Summer Adventures #1

Soooo obviously I did not do a wonderful job of keeping my blog up to date this last year, but it is a new school year and I am going to really try to do better!  We'll see...

I had an amazing summer!  I went to 9 different countries and 21 different cities in a little over 7 weeks.  I had a blast and traveled with a few different groups throughout the weeks.   I started my summer off in Venice, Italy with one of the teachers from my school (Tony) and his friend from home.  I had heard that Venice was amazing lots of times and was sure I wouldn't be one of the people singing it's praise, I was wrong!  I absolutely LOVED Venice!  It is definitely one of my most favorite places.  It is absolutely gorgeous, the architecture is amazing, every time I turned a corner it was another picture perfect place.  I spent my time in Venice just wandering around the city, enjoying the sun, eating delicious pasta and gelato, and relaxing!  It was a great start to the vacation!

After Venice we took a train ride through Italy and then got on a bus to go to Split, Croatia.  We were told the bus would take 6 hours.  Well when we got to the 6 hour mark and it didn't seem like we were there we asked how much longer and they said 6 MORE HOURS!!!!!  It didn't help that we had a borderline mentally insane lady from Naples sitting next to us that was so obnoxious the police officer she was sitting next to stopped responding when she talked to him and would always get off the bus if we were stopped and she tried to say anything to him or that we got yelled at every time we put our feet on the seats.  Hello we're on a 12 hour bus ride and it's the middle of the night.  It was interesting to say the least and when we got to our hostel they had given our room away...  Thankfully, they just put all of us (me and the two boys) in an all girls room and we instantly passed out being as it was 4am.  Split was a neat city with a cute city center made of old Roman Ruins and a beautiful waterfront.  We spent 2 days in Split and then took a ferry to Hvar, Croatia.  Hvar is another one of my very favorite places.  It is such a beautiful, sunny, little island.  We spent 4 days in Hvar wandering around the city, going out at night, eating amazing Italian food (that's pretty much all they had), gawking at the gigantic yachts, and laying out in the sun.  I really hope I get to go back to Hvar someday!!  I loved it!

After Hvar we (Tony, Vito, and I) took a train to Ljubljana, Slovenia (it's capital city) we hadn't planned on going here, but the train ride was so long and we had an extra day so we decided to stop here.  I'm so glad we did.  We only spent one night, but it is a great city.  It actually reminded me of Portland and the northwest because people were wearing rain jackets and outdoorsy clothing.  I never see this anywhere in Europe.  I'm always the crazy person that is severely under dressed at the grocery store :).   It had a big outdoor market, like all the farmer's markets in Portland, and they had this great thing where they have Outdoor Libraries on the weekends in the summer.  The library brings books to this shaded overhang of trees right on the river and you can just sit there and enjoy reading a book.  It was so neat!  After our day in Ljubljana we took a train to Bled, Slovenia and were there for 3 days.  Our hostel was on top of a bar and when we got there they said "Here have a shot of Limoncello" good first impression lol.  I also met a girl from Washington on the way who was staying at our hostel who had been student teaching in Prague and we discussed all of our favorite Trader Joe's foods that we missed and Tillamook Cheddar Cheese.  It was so great to know someone missed the frozen, red box, TJ's mac and cheese as much as I do! :)  Bled is a really cute little town.  It is one of the most popular outdoorsy places to go in the region.  We walked around the lake and rented bikes and rode them to Vintgar Gorge where we hiked the waterfalls.  They were so pretty and really, again, reminded me of Oregon.  Slovenia was one of the most beautiful countries as a whole that I have been to.  It was so green and the water was so blue.  I loved Slovenia.

I split with the boys after Bled.  They were both going back to Canada and I was going to meet up with Meg, her parents, and the Bauders in Salzburg, Austria.  Salzburg was a neat city.  It has lots of neat buildings and a cute center.  I ate a a delicious apple strudel and had dinner and beer at a Monk house where they brew Ausustina beer.  It was good!  I liked Salzburg, but it was a big city and I think I prefer the smaller ones usually.  There are of course a few exceptions.  Gosh I'm realizing as I'm typing this that I have not typed in awhile.  I was using my ipod touch the whole summer and my fingers are our of typing practice. 

After Salzburg we trained it to Munich, Germany.  Meg and I had been there before for Oktoberfest, but we obviously didn't see much of the city then so we took a free walking tour (Sandemans) and it was amazing!  I have actually never had a bad tour when I used Sandemans.  I learned so much on the tour and got a really good feel for the city.  I learned that Hitler started gaining a following in Munich and he pretty much forced it upon people.  In Munich he did a march with some of his following and at some point they met the opposing side that was waiting for them and had a battle.  Hitler's bodyguard laid on top of him and was shot 11 times.  He miraculously lived, but Hitler had him killed a few years later, being the compassionate person that he was.  It's crazy to think about how different history would be though if just one of those bullets had hit him...  There are many other crazy and frustrating facts I learned, but you might just have to come visit me and go to Munich to learn the rest :)  We also happened to be there on the day that they were announcing who got the Olympics and Munich was one of the contender cities.  They didn't end up getting them, but it was a really fun atmosphere anyways.  After Munich we went back to Frankfurt and Meg's parents flew home.  It was so nice to see them and be with parents.  It made me miss my own, but the Luttrell's did a nice job of giving me a little taste :)  Meg and I spent a few days in Frankfurt doing laundry, hanging out with teachers at her school, and just relaxing it was a nice little break.  I had the best Pad Thai there!  I miss Thai food.

