Attitude Adjustment

So school is coming up.

I've been avoiding thinking about it.

Everytime someone says something along the lines of "So Julia, you ready for school?" I respond with a gruff "It's not here yet. That means we don't talk about it."

I'm a worrier.

Which is why I don't like to start worrying about things until they are immediate and unavoidable. It's just a waste of energy. So I prefer to not think about it.

But then I started thinking, maybe I'm approaching this with the wrong attitude. Maybe I should try being excited about it. School is always a good time. Sure, it's hard work and you're constantly hoping and praying that your prof likes your paper or that you studied enough for that exam or that the cute boy 4 rows over thinks your hair looks particularly shiny today(muwahahaha), but learning is never something you should dread. Or avoid. I feel like I've gotten lazy over the last year. I need to get busy again. Balance work and school and friends and and and... So even though driving to downtown Winnipeg every morning seems quite unpleasant (don't really wanna get up at 6am, 4 days a week), even though going to a new school is "scary" (how old am I? Seven????) and even though meeting 30 new classmates that you'll be spending practically every day with in class for the next two years is a little nerve-wracking, I should still be looking forward to it. Sure, it's scary as heck just thinking about being in a real classroom with a teacher judging your skills and some university supervisor evaluating your work, but why should I cower and be scared all the time? I'll make mistakes. I'll need them to tell me what worked and what didn't. No one gets it right off the bat. We all have to start somewhere. And I know that I have unrealistic expectations of myself. I like to get things right the first time. I don't like the thought of people using the words "room for improvement" to describe me or my abilities.... But I mean, I've finally reached the stage of my education where I'll actually be learning about what I want to do with the rest of my life. I've finally arrived. So maybe I should just flippin' enjoy it, hey?

So here's to appreciating the past and looking forward. And if that smile doesn't come all on its own, I can always learn to paste it on. Someone once told me that teachers need to be great actors. May as well start practising.

I'm such a wuss...

Good morning!


So this past weekend was my very last one in Ellefeld, where I lived with my family as a kid. Needless to say that was sad. I was there quite frequently this year and I enjoyed it to its fullest every single time. On Friday I got together with my friend Claudia Strobel and we went for a walk in the woods where Tim and I used to play a lot. I wanted to walk through there one more time before coming back to Canada. Not really much to tell. We had a good old typical German supper at her parents' house afterwards and just kept talking and talking. Avoiding the inevitable goodbye. And anyone who knows me knows that I HATE goodbyes. With a passion. I actually get NERVOUS before goodbyes. Sometimes I just try to move off to a corner while everyone else is saying goodbyes so that they might just pass by me without seeing me. Come to think of it, that hasn't ever worked, but I still keep trying. I'm nothing if not consistent. I just find goodbyes so awkward. Should you hug, shake hands, just say something? (Obviously with good friends you KNOW that you should hug them, but then how long should the hug be? How hard should you hug them? Should you hug more than once? Who's gonna be the first one to break the last hug and take a step back? You can tell the other person a LOT with a simple hug. If it's too short and not hard enough you tell them you don't care. If it's too long and too hard then you seem a) desperate, and b) it could just get awkward....I know, I know, I overanalyze everything.) And then you have to think of something short but fitting to say...and who has ever heard me come up with something SHORT to say ... never mind FITTING! And then the other person always has tears in their eyes and I'm an unemotional robot when it comes to crying so then I just feel like an insensitive dork. Goodbyes never really hit me because it never actually FEELS like I won't see him or her again for a long time. I kind of only realize how long it was when I actually see them again after a long absence. (Did that make sense?) I often wish I could just do goodbyes over email. So much easier. I'm such a copout. Wuss. But I can't help it. I just find goodbyes so AWKWARD.


So ya, this weekend I said goodbye to Claudia, and then to another one of my closest friends out here, who is coincidentally also named Claudia.
We took the whole day on Saturday to hang out. We had planned a trip to Prague together for a weekend in April, but she got a really bad virus and we had to cancel that. So it had been a really long time since we last saw one another and now it was already the LAST time. We went up to the Goeltzschtalbruecke
(world's largest brick bridge...unfortunately also a hotspot for local suicide attempts), which was another request of mine...to visit the bridge, not the suicide part. I always thought it was so cool as a kid and I had definitely planned on seeing it at some point this year. Who woulda thought I would need 10.5 months to get around to it??? But it was super fun. We had a little picnic and then tried to climb up to the top of the bridge. I happened to be wearing heels that day. NOT a good idea, but heck, I thought we were just gonna eat some food, gaze at the giantness of the bridge, and move on. But I shoulda known better. I always have to find something stupid to do in the most inconvenient shoes/clothes possible. I had to run from tree to tree to try to keep from rolling down the hill.
I almost died, kinda sprained my ankle, and by the end was seriously considering using the surrounding brush as a toilet, but it was totally worth it. It reminded me of our class fieldtrip to that same bridge in elementary school.
And then on Sunday I was at Christina's one last time to say goodbye. Again, nothing to report. We just chatted all day long and then went over to her parents' for supper. She was my best friend for 4 of the 5 years in Germany so I spent LOTS of time at her house as a kid. It was cool to eat dinner with her parents and little sister (who ain't so little anymore! She's turned into this gorgeous 16 year old. Crazy.) BBQed just like old times.

