So it's been about 3 weeks since I've been back in the States and my trip seems like a huge blur now. It's really unfortunate because that trip has probably been the most exhilarating and eye opening experience that I have ever had in my 21 years. I know some of the events may seem stupid to you guys as readers, but they truly are the funniest moments in my life. Everything that happened on this trip, I am glad that it happened. I'm glad that my wallet got stolen in Prague, and that Jenna and I got lost in Rome, or that I had a near death experience with a man with herpes. The way that I look at it is that it's funny and it's very typical for these events to happen in my life. So everyone....just laugh. Take a moment now to realize that I am back in the states, in one piece and still healthy. It's ok to laugh about the stupid things that we did! We're 21! Give us a break and let us live! I know most of you guys wouldn't have experienced your trip like we did, but that's also why this was my trip and not yours! This blog also goes out to my aunt Carol who has been so bored in life without reading a daily dose of me! Even though she can see me on a daily basis, she would rather just read about my life! hahahaha
So our last week in Brussels was absolutely amazing! It rained everyday I think and it went by extremely fast even though we begged for the days to go slowly just so we could feel like we had more time. As each day passed, we knew that that was one less day for us to be there. We took advantage of every opportunity that we had there. We went to Daokta's boy scout ceremony and made fools of ourselves while all of Dakota's friends were convinced that we were his girlfriends! haha One boy even thought that Lindley was one of the boys mom! hahahahaha sucka.
We celebrated the 100th day of school about 2 weeks late with my first graders. The activities that they did were so hilarious. They made their faces as if they were 100 years old. They looked so funny because some were bald or some had hair just above their ears and some even gave themselves mustaches and beards and hair coming out of their ears! I took photos don't worry! There was this one little girl in my class who loved this other little boy and she wanted me to grab both of their 100 year old faces to see what they would look like together when they are 100. So I took both down and put them side by side and go "aww that's cute". I look at her and she is making a nasty face and goes..."ummm maybe I don't love him anymore!" hahahahahha she thought he was ugly at 100 and didn't want to marry him anymore.
The teachers took us to dinner that last week and we thought that we should bring them all flowers for helping us and putting up with us. Tracey takes us all around and we can't seem to find decent priced flowers that looked good. We ended up bring our teachers potted plants! hahaha. They said they loved them.
We spent that weekend wandering around Brussels and trying to get the last of our gifts. Tracey took us to the Stockel market and we had the best and I mean THE BEST waffle ever. It was fresh and gooey in the middle and it didn't need anything on it to make it soooo good. I think I died and came back to eat another waffle. We bought a crap ton of chocolate. Which now it is almost gone. We bought some Mankin Penis souvenirs and I even bought an apron made out of true Belgian lace. We'll see if I ever wear the apron. I think I just bought in my feat to be more domestic. I want to say FAIL.
Tracey took us out to this fancy restaurant where they are known for their mussels. Yuck....I had chicken. The girls had the mussels and they claimed they taste like chicken, but that makes me wonder....does chicken actually taste like chicken?! We then went to Delirium with Tracey. This place has over 2000 different beers! It's in the Guinness book of world records and in the book of 100 things to do before you die. I can cross that off my list now! They even had Duff beer from the Simpsons.
The next day we had to leave and it was a really sad departure. We had to leave the house by 6:00 am and even Dakota got up to take us to the airport! We were waiting in line to check our bags and the line was taking forever when there was about 10 people in it. It was ridiculous. We were right up front and this lady working was just chatting on the phone and saying ridiculous things. She told Jenna that she would have to put her purse in her bag because she couldn't have more than one carry on. Me, not knowing when to keep my comments to myself blurted out "Are we in the wrong line?! Is this Ryan Air?!" (Those who have flown Ryan Air or know anything about Ryan Air will know why that is an insult). The lady didn't appreciate that I guess and looked at me and told me "that if I had a problem I can leave and fly another airline" hahaha oops. She was definitely sending my bags to anther place than I was going! Turns out that my bags were 1 kilo over the limit and I was about to plead with her and she stops and goes "it's too early for this" and let them through!
We then said our last goodbyes and it was really sad. The Deverill's were amazing people and we weren't ready to leave them yet! I had to walk away fast because, I'll admit, I did start to cry. But the good news is that they are coming down to Texas in June so we get to see them again! WooHooo.
We got back to our house around 4 pm and Jenna and I had to start student teaching the very next day. We were exhausted and depressed. We've been teaching for 2 weeks now and I guess you can say we've settled back into our routine of things, but it's still different. I miss Tracey driving us to school and playing ABBA for us. I miss none of us being morning people and forcing conversations just so it wasn't silent. I miss the dogs. I miss Dakota. I miss Tracey and Dirk. I miss my kids. I miss the waffles and the chocolates and the beer! I just miss Europe.
Top 10 things I learned on this trip:
1. Beer is soo good.
2. Waffles are sooo good.
3. The chocolate is soo good.
4. Always have an umbrella ready because you'll never know with the weather.
5. I want to learn another language desperately.
6. People are fun in Europe.
7. Always have a house key on you. The no door knobs on the inside or outside can really throw you off.
8. Coffee is a necessity.
9. Some people smell really bad. They need the DO for the BO.
10. Europe is absolutely amazing and I now know why some Europeans aren't that fond of the Americans.
I LOVE BRUSSELS!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
Holiday part 3....Roma!
So, we arrive at the airport in Dublin with time to spare. We were excited because this airport was nicer than Prague and things had worked out with Ryan air at this point in time. We walk to our gate, which is probably the very last gate in this airport. We tried to get something to eat, but everything was shut down because of a gas leak....important fact...remember. So we are waiting in the boarding line forever and we finally get up there and they pull Lindley to the side. I look at the situation, but they took my boarding pass and let me on through. I look back and Jenna and Whitley are all pulled aside with Lindley. I can't hear what's going on so I step closer. This man working there is trying to get me to board the plane, but there was no way I was getting on that plane without the other girls. Turns out, that they didn't get their passports checked and didn't have a stamp that I had because I ended up checking my bag. The guys wouldn't let them onto the plane until they had their passports checked which meant that they had to run back to the check in counter and back to the plane in about 15 minutes. Keep in mind that our gate is probably about 2 miles away from the check in counter. The next thing I know, Jenna, Lindley and Whitley are bolting down the airport and I'm left standing at the gate. I shouted after them "don't worry you guys, I'll wait here" great words of encouragement huh?! So, I'm sitting at the gate waiting for the girls to come back and time is just ticking away. An announcement comes on saying "the gate for Rome will be closing in 5 minutes"...then I hear "the gate for Rome will be closing in 2 minutes"...then I hear "the gate for Rome will be closing very shortly"...ok at this point I am the only one sitting at the gate so It's fairly obvious that they are talking to me and I'm sitting there staring back at them and tapping my watch saying "don't worry...they'll be here". So I hear "the gate for Rome is closing...soon"...and "the gate for Rome is closing...please get on the flight"...and I'm just sitting there staring back. The announcements keep coming just like that....they should have just said "Sarah Bourland get on the damn flight!". So, they finally announce that they are closing the gate...for real this time...and I go up to this guy freaking out because I don't know where the girls are and my bag is on the plane and this all just sucks. So the guy is trying to stall the plane and I start crying and then I make him really uncomfortable by crying so he sends me away to go look for the girls. I finally see Whitley's head bobbing down the hallway and I start screaming to the airport man that they are coming and to throw my bag back on that damn plane. After Whitley, Lindley comes bounding down the hallway and finally Jenna trickles in. Their faces were hilarious!! They were exhausted, sweating, red, and shiny. I couldn't help but laugh and they all yelled at me for laughing because it wasn't a funny situation....oh but it was!! They were also running with their huge travelling backpacks! hahah....once they got back they realized that they should have left their bags with me! hahahahaha oops. You'll have to read their blogs for their side of the story because I don't think that I could do it justice! We finally get on the plane, and everyone stares at us! They had been sitting there for about 20 minutes ready to leave and then we walk on...it was obvious that we were the ones delaying the flight. To our luck there were no seats together that were open so we all had to snag seats randomly on the plane. Which happened to work out for Whitley because she sat next to this 22 year old guy and a local of Roma. The local gave us tips of where to go and the 22 year old agreed to hang out with us.
We arrived in Rome and had to take a bus to the train station and then a bus to a stop close to our hostel. It's also about 10:30 at night as well. So, we get off at this stop and we are not in a good neighborhood. The only directions we have are some simple directions that the hostel gave us when we booked the room. I don't think we have a map at this point either. So we guess on a way and start walking. We are standing at a street corner waiting to pass, when this cop car turns onto the street drives by us, immediately reverses and pulls up to us. We are all like what the hell did we do now?! These cops (2 guys) get out of the car and ask us what we are doing. We are all slightly nervous and confused because we were just trying to find our hostel. We explain to the cops that we are "lost" and they decide that they will try to help us find our hostel. They park their car in the middle of the street with their lights flashing and pull out their map. At this point, we are seriously holding up traffic. People are staring and even these girls walk up and ask us if we are ok. Jenna and I cannot stop laughing because something like this would happen! It was ridiculous. So the cops decided that they were going to help us find our hostel, but there wasn't room for 4 girls in their car. They turn their lights on and proceed to drive slow enough that we could keep up with them while walking next to their car. At one point we had to turn down this other street and instead of telling us they started to drive down the street the wrong way while they are still driving extremely slow. I guess the police can do anything in Roma. We finally find our hostel and it isn't clearly marked, so we ask if this is the correct place and we hear this "if it's bad, then no but if it's good, then possibly" umm...that's not really the response you want when you were just escorted to your hostel by the police at 11:00 at night. So we are checking in and the guy asks us for our passports. We were really cautious because no other place has asked us for them. He said he needed them to make copies incase the police needed to protect us and to sell us on the interent! He had some really bad jokes...or at least we hope they were jokes.
Jenna and I went upstairs to shower and we realized that the restroom was a sink and a shower faucet. No dividers, no curtains, not even a door really. It had walls, but no ceiling. So, when you showered the steam and moisture went directly into the room and made everything damp. When you showered you were standing directly over the sink. It was the first time that I could actually be showering and brushing my teeth at the sink at the same time! When I went to bed that night, I swear I had a dry shirt on, but when I woke up it was wet because of all the moisture in the room from the shower. Lindley even asked me if I had showered because I looked wet! Sick.
We headed out and dominated Rome the next day. We hit up anything and everything in Rome. We ended our day eating gelato on the Spanish Steps. Such a tough day. We went back to get ready for a pub crawl we were going to, which started at 7:45 back at the Spanish steps. We didn't leave our hostel until 7:15 and the bus wasn't coming for another 15 minutes. We thought that a taxi would be the best solution, but of course we couldn't find a taxi when we actually needed one. We finally hunted down a taxi at 7:50....we were 5 minutes late and we hadn't even left our street yet. We arrived shortly after 8:00 and luckily there were people still waiting there for late comers like us. The pub crawl wasn't that great because they had all their bars spread out across Rome. They had us walking at least 20 to 30 minutes to get to the next bar. First off, it's never a good idea to have people drinking and have no immediate access to a toilet for another 30 minutes. So, I blame this next part on the pub crawlers. I won't go into too much detail, but basically I had to pee so I decided to squat behind a car. Apparently, a guy who worked for the pub crawl saw me run off and went after me to make sure that I wasn't lost. As he is coming up yelling at me, 4 old Itallian guys coming walking up from the other direction shouting explicit things in Itallian. I was being attacked in both directions. I decided to run for it, but when I tried running my scarf got caught on the car's side window and I was stuck. I look up for Jenna and she is gone!! I was caught red handed with my pants down by 5 guys and Jenna is no where in sight. There was absolutely no way of saving myself after that scenario, so I just let the jokes come and then Jenna and I called it an early night.
