Written on not much sleep...

I am sitting on a plane in Switzerland waiting for take-off, which has been delayed due to the fact that it’s snowing, and I’m bored, so you get to read about my trip.

After a weekend spent mostly sick in bed, except for a trip out to see Liz’s band perform at a Christmas Fair (yes, she’s here for the same program, and yes, she joined a samba band while she was here.) and presentations on Monday morning, we abruptly packed up all of our things. Apparently the Finance Office had changed the dates that we had paid for to stay in the B&B, but had forgotten to tell us, so we had to move out sooner than expected. That afternoon Hilary and I took a train to London, then the Underground to a hostel to stay for the night. We got up at 5 the next morning to get on another train to the airport to fly to Basel, Switzerland, where Hilary’s relatives live. They were kind enough to let us stay in their gorgeous apartment for four days. We went out to lunch and picked up the kids from school on Tuesday, then went to the Christmas Market in the afternoon. Basel is home to the largest “Weinachtstrasse,” or Christmas Street, in Europe, if I translated the sign correctly. There were tons of cool but overpriced handmade craft-type-things. For dinner, we had Raclette, (sp?) which is a traditional Swiss meal of a type of cheese melted in a type of pan then poured over potatoes, broccoli, and cauliflower. Yum.

They’re done de-icing the wings, so I’ve got to take a break to put the computer away.

Back now. On Wednesday, we wandered around the city for a while. (Warning! Random story! It was not as lame as it sounds.) At one point, we came across this fountain that was pouring water into a bucket with a spout, and the bucket was full, so the water was pouring out of the spout. Sitting on the edge next to the fountain was another, very similar bucket, and for some reason, I felt the need to switch the buckets, so after some deliberation, I did. I have no idea why they were there but it was greatly satisfying to hear the new, empty bucket fill up with water. We then took the tram to join Hilary’s aunt and uncle for lunch at the company where he works. It’s huge and basically has it’s own town to support it within the city. There’re restaurants and even a supermarket. We stayed around the house in the afternoon, then went to pick up Liz from the train station that evening.

Thursday was the most exciting day, as we took a train into Germany, to the city of Freiburg. It was only about an hour train ride and that’s with stopping at most of the many stations. After acquiring a map and some Euros, we went to a café, where I successfully ordered our drinks and snacks in German. We had the giant, amazing pretzels that I practically lived on when I was in Germany in high school. They are still really good, even though I forgot to order any sauces for them. Freiburg has a Christmas Market too, so we wander through that, then around the city. We did a bit of shopping, but only a little, as none of us has any room in our luggage to add things. Just before we left, we went to another café, where the other girls had Gluehwein, the traditional Christmas drink. I think it’s disgusting, so I had ice cream instead.

We had grand plans for Friday, but when we woke up to rain, no one really wanted to go anywhere. We haven’t had access to a kitchen or living room in three months, so we sat around and ate and watched movies and played games, including Looping Louie, an amazing game Liz bought in Germany. The premise of the game, as Hilary later explained it, is that Louie is a crazy pilot who is flying so badly he is knocking chickens off of barns. Players try to protect their chickens by hitting a lever that knocks Louie back up and away from your chickens. I’m not very good at it, but it’s fun.

And now the computer has to go away again. I’ll post this when I get back to the B&B.

Saying Goodbye

On Monday, I had talked to the kids about how I was leaving after this week to go back to the US, which was a hard concept for them. They weren't really sure why I couldn't stay at first, but we got that sorted out. Tuesday morning is PPA (planning time), so I wasn't in the classroom, and when I came back after lunch on Tuesday, I almost got bowled over by all the hugs. Their concept of time isn't solidified completely.

Their concept of surprise isn't set yet either. On Wednesday, I was observing phonics assessments during maths time. We finished just before fruit time, so the kids were coming out of the room as I was getting ready to go back in. One little guy looked up as he was coming out and said with complete sincerity, "We weren't doing anything. And you can't go inside."

What they had been doing, however, was making an absolutely adorable little thank you book that they gave me on Friday. Each student made a page and the teachers bound it together. They got better at keeping secrets, however, because they knew about our Friday afternoon tea party and didn't tell me. (Seriously! There were nearly 60 five to seven year olds with tea cups! They drank squash instead of tea, but still. It was so cute!)

