2:1 done.

Sundays are no longer a day of rest. They are days of laundry, groceries, cleaning, planning, grading, printing, sorting and getting ready for the next week. And since this is the first Sunday of my second year of teaching, it's a busy one. All week long, I neglected anything that wasn't directly associated with planning for my classes. My room looks like a natural disaster, I am running out of clothes, and the only food I have is some cereal, a couple of Jell-O chocolate mousse cups, and some white American cheese slices. Oh, and some eggs. Not exactly the things one makes yummy meals out of.

The first week back went WAY better than the first week last year. My lessons were solid, my instruction has improved, and my classroom looks pretty nice. It's crowded, since I'm sharing a room with another teacher, and I have 10 tables stuffed into my room. But I think I have a solid start to the year. Now I just need to plan the next week out, and memorize the names of my students. I'm having trouble doing that and I need to find a way to get over it.

Alright, I need to get working. First thing on my list is grading/sorting. Here I go...

Here are some pictures that I've snapped with my phone this summer. I'm a fool, and they aren't in any order. But they are pretty awesome. 

Hawaii.  My view while drinking up the sun at the beach. 

This is HOME. I LOVE the pano app on my phone. 

It sort of kills me that I haven't seen the new Twilight movie. Oh well. I can still wear a crown at Burger King and act like a fool and embarrass Allison.

Don't I have the COOLEST brother in the world? He's so cool, he's in 3 places!

Reunion time. First, my networking skills payed off. If all else fails, I have a contact at Playboy. Second, I stole a couple of party favors, such as the float toy. I also drank a lot of red wine. That i didn't pay for. Man I love UP

Exhibit B: another example of how cool Dominic is. 

More Hawaii: sunset at the Luau, and me kissing a fish made of some sort of plant. 

Now, I've had some trouble in the past of my pictures not showing up. Let's see if that happens here. 

A New Type of Countdown

It seems like it was just a week ago that I was counting down the days until summer break would arrive. Now the countdown has begun for school. There is a part of me that's excited, and a part of me that wishes summer would go on, and on, and on. I've enjoyed my time off, my adventures, and being in the sun. I've loved sleeping in and grilling and laying around being lazy.

But now I need to start thinking about next year. There is so much I want to do to get ready. Maybe I'll put some effort towards my syllabus today. Or Long Term Plan? I've about 4 hours until our barbecue tonight, so maybe it's time to go to half-priced books. MMMMMM. Books!

The Journey Home: 10 Years of Good Travel Karma Comes To A Screeching Halt

I don't even know where to begin with this post. Yesterday was pretty much travel hell. I'm serious. And let's think about this: I'm pretty much a "go-with-the-flow" kind of girl, and I can handle quite a bit without the drama. I understand that the airline industry is huge, and delays and lost baggage are just part of the deal. But yesterday, more went wrong than right, and I'd rather not step foot in an airport till I have to leave for Hawaii on the 2nd. Let me break down the day by numbers to try and give you an understanding of what it was like...

5 

am, the time I woke up in Rome

6

am, the time I boarded my shuttle to the airport

7 

am, the time the security gate opened at FCO

820 

am, the time my flight SHOULD have departed

930 

am, the time my flight actually departed
4 

the length of my flight from Rome to London, in hours

12:15

pm, the time my flight from London should have departed

12:25 

pm, the time my flight landed in London

1:15

pm, the time my flight from London to Dallas had been pushed back to (phew!)

2:30 

pm, the ACTUAL time that fight left London

9

the length of my flight from London to Dallas in hours

6:05 

pm, the time my flight from Dallas to Portland took off

6:15 

pm, the time my flight landed in Dallas

1

the number of bags BA lost. 

1 

the number of bags I packed for the WHOLE SUMMER

8:00 

pm, the time of my new flight to Portland

4 

the length of my flight to Portland, in hours

10:30 

pm, the time I landed in Portland

30 

the number of hours I had been awake, minus 2 hours that I slept on the fight from Dallas to Portland

17 

the number of hours spent in flight

2 

the number of hours I spent just sitting on a plane, waiting for a leak in the landing gear to be fixed, or for a gate to open

150

the amount of money that I talked American Airlines into reimbursing me for so I can buy some necessitites, like underwear

36

the number of hours it could take for my bag to clear customs in Dallas, if not more

This morning, as I was speaking to a woman over the phone about my lost luggage and being compensated, I had to prove to her that Portland was not my home. Her argument: since my final destination with American Airlines is Portland, than that must be my home. I explained that no, Houston is my home, and I do not have a single change of clothes here in Portland. She then started to interrogate me on how I could pack for a month of travel in one carry on. So I, not so calmly, explained to her that she could check the billing address of the card that I used to purchase the tickets and see that it is in Houston, and that yes, I was living out of a carry-on sized luggage for nearly a month. I am a teacher, and I have the summers off. I had an opportunity to go to Europe, Portland, Hawaii and Portland again, and I am doing so. Just because I have not booked my flight home does NOT mean that this is home. She then had to run that story by her supervisor, which could still be denied. Really, AA? Up until this fiasco, I had to problems with your airline. But if you really try to state that Portland is my home just because I have no flight THROUGH YOU to Houston, then you have just lost a customer.
Hmpf!

But here I am in Portland, and I'm so happy to be HERE! (I won't use the word home, lest AA is reading...) I'm staying with my dad in Vancouver, and he is giving me use of the Volvo, a bed, and a key to the house! Sweet! I have a lot of catching up to do over the next few days, and I can't wait to see friends and family. I'm getting pretty amped for Hawaii, but my trip to Europe was the absolute best!!!!!!!! Here are some photos. As always, I wish I had taken more.

