It's All Happening!

NOW THIS IS HAPPENING! My amazing Cammie is coming to visit me for 15 glorious days at the end of October! We're going to Vienna for the weekend, Prague for 4 days, and then Budapest for 3 days! Just booked our apartment in Prague and Hilton (thanks cammies job!) in Budapest. IM SO EXCITED!!!

Not only do I get to spend time with one of my favorites, but I get to tourist it up in my favorite city Vienna and see Prague and Budapest, which I haven't been to yet, too! I love my life!

Get ready Europe. Now this is happening. 

Minus Ficah and Kitty though sadly:( 

Wine Festival- Pezinok

Since I moved to Bratislava I've been looking forward to September when apparently there are all these wine festivals taking place. And its finally here! We've tried a lot of the regular red and white Slovak wine normally, but September is the ONLY time and place where you can try "Burčiak" or "young wine" that hasn't finished fermenting yet. SO these little local wineries bring their wine for you to taste and buy in these ghetto plastic bottles, and it tastes like juice! We each took a turn buying and drinking a bottle and let it ferment in our tummies until we felt so lovely! AND every weekend there is another festival in another district for more young wine!

We had to take the packed train out to the next village called Pezinok. This was the pretty church in the square.

Enjoying drinks with Christina and Jackie, my co-teachers and old roomies...

Su-Mei, Shimmy, Danko, Jackie, Christina, and I with our first bottle.

The busy festival!

This dirty ghetto old mascot for O2 (major phone company here) was there banging me every time he moved his tail and getting chased by little kids...aka HIlarious.

Wine Festival!

We finally found seats and didn't move for the duration of the festival. Except to pay 1 euro for the toilet...or 4 euro for another bottle...obviously.

The left is the "burčak" wine aka juice. The right is their normal local red wine. 

The platform for the last 11:00 train ride home

Which means standing squished in between cars the entire time along with the rest of Bratislava passing around leftover bottles of wine!

The last tram from the train station to home didn't come for another 20 minutes so we walked/ skipped and sang the walk home.

I wanted to document how I felt :) Such an amazing day!!!

Next weekend, another district? Another wine festival? 

On The First Day Of School I Felt...

I had my students write journal entries the first day of school finishing questions such as "This morning I woke up and felt...". I didn't even THINK they would write about me! I will keep their spelling and grammar errors to try and get the cuteness level fully across...

I hope this year will be better than last year, because we weill learn more and harder things. My mother said that year 6 is pretty hard. I am also excited to mett new students. We have also a new teacher and I like her more then our teacher from last year.


THE END
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This morning getting ready for school I felt sleepy. I don't wanted to go to shool but, I must. Then I woke up and then I Dress up and goed with mom to school! Then I was exited Who will be our teacher. And our teacher was Miss Kerr. I was very happy. Because she is so fun! And then we made fun things with her. 


THE END


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Miss Kerr is better then Miss ------. With Miss. Kerr is more fun then with Miss ____. And year 6 is more fun then year 5. We have new students super! And Miss Kerr is more creature then Miss ------. The dollar things what she did I like it.


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I know right, how much do you want to KNOW my students?! They are THE BEST! I am already exhausted which is mostly attributed to adjusting to the schedule and last minute changes to my schedule which have left me with a ton of extra classes to prep for. BUT I am so happy! I love my class so much and can tell they like me but also respect me. So far we have such a positive attitude in my class, I just love them so much. Our 3 class rules we came up with are:
1) Be respectful to classmates and teachers
2) Speak English during class times
3) ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST!

Thats it. Because really, what else do you need?

And now to go home for a fun filled weekend of working on curriculum from home...but first, drinking.

xoxo

New Classroom!

Well as you know I am teaching a brand spanking new class this year, AND from the beginning of the year so its my job to get my room in proper order (every teachers dream).

I arrived and it was pretty bad...horrible ugly orange paint and curtains, all the desks were separate and facing the front where the teachers desk sat, I have a BLACKBOARD, etc. But enough talk, take a look at the before and after! I worked on that room for like 9 hours!

The view is from the door, from left to right.

On the plus side, my room gets a lot of light which will be nice in the winter, and I have a piano in my room!

 The teacher desk used to be in the front and center (I'd moved it already before remembering to take photos) and I just had those little cupboards and cubbies spread around the room.

Bleh. Boring.

AFTER!

And voila! table groups, book shelf, and the little cabinet by the window is our student store!

My awesome bulletin boards!

So yeah, it's still 1960 with the bright orange paint and old blackboards. But I am trying to embrace them by channeling my inner Joan Holloway via Mad Men, instead of hating them like I am so tempted to do. Only 3 rooms in the entire school still have blackboards, I'm just one of the lucky ones. BUT you can't beat the feeling you get after 6 years of hating school, when you get to write "Miss Kerr" on the top of the blackboard before the first day of school. Seriously, I got teary eyed. 

My new and improved teachers corner with proper storage

- thanks to Christina for giving me the tall cupboard she wasn't using from her room.

It's "fun" teaching in Slovakia because their walls are made of concrete so nothing sticks to them so you can't hang anything up if its not on one of the bulletin boards. They also don't sell the big rolls of butcher paper teachers at home typically use to cover their boards so you have to find odd things to use. Everything is different here my friends!

Tomorrow is the first day of school and I can't believe it! Everything is ready to go and I am excited to officially meet my kids and get going on another great year. Plus, some of my precious babies from Kinder last year will be at my campus in year 1 so I get to see them! I can't wait!

Love from Slovakia,

E

My Welcome Home.

