Gorgeous Geneva

This is the beginning of our last travel week :(  It is really sad.  We decided to drop by Switzerland for a few days.

Friday June 27

We are actually getting the hang of this booking flights thing. We were smart and booked out flight for later. We got to sleep in and enjoy free breakfast from the school. So nice. 

What is not nice, we had to pack all of our things up again and move them to a different room! Already stressed out before a week long trip and now we have to clear out or room on top of it! NOT COOL ROBERT FROST!!! 

Breakfast and then off to the library for printing.

Back in my room, I scramble packed and made lunch. I gathered my things and prepared myself for the spiral descent with 4 bags this time (1 50 lb suitcase, 1 25 lb suitcase, 1 backpack, and 1 purse).  I successfully got everything down in 2 trips. Lindsey still had a lot of packing to do at that time, and it was almost time to go. Karli went and retrieved the key for the security office and took one load. I helped Lindsey with her loads down the stairs. By that time, Karli was back. I convinced them that we could take everything in 1 trip. They weren't so sure. There wasn't time to argue. We mad it in 1 trip. Slowly, but we made it. Apparently, there was a conference in the place we were taking our bags. Even though it was only 200 yards away, we were all sweaty and disheveled. It was sad. With our bags safe, we went back to the security office and called a cab. 

This airport thing is old hat to is now. We knew exactly where to go, what documents to show at what time, and the best places to sit. Check in and security proved to be no problem for us master travelers. We moved to Boots for some water. 

We got food and shifted to Starbucks to eat. We scarfed our food and waited to board. 

The plane ride was 1.5 hours. I read and then got sleepy, so I fought my droopy eyelids. I didn't get much sleep. It was fine. 

Landed in Geneva. We had a list of things we needed to do. Customs, collect bag, get money, and find a way to our hostel. The info booth told us to take the train that was attached to the airport. That was nice. We followed the path and ended up on a train. First stop, next to our hostel. We stepped out of the station and got our barings. It was a short walk. We made it in no time. 

It looked like an office building from the outside. Interesting. It was very modern inside. We checked in and got our bed rolls. We are on the 5th floor, so 6 flights of stairs. We make it to our 6 bed female dorm and crash. We were so tired. Karli and Lindsey dozed off for a little bit. The view from our room is amazing. 

The view from our room

Food time. We backtracked and went to a small shop. We all got paninis. They were delicious. Then we say that they had Nutella crepes. We HAD to get one. Since it was $8 we decided to split it. Good life choice. That thing was amazing! So delicious. We waited forever and we didn't get a check. We headed inside. The worker didn't speak much English, the guy that took our order did, but not this new guy. We knew Lindsey's total was $16. He told her $21. We argued for about 10 minutes. We pointed to the menu to here the prices were. He was not understanding. It sucked. We eventually got it all settled. 

Nutella crepe 

Since we were close to the lake, we walked over to it. It was breathtaking. So beautiful. Lake and mountains in the background. It was so clear. We sat for a long time. Just soaking it all in. 

Around 8 we headed back to our hostel. We arrived in our room and discovered 2 new bedrolls. NOOOOO!!!! We had to share the room. Soon after the two girls walk in. Americas. At least they spoke the same language. They were both from California. And they had just graduated. 

While getting ready for bed, our 3rd roommate moves in. Florida. She seemed nice. 

Saturday June 28

The alarm went off at 8:20 so we could make it to breakfast. Free breakfast! It was pretty good. Yogurt, cereal, toast, and fruit. We had to sit in a huge dining area with others but it wast too bad. The. We went upstairs to finish getting ready. 

We wanted to go to Chillon Castle. There were several ways to get there. We decided to try boat. We walk up to the boat taxis. I ask a man which one we got on since there were 4. He gave me a deer in the headlights look and started speaking French. He pointed  so we followed his point. We reached a big boat. It was really cute. We get in line to get on. Before getting on, we asked some of the crew members if we were on the right boat. Yet again met with no English. This was becoming a big problem. Eventually we figured out that this was a good boat. We board and marvel at its adorable charm. While looking for a seat, we were approaches by a person who looked like the captain. He asked for our tickets. We showed him the tickets we got from the hostel. He told us those wouldn't work. Awesome!

We leave the adorable boat and head for a train. We had no clue what train we needed to be on. The info desk was our first stop. She told us that we needed to but tickets because the ones that we receives from our hostel didn't work. We go in and buy our round trip tickets and enter acne into the castle at 57.60! Holy moly! That was expensive. 

We boarded the train and switched stations no problem. Soon we were in a very small town which consisted of beautiful views and the castle. That was about it. We were starving so we hit up the little shop thing outside the castle. We all got sandwiches. It was so stinking expensive. While eating outside, it started raining. We ran for cover in the castle. 

Chillon Castle

It was huge! And had so many different rooms. It was very confusing. We wandered about winding through the rooms for a while. It was pretty neat. Build out of stone and overlooking the lake. Beautiful! 

After the castle, we snapped many pictures around the area. Then headed back to the train. Vevey was our destination. Why? We wanted to see a giant fork. Honestly, that is the only thing we really planned to see in Switzerland at all...I know, we are strange...

We arrived in the adorable town and went straight for the water. Where else would you put a giant fork?! We couldn't see it from our position as we walked up, we decided to head right. There were so many curves in the shore that we had to keep following it to see  we were going the right way. Eventually, we reached a little park area with a pool and playground. It is there we asked for directions. We approaches an older couple. They saw that we were holding out a phone. So they said no pictures. Pictures?! We weren't going to take your fricken picture. We showed them the destination. The pointed back the way we came, but named a different own. I think they were confused. 

I found free wifi and got a rough address. It was back the opposite way. Go figure! The rain started coming again. Not fun. We still trudged on. We wanted to see that fork. We literally passed the place we came in at and saw it. The 26 foot fork. We were so happy. They even had complimentary seats stuck in the rocks for people to sit on. How nice. We sat there for a long time. I liked it. The sun was beating on us. Until it started raining again cit was just in and off. Continuously. 

The fork wasn't just randomly placed in the lake. It was across from the food museum. The only one in the world. Well I is museum. Don't mind if I do. We walk up wondering what it was all about. We found a lady ad asked her f we got to sample food there. Sadly no, you learn about how food is made, changed over the years, and how it is digested. Cool... We left there in search of chocolate. Sadly, we got lost on our way, but found ourselves back on the main road. 