We left early and Whitley and Lindley stayed. Jenna and I thought that we could make it back home, but then we realized that we were mapless, didn't know the hostel's name, or what street the hostel was on. Crap. The pub crawl guy was able to get us to the train station and another guy was able to tell us what buses to take after that. We thought we could manage those directions, but once we reached the train station we found that all the buses had closed!! We hit up the group of taxi men to see if they could help, but they either didn't speak any english or had no idea what us silly American girls were doing out at 2:00am in Rome without any idea where we were! We were able to get a taxi man to take us to a metro stop that we frequented and we knew was slightly close to our hostel. After he dropped us off, we were on our own. We thought that we recognized familair street signs or stores, but then we realized that the same store with the same sign is on EVERY STREET CORNER!! Rome really doesn't make it easy to lost people to find their way. So just a recap. Jenna and I are wandering the streets of Rome, at which the time is now 3:30, with no map, no idea what our hostel is called, and basically no sense of direction. Jenna and I are also the WORST peopel with directions. As we are walking, we see hookers being dropped off. To this day, we still have no idea how we didn't get mugged or something. Finally, we did something right and stumbled upon our hostel around 4:30. We can just say that the other girls beat us home. Oops.
We decided that sleeping in would be a wonderful thing for the next day. We then hit up the rest of Rome that we didn't get to the previous day. We decided to take the night easy since we had to catch an 8:00am train to Pisa to catch our 12:00 plane ride back to Brussels. Why we flew out of Pisa and not Rome...who knows?!
We managed to catch our train, which was on time. We got to the airport with plently of time. We caught our plane with no problems and we were even able to sit next to each other. I'm not sure what it was, but somehow everything was going right for us...for once! When we arrived in Brussels, Tracey was already waiting for us! Such a saint. We arrived home and passed out!
1 week of travelling...3 different countries...4 girls...and the adventures that we went through can really tire you out! I wouldn't have changed anything though. The trip was amazing.
We arrived in Rome and had to take a bus to the train station and then a bus to a stop close to our hostel. It's also about 10:30 at night as well. So, we get off at this stop and we are not in a good neighborhood. The only directions we have are some simple directions that the hostel gave us when we booked the room. I don't think we have a map at this point either. So we guess on a way and start walking. We are standing at a street corner waiting to pass, when this cop car turns onto the street drives by us, immediately reverses and pulls up to us. We are all like what the hell did we do now?! These cops (2 guys) get out of the car and ask us what we are doing. We are all slightly nervous and confused because we were just trying to find our hostel. We explain to the cops that we are "lost" and they decide that they will try to help us find our hostel. They park their car in the middle of the street with their lights flashing and pull out their map. At this point, we are seriously holding up traffic. People are staring and even these girls walk up and ask us if we are ok. Jenna and I cannot stop laughing because something like this would happen! It was ridiculous. So the cops decided that they were going to help us find our hostel, but there wasn't room for 4 girls in their car. They turn their lights on and proceed to drive slow enough that we could keep up with them while walking next to their car. At one point we had to turn down this other street and instead of telling us they started to drive down the street the wrong way while they are still driving extremely slow. I guess the police can do anything in Roma. We finally find our hostel and it isn't clearly marked, so we ask if this is the correct place and we hear this "if it's bad, then no but if it's good, then possibly" umm...that's not really the response you want when you were just escorted to your hostel by the police at 11:00 at night. So we are checking in and the guy asks us for our passports. We were really cautious because no other place has asked us for them. He said he needed them to make copies incase the police needed to protect us and to sell us on the interent! He had some really bad jokes...or at least we hope they were jokes.
Jenna and I went upstairs to shower and we realized that the restroom was a sink and a shower faucet. No dividers, no curtains, not even a door really. It had walls, but no ceiling. So, when you showered the steam and moisture went directly into the room and made everything damp. When you showered you were standing directly over the sink. It was the first time that I could actually be showering and brushing my teeth at the sink at the same time! When I went to bed that night, I swear I had a dry shirt on, but when I woke up it was wet because of all the moisture in the room from the shower. Lindley even asked me if I had showered because I looked wet! Sick.
We headed out and dominated Rome the next day. We hit up anything and everything in Rome. We ended our day eating gelato on the Spanish Steps. Such a tough day. We went back to get ready for a pub crawl we were going to, which started at 7:45 back at the Spanish steps. We didn't leave our hostel until 7:15 and the bus wasn't coming for another 15 minutes. We thought that a taxi would be the best solution, but of course we couldn't find a taxi when we actually needed one. We finally hunted down a taxi at 7:50....we were 5 minutes late and we hadn't even left our street yet. We arrived shortly after 8:00 and luckily there were people still waiting there for late comers like us. The pub crawl wasn't that great because they had all their bars spread out across Rome. They had us walking at least 20 to 30 minutes to get to the next bar. First off, it's never a good idea to have people drinking and have no immediate access to a toilet for another 30 minutes. So, I blame this next part on the pub crawlers. I won't go into too much detail, but basically I had to pee so I decided to squat behind a car. Apparently, a guy who worked for the pub crawl saw me run off and went after me to make sure that I wasn't lost. As he is coming up yelling at me, 4 old Itallian guys coming walking up from the other direction shouting explicit things in Itallian. I was being attacked in both directions. I decided to run for it, but when I tried running my scarf got caught on the car's side window and I was stuck. I look up for Jenna and she is gone!! I was caught red handed with my pants down by 5 guys and Jenna is no where in sight. There was absolutely no way of saving myself after that scenario, so I just let the jokes come and then Jenna and I called it an early night.
We left early and Whitley and Lindley stayed. Jenna and I thought that we could make it back home, but then we realized that we were mapless, didn't know the hostel's name, or what street the hostel was on. Crap. The pub crawl guy was able to get us to the train station and another guy was able to tell us what buses to take after that. We thought we could manage those directions, but once we reached the train station we found that all the buses had closed!! We hit up the group of taxi men to see if they could help, but they either didn't speak any english or had no idea what us silly American girls were doing out at 2:00am in Rome without any idea where we were! We were able to get a taxi man to take us to a metro stop that we frequented and we knew was slightly close to our hostel. After he dropped us off, we were on our own. We thought that we recognized familair street signs or stores, but then we realized that the same store with the same sign is on EVERY STREET CORNER!! Rome really doesn't make it easy to lost people to find their way. So just a recap. Jenna and I are wandering the streets of Rome, at which the time is now 3:30, with no map, no idea what our hostel is called, and basically no sense of direction. Jenna and I are also the WORST peopel with directions. As we are walking, we see hookers being dropped off. To this day, we still have no idea how we didn't get mugged or something. Finally, we did something right and stumbled upon our hostel around 4:30. We can just say that the other girls beat us home. Oops.
We decided that sleeping in would be a wonderful thing for the next day. We then hit up the rest of Rome that we didn't get to the previous day. We decided to take the night easy since we had to catch an 8:00am train to Pisa to catch our 12:00 plane ride back to Brussels. Why we flew out of Pisa and not Rome...who knows?!
We managed to catch our train, which was on time. We got to the airport with plently of time. We caught our plane with no problems and we were even able to sit next to each other. I'm not sure what it was, but somehow everything was going right for us...for once! When we arrived in Brussels, Tracey was already waiting for us! Such a saint. We arrived home and passed out!
1 week of travelling...3 different countries...4 girls...and the adventures that we went through can really tire you out! I wouldn't have changed anything though. The trip was amazing.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Holiday...Part 2....Dublin
We flew into Dublin around 3:00 pm. It was a rough flight because we were coming from Prague, still drunk, and living on 2 hours of sleep. Flying in, Dublin was absolutely beautiful!! We manage to find our hostel, which was very homey and not hostely at all. It was a little rainy, so for those of you who know how my hair reacts to water and humidity...it looked like that! Not a good look for first impressions. We found a place to eat, which was very eco friendly and a quaint coffee shop that hooked us up with more energy. Turns out that the coffee shop was attached to this bar/restaurant/club that we will later frequent. We then hit up the shopping street, which was phenomenal!! Dublin has better style than America...I'm jealous. We head back to the hostel and attempt to call it a night because we were exhausted, but these 2 boys were there (practically right outside of our door) playing their guitars and singing. OOOWEEE HOTTIES! They actually weren't even that cute, but the way they were playing and singing....you forgot all about that. We put in some requests, but they didn't know any "American" songs. They still sang to me....not the other girls...but don't listen to what they have to say.
The next day, we went on a day bus tour to Wicklow. It takes you out to the country and around the area. Lots of films have been shot in the area we went to, but I have never seen PS I love you or Leap Year...those movies are crap so that part didn't thrill me. The land its self was amazing! Turns out our tour guide was youngish and cuteish, so Whitley was brave and asked him to come out with us that night. He had a football game that night, so he said maybe. We weren't heartbroken, but went home to get cleaned up. While we were getting ready, he ended up calling our hostel and leaving us a message to meet him at this place around 10:00. We went to eat before we had to meet him and ended up stopping in that bar/restaurant/club that was attached to the coffee shop. There was a hottie standing outside telling us about the menu, Whitley being such a flirt, invited him to come join us when he got a break. We are almost done with our meals when he comes up with a friend of his and sit down at the next table. We chit chat a little and then they agreed to meet us at the bar we were going to meet our tour guide at. They also mentioned that the bar we were meeting at was an old people's bar, but we thought maybe they were wrong. Always trust the locals!!! We walk into the bar and we are the youngest people by about 30 years! It was old people central! It was funny because this one lady (at least 40) ended up being so drunk that she fell backwards off of her stool. I wanted to laugh so hard, but everyone else was "pretending" to be worried, so I wasn't going to be that insensitive girl, but let me tell you...after about 10 minutes had passed I let out a really loud laugh at the lady.
The 2 guys from the restaurant came and met us, we had some drinks and tour guide never showed up. We called it quits on him and left with the other two guys. They took us to this really cool club that happened to be right by our hostel. When we walked in there was a live band that was playing really good songs and then downstairs was a dance area. We stayed in the live band area. We were enjoying ourselves and bopping around when I get pulled out into the dance/mosh area by some drunkie. He was so drunk that his facial expressions never changed, he would just move to the music. I thought why not dance with him, but when I was done I tried slinking away, but he kept pulling me back. I look over at Jenna to save me and she happens to be recording the whole thing! The video is priceless!
Jenna and I decide to go get another drink, while I'm not sure what the others did. Oh well. So, I'm standing at the bar and I get a tap on the shoulder. I assume that it's Jenna because she was behind me. I look and no one is there. I feel a tap on the other shoulder and again no one is there. I was like ughh Jenna stop and then this guy pops out and goes "gotcha!"I couldn't help but be amused because I just got tricked by the oldest trick in the book and by some random guy in Dublin. We ended up talking for a while and then out of no where he goes "I"m going to marry you". Umm...hahah this guy is drunk! I was like ya sure, but he kept going on about how I was his future wife and that I was exactly his type and that I was the one. I can honestly say that I have never heard that line before. He wouldn't stop talking about us getting married, so I decided to just play along. We ended up hanging out for the rest of the night until he told me that he was going downstairs with his friend so his friend could get his jacket and that he would be right back. Jenna and I wait there for a good 15 minutes when he NEVER comes back! hahaha some husband!
We ended up staying until the bar closed and discovered that the Irish are careless with their money and the floors of the bar were covered in euros! I ended up finding about 2 euros worth of coins on the floor. The luck of the Irish! On our walk back, we find a fight in front of our hostel. Jenna and I were intrigued, so we stayed and watched. Turns out, that one of the main guys in the fight was the drunkie that I danced with earlier in the night! hahahaha it was too good!
The next day, we go to the Guinness warehouse and take the tour. The beer was gross! blech. But the tour was cool. After that, we head to the airport for our final trip to Roma!!....