Then we head to the Greek Islands!!  We started in Kos where we had a cute little apartment owned by the sweetest little Greek lady.  We spent almost all of our time here just laying on the beach and relaxing.  The city of Kos was really neat and we had fun exploring it, but we staying in a tiny little town about 25 minutes away from the city.  The beaches by where we stayed were so nice!  Next, we went to Santorini.  I loved Santorini!!  We stayed at a nice hostel right by the beach, so we spent some time again just laying on the beach and swimming.  There were also really neat bars right on the beach and we had fun going out there.   We made friends with a bartender who gave us 4 free shots and the biggest drinks ever.  That was a fun night :)  There was also a bakery that was open 24 hours a day right by our hostel, which was quite dangerous.  After a night out Meg and I always found ourselves there and we also had lunch there almost everyday.  The owner of the bakery was sad when we left.  He was the cutest big Greek guy!  The bakery was seriously the best bakery I have ever been to though.  We had this amazing croissant filled with nutella with chocolate on top and we think honey.  It was the best thing ever!!  We also had a million other amazing pastries!!  We also ate Moussaka and Fava, two dishes that are really good and very Greek!  I enjoyed the food a lot, can you tell :)  Santorini also has a great view and is just gorgeous.  Meg and I went to Fira one day thinking that was where we would find all of the picturesque places and blue domes.  We didn't see them and we were a little frustrated.  We learned on our last day that we needed to go to Ois.  So, we went up there just in time to see the famous sunset.  It was beautiful!  We went back the next day as well since our ferry didn't leave till late and shopped, took pictures, and just enjoyed the great view.  Santorini was one of the most beautiful places ever!  After Santorini we went to Ios.  We had heard it was a fun place for young people...what we didn't realize was that young people meant 17-19 year olds.  We felt a little old in Ios.  It was a small island and we spent a lot of time on the beach, playing cards, and wandering around the town.  We stayed at a nice hotel while there, but it was a little interesting.  First the internet didn't work and when we told them they said we could use their computer, but every time we did this the owner stood over our shoulders and watched everything we did...kinda creepy...not the safest when you're checking your bank accounts.  We also couldn't get our air conditioning to work, but felt like complainers so didn't say anything till the last day when we were literally starting to melt we were so hot.  The owner told us to shut the window, we were like ok but the air conditioner won't work, he came up shut the window and the AC came on!  It was working the WHOLE time, but on a sensor and we were SO DANG HOT that we never shut the window!  UHHHHH!!!  Lesson learned always try to shut the window first lol.  Next, we went to Mykonos.  We stayed at a campsite/hostel place in a little bungalo the size of two twin beds right on the beach.  It was a neat place to stay and they had one of the best known clubs in town.  It was huge and just happened to be having one of their biggest parties of the year on the night we got there.  We went to it and had a lot of fun dancing and making new friends.  We spent lots of time on the beach here as well, but also went into the town and it was so cute.  It might be one of the cutest towns I've been to.  I loved wandering around and taking pictures.  The crazy part about Mykonos is the bus drivers.  I am not sure how someone in the bus or in the cars/scooters around the bus did not die while i was there.  The roads are two ways roads, but only wide enough for one car or especially bus and the drivers will take you out if you get in there way.

Next, Meg and I headed to Pompei, Italy.  This involved flying into Rome and catching a train.  We thought this sounded quite simple... In actuality this meant that our flight was delayed, we couldn't get on the first bus at the Rome airport so had to wait an hour for the next one to get to the Rome train station, we missed our train by seconds because people were so slow at hitting the buttons on the ticket machines, and then we decided to stop in Naples because their pizza is supposed to be so good.  The pizza was delicious!  The train station was a little sketch (drugged out people next to me, small boy pretty much took Meg out for her seat, and crazy mobsterish people all around).  Then, we realized we didn't know the name of our hostel let alone how to get there.  Thankfully, Meg texted her dad who checked her email and we got a name.  We thought awww easy we'll just get a taxi when we get there since it's like 11:30pm...no taxi's.  So we walked to a restaurant to have them call us one and they informed us that Pompei doesn't have taxis (later we found out they were wrong) so we walked for forever with our giant bags getting cat called the whole time and finally made it to our hostel, which thankfully turned out to be quite nice, yet locked us in and wouldn't let us leave that night...still not sure what was going on.  Pompei was pretty neat!  We walked through the ruins one day and then that night met archeologists who were working at the ruins.  We hungout and partied with them a bit and the next day they got us into their site and showed us all the cool artifacts they'd found and explained everything they were doing.  That was definitely the highlight of Pompei!  We also had an amazing meal at our hostel where Meg and I both ate squid without an breading and with the heads on and long tentacles!  We were quite proud of ourselves :)

The next stop was Sorrento, which was gorgeous!  I found throughout the summer that I just love water.  I think if anywhere is on water I will love it.  In Sorrento we did a lot of eating and shopping.  We walked around the town center looking at all of the Italian pottery, trying limoncello, eating the best gelato ever, and drinking wine on the port.  The gully down to the water in Sorrento is really pretty and the town is just so quaint.  I really liked Sorrento!