We walked to the mall for some food. Nothing. We went back on the streets for food. Too expensive. Starbucks. They never fail us. Well they had food, still somewhat expensive. Water was 4.50 and a frap cost 7.60, more than the sandwich. We ate them while heading back to the train. 

We had to wait a little bit, but we eventually got on the train headed back to Geneva.  As soon as we got off the train, we were starving.  We wanted dessert.  But we didn't know where.  We started winding down the streets.  We finally found an ice cream shop.  Hallalujia!  I got a chocolate truffle scoop.  Holy cow was it rich!  It was worth it!

We walked back to our hostel.  Upon arrival, we discovered all of our roommates were in there.  We got out as fast as we could.  We headed to the fountain in Lake Geneva.  We sat there for 2 hours.  Talking, creeping on people, and taking pictures.  It was nice.  Very relaxing.  We moved back to the hostel and used the free wifi. 

Sunday June 29

Breakfast again at 8:20.  Really good free breakfast.  We went back up stairs to our sleeping roommates.  We packed everything up and headed out for the day.  In the rain…  We just wanted some shopping.  We bought a locker for 2 Franks and left all of our stuff in there.  We then asked the people at the front desk how to get to shopping.  We were crushed when they told us that everything in Geneva was closed on Sundays…. You're killing me smalls!!!!  Not cool Robert Frost!!! GRRRR.

Still, we headed out in the rain, to the only shops open, in the train station.  Yes, we shopped in the train station for over an hour.  We didn't buy much, we just wanted to be out of the rain and find some souvenirs.  

Soon we grew restless and we still had 7 hours in Geneva left.  What to do.  We decided to take the boat taxi across the lake to see what was over there.  The ride was very short.  Soon we were at the other side, with nothing to do.  

We stopped and checked our map.  There was a giant flower clock near by.  Why not!  We had time to kill, so we might as well kill time by watching a giant clock.  That held our attention for 10 seconds.  Soon we were bored again and needed something else to do.  Yet again, we looked at the map and saw a church was near.  We weaved through the cobblestone streets of Geneva.  Then we heard singing.  Church singing.  We headed toward it.  It was coming from a Lutheran church! Of course!  We stood outside and listened for a while.  It was nice.  Then we decided to look for the church we came to see.  St. Peter's.  You could see the steeple from a long ways away, but we took the long way round to get to it.  It was pretty and free to get in.  We went in and just sat there for the longest time.  It was nice.

Food was on our minds next.  We passed several cafes with overpriced sandwiches.  We decided to stop at a cheaper cafe.  We walked in and saw 7 frank sandwiches.  That was actually cheap.  I got a ham and cheese quiche.  It was delicious.  Then we headed back toward the boat to the other side of the lake. 

We made it back to our hostel with a few hours to spare.  We grabbed the laptop and got on youtube and watched Mary Kate and Ashley: When in Rome.  We thought it was fitting.  

To the train we trudged.  Not a long train ride before we were at the airport.  We then made it through security and we were hungry.  I decided to pay 7 franks for a ham and butter sandwich.  That was the cheapest thing they had.  And 5 franks for a water.

Goodbye Geneva-Hello Venice!  Ta and Cheers! 

Goodbye My Cherubs

This was the last week with my cherubs. It was a long week with 2 lessons, 2 field trips, and 1 hoedown. I would call it a pretty successful week.

Monday June 23

We started out with morning assembly. It wasn't head teacher talking this time. They talked about courage and faith. She threw it together last minute so it wasn't very good.

We got back to class and started maths. We started reading a 24 hour clock. I was really confused because they use a 24 hour clock when reading digital and 12 hour clock when using analog. I helped the lower group again. They were really confused. I felt bad for them. I tried to help as much as I could.

Play time. I used this time to set up for my lesson.

My lesson. This was American fun facts. I started off a game of fact or faked. They got really into it. They had some troubles with certain ones. I asked "Fact or Faked: Americans write their date day/month/year" After that I moved onto talking about the flag. We discussed the stars, stripes, and colors. Then the national anthem and pledge. One student could sing the American national anthem but not his own. It was really funny. During my lesson, I had students write down facts. After the lesson they had to turn those facts into trivia questions. We played the castle game. The person trying to get into the castle said "sir oh sir, please let me in. I must get in or I'll be late". The castle responded "give us the code, give us the code. Or we will leave you on the road". They then asked te trivia question. If they got it right they got to go into the castle. Wrong answers sent the back in the line. They got really loud and rambunctious during this. Three children even started shoving each other. My cherubs did not work well together. It was bad. I think they liked the game though. I guess that was good.

Lunch time.

After lunch, my students went into class 10 for a science lesson. I was told to stay back and help in class 9 with the other Year 4 teacher and Abby. This was good. I got to help them work on their maths. The same my class worked on earlier in the day. They were struggling as much as my class. It really is hard to understand when they have to know two different clock systems. That is not easy for me, let alone children. Some of their questions were like "Write how this would be written on a 24 hour clock- 17 to 10 in the afternoon" They actually talk like that too. I have had to pause wen teachers have told me that lessons would be "20 from 9 until 10 to 10." It really keeps you thinking.

Play time.  I went out and walked around

We came back in from play and read the world cup story

Tuesday June 24

Today was the day of the dreaded Dr. P observation. We started off the day with Maths. We continued with time. My students still did not understand it. I tried really hard to explain it to them. It did not work well.

Then they switched to the world cup story.

Play time.

They came back in and worked on their Egypt booklets. I had to help multiple people find their papers because they misplaced them.

Lunch time.

My lesson was after lunch time. Yay! It was about US history. Started with Pilgrims went through the Revolutionary War. All of my children kept talking during my lesson and not playing attention. Dang it. Then we used what they learned and another summary paper to create a skit of an event. We had 4 different groups. Pilgrims, Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere and the Shot Heard Round the World, and the Declaration of Independence. These skits didn't turn out very good. Whatever. They got done and I am done teaching my lessons.

The lesson had to continue after play time. They got all of their skits done.

