November Time...

All right, so I guess it's time for my monthly post. I promise. I really am getting better at this. I think I've already done more than last year (if we don't count all of the Germany updates).

So I talked a little bit about Drama, Debate and Forensics. I got back late Saturday night from a tournament with them, and I'm so proud of how they did. Lots of places, and they also just did well overall with memorizing their pieces, and being prepared (and listening).

This was our 1st Place in Reader's Theatre, with "English Made Simple".

All of the students except one, who was off at the Lincoln-Douglas Debate finals.

Well, we are Homer. Who else would be our mascot? ;-)

So those are some of the kids who are involved. They're really an awesome bunch, and the bus trips, though long and arduous, are pretty much amazing most of the time. They definitely make them amazing.

Next up are some pictures of my apartment. I'll post them, and label them, though most of them are relatively self-explanatory.


This is the view when you walk into my front door. You can see my kitchen and counter-space (or lack-there-of). It's my one problem. I've gotten much better at prepping sitting down, and using the kitchen table for my prep work. Not my favorite thing, but it works.


This is the opposite shot, back at the door. I'm happy to have my bookshelf (although it's already overflowing). Oops.


This is the view into my bedroom, from the door. Learning the guitar is still a work in progress, though I do occasionally get my practice pad out and do some stick control, when my shoulder/wrist decide that they're going to let me.


This is the rest of my room (aka the bed). I'm definitely a fan of it. It's comfy. Much better than before.


Relatively self-explanatory, this is my bathroom. I actually like how it came together (the shower curtain was there, I added the rugs, which also match the carpet in my bedroom).

And of course, this is a view off my front porch.

ExtraCurriculars

I know, I promised pictures of the apartment. I had a friend staying here for a week, and now it just needs to be cleaned and reorganized. Project for tomorrow night - and then pictures. I took some when I first moved in, but now I have things like a coffee table, and a bookshelf, and those such things. Definitely nice to have. Even just the inexpensive bookshelf makes it feel much more homey. The next task is things to put on the walls, but I'm horrible about making decisions like that. There are tons of nail holes that I can use to hang things. Currently it's a textured slightly-off white-ness.

This school year has already been pretty busy. I'm having a hard time believing that next Friday is the end of the first quarter already. I was gone quite a bit last week (some personal time, as well as the jazz band performing for the State Superintendent's Conference and then some training on the new evaluation system). I'm gone again this Friday, and then just four days next week.

I'm gone a decent amount during the school year because of extracurricular things. Last year I was an assistant coach for Drama, Debate and Forensics. This year, after our head coach moved to Kwethluk, I became the head coach. You can read an amazing article about the team here. We have five meets in Anchorage, one meet in Homer, and then the state tournament up in Anchorage. Practice is twice a week after school, and tournaments last Friday morning through late Saturday night (including the drive time to Anchorage).

I also get to do extracurricular type things for band. There is an Alaska All-State band that students audition for, as well as Borough Honor Band (which I get to host this year) and middle school Mass Band. Mass Band is a really neat idea (they do it for choir, too). They take all the bands on the Kenai Peninsula and combine them into one band. It's nice for the students in smaller schools to get the experience of playing in a larger band, and it's also nice for the other students to get experience with different conductors. There are a lot of different opportunities for band up here, which is nice. There's also Solo and Ensemble in the spring. We also do pep band for home football games (we had two this year), and for some basketball games. The community has really been enjoying having the pep band, which is nice for the kids to know that they're appreciated.

I like keeping busy. I think that's one of the reasons that the darkness doesn't get to me quite as much. I drive to the middle school and back to the high school when it's light outside, and I normally get to school and leave after it's dark. Difficult sometimes, but even last year it never really bothered me. I've got some amazing people to spend time with up here, and that really makes all the difference.

New School Year!

All right, so school has actually been in session for right around a month, but it's been a busy year so I haven't updated. I shall try for more this year. I really shall.

So my schedule has changed around this year. I am only teaching two bands at the high school (instead of three), so I now have space in my schedule to teach a Dramatic Arts class. It has definitely been a new experience, since there is no textbook to use for everything (I have one on acting, and one on history, and one on technical things) - so I'm building a lot of my own curriculum. It's fun because I get to choose what we do. As for the other classes - they are going well. Today is our second football game (which means pep band), and it's also Homecoming - the theme this year is "Under the Sea".

I'm also moved into my new apartment, which means that I have had some seriously awesome views. That is what a normal sunset looks like, from standing on my front porch. I love being up this high, and I love my apartment. I've finally got the last finishing touches, and once I am done building my bookshelf (currently I'm using wire cubes and they're overflowing with movies and books) I will take some pictures of my apartment.

We've been having some issues with fog lately. It definitely made for some interesting drives into town/back from town. It would be foggy in town, and then once I got up to my apartment, perfectly clear. This is the same image, taken from almost exactly the same spot on my porch, except now the Spit, the water, and the view down the bluff has disappeared. Also, just a point of clarification - this particular bluff is ~1000 feet high.

