Heading Home!

So I am going to be HOME in 2 days. I am counting down the hours. Its crazy to think that I have been away for 8 months. The time has flown by. It seems such a short time ago that I was sitting in the San Fran airport balling my eyes out as I waited to board the plane that would take my miles and miles away from home to a country that mind you when I first heard about it, I had to search for it on the map. I remember so vividly my feelings of fear and anxiousness but also of excitement and eagerness. Then again, when I look back on all the things that I (meaning me and Flor and Maelys and the whole school)have accomplished since I arrived here, its like I have been here for ages. The past months have been so challenging and sometimes even daunting. But I have (I know I say this in like every other blog)learned and grown so much and every new difficulty that I face teaches me something of extreme value.
Anyways, the point of the blog is just to say how excited I am that I am heading home for the Holidays. I have been missing my family and friends so much and I cant wait to see them all again and spend a few glorious weeks relaxing with the people I love.

New boots!

It started snowing about two weeks ago. I woke up Saturday morning to find everything completely white. It was so beautiful and I was thrilled. These happy sentiments only lasted seconds. As soon as I stepped outside I found out that my old boots would just not do, I was slipping all over the frozen ground and my feet were soaked after a short walk through the park. Appearently the traction and the water proofing had worn out after 2 winters in Rexburg. It was obvious that my need was immediate which I was not thrilled about becasue things here in Sarajevo are so expensive, especially clothes and shoes. I was really hoping to hold out until I was back home to buy anything.
Reluctantly I began my mini adventure to find a pair of boots, but not just any boots, I wanted them to be inexpensive, comfortable, warm, waterproof and of course CUTE! I knew this would be a challenge. The first problem I encountered was size. I guess people here have small feet because I couldnt find anything above a size 8. When I finally did, they were all too narrow for my wide feet and were squeezing my toes together. After a while I finally found a pair that met all my requirement...almost. When I checked the price I wanted to cry. 250 km! That's 162 dollars, which okay, maybe that doesnt seem so bad, but I have never in my life spent that much on a pair of shoes. My usual shoe stores are Payless and Target. My old boots were like $40. I didnt want to do it, but it was my only option...it was either fork over the money or break my leg.



I am really happy about my boots now. They are warm and comfy and I feel much more confident walking through the snow, I havne't slipped at all. The best part is that they are pretty cool (I think) and I believe my brothers will be quite proud of me when they see them. If you know them at all, it will be obvious why.

An Overdue Update!

So I am really lame at blogging. I know I say this like every time, but it has been FOREVER since my last post. I think that sometimes I just don't have anything interesting to say and then other times the idea of taking the time to write about whats going on is too overwhelming. I don't know. I never was successful at keeping a journal and this is basically the same thing.
Since school started I have been so busy. Teaching is a job that requires more time than there is one day. Even after the kids have gone home I am still working...writing lesson plans, creating new activities, attending meetings and so much more. But there are those beautiful moments throughout the day like when a child becomes excited about something they have learned or when they get upset when its time time to go home because they really love to be at school...those moments make it all worth it. Teaching although at times a frustrating and exhausting challenge is a very rewarding job and I do love it.
I have met a LDS family! They are from the states too! It has been such a huge blessing to be able to spend time with them on Sundays. I hang out with them during the week sometimes too and its just such a warm and comforting feeling being in their home.
One cool thing that I was able to do last month was attend a Montessori conference in Belgrade Serbia. The conference was given by a well know Montessorian who is the President of a Montessori association in London and has also written many articles and even a few books about Montessori. I learned a ton and it was really great to visit Belgrade. We (Flor and I) didn't have a lot of spare time to site see or anything but we walked around the city center a bit and it was beautiful. I was stoked because I was able to eat at McDonald's which has never tasted so good in my life even though my 4 piece chicken nugget was like 10 dollars. I am so lame because I didn't take any picture besides this one of Lego Harry Potter. I know, I am a huge dork!
Flor is visiting home now, so for the past two weeks I have been here on my own. I was really nervous for her to go, but things have been going fine at school and I am keeping myself occupied with work and movies so I am not too lonely. It has made me a little homesick though and I can't wait til its my turn to be with my family and friends. Only 6 more weeks!!! I can't believe I have been away for so long, the time has gone by so fast.