Wednesday June 25 

Today was field trip day! Whoot whoot! All of my cherubs came into the room with their packed lunches and put on their reflective vests.  Haha.  They were so darn cute.  Lindsey was recruited to help with my class on the field trip.  

Lindsey and I were assigned 8 students. We got a pretty good group.  Thank goodness.  After a few minutes we headed out to the double decker bus.  We got on the top level.  We took off and my class started scream singing happy birthday to one of my girls.  It was cute.  My teacher yelled at them to stop.  Rude!  We got to the museum and we were ushered into a room to put our lunches.  All of the cherubs dropped off their lunches, jumpers, and cardigans.  We were off.  

First thing on the schedule, hands on activity.  We got to go and handle real Egyptian artifacts.  I was intrigued.  They had little activities for the children to partake in.  I worked at the hieroglyphics table.  It was really fun.  We all had to wear white gloves.  

After that we headed to the Egypt trail.  This took us through an exhibit.  The children had to find the trail and answer the questions on their sheet.  My cherubs worked pretty fast.  They had really mummies on display.  One even had its head unwrapped.  It was fascinating.  I liked looking around, but I couldn't stay long because my cherubs were all over the place.  We were the first group in and the first group done.  After we finished, we took them to the toilets.  As soon as we all got back from the toilets, the fire alarm went off.

You have got to be kidding me!  I ushered my cherubs down the stairs, making sure all 8 were accounted for.  Of course, we were on the 5th floor (6 floors in America).  We raced down the stairs.  As we reached the lower level, we could actually smell smoke.  Our group was the first ones from our class outside.  I gathered them and we headed across the street.  Everyone else caught up.  My kids kept asking what was going on.  I told them we didn't know.  Some were mad because their lunches were in the building.  We were outside for 15 minutes.  They called the all clear and we went back in.

We headed to the Aquarium to kill some time before lunch.  It wasn't the best aquarium I have seen, but the cherubs seemed to enjoy it.  After browsing at the fish, it was time to go to lunch.  The room was packed with cherubs from other schools.  There were probably 100 children in that room.  My class sat on the floor and ate.  Lindsey and I waited for a table to sit at.  

With a little more time to kill, we went to the bugs section.  They had creepy crawlies all over...

Meet the mummy was next.  It was in the theater.  An 'egyptian' was going to prepare a body for burial.  He choose three students from the audience to help him.  It was a good show.  It was factual and entertaining.  

After the show, we went to the dinosaur/extinct animals exhibit.  This had many stuffed critters.  They ran around looking at all of the animals.  

It was a long day, but really fun.  We went down stairs, gathered their jumpers and cardigans and loaded back on the bus.  We were on the bottom this time.  My little cherubs decided to sing some real songs this time.  They belted out some songs.  I recorded their voices because it was too cute to pass up.  

Thursday June 26

Today was my last day in the classroom.  I was attacked my hugs upon my arrival in the classroom.  They were all exclaiming 

"Why is today your last day?"  

"Do you really have to leave?" 

"Cant you stay?"  

"I don't want you to leave!"

My last day was at least going to be a great one.  I started off my going to the local high school with my girls for a dance and theater workshop based on the musical Matilda.  They were so darn cute.  I was having a great time watching them.  They learned a 2 minute sequence in just an hour.  They performed it.  Abby, the assistant teacher, and I were the X-Factor judges and got to judge how they did.  I video taped their adorable dance.  It was actually a somewhat complicated dance.  I was surprised.  We only had one accident.  Not to bad.  After the dance, we got to do theater.  They acted out the Bruce cake scene.  How ironic…  

I had a great morning watching them dance and act.  It was amazing. 

We returned back to school in time for lunch.  I ate, went back to the classroom and set up some things for my students, and went out to play time.  

At play time, my children attacked me.  I had 5 kids hanging on to me the entire time.  Holding my hands, hugging me, jumping on me.  They would not let me go.  

After play time, it was time for the surprise Abby and I had planned.  We started off with a mini review quiz of everything we covered in our lessons.  With each correct question, the students got to move their piece to a new state.  We ended in Tennessee, so we could have a hoedown.  

After the quiz, the cherubs were rounded up in the hall (gym) and we put them into lines.  We proceeded to line dance.  It was such a great time.  Even the teachers got into it.  my normally stern and angry teacher was dancing, singing, and acting like she has a a lasso.  I was really surprised.  

Play time.  I went back outside.  More cherubs clinging one me.  I took out my phone and started snapping pictures of the cherubs.  All of them started screaming take a selfie with me.  

Back inside, my students gave me gifts and cards and I gave my gifts to them.  The were really happy.  It was a great day.  

Being in the classroom has been a great learning experience.  I had some good times and other not so good times, but my students were great.  I loved being with them and teaching them a little about America while learning how the British school system worked.  

Check back here regularly the next week, I will be traveling the whole week and posting more frequently until I come back to America.  Ta and Cheers!

Frivolous Bath, What the heck Wales: Day Trips

Karli, Lindsey, and I made the executive decision to do day trips this weekend to Bath and Wales in the UK.  We had a lot of things to get done for our last week of teaching and our last week of travel, so day trips seemed like our best bet.

Friday June 20

We awoke at 5:30 to make our train at 6:46. We all met up and headed to the security lodge. We asked them to call a cab. A few minutes later the can arrived. 

The ride took about 15 minutes. Our cabbie was actually really nice. He was asking us where we were going and seeing. He also gave us some suggestions on where to go around Liverpool. He drove us past Liverpool's smallest house and the tunnels under Liverpool. I enjoyed the ride. We wasn't a crazy driver either. We made it to the station in good time.

We had to wait a few minutes for the train, but when it came we were able to board and get really good seats. We got a 4 person table. I life those. It makes everything so nice and roomy. This ride was 1.75 hours long. I read and tried to keep myself awake. Then we had I get off the train and board a different one. We had to wait a little longer for this one. I was fine with that. The second train was more crowded we had to sit 2 and 1. This was also about 1.5 hours. I tried to read. But then gravity for the best of my eyelids and I bobbed in and out of sleep. I awoke to Karli sleeping on my shoulder. Ha. We transferred trains again. This one was only 11 minutes long. Then we arrived in Bath. 

