Whew!

My parents just took off after a wonderful week of fun. They arrived last Monday and on Tuesday myself along w/Anne, flew to Rome, Italy with them. We had a blast in Roma and saw EVERYTHING! I had already been previously when I lived in Switzerland but it was nice to go back, especially having more time to spend there.

The last 3 weeks has been a big blur of fun and Anne & I had a blast hosting our friends & my parents. However, it will be nice to go home and not have to entertain for at least another month!

I'm still filling out job applications at different counties in Florida. Please be praying for the right job to open up somewhere!! I'm trying not to get too anxious but I guess I thought I would have heard something by now from the schools that had my resume.

We had our time change Saturday night and I'm feeling the effects of it right now as it is the first day of school. I was running on pure adrenaline this morning but now I am fading and fading fast! The sun is coming out and I'm contemplating going on a bike ride when school is finished today. I'm hoping the weather will continue to get warmer as it was 70 yesterday!!! Spring is my 2nd favorite season (with fall being first!)

I'm Dreaming of a White...Easter?!??!

That's right. We woke up this morning to snow on the ground and freezing temperatures outside! I could NOT believe it was SNOWING ON EASTER!!! What's more is that I had planned to wear something spring-y and cute but had to resort to a warmer, winter-y outfit w/my winter coat and wool scarf!!

Despite the snow (I'm just not a fan of it), this was probably one of the best Easter's I've had in a long time. I led worship today at church along w/our praise team. Afterwards, our Lifegroup (Bible study) all went over to our pastor's home to share an Easter meal w/their family. I am now home and sitting up in bed enjoying the stillness of our apartment after housing all of our guests. We had a great deal of fun with them and were sad to see them go, however, tomorrow my parents arrive and we have to get the house back into order!

Hope you all had a wonderful (and warmer!) Easter!

An early welcome to Baby Charlotte

My friends Tony & Cyd are about to have their second child, another girl, who they will name Charlotte. I've known Tony since 3rd grade and was extremely privileged to know Cyd in High School. They are two of the sweetest friends and it has been so fun to reconnect with them even being so far away! Welcome Baby Charlotte Pagliarullo! I can't wait to meet you! PS Claire, I can't wait to see you again, either :)

Pigeons

I was sitting at a random bus stop in Basel a few weeks ago waiting on (what else) my bus to arrive when I noticed a pigeon picking at the ground around my feet. I think that pigeons are disgusting and probably not on anyone's top ten list of favorite fowl. But I was bored and really had nothing else to do so I started to really study what the pigeon did. He (or she?) would walk back and forth around one area pecking at whatever it could find on the ground. He hopped onto the street and was seconds away from being pigeon pie when a car approached. At the last second and flew away.

I was reminded the entire time of the verse in Matthew that reminds us of the birds in the air and how they are taken care of so why should we worry? This pigeon certainly brought that to my attention. Think about it--he didn't have a care in the world as he pecked away at the crumbs on the ground. And he wasn't really concerned that a car was speeding towards him because he had enough sense at the right time to move out of the way. So why can't I be like a simple pigeon? Why am I worrying about how much money I will get next month and the month after or how I will live on what I have right now? If a pigeon is content with the crumbs on the ground, why can't I be content with what God has already blessed me with? If God directs a pigeon to get out of the way when he's about to get creamed, why do I worry that God isn't going to bless me with a job just at the right time?

Something to think about, isn't it? God takes care of nasty, disgusting pigeons, of course he's going to take care of His own children!

Like I said, just something to think about...

Slacker

I've become a terrible blogger lately. It's not that there isn't much going on, it's just that I'm so busy I hardly have time to sit and take in a breath and type!

Today was officially the first day of Spring Break. My friend Erika from college flew in on Saturday and is staying w/me until Easter Sunday. Anne also has 2 friends from college here as well. We all went to the Rheinfelden Spas on Saturday to get the jet-laggers well relaxed and ready to enjoy Europe. On Sunday we all went into Basel for church and afterwards Erika & I went back to Weil and got some ice cream at the Eis Cafe. It was sooo yummy!! We both had a Black Forest sundae which consists of chocolate ice cream, straciatella (think chocolate chip ice cream), cherry juice, cherries, & whipped cream--YUM!! We walked back to my apartment and had a nice, long, Sunday afternoon nap, then woke up and had some dinner. We stayed up late talking and catching up.

This morning was gross & rainy but Erika & I decided to go over to Strasbourg, France and spend the day there. We were blessed w/only overcast weather there and no rain. This was my 3rd visit to Strasbourg and I can honestly say I never get tired of it! The cathedral there is absolutely breathtaking and today we climbed all 329 steps to get to the top! We munched on a Flammkuche (onion pie type thing...will have to explain in further detail later) and then walked around a bit before heading back to the train station.

Tomorrow we are day tripping to Titisee & Freiburg and our guests are really looking forward to it as am I!

I will try (really I will!) to get some pics up soon of recent events.

Happy St. Patty's Day to all my Savannah friends reading this :)

You Know You Live (have lived) In Germany when...

I found these online and thought they were definitely worth sharing! Might give you even more insight as to what goes on over here! Some of the numbers are missing due to the fact that I didn't even get what they meant!

1. You have sorted your garbage into at least 3 garbage cans and you know the difference (or should know the difference) between "Gelbe Sacke" and "Restmull"

3. You have ever had or not had "lust" to do something.

4. You get excited that CNN is in English.

5. You know what a Döner is, and you've eaten more than one in the same week from a different "Imbiss" each time.

6. You've been to Oktoberfest

7. You've worried before about catching "the last Strassenbahn" home.

8. You've ever been stressed out at the grocery store while checking out, and have noted that you will never take "baggers" for granted ever again.

11. You've ordered more than one Kugel of Eis a day...everyday...

12. You've laughed at someone trying to say "squirrel"

14. You know what the "German Stare" is.

15. You know what DB stands for.

16. You've ever explained to someone what a "pinata" is.

17. You've ever visited the local gas station on a Sunday because it's the only thing open.

18.You know the difference between Milka and Ritter Sport.

19. You know what a WG is, and have lived in one.

20. You've ever been totally confused on how to open any and all windows/doors/locks.

Fun Pic ;)

There are more to come, but this was taken last night at our Open House for prospective families. This is me with some of my co-workers. Enjoy!

Snow, Sheep, Roman Ruins & Reading day!

Did you get all of that? I know it's been a while (again!) since I've updated. I feel like I can't slow down long enough to get in a good blog. So let me fill you in:

1. Last Tuesday we went to the Roman Ruins in Augst again, this time for a class field trip. We are studying Ancient Rome in Social Studies and so it was the perfect place for us to go. At the end of the field trip we had real Italian pizza provided by one of my students, Chiara.
2. On Friday, we had a Teacher In-Service Day and right before we were getting ready to leave, we saw a whole entire herd of sheep coming down the hill across from the school!!! It was like NOTHING I'd ever seen. There were sheep dogs and everything!! It was really crazy!!
3. Yesterday was the start of Reading Month at RIA and today we had Storybook Character Day. Anne & I dressed up as Beezus and Ramona Quimby, respectively. We got some really funny pictures of us posed as the sisters :)
4. And last but not least, we woke up this morning to see a shower of snow outside! It didn't stick (THANK GOD!) and turned into rain (and slosh basically) before I got to school. However, being that we are closer to spring than winter right now, it was still a bit of a surprise.

There are pictures to all of these stories (except for the snow), but at this point and time I am going to be late for staff meeting so I will post them (hopefully) tonight or tomorrow at the latest. Off to staff meeting!