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!

Is it possible that my sense of direction might be improving?!?

Hello friends of mine!

First, i would like to apologize for the tardiness of this entry.  I got back from London super late on Sunday night and things have been a little crazy since then but i promise this will be a very thorough and exciting entry to make up for lost time! Okay here goes....

      London was AMAZING!! I spent the first four days with very old family friends (the De'laigues) in Knightsbridge, a very posh area of London, in their beautiful 6 story flat.  During this time i did a lot of sleeping in late and exploring the city.  I cant say enough wonderful things about the city of London, it is seriously one of my new favorite places in the whole world.  I decided one of the reasons why i like it so much is because it is kind of a middle ground between america and europe.  Everyone speaks english, it is so easy to get around, and there is always something going on, so great!  Anyways staying with the De'laigues was such a treat, it is so nice to have old friends who you can pick up with right where you left off, even if the last time you saw them was when you were ten years old!

     For the second part of my trip I stayed with a good friend from Camp, Emily Tobin and her lovely brittish boyfriend, Iain, and there crazy dog Penny and kitten Milo, full house!  Anyways Emily lives in Putney which is a little outside of London but a really fun area.  So we hung out there a bit but also ventured back in to the city and even spent one afternoon getting Tea at Fortnum and Mason (an incredibly fancy department store, which includes a restaurant and drawing room-by invitation only).  ANd I will have all of you know that I forced myself to try everything that i was served, which may not seem like a big challenge but it took great discipline when it came to the cold salmon and little mustardy ham sandwiches.

      I was also able to see three shows while in London which was great! I saw Les Miserable which some may know is one of my top three faves of all time! and I was literally front row center, like could have whispered sweet nothings to the conductor, the show was incredible and I was totally in love with the guy that played Vealjean, so talented!! The other two shows i saw were The Lion King and Dirty Dancing: The Musical- both very enjoyable for very different reasons.  The last day I was in London I decided to take a day trip to Strattford (the home of Shakespeare) which was really fun and great to see some more of England, besides the city.  

      So overall, it was a wonderful holiday! I loved getting to know London and it felt great to be sort of "on my own" for some time.  Traveling through Europe and exploring new places makes me feel so independent and this might be wishful thinking, but i think my sense of direction might be improving... just a little.  Also, i didn't take very many pics in London because I was by myself a lot of the time and didn't want to ask some stranger to take a picture or just me and big ben but i have some nice scenic ones that I will upload soon.  

Thats it for now, more to come soon about my busy life here and all the ways I am getting involved here in lovely lux, 

sloppy kisses to all my blog followers from across the ocean

more beer and old trier

   I'm finding that my weekends are kind of a God send here.  Not that I don't love hanging out with the two little Angels all week but having a nice long break and getting out of the house for a while is unbelievably rejuvenating.

    Friday night Rachel and I decided to go out on the town to a bar that we just recently discovered, called Scott's. We were planning on having a chill, early night but it turned out they were having their Oktoberfest celebration so we decided to indulge and split a stein and then before we knew it we were upstairs tearing up the dance floor to such American classics as Cotton-eyed-joe and Grease lightning and when we requested normal American dance songs the DJ replied by saying "sorry, I can only play party music"...interesting. 

    Saturday, Rachel and I took a day trip to Trier (as in New Trier) which is actually the oldest town in Germany.  We spent the whole day exploring the city, seeing the sights, and doing some shopping.  There were actually some really cool Roman ruins and cathedrals and the weather was beautiful so the day turned out to be a total success.  Here are some pictoral highlights...