As I said in my last post, I have now been home for officially over two months.  I can't believe it was only 8(ish) short weeks ago that I was walking through the soaked streets of Hamburg or hanging out with my Fulbright girls.  Sighhhh... Nostalgia.  Let's relive my last few hours of European bliss by looking at my pictures from my stop over in Iceland.  Oh, did I not mention that I had a SEVEN hour layover in Reykjavik?  I did, and it was awesome.



Flying over Iceland

The Moon? Nope, Iceland.

The Blue Lagoon, where I enjoyed a relaxing layover.

A geothermal heated "natural" swimming pool, the Blue Lagoon.

Underground Moon parking lot

Icelandic money

More moneyz... lovin' the Icelandic hats/beards.

But anyway, getting back to the point: though I've mostly been working my butt off trying to save money the past few weeks, I have had a couple chances for fun.  The weather has been great here (especially in comparison to northern Germany) and family visits have made for some enjoyable weekends. At the beginning of August my sister and I drove a couple hours north to go to a Mumford and Sons concert.  We had lawn seats, and even though I could barely see the stage (at all) it was still amazing!

Another big highlight was the trip of my boyfriend, Matthias.  He arrived in mid-August to Upstate New York and we spent some time with my family.  Afterward we visited NYC and Washington DC together.  It was really fun and super great to see him, but the week simply went by too fast! :(

Contemplating America

Awwwww

Brooklyn



The day we were in Brooklyn it was really hot, so we decided to beat the heat by taking a ferry ride down to Wall St. and back.

Manhattan

After spending the day in NYC laying in parks and hanging out with some of my friends from high school we retired semi-early to prepare for the next day.  Saturday (which was the next day) we took a Chinatown bus down to Washington DC.  Matthias had never been and I hadn't visited in over four years, so it was an adventure for both of us.

The Tidal Basin and Jefferson Memorial

American Museum of Natural History

The Burger Joint... to die for burgers and shakes!

Just under a week after he had gotten off the plane, Matthias was off again for Chicago and the west coast.  Unfortunately I had to work, so I couldn't come with him.  I trudged back Upstate after a ridiculous 3 hour delay and 45 minutes plane ride.  In the month since then I have been trying to keep myself occupied.  Though during the week work usually gets in the way of most things, the weekends have afforded some nice distractions.

Last weekend my mom and went hiking in Watkins Glen.  We had had a grand scheme to hike in the Finger Lakes every weekend over the summer, but this was actually only our second time.  Oops... It was still really fun though!

Happy Hiker!

This past Saturday we went to one of my niece's field hockey games.  I think everyone in our family was surprised to learn that they even have field hockey for 8 year olds, but boy did they ever.  It was a huge 4 hour long tournament! Even though her team didn't win any of the games we watched, they sure did play well!

Purple shirt and hot pink short/socks/shoes/stick? That's our girl!

Allie and friend... how cute are they??

Sunday was the day of the long awaited (by me) German festival at the Lucas Winery on Cayuga Lake.  Two of my favorite things together: Germans and wine! Oh joy!  Though seemingly small, with only a few booths, food, wine and a band... it sure was gemütlich.

dog! in an Oktoberfest hat! cute!

Bavarian dancers

Bavarian dancers (doing Schuhplattler!)

"German food"

As for now, I have about three months until I'll be back in Germany and I have a lot of preparing to do.  From university applications to scholarship applications, apartment hunting and trying to enjoy things here, I think the time will fly rather quickly.

To put off that future just a tad, let's reminisce on the past... I had a disposable underwater camera developed last weekend and the resulting pictures (from Macedonia, Portugal and Iceland) are a wonderful bit of nostalgia!

Icelandic beer at the Blue Lagoon

Blue Lagoon

Blue Lagoon

Thumbs up at the Blue Lagoon or Portugal... I don't remember which

Portugal

Emily in Portugal

Me in Portugal

Macedonia

Haha... Iggy at Lake Ohrid, Macedonia :)

Lake Ohrid

Lake Ohrid

Lake Ohrid

Fish in Lake Ohrid

Me in Lake Ohrid

Iggy in Lake Ohrid

Lake Ohrid

Happy Iggy (who got married this weekend, by the way!
Congrats again to the beautiful bride!)

