Cookies!

One Perk about student teaching on a military base: They have a Girl Scout Troop that sells cookies!

Also, I LOVE the Quaker Oat Squares Cereal. I went to the store on base today and they had it for $2.00 a box!!!!!! I might have to go before I leave and buy a bunch of it and ship it back to my apartment!

Short post today, but Nuremberg this weekend! Going to the courthouse for sure!

First Week Here

Well, it's been an emotional first week here. To be honest, it's been pretty lonely during the times when I haven't had school or the ski trip. Not being able to hear from or talk to the people you love the most because they are 7 time zones away is very tough. Not going to lie, I have cried a little bit, but I feel like it's going to get easier from now on.

The school is great and all of the faculty and staff are very supportive of me and help me out a lot. We have developed a carpooling system so that someone is able to pick me up and drop me off everyday. I finally have my ID card which gives me access to everywhere on base (including the grocery store) so that is nice to have. I am working on my address, which I am hoping to have solved by tomorrow. Also, the wifi thing will be solved shortly as well. It's just much easier having it in my apartment than having to be at the mercy of the lounge and their inconsistent hours. Plus, my roommate would like wifi too. Right now, I am able to enjoy being on the internet through the guys next door to me. They gave me their wifi code to use until Saturday (when they leave). I am very grateful to them! I also got my phone figured out as well; granted, I can't really call anyone (15 cents per minute to calls in the US) but people can call me if they would like depending on what their phone contract says.

Last night, the camp group that is here living in my apartment invited me out to dinner with them. I had already eaten, but I went with them anyway for social interaction and to hang out with people my own age. We had a really great time and they are a good group of people. I also had my first German beer here (Crystal Weiss). It was okay... I'm not a big beer drinker, but I was able to drink it--and they give you a lot too!

I'm in the middle of my first week at school and I am really liking it so far. My cooperating teacher is wonderful and I will learn a lot from her. I was able able to share my knowledge during Social Studies when they were talking about Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Since I went on the Civil Rights Pilgrimage two years ago, I made a PowerPoint of pictures and the kids really enjoyed it. I start full time teaching math next week!

So, this Friday is my grandfather's 90th birthday!!!! So a happy early birthday to him (and I say Hi and Love you too!). One of the teachers heard me talk about it and knew that I might not be able to access the internet to Skype with him Friday night so she was kind enough to invite me to her house in Nuremburg for the entire weekend! She's such a sweetheart and I am very grateful to her for lodging me and showing me around the city. I am also very excited to talk with my extended family since I won't be physically at my grandpa's big birthday celebration. Also, a big hi to my Aunt Kris for setting up the whole Skyping so that I'm able to kind of be there and talk to my grandpa (who I usually talk to once every week to two weeks).

I also heard from my roommate (Sunshine from Arizona). She will be moving in at the end of January and has traveled a lot in Europe so I'm excited to travel with her and it will be a lot easier (and safer) to have some company.

First day of student teaching

YAY! Finally a routine! I have been so bored. It's great being back into the schools and having a schedule. I feel busier and that my time here will fly by!

I have a great group of 22 5th graders! I start full time teaching math next week and then I lead teach from Feb 25-Mar 8th.

Going to get pictures taken for my ID card and then working on getting a phone! Whoa!!

Skiing at Steinplatte

Sorry this took so long everyone and rest assured I am alive and well. When I got back from skiing the place that is *suppose* to be open until midnight on weekends was closed (angry face!). That is my only source of wifi on this entire base. Then, Sunday was Three Kings Day which is a German Holiday so the wifi lounge was closed again because they observe German holidays as well.  So I am currently standing outside of the building and getting just enough signal to post this.

So anyway… Skiing. Again, jetlag struck again. I went to bed around 9pm and woke up at 10:45 and couldn’t get back to sleep until roughly 2:55am when I had to be awake for 3:30 to get ready to go skiing. Good thing I had a three hour bus ride to sleep on! The people who went on the trip were very friendly and lighthearted. There was a family of 6 (husband is an engineer on base then his wife and 4 girls), a father and son, a couple single soldiers, and a few married/dating couples. The majority of the group had skied or snowboarded before so the beginner’s class I took consisted on me, one of the 8 year old girls, another teacher on base, a single woman soldier, and the mom. Our instructor was very hopeful and funny for our entire lesson and wouldn’t let any of us give up on what we were trying to accomplish. 

                                                        The place where we were skiing

                                                                         Mountains 

                                                           Other part of the mountain

                                                            Ride up the mountain

We rode the little trolley cars up the mountain (Did you know about Germany fact #1: Germans do NOT wait in lines, they will cut you if you don’t move fast enough, and they have very little patience). After that we started the day of learning around 9am with the basics of skiing: what each part of the equipment is called, how to put on the equipment, maneuvering with one ski on, then two, then going around in a circle using the poles, then how to slow down/speed up, practicing going down a little slope MANY times, and finally working on turning and shifting your weight/ pushing off the ski. We worked on all of that and repeated what we needed to in 3 hours—I only fell three times within those three hours. I am really bad at being able to turn on my skis and this became my downfall for the trip.

