Stuttgart and other happenings...

Sunday Erin and I joined up with the girls in Stuttgart for a day trip. It was awesome. We went to the Porsche Museum before we met up with everyone to quickly find a key chain for Erin's brother. We though Porsche gift shop will HAVE to sell authentic key chains...no such luck. We left with postcards. So Stuttgart is the location of the second largest "fest" in Germany. Only Oktoberfest is bigger. It was like a big carnival with really big beer tents in the middle! It was a cloudy overcast day so there was plenty of space. We looked into a beer tent to see people standing on tables, drinking lots of beer, and singing! It was pretty awesome, but we're not beer drinkers so we moved along. We rode the HUGE ferris wheel, which freaked me out a bit, but eventually I calmed down. I hate to sit on the sidelines and wait and the ferris wheel is pretty tame. The high in the sky swings I passed on though! No death swing for me, thank you very much! Erin and Kelly went up and had a good time.


The weather was kind of crazy all day. It was mostly cloudy and overcast, but for a short time while the girls were on the swings the sun came out and it was beautiful! The beautiful didn't last long, a down pour started soon after and we ended up taking cover under the overhang from a ride! Luckily the down pour was short lived and we were able to get back out and walk with a little bit of sprinkles the rest of the way. At this point we decided it was time to head for the train station and home, in case more rain was on the way. Everyone else seemed to have the same idea. The train station was packed! We were luck to find seats together right away though. As we got further away from Stuttgart and the carnival the train got less full with each stop so we were able to get a bit more comfortable.




On Monday Erin and I had the day off from working on Saturday. Now that is the way to start your week...everyone else going to work while you sleep in! We had a great morning doing whatever needed to get done. Then we headed into town, Ansbach, to try and figure out the bus system from base. So I had been able to find one time for pick-up online, at 10:20am, but we were looking to leave closer to noon. So we decided to wing it. When we got to the bus stop the next pick-up wasn't until 1:50, almost two hours away! So we went to the TKS shop to buy phone minutes, we sat in the sun until it got too cold, and then we decided to call the cab. Before we left we checked the drop off times to get home! There was a bus dropping off around 6:30pm and another at 4:30pm. So we wrote all the train times down for reference later!

We decided to drop off at the castle and wander the shopping we found our first weekend here. Erin found the H&M was actually here rather than in the mall! So we stopped to do a little window shopping, and they had a plus size section as well! It wasn't as big as Heidelberg's section, but it was still nice to see. I'll probably check it out again soon. I was finally able to buy an umbrella and Erin found a rain jacket. It was a pretty productive day. When it was time to head back we went to the main bus depot across from the castle. We found that our bus came by every 15 minutes but the didn't always stop at our location. So we had to wait for 30 minutes to catch the correct bus that would take us all the way out to our stop. That gave me time to make hotel reservations for Claire's stay though! It is right down the road from the train station and looks out on the castle! I didn't even have to put any money down. I need to go back and fix some times, but for the most part, she's all set! Once we were on the bus it only took 15 minutes to get back to base and it only cost 1.20 euro to get on, which is so much better than the 12 euro it costs to get the taxi! Unfortunately the bus is only an option when we have a weekday off and we can get to the bus stop by 6pm...which will be rare. But we had a good time!

Kinder Fest - Illesheim

So today Erin Murphy and I worked at the Illesheim base Kinder Fest. We were NOT expected and may have been able to go home...such is the communication we live with! But I already changed my plans for this, I wasn't going to change again. So we stayed and ran the Bouncy House.

We got there around 9am and were told to come back at 11am because they didn't need help setting up. We worked from 11am to 4pm. I am proud to say that there were no serious injuries on our watch! NONE. We tag teamed the kids by holding it to about 10 kids in at once. Mostly keeping the big kids out when too many of the little ones were in. Erin and I also took turns in the Bouncy House to make sure that things were running smoothly from all sides! We were a great team. I really wish I had thought to bring my camera because it would have looked soooooo good in my portfolio at the end of the semester! But I'll live without the pictures.

