Too much fun

Peter and I needed a weekend from our weekend. We went to a Giants game on Friday night but left early in the afternoon to pick up tickets from the craigslist dude. We later found parking and waited for the gates to open to receive the promo for the game, giants blankets. Woo-hoo! something to keep me warm during the brisk San Francisco night at the ballpark. Giants came from behind to win and Peter and I headed to my parent's house to spend the night. Saturday morning meant pancakes and some time with the folks.

We left San Francisco Saturday afternoon and continued our fun weekend by heading to the park for some softball practice and aerobie. Check out Tracy's blog for details. Needless to say, we ended the night with homemade Lee family enchiladas and margaritas.

Sunday morning, Peter and I hopped an early train for San Francisco for yet another Giants game. But this was no ordinary trip. This trip included an autograph signing with J.T. Snow, my favorite Giants player. He played for the Giants for 9 seasons earning 6 gold gloves as a Giant and as an Angel. He was a player you could always count on defensively and offensively. He also happened to be very handsome, to boot. After years of swooning, i got an opportunity to be in his presence. Peter and I stood outside the new Giants Team Store across the street from the stadium to guarantee ourselves autographs. They were only letting in 250 people and we had no idea what the scene was going to be like. So, we got there around noon for a 3 pm signing. It must have been the hottest day ever in The City and we tried to do anything to protect ourselves from burning in the sun. Besides sunscreen, Peter covered himself in the blanket we got from Friday night's game.

Once inside the store, i got a glimpse of J.T. through some racks of t-shirts. I began to get jittery and squirrelly and on the verge of tears.
I wanted to tell him that first base hasn't been the same without him but all i could muster was a couple of thank yous. He asked how i was and i asked how he was doing, but i felt like a groupie instead of a huge fan of his mad skills. Peter took this incredible awkward picture of J.T. and I. I had no idea what to do with myself and stood there looking like a fool while i signed my shirt.

Now the problem is what to do with my shirt. I LOVE wearing my Snow shirt and want to continue wearing it. Now, it's even cooler with his signature. What's a girl to do? Should i continue wearing it, even though i may accidentally ruin it or put it in the wash? Or do i frame it and put it on my wall and never wear one of my favorite shirts ever again?


After the signing, Peter and I headed into the park. Lately, we have been hanging out in the bleachers during batting practice trying to nab some baseballs. But after sitting in the sun for 3 hours already, I opted to sit in the shade and watch batting practice. Eventually we moved to our seats overlooking right field and continued to sit in the sun for another 2 hours. The foul line pole kept us in the shade for a portion of the game, but i sat for several innings with my sweatshirt over my head keeping the sun out of my face. I guess i don't do well in sunlight. Maybe we should stick to night games.

The Giants lost, but it wasn't heartbreaking like some games. Afterward, Peter and I headed back to the train for our ride home. We settled in around 10 pm only to dread the coming morning of work and school. With three giants games under our belt this season, we are hooked. We are constantly looking for more tickets and more deals to get us back to the park. Here's looking at a great season of baseball. Go Giants!

Earth Day Celebration

Peter and I celebrated Earth Day in an unexpected way. We went to Petsmart and bought new cat litter. We clean her littler box every night which means using plastic bags every night to dispose of litter. That means we have used a lot of plastic bags since we adopted Tulie. I would like to think i am Earth friendly, but i sure helped create a lot of trash. Supposedly it takes plastic bags 1,000 years to decompose. So Peter and I switched to "World's Best Cat Litter" and yes, that is its real name. It is biodegradable litter and is flushable. It is made from corn kernels. So Last night, we cleaned Tulie's catbox, flush it down the toilet and gave each other a high five. Yay! No more plastic bags to take out every night and no more plastic bags to cover the earth with.

Here are some Earth Day products to think about. We can make easy changes to what we use that can make a difference.
Worlds Best Cat Litter
Biobags

Was that the most boring blog ever? I guess that's why people hate hippies.

Uggggg....

I am sore everywhere. I lied, i hate baseball.

