Irish luck!

Dublin, Ireland has become my favorite! 

3.19.10
Actually, instead of having luck during my trip to Ireland, I had everything but. 
1. I got on the train and completely missed the memo that I had to transfer trains to get to the airport. (I was upset that I couldn't understand Dutch and know what the announcements in the train are.)
2. I had to take a taxi to the airport and it cost me 35 euros. I was stuck with a taxi driver who talked about smoking hash everyday and how he's quit -- this past Monday. I didn't really believe him after he accidentally said that he smoked on Thursday. Ugh. 
3. After I finally arrive at the airport, it was too late to check in so I had to wait in line for 15 minutes to finally get help. The lady was super nice to run with me to get me past the passport check before I missed my flight.
4. So I was one of those people who ran in the airport ---- it was at least a 10 minute run, who would've known Schiphol is huge?! I had to take a break in between!
5. When I finally arrived at my gate, there was a long line still. I got anxious because the line wasn't moving so I asked it was going to Dublin. Of course, it is! 
6. Our flight was delayed because of security reasons. Whoa. 
7. I did talk to a really nice Irish woman about all the fun things to do in Dublin.Apparently a huge rugby game was playing in Dublin, and the weekend is supposed to get crazy. 
8. As I went through security, this really cute guy tried to flirt with me, and I completely overlooked it and just smiled. Whoa. 
9. As I approached my window seat, I realize that this man already took my seat. :(
10. I finally arrive at Dublin - supposed to be raining so I only wore and brought my rain boots. (Didn't rain at all the whole weekend!)
11. The first thing I see is a Scottish man playing his bagpipes with a kilt on! 
12. I got on 16A bus to my hostel and it took more than an hour to get there. (the whole time I was sitting, a guy had his crotch on my face. Ugh) Delay, delay, delay!
13. I grabbed food at this store, checked in my hostel and got told to wait because my room wasn't cleaned yet. 
14. I walked around the other side of the city and bought four books! Push being one of them! I also mailed postcards to my family and H130 guys. 
15. Met two Asian girls who invited me to go out with them - didn't do it. I'm such a lame now. 
16. Boys in the room were obnoxiously loud. 
17. Girls came in at night and complained about how dirty the room was. 
18. Read Redeeming Love for the night. :) 
19. Ireland lost the rugby game against Scotland

**bought a converter....completely forgot that Ireland's outlets are like UK's---oh yea, got my passport stamped! and the guy complimented me saying I was too pretty to be teaching and that he wouldn't be able to focus. whoa. ***


3.20.10
- woke up early to walk around and explore
- found a souvenir shop and bought some stuff
- also went in a couple of thrift stores (for some reason, I always go in those kinds of stores to see if I could find something)
- took pictures of lots of lots of buildings
- Free Walking Tour at 11am - amazing! (I actually stayed the whole 3 hours!)  I learned so much and completely fell in love with Dublin.
- bought three dresses! :)
- had a sausage roll and hot chocolate for lunch
- loved walking down Temple Bar: absolutely amazing atmosphere
- went window shopping :)
- received prayers from this Christian group: very touching prayer
- went to a Cathedral to pray and got interrupted by a homeless person for money (it confused me because I didn't know if I should give him money or not since I was in a godly place...i ended up being more annoyed than helpful. oh no.)
- went to Guinness Storehouse and poured my own pint! also got a hotdog 
- bought souvenirs at the storehouse
- went to a market and had a conversation with a man who claimed that he knows all nationalities (he didn't think I was Filipino because I was tall and skinny. according to him, Filipinos are short and fat. If he only knew...)
- went back to the hostel and made more new friends (1 from Russia, 1 from France, 1 from Canada, 2 from Brazil, and 2 from Germany) 
- got asked to go out that night and turned it down: instead, I read :) 
- very busy day


