Vlado&Toni

Other Stuff

2011-11-28T19:03:00.000+01:00

Aside from that - there are other things going on around this corner of the world - first in the next few weeks we are going on our holiday to the Philippines. Finally! After planning this for the last 3 years it is happening - The V and I are very excited. We have bought almost all our presents and stuff we might need, we just need to pack our clothes and we are set. It will be a wonderful time spending the holidays with family and a few special friends.

I got a mini promotion at work and almost changed jobs as well - quite exciting actually but still lots of work and drama with colleagues - nothing new at all.

Birthday 2011

2011-11-28T18:27:00.000+01:00

I haven't been blogging for the longest time so I thought I should pay this poor blog of mine a visit and document bits and pieces of our lives - my memory is not that dependable anymore and I could rely on my posts here to remind me of the things I did in the past.

Anyway, for this year - my 40th which happened some time in October, a good friend of mine organized a surprise breakfast get together with some friends. What a lovely idea! I did not do anything on my party and et I got so much present and a free breakfast ;) wonderful friends indeed!

Here's my dear friend S. who organized the breakfast.

Some of my guests.

Here with The V.

Look at me - that's about 17 years ago - taken before graduation.

Look at the size of that breakfast! You get a whole tower thing just for yourself. Look how happy my friends were on this picture :)

Such a lovely gift from A. - paper for scrapbooking!

Purple pillows from my friend

Me and The V. taken in Worms, we took a little drive to enjoy the crisp autumn afternoon.

Birthday dinner at one of our favourite tapas place - nothing fancy but still really good.

Hey, birthday girl!

Flowers from colleagues

Beautiful flowers from colleagues

Again beautiful presents from my birthday breakfast

Flowers from The V

I did not get any presents from the V nor did we celebrate this 40th birthday - maybe we would do it in the Philippines or celebrate it another way somehow this year. Nevertheless it was a wonderful day - spent part of it cooking for the homeless as well so that kind of brought something good to it too. Indeed it was a happy birthday!

Summer of 2011

2011-08-12T12:51:00.000+02:00

Summer of 2011 will be officially over for me this coming Sunday because I am going back to work after 7 weeks of school holidays! Yes, that's a lot of holidays! But it really went quite fast for me because I have been up and about as always

The first 3 weeks were with my mom and then my in laws - we travelled to Rome and Paris

The fourth week was with my in laws - stayed at home and did sightseeing around.

The fifth, sixth and seventh week were spent writing my papers again!

zzzzz

Yup that was it - I am so tired of writing.. I am by the way not yet 100 % done - just the important ones that is.

It has been so far a very busy summer - can't wait for the next break .. haha.. work is going to be exciting once again, lots of dramas and intrigues between colleagues and school politics.. what's new!?! just hoping all the kids are safe and happy and the parents happy and thanksful for the job that we do!

Hello Blogworld!

2011-07-30T17:53:00.000+02:00

Hi there dear friends! Goodness it has been such a long time that I haven't been able to blog. I was busy with my mom's blog containing her adventures here in Germany and Europe that I just did not have the time to write on my own blog. Anyway, she is back home since almost 2 weeks. Soon I will be able to keep this blog running once again. As for me it is summer holidays and since I am a teacher yes I have a very long summer holiday - well who knows till when since my school is cutting lots of holidays. So anyway, just enjoying and I have 2 more weeks to do my tasks. I still have some writing to do for my diploma.. I just did not had the chance, the energy and the motivation to finish it while my mom was here. So far so good actually as I have written already 2 papers in one week! My goal is to finish them all till school starts in 2 weeks (ok that's also the last deadline).

At the moment my in-laws are also here, it's their last day actually today. So we've actually had guests continuosly the last 3 and half months. I think this house feels a bit strange with just 2 people in it.

Well that's all for now. Will be posting more soon! See you all and will be definitely visiting your blogs soon.

Just checking in

2011-06-15T19:12:00.001+02:00

Hello Blogworld, so sorry for not updating this blog but my mom's blog is taking so much of my time nowadays so if you want to browse through you can check out that blog

http://travellingmila.wordpress.com

Summer break is fast approaching - we are heading for a lot of trips the next few days from Ffm to Munich and many other German towns nearby then to Rome and back to Ffm then Paris.. whew!

Hopefully I will get to update this blog again afterwards.

Trips with Mom

2011-05-07T23:53:00.000+02:00

I've been enjoying the last few days with my mom. It is so nice to have someone to talk to all the time at home when The V is gone off from work .. but even better than that, it is so nice to have home cooked meals! Mom also takes care of me as well - coffee in the morning and ironed clothes as well the next day :) well I told her she does not need to but she wants to keep herself occupied when I am not at home. She has been very independent as well doing things herself - shopping, going to the library, the pharmacy and other stuff. She does not care even if she does not speak German at all! So proud of her.. I have met some people much younger than her who are very scared to get out of their houses and just wait for families or partner because they don't speak the German language..

What we are now trying to do is do some trips during the weekends. So far so good - the weather has been really nice and this is her second weekend - she might have some expectations to see more of the neighboring countries ( like Paris and Rome for examples) but we want to show her Germany first. There are just too many things to see here and I repeat it - Germany is just so under rated when it comes to its tourism.. so many things to do and see here.

Today we went along the Mosel River and Mosel River - it was a beautiful day. Amazing that it is still early May.

Mama in Germany

2011-04-28T15:54:00.000+02:00

My mom's here since Monday. She is having a wonderful time and enjoying all the things around her. It seems everything is just so new to her..We brought her immediately to Frankfurt and showed her a bit of the town.

I even made a new blog for her so if you are interested to see it, you can check it out here.

http://travellingmila.wordpress.com/

I figured if I put all her pictures and stories, I might end up maximizing my picture storage. I will still write the stories but it will be basically about the things she would see and do with us of course.

Easter 2011

2011-04-25T00:04:00.001+02:00

The V. and I were having some coffee today and were just saying how quiet it is .. it's the Easter holidays and most people are somewhere.. especially with the wonderful weather.. We just realised that we actually don't spend Easter here so much that we have not taken notice of this wonderful empty city. There were parking spots everywhere and you can have a choice of the best seats in your favourite coffee shops and restaurants! So just so I can remember it - this year 2011 Easter.. we enjoyed a quiet lunch and afternoon in Ffm.

We started thinking about our last Easters.. one of the best we've had were with friends L and N in Belgium... we even missed the time change.. so on the way to the church, we met people who were shaking their heads mumbling "oh they had the wrong time???!! ". To save the situation we decided to hurry and go to the Cathedral instead.. at least I was able to get some personal blessings from the Archbishop or Cardinal of Belgium.. hmmm not sure now..

Just an update - the seeds i am trying to germinate for my garden are doing well. I will be transfering them soon ... hopefully this week, so I can use the pots for my next seeds.. These are coriander seeds, sweet basil, tomatoes, celery and bell peppers.. ..

This is our front garden, do you see that green bush on the left side? This whole area was covered with snow last winter up to the height of that bush.. amazingly the plants made it.. I got some beautiful tulips this year... I planted them last October and I think a lot of them turn up..

Project Garden

2011-04-19T15:56:00.000+02:00

Was watching one of those shows in the television and they featured about Guerilla Gardening in Spain. Basically it is gardening in public spaces.. places that are normally left in the city..and a few people in Madrid I think decided to make use of the land and planted some vegetables.. This got me inspired to make a small vegetable patch in my garden. If this works I might turn out the rest of the space into a real vegetable garden. Well let's just see how this goes.. I am at the moment in Munich so there is nobody watering my plants and I just hope they are not dead yet especially those I was leaving to germinate..

A treasure we found buried deep in the earth.. I wonder what this thing is? Just pure concrete!

phew! this wasn't any easy work

And some of the seeds I am trying to grow.. which me luck.. they are coriander, sweet basil, peppers and tomatoes.. when I left they were sprouting so I hope that continues.. and that it is not as warm as it is here there back home.

Weekend in Amsterdam

2011-04-19T15:28:00.003+02:00

Had a chance to go to Amsterdam this weekend for a conference and in between some time to meet up with friends. I am amazed at how friendly people in the Netherlands are.. or maybe I am just a tourist and I just think so.

Luckily we could stay at a friend's house in Utrecht, not really far from Amsterdam about 25 minutes with an Intercity train.

The conference was really inspiring and really motivating .. however also very frustrating at some point. In one of the lectures it was about the advantages of Montessori schools versus classical schooling. My colleague told the lecturer that she is very aware of the advantages of Montessori teaching but she just could not afford to send her son to a Montessori school because at least it remains to be an elitist school.The lecturer did not know what to say and just said I don't know...The lecturer was a representative to United Nations even... hmmm..

So much fun with C, D and S.. prost!

The one in the middle is my colleague S. and the other one is my friend C. who was so nice to accomodate us at her lovely place in Utrecht

And here's another dear friend O. who I have not seen the last 5 years???! Goodness to think we are just about 400 kilometers away..hope to see him sooner next time .. count down starts now...

Sunshine weekend and chores galore

2011-04-08T18:03:00.000+02:00

The sun has been smiling on us lately and it feels almost as if it's summer! Thank goodness winter is over! Everyone's just hoping now that this good weather stays - really stays till at least the start of Autumn. Anyway, despite the sun-shiny weather we are loaded with lots of chores! And I mean lots! The V is heading the task force to clean the house especially the basement and get rid of all our junk - or basically my junk! Goodness me - I cannot help myself - I am just a collector of all sorts. So while everyone is basking in the sun out there - you know where to find me. On top of that I decided to embark on a new project and that is project garden!

I decided to make a vegetable patch in our small garden and if this is successful - I will make a second one next year. Although very small it is not an easy work to dig and remove the grass on it. Whew! We did not have enough time last week so we will continue with this as well.

Due to this I have to turn down lots of activities - there are weekends when there are just too much invitations, when the weather's good, some people can't just help but have brunches and barbeques. Aside from that I will miss out on my monthly scrapbooking meeting.. oh well at least I have my little patch of earth to unleash my creative energies :)

Mom is coming to town

2011-03-25T19:24:00.000+01:00

Finally! My mom got her most awaited visa and will be visiting us here really soon - well not that soon but in a month's time. The V. and I are very excited and are making lots of plans now what to do- Hopefully the weather stays this nice till summer so we could really do lots of trips around Germany and even visit neighboring countries.

Munich Part 2

2011-03-13T18:00:00.000+01:00

One of the things I love about Munich was shopping and browsing through the little shops around town. The V. found us a really charming hotel, centrally located and very quiet nevertheless. The name of the hotel is Das Hotel, in case you find yourselves in Munich - just 10 minutes walking distance to Marienplatz or 5 minutes away from the train station.

The room is so big and spacious - It is much bigger than the first floor of my house (ok I have a small house). The hotel also offers whole day tea and cake- just help yourself. You can bring it in your room or enjoy it in the tea room which is so quaint and sweet. Lots of very good tea selection.

Just a few meters from the hotel, I found this really interesting shop - Apartment Shop Around the World - this is literally shopping around the world. You can imagine a small shop with so many colourful things from all over the world in it! It took me a lot of ohs and aahhs.. if you are visiting Munich and don't really have to check all the great museums this is a must place to see!

Just click on the pictures to have a more detailed look into the stuff you see.

All those little corners and those little things -. they all have a story to tell and just waiting to be discovered.

Best of all - service is super friendly. The owner was just chatting with the customers - giving them all the time they want to touch everything! Of course we also had a little chat.. wish we have such a shop like this in Frankfurt.

Till next visit----
It seems I just sort of landed in all these nice places without really planning. I wanted to see one of the places in my travel guide when I saw this shop

Spices galore!!! Anything imaginable from all parts of the world.

The good thing about it is you could just take as much as you like as long as it is a minimum of 20 grams. I've cooked some of the spices there this week and they were oh so yummy! Will definitely check this out again - they also have a corner for sweet mixes (drinks, coffee flavouring etc. ) but did not even go to the sweet corner.. so tempting already this part of the shop.

This is the curry corner .. so difficult to choose which to get

Click on this picture to see what different kinds of curry you could find - you have the erotic curry, the sex curry and in between the maharaja wedding curry (",)

This is the salt corner . didn't know salt has so many colours from bright bright red to pink- gray - white and even black!

Of course there were various oils, jams and whatever your heart desires! I could have taken more pictures but the kind saleslady told me not to take so much - I really don't know why because what is the difference between 3 and 10 pictures? Nevertheless she was still friendly so I was happy with what I have. This is definitely a place to go in Munich as well - don't miss it. Beside the spice shop is the chocolate shop! I did not visit that one but judging from this one I think that is also one place to go, Schuhbeck's Spice Store very near Marienplatz (there are actually 2 of them but the bigger one a few blocks from Marienplatz)

Trip to Munich part 1

2011-03-13T10:08:00.000+01:00

I have been once in Munich 10 years ago but that is just a stop over on the way to Italy and to go beer drinking in Oktoberfest. The experience was fun and memorable but it is something that you don't really need to do again unless you love to drink beer in the company of hundred/thousands drunken tourists and Germans.

This time I got the chance to see more of the city and it is beautiful - the buildings are all so marvelous and it just have this sort of "big city" flair to it compared to Frankfurt. There were also lots of tourists despite the cold (and wet) February weather. Of course I have to check Marienplatz which is just part of visiting Munich and luckily it's 12 noon so I get to enjoy, see and hear the chimes from the old city hall's clock.

There's a whole show going on because under the clock there is a sort of balcony where you can see figures moving along with the chime. I think this took more than 10 minutes.