We got off the train and looked for a tourist office so we could get a map of the city. We had to pay for maps, so we left and tried to navigate on our own. 

It actually didn't go too bad. We first spied the river and then the steeple of Bath Abbey. I knew everything was centrally located around the abbey so we headed in that general direction. In 5 minutes we were in the heart of bath, surrounded by roman buildings and architecture. It was beautiful. It was a cute little town. We first went into the Roman Baths. This held many old roman bathing areas. There were several different pools. The main pool still held its full water and lead lining. It was 1.2 meters deep. Perfect for swimming. I absolutely would have jumpped into the hot spring, except it was considered "bad water" and we were told "not to touch it". Really telling me not to touch water is like telling me not to eat. It's just not done. Algae floated on the surface if the water, but it still looked more inviting than the lakes in Indiana. We spent about 1 hour exploring the baths. 

Then we walked about the town and found some cute shops. Expensive, but cute. We spied an ice cream cart and joyfully skipped to it. We like our ice cream. Vanilla with the chocolate stick thing. Yummy! We still had a few things we wanted to see, like the circus and the Royal Crescent. Our navigation skills have greatly improved and we found the circus in no time. When we arrived, Lindsey asked where it was and when we were getting there. I pointed to the circle area around us and told her we were there. It was not that impressive. I thought it was going to be bigger or more important or something. We walked to the Royal Crescent next, again, a little let down. Not much to see. There was some construction and what looked like a wedding reception. We were really tired by this point, so we sat in the street. 

Royal Crescent

Plutony bridge was next. I knew what streets we needed to be on. It was Bridge Street and then changed to Argyle Street once we crosses the bridge. I kept a look out. Then I saw it Argyle. Dang flabbit. How in the heck did we miss walking over a bridge. We started backtracking. That's when we saw a building sticking a little further out than the others in the row. It has the marking Pulteney Bridge and has stair steps walking down. We descended the swirly staircase and hit water. We looked back where we came and that's when we saw the bridge. It was not a bridge that you could view the water from. Buildings lined the edge of the bridge, virtually making it invisible. The bridge and water was pretty.  

Pulteney Bridge 

We hit a few more shops. Nothing that great. Then we decided it was time for food. We had been seeing these calzone looking things in the shop windows so we decided that we should try it. I got a chicken, cheese, and ch... Something. It meant spicy sausage. It was actually really good. Food finished, and shopping finished, we found our way back to the train station. 

We got there in great time. We budged our way to the front of the line so we could get on fast and secure an awesome seat. Karli got on and went to sit down in a row. I screamed table table! And she rushed to grab it for us. Luckily we got it, because the train was pretty packed. A stranger sat next to Karli. The 1,5 hours went really fast. We approached the station ever so slowly, and were even at a stand still for a while. This ate up our 13 minutes we had to make it to our next train. We ran off the train and looked at a monitor. The train haven't left yet, but was due to in 1 minute. We bolted up the stairs, following the signs to platform 5B, except there was no 5B. We were sprinting up and down the corridor. We saw 5A and decided to try it. We basically trampled an old man as our flip flops quickly hit each step descending toward the platform. We arrived at the bottom, a train staring at us. We didn't know if it was our train or not. Then all the sudden, we hear that dreaded sound of the doors closing. I quickly asked a worker lady if that train was bound for Liverpool. She confirmed it. We started frantically pushing the open door button trying to get on. At last the door spring to life and let us in. It was absolutely crowded, but we had made it. Sitting in three different rows, but bound for glory... And Liverpool. 

Bath was too easy, I could not say the same for Wales.

Saturday June 21

We slept in a little and headed to catch the bus at 8. The bus took 15 minutes to show up and it was a 20 minute ride. That ate up our time. By the time we walked to the station, we has 15 minutes to find and board our train.

We went to a monitor that had the train platforms. We didn't see our train or correct time. We were a little worried. Lindsey went and asked the ticket office where we would go to get the train. He told us down. Da heck! Down?! There is a down? She went back up and asked where down was. Luckily a girl was standing there and overheard Lindsey. She said that she would take us there. We followed her down the stairs, through the cooridoor, and to the platform for the metro. So now we are taking a metro to the train station. While waiting for our train to pull up, an announcement came on and said that the train would not go all the way to Chester, which is what we needed. The girl told us she was headed to Chester too. We followed her.

The ride was 40 minutes long to Hooten, the place we would change for Chester. We start getting off and are yelled at to get back on because everything was fixed. We finished the ride to Chester.
There, we scrambled toward the platform and was greeted with a delayed and cancelled train. We asked workers. They so as that we could chance it and stay at the station to see f a train came in, or take a bus to Ryel. We decided to stop in the cafe and get in line for the bus. We were last in line for the bus. We waited for 10 minutes before a bus even pulled up. It was nice that it pulled up at the end of the line, meaning we were first. The bus unloaded and we attempted to board. We were then told we couldn't board because they needed work from the top dogs before we could do anything. A worker was trying to calm the queue. The crowd was yelling at him and asking him questions. He didn't know the answer. He told us he had 0 busses to let us get on. He had some humor in this situation.
We were finally allowed to board the bus, and we were first. We went to the top and in the front row. Beat seats on the bus. We settled in for what we thought was a short ride. Lies! I was singing softly to myself for an hour! I burned through my arsenal of Disney, musicals, and other genres of songs. Getting mad and fed up, we finally arrived at Ryel. We followed the masses toward the platform and, yet again, met with a delay. It said the train would arrive at 12:31. It was 11:58. We had roughly 30 minutes. We pulled out our packed sandwiches and waited. At 12:23, the screen updated and said the train would come at 12:55. A worker came and talked to the crowd, the train hadn't even left Chester yet. He then proceeded to tell us to take a coach to Llandudno Junction.

We ran out if the station to whatever a coach was. We saw a bus with Llandudno on it, wrong bus. Then we saw the charter bus with a queue of people we recognized. Those were the other people who wanted to go to Llandudno. We were in the back of the line once again, but we made it on, with 7 seats left.
1 metro
1 train
2 busses
And still not there. We were just done with the whole thing. It was 1 and we were supposed to arrive at 11. Not cool Robert Frost! We got off the coach at Llandudno Junction, not where we wanted to be, but in Llandudno. Some old ladies weren't happy that we got dropped off there, so they made the driver drive to Llandudno.