The next day, we went on a day bus tour to Wicklow. It takes you out to the country and around the area. Lots of films have been shot in the area we went to, but I have never seen PS I love you or Leap Year...those movies are crap so that part didn't thrill me. The land its self was amazing! Turns out our tour guide was youngish and cuteish, so Whitley was brave and asked him to come out with us that night. He had a football game that night, so he said maybe. We weren't heartbroken, but went home to get cleaned up. While we were getting ready, he ended up calling our hostel and leaving us a message to meet him at this place around 10:00. We went to eat before we had to meet him and ended up stopping in that bar/restaurant/club that was attached to the coffee shop. There was a hottie standing outside telling us about the menu, Whitley being such a flirt, invited him to come join us when he got a break. We are almost done with our meals when he comes up with a friend of his and sit down at the next table. We chit chat a little and then they agreed to meet us at the bar we were going to meet our tour guide at. They also mentioned that the bar we were meeting at was an old people's bar, but we thought maybe they were wrong. Always trust the locals!!! We walk into the bar and we are the youngest people by about 30 years! It was old people central! It was funny because this one lady (at least 40) ended up being so drunk that she fell backwards off of her stool. I wanted to laugh so hard, but everyone else was "pretending" to be worried, so I wasn't going to be that insensitive girl, but let me tell you...after about 10 minutes had passed I let out a really loud laugh at the lady.
The 2 guys from the restaurant came and met us, we had some drinks and tour guide never showed up. We called it quits on him and left with the other two guys. They took us to this really cool club that happened to be right by our hostel. When we walked in there was a live band that was playing really good songs and then downstairs was a dance area. We stayed in the live band area. We were enjoying ourselves and bopping around when I get pulled out into the dance/mosh area by some drunkie. He was so drunk that his facial expressions never changed, he would just move to the music. I thought why not dance with him, but when I was done I tried slinking away, but he kept pulling me back. I look over at Jenna to save me and she happens to be recording the whole thing! The video is priceless!
Jenna and I decide to go get another drink, while I'm not sure what the others did. Oh well. So, I'm standing at the bar and I get a tap on the shoulder. I assume that it's Jenna because she was behind me. I look and no one is there. I feel a tap on the other shoulder and again no one is there. I was like ughh Jenna stop and then this guy pops out and goes "gotcha!"I couldn't help but be amused because I just got tricked by the oldest trick in the book and by some random guy in Dublin. We ended up talking for a while and then out of no where he goes "I"m going to marry you". Umm...hahah this guy is drunk! I was like ya sure, but he kept going on about how I was his future wife and that I was exactly his type and that I was the one. I can honestly say that I have never heard that line before. He wouldn't stop talking about us getting married, so I decided to just play along. We ended up hanging out for the rest of the night until he told me that he was going downstairs with his friend so his friend could get his jacket and that he would be right back. Jenna and I wait there for a good 15 minutes when he NEVER comes back! hahaha some husband!
We ended up staying until the bar closed and discovered that the Irish are careless with their money and the floors of the bar were covered in euros! I ended up finding about 2 euros worth of coins on the floor. The luck of the Irish! On our walk back, we find a fight in front of our hostel. Jenna and I were intrigued, so we stayed and watched. Turns out, that one of the main guys in the fight was the drunkie that I danced with earlier in the night! hahahaha it was too good!
The next day, we go to the Guinness warehouse and take the tour. The beer was gross! blech. But the tour was cool. After that, we head to the airport for our final trip to Roma!!....
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Holiday...part 1 "Prauge"
So, there was too many things that happened to us on this week long holiday, so I'll have to break the trip up into parts. Part one is what we like to call "Prague"....
We leave school on Friday early to catch our bus to Prague. We were all sure that this bus ride was 10 hours, we are 10 hours in a realize that the bus ride is actually 14 hours long! Ugh. This bus is packed as well. Jenna and I are in the very back where all 5 seats are connected and then Lindley and Whiltey are in the 2 seats in front of us. About 5 hotties walk onto the bus as well, so we are thinking that this is going to be a good 14 hours. We take off and Jenna passes out. Great. About 2 hours or so into the trip the 2 ladies sitting next to Jenna and I begin to paint their nails. I'm sorry, but who paints their nails in a packed bus?! The fumes are awful and the bus is extremely bumpy that the ladies have paint not only on their nails, but all the way up their hands. Once they were done, they decided to add polka dots?! Their nails turned our awful ps. So there is this Aussie girl sitting in front of Whitley and Lindley and we start talking with her and it turns out that she is travelling around Europe for 7 months by herself! YIKES. But she happens to be sitting next to the hotties. They are from Brussels, are 21, and are going to Prague! We thought this sounded good, but to them we were "untouchables" or something! The only time they bothered talking to us was when they shouted "Hey Texas girls" to us and to ask us if we were cheerleaders! Well, Whitley slightly is and said yes and they started shrieking. I'm not sure if that was good or bad. She showed them some photos and let's just say they had no interests in us after that!
Around 3:30ish we woke up to 4 Czech police demanding for our passports. That is not a good way to be woken up. We finally arrive in Prague around 5:30AM!!!! After wandering around for our hotel for 45 minutes, we finally came across it...right next to a brothel! Well, we can't check in until 2:00pm and it is just 6:30 am. Crap. Jenna and I pass out in the lobby while the other girls did something. We venture out around 8:30 for breakfast, get lost, get picked up by an American man, he leads us to another place. We go back to the hostel to wash our faces and brush our teeth. We meet 2 guys who are here from the states and they invite us to breakfast. Well, we already ate, but we didn't want to pass up the chance to meet new people. So we accept. They end up going on this walking tour with us. They have this friend who lives in Prague and he happens to be DJing at the bar in our hostel. We meet up with them that same night to watch his friend. The music was ummm.....they called it "experimental music"...they should have kept experimenting before they played it for us. The hostel gave us free crappy beers and the guys provided us with awkward conversations....religion, abortion, politics, dads. It was interesting. One guy brought his hookah down and we smoked some hookah for a bit. He tried to teach Whitley and I how to blow smoke rings....we failed miserably. We took off quickly after that.
The next day we take a walking tour of the castle. We have to take a tram up to the castle so the entire tour group is trying to get onto one tram. While we were waiting, Jenna plays this pickpocketing game on me. It was slightly funny. So the tram comes and we all bombard it. I'm getting pushed and I think they it is Jenna pushing me because she couldn't get on the tram. I move to the side and I look back to see if she got on. Well, what do I see?! Do I see Jenna on the tram...yes, but I also see my wallet going above my head!! So I run to the doors, which are closing and I push them back open. This lady is standing at the doors with my wallet in her hands. So I shout "give me my wallet back!" and what does she do!? She hands it back....?! WTF why didn't she run?! I mean she has my wallet in her hands and then gives it back when a little 5'2" girls asks for it back! So, of course I thanked her for that. Well, she then sticks her tongue out at me! Rude. Afterwards, I realized that I thanked some lady for finding my wallet in my purse and then giving it back to me!! Oh Prague.
We end up meeting some new friends on the tour as well along with our tour guide. We all go out for drinks that night at this place called Pub. It was really cool because on each table there is about 4 taps that you can get your beer from. But each table is also competing with other tables from around the country on how much beer you are drinking. Our table didn't win. After a beer we thought that it would be a good idea to take a shot of Absinthe. EWWW worst idea ever. It tasted like paint stripper. Ugh. So we all go back to the beer. I guess we were too loud and the Pub closed early. We weren't ready to go home yet, so we wander around until we found this other bar. We walked in and it was chill. So we sit down and are talking, but then we discover that there is an underground disco hall. We go down there and there is hardly anyone so we dominate that dance floor. We are dancing like fools because there is no one there to judge. I look over and there is this older man (40s) sitting at this table by himself just bopping. So, I go over and invite him to join our dancing group. He got excited, but only did one move with his hands and clapped like every 3rd beat. He soon sat down. So we are dancing and drinking and look down and it is about 4am. Apparently, the bars in Prague don't shut down. So we are getting our coats back on when this guy runs downstairs and starts tearing up the dance floor. We don't know how to react so we just stare and then decide to join him. He is going nuts and flailing his whole body...we assume that he has to be on drugs. So I go up and ask him what drugs he is on...he responds with "I Czech and I dancer" umm....since when did that become a drug?! So I ask him again and he says that same thing...that's when we noticed....dun dun dun....he has some snot formation going down his nose to his mouth. We are all grossed out and I told him that he needs to wipe his face he has some snot dripping. He told me, or so I thought, that the snot was his helpers. So I run to Jenna and was like this is so bizarre he told me it was his helpers....Jenna thought maybe it was his herpes. Not really sure, so I run and get him a tissue. I start dancing with him and waving the tissue in his face. I told him that he needed this to wipe his face. He took the tissue, rubs it on his face, throws it, and it lands on Jenna! hahahahaha. But the snot was still there! So I told him again and that's when he confirmed that the snot was in fact HERPES!! AHHHHHHH. So at this point we think he is the plague. So we are dancing, but not close to him. He comes up to me and gets really close as if he were going to kiss me, but before he even had a chance I was out of there! I told Jenna and asked her if Herpes was contagious, but before she could finish I was already in the bathroom washing my face and hands. Gross! We left quickly after that. We head home to the hostel and find that Jenna's ipod is missing. We tell the people working there, but they couldn't do much. So we go to bed for about 2 hours and then we had to get up again. When we wake up, Lindley finds that $600 is missing from her bag. Oh shit. But that was about it. There wasn't much that the hostel could do, so we had to leave to make our early flight to Dublin.....I don't think this post did Prauge justice, but it's the best I can do when typing.
We leave school on Friday early to catch our bus to Prague. We were all sure that this bus ride was 10 hours, we are 10 hours in a realize that the bus ride is actually 14 hours long! Ugh. This bus is packed as well. Jenna and I are in the very back where all 5 seats are connected and then Lindley and Whiltey are in the 2 seats in front of us. About 5 hotties walk onto the bus as well, so we are thinking that this is going to be a good 14 hours. We take off and Jenna passes out. Great. About 2 hours or so into the trip the 2 ladies sitting next to Jenna and I begin to paint their nails. I'm sorry, but who paints their nails in a packed bus?! The fumes are awful and the bus is extremely bumpy that the ladies have paint not only on their nails, but all the way up their hands. Once they were done, they decided to add polka dots?! Their nails turned our awful ps. So there is this Aussie girl sitting in front of Whitley and Lindley and we start talking with her and it turns out that she is travelling around Europe for 7 months by herself! YIKES. But she happens to be sitting next to the hotties. They are from Brussels, are 21, and are going to Prague! We thought this sounded good, but to them we were "untouchables" or something! The only time they bothered talking to us was when they shouted "Hey Texas girls" to us and to ask us if we were cheerleaders! Well, Whitley slightly is and said yes and they started shrieking. I'm not sure if that was good or bad. She showed them some photos and let's just say they had no interests in us after that!
Around 3:30ish we woke up to 4 Czech police demanding for our passports. That is not a good way to be woken up. We finally arrive in Prague around 5:30AM!!!! After wandering around for our hotel for 45 minutes, we finally came across it...right next to a brothel! Well, we can't check in until 2:00pm and it is just 6:30 am. Crap. Jenna and I pass out in the lobby while the other girls did something. We venture out around 8:30 for breakfast, get lost, get picked up by an American man, he leads us to another place. We go back to the hostel to wash our faces and brush our teeth. We meet 2 guys who are here from the states and they invite us to breakfast. Well, we already ate, but we didn't want to pass up the chance to meet new people. So we accept. They end up going on this walking tour with us. They have this friend who lives in Prague and he happens to be DJing at the bar in our hostel. We meet up with them that same night to watch his friend. The music was ummm.....they called it "experimental music"...they should have kept experimenting before they played it for us. The hostel gave us free crappy beers and the guys provided us with awkward conversations....religion, abortion, politics, dads. It was interesting. One guy brought his hookah down and we smoked some hookah for a bit. He tried to teach Whitley and I how to blow smoke rings....we failed miserably. We took off quickly after that.