After Sorrento Meg and I trained to Cinque Terre which also turned into an adventure.  Megs cards weren't working so we kept booking the tickets, but then when we went to pay the card wouldn't work so we would start over again, well by the third time we did this their weren't any seats lefts so we had to sit in the aisle of the train for 6 or 8 hours or something.  We had woken up at 4:30 to skype our friend Ally and everyone at her wedding so we were also quite tired.  We ended up laying our backpacks down between two of the fold out seats and sleeping like that in the aisle ways.  It worked really well until someone with a massive suitcase came through.  Cinque Terre was stunning.  We went to all of the 5 towns and they were all so cute!  We hiked the trails between the towns and that turned out to be a harder hike than we thought it would be, but lots of fun and had the most amazing views!  We stayed in Levanto, which is right outside of Cinque Terre, the next stop on the train, and it just so happened that we were there for their big town festival.  It was really fun to walk around and see all of the locals out the night before because the town was shut down for the day.  We saw tons of old couples walking or just sitting by the water enjoying the night and all of the people.  I had amazing seafood pastas, lots of gelato, tons of cheap wine, and great focaccia pizza!  We met a really nice couple from Canada and had some fun adventures with them.  I loved Cinque Terre!!  It was beautiful!

After Cinque Terre Meg went back to Frankfurt and I went to meet up with a teacher from my school (Ari) and her friend in Florence and I will continue that in the next blog because this is super long and I am tire and have already taken a million breaks typing this.  Hope you weren't bored!  Sorry for the length!

Where did the months go???

January and February have been crazy months!  They have gone by so quickly and I feel like I've barely had time to even realize they were here.  I seriously have no idea what happened in January.  I didn't do any exciting trips I would remember those :)

School has been busy...the last 2 weeks has been insane.  I've had 4 birthdays (remember this means the whole birthday party happens at school), Valentine's Day, Mother Tongue Week, 100 Day, White School (which means over half of the school is gone and some of the specialists), and there were a bunch of other things I can't remember anymore.  I'm barely surviving this week, memory is not the most important thing right now.  There has been this terribly illness/flu thing going around and it's knocking teachers and kids out for entire weeks.  Well, at small schools in countries where people don't speak the language taught at the school subs are hard to come by.  Therefore, when the Polish, Art, and P.E. teachers were gone these last 2 weeks that meant I got to teach those classes and not have any preps.....HURRAY!!!  I am still loving my kids, but they have been a little extra crazy lately.  We put on a play for the school and parents, The Little Gingerbread Man, it was pretty much all kid done.  They made the background and masks in Art class, the Music teacher helped them create a song for the end of the performance, and then we practiced many, many times in class.  The practice sessions left lots to be desired and I was quite nervous the day of the performance, but the kids pulled it off and it turned out really cute!  It was their final assessment for our unit "How We Express Ourselves" and I would say they passed :)  Shoot they're great at expressing themselves, its getting them to stop physically expressing themselves that is the problem, oh kindergarten.  They are teaching me more than I ever thought possible.  And I realized after break, much to my relief, they are actually learning!!!  They are starting to sound out words and recognize sight words, they can add numbers!!!  There was a point where I didn't know if any of it was getting through and I was SO happy to come back from Winter Break and realize it is!  That's the really great thing about teaching such young kids, they learn lots and it is fun to see how much they've learned and feel that a tiny bit of it at least is because of you.  We don't have school next week, so I will be getting a much needed break and hopefully will come back to a healthy and better listening group :)

As I just said, we don't have school next week, it is our February Holiday.  I will be going to Sicily and Rome, Italy with two other teachers from the school.  I'm really really really excited!  I don't know if I've ever been so ready for a break or so in need of one.  We're going to rent a car in Sicily I think and just drive around and see whatever we want to see.  We're leaving it pretty open and just hoping for fun and relaxation.  We all seem to have very similar traveling styles so I think it will be a great time!  I also have a few trips planned when I get back!  I'm going to a PYP training in Berlin in 3 weeks.  I think I would probably rather just be traveling in Berlin, but I got to see a little bit of it when I was stuck there trying to get to Portland for Christmas and I'm really excited that the school is sending me to a training.  Plus, it will be fun to spend time with some of the teachers and Meg Luttrell is going to the same training so we should be able to play!  After that I am going to Cork, Ireland the next weekend for the St. Patrick's Day weekend.  This will be a short trip, but I think it will be lots of fun and I'm excited to see some of Ireland.  I have a week and half break at the end of April and I think I'm going to go to Istanbul, Turkey.  A few other teachers from my school are going and I think Meg Luttrell is going to come too!  I'm probably most excited for this trip!  I never thought I would be that excited to go to Turkey, but parts of it have such a different culture from Europe or the U.S. so I'm excited to experience it and be in a warm place.  Warmth is what guides most of my breaks :). 
Summer planning is in the works...  No exact plans yet, but Greece is for sure in there and hopefully Finland, Norway, Denmark, and Sweden....along with a long list of other countries I'm hoping to see.  I'm trying to figure out how to pack them all in at the moment.