3.21.10
- woke up early to go to the airport  through air coach
- Irish man sat next to me and we talked the whole way - he was on his way to watch the rugby game between manchester and liverpool, if I'm not mistaken
- arrived an hour and a half early to prevent missing the flight
- breakfast at mcdonalds :)
- finished Redeeming Love
- bought a lot of liquors and more souvenirs - for who? I don't know. 
- made it to the gate, one of the first ones to get on
- after 20 minutes, got told that there was something wrong with the plane and we had to get off and switch
- so once again, the flight was delayed by an hour
- when I finally arrive at amsterdam, i try to buy a train ticket and i couldn't use my debit card
- so instead of worrying about it, i went to eat at burger king 
- got home, talked to Ashton, unpacked, and started reading Push by Sapphire
- heated up food, finished my apple pie, and finished Push!
- so glad to be home! 

Observations:
> Irish people do love to drink and talk about drinking: definitely live up to their reputation
> I loved the Irish accent, and all the red-heads! 
> Lots of young students I saw had school uniforms: it reminded me of attending a Catholic school in the Philippines
> the lanes for driving are the opposites 
> People were really friendly...like giving their seats on the bus to the elders.
> Dublin had a euro menu like the dollar menu at Mcdonalds. 
> I really liked traveling by myself --- it was definitely a great first experience. :)


Today, I'm gonna try to mend a broken relationship with an ex-best friend of mine. We'll see how that goes.

Netherworship

What an exhausting day. 

- woke up early to start my lesson plans for the day
- teaching my 4h4 class was a blast today (taught them a little about The Troubles" in Ireland)
- my mentor teacher brought her daughter to class, and let me take over
- taught my other mentor teacher's class because she was ill from 11:05 - 12:45 
- the lesson was frustrating but nice! (only because they acted out b/c they had no idea what I was saying)
- my 2-4 pm class was also great - musical chairs! 
- the students loved the musical chairs - other students came in to try and be in the class (that's just how much fun we were having!)
- found my way to Oud-Beijerlaand
- Zuidplein was very interesting: got whistled at by one guy and hit on by another---whoa----nice ego boost
- feet hurt because of heels
- dinner at mentor teacher's place - she got me a bday present!
- my other mentor teacher gave me a Dutch recipe book - yay! I'm gonna start cooking!
- small group discussion: about worship - very nice :) - absolutely love my group
- finished another book - Yay!
- super exhausted
- still have to pack for Ireland

Netherbirthday!

First of, I'm so blessed to have my family and my friends. I want to thank God for giving me another year to live my life through Him. 

This birthday was probably the chillest and most relaxing birthday I've had. There were no parties to arrange and set up, no presents, and no expectations. Birthdays are supposed to be like this, not like what I've had in the past where I worried myself sick about throwing a party and expecting all kinds of presents. 

Man, how I love being in Europe and gaining a totally different perspective of how life should really be. Not saying that being in the US is bad, it's just nice to experience another lifestyle and culture. 

Anyways, I went to school today to tutor the two girls that I've been tutoring. I came in early with a smile on my face although I was exhausted and worn out. Some of the teachers remembered it was my bday (through facebook) and greeted me which was nice enough. Some of the other teachers even sang me their Dutch birthday song, and a couple more teachers approached me to wish me a happy birthday. It was very sincere. 

I had fun with the two girls. My mentor teacher provided me with these books that are so much fun to work with. The two girls and I worked on word order, vocabulary, grammar, prepositions - all dealing with shopping! - their ultimate favorite thing to do! I even got hugs from them (totally out of Dutch culture) because it was my birthday. They also want to meet with me more during the week! :)

All of the people who cared the most called or emailed just to wish me a Happy Birthday. I do have to give a shout out to Clayton for being the first one from the states to call me on my birthday (Netherlands time). 

Since I started on the journey to get a closer relationship with God, I feel much happier and content. Everything is falling in place with God guiding me. I do sometimes wonder if I'm doing things right. I don't know, it's weird to explain. 

I also found out that I have to teach more classes tomorrow because one of my mentor teacher is sick, and I'm taking over her classes. Late notice, but I'm excited. 

