Oh my goodness, it's been awhile since I've updated this! Things have been very busy this past week. I moved into my new apartment last Thursday (the 25th) and I don't have internet out there yet. I can access my gmail and facebook accounts before and after school, which is nice, I just don't like staying there late for social reasons. I'll be happy when I have internet out at the apartment again. In the meanwhile, I've been spending most of my evenings getting things set up in the apartment (pictures up on facebook), taking walks around my new neighborhood, and watching dvds on my computer. It could be a worse :)
School is in full swing and it looks like it will be a very busy year! Every special ed progrm is run differently and I'm having to learn alot on the fly as things are getting thrown at me. We don't have Lee's Summit's equivalent of a sped coordinator. We do have a special ed chair, I'm just still a little blurry as to what my technical responsibilities are and what the chair covers. I know I have more responsibilities here in terms of incoming students, referrals, and 3 year re-evals. The lingo and terms are also a little different for the forms and steps of the process, so my learning curve is pretty steep! Today I had my first IEP meeting though, so it's nice to have that out of the way! Tomorrow I start seeing students for the first time and I'm excited for that. I'm starting with 19 on my case load and there are 4 more in the referral process. So, as stated above, between that and more responsibilities in the process/testing, I'll be a busy girl.
I'm definitely going to make plans for lots of travel too though! Hopefully once the school year settles in, I'll be able to start planning some trips soon!
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
New Country -Check
This weekend I was able to go to Poland! The Outdoor Rec on base occasionally does weekend trips. Last time we were here it's how we traveled to Munich, Prague, and Amesterdam. On a whim on Thursday I stopped by their office and they had a trip going to Poland this weekend! Hiking plans in Switzerland for the weekend fell through due to weather, so it was a perfect backup plan.
Boy, I forgot how exhausting traveling on a bus can be! We left Rose Barracks at midnight Friday night/Saturday morning, stopped by Graf to pick up more people, then started heading to Poland at 12:30am. I think I fell asleep pretty soon after we left Graf, but we made for a pit stop from 3:30-4. I think I slept again from about 4-5. By 5:30 we were at the first Pottery store. All of the patterns and deigns were so overwhelming! I think in all we went to 8 or 10 pottery stores and by the end I was seeing spots because I was so tired and all the patterns were blurring together! I ended up getting so great pieces that I loved though!
Boy, I forgot how exhausting traveling on a bus can be! We left Rose Barracks at midnight Friday night/Saturday morning, stopped by Graf to pick up more people, then started heading to Poland at 12:30am. I think I fell asleep pretty soon after we left Graf, but we made for a pit stop from 3:30-4. I think I slept again from about 4-5. By 5:30 we were at the first Pottery store. All of the patterns and deigns were so overwhelming! I think in all we went to 8 or 10 pottery stores and by the end I was seeing spots because I was so tired and all the patterns were blurring together! I ended up getting so great pieces that I loved though!
There was a pottery festival going on while we were there. And while we didn't make it to the old part of town where the main fest was, there were smaller fests going on in the outer part of town where we were! We found a Polish Polka Band!
Friday, August 19, 2011
Busy Week!
The past week has been really busy! I won't bore you with every detail, but I'll highlight the biggies!
Apartment: After looking at a couple more apartments, I couldn't get the apartment in Amberg that I loved out of my head. So at the beginning of the week I went back out there, talked to the Landlord again and decided to take it! The housing office on base is a little difficult to navigate but after jumping through a few hoops, I get to move in on the 25th! I get excused from work that day to go out with an inspector from base, sign the lease and wait for loaner furniture from post to be delivered! Hopefully all of my stuff will be here around the 20th of september!
Driver's License: I can legally drive in Germany! Getting a license is a little bit of a process but after spending all day on Thursday, I have one! The road signs and right-of-way laws were a little tricky to learn, they are pretty different than ours, so I'm glad the test is behind me! A lot of people are in-processing on base right now, so unfortunately I can't pick up a rental car until Monday because they are all rented out right now. I'm just grateful I'll have one before I move into the apartment on Thursday!