Everyone was so sweet to us on Friday. The teacher and TAs gave me two books and a set of teaspoons, the kids gave me their book, and the bakery we get our lunch from even gave us each a package of their mince pies!

The Great Punting Disaster

After we had all been on the guided punting tours and spent several evenings at pubs along the river making fun of (studying!) the self-hire punts, three of us decided that we'd like to have a go at it ourselves.

All of our studying paid off, and we punted around for almost an hour, making pretty good progress for our first time. We were all pretty good at it for our first go, compared to some of the other self-hires we'd seen over the weeks of watching. We went along the backs of the colleges in the late afternoon, getting back just as it was starting to hint at getting dark. Quite an enjoyable Sunday afternoon activity, really. Once I get the pictures off of Liz's camera, I'll post some here or on Facebook.

When our time was almost up, I was nominated to steer the punt back into the dock area (apparently some canoe skills transfer). There was a bit of a current in the way, so I aimed upstream of where I wanted to be in hopes of using that to help me steer in. Good idea, right? Apparently not. We weren't moving as fast as we appeared to be, unfortunately, and one of the professional punters/tour guides ran into our boat, knocking me into the water, coat and all. According to Liz, who was the only real witness, I mostly jumped, but I defend myself with the fact that his boat was on top of ours where I had been standing, so jumping was probably a good idea, even if it was a reflex. Liz and Hilary were both doubled up in our boat laughing. The professional tried to "help" me out of the water into his boat, then retrieved our pole for us and took me to shore.

Now, did we get a discount, or even an apology? Nope. We had to pay more, actually. I think we would have been on time to get back within our allotted hour if it had not been for the collision, but we didn't make it with the delay, so we were charged for going over the time limit. How silly.

So as to not end there, here's a few other things that have happened:

1) My mentor teacher had us over for a delicious Sunday roast at her house and I learned that I quite like fresh roasted parsnips. I'm glad I tasted them before I knew what they were.

2) I've started taking over the class- I had them for almost the entire day today, just not literacy.

3) I was teaching phonics on Friday, and the sound was l. The first picture I pulled out was a popsicle. Huh? It was a lolly. The dump truck I pulled out next was a lorry. Next were ladder and leg. Those I knew.

We'll be home in less than a month- hard to believe!

Remember, Remember...

the fifth of November. Yep, tonight's Guy Fawke's Day, also known as Bonfire Night. After school, HIlary and I ran home to change into warmer clothes, then went to a lovely dinner at my mentor teacher's mother's house, where we got to meet some of her family. All of us then walked down to the edge of the river to watch the fireworks. It was probably the most intense display I have seen in years, with over 15 minutes of constant booms and sprays of light. With the breeze, we were pretty much directly underneath the fireworks, with little bits falling down on us. My neck was starting to hurt by the end, and I was flinching from the loud booms that we felt as much as heard, but it was breathtaking. After the crazy finale, everyone started to look for the bonfire lighting. We were a little thrown off by a tent that seemed to have caught on fire from a firework bit, but once the bonfire was lit, it was impossible to miss. It was as tall as the streetlight. I took some pictures, then thanked our hosts and headed for the other side of the river, towards the fire, which had been converted into a fairgrounds. By the time we got there, the crowd had thinned a bit, so we were able to get up to the fence around the fire. We were still a good forty yards away, half an hour after it had been lit, and we could feel the warmth of the fire. Amazing (and scary)! This was followed by some wandering through the fair to look at the rides, games, and food (my favorite was the hot dog stand next to the falafel stand). I completed the experience by purchasing an overpriced, but totally worth it, plastic, light-up, spinning butterfly toy. I had seen several small girls carrying them around and decided that it was the perfect souvenir of my first (and possibly only) real Bonfire Night.

