Oh Canada..."out and about"

It`s roadtrip time again!

Lloyd, Kyle and I drove to Toronto Canada for the weekend - stopped in Niagara Falls, went to a casino, lost some money...and here`s a little summary:

The roadtrip was entertaining as always, thanks to Lloyd

that man spins my head right round!

Niagara Falls


This is a view over a part of Toronto seen from the CN Tower, the tallest free standing structure in the world (ps. Toronto is HUUUUGE)


There is a glassfloor in the CN Tower, and this is my feet standing approx. 550meters above the ground, on something that looked like a thin glass floor:


I naturally INSISTED on going to the Hockey Hall of Fame:


Lloyd is doing a plie on the way to a club


As you might have noticed I don`t have to many pictures from the sightseeing part of the trip, that`s cause someone decided that the best way to get to know a new city is to sit inside a bar..with my camera..and not take any pictures.

Anyway, to sum it up:
driving - Niagara Falls - casino - sightseeing - party - driving

Another great weekend in the US! (no, wait..in Canada! well...poteito / potato) :)

Last day of teaching

So today was my last day of teaching in the US.
And I pretty much had the best day possible!

My students had made and brought lots of different treats like a home made ice cream cake:


brownies, cup cakes, cookies, taco rolls, potato chips and soda and we basically had a party.


One girl even made me a poem! Needless to say I almost started crying, being the cry baby that I am.

I am so flattered, and I`ll miss them all!

Here we all are, goofing off like always:


I wish I could stay longer..but Norway is calling my name!
But first: a weekend trip to Toronto, Canada.
Stay tuned!

Nice try!

I LOVE it when my students try to answer my questions by rephrasing the question itself.

I gave them a surprise quiz today to check if they read their homework chapters (Jane Eyre), and I really enjoyed correcting them.

Let me give you a few examples:
"What does Jane decide to draw and why?"
answer: Jane decides to draw.

this one is also a good one:
"Jane really likes to draw, so she decides to draw. It makes her feel calm."

another question from the quiz: "What is peculiar about the gypsy?"
answer: the gypsy is peculiar because he doesn't act the way gypsys normally do.

or maybe you prefer this answer to the same questions:
"the gypsy"
or:
"the gypsy is very strange looking, which is peculiar"

I can definitely appreciate (and recognize) the rephrasing strategy,
I just hope I did it a tad more subtly!

I`m adding a picture of my mentor and me out and about this weekend, shaking it loose, for your pleasure. or whatever. Please notice Jillian with her drink in the back!

Zebras and Europeans

Today in class one of my male students wore a really tight Zebra print denim pants that he cut off above the knee to make it into a shorts.

He is 14.
I had no where in the world enough confidence to pull that look of (or to stand out in the crowd whatsoever) at that age. Consider me impressed.

Anyway.
The rest of the class was asking him "seriously..what did you think when you got dressed this morning? it`s too tight!!"
He told them that he thought tight looked better than loose.
I told them all that I agreed "the tighter, the better. All the men in Europe are wearing pants like that! It`s only in America that men are wearing sloppy and wide pants all the time".

That shut them up `cause they will believe anything crazy about Europeans.

Dolphins and transvestites

Spring Break is over :/

But it was extremely fun while it lasted!
I have now been in 8 states (over 40 left..and 3 weeks left in the US..good luck) thanks to the longest drive ever home. But at least I got to try driving on American roads (with automatic gear shift..so weird!) which was fun!

I first went to New York to meet Linda who was visiting from Denmark.
New York was great, and we had a lot of fun (and spent A LOT of money on taxis)!
We also went to the top of the Empire State Building where we for some reason were extremely popular (could it be that it was incredibly windy and Linda was wearing a wide and short skirt that blew up "Marilyn Monroe style" giving everyone a show?
Maybe. The view was gorgeous, though! (yes, I am referring both to Linda`s skirt blowing up and the view over NYC)


We also went to see Stomp, which was really cool!


After a hectic and fun weekend in New York we headed off to Florida for some fun and sun, and to meet Lloyd, Jillian, Kevin and Doug in West Palm Beach.
As the headline suggests I saw both dolphins and transvestites on this trip!

It was incredibly cool to be taking a swim and then turning your head and seeing a dolphin jump up in the air and twirl back down into the water (ok, at first we all kind of freaked out cause we thought it was a shark..but whatever!)

I am aware that it looks like I am screaming in fear (maybe of sharks) on this picture, but it`s actually just one of my strange laughing faces, so not to worry.

Never having experienced a Spring Break before I still feel like I can say this Spring Break was just how they`re supposed to be:
beach and pool during the day
food and parties during the night
developing a large number of inside jokes
listening to the same party songs over and over again
dolphines
transvestites

and wait...
Lloyd playing model:


I think that pretty much sums it up!
And here`s a picture of the whole group:

AK, Jillian, Linda, Doug, Kevin and Lloyd

Florida for Spring Break!

Florida, the sunshine state...weather forecasts say 25 degrees celcius and sun all of next week...nice!

What am I gonna do there?
I was thinking: beach.

But first I`m going to New York to "pick up" Linda! :)
What are we doing there?
I was thinking: shop.

Have a wonderful Spring Break!
See you when I`m back the 15th of March!

More lovely 14year olds!

Today was my mentor`s birthday, and yesterday was mine, so we had a "celebration" with the students today, and 1 of them made cookies for us and the whole class!

How amazing is that?
pretty amazing if you ask me!

My supervisor also brought us cake! and with all this cake eating I`m getting ready for Spring Break (juhu!!) in Florida!!

My travelplans are as follows:
Friday the 6th of March I`m going to New York by bus to meet Linda who is coming to visit!
We`re gonna spend the weekend in NY shopping and looking at the sights before flying to Florida Sunday night, and spending a small week there. We`ll be meeting Lloyd, Jillian, Kevin and Doug there - and the vacation can officially begin.

It`s supposed to be 25degrees and sunny all of next week in West Palm Beach so it should be a nice change from the Pennsylvanian weather.
We`re driving (oh yes, 16hours!) back to State College and should be back saturday the 14th of March.

I`m excited!