Softball Practice

Today was the first day of softball practice with the extended My Gym family's new softball team. Last time I picked up a bat, i played on the bench for my high school's summer softball league. By the end of the summer, i felt i was getting worse. I still love baseball and was very excited to play today. Batting practice was a little shaky. I have a late swing, so all my balls head straight done the right field foul line. I got a few good shots in, but overall batting practice was a little difficult. It makes me want to go back and improve. Anyone one wanna hit the batting cages with me? It feels so good when you connect with the ball correctly and it goes flying. I want that feeling more next time. Yay for summer time, long days, and baseball.

Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

Friends, teachers, and classmates have been talking about the new show on Fox, "Are you smarter than a 5th grader". Tonight I watched the first 10 minutes of the program and i can't watch anymore. Tonight's contestents thought North America was in the eastern hemisphere and couldn't remember the realtionship between diameter and radius.
Is it unrealistic to imagine that adults should still know this stuff? I am pretty speechless...

Day One

Monday was my first day reporting to my student teaching assignment. I was given a packet of information for my master teacher. It included my name, the school i was reporting to, the classroom number, the time class began, and my teacher's name. For a week, i held on to that packet and memorized the info. I am going to Oak Grove high school for 4th period at 10:53 in classroom X2. I had a map, i wasn't going to get lost. I had a bell schedule, i was going to be on time. In fact, i was aiming to be at least a half an hour early to get my ID and parking permit.

So the morning finally came and i was up early to make sure i didn't forget anything. I double checked the address, got a map, and checked the bell schedule once more. All of a sudden, i noticed the Monday collaborative schedule. That couldn't be for EVERY Monday, could it? So i called the school, and of course, the schedule was different. Instead of reporting at 10:53, 4th period was starting at 9:46. Okay, it was 9:30 and it was going to take me at least 20 minutes to drive to Oak Grove. I was going to be late. Through a series of phone calls to the school, and the principle's sectretary, i got a message to my teacher that i was going to miss 4th but was on my way. The school called back saying that i could go to 5th period instead.
I finally arrived, found the administration building, got my ID, and went to 5th period. I was extremely embarrassed.

Instead of Monday being my first day with my future students, Tuesday was my first day. The kids seem okay. My teacher told me that they were kind of wild, but they were nothing crazy. I guess i will really find out over the next couple weeks while i observe and work with them.

The tentative schedule is that i am going to take over the class on March 26. I wil do a 3 week unit on physiology, which is way more exciting than other some units. My master teacher teaches explicitly to the state content standards and therefore his kids do well on the STAR test. But his own classroom tests don't require anything but regergatation of facts.
I have tentatively planned what i want to cover during my unit, but i have to make sure i teach the standards and give them a test that follows his format. He doesn't make lesson plans, so i am on my own for this.

I think i have a good plan so far, i just have to work out the details and create some cool activities. Wish me luck!

Adrenaline Rush

I spend my tuesday nights in my methods course at SJSU. It is specifically for science teachers and is taught by two wonderful women who are also teachers.Tonight, some of us did 4 minute presentations on our hobby. I chose to talk about puzzles. I knew what i wanted to say but i hadn't made an exact plan of how it was actually going to come out of my mouth and i definitely hadn't practiced it. If i had, i probably wouldn't have talked as fast as i did. Even during my presentation, i knew i was going way too fast, but i couldn't stop myself. My fight or flight response had kicked in, and i was using that adrenaline to do neither. It probably didn't help that i was being recorded by two video cameras (for further review). But afterward, I got a nice comment from one of my classmates, which was a little calming. He said that i should talk more and that i was funny, or interesting, or something....it is all kinda hazy now. But it felt nice to hear that. Somebody wanted to hear more from me and know more about me.
As i was in the car driving home and i called Peter. He is of course still at work at 9 pm. And bless his heart, he listened while I ranted for a few minutes about my presentation and even while i got side tracked with a small case of road rage. The power of adrenaline is amazing.
I am hoping that i won't be such a freak in the classroom and that i can get myself under control.

