McDole Rocks! aka My Surprise Going Away Party

So yesterday I headed over to Shanna's house for a "get together" with some of my great McDole friends: Kindra, Gwen, Tracy and Shanna. When I pulled up to her house, I saw Tiffany getting out of her car and then noticed several other familiar cars next to hers.

Hmmm. I suddenly realized something fishy was going on. Shanna greeted me at the door with a big smile and led me into the kitchen were lots of my McDole friends were waiting. Surprise! I'd been tricked! Instead of it being a small get together, it was a surprise going away party. I was surprised (duh), thrilled and really touched.

Lots of friends came to visit, hang out and eat some yummy food. It was such a fun night!

Gwen, Anne, Lori, Tiffany and I in the garage. Much cooler outside!

Kris, Anna,Tracy, Courtney, Melissa and Tyler - Kitchen crew shot 1

Molly, Sean, Jez and Renee - Kitchen Crew Shot 2

Shanna and I - Don't worry...it's a fake belly rub. I just think that's weird that she's had strangers touch her.

I can't say thanks enough to Shanna, Kindra and Gwen for putting this together for me. You three are so sneaky! I'm definitely going to miss seeing you all on a daily basis. And Shanna I hope the contest is still going on to name the baby. Can I work on it from a remote location?

Final notes:

1. Sorry I interrupted your planning a few times. I just wanted to hang out.

2. And a BIG thanks again Pete opening up your home and for tolerating all of the elementary female teachers in your home for over 8 hours!

3. And we have to take another group shot sometime. I totally blocked Shanna's head and Giaseppe Piccony as well!

Inquiring Minds Want to Know!

Lately I've had quite a few questions about my move, all the logistics and details so here's a little Q & A that should hopefully help to satisfy inquiring minds.

Big Pictures
Where'd you get the idea to move to Brazil? How'd you get a job there?
In November I found out my literacy coach position in Kaneland was being eliminated. For many of you who were around me, you know I was devastated. I felt being a lit coach was truly my calling. It was a wonderful balance of working with children and working with adults. But alas, things change, times change and I needed to use this change, although not my choice, to figure out what was best for me.

Fast forward to winter break '09 and one of my best friends, Andrea, was home visiting from Brazil. We had a heart-to-heart chat over ice cream (our usual) and that's when the seed was planted. She mentioned that her school would have a 3rd grade vacancy. She asked if she could put my name in as a possibility.

About a month later, I received an email from the Headmaster and Principal from Andrea's school (American School of Brasilia aka EAB) asking if I would like to interview with them. I had decided by that time, being back in a classroom was best for me, so, I had a phone interview with the two of them. I've been on lots of interview teams over the years and this interview was unlike any other I've ever had. They asked me not the usual knowledge level questions, but really tried to see if my teaching philosphies matched those of EAB. It went great!

A few days later, they asked if I'd be willing to meet in Waterloo, IA just before the University of Northern Iowa International Teaching fair began. So, I took a personal day, drove all the way on a frigid January day 5 hours there. I went out to dinner with the Headmaster and High School Principal. Cajun. We had alligator and jambalaya, wine and great conversations. I felt both were wonderfully honest about their own experiences and where EAB is right now. I so appreciated the honesty but also felt that the direction they're going, what they want to do for children is what I want to do. So, it was a match. A week later, I emailed and it became official!

Why Brasilia?
When Andrea planted the seed I did consider other places as well but Brasilia and EAB have things that other schools couldn't offer.
Here are a few:
Andrea - best friend, old roommate, built-in support
EAB's student population - truly international; mostly Brazilian but many nationalities represented
EAB's support of all staff's children - any staff member's child may attend EAB at no-cost, most international schools only allow teachers' children to attend for free
EAB's philosophies - where they're going is what I believe in
3rd grade - been there, done that so at least something will be familiar
Portugese - I really want to learn the language so having weekly lessons and living there will help push me to reach that goal
Why not?

How long will you be there?
At least 2 years and then we'll see. Year 2 will be wonderful! It always takes at least 1 year after you move to feel settled and at least one year in a new job to feel like you know what you're doing. How can I pass that up that feeling?

