Happy Holidays 2010

December 21st, 2010
Happy Winter Solstice to all today! An if i was in the states i would have been able to see the total lunar eclipse....so if you are there, please go outside and look for me....it will be visible in all of north america.....i am off tomorrow to thailand for the winter break.....in looking at the weather, it seems i will not need anything but shorts and swim suits.....yahoo....its a relaxing trip planned with my friends the watts....

originally i was going for the big job fair in bangkok....but i no longer need to do that.....i have a job for next year....it's official....i am headed to the shanghai community international school....woot! i will be teaching 7th & 8th grade science....with a teaching partner and other members of a department will be there too....the school is 1300 students, its a mac school and one-to-one with laptops....in shanghai....i am very excited.....

what this means for my winter break is that i get to enjoy it and not be stressed out by the looming and freaky job fair....yayayayayay!!!! i will be working at the same school as the watts, my friends i am meeting in thailand and they helped me get this position in the fast and furious way i got it.....it's great to know where i am going and to know there is light at the end of the european tunnel i am in at the moment.....yay!!!!!

anyway....i wanted to send out a happy holiday greeting to everyone, no matter what you celebrate and also wanted to let folks know where i have been in the past few months and where i am headed in the coming year....so on to the pictures.....

the first set of shots come from croatia during all souls night....i was up at the big cemetery here to celebrate and lit a candle to honor folks in my family who have passed..it is an amazing thing to see all of the candles burning at all of the graves....it was also really warm that night and there was some crazy fog in spots....as you can see in the shot above....

in this shot above you can see all of the candles that are brought to the cemetery and left in honor of folks who have died who are not buried here....they make a huge cross down the center of the cemetery with these candles and the heat coming off of them is unbelievable.....

in these next two shots i can be found in romania....i actually got to travel back to the place i lived at and the school i worked at....and where we had the coaches dinner (for speech and debate) they brought out this tray of meat and offered french fries for the vegetarians....i guess some things just never change....in the end we had an amazing salad....but it was just too perfect not to take a shot with a tray of meat....ha!

the best part of the weekend though was seeing all of the cool people i used to work with....and going to one of my favorite Mediterranean restaurants in the world...piccolo mundo...yummy....it was a great turnout and we had a blast....thanks to laura and doina for making it happen.... interestingly enough i will be headed back to romania in april for another competition....how crazy is that....twice in one year....

these next couple of shots come from graz, austria....where we went for shopping on black friday....the best part about shopping on this day here in europe is that everyone else is still working....they do not have thanksgiving and friday off like we do....i saw this street graffiti while we were walking around in the christmas market....i found it interesting that it was there.....

graz is always dressed up nice for the holidays....down the main pedestrian area, where the excellent christmas markets are, with the tasty mulled wine, they hang a bunch of xmas trees upside down from wires and light them up at night....simply stunning.....

however, zagreb does well with xmas lights and their celebrations as well....i found out this year that they spend a lot of money on putting these lights up every year....and i really like it....this is one of the only cobbled stone streets in zagreb, and it leads up into the old part of town.....

this shot was taken looking down the main road through the center of town...illica....they hang these lovely lights all along this street....they actually go out as far as my place....

this is a view of the main square - or trg as it is called here....you can see the main xmas tree, the stage where they have performers every night...and the street lights with their lights as well...

this is a bit further down....still in the main square....this tent style thing is the main bar serving mulled wine, beer and sausages to everyone....they have nightly performers in this area and it is packed on the weekends....all the way at the far end they put in a skating rink....very cool....

and last, but certainly not least, this past weekend we headed to Ljubljana, slovenia to check out their xmas market....it was rather small and they had a bunch of snow and very cold weather, but it was a great trip....it was the first time i had seen this sculpture....i love it!!!!

because it was so cold, we stopped in and had a cup of hot chocolate....also known as melted chocolate....i love this style of hot chocolate....its so thick the spoon can almost stand by itself....yummy....and perfect for the weather they were having.....

slovenia is a pretty place....and they have lots of lights too....but many of them are in crazy shapes....my favorite was a strand of DNA....i am sure you can figure out why.....

another one of my favorite sites here is the dragon bridge....and how great does it look with snow on it....in the background you can see one of the cathedrals found in this city....it was a fun day and as we left the sun was setting....just beautiful....

this last shot was taken in graz....we went to this chinese restaurant that had its menu on a scroll....i just think its a perfect shot for a girl headed to shanghai.....yay!!!!! we had a great time in graz and i am looking forward to an exciting and new challenge from living in china.....think about visiting in the next two years....maybe more....you never know

so....as is said in croatia....sretan bozic and nova godina....merry christmas, happy new year, happy holidays and all of that fun stuff.....i wish you and your families a happy and healthy new year and all the best in 2011.....drop a line and say hi if you get the chance....