And then on Monday I had to say goodbye to the Maedlers, my family on loan, as they called themselves. They were like a second set of parents to me and my brother as children already, so you can imagine how close I was to them after this year. I always stayed at their house on the weekends in Ellefeld and I spent a lot of time with them. I hate goodbyes. But again, it just didn't feel like this was actually the last time. Except for the tears in Nancy's eyes. It was a great weekend, but I was also relieved when it was over, just cuz I knew how many goodbyes I had to get through. I did chicken out tho by not going to church on Sunday. I mean, I was invited for supper at Christina's (our summer church services are in the evening), so I had a good excuse, but I couldn't face going to church and saying goodbye to another 10 million people. I know, I'm an awful person. And have possibly insulted several people. But I couldn't do it. Is that terrible? If it is don't tell me. I already feel bad enough.
The only crummy part of the weekend is that I was never able to get together with one of my best friends, Daniela. And thus was also not able to say goodbye to her family, and I was very close to her fam, all my life. That was hard for me. But it can't be changed now, so ...

I just cannot believe how fast a year has gone by. When I got here I thought to myself: "Wow. A whole year. Now what?" And I just figured I'd have lots of time to do everything I wanted. To see all my friends 5, 6, 7 times. To go for long walks in our old woods all the time. To have lots of time to myself. Well I was wrong. Dead wrong. Some of my friends I only got to see once or twice! Where did my year go? The plan was also to become a half-hermit. I was really looking forward to that, after 4 years of university, work, and stress. I mean, this year in Germany wasn't stressful, but it was anything but slow-paced and relaxed; I was definitely running from one place to the next, especially on the weekends. PEOPLE, BEFORE I KNOW IT I'M GONNA BE 40 YEARS OLD. I'm tellin ya...

But this song makes me happy. Oh so happy. I just discovered it. And ordered the CD this morning on Amazon. Lol. I don't care if you make fun of me for liking it. I can't help it, their music is just ridiculously contagious. And the male singer's dancing makes me literally laugh out loud every time I watch the video. (I posted it on Facebook already, but for those of you who missed it... it will make you happy, i nearly guarantee it. :P)

oh, and here are the pics from the weekend, again for those of you without facebook.

Easter Shmeaster...couldn't think of a better title...I'm sorry, I'll work on it...

So I just unpacked from Easter holidays. Then I repacked for England. I once again have far too many clothes along but I don't exactly know what I'll want to wear next Tuesday, now do I? So I need OPTIONS. Apparently we're supposed to have good weather. YAY! Although I can't complain. I just had 3 complete weeks of sunshine and blue skies. I have major tanlines already. Nuts! Ok, so it's been raining since yesterday. But that's hardly worth mentioning.

So I'm gonna run through the last week in oober-short point form. Seeing as how I have no time and a week is a lot of ground to cover. Highlights it is!

- Friday, April 10th. Apparently buses don't run on Good Friday. I checked the bus schedule 10,000 times and it only mentioned Christmas and New Year's, so I figured I was safe. Apparently not. I sat at the bus stop for 20 minutes before I gave up and begged a ride to the train station from my landlord. Anyways, caught the train and all, but the next train I took had some kind of engine issue. So the train stopped in the middle of the forest for about 10 minutes while the conductor dude "fixed it" and then we had smooth sailing for the next 2.5 hours. Apparently it wasn't my day to travel....But I made it in the end. Hooray!

- Saturday, April 11. Went for a 36 km bike ride with my cousin, Jasmin, and two of her friends. All that for some Italian ice cream. Oh well, it was very tasty and at least there were no guilty side effects ... I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure I burned off enough calories that day for 2 buckets of ice cream, never mind two teeny little balls of it.

- Sunday, April 12. Had rabbit for lunch. Whole thing was cooked. Including head. I was forced to slurp the meat off the cheek bone. It's supposed to be oober good or something. Must say the oober-goodness came off as slightly less oober-good simply because I was aware that I had a skull bone in my mouth. I mean, there was an eye socket, people. Ew.

- Monday, April 13. Went to some coolio architecture village in Stuttgart with my cousin, Jasmin. We got lost, decided we needed some overpriced Coca Cola from this ritzy little cafe, then found what we were looking for. Called the Weissenhofsiedlung, in case any of you are architecture fans. Then we went on a Starbucks hunt and sat on the giant lawn in front of the Stuttgarter castle, sipping a strawberries and creme frappucino while baking in the sun. Did I mention tanlines??? :P I'm evil, I know. Then we went to Jasmin's apartment, made a disgusting and unsightly amount of spagetti pesto with a retarded amount of freshly pressed garlic ... and ate it all, of course. Then it was time to say a final farewell to Jasmin.