Finally in Llandudno. We had no clue where to go. We walked around trying to find a map, but to no avail. We headed down the street. We eventually stumbled upon a tourism office. We asked where the ski resort was. They pointed us past the coast and up a mountain. They said it would be a .75-1 hour journey. We were ready.

We past the coast and garden area and then were faced with a steep hill. We knew this all too well. We took a deep breath and began our ascent. I was huffing and puffing my way to the top. By the time we reached the ticket booth, we were all pouring sweat and breathing heavy. We bought the ski tubes and toboggan rides. We had to wait 20 minutes for our tube time. We didn't mind. We had been waiting all day and we still needed to cool off a bit.

Our instructor came to us a few minutes late saying we were still waiting on 2 people. While waiting, we saw a guy completely wipe out in the toboggan. He took the curve too fast and felt off his sled, off the track, and onto the grassy area. We waited another 15 minutes, they never showed up. We got private tube time. We could see the hill in the distance. It was white. We weren't quite sure what it was made of. Ice? Whiteboard? Snow? It was 66 degrees. We doubted snow or ice. Once standing on the hill, we knew could tell all of our guesses were wrong. It was like spongy with water misters spritsing the sponge like material.

We put our purses down and all grabbed a tube. Lindsey went first. He gave her instructions and shoved her down. She screamed. We all went through the easy, fast, and super fast spins. When he got to me, he said "Ah yes jeans" then proceeded to roll up the cuffs of my pants.  He grabbed onto the cuffs of my pants and that is how he flung me down the hill.  He said he gets more leverage that way.  The super fast spin made us all extremely dizzy. We then had to tow our tubes to a flat area and wait for everyone before we could climb the hill. I think I got whiplash, but it was worth it. Then we had races. We had to lay on our backs, head first peddling ourselves down the hill. That took up 4 turns. Next, Karli and I went together. I held onto her rope and was told to pull and push her. He demonstrated while we were sitting there and he broke the rope. A new tube was issues and we were off. It was hard maneuvering Karli while trying to stay in mine. My arm was stretched and pulled, but it was awesome. We were spinning and bumping into each other. Our last spin down the slope, we were ties together. It was a great human chain. We had so much fun doing it. We got our money's worth. He said people normally only got 3 runs down the hill. We got 9! Whoot whoot!

We relaxed a little and then went to the taboggan area. We waited in line for an hour and then we were up. We mounted a piece of plastic with wheels and a stick to steer. We hooked on a chain that pulled us upward. The view was great. Then we were released steer our way down the windy metal path. I went a little slow the first time because I didn't know what I was doing. The second time around I went a lot faster. Flew around the curves. Careful not to fly off.

After our two runs were up, we decided we should climb the rest of the mountain to get a good view of the city. It was beautiful. We could see the coast and mountains and city. We could have stayed there for hours. But we had limited time and were getting hungry.

We approached te city only to find everything was closed. It was a Saturday night and all of the shops and cafés closed at 5. We were just 30 minutes late. We eventually found one store selling post cards. We bought some and got some take away fish and chips from a restaurant. We ate in the park.
We decided to head toward the train station to try to make sure we didn't end up like we did this morning. We arrived and found all of the doors were locked. Awesome. A taxi driver then told us to go around the side and enter that way. We got in and discovered our train was on time! Hurray!
We talked the entire ride to Chester. We found our second train in no time and had a lovely ride back to Liverpool.

Even though our morning was rough, we had a great afternoon and made it safely back to Liverpool.  It was a good relaxing weekend.  Bring on the busy week!  Ta and Cheers!

American Currency and Poerty

Monday June 16

It's a Monday. We began with morning assembly. Mr. White, the headmaster, spoke very softly. I could barely understand him. I don't really like morning assembly. It takes away from learning because all of the students have to gather. I think a simple thing over the intercom would work well.

Back in the classroom, we dove right into maths. Subtracting money. I helped at the lower level group again.

After play time the children started their RE lesson and I was sent off to make copies. She handed me a sheet and I was to make 20 copies. I didn't know how to use the copier, but I didn't tell her that. I bumped into Carly (another BSU student) at the copier. I asked if she could help me. It turns out she didn't know how to work it either. She couldn't figure out how to get everything centered. Once she was finished she tried to help me. Talk about blind leading the blind. We put in my paper and hit 20 copies. More copies of her paper came flying out! Rage quit printing! I hit the cancel button probably 20 times just to make sure it quit. But I only had 4 sheets of paper left. I wasn't about to go back to my teacher and tell her I messed up. Carly gave me the rest of her blank paper then she ran away. I then went into the office to see if someone would be able to help me. I said "excuse me" and waited for a response. I got nothing. So I continued asking if someone could help me use the copier. Finally one of them huffed and helped me.

I came back in and the students were reading another chapter in the world cup story. I actually enjoy that story. It is interesting how the author incorporates the game facts from the night before and then the readers get to choose where the story goes next.

After the story, I was told to have individual students read to me. I had to listen to them and then check their understanding. I took one boy outside with me first. He had a tiny book about ducks. He is not the best reader in the class. He really struggled reading this book out loud to me, but he did understand what he read. I was surprised. Another was sent out next. I didn't expect him to be as good of a reader as he was. He was reading a chapter book. He blew through his punctuation signs (full stops), but other than that he was a good reader. He was pretty good with the comprehension too.

Play time. I had to set up for the continuation of my lesson from thursday. The students were to take home the worksheets I gave them, fill them out, and then bring them back in. Well, only some of the students did that. Then I gave them their cut out states and they had to write the states name, draw a picture that represented the state, and color it in. Only 7 people finished. My children work so slowly. They kept coming up to me telling me they didn't know what to draw. I told them to look at their fact sheets. They would then tell me that they couldn't complete their fact sheets over the weekend for whatever reason. I told them to ask other members of their group then. We did this up to the end of the day.

The bell rang and I got out of there as fast as possible. I don't like talking to her and she doesn't like talking to me.

Tuesday June 17

At breakfast, I extracted sea urchin from Karli's ankle. She still had it in there from the weekend. It took a little while, but eventually I got all of it out.

