i could get lost in a phonebooth

I am currently sitting in the Luxembourg Airport waiting to board my plane to Madrid where I will be spending Friday and Saturday with two good friends and going to see the love of my life (Jason Mraz) in concert.  Then I will be heading to Alicante, which is on the coast, for three days to relax, see friends and enjoy the beach.  Should be a great trip!

Bonehead moment of the day: I had to take the bus to the airport this morning (because marc is out of town and eleanor is working) which i had never done before.  I successfully took the number 8 to the centre and then switched to the number 9 to the airport but was so paranoid about missing my stop the I got off one to early and had to walk like 20 minutes to the actual airport, silly me.  Should be interesting navigating the spanish train system where I have to switch like 4 times to get to my hostile.  It will be a miracle if I make it there with my directional challenges...as Grandma always says, "I could get lost in a phone booth"

On that note, say a little prayer for me and hopefully my next update will be from sunny spain!

Adios amigos

you might not recognize me these days as I am eating things like multigrain bread, duck, and peppers

This past weekend was crazy, starting on Friday when I had the kids all day because they had no school due to conferences.  I wont go in to too many details but there were quite a few meltdowns and explosions which on one hand made me feel like I might have a nervous breakdown at any second but on the other hand gave me an opportunity to try some new parenting techniques which brought me to the funny realization that I have been here for seven months and I am just now figuring out how these complex little children work and what the best ways are for me to get through to them, oh well- such is life... I guess more like such is parenting.

After a stressful day with the kids I went out with some friends to our regular british bar in the centre and called it a pretty early night.  

Saturday I was able to go to a yoga class at the gym and then had practice for worship team and then met up with some fri

ends at a charming little South American restaurant in the centre for dinner.  The evening was filled with delicious food (i even tried duck), ever flowing wine, and delightful friends.

Some cute ones of me and the girls (Rachel, Lindsey, and Mariella)

 Me, Rachel, Cristoph, and Lindsay before we are about to indulge in some delicious fajitas

I'm actually going to be using my college degree!

As today was probably the most productive day that I have had in weeks, I decided that the only proper way to end a super productive day would be with a super thorough blog post...

I feel a little bit like life is moving in fast forward these days.  There is so much going on and it is hard to remember how much I have shared with you, dear blog friends.  

The biggest news that I have to share is that the International School where i have been substitute teaching since december-ish offered me a job (to replace a teacher going on maternity leave) through the end of the school year.  And get this...it is teaching drama! For those of you who know me (which hopefully is all of you, because I am not sure I want someone who doesn't know me reading my innermost blog thoughts) you will know how exciting this is, to get to be a real drama teacher- I will actually be using my college degree (even if for only 3 months)!  I am not sure what age classes I will have exactly but I am sure it will be a blast no matter what.  So they wanted me to do the job through next Christmas but alas I have my heart set on returning to my homeland this summer so I will be extended my stay only through June 19th which means coming home for one week then hitting up MI for the first stop in wedding marathon (over the next few months) and then off to the Northwoods for another summer of endless youth working at Clearwater Camp for Girls.  

I know it's a crazy life I lead but I couldn't be happier that I am going to be able to have all these wonderful experiences, life is so good!

Upcoming travels: Spain- Madrid + Jason Mraz concert! (April 20-22) and Alicante (March 22-25)

Liz and Kat's European sister adventure: Brussels, Brugges, Amsterdam (April 5-12)

Beurgbrennen

This country is honestly so strange sometimes....

March 1st: Buergbrennen

This Luxembourgish ritual takes place in the evening of the first Sunday after Ash Wednesday.  The practice seems to have Pagan origins and is thought to be a purification rite to commemorate the end of winter or chase the winter spirit away.

People in the villages erect a huge straw-covered cross or wheel of wood, topped with an evergreen tree, and place it on a hillside.  According to tradition, the most recently married couple or large groups of children light the cross or wheel at nightfall in the presence of spectators.

Before the ceremony village youth go around ringing doorbells to collect bacon or money for supper, which takes place in a local cafe after the burning.  

Me enjoying some gluhwein 

(spiced hot wine that they serve at luxembourgish events)

The kids about to light the cross

Robyn and I (sneaky Marcus in the background)

Burn Fire Burn!

What Luxembourger doesn't love a good cross burning?

The flames dying out

gratitude for today

Pictures from snowboarding in the French Alps:

micah (my friend/snowboard instructor) decided it would be funny to take me through some powder which led me into an extreme frustrating pattern of riding for about 10 seconds then whipping out and then spending a good five minutes trapped in the powder using all my strength to stand back up for no more than ten seconds- I can only imagine how funny it was for Micah to watch

Our lovely lunch spot

Obviously taking a break from boarding to make a snow angel

beautiful view from the top

just hanging out on a mountain

Me in front of our precious little chalet 

(owned by a family from church so we got to stay there for free:)

I just got off the phone with a good friend from home and was talking about my experience over here and what a crazy year I have had and came to the conclusion that I dont think i will be able to fully appreciate all that I have seen and experienced until I am home and have the realization, "What just happened?" It is so crazy for me to think that last year I had only been to one other country besides my own and now I am sitting here looking at pictures from my trips to three different countries over the past three weeks.  I truly feel so blessed to be living this life and hope that I can feel that gratitude on a daily basis.  

So as I said the past few weeks have been a little crazy dublin, then the alps, then the canary islands and that is why I haven't posted in a while but I will try to be better in the future.

Expect pictures from the canaries soon, i promise!

My favorite city in the world...Dublin

I know this is a little late, but better late than never right?

To start off, here are a few pictorial highlights from the trip...

Me, doing self portraits...this was the low point of my thirteen hour journey to Dublin

The bar at the top of the Guiness Factory:
Doing a little taste test at the Guiness Factory

Me and Dublin

Troy and Dublin

Me, Troy, and Dublin

Out on the town

Wonderful street performers

Beautiful Trinity College

I spent last weekend in Ireland and I can honestly say it was my favorite city that I have been to yet.  I had a bit of a fiasco getting there (what should have been about three hours of travel somehow turned in to thirteen) but it was all worth it! I met up with Troy and his delightful friends and we had an amazing weekend.  We did a lot of sight seeing (Guiness Factory, Trinity College, Christ Church, etc.) and had an officially crazy night out on the town- Irish style.  I have seriously never wanted to not leave a bar so badly when they kicked us out at about 3 o'clock, definitely one of the most fun nights I have ever had out.  Overall it was a very memorable weekend and I came to one important conclusion that I would love to marry an Irish man.  They are truly the most kind and generous breed of people I have come across thus far, must be something in the water...or beer, not really sure.  Thats all for now, look forward to a post coming soon about my adventures in the French Alps...

off to Ireland

So not too much new going on in Lux besides the fact that I am leaving for Ireland tomorrow!! I am meeting my friend, Troy there and I am so excited not only to see a new place but to see an old friend.  I have found that it is very comforting seeing a familiar face in this large land of strangers speaking foreign languages.  So it should be a great trip and I will try to do a post next week filled with pictures and exciting Irish adventures.

Here are some pics from the last few weeks

with friends out on the town, that's Svana (another au pair from Iceland), me, and Rachel

I may have been rocking out pretty hard...

The boys that I spend most of my time with, Nathan and Colton, plus Nathan's best friend Braham.  Being silly before ice skating