Jinxed!

On Saturday Flor, the other teachers and I attended a basic first aid course at the Red Cross. I am positive that it jinxed me, and maybe Flor too. On Sunday I rolled my ankle as we were walking through the park. This morning I burned myself with the hair straitener and then this afternoon Flor fell down the stairs in the school. Learning about all the things you can do in case of injury has caused a lot of pain. Luckily we didn't hurt ourselves really bad and we didnt even have to use our first aid knowledge. I just iced my ankle with a bag of frozen corn.

The Public Toilet!

Once again it has been a month since my last post. The good news is that everything is going great for me and for the school and we are extremely busy! The bad news is that since I never have the time or energy to keep up with my blog, probably nobody even checks anymore to see if I have updated it. Anyways, I am updating it now and hopefully their are still a few faithful friends who have been patiently waiting for this post. As I said I am doing really well. Since the holidays we (ALL the Blooming Child staff) have been working diligently preparing the school. You cant imagine how much work goes into a project like this...creating a school from scratch. Of course there are all the major things that everyone always considers, but then there are the minor details. There are a million minor details!!! I have never in my life worked so hard and put so much effort into something. It really feels wonderful, especially when I look around the school and think back to beginning, we have accomplished so much in a very short time.

Enough about work though, I have a funny story to tell. So I went to Scandaria with Emira so that I could get my nails done (by the way they turned out horrible and fell off promptly). Anyways, I needed to use the bathroom so Emira lead the way. Mind you, this was my first experience using a public toilet since arriving in Bosnia. Before we got into the restroom we had to stop at this little window where a woman gave us toilet paper. I was already thinking this was pretty weird. Why didn't they just have the toilet paper in the stall? So we continued on into the bathroom and I opened the door to the stall. The first words out of my mouth were "I don't get it!" I have added a picture of the toilet. Maybe some of you can understand my confusion. I stood there thinking. I was truly trying to imagine how I would proceed without any "mistakes." I kept asking "But, how do you...?" Obviously I had never encountered a toilet like this before. Emira and I both laughed for several minutes, or rather Emira was laughing at me for being so naive. Apparently these kinds of toilets are super common, but I didn't have a clue. Don't worry, I was successful, but now I always make sure I go before I leave my apartment because afterwards they make you pay for the toilet paper. What's that all about?

Holidays!

I know it has been a month since my last post, but really, truly, honestly nothing very blog worthy has occurred since then except for me turning 24. The last 3-4 weeks have been filled with lots of long days training the teachers as well as preparing some of the materials for the school. We have also been meeting with prospective parents and showing them around the school and answering all their questions about Montessori and such. It has been really interesting to partake in these discussions with parents. I have come to find out what things parents are the most concerned about when deciding on a school for their children. I have been surprised! Last Friday was our last day of training and now we are on holiday for two weeks. Everyone that I know in Sarajevo has left the country for various destinations so I have been alone here. I was a bit nervous about that at first but I am totally loving it now. I have been occupying my time with good movies and good books and a bit of pampering here and there. Today I am going for a massage and on Saturday a pedicure. I am indulging now because I am pretty sure that once September comes I will be so busy and so wrecked that I will not have the time nor energy to do so. I really have to start working again soon. I am completely logged off right now so I am going to ease my way back into work before I have to be on full blast once more. Today I am going to work on the list of books we want to order for our little library. One thing I just remembered that is cool news is that we decided on a name for the school...Blooming Child. I am in the process of creating a blog for the school, so when its ready you can read that one as well.

James Blunt!

I was VIP at the James Blunt concert this weekend. Well, of course I wasnt really important but I knew some people that were. I love that I have connections here. Anyways the concert was awesome! James Blunt was fantastic live. He had lots of energy and was really fun to watch. Its near impossible to take a decent picture at a concert since its so dark, but I thought this one turned out cool even though you can't tell who the band is. The second picture is of Azra, Emira and me right after the concert. They are both way sweet and fun girls that will be teaching with me at the school. I really dont have much to add, things here are the same as last week...work work and more work.