This is a zoom and you can see the king and queen with 2 other figures, I think 2 hunters and underneath some dancers.

Now in front of the king and queen some fighters on horses and at the same time some soldiers dancing and twirling. All of this accompanied with music from the bells.

Hello World

2011-03-03T22:44:00.000+01:00

As always - I have a number of posts in my mind to write about but nothing came out of it - obviously. Spring it seems is finally here - hurra! Just had our February break which was really nice and spent it in Munich - will post some pictures soon! What a beautiful city - I have never seen a city here in Germany with so many tourists in such a slow - non peak season! It's probably the most visited place in this country - on the way to Neuschwanstein - the famous castle where Disneyland is modelled after.

Today was a not so significant day but very touching and interesting with regards to my work - the class I have at the moment (since end of October) has been handled by almost 4 teachers within a year so you could imagine how that class is. Nevertheless - despite being seen as the wild bunch in our school - truly love the personalities I have in that class.

One of the kids (girl who has been almost in the class for almost 3 school year) came to me just out of the blue (we were putting things for our snack in the oven)

Girl - You know what Mrs. G, you are the best teacher ever!
Me: (trying to look very non-committal but indeed very pleased to this child's comment - sorry I am easy) why do you think so?
Girl - Because you are the only teacher who does so much with us - differnt work, adventures, projects, cooking - LOTS of things! Mrs. So and so did just this,, Ms. so and so did nothing ......Mrs.....
Me: Thank you very much. I'm glad you're enjoying our class (beaming inside - truly the girl analyzed this and was not just trying to be a teacher's pet -haha!)

Although I am a Montessori teacher - I try to include different things in my curriculum - things I've learned from the German system or things I remember from my own childhood and things from books of course. I still have a lot to learn! But this comment really made my day! Not only because of the positive comment but the child can see my effort in bringing in different ways of learning to our class (the girl is by the way only 5 but very smart - already does multiplication and comprehension sheets in reading!)

Updates

2011-02-05T00:57:00.000+01:00

It was supposed to be an exciting week at work. I am doing a project with the kids on the different continents and of course I started with Asia - I also got a lot of involvement from the parents. Unfortunately I got sick so was out since Wednesday ... so sad to miss the event and the food!!!... in the end I missed Indian, Chinese and Japanese day.. But had to stay at home - I could not even get out of bed . To make matters worst, I had to go to the doctor's and sit in the most uncomfortable chair for an hour and half with the worst headache and pain from all over! I hate these doctors appointments here - they tell you to come at a certain time but let you wait nevertheless for at least an hour!!!

So that was the start of my February - aside from that I have started the procedure for my Mom's trip - well there are a lot of things to organize behind it but just gotten started with getting an approved inviation from the Aliens Department in our town. I even made a mistake when they asked for our mortgage.. and The V said this might affect the duration of the visa -they will be computing our earnings plus mortgage plus cost of living and costs of having a guest! Good thing The V was able to reach the woman who got my papers- Whew - I just hope my mom gets her visa and on time.

Happy Weekend

2011-01-24T21:33:00.001+01:00

How was your weekend? If you think I have been drinking the last few days - then you are absolutely wrong- was just goofing around in the store- in Germany we go to this big beverage market to get our bottled water and other drinks like cola or smirnoff's and I just happen to see this big bottle of vodka and the big bottle of beer right at the entrance, beside the recycling machine for disposable plastic bottles and tins - hmm how do you recycle this big bottle? re-use nd refill it of course -- The V. cannot resist but join in the fun as well. ---
'

Updates

2011-01-18T17:24:00.000+01:00

Just back to work and already tired - the winter months really seem to drag..(wish I could go somewhere warm for a holiday) Can't wait for Spring to come especially I have something to look forward to. The V. and I decided to invite my mom over for Spring and early summer - she could stay up to 12 weeks (visa ). I just hope this would all push through - you'll just never know with all these visa requirements.

Aside from that life is as usual - The V. is happy with his new job and I am doing ok with my classroom. Finally gotten used to working with 3-6's again after a year and half school year with toddlers..Although sometimes they tend to be a bit naughty (and very loud) - this doesn't happen with the toddlers as they are all still innocent.

I am back with studying again - I have to get back to my routine though because I haven't really sat and looked at all my requirements - hopefully it will all be over this summer.

New Year Plans

2011-01-17T17:36:00.000+01:00

The V. and I enjoyed our Christmas holiday being home most of the two weeks - there were just too much snow and aside from that we upgraded our home entertainment system... After many years of rejecting it - finally we decided to get a new television - and a flat screen at that. Also I got myself a nintendo wii :) to have a bit of an exercise using wii fit - so far so good actually. I really did not gain any extra pounds during the holiday binge.. (i was doing my wii fit exerice almost everyday at 40 minutes)

We spent the holiday with friends who got snowed in on Christmas Eve, they ended up sleeping here. It was so nice that in the morning we all had brunch together - I felt we were almost like family. We played a game, ate a lot and went to chuch even two times! - traditional midnight mass with a brilliant choir and one from our church in the afternoon.

For New Year's we spent it at our friends' house - they live on the 11th floor overlooking the whole town and even up to Frankfurt! Before that we stuffed ourselves with a make your own sushi dinner. The fireworks lasted until almost 1 am - an hour! That have been lots of money! Thousands and thousands of Euro for sure! We even had breakfast again with our friends - since she's Japanese, it is a tradition to have breakfast together on the 1st day of the year (not sure if this applies to all or just her family). We ended up having breakfast/lunch together again.

Looking back at 2010

2011-01-02T18:27:00.001+01:00

I was chatting with a friend and she told me about her new year's resolutions and it made me think if I should plan on doing some resolutions myself. The only problem is - I knew already what I should do (lose weight) which I don't even come close to ; update my blog often (which I always tell myself but can't seem to manage to) These are aspirations not resolutions and do not need the end of the year to be done.

So while just reading things in the net I came across this article Seven Questions to Ask About Last Year and I just so love the questions the author wrote about that I want to write it here as well. This blog has become the only source of my journal writing the last few years (again one of those failed resolutions) and I thought it would be a good way to document it through my blog.

Here goes:

1. If the last year were a movie of your life, what would the genre be?
I would have loved my movie to be a comedy musical but it was more of a drama. The V. was 2x out of jobs this year - we did not know what the future holds - what would happen to the mortgage, future plans, etc. before end of this year he got a new job - happy ending indeed, hopefully till ever after..

2. What were the two or three major themes that kept recurring?

hoping for the best despite the uncertainties
answered prayers

3. What did you accomplish this past year that you are the most proud of?

passing my Montessori theory exams
good working relationship with clients and colleagues
getting out of the crisis unscathed
finally was able to go home to see my family after 4 years!

4. What do you feel you should have been acknowledged for but weren’t?

compensation from my hard work

5. What disappointments or regrets did you experience this past year?

I failed to document more of my life in my blog (my only source of journalling at the moment)
I could not keep up with some of my activities (book club, bible studies) and had been reading less
Disappointed with myself for not being fit or trying to at least do something about it
Not getting real compensation for my work and efforts
and something too personal to share

6. What was missing from last year as you look back?

time spent on travel
time spent on leisure activities
time spent with friends

7. What were the major life-lessons you learned this past year?

It really is hard to reach a goal and it means sacrifices (whole summer studying) but it's worth it (passed the exams!)
You'll never know what tomorrow brings and you just have to be hopeful and keep the Faith
It is good to have some savings for the rainy days. The V. and I realised how we were living and spending our money that we did not really have such a big problem during our financial worries.

Whew, this took time than I thought. Tomprrow I shall write about things I am looking forward about 2011 - the dawn of a new decade-

Christmas Break

2010-12-21T13:48:00.002+01:00

It's the first day of my Christmas break and I am so glad I need not go to work .. the streets are covered with lots of snow!!! Snow everywhere...unfortunately, it is the first day of my Christmas holiday and I am sick! I am very patient today and merely stayed in bed and drunk this nasty cough syrup! Yikes!

Anyway, thought I do some experiments at home and decided to do some cooking - in times like this I get a bit creative ;) - maybe it's all that snow giving you a feeling of being stucked somehow.

All snowed-in and decided to make this meal for The V. and me - yummy.. stuffed Hokkaido baked in oven ;)

and my attempts of making a korean pancake - which turned out really yummy!

Christmas Baking

2010-12-18T11:05:00.000+01:00

One of the common traditions here in Germany during Christmas is to bake Christmas cookies called "Weihnachtsplätzchen". My friend ( an authentic German) and I decided our own tradition as well and since the last 3 years, we managed to bake some Christmas cookies as well. And I could say every year we are getting better ;)

Here's Anna looking very serious -- we are doing coconut meringue ..which turned out really the yummiest!!!!

Anna and me looking really happy...

This is a new recipe called orange-cardamon cookies,..so good ;)

And whole wheat butter spiced cookies with lemon curd ...so good!

Enjoy!

tis the season ....

2010-11-26T19:42:00.001+01:00

Christmas is just around the corner and before we know 2011 is here in front of us. This coming Sunday marks the first Advent and it has been my tradition almost every year to make my own Advent wreath. My late dear cat Baghira used to sit beside me on those many times I have made my wreath and today I suddenly missed the dear old cat.

As always you need some fresh evergreens - I normally use fir because I find spruce really difficult to use..a bit thorny and quite hard to bend.

I've been using the same straw wreath base every year ;) .. actually I almost use the same decors alternating just a few items on it..
I decided to use cream candles this year and I even thought next year to use maybe something funky like purple or pink - who knows...

Nevertheless this is my 2010's Advent wreath.. I wanted to make it really simple and I think I managed just that. I love the combination of red, white and a bit of gold on it.

I'm back

2010-11-09T18:39:00.000+01:00

Hello dear friends and family - I'm back - been a bit busy the last few weeks - lots of things going on around here and one of the things I have neglected is my blog.

Aside from that - life goes on--the picture on top was my 70's look from our school's Halloween.. one child asked me who or what I am and I said - I'm Diana Ross - hah! as if they know it.. anyway it was fun anyway -everybody thought it was hilarious.. I did not even need to buy any outfit (the clothes were all in my closet and I just put them all together) - hmmm.. does this mean I really look like this during normal days?

News ---- I have to leave my old classroom and go to a new one - I shall miss my little toddlers and I am still getting used to my new group- the 3-6 year .. some days it's not really easy ...
--------- The V. and I cancelled our trip to the Philippines again -- really sad but needed to :( so that means we will be spending Christmas here in Germany

Happy Birthday to ME

2010-10-14T23:27:00.000+02:00

Hi there, I'm back :) lots of things going on again this part of the world - especially today I am celebrating my birthday :) getting really old!

I decided to have a birthday party really just spontaneously ;) I was having coffee with The V on Tuesday afternoon and thought about i t- later that evening I finally decided to have a party so it's a bit of a chaos just coming back from our trip in Bulgara and then preparing for a party. I managed to get 15 people together our of my 20 invitation - I think that is quite a success ;) considering it is a weekend.

We'll talk about the birthday soon :)

Children's Quotes - stories from work

2010-09-24T07:07:00.001+02:00

Here's another set of interesting - funny quotes from the kids at work

I work in an international kindergarten so we have children from all over. Most of them start learning english at the kindergarten. At the start of the school year we have a new dutch boy who does not understand english at all . I approached one of our older children, also a dutch

Me: Boy. please could you help me tell Boy2. that we already fed the fish, he does not understand me

Boy1 to Boy2: We already fed the fish

Me: No Boy1, tell him in dutch

Boy1 to Boy2 :. in dutch

After a few days one of youngest children started exploring his new world and is even going to other children

Little boy (18 months): in little strides approaches big girl (one of the oldest girls in the class just 2 years,10 months) and starts hugging her too tight
Big Girl: started moving away did not really like being crushed by little boy
Little boy: shocked at this rejection and started crying... waaah .Mamamamamamamamama
Big Girl to little boy: I'm not your mama, your mama's coming later after lunch

While working together on coloured tablets (teaching children to learn different colours) Big Girl,same child as above stopped and was looking around
Big Girl: Mrs. G, something stinks here (intently looks at me)
Me: where?
Big Girl: Here, I think it's you
Me: no way maybe it's you ..
Big Girl: of course not, i just took a bath last night
we later found out it was the box with the coloured boxes

Kids are honest and say things they don't really mean but.. yes it hurts..

Girl1: (touching my tummy) Oh this is big -is there a baby there inside?

Me: No - just lots of rice ;) (quickly inhaling and holding on to my breath to make tummy firmer)

Updates

2010-09-22T23:06:00.000+02:00

Just 2 more weeks or should I say a week and half and we are off to Bulgaria for the autumn break :) Yay! I feel that I really need this break after the long summer preparing for my exams and straight to work afterwards - good news though, I passed my exams! Yay! I got the result just end of last week and I am so relieved! I need to tidy up all my notes and papers up in the office and everywhere else! I still won't get my diploma because there are still a lot of things to do but the real exams are over so I am really thankful for that!

Summer 2010 in my garden

2010-09-15T17:46:00.000+02:00

This year's summer turned really faster than most summers - I was quite busy with boring things like studying and the weather drastically changed to autumn somehow in the middle of it. Nevertheless I still did see summer happening in my garden

I was busy again for third time making my red currant and raspberry jams. My little garden was so good to me again even though I really did not do anything unusual.

It's so much fun to harvest them, but cleaning the stems are not that easy!