The last thing I love about my apartment (though sometimes it can be a bit frightening) is the wildlife that is up here. I've seen moose standing right at the top of my driveway, rabbits all over, but the most interesting experience I've had has been the night that I saw this.

That's right, a black bear. I saw its ears poking up through my window. The ears looked slightly like that of Nali's (my friend Kathy's dog). Now, I knew it couldn't be Nali because Nali now lives at least 400 miles away, but there are other people in my neighborhood. It could be a dog that someone else just lets run free. I went over to look, and there was a bear. I'm guessing that it was a yearling (or so), and that Mama Bear was around somewhere. I never saw her, though. He looked up at me through the window, and then ambled away. He paused again just long enough to let me take a picture (the first I took didn't turn out because of the flash) and then just continued to make his way slowly off my porch.

All things considered, I love my new apartment. I know that my feelings may change once winter comes, and I'm getting a lot more snow, but who knows. There's a guy who is going to come and plow my driveway, and then I should be able to get to school just fine. I also bought a new car, with AWD and I plan to get studded tires if necessary. I'll post some pictures of my apartment next time.

Austria

So then I got busy with concerts, and didn't get a chance to finish my updates. So, without hesitation, here's my journals from Austria.

3/19/2010

Vienna is absolutely amazing. I definitely want to come back here and just explore. It feels very safe and I love all the side streets with the cute little shops, and how beautiful all of the buildings are. To just be able to walk through these amazing places is incredible. I love that the buildings are still being used and kept in such good condition.

We got to explore the castle - it's so different from Prague - the fact that there was 30 more years of Soviet occupation in Prague just gives it a completely different ambience. I'm so curious about all the history of the area - there's so much that I had no idea of. I'd still love to go to Italy and Spain and the United Kingdom - but I'd also love to come back here. I want to learn more German though, I hate having to get people to speak to me in English. I'm not sure I'd learn enough German to be able to survive, but it would be better at least. This is the Spanish Riding School, with the amazingly trained horses. They're beautiful.

Another highlight is Saint Stephen's Cathedral. We sang inside - it was so amazingly gorgeous... and now, I shall submit you to lots of pictures.









We just went to the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna, where so many great musicians are buried. It's so strange that we don't know where Mozart is - buried in a pauper's grave. There's a monument to him, though - right next to Beethoven's grave. It bothers me sometimes how much music history I've forgotten.






3/21/2010

Today was definitely an intense day. We went to Mauthausen Concentration Camp - at least 100,000 people were killed there. They honestly don't know how many, especially between the satellite camps - Gusen, and the others that were connected. The feeling of complete and utter desperation - it just permeates everything that's still there. All of the buildings - the gas chamber, the crematoriums - all of that.




Tomorrow's our last day here. It's so strange to think about having to go back. I'd love to just stay here and get to explore more. I'm also excited to get to Salzburg, and get to explore that city. It's smaller than any of the others that we've been to, which is nice. I'm still not a fan of big cities, even when they're beautiful and gorgeous and amazing.

3/22/2010

Last day in Europe - I'm sad to have to be leaving. Salzburg was amazing though. We did a walking tour. We were told we'd get to see sights from the Sound of Music, but we actually didn't get a chance to. We saw Mirabell Gardens, which is where the Do-Re-Mi Garden scene was filmed, but other than that - we didn't get to see other aspects. A bit sad, but most of it was filmed outside of the city, so we couldn't very well walk there.

We also sang at a small little church - a Catholic mass, in German. It was interesting (we sang a Hebrew folk song, and an African-American spiritual, as well as some other pieces). We made the nuns cry, and they gave us chocolate - it was truly an amazing experience. We also got to sing in the Salzburg Cathedral - we sang Mozart in the cathedral where both he and his father worked. It was a truly amazing experience.
We saw the oldest bakery in Salzburg, as well as the oldest coffee shop, and restaurant. Such a history that we here have no idea of because the United States is such a new country...

-----------------END-----------------------

I'll be posting more pictures with captions so that you all can see (though they're also all on facebook) - but this was my actual journal that I brought with me.

The Czech Republic!

Continuing on...

3/17/2010
We've been in Prague two days now, and it's amazing. We had a walking tour of New Town and Old Town yesterday. This is Wenceslas Square, in New Town. Castle and shopping time today.

The history here is so incredible. Some buildings are from the 9th century, and most are from the 12th and 13th century, redone in Art Deco style with gilded decorations.

The shoppingn was pretty nice here - definitely in Eastern Europe, prices are a lot cheaper. I got some good presents for people (which you'll get at some point, I promise). For lunch, we went to this little restaurant, and had Czech pork ribs and mashed potatoes mixed with sauerkraut. It was amazing.

I spent some time today looking at the Jan Hus memorial today, it's this large statue in the middle of the Old Town Square. He's the guy who started the Moravian church, which is pretty cool. I haven't been able to find many books about it, though.

Tonight we sang at a small church out in a suburb. It was intense and amazing, but oh so beautiful.

Other pictures from Prague (I didn't write much while we were here):
The Astronomical Clock - so amazing. We sang "What a Wonderful World" right before it went off our first day in Prague.