School: I've gone in a little bit this week to re-acquaint myself with the building. It's going to be a busy school year! I'll start with 19 kids on my case-load with 3 more that will start the testing process at the beginning of the year! And that's only 3rd and 4th grade! The Sped dept is huge at VES. We have 3 learning center teachers, in addition to one for severe kiddos, one for emotional kiddos, one for vision impaired, and one for hearing impaired (from what I can remember, I might be forgetting someone!) The school is way over crowded right now, I think our numbers are getting close to 650, so I will actually be sharing a classroom with Mel, another learning center teacher.
Star Spangled Banner: Thursday night I decided I wanted to go see a movie at the theater on base. I was tired of hanging out in the hotel room in the evenings and they were showing Harry Potter that night, so it seemed like a good idea. I completely forgot instead of previews or adds before the movie everyone stands up and they play the Star Spangled Banner with an armed forces montage playing in the background! Definitely hard to forget you're on an Army base with that happening!
Apartment: After looking at a couple more apartments, I couldn't get the apartment in Amberg that I loved out of my head. So at the beginning of the week I went back out there, talked to the Landlord again and decided to take it! The housing office on base is a little difficult to navigate but after jumping through a few hoops, I get to move in on the 25th! I get excused from work that day to go out with an inspector from base, sign the lease and wait for loaner furniture from post to be delivered! Hopefully all of my stuff will be here around the 20th of september!
Driver's License: I can legally drive in Germany! Getting a license is a little bit of a process but after spending all day on Thursday, I have one! The road signs and right-of-way laws were a little tricky to learn, they are pretty different than ours, so I'm glad the test is behind me! A lot of people are in-processing on base right now, so unfortunately I can't pick up a rental car until Monday because they are all rented out right now. I'm just grateful I'll have one before I move into the apartment on Thursday!
School: I've gone in a little bit this week to re-acquaint myself with the building. It's going to be a busy school year! I'll start with 19 kids on my case-load with 3 more that will start the testing process at the beginning of the year! And that's only 3rd and 4th grade! The Sped dept is huge at VES. We have 3 learning center teachers, in addition to one for severe kiddos, one for emotional kiddos, one for vision impaired, and one for hearing impaired (from what I can remember, I might be forgetting someone!) The school is way over crowded right now, I think our numbers are getting close to 650, so I will actually be sharing a classroom with Mel, another learning center teacher.
Star Spangled Banner: Thursday night I decided I wanted to go see a movie at the theater on base. I was tired of hanging out in the hotel room in the evenings and they were showing Harry Potter that night, so it seemed like a good idea. I completely forgot instead of previews or adds before the movie everyone stands up and they play the Star Spangled Banner with an armed forces montage playing in the background! Definitely hard to forget you're on an Army base with that happening!
Saturday, August 13, 2011
House Hunters International!
Friday night the reality of being here sunk in and even though I've been having a great time and everyone has been really helpful and nice, I got pretty homesick. I miss everyone back home alot and I know this is just the beginning of a long transition period. Right now life is pretty unstructured, hectic, and cramped. I feel like it's a big hurry up and wait game of running around doing errands but having no real home base (no pun intended there!). My hotel room is pretty small and cramped and while I'm grateful being on base now, I know I can't stay here much longer or I'll go crazy!
Thankfully the housing office was actually pretty helpful in suggesting some apartments to look at and Paula and Wolfie have been checking German papers looking for listings! Today Paula and I went out and looked at three different apartments. I really felt like I was on House Hunters International. We'd go in, walk around, the realtor would come in and answer questions, and then Paula and I would leave and discuss :)
Apartment #1 -great location but pretty dingy
- Amberg is the closest thing to a big town that is reasonably close to base. It has a stunning old downtown with cobblestone roads, churches, coffee shops, bakeries, shopping, everything really! The first apartment we looked at was right off of an alley of the main road. I'd literally be a 2 minute walk to everything. BUT, it was really cramped, didn't have alot of windows and was pretty dingy. It did have 2 bedrooms, a decent sized living room and a small area for a table.