Another surgery

It's not me this time, but it is my little kitty, Tulie. Peter took her in yesterday morning to get spayed. Our cat rarely meows but Peter called me from the road on his way to the Humane Society and our little baby was crying the entire time. It was heart breaking. I spent the day alone for the first time in six months. I missed her follwing me from room to room and when ever i got up, i checked my heels but there was no cat behind me. It was incredibly lonely. I am so used to her keeping me company in the bathroom or when i am writing emails. I am used to having someone to talk to throughout the day. I treat her like she's my baby in many ways because I take care of her but today, i felt i was missing a friend.

The Humane Society called and said,"There's been an emergency and...." and my heart skipped beat. They continued. "we won't get a chance to spay Tulie. Can you bring her back tomorrow?" I was so relieved. What a scary way to start a sentence. So I took her in again this morning with her crying the entire time. But once we arrived, she stopped and was very calm. I spent the day alone again and received another call. This time her surgery was over and i could come pick her up. Tulie was calm on the ride home and has been acting as if nothing happened. I have to restrict her activity and make sure she doesn't lick her stitches (which she likes to do). Hopefully, i don't have to buy her a plastic collar.

It's so nice to have my kitty home again. Thank you Jackie and Sean for finding this beautiful, sweet, and silly kitty for Peter and I. We absolutely love her. Here are some of my favorite pics of her, including a new post-op picture.

Gone

Well, it's finally gone and i don't miss it. Doctors removed my gallbladder last week and I am better for it. My surgeon told Peter that i had a pretty large stone in there so I am very anxious to ask for details at my post-op appointment. I had meant to ask my surgeon if they could take a picture and let me see/keep my stones, but i don't have any memory after saying good-bye to Peter and being rolled down a hallway. Opps, i should have asked the nurse earlier.
A week later, i am almost back to normal. My stomach still has four "stabs", as one nurse put it, and bruising, but i am feeling pretty good. Normally i love staying home and doing absolutely nothing, but this time, when i couldn't get off the couch by myself, i was incredibly bored.
I was also surprised at how much i wanted to see my parents after my surgery. I guess that means something.
It has been so fun eating foods that i have had to abstain from for the last two months. Tami's cookies, gravy, and other fatty yet delicious items. I had a huge chocolate eclair from Max's. It took me two nights to eat half of it, with Peter eating the other half, and it was a magical experience. All that chocolate, buttery pastry, and custard filling still makes me smile just thinking about it.
A few biological functions haven't returned from surgery. I haven't felt hungry or full which has been an odd sensation. I defintely wasn't expecting that. Otherwise, i am almost normal and looking forward to a normal life.

An accident in the parking lot

That's what i told peter when i came home last night. I had a little accident in the parking lot. And for some reason he got worried. No, no, no...not that kind of accident. I was bringing home dinner which consisted of two soft drinks and a bag of fast food. While trying to get out of my car with said food, my purse, and car keys, i dropped the keys as soon as i opened my car door. So, the logical thing to do would be to squat down with all my drinks and food and try to pick up the keys. Right? Ummm...the problem with trying to bend over while half sitting in my car, and the other half of me reaching for the parking lot floor is that the cup holder isn't very secure. That's when my sprite splattered to the floor and all over the car next to me. Shit! So, the next logical step would be to place the other drink and bag of food on the trunk of my car while i wipe off my neighbor's car and remove any embarrassing evidence of a Wendy's cup in the middle of the parking lot. And while I sat wiping down some stranger's car, my bag of food came crashing down next to me. Two orders of fries and five chicken nuggets splattered on the floor next to me. I was extremely pleased that no one was in the parking lot while i scooped dirty fries back into their containers to throw away. So all i had left were two hamburgers and one soda. mmmmm....satisfying. I can no longer deny that i am truely a klutz.

OK....It's true

It's true. I almost missed my flight home. Luckily, I had the universe working in my favor and I made it in time. Of course, my baggage missed the flight, but hey....it eventually arrived. I have to say thanks to Peter, my mom and dad, and Jesse for finding me and calling me in time to let me know my flight was leaving Paris in two hours.

That was quite an unexpected message to receive at 8:30 in the morning. "Grace...your dad keeps calling. He says that you think you are leaving tomorrow. But you leave today" You can imagine the panic and the laughter that ensued. But we called a cab and I made it there with a 20 minutes to spare and survived the rest of my 24 hour trip home.