- Tuesday, April 14. Went to Pforzheim for the last time with my aunt Edda. Found sweetest slouchy hat thing and scarf thing at United Colors of Benetton. SALE. Woooo. And sunglasses. Then made my aunt take me to Cafe Rialto. Best ice cream in Germany. We went there a lot when I was really little (5 years old) and then again regularly when we lived in Germany, so it's kind of a childhood nostalgia thing. So sad. Last giant crazy fruity ice cream creation. Although for something that's supposed to have all sorts of exotic fruit it sure had a lot of apple slices. Trying to cut down on costs or somethin'?? Can't fool meeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Mennonite mafia will WIPE YOU OUT.

- Wednesday, April 15. Did nothing. Read all day outside on the balcony. Entire 379 page novel done by 4pm. Was the last book I had along. Immediately experienced major panic attacks due to lack of reading material and inability to imagine how I would survive the next 3 days.

- Thursday, April 16. Took train to my other cousin's place. Klaus and Carina. Had to say goodbye to my aunt Edda and uncle Roland. Very sad. Won't see them again before I come back home to Canada.

- Friday, April 17. First day of rain in 3 weeks. Almost forgot what the stuff felt like. Went shopping in the morning in Aalen with Carina. (No purchases, mother dearest) Ate pizza slice for 2 euros. Not bad considering. Although those were DEFINITELY canned mushrooms. Chintzy. Booo. On the upside, lots of sauce. I HATE it when they skimp on sauce. Um, then went to the Steiff Museum in Giengen. This is where the first teddy bears were invented (strangely enough, named "teddy" bears after US president Ted Roosevelt...) Anywho, they are world-famous teddies. Retardedly overpriced, but they're a German novelty so I had to take one home with me. Used to have one when I was little, but it prolly got sold at the garage sale when we moved to Germany. So now I have Charly. He is the softest thing I have ever touched. I'm a little in love. Man search over.

- Saturday, April 18. Said goodbye to Klaus, Carina, and their 3 year old, Loris. Very sad. Had a lot of good times with them this year. Then sat in various trains for approximately ... 5.5 hours. Then sat around at train station for 45 minutes waiting for bus. Then almost missed bus because apparently on weekends they use a different bus stop than on weekdays. Realized it in the nick of time and ran after bus as it was pulling away. Dude opened the door and stared at me for a full 5 seconds after I clambered on, then coldly informed me that they use a different bus stop on the weekends. THANKS ... I NOTICED. Seriously, I could have chilled a coke on his eyeballs. I think I got goosebumps just by looking at him. It's not as if I was asking him to move the freaking Alps for me ... just let me on the flippin' bus!!!! Which, by the way, only had ONE FREAKING OTHER PERSON ON IT. AND NO ONE ELSE GOT ON THE WHOLE RIDE. Like he was really in a rush...

- Last note: Officially dislike James Patterson novels. Good ideas, poor writing. In my opinion. I kept shaking my head in embarrassment ... for him ... It's like hearing Liza Minnelli on the radio and alternately wondering whether both or just one of her producer's ear drums exploded at some crazy-ass swing music festival in the early 1940s, hence his inability to realize the woman has one scary voice, or whether she made it because she sat outside the record label's offices all day belting show tunes until someone finally decided it was a better idea to put her in a sound proof room and let her croak into a microphone ... my theory: all her music was secretly sponsored by the underground Sadistic Society for the Deaf of the USA, bent on making sure obscene amounts of unbearable music punishes those of us who can still hear! Wow I've got an evil streak today. But this was supposed to be about James Patterson. Honestly, I will never read a Patterson novel again... I could pull better writing out of my grade 6 diary. Anyone know of a good publisher???(Oh Lord, I hope Patterson's lawyer or manager, or whatever authors have, doesn't read this and sue me. Or Liza Minnelli's, for that matter...)

Ok, so now you're all up to date. Twil see what kind of Internet options I have in England. By the way, for those counting ... which would technically just be me ... 42 days left!!!!!!!!!

Just a quickie...

Perverts. Get your minds out of the gutter. My title is meant completely innocently.

Anyways, just wanted to let you all know that I just got off the phone with Lufthansa. Flight home is booked - and it all only took, like, 10 minutes! I was expecting a minimum half-hour run-around with a cheery grand finale of

"I'm sorry, the ticket you purchased in February of 2008 cannot be changed or altered as outlined in article 3, point 10, bullet 18, subtext 1 384 274, margin quadrillion of the fine print that even my newborn nephew's 20/20 vision could not decipher and you must either return on the current scheduled date of February the 5th, 2009 or forfeit your current ticket and purchase another for $1500, plus a $500 surcharge because I'm PMS-ing today and my husband, after 11 years of marriage, still forgets to put the cap on the toothpaste, which just pisses me off, in order for you to return to your beloved home country in June. Happy Birthday, Blessed Easter, Merry Christmas, a swell St. Pattie's Day, and a jolly festive Hanukkah. Please choose Lufthansa again soon. We look forward to maxing out your credit card in the near future."