Apartment #2 - Huge living space in smaller town
- Aside form Amberg, the other town I'm considering living in is Sulzbach-Rosenberg. It's where Paula lives and is a little closer to base than Amberg. Sulzbach is smaller and doesn't have as many restaurants, shops, etc. The apartment was actually the lower level of a house and is a little over 1300 sq ft! It has 3 bedrooms, a very large living room and 1 bathroom. The floors weren't very good, the bathroom was an interesting shade of green, and I'd be a 3 minute walk to the train station (which can be good and bad considering convenience vs noise level).
Apartment #3 -Country living in the big city
- The last apartment we looked at was back in Amberg. This was in a quieter neighborhood that is about a mile and 1/2 from the inner city (25 minute walk, 10 minute bike ride, 5 minute drive). The apartment was on the third floor of a house that was on the end of the street. The back of the house faced open country fields and lots of forest area. A terrace off the living room overlooks the fields while the views from the front of the apartment look down into Amberg. This one had 2 bedrooms and 1 bath and was about 925 sq ft. Smaller than the one in Sulzbach and a about a 25 minute drive to get onto post. I would also get a garage parking space so I wouldn't have a scrape my car in the morning!
I have a clear favorite. Paula and I have one more to look at tomorrow. I don't have to make a decision anytime soon, I can basically live at the hotel indefinitely. But, I would like to make a decision soon! Of the 3 so far, let me know which one you think I should go for!
I tried to be as nonbiased as possible when writing these :)
Thankfully the housing office was actually pretty helpful in suggesting some apartments to look at and Paula and Wolfie have been checking German papers looking for listings! Today Paula and I went out and looked at three different apartments. I really felt like I was on House Hunters International. We'd go in, walk around, the realtor would come in and answer questions, and then Paula and I would leave and discuss :)
Apartment #1 -great location but pretty dingy
- Amberg is the closest thing to a big town that is reasonably close to base. It has a stunning old downtown with cobblestone roads, churches, coffee shops, bakeries, shopping, everything really! The first apartment we looked at was right off of an alley of the main road. I'd literally be a 2 minute walk to everything. BUT, it was really cramped, didn't have alot of windows and was pretty dingy. It did have 2 bedrooms, a decent sized living room and a small area for a table.
Apartment #2 - Huge living space in smaller town
- Aside form Amberg, the other town I'm considering living in is Sulzbach-Rosenberg. It's where Paula lives and is a little closer to base than Amberg. Sulzbach is smaller and doesn't have as many restaurants, shops, etc. The apartment was actually the lower level of a house and is a little over 1300 sq ft! It has 3 bedrooms, a very large living room and 1 bathroom. The floors weren't very good, the bathroom was an interesting shade of green, and I'd be a 3 minute walk to the train station (which can be good and bad considering convenience vs noise level).
Apartment #3 -Country living in the big city
- The last apartment we looked at was back in Amberg. This was in a quieter neighborhood that is about a mile and 1/2 from the inner city (25 minute walk, 10 minute bike ride, 5 minute drive). The apartment was on the third floor of a house that was on the end of the street. The back of the house faced open country fields and lots of forest area. A terrace off the living room overlooks the fields while the views from the front of the apartment look down into Amberg. This one had 2 bedrooms and 1 bath and was about 925 sq ft. Smaller than the one in Sulzbach and a about a 25 minute drive to get onto post. I would also get a garage parking space so I wouldn't have a scrape my car in the morning!
I have a clear favorite. Paula and I have one more to look at tomorrow. I don't have to make a decision anytime soon, I can basically live at the hotel indefinitely. But, I would like to make a decision soon! Of the 3 so far, let me know which one you think I should go for!
I tried to be as nonbiased as possible when writing these :)
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Wilkommen in Deutschland
Well the name of my blog is finally true! Now it's time to detail the last couple days of travel and running around base like crazy setting things up.