I am realizing as I'm here that no matter where you are or who you're surrounding by your life is still your life.  This sounds odd I'm sure, but I guess I just didn't realize how much would be the same even in such a different location.  Food for thought :)  I am still loving Poland!  I do not second guess my decision to come here ever.  I love this country and don't think I could have asked for a better school to have my first real teaching job at!!

The long trip home... This post also turned out VERY long!

So, most of you have probably heard this story or at least some of it, but everyone has told me I have to write it on here so I don't forget.  Here begins the long story or how I finally made it back to Portland...

The journey started on a snowy Friday when everyone at school was a little stressed about whether or not their flights were going to go out.  I was taking the train from Wroclaw to Poznan and then from Poznan to Berlin.  I had gone and gotten my ticket a few days before with some other teachers help to make sure I did not screw it up.  I was told I could take any train to Poznan, but then I had a certain one with a certain seat and time that I had to get on in Poznan.  I got to the train station in Wroclaw with plenty of time to catch the train, but for some reason freaked out and couldn't figure anything out.  I dragged my suitcases up and down a few sets of stairs before finding what I thought was the right platform.  A lady took pity on me and apparently could read from my face that I was ridiculously confused.  She told me that I was in the right place and that the train went to Poznan.  So, I got on the train, found a place to sit, dealt with my gigantic bags and thought the hard part was over.  Never have I been so wrong in my life!!

The ticket guy came around and thankfully asked a few people before me so I knew what he wanted.  I handed him my ticket and he started speaking in Polish a little angrily.  I gave him a blank look and said "I only speak English".  He seemed to get more mad at this point asked everyone around me if they spoke English and a guy finally did.  He translated to me that I was on the wrong train.  I told him I had been told I could get on any train, blah, blah, blah.  Apparently I couldn't get on any train.  The ticket guy then said I had to buy a new ticket, I was like whatever stop yelling at me and handed him my debit card.  He then got mad and translated that they don't take cards.  I showed him that all I had was 10 zloty.  He became very angry at this point and was yelling Polish words at me.  The guy translating said I had to give the ticket guy my residency card.  I gave it to him and he came back a few minutes later with it and yelled at me some more about having to pay when I get off.  Thinking back on it I never should have given him my residency card, but I was a little flustered.  So, whatever I'm in trouble they didn't kick me off, I'm fine.  Well I then realize that they do not announce where we are on stops, they do not have anything that says what stop we are at, NOTHING, and the windows are almost entirely iced/fogged over.  This is when I just started freaking out.  Not only was I on the wrong train, but I had absolutely no idea where I was supposed to get off.  The train ride was supposed to take 3 hours, it took 5 so by this point I'm sure that I have missed the stop and am just 100% screwed.  Thankfully, as I'm seriously starting to flip out the girl next to me looks at my ticket that I keep frantically looking at for some sort of answer and points to herself and says Poznan.  I got off with her and had about 25 minutes till my next train.  I decided I was not going to risk missing it, somehow figured out what platform I was supposed to be on and decided I was standing there till the train came even if it was beyond freezing outside.  Right about when my train was supposed to come and it hasn't I'm starting to again freak out because, well lets be honest, this has been a disaster so far.  Somehow, again I think I have a panic look that people must be able to read from miles away, a guy comes up and says something in Polish, I again say I only speak English and miracle has it he speaks English.  We're waiting then he tells me the train is delayed an hour.  Great.  I go inside and am waiting and waiting (ok honestly texting Meg and Tony and telling them how I hate Polish trains).  Then, as I'm about to go outside and wait again it comes up that the train is now delayed 4 more hours.  I am sure that I will not make my flight now.  I try to stay calm, wait in the information line, the lady speaks no English, no one in the entire line speaks English, so I give up sit on my suitcase call Meg (her flight was cancelled out of Frankfurt) and we discuss how we currently are hating life because there is literally nothing I can do and I am going to miss my flight.  Somehow, after at least an hour someone comes up to me and says something in Polish.  I am normally very nice, but I am tired and pretty upset so I grumpily say "I don't speak Polish", he says "I know" in English and says he will help me.  We get in line and get up to the counter the guy is trying to tell the lady my situation and ask if there is a bus etc. but his English isn't great so he tells me to wait because he's going to get a friend who speaks better English.  Well, the couple who had been behind us speak English so they just decide to take over in helping me figure out where I need to go, tell the lady at this new counter that I need a bus, I'm going to miss my flight, etc, etc.  They get me a ticket and then saying they're going to walk me to where I need to be.  I try to refuse, but they insist.  The guy then takes my bags from me (I again tried to refuse), they walk me to where I'm supposed to meet the bus, circle the number on my ticket thing, and tell me every detail I need to know.  They were maybe the nicest people ever!  I'm waiting for awhile and a guy comes up who had gone in the one place looking for a bus at the same time as me.  He too speaks English and we're talking.  He tells me he's getting on a later bus because I got the last seat, but he wants to wait with me so he can see what the bus looks like.  This was not true.  He wanted to make sure I got on the bus and wanted to help me.  He again carried my bags to the bus (which actually turned out to be a van) when it came, told the driver everything about me that he needed to know, and wished me luck.  Again, nicest person ever!  I don't know how I got so lucky!  I'm paying the van driver while he loads my bags and he says "American, girl" I'm thinking that's weird.  I get in the van (I am sitting between the driver and a big Polish guy in the front seat) and the van is filled with 6 other drunk Polish guys going to Milan to watch a big soccer game.  They offer me a beer, which at this point I gladly accept and we head on our way.  I was hoping to sleep a little in the van. No!  The drunk Polish guys insist that no one can sleep because we are partying.  Please keep in mind I woke up at 6:00 that morning and taught 5 year olds all day, I am exhausted.  The van ride takes an extremely long time because a) they needed to stop and pee and smoke every 30 minutes or less b) the roads were terrible and c) a lot of roads were closed because of wrecks. 

