Today marks my last two weeks in Salzburg/Austria/Europe. It was also our last pay day. Prepare for a random list of thoughts, remarks, and recounting of what has been happening.
This past week at school was bizarre. Monday, after a few lessons on regional cuisine in the U.S. and jokes (yeah, I taught a lesson on JOKES... let us just imagine how well that went), I participated in a life-sized foosball tournament. To get an idea of what it looks like, here in a similar field to what we played on:
This past week at school was bizarre. Monday, after a few lessons on regional cuisine in the U.S. and jokes (yeah, I taught a lesson on JOKES... let us just imagine how well that went), I participated in a life-sized foosball tournament. To get an idea of what it looks like, here in a similar field to what we played on:
Then, on Wednesday I got to participate in the "Matura" (like the senior class) soccer tournament, on the teacher's team, and well, I ended up in DEFENSE, which I have never played before and ended up with a GIGANT welt on my shin. So much for shin guards... I find it a little strange that having played rugby for the past 5 or so months, the most serious injury I've gotten here is from the "harmless" sport of soccer. I truly do believe that pads and helmets and guards make people two aggressive. Also, to add, three+ students of mine took me to the ground. I was told that they go easy on the ladies. pshhhhaaa.
Last weekend was fabulous. I met up with a lady named Hannah (whose father is from Germany, so her parents have an apartment in Munich) and we biked around Munich, found BURRITOS that tasted decent and were SPICEY, ate fro-yo covered in silly-german toppings (you know they don't have things like chocolate chips) and prepared for Frühlingsfest! Frühlingsfest is Oktoberfest's little step-sister, twice removed. It is a SMALL event, that takes up about 1/6 of the space Oktoberfest does, but includes all the same things: carnival rides, fair food, beer tents, and people wearing silly clothes. Here are me and some of the ladies dancing in the 'wiese:
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| apologies for the middle finger in the bottom right, Katy is British, what can you do!? :) |
This weekend is my last in Salzburg, as I am headed to Vienna next weekend for my next race. I ran in the Salzburger Marathon's 5k and won. It probably was the SLOWEST winning time of ever, but the course was over a 5k, something they don't really tell you. Here is my finishing face:
After that race, my goals are pretty low, but we'll see :)
Also, I went to Bozen in Northern Italy and saw all sorts of cool things. First, the city is spectacular and small and German-speaking. Second, right outside of the city you can take a cable car to many mountainous villages. They also have these CRAZY things called the earth pyramids. They look like this:
How weird, right?
Okay, well now I'm off to explore all my possibilities for THIS weekend. Thanks for reading all my ramblings. I felt like I somehow had to acknowledge the fact that I have two weeks left, in order to "fully embrace" these last days, but honestly I am not embarrassed to be excited to be home. Many of the TAs dread their return to America. I think that is silly. I love my family, I love my communities and teachers and friends and so much about the U.S. I just think the worst part is going to be the end of teaching and the end of being part of a school community. It might mark the end of me being able to draft and craft and design and strategize and learn and come up with lesson plans that engage, inspire and very often, bore the minds out of young Austrian farmers.
That is all. Cheers.
