Scotland!

I was very lucky to get to spend 5 lovely days in Kilcreggan, Scotland with the family C.



They live directly in front of the Clyde River Estuary surrounded by hills. Though it takes a while to get there by car due to the location of the bridge, a 10 minute ferry ride gets you across the water to the town of Gourok and from there it's a quick connecting by train into Glasgow. I wasn't expecting like Glasgow, but it was lovely!


Train Station


Willows Tea Room


Glasgow MoMA
Somehow it was asking to be photographed in black and white.

They also took me out to Loch Fyne. The drive alone was gorgeous, but upon reaching our destination we went to an oyster bar and then a micro-brewery. Hello, perfect day. I was sad to leave, but a conference awaited me.

Ireland, Day 6

Day 6 in Ireland found me solo as Nat left on a 7 a.m. flight for Paris. Rather than exploring the city of Dublin, I instead headed south on the DART to the sea side town of Bray. From there I hiked along the cliff out to Greystones. Rather than stopping in Greystones, I hiked back to Bray. It was stunning.



I was alone practically the whole time, though occasionally passed other walkers. It was the perfect way to spend my last afternoon. I returned to the hotel early as I had an early morning start the next day.

Ireland, Days 4 and 5

Another driving day. After breakfast we walked over to Muckross Abbey to take photos. Then back in the car. We took the indirect route along the coast so that we could go see a ring of standing stones that date back over 1,000 years! They weren't nearly as tall as I was hoping for, but when you think of how old they are, it was pretty incredible.

Then it was driving, driving and more driving. We stopped in at a pub for a great lunch of lamb and mushroom pie and by 6 had made it to our final b&b, Ballyogan House. This is owned by a co-workers aunt and uncle and is gorgeous. We're out in the country and it is lovely. However, being out in the country meant driving into town for dinner. Boo, no beer for me. Food was meh as well, we went to a restaurant, definitely should have stuck with pubs! What was really unfortunate is that our hosts had dinner plans and we couldn't have dinner here, I think that would have been lovely. We've already seen the chickens out back and we're excited about fresh eggs for breakfast.

And indeed, breakfast was good. Better than the eggs though were Fran's homemade jams and marmalade. We left soon after breakfast and headed to Dublin where the afternoon and evening was spent with friends of Nat's. It was a good day, though not really remarkable.

Giddy-Up, Ireland Day 3

First about our pub music. It was just "meh." We were hoping for raucous Irish pub music and instead, heard a version of "When You Say Nothing at All." Which is a song I happen to really enjoy, so hearing it with an Irish accent was fun, but we left shortly after that.

We woke up early and headed over to O'Sullivan's riding stables for our 3 hour trail ride. Nat got a smallish girl horse named Ginger, I was on a slightly bigger boy horse named Mystery. Nat's was lazy - all day "Come on, Ginger. Let's go!" and mine was a pig trapped in a horses body - he ate everything that was in sight. If it even looked like we were pausing his head went down often pulling me with him. He especially liked the ferns. But it was fun, and beautiful. We rode on trails that wound down to the castle and along the lake. There were also loads of people walking, this is really a pretty great place. We also go to trot for a bit, those are the parts I liked best.

It was pretty amazing to me how the landscape changed. Dense forest, rolling hills, to golden fields that reminded me of the midwest.







After our 3 hours we could barely walk though. For me, the outside ligaments of my knees hurt for Nat, it's her spine. I'm not quite sure what part, but likely because it took her a while to figure out trotting so she was jostled around a bit, that and she has no ass to provide any cushion.

We headed into town, inadvertantly actually as I missed a turn somewhere, but along the way we saw an Aran sweater outlet, so of course we stopped and are now each the owners of an Irish sweater.

We had a late pub lunch that included watching rugby with a whole bunch of Irish folks. Man, that game is violent! Super violent! The Nat napped while I finished my homework (I'm taking a summer course for my masters, Inquiry into Learning. It's pretty great, but way more work than I want to be doing on vacation!)

Then, we had a chill night of going to see The Hangover. Go see this movie now. It was so funny, I cried throughout and almost peed myself at one point. Really, really funny. I'm impressed, as I thought it'd be funny, but then thought, "Who can write a script that will be funny throughout?" Well, apparently Jon Lucas and Scott Moore can!

Sheep Run

Sheep Run
Originally uploaded by Traveling Em

The Prettiest Denny's Waitress has been inspiring me to take more video. This is of an agitated, "fatty" (Nat's description) sheep just outside our castle. Loads more photos up on flickr. Go look!

Kakashka Way - Ireland Day 3

One of our goals for Ireland was to go hiking. Originally we'd planned to hike the Wickwillow Trail hiking between b&b's. However, as you know, this is the start of my summer and I have to be packed into one small rolling bag for a variety of climates. No room for rain gear, really. So we nixed that idea and decided to just rent a car and hike on the nicer days. This didn't stop Nat from being very well prepared, she's equipped with hiking boots, rain pants and a rain coat. Me, I've got my rain coat (luckily I still have it!) and I brought my hiking sandals to wear on days it might rain so that my feet get wet and then dry again. We're an amusing pair.

Today at breakfast we were discussing our plans with Brigid. She was a wealth of information. She advised us that since it looked like it would be a nice day, we could take a boat trip across 3 lakes and then walk the Dunloe Gap. She told us it was about 7 miles and very manageable if you're at all fit. So we start with our breakfast first course, rhubarb compote with a bit of yogurt for me, porridge for Nat and ask her to book us seats on the boat. By the time we're done with that it's pouring rain. Pouring - cats and dogs. She comes out with our mains, full Irish for me, scrambled eggs with smoked salmon for Nat,





and says, "Ok, maybe we'll wait until 9:30 to book." By the end of breakfast the rain has stopped and we decide to go for it. The boat trip was great. A small boat with 6 passengers and 2 guides (1 official, Rory and 1 in training, it appeared).

Ireland is really everything you read about and dream about. It's green everywhere. There are hills and mist and big clouds. You know why leprachauns, sprites and fairies come here to recharge their magic.








Note all the horses in the pictures? Well, for those who want to see the gap but are physically incapable of doing the 7 mile walk, you can get a ride in a horse. The path the whole way is paved and wide enough to accomodate the carriage. And as such, the whole way is also covered in kakashka (Russian for you know what).

Tonight, we're planning on going to a pub for dinner and to hear pub music - smoke free! Yep, I'm loving Ireland.

Notes on Ireland - Day 2

This was predominately a driving day for us as we went from our castle in Wexford over to our next B&B in Kilarny:


View Larger Map

However, before we headed out, we spent an hour or so walking around near the castle and discovered some horses living near by.



