During my half-hour commute in the mornings, and oftentimes in the afternoon as well, I listen to National Public Radio, NPR for short.  I like being informed, and all the buzz lately is politics and the Democratic National convention that was held in Denver last week.  Yet, I feel that these are things that I should be talking about more with the people around me.  Yet, I don’t.  The physical toil of working in a classroom without air-conditioning drains me at the end of the day, and I only see my colleagues for a brief time in the hallyways during passing time.  I’m growing accumstomed to waking up at 5 a.m., but am not so sure I like the format of school.  I know the first year of teaching brings a big learning curve, but although I was told this before it started, it’s something else to actually live through it.  I get excited when it’s Friday afternoon and the kids leave.  I’m trying to be paitent with them, but the 100 plus kids I see everyday just overwehlms me most of the time.  I hope to come out ahead at the end of the day, but mostly I’m just keeping up with the demands as they come.  I pray relief is in sight soon, and that I can persevere through this school year.

So the travels with my parents went very well, and our favorite part of the trip was the week in Switzerland.  I posted an album on facebook, and if you aren’t my friend on facebook, or don’t know what facebook is, here’s the link http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=33162065&l=bee5f&id=3110646.

Since returning to St. Louis a week ago, I’ve had a job interview, and traveled 400 miles to Birmingham, AL for Henry and Sharon’s wedding.  It was a coincidence that my birthday was the same weekend, and it was one of the most memorable birthdays I’ve had.  So many friends were there, and I was just overwhelmed by it all, as normally I’m just with my family up in Angola, NY on the shores of Lake Erie.  The reunions will keep on coming this week, and I just can’t wait to catch up with friends again!

As I get ready to pack up my room, I can’t help but look at all the objects around me and think of the memories I associate with some of these things: the picture frame I got from Megan, the flowers on the table as a going-away gift from school, my sage tea I bought in Berlin when I was sick… Now they all have to fit into cramped and tightly packed suitcases.  Not all the objects with a memory come with me, but I hope they all survive the journey home intact, so I can always have little reminders of this challenging year.

But first, the farewell tour begins tomorrow!  My parents arrive tomorrow at 1:30 pm, and the last-minute preparations are pretty much taken care of, but I still can’t quite grasp that the day is finally upon me.  Ahhh!  Is it really all over?  I have a job interview lined up two days after I return, which is a huge blessing and answer to prayer.  It’s really time to move on.

So I’ve had a bike again for the past week now. It’s an answered prayer as I love riding a bike, and it makes life much more convenient for me. My landlady found it at a flea market, and the price of 35 euro wasn’t so bad either. I need to tighten up the handlebars still, and the seat could be higher, but other than that, I’m loving the mobility the bike offers me.

Well, tonight was the farewell dinner for Rachel, and she decided we should go to the town brewery, which is one of our favorite places to eat. It’s located in such a quiet and idyllic part of town with a small, yellow, catholic church nearby. I was looking forward to the evening there and decided to get dressed up a bit, and wear one of my summer skirts. This proved to make the bike ride over a bit interesting, as I didn’t want to flash all the people I rode by on the way there. It was a bit windy, so about every minute I was pulling my skirt back down. In the end, I just had to deal with it as riding in a skirt isn’t very lady like, but I wanted to to look all pretty for the night.

We sat in the beer garden outside, but they had two patios, so we chose the side without the tv broadcasting the European championship games. Germany had their first game tonight, and I would’ve liked to watch it all, but we heard when Germany scored as the people in the other part of the place would cheer. I rode my bike back when the game was still going on, and it seemed like in each home I passed by I could hear the broadcast. Some fireworks went off, too, so I figured the score was 2:0 for Germany at this point. It reminds me of how it was two years ago during the World Cup. I was even stopped on campus in Mainz on Tuesday by a guy asking for an interview for the local radio. He wanted to know who I was rooting for, so I said, Germany of course since the US isn’t a part of this championship! And my pick for my favorite players was Ballack, the team captain, and Poldolski, who got both goals in the game. That’s the reason why I like him, because he’s a high goal scorer, but the interviewer was asking if I liked him because of the way he looked. I think he’s got the skill and the look, so it’s the perfect combination.

Speaking of soccer, the graduating classes are having a tournament tomorrow morning in the stadium, so I’d better be off to bed.  But my commute in the morning will be shorter because of the bike, sweet!