I finally made it to the airport with just a little under 2 hours till my flight left (it was supposed to be leave at 7:15am), I find the gate, wait in line, and they tell me I'm not allowed to get on my flight because I have a connecting flight, but they already booked me a new trip.  I just follow the people in front of me and we wait in a line that is huge.  The line takes literally 3 hours so I become pretty good buddies with a women from Texas, a guy from Michigan, and a guy from somewhere in the U.S. who is living in Berlin that are all in line with me.  After 3 hours of waiting in line I get up to the counter and the lady tells me she has nothing until 2 days later.  I tell her I will go to Seattle, Vancouver B.C., anywhere just get me to the U.S.  She keeps looking at her screen, typing, shaking her head, and saying "I have nothing".  After she says this about 20 times I start to fall apart so I just stop responding because I know if I open my mouth I will start bawling.  I think she started to realize this and finally says ok I think I can get you on a flight that leaves tomorrow morning.  At this point I'm happy with tomorrow.  It is now about 9am.  The people I met in line and I decide to get breakfast and they say their going to tour around the city and try to make the best out of the situation.  I agree this is a good idea.  The women from Texas also tells me that she can't believe I'm still awake and that her company pays for her room and I'm welcome to stay with her if I want.  This may have been a little risky, but I was so tired I didn't care and gladly accepted.  We tour around Berlin for most of the day, eat an early dinner, and then I am seriously starting to not be able to open my eyes so we go back to the hotel room and I sleep :)

The next morning I get up and thankfully made time to take a shower.  I get to the airport like 3 hours before my flight is supposed to leave (I'm pretty paranoid at this point), the airport is full of stranded people waiting in lines, trying to get a ticket.  I had packed my bags perfectly so that if they lost my big suitcase I the warm clothes for Whistler in my carry on bag.  Then, after the whole ordeal the day before I added more to my carry on because I figured getting stranded was probably going to happen being as most airports in Europe were closed.  So, when I go to check in my bag (it weighed nothing it was half empty) the lady also makes me weigh my carry on.  I have never had anyone do this before this or after this.  I hate that women!  Of course my carry on is way over weight.  I explain to her that I keep getting stranded so I keep adding more things to my carry on and that is why it weighs so much and I will not pay for an extra bag.  I tell her I will put stuff in my big bag (which had already gone down the shute) but I won't pay.  She acts like she's going me some favor and tells me she will check my carry on and not charge me.  I then go wait for my flight.  I again met some a really nice couple from Australia and a really nice guy from Michigan to help pass the time.  The flight says "on time" up until 15 minutes before we are supposed to leave.  They then tell us the Paris Airport (that we're flying to) is closed and maybe it will open in a few hours.  We wait a few more hours.  They tell us it's still closed, but they're going to wait longer and that we can all leave and go get food vouchers because it will be at least another 3 hours.  We leave for about 30 mins. and then an announcement comes on saying my flight number is going to leave in 5 mins.  We all run to the gate, they rush us on the plane, and we sit on the plane for over 30 mins with nothing happening.  They then tell us they lost their landing window or something from Paris and we're going to have to wait another 3 hours, but we're not allowed off the plane.  By this point I don't even care.  I have missed my connecting flight by hours and I have pretty much given up all hope that I will make it home anytime soon.  We end up taking off about 30 mins, not 3 hours, later thankfully!  The whole flight actually cheers when we take off.  We have the worst turbulance and landing I have ever experienced and we still all cheer when we land because we are that happy that one of our flights actually left the airport today.  It is now like 8pm.

I somehow start talking to a guy as I'm getting off of the plane and he tells me he knows where we have to go.  I discover that the Paris Airport is HUGE!  It is a small city and without this guy I never would have figured out where I was supposed to be.  We find some worker who point us to a line that is a minimum of 5 hours long with of course only 3 workers that we are all filtering into to get new flights since all of Europe has missed their flights for the last 3 days.  After awhile we notice the line across from us that we were told not to go into is moving way faster.  One of the new guys I have made friends with goes over and gets his tickets switched over there, but says the line is supposed to just be for people checking their luggage.  The group of us that has made friends is now like 8 people strong.  We sneak over 1 at a time and get in the other line.  We make it up to the counter in like 30-45 mins.  Crazy faster!  I go up to the counter and the guy says where are you going, I tell him I don't know I need tickets, he says no where are you going, I say well I was going to Portland but I wasn't allowed on my flight so then I got tickets to Seattle, but that flight got cancelled and i would have missed it so now I don't know where I'm going.  He tells me I'm in the wrong line.  I look at him and say "So you're telling me I'm going to have to go back and wait in annnnooottther long line.  I must have had a pretty desperate face he starts typing, then send me to another guy, this guy spends 30 minutes looking for a flight for me.  I keep saying "I'm going to the worst place possible aren't I", "There's nothing isn't there" and he keeps saying "I'll find you something".  He was way smarter than the lady who kept repeating "I have nothing" to me.  After 30 minutes of searching (at this point I am literally laying on the counter, I was positive I was never getting home) he finds me a flight directly from Paris to Seattle the next morning!!!  I literally tell him "I love you, thank you so much".  He asks me if I have a hotel room and I say "No, but I don't care I just wanted a flight".  He gives me a room anyways.  I can't catch the bus for the hotel for about an hour so I go find food with some of my new friends.  I then get on a bus that drives for 45 minutes to our hotel.  Not a good sign when it takes 45 mins. to get there.  We are promised a bus in the morning, given room keys, and I go pass out for like 4 hours.  I think it was 3am when I finally got there and my flight left at 10am the next day. 

