The Little Things

• The view from my window.

• Being able to tell someone how to work the machines at the laundromat.

• The student that says hello in the hall.

• Being called "Mr. Mitsuyasu."

• A landlord who helps me set up a bank account and register as a long-term resident, and who drives you to school 3 days a week.

• A landlord who is willing to wait for over a month to let me pay rent after my bank account is set up and my first paycheck comes in.

• Getting free, unlimited travel in North Rhine-Westphalia because you're a university student.

• Taking a university course and understanding almost everything.

• Standing in front of a class.

• Writing on a chalkboard.

• Using the letter X, Q, Z, or J and a "Triple Word" square in the same turn while playing Words With Friends.

• Actually, just using the letter X, Q, Z, or J and getting more than 11 points.

• Chocolate-filled croissants.

• Fresh bread ALL THE TIME.

• Being able to get anywhere in a huge city by train or subway.  Going downtown, just because I can.

• The fact that Nutella or Nutella-flavored products are more common than peanut butter.

• Bike lanes on sidewalks and the sheer number of people that use bicycles.

• Having cars stop for you at a crosswalk every time.

• Meeting other English Teaching Assistants from around the world working in and around Cologne.

• Making kick-ass homemade food that's (usually) healthy.

• Learning the bari sax so I can play in the school's Big Band and concert band.

Mixtape!

I meant to post this before I left for Germany. It's sort of my "music I listened to the most over the summer/songs that hit me just right, right now" playlist. I tried to keep it to one song per artist, but Passion Pit doesn't really play by the rules. After almost two years, I still can't get enough, so I suppose it's okay. 

Home, Sweet Home

Not a bad view, eh?

I finally found an apartment! Actually, I think my apartment found me. I was with a 5th grade class on their introduction to the school library, kind of awkwardly hanging out while the librarian explained how the library worked, when my Betreuungslehrer (supervising teacher) came in and told me he'd heard of an apartment. So we ran downstairs to the teachers lounge where the landlord was sitting on his break. He's one of the music teachers at the Gymnasium, and he had the 4th floor of his house/apartment building up for rent. I got to visit that afternoon after school, and of course I took it! I moved in two days later. 

Grüße aus Deutschland!

Köln Hauptbahnhof

It's been about a week since I got here, and I can hardly believe it. So much has happened already! I've lost 24 hours due to flight time/time difference, been to Frankfurt and Cologne, spent 4 days at a conference, settled into one room, resettled into another room immediately after, and I've visited the school where I'm working. 

Six Weeks

In six weeks I will be starting my year in another country. That boggles my mind a little bit. One week from now will make six weeks since the beginning of the Master in Teaching program at Whitworth. That boggles my mind a little bit too. I don't really know where the time went.

What will my MIT friends be doing in the fall? I won't be here to listen to their stories about their first breakthrough with a student, won't get to laugh about our professors' quirks during class. I'm going to miss the good times we had this summer. I wish I'd been able to hang out with them more often. In a sense, I'm still student teaching this fall too, just about 4000 miles away in a town called Bergisch Gladbach. I wish I could bring my classmates with me.

Germany is exciting. I am practicing my German and starting to plan what I need to pack. At REI today I got a voltage and outlet converter to protect my computer and camera chargers. I used my discount code and got 25% off! I took a gander through some photos from my last visit to Germany. Here's a couple, one from Berlin, one from Dresden.

The Sony Center, from the Reichstag in Berlin

Dresden

Can't stop listening

I cannot concentrate on my homework so I thought I would share a song that I am obsessed with right now. I discovered Friendly Fires earlier this summer and they knock my socks off. Plus, I was just in Hawaii and anything that reminds me of how awesome that trip was just makes me happy.

One of my favorite pics I took in Hawaii: we're up on Diamond Head in Waikiki.

One of my favorite people ever ended up being in Waikiki at the same time. Getting to have dinner with Tyler and Ali Pau was friggin' awesome. 

Pics!

Not for the faint at heart. I finally uploaded my face onto my computer so you can see my stitches and stuff from my bike crash! Don't look if you don't like wounds. I actually hadn't looked at these pictures until now...gross! This one isn't too bad though.


I had a few more of my hands I was going to put up but they are all blurry. Sorry!