Relics inside the Prague Castle of the Remnants of the Church of the Virgin Mary - built in the years 882-884.

This is the President of the Czech Republic. We saw him at the palace. :)

The next bunch of pictures are going to be of St. Vitus Cathedral. It was the first real cathedral that we sang at.








This next one is from when I went up in the Astronomical Clock - some of the views that I saw of Prague.





Next we visited Telc - actually part of Moravia! (Okay, well, it was.) It was this really quaint little medieval village. We had an hour and a half or so to get to explore, and I had the best pizza - "ketchup" sauce (not like ours), garlic, corn, broccoli, peppers, and all sorts of other veggies. Some pictures...
The facades were so cool - originally built like that to keep the town safe.

Just one of the little turrets still left from when it was a fortress.

Well, that's the Czech Republic! Austria's next!

Europe Blog

Here we go (finally) - the blog of my trip to Europe. The words are from the handwritten journal that I kept, interspersed with pictures. Enjoy!

3/12/2010
We've been on the plane to Amsterdam for a while now. The trip has been pretty crazy so far - at least the flying part. It took forever to check in at the Anchorage airport so we were an hour late getting out of that airport. When we got to Minneapolis, we were in a holding pattern for another 45 minutes or so. We got to run through the airport to get to our Amsterdam flight - at least they held it for us so that we could get to the international gate.

The drive up yesterday wasn't bad. Absolutely beautiful and a lot of fun. I'm really starting to get excited, having fun with the Nortons and Mark (we'll pick up Nancy in Anchorage). I'm also exhausted - time to sleep soon!

I'im at the point where I just want to be there. I know it's going to be crazy when we get there - busy and crazy and all that, but I'm excited to get to see everything. All of the opportunities that we'll get.

3/13/2010
Well, we're in Europe - Berlin, to be exact. I'm ready to go to sleep, but we're on the bus heading to the museum, so I can't sleep.




The Pergamon Museum was amazing - I felt so bad though, because we were all so tired from jet lag. Just walking around was draining, not to mention climbing the Stairs to the Pergamon Altar, and exploring everything out there. Add into the fact that the voices on the handheld informers were soothing, and it was kind of hard to stay awake. So much beautiful artwork though, and then you consider how long ago it was when they made it, and it's just awe inspiring.

3/14/2010
Today we took a tour of Berlin. It was really interesting. There are cobblestones that run along the entire center of the city, representing where the wall was. We also went to see Checkpoint Charlie. We stopped there for a little bit, and I had this really good bruschetta for lunch. So many tomatoes!

It's been incredible to just drive all around Berlin. So much of the city has been rebuilt after the bombings. There's still traces, though. We sang at the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedachtniskirche, and it was so incredibly beautiful. This is the ceiling in the "first church" that was bombed out during the Second World War. It was later rebuilt, into this church with amazing blue stained glass. We also stopped at a memorial for Holocaust victims. It was pretty intense. It looks strange (just a bunch of cement blocks) - but when you walk down, there's just this feeling of descending into pure loneliness. You can hear the echoes of the people around you, but it's actually really difficult to see them. You're surrounded by these blocks - about the size of a grave - some of them are 10 feet high. Intense.

We also went to the Brandenburg Tor. It must have been really intimidating with the wooden gates to hold people in (or keep them out) back when it was actually functioning as a gate.

It's hard to tell the difference between East and West now. The government has done so much to rebuild and redesign the city (perhaps to wipe the ghosts of what happened?)

We also saw the Television Tower, one of the highest buildings, built in East Berlin by the Soviets. The guide said that there was one in each major Communist city - to show their power and might in building tall things.

---end of bus tour---

Now we're on our way to Leipzig. We're going to get to see Thomankirche, where Bach did so many amazing things. The scenery here reminds me of the Midwest - lots of flat and farms and windmills and all of that. Quaint little villages - we passed the church where Luther "set down the new rules".

It's strange, all of the things that this trip makes me consider - definitely Karl and Sarah F. because of all of the Lutheran stuff - and the Pergamon. Geeky Greek stuff. It was incredible though, to see all the remnants of the Greek culture. I wish we'd had longer and not been qute so exhausted, there was so much that I couldn't process.

18km to Leipzig! I'm starting to get excited. We're going to actually get to sing where Bach did so much work - he was the choral master there for 27 years, and it was the one church that kept his music alive, when he was in his "not so popular" times. We're not here for long - off to Prague tomorrow - time for our first country switch!

---later that night---
Today was just intense. The trip to Leipzig was pretty and relaxing, but just being here - the tour was so crazy. There's so much culture that here that I wasn't entirely aware of - Mendelssohn and Schiller and everything. We sang Bach IN Bach's church. Here's the group of us, next to the Bach statue.

We also got to wander around the city a bit, and go to the Leipzig Hauptbahnhof. It was pretty intense - lots of shopping, and LOTS of cute earrings and jewelry and goodness. I got some really good stuff, for pretty low prices as well.

****I'm going to write one entry for each country. Prague and Telc will be the next installment!