I only have two incidents that bothered me all day. First, when two "older" boys came into "the house" and immediately did a couple of somersaults. Those were not allowed in "the house" and I told them that. They looked at me like I was either crazy or the wicked witch and left. I felt like their parents were not amused by my intervention. But those were the rules of the house I had to make sure that EVERYONE was safe! The other incident happened with a couple of "older" girls. They looked to be playing at ridding on each other like a horse game maybe. I told them that wasn't a good idea because of the number of people and the way "the house" moves. They were fine with that and would have kept on playing but a dad like guy came over and told them to get out. I'm not sure if it was because I had to correct them or not, but I felt like it was. But they had corrected the behavior and would have been fine! I felt kind of bad for the girls because they hadn't given me any grief about it. Oh well, that's the way it goes.

The day itself was kind of crazy! There were a couple of kids I saw running around but never did see a parent attached to them...some doing fine without the parental supervision and others not so fine. This all happened inside a hanger on base because it was raining cats and dogs! ALL DAY LONG! The weather this weekend is VERY German weather. The hanger was nice for the Bouncy House because it kept the dirt to a minimum and we didn't have to worry about people/kids knocking over our air supply (nothing but wall behind us). The noise was a little annoying from some of the games because the way things echoed, but for the most part it worked just fine. There was a good turn out, but I think it could have been better. Because even though the event was moved indoors parents have a hard time wanting to take kids out of the house when it's raining like crazy.

Now it's time for a hot shower and finding a movie to watch! My legs are already sore from jumping/bouncing around that stupid "house" all day long! The plan is to head to Stuttgart tomorrow for a day trip, but if the weather keeps up like today we may have to cancel. We are supposed to be going to a carnival and it won't be any fun in the rain!

Good News and Bad News

Bad News: I am working all week all day in Preschool 1 next week. The only teacher they listen to is off for the week...I am helping to fill in...very BAD news.

Bad News: I am working Saturday from 9am to 4pm on the other base to help cover a special event. No trip to Heidelberg for me. :-( Very SAD news.

Good News: Because I am working on Saturday I will have Monday off. Giving me a four day week instead of a five day week in Preschool 1...little ray of hope.

It seems that the bad news is outweighing the good at this point. Hopefully it will get better soon.

Do I look like I can be in two places at once? Wait, don't answer that!

So This week's schedule was crazy! Every other intern was assigned one room for the whole week. Not me, I am all over the place and in different rooms depending on what time it is and what day of the week! So I was going along pretty good, 3 hours each morning with Preschool 1, but it wasn't too bad. We went to the park and I would help them with lunch. Ending the day in Preschool 2 with another intern, Rebecca, she's so awesome with her class. And doing everything and anything in between.

Then came Tuesday...my schedule this week has been in bold so that I could easily find my name. So I look at my schedule for Wednesday and notice I'm not in bold at Preschool 1. I am actually assigned to work there from 8am to 5pm all day! WHAT?! Because the rest of my schedule has me all over the building like normal. So I go in Wednesday morning and the lady at the front desk sends me on my way with my schedule in bold. But little did I know that Preschool 1 had been looking for me all morning! One of the teachers finally looked at the schedule and noticed I was scheduled all over the building. And I didn't have to go, they made due without me because Infant 1 was down a teacher. I spent all day with just one other intern in that room. It was her second day with infants and I had never worked in that room before! It was a crazy day, but we made it!

So the rest of the week has been a slightly better time, even with my room jumping. Mostly I'm being told to skip out on my Preschool 2 assignment in the afternoons because they have been down people in the infant rooms. So most of my afternoons have been with the babies, and I like it like that!

Now to live through the weekend. As usual around here plans change quick. And now somebody, MIGHT have to work Saturday...putting a wrench in all our plans. Anyway, we'll know by tomorrow, but hopefully it will get worked out.

A relaxing weekend at home...aahhhh...

Well, I had a wonderful weekend. I spent the entire weekend at home! I finally looked at the homework for the classes that go with my internship...I even started work on one project...out of like 16...

The girls who live with me took a day trip on Saturday to Garmish to try some hiking while the weather was still nice. Well, the weather wasn't as nice as they had hoped and the hiking didn't really pan out either. But they had a good time and a fun adventure. I really enjoyed some time to myself in the apartment. I experimented with cooking while my picky eater roommate was away for the day! It was a fun time. But mostly it was just nice to relax...and eat some sweet sweet ice cream bars! Do you see the "M" that's how you KNOW it's a Magnum Bar!