The next day we take a walking tour of the castle. We have to take a tram up to the castle so the entire tour group is trying to get onto one tram. While we were waiting, Jenna plays this pickpocketing game on me. It was slightly funny. So the tram comes and we all bombard it. I'm getting pushed and I think they it is Jenna pushing me because she couldn't get on the tram. I move to the side and I look back to see if she got on. Well, what do I see?! Do I see Jenna on the tram...yes, but I also see my wallet going above my head!! So I run to the doors, which are closing and I push them back open. This lady is standing at the doors with my wallet in her hands. So I shout "give me my wallet back!" and what does she do!? She hands it back....?! WTF why didn't she run?! I mean she has my wallet in her hands and then gives it back when a little 5'2" girls asks for it back! So, of course I thanked her for that. Well, she then sticks her tongue out at me! Rude. Afterwards, I realized that I thanked some lady for finding my wallet in my purse and then giving it back to me!! Oh Prague.
We end up meeting some new friends on the tour as well along with our tour guide. We all go out for drinks that night at this place called Pub. It was really cool because on each table there is about 4 taps that you can get your beer from. But each table is also competing with other tables from around the country on how much beer you are drinking. Our table didn't win. After a beer we thought that it would be a good idea to take a shot of Absinthe. EWWW worst idea ever. It tasted like paint stripper. Ugh. So we all go back to the beer. I guess we were too loud and the Pub closed early. We weren't ready to go home yet, so we wander around until we found this other bar. We walked in and it was chill. So we sit down and are talking, but then we discover that there is an underground disco hall. We go down there and there is hardly anyone so we dominate that dance floor. We are dancing like fools because there is no one there to judge. I look over and there is this older man (40s) sitting at this table by himself just bopping. So, I go over and invite him to join our dancing group. He got excited, but only did one move with his hands and clapped like every 3rd beat. He soon sat down. So we are dancing and drinking and look down and it is about 4am. Apparently, the bars in Prague don't shut down. So we are getting our coats back on when this guy runs downstairs and starts tearing up the dance floor. We don't know how to react so we just stare and then decide to join him. He is going nuts and flailing his whole body...we assume that he has to be on drugs. So I go up and ask him what drugs he is on...he responds with "I Czech and I dancer" umm....since when did that become a drug?! So I ask him again and he says that same thing...that's when we noticed....dun dun dun....he has some snot formation going down his nose to his mouth. We are all grossed out and I told him that he needs to wipe his face he has some snot dripping. He told me, or so I thought, that the snot was his helpers. So I run to Jenna and was like this is so bizarre he told me it was his helpers....Jenna thought maybe it was his herpes. Not really sure, so I run and get him a tissue. I start dancing with him and waving the tissue in his face. I told him that he needed this to wipe his face. He took the tissue, rubs it on his face, throws it, and it lands on Jenna! hahahahaha. But the snot was still there! So I told him again and that's when he confirmed that the snot was in fact HERPES!! AHHHHHHH. So at this point we think he is the plague. So we are dancing, but not close to him. He comes up to me and gets really close as if he were going to kiss me, but before he even had a chance I was out of there! I told Jenna and asked her if Herpes was contagious, but before she could finish I was already in the bathroom washing my face and hands. Gross! We left quickly after that. We head home to the hostel and find that Jenna's ipod is missing. We tell the people working there, but they couldn't do much. So we go to bed for about 2 hours and then we had to get up again. When we wake up, Lindley finds that $600 is missing from her bag. Oh shit. But that was about it. There wasn't much that the hostel could do, so we had to leave to make our early flight to Dublin.....I don't think this post did Prauge justice, but it's the best I can do when typing.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Great day!
Last night it snowed and the lady that is picking us up while Tracey is gone is a little fearful of driving in the snow. Even though we told her that our roads were fine, she made us walk a mile to meet her at a corner of this main road! Keep in mind, that at 7:15 in the morning it is dark out and freezing!! When we got to the corner, she wasn't even there! We had to wait about 5 to 10 minutes for her! Least I can finally say that I have walked mile(s) in the snow to school, but in Europe! Try and beat that parents!
Today, all of the first grade teachers were gone for this conference...that means Lindley and I would be left alone with a sub. Sub's are never fun, so I wasn't looking forward to it. I go into class early to plan, especially since I wasn't there the day before. Luckily, Vanessa left an outline of the schedule for me. So, the kids come in and we start the morning routine. I look at the clock and it's 10:30....still no sub. I went the entire day teaching the kids by myself with no sub or anything. IT WAS FANTASTIC! The lessons went smoothly and the kids were able to whiz through their work after that because they understood the lesson. It's a good feeling. I am extremely impressed with myself. At the end of the day, the kids are to write in their agendas a few things that they did that day. I went around reading them and signing off on them. EVERY kid wrote that "Mrs. Darroch was gone today and Mrs. Sarah was here and we had so much fun!" Oh crap. They weren't supposed to say that. They were supposed to talk about how much they learned!! Oh well....beggars can't be choosers.
We arrive home and I'm last to walk in the doors. I hear Jenna go HA and point and then Whitley follows the same thing. I thought they were laughing at one of the dogs. Little did I know. I walk in and LAMBIE PIE is laying in the middle of the rug downstairs! I know I left him upstairs in bed. I rush over to him to pick him up and guess who beats me to him!! Frodo!! This big dog! He snatches him up and starts running around the room with lambie in his mouth! I'm shouting at him to drop it and he is just growling back. Lambie's life flashed before me! I could just see his cute little tail being ripped off. It was a horrific sight. Finally, Jenna grabbed his collar, Whitley grabbed his face and I grabbed Lambie out of his mouth. He was soaking and covered in dog fur. EWWWWWW. I have to sleep with him tonight like that! Everyone thought it was hilarious. Whiltey even caught the event on video. It might be funny in a few days. Right now Lambie is just scared for his life. Don't worry...Whitley got a video...http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=18312829#!/video/video.php?v=622336979724&ref=mf
At dinner, everyone made me pray. Future reference....I'm not good at that. I couldn't think of anything serious at that moment, so I basically made a joke out of it. Except, I prayed for good things. Like Lambie's safety in this house and for us to have a good trip and not miss any flights so Dakota won't have to spend another week with us and for Tracey to come back and save of from crazy Joy who doesn't know how to drive. None of the standards like bless this food we put in our body blah blah blah. It was actually rather good.
So, tomorrow we leave for our week long holiday. You won't hear from me for a whole week. It's sad really. We will head off on a 10 hour long bus ride to Prague...ew. We will spend 2 days there and then fly to Dublin. Spend 2 days there and then fly to Rome. Spend 3 days there and then head back to Brussels.
Watch out Europe! I'm on the run!
Today, all of the first grade teachers were gone for this conference...that means Lindley and I would be left alone with a sub. Sub's are never fun, so I wasn't looking forward to it. I go into class early to plan, especially since I wasn't there the day before. Luckily, Vanessa left an outline of the schedule for me. So, the kids come in and we start the morning routine. I look at the clock and it's 10:30....still no sub. I went the entire day teaching the kids by myself with no sub or anything. IT WAS FANTASTIC! The lessons went smoothly and the kids were able to whiz through their work after that because they understood the lesson. It's a good feeling. I am extremely impressed with myself. At the end of the day, the kids are to write in their agendas a few things that they did that day. I went around reading them and signing off on them. EVERY kid wrote that "Mrs. Darroch was gone today and Mrs. Sarah was here and we had so much fun!" Oh crap. They weren't supposed to say that. They were supposed to talk about how much they learned!! Oh well....beggars can't be choosers.
We arrive home and I'm last to walk in the doors. I hear Jenna go HA and point and then Whitley follows the same thing. I thought they were laughing at one of the dogs. Little did I know. I walk in and LAMBIE PIE is laying in the middle of the rug downstairs! I know I left him upstairs in bed. I rush over to him to pick him up and guess who beats me to him!! Frodo!! This big dog! He snatches him up and starts running around the room with lambie in his mouth! I'm shouting at him to drop it and he is just growling back. Lambie's life flashed before me! I could just see his cute little tail being ripped off. It was a horrific sight. Finally, Jenna grabbed his collar, Whitley grabbed his face and I grabbed Lambie out of his mouth. He was soaking and covered in dog fur. EWWWWWW. I have to sleep with him tonight like that! Everyone thought it was hilarious. Whiltey even caught the event on video. It might be funny in a few days. Right now Lambie is just scared for his life. Don't worry...Whitley got a video...http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=18312829#!/video/video.php?v=622336979724&ref=mf
At dinner, everyone made me pray. Future reference....I'm not good at that. I couldn't think of anything serious at that moment, so I basically made a joke out of it. Except, I prayed for good things. Like Lambie's safety in this house and for us to have a good trip and not miss any flights so Dakota won't have to spend another week with us and for Tracey to come back and save of from crazy Joy who doesn't know how to drive. None of the standards like bless this food we put in our body blah blah blah. It was actually rather good.
So, tomorrow we leave for our week long holiday. You won't hear from me for a whole week. It's sad really. We will head off on a 10 hour long bus ride to Prague...ew. We will spend 2 days there and then fly to Dublin. Spend 2 days there and then fly to Rome. Spend 3 days there and then head back to Brussels.
Watch out Europe! I'm on the run!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Kids here are hilarious
So, today in class I feel like loads of funny things happened. First, we were reviewing the vowels and all the kids had "a, e, i, o , u" right and then the teacher said "and sometimes...." and before any other kid shouted out the answer this little boy shouts "and K". Ummm....since when did K become a vowel! hahahahaha it was brilliant. The teacher goes "umm...I think you mean Y" and the kid just stared back at her. When we were asking what the kids learned about time, the same kid said that he learned that time=life. hahahaha how deep for a first grader. All the kids looked back at the board and were confused because they didn't seem to get that same message out of the lesson. I swear to you, these kids are amazing here. These kids are truly making me consider coming back to Europe to teach. They also think that cupid is a creepy naked man that runs around shooting people to make them fall in love.
After school, this other first grade teacher was going to take us down to the train station so we could book a train pass, but she had a conference first. Jenna and I got to talking with my teacher while we were waiting. Somehow her "ladyship" came up in conversation and she unveiled that her husband is actually the ambassador to the EU and that the house they live in was given to them by the government and that they have a full staff including, a butler, a driver, a full time chef, maids, and other people that work for them. She then passes us her number and tells us to call her anytime we want for drinks (they also get free champagne...luckies). Jenna and I then got a lesson on how ambassadors work and were taught that the US has some and they are actually neighbors with Vanessa. We had no idea that we even had people like that in the states. Let's just say that Vanessa was....well shocked that we had no idea! I hope she doesn't tell her ambassador neighbor that we had no idea that he existed. That's a little embarrassing...
We then went to the train station, which was a real fiasco. Karen offered us to take us home and cook for us. We didn't hesitate on accepting. Her house was lovely and her husband! OOOWEEEE....he is quite handsome. He is a true Belgian. Somehow, our blog came up in conversation and the fact that we might blog about them....they found that slightly creepy...oops. Karen also gave us some "predinner food". She wouldn't tell us what it was until after we ate it...that's never a good sign. I'm not very adventurous with food...so this was a huge thing for me. I ate it, and it had this ummm sweet yet weird taste to it. I wasn't quite done eating it when Karen told us that it was duck liver and onions....ummm vomit it my mouth please!!