I still can't figure out why I thought I bought a ticket for the 8th when I in fact was leaving the 7th.

The crazy thing about being home now where everything is the same as I left it, is that it feels like my trip never happened. Its like walking into Narnia, staying for years, only to return home without any time passing. I do have proof however. The magic of cameras has captured my trip and preserved it for me to look back on forever. Hahahahaha Narnia, I have exposed you!

a little bit from Milan

Haven't been able to find any internet in Venice so i couldn't chronicle our shopping adventures. Basically instead of seeing any actually important sites in Venice, we window shopped. And honestly, after seeing all the art and churches in Italy and France, we wouldn't have appreciated them anyways. Today we are trying to head to Modane, a small town in France. Im still not sure how we are going to do it, but we will try. Can't type any more, they want to kick us out of here, pronto. more later..

love,
grace

Florence etc...

I have no idea where i left off on my last blog since im pretty mentally exhausted. Since all the big museums in Florence are closed on Monday we went today. We stated with the Galleria Dell' Acedemia where Michelangelo' David is displayed. It is an amazing staue and it's height alone was impressive. It's 17 feet tall. Ginny and I were a little dissappointed in his hands. They seemed disproportionally big. Oh well, still beautiful and mind-blowing. After the Acedemia, off to other adventures around town and finally to the Uffizzi. Not sure about the spelling. They don't let you check your coat or luggage here so a warm museum plus my coat and day pack made walking around for a couple hours exhausting. Can barely remember much i liked besides Michelangelo's Holy Family and ....can't remember anything else. It's been a long day. After we escaped from the museums, we tried to get down to the river and relaxe and try to escape from the noisy busy city. But there are street vendors everywhere you go trying to make you buy their junk and noisey cars and scooters, so relaxing was very difficult. We walked home and immediately i collapsed in bed with my ipod. I think i deserved that nap after all that walking. Oh yeah, speaking of walking, ginny and I climbed the 414 steps to the top of the bell tower next to the duomo. Not bad. Ok, sorry of the poorly organized blog, but it's the best i can do in my current state. Why bother writing this, you may ask? well, this hostel offers free internet, so i saw a unoccupied computer and sat down. It-s very difficult to get a seat since there are only 5 computers. Ok, that's enough of that. Must eat some more pizza for dinner.



love,

grace

Lost in Rome

Got separated from Ginny and Kelty in the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. No big deal, some lunch and internet can solve anything. Just got an email from Ginny and i know they are ok.

Turns out that the vatican owns a lot of stuff. I just walked through 4 miles of galleries and rooms. Now my own personal problem with loooking at the Sistine Chapel ceiling is that i have seen it thousands of times and in quite good detail from the 8,000 piece puzzle that Peter and I have been working on. And that means picking up the box over and over and scanning our puzzle a millions times. So, the ceiling didn't offer me much. Plus it was extremely crowded with security guards yelling at people to be quiet and to stop taking pictures. But they never stopped, so i left pretty quickly. The one thing the sistine chapel was able to offer me was the walls. I had never seen those peices of fresco before. Off to the Metro to meet Ginny. Ahhh, the wonders of technology. Once was lost but now i'm found.

love,

grace

Roman Ruins

Went to the Borghese museum this morning. It requires reservations as they only allow certain amount of visiters in at once. That was really nice. I wish more museum did that. But then i guess you couldn't just walk in....oh well. So the big items at the Borghese are Bernini's Apollo and Daphne and The Rape of Proserpina. In Apollo and Daphne, he is chasing her and the moment he reaches her, she turns into a tree. Bernini somehow captures this which is really insane. With the Rape of Proserpina, Hades has kidnapped Proserpina and the most amazing part of the sculpture is his grip on her leg and how it succombs to his strengh. It is a awfully real experience. She is crying and you can see the veins in his arms. Click here to see the close up. Oi vay.

On another subject, also went to the Colloseum and the Roman Forum. Using Rick Steve's walking tour we ended up in the ruins of old palaces above the forum. We were wondering about for so long, we ended up being the last ones to leave the whole forum. We hadn't seen anyone for a while which was great since its rare to explore anything without a group of tourists and their tour guide getting in the way. I hadn't heard as much english as i did today.