Week Three

As I said before this was the week of injuries! First, Erin Murphy sprains her finger deflecting a book being thrown at her, and then Kelly gets knocked in the jaw by a child's head. Apparently my apartment was targeted for disaster this week. However, I believe I was able to avoid disaster. I had one minor hiccup today when my finger was closed in a car window, but no trace of the injury remains so I'm giving myself the all clear!

Most of the girls had a half day today. There was a picnic for the community that everyone was encouraged to go to, so the CDC closed. The boss decided not all the interns needed to be there. So we owe them hours now, which will work out fine for them because we'll pay them back in Saturday time. Whatever, I've already worked one Saturday and it wasn't that bad. I spent my time today watching bootlegged movies on the internet! That and one of my friends from the CDC gave us a lift to the commissary! So I was able to get some cold medicine and some Aleve! That's right, I'm still sick! The cough is better, but now I seem to have a runny nose. I think this is a different cold than I had last week, because that was basically cleared up by Sunday. Arg, working with babies is hazardous. The goal for the weekend is to get some homework done and get rid of the cold!

Home Sweet Home

Ah Heidelberg! It just feels like home. I could happily live there for the rest of my life...sigh... :-) We had a beautiful weekend to explore and have fun. The best part about Heidelberg has to be the shopping! I love the castle and the main street, but you can find those types of things in a lot of German towns. But shopping on the main street is THE best. The H&M sells plus sizes, up to 26! There is a shop devoted to Irish...stuff! The tea shops, the fake Hard Rock, not to mention the Doner Kebaps! Basically I spent too much money this weekend, but I can't regret it.


I found an awesome record shop where I bought the Soundtrack to Flash Gordon, all music by Queen. It was only 12 euro! I bought three shirts at H&M and the most expensive one was only $19.95 euro. I bought some tea because it's gonna get cold here pretty quick! I bought a sweet bag, that if I was really good I could have made myself...but I like that it's handmade. Anyway I had a wonderful time. We spent most of the day Saturday getting our hostel figured out and shopping because we knew that nothing would be open on Sunday except the tourist attractions.

Sunday was a great day. We went to the castle and the student jail before we skipped town. The student jail was nice, but I think the people I'm traveling with had built it up in their heads. I don't know but I feel like everyone I was with was a little disappointed with the city. They all had a good time, but it's not home to anybody else. Anyway, the castle was much more the thing. We actually made it to the tram that takes you up! I was sooooo happy not to do the 300+ stairs! Kelly was perfectly happy to take the stairs, she likes the feeling of accomplishment, but I wasn't having any of that. Sorry! Been there, done that, I'm NOT doing it again! :-) I think she understood. I love the Heidelberg Castle and I wanted to sing the whole time I was there! "I got locked in the Heidelberg Castle. The people all left and they shut the door!" So our trip was great, shopping on Saturday and site seeing on Sunday! But the train ride home gets it's own post later this week!

What a week!

Okay so I still need to post about my trip to Heidelberg, but I wanted to comment on the week first. Yesterday, Monday, Erin Murphy was working in one of the preschool rooms and got hurt. One of the students threw a hard back picture book at her head and to deflect the book she put up her hand. Well, it hit her fingers just wrong and her pointer finger is swollen, bruised, and unmovable now! It was a rough morning. Today we get back from work to find that Kelly spent five hours at the emergency room!! Apparently her jaw was smacked by the head of a student...pure accident and the student has a pretty good sized goose egg on his head. She is supposed to rest and not talk much...we work with children! All we do is talk! And she is expected at work in the morning! This seems to be the week of accidents...I hope it does not continue but now I'm on the lookout!

Prague Part II

Day 2:
Well we are big on castles in this group so that was the first destination for the day. It's a pretty long walk, but everything is! We tried to stay along major streets that didn't break up to keep us out of the twisty turning maze. It worked fairly well...we really only got "lost" once. And we figured out our mistake pretty quick and fixed it. However it did allow me to get a photo of some Czech duckies! Now I have French and Czech duckies! Sorry you can't really seem them, but they are there!


The climb up to the castle reminds me of going to Sacre Coeur, or Montmartre, the wrong way! It got to be a bit steep near the top, but it was a pretty neat castle. We decided against paying for the tour to go inside. Nobody really knew enough about Prague to want to spend the money on a tour that might not have interested anyone. I wish I had done a little more research before we went. But we don't really plan ahead very well as a group yet. It's early in our trip and I'm hoping to fix that eventually. Cross your fingers!