After school, this other first grade teacher was going to take us down to the train station so we could book a train pass, but she had a conference first. Jenna and I got to talking with my teacher while we were waiting. Somehow her "ladyship" came up in conversation and she unveiled that her husband is actually the ambassador to the EU and that the house they live in was given to them by the government and that they have a full staff including, a butler, a driver, a full time chef, maids, and other people that work for them. She then passes us her number and tells us to call her anytime we want for drinks (they also get free champagne...luckies). Jenna and I then got a lesson on how ambassadors work and were taught that the US has some and they are actually neighbors with Vanessa. We had no idea that we even had people like that in the states. Let's just say that Vanessa was....well shocked that we had no idea! I hope she doesn't tell her ambassador neighbor that we had no idea that he existed. That's a little embarrassing...
We then went to the train station, which was a real fiasco. Karen offered us to take us home and cook for us. We didn't hesitate on accepting. Her house was lovely and her husband! OOOWEEEE....he is quite handsome. He is a true Belgian. Somehow, our blog came up in conversation and the fact that we might blog about them....they found that slightly creepy...oops. Karen also gave us some "predinner food". She wouldn't tell us what it was until after we ate it...that's never a good sign. I'm not very adventurous with food...so this was a huge thing for me. I ate it, and it had this ummm sweet yet weird taste to it. I wasn't quite done eating it when Karen told us that it was duck liver and onions....ummm vomit it my mouth please!!
Monday, February 8, 2010
Learning happens everyday...
1. Washing machines are kept in the kitchen.
2. Doors don't exist with doorknobs...outside or in. If the door shuts behind you and you don't have a key...you're screwed.
3. Travel backpacks suck.
4. The exchange rate absolutely robs you.
5. If you don't ride a bike...well, you're a loser.
6. Apparently, it's better to swerve and take your chances hitting another car than hitting a pot hole.
7. Having a native European, that is also driving, ask 4 American girls where we are in Brussels is not a good question.
8. Interestingly enough, the question "do you have a baby" and "have you ever had a baby before" doesn't mean the same thing to some kids. Needless to say, I answered the question differently everytime.
9. Tracey trusts us enough to leave her 14 year old son with 4 girls for a week while her and Dirk are in the states for a funeral. hahahahahahhahahahaha.
10. Bronie humps anything that will stand still long enough to let her prepare herself.
11. Water is not free.
12. You have to pay to use the loo, but men can pee in urinals placed on the sidewalk. ugh. gross and not fair.
13. Spooning with Jenna really isn't that bad.
14. Sex museums don't inform you on much. They just provide free porn.
2. Doors don't exist with doorknobs...outside or in. If the door shuts behind you and you don't have a key...you're screwed.
3. Travel backpacks suck.
4. The exchange rate absolutely robs you.
5. If you don't ride a bike...well, you're a loser.
6. Apparently, it's better to swerve and take your chances hitting another car than hitting a pot hole.
7. Having a native European, that is also driving, ask 4 American girls where we are in Brussels is not a good question.
8. Interestingly enough, the question "do you have a baby" and "have you ever had a baby before" doesn't mean the same thing to some kids. Needless to say, I answered the question differently everytime.
9. Tracey trusts us enough to leave her 14 year old son with 4 girls for a week while her and Dirk are in the states for a funeral. hahahahahahhahahahaha.
10. Bronie humps anything that will stand still long enough to let her prepare herself.
11. Water is not free.
12. You have to pay to use the loo, but men can pee in urinals placed on the sidewalk. ugh. gross and not fair.
13. Spooning with Jenna really isn't that bad.
14. Sex museums don't inform you on much. They just provide free porn.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Amsterdam!
Amsterdamn was a lot of fun! It was at least 10 degrees colder than it is here in Brussels. It was misty and cloudy and slightly dumpy. We arrived Saturday afternoon and checked into our hotel/creepy sex pot. The room was absolutley hilarious. There were 2 beds, but each bed consisted of 2 twins pushed together. The walls were bright pink and the curtains had hearts all over them. The sheets had yellow stains on them and the bathroom was the best part. You open the door and step right into the toilet. We had to sit sideways to actually have room to sit down, 
otherwise we would have hit the wall. Immediatley to the toilet's right was the sink and shower. The sink was technically in the shower and there was no shower curtain or any type of divider. Good thing we only stayed for one night and didn't need a shower. After checking in, we headed out to explore Amsterdam. We went to the Anne Frank house and the
n to the red light district. Amsterdam isn't as pretty as we thought it would be. It could have just been the weather, but it just didn't wow me. The red light district was interesting. I truly realized how immature I am...I couldn't stop giggling at half the things I saw. It was sad in a way too.
We went to a place near by to eat and get some drinks. I thought it was called "treasures" but apparently it was called "teasers". We were the only girls in this packed place. It was like the club version of hooters. We were so out of place, but decided that we would have one beer since we were already in there. Within minutes some creepy blad man walks over to us and starts talking. Whitley saved us all by saying that we were from Mexico and only spoke spanish. He had a hard time believing that because we were all "too white". But he was too drunk and didn't speak any english or spanish so we were able to pull it off. He asked for Jenna's name so he could add her as a friend on facebook! hahahahahaha. Ya, she gave him the wrong name for sure. At that moment we realized, if we truly want to meet guys we should just go to a sports bar full of men!
After that we hit up the night life. This is where I have to stop. If you are over the age of 19 and younger than the age of 25, you can message me or get in touch with me and I'll share some good stories. This means you Todd! If you do not fit into that age range, sorry. Maybe another time. But I will share one photo just to show some of the people that we ran into.
Just to explain the photo...he put a dildo in his pants...I'm not grabbing anything of his!
Sunday, Jenna and I wandered into the sex museum. It was funny and slightly gross. It was a bunch of photos. It was like walking into a porn shop. But Jenna and I did find these...
otherwise we would have hit the wall. Immediatley to the toilet's right was the sink and shower. The sink was technically in the shower and there was no shower curtain or any type of divider. Good thing we only stayed for one night and didn't need a shower. After checking in, we headed out to explore Amsterdam. We went to the Anne Frank house and the
n to the red light district. Amsterdam isn't as pretty as we thought it would be. It could have just been the weather, but it just didn't wow me. The red light district was interesting. I truly realized how immature I am...I couldn't stop giggling at half the things I saw. It was sad in a way too.We went to a place near by to eat and get some drinks. I thought it was called "treasures" but apparently it was called "teasers". We were the only girls in this packed place. It was like the club version of hooters. We were so out of place, but decided that we would have one beer since we were already in there. Within minutes some creepy blad man walks over to us and starts talking. Whitley saved us all by saying that we were from Mexico and only spoke spanish. He had a hard time believing that because we were all "too white". But he was too drunk and didn't speak any english or spanish so we were able to pull it off. He asked for Jenna's name so he could add her as a friend on facebook! hahahahahaha. Ya, she gave him the wrong name for sure. At that moment we realized, if we truly want to meet guys we should just go to a sports bar full of men!
After that we hit up the night life. This is where I have to stop. If you are over the age of 19 and younger than the age of 25, you can message me or get in touch with me and I'll share some good stories. This means you Todd! If you do not fit into that age range, sorry. Maybe another time. But I will share one photo just to show some of the people that we ran into.
Just to explain the photo...he put a dildo in his pants...I'm not grabbing anything of his!
Sunday, Jenna and I wandered into the sex museum. It was funny and slightly gross. It was a bunch of photos. It was like walking into a porn shop. But Jenna and I did find these...
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Thanks
Thanks to everyone who is reading my blog! Like Toodles and Gear Bear! Sammy--thanks for posting the link the the Daily Delta Gamma..even if you don't completely admit to doing it.
I've never had followers before and now I have 14. This is nice.
I've never had followers before and now I have 14. This is nice.
Lambie gets no fun.
So, I've been a really bad "owner"? Is that even the correct term for my relationship with Lambie? I mean, I can't say girlfriend because I'm not dating him...that's just weird on too many levels. Regardless, I have been really awful. I forget to take Lambie Pie everywhere I go! He hasn't seen anything. All he does is hide in bed, away from the 3 dogs that live here. I mean I guess at night he gets a good spooning from me...I let him be little spoon, but other than that he is seriously deprived. His time might come when we go to Amsterdaaaammm this weekend.
School is going great! I really enjoy first grade. I think that I might want to teach 1st more than I do K. The kids here make me laugh so much. It is health week here and the students are learning about healthy foods and ways to stay healthy. This girl was presenting her health project to the class and was saying how we shouldn'e eat much candy and sweets. This other boy joins in by telling us that if we eat too much of those foods then we won't be able to poop for a veyr long time. I could not stop laughing. I had to get up and excuse myself because it was so funny how casual he said that. I'm so immature. I also wear my nametag to school, I'm not sure why, but I do. So all the kids think that my name is TCU Sarah Bourland School of Education because that's what the nametag says. So, they like to draw me photos and on this one photo it literally said "To: TCU Sarah Bourland School of Education" as if the entire thing was my full name! hahahaha. They also like to pull on it to bring it closer to their faces...let's just say if they weren't looking so hard at the nametag they would get an eye full of something else. I've stopped wearing it because it became a problem of them exposing myself too many times!
Today, this little boy got kicked in the face while playing football (soccer). I took him to the loo to get cleaned up because he was bleeding a little. Turns out the ball made his already loose tooth even looser. I got excited for him because this will be his first tooth to lose. He immediately started crying. Could these be tears of joy?! Well, no. Once I got excited, he became terrified because he thought that this "toothfairy" I spoke of was going to come and steal his tooth. I explained to him that he would grow a new and better tooth, but he said that he was happy with the one he had. I eventually calmed him down and had him playing again. Afterwards, I realized that I had scared this kid to tears from talking about this fake fairy coming to take his tooth. Damnit. He still likes me though.
Tomorrow will be my first time being left alone with the class for multiple hours. If I don't blog tomorrow, then I'm dead or in trouble. Notify someone....not my parents though.
School is going great! I really enjoy first grade. I think that I might want to teach 1st more than I do K. The kids here make me laugh so much. It is health week here and the students are learning about healthy foods and ways to stay healthy. This girl was presenting her health project to the class and was saying how we shouldn'e eat much candy and sweets. This other boy joins in by telling us that if we eat too much of those foods then we won't be able to poop for a veyr long time. I could not stop laughing. I had to get up and excuse myself because it was so funny how casual he said that. I'm so immature. I also wear my nametag to school, I'm not sure why, but I do. So all the kids think that my name is TCU Sarah Bourland School of Education because that's what the nametag says. So, they like to draw me photos and on this one photo it literally said "To: TCU Sarah Bourland School of Education" as if the entire thing was my full name! hahahaha. They also like to pull on it to bring it closer to their faces...let's just say if they weren't looking so hard at the nametag they would get an eye full of something else. I've stopped wearing it because it became a problem of them exposing myself too many times!
Today, this little boy got kicked in the face while playing football (soccer). I took him to the loo to get cleaned up because he was bleeding a little. Turns out the ball made his already loose tooth even looser. I got excited for him because this will be his first tooth to lose. He immediately started crying. Could these be tears of joy?! Well, no. Once I got excited, he became terrified because he thought that this "toothfairy" I spoke of was going to come and steal his tooth. I explained to him that he would grow a new and better tooth, but he said that he was happy with the one he had. I eventually calmed him down and had him playing again. Afterwards, I realized that I had scared this kid to tears from talking about this fake fairy coming to take his tooth. Damnit. He still likes me though.
Tomorrow will be my first time being left alone with the class for multiple hours. If I don't blog tomorrow, then I'm dead or in trouble. Notify someone....not my parents though.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
I learn something new everyday..
1. Apparently, Belgium really likes valentines day. Everywhere we go it looks like Valentines vomed everywhere. Gross.
2. Europeans are really careful with their money. They don't just leave it on the ground like us Americans do.
3. The prettiest doors can be found in Brugge. I'm going to buy a door.
4. Beer is really good.
5. Euros look funny.
6. It is acceptable to put sex toys in a window display that is right next to a children's store.
7. Bikers do not stop for anyone, even if you are in a car!
8. Frites can go with anything. "How is your waffle, would you like some frites with that?" Umm..french fries and waffles!