Then it was on the road again. We headed through Waterford, home of the crystal and stopped at the visitor's center. The chandeliers and trophies were the most impressive:




I also tried to change money but apparently no one in Ireland, Bureau de Change or Banks, will change 100 dollar bills as they've had a rash of counterfeiting. I have never had this happen before. And of course, I'm traveling with dollars as I still have no ATM card. Luckily Nat changed a bunch of rubles to Euros before we left so I've been able to pay for our lodging with my credit card and use her as an ATM.

After a very boring lunch, we were off again. The drive was slow and a bit frustrating as we seemed to get stuck behind every tractor on the streets of Ireland. And then g00gle maps gave us the most direct, but longest in the sense of time, route. We traveled for about 10 km on a small back road, terrified our b&b was in the middle of no where and we'd have to retrace the road to get to dinner, we arrived to discover we were 400 m from the main road and a pub. Our latest b&b, Friar's Glen is also lovely. It's definitely more modern, we have a big room that doesn't smell like old, but the hosts are lovely.

We headed off to the close pub for a quick dinner of Irish stew and beer. And by quick, in both of us ordering the Irish stew, it arrived in less than 5 minutes. The meat was super tender, potatoes were not mushy but the broth, was well, broth, not a thick gravy as I'd expected and it needed salt in a bad way.

Ireland, Day 1

Day one of vacation. Yes, I've been on vacation for two weeks technically and have already had a great trip up to St. Pete's, but that still didn't really feel like vacation. Nope, that feeling is just now starting to sink in.

Nat and I got up at 3:30, the school sponsored ride was coming at 4 to take us to Domodedevo (my favorite Moscow airport). Right as we were getting into the car, Nat realized she was flying out of Sherymetevo! Thank goodness she didn't get in the car with me as these two airports are way far apart from each other.

The story of my flights has been moved down below, to Ryan Air Rants. Long story short BMI to Heathrow bus to Gatwick and eventually get on my flight to arrive in Dublin. Nat arrives within 10 minutes of me via Paris and finally things are starting to look up.

And that continues. We have a great car rental experience at Dan Dooley (highly recommended). At Dublin's airport, after you exit customs just to the right are all the "big" companies, Avi5, H3rtz, etc. However I'd booked online through Payle55, not just for shoes anymore. Well, turns out they're actually run through a local partner, Dan Dooley. I show up to the counter and the woman is playing Tetri5 on some sort of hand held device, so out of touch I am, I can't even tell you which one. I actually have to clear my throat she's so into it. Anyway, she looks up, clearly having just offered directions all day and I say I have a reservation. After a look of mild surprise (yikes, that can't be a good sign...), she's very helpful, gives us a LOWER rate with all insurances and theft protection thrown in. After a coffee we head to the rental site. My first thought, "wait, the drive on the left here?!" (duh!) Quickly followed by, "Oh, god, the car is a manual transmission and the steering wheel is on the right!" I'm scared, as I'm our only driver (Nat says she's going to learn and get her liscence this year, at 30, but obviously there's no need in Moscow). However, relatively quickly, I adapt and we're off. Traffic sucks getting out of Dublin, but in just over 2 hours, we've traveled 134 miles to Killiane Castle for the night.



It's so lovely here. We're currently down on the southeastern side of Ireland in Wexford. Our castle room is small, but totally functional and the bed is really comfortable. Nat's first comment, "It smells like old house." And it's true, everywhere sort of does have a slight odor, but the place was built in 1470! Our window over looks a field of cows, it was just delightful. So it was right around 8 pm in Ireland when we arrived, 11 pm in Moscow and we were starving. We ask if they have dinner and they do not, but she advises us to head back to the main road. "The tavern in the hotel actually has really good food." Well, y'all know me and my food. As soon as she says "hotel" and "restaurant" in the same sentence I am skeptical. But we could walk (about 2 km, but I was done driving) and it had food, the only requirements at that point.

In the end, We had an INCREDIBLE dinner at the Drinagh Court Hotel! You could either order off the menu, or they had a condensed version of their menu, from which you could take 2 courses for 20 euros. This was the far cheaper option (in some cases cheaper than ordering just the single main off the menu). We took both of their soups - a cream soup of the day that turned out to be vegetable for Nat (yes, she was eating veg, but it was after all, cream based and her only requirement was that she wanted hot food) and the Atlantic seafood chowder for me. We also both ordered a pint of beer, Guinness for her and Smithwick's Ale for me.



The soup arrived scaldingly (made up word) hot and I can't even describe just how good it was. The chowder was full of seafood and highly seafood flavored without being fishy, topped with lovely contrastingly flavored croutons. Nat's soup, even though it was vegetable, was equally as tasty for her and since I always love veg, great for me as well. Along side came Irish soda bread with soft creamy butter. I could have died and gone to heaven right then.

But then our mains came. I had ordered the sizzling Schezwan duck breast and sizzling it was. It came on a red hot cast iron pan and smoking like crazy as there was so much sugar (I assume) in the sauce. But boy was the meat tender and the sauce, though sweet, very flavorful. Nat ordered the steak, which we had to send back as it was over cooked, but when the second one arrived she dived in and loved it. However, we each preferred our entrees to the others. Along side came choice of potato and veg. We chose "mash" and "garlic". It was enough food to feed an army. Really we could have just gotten one of the potato sides and definitely that would have been the garlic. Lovely au gratin garlicy potatoes. The veg side was (previously) frozen peas, cauliflower, squash and carrot (BLECH!), I ate all the peas from both and most the cauliflower. Nat took one bite of carrot to verify for me before I ate it and that was all the potato she ate. I felt bad as the portions were so huge (American sized) that we left more than half the food behind.

Ah, so nice. We followed up with a brisk walk back because at 10, the sun was fading and there are no street lights on the small road leading to our castle. It was heaven sleeping at night, window open, sound of rain and this morning of birds greeting the day (at around 5). It's still raining, but it's so lush and green and after all, it's Ireland, so no complaints from me.

This morning's full Irish breakfast was also lovely. My favorite part being a rhubarb compote and clove spiced apples from the granola bar:

Ryan Air Rant

I had a BMI flight to Heathrow, she was on Air France to Paris. In each of our cities we would then catch a budget airline to Dublin. I don't know what I was thinking. I bought a Ryan Air ticket (absolutely, no way, EVER again. FUCK YOU RYAN AIR) that went out of Gatwick. I don't know why I didn't look harder for a flight out of Heathrow. I guess I didn't think it would cost me almost $40 to catch a bus there.

