5 more days til Dad!

So i guess the good thing bout me not writing a blog in almost a week COULD be a good thing, cause it means I've had other things to keep me preoccupied... lol but then it also makes for some really long blogs when i FINALLY DO get back to writing.

Except.. really... I can't really tell you whats kept me just so super busy lately. Not MUCH more than usual. I finally booked Dad's and my hotels for our FATHER/DAUGHTER EUROPE EXTRAVAGANZA trip lol. (just came up with that one btw). I had already bought the plane tickets a while back, but just yesterday nailed down all the places we will be staying. None of them are necessarily RIGHT in the center of things, but i have my reasons. For Amsterdam I opted for the outer, more quiet neighborhood ( as opposed to all those hotels who boasted being "right above Amsterdam's most happening night club". Please. I like my sleep way too much for that business.) In Milan, I HAD to opt for the outer neighborhood or we would have gone broke paying for the hotel. I guess cause Milan is the "shopping paradise" of Europe .. or at least Italy.. It can be a kinda pricey place to stay. I also talked to a dude and have procured two tickets for us to see the Last Supper Frescoe... those suckers sell out MONTHS in advance . It's crazy. And you only get like 25 minutes in front of the frescoe until they swoop you out to allow for another group.. but.. i don't care. I want to see it. Who knew i would become such an art lover? Really, it's weird. The thing im most looking forward to in Amsterdam is the Van Gogh museum.. and in Italy, it's the frescoe, and then on our last two days (in Nice, France).. I'm making dad go on a day trip with me to Antibes where there is supposedly an awesome Picasso museum. It's just so cool to have this much culture so close over here. In the states, eh... I guess there was Ernest Hemingway (who mostly wrote in Paris anyways)... Andy Warhol. Maybe if i ever actually went to NYC or DC or some big city, i would encounter more culture in the US lol.

I also taught my "supplemental classes" last week. You know why i really love this job? Well.. there are many reasons but to name a few:

1) The kids teach me just as much as I teach them.
2) I get a whole year just to try out new activities/games/speaking exercises to see what works and what doesnt- they are like my very own guinea pigs
3) I am technically getting ESL (English as a Second Language) experience, which is something i definately would not be opposed to teaching.

For my supplemental classes, I am teaching "Idiomatic expressions" to the babies. (6th and 7th graders). I am introducing 10 phrases like "I feel down in the dumps", "I have a chip on my shoulder", "I am a chatter box". .. all illustrated with pictures, and we just play games with them. I put the pictures illustrating the phrases on the board and we do all sorts of acticities with them. (FOR EXAMPLE.. for.. "I'm in a pickle" , i drew a stick man in a pickle jar.. and he is yelling "HELP HELP!!"....so in ONE picture, they are getting both senses of the phrase. Cause, they probably have not even learned the word for pickle yet.. so its educational in two senses.. and therefore I have to illustrate both sides of the phrase... which adds comprehension but also makes for some PRETTY FUNNY pictures lol) I bought fly swatters and have them get into teams, and i yell out a phrase, and the first to hit the picture wins. Then , the last step, I show them the phrases actually written out. I call them out and they have to number the phrases, etc etc. It's an adaptation of a TPR lesson plan I learned in grad school. Like i said, It's great to have guinea pigs.

I have also been productive otherwise too i guess. I wrote all my teachers thank you cards for inviting us out so much recently and I put them in their mailboxes at school. I also wrote Deirdre a sympathy card when her mother passed away... One of the Science teachers commented that that is an American custom that she really likes. Apparently we are good at writing cards. Well, in the South we are at least.

I have completely switched rooms with Linda, so now I am downstairs and the downstairs actually stays clean now. I don't have a whole lot of storage space, but i'm resourceful and have made it work. AND I have TV at my disposal all the time so that's kinda been a plus. Keeps me off my computer alot more. Although, I think I have gone back to normal mostly. No more desperation. I'm still doing my countdown, though (there's an official one up on my facebook page!!!) 81 days... but... after a month, i'm pretty much back into the swing of things lol. Of course, don't you know it, in 5 more days, we have another 2 week vacation. Then, I come back from vacation, and teach for a WHOLE SIX weeks... and then get ANOTHER two week vacation in April. After that vacation, I teach for ONE WEEK lol and then come home! I bought my plane ticket on Thursday!! I fly out at 11:50 am (my time) on Saturday, April 24th... and I arrive in Nashville at 930 pm (ya'lls time) same day. So I GET TO GO TO CHURCH WITH THE FAM, and play with Bailey, and..... do a little American dance in the front yard. It is official. I have even officially asked off for that last week of work ( which is something else I have been doing recently that has kept me busy- you know France and their paperwork!!).

I can't think of much else that has been going on. OH! MISTER FRANCE came on last Thursday, and it was SUCH a disappointment. There was really no run way show or competition. They just followed them around Tahiti for like a week and then the last 5 minutes, they wore sashes and someone was crowned. On that same note, im really disapppointed I have missed both MISS AMERICA and THE GRAMMY'S recently in the States. Maybe I can find them somewhere on YouTube or something.

Ok well I love you all!!! Gros Bisous!