If you think this is a lot! These were just left overs. But now almost end of September. I only got 3 more jars left! Unbelievable. I never really tasted them until we got invited to a dinner by a friend and realise - wow, they do taste good!

I also planted some sweet peas and amazingly they are really growing and I am still harvesting them till now. They are soooo good. I eat them sometimes just out of the pods when I leave them a bit longer so the peas mature a bit.

The V. and I had monstruous sunflowers last year ( the pictures got lost sorry) that The V decided to get a package of seeds called mini sunflowers that should grow the tallest about 20 centimeters. So I planted these sunflowers which I thought did not really look like real sunflower. The seeds germinated and I transfered them in the garden, patiently waited for it to grow and realise at the end - wait- these sunflowers are not the same as those in the packaging. The pictures are entirely different. They turned out to be real sunflowers looking like this

Some weeks later, I saw a little weird looking yellow flower that did seem to look like the one from the package- yup the mini sunflower. From 20 stems of proud looking sunflower - a little weird one sprouts quietly.

Can you spot the little sunflower that does not look like a sunflower? Sometimes a package of weird looking sunflowers could bring some wonderful surprises.

Is Facebook overtaking the blog world?

2010-09-14T18:27:00.000+02:00

I have been looking at my blog statistics and really it seems it is going downhill from here :( - even my regular visitors who don't leave comments - yes I know who you are ;) are not even dropping by. Well maybe it is my fault because I really have not been posting regularly as always and there hasn't been much of an interesting post. I do see lots of visits on my facebook wall and pictures so I was thinking? Is facebook overtaking the blog world - not just my blog but the entire blog world itself?

What do you think?

September starts with Christmas

2010-09-11T11:01:00.000+02:00

Went to the supermaket yesterday and was shocked to see Christmas goodies on the shelves. I have a feeling that Christmas gets earlier every year - and yes even here in Germany. Normally it starts on the around end of November when the Christsmas markets are opened.But now - is is indeed just around the corner in the mid of September - barely 3 and half months to Christmas.

Wow - so that led me to thinking about the end of the year. The year 2010 surely did go so fast or is still is going rather quickly. It has been a year full of challenges and trials and we are still in it. I hope that the upcoming 2011 brings us more good news.

After Exam Anxiety and London

2010-09-02T18:58:00.000+02:00

It's been almost a week since I came back from my exam - last week during this time I was writing the answers to those nerve wracking questions - my goodness! They were quite difficult and I did not have enough time to organize my thoughts - at the moment I am actually praying for some sort of miracle to pass the exams. The first was ok - there were still things I have forgotten to write but at least I knew what to write. The second was totally confusing and much more difficult. But oh well - let me throw that worry away. I have prayed and asked all my friends to pray for me as well in the meantime I would be sitting here, waiting for the results till end of September.

The good thing about the exam was - after it I had a chance to spend some time with my friend and finally see a bit of London - at least the main tourist attractions. I did not go to any museums, church, palace as I only have an afternoon. I did have some typical English lunch, afternoon tea and Indian curry ;O)

Here are some pictures my dear friend took. She has a super camera so I just let her do the picture taking.Behind us the famous millenium wheel - did you know this was supposed to be only for the year 2000 (that's why millenium) but it was such a big tourist hit that the city decided to keep it :) you can have a great view on top but I did not dare this time. Maybe next time? London is so near I hope to go back again (but no exams please!).

The Big Ben, our dear friend and former Pastor gave us a tour of London. He lives there now. It was nice to go around the city with a local - who needs a Lonely Planet guide book?

My friend and I on the millenium bridge, behind us St. Paul's Cathedral.

And of course the Buckingham Palace -

It was really a quick tour but we all had so much fun. The sun was also shining - unbelievable because it has been raining the whole time I was there.

End of Summer

2010-08-22T09:34:00.000+02:00

Time flies indeed - summer is over and life goes on. As a teacher my summer tends to be the highlight of the year - 7 weeks of holiday, no school! Like a schoolgirl - I also need not wake up early.I could sleep late for a long time until school starts again ;) Nevertheless this is one of the hardest summers for me - I basically have to fight with myself because I have a calendar and an agenda to review for my exam this coming Thursday and Friday. So instead of lazying around and enjoying the wonderful weather - I was sitting in front of my notes. It will be finally over by the end of the week.

No matter how hard I have tried, I think I still wasn't able to accomplish my 100% goal. There was not 100% concentration because really distractions come in so many ways - funny that one of my exams would be all about helping the child to achieve concentration. Somehow, something might have gotten wrong during my childhood! I just hope and pray that I will be able to pass this exam! Seriously, I think if I have studied this hard while I was in high school and college - I could have ended really academically well ;) But then I would not have had all that fun! So not regretting any of it ;)

I fly on Wednesday to London - this city only gives me butterflies in my stomach! Maybe this time I will get the chance to see the London Bridge ;) as you know I was there last Summer for whole 17 days and did not see a glimpse of it! Wish me well - Thursday and Friday!

Back to School 2010-2011

2010-08-15T18:05:00.000+02:00

Yes back to school tomorrow - another school year, another set of children and of course another set of parents and kindergarten drama! (not with the kids but with the colleagues most of all!)

I'm looking nevertheless to going back to work - yup, you heard it right I am looking forward to work. For the past 4 weeks, I have been just sitting and studying, reading my notes, my books about my Montessori studies. I think I have not studied this hard and so consistently in my life - ever! Also the other difficulty about these studies is I am doing most of it on my own since it is a distance learning course, which proves to be more difficult. So sorry for underestimating this way of studying in the past. Is is really hard work! My exam is on the 26th and 27th so please send me all your positive wishes and prayers. I am still not yet finished studing all my notes and my goal is to finish this week and hopefully and prayerfully I will remember those things when I sit for my exam and could still cover whatever I have not covered.

So I am looking forward to having to do another thing that is work - except worry and stress about studying. Mental work is much harder than physical work I think so! I think most of you will agree.

So far, August has been really a not so good month in terms of weather - it gives me headaches everyday because it is so unstable -rain,sun, wind, heat and chills! The month has so far brought us not so good news so I hope September will bring us good things indeed, I used to love the month of September - (a month before my birthday!) I call it September to remember :) So here's hoping you all have a good September and of course a wonderful August.

Summer 2010 part 2

2010-07-28T16:14:00.001+02:00

Whew! Managed to have a post before the end of July. Yay, at least one post per month, much better than nothing.

The last few days of July, the calm before the storm it is - no more summer at least for the next year. Then back to work. The month of August brings butterflies to my stomach - I have the biggest exam ahead of me and up to now, with barely 2 and half weeks, I need to have covered all the scope of my notes. Wish me all the best indeed! Aside from that lots of prepartion for my classroom and seing my colleagues again who knows where the wind blows (meaning the latest intrigues and all the blahs with it).

The V. and I are back from our holiday in Bulgaria. It was wonderful, short but really worth it. We spent time with the family and did just a little bit of travelling.It was really hot - I mean sweltering hot. What I did this time is to buy me and The V and electric fan! Tatko, The V's dad was not impressed at all and was so worried we will get sick. True to his predictions The V was sick for an evening with a 38.7 fever C.. according to Tatko's aged old wisdom .. The V. sat in front of the airconditioner's ventillation.. hmmm... The real reason for this is probably The V's allergic reactions.

On one evening, we decided to go out and have a drink. Before we went out, I got a whole sermon of how I should be wary of pickpocketeers, snatchers, and what have you's from Majka, The V's mom.I regarded the talk as silly but the whole of the evening, I clung to my yellow bag as if it contained the bank reserves of European central bank and got suspicious of anybody coming/seating near me.

Aaahh. Such it is when suddenly you are surrounded wtih family giving you unsolicited advices, ~~over~~feeding you with wonderful food and taking care of you like you are a ~~baby~~ child once more. And now back home - back to reality. Work, chores, and other mundane things in life.

Summer 2010

2010-07-04T19:31:00.001+02:00

The V. and I have been enjoying the warm sunny weather and the world cup as well. Finally, summer is here -- now if it only it would rain a bit especially during the evening to water all the plants ;)

We celebrated The V.'s birthday a few weeks ago - I have forgotten to document the pictures but here are some highlights of that day :) We did not really do so much because I was all stressed with my essay which took forever to finish! That was the longest one. I told The V next year we will definitely have a party! Anyway, we tried out a new restaurant in Frankfurt called Garibaldi which was really good - excellent food and service.

We had a wonderful dinner, some antipasti for appetizers, The V had lamb and I had shrimps my favourite food ever - ever! There was even some sort of entertainment, here the Pizza guy came out and did some dancing with his pizza dough, he was really great and impressed some blond girls of course ;)

Vlado's lamb

My shrimps

See how happy I was :)

The V. satisfied with the wonderful meal :)

I have submitted my last essay and would be awaiting the result of it, afterwards I can sign up for the exams end of August. This the second part of my studies and afterwards I will have a break then will start to work on my diploma 2011. Whew! So the next step for me is to prepare for my upcoming exams. Wish me all the best! But before that I have to work another week of summer school - it is normally fun and not much teaching just taking care of about 20 kids, keep them busy, happy and safe of course.

Then we're off to Bulgaria - yay! Looking forward to see family and gain 3 more kilos, haha! We still don't have plans aside from being there to celebrate my mother in law's 70th birthday and maybe visit 1 or 2 towns. We'll be there for a week only but we are happy to go anyway.

School holidays

2010-06-20T23:04:00.000+02:00

Just one more week and this school year is almost over - whew! That went quick - it has been a good year, learning lots of things and being able to have my own class and start it all from scratch and also be able to continue with my studies. I look forward to not waking up early yet still having a ton of things to read and study due to the upcoming exams end of August barely 2 weeks after starting the new school year.

Revisiting Bulgaria

2010-06-14T00:05:00.000+02:00

Just want to post some pictures from Bulgaria on our last trip 2007 - I am looking forward to going again this mid July and hopefully to see some new places and old familiar faces.

A traditional home which is now turned into a museum

The friendly watermelon man who gave me a free watermelon :)

One of the villages we visited

Homemade jams anyone?

Overheard

2010-06-08T00:09:00.000+02:00

Overheard...

The V. always tells me I should mind my own business when sitting in a restaurant,train, cafe..anywhere.. and wherever .. why? Because I always listen to the people talking around me. But it may happen that I did not hear or understand a part of the story so I would ask The V what happened ..he of course on the other end was not even aware of the drama going on! Huh! Real life drama happens in real life not in television...

A beggar and a lady near the main train station on a lazy Sunday afternoon

Old Lady Beggar: la...la...lala..lala (singing to herself outside a restaurant)
Young Lady: gives the beggar a look head to toe then goes inside the restaurant
Beggar: la..la..la.. (still singing)
..passerby wearing a skimpy skirt walked by
Beggar: mutters to herself -- . sexy...
Young Lady: comes out of the restaurant, looked at the beggar then hands her some coins
Beggar: No, no, no! I have my own money
Young Lady: Here, take it, you'll need it
Beggar: No, I'll get my own money...
Young Lady: went away rejected and frustrated, nobody wanted her money

Me - hey, maybe because it's Sunday, beggar is having her day off

At a restaurant, a young family with 2 young girls

Food just got served to the family
Young Girl1 - what is that food?
Younger Girl about 5 - yucky! I don't like it
Mama: Girls, try it at least- maybe you'll like it
Young Girl about 7 - I don't like it, I don't like this food! Take this away..
Mama: Stop it, how many times do I have to tell you to stop doing that - you should be happy you have something to eat..stop complaining..eat!
Young Girl about 7 - Mother stop it, how many times do I have to tell you to stop nagging me in public. You're embarassing me! Stop it, now!
Mama: ah.. sorry..(mother eats the food from her daughters plate)

Me--shocked!

On a lazy Sunday afternoon
Me: cooking in the kitchen
Neighbor: working in the backyard
Me: chopping, mixing, stirring
Neighbor: pulling weeds

(our houses are duplex, attached to each other, my kitchen and his backyard are practically beside each other)

Me: dropped´ a plate, a fork, a spoon and a pan !blam, blam...like world war bombs!)
Neighbor: What are you doing there? How many times do I have to tell you to be careful!
Neighbor's daughter: What did I do now?
Me: opppos..sorry that's me...

Neighbor - shocked, did not utter a single word..

Happy Birthday to The V.

2010-06-05T02:45:00.000+02:00

Happy, happy birthday to The V. on this beautiful warm, sunny day. Just the perfect day to have a birthday! Wishing you happiness, good health, success at work and more happy years with me. Tsups!

May came and went

2010-06-03T14:23:00.001+02:00

It was a very busy month - I found myself not blogging as always about my whereabouts. I hope my blogger friends, family and friends from all over who frequent this blog have not abandoned me- yet :) I am still here - just getting a bit lazy and neglecting my blog sometimes.

So with the month of May coming and going and me failing to document some of it- I could let you know about some of our future plans and escapades for the months or weeks ahead.

The V. will have his birthday the coming weekend :) we have not actually made plans yet but would probably enjoy a nice day - hopefully the weather will turn out well. Lately the weather here in Germnay is so unpredictable.. rain and shine and that means literally!

Work will be over this month of June - hurra for me! But then it would not be spent lazing out in the sun - I will have my big written exam for my ongoing Montessori Diploma which means I need to go back to London to do a 2 day exam. Suddenly the city of London only brings me stress. Then back to work again mid August.

However in the mid of my exam preparation The V. and I will go to Bulgaria to celebrate his mom's 70th birthday - we would be staying there for a week so we are looking forward to that!