So on the way down we went across the Charles Bridge, the old one with all the cool statues and tourists. It was really easy to get to from the Castle, but it wasn't so easy to get across! The bridge was loaded with tourists, street musicians, and vendors. It felt like it took an hour to get the whole group across the bridge. I didn't really take any pictures, because there were so many people everywhere. A good picture never really presented itself. But I did buy a picture/print of the bridge from the castle gift shop. I know that is way better than anything I could have done in the middle of a busy day!

At this point it was about 1pm and out group was getting a bit hungry and tired. It's a lot of walking, and the cobble stones seem to make everything worse. Rather than try and find a spot that 8 people could agree on we decided to split up and meet back at out square at 3pm. I went with Megan U. and Kristyn to a close restaurant that advertised traditional Czech food and pizza. We decided it would be good to have a back up in case the traditional food didn't seem like our thing. Which we all ended up buying pizza because the traditional dishes looked a little odd. Plus the menu English was a bit sketchy, however I was glad it was there at all so there's really no cause for complaint. Too bad we picked the WRONG restaurant. Before we sat down we specifically asked if they took cards, because Kristyn and I were both out of Czech money. They said yes, great! So we ordered and over an HOUR later Kristyn and Megan got their pizza. Ten minutes after that I got my pizza, well I got a pizza. It was not what I ordered but was close enough that I let it slide because we didn't have the time to fix it! I had to scarf that down in 15 minutes so that we could quick get going to meet everybody back at the square. It was a mess. Then when the bill came I gave him my card, again no problem. A couple minutes later he comes back..."I'm sorry the card reader is down...do you have cash?" Um...NO! They took American dollars and Euros though so between the three of us we got it figured out, but it was a mess! Not the best dinning experience I've ever had.

After meeting back up at the square we basically decided that it would be best to head to the train station. Everyone was carrying their backpacks today and nobody had gotten very much sleep. We were tired and had seen most of what we wanted. Nobody was looking forward to the 6 to 8 hours of travel, but it was cheap. It was a long night but we made it home a little after 1am on Monday morning. I called the taxi service again and asked if my bag had been turned in. They said no, but to call back tomorrow night. I don't know if that is because the guy who was driving me might not have worked again yet or what. But I'm thinking it's a lost cause. I will however keep calling...maybe until this weekend and then give in. The lesson I learned was don't put your bag where you can be allowed to forget it! And don't put anything in it you couldn't live without!! Here's a summary of my missing bag experience/stuff:

Tally of lost items:
1 Pair of comfy gray activewear pants (PJs)
1 Reba/Brooks and Dunn Concert Tee (PJs)
1 Sweet Sixteen UNI tee
1 Baby Blue backpack
2 Pair green LB panties
1 Travel size hairbrush
1 Toiletries bag...Lands End
1 Spare Toothbrush in Travel Case
1 Bar Soap in Travel Case
1 Pepto stash
1 Travel Shampoo
1 Spare Deodorant
1 Small bottle of Bath and Body Works Body Mist
Unknown quantities of tampons

Items to be mourned:
Lands End Toiletries bag...they just don't make 'em like they use to (and Grandma no longer has her discount)!
Sweet Sixteen Tee...I hate to lose a "comfy" tee right now!
Travel Size Hairbrush...I don't know why, but I'm attached!


Reasons to be thankful:
I had thought to bring my MP3 player, in my backpack.
I had also thought to bring my book...my out of print book, in my backpack.
I did not bring a change of pants...I have at least two more pair of the "comfy" gray pants at home waiting for me!!!
I did actually clean out my toiletries bag before I left and so my number of tampons lost is a lot less than it would have been...since I took the space to bring them over in the first place.

Ahhh Prague

We had a three day weekend due to Labor Day on Monday. We decided we were not ready for a big trip that would really be worth our three day miracle, so instead we decided on Prague. There was talk of Rome and Amsterdam, but in the end Prague won out. I was very excited by this choice since it was the number one destination on my list of places to see this time around. It's technically about 5 hours away, so we could have plenty of time to see what we wanted and come back late Sunday night. Which leaves everyone Monday to catch up on SLEEP!!!!