But no. Within seconds and only $100 later I was transferred to the exact flights I wanted so that I can fly home with Zoe and Katrina...I even got the seat next to them! And drumroll please...June 19th, 8:29 pm I will once again be on Winnipeg...ian...er soil. (Winnipegger soil sounds wrong, as does every other extra-suffixed adjective version of Winnipeg...) :) :) :) Feels weird to think that I'm coming back in the not tooooo distant future...

So hip hip hoorah for Lufthansa! :) :)

The Internet is my Hero

Well, it's Friday afternoon and another school week is over. Crazy. Did you know that I only have 17 more weeks left here? Of course you didn't...but now you do. 17. That just doesn't sound like much.

So not much to report. It was a full, but really good week! I taught two classes (grade 6) about Nunavut. The kids seemed to love it and the teacher (Steffi) was just thrilled! I think she had as much fun learning the few sentences in Inuktitut as the kids did! (P.S. The Internet is my hero...I didn't know much more about Nunavut than these german kids before I decided to teach a lesson on it. lol.) Anyways, it was a lot of fun and I'm going to do it with a gr. 5 class next week.

It was kind of cool cuz after class today I ended up spending about 15 minutes just talking to Steffi and another teacher before leaving for the weekend. Just talking about different challenges that teachers face and some of their stories and experiences were really interesting, especially when they got onto the topic of their first years as teachers...I now know what I can "look forward to...". I think that the best part about this year has been learning all the "behind the scenes stuff" that you will just never really understand until you're IN the situation. I consider myself really lucky to have this opportunity before I begin the education program at university. I think I have much more realistic perspectives now. Plus I'm starting to figure out what works and what doesn't. I still have such a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG way to go, but it no longer seems quite as daunting. In any case I at least won't be so nervous of standing in front of a class. I mean, I've dealt with grades 5 to 12 in the past 6 months, so it's been the hugest, most helpful learning curve of my life! And I've never been shy of speaking in front of a crowd. In fact, I actually really enjoy it. So I can't imagine what it would be like for those who don't...or those who are even afraid of it! Thankfully faking confidence is my area of expertise. Boo ya. Lucked out on that character flaw...

So ya, that's about it. This will be my first weekend in Eilenburg since...end of October or beginning of November. I'm actually staying home. I'm going to veg in my pajamas, watch crappy late-night movies, drink tea, eat very little because I'm avoiding grocery shopping til Monday, and finish up my Canada presentation that I'm going to be giving in about 10 million different English classes, from gr. 10-12. By the way, if you can think of cool Canadian stuff for me to include PLEASE LET ME KNOW! There's so much stuff to choose from that I get lost in all the ideas and information and find myself sitting in front of a blank Powerpoint slide. Lol. I mean, I have a whole bunch done already, but I'm struggling to find more. See, the problem is that NO ONE IN EUROPE KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT CANADA. If I were from England, the States, even Australia they'd know where to "place me", but Canada is kind of like a giant question mark on their mind maps. That makes it a pretty huge assignment to "present Canada". So any cool ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Seriously.

No eggs please...

Status of my throat at 4am...yes, I actually woke up because swallowing was so painful: Felt like I had tried to swallow an egg whole...more like an ostrich egg....or possibly dinosaur...but it got stuck half-way down. That is, an egg that I had first covered in crazy glue and then rolled around in a vat full of sharp objects...you know, like pins & needles, screws, glass shards, freshly sharpened pencil tips, shark's teeth... the usual. And after swallowing said Death Egg someone with a pair of brass knuckles came along and decided to punch me in the throat several dozen times.

Status of my throat upon awakening: Egg had swollen to twice the size and pointy, sharp INANIMATE objects had somehow reproduced and multiplied. Thought life was going to end on creaky bed at relatives' house in Black Forest, while wearing the ugliest pajama combination known to man, surrounded by half-empty glasses of water, cough candy wrappers, and used kleenex.

Had intermittent coughing spasm during breakfast

Current status of throat: Death Egg has passed through due to previously mentioned hack-fest. Possibly on its way to terrorize further internal organs. In any case, I can now swallow without wanting to slit open my own throat for relief.

New Years Eve might be alright after all!

Still in the land of the living...

Wow, I think this was my longest blogging absence since I started this thing! Sorry about the lengthy interruption. I took a spontaneous trip west this weekend. See, my cousin, Carina, and her husband, Klaus, were supposed to come out here to Eilenburg for the weekend with their 3 year old son, Loris. But Cari called me late Thursday evening to tell me that Klaus had caught a bad cold and they wanted to know if I would be able to come out to visit them instead, seeing as how I obviously didn’t have anything else planned for the weekend. They even bought my train ticket! So how could I refuse? A weekend with family in a GORGEOUS apartment (my cousin is an architect and 100% perfectionist with fabulous taste in everything), that promised to be heated to boot! Heck yes, I went. So I had to hastily pack my stuff together Thursday night and took off right after school on Friday.