We took a break for lunch at noon and took a “Magic Carpet Ride” up to the little restaurants. This is basically a rubber conveyer belt with little textured circles to take you up the hill while on skis or in boots. I wholeheartedly suggest that Eau Claire gets one of these for up the hill!

At the restaurant I ordered a coke and a wiener schnitzel (fried pork) that came with fries (see the picture!). Did you know about Germany fact #2: They are not allowed to use high fructose corn syrup in their drinks—only real sugar. Lunch was okay, the pork mostly tasted like bacon so I wasn’t a huge fan of it.

Our first “down-hill” experience was after lunch when we had to ski down the hill because there was no Magic Carpet going down. Well, for me, this is when the real falling started happening. After taking an hour break for lunch, my legs were so sore that stopping became very difficult because you have to push out on the edges of your skis with equal pressure. Well, that’s very hard to do when your calf muscles are consistently being suffocated by ski boots—your legs get tired very quickly. So I fell over while trying to go down the hill (which, in my defense was steeper than it looked!). I ended up sliding down some of the hill because I couldn’t stop either.

                                                          Part of the hill down from lunch

                                                         Coke and the Wiener Schnitzel

 

                                                              Skiers down the small hill

                                                                             Trees 

After that experience, our instructor decided it was time for us to go down the last little hill that everyone must go down when they take the chair lifts up; this is also the hill that all of the little children go down. It involves taking hold of a moving pulley that lifts you up the hill and you have to let go at the top and stop yourself—harder than it seems, I fell twice. This was also about the time where the water finally soaked through my waterproof gloves and my fingers started to go numb, and since I wasn’t prepared to go skiing, I was only wearing long underwear and a pair of jeans from one of the guys who lives across the hall from me. So needless to say, some tears started welling up out of frustration. To make matters worse we had to ski down this hill that was pretty steep and you can really pick up some speed. Well to make a long story shorter, I went down that hill about 5-6 times, fell a lot, and needed some assistance to get down on a couple tries. I ALMOST made it down completely on my own before falling—so naturally I got back up the hill and wanted to show it who was boss—I fell again. No, I never made it down that hill without falling, but I did try many times and that it what is important. I decided to opt out of doing the chair lift because that requires more coordination and skill than I have at this time. Overall, it was a successful trip and I am very happy that I went on it! I do have some epic bruises on my legs from the ski boots and my calves still feel like I have those boots on. And yes, I just HAD to take a picture of me and the “I’m a Blugold” sign. J

                                                  Looking up from the middle of the hill 

                                                                       Chair lift 

I'm a Blugold! 

 

                                                     Rope on the left, chair lift on the right

Again :) 

More random Did You Know about Germany Facts!

#3: Things are very expensive here—on the way back, we stopped at Burger King for dinner. I got a whopper meal with onion rings (no extra charge) and a small coke—6 euros! What?! And there is no euro menu either!

#4 You have to pay ,70 euro to use the bathroom at any rest stop! What is this!?! On the way there I refused out of principle! That’s pretty much a dollar to use the bathroom, why!? Even when I used to play Rollarcoaster Tycoon I only made my customers pay 10 cents and it was only for a month of time.

#5 German drivers are crazy! We were in a slight traffic jam on the way back and this car decided it was going to get around it by driving on the shoulder of the rode 

Settling in

Well the last two days have been filled with roaming around the base and reading. The weather has been really crappy here and I haven't felt up to walking all the way to Ansbach in the pouring rain. Also, the bus only comes by the base about four times a day: 6am, 10am, 1pm, and 4pm and it just hasn't worked in my schedule. I had every intention of going Friday morning, but my body decided it would wake me up at 4am and not let me go back to sleep for an hour.

The BOSS Center (Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers) has been wonderful to me. The guy who is in charge of the center is nice enough to let me use it while I'm here. The place is wonderful and I'm not sure why more people don't hang out down there. They have their own make-shift movie theater with very comfortable chairs, a billiards/ping pong room, a dance floor area, a game room, and wifi!!!! So I will be spending many evenings down there. Also, they take random trips too! So I'm still waiting to hear if I am able to go on those since I'm not a soldier.

I am still working on getting an address, I apparently have to go through the school to do that, so hopefully by Tuesday or Wednesday I will have an address down. I also might buy a pre-paid phone--I would only pay for outgoing calls and incoming calls are free.

On Friday, I decided to look into the Outdoor Recreation Office and see if I could take advantage of some of the ski and sightseeing trips. Well, I can! The guy working there was very nice and helpful! So I signed up to go skiing Saturday to Steinplatte with lessons, transportation (3 hours one way), rental equipment, and ski lift pass it was only $108. I thought that was pretty good! They also have sightseeing trips that I will probably take advantage of later this month and into February.

So, look for an update tomorrow around 4pm your time and you can read about all my adventures learning to ski on the Alps!

1st day here

It's going to take a little bit to get settled here.

Last night while I was sorting all of my stuff away, I fried my new alarm clock b/c the voltage wasn't correct. My CT said that she has extra alarm clocks that I could borrow. Luckily, my laptop charger goes up to 240 volts so no worries there! 