We left at the BUTT CRACK of dawn Saturday morning at 5:30am to catch our train. In order to save about 80 Euro we decided to take the roundabout route rather than the 5 hour bus. I think we were traveling for about 8 hours each way. But we only spent around 20 Euro a piece for the roundtrip! But what should happen at 5:30am when I get to the train station??? I left my backpack in the trunk of the cab!!! Oh no!! So I immediately call the cab company and ask what can be done. They say to call back tomorrow at 10pm because the night shift is just getting off so my driver will be on his way home. Since I didn't get the driver's number they won't make a call for me. So I let it go because darn it I'm headed out of town for the weekend. I don't have the time to go back and get new clothes so I decide to just live with it. I can spend two days in the same clothes...and I did! (I've got the picture to prove it!)

Prague!! The train travel was a little long, we arrived in Prague around 3:00 on Saturday afternoon. We were all tired and hungry from a LONG morning/days worth of travel. So all we really wanted to do was find our hostel and drop our gear. Easier said than done. Due to a LONG and boring explanation we arrived in Prague with no set reservations. There was a chain of two hostels that we were going to stay at one or the other. By the time we found the first one, around 4:00, there were not enough beds for our group of 8 girls! So they called over to the other location to see, and LUCKY for us they had room for us. However we took the long way there...due to some sketchy map reading and some poor communication skills. We arrived at the Old Prague Hostel just in time to drop our gear and get some grub! We were hungry. On our way back to the "Old Town" we stopped at the Dubliner, an Irish Pub like restaurant just off the beaten path. Have I mentioned that all of the "Old Town" is cobblestone streets and sidewalks? Well they are, and my feet have the blisters to prove it! It's a miracle nobody tripped and sprained an ankle.






After we got some food in our bellies and a few less bags to carry around we were ready to see Prague! We stopped at a marionette/souvenir shop, and walked back to the "Old Town Square." I'm not exactly sure that's the name, but it's where everything touristy was centered. It's been a while since I've seen tourists in crowds like that! Everyone all milling about, and on all the little roads there were people looking lost and pulling out maps! The Old Town in Prague has all cobble stone roads and sidewalks and all the roads are twisting and turning into one another. It's like a maze, which is not helpful when you don't have ANY sense of direction! We walked around took some pictures and then decided we wanted to head towards the river. We ended up walking down a pretty main street that had lots of people going to shady looking bars and clubs. But the street was full of people and it was fun to watch them all. At the end we came up to this huge building, and since none of use even remotely know Czech we had no idea what it was. From what I have figured out from looking at our free map from the hostel I THINK it was the National Theatre, but I could be wrong.

After that we turned around and THANK GOD decided against going into any of the shady looking clubs along that street. So we headed back to the square because it's the landmark that we could find other things from. It was really funny, before at the square I heard so many different languages I couldn't tell them apart, but when we made it back I heard a LOT of English. Back at the Astronomical Clock there were a bunch of different tours and such headed out. Most of the group decided to take one of these lovely "tours." However, I'm not much of a "tour" type of girl and I was TIRED. So I went back to the hostel with our new member Megan. She got in a week later than everyone else and we seem to be on the same page for a lot of things. We only got slightly lost on the way back, and sat and talked for a while until the rest of the girls came home. I, of course, slept in my clothes...never leave your bag in a cab!!

We had to be out of the hostel by 10am the next morning so we decided to get up by at least 8:30am because breakfast was free. We all seemed to be up by 8am, with the exception of one anyway. This was a really nice hostel. The bathrooms and showers were clean and well organized. The beds were acceptable and the linens were clean. There was free internet and wi-fi, breakfast, linens, and towels. The breakfast was funny. Everyone gets a sandwich and can go to the common room for cereal, coffee, juice, tea, or milk. The sandwich was a good base to the morning since I wasn't really into the cereal choices though. This post is way too long so I'll have to finish Day 2 in another!

Work

This week was nice. I was stationed at Infant Room II all week where things went smoothly. This coming week I will be moved to Toddler Room I for the entire week. I think it would be great to work in either of these classrooms so for now I'm pretty happy with work. It seems that the two Interns that were placed in the preschool rooms last week would like to remain in those rooms for the rest of the semester...I think they may eventually change their minds, but I like that they are digging right in! Now on to the stuff you really want to hear...Prague!