My trip to Aalen was 6.5 hours on trains packed beyond capacity due to a recent train part recall that has put dozens of InterCitys out of commission… but I managed to snag a seat on all three trains and the 6.5 hrs were so totally worth it. I arrived in a winter wonderland at 9pm Friday night and was welcomed with a little apartment all to myself (they own this huge house and the downstairs apartment in empty) and a mini-feast of hawaiian toast. Like, the non-fake-cheese-cheap-ham sort. Like I said…Cari’s a perfectionist. :) Yum.
So on Saturday Carina and I drove to Ulm for the day.
Home of the tallest church tower in the world.

We only got to climb up 392 steps of it due to the upper stairs being "dangerously slippery" (pah. I laugh in the face of ‘dangerously slippery’. They’ve obviously never driven on a Manitoban road in November… Unfortunately they still wouldn’t let me climb farther…) But let’s just say the 392 steps were…enough. Lol. Then we checked out the Weihnachtsmarkt (aka. Christmas market….these markets are ridiculously important in Germany. Very traditional. Pretty much every city has some sort of Christmas market, whether big or small) and shopped for the afternoon. Carina mentioned earlier that morning that she wanted to check out the KitchenAid kitchen machine cuz she wanted one for Christmas. Well, when we walked into Abt (a giant appliance store) there was a huge KitchenAid kitchen machine presentation and sale going on. So needless to say we walked outta there with a new KitchenAid. :) Carina was so excited her cheeks were flaming red all day! Lol. (We immediately made a cake with it the next day, naturally. Tasty tasty.) I, on the other hand, used my food budget for this week to buy myself the cutest faded navy shirt dress from an OOBER-high-end store where you feel like everyone is staring at your shabby normal-person-attire in judgmental snobbery. even the bag they put my dress in had a zipper! Obviously a snooty store. However I got my dress for a steal of a deal…35 euros! Woo! I just couldn’t help it. I tried to walk away…I really did. But then I figured I had enough food in the house for the next two weeks so the food-moolah went to the dress. Lol. I wore it today with leggings and boots, horrifying every German within a 25 mile radius due to my 'basically nude' state. I mean, my sleeves only went to my elbows! And I wasn’t wearing proper thick pants! I would surely freeze in this –2 cold spell we’re having! Let me just say I was toasty warm all day, even on my bikeride to and from school. Toasty. We Canadians are made of tough stuff, baby. Heck, I wear leggings, boots, and shirtdresses in Manitoban winters. Geez.
On Sunday Carina, Klaus, Loris, and I went on an "Ausflug" to Dinkelsbühl. Dinkelsbühl. Dinkelsbühl. Nope, doesn’t matter how many times I say it. I still think it’s flippin’ hilarious. I mean, seriously? How do you say that name without smiling? Not physically possible, I swear. Anyways, it’s this absolutely PICTURESQUE little German city. Every building was just adorable and everything was newly restored. Plus none of the stores in the city are allowed to have lit signs so it’s all super old-school and cool. The Christmas market there was CRAZY busy. Of course…Sunday. Germans don’t do anything but go to Christmas markets on the weekends from December til January. Lol.
And then on Monday Carina and I dropped Loris off at kindergarten and had brunch at this café in Aalen called "Samocca". It’s a really great concept. Most of the employees there are mentally handicapped. They bring you a piece of paper with the whole menu on it, you mark what you would like to order and giveit back to your server. It’s just a really cool way of getting them "into society". So many mentally challenged adults are stuck working off in some little factory or whatever and I just think this concept is so clever! I mean, it’s work they’re entirely capable of and they get to interact with just people in general. Very cool.
And then came my 6 hour train ride home. 2 interesting things. First of all, I was reading my book when this lady walked past and I could have sworn I saw a dog’s tail wagging behind her. But then I was like, "You’re crazy, Julia. There’s no way they would allow dogs on the train. Although dogs seem to be allowed almost everywhere in Germany, from stores to restaurants, there’s no way they would be allowed on a train! I mean, it’s raining outside! Dogs smelling like wet…ness are not usually welcomed in tight, compact spaces. Plus people have allergies. And others have severe phobias. Heck, I know a few people with dog phobias. Nope, there’s just no way. I must have imagined it." And promptly as I came to this conclusion the lady walked past in the opposite direction. With a giant black dog in tow. SERIOUSLY? I mean, I am an AVID dog lover. They're my favourite animal and I cried for 3 days straight when I had to put Maxime down last fall. But even I think it’s disgusting when people bring their dogs into clothing stores (I mean, HELLO! DOG HAIR!), restaurants (I mean, HELLO! DOG HAIR!) and especially trains. Honestly, how can Germans of all the peoples in the world allow this? North Americans are usually so much more relaxed and carefree. Germans are the efficient tighta**** with a law for everything against everything. (Again, I'm allowed to say this cuz I'm German...) So you’re not allowed to wash your own car in your own driveway, but you’re allowed to bring your dog into the ice cream parlour so it can lick a scoop of gourmet vanilla crème out of a special dish that will probably be used for the next HUMAN customer…DOES THIS MAKE SENSE? I think not…
And second crazy thing. I was just sitting in my seat on the train from Nürnberg to Leipzig, listening to my iPod, minding my own business, when the song suddenly ended and for approximately 10 seconds there was simply silence as my iPod took its sweet ole time selecting the next track. And that’s when I faintly heard Rihanna’s croaky "Umbrell-a-a-a-a-a" to the right of me. You know how you can hear other people’s music when they have their headphones turned up too loud? Well, that’s what I was hearing. Now why is this significant enough to blog about you might ask? BECAUSE THE PERSON SITTING NEXT TO ME…AKA. THE SOURCE OF THE UMBRELLA-A-A-A-…WAS THIS PRIM AND PROPER MIDDLE-AGED DUDE (WEARING FAR TOO MUCH COLOGNE)!!!!!!!!!! And his head was bobbing along slightly to the spastic poppy vocals. I’ll admit it. I almost lost it. I quickly coughed awkwardly into my hand as I realized I was about to start laughing out loud. And immediately turned up my music.
Then I walked home (20 min) from the train station in the pouring rain.

