When in Switzerland do as the Romans do..

On Saturday, Anne & I joined the Ladle family and went to Augusta Raurica in Augst, Switzerland. This is a town with preserved Roman ruins from the Roman Empire. I've been twice before and never seem to get tired of it! This past weekend was the annual Roman Festival complete with chariot races, gladiators, and even an appearance by Mr. and Miss Switzerland! While we were there we ran into the Antrim family from RIA and also the Allo family who used to be at RIA. Gaby was in my class last year and is now in a Swiss school near Zurich. Anyways, here are a few pics I took of our fun day!

Me, Tiffany, & Anne in traditional Roman wear!

Posing with Jordan Antrim & Rachel & Tiffany Ladle

Fighting gladiators!

Time flies..(and other randomness)

It occured to me the other day that the students I am teaching this year were all born the year I graduated high school or my freshmen year of college...scary. I am trying to remember how long it has been since I was 10 or 11 and it really doesn't seem that long ago. I remember in 5th grade New Kids on the Block and Paula Abdul were the "cool" celebrities to be into. Now it's this High School Musical thing my kids can't stop talking about. I actually watched High School Musical w/Anne last semester and thought that if I were younger, I probably would have been just as obsessed with it. It is just amazing to me how fast time flies. I still can't believe I started college 10 years ago because it just doesn't seem like that much time has passed.

Good news: I'm teaching Drama to 2nd-8th and the one 8th grade boy that at first thought he'd be too cool for Drama now states that it's his favorite class! SCORE!

Introducing My Kiddos!

Here they are in all their adorable glory :) My 4th/5th grade class (even though I'm still waiting on 2 more students to join us in September) Ashleigh is in fifth grade and is from Tampa, Florida (WOOHOO!).

Chiara is in fifth grade and from Rome, Italy.

Tiffany is in fifth grade and is from Provo, Utah.

Jakob is in fourth grade and comes from Denmark

Marvin is in fourth grade and is from Switzerland.

Harriet is in fourth grade and comes from England.

First Day of School

Today started the 07-08 school year at RIA and it went great! I am now teaching 4th/5th grades and LOVE it! I have eight students, but two of them will arrive in about 2 weeks. I forgot my camera today (BUMMER!) so tomorrow I plan on taking it and taking LOTS of pics to post. Anyways, thanks to those of you who prayed for me today! I'm looking forward to a great year at RIA!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOSIE!

Tonight we celebrated our staff member, Josie's birthday. She turned the big 2-4! It was so great to have all of our new staff on hand tonight. Unfortunately, Josie's husband, Jamath, couldn't join us b/c he had an away soccer game. We had a great time and it was fun to get together before school starts on Monday. Enjoy some pics...

Me & the birthday girl!

Josie opens the picnic backpack the Walz's, Anne, & I gave her

I'm SO glad the Antrim's will be back with us this year! Ashleigh will be one of my students again :) YAY!

Setting Up & Saying Goodbye

We finished up Orientation for teachers this week. My classroom is FINALLY finished being set up! YAY! Tomorrow we have Parents Open House where we will meet some of the new (and old) parents and students. Here are a few pics of my classroom:





Tonight Anne, Diana, Kelly, & I went into Basel to say one final goodbye to Erika. Erika taught Kindergarten at RIA last year and is going back home tomorrow to the States. Here are a few pictures from this evening:

Stephan's BBQ

As promised more pictures :)

Last night Anne, Diana, & I went to our friend Stephan's birthday party outside of Basel. It was in a forest on the top of a winding hill/mountain/whatever you would like to call it! We had roasted pig and lots of yummy salads. The weather was beautiful and only around 9pm did it start getting really chilly. Here are a few pictures of last night's fun!


The view from the vantage point


Diana gets close to our meal...


Stephan shows off what's left of Mr. Pig



Our first roomie picture of the new semester!

Yes, I'm still alive and well :)

I realize it's been over a week since I last posted anything. We've been really busy at the school getting things in order and having orientation. We've been blessed this year with some really great staff members that come from all over North America! I'm getting my classroom set up for students to come and see it on Thursday and by the time I get home, I pooped! Anyways, new additions to the blog will be added soon. I'm still getting into the grind of daily life over here and hopefully soon will be taking more pictures :)

Some good news: I was able to buy a bike off another staff member from last year and so I've been biking EVERYWHERE! I've got a goal set to lose lots of weight this year, esp by December and so biking is really going to help with that I hope.

I'm still coming off the wonderful summer high that I've had since June. Hard to believe that 2 weeks ago I was sailing the ocean blue! I've had a few bouts with homesickness but more so when I first landed than now praise God! With the wonderful additions of staff to our school, it's hard for me to even think about being homesick anymore.

I hope you are all having a wonderfully blessed weekend wherever you may be. We start classes a week from tomorrow and I am so excited for a new school year to begin, especially to be able to get into a routine of things again. Anyways, I'll close for now and hoping that the next post will be filled with some fun pictures for everyone to look at :)

Summer slide show & 200th post!!

Here is a slideshow of all the wonderfulness of my summer break :) Also, this is my 200th post on Blogger! WOOHOO :D

Still jet laggin' but I should be over it tomorrow...hopefully! Enjoy the pics:

Delayed Arrival & Cruise pics!

So my flight was supposed to take off last evening at 6:15pm...At 9:30pm we finally took off! I had another flight in Manchester that I was to catch to Frankfurt and obviously missed it but was put on another flight that was yet again delayed. Please start praying that my Christmas flights aren't all delayed!!

Anyways, I'm safe & sound in Germany and it is good to be back. I've started unpacking and not quite finished yet. I'm helping out at the school tomorrow and then tomorrow afternoon will finish unpacking and getting settled and all that jazz. Jet lag is usually easier for me coming back then it is going to the States.

Also, this is a random note but if you are an avid reader, I really have enjoyed Fannie Flagg's novels. She wrote Fried Green Tomatoes and I am re-reading a book she wrote 4 yrs ago called Standing in the Rainbow which I HIGHLY recommend. It's so entertaining and you will not want to stop reading it!! Anyways, just thought I'd put that in there ;)

Last but not least, I leave you with a cruise slideshow of our incredible week last week! It was truly the best family vacation I've ever had and I had such a great bonding time w/the fam. Enjoy the pics!