Good news indeed - my boss finally gave me a pay increase, it's not really much, it's 10% increase of what I am earning at the moment (which is really, really peanuts) but still it is an increase and like The V. said I should just be thankful. According to my boss - the rest will just get 3% but with their 3% and my 10 - they still have more.. hahaha.. oh well! She did gave me a special bonus last time and still pays half of my tuition.

The V. is doing well with his new job, he is happy with it and so far he is not so much on business trips like in his previous, previous work.

So far those are the things that would keep us busy. I still have a lot of work to do before school year ends - and I hope to finish them all in time.

Happy Wedding Anniversary

2010-05-15T19:09:00.000+02:00

The V. and I celebrated our 8th year wedding anniversary yesterday. It was almost a 2 day anniversary celebration because Thursday was a public holiday here in Germany. We had a lazy Thursday, sleeping in, watching tv and going online.In the evening we watched an Opera in Frankfurt called Lucia di Lammermoor - as usual as in most Italian opera, it was a tragic love story. The music was really great and the actors were wonderful in their performance. Later before the third act, they needed to change one of the actors because he had some problems with his voice. Lucky for us because the guy who replaced him was much better! Hmm.. I wonder why he is not the one performing.Oh yes and I tried to take a picture during the performance and what do you know - a man, tapped me on the shoulder and told me I am not allowed to take a picture. I was so shocked that I did not take any picture at all. Later I realised, there really is no sign at all that it's not allowed - of course I would not use a flash. So finally I was able to take a picture but at the end of the show. Here are some pictures:

On Friday, the V and I had a lunch date. I had another holiday because schools were also cancelled because of the holiday in between. The V. just took an hour and half from work and we had such a fabulous lunch!Yum, I love my paella! It was so much I could not eat everything and I know later that evening The V and I are going to have a special dinner.

The V surprised me with a bunch of flowers :) I love freesias!

Then in the evening - we went to a wonderful wine restaurant in Frankfurt - it was so nice and cozy. The food was yummy and the wine was good, just the way I wanted it. The waitress was very competent when I told her what kind of wine I wanted - perfect! I thought I don't like french wines but it seems I just have not been given the right one till last night.

Hello Blogworld

2010-05-11T20:03:00.000+02:00

I'm back .. and of course as usual I have neglected my blog for the past few weeks. Believe it or not I still have some of my holiday pictures in my camera and have not totally transferred it to my external drive.. so busy the last few days or so tired or so lazy. There's a lot of work left for me to do -- especially now that school is almost over ..yay! I still have a few of my essays left which is becoming harder to do .. I think that's how it is when something is almost over. The finish line is barely a mile away but each step weighs a ton! I still have 2 more essays and then the big exam! summer would mean for me study, study, study! I am so not looking forward to this.

Aside from that - life is as usual here in Germany. I've suffered some holiday blues - missed my nieces and my dear family especially my dear sis :) It was so nice to be surrounded by loved ones. I would have loved to taste more of my mom's cooking but there wasn't just enough time and meals to eat all my favourite Filipino dishes. I even had to eat crabs for breakfast one time so I could have the chance to eat them. Just plain crabs, no rice or bread or salad to go with it..

So hopefully this weekend I will be able to post more of my pictures because we are having a long weekend - I really hope we'll get some good weather. It has been cold and rainy the last few days that we turned on our heating again! Whew! That's May this part of the world.

I wish you all a wonderful week and please don't get tired of coming here again once in a while. Thanks for your support and patience on checking this blog out and my whereabouts.

My favourite things

2010-04-24T12:28:00.000+02:00

Being in the Philippines for just mere 13 days was not enough to see, eat and do everything I wanted to do. Nevertheless, I tried and did the best I can to eat some of my favourite seafood, visit my favourite market of all (Baguio), swim in the ocean (even if it was not white sand), watch a sunset along the bay of Manila, eat halo halo, eat mangoes and of course spend some time with family and a few special friends (special because I could only meet 1 or two in this short span of time).

Here are some pics highlighting my stay at the beach on our arrival.

The Ocean Park with my mom, sisters, nieces (4 already!) and a nephew.

My brother's birthday with the whole family :) lucky me to be there on my brother's special birthday.

Just having a photo session with my dear nieces and my only nephew in Baguio Sunshine Park.

No matter how busy and hectic this schedule was first agenda to see my dearest bestfriend and her family of course :) Here's her daughter Arianne, who is such a grown up girl now. They picked me up at the airport :) so nice of them despite the hectic schedule.

And of course with my dear mom and stepfather

More to come next time :)

Back in Deutschland!

2010-04-17T11:41:00.000+02:00

I'm back in Germany since Tuesday, from the airport, straight to work. I have been very tired in the evenings and is already in dreamland at past 8 pm, the latest 9pm. It's jetlag and probably being tired the whole 2 weeks I was out. There was never a day of 8 hours sleep except on my last day, where I really decided not to do anything anymore and not meet up with friends. In the end I only spent time with family and my best friend and her family. I have gotten some messages from friends but it was too late anyway to see them.

After being in the Philippines surrounded with lots of people, I feel life here in Germany is so empty of people, not just of friends or family but even looking outside or being outside - there seem to be a shortage of strangers.

It has been a great two week holiday, I hope (and wish) to go again this year, when everything else works well :) So good to see good old Baguio, my hometown even if it is so crowded nowadays and so hot! Not the coolest city in the Philippines I am sure of that! And it is indeed a blessing to see old familiar faces, my family, cousins and friends.

Off to Pinas

2010-03-28T12:05:00.000+02:00

Finally after so many years - I am going to see my family and a few friends in the Philippines. My bag isn't packed yet - 20 kilos! How could I fit in some presents in there? Probably not!

Hope to update this blog on my holiday but who knows if I will have the time.. will be bringing in my computer though so in case the neighbor has wifi ;) hahaha.. this is what I asked my sister today who was at my brother's new apartment

Me: Hey, you are online? How come he just moved there? ( things are still a bit slow back there when it comes to getting things set up, at least I thought)

Sister: Oh Yes, the neighbor has wireless connection

Me: Ahhh......

Thanks

2010-03-24T22:15:00.001+01:00

Thank you for your kind comments regarding my big bang issue! I am so relieved that nothing ever serious happened about it. Once again I am reminded of how much of a responsibility I carry in my job. I thought all my hard work would go into thin air but this time I was able to breeze through the situation (prayers do work and some people are still logical and kind). So there you go - back to normal routine. Nevertheless it is a wake up call for me to always be on top of things and to never think that it is an easy job taking care of young children.

Also Easter is fast approaching and what better way to spend the Easter holidays than be with family :) Yes! I am going to visit my family in the Philippines - this is such a sudden decision, unplanned and all but I am taking the opportunity because I really don't know when I would have time again. Just 2 weeks and that's it - short and sweet.

Bang!

2010-03-19T00:03:00.000+01:00

Did you ever have on those days that you think the world is against you and yet you have a trillion things to do and then in the end you mess it all up unknowingly with just one of those littlest of things you did that just exploded??? I feel that way today - crap.. I don't know how I will get on through tomorrow with this big weight on my shoulder.. The big bang hopefully will not come.. through this blog entry I hope to fight against the universe and call on my God to help me out. Peace! God help me.

Marching into March

2010-03-05T21:42:00.000+01:00

Wow! Time flies indeed! I did not realise that it has been almost two weeks since the last time I updated this blog. I have been a bit busy. Most importantly we are doing well - winter is hopefully over now that March is here... can't wait for real spring to come when flowers bloom and trees have some colour on them. Although it is still really cold..brrr...

I have not gathered any new stories from work - now that I thought I could start collecting them nothing funny or unusual happened... oh well. But since Spring is coming and we have to start getting rid of the big coats, wooly jumpers and all ...those unwanted bulges cannot be camouflaged anymore! So The V. and I went to look at some of the gyms around our area.. Oh my! The membership fee is really expensive and once you get into one - you would need to have the outfit as well for those pants and shirts and what have yous! which are again so expensive! With the amount of the gym membership - I could already save for my pension - then again my body is also worth an investment. So wish me luck dear friends :)

Stories from work

2010-02-22T20:22:00.001+01:00

I love my work and on most days I really don't complain. A day at work is full of emotion from happiness (~~love the snack/present that parent brought in~~, wow! child A could go to the toilet on his own!), surprise (what no school today!), fear (uh oh, was not supposed to say that s word and the child might repeat it, hope not at home!), curiousity (who forgot to tidy up this mess?), panic (boy B has a big bump and full of blood), bliss (silence when all children are busy working on their own) and best of all - love (a big hug and a big kiss for my dear teacher!) The list could go on and on - such is my day full of excitement and when I go home energy goes down to zero - zzzzz I end up sleeping while watching TV at 4 p.m. after work.

Anyway, just was telling another friend about some funny stories from work when a thought came in - hey I could blog about this so here goes - some famous quips from my dear children at work

Last Tuesday we had Fasching (carnival party) where each one of us at school put on a costume. Mine was of a medieval queen of course with a crown. We were having some snacks sitting around the table when I annouced to the children
Me: Dear children, enjoy your snacks and give the queen (pointing to myself) a big round of applause thanking her for the snack you are having now
Children: (clapping their hands)
Meanwhile a little boy half dutch, half english sitting beside me was looking at me intently from head to toe and not clapping his hands, suddenly he leaned over and sheepishly whispered to my ears
Boy half dutch-half english: Are you really the queen?
Gosh I don't want to disappoint the boy, after all the Dutch and the English do love their queens

My boss turned 60 this year and a little girl came to her
Little Girl: Happy Birthday Ms. M
Boss : Thank you very much dear, that's sweet of you
Little Girl: How old are you today Ms. M
Boss: Well little girl I turned 60 today
Little Girl: (looking shocked and appalled) Oh my Ms. M you are sooooo old, YOU ARE going to die soon
Boss does not know if she will laugh or get scared

I was getting upset with a 2 year old boy because he was not listenting to me, and kept on hitting another boy
Me: Boy C stop it please. I don't want you hitting Boy B again
Boy C : walks away from me but looking upset , he goes to Boy B again
Me: Boy C, I'm watching you, don't upset me again
Boy C: Then stop watching me!
Yeah right!

Teacher B: Hey Girl A, I have not seen your mother for a long time, how is she doing?
Girl A: Yes, my mom does not bring me to school anymore she says she does not like seeing you
Teacher B: Me, why?
Girl A: Well my mom said she hates your guts! Teacher B what does hate your guts mean?
Uh oh... happily that's not me

Aha!

2010-02-11T23:43:00.001+01:00

"The core of mans' spirit comes from new experiences." - Into the Wild

Saw this movie the other night and can't help but think of this line. I've read the book 12 years ago and watched it just now. The V. didn't really think the story is worth filming but again maybe because I've read the book that's why I probably enjoyed it. For those of you who don't know the movie/book, it's a true story of a young man, freshly graduated from the university and decided to abandon his old identiy, family and other material possesions and go to Alaska from West Virginia. This journey takes him 2 years, meeting people, having new experiences and so on. Will not tell you how the ending went you could probably google it if you want to or watch it.

In one scene - the main lead role urges the old man, whom he met in his journey to do something out of his life- to have new experiences. But isn't it true - we are after all richer through the many experiences we've had. We become who we are shaped by the events that transpired- Somebody told me once - "you've changed, you are not you anymore. " At that time I thought that was sad because this somebody was referring to it in a negative way of sort. Then again I cannot be the same I am a few years ago because there have been so many things that happened - if I would stay the way I am so and so years ago maybe that means I have not learned anything at all from life.

Frankfurt Discoveries

2010-02-07T17:54:00.001+01:00

We've had lots of snow last week and 2 snow days inclusive - kindergarten and other schools were close- So lots of irritated parents who did not know what to do with their children and happy teachers who suddenly found themselves with some free time....here's a picture taken on Monday before the real snow chaos begun taken on our walk

So what to do on snow days? I have just submitted my essay and was not in the mood to study again after a weekend of lots of cramming and panic.. I needed to go to Frankfurt to do something, I took the train and The V. picked me up from Frankfurt. On our way home we decided to eat there and found a little restaurant. Just a simple one nearby Frankfurt Main Train Station.. what a catch! A fish restaurant in the middle of Frankfurt's red district. .. for one moment I thought I was near the beach...i could smell the sea, sand and sun the moment that plate of grillled dorade(sea bream) landed in front of me. Yum! For €8:00 I would definitely come back in that restaurant. What a treat!

The restaurant also has a fish shop - so I could buy fish galore at reasonable prices! This fish vendor was so in for it for having his picture taken :) He was nice to give me 2 extra limes and gave me a wonderful service - will definitely shop for some more fresh fish next week. For those in the Philippines - shrimps are sold here semi-cooked. I was surprised myself when I saw this here in Germany but I thought since we live far from the ocean could be the case - till I saw it in Barcelona.. this way the shrimps stay fresh longer...

Indeed - Frankfurt still surprises me after all these years. Hope to do some blogging about this city now that I don't travel anymore. Much as well make use of my location.

Fun Saturday

2010-02-01T17:43:00.000+01:00

Snow is still here and it really wants to stay it seems.. this is the longest winter ever it seems! Anyway, at least there are some nice things going on despite the snow.

Just this weekend, I went to the Paperworld Fair in Frankfurt. Lots of things to see out there but I am there basically to join some of the activities they do. So many beautiful paper to touch and see but not to buy unfortunately, not unless you are a wholesaler and you can buy in bulk. But for normal customers like me - nothing. It was amazing to see how cheap some of the prices are and when you buy them in the store - they'll be like 3x or 4x the price! My goodness.