THE END.

for Pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=86607&l=41911&id=573967603

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=86619&l=39e8f&id=573967603

Oh where to begin...

First of all I would like to announce here on my blog what most of you probably already know, but I'm a proud "new" auntie (for the fourth time) and need to proclaim my jubilation (another awesome word) as loudly as my little keyboard will allow:

WELCOME ZANE JEFFERY TO OUR CRAZY AWESOME FAMILY!

I knew it was going to be a boy!!!

He was born this Friday the 10th of October (just a day before his uncle's birthday) around 12pm Ontario time and is just the most beautiful newborn baby boy. At least it looks like it in the two pics I've gotten so far. :)

I'm sure Craig is already planning umpteen father-son hunting trips and scouring his magazines for Zane's perfect rifle. Future rifle of course...

The only crappy thing is that he'll literally be over a year old before I get to see him in person. And by that time he won't want to just cuddle with his auntie anymore. sigh.

On to the next important thing on my list (which is lengthy seeing as how I haven't blogged since Thursday...): that is BRIA'S BIRTHDAY. Bria my darlin' you are one of my most precious friends. And I NEVER EVER use the word precious. Too girly. So you should be feeling honoured right now. That's right, I'm making your birthday all about me. :) Seriously tho, I love you like crazy, I think about you every day and pray for you constantly. Much much much love is being sent to you via crazy-powerful telepathic waves across the ocean. xoxoxo.


And ya...the weekend. Let's see. Franzi and I ended up driving to Ellefeld Thursday evening already. On Friday I got together with Daniela. We had the most AMAZING weather this weekend and the trees are all different shades of red, orange, and yellow. We hopped on our bikes and rode around our old stomping grounds. After a little shopping excursion of course (two pairs of beautiful boots. and a sweater. and lots of school supplies. i feel like such a teacher now...) Anyways, I went to school in Falkenstein for three years so we drove out there and checked everything out. It was strange because I had already driven past all of these places in August, but in a car. For some reason when you're in a car everything on the other side of the window is lik a movie...like you're not actually there...just watching something far far away. But going all over the place by bike made it all so real. It was so strange to stand right in front of the door I walked through every day to get to class. Or to touch the red bricks that contained so many rambunctious and obnoxious 10-18 year olds day in and day out. I've mentioned before that sometimes the five years of my childhood in Germany seem like a dream; this bike ride yanked that dream straight back into reality. In a good way. :)

here are some pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=76755&l=cbfce&id=573967603





On Saturday I got together with Claudia. Not much to report. Lots and lots of girl talk. Muchly needed. :) I've really noticed how much I talk since I got to Germany - no surprise to the rest of you, just to me. It's nice to have some super super close friends out here that I can tell everything to, makes it feel more like home.

a few fall pics from Saturday. it's an old album so you'll have to find the new pics at the end:


http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=69362&l=27d46&id=573967603

And last but DEFINITELY NOT LEAST the Dresdener Semperoper, which I have been waiting for in nail-biting anticipation for a month and a half. It was absolutely spectacularly transcendentally fabulous. Wow those words fall flat in comparison to my memories. I think the pics tell it much better than I do.

more pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=76759&l=a69fa&id=573967603

Hmmmm, I have never written about so many events in so few words. Today has been slightly hectic and psychotic. I'm a little wound up (not in a bad way) so I think I'll just leave it at this today or I might end up typing a bunch of nonsense and gibberish. You might be wondering how that would differ from my usual blog entries, but I really don't want to get into the fine details and intricacies of my mind's inner workings tonight. Too dangerous. I'm in a strange happy mood. :) Need to get up and do something. Or maybe it's cuz I'm cold. I should turn on some heaters...


I feel like the squirrel from "Over the Hedge" or whatever that movie's called...

Time flies when you're ... in Germany.