A Brief Glimpse of Rome

Due to some unforseeable travel roadblocks, I had to cancel my Rome trip last minute and replace it with a trip to Ireland. Unfortunately, it would have cost me way too much money to change my flight home from originating in Rome. This meant that I arrived in Rome at 8 pm
and fly out at 8 am. I had to make my way to my hotel that I booked last minute with an embarrasingly little amount of Italian language skills I had to search for about an hour for an ATM for some cash for my cab.

Now I'm pretty confident while in new places, and I have felt nothing but safe in Europe during my travels, but the only time that I have felt uncomfortable was while trying to catch a cab at the airport in Rome. There were men offering to get me rides to my hotel, and it was so creepy! I've enough common sense to know that that is a bad idea. I made it to my hotel, checked in and was starving. I'm staying at a best western that is right on the coast. The sun was just finishing setting as I walked to dinner around 9:30. I even walked on the beach for a bit. I can't remember the last time I felt sand between my toes! I wish I had more time here so that I could enjoy the beach! I decided to eat at a little seafood restaurant that had a large family celebrating a birthday. I had some mellon and pruciutto, a creamy scampi spaghetti, and red wine. I figured that if this was going to be my only interaction with italy, I would make it count!! The Mellon was so sweet, the shrimp was the freshest I've ever had, and the wine was perfect. And then this grandma came out if the kitchen in an apron that Nan might own and I knew that this was a quality meal!

Now I'm off to bed before my marathon of travel tomorrow!

Ciao!

Thoughts on Dublin

After a couple of relaxing and wonderful days in Dublin, I've gathered a few thoughts on this place. First, the people are quite friendly, the accents are AWESOME, and having a whole population love a singular beer is pretty neat. But the differences between Dublin and London are striking. London was very put together, and everyone always looked great. It was quite proper, the people were very polite, and it had this sense about it... a formality I guess. But Dublin is quite the opposite. The people are more casual and laid back, and there isn't the same formality about things. Yes, the people are equally as polite and friendly, but it was not what I expected at all. What I loved about Dublin was that it was actually quite a small city, and a very walkable one at that. Our sightseeing day was done completely by foot, and we saw many of the main attractions. The highlight? Guinness factory tour. The history, the passion, and the beer were amazing. I even poured the "perfect pint" and drank it all too. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a beer person, and finishing a whole pint of that rich, dark beer was pretty awesome.

Another thing I've learned while on this trip: I can't read an itinerary to save my life. First I went to the wrong airport in Houston, then yesterday I thought I was flying to Rome, when really I don't fly out till today. I made it all the way to the airport before I realized this mistake. Boy was Jeff surprised when I returned to the Hostel! We made the best of the situation by gettng drunk off Guiness, watching the world cup, and listening to some true Irish music at a great little pub!

I'm off to Rome, where I'll be fore just over 12 hours. I'm not sure if I'll make it to the city, since I'm staying by the airport for convenience. If I do, I'll make the most of it and see as much as I can, and drink as much wine and eat as much pasta as my budget allows.

Ciao!

Dublin, And Our Irish Luck

As far as I've been able to determine, I'm pretty darn Irish. Evidence: mom's maiden name is Murray, I have a reddish tint to my hair, plus a couple of very red strands right up front,y family can hold their booze, and I can be pretty loud at times. So maybe it was this bit of Irish luck that allowed us to make our flight from London to Ireland.

Part I: getting to the airport. Easier said than done at 3:15 in the morning. There is no regular tube or bus service that early, and the shuttle to the airport was pretty far away. We could either walk over a mile through the city at 3 am, or catch anshuttle right from our hostel. Even though it wasthe more expensive of the two options, the shuttle won. So we woke up, jeff sprinted to the ATM to get cash, and then we waited. And waited. We waited to the point if worrying that we would miss our flight. Finally the shuttle arrived, and we got to the airport with what we thought was plenty of time to get to the plane.

Part II: Boarding Passes. Question to all of my friends who had flown ryanair while studying abroad. Why didn't you tell me about the boarding passes?!?! I thought that I would be able to print my boarding pass at the airport, like I do with every other airline. Wrong. We get to the ticket counter and plead with the nice lady to print our passes. No go. It would cost £40 to print each paper. Because they print it on pure gold. WTF. Oh but there is a kiosk with printers and computers over there. After frantically throwing pounds at the machine, we were able to print our passes and check in. Then we get to security. Our gate is due to close in 15 minutes. I make it pass the security officer but jeff
doesn't. She stops him and then calls me back. Turns out not all of out boarding passes printed. We would need to go see a ryanair agent and have them print us new boarding passes. She said she would expedite us to the front of the line when we got back. We race to the
only free agent and he prints us new passe (that wasn't that hard, was it ryanair?) we are then ushered to the front of the security line. We ate behind two sweet, but painfully slow old men, but I make it through with no problems. Wish I could say the
same for Jeff...

Part III: airport security. 10 minutes till the gate closes. "sir, we need to take each item
in your bag out. Our machine detects some sort of liquid. I run ahead to the gate while jeff watches the security agent take each piece of clothing out of his bag. The culprit? Condensation in his water bottle. And they threw away his hair stuff, which caused to problems in Orlando and NYC. By now the gates should have closed. We should have stayed in London. We should not had made it to Ireland. But the plane was late. We made it, against all odds. We were exhausted and a bit delerious when we arrived in Dublin, but we arrived.