Wedding Post. (Nur einer von vielen!)

Things are beginning to be set into motion for the wedding planning!


Date: June 9, 2012


Location: Great Overland Station, Topeka, KS


Photographer: Don Brent


Wedding Coordinator: Lyn S. 




Yep.  That's all I have so far.  But it's a start!!


The Overland Station is gorgeous.  So I will be having BOTH my wedding and the reception there!  Hooray for a longer engagement so places and people are available still!


Hopefully I will begin dress shopping before summer.  I'm thinking purple and charcoal-y silver for my colors, but we shall see!   


It still seems a bit surreal that I am going to be married!   Wow..!  :)   Very happy!  Now if we were both employed, we could get a house!  (Cross all of your fingers, toes... whatever you have!  Or if it's more your style: Drück dir die Daumen!)

Engaged :: Verlobt

Well, if you haven't heard the  news -- I don't know you so why are you reading my blog?!! :)  


I am engaged!!! 


Todd and I had gone to look at engagement rings last Saturday.   It wasn't like we were going to buy immediately but so that he had an idea what I like when "the time came."  


Friday I finals started.  So I decided to leave school right at 3:30, which means I actually left school shortly before 4.   I got home and piddled a little bit before taking my things down to my room (luckily not as long as some days!).


I opened the door and saw something  on the floor.  My first reaction was to blame the dog.  How the **h** did he get in my room?!  Then I realized it was rose petals!   I looked up and saw on my bed (which was made, unlike I had left it that morning!) and saw rose petals in a heart around a ring box!!  (Exhibits A and B)

   

I was so confused because I had seen Todd's car at his parents' house, no lights were on that shouldn't have been.  And I wasn't registering why he wouldn't be there for this!?!  

I turned around and he was standing in the doorway.  When I finally stopped hugging and kissing him, he got down on his knee.  I'll spare you all the juicy details of what his proposal included but he asked me in German!!  He had googled how to say to marry and had ideas for the rest!!  His pronunciation was a bit off but I couldn't have cared less!   I don't remember if I said "YES!" or "JA!" but it's really all the same.  :)

    

We're planning to get married sometime in the summer of 2012 so keep your calendars open :)  Not sure what we're thinking beyond that but we both have some ideas brewing!!  MUCH more to come, I'm sure!!

Viele liebe Grüße!

The Power of positives Denken

At the beginning of the year, I went to a meeting explaining the stages of a teacher's year-- mainly first year but in some way, every year.  Starting at 6-8 weeks in to the year begins the "disillusionment phase."  According to the summary, "They [new teachers] express self-doubt, have lower self-esteem and question their professional commitment" (CDE).  Let's see... check, check, check.  Not to mention, the stage preceding this is labeled simply "survival," which I am proud to say I (BARELY) did. 

I am exhausted, caught between trying to be a good teacher (which seems incredibly impossible) and not be a crazy, one-track-minded nutcase.  I want a life.  I love my boyfriend.  I love doing things, anything not teacher-related.  Yet, I find myself at the School from shortly after 7 a.m. until after 5 p.m (at least) almost every single day.  Not to mention the work I still haven't finished when I go home at night. 

Then throw the Holidays in the mix.  You know how a toddler becomes very agitated when its schedule is disrupted?  Teenagers, unbeknownst to them, are exactly the same.  A 2-day week may be wonderful to us but to them, it really could be the worst possible decision.  Their energy levels are off, their concentration is gone, and the chance that they might possibly remember the homework assignemnt-- laughable.

I've actually found myself thinking... I was a better teaching last semester during student teaching than now. 

There is another teaching going through this simultaneously.  Incredibly helpful.  We bounce ideas, behavior management solutions, frustrations back and forth.   But how lovely would it be if another teacher, one that had been here years and was a respected and valued member of the professional community, decided to help us? Listen to us vent and give us ideas, tests, strategies... Oh wait.  I have a mentor who is supposed to do that. 

It seems to me that, as with many things, we forget how hard it is at the beginning.  Teachers have gotten into the routine of lesson planning and grading papers.  Their lives are a constant flow.  They forgot how miserable the first year of teaching was for them.  My new teacher friend and I are promising ourselves not to be that way... but will it work?


So after a few weeks, okay, at least a solid month, of being frustrated and overwhelmed and really just a negative Nancy, I have decided to do a bit of experimentation this week.  What if I come to school positive?  No more thinking, Oh God, I hope XX doesn't come to class today   or  Just get me to 3:00 and I will be fine. 

So far, it seems to have helped a bit.  Definitely not entirely.  It still sucks that I cannot get 2 of my classes to be quiet for 3 minutes and that I don't really truly feel that I am teaching anything of significance to my English classes.  I am trying to remember.. it's my first year.  I can't be perfect.  But... that starts another rant!

And.. according to the phases of teaching, Christmas Break should be a life-changer.  Afterwards comes "Rejuvenation" and finally "Reflection" and "Anticipation."  Two and a half weeks cannot go fast enough!

Frohe Weihnachten, Freunde! :)