Summer 2008

So.. Time to go back to work! Monday begins our teacher workshop at North High School..But I gotta say, I'm kind of excited to get back to work! Though I admit I've kept myself a bit too busy this summer, I really prefer having a schedule! Even though it's a grueling one...

Anyway, it was a pretty OK summer... Some ups, some downs, as usual. But full of some new adventures.

Below is a best of summer 2008. First, 2 weeks after school was out I went to Germany on a student trip. I was there 2 weeks. When I got back, I took a couple weeks of classes (one was for TPRS - yay - if you don't know what TPRS is I can give you more details than you ever wanted). I had one major house project this summer and that was what I like to call "adding a room to a room." Yes, I'm ingenious! Ha! My living room now has an extra room what I like to call a guest/extra/prayer room! I love it!

The true highlight of the summer was going to Wisconsin Dells with my family, and the most important two members: my nephew and niece: Jacob and Abby. Otherwise I did some other random things...babysitting...helped at a kid's camp for a week...made pinatas with kids. Pinatas are super fun to make, btw.

So...that's that. I read 2 great books last week: "I Dared to Call Him Father", by Bilquis Sheikh, and "One Woman Against the Reich" by Helmut Ziefle. The latter author I know personally, so that was an extra meaningful read. I recommend both highly...

I've been reading through the book of Luke in the New Testament and I'm amazed at all the new things I notice each time I read the Bible. This time what struck me so much were all the references to the poor and God's heart for them. Pretty awesome. God does not forget the downtrodden.

So here ends my summer and I will venture into year 2 of the great adventure of teaching! GO TPRS!

First day of conference: German nerds! (draft)

Day 5:

First day at conference at Sweet Briar College, VA:
Fantastic class! I’m already learning so much! I’m excited to know that I will HARDLY have to use my textbook at all next year! This is so fantastic! I’m learning this method called TPRS, which stands for Total Physical Response Storytelling.

A woman told me today the following: “A bad day of TPRS teaching is so much better than even a good day of teaching out of the textbook.” I found this incredibly encouraging!

Day 4: Day on the Greyhound (draft)

Day 4 of trip: travelling from DC to Sweet Briar, VA (what an adventure!!!)

I left very early to take the metro to the Greyhound station. What a day this was! I got to the station at 9 to take a bus to leave for Sweet Briar, VA at 10 am. Now if you’ve taken Greyhound/Jefferson before, you know what this type of bus experience can be like. First, we waited an hour lined up to get on the bus, and then we were told our driver was sick and that they were finding a new one for us. A guy showed up an hour later. By the time we loaded the bus, it was noon and 2 hours after the time we should have left. Unfortunately, the driver did not know the route and what should have taken us 5 minutes to get out of DC ended up taking 45 minutes! He also took several wrong turns during our trip. Luckly there was a man on the bus who had been a passenger on this route over 20 times so he helped get us to our destinations.

Day 3 in DC (draft)

Day 3 in DC: (draft)

Went back to the Holocaust Museum. Went to the FDR Memorial, other memorials, Korean War Memorial…..

Ate at another ethnic restaurant near my hotel. Then went to the Braisiallian restaurant I ate at the first night, this time to go salsa dancing. There I met so many people! First I met Futi, from Swaiziland! She also grew up as the daughter of a diplomat. She was so nice to me and kept making sure that I was OK, since I was by myself and all. Then I met a whole bunch more interesting people. I met this American-born Columbia guy that first started working in the White House during the Clinton-Lewinsky era. Then he moved up and traveled with Gore during his presidential campaign and later for Kerry during his campaign. He served as a spokesman for both campaigns! Now he works for Dean and says he spends most of his day talking to the press. He was so great to talk to! After salsa ended I went out with him and his friend (he works with refugee populations all over the US) to eat falafel nearby. This was 4 am and you should have seen the neighborhood! It was so incredibly packed!

