I DO exist REALLY.. 3 mts in Frankfurt so far read :-)

Guten Tag!!! Hello to all... apologies for not writing!! Before leaving I thought I would have LOTS of time to write and update everyone on my life here in Germany. Wellll I couldn't be more wrong!! That being said let me start off by saying I LOVE it here!! By LOVE I mean I dont like ALL the aspects of living here but the GREAT aspects FAR outweigh the not so good ones! As I think I mentioned before I will break up this post into sections. The first section will be Frankfurt in general, then ISF(the school I work at), then social life, and finally my vacation that I went to for fall break. As I am writing this I am sitting in a BIG bookstore... 4 stories tall with a winding staircase on 1 side, COMFY red chairs LOTS of them scattered around and I am sitting in the cafe part drinking peppermint tea(YAY for Germany knowing what mint is) and enjoying my free cookie that went with the tea! EVERYONE is reading books they are not going to buy.. LOVE IT!! Ok enjoy reading my blog!

FRANKFURT
I still love this place after being here for almost 3 months!!! Time is flying by yet I feel like I have been here longer then 3 mts. It was so easy to just be comfortable in this city. Even though it's a city I feel like it's more like a mini city. I know my way around pretty well, got down the trains and some of the buses pretty well and yet I can walk everywhere! What I havent gotten used to is the weather... in August and most of Sept. I would walk out the door and it would be nice and then get to work and it would be raining.. I never knew what to expect. The seasons have changed here and I think it skipped fall.. yes there are leaves scattered around on the ground and it's beautiful but OMG it is FREEEEEZING!!! Seriously I missed out on about 3 mts of HOT weather by coming here. This past week the highs were in the 40's and low 50's.. yup I wrote it correctly. Since I have been here I have bought 3 jackets.. 1 VERY warm jacket and 2 that I can wear but have to wear something underneath them. I am in search of some rain boots... Once I get off the train in Zeilsheim where the shool is I have to walk on a dirt path and it gets REALLY muddy from all the rain... sooo rain boots def. need to be purchased this week!! Frankfurt is SO international... I am talking about food... unlike greece where I couldnt find salsa or chinese sauce for cooking I have made burritos a few times and LOTS of Chinese stirfry. My friends and I went for sushi last Sun.. all you can for 15 euro.. soooo yummmyyy!! So ya I am liking Frankfurt :-)

ISF
Ughhhhhh is all I have to say about work! So ISF is different then every school I have ever taught at or learned about in school. It has it's own educational system called SABIS.. I'm not going to get into the details but basically the kids take tests everyweek I've got a homeroom class.. 4b 25 students 4 of which leave the class and go into intensive English class for most of the days. I dont teach all day.. it depends upon the day. The students have English, Social Studies, German, Music, Science, Computers, Math, PE, and Art throughout the day/week. The kids stay in the class and the teachers move around unless they need to be in a lower German class or English class. The most I teach is 5 periods a day but I dont teach them all in a row. SO you would think I would be loving this job.. I only teach 21 hrs a week. BUT every minute of my sparetime I am doing work and trying to get ahead for the week. My 4b class is quite literally the class from HELL.. I get reminded everyday not only from the class but the people I work with.. apparently they put ALL the trouble makers and behavior problems from last year ALL in my class. I have some CHARACTERS.. 2 kids that bust out with noises ALL the time to a kid who goes outside in the cubbys and tries to figure out peoples combinations.. mind you these kids are VERY rich and secondly there is NOTHING in their cubbies but books. This past week my students in both my homeroom 4b class and my 3rd gaders 3A took CAT tests. They are tested in ALL subjects.. yes even computers. I would FAIL at this school.. anyways each teacher has to proctor tests so in English it's broken up into vocab, reading, handwriting, writing, anthology, spelling.. every aspect of English. So we cant proctor our own class so this week I was proctoring for the other 3 4th grade classes. While I was away 2 kids were caught cheating, 1 kid wrote a note saying fuck you.. the list goes on.. this was JUST this week. Everyday it's a constant battle while I am teaching.. 1 kid is on a behavior plan yet he is still misbehaving half the time. Not only are the misbehaving I come in from teaching my 3rd graders and the room is a DISASTER.. I've NEVER seen anything like it. ALL the other classes are all neat and orderly.. UGHHH!! I've tried EVERYTHING... nothing is working and it doesnt help that teachers are STILL coming up to me and saying they feel sorry for me.. I GET IT! I am hoping that the head of department will move some of the students and seperate them.. it's against the schools thinking but it NEEDS to be done!! Apart from that I LOVE my 3rd graders.. they are great and make me laugh! There are some students in my 4th grade class as well and I REALLY feel sorry for them b/c they really want to learn and have fun. Alright enough bitching.. I like work.. the people, the school is beautiful and most of the kids come with a smile on their face! Even though I have the class from hell I never dread going to work. I wake up at 6, leave my house at 7 to catch the 7:06 bus, meet up with 3 friends at the train station and then take the S2 to work and walk in the door at 7:45... I LOVE having colleagues in the same position as me. We are all expierincing the same newness and not only are we colleagues we are friends....

