Tales of a Traveling Teacher

Today in science, the kids wrote onomatopoeia poems.  We discussed words that described sounds and looked at a poem that included sounds we hear all around us.  The kids really wrote some great, creative poems either about sounds they hear around their house such as the ringing of the phone, the crying of their baby sisters, or the crashing sound of their brothers.  Some chose instead to write poems about peaceful settings such as waterfalls or birds singing. I was very impressed with their poems and their precise descriptions of sounds.  However, as I walked around and read "ring, ring," "crack, crack," "tweet, tweet," "swoosh, swoosh," all I could think about was the sounds a trolley makes...

In January, my year 6 English class did some persuasive writing.  Thanks to the wonderful planning of a fellow teacher, we researched a bit about dancing bears in India to then do some persuasive writing against the practice.  I really had never heard of this practice, but was truly horrified to hear the torture that these bears go through for the entertainment of others.  The kids too became enraged and, as most kids do, wanted to do something to make a difference.  So a group of five of the girls came to me and said they wanted to do something.  I was thrilled to help them and excited to see their passion. For weeks, they came to see me on their own free time during lunch and we bounced ideas around.  With a few ideas in mind, the girls wrote a very persuasive speech that they delivered to the head teacher, and he was so moved by their powerful words that he couldn't say no.  So, he has allowed the school to have a mufti day on Friday where kids can wear their normal clothes (a

When I heard I was going to be teaching at a middle school, I must confess that I got very excited thinking that I wouldn't have to plan so many lessons, that I'd be able to repeat some of the lessons.  I was wrong.  Much like back home, I teach a variety of subjects and the only thing I am getting to repeat is my American Studies class as I get a new crop of kiddos each term. I teach science back home, and I have been teaching science here, too.  Science has never been my forte, neither as a student nor a teacher, but thanks to some truly wonderful training through AMSTI (Alabama Math and Science Technology Institute), I had detailed training on the specific topics that I taught.  Now, that doesn't mean I could even move to a new grade level and teach it very well, that means that I had thorough training on four topics that I taught to fourth graders.  Here, I have enjoyed the science topics I have taught, but I've truly known very little about them, so I've foun

I have never considered myself a runner; I'm more of a walker who stays busy, so running speeds things up. Back home, I enjoy afternoon walk/runs, 5Ks, 10Ks and even a half marathon or two, but I have done virtually no running since I arrived. I could make excuses about the weather, short daylight days, working late, etc. but we all know motivation was what I was missing. Not sure what finally got me up and running again, but yesterday I ran in the snow and today I ran in drizzle and it felt great! The time to clear my head, enjoy some music and move was just what I needed. I'm hoping to keep myself motivated and wear out my running shoes!

I had very little knowledge or understanding of Sarajevo before I went.  I know that many of you probably know a lot, but since I've had some questions about the city, I decided I'd share some information that I learned.  I hope it is all accurate. What country is Sarajevo in? Bosnia and Herzegovina That is one country, not two.  Bosnia and Herzegovina are sort of two regions joined as one country, formed as it is now seen today in 1995. Where is Sarajevo? Bosnia and Herzegovina is the blue country across the Adriatic Sea from Italy.  Sarajevo is about in the middle. What language do they speak? Bosnian What currency do they use? konvertibilna marka or KM or marks As of right now, the conversion rate to American dollars is about 1.5 marks to 1 US dollar. How many people live in Sarajevo? Around half a million How was Sarajevo involved in World War 1? A Bosnian Serb killed the heir to the Austro-Hungrian throne while he was riding in a carriage down t

While the drive home from Heathrow airport has not yet proven to be stress-free, arriving at Heathrow Airport has gone very smoothly.  I can't help but smile each time I walk out of the arrivals gate and I'm fairly sure I know why...

I'm sitting in the Vienna airport, watching as dozens of snowplows busily clear paths for planes. In just over an hour, I will hopefully be boarding a flight back to England, my eighth in just fifteen days. I'm so thankful for air travel and the opportunities it presents. I have also enjoyed my air travel recently as it has been a time when nothing but staring out the window could distract me from reading. I have been busy with teaching, keeping in touch, and traveling this year and have not had as much time to read as I typically do. This week, I finished a book and read two more! They were all young adult fiction which I read in part because they are books I can recommend to my students and in part because I truly love reading them! Leslie, when in the US, is a middle school librarian. We enjoyed sharing book recommendations this week and discussing our love for reading books in the young adult category. I finished Wonderstruck, which much like Hugo Cabret was a fabulous