Great news! Anthony got accepted as an OSI agent in the Air Force. I'm really proud of him. God is constantly blessing us. 

Netheryum

Today was a great day. :)

- woke up pretty early
- read my book - chapter today was all about love and relationships
- dress up nice 
- come up with a quick lesson plan for two classes
- tried Spin the Bottle strategy with my students (they loved it! and i was amazed! thank goodness they've never heard of the game.)
- was supposed to only come up with an activity but ended up teaching the whole lesson
- had a great conversation about God and his blessings
- one of my mentor teachers had to go to the hospital this past weekend (fainted and stopped breathing, whoa)
- was finished at 2 instead of 5
- didn't have to tutor the two girls because of schedule changes
- finished unit lesson plan
- booked Romania trip (teaching there for a week!)
- changed my flight back to the US from May 5 to Apr 29
- received my refund from the flight to Athens, Greece (which was unfortunately cancelled)
- thinking about canceling my Germany trip (really don't want to be there for 5 days, too long of a trip and I know I'd be exhausted)
- started a new book, The Atonement Child
- called the principal again and he didn't pick up :(
- emailed another principal and no job opening at that job although she's keeping my resume and letting me know of a job opening if there is one
- discovered how amazing the books are that her mentor teacher let her borrow
- has the best roommate ever! (provided wine, ice cream, apple pie for my bday! even though we didn't really make it to midnight - my actual bday. ha)

***from last night, Anthony and I chatted on google. Great chat. We caught up on stuff. He finds out about his OSI position on my bday. I'm his date for his dining out!***


(I feel nauseous about going home early and I have no idea why. I'm also very excited about going to Romania!) 

Netherexhausted....

So after traveling for several days, I'm exhausted. I finally recovered from the tummy ache that I had in Rome. This week is the exam week for the 5th years; therefore, we don't have classes. 

Anyways, I woke up early today to clean up my room, organize my life, and shower. :) 

It turns out that I didn't have to come in early because my 5th years don't have classes due to exams the whole week. Anyways, I worked on my portfolio and I finally put the finishing touches on my unit lesson plan. I had to teach the 20 minute class today, meaning my 4th years, and we just had a discussion about my trip to Italy and some embarrassing things that happened to me. Then, we shared stories about our most embarrassing stories. They actually paid attention to each other which was shocking. 


Then, I also stayed for the 4th years to take their WASP exam. 8 students showed up during the early time. Originally, my mentor teacher was going to leave early to pick up her son (it's his bday today) and let me handle the rest of the group who wants to take the test later during the day. However, since only 8 out of 28 students showed up, she stayed. The students said that they didn't get to study because they couldn't log in on the website. It aggravated me a little since I feel like they should have said something about it earlier - but I understand, I did the same thing when I was in high school. However, I do think that US schools are much stricter than my school. I do think that even with that excuse, the teacher will still say, "your loss, you should have told me sooner." 


Anyways, we just went on to the new WASP and assigned them some assignments to complete. Three guys also skipped today to avoid the test that they didn't have to take today.


I rode the tram today because I'm exhausted from the traveling. I didn't get to go to the gym today because it was raining and I didn't want to get sick again....or maybe I'm just being so lazy. 


I've lost the motivation today. Although, I did do a lot of paperwork, I'm still so unmotivated to do anything which is really bad. In four days, I will be going to Dublin, Ireland. I don't know whether to look forward to it or dread it. I really just want to lay in bed and do nothing. Whew.


Anyways, I almost completed everything on my to-do list. I gotta go work out in my room. I have to do it. 


I still can't find cheap flights to Romania....I really want to go. I might cancel one of my other trips to be able to afford Romania. I don't know, we'll see. 


I'm super duper tired....

Italian Adventures!