Update #30 - Munich, Prague & Budapest

November 28th, 2010

Hi there all and Happy Belated Thanksgiving to those who celebrated it from the States and other places. Hope you had good food and good times with family and friends.....here in croatia we had a tasty potluck including all of the regular foods found at the table at this time.....it was a bunch of fun!!!!! for black friday me and four friends headed to graz, austria to go to ikea and the christmas market in town....we had a great trip and of course got caught in a crazy snowstorm....just like the first year we went....

people have asked how the job search is going....well, its going....at the moment i am talking with two schools...one in shanghai and one in hong kong....both have their pluses and minuses, like any job, but the pluses for each seem to be great....i am still waiting to hear from one place in africa....and hopefully they will be in touch this week.....who knows, maybe i'll have something in place before the job fair in thailand over the winter break and will just get to hang out and enjoy my vacation, instead of attend a stressful job fair....i'll keep you posted and i would appreciate you keeping your fingers crossed for me :)

on to the update.....this update focuses on the three places i traveled to during september and october....three weekends in a row actually....what a good life i have....the first stop was munich, germany for oktoberfest with friends from bucharest and the states....next up was prague, czech republic....to visit friends from bucharest and see the city again with friends from here....and the last stop was budapest, hungary....so friends of mine could be in a race and we all could enjoy the beauty and fun of that city.....it was some excellent traveling....on with the shots....

this first shot is here for all of those who have never been to oktoberfest....it is crazy and intense and lots and lots of fun....this is the haufbrau house tent (yes, this is one of the many HUGE tents)....and as you can see it's wall-to-wall people....they have a live band and people are standing on the tables...there is also excellent beer on tap, some really tasty food and lots of fun to be had....outside of the tents are the fair grounds....its a party for all ages....

in this picture you see some of the crazy people i was hangin with...keith, joel, nathan and brad...all of them came from places not in germany....the states and abu dahbi....and then i was there from croatia and our hostess was from germany....it was the first time i had seen brad in about three years....
in this shot you see the whole crew....shannon and joel (from the states and very good friends of mine) nathan, brad, susie and keith.....on the table....the funniest thing about this picture is that i took it, but don't really recall taking it.....imagine that.....

the second day of oktoberfest i was hanging with my good friend darren....he came in by bus from prague to have a grand time....and we met these cool cats from slovenia....marko is the one next to me....we spent the afternoon and evening in the beer garden of lowenbrau....it was a ton of fun....and in the lower right you can see one of the steins.....1 liter....amazing.....

the weekend after munich was our october break and we headed to prague....i saw some aspects of prague i had never seen before....and it was especially awesome to have more time to catch up with catherine....in the shot above you can see that we timed it perfectly for the colors of fall....and the building is prague castle....and it's grounds....

we went around front to the main gates....where we saw the end of the changing of the guard...the gates are huge and beautiful....and the guardsmen do not smile.....

from the castle we wandered into the center of the old part of prague....and stopped at the st. charles bridge....here a guard of the bridge is threatening to take off my head....okay, i asked him to pose this way because i saw some else doing it....too much smiling to make it real....

while in prague we had a reunion of sorts of folks who used to work in bucharest....darren, jimena, cat, john simon and i had not all been in the same place since cat and i left bucharest....we had an excellent time catching up and telling stories....

one of the main reasons some of us were there was to watch the start of the NHL season.....the sat game between the Boston Bruins and the Phoenix Coyotes....unfortunately the bruins forgot to show up to this game....which was a bummer....BUT, how cool is it to be able to watch NHL hockey in europe.....sooooooo cool i tell ya!!!!!

the trip was a great time due to our hostess catherine....we had an excellent time catching up and sharing teaching stories and talking about science...its one of the main things i miss from being at a small school....i am a department of one....and miss having colleagues....that's why it was so great to hang with catherine....and because she is one of my closest friends too......

the zagreb folks on the trip are seen in this picture....amy, kristin, bob and me...it was a first time visit for kristin and bob and i know they will go back....we had such a blast in this beautiful city...

this last shot from prague just makes me smile....it is a view from the main square...and the sun is shining and we were so happy to be walking around on this gorgeous fall day...love it....