Parabéns a Goo

Parabéns a Erin!

Happy Birthday!

Today is my sister, Erin's, 29th birthday. In her honor, today's post will all be in shades of her favorite colors; purple and green. And those have been her favorite colors for as long as I can remember.

To celebrate her b-day we went out to breakfast at Panera, got pedicures (guess what color she got!) and lounged on the couch watching ANTM before going out to Houlihan's for dinner. That's all she wanted to do so it was just a great day. Since it's her b-day just wanted to say a few things about her.

Here are a few things I LOVE about my sister:
She has the BEST laugh. If you play the video from our trip below, you'll hear it.

She finds some humor in almost anything like America's Funniest Home Videos, Hillshire Farm's Go Meat commericals ( I kinda like these too) and taking silly pictures (see below).

She toe dances. She's not the only Looney who does this. Toe dancing is defined as wiggling your toes without even realizing it while you're lounging.

She spreads her love of life with everyone around her.
And one of my favorites is that she loves the little things in life like sheep, a good glass of wine, a nap, a chocolate milkshake, flipflops, etc.

I'm just a really lucky girl who has an amazing sister. We fought like cats and dogs when we were young and now she's one of my best friends. She's taught me so much. Living with her has been one of the best things I've gotten to do in my life and it'll be one of the hardest things to say goodbye to for a while.

So, Sister, El Goo, Erin, I love you lots. Thanks for being you!

Guess I'm on a bit of a list kick right now. Enjoy them and also I'm putting out a disclaimer too. Please anticipate the sapiness levels of my posts will only increase as the number of days before I leave for Brasilia decreases.

I'm a lucky girl

Today, especially with my move date creeping closer, I was reminded about how lucky I am.

I'm suspecting I'm feeling this tonight because I'm becoming sentimental and realizing that my time with friends and family is getting shorter and I'm going to have to say goodbye for a bit.

To give you an idea of why I feel so lucky here are some of things I did today.

• Rode and chatted in a golf cart in the rain with Amy and her daughter Mackenzie watching Jay, Andrea and Brian during the golf scramble...And I don't golf.
• Held baby Mackenzie who is just a sweetheart while she slept soundly in my arms
• Bantered and listened to the chatter among and with Andrea's family who are just wonderfully welcome and warm...Love them!
• Ate Andrea's delicious ice cream cake and lots of other delicious food
• Added to my Brit vocab with a lesson from Jay ( I can too understand you!)
• Sat and just watched Mackenzie sleep, wiggle her toes, coo and smile
• Hung out on the Pearson porch with Andrea, Ron, Barb and cousin Tom

The Pearson bbq is MY annual 4th of July event. It's not the 4th of July without it. I love being able to spend Andrea's b-day with her each year, just hang out and I really feel like I've become a part of their family on that day. Her relatives all welcome us because, well yeah, we've been attending for the past 6 or 7 years but mainly because they're just a great bunch of people.

There's are lots of other reasons I'm thankful today too but right now, these simple things, that I'm lucky to have are what's on my mind. Thanks for a wonderful day Pearsons!

Ireland #2: Funerals, Whiskey and Puffins

So I was productive earlier today with some major organizing of school "stuff" and files but now am feeling well, like doing nothing, so I thought I'd be a little productive and work on a second Ireland entry. Here we go...

We went to visit Cobh (pronounced Cove) and followed our usual friendly GPS Stephanie's directions. When we used her we also consulted a map just to make sure she was choosing the best types of roads (for the car's well being and our attempt to avoid carsickness). Along the way, Stephanie chose to route us on a ferry. It's kinda funny when suddenly you read, "board ferry" as one of the directions. Worked great and saved us quite a bit of time.

