If You're Living on an Island, You've Gotta See the Beach!

Last weekend we weren't travelling to another country, so of course we took another opportunity to travel somewhere in England.  We decided to go to the beach! Keep in mind that it is fall/almost winter here, so it was a bit chilly at the beach, but it was still a lot of fun.  We went to Hunstanton, which was about an hour and 20 minutes away.  When we got there, we saw lots of little shops and restaurants. We walked along the beach, where there were rides, miniature golf courses and restaurants (most of this stuff was closed because it's getting too cold).

I tried to take a bunch of pictures of Ashley jumping
 (which didn't work) so she took one of me.

What's a trip somewhere without finding a map?

Then, we headed to the opposite side of the beach where there were enormous cliffs and tons of fallen rocks that we climbed on.  I also collected some pretty seashells...I had to, I was at the beach.

I could have sat there all day and watched the waves!

Next, we stopped at a nice little English cafe to have lunch.  I went with Ashley to find a cash machine and somehow we ended up in the casino. We were excited to get some free hot chocolate and decided since we were in there, why not try the 10 pence machine?

We found a candy shop and had warm beverages by the beach, then we headed home.  On our way back, we saw massive bonfires everywhere.  Have you ever heard the saying, "Remember, remember, the fifth of November"?  Well, the 5th of November is Guy Fawkes Day/Night.  In the 1600s Guy Fawkes along with some other people tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament and King James I with barrels of gunpowder.  They didn't succeed, so now fireworks and bonfires are lit every year to celebrate the survival of King James.  It was cool to experience a British holiday!

On Sunday, we took a day trip through the travel office on base to the United Kingdom's biggest amusement park, Alton Towers.  Luckily, I have babysat and worked with babies enough to have a little more tolerance for crying babies, but I still wonder why people think that babies want to sit on a bus for almost three hours.  Anyway, we finally arrived and of course there was a giant castle in the middle of the park.  It was a fun day full of huge rollercoasters and the biggest fireworks display (accompanied by some good music).  Although we didn't get back until 12:30 (on a Sunday night), it was well worth the trip.

Just representing our school in England! Go pokes!

The next couple of weeks bring exciting things and I know they'll go by super fast! Tomorrow we have a half day of school and the other half is dedicated to parent/teacher conferences.  Friday is Veteran's Day (we'll be in Spain), and Monday and Tuesday are full days of conferences.  That means only three days of instruction next week and the next week (thanks to Thanksgiving). 

A Cathedral, A Futbol Game, and A Place with Lots of Chocolate

The weeks just keep flying by! I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since my last update! So, it all started with a cathedral..

On October 22, my cooperating teacher was so kind to invite me to spend the day with her.  She picked me up and we went to her house in Ely, England.  Ely is a very nice town about 30 minutes away from Feltwell. Ely has a huge cathedral, which was our first stop.  It was beautiful.  The area where the choir sits and the high altar is located reminded me of the Royal Wedding.  Speaking of, we got to listen to the choir practice and it was amazing.  I recorded some of it, but couldn't get it on here.  We chatted with a chaplain for a bit and when I told him I was from the United States, he responded, "Oh, I've never been to the States..and I don't really ever want to."  Naturally I told him all about the fun things to do in Oklahoma like horseback riding and cow-tipping.. just kidding.  After our visit to the cathedral, we went to the market (like a farmer's market) in town and enjoyed some delicious pizza.  It was a great time!

Meet Precious (I call her Kitty).

This is at the high altar.

I lit a candle and said a prayer for all of you!

The stained glass was so beautiful!

This is where the choir sings.

The next morning, we were so excited to get up to head to an Arsenal soccer game! I've definitely missed watching the Cowboys play football this season and I'd have to say this made up for it. The stadium was huge and filled.  There was so much noise going on between the hooligans (I just wanted to call them that) and all of the cheering.  I was quite surprised when one of the Arsenal players missed a goal and instead of people yelling at him, there was an "awe" followed by clapping.  This happened every time one of the players made a mistake, it was pretty neat!  So anyway, the soccer game was a great experience and if you ever get the chance to go to one, do it!

This brought back memories of watching good friends play soccer!

And then they won!

On Saturday, we took an extended day trip to Brugge, Belgium. We took a bus and a ferry to Brugge, and even though we spent 12 hours travelling, it was well worth it.  Every other store was a chocolate shop (my kind of town) and there was a canal that ran through the city. The buildings look like they haven't been touched in centuries. It was so beautiful! 

This is why Fall is my favorite season.

The geese were huge!

Belgian waffle, so good..whipped cream, not so much.

Lots of cathedrals!

Just hanging out by the canal.