9. If you're lost, keep walking. You'll find something even better.
10. If you carry a map, wear a camera, and look at euros funny....you're an American.
11. If a guy uses the line that "you're in the wrong toilet" as a pickup line...he isn't worth talking to and extremely creepy.
12. All their music is American.
ps...you'll have to look at photos on facebook. It is hard posting them on here.
2. Europeans are really careful with their money. They don't just leave it on the ground like us Americans do.
3. The prettiest doors can be found in Brugge. I'm going to buy a door.
4. Beer is really good.
5. Euros look funny.
6. It is acceptable to put sex toys in a window display that is right next to a children's store.
7. Bikers do not stop for anyone, even if you are in a car!
8. Frites can go with anything. "How is your waffle, would you like some frites with that?" Umm..french fries and waffles!
9. If you're lost, keep walking. You'll find something even better.
10. If you carry a map, wear a camera, and look at euros funny....you're an American.
11. If a guy uses the line that "you're in the wrong toilet" as a pickup line...he isn't worth talking to and extremely creepy.
12. All their music is American.
ps...you'll have to look at photos on facebook. It is hard posting them on here.
In Brugge. Shoot first, sightsee later.
When you can take the day to spend in Brugge and then head back home to Brussels, you're living the life.
Today, school was cancelled because they didn't have heat! It was the most amazing thing to happen ever, especially since Dakota (Tracey's son) prayed for a snow day at dinner last night and he still had school today. He wasn't thrilled with how that turned out. With our day off we went to Brugge. It was so amazing! We took the train there and spent the entire day walking around and taking photos and being extremly obvious that we are americans. We got there around 10:30 and had no idea where to go. We decided that we would just start walking and we would eventually find something. Ya, we were right. We found the market square which had a big farmers market in the middle. It slightly smelled, but it was still nice. We stopped in this place to get hot chocolate and I had another waffle. They are just too good. Afterwards, we were trying to find the clock tower to get museum tickets and while Lindley and Whitley were messing with the map (such americans) Jenna and I (who have no direction sense at all) were able to find the tower. I'm sure it was by chance, but we still got there! So suck it maps...we don't need you.
We go into the tower and we were able to buy a 3 day pass to loads of museums for 5 euro. That was a big highlight for us. We then climbed the tower. Holy hell....that was a near death experience. The stairs were extremely narrow, steep, and spiral. I swear to you there were at least 1000 stairs, but Tracey says that there are only 366. Whose word are you going to take?! There were a 1000, but once we got to the top. OH MY GOD it was beautiful. We could see everything in Brugge. Whitley says that the sight brought tears to her eyes, and then she saw some in mine, but I had to confess that those were from the wind.
We were going to see this museum that had a vial Jesus' blood, but it is closed on Wednesdays...and just Wednesdays. I told Whitley that I would cut myself and let her look at my blood and that it is technically Jesus' because in a way he made me....I guess I stretch things too much because she didn't like that idea. We made our way to this place for lunch and had pizza. Our waiter was extremely cute, but Jenna and I thought that he HAS to be in his 30's because he, well looked in hsi 30's, and was balding on top and in front. Whitley and Lindley thought that he was in his 20's. Whitley decided to ask him and turns out he is 25! He is lying. We all then get to talking and turns out he speaks 6 different languages and I think offered to show us around. Too bad we had to leave...he was hot and I guess younger than I thought.
As we were trying to find this other museum, we ran into the wall of beer! This wall had hundreds of different beer. And I had my FIRST Belgian beer. It was good. Beer is good. Beer is really good. This is the only place that I know where you can get beer, hot chocolate, waffles, and frites at the same place. Incase you don't know, Beligan beer is really really good...and strong.
Today, school was cancelled because they didn't have heat! It was the most amazing thing to happen ever, especially since Dakota (Tracey's son) prayed for a snow day at dinner last night and he still had school today. He wasn't thrilled with how that turned out. With our day off we went to Brugge. It was so amazing! We took the train there and spent the entire day walking around and taking photos and being extremly obvious that we are americans. We got there around 10:30 and had no idea where to go. We decided that we would just start walking and we would eventually find something. Ya, we were right. We found the market square which had a big farmers market in the middle. It slightly smelled, but it was still nice. We stopped in this place to get hot chocolate and I had another waffle. They are just too good. Afterwards, we were trying to find the clock tower to get museum tickets and while Lindley and Whitley were messing with the map (such americans) Jenna and I (who have no direction sense at all) were able to find the tower. I'm sure it was by chance, but we still got there! So suck it maps...we don't need you.
We go into the tower and we were able to buy a 3 day pass to loads of museums for 5 euro. That was a big highlight for us. We then climbed the tower. Holy hell....that was a near death experience. The stairs were extremely narrow, steep, and spiral. I swear to you there were at least 1000 stairs, but Tracey says that there are only 366. Whose word are you going to take?! There were a 1000, but once we got to the top. OH MY GOD it was beautiful. We could see everything in Brugge. Whitley says that the sight brought tears to her eyes, and then she saw some in mine, but I had to confess that those were from the wind.
We were going to see this museum that had a vial Jesus' blood, but it is closed on Wednesdays...and just Wednesdays. I told Whitley that I would cut myself and let her look at my blood and that it is technically Jesus' because in a way he made me....I guess I stretch things too much because she didn't like that idea. We made our way to this place for lunch and had pizza. Our waiter was extremely cute, but Jenna and I thought that he HAS to be in his 30's because he, well looked in hsi 30's, and was balding on top and in front. Whitley and Lindley thought that he was in his 20's. Whitley decided to ask him and turns out he is 25! He is lying. We all then get to talking and turns out he speaks 6 different languages and I think offered to show us around. Too bad we had to leave...he was hot and I guess younger than I thought.
As we were trying to find this other museum, we ran into the wall of beer! This wall had hundreds of different beer. And I had my FIRST Belgian beer. It was good. Beer is good. Beer is really good. This is the only place that I know where you can get beer, hot chocolate, waffles, and frites at the same place. Incase you don't know, Beligan beer is really really good...and strong.
Monday, February 1, 2010
I keep forgetting..
What I have learned about Brussles thus far...
1. Milk is spelled "Melk" and it is kept at room temp. Ugh, vom in my mouth.
2. Everyone is cuter with an accent.
3. You don't go exploring on your own in a fancy house, even if the house belongs to the lady you are teaching with.
4. "I'm going to fox you" means "I'm going to trick you"
5. The weather here can go from dark, to snowy, to cloudy, to snowing, to raining, to sleeting, to snowy, and then back to dark in a matter of hours.
6. If the "Lady Darroch" invites you to stay at her 50 bedroom house, you accept.
7. When the youngest people in a bar are 16 and you still get carded....shit.
8. Don't be fooled when waiters come around offering something wrapped in bacon and call it a "pig in a blanket". It's really a prune in there. Damn those prunes wraped in bacon...jokes on us Americans!
1. Milk is spelled "Melk" and it is kept at room temp. Ugh, vom in my mouth.
2. Everyone is cuter with an accent.
3. You don't go exploring on your own in a fancy house, even if the house belongs to the lady you are teaching with.
4. "I'm going to fox you" means "I'm going to trick you"
5. The weather here can go from dark, to snowy, to cloudy, to snowing, to raining, to sleeting, to snowy, and then back to dark in a matter of hours.
6. If the "Lady Darroch" invites you to stay at her 50 bedroom house, you accept.
7. When the youngest people in a bar are 16 and you still get carded....shit.
8. Don't be fooled when waiters come around offering something wrapped in bacon and call it a "pig in a blanket". It's really a prune in there. Damn those prunes wraped in bacon...jokes on us Americans!
p.s....
After being in the classroom for one day, I have definitley picked up their accent. It comes out a lot when I'm drunk, but that's when I really can't stop it. Tonight at the UN party, I couldn't stop talking in a British accent. No matter how hard I try, it just doesn't stop. Even now, as I type I am saying things in my mind in a British accent.....oh things can get bad.
Jenna and I made it into the dog house. Even in Brussels...
Today, we had our first day of student teaching!! IT WAS AMAZING! I absolutely loved teaching at this school. We first started off sorting apples...they fly us in to have us sort and deliver apples...strange, but then we went to our classes and the kids immediately fell in love with us. They are the funniest students that I have ever met. It's amazing that most of them can speak 2 to 3 different languages, not including english. Since I only hear them speaking english, it is still a shock to me when I hear them speaking multiple languages through out the day. They are fantastic kids though, I love first graders. My teacher, lady Darroch, is fantastic as well. She is so flexible and lets me do, basically, whatever I want. She is letting me take over starting tomorrow!!! Gosh, I'm never coming home. The way the school day is conducted is so different from in the states. They have more time to focus on specials and what they would like to do. I hardly see the students after 11:30.
After school was let out, I was sooooooooo exhausted. It didn't help that I was up at 2:30 a.m. and couldn't go back to bed. But we had Lady Darroch's (Vanessa) party tonight.....OH MY GOD....Vanessa lives in a mansion!!! She even invited us to stay the night over there when we go out during the week. This house is amazing...she said that she wouldn't even know if we were there. There was at least 3 stories...that I was able to explore on. Whitley, Jenna and I, took the liberty to explore on our own....apparently that is a no no in Brussels. Security is tight and they have video cameras everywhere. I wish we had known that before we creeped into some fancy room and practiced "melting" in front of the mirror walls. For those who don't know what melting is (I had no idea either), it's when you strike a pose and then casually melt into it. Apparently, showgirls do it for all their photoshoots and Whitley was trying to teach Jenna and I. Let's just say, I'm not known for my melting abilities. It didn't help when Lindley and Tracey walked in on us "melting" and scolded us for exploring on our own. Always in the dog house...If Vanessa asks me tomorrow what melting is, then I'll know for sure that she has seen her security tapes.
But overall the first day was fantastic and the party was amazing!! We definitly looked like the odd ones out though..
Ps....I apologize for any typos...the alcohol was free flowing and it's late....oops!
After school was let out, I was sooooooooo exhausted. It didn't help that I was up at 2:30 a.m. and couldn't go back to bed. But we had Lady Darroch's (Vanessa) party tonight.....OH MY GOD....Vanessa lives in a mansion!!! She even invited us to stay the night over there when we go out during the week. This house is amazing...she said that she wouldn't even know if we were there. There was at least 3 stories...that I was able to explore on. Whitley, Jenna and I, took the liberty to explore on our own....apparently that is a no no in Brussels. Security is tight and they have video cameras everywhere. I wish we had known that before we creeped into some fancy room and practiced "melting" in front of the mirror walls. For those who don't know what melting is (I had no idea either), it's when you strike a pose and then casually melt into it. Apparently, showgirls do it for all their photoshoots and Whitley was trying to teach Jenna and I. Let's just say, I'm not known for my melting abilities. It didn't help when Lindley and Tracey walked in on us "melting" and scolded us for exploring on our own. Always in the dog house...If Vanessa asks me tomorrow what melting is, then I'll know for sure that she has seen her security tapes.
But overall the first day was fantastic and the party was amazing!! We definitly looked like the odd ones out though..
Ps....I apologize for any typos...the alcohol was free flowing and it's late....oops!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
To hump or not to hump, is that even a question??
