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 :)
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