Happy Birthday to Me!

With all the other excitement going on I also got to celebrate my birthday here in Germany! I had a great day that started out with cards from my mom and Kyler and a beautiful locket. At school Michelle, the kids and I celebrated the day with cupcakes I had made songs, and cards the students made for me. A parent even stopped by to give me a gift from her and her daughter. (They are also my next door neighbors) Even though it was only the second day of school many teachers stopped by to wish me a happy birthday during the day. I even have two birthday celebration dinners planned with other teachers! Tonight the other student teachers made me dinner and a surprise birthday cake. Overall I had a great day knowing that I have people who love me back home and new friends to support me here in Germany.

Castles! Castles! Castles!

Another great day! The secretary of the middle school and her husband offered to take us for a tour down the Rhine River to see castles. They picked us up at our apartment and drove the hour or so it takes to get to the River. We immediately crossed the river on a ferry boat and then went into a tourist information center to get individual maps of the castles. Laura, the secretary even bought a book on the castles of the Rhine and read the information on each castle as we passed it. I was amazed by how many castles there are! They are just a couple minute drive apart so we saw about 10 castles and then we stopped and actually got to tour around Castle Rheinfels. We didn't have enough time to investigate but we were told that there are miles of tunnels underneath this castle and you are allowed to crawl around with a flash light to explore any area. After our tour of the castle we went into the local town to look around at the local shops and to eat lunch at an Italian resturant. The resturant was built underground in an old wine storage cellar. After lunch our "tour guides" surprised us by taking us on this great mountain road and coming out at a look out above the Mosel River. This was a beautiful area with in my opinion, the best castle of the day. We weren't able to go into this castle because it was the locals villages wine festival so it was very busy but we got some great pictures!

Faculty Band

I have been pushed into my first faculty extra curricular activity. At the request of the principal Michelle has put together a faculty marching band. I guess last year Michelle and the principal surpised the kids and teachers by having Michelle play her snare drum as an entrance for Monica (the principal) to the opening ceremony of school. Well this year they wanted to make it bigger and better so they have put together a marching band. It is comprised mostly of specialist teachers since classroom teachers need to be standing at the ceremony with their class which I think is fabulous because the kids get to see a lot of the faculty they might normally not have contact with like the school psychologist for example. It is so going to be quite the event with 3 snare drum players, two cymbol players, a bass drum, a teacher in a tiger costume (the school mascot) and kids walking with us and holding stuffed animal tigers, and of course 2 flag people which is my area of expertise :) We are going to parade in around the side of the school with Monica walking behind us following a banner and talking through a mega phone to the kids! It is going to be quite a sight! The whole situation has been a great way for me to meet some of the teachers at the school and I have already been taken out to lunch and tons of travel advise as a result. I don't have any pictures of myself with the band yet but I thought you might want to see pictures of some of the people I am working with.

Kaiserslautern

During our first weekend here a teacher from the school that none of us are even assigned to offered to take us downtown to show us around and take us out to dinner. Kaiserslautern is the closest town with an assortment of shops and resturants. Both the teacher and her husband have lived in this area growing up so they were able to tell us some history of the town and some of the best places to eat and drink at! One of the stories we were told is how the chuch pictured was used at one time by Napolean as a resting place while he was wounded. During his stay a local man gave him medicine from his pharmacy and tended to his wounds. As a thank you Napolean offered the man a gold eagle. The church is still standing and the pharmacy next door has the gold eagle mounted above the door! For dinner we were taken to a local Greek resturant that is owned by a Greek family that also owns an italian resturant down the street as well as a popular bar.

Pictures!

Yay! This is fantastic. I was messing with my computer and realized if I go outside I actually can get my wireless internet connection to work! I am so excited that I can finally share some pictures. Now it is freezing out here already and it is only August so I don't know how often I can do this in the winter but for tonight I am excited :) Here are some pictures I took of my apartment the first day we moved in. The teachers have donated all kinds of stuff to us so it looks a little more cozy since I took the pictures but you will be able to get the general idea and see how much room we have!

Arrived in Germany!

So far Germany has been wonderful. I met up with Lisa, a girl who was in my education program at NAU, in Newark and we ended up flying overseas sitting right next to eachother. We have been well taken care of since we have been here. My teacher, Michelle took us in for the first night and another teacher from the elementary school invited us out to dinner at an authentic German resturant in the small village they live in. Since that first night we have been driven around, taken out to eat and shop, and well provided for. I moved into my apartment a few days ago and the teachers kept stopping by with stuff to give us like tvs, radios, dishes, extra blankets, etc. We started in the schools two days ago and began the year with a faculty breakfast with the elementary and middle school teachers. The five of us student-teachers were introduced at the breakfast at the teachers actually clapped and yelled for us because of the reputation NAU has from previous student-teachers and professors who have come overseas to help in their schools. I have taken lots of pictures of the area, my apartment, and the school but I am using Michelle's computer right now so I am not able to load them yet. I just wanted to check in with everyone and let you know I am having a great time and can't wait to share it with you!

Summer

I'm having tons of fun visiting my family while I am waiting to leave for Germany. I went to Disneyland with Kyler and Justin right after graduation. I also spent a week in Rocky Point with family friends, Kyler and my mom. Since then I have been visiting with all of my family and working in Lakeside. It has been great!