Weekend In Review

Well I'm here to blog about it so that means I survived my first few days of teaching. So far getting up at 5 AM is the toughest part for me, I'm not a fan of the alarm or early mornings. The schedule for the class is really easy and is broken up nicely to give me and the kids a couple breaks. I'm used to teaching at schools that are underfunded, overcrowded and located in low income areas. This school is very much the opposite. I have 18 kids in my class that for the most part are pretty sweet. The teacher I am working with is very nice and has a lot of the same thoughts on discipline and classroom environment as I do, which makes it easy for both of us to get along. One week down, fifteen to go.

The area where we live doesn't get a whole lot of snow regularly. We get a dusting a couple times a year, if that. Last year they had more than usual and this year we've had much more than usual. Shelby looked at the snowfall patterns over the last couple decades and every so often there are peaks of a few years in a row with higher snowfall amounts. We seem to be in one of those peak patterns. The end of last week everyone was going nuts about this "big storm" that was coming. We were forecasted to get between 6"-11" over the weekend. The German news and radio stations were all reporting about it and apparently they even named the storm they were that concerned. Some areas of Germany got a lot of snow from it but we only have about 5"-6" so far. There is still a chance of snow tonight and tomorrow but I'm not counting on it. We really didn't go out and do anything in it this time since Colin is still recovering from the Tonsillitis and ear infection. Which means I didn't get many pictures. I did get this neat picture of cute little bird tracks in the back yard. You could see where he came all the way across the yard and to the patio hopping along. Poor thing must have had popsicles for feet by the time he got there, but the picture was cool.


Saturday we celebrated my birthday a day early because nothing is open on Sunday here. For Christmas Shelby got me a gift certificate to get a tattoo I have been wanting for a very long time. I decided my 30th birthday was a good time to get my first tattoo done. I've known for ages I want a plumeria flower on the inside of my wrist, so what to get and where to get it was easy. I wasn't really nervous about it even though I'd been warned the wrist is pretty sensitive. I figured after being the human pin cushion for months in order to get pregnant and then giving birth to the kid the tattoo would be a piece of cake.

I've been asked many times if it hurt. It didn't exactly feel good but only a few little parts of it actually hurt. I put my head down and enjoyed the time to rest and relax and dozed off a time or two. The worst part was the dang stinging stuff he'd smear all over my arm to wipe off the excess ink every couple minutes. Now I just can't wait for it to all calm down and the red and puffy to go away so I can see what the finished product is going to look like. These pics are right after it was done so my wrist is still red and swollen, the color has already changed since these photos were taken and it's had time to set.

After getting the tattoo done we headed over to base to get some lunch and let Colin run off some energy and play at the playground. He had fun riding the pirate ship ride and didn't want to get off when it stopped.


Later that night we went to dinner at my favorite restaurant here in the village. Our friend Lina who works at the bar by our house came to dinner with us. Here is a picture of Lina and I visiting the tower where Shelby works.

We had some delicious mussels for an appetizer. I don't even like mussels but these had garlic and butter and were yum-my! I had my favorite rinderfilet gorgonzola even though the our friend Martin, one of the chefs, tried to talk me out of it. He says there are better things on the menu...I say I don't believe him. What could be better than a perfect piece of filet mignon on top of garlic toast and covered with a gorgonzola creme sauce? I'm fairly sure nothing! Later we went down to the bar to celebrate some more. Sweet Lina surprised me with an ice cream cake and balloons and the bar sang happy birthday.

After a couple birthday shots courtesy of people at the bar, and a birthday dance with one of the guys there, I got to share my cake.


Today, my real birthday, I woke up to a birthday massage, followed by breakfast in a hot birthday bath and cards from Colin and Shelby. Shelby made us a great dinner of a smoked pork roast with German spices. It was a nice relaxing way to turn 30. Hopefully this week is nice to me and it goes by fast!