a good start to 2011

ahoj!

i'm not sure how many of you are still reading this; nonetheless, i will faithfully march on and continuing writing for anyone who cares :)

unfortunately, not a lot is new with me. a few weekends ago i went to visit my good friend, stephanie, in her "willage," tisovec. though it was a small city, it was so nice and so peaceful. we went out to dinner, ate brownies, watched 'arrested development,' and caught up. it was wonderful.

the following monday i judged the "English Olympics" for students in kosice. whew! it was a lot of work. i had to read two pages out loud, correct 3 different tests for twenty students, and give 2 oral exams to the same twenty students. needless to say, i was WORKED. i came home exhausted. tuesday, unsurprisingly, i was really sick. although i went to school and taught, it was pathetic... i more or less simply sat in front of my students and told them to have a conversation with each other in english. i could barely walk home in the afternoon, but as soon as i was there i sat. and sat. and slept. and ate oranges. before i knew it it was wednesday morning and i pulled myself out of bed and came to school, where i suffered through another day. what was worse, it was the week that grades were due.

normally the week where students receive grades is stressful on both students and teachers. however, i've never experienced this week as a teacher... let me tell you: i prefer being a student. it was hell. what is worse, many of my students tried to negotiate with me for better grades. for my young, empathetic self, this was really difficult. i've been building relationships with these students for months, and suddenly when i give them a "B" i have become their worst enemy. they viscously wanted "As," which i couldn't rightly give some students. without getting into too much detail, it was simply DRAMA at the school. my takeaway impression is extremely negative. i felt like the students disrespected me and completely shamed themselves, and it all left a horrible taste in my mouth. i hope it is a situation that i can learn a few lessons from and try to avoid next semester.

besides that, not much else is new. i went to a concert with my friend valerie (which was certainly a highlight of my month), and i've been watching a lot of "House" to cope with my less-than-healthy laziness.

i hope you all are enjoying this cold, dark month.

xo
anna

remember me?

good evening!

it's been nearly a month since i've last updated my blog. the reason? well, certainly i've been busy. certainly. but mostly, i've been without a computer. let me explain...

about a month ago, i was teaching a lesson to my students in 4A. the topic was "science and technology." so i had the students brainstorm some important technological developments in the last 100 years. of course, we talked about computers, cell phones, internet, etc. i asked, "do you think you could live without these technological developments for a month?" nearly everyone said no. i was surprised. i said, "come on! be open minded. of course you could do it. just think about it... our parents did it, their parents did it... why can't you?"

that evening, as i was happily watching a movie on my MacBook Pro, the screen turned white and i was taunted by a simple question mark remaining on the screen. of course, panic ensued... my computer had crashed. the next morning i brought it to the Apple Store... and here we are, a whole month later, and i finally have my computer back. unfortunately, i lost everything. all photos, all music, all videos... everything. it seems that i should be prepared to practice what i preach a bit more often.

so, to update you on my life from the past month is seriously impossible. it has been CRAZY! the week before christmas was full of nights spent in Kosice's Christmas Market, celebrating at school with my students, attempts at skiing, and then a trip to Istanbul.

i went to istanbul and met a good friend of mine, sinan, there. sinan is turkish, and he was born in the U.S., lived in turkey for about 10 years, and then came back to the U.S. for college. he was the best tour guide i could have ever hoped for. we had a great time. we saw the blue mosque, hagia sophia, a beautiful underground temple (i forgot the name... it was on the bachelorette... remember her date with frank!?), and of course the Bosphorus. the experience was heightened because i was reading Orhan Pamuk's "The Museum of Innocence" at the time, which is a really wonderful book that is set in istanbul.

what to say about istanbul? it was beautiful. it was amazing to see a city so full of churches and mosques... and so richly full of history and culture. every few hours we heard the call to prayer, we ate eggplant puree, stuffed grape leaves, and we experienced the buzzing night life of the city. most memorably, one afternoon sinan and i were sitting on the bosphorus, smoking hookah and drinking pomegranate juice and apple tea when we noticed there were a lot of palestinians walking around with palestinian flags draped around themselves... there were fireworks being shot off... and a really large loud crowd. we were so confused. finally, sinan asked the waiter what was going on, and he said that a ship was returning to the istanbul harbor. however, it wasn't just any ship... it was a flotilla, a humanitarian aid ship, that turkey had sent to palestine. along the way, israelis attacked it, killing 11 turks. israel had taken the ship and was holding it until late december, when sinan and i were sitting on the Bosphorus. it was so strange to witness a truly newsworthy event. see the article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12079727

after istanbul, i met my good friend eva in budapest. we had a great, but short time there. we saw the parliament, we saw the castle, we ate langosh, we went to the baths... it was a nice time (at least for me). then we returned to Kosice for new year's eve. for new year's, we met my friends olivier and valerie, and valerie's friends from France for a small dinner and drinks... then we went to the center and saw a concert and fireworks. it was the best new year's eve that i've had in ages. it was fun, lacking in drama, and generally a good time. also while eva was here, we took a day trip to Tatranska Lomnica, a popular destination for people who want to ski. the weather was perfect and it was beautiful to see the mountains in such nice weather.

eva left late on tuesday night and on wednesday i left for a trip to Dolny Kubin, a small town in slovakia. we were there for a few days for hiking, relaxing, and simply having a holiday. the highlight was a long hike in the Mala Fatra... we hiked up to about 1425 meters. it was unbelievably beautiful. as we were hiking we were able to see a lot of mountains, and the weather was changing so rapidly... i've never seen anything like it. unfortunately, my camera battery was broken, so i wasn't able to take any photos.

we came back on sunday evening, and on monday i returned back to school. it was a stressful return, as i didn't have so much time to rest and relax over the break. and finally, yesterday, i got my computer back! although it is void of information, it is nice to have the freedom and ability to communicate again. i survived the challenge i posed to my students :)

so, i suppose that's all for now. please let me know how you're doing.

with love,

anna