Sometimes, it doesn't pay to live abroad

Last week, I decided to order another subscription to Country Living Magazine. I had let the subscription run out because the magazine got kind of boring. But, their website has really pepped up, so I decided to give a subscription another chance. Unfortunately, when I tried to order, my bank card was declined. I guessed it was because it was the website was trying to process my card with my German address. Joern was gracious enough to place the order for me.
The next day, I decided to order my bridesmaid's dress for my friend Mandy's wedding. Good thing I went to order it from J.Crew, because the color had been placed on sale. When I placed the order, my card was denied. Weird. So, I called my bank (at home) immediately. Turns out that they cancelled the card because of tampering. Thanks again dear bank for not allowing overseas addresses. I was told that there was a letter and new card sent to my US mailing address. A lot of good it did me here.
The good news at least though, was that after a 25 minute phone conversation with JCrew, I was able to order my dress with a German credit card. Phew! Now, I will be able to keep my position as bridesmaid, because I got my dress :)

No fun!!!

Last year, my tooth broke in half. I know, I should have gone to the dentist immediately, but it didn't hurt, and well, the dentist is not my favorite person. On Wednesday, I got a pretty bad toothache. It wasn't unbearable, but there was a definite pain in my mouth. So, we made an appointment with the dentist for Thursday.
When Thursday afternoon came, I realized that the pain had died down quite a bit, but I also knew that I still needed to go to the dentist.
We went to the dentist, and well, I thought he was going to tell me that the tooth needed to be filled, or tell me about some minimal procedure. HA!
He looked in my mouth, and then did an X-Ray. I was already tipped off when he came in the room with one of those uneasy smiles on his face. He tiptoed into the room, and said, ever so softly, "I have some bad news. The tooth must come out."
I guess I should consider myself lucky. I have never had any dental procedure worse than an intensive cleaning, with some plaque scraping. So, I shouldn't complain. But, having a needle inserted into your mouth is not a pleasant procedure. I even joked about having arthritis and being afraid of pain. For me, it was more the thought, and the odd feeling of a NEEDLE being inserted into my gums and cheek. Bleh!
Once the numbness set in, and my tears stopped, the dentist had me lay back and told me to close my eyes, saying, "believe me, you don't want to see any more of this."
He got to work, and it honestly seemed like he was scraping at my tooth. The sound was really no worse than scraping. Thirty seconds later, he said to me, "do you want to bring the tooth home?" I thought he was just talking to me to calm me down. The nurse, who had been holding my hand, walked away. That was it! He was done! Honestly, the extraction did not hurt at all.
I finally mustered up the courage to look at the HUGE tooth that had been removed. Wow!
The dentist gave me some ibuprofen for the pain, and sent me away with some gauze to keep in my mouth. Of course, he also sent me away with a note for work, saying that I should not go in on Friday, because I needed to recover.
That was it. We headed out to a tile store and stopped by one of Joern's friends, who is a tile installer. We wanted to know how much he would charge us in comparisson to what the builders are charging us. I have to say, I never would have thought, I'd be running errands immedately after getting a tooth pulled. But, I am a little embarassed by my akward smile, and well, my slightly slurred speech.
I took it easy on Thursday night and Friday. I took a preventative ibuprofen at 7 and then again at midnight. I thought that I'd rather take medicine before I was in pain and not wait. But, I woke up on Friday morning with no pain, so I decided not to take any medicine. Yesterday I had minimal pain, but my mouth still felt a bit raw. Today, everything's great. I'm hoping I'm over the hill now.
I have to say, I am so thankful for this experience. I think if I had a bad experience, I would have a lot more trouble returning to the dentist, and would have huge problems with any future dental procedures.

Dresden in pictures!

I finally found my camera, so I can post pictures from last weekend. Some more pictures are on my phone, so that will take a little more time to get them here. But for the meantime, here's one of the most beautiful cities I've visited:
We came up from the parking garage to find a Radeburger beer fest in the Altmarkt (old market.) It was so cute and German, what a great greeting!


And here's what we saw when we turned to the right to head out of the Altmarkt:

Beautiful!
We made our way towards the River Elbe, and on our way, found ourselves at the Frauenkirche (Women's Church). The church is beautiful! It was rebuilt after being completely destroyed in bombing during WWII. Amazingly, the rebuilding began in 1993, the ruins remaining for over 40 years. It really makes you think about what Dresden looked like when it was part of East Germany.
Okay, most of these pictures are on my phone, so please click on the link so you can actually see what the church looks like!

From here, we made our way to the Elbe, here's what we found:



I'm already hoping to make a trip back, to relax, enjoy the sights and visit a few museums!

Let the countdown begin!!

Obviously, this will be a ridiculously quick post on a Friday morning, right before I leave for work. But, I was on one of my favorite websites two days ago: the Nest, and you would not believe what I saw- 100 days until Christmas!!!! Oh my gosh! This means that I have the following things coming up:
-finish teaching program (hopefully)
-go to the Krautfest this year
-take three teaching tests, one to two of which will be completed in FLORIDA during my October break! Wahoo!
-after October break, start planning IMMEDIATELY for what will be hopefully, our final Thanksgiving party in our apartment!
-figure out travel dates for Christmas
-shop, shop, shop!

All very exciting things on this list, some a bit stress-inducing, but all, well worth it!
Now, I'm looking forward to 100 days from now, looking back on yet another crazy and fun fall and pre-holiday season!