and after prague it was onto budapest....one of my very favorite "B" cities in the world...it was a girls only trip and i think everyone had a blast...in the shot above you can see one of the stalls in the central market...which is a food and souvenirs market....gotta love all of the paprika....its everywhere....

while wandering down the pedestrian street we found this green cow....why was it here you ask???? i have no idea, but i like the picture of kristin and amy hanging with the cow :)

the city of budapest has some excellent sculpture....here is one of my favorites...if you look close enough you can see the face of the person riding the scooter is facing upwards....i love that this was made from stone and is just randomly on a sidewalk for all to enjoy....

another funny shot i took was of the gals on the piano keys of the street....i think this was in honor of liszt, one of the great composers of hungary....they were pretending to play the keys like tom hanks in big....it just looks funny.....

this is the entire crew i went with....kate, judy, upside down amy, nicole and kristin....it was a mellow time and we had fun hanging with each other....some cards were played, some wine was drunk, some distance was walked and run, and some fun was had....

for the last shot i had to use my normal....this is from oktoberfest at the haufbrau house tent....yes, that is one liter of beer....and yes...i drank the whole thing....

my travels in the fall were amazing and i am so glad i have gotten to make it back to some of my favorite cities....and i got to visit and go with some of my favorite people....if you have missed any of these cities, i cannot recommend them enough....they are easy to get around, they cater to travelers and they offer many exciting things to see and do.....just go, will you????

i hope that all is well in your corner of the world, wherever that may be....and i wanted to thank those of you who looked at my class blogs....the kids were so excited to see dots show up allover the place from folks who visited them.....unfortunately antarctica again does not show up on the map....so that was a bummer....

for those of you who tried to leave a comment, you can only do that if you have gmail account or an aim account....i appreciate that you tried though and if you want to stop by and check out our sites now, they are filled with information from the scribers of the classes who have posted....

7th grade - http://www.aisz71011.blogspot.com/
8th grade - http://www.aisz81011.blogspot.com/

okay....i have to go....still have some grading before i can call it a night....again, i hope those who celebrated had a happy holiday and i wish all of you the best during this crazy, family and friend filled holiday season....drop a line and let me know how you are....i am hoping to have a holiday update....with some of my favorite pictures from the year on here....but we'll see what happens as the holiday actually approaches....all the best and have a fab day :)

European Roadtrip with Martha Part 2

November 9th, 2010

Hey there folks....well, i am trying to get back to the blog a bit more frequently and therefore you get an update sooner....although i am still really far behind....thanks to those folks who wrote me to say hi and let me know they were impressed with my english skills...i guess i just wanted you to know that i do know how to type with capitals and real punctuation...and maybe it happened because i have been applying for jobs and didn't get out of the habit....

before i go any further....a strange request i know, but a friend of mine's father is not doing very well and needs a kidney...if you, or anyone you know would be willing to donate, please check out his website....all you have to do is click on the link....my friend karen would appreciate any and all good thoughts and vibes sent her dad's way....so thanks for that.....

for those interested in my job search....well, it continues...i have some good leads, but am hoping with the beginning of november i will have few more interested folks getting in touch with me....november is the month many schools ask their current employees if they are returning...if anyone here knows of a good job in asia or africa for me, i welcome any and all suggestions...i am looking for exclusively middle school science....but would entertain the possibility of middle school math/science combination or a hs/ms science combination.....thanks for all of the well wishes and send your good thoughts and vibes my way for success....i promise i will let people know what is going on as i know it :)

and now onto the second part of my road trip with martha.....the first shot actually comes from a beer town in the czech republic....plzen - yep, this is where pilsner urquell is made....and of course we had some....we stayed at a place just along the main square....where there was a festival and these really cool fountains in the shapes of greek letters....very cool.....and the beer was tasty too....

we also visited the old jewish synagogue while there....it was under renovation and had an amazing art exhibit throughout it's halls....i think it is still being used, but we weren't sure....the interior was amazing, especially the altar....i loved the arches and the blue ceilings and the stars on those ceilings....just a really cool and historical place...of course this place, along with many other jewish places, was abandoned during the second world war....but they are trying to bring it back to its former glory of the past....a very cool place.....

there was a really big storm in plzen while we were there....so we took refuge at our hotel's terrace, it was covered of course, and while drinking a tasty pilsner we were treated to a rainbow above the square and the old beautiful buildings that surround the square....cool eh?