Like I said, my housing is free and in the barracks so the quality of everything isn't the greatest. I'm already looking forward to sleeping in my own bed again. Luckily, I did find a place right next door to my apartment where they have wifi, but it's only open until 4:30pm (9:30am US time). There is a bowling center that also has wifi and I *think* that it's open until 10pm (3pm US time). 

My CT picked me up this morning and took me to the place to get my ID; however, the secretary at the school gave her the wrong form for the principal to sign. So right now I'm a visitor for two weeks until the principal gets back. Unfortunately, that means that I can't buy groceries until I have an actual ID. So my CT took me with her to the grocery store to get some food until then. 

We also drove back down to downtown Ansbach so she could show me where the mall, shops, and bus stop are. The speed limit on that road was from 60-100mph! CRAZY! I want to drive it myself, but you need a to pass a drivers test. For people without US drivers license it cost 1500 euros to take the classes to drive (mom you thought paying $350 was expensive!) They take driving very seriously here! I will probably figure out the bus schedule and explore Ansbach tomorrow. My CT invited me to a school pot luck on Friday that I will go to and meet people. 

Not quite sure what I'm going to do for the rest of the day. I will probably walk around the base and get my barrings on everything. It's only noon here, but I'm completely exhausted! My internal clock hasn't set in yet, even though I slept for 13 hours! It is weird to not have a phone, it's going to get some getting used to.

Just found out that Netflix is "Not in your part of the world yet" and no other tv sites work either. Sigh, I don't know what I'm going to do with my life! I only have two books! This is going to be a very long 3 months.... 

Getting to Germany

"Everything worth doing starts with being scared"

Well, I started my day watching thee episodes of Boy Meets World (now you know it's going to be a good day)

The drive to Milwaukee was good, hardly any traffic. Got a little mixed up trying to find the airport. During the drive I kept on receiving calls from United (best perk so far) telling me that my plane was going to be delayed for an hour, and then later only 30 minutes, then back to an hour again when I arrived at the airport.

Went to check my baggage and the nice guy at the register said that he was going to have to change my flight because I would not make my connecting flight out of Newark to Munich. So we had to change my airlines to US Airways--very nice and friendly people--so that I would fly to Philly and then leave there later that night for Munich.

Flight to Philly was alright. I was "lucky" enough to sit on the wing of the plane, which meant that I had the emergency exit door. The southern flight attendant asked if I would assist her in the event that there was a need to exit the plane. "Suuuurree" I said, "Why not?" In my head I was thinking that with my luck, my services would be needed--luckily, they weren't. There were a lot of little antsy and wiggly kids surrounding me who were coming back from the holidays. Behind me sat a husband and wife with their little 1 1/2 year old daughter. The wife and daughter were decked out head to toe in Juicy Couture sweat gear (eye roll) to top it off the mom was constantly swearing (F this and F that) and yelling at her daughter to sleep or quiet down or that she was driving her nuts. It was a long flight.... However, when we "blasted off" the little kids did a count down and were celebrating as we got into the air. Pretty cute!

Landed in Philly, cancelled my previous train ticket for a later time, and waited three hours in the airport biding my time. The plane to Munich boarded on time and as soon as I get to my section on the plane, the power goes out!  Greeeeaattt I thought. Well, we spent 3 1/2 hours waiting at the gate because of oil/tail/back-up power problems. Some people decided to leave the plane and board a different one tomorrow. I didn't feel any uneasiness and the pilot assured us that if he didn't think it was safe to fly, we wouldn't be. I trusted him, stayed, and read a little bit. So I cancelled my train ticket and decided to wait until I arrived to buy it. Finally, we took off. Because of some air pressure, it was a little bumpy of a flight. The perk of this whole plane trip: it was a very light flight and we all got to move around. I even got a whole 4 person row to myself! This came in handy for sleeping purposes later. I watched How I Met Your Mother, a little bit of The Watch, and all of Premium Rush.

Finally, I get to Munich at 11:15am (4:15am Wisconsin time). I get my baggage and find the desk to buy my train ticket (again... again...) The trains here look exactly like the ones in London!! I felt very comfortable there!

The train ride was long… about 3 hours by the time I got to Ansbach. I’m in a VERY rural part of Germany; lots of farms, fields, and trees. But I’m okay with that, it makes it seem more familiar. My Cooperating teacher was there waiting at the station for me with a little sign saying “Welcome Casey” it was really cute. She is a very nice woman and reminds me a lot of my friend Leah. She gave me a quick tour of the city and a brief overview about where things are located. For example, the elementary school that I will be student teaching at is in the city and not the base. She also showed me around the base and let me know all of the things located there: a Wing Street, Burger King, Popeye’s, a bowling alley, Movie Theater, fitness center, grocery store, banks, etc. This place has almost everything you could think of—except Wifi in my apartment. But, hey, it’s free living so I’ll take it! So I won’t be on the internet very often, I’m still trying to figure out where there is Wifi; so mom (and others) don’t worry if you don’t hear from me, I’m fine.

Went to bed around 7pm and slept until 8am