Snow Day

The International School of Zug and Luzern had it's first snow day in years today because some heavy, wet snow downed trees, causing traffic accidents and closing the road to the school for a few hours. Snow days are just as fun and refreshing in Switzerland as they are in the states. They're even more fun when your favorite baseball team won the World Series the night before. Spent most of my day reading every article I could find, watching every highlight, listening to 610 WIP live (luckily stumbled into it on iTunes a few weeks back...just in time for the playoffs), and watching the last three innings over and over. What a day.

Since I've not written in a while, a quick recap: Kristina and I had a great weekend in Prague a few weeks back, taking in the sights and enjoying a beautiful city. I even bought a Bohemia crystal decanter set. After returning from Prague, my brother in law, Colby, his wife, Yash and our 15 month old nephew Cameron arrived for two weeks. They got to enjoy much of the Swiss lifestyle, eating cheese and hiking through the mountains around Zurich. And they asked Kristina and I to be Cameron's Godparents. Quite an honor.
Other than that, we're hoping to take a trip to Interlaken sometime in November, then it's onto Christmas parties and the world-famous Zurich Weihnachten Markt. More to come...

Praha Phillie Pride

Watching the Phils live in the Czech Republic via Slingbox...sooooo happy...

Another first in Swissland

Kristina and I went for a two hour hike today, and on our way, I saw my first alphorn being played (like the ones in the Ricola commercial). This 70-something year-old guy was practicing his cow calls on the alphorn. Just out in the woods by a lake playing his alphorn. Like a guy playing his guitar in a subway station, but WAY cooler.
And then we came home and watched the Phils beat the Brewers to move onto the NLCS. Another great day in Switzerland...

Still Recovering

After seeing Jimmy Buffett play in front of about 400 people, followed by a week of hiking, biking, climbing and swimming through the German Alps, and topping it off with 13 hours of singing and making friends over a few liters of Paulaner at Oktoberfest, I'm tired. Still recovering from the week, Kristina and I are both sporting sore throats and congested heads, but it was WELL worth it. Some unforgettable experiences over the past two weeks.
And now the Phils are leading game 1 of the NLDS, and NASN is playing it live in Switzerland. Great times.

Big Week O' Fun

Big week coming up...driving to Paris to see Jimmy Buffett Saturday with our friends Mike and Nicolette. Driving back Sunday morning to hang out with Ks dad. Then I'm off to chaperone a week-long field trip to the German Alps (near a town called Oberstauffen). 50 eighth graders and six teachers in the woods going on excursions for a week. I'm pretty stoked.
THEN, upon return from the field trip, I'm hopping in the car and driving to Munich to celebrate Oktoberfest with the Bavarians and our friends Jen and Seth, who are visiting from PA.

It's gonna be a fun-filled nine days...

Some days you're the bug

Holy cow did I get a wake up call today. After 3 weeks of absolute bliss, working with polite and motivated students all day every day, lessons going smoothly, a total lack of math teaching experience not holding me back, I finally had it. My first terrible math lesson.

Now, I've had plenty of terrible social studies lessons, but while social studies is about content and concepts, math is all about skills. Every day, I introduce a skill, show an example or two, the kids do some problems to learn the skill, then they do some more for homework to practice the skill. Next day, same drill. Seems easy, right?

It's not. With three levels of students working from three different math textbooks in each class, it can get very hectic very quickly. Last week things were going smoothly. Today, it all fell apart. My sixth graders are working on sequences and introductory algebraic concepts, and I'm pretty sure I managed to undo everything they've learned in one period today. Not quite sure where it all went wrong, but suffice it to say, it doesn't look like they'll be ready for Thursday's scheduled test...oh well. Tomorrow's another day. Maybe I'll go back to being the windshield again...

Back to Reality...

and loving it.

After seven months of hiking, biking, swimming, reading, traveling and enjoying all the beauty Switzerland has to offer, I headed back to work in mid-August, as a math teacher at the International School of Zug and Luzern (www.iszl.ch). So far, so good, as my sixth and seventh graders are hard working and eager to learn (despite the photo on the right showing desks delivered on the first day of school...). More on the kids later.
A lot has happened since my last post on July 21, so here's a review:

• One of my former Tamanend students and her family visited on July 23. We had a wonderful time touring Zurich for the day, sampling chocolates, taking a boat ride, and just enjoying the sites. Easily one of the coolest experiences of my teaching career.
• On July 24, I headed back to PA for the first time since moving to Switzerland. GREAT trip. Golfed with family and friends, caught up with old TMS colleagues, had a bball team reunion at Thunderbird Lanes in Warminster, golfed some more, headed to Avalon for a few fun and relaxing beach days, caught a Phillies game, and golfed a bit more.
• After a jam-packed US trip, I arrived back in Switzerland on Sunday, August 10, just one day before starting my new job at ISZL. Snuck in a quick game of touch football Sunday night before my first day...

And since then, my life's been filled with 6th and 7th grade math, half marathon training, soccer matches, student council, and the MYP (middle years program) terminology used at my new school. Fun times.