Summertime has a kind of magic that i just love. Thursday night we had a great ultimate frisbee practice in Frankfurt with so many people that we broke up into the guys and girl’s team to practice some tactics for the upcoming qualification for the German championships. It was fun scrimmaging at the end, although when it gets dark, I have a hard time judging how far away the disc is from me, so I misjudged once and got a little bump on my forehead from the disc I should’ve caught. It was decided beforehand that we would go out for a drink afterwards, so I came too as I was really thirsty. I knew I would be cutting it close to make the last train home that night, so I asked one of the girls on the team if I could crash at her place if I didn’t make that train. Well, I didn’t so we had a mini-slumber party in Offenbach. She had to get up early for work Friday morning, so I got up with her. After a nice breakfast with some of her home-baked bread with nutella (so yummy!) I made the commute back to Ruesselsheim. The funny thing about Friday though was that I had made plans to meet another friend that evening. We hadn’t decided what exactly we would do that evening, but he came up with the great idea of going to a nearby lake to swim and have a barbecue. But that meant I had to go all the way back to Offenbach! I’m not in that city often, yet alone twice in one day, but I enjoyed waking up there, and watching the sunset there too.

The lake we went to was so picturesque, and was surrounded by cliffs. You had to jump about 7 feet down to the water, but it was so refreshing! I just enjoyed being there, surrounded by nature. We pretty much had the place to ourselves, but then some people Roman knew showed up, also an unexpected coincidence. After swimming for a while, we went to walk further around the lake, but were attacked by the most vicious swarm of mosquitoes in the woods. The moment you’d stand still, they would just land on you.  I have so may bites on my feet now!  The bridge we were looking for was no where to be found, so we returned to the best spot on the lake with some firewood to start the campfire. He had everything prepared, and made an ingenious coat hanger skewer to roast the bratwursts on. While we ate, we told really horrible, yet suspenseful campfire stories, that made me laugh just because they were so bad. But mostly, I enjoyed sitting and starring at the flames. After the last brat was cooked, but not consumed, we packed up and took the dark path back to the station. The crescent moon was guiding our steps, and we just made it in time for the train back to town. It was the perfect summer night.

So, I have no profound words to share, just that I’ve been thinking about the “beyond” in Germany and beyond a lot lately.  I’ve just about finished my REAP application for teaching jobs, but have lots of things to coordinate for a complete application to send off to schools.  While all this is happening, I’ve found myself really enjoying the summer here, and am not wanting to leave the people I’ve met behind.  It’s like things are starting to get really good, and I have to leave.  I’m torn between my two homes, Germany and St. Louis.  Where the beyond lies, I hope to discern soon.

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As you can see, quite a few pictures have been accumulated since the beginning of April.  Here’s the breakdown: It starts in the north in Lori’s city of Greifswald including the hike we took on Germany’s largest island, Ruegen.  From there we traveled down to Berlin to roast some marshmellows at the same beach volleyball courts that I just played on last weekend at BUM (see final photos of sildeshow).  We then took some pics in our plush bathrobes on the 33rd floor of the Parkinn hotel on Alexanderplatz to  kick off the Berlin Seminar 2008 (April 6-10).  After the amazing week in Berlin, where the mayor addressed us, I returned home and things got warmer.  To take advantage of the weather, we had a picnic in the park, including a bit of disc golf.  The week after (April 28-30) I was on a class trip with the 8th graders where we took a day trip to Verdun, France to see the battlefields.  It was a sobering experience and a place that is still healing from trench warfare.  To kick off May I was in southern Germany to celebrate Fruehlingsfest with other Fulbrighters and also to visit Doro in Metzingen.  There we took a bike ride along the Swabian Jura and found a refreshing spring.  And last but not least, I was back in Berlin for the aforementioned BUM (Beach Ultimate Mitte).  The weather was summer-like and after our games last Sunday we took a dip in Berlin’s Schlachtensee.  I got buried in the sand, too, but got out for some goodbyes, which were hard.

Here’s to the next weeks in Germany!

I don’t want to come back down from the high that was Berlin.  I’m finding a way to return, and won’t rest until I find it.  More to follow…

These are some impressions of our Spring Break trip to Barcelona.  We took in a lot in 4 and a half days, from strolling along Las Ramblas, eating fresh strawberries, playing in the water on the beach, admiring the architecture of Gaudi, meeting other travelers, or just relaxing at cafe.  I’m so happy with the way it went, and glad Aine was my travel buddy with her crazy Spanish skills.   If you want to hear more stories, just ask and I’ll tell:)

At the onset of my Spring Break, I offer some glimpses of Springtime in Rüsselsheim:

I’ve been taking short strolls through the park that borders my school, which is in the background of this second picture. It’s such a peaceful place, and the sound of the water in the fountain helps to calm me before seeing the students. The tree by the water is so beautiful!

This is the market street and I’m waiting on the platform at the train station. Notice how big the statue of Adam Opel is (green guy). Yesterday I was on a field trip with two ninth grade classes. We went to Holiday Park, an amusement park about 80 km south of here. We practically had the place to ourselves as the season just began. It was cold, so we had to wait for the roller coaster’s tracks to warm up before we could ride it. It was worth the wait though and was so great to be exhilarated as the wind rushes by you at 120 km an hour! I was one of the chaperons, but I really just wanted to run around with the kids from ride to ride.  It’s been a few years since I’ve been at an amusement park.