spirit day

Today was spirit day in the middle school. Each grade chose a theme: 6th did "Narnia," 7th did "The Wizard of Oz," and 8th did "Star Wars." Rather than play favorites and pick a class to participate with, the teachers chose their own theme, "Men in Black." There was almost 100% participation in the 6th and 7th grade, but the 8th graders for some reason had minimal participation. I was kind of disappointed because the 8th graders are so creative, and after seeing what they came up with for fall party I was expecting big things. Also, in case you're wondering, yes, we did teach with our sunglasses on. If you'd like to see more pics, go to my new Germany album on Facebook by clicking here.

So after reading another post with me in a costume, you're going to think all we do around here is play dress-up. Let me assure you that we are definitely working hard here at BFA! Yesterday was the end of the first quarter, which I still can't believe. It feels like only yesterday that the kids came in all bright eyed and bushy tailed, starved for school and thirsting for knowledge. Oh wait...that was in my dreams! They are certainly enthusiastic and full of passion, but defintely NOT a passion for school. That's what makes my job so fun, because I get to be wild and crazy and creative and think of ways to make my students WANT to learn. They may roll their eyes at my ridiculous accents or scoff at my silly mnemonic devices (meteorOIDS are outsIDE the earth's atmosphere) but it doesn't matter because I know that a lot more of them care than actually let on. They'll deny it vehemently, but we all know it's true. You were a middle schooler once, weren't you?

OK, time for a survey. Leave a comment with your best and worst middle school memories. Middle school only; high school is a whole other ballgame. My best was definitely the Washington D.C. field trip in 8th grade. I had a really great circle of friends for the first time in my life, and we made some pretty awesome memories together. From the back of the bus to The Book to the boys performing Swan Lake on the floor above us, we had so much fun. Carlos still haunts me to this day. One of my worst memories (and there were plenty to choose from) was being a cheerleader for the middle school wrestling team as a sixth grader. Our uniforms were a special t-shirt and a cute little cheer skirt that I was SO excited to wear. But when fitting time came and all of the skirts were too small for me, the coach just shrugged her shoulders and in so many words told me I was too fat to be a cheerleader. I ended up wearing my denim skort to school on match days, and not only did I stick out like a sore thumb, I got in trouble and had to explain to the principal why I was wearing shorts in the dead of winter. Seriously though, it took years for me to undo the thinking that that woman put into my head through her careless words and actions. I pray that no student will ever remember me as the cause for their worst memory.

third time's the charm?

So, this is the third time in five days that I've attempted a new blog post. The first two times, I lost it due to technical difficulties (aka: Dora, my dying Dell). Since this is still not officially posted, there is a chance I could lose it a third time, but here's hoping.

This past Friday was the middle school fall party, and the theme was Heroes and Villains. I was expecting there to be about 20 Batmans running around, but I was very impressed with the creativity and originality of the students! The students did a little catwalk presentation of their costumes and then did little skits or performances based on their characters. After that, they played games and ate snacks, then received awards for winning costumes. Overall, it was a really fun evening. Somehow I became the coordinator for the staff costume, because apparantly they always do a group costume. Fresh out of ideas, I made an executive decision and we went as Captain Planet and the Planeteers. I had the element of Fire. Did anyone else ever watch that show? I seem to have blocked it from my memory, but I was shocked by how much of the song and characters I remembered. I had to do a bit of "research" to put together our costumes, so I watched a few YouTube videos in the process. Here is a picture of the staff costume. Some of the other heros and villains present were Charlie's Angels, Powerpuff Girls, X-Men, Hogan's Heroes, the cast of Heroes, Cruella DeVille, Batman, The Incredibles, and various other Disney characters. If you want to see pictures of the student costumes, please go to my Facebook album by clicking here.

This week has been a pretty big one for my friends and family back home in the states. On Saturday, Grandpa Forrider turned 70, and he also used Skype for the first time to talk to his granddaughter in Germany. Saturday also marked the wedding of my best friend Carla to her now-husband Daniel. My mom celebrated her birthday on Tuesday and on Wednesday Jeff and Heather Miller (friends from Greencaste) welcomed the arrival of beautiful baby Lydia. I thank God for all of these people and for the wonderful ways in which God has provided for them!

Today I felt like Miss Frizzle. I took the seventh graders on a nature hike in the Black Forest and even wore my leaf earrings! The students were thrilled about leaving (no pun intended) school for two hours, but they didn't particularly enjoy the "brisk" walking weather we had today. Today seemed to be the coldest day yet this fall, and being in the forest made it feel about 5 or 10 degrees cooler, so yes. We were cold. But we (well I, anyway) had a blast and gathered lots of leaves, needles, mosses, and various other plant specimens. The trail itself takes about 1.5 hours to hike, and this was the second time this week that I've hiked it because I went on Sunday with Jill to scope it out. So I'm a little sore, but I still feel great. Here are a few shots from the trail, the rest can be found in my new facebook album. This is a different link than the one above, because I ran out of room and had to make a new album! Yay!

storck saves the day

My time here is beginning to fly, yet I am already experiencing those days that seem to drag along. Today marks the two-month anniversary of my departure from the states! Tomorrow I will have been in Germany for two whole months.

Students usually pack their lunch or go out into Kandern to eat, but once every two weeks dorm students have a hot lunch. Hot lunch is prepared and brought to school by their dorm staff, and it's spread out so that different dorms have it on different days. Since I sub at Maugenhard on Thursdays, I'm invited to partake in hot lunch with the guys every other Tuesday. Today was supposed to be hot lunch, so I didn't pack myself a lunch this morning. Around lunch time I peeked out the window and didn't see the Maug table set up, so I went downstairs thinking maybe they had set up inside because of possible rain. I didn't see Timmy, Amanda, or the Youngs, but I did run into my friend Stephanie, who in an RA at Storckenblich (Storck was also scheduled to have hot lunch today). She informed me that Maug had cancelled hot lunch today! Bummed, I came to terms with the fact that I would not be eating lunch today. I could have gone to Hieber or one of the restaurants in town, but I didn't have money with me at school. And yes, technically I could have had time to go home first and then to get food, or I could have even eaten at home, because I don't teach a class after lunch. However, today I was supposed to sub 7th period and so I had planned on working really hard to get all my grading and recording done before 7th period so that I could leave right after school. I didn't want to take up extra time walking home and walking back to school.

So I said good bye to Stephanie, then went to the staff kitchen where I found a chunk of bread and an apple. That, plus the chocolate bar in my desk drawer from Joy Watson, would be enough to hold me over until my after school snack at home. As I was walking back upstairs to my office, I passed Calvin, the Residence Life supervisor. He commented on my meager meal and we parted ways.

About 15 minutes later, Stephanie came into the middle school office and handed me two plates: one with a sloppy joe and salad, and another with an apple turnover! Apparantly they ended up with some extra food after everyone ate, so Stephanie and the rest of the Storck staff decided to bless me with a lunch.

As I finished up my meal, I realized that the plates belonged to Storck and I would need to send them home with a student. So I took them downstairs to the kitchen where I could wash them. As I was coming down the stairs, who should I pass? Calvin.

"Is this what's left of the bread and apple?" he asked incredulously, pointing to my two plates, one holding the remnants of a salad. Realizing how strange it probably looked, I told him the story of how Storck saved my day.

So I ate a hearty lunch AND got all my grading done before 7th period. Thank you Storckenblich!!