Cobh was one of the largest cities we visited during our trip (pop. 13, 000). It was one of the primary emigration harbours in Ireland. Over 2.5 million (yes million) Irish emigrants left from Cobh. The tragic Titanic also left from this port as well. We visited the Cobh Heritage Center while there along with several school groups (we finished up school here about 3 weeks before they did - ahhhhh). The museum had information and displays on the different locations that Irish immigrants emigrated to including the US, Australia and England. It was really moving to read some of the stories about the famine and how so many families were house in buildings like the pictures waiting for their boat. Many families didn't even all travel together.

After the musuem we hiked up a steep hill/street to the Cobh Cathedral. My parents hadn't visited it the last time they were in Cobh so they wanted to go inside. We found the entrance and walked inside around noon. We noticed there were others in the church but figured there was a mass at 12:00. My dad and sister walked around a bit while I sat down in one of the back pews to look at the windows and whatnot. They came back and sat with me and my mom while more churchgoers entered. A group of four women stopped right by us and began chatting. I overhead tidbits of their conversation which included things like, "She was adored by everyone" and "Such a wonderful lady." Then suddenly Erin leaned toward us and said, "There's a casket in the aisle. It's a funeral." We all quickly stood up, made our way toward the exit and yes, over our sholders in the center aisle was a casket. We almost crashed a funeral.

After our almost Irish funeral it only made sense to visit Jameson Distillery. Well, we'd already planned it, but it fit in with the day. We toured the former site. Random whiskey fact: Did you know that Irish whiskey is distilled 3 times and that's one of the things that makes it unique?

Erin and I actually became whiskey tasters. My parents had suggested that later in the tour when our guide asked for volunteers, we should raise our hands. We were the first two to jump in. At the end the tour, everyone receives a complimentary taste. But the tasters, well you get to sample American, Scottish AND Irish whiskey to compare. There truly is a big difference and I have to say that I did like Irish the best. Erin disliked all three and had the bartender add ALOT more Coke to hers which she passed onto my dad. If you're going AND you like or want to try whiskey, make sure you're to be one of the volunteers. My mom has the good pics of this which I'll add later.

Another Irish adventure...Skelligs

My mom and I decided that the two of us wanted to visit the Skellig Islands. To do this you join a little boat tour where you and about 8 others put on wet suits that are supposed to keep you dry (see photos for lovely suites and tiny boat) and hang on to as you crash and toss 40 minutes to the islands. You may be able to tell from tone that I didn't like the ride too much. For breakfast that morning I had banana pancakes. Let me just say that I don't think I'll be eating them again for a LONG time.

When you arrive to the Skelligs you actually only walk on Skellig Michael, the larger of the two islands. I was so happy to be on dry land I laid down. After I got my walking legs back we began climbing. The island we were on is similar to the one in the photo, very steep. One of my main reasons for going to Skellig Michael was to see the puffins. I've had a fascination for puffins for a very long time and here was my opportunity to see them in person in their natural habitat. At first all we saw were these ugly large seagull-like birds called ganets. Ug. Then we turned a corner and...there they were. Just as adorable as I'd imagained.

We continued to climb up the steep mountain where it became windier and windier. If you look closely at the picture, there's a woman in pink sitting down to climb down this part of the stairway. It was windy but also you are right on the edge of a mountain on these stone steps.

There's no place to move to the side or stop, you just keep going.

Skellig Michael is most well-known for the monastary on the top. It's actually a UNESCO site since at the monastary was founded in the 7th century. What's amazing is that not only did monks live here, but you have to realize that they actually built the place. We learned from a docent that the actually cleared terraced the top of the mountain to make the monastary. Talk about devotion! It's survived Viking raids and the centuries and due to its remoteness was actually quite well preserved.

The beehive huts you see you can actually kinda tell where they were restores (about the top 1/4th or so). Pretty remarkable since they were built over 1200 years before any restoration began. There are several beehive huts here and when you go inside are actually quite well protected from the wind and weather.

As you stand at the top you do have to remind yourself that monks lived there, just 12 or so, completely devoted to their beliefs over 1,000 years ago. It's such a peaceful, serene place you could imagine how without other distractions someone could really concentrate on that piece of themselves.

