Tenerife.....

The beautiful volcanic beaches even had mermaids! The cutest one I've ever seen!
The day we had to escape the rain from the north forced us to travel south on the eastern coast. On the way we read that there was a town that had Mayan pyramids. I remember traveling in Mexico and being so fascinated with the Mayan ruins that I knew we had to go. Well, here's a photo. Pyramid? Hmmmm. The cafe had nice ice cream and we even saw a white bunny rabbit. There was an incredible garden there, but as for the ruins....seems that the landowners in the country have the same types of walls built throughout the countryside. We felt a bit cheated as it was so expensive. Whether it really was legit is up in the air. The "proof" or scientific evidence is only 10 years old. The beach might have been a more productive stop.......
A huge cactus and this was one of the only blooms seen. Beautiful!
Not a bad spot for tapas! Em is down at the water as she ran back and forth. Have I mentioned that a beer was half the price of a Coca Cola? Fun!

Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain)

A little geography lesson: Tenerife is one of the islands that make up the Canary Islands. They are a part of Spain, but are off the West coast of Africa. I was torn between which one of the islands to go to. Philip and I read and researched and then settled on Tenerife. I couldn't be happier about our decision! This first photograph is from our drive at the top of the Northeastern section. It was amazing driving in the clouds! It was beautiful and a "long way down."
This is the road down.......and down and down. But, we ended up at a sunny beach so I can't complain too much!
Absolutely not the most beautiful beach we went to.....but it had sand and sun.
Now, this is "the" beach. We actually went here 3 times (which is something for people who want to see something new). The first time we followed the rules and parked in a funky spot that required 3 euros. The second time we parked where the locals parked and paid nothing. The second time we also hiked and hiked along various trails thinking we'd find another beach Philip had read about. NO SUCH LUCK! The third trip to the beach we even drove around up top before reluctantly admitting defeat: we could not find the other beach.
The road to get to this beach was crazy. It definitely felt safer if you followed someone as it's a one lane road, incredibly twisty and steep. Thankfully, Philip worked up the courage the third time and drove. That's a whole different story though!

Barcelona II

Can you beat the two thumbs up in front of the Gaudi cathedral? She's "damn cute!"

On our walk through the city to the beach. This one is right near where the Olympics were.

Just cruising the streets.....

This is at the brewery/tapas bar I mentioned previously. Smart trick for the 2nd night was to use Emma's name again withe the hostess.....1 hour wait was only about 15 minutes! Nice to have a cute blonde 5 year old saying "gracias" "como estas" and "por favor" as it really seems to go over big!

Barcelona!!!!

This was a beautiful cathedral in Barcelona. They were in the middle of a service (inside and out...huge gathering of people outside) when we went inside so we were only able to see parts of the church. It was beautiful. This was on Palm Sunday and when Emma and I lit a candle for my cousin Robynn and Emma's great-grandpa, both of whom died this past year.

This is the front of the same cathedral. Emma is in the white sweater on top of Philip's shoulders (to see of course!). A much better view.

Cleaning off the feet from the city's beach. Emma was sporting her new Barcelona "hand made" hat. Bright blue skies and sun made us squint so much that we bought hats.....hers was of course much cuter than mine!

The front of Gaudi's unfinished Cathedral. Absolutely amazing. It's said that even with the modern technology and $ (I can't remember how much it was to get in, but it was a LOT) that this won't be completed for possibly 30 or more years! It's really hard to even explain the complexity of this cathedral. It's really an amazing thing to see. So you must go! And, if you do, we know the BEST brewery/tapas restaurant in town. We were only there for 3 nights and we ate there twice for dinner!

High School Transcripts

What a whirlwind of a week! I've finished working all week at Emma's school and had a great day (although I'm worn out now). It was busy, busy, busy. To top it off I casually started looking at universities again and tried to figure out how I can get my "teaching credential" here in England. I met with the head teacher and talked to her. She asked what she could do to help as she couldn't stand to "lose her star." I laughed at her and she got serious and told me that the teacher I've worked with most of the week stated that I was a teaching assistant "from heaven." Funny, but made me feel great.

So, we talked about the different routes into teaching. Not the traditional way as I have to be here for 3 years before I can qualify for decent tuition rates (otherwise they're around $20,000 equivalence for ONE YEAR). But, there is a program for people who have a degree from a university. Thankfully I do! If a school is willing to hire and train you, the university will supplement and you have on the job training rather than classroom. The head teacher said she'd absolutely be willing to do that, but we both knew that the deadline was in December for the university in Oxford.

So, later that evening (Wednesday) I searched the web for local universities with this program (a one year on the job program) and found one about 30 minutes away. I checked the deadline for applications: FEBRUARY 27. That was only a day and a half away. There was no way I could get it all together and I had little faith that the school would be willing for a September start date. So, Thursday I approached the head teacher at lunch. I had printed the forms for her just in case (and to look prepared). She took the forms and said "Yep, let's do it. I'll fill them out and post them today." And, she did. Which now meant I had a ton of things to do and get it there within 24 hours.

Long story short I got it all submitted. In the process I noticed I needed high school transcripts (the entire point of this post....wow....finally!). I called EHS: Eureka High School. They asked for my graduation date: 1994. She starts laughing and so do I. She asked why and I told her my college degrees aren't sufficient. We had a good laugh.......then I asked her to leave them for pick up. She told me she could only release them to my parents. How ridiculous is that???? I died laughing and then she agreed to my signing an authorization for my "almost" 23 year old brother to come by and get them. Can you believe it? Ok, maybe it's funnier when I tell it in person, because it was hilarious.