Anyway, I get there. And promptly forget about my rain coat on the bus. Thankfully I remembered within 5 minutes (as opposed to the usual 2 days later) and further the bus hadn't left, it was in the car park! Phew.

Rain coat (and hoodie!) retrieved, I go back inside and am now able to check in. I was 4th in line, get up to the desk, hand over my passport, try to check my bag, only to be told that I hadn't prepaid for this. But, I was so certain I'd prepaid to check my bag, why wouldn't I have done that? I think what happened was I'd assumed it was the 9.50 x 2 "airport handling fee" because what else would they be handling if not my luggage. Oh, and then I also had to pay another 9.50 (all pounds) to check in at the desk because I couldn't do it online as I'm not a British citizen. So I go to the desk and ask the guy to look up my reservation, so certain was I that I'd paid for a bag. He says no. So then I look on my computer (I knew this new toy was good for something) and shit bag, no I really hadn't paid. So then I tried to pay online (10 GBP as opposed to the 20 airport fee) but of course I could only buy it for the return. So I had to go back to the second guy and pay the 20 pounds. I hand over my credit card, the one I'd just used to buy the return baggage and it doesn't work. Frustration level at a maximum especially as I still don't have an ATM card (remember last year's mugging and the bank refusing to send me a new one, well, I'll finally replace that this summer). So I whip out my cell phone, call Chase who says, "Oh, did you tell us you were traveling?" YES, 3 DAYS AGO. Grumble. Anyway, it all finally gets paid for and I check in .

Domestic Summer

Nat and I leave for Ireland in 2 (two!!) days. As such we're trying to finish the food in the house. I brought back some smoked salmon from St. P and made it into this absolutely wonderful Smoked Salmon Pasta with Scotch. Seriously it was money. Did I really just say that?

Of course I modified it. I added fresh mushrooms, crushed red pepper (as I can't imagine any pasta dish without it), used clam juice for fish stock, well, ok, I used that recipe as the guidelines for what I made. Regardless, it was delicious and we all (4 total) had seconds. Some had thirds.

Afterwards, it was dish carnage, especially as we also had dessert (A made apple pie!). However, for one to two weeks each summer the hot water is turned off across the city to repair the pipes. Spoiled life that I lead, I actually have a mini hot water heater that gets turned on in this occasion, however, it only feeds the bathroom. So, to wash all of tonight's dishes, rather than boiling a bunch of water, I just brought the dishes into the bath tub.

Dear 60sih woman walking down the street,

Yes, you, with the sagging breasts (no criticism, I understand gravity) and multi-rolled belly (Russian food is not very healthy), I'm happy that you are so secure with your body that you feel that it's ok to where a see through black shirt with flowers. That's great, more power to you. However, for the love of all that is holy, please do not wear a see through white lace bra under it.

Thank you,

Traveling Em

St. Petersburg!

Oh, St. Petersburg, how I love thee. You torment me though as you are so much more appealing than Moscow. However, your school has only 120 students K-12. Could I handle that? Will the 1 math teacher ever leave? And your curriculum is AP based. I love the IB so...

Perhaps, I shall content myself with the knowledge that you are but a 5.5 hour train ride away. And try to remember that in the winter you are dark, grey, cold and rainy (much like Moscow) but also with a frigid wind off the shores!

We arrived on the evening of St. Petersburg's biggest party, Red Sails. It was like Mardi Gras without the great costumes, parades, floats or beads (so basically, really drunk people urinating everywhere and throwing beer bottles down, but in New Orleans they no longer allow glass on the streets). It was a zoo trying to get to where we were staying, but eventually we arrived unscathed. We set out to grab some food around 11 and enjoyed the day light.

The next day we headed off to Peterhof (also spelled Petergof). This is a 30 minute hydrofoil ride from St. Petersburg, a palace and series of gardens designed by Peter the Great. It was beautiful! So nice to be out in the country, surrounded by great fountains, all gravity fed! It was crowded, but the park is so big, it was easy to feel as though you were on your own. It was full of statues and fountains, two of my favorite things, especially as all the fountains are gravity fed!!





That evening we walked around endlessly trying to find a Korean restaurant that no longer exists (fuck you LP and Rick Steves) but ended up at another one right near where we were staying. No granted, at this point we'd been walking for 2 hours longer than anticipated and it's been almost 6 months since I last had Korean, but it was still really good.

One of the things to do in St.P is to go out and see the bridges raise so that the ships can pass under them in the twilight of white nights. However, the first bridge doesn't go up until 1:35, so you can guess who slept through that while EE went out. As such, the next day we had a leisurely morning (read, I worked on my summer course work and EE slept in), then we had a Greek lunch. We spent the afternoon strolling about. I met up with the drama teacher who also is head of Student Council with me and we did a little jig in front of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ, also known as Spilt Blood as Alexander the II was assassinated there. The best thing about this church are the mosaics inside.



We also went to the Mariinsky Theater to see ballet. It was incredible. Very minimal backgrounds and a focus on the dancers. At most 6 on stage. Such good ballet, such a nice theater. Though, should you ever go, don't get seats on the 3rd level. We had a great view, but we were on a narrow, painfully hard bench and it was difficult to enjoy sitting there as good as the show was.

Summer Travel

I have planned a jam packed summer.

June 19 - school ends
June 20-23 St. Petersburg (finally) with Erin - staying with last year's principal
June 24 - June 30 in Moscow - ballet, business lunch, walks in the park
July 1 - 8 Ireland with Natasha - castles and B&B's for lodging
July 8-13 Scotland with Steve and Dianne - their place, pubs on the agenda
July 13-18 Peterborough, UK, I'm going to a "Technology for Secondary Mathematics" conference
July 18-21 Country side of NY - maybe more about this later
July 21-26 in Ohio with my parents
July 26 - Aug 4 on a cruise and then 2 nights in Miami with my sister
Aug 4 - 16 back in SF with friends
Aug 1-17 flying to London
Aug 18 flight back to Moscow
Aug 19 first day of work

Insanity, I know. But I'm so looking forward to it.

Patience

Thank you to my 5 readers for the patience you have shown in awaiting my random and rare posts.

Thank you especially to my friend Vero who encouraged me to continue watering my orchid even though the flowers I bought it with fell off in the first week. See I bought it the first weekend I moved to Moscow, back in August 2007. For a very long time it just had two pathetic leaves. But I continued to water it. Eventually it grew a few more leaves, so in fact I knew it was still alive, well now in June 2009, here it is:



That's right it has 4 flowers which are stunning. And I've watched them open one by one. The last one I literally got to see open as it did so on a weekend day. In the background you can see my jade which I repotted to give the other succulents more space. It seems to enjoy it's new house, but I don't know if they other succulents are as happy with out it.