Today, Jenna, Lindley, and I went downstairs after unpacking to see if Tracey needed any help making dinner. We figured that we should help out after sleeping through 2 meals already. She said no and that everything was taken care of. So we sat in the living room to talk and play with the dogs. Lindley is standing up and Bronie, who is a female english bull dog, runs to her and starts nibbling at her leg. I think it's funny, and then I see Bronie jump up and grab Lindley's leg and begins to HUMP her. I thought this was the funniest thing ever. All Lindley can say is "owwww". Tracey runs in and pulls her off. She puts the "collar of shame" on Bronie. It's like a bark collar, but instead of shocking it sprays. It gets traded around the dogs all day. It is hilarious. The dogs hate wearing it and begin to pout whenever it gets put on. Regardless of the collar, Bronie comes back (unsatisfied) and begins to hump Jenna's leg. I am laughing so hard at this point. I can't call for Tracey and Jenna just slightly moves her leg to get her off. I guess Tracey heard my laughing at comes to Jenna's rescue. Bronie was perfect all of dinner, but then I feel something....Bronie starts to hump my legs under the table!! hahahaha oh man...this dog needs a friend.
For our first homecooked dinner, we had ribs. I don't like ribs, but to be nice I ate them anyways. They were good, but I had no idea that you are supposed to eat them off of the bone. So while everyone else is chowing down, I'm cutting my meat off the bone. They probably thought I had some weird meat phobia. Oh well. Tracey also made homemade french fries. They were fantastic!
Tomorrow is our first day of school and the UN party. Don't worry, I've been working on my first impressions, so I won't let you guys down!
For our first homecooked dinner, we had ribs. I don't like ribs, but to be nice I ate them anyways. They were good, but I had no idea that you are supposed to eat them off of the bone. So while everyone else is chowing down, I'm cutting my meat off the bone. They probably thought I had some weird meat phobia. Oh well. Tracey also made homemade french fries. They were fantastic!
Tomorrow is our first day of school and the UN party. Don't worry, I've been working on my first impressions, so I won't let you guys down!
Can you sleep for an entire day??
So, last night Jenna, Whitley and I stayed up till about 2:30 a.m. here. How could we do it?! We have absolutely no idea! I guess we got distracted by this thing called the internet here...and then skyping with Christine. Apparently, everyone else is avoiding us because at 5:30 p.m. on a Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas only 2 people were on skype/facebook. And that was Jenna's mom and Whitley, who I could talk while still sitting in my room.
So, I finally pass out around 2:30ish and I sleep really well. So well that I have slept through not only the night/morning in Brussels, but the night/morning in Texas!! We didn't get up until 3:30 p.m. here. And when I say "I", I really mean all of us! We slowly creep downstairs, except for the dogs gave us away and say goodmorning to Tracey who just laughs in return. What can we say...we're teenagers! Or young adults...
So, I finally pass out around 2:30ish and I sleep really well. So well that I have slept through not only the night/morning in Brussels, but the night/morning in Texas!! We didn't get up until 3:30 p.m. here. And when I say "I", I really mean all of us! We slowly creep downstairs, except for the dogs gave us away and say goodmorning to Tracey who just laughs in return. What can we say...we're teenagers! Or young adults...
Saturday, January 30, 2010
P.S....
The 3 dogs that live with us think that Lambie Pie is a toy. I found Lambie in a dogs mouth 2 times now. I have to hide him.
How could I forget...
So, Tracey gave us her cell phone to use while we were out in the city center. Somehow, I was the one to hold the phone...ndb right? So we are exploring and we see this pretty church. We walk in, become major tourist with our cameras, but who cares. There are about 15 signs all around the church saying, "silence". I'm silent...it's hard, but I manage. So we are almost done in the church and I'm walking next to Jenna and we both hear this loud whistle and then someone screaming taxi. We look at each other like wth?! I keep walking thinking nothing of it. I soon realize that it is the cell phone that Tracey gave us. I pull it out, but there are no buttons on the side of the phone to silence it. It just continues to get louder and louder. I'm so flustered, people are staring, and I can't keep the phone quiet. I end up opening the phone and then closing it. Apparently, hanging up on the person calling was my only quick fix to the problem. About 20 seconds later it starts ringing, well screaming at me again! I have no idea what to do, so naturally I hang up again. I think we are good to go, but it starts to scream at me again!! This time, I run out of the church and answer the phone. It was Tracey's son and he was worried becasuse he thought his mom was hanging up on him! I then had to explain that I am one of the 4 girls that will be living with him, that he hasn't met yet and that his mom still loves him because he thought that his mom didn't love him anymore. I had only been in Brussels for about an hour and I already made a fool of us. Great.
No sleep in 30 hours, means a great first day in Brussels!
Wow, so we finally arrived in Brussels, and I'm in love with it already!!! I really have no idea where to start, because the trip thus far has been crazy! We start by leaving for the airport about 45 mins later than we planned. We arrived on time anyways, and we begin to check our bags. It's my turn in line and I get the guy to throw my bag on the scale because it's way too heavy for me. Turns out I packed 62 pounds of crap!! Damn that huge suitcase Christine gave me! It allowed me to pack too much. Since I went over 50 pounds I had to pay $100 dollars!! HOLY HELL! Jenna, Whitley, and Lindley had already checked their bags so I couldn't transfer goods at this time. Shit, Shit, Shit. Well, I see it as one more thing that TCU bought. Thanks TCU!
We make our way to the terminal, board the plane, and take off. It all happened within 20 minutes. I was surprised and in shock because I then realized that I was finally headed to Brussels! The 11 hour flight went by fast. They served us nasty food. If you can tell me what this is, I'll be extremely surprised!!
I watched movies, played games, and watched tv, all on this personal tv in the back of the seat in front of me. I slept for probably about 30 minutes...crap I knew I should have packed an ambien. Jenna and I got bored of the tv and played the "Penis" game. For those of you who don't know what that game is, it is where you say penis over and over and each time until it continually grows louder. Let's just say we got slightly loud for this plane. Whitley finally sits up (who was sitting behind us) and goes "why do you guys keep saying penis?" I played it cool and said "oh, you can hear that?" and turned back around.
We landed in Amsterdam 7:30 their time...who the hell knows our time. We were supposed to have a 50 minute delay, but snow delayed us for another 20 minutes, and then another 2o minutes. I couldn't be too upset because the airport amsterdanians are pretty cute!! We finally boarded and I lucked out and had the whole row to myself! Even though it was only a 30 minute flight to Brussels, I passed out! I woke up to a very rough landing from the pilot. Rude. We land, scream a little because we are "home", de-board, grab our luggage, head through
customs which consisted of walking through a hallway, walked into this sea of people and saw a beautiful TCU poster waiting for us. They didn't even need the TCU sign, we stuck out obviously! We were like a lost puppy dog. We probably looked pathetic to the locals. Doesn't matter, because I live here now.
customs which consisted of walking through a hallway, walked into this sea of people and saw a beautiful TCU poster waiting for us. They didn't even need the TCU sign, we stuck out obviously! We were like a lost puppy dog. We probably looked pathetic to the locals. Doesn't matter, because I live here now.
The host family we are staying with are the best people ever! They are sweet and funny and go way out of their way to make sure that we are having the best time ever. They even bought us these waterbottles, called camelbak. You bite and suck and the water comes out! No tipping or pouring, just bite a suck. Their son, who is a sophomore in high school had a wrestling match today and they went to watch him after they picked us up. We decided to take the metro into town to go exploring! Keep in mind, we haven't slept for about 20 hours now. The city center is AMAZING! And I had my first Belgian Waffle. Let me tell you, they are the best thing I have ever had! People aren't lying when they say that they are the best thing ever. Mine had hot chocolate sauce and bananas and powder sugar mmmmm.
We finally decied that we were about to crash, so we headed back to the metro station....too bad we only found it by accident! Whitley passes out on the train, I had a guy sitting WAY TOO close to me, and Jenna and Lindley were zoning out. We reach the station and then walk back to the house. It was about a 2 mile walk, but it wasn't bad. It was really nice outside and Jenna and I had a mild snowball fight. I'm sure the people driving by were thinking "crazy Americans". On our walk back we ran into some sheep. Apparently, I have a gift for sheep calling. I was able to use my baaas to lurn the sheep to the fence. Ya that was a highlight for sure. We ended up arriving back home just as the host family was pulling back into their driveway. We decided to take a power nap that last about 2 hours and then the host family took us out to dinner. This great Italian place that had fantastic wine. Ps the drinking age here is 16 and the driving age here is 18. It starts snowing as we are eating and we get way too excited about that. We we get back home it is snowing so hard that we can't help but play in it. We begged the family to let us walk their dogs in the snow. I'm almost positive they thought that was weird, but they gave in and let us walk them. The snow was way to pretty to be inside, even though it was 9:00 at night. 
So I haven't slep in about 32 hours now....I'm going to pass out now! But before I do, this is what I have learned so far about Brussels:
1. Pedestrians DO NOT have the right away.
2. Belgians do NOT look where they are going.
3. When a church says "silence" do NOT let the host familie's cell phone that they gave you for the day ring in the church. Especially when the ring is a loud whistle and then says taxi. And then do NOT proceed to walk around pretending that it isn't yours.
4. Deodorant isn't a priority around here.
5. The waffles ARE as good as they look.
Ps...here is a look at what mine and Jenna's room looks like right now....
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Packing sucks
So, I started packing today...one day before I leave. Normally, I'm more on top of things like this, but I had too much fun at the going away party last night! I picked up these space bags at the Container Store to help minimize the space my clothes will take up in my ONE suitcase! Let me tell you, these bags are AMAZING! I was able to fit all of my clothes into 4 bags! So, I bring out my suitcase thinking that it's going to fit perfectly and that I'll have all this space left over. Ummm...I could only fit one bag into my suitcase. Let's just say, on the outside I seemed calm and together, but internally I was flipping out! I call Jenna and Christine into my room to look at this and apparently my suitcase is a baby. I thought it was huge, but Christine brings down her suitcase and it swamps my suitcase. Apparently, I've been sheltered in the different sizes of suitcases. I put my bags into her suitcase and I have SOOOO much room now. I was able to fit all my stuff and I still have extra room. I guess I need to get out more in the luggage world.
Well, packing is boring and I decided to have some fun with Lambie Pie. He is definitely ready to go tomorrow!
Tomorrow...
I can finally say tomorrow! The day has come! Too bad I haven't started packing yet. How do you even start packing for a month trip to Europe!?
Last night was our going away party....sad...but it was fun! Too bad my mom couldn't come! hahahaha. Yesterday, I was asked why I was going to Brussels. I said to student teach and the guy's response was "is that safe?". What does that even mean?! Is it safe to teach there? He then begins to tell me that Brussels is in this huge war. I had to stop him there and tell him that there was no way that I could continue this conversation and walked away. Just to make sure, I googled it went I got home. I was right for walking away.
Last night was our going away party....sad...but it was fun! Too bad my mom couldn't come! hahahaha. Yesterday, I was asked why I was going to Brussels. I said to student teach and the guy's response was "is that safe?". What does that even mean?! Is it safe to teach there? He then begins to tell me that Brussels is in this huge war. I had to stop him there and tell him that there was no way that I could continue this conversation and walked away. Just to make sure, I googled it went I got home. I was right for walking away.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
3 days and 3 followers...
I made it up to 3 followers...gosh I'm popular! I found out today that TCU is not only paying me to go to Brussels, but that they are also giving me $900 extra dollars to spend on whatever....probably beer, chocolate, and waffles. Suck it TCU...that's for giving me up to the law firm who was suing me for illegally distributing music. I'll spend your money on crap. But that's another story and not what this blog is about.
But since there aren't any good stories yet, I'll give you a 2 in one story just for reading so far. These stories are the kind you want to hear when you're having a bad day so you can think back and go "thank god that isn't my life". You're welcome.
Background of story one: Summer of 2009. I am nannying too many kids and I have to drop 2 of the kids off at Museum School. There is a major hottie that works at this school. I see him 4 times a day, at least. Unfortunately, he might be in high school, but let me tell you his outer beauty was spectacular. I never spoke with him, but this story is about the day I did.