I won't find out any info for at least a month or more and then it will only be if I get called in for an interview. I'm hopeful and excited, but know that in reality the competition here is incredible AND I was missing the one item required: high school transcripts.

Wish me luck!

Pancake Day!

Ok my fellow Americans.....have you ever in your life heard of Pancake Day? Seriously? This is a holiday here. HILARIOUS! I thought it was a joke.

So, I'm working today through the end of the week at Emma's school. I'm in a class with 7-8 year olds. It's fun actually. But, early in the morning I smell a wonderful, familiar smell. I ask what it is and am told it's pancakes. Ok, well someone forgot breakfast, right? WRONG! I sit and listen to the first lesson of the day in the class: it's all about how tomorrow is Ash Wednesday (in my la-la land it's only my birthday...oops!). The teacher discusses how Jesus fasted for 40 days. One kid got all excited, raised her hand and said, "you mean it's only 40 days until Easter?" Ok, so they were missing the point of the lesson, but YES!

I'm losing my point now. Sorry! Anyway, the story went on about Jesus giving up everything (Lent) and how the tradition here (they think it's worldwide I think, although it isn't Californian) is out of respect of Jesus and his suffering, people clean out their cupboards and fast themselves. But, the tradition is to make pancakes!

So, after lunch was our turn. I made and flipped pancakes for well over an hour. It was fun. They were homemade (eggs, grams of flour that you have to weigh as measuring cups are too inconvenient or not "metric" enough for them, and milk (again, mililiters not cups). The kids poured, mixed, cracked (and spilled) the eggs, etc. It was a great time. They were more "crepe" like and delicious. We put fresh lemon juice and sugar on them, rolled them up and YUM!

I guess people really do cook them though all day and especially for dinner. They make savory ones and add things like onions, cheese, etc and one person said they put Ben & Jerrys ice cream on the dessert ones. Wow! I'm not sure if I prefer having my pancakes with MAPLE syrup (oh yeah I ordered syrup and got golden syrup....so thick and buttery and so not maple so not Emma's favorite) and for breakfast OR how they do it here for one full day with anything and everything! They probably get so sick after today that they actually do fast for a bit and don't eat pancakes again for a long time.

So, to all of you.....HAPPY PANCAKE DAY! (I don't think they say that here, simply just that today is Pancake Day).

Let it SNOW!

A wonderful treat of snow! We walked to school this morning along the canal.Thank you Grandma Jeanne for the winter coat! It keeps Emma toasty warm in this cold weather! No complaints and has even been tested making a snow angel!

A bit of snow everywhere....made everything so peaceful and beautiful!

Although it stopped all of London: buses, trains, everything stopped.

I worked at Emma's school yesterday and they closed it at 12:30. It was silly....there was such a small amount of snow, but it halted everything. Even our groceries couldn't be delivered for 3 days past our scheduled day. Amazing! I think Californians cope with a bit of snow better than here. Oh well. Still was so much fun and there's a chance of more snow throughout the week.

Day at the British Museum, London

We took the train in to meet Harry & Cathy for lunch. We had a great lunch and wandered around the British Museum. It's so huge I'm sure it would take months in order to see it all. Emma was curious to see mummies, so here are some photos of that area. She was in awe and was so lucky at the end to receive a mummy kit from Harry & Cathy. It has different activities, a book and a tomb with a couple of layers with a mummy inside. Not even 3 dimensional, but it absolutely fascinates her.

Getting read for Christmas dinner.....

Waiting for the angel to ring the bell......

Candles lit and gifts from the angel under the tree.

Emma was pleasantly surprised that the angel stopped by England to pick up gifts from family.

Obviously not too many photos from Germany. Like I said, we were sick....... There are a few on the lake that I will post soon (they are on Philip's phone so we'll have to get them over to me first!).

Holiday Photos

Hard at work on the Gingerbread house at home.

At the "pedestrian zone" shopping for a gift for Philip. We found warm cookies for ourselves, but nothing that day for Philip!

The little Christmas tree in the background. A fun afternoon of shopping without finding ANY gifts! We had fun though!

A special Christmas lunch for the kids. Father Christmas came and all kids got a gift (a book). It was really fun as the Father Chrismas was so over the top and animated! Once I figure out how to upload the video I will.

The Scavenger Hunt...

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY EMMA!!!

So we had Emma's birthday at our place. We had around 9 kids here on a very chilly day! We had a scavenger hunt outside, painted piggy banks and ate pizza and cake. As requested, Emma got a homemade kitty cat cake. I do have some talent! ;-)
The cake was stressful as the first one completely collapsed after coming out of the oven. This one turned out fine, but when I sent Philip to the store for black licorice, we came to find out it doesn't exist. Thankfully, he's a clever guy and was diligent to find something before coming home! Prunes.......funny enough but they worked for the whiskers!

Ballet Class

Emma started ballet at the community center by her school. I saw a flyer, called and invited 2 classmates to join in and they did. We have now gotten 8 or more kids from her class to join in and have a great Monday afternoon. The moms actually can't stay to watch so we get to have girl time while they practice "good feet and naughty feet." Again, another thing I wish you could see her do and say with her little "English" accent.

Oh, ballet is funny here (as are most things). A uniform is required. Seriously. I've ordered it. Everything just has to be "so" and that's just how it is. But, Emma absolutely loves this ballet class (much more so than in Santa Rosa). She's learned quite a lot already and really enjoys it.....and she hasn't once said she didn't want to go after a month of classes! It must help having so many friends with her and the parents telling her she's a "natural." ha ha ha ha....not natural from her clutz of a mom! ;-)