TTFN

love,

grace

checking in

In Rome currently. Went to St. Peter's and that was completely insane. Ginny and i met a nice canadian girl from calgery. She happens to be a very good catholic and knows lots about everything catholic. So we got a good history standing in front of all the statues and all the tombs of various popes. The craziest part was in the the center of the basilica with four huge statues around this 70 ft bronze canapoy by Bernini. I am not sure what it was, just that it exusted all the bronze in Rome to build. They melted everything they could get their hand on to complete it. But the statues around it were of St. Helena (who found and excevated the jesus's cross), St. Veronica (the woman who wiped Jesus's face as he carried his cross and the imprint of his face appeared on her veil), St. Andrew ( who was crusified on a sideways cross) and St. Longinus (who stabbed Jesus in the side when he was put on the cross). The best part is the reliquaries above them. Above helena is a piece of the cross. Above Veronica is her veil, above Andrew was his head, and above Longinus is the spear he used. That was the most amazing part for me.

Didn't make it to the sistine chapel in time. It closed at 12.20. Very strange. Will have to go tomorrow.

Ta Ta For Now

Ciao,

grace


PS. Also went to the crypt and saw Pope John Paul's tomb. Crazy.

Italy so far...

We arrived in Milan at night and made our way from the train station to the hostel using the Metro. We mastered the Metro with ease, even if we had to ask for help the first time. Luckily, we both bought memberships to an International Hosteling group, so we were able to stay at this place. We met a crazy french-canadian named Hugo (pronounced Ugo). He is working in a hostel up in the Alps in France, so Ginny and I really want to go to now. The hostel is situated between to mountains where most people go skiing, but we can only afford to go snowshoeing. But shoeshoeing in the Alps seems like a great way to end our trip. So if our schedule works out, we are definitly going. Oops, i kinda got sidetracked. Right, Milan...

Went to the Duomo which was pretty insane. After seeing some many cathedrals in Paris, i thought i had seen them all. But i was terribly mistaken. The Duomo in Milan is so huge and ornate that it almost seems like too much. You can only stand there and think about the work that went into building it. Apparently, it took over 500 years to complete.

We went to go see the Last Supper, but the church where it is kept was closed. So then we went and visited a castle which was very exciting, even if the museum was also closed.

We left Milan for Monterosso, which is one of the cities that makes up Cinque Terra. These 5 cities are all connected to each other by trails along the cliff where no cars can access. We found a hostel online the day before and once we successful arrived, we found it closed for the season. I would like to state that i did try calling first, but it just rang, which seems to be normal for some hostels. Like the hostel, the city was pretty much closed. Everyone who owned a hotel came out as we walked by and asked if we needed a room. There were absolutely no tourists there but us and one american who directed us to where he found his hotel. But we settled on a hotel which was run by a very nice old italian couple. It was their grand daughter's first birthday that night and she was very small and quite captivated by my gloves. Since Cinque terre was pretty dead we decided we ought to move on to our next cities since we have only 2 weeks left and the rest of italy to see.

So we hopped on an early morning train to Pisa and walked over to the Tower which is very funny once it is right in front of you. That builing should never have existed. Aparently they noticed the lean after the third floor was put together but then the decided to keep going. Those crazy italians.

We off to Rome in only a few more minutes so i must go and walk to the train station.

TTFN

love,

grace

train rides

A few interesting train experiences

Jan 18th. Leaving Dijon for Aix

Try to speak with woman behind counter about reservations and how to get to Aix. She holds up a lot of signs with one including Aix and the time 18h15. So Ginny and i settle in to wait for 4 hours until our train leaves. About a half an hour later i take out the ticket and notice that we are doing some transfering and that we end up in Aix around 1800. And that we leave Dijon in 5 minutes. So we figure out the track and run upstirs. I ask a guy which direction is car 6 and all he says is, "Hurry! Go go go. " We run and just barely make it on the train before the train pulls out of the station. There is a little confusion about which car we end up in and which seats are ours, but we eventually settle in.

Next stop in in Lyon where we have to switch trains. We have about a half an hour so we go and find the restrooms. As we are walking back, the clock says we have 5 minutes before our next train leaves. So more running and hopping on the train.

