brainxplosion

This post has been removed due to exceeding the level of uninterestingness permitted on blogger. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

Instead, we bring you this picture, and recommend you scroll down for an upbeat post about international travel. Thank you for your patience.

We had a good trip. There was lots of sleeping and eating (oh, the eating!) and hanging out with family and friends and gift-giving and gift-getting.
We saw Neuschwanstein in the snow on a gorgeous day:

We trimmed the tree with real candles:

And now, we're sleeping off the jetlag.
More pictures and adventurous stories to follow!

PS: I saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and was quite pleasantly surprised. I now officially confess that I like Johnny Depp. I mean, there's no knowing if he's a decent actor or not, but I do enjoy the persona he usually plays. Excepting Edwards Scissorhands.

...since my last visit to the old country, so it's time to go again. The last few days have been a frenzy of gift buying, laundry doing, and bag packing. The airport shuttle is coming in an hour, and we'll be off to Chicago and then Germany. I have about 17 little things left to do, so this has to be quick!

First: A wrap-up of the student teaching thingy:

During my last week, my students were awful. On Monday, things were fine just as any other Monday (these kids are great on Mondays - maybe tired out from all the partying they do on the weekends...). On Tuesday, I had a hard time not banging my head into the wall in frustration in the face of so much misdirected energy. Argh! It was so bad, that after school, I couldn't stand to wait for my carpool buddy D. for the usual 3.5+ hours. Instead, I went to the movies (theater in walking distance - excellent!). For the first time in my adult live, I bought popcorn and a drink (water... exciting, I know) at the movies. I paid less for my ticket... I saw Harry Potter and it was just. so. good! I hated - nah, despised - the Prisoner of Azkaban. It's my favorite of the books, and they made such a mess of it that I was fuming for days after seeing it. I was reluctant to even see Goblet of Fire, but alas, it was playing at 4pm, so... great movie.
The rest of the week, my kids got better, but they still overall had not had a worse week since I'd come. Grrrr. My favorite moment happened on Thursday during Math. We were learning about fact families and they had a hard time with the subtraction problems. So when we were getting started on the subtraction part in our second example, I told them "This is a little hard, but I know you can do it, because you guys are so smart!" One boy promptly replied "I'm not smart." which caused a slew of other kids to pipe in with "Me neither." I decided that this was more important than Math and sat down with them. I went through the whole class in number order and told them why I knew they were smart. E.g. "I know (name) is smart because she is good in math. She gets stars on her papers all the time." Then I rounded out the speech with a general "Don't you ever let anyone tell you that you are not smart!" And then I had to quickly get back to subtraction to keep from crying.

Second: A quick overview of the almost heart-attack:

For the last couple of months I was under the impression that our flight was leaving on Wednesday. I had beautiful plans: Relax and clean over the weekend, then go Christms shopping on Monday, laundry and packing on Tuesday. I loved the plan. Until I printed out the reservations and saw that we were in fact leaving on Tuesday, not Wednesday. My beautiful plans withered and died. So sad.

Third: The near nervous breakdown weekend:

The shock at the death of my beautiful plan was hard to get over. You might think that a person who finds out on Thursday night that her plans cannot work out would just adapt. A normal person might do just that. Me? I got mad at the universe and sulked for a while. By Saturday, I was back on track enough to concede to hitting the mall and bookstore with D. for mutual Christmas shopping. But then? I had a major gift crisis! That man! He has everything! And despises waste! So buying a gift for him is nearly impossible. So I went over budget a bit and bought him a beautiful coat. Of course, he needs that NOW, not on the 24th (which is, of course, the real Christmas). So... I needed something else. He then picked himself out a CD that I proceeded to wrap for him. That'll be some surprise!
Anyhow. Then I got a bad haircut, because obviously I couldn't do it on Tuesday with my regular person AS PLANNED. Jennifer, if you read this: I'm sorry I cheated. I will be back as soon as it's grown out beyond recognition. Sorry.
My bangs were too short, my gifts were not surprises, my hormones were riding their stupid little rollercoasters in my brain, and I was mad. Poor D. went into hiding with his second love, the computer. Which of course made me madder. And then I broke down crying and telling him that Christmas needed to be skipped because he was impossible to give stuff to. So then we talked and we had Christmas right there and then. (The life lesson here is of course to let the crazy woman have whatever might distract her from her misery for a while.) D. got me some really nice PJ's that I like ohsomuch. And a robe that goes with them. And he loved his coat. And then we snuggled on the couch and watched a movie and all was calm and bright and all that.
On Sunday, I was back to my evil madness. D. swooped in yet again to rescue me from myself.

Fourth: The recovery

On Monday, I basically sucked it up and did what needed to be done. Here's a list:
* Dropped off my paperwork at the university.
* Dropped off a gift at a friend's house.
* Did laundry.
* Went to the mall about bought a SECRET GIFT for D.
* Packed
* Cleaned a bit.
* Printed, cut, and glued, enveloped, and mailed out 30 Christmas cards and 2 packages.
* Went out to dinner for excellent Fajitas.

