So many exciting new things going on here!!

Bonjour dedicated followers! I feel as though I have so many exciting things to update you on!! Life in Brussels has been great for the almost month that I've been here now. It's amazing how time flies when you're so busy! I definitely feel as though I have a really good grasp on the city and am starting to feel more comfortable using my French in everyday speaking when I'm out and about at markets, grocery shopping, etc. It's taken me a little while to get it all back but using it more often is helping. It's really exciting to get to use it again though, what a rewarding experience! 

This past weekend was exactly what I needed before the beginning of school. Three other lovely ladies that are new to ISB and I all rented a car and drove to Epernay, France (it's in the champagne region) for an overnight girls trip. From left to right is Erin (a middle school Physical Education teacher & volleyball/softball coach), me, Jess (a Speech and Language Therapist in multiple buildings), and Jody (a third grade Learning Support teacher).

Epernay was absolutely beautiful! There were rolling hills upon hills of these amazing champagne grapes that surrounded a cute little city full of tons of different champagne caves. We only had one set tour at one of the many places we did tastings and learned about how they make champagne and it was at Moet & Chandon. I'm sure many of you have heard of it as it's quite a well known brand in the states. The funny thing was that all of us seemed to really like the small places champagne that we stumbled upon up in the hills and throughout the town. Although Erin and I had to work together to have conversations with two different french families that owned these companies we found it so much more personal to hear about the process from someone who has grown up in the business. These two places in specific both learned how to turn the bottles by hand to get all the yeast to the neck and knew exactly how the whole process worked. It was absolutely phenomenal to hear about how their grandparents or parents had started the business that they're now running. They also both gave us private tours of their caves and showed us all of the equipment they use to make the champagne. You could definitely tell it was something that they love and brought them great joy that we wanted to learn about their family business, how it started, etc. Here are some pictures from inside the different places we visited...

After a wonderful day champagne tasting we had looked around the town a bit and had dinner at a place called "Le Centre" that literally was outside in the center of this city square. Thankfully it was the most beautiful night outside so we took our time and had a long dinner. All in all the trip was wonderfully relaxing and exactly what I needed before school started. It was fun to just get away for a night and focus my mind on things other than school. Here's the link to the whole album that I have posted on facebook if you want to see all the pictures I took from my trip to Epernay!

• http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2065980&id=59201520&l=cc70e81cfd

Today was the day that the new ECC students came with their parents to meet the teacher. The ES, Middle School, and High School all had class today but we just had 15 minute slots with each of our families to get them ready for their first day. As of the other day my job has changed...one of the ECC teachers had surgery the other week and is supposed to be taking it easy for a few weeks so I got moved into his room to help. For the past few days I've been labeling, organizing, and planning for today and the first two days of school. It's a Kindergarten/1st grade composite classroom of 17 kids so it's been a bit of a challenge planning but it's also been very rewarding. Although it looks as though the regular classroom teacher will be able to come in for at least half days, if not full days now that the results from the surgery came back positive he still needs the extra help. Having worked until 7 pm the past few nights with the possibility that I might be the only teacher come tomorrow has been overwhelming and a great learning experience all at once. I feel as though I know exactly how a first year teacher should feel about the first days of school and got very positive feedback about everything I had planned. We'll actually be co-teaching what I planned for the next two days so that will be fun! We're guessing that I'll be helping in this class for a few weeks just so Patrick doesn't over-do anything and then I'll shift back into my role as the floater intern, which is also very exciting! I love that I'll get to know SO many of the families and students in the ECC. What a fun job!!! I guess that's all that's really new for now. Regular classes start tomorrow so I better be getting to sleep! I'll keep you updated on how everything goes, how cute the kids/the things they say are, etc. :) Here's a link to a video from the first day of school for you to watch to get a bit more of an idea of where I am...

• http://www.youtube.com/user/ISBexperience

How are all of you doing? I hope all is well, tell me what you've all been up to!