad asks me how much my suitcase weighs. I tell him quietly 23.8 kg. He then proceeds to ask me how heavy it can be. I roll my eyes and tell him 23 kg, and that I really can't take him anywhere. Luckily the guy behind the counter pretended that he didn't hear this discussion, and I was not forced to pay anything extra. Yup really can't take my father anywhere without him embarrassing me.
My flight was very uneventful I was in a new Jet so each seat had it's own TV. It was exciting. Linda and David picked me up in Munich. Back story: In high school Linda studied abroad at my high school for a year. We became friends. I then lived with her and her parents Rita and Hans when I was a nanny for another family in Murnau. David is Linda's brother who lives in Heidelberg. So in essence I blame her for my learning German. We then met up with Rita for lunch at the same restaurant where they took me the first time I came to Germany. It was where I stood before the bathrooms and wondered if I was Herr or a Damme. My German has come a little ways since that first day, and although I was super tired slipping back into German is going quite smoothly. Other highlights of the first week. I visited Rita and Hans in Murnau, and had a delightful evening with them and their neighbor Heidi. Linda and I baked The Chocolate Birthday Cake for one of Linda's friends. It turned out well although was not as
good as my Grandmother's. I went to Oktoberfest twice. The first time we just walked around, and the second time I met up with Art, one of the other students from Freiburg, and did what Oktoberfest is known for: drank some beer. It was a fun night. The next day me and my large
amount of luggage traveled from Munich to Bad Ischl. I survived changing trains twice. By the time I arrived I had decided that next time I travel anywhere for a year it will be only with my toothbrush and Pandy. Everything else I can buy when I get there. The last train ride was beautiful through the Austrian Alps. I managed to stay awake for the entirety of it.
In Bad Ischl my landlady picked me up at the station and drove me the 200m to her house. I was so relived that she did. I am living for the first month in a Ferienwohnung and then hopefully will be moving into a regular apartment. A Ferienwohnung is an apartment that is
used primarily tourist, and rented for the week. It has a kitchen with utensils, and a bed with sheets, and my own bathroom. Mine is quite nice, and located right down town. Bad Ischl is small, and so I can get to everything by foot. Although, I am still thinking about buying a bike to get around. First I have to get the more important things such as cell phone, and my own internet. I am sending this from an internet café, and miss Dave Getchel's amazing ability to find
Internet everywhere. This morning Karl, who is one of the teachers I will be working with, and the one that arranged the apartment for me woke me at 9:50 am. I had been laying in bed considering getting up, when I hear a knock at my door. I quickly throw on some clothes, and
answer the door. Oh well so much for first impressions. He took me out to breakfast, and showed me the school where I will be teaching. He also showed me where I can get a cell phone, and hopefully a mobile internet card. So soon I may be contactable! He seems very nice, and
I hope someone good to work with.
The Future: Tomorrow I head to Saalbach, and where I learn how to teach in a week. It should be interesting. I am excited because I will be meeting some of the other Freiburgers that are doing the same program as I am. It should be fun, and we are supposed to bring our hiking shoes. Therefore I conduced that there are mountains there. Then I return to Bad Ischl, and start teaching the following Monday. I'm nervous about jumping right into teaching. I know that in Karl's class I will be responsible for teaching the whole class although hopefully not on the first day, which is good. It will give me lots of experience, but nerve racking at the same time. He will be in the classroom with me though. I also actually read some of the emails I got from my program, and found a whole bunch of lesson plans. EXCITING! I will be responsible for teaching 13 classes a week, and will be working in two different schools. It is supposed to work out
that I teach 4 days a week. Hopefully I can get a Monday or a Friday off so I can do some traveling. I went to the train station today, and surprisingly the Ticket guy was very helpful.
Umm that is the news from this side of the ocean. I hope to post pictures of my new apartment soon.
The Short Version:
I made it to Austria, and it is nice here. Next week I have a seminar on how to teach, and the week after that I start teaching.