Today was the day of the RE (church) observations. The whole school was preparing. Everyone had all of their crosses and churchy posters on the walls and their best faces on.

We read the world cup story in the morning and prepped for the inspection.

Play time.

We came back from break and had our RE inspection. I had to sit next to one boy to make sure he was on the right track. He was all over the place. I had to keep redirecting him. My teacher was a little nicer, but not really. She still yelled at the kids. It wasn't as bad, but still. The kids then got to take turns being the priest and sinner. It was funny watching them in the cut up stolls (what Abby and I cut up yesterday) with their hands over the 'sinner's' head absolving them of their sins. Quite amusing. I think our class did fine. We didn't get yelled at. They worked on odds and ends with the students until lunch. I had to take students outside to have them read to me. Katie Kelly came outside with me this time. She was a better reader, but still had some issues. She had pretty good comprehension.

Lunch time. I ate and then headed toward the classroom to set up for my maths lesson. I pulled up prezi and printed off papers.

My lesson. My teacher observed this lesson. Oh goodie! I didn't like that she observed it, but oh well. My video didn't work. The students were a mess after that. I had a hard time gaining their attention back. I went through my presentation and gave them the work. They did alright. Some were really lost, while others did just fine.

Play time.

After break. She told me to wrap it up. I did and then she talked to me about my lesson. She said that I needed to work on watching everyone in the classroom because I looked toward the middle and forgot the lower students. I also needed to write my information on the board because the students couldn't remember what I had said. Finally, she said that I needed to print more pieces of paper out so that the students could share. I didn't want to use up all of my paper.

Wednesday June 18

Next we had our spanish teacher come in for a spanish language. I tried to pull up different spanish words. I only had 2 years spanish, but I still remembered a few things. They started with an Hola Classe song. Then they moved onto a Me llamo ______ song. Then they started a where I live song. Then moved onto Que tiempo hace? They pronounced 'c' as 'th'. It was really weird hearing them talk. They all said everything in unison. It was really funny. They said hace calor a lot. All I could think of was "Hace calor. Sí sí señor. Could fry an egg on the cement its so caliente!" I sang that the entire lesson. They played the flyswatter game. That really took me back to high school…

Hace calor. Sí sí señor. Could fry an egg on the cement its so caliente!

This is still before break. We start maths. The students start analog time. I had to take one girl into the back and work on money. She has had several people working with her on it. She still didn't understand. I would put out two different coins and have her add them together. I gave her 20p and 5p. She didn't know how to do that. I told her that if she had one coin with a 0 at the and one without, the one without the 0 would replace the 0. She seemed to understand that. I tried it several times with different coins. Then I added more coins in. Eventually I gave her 3 pound coins a 50p, 2p, 1p, and 1p. She could add them. I kept encouraging and praising her. I was actually really proud. I waited until every other student had left for play time and I called my teacher over. The little girl showed her how she could add them. After she left, my teacher told me that I did a good job with her and I might have the special touch. This is the first time she actually said something nice to me.

Play time

Back from play time, I gave the same little girl a sample test. She did not do to well on it, but she tried really hard to get them right. That took almost the whole time until lunch. After working with her, I walked around and helped the students with their World Cup books. I had to trace things and draw things for the students.

Lunch time.

After lunch, there was a maths workshop--for students. Both Year 4 classes headed to the hall (gym) and met teachers from another school. They had set up a maths treasure hunt. The students had to go to each station, complete a puzzle, and receive a clue. Then at the end they had to put the clues together to find the buried treasure. Our teachers set outside and graded papers, the kids ran around to the stations, Abby and I just talked. It was really nice. We bounced lesson ideas off of each other. We came up with some good ones. The cherubs in my class found the treasure and won the best teamwork award. I was proud of them.

Thursday June 19

Today was an alright day. My teacher was in a decent mood this morning. First off, the cherubs had a practice math test thing. I had to take two students into room 15 to give them the test slower. Boy are they slow at answering questions. And they got almost every single one wrong. I couldn't help. I could just recite the question twice and be on my way. Just as I was giving them the last question, we were summoned back into the room for health.  

Health lesson today was a little different. We didn't do circle time, instead we had a review of change and groups in which we belong. The students then had to draw pictures of groups they belong in. Some of the children got it, and others didn't. I had to help several people.  

Play time.

The cherubs came into the classroom really crazy and loud. I was the only person in the room to control them. I had them alone for a few minutes. I calmed them down and got their attention. Christian and Katie went to find the supply (sub) PE teacher. When he came in, the children were loud again. I did the clap and got their attention. He asked "Is everything ok Miss" and I told him they were all his. They were so rowdy. They were bouncing off the walls. We played several team building activities. Playing cat and mouse, playing toss the tennis ball, toss the basketball in groups. Eventually we moved outside. But before we did, I had several girls crying. I have no idea what they were crying about, but there were tears. I told them they had to keep playing. Children came to me saying their stomachs hurt and they were dizzy. Whatever, I would be nice and let them sit out. The supply teacher didn't know what was going on. He asked me again if everything was alright. I told I'm it was all fine. We played a few rounds of tossing the basketball outside and then the bell rang. He left me with all of the children running into the building. I made them change out of their PE kits before lunch. They were all over the classroom. Dresses, cardigans, jumpers, and pants flying everywhere. I told them to hurry up.

Lunch time. I ate quickly and then went into the classroom to print things off. My teacher brought a children's computer for me to use because she was busy on hers. The dumb thing wouldn't hook up to the printer. I went into room 15 to try use the printer because she was working on her computer and was mad that I would need it. It wouldn't print on 15, so I had to go into the teacher's lounge and take her computer from her. She was sad to let it go and told me not to drop it. I promised her I wouldn't. I quickly went back to the room because I had wasted 20 minutes already and only had 10 minutes to print everything and set up. I actually got it all done in time.

Lesson time! I did a poetry lesson on Mattie J.T. Stepanek. We learned about who he was and the children rewrote on of his poems to be about themselves. It actually went really well, I was pleasantly surprised. They all wrote really cute poems. Not everyone finished, but that was fine.

Until next time! Ta and Cheers!

Barcelona Baby!