SOCIAL LIFE
I think my social life is what is making me stand up infront of my 4b class and be ok. I know that when I leave ISF I have a life and friends and things to do. My roommate Lindsay is GREAT!! We get along and are able to laugh at eachother about out little habits and quirks. We are straightforward and I love it! We work together, live in the same apt. and have the same friends yet I'm never sick of her... :-) I've got a group of about 8 people I hang out with every weekend. 2 of those are Jen from Michigan and Armita from Canada and 1 is Lindsay.. the 2245 girls... we have fun! If u want to know what 2245 stands for ask me. Two are the guys who live across the street; Luke and Kyle and 2 are the couple from NY Lisa and Derek, 1 is Elyar who is originally from Iran but lived in England for a good part of his life. Last night we went bowling then to the old part of Frankfurt.. Sachenhausen.. 1 of my fav. places in Frankfurt! We go to clubs.. last Friday we had girls night and went to an apt. party and then 1 of the clubs called Living which is a hot spot on a Wed. but a good place on a Friday too!! I'm def. living the life here.. never a dull moment and unlike Greece I actually dont have time to write blogs everyweek. When I get home from work the last thing I want to do is write or read :-( I try to leave my work at work but sometimes I have to cave in and bring it home but it hardly ever gets done.. thank goodness for those free periods during the day!

TENERIFE, Canary Islands SPAIN
At first I thought I wasn't going to be able to write about my fun times at Tenerife.. well mostly because I didnt think I was going to go. 8 of us bought our tickets.. 3 different flights. Unfortunatly Elyar used his credit card and took an earlier flight then 5 of us.. got to the airport and then was told that we needed his credit card... he was in Madrid by that point though. SOO basically the 2 hrs we got to the airport before hand was NERVE racking and THANKFULLY Elyar was able to fax his info. JUST in time.. we literally ran to the gate!! SOo Tenerife we went!!! It as a fun week.. We got there Tues. am at 12:30am and left at 3 AM on Sunday. LOTS of beach action, biking around the island, snuck into a REALLY nice hotel and ended up being in the middle of an aqua aerobics class dancing to songs that kept saying sexy sexy!!! FUNNNN and have never laughed so hard in the water.. EVER!! Found a local bar.. Harry's where the bar tenders loved saying my name.. I dont even have a local bar here in Frankfurt BUT if u ever want to go to Tenerife I can show u what bar to go to to have a great laugh.. Basically Tenerife was relaxing,ate YUMMMY paella the 2nd to last night.. AMAZING AMAZING LOTS of seafood and lots of hot Spaniards with their speedos... lovin' it.. haha!! Now it's back to reality where I am looking forward to the next vacation!!! Dec break.. Yosefa is coming.. Trevizo/Venice and Rome are on the list!! There might be a weekend trip somewhere before break as well. OHhhhhhhhhh I forgot to mention Oktoberfest.. the GREATEST thig everrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!! Went EARLY sat. am 4:40am and got to Munich at 11ish only waited 20 min. in the rain to get into a tent and stayed there till 7pm... I have NEVER laughed so hard EVERRR!! A band was playing.. people were standing on tables singing, Random Italian guys dancing with Jen and I, met so many crazy funny people... YOU HAVE TO GO ONCE IN YOUR LIFE ATLEAST!! I'm going next year again sooo come!!

**** Alright this was long enough!! THANKS FOR READING!! I want to hear about you next time!! Email me or myspace me or facebook me!! LOVE YOU AND MISS YOUUUUU! ****