There are some things I feel that I know a lot about and then there are times when I realize the more I learn, the less I know. I have been very fortunate in my life to have had some wonderful, inspiring history teachers who have taught me so much about the world around me. However, I realize there is so much history of this great world that either I have forgotten, or perhaps I never knew. I have learned so much in the last couple of days about Sarajevo and I still feel I have so much to learn. Leslie has been a wonderful tour guide. She has become very knowledgable about the history and culture of this region and has graciously shared her knowledge with me, one who has felt so incredibly ignorant. To increase my knowledge of the area, I also visited two museums today and I feel like I have a pretty firm grip on the BASICS. I've enjoyed learning more and getting a grasp on the history of this nation that has been so torn apart for so many years. I also walked back through th

I'm in Sarajevo in large part because I know someone who lives here and it was an incredible opportunity to visit a part of Europe that I otherwise would not have seen. Leslie has been a gracious, knowledgeable and caring hostess. I'm thrilled to get this time with her visiting the place she now calls home. Leslie and I woke to a world of white this morning, but as it is not all too uncommon here, life continues and Leslie has mastered driving in the snow. We went to the old part of the city where we visited food markets, artisan stores, and a small restaurant which proudly displays a photo of Bill Clinton at the restaurant. We saw churches, mosques, and temples. We heard the call to midday prayer for the Muslims, and we watched as a group of old men played chess in the snowy park on an oversized chess board. For dinner this evening, Leslie arranged a special treat. Smoking is still incredibly common here, both inside and outside, in restaurants and markets. There is a smal

You know fires can be mesmerizing? You know how there is something that just fascinates you and almost sucks you in? It's one of those things you can't tear your eyes away from. I've decided for me that plane windows are the same. Whenever possible, I try to book a window seat, even knowing I may have to crawl over people to get in and out of my seat. I absolutely love watching as we soar above the birds, the sky scrapers and often even the clouds. Leaving London this morning, I left dense fog and drizzle, but it was only a matter of a few minutes before we had cleared the clouds and discovered a bright blue sky. I had the urge to leap onto the fluffy clouds, knowing fully well that I would fall right through them, but yet still having that strong desire to give it a try. I soon found the landscape drastically different: green patches of fields with spotted clouds as if they were painted dots in a neat row. And just as soon as I noticed that landscape, suddenly it chan

Today, I was home on a weekday that I was not in school!  It was quite the rare occasion, so I certainly made the most of it.  I walked up to the High Street to do a little bit of shopping.  There are several very cute shops downtown, but as they are usually closed by the time I'm leaving school and I'm very rarely at home on the weekends, I really hadn't had a chance to go in them. I started with a cute little clothes store where I found a couple of dresses and tried on a shirt that was actually a map of the southeastern United States!  Had the shirt been a different color, or less focused on Georgia, I would have bought it just for the sake of it, but I resisted.  Then I went into the cute little knitting shop where I picked up a bit of yarn that I hope to turn into a scarf for myself.  I have done VERY little knitting here, so I'm hoping the new wool might be a little inspiration to me. For the afternoon, I went with my wonderful neighbor and her daughter to a po

Yesterday, Kelly's parents drove me up the coast of Northern Ireland.  I knew that we were headed to the Giant's Causeway, something I was eager to see, and when I looked up on a map to see exactly where it was, I discovered something else exciting.  My grandfather worked for about a year on a factory in Northern Ireland and so, when my dad was about four years old, he lived in a little place called Coleraine with my grandparents.  When I noticed that Coleraine was very close to where we were headed, I asked if we could make a little stop there.  May and Des, being the wonderful tour guides that they were, gave me a great tour of Coleraine.  I really don't know much about my dad's time there, nor does he, but it was so much fun walking the streets, imagining what it might have been like 50 years ago and knowing that my grandparents and father had walked these very streets!  It was a real treasure for me! The diamond (aka square) at Coleraine Church in Coleraine

Today was an absolute treat! Kelly's parents drove me up to the coast of Northern Ireland and it was absolutely breathtaking! We lucked out with a gorgeous, dry day with some blue sky and sunshine that made the coastline absolutely sparkle! One of my favorite spots today was the Giant's Causeway because of the myths that surround it and the uniqueness in the landscape. I'll tell you more about it tomorrow, but for now just a quick picture taken from the Causeway.