Thursday June 12

We had to talk all of our travel gear to school with us because we were heading directly form the school to the airport.  We knew our destination, but not exactly what bus took us there.  After going to the wrong stop first, we made it on the bus and got off at the last stop--John Lennon Airport.

Once inside and past security, we sat, ate, and decompressed. We didn't sit for too long because then it was time for boarding. They called it over the intercom. Anyone on flight blah blah blah headed to Barcelona, head to the gate immediately. We rushed toward the gate. We saw a long queue. After waiting a few minutes, we realized it was the wrong queue. Got in the right line and boarded quickly. It was nice. 

The flight was long and there were many interesting people on the flight with us.  We finally touched down in sunny Barcelona.  I stepped out of the plane and felt the heat.  I was ready for some hot weather.

We walk up to the taxi line and we were ushered into a taxi immediately. It was late and we decided beforehand that a taxi would be our best bet. The driver hops out and throws our bags in the back. I show him the address of the hostel on my phone. He gives me a confused look and says "well this is why I have GPS" in spotty English. We hop in, he plugs in the address and we were off. We eventually start climbing this mountain with winds and turns. Much like Appalachia. I keep watch on the GPS. There was a fork in the road and our driver took the wrong side. We are probably already 20 minutes into our journey. Then he keeps driving the wrong way! Getting to our hostel is never easy. He asks for the address again, plugs it in, turns around, and continues. Yet again, he doesn't follow the GPS. He zooms past it again. Lindsey and I realize what he is doing. I start saying to him. "I have a phone number. Do you want to call the hostel?" I had to repeat myself multiple times, but eventually he understood. "Sì" he says. I show him the address and he calls. The only things I could make out of his conversation was hola and tres chicas. We were in a mountain, lost, and with someone who speaks poor English, needless to say, we were a little worried.  After the phone call, he seemed to have a better heading. We head back down the mountain only to head up again a different way. When we finally saw signs for our hostel we all wanted to cry tears of joy, including the taxi driver, who was extremely frustrated at this point. On land we head toward reception. 

We knew going into this that the hostel employs adults with varying degrees of special needs, which is one of the reasons we choose to stay here.  The hostel we stayed at was a non-profit organization which runs a school for children with disabilities, and offered training and occupational health.  I kept this in mind when. Approached the desk. Again poor English. It took us another 10 minutes to get our keys and on our way. We were told that the hostel is not all in one building. We had to go back outside to get to our room. 

Two locked doors separated us from our beds. I wasn't complaining. I like that kind of privacy. I was pleasantly surprised our rooms were actually nice for hostel. We had our own bathroom and the beds were lifted high with outlets on each bed. Making charging convienent. 

We really didn't have dinner so we raced to our hostels restaurant. Ice cream was preferable. Then we saw it. The case of ice cream. It was locked so we headed inside to get an employee. While waiting for the ice cream to be unlocked, we heard a noise coming from outside. We looked and saw wild hogs! They were getting good out of the trash can. It was very interesting.

The wild hogs

 Friday June 13

Then it was time for free breakfast. Yes! We walked to the restaurant- no hogs this time. The free breakfast was actually pretty good. We got cereal, toast, donuts, and other things. We ate, asked for directions, and headed out for the day. 

Down the mountain we walked. We actually found the train station no problem. Once at the station-problem! We didn't know what ticket to buy. I flagged down a guy and luckily he helped as.

Once we get through the gate, we didn't know which side of te platform we needed. I flagged down another woman and asked her. She spoke even less English. I asked Sagrata Familia and pointed. She understood and pointed is in the right direction. We got on the train and had a short ride to the metro. We got on the metro and arrived at Segrada Famimia. Literally. I walked out of the station and BAM! Right there was the church-- and the long line that followed. We got in line which wrapped around the building and waited.

Sagrada Familia 

The line was just to buy the tickets. It took an hour to get to the front. We had 30 minutes to kill before our 12:30 time slot. We walked around to some shops. We bought some ice cream. Oreo- yum! Then we headed to the back to enter the Segrada familia. Oh my! This was the prettiest church we had seen so far. Really modern with lots of pretty stained glass. It was amazing! I was mesmerized walking around in the red, blue, and green light that poured in.  It was definitely worth the waiting and money.  After walking around we decided that we should get some food. While waiting in line, we got a brochure for a little backery. We decided to try that. 

Inside Sagrada Familia

Inside Sagrada Familia

Inside Sagrada Familia

We actually found it on our own. It was a  cute little shop. We looked at the menu and couldn't understand anything. Then they handed us menu with English. We all got ham on chibotta. It was delicious! We also got water. I was extremely parched at this point, so I chugged my $2 water. A worker shoved a plate if cupcakes in our face saying free sample. Well don't mind if I do. We asked what flavors. As soon as she said Nutella, Lindsey and I both screatched Nutella! We devoured the sample and then she comes back over and drops a whole Nutella cupcake on my plate. I didn't question it. I just ate it. Yummy!!

Off to the metro to go to la ramble. We got off the metro and started walking-- in the wrong direction. We corrected ourselves and found this street about 7 cars wide with vendors and shops and markets.I had never seen anything like it before. So many things to look at and smell--but I didn't inhale too long because it smelled really bad. We wandered until we found a tourist desk. We asked where the beaches were. She pointed us in the right direction. I was so stinking excited. 

That was the longest walk to the beach I have ever experienced. Probably bout 45 minutes. My feet were throbbing. Then we saw it--water! We all took off our shoes and ran toward the water. There were thousands of people laying out. It made it hard to walk. We eventually made it to the waters edge. The water felt so good! It was so clear, nothing like any of the other bodies of water I had swam in before.

The Mediterranean Sea

We walked along the sand for a long time until we hit rocks and a railing thing. We climbed over the rocks and over the railing to a less popular rocky side. It was beautiful. We sat on rocks and stuck our feet in the sand. It was soooo nice. We cooled off in no time.

We then wanted to walk over to the big rocks a few meters away. I started walking in rocks because it was too deep to walk on the sand part with our purses. I soon realized this path was tearing up my feet. I was stepping on urchins and barnacles. It fricken hurt man! The others didn't follow for long. I painfully turned back. We decided that we should sadly depart from the beach and head back for food.