Day 2 in DC (Draft)

Day 2: (draft - wrote this in like 3 minutes - no time)

The best day ever! I headed out by 10 am and went to my main point of interest in DC: The National Holocaust Memorial Museum. I spent 7 hours there! They have such interesting and well displayed exhibits and I just soaked up all the information. There was a main exhibit that is 3 floors and this starts with a video of Hitler’s Rise to Power and the development of the 3rd Reich. There is so much information in this exhibit and some of it was really hard to see and learn about.

Saw the Jefferson Memorial, Washington Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, White House

Went to a restaurant to get some food next to my hostel and sat outdoors. Met a woman named Gabrielle from DC who grew up as a diplomat’s daughter. She’s also half French and works now as a translator for the UN. She grew up moving to a different country every couple year. Later a friend of hers named Niles joined us who is the director of a homeless shelter in DC. He was incredibly interesting! They were both so nice and accommodating and gave me their numbers if I should happen to run into any problems in DC.

Later I went back to Habana’s to go dancing. Many stories to tell about this, but too much to write in my blog! Got my cell phone stolen. ☹

Day 1 in Washington DC

1st day of trip:

My first day in DC has already been so great! I’m having a blast!! My trip started early with a flight leaving at 6 am. Thank you to Sabrina for getting me to the airport by 5 am!! I arrived at 9:30 am, and took a 40 minute bus ride to the Metro, DC’s subway system. I took 2 different lines to get to my stop for the youth hostel. At the stop I went up the biggest escalator I’ve ever been up in my life. I was totally afraid! And I’ve been up some big escalators before – in London. See picture (once I get my fotos developed!).

With my luggage I walked about 12 minutes to my youth hostel and hauled everything up 2 flights of stairs once I arrive at the hostel. The hostel itself is by far the worst one I’ve ever stayed in. It was pretty disgusting actually. It reminded me of the rooming house I stayed in at the U of M my senior year. My room for 3 days was shared with 8 females… My first day there were 2 Americans, 3 Koreans, and Austrian and a woman from New Zealand.

I must say though that the hostel is in the most perfect neighborhood ever! It’s home to tons of ethnic restaurants and night life!! People stay out until 4-5 am in this neighborhood because the restaurants and night clubs stay open this late.

After I got settled I left to go back to the Metro and check out DC! Today I saw the Capital Building, spent a few hours in some of the Smithsonian Museums: History of American Indian Museum, African Art Museum, and …..

I took the Metro home, and went to a Brazilian restaurant next to my hostel. There a couple Brazilian girls started talking to me and eventually I found myself at a table with 6 people! I met some great people who ended up inviting me to their party next weekend even, the night before I fly home. I had a great time!

I then headed out to Habana, which is locale just seconds from my hostel that has salsa! I spent a few hours there dancing and had such a blast!

No more teachers, no more books, no more teachers' dirty looks!

So I'm done with school! Yay! Today was the official last day for me at St. Thomas, and I completed my master's program! I'm sooooooo glad to be done! Though the program was pretty easy, it's been kind of a long haul for me. I've been taking classes sloooowly at St. Thomas for the past 3 years. And thank you to U of M for the 3 free classes I got to take there and transfer to St. Thomas! Yay! I've gotten to meet a lot of new people through the program, so that's been good! Here's some pictures of the building I had most of my classes in at the downtown Minneapolis campus. I will hopefully attend the graduation ceremony in December.

Also, I treated Libby today to a home grooming kit! Ha! I just couldn't stand to pay $40 a haircut anymore, so I thought I'd take care of it myself... Well, let's just say I'm gonna need some more practice! Libby looks pretty ugly! I'm not sure how to do her ears yet, and she WILL NOT let me do her legs and feet! I was pretty amazed at how good of a job she did, although she did keep trying to bite the trimmer! Pretty funny! She'd growl at it and then take bites at it. Also, she kept trying to bite the blow dryer too when I first dried her hair! What a crazy dog I have! I don't know if you can tell from the "after" picture, but I got some big gouges out in her head by accident and she looks incredibly homely! Oh well Libbs, it'll grow back! Hey, I saved $40 though! :)