This time around the trip over was SO different than the first time. I'll save re-telling the entire AirIndia saga, but this trip did NOT include tickets getting lost behind counter panels, mean guards in customs, people sleeping at our feet, 7 hours worth of train rides and lost bags that went to India.
This time, I left KC on Tuesday at 10:20 to fly the first leg of the trip to Philly. We flew into some storms and it was probably one of the rockiest landings I've ever experienced. I felt like Jack Shephard on the plane crash episode of LOST. But we landed safely and I had plenty of time to make my connecting flight around 5 (east coast time). The flight wasn;t crowded at all and had a I had the whole aisle to spread out. I wish I could have slept a little on the flight, but by the time I was finally getting tired the plane was about it land. I did however get to watch The Lincoln Lawyer, some Big Bang Theory and Glee, so I think that's a pretty fair trade off for not sleeping :) It was a about a 7 hour flight so I pretty much landed sometime between 11 and 12 my time, but it was 6 in the morning in Germany.
After another 2 hour layer, and a short 30 minute flight I was in Nuremberg! Mel, another special ed teacher came to pick me up, drove me back to base, helped me get checked into the hotel, and I know he drove me to Graf for some errand that I can't for the life of me remember. I guess I was that tired.
The highlight of the evening was having dinner with Paula (my old mentor when I student taught) and her German boyfriend Wolfgang, who is adorable and goes by Wolfie :)
I also had a delicious dinner full of traditional German food! Deer- which was super tender, spaetzle (a type of German egg noodle in cheese), and a pear with cranberry sauce!
I slept SO well last night, a full 8 hours just to be woken up by soldiers out in PT marching in front of my hotel. Hard to forget you're on an army base with that happening. But today was another busy day. Paula was super helpful and drove me all over again doing errands on base. I now have an ID card, which is apparently like gold around here and now I can start setting up accounts and have library and fitness center privileges.
Tonight I decided to walk out to Kodritz, where we lived last time we were here. It was a beautiful evening and felt really great to be outside.
The walking path heading up to Kodritz looking back down towards base, which is behind the trees.
The sun was setting so the lighting wasn't the best, but the entrance to our old apartment is what looks like a white framed window but is actually a door.
Tomorrow will be another busy day of errands around base. Hopefully I'll have more to update on soon!
This time around the trip over was SO different than the first time. I'll save re-telling the entire AirIndia saga, but this trip did NOT include tickets getting lost behind counter panels, mean guards in customs, people sleeping at our feet, 7 hours worth of train rides and lost bags that went to India.
This time, I left KC on Tuesday at 10:20 to fly the first leg of the trip to Philly. We flew into some storms and it was probably one of the rockiest landings I've ever experienced. I felt like Jack Shephard on the plane crash episode of LOST. But we landed safely and I had plenty of time to make my connecting flight around 5 (east coast time). The flight wasn;t crowded at all and had a I had the whole aisle to spread out. I wish I could have slept a little on the flight, but by the time I was finally getting tired the plane was about it land. I did however get to watch The Lincoln Lawyer, some Big Bang Theory and Glee, so I think that's a pretty fair trade off for not sleeping :) It was a about a 7 hour flight so I pretty much landed sometime between 11 and 12 my time, but it was 6 in the morning in Germany.
After another 2 hour layer, and a short 30 minute flight I was in Nuremberg! Mel, another special ed teacher came to pick me up, drove me back to base, helped me get checked into the hotel, and I know he drove me to Graf for some errand that I can't for the life of me remember. I guess I was that tired.
The highlight of the evening was having dinner with Paula (my old mentor when I student taught) and her German boyfriend Wolfgang, who is adorable and goes by Wolfie :)
My first German beer! It was some sort of wheat beer with fox in it's name and it was delicious!
I also had a delicious dinner full of traditional German food! Deer- which was super tender, spaetzle (a type of German egg noodle in cheese), and a pear with cranberry sauce!
