I’ve gotten behind on my blogging this week (probably has something to do with writing a newsletter…), so here’s one for everything that has happened so far.
On Saturday, I did some grocery shopping, then went for a nice long run into Liel (2 towns over). It was a beautiful sunny day, and a few leaves are starting to fall! The rest of the day I relaxed and caught up on work. There was a kitten that walked into my house while I was hanging laundry up outside. I think it left through the living room window, although I never saw it leave so it could still be sitting in my house somewhere.
Rachel spent half the day at IKEA and bought a new desk chair. She put it together herself, which was fun (I didn’t really help much – I was taking pictures!).
Rachel had fun assembling her new chair!
Sunday was another gorgeous day (apparently we’ve been having unusually sunny weather. To me, this is typical fall weather). I met up with Kirsten (director of Stadtmusik Kandern) and Katie (BFA instrumental teacher) for lunch at Asia Wok. Then we went for a short hike up to a memorial overlooking Kandern.
Monument overlooking Kandern
Katie and Kirsten
After the hike, we had the first Bible study meeting at my house. Julie and Laura (2 student teachers from Cedarville) joined Katie, Rachel, and me. We watched the Esther movie since we are planning on doing the Beth Moore Bible study on Esther. Then I played soccer at BFA with a bunch of guys.
To see more pictures from the weekend, see my facebook album at:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2041287&id=187701865&l=8701df2f01
Monday after school was the first Monday Recital. For those of you at Wheaton, this is much like that Wednesday open recitals we have for the Conserve. It gives the kids a chance to perform in a more informal setting. The orchestra will be playing on October 12.
After the recital, I went to HBR for dorm subbing. I made a giant batch of chocolate chip cookies and helped a couple boys learn their English vocab words for a quiz the next day. It’s really fun and rewarding to help kids with homework. I am grateful that my job here at BFA is not limited to only teaching music; there are tons of other things I love teaching and doing, and I get the chance to do them with study hall and subbing in the dorm.
Tuesday morning we had Chamber Strings before school. There are 3 pairs of students working on duets now. There may be another duet or trio when the beginners can play enough to play together.
Yesterday I had a new student for his first lesson. I now have 15 students, including one dorm mom who I will teach for the first time next week!
Today I had bus duty in the morning. Lunch was interesting. There had been a soccer competition after school for the past month or so, and the championship team played a match against the staff team. I was the token female on the staff team. We lost 5 to 1. I could make excuses, like “the kids had been playing together as a team the whole time so they know each other’s playing abilities” or “they had subs and we didn’t” or “we weren’t used to playing on the slippery sand-covered tennis court,” but in reality, the kids were just really good.
The scene of our defeat.
On a brighter note, Gustav ze Bretzel Boy has started to earn his keep here in my office. After putting up the sign with his name, a few coins appeared in his goblet. There was even a US dime! They disappeared yesterday, however, so Gustav had better learn how to hold onto his possessions. Today, though, I came to school and his goblet was full of M&Ms. They were gone by 3rd period.
"Where did my M&Ms go?"
The mystery remains: who put the M&Ms in the goblet? Perhaps some teacher hoping to get rid of extra sweets, or a student who disliked M&Ms but had been given a bag, or someone who just wanted to add a bit of color (and sugar) to the day.
Tonight I’ll go to Maughenhard dorm to help with dinner (Rachel subs there every Thursday and it’s an excuse to hang out with Amanda the RA), then go to band practice.
Tomorrow I get a bit of a break. It is the annual class field trips. Seniors go to Rome (they leave tonight and won’t be back until the end of next week), Juniors go to Normandy (they get back on Monday), and Sophomores and Freshmen have one-day only field trips tomorrow. I’ll sleep in (yay!), come to school to get some work done, and teach an elementary student after school is out. It is nice to have a long weekend once in a while!
