Relaxing in France

The rest of my time in France was pretty great. Sunday was wonderful: slept in, went to church with friends, relaxed on the couch with a good book, listened to music, made yummy quiche, helped carve pumpkins, enjoyed Luc's guitar playing, and watched a movie with the older kids.
The only slightly negative thing was that Anne ended the day with a fever, and we had to make a bajillion phone calls to her parents' hotel in Paris. The first time, the front desk clerk was still very friendly. "Room 617, of course, mademoiselle. I will petch you right srough." The second time: "Room 617? Of course." The third time: "Room 617, huh. Wait on the line." Every subsequent call: "Room 617. Mm-hmmm."

Bartenheim, France

Not a very French-sounding name is it. But then again, we're only 10 minutes from the Germany-France border. I arrived yesterday morning to find only the girls, Allison and Anne. Luc was off for an overnight. So, the three of us played a rousing game of Scategories, in which Allison gave us all a run for our money, had a scrumptious lunch of sandwiches (I even let Anne make her chocolate tortilla), and then we took off to St. Louis (that's more like it in Frenchiness) for a shopping trip - #1 on the list: ice cream. While Allison worked on the computer, Anne and I went for a fun bike ride. She gave me Luc's old one, and my knees almost hit my chin as I pumped the small pedals up and down. But she so badly wanted to show me all the hills she climbs so that she can zoom down them at full speed. A girl after my own heart! I did feel like a kid again when we pushed our bikes through the neighbor's knee-high grass and drove them through a bumpy field. "No pavement? So? I can see the path, can't you?" Ah the adventuresome spirit.

After more games and a special dinner treat of pizza, we made cookie dough to go with our ice cream, and then popped in some episodes of Alias. It was hilarious because they picked out all their favorite episodes from Seasons 4 and 5 (which I've never seen), and we jumped around between them in random order. Is it wrong that the plot line still made complete sense?

This morning we drove back to Germany for church and to pick up Luc. The worship this morning was amazing, by the way!!! We picked up my pumpkin (for some mad carving later on) and drove home where we just finished off the rest of the pizza and rough housed with the dog. Now Luc's going to practice guitar and piano, the girls are painting each other's nails, and I should be grading, but this is so much more fun. So far in France, so good.

Keeping up with JB

I have a group of middle schoolers every 6th period, anywhere between 3 - 5 students, which surprisingly is a handful when they're 12 and 13. One of them probably has ADHD, and he usually comes in screeching or yelping or dribbling or some other noise-infested way and riles up the other kids. So, I've discovered that putting a brain teaser up on the board often holds his immediate interest when he enters, and then I can get all the other kids to start on their work BEFORE JB distracts them. Many times though, once he's finished with mine, he'll erase it and put up one of his own brain teasers - some real and some he makes up on the spot.

Today, he wrote something along the lines of:
"Start at the White House and measure 25.9 mm to the power of 56, divided by 8.92759 to the power of 3 plus 73629.65297 km to the power of 62. How come?"

While he was working on something, I crept over to the board and wrote:
"Because the sun rises in the east."

I've never heard him laugh so long. All the way out the door and down the hallway. Oh to glimpse inside the mind of an ADHD middle schooler!

Good Monday

Today was the first "full-feeling" day at school, where I had something work-related to do all day but also didn't feel overburdened. I feel like I'm finally getting to know my students, and they're finally feeling comfortable around me when they come in for their one-on-one. I know that can be intimidating as a student.

I came home and made dinner for three other single girls and myself: Putengeschnetzeltes (say that ten times fast). I think it turned out! Plus I had yummy bread fresh from the bakery three doors down the street that made up for any bad-tasting food I may have made. We all left together, and I headed over to one of the girls' dorms where I tutored a freshman and helped her study for her World History test tomorrow. The dorm dog Jersey kept coming over and sniffing my left hand, which was pretty cute, I have to admit. Plus, I got to spend the evening talking about history! Could my job be any cooler?!

A Walk to School

When I get up in the mornings, I often stand up on my bed and poke my head out my skylight window to look down on Marktplatz (market square) as well as my favorite church bell tower (oh my word, the bells started ringing just as I typed that - no joke!).Then, I shower, get dressed of course, make lunch, read my Bible, and pack my bag for school. Upon leaving my house, if I look back, this is what I see. The four right windows in the roof are to my cute apartment.
My first turn is down Blumenmuehlgasse, which makes me snicker every time because it means "flower mill alley." Not "flour mill," "flower mill." Who mills flowers?After that, I can either go through some houses (the shorter way) or along the creek (the pretty way). Here's a shot of the creek.I pass a grocery store and the fire department as well as this funny set up of metal bins for clothes donations. Note the efficient German way for depositing shoes is to tie them together.
Next, I pass my favorite house of the walk: this yellow one. I love the lace in every single window, even the attic ones.Finally, I reach the school. Here's a shot looking up at the main building. My office windows are the first four full-length ones on the top floor (from the left). And I'll follow up that description with a couple views of and from my office.
So, now you've gone to BFA with me. Hooray!

Sounds and smells of Kandern

I keep meaning to take my camera out into town with me to post pictures. Sorry, folks. They'll come. I wish I could transmit sound and smell, too. Some long-forgotten ones came back to me. Firstly the 11:45 soup smell. It's just unbelievalbe how all Austrians/Germans/Swiss? always seem to make the same bouillon soup smell for lunch every single day. (Of course, they do eat their big meal at noon, and it's very common to have a soup course.) Then there's the rain. It's been misting steadily for two days now, but I do love the earthy smell that accompanies spring and fall rains here.

The other distinctive have been the sounds, most annoying of all the church bells. It doesn't help that I'm spitting distance from the main church (I live on market square, for crying out loud), but every hour on the hour plus the quarters in between. At midnight, you get four little chimes to let you know it's the full hour, then 12 deeper gongs for each hour. Just lovely when you're in jet lag. The better sounds, by far, are the sounds of kids when school gets out, not just BFA but the local ones, too. I can hear German middle schoolers outside my window right now. I missed the lack of sound during the hours of noon and 2 pm when every store and person shuts down for the highly guarded lunch hour. And the sound of roosters! Maybe I am a country girl at heart.

First Post from Germany

I made it. I landed in Germany. So did all my suitcases. Praise Jesus! Going to bed. Over and out.

Dessert Night

On Saturday, many of you came over for a Thank You Dessert Night, and I so enjoyed getting to chat and say good- bye. Thanks for coming and making my night!

Happy Belated Birthday, Fiona!

I did think of this prior to Sep 26th, but major distractions got in the way. Sorry, sis! Hope your birthday was FABULOUS!!!

BFA choir

Just a random video clip I had of the BFA choir. Can't believe I'm going to be here next Wednesday!!! I have a plane ticket!