My friend sweet D offered to pick me up from the airport since he has a car and I had 2 GIANT and HEAVY bags plus a carry-on. These are the following stories.

1) While pulling giant bag #2 off the carousel (all by myself because I AM WOMAN) I definitely scraped/dropped it on my toe and literally ripped half of my toe nail off. Sweet D is calling me at the same time trying to figure out where I am and where to pick me up, so I am leaving a trail of blood with my push cart of giant luggage through baggage claim out to the pick up area. While waiting for him to pull in, this kind woman offers me a band aid (they call them plaster here fyi) because "I saw you bleeding everywhere".
"Welcome back!" My toe whispered to me as I hobbled into the car.

2) Since I live on a pedestrian only street and your car has to have a permit to drive on it (I know, my Euro life is awesome!) Sweet D couldn't drop me off right at my flat. So I took one bag in right after the airport, and he came by the next evening, parked, and had me wait in the car while he took my other bag to my flat for me. Unfortunately, he parked a little too close to the tram track so when the tram came it sat and honked at me to move the car so it could get by. Thats right, a tram full of passengers at rush hour honking at ME to move a stick shift car I have no idea how to drive. So I panicked and tried to move it, but couldn't even figure out how to start it...so the tram continues to honk and I continue to freak out...the tram driver gets out to try and tell me I NEED TO MOVE NOW...and Sweet D is still taking my bag to my flat...and OMG EVERYONE HATES ME! Finally a car full of shirtless guys drinking beer pulls up and I ask them "HEY! Do you speak English? Can you move this car for me?". They said "yes, I can move it...hold my beer..." So I held fat shirtless mans beer while he moved the car for me and the tram was able to get by.

This is my life my friends!

But otherwise, being back has been wonderful! Nothing here feels foreign anymore, it's just normal and home-like for me. I missed my flat, roomie, city, cafes, cheap food and drinks, friends, everything! Went by the school today to drop off my entire suitcase full of books and supplies from the states in my new classroom. All I can say is, I have a lot of work to do. But it's SO HOT and HUMID today and tomorrow and those rooms have minimal ventilation and no AC so I might wait until next week when it cools down a bit and just keep unpacking and working from home in my air conditioned apartment until then.

Love from Bratislava!

Bye Bratislava BBQ!

My friends and I gathered for an overdue BBQ at Yazzy's house yesterday! It was the perfect way to kick off summer, send me off, and spend time together. I was so happy the entire afternoon and evening- I am pretty sure at several points I was literally dancing around the flat. And I wasn't the only one! Seriously, best BBQ ever.

 Yazzy quickly fired up his new BBQ for us to grill some delicious chicken...

mmmmm GRILLED chicken...

I like this one best. Pretty much describes the entire day. 

Once again, I am so so small...

Not a bad view, eh? Besides that it was SO HOT. 

"Oh, we're so cool we can stand to sit in the sun the entire time and you had to move to the shade" Whatever dudes.

"I'm a nerd!"

"I like the shade!"

More vodka...more hookah...

Then more loves came!

And we (well, I) had a little cry on the balcony because the separation is looming...

More hookah and drooping eyes...

Chats...

And then the night ended at 3a with some here...and some in the bathroom doing the same thing. 

The signs of a good night.

Now its time to pack and get ready to bring the party to socal! READY?

Miss you Bratislava besties already.

Update...

In case you hadn't heard, since my last update was forever ago, I DID decide to sign on for another year teaching 5th grade here! We had a lot of news come all at once because in December the school will also be MOVING to an entirely new campus in another part of the city (closer to home for me, thank goodness). The school got new owners and merged with another small school with AMAZING facilities. PLUS we're getting all brand new curriculum for the classrooms that is digitally based because we will all have lap tops, smart boards, student lap tops, etc. It's going to be fantastic!

So since the job market back home hasn't changed at all, I still need experience, the school here is getting more resources and curriculum, and -oh yeah, I love it here- so I am staying! Yahoo!

BUT I will be home for the summer July 12 into the arms of my desperately awaiting parents, doggie, beach, and friends.

I am going to miss my life here, it will be weird since this feels like home now and my life is SO 100% different then it is in Cali...but having time to refresh and rejuvenate will be nice too. Although I might be bored out of my mind without a proper city right outside my door...so we'll see how long I last.

Here are some pictures of the new school site we will be moving to. My classroom isn't finished yet, they are adding two new buildings, so far only the primary building is done. But they will look similar I'm sure.

PS: All the buildings are old hospitals they're completely redoing to make into this amazing school, cool right!

Bratislava is Better with Friends!

My lovely old friend Jen who I went to school with and loved to death back in San Diego, came for part of the week and weekend and we had such a lovely time! She is from Germany, but is getting her masters degree in London so she just swung down for a fun few days together. I had to work so she gallivanted around town on the week days without me, and then in the evenings we went to get drinks, dinners, and to a friends party. Here are her beautiful pictures from around my tiny city, fun to see things through her cameras tourist perspective since everything has just become "normal" to me now, thought you'd like to see too!

The first night I took her for a walk around the city and we ate a shwarma in the square that looks like a movie set. 

While at work she took herself for walks...this is just down my street...

That night she captured the "normal" part of my life, folding laundry...

Then we went out for a drink at a REALLY old church turned into a theatre, then turned into a pub...

 The presidential palace on the other side of my street...

Statues around the city...

Saturday before she went home we went to the mall/riverside to eat and shop a bit. It's probably my FAVORITE place in the summer, for obvious reasons!

Thanks for visiting Jen, had a great time with you! Until next time lady!