oh look....a famous dani shot, with the tasty pilsner....too late for the rainbow, but a tasty shot none-the-less....
after plzen for a night we drove onto prague to see catherine and the beautiful city of prague....in my mind this town is the quintessential stop for old town europe.....but be careful of all of the tourists....i actually did not spend much time in the city this time....but we did go downtown around sunset and i was able to take this great shot of the castle on the hill....love it!

because i had my car with me i decided i needed to go out to the "bone church" one day....as you can see from the shot below, the interior of this church is adorned with people's bones....in this church there are bones from 40,000 people...they have a chandelier, a family crest, and an altar that is taller than me....and they are bones form real people....it's call kostnice ossuary in kutna hora, czech republic....and yes....the bones are ALL real....

i LOVED this stop....talk about right up my alley....i thought the shot below was my coolest with the light coming from behind the skull and through the eyes....freaky....it all started when a sacred man was buried here....then other folks wanted relatives and themselves buried in the same spot as the sacred man....and then the bubonic plague hit and they needed to deal with lots of bodies....so many people ended up here....every bone of the skeleton can be found and the chandelier actually has every bone of the human body used once....it is simply incredible....

the creator and artist of bone church made this so that people would be remembered in a work of art....and when you see this with your own eyes, you realize truly that it took many, many hours to painstakingly create this incredible work of art....and it had the effect he was looking for....it is a stop that people make and remember the people that gave their bones to make this awesome place....if you ever get the chance to see this in person....take it, you will not be sorry...this is one of my favorite places i have been to in europe....and i would go back if i had the time....just phenomenal....

in this picture you can see catherine, my teaching twin, who is working in prague and my trip companion martha....we had a blast hanging out together, as it had been the first time the three of us were together since our first year in bucharest....

after visiting catherine, and getting pulled over in germany...not for speeding....just for whatever....really it was a weird pullover and i think it had to do with us having zagreb plates and the germans having no idea what they were....we stopped in salzburg, austria for one night....we got lucky as it was the big music festival and their were works of art, and much music to hear and see....i loved this shot of the castle and the big ball with a fake dude standing on top of it....

from salzburg to bled, slovenia....wowowowowowowow....what a stop this one was....trying to find our farmhouse hotel was a challenge with old towns and streets that rub up against old buildings....but this town is a beaut....as you can see, behind martha there is a monastery on an island...and you can only get there by boat.....this shot was taken from the castle overlooking the entire town....simply stunning.....

plus, there is an amazing gorge with a walkway through it....the water was running hard as we had seen quite a few days of rain, but while we were walking the sun was shining....which was lucky for us, because at the big waterfall at the end, we were treated to a double rainbow....perfect end to a perfect walk.....
and of course we took a trip around the lake and found that the best view of the monastery on the island was from the opposite side of the main town...in the foreground is the monastery and in the background the castle up on the hill....just a beautiful place....

the final stop of our trip was ljubljana, slovenia....which is only an hour and half away from here....and i love visiting it....as we wandered around for the afternoon we visited a few fun shops, ate some tasty mexican food and walked along the river....i love the pink church down in the old part of town as well...it just puts a smile on my face....

and then we came back.....martha continued her trip to the coast and i got ready for school to begin...i think she got the better end of the stick on that one....but what a road trip we had...in the final picture we are in salzburg having a delicious indian dinner....with some prosecco to celebrate the excellent time we were having....what a trip....

okay....so now i am officially caught up on my summer trips this year....but since then i have traveled a few more times and this week i am actually headed back to bucharest as a chaperone for the middle school speech and debate trip....so hopefully i will be sending out pictures about munich and oktoberfest, prague and our october break visit and my weekend in budapest....and now i will need to add bucharest....its been a busy fall...job searching and trying to visit as many places as possible before i leave europe....

one last thing before i sign off....my classes have started up their blogs again and i would love it if you would check in and see what they have been doing....i am hoping to post links to our global warming/climate change commercials, some which are good and some....well....you get the idea....but they aren't there yet....when they are, i'll let you know....but in the meantime, check out the blogs.....