I'm honored that Kelly's parents are hosting me in Belfast for the weekend; they have taken me in as an adopted daughter! We have had a lovely afternoon catching up and doing a wee bit of touring as well. We went to a museum called the W5 which is a big interactive science museum. This weekend though, they had a special exhibit about creation and imagination. They had up some great backdrops from films and people dressed up as characters. There were dragons, super heroes, Harry Potter characters and even orcs, whom I found terrifying and could not bring myself to pose with despite the fact that I knew they were not at all real. In and amongst these characters were some celebrities: some who had worked on films and some who had been in films. I was thrilled to meet a second actor from the Harry Potter films: Percy Weasley!

In October, Jessica and I purchased a Groupon to go to Rome for two nights.  It was sort of a hassle to get it booked for a weekend when we both had free, but by the middle of November, flights and hotels were booked and in all honesty, I thought very little of it until just a couple of weeks ago. I've been to Rome four times before, so it may seem a bit much, but perhaps it is those wishes I keep making in the Trevi Fountain!  I just can't get enough of Italy!  I think I left part of my heart there years ago and it just yearns to return to the culture, the food, the history and the gelato.  So, a couple of weeks ago when I realized what was actually going on, that I was returning to Italy, I got totally giddy and had a hard time holding in a smile. Jessica, another Fulbrighter and I, sat on the plane giddy as school girls talking about our plans for the city and what all we were excited to see.  We caught up about school, learned more about each other's homes, families

Today, the 15th of February is the sixth month anniversary of me being in England.  I am officially more than half way through my time here in this beautiful country.  I cannot believe how quickly the time has flown and I have no doubt that the next five and a half months will fly by even faster which in all honesty, scares me.  There are days when I really miss home, time that I wish I could just pop over to see family and friends, and special events that I wish I could be present for.  But then, most of the time, I think about how incredibly thankful I am for this experience and how it is flying by way too quickly.  There is still so much that I want to see and do, and as a teacher there is still so much I feel I have left to teach and to pass on to my pupils.  I guess there is very little chance that I'll get to do everything I wish to do in the fleeting time that I have left, but as for now, I'll keep living life to the fullest and doing as much as I possibly can.  That

Valentine's Day is not nearly as commercialized here as it is back home.  Part of me was very thankful for that and part of me missed it dearly.  I love watching the kids pass out cards to one another and giving and receiving cards with loved ones, and I must admit that I missed that bit of it.  I did not, for quite possibly the first time in my life, mail a single card.  Don't worry, I haven't changed all that much though!  I still wore my pink pants (although I had to be careful and call them my pink trousers!) and my heart earrings, I made heart-shaped cookies and I gave out loads of hugs and kisses (the chocolate kind, of course!). This evening, I also had a very different Valentine's night.  Tonight, I chaperoned a group of year 6 and 7 (10-12 year olds) to a theater production of a much-loved story, Goodnight Mister Tom.  This story is well-known here, but I had never heard of it before.  As most great stories, it started as a book, then has been written as a pl

Tonight, after going to a middle school Valentine's Disco where I thoroughly enjoyed checking out the latest fashions, I baked some cookies to celebrate for tomorrow! I think I ended up with a bigger mess than I ended up with cookies, but they are quite tasty!:)

I love any excuse for a holiday, and of course Mardi Gras is one of my favorites!  I absolutely love New Orleans and I certainly enjoy all of the hoopla that is involved with the celebration there and in Mobile.  I decided I wanted to do a little something to celebrate here, so I decided to make a King Cake!  I love eating King Cake, but I've never actually made one before, so I thought this was as good a time as any to try. I scoured the internet for recipes that looked relatively simple as I knew my time would be very limited.  I found some that involved Pilsbury Cinnamon Rolls that I didn't think would be quite the same in the stores here, and of course I found several recipes that involved yeast and waiting for it to grow the proper amount.  But alas, those seemed a bit too difficult.  I was about to give up when I found a recipe that involved cans of biscuits.  You're right, I can't get cans of biscuits (American biscuits) here in the stores, but you know what I

I got home today exhausted after a long, but good day at work.  My kids started the day by finishing up a science experiment which really surprised them and turned out even cooler than I expected, so that is always fun!  The kids did some great work on their newspaper articles about the wolf getting arrested for attempted murder of Little Red and her grandmother.  Some of the girls who I have been working with to present some fundraising ideas for a cause they are passionate about pitched their ideas to the head teacher and he was very impressed.  Then, to wrap up a good day of teaching and learning, I met with about 30 sets of parents to discuss their child's progress. As I reached my door, I discovered a package leaning against the steps.  Packages are always nice, but I couldn't remember what I had ordered.  Then, I discovered it was something much more special than anything I could ever order. I immediately sat down and opened the package full of letters, well wishes an