The school year is wrapping up. Students were given teacher evaluations to fill out. Overwhelmingly my students think the pace in class is too fast for them and that I don't make it interesting. I'm not sure how to fix either one of those problems. A few students said I should be more patient. And that I can definitely work on. I think if they did their homework more consistently I'd have more patience though...

I was also under a bit of stress trying to finish up my first masters class, dynamic spreadsheets. I'm hoping to finish with an A, but it'll be an A- at the very least. I've signed up for 2 classes this summer, but I'm not sure how well that will go with my insane summer travel schedule (to be posted next).

My classes are all done now, finals taken and half graded. Report cards to write this week and preparations for the incoming teachers. I also want to get some more stuff prepared ahead of time for next year.

I have a few days in Moscow before I leave for summer vacation though, so plenty of time to do that.

Pain in the Neck

What I don't love is my neck. It's really been bothering me the past few weeks. So I went to see an American chiropractor living here. He interviewed me, felt my neck said "Ooh, I bet it hurts here" up near my C1-C2 vertebrae, my constant nemisis. Then he said, "I'd really like you to go get some x-rays." And then he asks for 2,000 rubles, roughly $60. I was with him ~maybe~ 5 minutes and that's being generous. Yep, I felt just like I was back in the states. Except that here my insurance will cover it!

So he then tells me where to go while drawing on a google map. You go to building 14 by Krasne Varota (Red Gate) metro. Easy enough. Then you walk through the building out the back door to the building sort of behind it. Um, not so easy. I have to ask two people. The second one being a "nurse" - she's wearing a hair covering and shoe coverings and a white coat, smoking a cigarette outside. She motions for me to follow her. Turns out she's the radiologist. I get 4 x-rays of my neck and mid-back, the mid-back one requiring me to learn the Russian for "does your bra have an underwire? Take it off." That cost another 1,600 rubles. The cool thing was that it lasted about 10 minutes and I walked out with my x-rays! Super fast.

One Cool Thing After Another

Well, sadly I didn't win the boat. I was a bit relieved, it would have been a pain to try and store. But after I saw it in the water I was totally bummed! I think I would have loved having that boat!

Tonight I stayed late at school for the AAS Oscar ceremony. Guests were invited to vote on their favorite performers over the school year. The students were decked out - I can't believe I missed the opportunity to dress up, but all the dresses I wanted to wear, I'll be wearing this weekend for grad ceremony and the actually graduation. It was awesome. There were 3 really great speeches that mocked Oscar speeches.

I'll just say it once more, I love my job!

Boat Building

There was a really cool project started at our school this year. A boat building club where the students built the boat pictured. I've got myself a raffle ticket and the launch is this afternoon, hopefully not in the rain.

No, I didn't bribe her

The thoughtfulness of students at my school never fails to astound me. I'm away in Warsaw (check another city/country off the map) with the girl's softball team and just got this email message from a student:

hello mrs s~
thanks for adding points to our quiz:) and i just wanted to say thank you for trying so hard to teach us! everyday you grow white hair because of our little side comments and our spontaneous outbursts but we can really see how hard you try to enlighten us with the "beauty" of math.haha
we definitely havent been able to thank teachers enough for their hard work and instead complained, and complained.. and complained, and once again,complained of OUR hardships without even considering your hardships as well. Although we are a looooongg way from being responsible and sensible, i hope by the end of IB, we will be able to make all teachers/parents/ students/etc. proud><
thank you~ have a nice weekend.

Isn't that great?!

Our girls played really hard and lost 3 really close games to come in 4th place. We also won 2 games handily. And the team spirit and comrade between all but 1 of them is awesome to see. Awesome enough that I'd like to coach them next year - this year I'm here as a chaperon, but didn't work with them during the season. I was a bit horrified to hear myself yelling them at times they way my dad used to yell at me. "What are you doing?! Throw the ball to second! Get it in already!!!" The other coach was so calm and supportive the whole time. I need to work towards that.

Oh and Warsaw is pretty great. Nice clean air, smaller city with a bizarre mix of Soviet and modern architecture. Pretty good food so far. And their movie theaters show movies in English with Polish subtitles! So tonight, I think I may go see a movie, the first I'll have seen in over a year! I can't even remember the last one I saw. That will be after the girls get sent home to their host families. I love the host family program, no duty at night and we're staying at the fancy pants Hyatt which is cushy.

Alright, enough avoiding my homework assignment.

Day in the Park

Day in the Park
Originally uploaded by Traveling Em

I had an incredible day with my visitors Eva and Che. I finally went to the Armory museum in the Kremlin. We were lucky to even get there as most of the entrances to the Kremlin were closed due to Victory Day preparations. Luckily we had an awesome local guide who got us in. We had the place almost completely to ourselves. On the way out, we wandered through the park towards Red Square. While Eva was taking photos Che and I sat on a bench and behind us were these two priests. I really like this photo!

Saga Conclusion

Remember almost 2 months ago when I ran into Za German again and there was talk of me heading to Germany. Well, I headed. I'm back. And I can safely say, for real this time, that I don't think we'll be talking anymore or seeing each other again.

Not that it went badly. It didn't. It was incredibly easy, but "it" just wasn't there; the world did not disappear. We sat around making breakfast, making dinner, watching a lot of tv and movies and there was a decided lack of anything of substance. On the car ride to the airport for my return I even asked, "So are we going to talk anymore?" You know me, always blunt and to the point. He, not so much. "Of course we are!" "So should I think about coming back in June?" "Oh, we'll talk about that later." Um, not so much; I think if I even have to ask the first question I know what the answer should be. I just wanted him to admit it too. While I want to be settled in a good relationship, I'm certainly not going to force it.

Back to the drawing board.

Surprise!

Me and Nat
Originally uploaded by Traveling Em

My friend Erin, shown in the gala picture below, threw me a surprise birthday party. A month to the day after my birthday. I was flabbergasted. I didn't see it coming at all.

I went out with another teacher immediately after school for a walk through the park and at her suggestion we returned to my place to go to the Georgian restaurant near by. We stop in at the apartment complex first and I call Erin to see if she wants to join us. Note, Erin lives in the apartment directly below me, so as I'm unlocking the door, I hear her phone ringing. And ringing. I open the door wondering why hasn't she answered yet and notice the streamers hanging in my kitchen doorway. Now I'm still thinking, "why hasn't she answered yet" in addition to, "why did the green guys come and hang streamers??" After a pregnant pause I walk into the living room and am shocked to find it FULL of people!