I really can't believe it's November. October flew by.  I've been teaching full days now, which means lots of lesson planning is going on, but I'm enjoying it!  I absolutely love my group of crazy, energetic second graders.  We are currently having parents come in to talk about their careers and the kids love it.

I'd like to share a little story with you..
One of my girls was having a lot of problems with her work the other day and she wrote "I am stupid" all over her paper.  Of course I told her she was not stupid, but she was in a bad mood for the rest of the day.  The next day, I noticed she was doing well on her spelling and I told her how great she was doing.. I have never seen such a big smile on a child's face.  It was like Santa walked in the room.  She almost made me cry.  It's amazing what the smallest compliment can do for a child.  These are the kinds of things that are so rewarding about teaching.  This is what drew me to this profession.

Other exciting things going on over here:

• Tomorrow we are going to a city's Christmas lights on festival. (The English don't celebrate Thanksgiving, so they've already started Christmas festivities)
• Our travels in November are: Amusement park in England, Madrid, Dublin, and Paris!
• Only 44 days until I can call myself a college graduate!
• Last thing, I found out that we have the movie "Elf" here.  For those of you that don't know, I really really love Christmas, even more than I love Halloween, and I could watch "Elf" every single day and it never stops making me laugh.

Well, that's all for now! Thanks for reading!

Birthday Weekend in Germany!

The idea of not celebrating my birthday really hard for me before I left for England; however, this weekend I got to travel to Germany! First, on Friday night, I was surprised with delicious cake and presents! Also, I was serenaded via Skype by my mother and grandma...I know, you're jealous.  On Saturday morning, we got to sleep in a little and left around 3:30 a.m. to head to the airport (yes, that's late compared to our Rome flight). We got to the Frankfurt-Hahn airport around 9:30, but it was about an hour and a half drive to the city.  It was the most beautiful ride ever. Germany is so green and hilly. When we got into the city, it was so different than Rome and London.  It wasn't as busy and the city was clean.  Also, since Frankfurt was bombed during World War II and it has been rebuilt since then, so the architecture is more modern.  In Frankfurt, they also have some Old Germany buildings. It's really neat!

So cute!

The Underground. 

The first thing we did after we dropped our luggage off at the hostel was head to the PalmenGarten.  This is a huge garden.  It was a beautiful day and I love nature, so this was perfect! Mom, this reminded me of the days you would take us to the Rose Gardens to take our pictures and Kirsten and Kelsey would freak out because of the bees. It was so beautiful!

We loved these lounge chairs.
There were so many people laying in them.

This is why I love Fall!

Chrysanthemums everywhere!

We decided to have a photo shoot. This pose was Michele's idea.

Go Pokes!

I love flowers! The yellow ones were my favorite!

A beautiful little lake! It's too cold to canoe now.

Since it was such a beautiful day, we wanted to be outside for longer, so we headed to the good ol' Main River, which flows into the Rhine River. There were people jogging along the river and just sitting next to it enjoying drinks.  I loved it! We had some Apfelwein (apple wine/cider).  It was just a beautiful day!

In our research of the city (which was difficult because everything is in German), we found out about a place called the Main Tower.  This is kind of comparable to the Sears/Willis Tower.  Okay, it's 200 meters shorter, but when you get to the top, you get to stand outside! Plus, it's way cheaper. It was super windy and cold, but we got up there right at sunset.  You get a full view of the city. I could stay up there for hours just looking at the beautiful city..unfortunately, we were only in Frankfurt for about 30 and we had other things to do, so that wasn't an option.

So happy on my birthday!

Looking into the distance.

Later, we had free pasta at the hostel and had some German beer with it.  Then, we got a nice taste of the German nightlife.  We danced the night away and headed home. It was a great way to end my birthday! 

Fraziskaner weissbier! Say that five times fast!

 

In the cocoons! 

These are the buttons for the crosswalk!

We passed a protest on our way to Romer..

Romer!

Yummy!

Some kind of wurst..

Here are some pictures of our awesome hostel..

I hope you aren't getting tired of Stanley.

Just a pretty hangout place!

And the pretty views..

It was such a beautiful area, but this was around the corner... oops.  

It was a wonderful weekend. It was definitely relaxing compared to Rome.  I loved Germany and can't wait to go back in December for Christmas festivities!

Our next travels..This weekend we will be staying in England.  On Saturday, I am spending the day with my cooperating teacher.  We have the same birthday, so this is our "birthday celebration."  On Sunday, the five of us are heading to our first futbol game! You have no idea how excited we are!  I'll give an update on that one.

Days til Graduation: 59 (yep, this is starting to freak me out a little)