After our long climb up, we decided to take our time on the way down. This way we were able to stop and enjoy watching the puffins fly in and out of their nests along the path. They built them right into the rocks alongside the path and even sometimes under the path rocks themselves.

We eventually had to get back on the boat. Ug! And then rode over toward Little Skellig. This island is a wildlife refuge for over 40,000 ganets. 40,000. That's a lot of birds! We were able to see them and how from far away it seems that the island is covered in snow (see picture) but in reality it's the birds you're seeing. Yes it's other stuff too, but mostly the birds. I was much happier being on dry land and enjoying Skellig Michael than the Little guy (you can tell since I have zero close-up photos of it) , but interesting all the same. Definitely an adventure.

Ireland - Our first few days

Everyone's asked, "So how was your trip?" Amazing's how I've been starting my reply. I finally uploaded my photos yesterday and thought rather than doing one uber long post, I'd do a few of them. You all know I tend to ramble so I hope you don't mind indulging me a bit.

We arrived bright and early in Shannon, Ireland, picked up our rental car. My dad was the brave one who drove the entire two weeks. This is a picture of our ride, a Ford Ghia. It was the perfect size for us and also Ireland's narrow roads. The intial shock of driving on the opposite side of the road kept all of the backseat and frontseat drivers confused as we always thought he was turning the wrong way. Seriously though, until you have driven or even riden in Ireland, you just haven't experienced driving. And I feel like with having experiences in lots of places, this one makes it into the top 3 of crazy driving. More about that later.

We turned on our GPS, who we affectionately call Stephanie after a close family friend, drove to the Rock of Cashel. This site originally served the seat of kings for several hundred years. The original structures are gone but now it has brand-new (sense the sarcasm) 12th and 13th century cathedral, tower, graveyard and more.

It's just above town of Cashel where we stopped to have our first Irish coffee, as we waited for the Rock to open. Oh I should clarify we just had regular coffees, no whiskey (yet). They are really strong!

Once the Rock opened, we walked up the hill and went on a guided tour. That just makes it so much easier to learn all the details and important structures. As we walked around we noticed LOTS of large black birds. Must have been nesting season. You can see them flying above the large tower. This tower's entrance is 12 feet off the ground!

You can also see some scaffolds where they're doing repair work. We were lucky to be able to go inside the cathedral since later in the summer it'll be closed. One kind of strange thing are these ugly stone carved faces. Erin must have really found them interesting since she took a bunch of pictures (see left and not the one of me and my mom).

We left the Rock of Cashel and drove down to Kinsale where we spent our first three nights at the Old Presbytery Bed and Breakfast. We stayed at B & Bs throughout our trip. I'd never done that before but found everyone was really nice, helpful and it made it like having a home. When planning my parents used TripAdvisor for reviews a lot. Some places we stayed were chosen for food, others for location, others for the view but regardless, they were all wonderful. And this one was chosen for the view as well as the food. This is a view from our room. We had a two-floor suite with a spiral staircase.

My mom made good friends with the cat mascot at the Old Presby, Cookie. She acted more like a dog than a cat. Speaking of dogs. It seems like everybody in Ireland has dogs. And there's no leash laws. Little dogs and big dogs just wandering around. Cookie would follow my mom around the parking area just like a dog. They became fast friends and playmates.

On our first full day there , we went on the Kinsale walking tour. Our guide, Don Herilhy, wearing quite the traditional Irish cap and sweater, took our group of about 20 all around Kinsale. He gave us quite the history lesson which includes Kinsale's pirate and important geography and how America was able to win it's independence thanks to the English being distracted by the Irish (interesting slant) at the time was all part of our lesson. He definitely knows his stuff about not only Kinsale but the U.S. and rest of the world. It does always amaze me how much other nationalities know about our American history and geography and how little we seem to know about theirs.

Then we drove out to Charles Fort. We did learn quite a bit about this fort from Don, but chose to explore it on our own. The fort dates back to the 1670s was built in a star-shape. It helped to provide Kinsale with one of the most secure harbours. This fort was occupied by the British during their rule and used until the 1920s during the Irish Civil War. While walking around we had beautiful views of the ocean and fields surrounding Kinsale (you can see them in the distance with the walls of green). We did drive out as I'd mentioned since my ankle was still pretty tender at that time so afterwards we decided to visit our first pub.