Scotland

After the National Railway Museum, we got on a train (how appropriate) to Edinburgh. It was already dark when we got there at 5:30- Scotland's far north and it was the first day after British Daylight Savings- so we checked in and went in search of dinner. We stayed at a hostel below Edinburgh Castle, just off the Royal Mile, a major, now touristy street that is the main approach to the castle. Also visible from the hostel was the school said to have inspired Hogwarts, and yes, we ate at the Elephant House, where JK Rowling wrote the first two books. On Tuesday, we went on a fantastic free walking tour. It was 3 hours long and raining for over half of it, but our guide was so good that he held our attention the entire time. Hilary and I were observing on the way back that he was using many of the teaching strategies we've learned, like telling the group what we would be learning about at our next stop before we left for it. As you can imagine, in 3 hours we covered most of the major sights on and around the Royal Mile. We didn't go terribly far since we were on foot, but we learned about lots of famous people from Edinburgh, including Adam Smith (economist, if you don't remember that detail from middle school), John Knox (founder of Presbyterianism- I later went on a religious history tour lead by reenactors dressed as John Knox and Cuthbert) Robert Louis Stevenson (author, also from middle school- Treasure Island, anyone?), and lots of others. Unfortunately, since it was raining, I didn't take many pictures.

After the tour, we went to the Museum of Childhood, where we learned that an entire room of dolls is actually really creepy.

That night, we cooked our own dinner for the first time in almost two months. We made mac & cheese from a box and vegetables. It was delicious.

On Wednesday, I took another train to Glasgow to go to the Glasgow Science Centre. I spent several hours there learning random science facts and analyzing different ways of information presentation and exhibition construction. There were some rather familiar exhibits that there are versions of at the VDM, so they were especially interesting to look at. After the Science Centre, I completely switched museum gears to go to the Gallery of Modern Art, where there was a very different sort of looking at interesting things and analyzing. This busy ball clock was in the Science Centre, but now that I look at it, it could be modern art, too...

Thursday was a bus tour back to Glasgow, out to Loch Lomond, then over to Stirling Castle. I got a bit more information about some of the things I had seen the previous day and saw a lot of pretty countryside. This was a pleasant change, as we have been spending most of our time in cities. At Loch Lomond I chose not to go on the boat tour, but instead walked a path that lead to the loch and took pictures. Here's one- I may post more at some point.

Friday morning was a bit of an adventure, actually. At friends' suggestions, Hilary and I decided to climb up to Arthur's Seat, a hill/mountain/large geologic feature that overlooks the city of Edinburgh. We took the wrong path from the very beginning, however, and ended up walking nearly all the way around it without making much progress to the top. If you ever attempt this, go left. The path to the right looks like it goes up, and it does, but then it goes back down, then back up, then back down... you get the idea. We still got some pretty views of the city, and I enjoyed resting on the grass, which was very soft.

Oh, We're Half Way There!

This past week was half-term break in our schools and, conveniently enough, also marked the half way point of our program. It feels like we just got here, and like we've been here forever, all at the same time. There's a few things I'm still figuring out, and I'm still meeting people, but I feel like I have known my students for so long (though I've pretty much given up the quest for outside friends- I know 60 people really well. Who cares if they are mostly 5 and 6?).

December 14 seems so far away, but it will be here before I know it.

Anyway, for half term, Hilary and I traveled north. We got a ride to York with my teacher, stayed there for the first three days, then took the train up to Edinburgh, Scotland. From Edinburgh, I took a few day trips- to the city of Glasgow and on a tour through the countryside to Loch Lomond, the country's first National Park.

York is a beautiful old (well, most of the cities are old) walled city. We walked the walls, went to the art gallery, toured York Minster, and visited the National Railway Museum. I enjoyed all of it, but the Minster (That just means church from specific time period- Norman I think? It's like cathedral, only not.) was my favorite. We climbed the tower, which was not my favorite part due to the hundreds of tiny spiraling steps it took to get there, wandered around the inside while listening to Evensong, and toured through the Undercroft, which has been partially converted into a very cool museum about the history and maintenance of the church. There have been three different buildings on the site, and parts of them, including a Roman basilica, are visible in the Undercroft. We also happened to be there during a festival called "Illuminate York" which was a part of some research that is being done for the planning of the opening ceremonies for the London Olympics. It was really cool, and may get it's own post later. Here's some pictures from the city.

We actually took this on the last day, but it's the thought that counts.

York Minster

View from the top of the tower, over the grounds of the Minster.

A tower that we stumbled across in the middle of a car park.

The Shambles, an especially old shopping district. Those buildings were not originally that close together, but they've shifted over time. We bought crepes near here for lunch!

Look for a post about our time in Scotland in the next few days.