So now, I must go. I will be back in time for a last post in 2005... Until then: Have wonderful holidays. Or at least try.

And if you've read all the way to the end, give yourself a pat on the back!

... a killer combo to make your weekend REALLY enjoyable!

There is an inflated snowglobe on a house by the school. Down by my house, there are several blinky and all-too colorful Christmas-spirited tastelessnesses. Unfortunately, pictures taken at night will just not turn out. Imagine... or not.

Just a quick update before I go to bed:
I walked by #1's (cheaterpants) desk today and saw a heaping heap of pinkish stick-onto-the-top-of-your-pencil erasers in there. So I went and got a ziploc sandwich bag and helped her put them in there. Walking away, the penny dropped. I zoomed over to my desk and checked the box of 100 erasers that was there. Preeeeeetty empty compared to before... So I sat next to my Master Teacher, put my head on the desk, and asked her: "Do we have to have these kids here every day? School would be a lot more relaxing without them." Thank God, she understands. And, since we both weren't sure how full the box was before, I couldn't nail #1. Cheater - thief: not a stretch at all.
#2 left the school today (remember his little audience with the principal). They moved, but the timing was just too funny. Hehehe.
#4 was back from his little "day off" and left early to be taken to the pediatrician to get that potential ADD (now there are voices saying it might be tourettes) checked out. It only took the woman 4 suspensions to figure it might be a good idea to check into the bahvior problems. Hmmm.
#11 came up to me and asked me if I was still mad at him for cheating on his spelling test. Of course I wasn't. You wouldn't have been if he'd looked up at you like that, all meek and whiny-ish (in a good way).
I moved #8 from the last to the first row, so now he sits next to #4. Since they're right up front, I only have to walk closer to their desk and they shut it. Ha! A victory for teacher (oh I hope that didn't jinx it...).
Finally, I had a talk about self-control with them. Good times. I always love to role-play misbehavior. I pick one of the good little quiet girls in class to pick a fight with me. Hilarity.

And now a joke:
A string walks into a bar. The bartender asks him: "Are you a string?" - "Yes." "I'm going to have to ask you to leave. We don't serve strings." The string is sad, but he leaves. The next day, he tries again. Again, the bartender asks him: "Are you a string?" - "Yes." "I'm going to have to ask you to leave. We don't serve strings." The string leaves saddened. The next day, he walks into the alley next to the bar, ties himself up into a knot, and uses his comb to unravel one of his ends a bit so it'll look like hair. Then he walks into the bar. The bartended asks him: "Are you a string?" - "I'm a frayed knot."

har, har
Good Night, Internet!

It's been a long week, people, and I haven't even gotten around to some sort of a Thanksgiving post! THe highlight of T-day was the cake I made. The pictures are on FlickR, so check them out. We were thankful at D.'s granparents' house which I wish was closer to our house because Holiday traffic = not good. The cake though, the glorious cake was so supergreat, I tell you! I saw the idea on Thunderfish, where Jef made one with his son.

This past week I had a) morning yard duty, and b) full take-over (which means that I have to be in charge of everything during student teaching). Morning yard duty sucks because the 30 minutes I usually get to spend in my classroom getting ready for the day had to be spent standing around in the cold making sure the kids didn't get into trouble. At least it was a four-day week... I ended up losing lots of sleep and spending 10-12 hours at school each day. Things went well though, so at least it was worth it!

aside: the neighbor... i can hear her right now, having her own special brand of fun. urgh.

Thursday, #1 turned in Math homework her brother had done for her. #1 also tried to cheat on her spelling test twice. #2 went to see the principal (or rather, be seen). #4 was suspended. #11 cheated on his spelling test. #14 rushed through his art project and I made him do it over (ha - I love the powers that come with the job). #11 and #9 got into a "did not"-"did too" shouting match while standing in line. #13 and #8 kept talking to each other while I was teaching, so that neither of them knew what to do when I was done giving directions. By the end of the day, I was really happy that Friday was a teacher-prep day and that I wouldn't see those kids again until Monday. #4 suspended was like being punched in the stomach, but not really that surprising (He was suspended 3 times last year, his first time in first grade). #1 cheating made me mad, because I think that the mom makes a lot of pressure to do well in school, but won't send her kid to the FREE tutoring the school offers. And I was a little shocked because, honestly, how dense is that to do it three times in a row and think I won't notice. I'll be watching #1 like a hawk! #11 on the other hand was crushed when I told him that he was cheating and that that portion of the test didn't count. Of course, a crushed/mad #11 means a hard day of BAAAAAAD attitude for Mrs. European, so that when the phone rang and the office called to have #11 sent up (Mom picked him up early), I was relieved.

On Friday, I went to a craft night at my friend's church. It was really neat, and pictures will be on Flickr soon. I made a wreath (lots of work) and an ornament (lots of fun). Both came out really neat.

Sorry this was so boring. I need sleep.