How School Should Be...

When we think back about our days in middle school, we often can come up with a short list of memories. I'm sure for you that might involve some friends, teachers, and classrooms but not much else.

Last week, I went with 70+ eighth grade students to a small town called Hirschegg, Austria. We stayed at different mountain huts, hiked, repelled off rocky cliffs, and practiced some full-on rock climbing.

To many of you reading this, you might think that doing any of those things with a group of 13- to 14-year-olds doesn't exactly sound like fun. Especially the part where they do your safety check and belay you up and down a 30-foot rock face.

Well, I can let you in on a little secret: for as quirky as we all can be in middle school, the chance to work with young minds has always been rewarding. While being on the job for 24 hours a day for 5 straight days really thins out my "hourly" pay, but the chance to build solid relationships with my students will be what pays off in the coming months. And don't worry - I dropped in mini-science lessons at every turn unless the students brought it up first.

Macro Picture Blog Post Awaits

Starting the Week

Greg left this morning to take his 7th grade mentor group on an Outward Bound trip for the week so I'm fending for myself until Friday. I don't envy him though because he'll be out in the Alps and it's gotten a bit chilly.

As a start to my week, I went in with my work permit application. The company who is hiring me for the part-time mini-job of manager for a U.S. online community had to fill out the application. The hardest part for them is to persuade the German government to give an American a work permit rather than a German. Due to high unemployment, this can be difficult, and often work permits are denied because of it. I think because the job requires a native English speaker I have a stronger application though. But we'll see in a couple of weeks.

I thought it would take me all day in the Auslaenderbehoerde office, but it only took an hour and half. Most of that time I was getting lost in the corridors (the signs were not helpful) or waiting for my turn. I feel bad for the people that work there because it was such a drab office and there were so many foreigners like me, messing everything up or getting confused a lot. Maybe I should lead expat volunteers in painting that office or something.

On a good note, my grandma, Safta Tzipi, is coming for a visit tomorrow. I'm going to stay with her and my aunt Na'ama for a few days. I'm not sure what we'll do yet, but a daytrip might be in the works. She'll be here for a couple weeks so Greg'll have time to see her when he gets back, too.

And then next week we're in Istanbul for 4.5 days!!