I slept SO well last night, a full 8 hours just to be woken up by soldiers out in PT marching in front of my hotel. Hard to forget you're on an army base with that happening. But today was another busy day. Paula was super helpful and drove me all over again doing errands on base. I now have an ID card, which is apparently like gold around here and now I can start setting up accounts and have library and fitness center privileges.
Tonight I decided to walk out to Kodritz, where we lived last time we were here. It was a beautiful evening and felt really great to be outside.
The walking path heading up to Kodritz looking back down towards base, which is behind the trees.
Still on the walking path looking down into Sorghof, a little town to the left of base.
Made it to Kodritz!
The sun was setting so the lighting wasn't the best, but the entrance to our old apartment is what looks like a white framed window but is actually a door.
Tomorrow will be another busy day of errands around base. Hopefully I'll have more to update on soon!
Monday, August 8, 2011
T Minus 12 hours...
Having a hard time realizing that in a little over 12 hours I'll be starting the journey over. I can't believe how quickly this day has snuck up on me. I guess considering what a busy summer it's been, it makes sense. In addition to babysitting 4 days a week I'm going to try to compile a list of other fun KC summer activities, so as I'm reading back through the blog later I can reflect and remember what a perfect summer it's been. I really want to thank everyone who has helped make the following list of activities possible. It's been a really amazing summer, and I want to thank you!
- Trip with Caroline to Chicago
- Biking the Katy Trail
- Trip with Aunt Gina to Colorado to visit Kate, Keith and Lucy
- The Waldo Crawldo
- Abby's Wedding
- Kelli's Wedding
- Lunches with GWE girls
- Runs in Loose Park
- Attempted Shakespeare in The Park
- Harry Potter double feature
- Tuesdays at the Boulevard
- BBQs with great friends
- Denim and Diamonds
- Clay Walker at PNL
- Royals Games (only made it to 4 this year, BUT was on the jumbo tron the first and last games I went to!)
- Sporting KC game
- Wine Weekend
- Surprise going away party (yes, I was VERY surprised)
- Family going away party (yes, there was DELICIOUS mexican food)
- Family reunions
- Bucca di Beppo and nights on the plaza
- finally going to Hamburger Mary's
I'm sure there's so much more that I'm forgetting. My brain is slightly cluttered right now with last minute preparations for the flight out tomorrow and I'm watching True Grit with my parents. So, needless to say I'm a little distracted. I'm not sure what the internet situation looks like at the hotel on base. If there isn't wifi in the rooms, I know there is an internet cafe not to far away on base. I'll try to update again soon to let everyone know I made it safely. Love you all!
Next post: Germany!
Friday, August 5, 2011
Rain, Snow, Sleet, or Hail
Even in Germany, I will get my mail! Got an e-mail from the secretary at school this morning saying they have set up an APO box for me on base! Yea! If anyone is interested, my address for the next 2 years will be:
CMR 411 Box 4033
APO, AE 09112
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
1 week and counting
I can't believe how fast the past week has gone! I hope the next week doesn't go quite as quickly, but I have a feeling it will (if not faster!) It's been pretty productive in terms of moving though. My little car is off and traveling. They gave me a website to track and follow her progress, which is pretty neat. It'll be nice to keep tabs on her. :)
My parents came down this weekend and helped me move the big things out of my classroom. So grateful for their help! I've acquired a lot over the 3 years, and forgot exactly how heavy books can be. I went in this afternoon to get the rest of the small things, talk with the girl that is taking my place, and turn in my keys. It's such a bittersweet feeling. I'm excited about the opportunities of being abroad, traveling, and working with a different population of kiddos. But Greenwood has been my home over the last 3 years and I'm going to miss people there so much. Co-workers quickly became friends, and even more quickly turned into a mini KC family. I know we'll stay in touch though, and hopefully can work out some sort of pen pal program between the schools!
I know the next couple days will be tough with a lot of goodbyes. I keep telling myself they aren't really goodbyes but "see you laters." Which is know sounds really cliche but helps with the sadness. We had a family goodbye/birthday dinner on Sunday and it was tough knowing we all won't be together again until Christmas. Thank goodness for Skype and gchat video!
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