The next morning I go down to the lobby super early because I'm beyond paranoid now, the hotel guy tells me there isn't a bus until 10:30.  Helpful when my flight leaves at 10 NOT!  Genius airlines I tell you.  He orders me a taxi and tells me it will cost 70 Euro!!! (that is 280 zloty).  I am not happy about this so I call the room of a women I had talked with the night before whose flight left at around the same time.  She tells me her and her daughter will share a taxi with me so we can split the cost, but that the taxi only takes cash and only Euro.  I of course only have 6 Euro, but about 200 zloty, and about 150 dollars.  UG!  We then are told that there is actually only one taxi that will pick people up at our hotel because of course it is snowing.  Thankfully I was the 4th person to ask for a taxi so me, the women and her daughter, and a man get the only taxi and head to the airport.  The women pays for my fare and says she's writing the airlines and they'll be reimbursing her so it doesn't matter.  Again, nicest people ever!  I am about 3 and a half hours early for my flight, but I am still in a deep state of panic.  I now am assuming that everything will go wrong and am thinking of the worst case scenarios because they will probably be my day.  I find the security line and after a few minutes realize it's not moving and they aren't letting anyone through.  I go up to the front and politely ask what is going on and they tell me the airport is closed and point me to a guy standing near by.  I not so politely ask him what is going on and he again says the airport is closed.  I tell him that my flight does not say cancelled or delayed and therefore the airport is probably not closed and I need to get to my gate.  He tells me he doesn't know anything and that I should go wait in the AirFrance line.  This is probably the point where I lost it the most.  I tell him that I understand this is not his fault but that in order for me to talk to an AirFrance person I will have to wait in line for hours and that I have been waiting line for hours for days and that am I literally going to lose it if I do not get on my flight because they will not let me through security.  He's seems to understand that I am on the brink of a mental breakdown/getting arrested for freaking out at the security gate and calmly tells me I should probably just wait in line and if my flights not delayed or canceled they will open the gates soon.  I got in line and they opened the gates about 10 minutes later.  I got to my gate and sat.  I refused to ever leave that area again.  My flight said "on time" until 15 minutes before we should be boarding and then it got delayed an hour, this process went on for about 4-5 more hours and then miracle has it we actually boarded the plane!  Crazily, the new person that I had made friends with who was on my flight informed me that I was first class.  I told him I didn't think he was right.  He was!  In Berlin, the lady who kept telling me she had nothing, had put me in a first class seat (I'm assuming because it was the only one she could find), and from then on that was the ticket they saw, not my original one.  I'm pretty positive that was also the only reason I got on that flight!  So, thank you lady in Berlin!!!  The flight took off, landed in Seattle, I was able to text my parents right before it left so they could come and get me, and I arrived in Seattle.  Guess what didn't arrive in Seattle...my luggage!  So, I went to Whistler with only the clothes I had been wearing for now 4 days.  It gave me a good excuse to buy new clothes!  My luggage was a whole other fun ordeal but I ended up getting it in Portland 5 days later.

There is no moral to this story, but the whole ordeal did make me realize how many good and amazing people there are in this world in all countries, from all backgrounds.  Thank you to all of those people I will never be able to personally tell how much I appreciated all that you did for the frantic looking crazy girl who only spoke English and was hauling around 2 big suitcases.

Barcelona and since then...

Life has been crazy busy lately.  I went to Barcelona for 8 days and had an amazing time!  While there I decided I am going to learn Spanish.  It is my new goal that in the next 2 years I will learn Spanish.  If any Oregon teacher is reading this and knows...  Can I make Spanish lessons from a company that just teaches Spanish (not a college) count towards my whatever it is I need to renew my teaching license in Oregon???  I'm hoping to kill two birds with one stone!