Anyway, here are some beautiful things at the Paperworld - unfortunately, I am not allowed to take some of the most beautiful pictures, you know, trade secrets of whatever. This is the first activity I joined in and came up with such a beautiful work of art (haha!) well it was fun anyway...

I really wanted to do some jewelry making and yes finally I found it ... it was really hard. I am so proud of myself. I almost gave up but my friendly neighbors encouraged me. So nice to meet complete strangers who lend a helping hand :) even if it was just about tying a knot.

I did one more jewelry making, it was not as special as that one, a craft with a small penguin and that was it. All these things take a long time believe me - so many things to do really. Here I did manage to take a photo on one of the paper displays.. It was such a fun Saturday, hope to come again next year :) - that is if Iwill get a ticket.

Fernweh

2010-01-25T14:08:00.000+01:00

Germans are known to be exact and precise - at least that is one stereotype about them. But one fascinating thing about the Germans is the German language. It is also very exact! One word when translated would be a sentence or a whole phrase. Such is Fernweh, the feeling inside when you are at home and have this longing and yearning to be somewhere far away - exactly the opposite of homesick.

That's what I have now, Fernweh - I long to be somewhere warm, somewhere far, somewhere busy, somewhere hectic, somewhere blue but not quiet and white, sitting here I see our street, white with snow and empty of life.

Stereotypes and Discrimation

2010-01-20T20:50:00.000+01:00

I work in an international kindergarden and in private I find myself in a circle of many nationalities. No wonder, because I come from the Philippines, The V. comes from Bulgaria and we live in Germany where we don't really have any family at all. So to make the story short I am indeed a member of the international community here and find myself between people from all over the world. In my workplace, there are at least 20 nationalities that convive and in my private life there must be another 20 nationalities I interact with.

When it comes to dealing with different nationalities - does stereotyping help to understand the other culture better or does it just complicate the matter? I've read,heard and experieced that Asians or at least South East Asians cannot directly say a brutal no. The V read somewhere in one sociology book about Asians that you have to ask them three times to get the real answer of a favour or something. Normal no answers would be " , i'll think about it, or ummm.. yes, maybe, i'll try my best ... ah.. it depends.. but a brutal no! --we are too polite..

Americans normally say how are you? But they don't really wait for your answer and just go on with their day. This is almost their way of saying hello. So don't take it seriously and just say I'm fine thank you and move on, better yet just say how are you too, without waiting for an answer. However, Germans normally meant it when they ask how you are. And people don't normally ask that out of the blue unless they are patient to hear about how your holiday, your job, your family and your health is (basic topics of the day).

I work with an Italian and he feels he is the king and has the say. My colleagues say, don't take it seriously, he's Italian, he's a macho what can you expect. My co teacher is from an a former republic of Russia - other colleagues say she's fresh, temperamental and yes, what can you expect she's almost Russian.

I have a Dutch mother in my class, I ask her from time to time to bring something for a snack and it never happens. Her answer to me, sorry I'm Dutch, you know we are very stingy. I'm sure you've heard of that - yup, Dutch treat it is! Well that stereotyping did not come from me but from her.

This post could go on and on, as I 've said I live in a multi-cultural world - it does sometimes help me to understand the other person if I go back to the stereotype. I did forget how cultural differences could be and lost a friendship.. well maybe that friendship is doomed after all. However, I won't like it if people would label me and not give me the chance to prove myself otherwise.

Scare in the village

2010-01-16T11:17:00.001+01:00

Just last Tuesday while having some coffee with some friends of mine. We heard lots of sirens and then the house was literally vibratiing, it's as if a snowstorm suddenly is on top of my street and the neighbors were all looking up the sky.

We realised this was a helicopter hovering on top of the house. Still unaware of what's happening, we carried on with our coffee and chit chat. After about an hour, my friend's son who works for the paramedics called and told her he could not pick her up as planned. There was a murder in the castle grounds and they were securing the area.. etc. etc.

This park is just across my street! I always walk through it whenever I go to the city, I always tell The V. to walk through it whenever, even sometimes when it's already dark. Our little village seem to be the safest place ever, until this thing happened! The person who was murdered was an old woman about 78, killed by a 24 year old man, who according to news is not psychologically fit. The authorities caught him but still they do not know if the man knew the old woman or she just became his victim.

Such a beautiful park, now I do not know if I could walk there again feeling safe.
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Back to school

2010-01-10T17:55:00.001+01:00

Today is the last day of my Christmas break and school starts again for the little ones tomorrow. The last 3 weeks has been good, was able to meet up with friends and even family. Also was able to submit an essay in between :) whew! It would be really difficult to get up tomorrow for work! I did try my best to do some work beforehand and organize the classroom so when the kids come back tomorrow - they will be happy to see the classroom with a different set-up.

Oh and remember I spoke about my so called salary increase that did not happen? Well the boss is kind enough to tell me that she would give me some sort of bonus, it's 70% of my salary and comes after tax! Not 70% and then with tax which would in the end turn out like 40% for the government and 30% for me. So that is good news really. Salary increase might come next school year?? Well who really knows??? I really did not expect this after all of that drama.

Anway, I wish you all a wonderful start to your new week.

New Year visitors

2010-01-07T12:21:00.001+01:00

We had E. and T. over New Year's and we were able to do at least somthing with them. Although I realised that a lot of Museums do close already on the 30th of December and open on the 1st of January. In E. and T's case - they came on the 30th and would leave late afternoon January 1st.

There really is lots to see in this museum, history of money in Germany, old coins, how the Euro was born and so on :) You can even have a look at all bills from around the world. It's also very intearactive - here I am trying to balance world economy, judging from my face, do I seem to save Germany from the crisis at least?

Is there really much difference between real euro coins than counterfeit? For all I know I might have gotten hold of those coins and never realise it was fake money!

Aside from the Geld Museum, we also decided to go the downtown in Frankfurt to get that board game Taboo I did not know board games are expensive, at €30 - that's a lot for some pieces of paper and a cardboard. Nevertheless, it was fun playing it. German malls are not really big and relatively small compared to those in the Philippines or US... but this building has this glass from inside going up as seen in the background which I think is really interesting. Sometimes there are people going in there, climbing up..

Here's The V. preparing on our evening meals. We decided to do a tapas evening as we wait for the midnight bang :) Here's prunes wrapped in bacon. Really easy guys, get a dried prune, wrap it in bacon, stick it in toothpick, put it in the oven about 10 minutes! voila a yummy finger food :) if you don't have an oven, you can also fry it.

Our first meal for 2010.. what can I say but --yum! Found this Filipino noodle in the asian shop - which is almost next to impossible. The V. thinks it was a mistake most probably but I managed to do some panic buying now and have 4 packs of the noodles in my basement. Taran - pancit malabon with realy thick luglog noodles :) It tasted almost like it's from the Philippines and bought from those specialty noodle shop in Malabon :)

And here's the rest of our yummy treats for the evening! We ate it really slowly, one dish at a time and before we know it - it's 2010!

Computer problems

2010-01-04T22:32:00.000+01:00

The year is starting to be interesting.

My other computer got a virus. I still don't know what happened and how to remove it but I did not have the time to completely remove that awful virus that got in. I was in a site and this virus alert window came in, which i did not click but close. Somehow.. it got in and now my computer is really slow. I was able to fix it a bit. If you google something and you click on a link, it brings you to some other page. Maybe you have some kind of solution, I would be greatful.

I just finished my hibernation - 3 days of writing my 2 essays! Whew.. now I feel so drained..

2009 The year that was

2010-01-02T16:59:00.001+01:00

A review of 2009. This is my way of writing down and digitally journalling 2009, the year that was.

January - finally decided to do my distance studies. Plan to get an International Diploma on Montessori Pedagogy

February - my blog celebrated it's 4th year. Wow! Although I must say, I don't blog so much, still it is a milestone for this blog that it has lasted this long. Remind me to do a back up of this blog in case for some unknown reason it disappears. Also, one of the firsts - The V. and I decided to celebrate Valentine's with some dear friends. That was a wonderful evening!

March - got a mini-promotion from my boss. A new-challenge, I have to set up a toddler group in our kindergarten on my own, with my own ideas and concept! Whew!

April - all this preparation for my new classroom and writing my essay is such a stress! The V. and I decided to unwind and do a short Easter weekend away from home. Also good news The V. finally has a new job. He has been wanting this for a long time.

May - it is a busy month for me as the school year almost draws to a close this coming June. Lots of preparation for my new classroom and for my studies.

June - in between finishing up last plans for the class, catching up on my reading and my essay writing. The V. celerbrated his birthday and we took care of our godson for an overnight. This was our first time and it turned out really well.

July - hurray, school is over! The V and I decided to have a summer fiesta party in our garden. Lots of food of course and our friends came. The list grew longer and longer and instead of having 20 guests the guest list reached about 50! And end of July was also my trip to England, which I missed and had to pay a lot of €€€€!

August - Hello London! However, did not do much of sightseeing, met a lot of terrific girls from my class though. Turned out I was not alone on my predicament, we are all struggling with learning, doing our work, private lives and studies! We all hated the deadlines and wished we all had better marks. And finally I present to you my new classroom all from my own sweat and blood with some help from my colleague

September - Whew! Glad I survived this month and yes I passed my exams in London. So busy at work and so tired. The toddlers are such a whole lot of work but such rewards indeed! The classroom turned out so well and I realise I did not have any post on September. However, bad news hit us at the end of the month. The V. lost his new job due t cost cutting, the company decided to dissolve his position. Really, really sad. The V. was just a week from being a regular in his new work.

October - We could not let the bad news totally dampen our spirits and life has to go on. Need to make some changes with our plans such as cancel our upcoming trip to the Philippines on December. Just happy to finally have a break for a week. It's autumn and yes I turned 38 this year.

November - This is one of the grayest months ever in my life. November is such a long, sad month.

December - Happy to have Christmas. Thank God for our dear friends who support us through their prayers, kind wishes, hellos and wonderful friendships. Here's hoping for a much better, more exciting, blessing-filled 2010.

Happy 2010

2009-12-26T00:31:00.001+01:00

Tick tack tick tack... can you hear the clock clicking? In just a few days 2009 will be over... we are treading on a new year ... beginning a new chapter in our lives. Take a look at your 2009 and see what it brought you... I just did and clicked on my archive.. amazing.. it is such a wonderful thing this blog we all call that allows us to publish our thoughts, have some new friends and get in touch with friends and families from all over (this is the first purpose of my blog). Best of all it allows us to record about the trivialities and momentous events of our lives.

There have been a lot of things that happened the past year. 2009 was an exciting year for me, full of adventures, trials, challenges, a few successes, a few failures... some blessings, some problems.. new friends... new enemies..

As I end this post I want to wish you all the best in 2010! May this coming year bring you happiness in all the things you do .. may it bring you good health... may it shower you with new opportunities to learn, meet new friends and discover new places.. best of all, may it see you fit to breeze through the next 12 months and greet the next year again after this year!

Merry Christmas

2009-12-23T09:06:00.002+01:00

In line with the winter wonderland atmosphere and weather, The V. and I decided to take a stroll in our town and visit the local Christmas market in the castle. It's a really tiny Weihnachtsmarkt but we thought about enjoying the freezing weather and a good cup of Glühwein. , also known as mulled wine or simply said hot red wine with cinnamon, orange, cloves and other spices.. I am very picky when it comes to this wine, normally you can get in anywhere in the Christmas market, but it is mostly direct from the bottle and just heated. I like my Glühwein freshly made, which means, pure red wine then cooked with spices! Lucky me there is one in our tiny Market. This comes from the Wine shop that sells its own wines directly in the shopping street. The wine comes form the nearby region Rheingau.

It was such a beautiful evening, we realised that there were not too many people, it was -8 Celsius that evening which could be the reason or they must be already gone on their Christmas holidays to go somewhere warmer or colder. People were wearing their ski outfits. Good thing I found my dear old ski shoes which I bought a few winters ago to keep my feet warm.

Of course no Christmas market would ever be complete without the Nativity.

The V. and I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May you all have a blessed Christmastime with your families and friends and may the coming year bring you joy, success and good health!

Christmas gifts

2009-12-22T11:03:00.002+01:00

My Christmas break started yesterday, that means I have a 3 week off from school :) I am so happy about this - this means I could eat, sleep, and wake up when I want to. Although there are some things to do - like finish 2 essays and submit it on 4th of January, spend Christmas with dear cousin in Bavaria and have some friends over the New Year's who would stay with us for 3 days. Busy calendar indeed, on top of these things, I plan to meet up with a friend, colleagues and ex colleagues too... so you see it is neverthless a busy 3 week break for me. I really want to finish my essays before all these things but I just don't have the motivation and concentration for it. We could have had a free month and need not do all these academic things.. oh well...

Anyway, being a teacher, you always get some little presents at the end of the school year or during Christmas (if parents are really generous and thoughtful) . some kids would give you something they made out of their tiny hands, some would give something really, really nice:like a voucher for a nearby perfmerie (only happened twice in my teacher-life!), cash (also only happened twice in my teacher- life) and some give normal things like a box of chocolates, flowers, soaps and in most times candles!I have a big plastic case filled with candles, different sorts, sizes and scents that I should blog about next time to show you.