March 9, 2010
- cycled to school with Stevon
- Stevon met one of my mentor teachers and some of my students :)
- went home to pack and get ready for Italy and Greece! (or so we thought)
- got lunch at the train station, waited at the platform, confused our platforms, and missed our train by 2 seconds ---- whoa
- finally arrived at eindhoven, had to take a bus to the airport, arrived at the airport, very tiny airport, security took a while (had to buy a ziplock bag for my liquids), ordered wine while waiting to board
- free seats on RyanAir = chaos
- worst landing ever in Italy!
- rainy and dark already, got on a bus to get to town, got on the metro, and found our hostel (Art in Accomodation)
- Paolo met us at the door, very tiny hostel but very nice and clean, we were the only ones there, they gave us maps and phone number
- went to dinner (Italian food is awesome! cheap wine, great pasta and pizza!)
- went on a night walk to the colosseum and the arc (massive but also very pretty!) --- also grabbed dessert (not so good)
- raining the whole time, my feet got soaking wet, not a happy camper --- our bright yellow umbrellas were the best investment yet!

March 10, 2010
- woke up early to explore, grabbed breakfast (included in the hostel price), breakfast was way too sweet (pastries!)
- the weather was rainy then sunny then rainy then sunny the whole day
- feet were wet once again, very uncomfortable
- went to the colosseum and the forum, gladiators were tourists trap, saw me with my camera and knew that I wanted to take pictures with them === charged me 10 euros ==== ugh, never again
- walked everywhere! found almost everything on the map! very productive! :)
- went inside of Pantheon for free: massive and oh-so gorgeous!
- had lunch beside H&M, waitor didn't give us back any change, ordered a liter of wine
- went to get my haircut (18 euros), Asian cut my hair! cut off split ends and side bangs
- took a nap after a long day
- woke up to use the internet, found out that flight to Greece was cancelled due to a strike - couldn't find another flight so had to cancel the whole trip, very very disappointed
- very hard to find a phone card, a woman shooed us off when we spoke English to her
- internet cafe is full of Filipinos, kept cursing in Tagalog, bothered me a lot but was very interesting that I could understand it all
- Stevon got pushed into another tourist trap with these useless bracelets
- more people in hostel, nobody to ask in hostel
- dinner was great! so much food! :)
- sent postcards to my family and H130 guys

March 11, 2010
- woke up early to grab breakfast at the same place, breakfast was better this time!
- went to the metro station where nobody helped us out even when we were standing in front of them waiting for them to stop talking
- went to train station and lady was screaming, she was just very loud
- another internet cafe, searched for other trips, found Pescara, Italy!
- bought train tickets to Pescara (a whoping 4 hour train ride through the mountains!)
- walked around in Tiburtina (nothing too pretty, nowhere nice to eat), gross restroom in train station,
- ate at a cafe, pizza and wine
- finally got to Pescara, nobody spoke English
- got on a bus, very frustrated because we didn't know where to stop
- it was getting dark and we were still walking around, finally found the bed and breakfast and nobody is there; Stevon and I got very agitated and anxious
- had to search for a phone to call the guy (phone card was another great investment) and finally his sister and mom let us in the bed and breakfast
- Brezza Marina (B&B) absolutely gorgeous!
- dinner was very cheap and the best yet! broccoli was amazing!
- took money out of the bank
- met 2 Italians who were also staying at the bed and breakfast

March 12, 2010
- breakfast, pastries! very awkward since we couldn't talk to anyone in English
- the housekeeper was super nice, though
- walked everywhere! took pictures of everything Montesilvano had to offer
- hiked up a hill where there was a big cross
- gorgeous view! so worth the hard hike
- went to the beach: absolutely gorgeous: learned how to skip stones: picked up shells
- even the weather was cooperating :)
- had lunch at this restaurant where they didn't speak English and the language barrier was super hard
- feet were hurting after so much walking
- walked on the beach again and found this restaurant that had the best seafood ever
- the waitress spoke English! and picked our wine
- we misunderstood her and thought she said the wine was 50 euros after drinking it but it was only 15 euros so we ordered another one
- sat on the rocks on the beach feeling good --- talked about everything
- walked to a supermarket to buy another bottle of wine (that Stevon ended up drinking by himself because I was asleep)
- Stevon went to a bar by himself....hahaha

