My First Visitors & School Update!

Good Evening family & friends! Thank you all for your continual support & e-mail updates about life at home. I love hearing what you're all up to! Since I got home from Italy I've been back at school and working hard. Last week we had school Mon-Wed and then not again until Friday. Thursday was a holiday and celebrated as Remembrance Day in Europe. Lucky for me on Thursday I was able to sleep in and enjoy a day to catch up on some work and cleaning. Then on Thursday night I headed over to the train station to pick up my very first visitors; Christina, Bryan, and Katie who took the Eurostar under the English Channel just two hours from London. I was really excited to be having them come and visit me since they'll only be in London for another month or so before heading back to MN to finish school. Unfortunately Friday I had to work so they explored some of the city on their own and met me at school at the end of the day so I could show them around. Although it was a bit rainy they enjoyed seeing the school and meeting some of my co-workers. We rounded out the day by getting some delicious burgers with a few of my friends at my favorite burger restaurant. I think they agreed that they were incredibly tasty! 

Saturday was dedicated to Brugge. We woke up earlier and caught the regional train just one hour away to the beautiful and quaint town of Brugge. Luckily the rain held off for most of the day and we were able to enjoy all of the amazing canals and see most of the big sights. On our way home we stopped at the grocery store and stocked up on some things to make for dinner since we were all exhausted from a busy day. All 3 of them found it lovely that at the grocery store you can just buy one bottle of something from a 6-pack. Thus we just had to buy some different kinds of Belgian beer to all try. I was pleased to see (since I love Christmas) that they already had Christmas beer out. After gathering one bottle of multiple different kinds we were on our way home to put on dry clothes and enjoy a night in. After dinner we had our own mini beer tasting and just enjoyed each others company. To my delight we even played bananagrams! 

After sleeping in a bit on Sunday I took them all around Brussels. We were able to find the Manneken Pis (which I hadn't even seen yet!), the Botanical Gardens, the Royal Palace, and even eat some Belgian Waffles covered with chocolate and strawberries, mmmmm! Thanks for coming friends, it was wonderful to have you all here! Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

Christina, Me & Katie in Brugge!

Brugge

Manneken Pis

Christina & I in front of the Royal Palace!

In other news school is going really well. I've been working a lot with my after school activities I teach but I've also been really enjoying it. The kids all are getting really excited for Christmas and have been talking about how they want it to snow now that the weather is getting colder. Yesterday my PreK class and I took a spur of the moment trip to the outdoor classroom in the forest after rest time just because the sun was shining. In PreK we're currently working on the dramatic play unit and asking ourselves what it means to pretend. While in the forest the children were challenged to make everything they played with be something rather than just a stick or a tree. It was amazing to see what they came up with! Some of them were dogs, cheetahs, and tigers while others were making fishing poles or blasting off to the moon in a rocket! It was wonderful to see them being so creative and having so much fun. Here are a few pictures from the forest! 

Mud boots on and we're off to the forest!

Still fall?

Working together to move the big stick!

"Maylee, lets go to the moon!" -Grace

The forest always makes everyone smile!

Fun in the sun!

"I'm pretending to be a tiger, rrrrooooaaaarrrrr!!" -Michael

Apparently this tree was a train and a boat! Can you see the paddle?

I hope everyone is doing well at home. My roommate Jess' parents are coming into town this Saturday for a week so it will be fun to meet them! Plus, Kate comes in just over a week now, Lille Christmas Market Dec. 4th, Cologne Christmas Market Dec. 11th & then I fly home Dec. 18th for two weeks (that's only 32 days from now, mom & dad)! WOW, time sure is going fast!!