Well, it's been several days, so maybe I'll just give a bit of a life update today. I (surprisingly) don't have anything to rant about! :)

First of all, as of yesterday evening I have been in Eilenburg for ONE WHOLE WEEK! Happy anniversary to me! :)

So school is going really great so far. I know it's only been 4 days but I am just loving it already. Which makes me unbelievably happy because one of the reasons I'm here is to reaffirm my desire to teach. Now, there're still 8 months to go, but at least we've had a good start! Wednesday was another day at the younger kids' school, which was fun. I really love the grades 5 and 6. They are so eager to participate. One of the classes had me up at the front of the room with questions IN ENGLISH for half an hour! I was very impressed and they were so sweet. When they asked about my hobbies I mentioned that I love music (including singing and piano), after which one little cutie put her hand up and asked me if I'd sing them a song. How sweet is that? (I told her I didn't have anything prepared but maybe some other time...)
Yesterday was my first day at the older school, which was a very different dynamic. All of those kids are well-behaved and quiet in class. Pretty much all of the teachers prefer the older grades because of these qualities, but on the other hand they were all far too shy and self-conscious about their English to ask me any questions. (Which they shouldn't be. I could not believe how good they are!) I helped out in some of the group work, where they opened up a bit more, but it was quite a stark contrast to the little ones. I don't mind the energy and the volume that the young students bring into the lesson. I mean, that might change yet, but there's something about their trust and willingness that really speaks to me.

In the staffroom I've been talking about how this year is kind of also supposed to be my guide as to what age group I would like to teach (seeing as how I need to choose that before I apply to the Education program...) and I've always leaned strongly towards elementary school, but also sometimes towards junior high. And I've never even considered wanting to be a high school teacher. Most of the teachers here (who have been super welcoming and helpful) have since been trying to convince me otherwise, but I'm still not sure. Again, I realize I've only been here one week and I'll need more time to figure some of this out, but these past few days have definitely got my wheels turning already. Plus I find that the students at different ages even act differently in Germany compared to in Canada. Weird, hey?

Anyways, this blog obviously isn't becoming a literary masterpiece. I feel that all the previous paragraphs seem to be confusing and poorly written, but I don't know how else to say it. THERE IS NOTHING MORE FRUSTRATING TO ME THAN NOT BEING ABLE TO EXPRESS MY THOUGHTS CLEARLY AND LOGICALLY IN WRITTEN FORM. NOTHING!!! But it's Friday morning and I only got up an hour ago. How lovely is that? No school today for me! :) Anyways, ya. This had better not be a sign that my English is going to crap already...

So what else this week? Well, Tuesday evening I went to a tiny little Bible study that has just started up, like, literally this week, in East-Eilenburg. There were five of us in total and I was the youngest by about 20 years, but it was so nice. Apparently they all go to an evangelical church in Leipzig (which is half an hour away from here) and I've been invited to go with them. The church has about 300 people and a good-sized group of young people, which sounds ... nice. :) Really nice. I'm definitely going to try it out. Dad, if you want to check it out a little, here's the website: http://www.elim-leipzig.de/

And on Wednesday I went to "Frauensport" (aka. women's sport) at the Eilenburger Rowing Club with my mentor teacher, Rita. It's basically an hour of aerobics. Awesomeness! Again, I am the youngest by about 20 years but it was so fun. Plus I do workouts all the time at home by myself, so it's kind of nice to do it in a group of hilarious women that complain about their aching joints and muscles the whole time. Definitely going to do that every Wednesday.

And then yesterday I went back to the club where all the rowers get together on Thursdays to drink and hang out. They have all been "expecting me", the next assistant. Apparently the English assistant from last year was VERY involved in the club and everyone loved her etc etc. I keep being introduced as the new Ruth. And everyone talked about how much they missed her and I had big shoes to fill, etc etc. Finally one of the guys yesterday spoke up and said I shouldn't be introduced that way anymore. I'm Julia, not the "new Ruth". Lol. And I eventually told some of them that I wasn't her and they shouldn't expect me to be. (Obviously I said it nicely...) I mean, how can they expect me to be someone I'm not, never mind someone I've never even met? Haha. I know they didn't mean it that way, but I was beginning to feel that if I wasn't just like her then I wasn't interesting enough or something. I mean, I've got shoes of my own. Big ones! I don't want to fill someone elses. Plus I think I'm interesting enough in my own right. Anywho, they all agreed and we drank some beers. Good times.
Looks like I did have something to rant about after all, even if it's only a mini-rant. :)

Mainz in the Rain

Don't you hate planning a daytrip somewhere and then you wake up and it happens to be the rainiest day you've had all summer? That's what happened to us yesterday. Maike, her friend Steffi (super-nice gal), see below

and I decided to take the train to Mainz, a fairly large university city in Germany. Well, as previously insinuated, it was the crummiest day (in terms of weather) that we've had the whole month! So my only purchase at Esprit yesterday was an umbrella. :) Maike and Steffi both had theirs along, but there are few things worse than sharing an umbrella with someone. You always get half-wet; and half-wet is almost worse than all wet. Whatevs, I would have had to buy an umbrella at some point this year anyways.