Long Version:
After Bike and Build my life became quite a bit less exciting. I worked at the Anchor Inn as a waitress, and slept, and worked, but made quite a bit of money. I also got rather sick of people. I have officially decided that being a waitress, even though if you work at the right place it pays well, it is not my dream job. I did manage to have some fun while I was back in Maine. I baked some cakes with my new Kitchen Aid Mixer that my grandparents got me for graduation. Unfortunately it was too big and heavy to make the trip across the big pond. In typical college/American tradition this usually occurred around midnight since my partner in crime Katherine Koch also waitresses and our days off never coincided . I also was able to have
a party on Louds Island with some of my friends. There was a full moon and sitting the Bushnell's Beach I realized it is one of the pretty places in the world. I guess I'll just have to go back there someday. I wanted to keep riding, but in Maine it was unsafe to ride home from work in the dark. My days off were usually filled either with sleeping, or attempting to get ready for Austria I did not get that many rides in. OK I will be honest I got two over 10 miles rides
in. My poor bike. I miss it already. It did not make it to Austria, because as much as I love it, it wasn't worth the $250 it would have been to fly it one way. It would almost have been cheaper to buy it it's own seat on the plane. I also finally got the quilt that my mother and I have been working on since the beginning of college put together. Now we just have to finish the boarder, put the back on, and quilt it. Yup it should be ready in time for my great grand children.
So after putting everything I own in a suitcase, and 2 backpacks I was off. First stop was Munich. In typical Suz fashion of leaving everything to the last minute I didn't actually know I had a place to stay in Bad Ischl until about a week before hand, and then I didn't know when I could move in until two days before I left the country. Oops. Although I was proud that I had one of my two bags pack a whole 40 hours before my plane left. They were on the heavy side. I knew that I could bring 50 lbs (23 kilos) per bag with me. So I am standing there checking my bags in, and my Dad asks me how much my suitcase weighs. I tell him quietly 23.8 kg. He then proceeds to ask me how heavy it can be. I roll my eyes and tell him 23 kg, and that I really can't take him anywhere. Luckily the guy behind the counter pretended that he didn't hear this discussion, and I was not forced to pay anything extra. Yup really can't take my father anywhere without him embarrassing me.
My flight was very uneventful I was in a new Jet so each seat had it's own TV. It was exciting. Linda and David picked me up in Munich. Back story: In high school Linda studied abroad at my high school for a year. We became friends. I then lived with her and her parents Rita and Hans when I was a nanny for another family in Murnau. David is Linda's brother who lives in Heidelberg. So in essence I blame her for my learning German. We then met up with Rita for lunch at the same restaurant where they took me the first time I came to Germany. It was where I stood before the bathrooms and wondered if I was Herr or a Damme. My German has come a little ways since that first day, and although I was super tired slipping back into German is going quite smoothly. Other highlights of the first week. I visited Rita and Hans in Murnau, and had a delightful evening with them and their neighbor Heidi. Linda and I baked The Chocolate Birthday Cake for one of Linda's friends. It turned out well although was not as
good as my Grandmother's. I went to Oktoberfest twice. The first time we just walked around, and the second time I met up with Art, one of the other students from Freiburg, and did what Oktoberfest is known for: drank some beer. It was a fun night. The next day me and my large
amount of luggage traveled from Munich to Bad Ischl. I survived changing trains twice. By the time I arrived I had decided that next time I travel anywhere for a year it will be only with my toothbrush and Pandy. Everything else I can buy when I get there. The last train ride was beautiful through the Austrian Alps. I managed to stay awake for the entirety of it.
In Bad Ischl my landlady picked me up at the station and drove me the 200m to her house. I was so relived that she did. I am living for the first month in a Ferienwohnung and then hopefully will be moving into a regular apartment. A Ferienwohnung is an apartment that is
used primarily tourist, and rented for the week. It has a kitchen with utensils, and a bed with sheets, and my own bathroom. Mine is quite nice, and located right down town. Bad Ischl is small, and so I can get to everything by foot. Although, I am still thinking about buying a bike to get around. First I have to get the more important things such as cell phone, and my own internet. I am sending this from an internet café, and miss Dave Getchel's amazing ability to find
Internet everywhere. This morning Karl, who is one of the teachers I will be working with, and the one that arranged the apartment for me woke me at 9:50 am. I had been laying in bed considering getting up, when I hear a knock at my door. I quickly throw on some clothes, and
answer the door. Oh well so much for first impressions. He took me out to breakfast, and showed me the school where I will be teaching. He also showed me where I can get a cell phone, and hopefully a mobile internet card. So soon I may be contactable! He seems very nice, and
I hope someone good to work with.
