Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Packing for London

One of the nice things about living in Europe is the ease of visiting other countries.  Travelling during the off-season makes for a relaxing and cheap vacation.  For energy break this year I went with friends to London.  My friends had never been there before, so it was fun to experience this "first" with them.  Even though it snowed for the part of the time and the weather was FREEZING, the city was as beautiful as I remembered and a nice place to spend a few days for vacation.

One of the highlights of the trip was our evening viewing of the musical Wicked.  Not only were we able to score super cheap 2nd row seats, we also got to move over and see the action near the middle of the theater (where the seats were more than double the original cost). 



Tower of London in the snow

Yummy lunch at an English Pub


This pigeon joined our subway car at one of the stations and slowly got off a few stops later.  It was hilarious watching it strut about as if it owned the car.

Windsor Castle

Stonehenge in the rain

The Sherlock Holmes Museum

Wicked!!!!!

Monday, February 27, 2012

On the Rink, at the Rathaus

To ice skating we will go,
to ice skating we will go,
heigh-ho, the dairy-o,
to ice skating we will go.


It's ice skating season again!  With the cold weather upon us the area in front of the Rathaus has once again been transformed into an "Ice Dream" (English translation).  Several of my students put on ice skates for the first time and stumbled around on the ice...with smiles on their faces.  It was fun to watch each student laughing and smiling as they soared across the ice.




Sunday, February 26, 2012

Night of Fun

In celebration of a successful first semester I invited my students over to my apartment for a night of pizza, hanging out, and movie watching.  We had a WONDERFUL time!  The kids are already asking about the date for our next movie night.  :)  Sadly most of the photos didn't turn out very well, but please enjoy the few I have.



Saturday, February 25, 2012

Moment of Firsts

The first day of snow is a very exciting time at ICSV.  This year it decided to come several months later than last year.  (I'm NOT complaining about this!)  Not only was it the first day those in Vienna experienced snow, it was always the first time a few of my students had ever experienced snow in their lives.  Enjoy some of the pictures and video below. :)


Snowball at the camera :(

At least one of these students had never experienced snow before :)


Friday, February 24, 2012

Leaving on a Jet Plane

This year I was once again blessed with the opportunity to go home for Christmas.  Being home with family is something I used to take for granted.  I never fully realized how much being around them gave me such joy and comfort.  Living overseas and only visiting twice a year is challenging.  Don't get me wrong; I love that God has put in Vienna.  It's the perfect place for me.  He knew exactly what He was doing and I've learned to trust that His plan is the right one.  I thank God often that He gave me my family and allowed us to be very close to each other.

This Christmas, as a family, we spent time simply enjoying each other's company.  The rest and relaxing atmosphere helped me return to Vienna with a renewed energy for the new year.  Hooray!
At the Airport with my friend, Jessica

Family Trip to Hume Lake

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Kindness at Christmas

This year, at Christmas, I wanted my students to focus on someone besides themselves.  In order to teach this we spent a lot of time talking about what God gave to us and how we should be thankful for Jesus' sacrifice.  Another way we focused on this was by giving gifts to others.  The students not only wrapped up the pottery they had made in Art, they also participated in a gift exchange.  Each student was given the name of another student and they needed to get a small gift for their "Secret Buddy."  Shortly before Christmas break we exchanged our gifts.  I hope you enjoy some pictures from our lesson below.

Wrapping our Gifts


The Gift Exchange