So we got off the train and obviously had no idea where we were going so we just started randomly walking in the direction that most of the buses were heading. Then we spotted the green signs that point you into the right direction for different touristy attractions. We found one sign that said "Tourist Information" so we followed the signs half way around the freaking city (at least it felt that way). We got side-tracked by a museum, which had a sign outside with the hours of operation and a nice big "FREE" beside the price, so heck yes we went in! It was a museum of artifacts from the Roman, Byzantine, Germanic, etc empires and stuff like that. You know, the really really really old stuff. Some amazing jewelry, which obviously drew me in like Angelina Jolie to orphaned babies. Also these incredibly old, half-disintegrated swords. Zo, you probably would have loved it. :) Some of it was BC., some of it the early AD. centuries. (Does that make sense to anyone but me?). After the museum we decided to keep following the "Tourist Information" signs that at this point seemed to merely be mocking us with their constant arrow pointing. And after some minor confusion we eventually found it. This tourist office was conveniently located right beside Esprit, Zara, and H&M, which was a nice way to get out of the rain for a bit. Plus I'd never been to an H&M before. By this point Maike and I were slightly RAVENOUS so lo and behold a halo-ed (well, it's a word now...) Pizza Hut immediately drew our attention and in we went. I have to say, the food tasted just like Pizza Hut pizza in Canada. (I don't know what I was expecting, but either way it was good.) Then we kept walking, around the famous Dome and through the vegetable market. Through little alleyways,

past "Bierstübchen" (little hole-in-the-wall bars), until we found this church (St. Stephan's) that Maike was looking for. It's got these GORGEOUS blue stained-glass windows by Chagall. The pics didn't really turn out very well. I think my flash kind of got lost in there or something.

from the outside

After that we walked back through the city and took the train home. It was several hours earlier than we had planned, but it wasn't exactly the nicest of days and we still got to see a bunch of things.

Other than that I've just been making all kinds of arrangments for my final month of freedom. :) It's time to break camp and move on. So on Friday I'll be taking various trains acrosss the country and in a mere 5 hours I'll be back where I used to live! Again, as the situation changes I'm not sure what the Internet options will all be like. I'm pretty sure it won't be a problem, neither in Ellefeld nor in Öschelbronn (which is where I'm going beginning of September), but just as a warning if I seem to fall off the face of the earth for a bit. :)

Oh, but exciting-ness happened today! I've gotten several e-mails in the last week from the teacher I'll be assisting in Eilenburg, as well as the British girl (Ruth) who was the teaching assistant last year. So that was nice, to find out a little bit more about the people I'll be working with and also to hear a bit from someone who has been in the position I'm about to step into. She had a really good year and said that while she heard some horror stories about other assistants and the various schools they were positioned in, her time in Eilenburg was really awesome and everyone was very helpful, the students were (for the most part :) ) great. She also kind of gave me an idea about what exactly her "duties" were, which was REALLY nice. And then, to top it all off, I got my first e-mail from my future landlords - Michael and Ulla! They sound like incredibly nice people. Michael told me ALL about the apartment. Like, it was the practically an epistle - and coming from me that must mean something. It has everything there, from furniture to dishes. It's newly renovated, has a tv with satellite, radio, microwave, full kitchen, pull-out beds for future guests (that would be YOU, Zoe and Katrina (much excitement)...and if anyone else wants to come for a visit, feel free!!!. Mom and dad, I'm gong to put on all the pressure I can muster!!! :) ) They even have everything from towels to bedsheets. He sent pictures and it looks perfect. And large! Only 170 Euros/month plus gas/electric. I'm the fourth teacher's assistant they'll be housing, so they have experience with all of this. There's even a bike there for me! Haha. And I can get Internet as well as a phone hooked up with theirs for a small fee, if I want. Plus there's a washing machine in the basement. NO LAUNDROMAT! There are two big grocery stores right there, too (Lidl and Rewe). Plus Michael and Ulla sound super-friendly. (He's a retired professor and she is a German Prof.) Michael said he hoped I would like to come have dinner every so often and they'd like to show me around. I can even use Ulla's monthly bus pass ... or train....I can't remember... whatever ....on the weekends! I know, I'm rambling and this is all coming out like verbal diarrhea complete with stunted vocabulary and horrible point-form structure, but I can't help it. It's just so exciting. ESPECIALLY BECAUSE I'M GETTING AWFULLY TIRED OF LIVING OUT OF SUITCASES. I cannot wait to have a CLOSET AGAIN. I cannot stress this enough. After 2.5 months of the nomad-life, I'll be happy to unpack. Plus there's just something about living off of other people's kindness ...and patience ... that makes you feel bad after a while. I mean, first my sister and bro-in-law for a month, now Maike's family for 2.5 weeks, the next 1.5 weeks with Jürgen and Nancy, and the final 2 weeks at Tante Edda and Onkel Roland's...I just need to feel a little more self-sufficient again.

Ok, I'm honestly done for now. Going to IKEA. Maybe find some cute little things for my new place? Thanks for your patience. Next time I "see" you I'll be "back home" :) :) :)

xoxoJulia