The Future: Tomorrow I head to Saalbach, and where I learn how to teach in a week. It should be interesting. I am excited because I will be meeting some of the other Freiburgers that are doing the same program as I am. It should be fun, and we are supposed to bring our hiking shoes. Therefore I conduced that there are mountains there. Then I return to Bad Ischl, and start teaching the following Monday. I'm nervous about jumping right into teaching. I know that in Karl's class I will be responsible for teaching the whole class although hopefully not on the first day, which is good. It will give me lots of experience, but nerve racking at the same time. He will be in the classroom with me though. I also actually read some of the emails I got from my program, and found a whole bunch of lesson plans. EXCITING! I will be responsible for teaching 13 classes a week, and will be working in two different schools. It is supposed to work out
that I teach 4 days a week. Hopefully I can get a Monday or a Friday off so I can do some traveling. I went to the train station today, and surprisingly the Ticket guy was very helpful.
Umm that is the news from this side of the ocean. I hope to post pictures of my new apartment soon.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
I made it!
So we done did it. All 30 of us made it across the country on a bicycle. In then final three days of the trip I had one of my least favorite days of the entire trip from Brawely to Julian, and then the next day was one of my favorites. Brawely lies about 400 ft below sea level, but to get to the ocean we had one last mountain to climb. On the day out of Brawely we did 4,000 ft of climbing over 30 miles, and as the physic major on the trip pointed out the profile for the day looked like an exponential growth graph. That is not a happy graph to bike, because it kept getting steeper as the day went on. By the end of that day I was so excited that the trip was almost over because we not only had to climb lots but it was into a head wind in the desert. It is hard to get more demoralizing conditions to bike in. I was 2 hours away from the church for hours. First we had 30 miles to go if we could continue to go 15 mph, and what seemed like an eternity later there was 8 miles left at 4 mph. Me and just about everything were in a big fight. I did manage somehow to make it up that beast, and rewarded myself with a homemade ice cream cookie sandwich.
Shortly before we entered Julian we left the desert behind us, and the next day we climbed 1,000 ft through apple orchards, and then spent the rest of the day descending. It was amazing. There were some hills that we had to climb, but when you were ready for them to end they did. I could have kept riding for months in that sort of terrain, but the next day we ran into the ocean, literally. I dipped my front tire in the Pacific, took some pictures, and then carefully set my bike down out of reach of the salt water so I could run full speed into the water. In San Diego the Pacific is pretty warm, and the beach is beautiful. We had many cheering friends and family as well as normal beach goers who stopped to ask us what all the commotion was about. It was so great to tell people "we just biked across the country for affordable housing."
I spent two extra days hanging out in San Diego, but unfortunately got a stomach bug. It was not my favorite thing to have, but at the same time I would have rather missed hanging out in San Diego then not having been able to ride the final days of the trip. I flew back to Maine on Saturday night, and luckily by that time I was feeling better. My bike is still making its way across the country. I had to take it apart and put it in a box so that it could be shipped. I realized that I had really made it across the country when I looked at my bike sitting there all disassembled. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it makes it here in one piece.
I would like to thank everyone who helped me complete this trip. Thank you to everyone who that donated money, or gave me encouragement. My fund raising total was over $5,500, and after the trip was paid for my route will donate over $55,500 to affordable housing. Donation can still be made at bikeandbuild.org. We will be giving grants of various amounts to chapters of Habitat for Humanity in Orange County NC, Memphis, San Diego, and Winston-Salem NC, as well as another affordable housing program called Mountain Housing in Asheville NC. Routes that started in the North East will give grants to this section of the country. I would also like to thank Sherwood Olin, and the Lincoln County News for running my weekly updates.
