Somtimes I miss....

Sometimes I miss...

having a bed time
spending lots of times on trains reading books that i wanted to read
watching movies
the world i knew before i learned about politics and war
me before i turned 15
old friends
the days when being "grown up" seemed so far away
the time when my parents made all my important descisions
grade 6
when homework was printing
playing the piano
my barbie doll house
the playground definition of "dating"
not having headaches
the time when i didn't know what a broken heart was
being alone in a beautiful place
when i had no social commitments
the beach in Nice
my grandpa's house
playing outside until it was dark
watching cartoons
...

This week in the news...randomness of all kinds

Hello world!
Well Ken very abruptly and imperatively instructed me to write something new...so here I am.

2nd week of school has come to an end and I am in full force. Does that mean doing my readings...nope. But it does mean writing down everything I have to do in my cute little German agenda and then not crossing anything off at the end of the day. My classes seem ok except for one. I really was looking forward to the professor but she is now on mat leave early and in her place is a sort of novice prof. He talked for 3 hours today, no break , no coherence, no patience from Daniela. The topic is one that really interests me (persuasion and rhetoric in the press) but 3 hours was a little onerous. I arrived home with a big headache but an even bigger resolve to be more understanding of his inexperience. My understanding would be helped along if the building where the class meets wasn't the only building on campus that lacks wireless internet access but thats a tale for another day.

In other news, I have been nauseous all night. Its like this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach which could be caused by a number of things....such as the oysters i ate last night....my general lack of proper rest and nutrition...my general lack of exercise...emotional turmoil...the stress that comes with my life in toronto...my increasing propensity to obesity...or my being sick with a cold all week and the hangover effects of getting over that cold....my diagnosis is ur choice!
In other news, I was sick all week with this bizarre cold that didn't zap my energy but did make my nose and eyes run like mad...maybe a bit too much info for some readers, my apologies. At any rate, I hardly ever get sick and I wasn't sick in Europe at all even though I was practically living on the street and not in very hygenic clothes. And I thought my immune system was in top form but some things even top form can't handle.

Teaching practice was good. I am abusing the fact that no one knows what to do with me because I am the only one there from my program. This means I am not doing anything but I think as of this week I will have to start doing something because the supervising teachers all had a meeting at York to discuss expectations....so long laziness. Funny story about practicum... I was working with J. the student who doesn't speak English, on the journal prompt and when I asked him what he wanted to be better at he said cricket. Oh Brampton!

I have been terribly unproductive today. I don't know what it is about Friday's but I had all these things to do and I was going to sleep early because of the nausea but lo and behold I am posting at this ungodly hour.

In other news, I was quite saddened by the events that occurred in Montreal this week. It is really horrifying when a place of learning becomes a site of terror but it reinforces for me some lessons I have been learning in recent days. We really do need to be diligent about guarding our minds and hearts. It is only logical that what we absorb passively or actively becomes internalized and somehow a part of our selves and has the potentiol to later emerge in expression that can be harmful. I myself in recent years have let down my guard and been flippant about those things which I consume in the form of media. However, it is my resolve to do so no longer. Since I've been back from Austria I've not watched TV (almost) and not because I don't want to or I think this is some sort of cure all answer but because I found that a lot of my time was wasted on passively absorbing whatever messages were being produced through that medium which were often of very little benefit to my own growth and development. I find that I do have more free time to things that are worthwhile...like read and blog...ha....

To lighten things up a bit, I think everyone should read Naomi's blogspot...http://nay-confessions.blogspot.com/...because there are lots of pictures of me on there...but also because he story in pictures is so hilarious!....i am still unsure however about the virus comments!

Well thats all for now....except for the most exciting of event of this week which will take place tomorrow....FREE John Mayer concert at Yonge and Dundas Square. John Mayer is awesome and FREE is awesome...so I can't go wrong with this one...