Jan 22nd. Leaving Aix for Milan

Have to wait in the Marseille waiting room for our Connection to Nice, where we connect to go to Milan. As we are sitting and waiting a junkie approaches Ginny and asks for fire. No luck here since neither of us smoke. So he sits on the other side of the waiting room for a while and then returns all creepy like and sits next to Ginny. She is busy pretending to read a newspaper and thus ignores him until he offers her some drugs. We stay a little longer since i notice that everyone in the waiting room has their eyes on him. But we make our escape shortly and get on the train very easily since we leave the waiting room half an hour early.

Aix and Marseille

We have been staying in Aix-en-Provence for 4 nights now but i will say we've only been here for 2 days. Today we did a day trip to Marseille. We went with a friend we met here in Aix and he showed us around and got us around on all the right busses and metro. It's kinda crazy trusting someone you just met, but he has been very nice and we trust him completely.

I have really enjoyed Aix. Thank you to Aunt Rickie and the swedish girls from Amsterdam for recommending it. The town is really old and is kind of based around water. They have natural hot springs and have set up fountains all over town. One of the oldest ones, runs through the large city center square. It is fed by a natural hot spring and therefore all this moss has been growing all over it for hundreds of years now. you can't even see the fountain, it's just moss with water coming out of it. I went out tonight looking for some last minute post cards (no luck) and the fountain had steam coming out of it. I tried to take a picture but the light was low and my camera couldn't handle it.

The city streets here are very old in the center city and very confusing. But they are filled with shops, boutiques, and restaurants. Also, since there are a lot of student here, there is more of a night life. So restaurants are open later and there are a lot of people on the street. One night we went to a jazz club and a french band played a whole lot of crazy covers. Below is their crazy set list,

First set:

Radio Head (Fake Plastic Trees)

Eagle Eye Cherry ( Save Tonight)

Aretha Franklin (Chain of Fools)

Beatles (Ticket to Ride) / Them (GLORIA)

spanish reggea/ french reggae/ Sunny and Cher ( I got you babe)/ Shaggy (Bombastic)/ Bob Marley (Stir it up)/ Shaggy/ Sunny and Cher



Second Set:

some french rock

Rage Against The Machine (Killing in the Name)

Blur (Song 5)

Nirvana (Rape Me)

White Stripes ( Seven Nation Army)



Pretty crazy, n' est pas?



As far as Marseille goes, the best part was reaching the ocean again. We did some walking and saw some parts of the city, but took a bus out of town and walked to a nearby area just as sunset approached. I found a place to sit and took some notes as i watched the sun dip below the horizon. The most surprising thing was how green the sky became and how long it stayed that way. The white sea birds became black against the bright back drop of sunset and the light from the island light house finally became visible and I became much colder. But it was incredible to sit out there until it got dark and cold and i loved every moment of it.

love,

grace

New French Cities

New French Cities
Current mood:


I hope this email ends up spelled correctly. I am sitting in a cyber cafe in Aix-en-Provence and many of the keys are switched. So please forgive me when I mix As with Qs and etc...

Ginny and I arrived in Dijon yesterday and it rained all day. We really felt like we hated the city. But we found a nice pizza place and we were the only customers, so we ended up staying longer and having another glass of wine before we left. After our nice dinner, we walked home and didn't hate Dijon as much.

We didn't find a hostel so we got ourselves a cheap hotel. But it did have a shower, so that was pretty exciting.

The next morning, it did manage to stop raining so we went to the Museum of Fine Arts. It was quite good but going into any descriptions will take too much energy to figure out how to type.

Next stop, Aix-en-Provence where we went on q never ending hunt for a resonqbly priced hotel. Our first try was in a plqce where we got co,pletely ignored. Ginny peaked into one of the rooms, saw the crappy, dirty room and we were out of there.

Picked another hotel, and ate some cheese and bread in bed. Then off to find some dessert and maybe some wine. But everything is sooooo expensive. Found an internet cafe and here we are. Our next job is to find a youth hostel near the center of town.

Maybe i will be able to write more at another cafe where the keyboqrd isn't so crazy.