October Adventures

I'm sorry I haven't updated recently, but life has gotten so ... full, lately. I've started teaching more- a math unit on shapes last week that went pretty well, considering that it was my first unit with these kids. Next week I'm adding literacy, beginning with a unit on poetry. We're going to learn about the basics of poetry this week, then carve a pumpkin and write poems about it the week after half term.

There's been a lot going on outside of school, too. Our professor from back home has been visiting this week, so we've met with her a few times. She also got us tickets to the City of Cambridge Symphony Orchestra, so we went last night. It was fun to get dressed up and go to the concert. There were two bassoon players, Grandpa, but they did not play The Hustle.

The University term has started again here, so the students have finally returned and clubs and societies have started meeting again. I've tried out a few different things...

Before the symphony, another girl from the program and I went on a ramble with the Cambridge University Rambling Club. This was basically a six mile walk, beginning near the edge of the city centre and headed out into the country. It was a nice walk and a fun way to meet a few new people, and see a bit of a different area. About half way through (we think) we got bored, so we turned around and came back early. I met a few people at a ballet class on Thursday, too. It was well taught and not very expensive, so I think I'm going to try to go most weeks that my schedule allows.

Last weekend I got to run the light board for the Cambridge American Stage Tour's production of Two Gentlemen of Verona. I couldn't hear the first half of the show, because I didn't know how to turn on the speakers in the light booth, but the costumes were well done and the physical comedy was amusing.

All these activities have had me pretty busy, so I've got to run to get some lesson planning done now!

“Flowers are as common in the country as people are in London.”

As I've mentioned, we went into London last weekend. It's about an hour by train, and under 20 pounds for round trip, so it's a very do-able day trip from here. We all had different things we wanted to see and different plans for the afternoon, so we split up. I wandered around the city for the afternoon, before meeting up with Hilary and Liz in the evening to see Avenue Q, which was the cheapest show we could find. Here's some pictures from my afternoon wanderings.

The National Gallery. I didn't go inside, just looked at the building.

Big Ben

House of Parliament, view from Victoria Park. I took this picture several times because it kept looking blurry, but there's just so much detail on the outside of the building that the small screen on my camera couldn't handle it.
The Thames River and the London Eye, also from Victoria Park. I did not ride the Eye this time, as it would have cost more than our theater tickets, which is ridiculous! It was fun to look at and a useful landmark for navigating this part of the city, however.
I found a playground on the South Bank! It was pretty full of small children, since it was such a beautiful day, so I didn't stop to play.
Further along the South Bank, there was this sort of underground skate park with a bunch of people standing outside watching them do tricks. It was hard to photograph the guys in the air, so I stuck with those waiting for their turns.
The whole area was covered with graffiti art- it was neat looking.
Further down, there was a sort of festival, including an area with several birds of prey. They rather startled me when I first looked over and saw a bald eagle standing on stump in a roped off area.
I'm not sure if these guys were a part of the festival, but they were amazing sand artists. They built a living room on a tiny little bit of beach.
And the original reason I took the route I did- the Globe Theatre! unfortunately, it was closed when I got there. :( The gift shop was still open, however, so I was able to get a new bookmark to add to my collection.

I also wandered through an art gallery with a beautiful photography exhibit done by children around the world, checked out Covet Garden, sat in Leicester Square and rode the Tube.

Overall, a good day, and a trip that may be repeated later in the semester.

So, the promised PE story: Put On Your Pants!

The kids change out of their uniforms into PE kit in the classroom. The first time they all walked back into the room and started stripping down to change startled me greatly, but everyone finds it normal, so I'm trying. Part of this trying include helping the kids who get stuck with their shirts caught on their heads or getting their pants turned right ways round to put back on, because, well, they're 5 and not everyone's mastered those skills.

Last week, a little guy who doesn't talk much (he's in the Speech and Language Program) brought me his polo shirt to unbutton so he could put it on after PE. After we got it on him (his head size to collar size ratio was not in his favor), I told him that he needed to go put on his pants. He looked down and pointed at his underwear. I thought that he was showing me that he wasn't wearing pants, so I told him again that, yes, he needed to go put on pants. He walked over to his seat, looked around, and returned with his jumper (sweatshirt). Not what I was expecting, but whatever. After we got the jumper on (it was tough- the kid must have a big head), I repeated my request that he put his pants on. At this point a TA looked over to help, rather alarmed. "Trousers!" she said. "He needs to put on his trousers." Finally, I remembered that I had read that in British English, pants are underwear and trousers are pants. No wonder he was confused, and the teacher concerned, when I asked him to put on his pants...

