Paris

Me and Paris

beautiful cathedral

Notre Dame

Stuff at the Louvre:

those egyptians really knew how to make jewelry

this necklace is going on my christmas list

I also am a big fan of the serpent bangles

Mummy, no big deal

beautiful ceiling

The Louvre

I guess this painting is kind of famous or something, I thought it was ok

Christine and I after our big hike

me at the bottom

Me, at the top, a little burry but I wanted to get the city in the background

Reflection in the rainy pavement, I should be a professional photographer

Love monet

Degas,  my favorite

I am back from Paris and basically counting down the hours until I get to leave to come home on Wednesday morning, I cannot wait!!

I didn't get called to sub this morning which gives me the opportunity to do one last post before I head home and upload some pics from Paris.

My weekend in Paris was wonderful! As I mentioned before I was staying with one of my campers, CHristine which ended up being really fun and her family was so welcoming!

Christine and I had a great time exploring all the sights and it was great to spend time with her outside of camp.  We got to see Notre Dame and another old cathedral that I cant remember the name of, went to Louvre, the musee d'orsee, and the eiffel tower.  

Here were some of my thoughts/highlights from paris:

- I was completely blown away by how beautiful the Louvre itself was, not to mention all the art that it held, but just the building and architecture was so breathtaking.  Every room I walked in to I just wanted to stand there and stare at the floor, walls, doorways, and especially ceiling for hours (but i didn't)

- Loved the impressionism exhibit at the musee d'orsee, such a rush to see all the incredible pieces by monet, van gogh,  and de gas in real life and up close! Seeing the mona lisa wasn't too bad either

- The eiffel tower was HUGE! any pictures or paintings do not do it justice.  When we got there the lines for the elevator were sooooo long so we decided to do what any clearwater daughter would do and hike up to the top.  SO we walked all the way up to the second level in the freezing rain (the third level was closed because it was so windy and cold) and the view was incredible! I'm glad we walked because it felt like a much bigger accomplishment when we got to the top

- I honestly ate the best crepe in my whole life!!! It was just from a little vendor on the street and it was bannana nutella and it was euphoric, no words can describe the deliciousness, i think i may have shed a single tear when the experience of eating it was over

Thats all for now, hope everyone is happy and healthy as the holidays approach :)

much overdue pics

Rachel and I out on the town with our Luxembourgish friend Tamara

Hittin' the red carpet, you know

at scott's (our favorite scottish pub)

EJ and I (she was the au pair for the family before me and one of my best friends here)

Indoor skiing place, where I show off my boarding skillz

delicious thanksgiving dessert table(i made the apple pie, and decorated the top!)

The kids table with their sparkling grape juice

(Colton, Nathan, Jack and Sarah- their family friends who we hang out with all the time)

Eating a "mettwurst" at the Christmas markets in the centre

Marcus showing off his cookies at the dinner party

EJ and JEssica

Me with my heart shaped cookie

5 days!

I cant believe it, five days until i come home, time is flying!!!

I had a really busy past week, but busy is good for me, much better than the opposite which is sitting in the house all day losing my minds.  I subbed monday, tuesday, and wednesday so it was nice to have today off to do some relaxing and baking. Speaking of baking I have discovered an INCREDIBLE chocolate chip banana muffin recipe that I would love to share with all of you so I am going to try to attach it

I have made them twice and both times they were amazing!

I also went to a delightful dinner party at my friend Mark's apartment last night with seven other friends which was a lot of fun.  Rachel and I arrived a little bit early and he seemed quite flustered so I decided to relieve him of his stress by making the mashed potatoes (maybe i was just being selfish b/c i only trust myself making the most amazing mashed potatoes of all time) but this task was not easing considering Mark lives in the ultimate bachelor pad lacking a potato masher, a mixer, a large bowl, napkins, or paper towels.  So after about a half hour of mashing potatoes with a fork on a very small plate and an extreme hand cramp we had some pretty decent mashed potatoes. Mark also made some sausage like things with onions and beans and all together we had some English delicacy he referred to as "bangers and mash", pretty good!  The whole evening was a delight, filled good friends, riveting conversation, delicious food, and a little after dinner dance partying. 

I will be spending the weekend in Paris which is unbelievably exciting because I have never been.  I will actually be staying with a camper of mine and her family who have been living in Paris for the past 6 months so that should be really fun and funny.  I have heard that Paris is actually very beautiful this time of year with all the Christmas lights so I couldn't be more excited.  I leave tomorrow morning and come back Sunday afternoon.  Hopefully there will be lots of lovely pictures in my next post.  

Au voir!

my life is complete

The most exciting news of my week= I have discovered that Dawson's Creek airs on Sky TV (British network that we get) every morning at 8:30

The most exciting news of the year= Jason Mraz just released the dates and locations for his 2009 European tour, he is coming to Luxembourg!!!! my life is complete 

I haven't written in a while so lots to catch up on.