Now it is time to be part of the real world of life after college. I think it is going to contain less biking and building, and more working. It was a fun summer. I learned a lot, had some fun, and have a pretty sweet shorts tan to show for it.
Shortly before we entered Julian we left the desert behind us, and the next day we climbed 1,000 ft through apple orchards, and then spent the rest of the day descending. It was amazing. There were some hills that we had to climb, but when you were ready for them to end they did. I could have kept riding for months in that sort of terrain, but the next day we ran into the ocean, literally. I dipped my front tire in the Pacific, took some pictures, and then carefully set my bike down out of reach of the salt water so I could run full speed into the water. In San Diego the Pacific is pretty warm, and the beach is beautiful. We had many cheering friends and family as well as normal beach goers who stopped to ask us what all the commotion was about. It was so great to tell people "we just biked across the country for affordable housing."
I spent two extra days hanging out in San Diego, but unfortunately got a stomach bug. It was not my favorite thing to have, but at the same time I would have rather missed hanging out in San Diego then not having been able to ride the final days of the trip. I flew back to Maine on Saturday night, and luckily by that time I was feeling better. My bike is still making its way across the country. I had to take it apart and put it in a box so that it could be shipped. I realized that I had really made it across the country when I looked at my bike sitting there all disassembled. I am keeping my fingers crossed that it makes it here in one piece.
I would like to thank everyone who helped me complete this trip. Thank you to everyone who that donated money, or gave me encouragement. My fund raising total was over $5,500, and after the trip was paid for my route will donate over $55,500 to affordable housing. Donation can still be made at bikeandbuild.org. We will be giving grants of various amounts to chapters of Habitat for Humanity in Orange County NC, Memphis, San Diego, and Winston-Salem NC, as well as another affordable housing program called Mountain Housing in Asheville NC. Routes that started in the North East will give grants to this section of the country. I would also like to thank Sherwood Olin, and the Lincoln County News for running my weekly updates.
Now it is time to be part of the real world of life after college. I think it is going to contain less biking and building, and more working. It was a fun summer. I learned a lot, had some fun, and have a pretty sweet shorts tan to show for it.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Hotness
Cartoon cacti really do exist. We hit the desert in Arizona this week, and instead of having bushes and trees in their front yars they have Saguaro Cacti. I wondered if nusries here sold cacti plants instead of shrubs, but have not had the time to investigate. I have been worried about the Arizona desert since the beginning of the trip, but it was actually in California that we hit our hottest temperatures. Today we rode 90 miles from Blythe to Brawley and I was sweep. We left the church before 6am, and when I arrived at 2pm the bank thermomiter read 104 degrees. We rode across the Empirial Sand Dune and it was beautiful, but I was diestracted by the fact that I was in the desert on my bike and it was hot. 6 miles from the church some of my fellow riders were stopped sitting under a tree. As sweep it was our job to be the last people into the church, but I really did not want to stop. We had been pushing it hard so that we could get out of the heat as soon as possible. But after running through the sprinklers on a stranger's lawn, life seemed so much better. Instead of the last 6 miles being tourture they were actually quite enjoyable. Then once we got to the church everyone took naps to try and recover from a very long day. I decided that of the places that I want to live some day the desert is not high on my list, but I also decided that air condtioning is amazing.
We have only three days of riding left till we dip our tires in the Pacific Ocean. I still can't believe it when I look at a map and see how far we have gone. I have rode across the country to a place where they have Palm Trees and Cacti.
We have only three days of riding left till we dip our tires in the Pacific Ocean. I still can't believe it when I look at a map and see how far we have gone. I have rode across the country to a place where they have Palm Trees and Cacti.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Many updates
So I finally loaded all my weekly updates onto my blog now that we have only one week of the trip left. I do not know if anyone actually reads this anymore, due to the fact that I have not updated in literally months. Oops sorry about that. Now I must sleep so that I can survive the desert and cactuses. They are big and I was kind of excited about to see my first real cartoon looking cacti. I will update next week. I promises.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