I went to Barcelona with 3 other teachers from my school.  We did a great job of relaxing, partying, and site seeing.  I think it was the perfect mix.  We spent one day sitting and laying on the port people watching and enjoying the sun, another day laying on the beach and exploring the beach front area, we did a free walking tour of Gaudi's buildings, we went to Park Guell, we went up to MontSerrat, a montasery with an amazing view, shopped, explored the city, went to the big outdoor market, walked La Rambla, went to some small pubs and big clubs, met people from all over.  We had 2 French guys and 2 German guys in our hostel that we became pretty good buddies with.  It was amazing!  One night Lauren and I sat at a bar and talked with 2 guys from Spain.  They would teach us Spanish and we would trade and teach them English, it was awesome!  While I was there I decided I think I was meant to live in Spain.  Everyday I would wake up late and go get a chocolate croissant from a small bakery 3 doors down from our hostel, usually go get a Starbucks, do whatever we were doing for the day, have a siesta (I swear these were invented for me!), have a late dinner with 3 desserts, which we all split :), go hangout at the hostel for a bit and then go out.  The Spanish daily time schedule is so much better for me than the American or Polish one.  They sleep in late, have a siesta in the middle of the day, and go to bed late.  Why can this not be everywhere?!?!?!?!

The week we got back was crazy!  It's amazing how crazy kids can become after being away from school for only one week.  It's like they don't remember any of the rules that they have been following for the past 3 months...  It was a rough 4 day week, but it ended well and this week is better.  That's the good thing about teaching everyday is totally different.  You can have a terrible day one day and the next day can be a great day.  I am learning just how important it is to be a good parent...  If I ever have kids I swear I will be the strictest mom.  My staff is amazing and so supportive though.  I love all of them and am so happy that I am at a school where everyone gets along, everyone supports each other, trusts each other, and helps each other.

On Sunday (11/7) I went on a hike with 10 other teachers in the Czech Republic.  It was amazing!  The hike itself was really easy and not even really a hike, but the views and nature were crazy!  The whole place used to be underwater and there were these huge sand stone rocks that are like nothing I have ever seen in the U.S.  I'll post pictures on facebook.  We also got to see the source of a river and saw the bubbles coming up from the sand were the water was entering into the stream, it was pretty neat.   It rained the whole time we were on the hike, which made me think of home and actually made me miss Oregon a little.  It's funny a lot of the teachers were bummed that it was raining and it just seemed totally normal to me.

This week we only have a 3 day week because Thursday is some Polish holiday and then Friday is a bridge day because its silly to just randomly not go to school for one day in the middle of the week.  So anyways, I don't have school on Thursday or Friday, so I leave tomorrow night (Wed. night) for Scotland!!  I'm so excited!!!  This means that my country count is up to 6!!  The U.S., Canada, Poland, Germany, Spain, and now Scotland...

Loving Life!

I am still loving Poland and everything it has to offer!!

I went to Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany and it was so much fun!  We slept in a tent that we rented (I guess) for the 2 nights.  When we got to the site the girl in charge of checking us in said we could have unlimited beer at the campsite all weekend for 10 Euro.  So, needless to say everyone there was there to party and have a good time.  I could never tell if it was night or day because people were always awake lol.  The festival itself was so neat!  It was different than the Oregon Brewfest (don't judge it's the only point of reference I had before going).  The beer halls are actual halls/buildings.  You aren't in makeshift tents.  There are live bands singing all kinds of fun German drinking songs as well as fun American songs.  Everyone is drunk and therefore very friendly and happy.  I met people from all over the world, shared stories, drank, laughed, pretended I spoke Spanish, and almost missed my flight home :)  It was quite the adventure and I would highly recommend it to anyone thinking about going.

School has been gong pretty well the kids are starting to get all of the routines down and I'm able to have a little more fun with them.  They are adorable and can usually make me laugh just when I think I can't take anymore.  On Thursday I got to school and there were kids coming out of my room when I was bringing up the class in the morning.  At first I was like what are you doing you know the rules blah blah then they handed me roses.  I was like umm wow thanks what are these for?  And they responded "It's your day"  I'm like ok...  and the girls were like "you know your teacher day".  It was Teacher Appreciation Day in Poland!  It was such a nice surprise and my kids were so cute about it.  I am actually REALLY excited about school next week.  This is a run down of the week: Monday-assembly for UN Week, Tuesday-a goodbye party for one of my students leaving (who I love, but still a party) :(, Wednesday-A birthday party, Thursday-Field Trip!, Friday-1/2 day and an assembly and then I LEAVE FOR BARCELONA!!!!!!  And just to put perspective on things.  Birthday parties are a huge deal here.  Parents bring full lunches for every student in the class, the other kids all bring presents to school, the thing takes a minimum of one hour.  It's very fun!

Here is the run down of the next 3 weeks for me: 
Next week: Barcelona, Spain for 8 days
The next week:  A bunch of the staff is going to hike the Table Mountains.  It looks amazing here is a link to see it:

http://www.skaly-adrspach.cz/en/

The next week: 3 days of teaching and then off to Scotland for 4 days!!

I'm seriously so excited about all of the trips coming up!  I feel like every weekend is a vacation :)

Hopefully the craziest kinder day of the year....

