'Tis the Season...

Welcome to the season where a lot of people catch random viruses. Take a wild guess as to who caught her first virus of the season? No guesses? Come on, guys. I'll give you a hint. Who catches something every fall? That's right! Me! I went to Turkey last weekend, and I had a blast. I was able to see several things I did not see on my last trip, and I took a ferry ride up and down the Bosphorous (way cool!). I taught my classes on Monday, came home, went to sleep, and started to shake and shiver. I woke up Tuesday morning with a fever, and I was out of commission for six days. On Friday, I finally called a fellow teacher for help, and she took me to a doctor. Since viruses aren't supposed to last more than three days, they decided to put me on antibiotics and a couple of other medications to help boost my immune system. With all of the stresses of moving to a new country, my immune system is down, rendering me incapable of fighting off nasty viruses. I kept in touch with my mom through the whole thing, and Doctor Mom helped me a lot. It sucks being sick when your mom is not there. Luckily, Skype let me feel as if my mom was here. Somewhat. At the very least, I didn't feel completely alone. And I'm doing much better today. I still feel like I was hit by a truck. Twice. But I'm no longer feeling super sick. Just worn down. Lots of sleep, lots of tea, and lots of Skype calls to my mom and boyfriend are in order. Hopefully, I'll be back to my chipper self in no time.

In the meantime, what have I been up to? This week is Euroweek at my school. From what I understand, nineteen schools in nineteen different EU countries formed a partnership. Once a year (or every couple years if they can't manage to organize it in time), they get together at a different host school. Each school sends a select group of students to participate in Euroweek. This year, Euroweek is at my school (because we rock), and it is going on this week! So, I've been busy for the past couple of weeks putting my English skills to use. Euroweek participants communicate primarily in English, since they are all from Foreign Language Schools that teach English, and it is a language they have in common. As a result, all of the documents used during Euroweek had to be translated from Bulgarian into English. I don't speak Bulgarian, but I have a flair for English. So, I worked on a couple of different translating teams. The theme of this year's Euroweek is fairytales. Each school sent in a fairytale in their native language as well as an English translation. I was on the team that helped edit all of the English translations and get them ready for the booklet of fairytales. My other team translated the opening ceremony as well as opening play. My school performed a reenactment of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice (very sad; if you haven't read it, do). The final team I worked with did not translate. I worked with two students who put together a short movie about the meaning of fairytales and why they are important and relevant to the modern world. It was beautifully done, and I refuse to take any of the credit for it. I just sat in between the girls and listened to them bounce ideas back and forth. When they settled on something, I helped them figure out a good way to phrase it and then put it in the movie. They chose all of the photos and music, and they designed the entire concept. I just had the program on my laptop and the patience to sit with them while they worked through their ideas. It turned out quite well, I think. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQm5SY44RvU

I also taught a lesson for Euroweek on Emily Dickinson. I gave four Dickinson poems to four different students ahead of time, and then during the lesson (attended by kids from at least four different countries, possibly more), I split the class into four groups, and one of my kids led each group in a discussion of their poem. At the end of class, each group had to come up and act out their poem. It's a lesson I would normally do over a two day period, but I didn't have two days. Just today. It went well, though, I thought. An Estonian teacher came up to me afterwards to thank me. Apparently, she teaches Dickinson a lot and loves her, and she loved how I taught the lesson. It's nice to have moments like that. :)

In other news, I have now successfully baked an apple crisp with the nutmeg I picked up in Turkey. Unfortunately, I had to throw half of it away after I got sick because it was going to waste. I've been on a limited diet for six days. And apparently apple pie doesn't make the cut (I know, bogus, right?). But I should be able to start slowly adding foods back in over the next few days. Unfortunately, apple pie still doesn't make the cut. Oh, well. Anywho, I'm going to go put some potatoes in the oven to bake. That's right, I'm making baked potatoes in the oven. I had never made them anywhere but the microwave before. The things you learn. It's a marvelous world. Ciao!