We had our first meetings with the "tutor," the faculty member who is running our program over here. It went really well- our teachers apparently spoke highly of us and the tutor was pleased with the progress we've made on assembling our professional portfolios and completing performance tasks. Seems like we are off to a good start academically.

Compare/Contrast

We all survived the first week in the school! We've started to figure out some of the differences between the schools we are familiar with and the ones we will be teaching in. One of my favorite differences, but a difficult one to adjust to, is how my Grade 1 students learn letters, or rather, don't learn them. Instead of learning the names of all the letters, they learn them by sounds. If presented with a d, most will say "duh" instead of "dee." Of course, a few will say "buh," but that's no different from American Kindergarteners! It's very phonics based, obviously, and it works well for a lot of the kids. There's one group (10 kids in grades 1-4) that it doesn't work with, which isn't good, but for those who it does work with, it works really well. A five year old read me a book about teeth, and successfully sounded out "incisor!"

They have compulsory religious education (RE. Like PE, but not.). According to the government, 51% of morning assemblies should be corporate worship, even though the school I'm in isn't religiously affiliated. The other half of the girls in the program are at a Catholic school (but it's a state-funded school- different, huh?) so they obviously have mass and RE, but all the students are Catholic. Our school is so diverse (also unexpected), so there are Protestants, Catholics, Muslims, Hindus (?), and many non-religious. We met with the Head Teacher (sort of like principal), and he explained that he doesn't think the kids should be forced to practice the state-sanctioned Protestant religion, so he does the very minimum. They stress the citizenship aspects- being a good person, etc. and the vicar comes once a fortnight.

Look for posts about a funny story from PE on Thursday and my trip to London in the next few days. It's bedtime now!

Festivals

Last Saturday, we went to two different local festivals, one near the school where I am, and one in the city center at Parker's Piece. I finally uploaded the pictures, and here's some of my favorites.

There was a parade (on the sidewalk) to the first festival. See the little scouts, Daddy? I like the fairy, myself.

This guy was just chilling in his tent, wearing a medieval costume and playing some sort of wind instrument.

The whole entrance was surrounded with old military vehicles and a ROTC-like young people dressed in military uniforms fundraising for a charity.

The second festival was much bigger, with lots of merchant booths.

There were plenty of games with typical carnival prizes. This particular picture's for Casey.

Liz and I enjoyed the food tent- there were lots of samples. I bought some amazing homemade honey roasted cashews, not from this guy, but one of his neighbors. They were sweeter than the regular machine made ones, with a delicious, thick, carmel-y coating. They're all long gone by now!

There was a team? group? collection of people? playing cricket. We stopped to watch, but even among the four of us, we couldn't really figure it out. We decided that we'll just have to go to a pub during a match? game? and ask lots of questions, during commercials, of course.

First Day

Today was our first day in the schools, and it happened to fall on a field trip day for Years 1 and 2, so Hilary and I spent most of our day at the Botanic Gardens with 50 some 5-7 year olds. Unfortunately, my camera battery was dead, so I don't have pictures to post yet. We took pictures with the school camera, so if any of those turn out to be amazing, I'll share them.

It was very weird to see familiar flowers, like impatiens, in the Plants of the World greenhouse! I hadn't realized how dry the air is here until we walked into the rain forest section of the greenhouses and breathed in the thick, humid air. It was surprisingly pleasant...

Ms. Mitchell is good. She seems to have command of her class, though it's hard to tell on a field trip. The kids are, well, kids! They are much more diverse than I was expecting, with many coming from other countries and speaking other languages. Because we were on a trip, they were excited and acting up a bit, and just like back home, you can immediately tell who has to be redirected more often. When I was asking a child not to throw stones at the ducks in the pond, he called me out on my pronunciation of the word water. He informed me that it's not "wadder," as I say, but "wa-ta." Oops! Ms. Mitchell gave me Green Eggs and Ham to read tomorrow, because "if it's Dr. Seuss, you can just tell them it is supposed to sound like that." I think I'm going to like her!