Dresden without pictures

My camera is downstairs, so I can't post pictures right now. But, we were in Dresden this past weekend. We had two reasons for our visit: 1.meet up with a friend who recently built a house, 2.meet up with Joern's old boss who lives in the area.
We left on Friday night at 7:45. Yes, we knew it was going to be a long trip, but Joern would rather leave late and not sit in traffic. We arrived at our hotel at 12:30. Our hotel turned out to be so great! It was really inexpensive, and very clean and new. We were so pleased!
On Saturday morning, after our incredible 5 Euro breakfast at the hotel, we headed out for Dresden center. It turns out that Dresden is an amazingly beautiful city that rebuilt incredibly after the wall came down 20 years ago. We spent a few hours just strolling around. I'm in love, and can't wait to get back one day!
In the early afternoon, we headed out to my friend Lelia's house. She lives about 15 minutes outside of the city, in a wonderful neighborhood. The house was beautiful! We learned so much and had a wonderful chat! Plus, she made really yummy Hostess-esque cupcakes! Hooray for good American bakers living in Germany :)
We had lots of fun hanging out with Lelia and her husband, but had to leave around 5:00 for Aue, which is about an hour southwest of Dresden. It is still firmly entrenched in the former East Germany, but it is a beautiful area as well. Aue lies in the Erzgiberge, Ore Mountains. Sadly, I don't think I got any pictures of the area, but it is incredibly gorgeous!
We made our way to Mr. Marx's house, which is at the end of a street, a huge, very private property. We got to say hi to "Dusty" his Bernese Mountain Dog. We also met the many rabbits that his children keep. It was so cool! After getting his daughter and wife, we headed for our B&B, which was on a farm, and overlooking the mountains. It was quite beautiful! Once we checked in, we headed out to the International Brass and Wind Band Festival. It is a weekend event, where bands from mostly Europe, but sometimes other continents, assemble to highlight their music. When we arrived, it was easy to tell that this was set up with a party atmosphere, taking place in a huge fest tent. The food was typical "fest food," and Joern and I both had Thüringer Bratwursts, because they are "native" to the area. We enjoyed some good beer and enjoyed the music. My favorite band was the Bielefeld Pipes and Drums from Scotland. But, I also really enjoyed the Police Music from Zurich. It made me laugh to see how band music could be treated with such a party feeling. Leave it to the Germans!
We set out early on Sunday morning, and made it home by noon. I went sraight to bed, because I was feeling so icky! Overall though, it was a really great weekend!

A word about work

Two and a half weeks ago, the ISS began a new schoolyear. Its been an interesting ride so far, and I am kind of excited to look back at this year already. I'm learning so much!
I feel like the Incredible Moving Allison, as my third year at ISS, and I am again, in a new classroom. This year, I'm back with Junior Kindergarten, the 4 year-olds. Wow. You forget how tiny they are when you move up. Of course, you quickly remember though, as soon as they walk through the classroom door. We have a fabulous class this year. So far, 15, with room for 3 more. We have 3 Japanese kids who are new to the school, with no English. We also have 1 German girl who is also new, again, no English, at least I can communicate with her though. The rest of the class is an interesting mix: Mexican, German and American, American, German, Japanese, Swedish and Bosnian, Korean, and American and South African.
I'm already learning Korean from the Korean mother-tongue teacher. She taught me our "Good Morning" song in Korean, and taught me how to say, "hello" and "thank you" in Korean. I also learned from my friend Iris how to say, "sit down" in Japanese, which has definately proved invaluable this year!
We're out in portable classrooms this year. It is depressing to think that Germans refer to portables as "containers," as I always feel like I'm headed into a shipping container. Actually, they are connected, so that we have our own little building outside of the school, with rather large classrooms. The biggest drawback is the sound of the rain on the metal roof. We're all in a huge learning process this year, but the good news is that I will really end the year in a different position with much stronger abilities in the teaching field.
The teacher I work with this year is very nice. She is German, and only recently returned to teaching from being a stay-at-home mom. I give her credit, it can't be easy.
Of course, this year will be filled with ups and downs. There is a lot of stress, but hopefully, as we get more into a routine, the kids will as well. The kids are adorable though, and that's what is really most important!

ABC's of Me

I've been so bad at blogging lately. I just want to get back in the swing of things. So, here's the beginning of my attempt at more regular blogging!

A- Age: 30
B- Bed size: double, but hopefully soon, king
C- Chore you hate: cleaning the bathroom
D- Dog's name: we don't have one right now, and I won't tell our planned name for the
puppy we get when we build our house. Chloe and Sox were my last dogs.
E- Essential starts to your day: coffee and a lovely shower
F- Favorite color: pink
G- Gold, silver, or platinum- white gold
H- Height: 5'2"
I- Instruments you play: none in the past long time, but I played flute and bass clarinet through high school
J- Job: teaching assistant/ student teacher
K- Kids: hopefully in the not-too-distant futre
L- Living arrangements: soon to be changing. Right now, a 650 sq.ft, one bedroom apartment.
M- Mom's name: Kathy
N- Nicknames: Schemer, Angel(ina), Sweet Potato
O- Overnight stay in the hospital other than birth: 5 years old when I had pneumonia
P- Pet peeve: right now is the healthcare debate in the US. How on earth can people not support universal coverage???
Q- "I'm throwing seven different kinds of smoke." You, Me, and Dupree
R- Right handed or left: Right
S- Siblings: 1 12 year-old sister, Ginia, 1 stepbrother, no siblings-in-law, lots of friends who have served as my siblings
T- Time you wake up: 5:30 on weekdays, 7:00 on weekends
U- Underwear: most often, bikinis
V- Vegetable you dislike: Okra
W- Ways you run late: what ways do I not run late? Usually, it involves looking for my glasses
X- X-Rays you've had: Oy! Knees, fingers, feet, wrists, chest, ankle, teeth
Y- Yummy food you make: pies, cakes, and fresh basil, tomato, and garlc pasta
z- Zoo favorite: Sloths, penguins