On saturday we had an AMAZING thanksgiving feast! I ended up helping a lot with the cooking which was really fun, i made delicious mashed potatoes (in extremely large quantities... shocking) and apple pie.  Tons of friends came over and it was really fun until the adults started having after dinner adult conversation (induced by lost of wine) so I got bored and went upstairs and played with the kids, way more fun! 

On sunday, i went to church which was delightful.  Then went snowboarding again which was even more fun than the first time because there was less falling and i felt like I sort of knew what I was doing and by the end I was actually going fast.  I haven't done a lot of subbing this week but it has been nice to have a break and just be able to relax for a few days.  I am going to go in to the centre today and try to find some snow boots, I'm having a hard time making it through the surprisingly large amounts of snow with my moccasins and tennis shoes.  

I am really looking forward to this weekend, friday: going out on the town with friends, saturday: hitting up the christmas markets then another delicious thanksgiving feast with friends.  

Less than 2 weeks till I come home!!

lizard tail omelette

hello friends! I apologize for the my brief hiatus from blog land but I have been very busy and I actually did write a post a few days ago but when i went to publish it the computer deleted the whole thing so I was a little mad at technology for a few days and needed some time to cool down. ANyways I am back now and have so much to report (well kinda)
Yesterday was Thanksgiving, which isn't too big of a deal here in Lux (seeing as how there weren't and pilgrims or native americans that ate together to celebrate) but i was able to go to a thanksgiving luncheon at Eleanor's work so I can say I had turkey on the day of. I was also able to have a late night skype session with my whole extended family in the midst of their celebration so it was really nice to see all their faces and get a taste of home! We are having our big celebration on Saturday and the family is inviting like 15 people over so that should be fun and extremely delicious!
I have been subbing for about three weeks right now and am totally loving it! I did EAL today (they call it english as an additional language here instead of english as a sencond language because for some of the kids it is like the fourth or fifth language they speak...i feel so dumb) with kindergarten and second grade which was funny because i couldn't really communicate with some of them so there were a lot of gestures and talking really slow. It is so cool to teach a class with like 11 kids and have them all be from a different country, this place is so diverse! Anyways, I have met alot of nice teachers and I really like the school so that is great!
In other news I got to go snowboarding last weekend for the first time ever. I went with four other friends (one of whom used to be a snowboarding instructor and was a great teacher to me) and we went to this indoor place in France which was basically just this huge hill with lots of fake snow and a lift. It took me a bit to get the hang of it but I think I caught on pretty quickly and my friend said I was above average for a beginner! However I did take some pretty nasty falls (one of which was right in front of the lift, I basically caught an edge, flew forward and slammed my knees right on the ice, haven't been that close to crying over an injury since i was like ten, and my knee is still pretty swollen) but it was so worth it and I am hoping to go again and get better!
I am really excited because I am going to a wine festival this evening in the center of town where I guess you pay five euro for a glass of wine and then get to drink as much delicious wine as your hearts desire. Should be a good time!
Thats all for now, less than three weeks till I come home, yeah!!

I will leave you with a short dialogue that transpired over breakfast this morning...
colton: I love eggs
Nathan: the only eggs I like are omelettes...made by people
Me: As opposed to omelletes made by...lizards?
Nathan: yeah
Me: You dont think a lizard could make a delicious omelette?
Nathan: Well, I just feel like it might get it's tail in the way and then i would end up with a lizard tail omelette and I'm sure I wouldn't like that

plenty of turkey comin my way

The most recent and exciting development in my life here in Lux is that I have officially started substitute teaching at the International School of Luxembourg. I began last week and so far have acted as a fourth grade teacher, elementary art teacher, highschool theatre teacher, and librarian...everyday is so exciting! But I really do like it, the teachers at the school are really nice and the school iteself is amazing, such a nice facility! It is great experience to put on my resume and it gives me something to do during the day besides sit at home watching extreme home makeover marathons for hours.
Besides that I have also gotten pretty involved at the church that I have been going to since I got here. I have volunteered with the youth group a few times and I am going with them this saturday to some indoor trampoline park in Germany, so that should be insanely fun, defintely a chance to get in touch with my inner child (because I dont do that enough). I also joined the worship team and have been singing in church for the past few weeks which is a lot of fun as well. I have met a ton of people through church and it feels great to be a part of a community here and especially one that is so warm and welcoming!
I am also getting very excited for Thanksgiving. Although I am very saddened to not be at home with family for our usual Easter Egg fight (dont ask) I will be having a traditional thanksgiving dinner with the family (no doubt they will feed me well) and I have also been invited to two other thanksgiving celebrations with American friends here so I am sure I will be having my fill of turkey! Okay, well I have a class of third graders coming in soon who will be needing to hear a story and I think I am just the person for the job!

london pics

Here are some much overdue pics from London and Strattford.  It took so much energy to upload them, i just don't think I can do captions as well.  Hope you enjoy!