It's not that I really want to get presents but I would really like to see some appreciation from the parents. Even a wonderful written card (which I got from one parent, I was so touched I cried in front of her) would be fine with me. This year I got one of the most weird, thoughtless present ever - to think that I take care of this family's twins (2 amazingly active toddlers) believe me I am not really asking for gifts but a little thank you from the heart would have been much nicer! Instead this - the photo makes it big but it it just very small, the size of a little cookie. Well, it is really a cookie with some icing on it. My colleague got a little santa and the boys wanted to eat it too so she gave it back to them. Me I wanted to keep it as a souvenir. To remind me about some people who are so thoughtless and not to be like them!

Well in the end I had my usual set of gifts, some candles, mugs, chocolates galore, soaps galore, a bottle of sparkling wine and soaps galore again!

Let it snow, let it snow

2009-12-20T16:17:00.000+01:00

For the past 3 days now, it has been snowing and the temperature is down up to -8 Celsius ... brrr and with 93 humidity.. so you can feel how cold it is... The snow doesn't really stay a long time, comes and goes so it is not as white as winter wonderland.

This is the house accross us--- as you can see, it's a bit white but still not so much. The V. has some cleaning to do later - I don't know how it is in your country but in Germany, the house owners are the ones responsible to clean the pave in front of their houses. If somebody slips or hurt themselves due to snow, sleet or whatever it is lying there, the houseowners will be liable to the person...so either you pay someone to do it or do it yourself!

So as you can see The V. has to clear this area and some more not seen on this picture - shovel the snow and clear the way to people who would be walking in front of our house.

Can you imagine if you have a house at the corner of the street? Like this neigbour of ours.
That's a lot of work! I've seen them raking the leaves last Autumn but I have yet to see them clear up the sidewalk - In my 8 years of living here in Germany, 2 years of it living in a house, I have observed that taking the weeds out, raking leaves and clearing the sidewalk in front of one'shouse are one of the things to do during weekends. I have never done them though and I think my neighbors think I am strange but then again I think I am excused because I am a foreigner - well at least till nobody slips or get hurt in front of my house.

Online Christmas Songs

2009-12-16T20:11:00.001+01:00

Here's a tip if you want to be in the mood for Christmas, you might want to listen to some Christmassy songs from classic old time favourites to swing, jazz, country, reggae, blue Christmas to contemporary--- just tune in to this online radio station called AccuHolidays. It really is very good, there's even a kid's channel .. so tune in for some holiday cheer. I have been listening to this station the last 4 years I think. And it's Christmas the whole month of December or if you want anytime the whole year.

I have a cordless speaker and it is USB plugged to my computer. I can carry the speakers and put it anywhere in our home (even outside in the garden during Summer) and the online music sends the signals to my speaker. It's very practical and very cheap, the speakers are not expensive. I think mine cost about €75 and that was at least 3 years ago and it still works.

Let the holidays begin

2009-12-15T20:03:00.001+01:00

Just 4 more days and it's the Christmas holidays once again :O) I am so looking forward to it this year - although it didn't turn out the way I had expected it to be. We were planning to go home to the Philippines this year but due to unforseen events this has to be cancelled. It really is sad but then again - we need to make use of what we have.

So for Christmas we are spending time with my cousin who lives just about 2.5 hours drive from here.She and her husband live in one of the American bases - It is so nice to have a relative when you live far away from your family. I didn't realise this till this Summer when my cousin arrived. The sad thing though they will be leaving this coming July so we just have a few more months to enjoy together. For New Year's we have some friends coming so we still don't know what to do but we are looking forward to that too. Then I have one quiet week --. In the middle of all the holiday stress I need to write 2 essays .. yay!

Well nevertheless I am happy I don't need to wake up early in this dark December nights.

Nuremberg Christmas Market

2009-12-12T15:18:00.002+01:00

One of Germany's most famous tradition during Christmas is the Christmas Market also known as Weihnachtsmarkt. In most villages and city there is always a Weihnachtsmarkt that starts on the weekend of the first Advent Sunday and lasts till the 4th Advent Sunday. A visit to the Christmas Market includes a bit of shopping, eating and of course drinking mulled wine also known as Glühwein , red wine with spices such as cinnamon, vanilla, cardomon, cloves served warm, just perfect for the chilly December evenings. If you don't like Glühwein you could also get some warm juice (apple, grape or orange) with salmost the same spices in it. This year, The V. and I were able to see the famous Nürnberger Weihnachtsmarkt. It is one of the most talked about Christmas Market in Germany. I really didn't know what's more special in it than the ones I have seen in Frankfurt or the nearby towns here. And yes, I must admit, it did look special. The vendors were much more friendlier than the usual ones and there were lots of things to see plus the Christmas cakes and cookies were so good. I don't know how many kinds of Christmas cookies Nürnberg alone has but they do definitely have a lot!

And here's a shop selling different kinds of ceramic houses and buildings which is modelled after traditional German timber houses. The houses do look like this in real life in a lot of places here in Germany. We even almost bought such a house like this but due to our 2 left hands we decided not to :O) such houses need creative hands and spirits.

And just a shop selling different kinds of miniature things. Christmas markets also sell a lot of handicrafts and various Christmas decorations and collectibles.

Here are different stalls selling different kinds of Christmas cookies and cakes- they are really good and much more better than the ones you could get in the supermarkets.

That's the Nürnber Christmas Market, there are other side streets with various stalls, also part of the market but this is taken just in front of the Cathedral, where the centre of the market is. So if you happen to be in the area have a look. It runs till the 24th of December. Have fun :)Nürnberg /Nuremberg is about 3 hours drive from Frankfurt. There are lots of parking and there are also tourist buses that offer daily trips to there wherever you may be in Germany.

It's Christmastime

2009-12-07T23:07:00.000+01:00

Hello dear friends, just want to say happy December to you-..Christmas is just around the corner...

Back to good old blogger

2009-11-28T08:38:00.000+01:00

In line with the catastrophe that hit my blog, see post below. I need to change my layout again. I thought I found a beautiful layout but unfortunately some good things don"t really last. If you would know of a place where I would greatly appreaciate it. However I am not good with making my own and changing those html codes so something really simple where I just upload the new skin would be perfect. Thanks in advance.I could find some new blog skins without photobucket hosting it.

I don't even have an account there but just the host of the template. In the meantime I'm going back to good old blogger.

I am at the moment at my cousin's place. She lives in an American base here in Germany and I think I have eaten turkey to last me a lifetime! We've been eating and eating and of course shopping - well more like they have been shopping not us. It seems it's been an American tradition to shop the Friday after Thanksgiving which is called Black Friday. Some of the prices of some electronics were so cheap it's almost only a third or a fourth of the price outside the base. However, we don't really need a flat screen television (we still have the old, box looking television) or a new laptop, desktop and a netbook, and not a blue ray player (especially with out super old tv) or any nintendo player.

Well, that's just about it for now. We are still staying here another 2 days - tomorrow before we go home I will be doing my grocery shopping and buy me lots of unhealthy American junk foods - yum, yum!

What's wrong with photobucket?

2009-11-24T19:46:00.002+01:00

I just checked this blog a few minutes ago and it had this huge banners all over it saying: update to photobucket pro today all over it.. now it's gone...all of a sudden. (whew what a reflief!)..

I hope it doesn't come back again.. I love this new template very much otherwise I have to go back to blogger's template which really has not so much choices..

Well wish me luck that this template stays clean of that wicked photobucket banner splattered all over my beautiful blog!!!!

Wish you all a happy weekend! Well I know it's still Tuesday on the way to Wednesday but as I have mentioned a few posts ago, this will be a long weekend for me. It's the second part of our fall break which of course coincides with Thanksgiving. Have fun everyone.

Me complaining

2009-11-21T18:28:00.001+01:00

It's just another weekend where I stay in front of the computer and gather my thoughts, read through my notes and write my essay. It seems every end of the month or at least every 4th weekend, I am tied to my computer and have to write and think as much as I can. The rest of the month is spent thiking about the next one due in another 4 weeks, reading and preparing for it. It is really time consuming and also nerve wracking and I have observed that due to my studies I missed out on other things and also fail to do other tasks and chores ( I haven't sorted my summer to autumn clothes and it's already winter) . I have not read a book for a long time too because I just don't have the energy to read some more. I do hope it will all pay off in the end.

There are times when I just think why am I doing this? I am tired after work and don't have much interest to do other things. I watch too much television and I am always hungry (hmm does this count? yes probably to too much stress).

At least after this post we will see friends for dinner. Oh which reminds me I really haven't some friends for dinner since August. Wakey - wakey Toni.

Work

2009-11-18T18:55:00.001+01:00

I had a chat with my boss the other day regarding my supposed to be pay raise for doing this new work I do with the little ones.. She said it's not happening this year, I thought she meant year 2009, but then she said no, she meant defintitely no pay increase for school year 2009-2010 and we'll see what the next schoolyear brings us. So that means not until when?

I know, I know, with budget cuts and lay-off nowadays, we should be happy with what we are getting. I am thankful for my job. However, the only thing I don't understand was: why she lied to me that she would give me and my colleague a new salary package when she told us that she and the board decided to add more children in my class than planned till end of the year (3 more) and give me another assistant.

It's probably just to calm me down with the extra work of having more children. Well what can I say? Nothing. I did my best. I said all the arguements I could think of. At the moment I really cannot do much, just be thankful for a job, carry on and study more. At the end of this , I really learned not to trust my boss especially after after doing all that hard work setting up a new class and a new curriculum.

So I need to count my blessings, I really get on well with my colleague. The other one I am still training and she is already giving me the headache but at least it's better than not getting anyone and still getting more work.

Just saying hello

2009-11-16T20:04:00.006+01:00

Just talking to a friend a while ago and realised that in 2 weeks it's December. Time flies indeed....

We still don't have definite plans for Christmas and New Year's, but one thing is for sure we will stay here in Germany. Just don't know if we'll go to friends or if our friends will come here and join for one of those holidays.. Nevertheless I am looking forward to the 3 week holiday - hurray!

And speaking of holidays next week, we have a long weekend. Since I work in an international school, we also celebrate the American Thanksgiving. So it's Thursday and Friday off for me and we plan to visit my cousin and her husband who lives in an American base down South. So looking forward to visiting some family and enjoying the weekend which would probably mean a lot of eating and turkey.

To brighten this gloomy, gray November days I decided to post some pictures of flowers we had in our garden last summer.Aren't they beautiful?

Hope to see them bloom again next year. We planted some of them from seeds and they turned out really well.

Well that's it for now and see you in my next post. Have a great week everyone.

These flowers are called sneezeweed, aren't they pretty? The bees love them. Kayni a blog friend, asked about it so some of you may want to know it as well.

Well that's it for now and see you in my next post. Have a great week everyone

Swine Flu

2009-11-12T18:52:00.000+01:00

This week went so fast - since the last three days I've only had 3 kids in my classroom. Due to the swine flu invasion in our school, we have 3 cases to date. Parents decided to either have the kids vaccinated or let them stay at home. On normal days I would have had 12 children and starting December, 15.

The health department said it will get worst actually so we need not panic now. Apparently some kids might have gotten it already but they just didn't know about it because the doctors don't test them unless you really insist on it.

There is too much panic ongoing but really Swine Flu is just a normal flu - other than it being really contagious and dangerous to high risk people like pregnant women, people with chronic lung/heart diseases and children under 2 years old. Well most flu and other sickness are dangerous to such people anyway. Some of my colleagues wanted to close the kindergarten, which would have been nice but nevertheless not so because then we have to do a super., super general cleaning, which I am not fond of at all. I clean the shelves and the materials every week and that's it.

I don't know if I should even take the vaccine. I am still contemplating on it.. hmmm...

November Gray Days

2009-11-09T00:00:00.000+01:00

Another week - another gray week. If you are suffering from a depression or some sort of sadness, this month would not help you to cheer up a bit but rather it will help you to feel sadder than sad. Rainy, gray, foggy, overcast skies and a wet day... that's all there is to it the past few weeks. Although I dread each end of the month because of my essay deadlines, I really can't wait till it's December and there is at least something to look forward to than the dreadful weather of November - Christmas and of course the long Christmas holidays! Hurra!

We still don't have plans for Christmas, our supposed to be plan to go to the Philippines has been cancelled due to unexpected reasons. We hope to fly soon when the skies this side of the world are not as gray as it is at the moment. Just to end this post I will share the last rays of summer taken at the banks of the Main River last September.
Prost!

This was probably one of the best days of September, where The V. and I decided to go and have a drink along the river and head for a hearty German meal at the end of the evening (sauerkraut, lots of meat and potatoes). I accidentally deleted the photos so could not show you anymore - such humongous portion, it's enough to feed a family!

Christmas in a Shoebox

2009-11-04T23:19:00.002+01:00

Yes, it's still November but it's not too early to think of Christmas - in the Philippines once the month has a --ber ending then Christmas is in the air. So as early as September we start to think of Christmas and count the days, once in a while even hear a bit of Christmas carols.

So why Christmas in a shoebox? Our church decided to join this program where one can put some things in a shoebox for a child who normally could not get any Christmas gifts this time of the year because of financial reasons.
This box which is really a shoe box wrapped with christmas wrapping, is filled with assorted materials like a litle toy, some kind of clothing, sweeties, writing materials, toiletries and of course a card or a picture from the giver.
What a nice way to start the holiday season! Now we are all sending these boxes early because those packages have to go a long way!Deadline is November 15 - so if you are anywhere in Germany, Austria or Switzerland - why not click on the link, maybe you are interested as well. There are lots of drop off points where you can hand in your shoebox.

I'm not sure if you have this in other countries- maybe? Let me know.

thoughts

2009-10-23T17:25:00.001+02:00

The house smells of chocolate - I am baking chocolate cake from a box but I don't think it really tastes good - the smell is exhilirating though and if it's not worth eating at least I enjoyed its scent.