Tourist-y Things

Since we've had this week off, we've done a lot more exploring. When we got tired of that, we bought bus passes (excellent purchase) and wandered even more. We found the schools we will be teaching at, the college that we are associated with, lots of bus stops, useful stores (Poundland- it's like the dollar store, but in pounds), good pubs, and good food, both at the pubs and at other restaurants. Since our program doesn't really start until tomorrow, we've had to find our own food, and since we don't have access to any kitchen stuff or refrigeration, this has resulted in lots of eating out. Fortunately, Britain's reputation of horrible food is not completely deserved. We've found some decent "filled baguettes," which are basically mini sub sandwiches, delicious pizza (Liz's favorite) and little cafes with a variety of options. Keenan would love it here- there's Chinese takeout places everywhere!

We've also done some "quintessential Cambridge" things (that's from an advertising flyer we saw). On Friday, we went punting- basically a boat tour in a little boat

that is pushed along the bottom of the river with a long pole. You can either self-hire to try it yourself or go on a guided tour. After seeing some people doing self-hires, we were very glad that we weren't doing it ourselves! One guy floating by in the other direction called out to our guide, who was very good, to ask if he had any tips. He didn't, but I thought he might have more luck if he turned the boat around so that is was facing the right direction...

Anyway, we saw lots of interesting and famous places.

Here's the Cam Bridge. Kind of important, since they named the city after it.

This building has the most Virginia Creeper growing on it of any building in Britain. An odd honor.

Kings College Chapel (and dorms?)

The Mathematical Bridge. It's made entirely of straight pieces of wood, and according to our tour guide, if you took out all of the bolts holding it together, it would still stand. I'm not sure if I believe

this, because if it's true, why'd they use the bolts?

The Bridge of Sighs. There are several around the world. The three I remember are the original, in Venice (or somewhere in Italy), which prisoners would walk over on their way to be executed, and so would sigh; this one, which students cross from dorms to where they take exams; and one in Oxford, over which the guide says they sigh and wish they were studying at Cambridge!

I've gotten pretty much moved in- it's easier when there's a limited amount of stuff. Today we went into the actual city to look around and do some shopping. We're a very short bus ride or a pretty long walk to the actual city center. We're definitely going to be renting bikes- it really is the most common way to get around. All of us had things we hadn't brought, either forgotten or purposefully didn't bring because they didn't fit, like tissues and hangers. We left at about 9:30 this morning and didn't get back 'til after 4. We found most of the things we were looking for, but not being familiar with the chain stores makes it harder to find things. For lunch we had Cornish pasties, which are a bit like Hot Pockets in structure, but not microwaved and much better. They were traditional to send as lunches for the men working in the field, because they were self contained and could be eaten even with dirty hands and no utensils.

Here's some pictures of my room.

From the door. It's a long and skinny room.

Yep, there's guitars on the curtains and a tea set on the dresser.

And the opposite wall... desk area.

An entire extra set of shelves.

The wardrobe behind the door.

Well, it's only 10:15, but after walking around all day, it's bedtime for me! Good Night!

We made it!

We here early this afternoon after an uneventful flight. We're staying in a small guest house/bed and breakfast owned by a friendly guy named Pete. We all have our own rooms with bathrooms, which is quite nice. The room that I am in is a very bright lime green color. It was overwhelming at first, but if the weather stays like it is today, I will appreciate it! It's about 60, so not too cold, but sort of rainy.

We went out exploring after a brief nap, mostly in search of food. After a few tries, we found a nice pub not very far from the guest house that had great food. I have a feeling we will be going back there! We also went to a phone store to get sim cards, but the phone that I had won't accept the UK ones. We're going back over that way tomorrow, so I'll see if they can help me out.

Well, it's been a long day, or maybe a short two days, I'm not really sure, but either way, I'm tired. I'll post more later!

Leaving on a jet plane...

After weeks of paperwork and packing, we leave tomorrow! Three months in Cambridge (England, not Massachusetts) for student teaching, or teaching practice, to use the British phrase. I found out late last week that I will be in Grade 1 with Ms. Mitchell. That's younger than I had hoped for, but they'll be fun!

I'll post more once we actually get to the UK.