School - final part

9/16/06 - we were last in the atrium of the achool...otherwise known as the front entrance...here is a shot of the famous slide of the school...i have been down it a few tmes so far and am still planning on using it for when we start studying physics...could be fun...

the next shots are taken from the central park region of the school and are outside views of the other buildings...the first is the early childhood wing...the weirdest part of this section is that the playground is covered in gravel...isn't that strange...there have been some throwing incidents and some injuries...its just a romanian thing i guess...i think its a bit bizarre...

the next building is the elementary school...it houses grades k-5...and then the 6th graders are in middle school...the elementary school is big this year, with almost four sections of every grade...us secondary teachers hardly ever see the elementary teachers around campus as they, as well as we, are so very busy...i like the faculty of the elementary and make it a point to hang with the cool folks when i can....it just takes some effort...which i have been nicknamed "julie mccoy" for...gotta love that...i always seem to end up as the social director....hahahahahaha

this final set of buildings is the secondary school gym....its a great facility for sports here...one of the best in bucharest...and the gym and weight room and cardio room are no exception...i am hoping to get over to use them in the coming months...we'll see what happens...i have been taking yoga in the dance studio with one of the other teachers...and that has been great when i have made it :)

i think this is a good view of the school overall...the next installment of the blog should be about a trip i took to a glass factory about 1 hour north of bucharest - ploiesti (pronounced ploy-escht)and a weekend trip i took to a place about three hours from bucharest - sinaia (pronounced si-ny-ya)...until then...have a good one...

School pt 3

9/16/06 - on with the school slide show...kind of....next up is the interior of the cafeteria...there are four hot lines for food....a line in the back with sandwiches...although i have never seen such tiny sandwiches....and a place to buy ice cream and junkfood...most kids buy lunch from school and for the most part its not that bad...although romanians have a hard time understanding why people are vegetarians...we do have a salad bar everyday...and most of the time its great...sometimes there are foods on there i don't know...but for the most part its green salad, macaroni salad, potato salad, white bean paste salad, called fasole - its really good and a puree eggplant salad...called venite...also quite tatsy...overall the food is good and we usually have fruit for dessert...and its FREE...so you can't beat the price...i have been told the food gets a bit bland in the winter, just like most things here...i'll keep ya posted on that one :)

down the hall from the cafeteria is the library and then the theater...i haven't gotten a good shot of the theater....soon...here's the library though

after the library and theater you come to the atrium region, which is the interior of the front of the school...a beautiful area that has all of the flags representing the nationalities of the students, parents and faculty who are part of our community...

i was told that the pillars of the atrium were white until last year when a teacher rebelled and painted one purple to give the room some color....that was not a good choice of color i guess...but now the pillars arre orangish...which is more colorful than white...i guess it was a compromise :)

in the atrium is where you will find the slide and the atm...its the entrance...what do you expect :)

part four up next :)

School pt 2

9/16/06 - hey there all...well, i am back from traveling with 8th graders for the week...and there are so many stories to tell from that...but i just keep getting farther and farther behind...so i figured i would get the school pictures taken care of...then my trip for the night to sinaia and then the trip with the 8th graders to the tismana region...which is beautiful i might add...but on with the show of school....
this is the back of the school and where i enter everyday after parking my car...you have already seen the classroom...below is a shot of the hallway off my classroom...there are six classrooms on the hallway...and then you turn the corner to the front half of the building....there are matching classrooms on the opposite hallway and on the second floor above me...

from the hallway we turn right and into the front lobby with the fish tanks...such fun to stare at when you need that minute or two away from school :)

i loved taking the next shot...its of the stairwell that leads to the second and third floors of the building...what you should notice is that the inside of the school is VERY sterile...i am hoping we can change some of that this year...add some pictures and artwork and murals...it would make it more homie...but the stairwells are white...and sterile for the moment....

then of course i need to show you some other buildings than the secondary...as there are quite a few around central park...this is the covered area off the cafeteria where i go outside for lunch...i have eaten inside only one day so far...but there is a threat of rain this week....we'll see what happens...its usually really loud inside and i like being outside with the wind and sun :)

part three up next...

School pt 1

9/8/06 - hey there all...sorry its been a long time since i last updated...but life has gotten quite busy at the moment with school and life....next week i head out into the "wilds" of western romania with the 8th grade....its a week long outdoor ed trip...but we really only are in the outdoors for one evening...but it should be a blast anyway...i am sure i will have some stories...so things here are motoring along...i am still alive after more than a month with these crazy drivers...but now that i am about to start my fourth week with the kiddies...i am finally getting around to talk about the school...i have realized i don't have a shot of the front of the school...i never go in that way as my classroom is in the back...so i will get one of those shots one of these days...but the shot below is of the secondary building...where you can usually find me...

the first floor is where the middle schoolers (6-8) can generally be found and the second floor is for the upper schoolers (9-12) and then there is a third floor art room which is a great room with horrible acoustics....we had many meetings before the beginning of school up there...but its a great room none-the-less...my classroom is the right back corner...and you can't see it in the picture above...but below is a shot of my room from the outside :)

doncha love the little porch like thingy off my side door...the kids and i have used it many a time...especially in the most recent lab i am running...we are exploring how much the kids know about the metric system and how to measure everyday things with it...one of the things they have to measure to is the gazebo, which is located in the center of the school grounds...it is surrounded by all of the parts of the school and if we have a school wide meeting or event and its not raining, we meet out there...

the head of the school is from NYC and so this central portion between all of the buildings is referred to as central park...its a beautiful spot...lemme tell you...do you notice the weather in the pictures??? it has been like this for most days...we had a few cold days in a row, but they lasted only for a few days...my teaching partner has decided that romania has some of the most amazing clouds in the world...i'll see if i can get some shots of them....okay...more pictures will follow...blogger has had enough with this update :)