We all headed down to Erin's where she had prepared loads of food with the help of many others including Carol, who made the cake pictured. It was a great evening!

Gala 2009

Gala 2009
Originally uploaded by Traveling Em

You know I love getting all dressed up and I got to for the PTO gala. I mingled, had a lovely dinner and left at 10:30. The perfect evening!

Where oh where?

Oh, horribly delinquent blogger, where have you been? Has your life been so exciting that you don't have time to post here?

Well, I have been off to Italy for a week.





Then I had a friend come in for a few days. Also, I've started an online masters through Oregon State. I have two assignments due per week, so the time I could be here with you, I'm reading articles on technology and education.

Or so mundane and repetitive that your inspiration has been stripped?

Quite honestly, the snow and cold was getting me down. We had our last snow on April 22nd.

Well, I have been into work to help my seniors continue to prepare for their IB exams which are this week. Aforementioned masters program has also had me very keen to immediately begin to incorporate more technology into my lessons, as such, I've been spending time designing web projects and math lessons around Autograph and Excel and I didn't really think people would want to read about that sort of stuff.

Almost a month

I heard on NPR a few days ago that people use blogs to complain and it helps them to feel better. So here I go (again):

First of all it's April 2nd and it's still snowing. Only flurries and most of it's gone from the ground, but I'm sick of the snow.

Oh and speaking of being sick. Let's see, I got back from Thailand on Feb 22nd, was really congested for about a week and then felt fine through most of March. I guess it only seems to fit my pattern of living here that I would be all congested AGAIN. And it's the type where my nose gives no warning, I just suddenly have snot streaming out. Yah, totally gross.

But I can't really complain as I fly off to Rome tomorrow to meet Sha and Minnie :) My sister and Erin fly in on Saturday and together we all head to Tuscany for a week to celebrate my big 3-0. That's right, I will finally be in my 30s. I've been looking forward to this day through the majority of my 20s. I just hope my congestion clears enough for me to enjoy drinking some, no lots, of wine!

Oh and two of my students remembered my birthday and brought me a really delicious cake today!!

And the pressure of picture of the day ends TOMORROW! Yipper skipper!

Lessons

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I've been taking ballet lessons. Well, in addition to that I've also been taking yoga and belly dance lessons from a Russian woman in my knitting group. She's also branching out into cosmetology and today she gave me a facial. Well, not a facial, but a face massage. Using olive oil... my olive oil. It felt great, but was a really bizarre experience. The smells of the strong olive (because of course, I only eat very strong, fruity olive oil), the slippery, the fear that my pillow case is now stained with oil... anyone know how to get oil out of laundry???

Discovery Week '09 - Barcelona!

As I mentioned in the previous post, I really loved Barcelona. The students also had a great time with all of our activities, which ranged from cultural tours to hiking. Here are some highlights:

Watching Flamenco dancing. The rhythms are so syncopated (not in time with the music). It was incredible. Here's a 36 second video:



The architecture of Gaudi and others who fell into the modernisma (Art Nouveau) category. Barcelona has really embraced beauty in its buildings!

Inner courtyard of La Pedrera. All the apartments are circular!



The roof - functional art. Those are staircases and chimneys!


Sagrada Familia and our group. Begun in 1882. Scheduled completion 2035.


The inner nave is meant to resemble a forest with light filtering through:


There was a cooking class where we learned to make paella


A tour of FC (football club) Barcelona stadium:

(that was actually my least favorite thing)

And of course the food! I ate tapas every day!

I Heart Barcelona

This city is GORGEOUS. Really spectacular. I've had fun with the group of 28 students and 3 other chaperones. I'll be writing more about our days when I add the pictures to flickr. But in the mean time, we've been enjoying warm weather and sun.

Did anyone else see the news that Moscow got a foot of snow yesterday? I can't find it, so I'm ignoring it...

Seriously?!

It's March 19th, almost the end of March - well at least more than half way through. So when I wake up to a snow covered ground, I find it a little irritating. Ok, a lot irritating. I'm done with winter. Last year I wanted more, this year, now that I got more, well, I'm done.

On the upside, when I leave the house at 6:15 it's light out :) And since we have one more week until day light savings kicks in that might still be true.

Oh and on Sunday I head to Barcelona for Discovery Week. Our itinerary is great - tours of Gaudi cathedral and the Dali museum. Then we've got a 4 hour bike ride, a 4 hour hike to a medieval village. Yep, my life does not suck. Just the snow.

A little excitement

My posts are pretty boring. I know this. I just don't know how to write them any better... But perhaps this one will be a bit better because it involves romance and characters from the past...

A few weeks ago:

Our heroine (that's me), goes to a progressive "bar" hopping where each apartment had a different themed bar where you stayed for 30-45 minutes partaking in the host's theme. Being several metro stops away from home and wanting to sleep in her own bed, she actually managed to stay relatively sober, largely helped by volunteering to tend bar at the martini bar. At the last bar "Heaven and Hell," she meets a guy - an economist from DC in town for 6 weeks.

3 days later:
Our heroine makes a reservation at a small, local, smoke-free restaurant (with the help of a Russian student) for dinner. She is meeting the economist from the party. She arrives at the restaurant early only to be told her reservation doesn't exist. "Of course not, f*cking Russia." Undaunted and now joined by the economist, they head off to a second, larger branch of the same restaurant. They talk for an hour before they order their meal. "Ah" she thinks "This is what I was missing conversation." Dinner arrives and is delicious. Conversation continues. At the end of the evening the economist is left at the corner with a nice good-bye kiss.

2 days later:
It is the Friday before February break. Several teachers and embassy employees have gathered at a British pub. Both our heroine and the economist are present. More good conversation ensues followed by a long walk back to the heroines apartment for some old fashioned making out. While this is nice, it lacks the passion she has once known. She finds her mind wandering, never a good thing while making out. She sends him home in time to catch the metro. Their phone conversation is a bit strained the next day but normal enough.

The following day our heroine is on a plane bound for Thailand with 10 students to keep her mind fully occupied.

A week later:
Our heroine has returned to the cold; it's minus ten again. On that day the economist calls, but she's still on the bus headed home. She attempts to return his call to no avail. He never calls back and she's not really bothered.

Two weeks later:
It's the end of February now. Winter is still upon us. However, day light is increasing giving the air hope that spring might arrive. Tonight is the Carnival party at the German embassy. She has a passing thought wondering if the economist will be there since embassy people tend to go to other embassy parties, but isn't very concerned one way or the other. She hasn't really bothered to wonder whether Za German will be there; last she heard, he was returning home to Germay at the end of February. Over the past two months she hasn't thought of him much, though she's saved pictures and hasn't ever deleted his number from her phone. Regardless, she has far better things to do - she's busy looking at patterns for masks to attempt to paint onto her face as a costume.