Story 1: I just dropped both kids off at their classrooms and I have to walk back by hottie. I decided that today I am going to walk by, make eye contact, say something short and sweet, but leave a little mystery in there. Cosmo tells me that that is the best way to hook a guy! Cosmo is wrong because I walk by, make eye contact and to my surprise he said "Hey". I'm not sure if I was thrown off because I didn't get to finish my routine, but instead of saying "hi" back, I end up tripping a little kid and knocking him down at least 5 stairs. IN THE RAIN! I literally stand there and watch this kid fall down a flight of stairs and then start to cry. What do I do you ask?!?! Do I help this little kid up, do I apologize profusely to the kid and family, do I try and do anything?!! NO....I say "I gotta go" and I run away! Gosh, that was so stupid. Was that mysterious enough Cosmo....? So, when I went to pick the kids up I was hoping that I was able to see the hottie again and regain any dignity that I lost, but to my luck I never saw him again! Yea, he was definitely hooked.
Background to story 2: Summer 2009. I am nannying this little boy, Nicholas. He enjoys playing sports outside. For all those who know me, know that I am not athletic in any way! Nicholas wants to practice his soccer and baseball outside one day.
Story 2: Nicholas and I are out in his backyard playing tag or something. He wants to practice soccer, so he grabs his ball and we are kicking it around. I'm doing fairly well, making some good shots...nbd (no big deal). Nicholas says and I quote "Sarah, kick it as hard as you can". Me, wanting to please this little kid....that sounded dirty and it wasn't meant to be...says "alright, let's see what I can do"....he throws the ball to me, I line it up right and I kick this ball really hard. I thought it was a great kick until I see Nicholas on the ground holding his face. Oh crap. I kicked this little boy in the face with his own soccer ball! I start freaking out, but secretly laughing because what are the odds that I would do that!! He stands up and brushes himself off, says that he is alright, yet he has a bright red spot on his face...oops. Nicholas decides that we are going to switch sports and move to baseball. We are throwing the ball, hitting it, everything is fine. Nicholas says and I quote "Sarah, hit it as hard as you can". Me, knowing that there is no way in hell that I'm going to hit this ball, agree. He throws it, to my surprise I hit the ball, I start jumping and screaming because I'm so excited (those who have had the pleasure of seeing me excited know how I can get), then I see Nicholas on the ground. What the hell! How is it that I can hit this little boy in the face TWICE with two different sporting objects and I can't play a decent game of anything?! So, the baseball hits him straight in the head. He isn't happy about this, he starts throwing his baseball bat at me and all the balls that he can find and chasing me around the yard. I have a crazy 6 year old on my ass now! He starts screaming that I did that on purpose and runs inside and tells his mom that I hit him on purpose and that I was trying to kill him! Keep in mind that this is the 2nd time I have ever babysat for him. I was mortified. How do you recover from hitting this little kid in the face twice and then defend yourself when he is saying that I am trying to kill him?! I really was just shit out of luck. The mom decided that I was done for the day. Nicholas held a grudge for a while...such a girl. But he did give me 4 cents to add to my Brussels fund. He was probably saving up for a while.
Now, which situation would you rather find yourself in?! haha ya, neither! Welcome to my life!
But since there aren't any good stories yet, I'll give you a 2 in one story just for reading so far. These stories are the kind you want to hear when you're having a bad day so you can think back and go "thank god that isn't my life". You're welcome.
Background of story one: Summer of 2009. I am nannying too many kids and I have to drop 2 of the kids off at Museum School. There is a major hottie that works at this school. I see him 4 times a day, at least. Unfortunately, he might be in high school, but let me tell you his outer beauty was spectacular. I never spoke with him, but this story is about the day I did.
Story 1: I just dropped both kids off at their classrooms and I have to walk back by hottie. I decided that today I am going to walk by, make eye contact, say something short and sweet, but leave a little mystery in there. Cosmo tells me that that is the best way to hook a guy! Cosmo is wrong because I walk by, make eye contact and to my surprise he said "Hey". I'm not sure if I was thrown off because I didn't get to finish my routine, but instead of saying "hi" back, I end up tripping a little kid and knocking him down at least 5 stairs. IN THE RAIN! I literally stand there and watch this kid fall down a flight of stairs and then start to cry. What do I do you ask?!?! Do I help this little kid up, do I apologize profusely to the kid and family, do I try and do anything?!! NO....I say "I gotta go" and I run away! Gosh, that was so stupid. Was that mysterious enough Cosmo....? So, when I went to pick the kids up I was hoping that I was able to see the hottie again and regain any dignity that I lost, but to my luck I never saw him again! Yea, he was definitely hooked.
Background to story 2: Summer 2009. I am nannying this little boy, Nicholas. He enjoys playing sports outside. For all those who know me, know that I am not athletic in any way! Nicholas wants to practice his soccer and baseball outside one day.
Story 2: Nicholas and I are out in his backyard playing tag or something. He wants to practice soccer, so he grabs his ball and we are kicking it around. I'm doing fairly well, making some good shots...nbd (no big deal). Nicholas says and I quote "Sarah, kick it as hard as you can". Me, wanting to please this little kid....that sounded dirty and it wasn't meant to be...says "alright, let's see what I can do"....he throws the ball to me, I line it up right and I kick this ball really hard. I thought it was a great kick until I see Nicholas on the ground holding his face. Oh crap. I kicked this little boy in the face with his own soccer ball! I start freaking out, but secretly laughing because what are the odds that I would do that!! He stands up and brushes himself off, says that he is alright, yet he has a bright red spot on his face...oops. Nicholas decides that we are going to switch sports and move to baseball. We are throwing the ball, hitting it, everything is fine. Nicholas says and I quote "Sarah, hit it as hard as you can". Me, knowing that there is no way in hell that I'm going to hit this ball, agree. He throws it, to my surprise I hit the ball, I start jumping and screaming because I'm so excited (those who have had the pleasure of seeing me excited know how I can get), then I see Nicholas on the ground. What the hell! How is it that I can hit this little boy in the face TWICE with two different sporting objects and I can't play a decent game of anything?! So, the baseball hits him straight in the head. He isn't happy about this, he starts throwing his baseball bat at me and all the balls that he can find and chasing me around the yard. I have a crazy 6 year old on my ass now! He starts screaming that I did that on purpose and runs inside and tells his mom that I hit him on purpose and that I was trying to kill him! Keep in mind that this is the 2nd time I have ever babysat for him. I was mortified. How do you recover from hitting this little kid in the face twice and then defend yourself when he is saying that I am trying to kill him?! I really was just shit out of luck. The mom decided that I was done for the day. Nicholas held a grudge for a while...such a girl. But he did give me 4 cents to add to my Brussels fund. He was probably saving up for a while.
Now, which situation would you rather find yourself in?! haha ya, neither! Welcome to my life!
Monday, January 25, 2010
So, I now have 2 followers...wow this is exciting! Too bad Jenna is one of them, so she'll will already know what happened in Brussels and won't need to read this, but I'll take what I can get.
I decided that I should e-mail the teacher that I'm student teaching with just to let her know that I'm coming. She tells me that I have 16 students and 4 of them are pulled out for different reasons. So technically, I only have 12 students for a portion of the day. Yes, my sanity should remain with me.
But that's not the best part of the e-mail conversation. She then e-mails me again to apologize for not inviting me to this party she calls "New Years Drinks". I immediately think that she is really confused because new years happened a month ago, but I open the invite anyways. UHHHHH turns out she is a "lady" and her husband is a "sir" and they are throwing a party and thought that it would be a great idea to invite 4 21 year olds that they have known for 2 days since the party is on February 1st! Not even 2 days...the day of the party will be the first day that I start student teaching with her. I really need to make a great first impression...crap. Those aren't exactly my strong points. I'll try and upload the invite so you guys (Samantha and Jenna since they are the only ones who read this) can see how official this party is.
Maybe I'll meet some handsome silver fox and he'll teach me how to dance and then make me a lady. And by "lady", I mean the kind of lady that my teacher is. I'll have to keep you posted on how the night goes.
The weather update is 25 degrees. It says that it should be snowing the day we arrive.
Ok...so the attachment wouldn't work. I copied and pasted it and it came out funky. On the invitation their crest was on the top and it was is nice cursive font. This will get the point across to you though...
The UK Permanent Representative to the EU
Sir Kim Darroch KCMG
and Lady Darroch
request the pleasure of your company for New Year’s drinks
at the Residence, Rue Ducale 17 Hertogstraat, 1000 Brussels
on Monday 1 February 2010 from 6.30pm 8.30pm
RSVP: Debbie Chilcott
I decided that I should e-mail the teacher that I'm student teaching with just to let her know that I'm coming. She tells me that I have 16 students and 4 of them are pulled out for different reasons. So technically, I only have 12 students for a portion of the day. Yes, my sanity should remain with me.
But that's not the best part of the e-mail conversation. She then e-mails me again to apologize for not inviting me to this party she calls "New Years Drinks". I immediately think that she is really confused because new years happened a month ago, but I open the invite anyways. UHHHHH turns out she is a "lady" and her husband is a "sir" and they are throwing a party and thought that it would be a great idea to invite 4 21 year olds that they have known for 2 days since the party is on February 1st! Not even 2 days...the day of the party will be the first day that I start student teaching with her. I really need to make a great first impression...crap. Those aren't exactly my strong points. I'll try and upload the invite so you guys (Samantha and Jenna since they are the only ones who read this) can see how official this party is.
Maybe I'll meet some handsome silver fox and he'll teach me how to dance and then make me a lady. And by "lady", I mean the kind of lady that my teacher is. I'll have to keep you posted on how the night goes.
The weather update is 25 degrees. It says that it should be snowing the day we arrive.
Ok...so the attachment wouldn't work. I copied and pasted it and it came out funky. On the invitation their crest was on the top and it was is nice cursive font. This will get the point across to you though...
The UK Permanent Representative to the EU
Sir Kim Darroch KCMG
and Lady Darroch
request the pleasure of your company for New Year’s drinks
at the Residence, Rue Ducale 17 Hertogstraat, 1000 Brussels
on Monday 1 February 2010 from 6.30pm 8.30pm
RSVP: Debbie Chilcott
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Meet Lambie Pie
Ok, so many of you guys don't know who or what Lambie Pie is. So, I am going to introduce you guys now so you aren't confused when I just use his name in sentences. Lambie Pie is my stuffed animal from when I was little. He used to be able to squeak, but that is long gone. He used to have fur, but that too is long gone. He also used to be white, I still claim that he is but apparently what I think is white is technically considered dirty white. Ugh, technicalities.
Anyways, Lambie Pie has been with me for 21 years now (that's how old I am). So he is legal and able to do whatever I am. You guys may have seen some of his nights out in Lake Tahoe...he really enjoys the slots and drinking beer. People say he takes after his mom.
So Lambie Pie is going to Brussels with me. He will be enjoying the trip with all of us and it will be me who will be reporting to you about his adventures. They will be interesting...just like our lives. Oh and only 5 more days!
Anyways, Lambie Pie has been with me for 21 years now (that's how old I am). So he is legal and able to do whatever I am. You guys may have seen some of his nights out in Lake Tahoe...he really enjoys the slots and drinking beer. People say he takes after his mom.
So Lambie Pie is going to Brussels with me. He will be enjoying the trip with all of us and it will be me who will be reporting to you about his adventures. They will be interesting...just like our lives. Oh and only 5 more days!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
So, it's 6 days until we leave for Brussels and I have no idea what to do with myself! This is also my first time to ever blog, so it may be a little rough at first. You'll get over it though.
So I'm going to try and keep these posts PG-13 for those who don't agree with the way I live my life, but if some R activities slip in here...well I'm in Europe...you can't ground me...suckas!
So I'm going to try and keep these posts PG-13 for those who don't agree with the way I live my life, but if some R activities slip in here...well I'm in Europe...you can't ground me...suckas!
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