Sick Day!

So as usual I have been horrible about keeping my blog updated...this time has been the worst though. There has been some kind of stomach flu going around at the school and I finally caught it (probably from cleaning up vomit...I know that's nasty but it comes with the territory of being a preschool teacher). Last night I started feeling so nauseated and then this morning I couldn't get out of bed. I called in sick at around 7 and then went back to sleep until 10:30. 12 hours of sleep later and I still feel like I'm going to throw up any minute, but at least I am rested. Anyways, since I am just lying here in bed I thought I could at least manage to do some typing.

So, what has been going on since last I wrote??? Dang, that was in December. It doesn't seem like that long ago, time really passes so quickly. Well, I went home for Christmas and for my little brother's wedding. It was so fun being home!!! I hung out with my mom a ton and we had a blast decorating the house and shopping the after Christmas sales. Got tons of great deals on clothes and Christmas decorations for next year. My mom is so awesome, I loved spending time with her.

I also got to hang out with all my best friends from HS. It was great having Brenda and Andre in town with their darling Sophie. One morning the girls came over for breakfast and my mom made us her famous french toast. It was like old times.

Of course I also went to Heather and Chris' a lot. We ate Pizza Bell and watched T.V. That's pretty much what we do. They have a little darling too. Paisley is adorable. I spent a few days with my sister and her beautiful sons. My favorite place on earth is where ever they are. I can't get enough of them! I even got to meet up with some old roomies from college. I was so good to see the Willies...love those girls!

Then there was the wedding. Pat and Cat got married in Tahoe. It was so cool to see my little brother making such a big commitment and taking on so much responsibility. He is a man now! :) The ceremony was really special since Jon was the one marrying them. He was nervous I think, but he did a fantastic job.

After the wedding in Tahoe we had a party in Elk Grove at our house so people could come and say congratulations and stuff. Maybe some of you dint know this about me, but I love party planning! Pat and Cat allowed me to be in charge of everything and I had so much fun organizing everything, the food and decorations etc. Pat is a picky eater so I didn't want to do fancy food he wouldn't like. Maybe the food wasn't traditional for a wedding, but it was good and I think everybody really enjoyed it. We served little smokies, pizza rolls, mozzarella sticks and popcorn chicken. There was also a variety of dips for chips, crackers, fruit and veggies. And of course yummy desserts. My mom's friend Julia helped me set up the food on risers and the presentation was awesome! Everything looked so good. I also spent a lot of time decorating. The wedding colors were black and white and since it was January there was also a snowflake theme. I decorated the white Christmas tree with black, white and silver and then I hung snowflakes and snowballs from the ceiling. There were candles everywhere. It turned out really beautiful and I was so happy about it. Of course I had moments when I was totally stressed, but overall I loved the whole process from beginning to end. The experience got me thinking that maybe I will be a teacher during the week and a party planner on the weekend. (I will have to post pictures later...they are on my mom's camera)

All in all, my trip home was amazing and it was difficult to say goodbye yet again to all the people that I love so much! It only took me a few days of being home to realize that I couldn't stay so far away for very much longer. When I arrived back in Sarajevo I decided that I would finish out the school year and then I would be going back home for good. Of course it will be a bittersweet parting. Although I miss my family and friends terribly and believe that I will be much happier at home, it will also be hard to leave Sarajevo. I have met many wonderful people here and have come to care for them a lot. I love the kids I teach. I know that I will always wonder about them. I guess this is how most people feel when they return home from an adventure. Anyways, I still have 3 months or so to enjoy my time here. And that's what I intend to do!

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.