Face painted, corseted up, our heroine, her neighbor and her one Russian friend arrive at the party... And their is Za German, manning the gate. The others don't see him engrossed in their conversation, but she can't see anything else. He smiles, but no words are exchanged. She does notice that he already knows where her name is on the list and tells the person checking ids to let her in.

Inside the party now, there are costumed people everywhere! Yay! She loves these events, loves the creativity, the excitement. Za German has entered the room and while the occasional glance is stolen, they remain on separate sides of the room for 2 hours.

She doesn't quite remember moving towards him or him toward her, but, suddenly, they are together. They are talking. It is like nothing has changed. After having not seen each other for 2 months, they discuss why they haven't. She says, "But you didn't want a relationship, I didn't see the point in trying to continue..." The rest of the room has disappeared and they only see each other. "I missed you," seems to emerge into the air simultaneously.

Hours have passed. Our heroine has turned into a horrible friend, ignoring her neighbor and the Russian, but she can't tear herself away. Such is the delight to be near him again. Somehow, though she knows it's not a good idea, they agree to get together next Wednesday.

And it's all so natural. So easy. They manage to talk, to really talk, finally. She has the chance to say what she wants: "I know we're not good at this part, the talking. And I don't understand why... I don't really think it's the language, there's something else keeping us apart. But I also know this, it's never been like this with anyone else. It's never been so easy, so right, so good, so (very) passionate." And he has a chance as well, "I feel like if I met you a year from now that would be it. But I'm not ready for this yet. But I'm also afraid I'll return to Germany and feel like I made a huge mistake." She reminds him that she's not asking for any promises and is not making any, but she'll be in Moscow for another year and a half. That maybe things will work out and maybe not, but that maybe they should try. And then on Thursday, he's gone, for real this time.

But, she finds herself with plans to travel to Germany, to see what it's like in his native environment. To see if they think there's any point in her returning over the summer. And the saga continues.

Kindergarterners

IMG_0843.JPG
Originally uploaded by Traveling Em

Owww, my ovaries hurt.

In all their glory

IMG_0864.JPG
Originally uploaded by Traveling Em

Here's my group I took to Thailand. They're wearing harnesses in preparation for doing a ropes course.

I'm going insane

I'd forgotten just how allergic I am to Thailand in February. When I went in 2005 for 6 weeks I was taking 2 anti-histamines a day. I tried that again this trip to no avail. I was horribly congested all week.

I think I did a pretty good job of not taking it out on the kids though. I only got angry when they deserved it - you couldn't pay me enough to be a teenager again and it's because they make stupid decisions. Like hiding in the bathroom when I've caught the boys in the girl's room past curfew. However, there were only a few instances of stupidity and on the whole it was an INCREDIBLE experience. We built 14 tables and 28 benches for the school we were working at which means the 254 students of that school no longer have to eat sitting on the floor. We worked, we played, I sneezed.

Right, back to that. So the first plane flight back to Bangkok was incredibly painful. Bangkok to Moscow was better. I managed to go to work Monday and heard at least 20 times "Wow, your hair doesn't look nearly as bad as I thought it would" or "That's not a ~real~ mohawk. You need to shave the sides."

But by the end of the day the congestion was winning. So I got a sub. And I've stayed home all day today. Good move as most of the day has been spent sleeping. However, the congestion has moved COMPLETELY into my right ear. It's driving me crazy. I can't hear anything, it feels full of cotton, hanging upside down isn't helping. I know it will go away when the congestion clears up, but in the mean time, ARGH.

Also, somehow my dvd player has broken. And since I get no tv channels, that means my usual sick day plans of watching movies has been thwarted. Though I did finish reading The Fourth Bear (I love Jasper Fforde) and am almost done with Neverwhere (I also have a huge crush on Neil Gaiman). Neverwhere is especially excited as I started it over x-mas but then left it on a plane!! All subsequent trips to bookstores came up empty. However, the awesome school librarian ordered it for me and it arrived just in time for today's sick day!

So the thing with this hair is...

when Bree and I are walking around together we look like a couple. Especially true when we went and had side-by-side foot massages...

Yesterday one of the students said to me "Ms. S, people are looking at you and laughing about your hair." Me: "So, let them. It ~is~ pretty funny looking..."

We've arrived after a really, really long day. 9 hour flight to Bangkok, 6 hours in the airport, 1 hour flight to Chiang Rai, 1.5 hour drive to MRVR but then we're there. The kids "Wow! This is where we're staying?" We got settled for dinner and then after playing night games against, scratch that, WITH, ISB (Int'l School of Bangkok). However, our students are not so good at the mingling with our the schools thing. Turns out they have a superiority complex. Our girls thought their girls were whiny (I agreed), our boys thought they were better than everyone else (I disagreed). So we had a minor "discussion" about it last night. However, that discussion has been the only one necessary. They've been really great.

Due to a mix-up we weren't able to start our building today, instead it was team building this morning - good for our "bossy" kids and we're off canoeing this afternoon. I am really lucky to have this opprotunity.

Oh, speaking of lucky. I worked a lot with a parent to get our tickets on Thai Air at a reasonable price. He met us at the airport yesterday and upgraded the teachers to business class. I felt a bit bad about leaving the students in economy... but not quite bad enough to give one of them my ticket...

New Hair!

Excited about our new dos!
Originally uploaded by Traveling Em

We're both really excited. I wish mine was a bit more purple on top and a bit more peaked, but oh well, it'll do for a first mohawk!

Big Day

Today's the day of the faux/mo-hawk. I'm off in about 25 minutes to the hair dresser - perhaps I'm cheating a bit having it professionally done, but in the end I am too vain and I want it to look good.

Then, I've got a dinner party to show it off at.

I'm being picked up tomorrow at 1:45 to head to school to meet the students and then we'll travel together to the airport. I can't believe that after all the time spent planning and working, we're finally off. We'll be rebuilding a kitchen and adding a new water purification system to a hill tribe school.

But first, we'll go out and have lunch in Bangkok during our 7 hour lay over :)

I'll try to get a picture of the new do up before I leave.

Yay!

Latest Aeroflot Incident

Passengers had a pilot removed from the direct Moscow-NYC flight because the pilot was drunk.

Moscow Times story: http://www.moscowtimes.ru/article/600/42/374157.htm

My favorite quotes from the story:

• "It took him three attempts to say the words 'duration of the flight.'
  