October is almost over and this weekend I am going to do my- hibernation from the world also known as essay writing. I've been living the last 8 years here in Germany and it dawned on me while I was talking to a friend of ours who we have known since I came here that since they knew me - I have always been studying! The last 8 years ! When I met them I couldn't even speak German yet. I was studying German. After I have learned German and passed some profiency exams. I still couldn't find work so I went to another course which could tell me what to do and do some practicum to find what I can do. These friends would listen to me now speaking in German about my plans and options. But yet I still went to school everyday!

After that this school advised me do a career change and study again. So I went to find another school and started studying to be a kindergarten teacher -yes all in german! My friends would always think of me and wish me all the best for my exams. After passing my exams and doing all my practicum and some exams again - I've gotten a job and didn't see much of my friends. But we talk once in a while.

Yesterday we went to their house and they asked me the same questions just like from the very beginning of my life here and I realised that I am back to where we started years ago - I am studying again and it seems like forever! I am really not a studious person! My mom told me I am an intelligent girl then again what kind of mom would she be if she doesn't tell me that I am not intelligent or beautiful ? Is it possible that the brain starts to lose its intelligence - I mean is there still some left after studying so much. I find myself forgetting tiny glimpses and moments in my past life which is really sad - those brain nerves must have been taken over by conjugated german verbs and theories of childhood development.

Oh and I've finished this post and the chocolate cake is not so delicious so I put some american chocolate frosting which we all know is also not real chocolate ;) Gotta go now for some real freshly grounded brewed coffee with a not so chocolatey but very brown cake..

38 random things about me

2009-10-18T11:46:00.001+02:00

In honor of my 38th birthday I thought I will make a post about it. Since I just turned 28 38, I decided to write about myself. Here goes - 38 things about me.

Savoury vs sweets? Savoury - definitely.
I worked in a cruise ship to see the world and travelled from North to South America in 9 months.
My favourite colour is yellow although I don't have yellow things.
My best friend in high school was a boy - his girls hated me!
I got so drank in college, I woke up the next day lying on our door mat.
I made a list of 100 things I wanted to do when I was 28 years old ( 10 years ago!!!! ) and one of them is to live in a foreign country, breathe, cry and laugh in their language und jetzt bin ich hier in Deutschland, atme und lache und weine und esse viele Würstchen und und ....(and now I am in Germany, breathing, laughing and crying and eating lots of sausages and and..)
I have worked on a beautiful private island and walked along the beach before sleeping, went for dives on my break and watched beautiful sunsets before going to the toilet.
I wanted to go to Africa and teach underpriveleged children and nowI am teaching children of the richest people in our area.
I am a very clumsy person, I almost never wear white!
I can eat chicken everyday!
I go to a bible study every other Sunday.
I was a working student in college - supporting myself partly from my meager Mc Donald's salaries, a scholarship and my mom when she could.
I started this blog in February 2005.
I love the scent of citrus.
I eat the same flavour of ice cream wherever I go - peppermint!
I love to cook and imagine how a dish would taste before I cook it then I figure out what to put in it.
My fondest childhood memory is dipping my finger in a big steel drum of molasses somewhere in the sugarcane fields of Pangasinan.
I was sent to the principal's office only one time in my life - I stuck a pen upside down before my classmate sat on it.
Back in high school, my stepfather asked me to light his cigarette for him and try it - it was horrible. Maybe that's why I don't and wouldn't smoke cigarettes.
I love old music - 60,`s, 70's and 80's.
I love cats.
Spring is my favourite season because it reminds me so much of my hometown Baguio where it is forever spring except during typhoon season.
I am working on my 3rd diploma and hope to finish it before I turn 40.
I'm a great procrastinator.
I failed french because I was always late in class and Monsieur D. gave me a mark of failure due to absences before I could have my finals. I was always late only because of no. 12.
I sleep with my socks on.
If there is a soundtrack to my life one of the songs in it should be You Gotta Be from Desree.
I read endings of books before I start to read it.
I'm a night person. I am most active in the evenings.
In relation to the above statement, I hate waking up early.
There was a slight moment in my life that I wanted to get a tattoo but could not think of a design - I am so glad I did not do it.
I have a garden with raspberries, rhubarbs, strawberries, mint, sage and lots of thorny roses.
I don't like roses and orchids.
When I was in grade 1, I danced on my own with Chic's Le Freak in front of the whole school. What confidence! The teachers must have thought that was hilarious.
My family thought I danced like a grasshopper, my teachers probably too.
Dancer or singer - singer!
My husband and I speak with each other in our third language (mine: tagalog, english, german; his: bulgarian, russian, german)
I think writing 38 random things was difficult. I think you should try it.

is it break already?

2009-10-12T00:09:00.000+02:00

Just finished my autumn break - made so many plans and it turned out that I spent most of it in bed. Which makes me think of the next break already - I am so bad.

Anyway, it's going to be a busy week, lots of parent meeting things going on and some reading and writing for my next essay - yes, still studying oh, I think I forgot to tell you about it. I passed my exams which made me go to London, and not see London because I was studying so much. I didn't really get a high grade which I was hoping for at the start, but I passed it and I don't need to do it again which is good.

This week, I will also be having my birthday. There's no special celebration at all. I was thinking of doing that a few months ago but now decided not to maybe when I turn 40 which is not too far from now ;) Gosh, that sounds so old.. when I was young I thought 40 was like something so old, so grandma like..can't believe it's 2 years away from here.. yikes! scary thoughts.

soundtrip

2009-10-09T14:25:00.002+02:00

I have this urge need to listen to my favourite soundtracks the last few days. I've seen the movie 500 Days of Summer and I just love the music in it. It's a boy meets girl story, boy falls in love but girl doesn't, narrated from a boy's point of view which is kind of sweet and bittersweet. Then I borrowed the dvd from the library, Garden State, such a wonderful soundtrack too. It's another boy meets girl story. Beautiful.. So I started reviewing the best soundtracks ever. Dirty Dancing, I love Patrick Swayze's, She's like the Wind and of course The Time Of My Life; My Girl and Mermaids I love those old songs, 60's basically I think; Vicky, Cristina, Barcelona which is purely spanish guitar and spanish music - so romantic; My Bestfriend's Wedding; Amelie - basically instrumental with lots of accordion and piano, it's also one of my favourite of all favourite movies. Check it out or watch this trailer, it's in french though but you'll get the idea. Ok, that's all I could think now. Maybe you have some ideas of your own? Why not share it with me? I'm sure there are still so much out there.

The problem is I don't really have the cds to these movies so it's kind of hard to find them. I used to have this online radio station where I could put all the songs together but apparently Germany changed it's laws whatsoever because now I am not allowed to listen to my online radio station or even add more songs to it. I get this big flashing signs... not allowed in your home country. Now how do I change my IP address so I could say I come from anywhere but here.. I'm sure there is a trick to that.

Welcome to my new template

2009-10-08T20:16:00.006+02:00

After months and months of not blogging, I am back with a new template. I think it is beautiful. Thank you blogger blog templates for this blog. Of course in return I have to leave that link on the bottom for whatever cause it may serve ;)

I do need to still tinker on this template and do some changes, the links are not yet really working, I hope to do it tomorrow or later in the evening. Otherwise happy to be back in the blog world. I've missed it but I just have been really too busy the last few weeks since school year started. I do have a one week autumn break which is almost over. Been sick so I spent more than half of it in bed. Oh well, now I'm better again and get to be healthy on the last day of my break.

Now before I end this post, I just want to check if I can include some pictures, which shows my new classroom that I set up during the holidays. I am now working with the little ones which I blogged about a few months ago.

Be back soon ..

Hello I'm back

2009-08-20T22:49:00.002+02:00

Hi Friends and Family :) I am back and been here actually since Sunday evening but I have been totally busy the last few days setting up my toddler classroom-- well tomorrow is going to be the first day of school but before the kids start I need to give you some pictures so I have to go early to work tomorrow and bring my camera. It has been a hectic few months setting up the classroom and boy am I glad it's over.

I still don't have any idea with the result of my Montessori Practical Exam - I was awful, I had so many mistakes!!!! I wish I could turn back the clock, it was so nerve wracking, so anti-montessori doing that exam but hey life in reality is made up of trials and tribulations.

My experience in London was really wonderful eventhough I did not do touristy things - dead tired from all that studying! I met such lovely people in my training, one of them even invited me for an evening at her house and we ate and studied together and I slept on her couch. What a lovely gesture to a stranger. At least once in that 15 day stay I had a normal warm meal :)

Ok just catching up with you, will be back in the blog world soon ;)

More from me

2009-08-09T14:00:00.007+02:00

Today is my first week in London - I have another week and then it's home sweet home - at the moment I am in a hostel in Little Beirut :) (will try to post more about that next time)

I have been busy with my classes and haven't really had a lot of chance to go around town - though yesterday I was able to manage to walk around - actually I was looking for a post office but unfortunately it was already closed. Nevertheless I realise to take the time to walk around and later did I know this walk has turned out to be a little bit of sightseeing - unfortunately I did not have my camera with me just the mobile phone.

Hello from London

2009-08-05T00:49:00.003+02:00

Just a quick hello to all of you :) I am doing well, learning a lot of things and getting to know a lot of new people. There are 16 participants in my training and they all seem to be nice and friendly. Some live in UK and some come as far as Kenya and Mozambique.

The training is a bit tiring, finishing at 6 p.m. The college is just in one of the side streets of Oxford Street - very central and it is quite a shock to me to go out past 6 pm and see so many people! I have gotten used to the quiet life of Germany it seems..Frankfurt is idyllic compared to this!

So here's me - I found a fellow tourist like me to take my photo :) This is my first attempt to see something since I came here last Sunday.I I haven't done anything except walk around a bit. Today I got a bit adventurous and took the tube - very easy actually - I thought it would be complicated. I went to Piccadily Circus - and joined fellow tourists like me watch life go by in the busy streets of London. I was almost tempted to buy a ticket for a show - this is also the place for shows like Les Miserables, Lion King, Sister Act, Billy Elliot etc. etc.. but decided that it would be too sad to be all alone without The V.

Journey to England

2009-08-03T07:26:00.005+02:00

My visit to England started with a very dramactic scene – that is me waving goodbye to my airplane. I have always followed my golden rule – that is to be at least 2 hours before my flight at the airport. The V suggested we do an early check in and it is not necessary to be there 2 hours at least so we were there an hour before the flight – what do you know we still needed to fall in line for the luggage check in - and I mean a long, long line and I needed to fall in line with 3 controls – 2 airline security checks and one passport control – I arrived 15 minutes before the departure time and they have closed the gate! I could only wave at my plane!

That moment was so out of this world – almost surreal - like a scene from a movie – it couldn’t be happening to me. The good thing is Frankfurt Airport has a good system with its luggage procedure that mine knew (very intelligent) that I didn’t board the plane even after I have checked in and it didn’t fly with the machine. So what else to do – go to the Lufthansa help desk, get a new ticket which also took a long time - it turned out I wasn’t the only one with this agony – the cost of the new ticket is 5x more expensive than my ticket and I have to take the plane the next day – otherwise it would cost me 10x more flying the same day!

So there you go – the start of my journey! Wish me all the best from now on -

On packing

2009-07-29T23:28:00.003+02:00

So I have done my packing which is kind of weird because I really thought I would have lots of extra weight in my luggage but it turned out that I am still over than the 20 kilos limit that I should have - I am not having any carry on luggage except for a backpack with my books in it - Well I was planing to do some shopping in London (mostly books and cds for work and food shopping too) and I wonder how I could do that if my bag is already 22 kilos.. I have to probably check how much it would be to send books/stuff from there to here - and I think the school is giving us a second batch of books! I should have really brought a carry on - the thing is since I will be on my own and have no idea how I will be moving from point A - B - it would not be good to be pulling 2 luggages. Maybe I should really open that luggage and see what I can take from it...( to think that I carefully planned every piece of item in it) First I thought I should not be bringing clothes for 19 days - but then that means I have to wash my clothes somewhere and dry them too. My clothes are not dryer friendly - well most of them I think so they would probaby all shrink!

Off to England ...soon

2009-07-27T23:39:00.002+02:00

Just 2 more days and I will be flying to England - first stop is Manchester to see some friends .. after 3 days to London on my own for 15 days! Wish me luck - I hope not to get lost in the city..being disoriented and born without any sense of direction :) I will be doing a training for my studies which means attending the class from 8 or was it 9 to 6 pm everyday and at the end of it we will be rewarded with an oral exam from a panel of judges - yipee! Plus a demonstration of using all montessori materials with scrutining eyes of the examiners and graded too ...yipee again!

I ought to start studying some of the theory part but I am just lazy trying to enjoy the last days of my school holidays..because when I come back it's time for another 2000 page essay and of course start of the schoolyear with our new toddler group ---yipee to the third power. Life is exciting!

The hostel where I am staying says there is wifi ..so I hope to update my blog while away... will keep you posted on this exciting adventure..