8th grade blog - http://www.aisz81011.blogspot.com/
7th grade blog - http://www.aisz71011.blogspot.com/

and please feel free to leave a comment....the kids love to see new "dots" show up on the map for people who are looking at what they have to say....it's really cool....so if you get the chance, check it out....

okay....thanks for reading per normal....and be sure to check out my friend karen's site for her dad and his search for a kidney match, as well as my student's blogs.....i hope you have a great american thanksgiving if you celebrate and if not....happy daylight savings.....all the best....talk soon

have a fab day :)
dani

European Roadtrip with Martha Part 1

October 24th - the roadtrip before school started.....hey there folks....i am back and might be soon again with this roadtrip stuff....this is part 1 of the trip martha and i took before school started for me this past august....we saw a few folks we had worked with in bucharest, and went to a wedding party for a friend of mine from high school, saw quaint little german towns, drank beer in the czech republic, wandered around salzburg at night and hung in a great town called bled in slovenia.....it was a terrific trip and we put a lot of kilometers on the car....below are pictures from the german part of the trip....the other three countries will be in the second part of the this update....

i picked martha up in munich, where our good friend susie has moved this year....we were the first folks to see her apartment, and even made it before her shipment arrived....what a cute place it is, even if there are 88 sloping stairs to the top floor spot she has....we had a tasty dinner in an italian restaurant around the corner from susie's place and hung out catching up and hearing about how susie's new school was....it was a great visit....

from susie's in munich, we headed north to the wine growing region of germany to go to my friend jimmy's wedding party with his wife ulrike....they were married in the states this past february, but many of her family and friends couldn't make it, including me, so they had this celebration before they headed off to greece for their honeymoon....the party happened in an
old post office that was converted to a restaurant and was simply charming....you can see me and the groom before the celebration begins....this was the wein castell we stayed in....very cute...

in the shot below you can see the interior of the courtyard where the festivities were held....and then dinner was hosted in what used to be the stables.....at this celebration jim, martha and i were the only native english speakers....it was cool to play the role of jim's "family" as they couldn't make it....even though it was martha's first time meeting jim....it was terrific meeting all of ulrike's friends and family and all of us were introduced by the bride and groom over tea and cakes under the trees of the courtyard....

as you can see they had flower children helping them stroll in to the celebration and jim is a very happy man....the day was beautiful and the spot was perfect....

just another picture of the happy couple....such a great place to celebrate....

one of the best things about this celebration was how close the place we were staying was - a walk away....here we are at the end of the party - i am not sure jim remembers this picture...but all three of us look great and fun was had by all in attendance!

the next day martha and i wandered up the weinstrasse or wine road to get to brady, jeanette and charlotte's house.....i was a bit nervous that sam, the dog they got in romania, would not like me, as shown in the past, but there was nothing to worry about....along the wine road, we stopped at a wine festival and wandered around a quaint town....where people really took care of their houses....too cute

and then we were in bonn, with charlotte....what a cutie....she is such a happy kid and we had a great time getting to know her and catch up with her parents and the cute place they live....this shot is from breakfast....love it!

we took a trip to another town close by that was on the river to have lunch and walk around one day.....it was the end of brady's vacation and he really wanted to get out....they were also in the process of buying a car, which was successful the day we left....yahoo....maybe they will come down and visit me!
we also walked around the part of bonn they lived in....it was also well kept and quaint....plus we had some tasty ice cream....yummy and found an amazing indian grocery store - yahoo!

i love this picture of the happy family - brady, jeanette, sam and charlotte....too cute :)

before leaving we got to have breakfast on the deck one last time....it was a fabulous visit and i hope to get there one more time before leaving this part of the world...we'll see.....here we all are celebrating the time we had together.....

and then we headed towards prague....before getting there martha and i stopped in a very cute town called bamberg, which is known for beautiful buildings, especially a fresco-ed church, and smoked beer...which we both had....very interesting....this was my favorite piece of art in this town....very cool and overlooking the river that separated the main part of the city from the old part.....it reminds me a lot of the head in krakow's main square....although this one is upright and that one is not....don't know why....it just does....

this is the church that is completely painted on the outside and located between the old part of town and the new part of town....its amazing looking and they light it up at night making it even more stunning....

after dinner we walked up to where the main government buildings are located and the main cathedral of the city....nobody was up here, which was both cool and creepy....but the buildings in this area of town were incredible....and oh so gothic :)

okay....this brings us to the end of the first part of the trip martha and i took together...in the following update we will have part two including prague, plzen, salzburg and bled....all amazing places in their own right.....until then i hope all is well with each of you and that you have a happy halloween wherever you are in the world....

sorry i have been missing for the past two months, but i have resurfaced and am trying to catch up with things....so if you wish to send an email, please do and i promise i will let people know about how the job search is going....if you hear or know of any positions you think i would be perfect for or interested in, please, please, please get in contact....thanks for all of the well wishes....and catch you on the flip side.....