March 13, 2010
- woke up early, grabbed breakfast, the owner didn't show up so we didn't know how to pay
- we gave the money to the housekeeper and called the owner, he was disappointed that we didn't meet each other (supposedly, he sounded hot on the phone. ha.)
- grabbed the earliest train back to Rome
- train worker walked up to us and started speaking to us in Italian: we didn't speak Italian and he didn't speak English: it was very frustrating: he kept repeating and it was very frustrating so he just gave up on us
- the guy came back with a sheet of paper in English and he took care of us the rest of the train ride
- he was cute :)
- apparently, we had to get off the train and transfer to a bus, we don't know why but we got back to Rome
- had lunch near the Vatican City, went back to the internet cafe
- the guy at the internet cafe spoke to me in Tagalog (really he was flirting, whoa)
- booked a room with Alessandro Downtown: huge hostel, not bad!
- bought an awesome jacket :)
- went back to Vatican City, stood in line forever, then this man goes "oh, this is just a private tour." you clearly saw us standing in line, why couldn't you tell us earlier?!
- saw another entrance to the Vatican City, and was just amazed
- went to the post office to mail postcards to my family and my aunt and uncle
- went on a night walk again, souvenir shopping - spent so much money on religious things! :)
- dinner was great except I ended up throwing up all night because of the food I ate
- last night in Rome = throwing up in the bathroom and all over myself and my new jacket = super gross
- seemed like the longest walk of my life back to the hostel
- the metro stops are so out of the way, might as well walk

March 14, 2010
- woke up early to grab breakfast
- I still couldn't eat because my stomach felt like crap
- went to the Vatican City again to go to mass, but didn't happen that way
- went inside St. Peter's Basilica, absolutely gorgeous
- I confessed my sins inside: after many years of not doing it --- a bit emotional
- rushed to catch the metro and bus to the airport (literally ran down the streets of Rome)
- the bus took forever, we were scared that we would miss our flight
- but got there just before check in was closing....whoa
- the flight was uncomfortable, pretty view though, there was a leak above my seat, the flight attendants were really loud talking about boy problems (quite annoying)
- caught the bus to the train station back to Rotterdam
- talked about life, stomach still felt bad
- dropped off everything in the apartment: great to be back home!
- cycled to go shopping in Rotterdam b/c Stevon needed to spend his Euros
- went back to apartment, watched the new Gaga video (ridiculous!)
- watched more music videos (music makes me happy)
- ordered food, still couldn't eat
- watched Ally McBeal with Stevon: great way to end the night :)
- super exhausted

Observations
- lots of couples making out, no shame in their game
- Italian language is amazing
- Italian boys are pretty
- lots of Filipinos! everywhere!
- Pescara, Italy = no English but gorgeous
- food is great
- can't eat pizza and pasta anymore
- wine is yummy!
- :)

Netherexplore!

Mondaylicious:

- got up to go to school and teach!
- lesson went well! students had a lot of put in
- Steven slept in instead of helping me :)
- finished most of the paperwork that I need to
- planning a trip to Romania to teach Kindergarten students for a week: English, of course
- taught 4h4: mini debates
- mentor teacher moved up the class time an hour and a half in advance
- didn't get to meet with two students b/c of the class time change
- tried to pick up medicine but no record of me at all: weird
- did a boat tour with Steven: amazing view!
- got a bottle of wine, hotdog, and apple pie on the boat
- explored more of Rotterdam by shopping - found a lot of nice things
- all of the stores close at 6: whoa
- restaurants don't open until 6: another whoa
- ate at 't Fust - calamari, fries, veggies, and a bottle of wine
- wanted to go to Bagel Bakery: closed. Ugh
- walked back to apartment, and stopped at a "night" store
- took tons of pictures of the Erasmus bridge
- tried to put in my hoop ring for my nose: epic fail
- took pictures pretending the hoop ring was in my nose: awesome
- Anthony emailed: whoa
- ugly weather: pretty clouds
- subtle hook up: yes!!!!!!!!