I suppose that's all for now, folk...

Until Next Time,
Chelsea

The past week I have spent getting more settled into my school and learning the ropes of being an assistant language teacher.  I now have a set(ish) teaching schedule and have met almost all of the classes I'll be with. Here's how its looking:

Monday- FREE DAY! :D

Tuesday- 2nd&3rd periods with a 6th grade class (they have a double English lesson that day), 4th period with an 8th grade class.  

Wednesday- 2nd, 3rd & 4th periods with three different 5th grade classes.  These are the classes I haven't visited yet and they are with the Regionaleschule, not the Gymnasium so that will be a bit different from what I'm used to.  In case you aren't sure how the German school systems work (and I'm sure you don't, since I'm still not totally clear on it...) the Gymnasium was traditionally the school that the kids who were going to go to university went to and the Regionalschule kids went on to trades after their high school.  There are new schools here called Gesamtschules (which is what I teach at) where the two are combined into one big school, presumably to give the Regionalschule kids the opportunity to get a better education than they traditionally would, but I have a rant about that which is best left for another post..... So where was I....

Thursday - 1st period 8th grade, 2nd period a different 8th grade, 3rd period 7th grade

Friday - 1st period 7th grade, 2nd period 8th grade, 3rd period 7th grade

So over all, I don't work a whole lot (12 hrs a week actually), have Mondays off and am done by 10:15am on Thursday and Friday.  The complication comes with the fact that I live about an hour from the school I work at, so getting to school and getting home depends on the carpool of other teachers who live in Kiel.  The days when I have to be to the school for the 1st period, I have to be PICKED UP at 6:25am.  That means I have to get up no later than 5:15am unless I want to be late (and therefore not very German).  Its a bit stressful and extremely tiring, but I am getting into the habit of a good afternoon nap and savoring the mornings that I get to sleep in an extra hour.  

This weekend was spent exploring Hamburg and Kiel with other Fulbright English Teaching Assistants. Friday I walked around the Hamburg harbor and the area of the city called "HafenCity" with two of the Americans living in Hamburg.  We were fortunate enough to have really sunny (if not still chilly) weather.  Saturday was spent in Kiel resting and later hanging out with some of the American ETAs, and Sunday some of us took a lovely stroll around the harbor.  I've been in Kiel for just under two weeks, but I honestly haven't seen a whole lot.  Sunday we walked farther toward the ocean that I had before and saw some really awesome old sailing ships, people playing kayak polo and even some seals (in German: Seehunde = "Sea Dogs") at the outside aquarium.  Two thumbs up for that day as well, even though I unfortunately didn't bring my camera.  Some pictures from Hamburg though:

Hamburg Rathaus

Jessica and Wes at a cool beach themed park by the harbor

Hamburg tries really hard to push the beach theme but there's something lacking... oh yeah, the beach.

The flags of Hamburg, Germany and something maritime-y.  

A Russian ship from 1706 moored in HafenCity, which is known for its very pricey apartments and penthouses (see background). 

Today, during my day off, I went to the store and picked up the film I had dropped off last week.  Some of the pictures I had taken in Macedonia and some were from just last week, so its quite a jumble of subjects.

Igballe at the Painted Mosque in Tetovo.

Prayer beads

Adorable little girl at the Dervish community in Tetovo

Ooo girl! Look at that sass!

Orthodox Macedonian church in Tetovo.

St. Nikolai Church in Kiel

Though creepy and horned, that's not the devil folks its Moses.

Erika and Ariel at the Harbor in Kiel.

Yeah I guess Kiel is kinda cool sometimes.

Kiel Town Hall and Opera house

Town Hall and "Kleiner Kiel" park

As I now prepare for bed and early 6am start tomorrow (though later than some days!), I leave you with an image from my lovely, sunny, late start from today.

My favorite coffee and our kitty, Doctor Zoidberg, staring out the window. 

Until Next Time,

Chelsea