We followed the twists and turns and detours back toward Bulman Pub. On our way out to the fort, we found that the road there was being repaired so we had to take a bit of a detour. It was a one lane, steep hill route. Luckily, we encounted native Irish drivers on our way to the pub so they did a lot of tricky manuvering and we were able to have our first pints and some had chowder. My mom rated Bulmans at the top of her chowder list.

At Bulmans we had our first Guiness. I need to take a moment to talk about

my strong affection for Guiness

and of Guiness in Ireland.

When I was in college, there was a bar that I reguarly drank Guiness. I've always enjoyed it but my goodness. True Irish Guiness is amazing. It's smooth and cold and light and just delicious. I never felt like I had here where I'd eaten a huge burger afterwards. I think if more countries, perhaps the U.S. included, rallied around one beverage, it would bring more people together. In Ireland, obviously there's other beers, ales, ciders and cocktails but I think it's something that brings them together. I also think that Guiness has a big affect on helping to heal my ankle. It's doing great and usually I'm a slow healer. From now on, when I injure my klutzy self, I'm headed straight to the local pub that serves Guiness. Fingers crossed though, that I'll only be ordering it for it's taste for a long, long time.

Another thing that started in Kinsale, was a Guiness War. My mom challenged Erin to taking pictures of Guiness signs. First it started as some friendly fun which then she turned into a "war." Erin and my mom took photos of everything Guiness. Winner to be revealed later.

After our Guiness and snack we went back to the Old Presby for a nap. That night we headed out to An Seanachai (pronounced ahhh shanna-key)We heard lots of fun music while in Ireland. We don't have any pics of the musicians we heard our first night at the but that's where we had our first pub grub. I had beef and Guiness stew. Yum! The rest of the Looneys who LOVE fish took advantage of fish and chips throughout the trip.

That's enough of a post for now. More Ireland to come!

Erin (and the rest of the Looney's) Go Abroad

Tomorrow the Looneys are leaving for Ireland. Two weeks filled with family, Guiness, green, Guiness, ocean, Guiness, fish, Guiness, music and sheep. Can't wait!

I'm in the final stages of packing which for those of you who know me well, be impressed because I'm just at 24 hours before departure. See...

I even have all the things for my carry-on ready to go too. My parents are in shock I'm sure. I hope this isn't some new extra-anal side of me coming through and instead just the fact that I've had some time to actually it since summer vacation started last week.

Packing for a two week trip to Ireland in June isn't too hard. The weather's pretty mild (60s for highs, 40s for lows, possible rain) and actually has helped me to think more about Brazil but my goodness still all the stuff to get. This is a picture of the current Brazil pile of stuff. Mostly teaching materials (aka "stuff"). From post-it notes, rulers, baggies, tons of books, markers and of course my notebooks. These are the beginnings of it.

Ug! That makes me feel a little overwhelmed. I don't think I should have looked at it, let alone take a picture of the mess. Please note it (the mess) was it was all in the clear box, I was on the hunt for a key.

One of my favorite new toys that I got for my birthday (thanks again Mom and Dad) for my move is an ipod deck/speaker. Love it! I can't get enough of it. And am looking forward to enjoying it in Ireland too. See even Buddha likes it!

My least favorite packing item has been an arsenal of first aid for my ankle. Most of you know I bit it on my last day of school wearing super cute new shoes. Some of you said you were going to find ways to keep me here, I guess you've succeeded. Thanks a lot!

So back to the packing. Things I've included: first aid kit filled with band-aids for the freezer burn/floor burn on it, wrap, ankle support brace, Icy Hot, bottle of ibuprofen...think that's it.

Once a klutz, always a klutz. It wouldn't be a trip abroad unless I injured myself before or during. Glad I got it out of the way and that I'm going to a country where Guiness is on the menu and I know will help my ankle instanteously feel better.