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Daniela

homecoming....the proper version

well friends,
I like this blogging thing so I think I'll try to keep it up as much as possible. I'm a little averted to the phone right now except with certain people so I think news will travel easier this way too..and every one knows i always have news...haha

its been a bit of an adjustment to get back. i think living compactly and from place to place sort of became my routine while i was away and it was weird to wake up in the same place today and think that its been seven days and i don't have to move on to somewhere new. in fact, i probably won't have to move onto somewhere new for a while with school starting and all. the jet lag wasn't too bad...but i must admit that i took full advantage of the "i'm six hours ahead" line with a number of people.

the first few days i had this strange fear of leaving my house...creepy i know...but i think that since i slept and remained in Munich airport for a total of 15 hours I was a little off my rocker about space and place. at any rate that soon subsided and got to go to cne on friday...and get that lovely toronto welcome...traffic on the gardiner...woohoo..

in all honesty, i do miss being in Europe. Mostly my lifestyle there...that being the hobo one....Seriously though it is kind of nice to just be disconnected from everything for a while and just worry about where your going to have lunch or what bench ur going to sit in the sun in. This is not to say I didn't have any responsibilities there...i mean i had to catch trains on time and in my last week of teaching i was responsible for like 50 kids but life just seemed much simpler. I also liked being alone...especially on trains..it gave me lots of time to think and figure stuff out and just pray....this was a welcome relief since at home i always feel like I'm running around with a million things to do and can't ever sit and just be. As soon as i got home this all returned as i had to jump feet first into everything like my bills and school and courses and applications and etc etc etc. but I am learning to take it all a step at a time and with calm and composure...check back come midterms...haha

I guess the other most important thing since I got back has been teaching again since I was off all last year. Its really good that I got to teach in Austria cuz I'm not soooo rusty...although I broke alot of cardinal teaching rules while i was there since I could. I'm in a grade 4 class this year and have enjoyed it so far. They are a good mix of kids and the junior level is nice cuz u can still read stories but cna also expect some maturity. My host teacher is nice enough but just returning from mat leave and getting used to a new routine as well. the kids are funny at times and i already have a few incidents...

on the playgrounds yesterday two little girls from another class ran up to me and asked if i was a student teacher...when i said yes they said "you're pretty" and then proceeded to run away giggling...oh little girls...

we talked about expectation for students and teachers in our class and one of the girls said that she expected her teachers to dress cool... as if that had any bearing to their ability as teachers...oy!

we have a question jar in our class for any questions students might have about anything that they don't want to bring up or that doesn't get discussed in class... today there was a question in the question jar...the want to know how old i am...what am i a science specimen?

last one...

today we were doing an activity with the whole class which involved them all being out of their desks and mingling around with their peers. There is one little boy, A., who always has a question about something....usually its not life or deathbut he makes it seem like it is...he camse up to the teacher with a puzzled look which is has semipermanent real estate claim on his face...we assumed he had another question...this is the conversation that ensued

MS R. what's up A.?
A *looking more puzzled then scratching his head and finally stating/questioning with hesistancy* not much!!??
MS R *laughing* i meant do u have a question
A *confused at the laughter and general situation* no??!!

hahhaah that was a funny moment

its funny how there are always kids in ur class that u know will get under ur skin...like just little things abotu them that make u squrim but i guess part of being a teacher is ignoring that and treating them all equally. i think have definitely improved in that department especially since these kids seem like apiece of cake since they understand what i'm saying compared to the Austrian kids this summer. There is one exception however, I have a student, J., who arrived to Canada in January (i think) and attended another school in Toronto( i think) before moving to Brampton (I think)....the main premise is he doesn't speak any English but blends in very well because he is a complacent child. I work with him a lot and help him understand what we're doing until he gets the ESL support he needs. his classmates who share a common language are also a big help. he's not the cleanest kid in the world but my heart kinda has a soft spot for him cuz i have memories of what its like to not understand and relieved a lot of those travelling through German speaking countries...at the end of the day he runs up to me and says bye and i smile. in case u haven't noticed i like teaching again.


ms. mantilla in grade 4

home again!

i'm back in the t dot...with lots of pictures, chocolates and memories...and 6 hours of jet lag...
more to come....
dan-ayyyy-la