The sea urchins that hurt me

It takes way less time to get back. We hit the market at la rambla. The market was amazing. So many good things. Fresh fruit, fresh fish, candy, and all the other foods. We got fresh fruit, cod cabob, and 1.5 liter water. Next we had to find some where to sit. We walked all the way back to the fountain we saw when we arrived. Oh my that was a long trek. We sat and ate at the fountain.

All of the wonders of the market

My 1.5 L water that I chugged

After eating we thought we should head toward the fountain light show. We reached the town and saw nothing. There wasn't anything there. So we decide to sit. For 35 minutes. During this time we see people with Miley written on their bodies and RIP Hannah Montana t-shirts. We get to thinking that there is a Miley Cyrus concert in Barcelona because we start hearing loud music. We then get up and start walking because we still had a while until the show started we hit an ATM first. There were two girls at te ATM dressed like they were going to a concert. Lindsey asked if there was a Miley Cyrus concert near by. They then asked s if we were drunk. So I take that as a no. They then tell us they spent 160 euros on a techno concert. We thought that was weird  

Whatever, we walked back to the center and found a tourist station we asked where there was ice cream. They pointed us to a mall. Shaped like a stadium. We headed into the basement. Ice cream was everywhere! I got Nutella ice cream in a large cone. Yummy. Next it was time for the fountain show. 

There were so many people around the fountain. I was ticked so we sat on the steps and waited for it to start. We saw the side fountains turn on, so we ran toward the big fountain. We got front row seats. All of the sudden we hear Nants ingonyama bagithi baba! It was the beginning of the circle of life. Karli's mouth drops to the ground. I thought she was going to cry. She loves Disney so much. The whole first 30 minutes was Disney songs. In Spanish, but we knew all of the words so it didn't matter. We scream sang them to ourselves. For the second time tonight. People thought we were drunk. Pop music came on and then classical. Before we knew it, we had been there 1.5 hours. I the had the thought. When do the trains stop running. That thought was enough to get us running to the metro.

The fountain show

As we approach, we notice many other people so we know we are not late. We get to a crowded platform. We tell eah other to hold on and push through the crowd. That's just what we did. We made it on along with 50 pother bodies. And we got the middle of the metro. Where there is nothing to hold on to. We take a wide stance and brace ourselves.  Knowing how clumsy I am, not holding onto anything on the metro is tricky.

We had to then switch from metro to train. We run and hop on one sitting at the platform. Relieved we sit down. For some strange reason I look back at the board telling where we would be stopping. Our station was not lit up. An old man notices us looking at it and asks where we are going. I show him, but he couldn't read that small print. So I tried my hardest and used my best Spanish trying to get him to understand. Finally, he understands and tells us we need to be a few platforms over. We ran over there ad found seats next to this girl. 

We had had so much sugar by this point and we were slap happy. We were attempting to say all of the Spanish metro stops in the most English way possible. We reaches Muntaner. We started saying it like Montana with a hick accet coming out as montaner. Then I said Hanner Montaner. We side laughing! While this was going on, the lady sitting next to Karli put down her book, took her ear plug out of the ear closers to us, and laughed at us. 

We eventually arrive at our station. Then we had to climb back up the mountain to our hostel. We arrived and immediately sat in the wifi section.

While on wifi, I searched Miley Cyrus tour 2014 and she actually was in Barcelona doing a concert that night.  Ha!  We were right!

Saturday June 14

We slept in until 9, but our noisy neighbors woke us up before that.  We headed up for breakfast. They were out of plates and some food. We still got a decent breakfast. Then we headed off to Parc Guell. 

It took a train, metro, and bus to get there, but we finally made it. We had to pay for tickets. Our time slot wasn't until 12:30 and it was 11:30. We were dead. So tired and hot. We sat in the shade for 30 minutes. Karli fell asleep. Then we decided to follow the music that we were hearing. That took us up a mountain-yay! So tired! We made it to the music and explored a little around there. 

We went back down for our time ticket. We were released into a mosaic wonderland. There were so many things to look.  

We took some pictures in the open area with a mosaic fence/seating area. It was really pretty. Then we went down stairs and found the lizard thing and mosaic houses. We ate in the park and then made our way back to the metro, beach bound.

Parc Guell

The metro was so crowded. Everyone wanted to be on the beach. We stopped off to get some water and one towel. Cold water costs more than warm water and the cold water wasn't even cold! When we arrived, there were so many people we didn't even know where to go. We went to dip our feet in the water for relief from the burning sand. We found a towel spot of space, which was all we had. We left Karli on the towel with our bags and lindsey and I ran for the water. \The water was colder than the day before but it still felt sooooo good. The sand was not little fine pebbles. It was rocks. Some small and some large. I am spoiled with the fine sand I South Carolina. We stay in the crystal clear water for a while. After playing in the water, we went back up and all three sat on one towel.  It was a struggle,, sharing a towel was no problem.  We sat with our backs to the sun for a while and then all laid down on the towel.  We decided that we should probably eat since we had spent a few hours at the beach.

Beach

We didn't want to eat in the market tonight because there wasn't anywhere to sit in the market.  There were several restaurants set up on the strip.  We ate at Mickey's.  It was nice.  There was some good food there.  We all ordered pizza. Again.  But it was good. I ate the whole thing and wanted more.  We then walked looking for souvenirs and ice cream.  We eventually found both.  I got some things and a yummy chips ahoy ice cream.  We walked the whole of la rambla again, so we went into the shopping center.  So much for a shopping center,  there wasn't much there, we couldn't find a way out, and you had to pay to use the bathroom.  As we left the shopping center, it started raining, so we headed for cover in the metro.  We decided to head back to the hostel.  

We walked up the mountain back to our hostel, dropped our things, and headed toward the pool  More water!!

Pool time

We walked to where we thought it was and we found a dead end.  So we took another path that lead us to the restaurant.  We then decided we should ask for help.  We waited in the bar and no one came.  Two americans saw us and asked what we were doing.  They pointed us in the direction of the pool.  We were walking the right way the first time.  We eventually found the pool and I was elated.  I couldn't have been happier.  We sat in the pool and talked until the guy came to close it.

Barcelona was amazing!  I left with great memories and a great sun burn.  I would go back and I would probably stay in the same hostel because it was the best hostel we have stayed in so far.  Ta and Cheers!