  
• At the same time, an Aeroflot representative sought to assure them that "it's not such a big deal if the pilot is drunk."
  
  "Really, all he has to do is press a button and the plane flies itself," the representative said. "The worst that could happen is he'll trip over something in the cockpit."
  
  
• "I don't think there's anyone in Russia who doesn't know what a drunk person looks like," said Katya Kushner, who, along with her husband, was one of the first to react when the pilot made his announcement. "At first, he was looking at us like we were crazy. Then, when we wouldn't back down, he said, 'I'll sit here quietly in a corner. We have three more pilots. I won't even touch the controls, I promise.'"
  
  
  
• An Aeroflot spokeswoman said the pilots were removed due to "mass psychosis" among the passengers and that ... Aeroflot would sue Sobchak (socialite who made the biggest ruckus) if the costs of delaying the flight were "very large."
  

Baby, it is freaking cold outside

It's been between -15 and -20 C (0 to -4 F) over the weekend. And I got out in it. When in Rome, right? I went to watch a broomball game yesterday. Basically people chase each other around on a tennis court that's been flooded and hence a court of ice. Near as I can tell, it's like floor hockey with really small sticks made of duct tape. Seems to be easiest to maneuver around the court on your knees. If you try to run you just fall. But that also seemed ok as most people had what appeared to be pillows taped to their legs. I'm glad I got to watch and am also glad I'm not playing.

The nice thing about the cold is that the sun has returned. I love sun reflecting off snow.

It's supposed to warm back up to -8 tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to get away with wearing only 1 pair of long underwear. I had 3 pair on under my snow pants yesterday...

Oh, speaking of yesterday (I guess that's what the whole post is about really), I went and saw an INCREDIBLE Puccini concert. The first half was choral music, second half a mini-opera in Russian style complete with leather min-dresses (think hot nurse) and stilettos. But with opera singing in Italian. Very strange. The choral part was my favorite. I love good choral music. Something I wasn't really cognizant of until I moved here.

I'm so excited!

And I just can't hide it, I'm about to lose control... oh, wait, I'm too much of a control freak to do that. Nonetheless I am excited.

Today's picture of the day count: 304. That means 61 days until the big 3-0 (finally, I'll be the age I feel). This also happens to fall right at the beginning of spring break. And I'm going to celebrate it with great friends! My sister is coming from Atlanta, Sha and Minnie and maybe Joy! (fingers crossed) are coming from SF!!!, and Erin and I will be traveling from here. We'll start in Rome and then head off for a week to a house we've rented a house in Tuscany. A week of food, wine and wonderful women. Bring it on!

Also, I'm also excited that I'll likely be getting the mohawk I've been dreaming about since I was 18 ("that's been your lifelong dream? That's pretty pathetic, Ms. S" "No, it's only been my half-life dream :-P"). Over the last 2 days the students raised over $1,000. A third of the way to the goal. However, I've been told it's "really not fair to the other teachers, because we think you'll rock (or is it rawk!) a mohawk." Aww, thanks kids. Here's a student mock-up:

Hair today, gone tomorrow?

Well, my Thai Challenge group travels to Thailand in just over 2 weeks. We're still short of our fundraising goal. About $2,500 short. So the other 2 chaperones and I told the students: "You raise $3,000 over the next 2 weeks and Ms. S (that's me) will get a mohawk, Bree (remember her from February break last year) will shave her head, and Ms. T will dye her hair tutti-frutti."

I'll let you know how it progresses...

Ballet, again

It has been almost 10 years since my last ballet class. Correction, it HAD been ten years. Until today. I took a ballet class with someone who trained/danced with the Moscow State Conservatory! I got their early and Olga took the time to start early with me doing floor work. Sit-ups, stretching. My legs used to go out sideways from my hips, but not anymore.

Then, we had class with 4 other people, one of whom was a student from my school. It was great. It hurt, but was great. And they asked me to start learning a dance they've been working on for months, because they think I'm strong enough to pick it up! Go me.

Winter Wonderland

Remember how last year, I went even further north for February break to have real winter. Remember? Here's me with snow crab to prove it:



Well, no need this year. As it's been cold and snowy ever since I returned. Heck, even before I left it was -10 C. It's been very pleasant as it hasn't actually been that cold, more like -3 ish, which is bad in a way because during the day it warms up, the snow starts to melt and then refreezes making it icy. But I'm loving the winter.

Sunday I went and saw the Nutcracker! Did you know they show it year-round here?? In the middle of the performance I actually turned around behind me, reached across my friend Bree to hit the man sitting next to her. That's right, I hit a stranger. And no, I don't mean hit on. He wouldn't stop talking. Even after being asked in Russian (by native speakers) to stop. So I smacked his leg and made the "sssshhhh" noise. Yep, that's me. Irritate me enough at the theater and I will hit you.

Here I am before the show (not yet irritated):

A monolgue to the Grade 11s

"Raise your hand if you have a faceb00k page."

80% of hands raise including myself, the assistant principal and the principal. Horrified gasps from students are heard.

"Raise your hand if you have a friend with a faceb00k page."

100% of hands raised.

"Now as some of you noted, I have an account. And while I was on winter vacation I spent some time looking around, which is the only time that I really have to do such a thing. Unlike you, whom I see checking your wall and updating in between classes. Heck, some of you do it even during class... not my class of course, I'd kill you.

However, as I was looking around I saw several of you in photos. All it takes is for me to be a friend of one of your friends. And even if you have your account set to "only my friends can see" as soon as you tag one of my friends in a photo, I get to see all the photos in that album.

I've seen you at clubs, smoking, drinking, showing off champagne bottles covered in corsets. At these clubs there are often women dancing in their underwear and for some reason you take photos of these women and put it on your faceb00k account.

Now, I understand that we live in Russia, where the legal age for drinking and smoking is 18 and only rarely enforced. Fine. Do what you want in your own time! But don't put photos on faceb00k. And here's why. Those colleges that you're applying to, the ones with thousands of applicants. They need someway to make a final decision. And so they'll go to faceb00k or other such places. And if all they see is that you're a party kid, do you really think they want you representing their university?"

I think this was the first assembly that held all the students' attention. And I've gotten some great feed back such as:

"Ms. S, I never knew that stuff. I've updated my profile."

"Ms. S, you know you were right. I realized I had added these people that I met at a conference and then I was looking at their friends and one of them had MY FACE as their profile picture."

"Ms. S, some of us are getting together to take pictures of us studying for math to add to our profiles." That, obviously, was my favorite.