Party left overs

2009-07-26T00:46:00.007+02:00

It is usual here in Germany and I'm sure in many nations and customs too to bring a hostess/host gift to any party/lunch/dinner/coffee and cake one is invited to. It is also it seems almost a custom to say the usual thing when one as a hostess/host gets the gift "oh you shouldn't have! it's not necessary but thank you so much"

Hostess gifts are usually flowers (or plants), a bottle of wine, or something edible mostly chocolates or special oils and vinegars or other special things you wouldn't normally buy yourself but love to give away. So on our summer fiesta even if we wrote everyone an email telling them they don't need to bring anything - guess what, of course they brought something. not necessary but of course thank you very much indeed! I love getting hostess gifts - it's always a pleasure to look into the little presents. Of course I try not to look so excited after all - they shouldn't have indeed brought the presents. I must have been younger then but back in the Philippines I don't remember my aunties, uncles, neighbors, friends and relatives to the 100th degree bringing something when they are invited for fiesta/dinner/lunch/coffee and cake. So have to update myself with that. Any changes fellow pinoys out there?

Assorted cookies and chocolates and a even a hot chocolate which really looks yummy!

Bottles of wine from red, white to sparkling.. I think I missed some bottles which are probably in the shelves already..
Again a bottle of wine, a shiraz from South Africa and a whisky for The V.
Specially packages chocolates from Interlaken, Switzerland ( i like the ribbon!)
Some flowers..
and some more ....
and a nice hostess gift from a friend - a scarf :)

Summer Fiesta

2009-07-20T01:01:00.019+02:00

Summer Fiesta Party was a hit! Before I went to bed, I looked at the weather forcast and it was rainy and cold, but when I woke up the sun was smiling at me. Later through the day, gusts of wind were coming and heavy dark clouds were all over me. The V. started hanging some balloons and decoration and the wind was howling and taking the deco away! My goodness - this is supposed to be summer! Guests were calling me and sending messages via facebook to ask me what they could bring - I said nothing just pray for good weather please and bring your appetite of course.

Well what do you know the evening turned out well anyway. It stayed dry the whole time and guests even stayed outside despite our preparation for an inside party. I don't know how we could manage 40 people inside so thank God indeed for the dry weather.Guests started coming in at 5 and the last ones left at 11:00 p.m.

S., a dear friend who came to the rescue and help the V and I with the party prep. on Saturday. I asked (or should I say, slaved her into doing the tomatoes and the mozarella and cheese plus the decoration- such a great student :) What a great friend! We had so much fun that we started dreaming of opening our own catering business..
We have such an international group of friends so if you take at this picture, there are 6 people and 7 nationalities- Kenyan, Canadian-American, Korean, Ukrainian, Scotsman & German - amazing!
and here again .. German, Croatian, Bulgarian. We also have some children and teenagers but since I didn't ask the parents approval I opt not to post them. I'm always careful with posting pictures of children in this blog.

which one to take? that is the question
I basically made and cooked almost all the food except for the dessert and 3 dishes. Instead of cooking for 35-40 people I cooked for a whole batallion - ok more like for 60 people. Actually about 10-12 guests did not show up.. so the extra portions wouldn't have been too bad. Some guests took some food home, everyone was so happy and I was happy too. I've always thought I could cook this much.. my mom is an expert on parties so I proved myself right. Thanks mom for forcing me to help you in the kitchen when I was a child/teenager (now I'm saying that but not when I was young)

Next time The V and I will go back to the caterer again or do a potluck! I have about 12 dishes I think (albondigas in tomato sauce, shrimps with garlic and lemon, pasta, couscous. tomato mozarella, chicken wings, meatrolls, anti pasti, humus, cucumber with tuna, baked peppers, sushi from a friend - whew!) A friend asked me if having it catered would have been more expensive and I said actually no - it's the same - weird it seems because maybe of the variety of food..

Time for some coffee and tea.. my friend A. from Ethiopia

And I thought this was very beautiful ... i made it in both sides of the driveway but couldn't get a full picture.. so pretty... wish I could have them everynight..

Summertime

2009-07-16T10:05:00.002+02:00

The V. and I are going to have a summer party this coming Saturday at our home. We were thinking of having it catered but since we have done mostly catering the last parties we've had, we decided to give it a try ourselves. I thought having doing it yourself would be cheaper but I think I was also wrong on that. Nevertheless, I want to do a party where I also did something so this is a compromise.We are ordering some food and making some ourselves. The V. is not too keen on the idea to have a barbeque and also not on the potluck kind of thing.

We are expecting about 35-40 people which is actually almost double the number of people we've had last November when we've had our much delayed house warming party. The guests there had such a wonderful time and asked us if we could do another party next time. ..So here we are..

I just hope the weather stays good and the people will have a wonderful time. And of course there would be enough food and drinks for everyone! I mean enough that they won't be hungry but also there wouldn't be too much left in the fridge for days and weeks!

Well that's just about it for now... will update you on the party and how it turned out .. wish me all the best :)

2009-07-13T14:33:00.009+02:00

Last Saturday, a friend of ours had a special birthday party. It was held in a special park, a playground for adults :) As a treat to his special friends, the guests on their own free will can join him climb walls and swing up in the air 14 meters high (4o plus feet i think) and of course enjoy the yummy buffet and a barbeque outdoor .. Well I have a fear of heights.. I don't know but sometime in my childhood I had a bad fell or something that I started to be traumatized from anything high.. I have such vague recollections of me climbing up a guava and an aratiles tree (a native cherry tree in the Philippines) so I know I must have been climbing way back then..

However on this day everyone was having so much fun and it didn't really matter if you climb high up the wall --observing around the corner.. I mastered enough guts and head for the wall clmbing..

Whew! That's what I could say.. it's really scary when you are confronted with your fear face to face.. aside from that- it's not just the fear.. I didn't have the arm muscles to lift myself up. It might look easy but it needs a lot of energy to pull yourself up to the next stone or whatever they call those colourful thingies..

It might look easy but it's really hard grasping those tiny things..

And another attempt :) I didn't reach the top but looking back now, I am so glad I tried it..otherwise I would look back at this opportunity and would wonder why I didn't do it.. The park is not far from us but nevertheless I on a normal sane day would not even think about going there! Whenver I look back at my life, I always think about the things I didn't do rather than the things I did do..

Oh and in case you want to do it.. be warned.. my arms still hurts ..after 2 days .. paracetamol and ibuprofen were no help...

What a wonderful birthday.. i don't know if the

Free day

2009-07-13T10:43:00.002+02:00

Life is so weird...

I decided that today would be a free day for me.. Hurra! I deserve a break, I've just finished my last essay and I don't need to go to work and don't need to open my textbooks (just not today for my upcoming exams in 4 weeks). I thought I'd stay long in bed and then slowly do my things --well what do you know? Of course I woke up early..usual time when I go to work.. tried to sleep some more but it didn't really work..

I tried to go online to find people who would normally be online at this time whenever I go to work. Nobody's online! I tried calling my friends who I think might be home? Nobody's answering the phone!

So weird.. when I'm busy, that's the time there are so many things to do and so many friends to meet and so many other distractions.. Having a free day when you really have nothing especially planned isn't so exciting.. oh well ..I might just go out and look for a new pair of shoes;)

Pretty in Pink

2009-07-09T15:06:00.005+02:00

Ta ran! I got myself a present - let's call it the school-year end gift to me, myself and I. Look!
Yup, it's pink and very pretty :) All netbooks have the same or comparable configurations, the only difference is the colour, design and the battery. I narrowed down my option and thought about either getting a red acer aspire or a pink samsung nc10 .. was a hard decision it seems ..and in the end just can't resist the oink one :) I love the white keyboard too which unfortunately acer hasn't. Hopefully more blogging for me from now on :)

Market Day

2009-07-08T16:09:00.007+02:00

I was just on my way to my doctor's appointment when I saw that it was market day. I often miss market day because it's always during work day when I am at work. This is really unfair because they have such good produce like fresh fruits and vegetables.
Hmmm so many fresh fruits.. the air smelled so sweet from luscious peaches, cherries and assorted berries ...
Cherries, peaches, apricots anyone?
I find artichokes really interesting from the way they look but I haven't eaten them fresh just once in a while as a pizza topping or on such antipasti dish.
Have you seen a yellow zucchini?
And lots of herbs galore! Dill, paisley, spring onion, coriander, estragon and so much more....

There are other things in the market like flowers, fish, sausages, cheese and so much more. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time to see them all - maybe next Tuesday :)

Red currants galore

2009-07-06T19:17:00.014+02:00

Another year with lots of currants! Look at all these clusters of red currants waiting to be picked!
Picking them is fun but the hard part is cleaning them like here ....
Luscious looking currants waiting to be turned into something more special... red currants have a tart, sour taste.. so it would be good to make something out of them instead of just eating them..

Like these lovely jams which is a perfect gift to friends.. everyone loves it because you normally get only jams with mixed berries and not pure red currants..
And here's another treat - red currant meringue cakes :) yummy.

School Break ---finally!

2009-07-04T09:22:00.003+02:00

Today is my first weekend without school on Monday! Finally ... I really don't have any great plans this summer .. no holidays unfortunately ..The V. doesn't have any vacation leave yet because he just started his job and I on the other hand have to do a lot of studying and attend a 15 day training with a big exam in August. Yup I'm of from work at shool but really it is study time - quite ironic. The good thing about it is I don't need to wake up early to get to work :)

Blogging and Facebook

2009-06-29T22:58:00.002+02:00

Yup, one of the things I neglect these past few days is this blog. I do still go online but more often than not just to check facebook and not blog :( Well facebook it seems is also time consuming -almost like blog hopping. You see what's happening with other peoples lives-- so and so is having a good day, bought a new car, went to have dinner with friends, is running a marathon, is bored and so on- you find people you haven't seen for ages (literally - some people met friends they haven't been in touch with for the last 30 years!). Aside from that, you get to see pictures of friends on their holidays, walks, dinners and also beautiful pictures from their friends. Aahhh - before you know it that 5 minute check of messages turned to an hour or more. If you're lucky you might even see friends online living in some part of the globe and have an online chat with them - that's really one of the perks of facebook.

But still I miss blogging - I miss my blogger friends who I got to know online through blog hopping and spontanous click in the blogosphere. You might find old friends in facebook, but you sure meet a lot of new friends in the blogging world. Now what happens if you don't update your blog too often? I don't know maybe they start to forget you? I hope not.. but maybe they lose interest in your life or also become a bit disappointed if they click at your page and there is no entry out there. I always get excited if I see a blogger friend has a new post. I wonder why they are not posting anymore and I hope they are all doing well but just busy. I am one of those who also gets a bit disappointed if I click on a friend's blog and there is no new post for the lastfew days, weeks, months (yup just like this blog).

I hope that soon I will blog more again - have more interesting posts than blahblahblah..

Facebook or blogging ? There really is not a competition - each has its own purpose and benefits.

Just checking in

2009-06-22T21:05:00.001+02:00

Hello once again, just wanted to say hello ..I am actually officially in my summer break, school ended last Friday. Unfortunately there are a lot of things to do in our school with the set up of a new toddler group so it's almost normal work for me. I do start at 9 am instead of the usual 8 a.m. so that's fair enough.
The V. is well and we are at least looking forward to some warm weather but summer hasn't arrived yet it seems. So far so good, nothing much for now.

Just saying hello

2009-06-11T11:00:00.002+02:00

Just want to say a brief hello to all my friends and family out there. Still very busy this part of the world but soon things will slow down a bit. School would end next week but that doesn't mean that it's the summer holidays for me.. we would be very busy with the set-up of our new classroom and then there's summer school for some kids which would really be fun :D No letters or numbers just actitivities and craft time ...more so like what I used to do in the german kindergartens :D Then finally it's the summer holidays - whew!

At the same time I am still busy with my studies, it's taking much time and stress than I thought it would be - whew again! This Monday I need to submit a 200o word essay which I haven't started yet. Well at least I have done half of the reading - I feel like a student cramming again - things haven't really change :( So parents out there teach your kids to study ahead of time!!!

Today The V. and I are babysitting our 4 year old god child :D It would be our first time to spend the whole day with him with overnight so it would really be an exciting time. His sister who is 8 years old would also be there. Will tell you how it goes..

So that's all for now, just wanted to say hello.

Birthday Boy

2009-06-04T23:31:00.005+02:00

Happy Birthday to The V. ... We wouldn't be celebrating tonight because I will be away for a 3 day training but hopefully we can celebrate next weekend... busy...busy ... busy.... I would even miss The V's first summer party at his new job..

Here's a bit of trivia about the birthday boy so you could get to know him more

The V. loves The Simpsons, he watches it everyday and doesn't mind even if he has seen that episode for the 100th time! (no exaggeration)
The V. loves pizza but lately he has been ignoring it for his new found love - indian food!
The V. is a day person and loves waking up early while I am a night person and love to really sleep in the mornings (opposites do attract!)
The V. is a wonderful husband despite his mood swings :D. They say people born under the zodiac sign of gemini has 2 personalities, like a twin - yang and yin, evil and good, bad and good mood.

Well that's it for now... wish you all a happy weekend!

Whew!

2009-05-23T14:26:00.002+02:00

Yup you've read it right - this is the way I am feeling at the moment-- from one task to another or even doing them at the same time. It is indeed such a busy time for me and I have just to let out steam and blog about this now.

I have been hibernating in this house since Thursday despite the wonderful weather and the holidays (we have a long weekend since Thursday). Finally I am done but don't be fooled, the next one is waiting in my inbox and due in 3 weeks! During the same 3 weeks, I would be busy setting up my other classroom, attending a 3 day seminar, take care of my godson and his sister while parents are away, having a visitor stay over from abroad and yes - sleep, work and eat! Life is indeed exciting! Oh and The V. is celebrating his birthday soon which we are going to postpone this time due to my commitments - nevertheless we plan to have a summer party so this is really something to look forward to despite the belated celebration.

Whew, that's it for now this side of the world. Hope to blog about cheerful things next time...