Everything has been going really well lately.  I'm settling into school and waking up early better than I thought I would.  To the point where I suck at sleeping in even on weekends anymore...who saw that coming NOT ME!  I have been really prepared with every lesson lately and I just totally felt like I was getting in the groove of school and figuring out my class and getting all the issues under control.  I wish this was the case....  I got a new student like a week and a half ago now.  His mom had told me how she was really worried he was going to freak out blah blah before he started.  He was fine, no problems, one of the better behaved boys in my class, he was great.  Well....I still am not exactly sure what happened but yesterday he freaked out (understatement).  His mom came and waved to him in class or something and all of a sudden he was out my door and sprinting down the stairs.  His mom carries him back up to the room and tells him to stay, we're talking to him and trying to convince him to calm down for way too freaking long, then he just flips.  He is crying and screaming and clutching his mom.  I am trying to hold him back, but he is freaking out.  The secretary hears all of the commotion from downstairs and comes up to see if I'm ok.   She goes and gets the PPY coordinator who is then trying with the mom and I to talk to him.  Completely useless...arguing with a 5 year old is the most pointless thing ever!  Finally, she says Megan's just going to take him and your just going to run out of the room.  The mom says I know he will hit and punch her.  I'm like great......  Keep in mind the other 12 children in my class are still in the room now probably wrestling on the carpet.  So, the PYP coordinator (thankfully) decides I don't need to be beat up and she will take him.  She grabs him, I pry his fingers off of his mom's hair, and his mom runs for the door.  The PYP coordinator is holding him and he is screaming at the top of his lungs, crying, punching, kicking, and hitting her.  Finally, as all the children in my class are plugging there ears and saying "Too loud" "Too loud" she takes him out of my room and with the P.E. teachers help carries him to the gym because testing is going on in the upper grades and when he won't stop leaves him in there and shuts the door LOL.  Well apparently he stopped screaming after like 20 minutes and came back to class pretty much ok.  I'm thinking okay it's over for today, it's just a morning thing.  WRONG!  Later he refuses to go to Art, so I make him sit and do nothing while I work and everyone else is at Art.  I know you're all thinking I'm the meanest person ever, but if I let him do something fun he will never go to any special.  Then, I make him come with me to get the kids.  I'm checking on the boys who are having fun flooding the bathroom while washing their hands after Art.  I get to the room and the kid is gone!  I search the room and then his sister brings him down.  He had run to her classroom to see her.  He freaks out when I try to take him from her and I get to hold him as he cries and screams yet again and refuses to go to P.E.  In the end after 15 minutes of dealing with him he goes to P.E. AND craziest part today (the next day)  he is fine, completely normal like nothing happened.  I expected him to freak out for like the next 2 weeks every time his mom left him....nope (well not today).  Seriously please keep your fingers crossed that it was a one time thing.  I don't know how many more of those days I can take.  Today was a good day though and I got a box from my parents so it was extra good!  I'm still doing ok, just way over crying!

Crazy Poland

This week was good, but kinda crazy.  I feel like I say that a lot...maybe that goes along with teaching kindergarten?  On Wednesday we had a health inspection at our school because it's the last step in completing our PYP accreditation.  Apparently, we aren't a registered school in Wroclaw because their laws are so crazy.  The school's board thinks we wouldn't be able to teach our curriculum and that we would have extra crazy rules to follow or something, but in order to be accredited we have to be a recognized school in the country, hence the health inspection.  So anyways, we are told we have a health inspection the next day, then we get an email saying all the guys need to wear collared shirts and ties and all the girls need to put their hair up, and that we can't have any food in the room (my kids keep their lunches and snack in the room and eat both in the classroom).  Then, when I get to school on Wednesday I'm told that Pre-Kindergarten (we have like 16 kids in this class) does not exist as of today, they will be going on a field trip and we are supposed to say it's a community room, that we have registered as a community center not school to avoid the crazy rules, so our kids need to be doing arts and crafts while they come in, and that my kids are only allowed to use certain bathrooms and I am only allowed to use other ones and it has always been that way...  WHAT?!?!?!  So, I figure out a crafty lesson the kids are doing during the time when their supposed to be inspecting and guess what they don't come and we're told won't come till the very end of the day so the kids might not even be there.  YAY!  Ohhhhh guess who shows up as all of my kids are eating their lunch in my classroom....All the inspectors!  We'll see how we fare, we don't have the results yet.  It was a crazy day and one of those days where you think "this would never happen in the U.S."  Poland's laws are just so old and people are afraid of changing them and just scared in general.  It's like their so scared of ever going back to Communism and being ruled by another country that they just want to keep everything as it has always been because that is how Poland was, even if it makes no sense!  Another funny story semi related, but I learned this when I first got here.  The head of our school is really into technology and very North American, so he wanted t wireless internet in the schools.  The board head (semi like superintendent I guess and an extremely educated, smart, great guy) won't allow us to have wireless internet in the school because he thinks then people could watch us.  To me this idea seems insane, but I also didn't grow up in a country that was strictly ruled and people were watching you and telling you what to do all the time.  It's the little things that make me take a step back and remember "Oh ya I'm in Poland!"

We had a school potluck for both campuses yesterday and all the parents and staff were invited and asked to bring a dish from their home country and then label the countries origin.  I had a really hard time thinking of food that was American, because I pretty much each other countries foods only in the U.S. I discovered.  I decided to make apple crisp.  It actually turned out really well and people liked it!!  The potluck was amazing though!  There was so much food and it was so interesting to try foods from all over the world.  I have now had authentic Korean food 3 times and I like it!  I like sushi.  I actually don't know if I disliked anything I had and honestly don't know what everything I ate was :)  I'm loving the international experiences and cultures I'm learning from the kids and all of the families from all over the world that are in our school and my class.