Yep, that's it

Most of the people who read this have already been updated in person, but for the other 4 of you out there, the relationship with Za German is now officially over. All done quite amicably. No tears were shed. In the end, really, if I can be honest or blunt, and when have I ever been one to put things delicately?! Our relationship was predominately a physical one. And while that's fun, a whole lot of orgasms, err fun, it's not really sustainable. Our phone conversations were an average of 6 minutes, our emails about the weather. I need discourse and dialogue.

So here I am single again. However as my mom said, "There are plenty of fish in the sea. Just not the sea you live in." Right, and I'm here one more year. Thanks for the reminder, mom.

In other news, I still love my job. I'm getting ready to go to Thailand in February with 9 students to build a dormitory. Ooh, email must be sent!

And speaking of sent emails, I just sent one off to Oregon State where I've just applied for their online masters program in Mathematics Education. Higher education, here I come... again.

Happy New Year

Wow, so much has happened since my last post. So Natasha and I made it out on the Tuesday flight. My parents were waiting for us and the last 2 weeks flew by in a blur of food and travel.

And now I'm back. I reviewed my last few posts and it's funny looking down at "Our Last Day Together" I've returned and am thinking, was that really it? Seems like it could be. After returning home from the missed flight Za German and I talked on the phone. And then he said, "When you get back, we should talk." Uh-oh, that's never good. We couldn't just leave it there, so we talked a bit more. What will happen when he leaves in February? Do we really like each other enough to go for long distance? Or do we just get along so well because we're in Moscow? Even though it hurt at the time, I've been thinking about it a lot and decided he's right. I hadn't really considered how it would be outside of Moscow. Our conversations don't last very long on the phone or via email, so how could we possibly keep a long distance relationship going. Besides that, I honestly don't know how well we really would get along outside of Moscow. And there have been no tears through all of this consideration. Yet another reason I know he's right. But looks like the actual conversation won't get to happen until Saturday or Sunday. So, stay tuned and in the meantime I hope to be back with pictures from Natasha's and my (what is the grammatically correct way to say that?) US adventure.

And I'm almost 30 people, 84 days away. Time to find "the one," I can almost hear my marriage clock ticking.

Still here...

Alternate titles:

Why does this keep happening to me?
I'm never flying with a buddy pass again?
5 H-O-U-R-S, 4 Security Checks, 3 bag openings, 2 trips to the airport and a frustrated Eh-mah-leee (sung)

I tried going home to Atlanta today. Here's what it's like flying out of Sheremeytevo:

Arrive, maybe have to run your bag through an x-ray. Look at the screen. Find what counter to check in at.

Go through the "nothing to declare" channel. Definitely have your bags x-rayed. All of them, even your purse.

Then have your passport looked at. Answer the questions "who packed your bag? where? when?"

Then have someone open all your bags and look through them.

Then, and only then, do you stand in line to actually get your boarding pass. Or in my case, stand-by ticket. Then passport control... more waiting.

After passport control, wait in line to go through security - shoes off, coat off, stand in a human x-ray with your arms in the air. Not kidding.

Finally get into the area full of duty free shops and people smoking. Again, not kidding.

Go to the bathroom where the water in all the toilets is 5 day old pee yellow. Nope, still not kidding.

Get to the gate to be patted down, then have your carry-on bags looked through. Finally sit and wait to board. And wait, and wait. "We're fixing the a/c on the plane. We'll begin boarding in another 20 minutes." 20 minutes later. "We're still waiting for clearance. We'll board in 20 mintes." 20 minutes later. "The flight plan has changed and we need more fuel. We estimate boarding in 20 minutes."

However, I'd been told I was getting on the plane, so I didn't care. I sat and knit... and knit.

Finally, on the plane, business class. I've checked in my coat, ordered the sole for dinner. Wait, why is the gate attendant on the plane? Why is he telling people to get off? Why is he coming towards me?

Dammit! The plane is too heavy... TOO HEAVY! And removing the 7 buddy pass fliers will make it light enough to fly apparently.

So, now I'm home again. I'll head out with Natasha on Tuesday. In the meantime, I have more time to knit. And go to business lunch. Maybe I'll get to see Za German one more time.

But truth be told, I wish I were still on that plane.

X-Mas Present

X-Mas Present Version2
Originally uploaded by Traveling Em

Here's what I made for Marco. We're so cute it's sick.

Our last day together

Marco - the photographer
Originally uploaded by Traveling Em

this year anyway. Za German and I went around and had a day in the city. We went to the Tretchikov Gallery (great!) and then walked across the river to Red Square. We ate a hot dog then came back to my place so I could give him his gift - a photo mosaic, see above.

Bunko!

I proctored the SATs this morning. Boy have they changed since I was taking them! There are 10, TEN, sections and the test taking lasts 4 hours. That means I was there 6 hours, on a Saturday people. Sucks ass. And unfortunately, no Mickey, I couldn't bring a book with me because as a diligent proctor I have to watch the kids for 4, FOUR!, hours to make sure they aren't cheating. Easily the most boring 4 hours of my life thus far, and as you know if you read this blog, my life isn't that exciting.

It's been especially not exciting this week as Za German has had visitors of the male persuasion the past week and thus I haven't seen him as his been out with his buddies playing host, read staying out until 7 taking them to different clubs.

So I've had a dull week, except for tonight, when I learned a new game, Bunko! I've heard of people having bunko parties, but I think that was mostly on sit-coms. Tonight I actually attended a party and it was like Yahtzee! and musical chairs all in one. Add in a bunch of snack foods, gin and tonic and you've got a recipe for great fun.

Weird

238/365 (self-portrait)
Originally uploaded by Traveling Em

This photo, which I only recently added to my 365 days of photos set, has been viewed 69 times! Does that seem weird to anyone else? Most of those photos have only been viewed 3 times, 5 for an especially good one... And I don't see anything especially interesting about this one. Can someone help me out?

Ok, I just went back to flickr and researched more. Seems people came upon it by searching for "boots" and/or "rain boots." 'Tis the season, I guess.

And speaking of the season, I've spent my Friday night baking cookies for a cookie swap I'm hosting Sunday! I'm making snowballs (aka Russian tea cakes, aka Mexican wedding cookies) and thumb prints (aka thimble cookies, the ones with an indentation filled with jam or candied fruit).

Tomorrow I have the excitement of proctoring the SATs. Yep, that's right, it's a never ending party in my world.

Dolled Up

241/365
Originally uploaded by Traveling Em

I spent an hour watching You Tube videos on "smokey eyes". In the end I think the make up turned out well. And of course, I was happy to be all decked out mit meinem mann. We went to the annual AAS holiday party. Last year was incredible, this year, eh, it was ok. Had a much better time coming home with the man, if you know what I mean.