Dr. Jane Goodall

Last weekend was my weekend with Dr. Jane Goodall.  Dr. Jane (as her Roots and Shoots kids call her) was in Warsaw for the film festival.  She was premiring her new documentary Jane's Journey.  (It's playing in Seattle this weekend at the International Film Festival for those interested)  Jane's orginazation contacted my colleage Lynn Hammond and I because we are the only registered Roots and Shoots group in Poland!  And she wanted to come and visit our school!  We were so excited!! (Root and Shoots is a program that Jane Goodall started 20 years ago in 1991.)

I started Roots and Shoots with Lynn in 2009. Lynn had just comed from China where she had worked with Roots and Shoots for 8 years. (Fact for PT people: Ms. Mead ran the club with her for a few years in China---small world right?!)   At the time, I was in the process of initiating a recycling program in the elementary school.  Lynn came and wanted to start a RS club and I needed help with recycling.  We joined forces because in Roots and Shoots the students are involved in 3 types of projects--projects that help animals, people, and the environment.  Who would have thought that my actions to start a recycling program at my school would lead to meeting Dr. Jane Goodall!

Ok so this weekend......On Saturday I attended the premire of her docuementary with some of our Roots and Shoots kids.  Jane Goodall spoke before the movie and it was pretty incredible.  She has such a presence.  She just radiates peace and seems so calm at all times.  It's a rare thing, but definatly something that you notice right away.  After her talk and a few questions, we watched her movie.  What a journey she has been on!  She is such an inspiration.  She currently travels 300 days a year spreading her message and working with kids all over the world.

On Sunday Lynn and I were invited to a small dinner downtown with Jane and other Warsaw VIPs.  I meet the director of the Warsaw Zoo, the director of the new Copernicus Science Center, professors from the University of Warsaw, some magazine editors and directors of the film festival.  It was a very special night, indeed.

On Monday Jane visited ASW.  It was a very big day and one that I was in charge of.  My Roots and Shoots students ran her elementary school presentation.  We prepared a slideshow of all our projects, talked about the start of Roots and Shoots, introduced Jane and ran the Q&A time.  My kids did great!  Everyone was so impressed and I've been stopped in the hallways nonstop by parents, teachers and kids staying that they want to be involved in Roots and Shoots next year!  After Jane spoke to the elementary students I was able to join her in a small lunch at school.  At lunch were 3 students from each school, some admin, and a few board members.  It was really special for me to hear the high school and middle school kids talking with Jane.  The students invited to the lunch truely look up to Jane and have even read many of her books.  It was just so great to be apart of this special moment for everyone.  Life changing in many ways!

I could go on and on about this experience, but I'll just leave you with some great pictures. 

*Lynn Hammond my partner in crime

Our current Roots and Shoots club with Dr. Jane Goodall

*This is my 1st grader Nina who LOVES Jane.  She knows her childhood dog's name and all the names of the chimpanzees.  She came to the lunch and Jane signed her book.  She thrilled!

*A message to my students (and to us all)!

Dr. Jane Goodall is an example of how one person can truely make a difference!

Weekend News

A nice weekend is slowly coming to an end.. (but it's not over yet!)  On Friday I went to a polish birthday party extravaganza.  Lucy's husband and a good friend of his throw big birthday parties each year.  This year, Lucy invited me to join in on the fun.  In true European fashion the real party wouldn't really start until 10:30pm.  So I came home from work, ordered some thaifood and vegged out on the couch for a few hours.  Napping with my eyes open, if you will.  Then around 9:00, I got off the couch (after some good pep talk/motivation from Tiffy) and put on some eyeliner, my new hat and some boots.  I played some upbeat music, poured myself a tall vodka tonic and danced around the house.  I was ready!

Lucy was having some girls over before the party so I updated my metro/bus card (for the last time ever!) and hopped on the metro for a few stops.  It's been crazy windy here this week, so I had to hold onto my hat carefully. Lucy's house was filled with her girlfriends (and one gay guy--who was super great).  It was fun to sit with my drink and observe.  I played my usual game of 'try to understand every 5th or 8th polish word.'  I entertained myself, but kind of looked like the werid girl in the back who was extra smily at everyone.  But that's all I've got---over enthusastic body language.  :)

After 45 minutes or so, we were ready to walk around the corner to the party.  They had rented out a place in the middle of this small park.  It was quite the birthday party!  The space had a nice bar, a few tables spread out, vodka on the tables and a good dance floor, with a great DJ.  It was all the right ingredients for a fabulous night out.  I had fun meeting Lucy's friends and even her father.  We stuck together for a while because we had the 'odd one out' thing in common.  He could understand everyone around him and could enter a conversation at anytime, unlike me.  But I had the age thing going for me.  I could blend in with people my age, but couldn't understand a thing around me--besides body language.  It kind of reminded me of being in Italy with Abby's nana.  But it felt nice to have a buddy besides Lucy.

The highlight of the night happened just after midnight when a large 3 tier cake was rolled out.  The music came on and a hot lady danced right out.  It was the big birthday surprise for the two guys from some of their friends.  It was a pretty fun experience!  The rest of the night was spent dancing to MJ, Madonna, songs from Dirty Dancing and Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York".  They went crazy for that song---it was hilarious! I danced until my feet hurt and left the party around 2:30---not bad for an old american on a Friday night :) 

Saturday was more low key.  I slept in, ate leftover thai food for brunch, saw a movie with Michelle (who's due date was Saturday--here's hoping Anton arrives soon), made a nice veggie stirfry for dinner and watched Erin Brokovich while cozy on the couch.  Chris, Michelle's husband, showed me this new beer at the store and it's sooo good!  It's like a real microbrew amber.  I've missed these--sure beats the pilsner. 

Today I had a nice afternoon to myself.  I made a nice breakfast, took the sweaters out of my closet and put away the laundry.  Then I biked to Wilanow to a nice cafe for a latte and some reading and letter writting.  Then I biked home in the wind and drizzle to cozy up on the couch to watch Les Miserables.  I am going to the polish production on Tuesday and needed a storyline refresher.  Then I made a delicious tortilla soup just in time for Carly to arrive home from her weekend in Amsterdam.  Carly joined me for dinner and we got caught up on the weekend stories.  I just got off the phone with a wonderful skype call with my parents and now I'm ready to head to my bed to read more of my new book.

A great weekend indeed.  Hope you are enjoying the end of yours.  :)

Babies, Birthdays and Dancing

*Carly and I threw Michelle a baby shower a few weeks ago.  It was really sweet and fun to have some ladies over to celebrate the upcoming arrival of baby Anton.  Michelle looks amazing and I can't wait to hold little Anton. 

*The AMAZING cake a friend from work made for the shower.  Impressed?!

Having fun with the little guys at the shower---

Baby Colin

*New little Oliver.  I got to hold him for nearly an hour---so sweet!

*I meet the girls for a lovely brunch on my birthday.  We ate yummy bagels, drank great smoothies and had fun catching up.  We've been through a lot together these past 3 years.

*Carly's big 'bowl' of coffee

*The high school 5678 Dance Troupe invited a few teachers to dance in the show.  Each year they have a teacher dance and this year it was a slow fox trot.  The four of us had a blast and we've already performed in two shows and have one more on Tuesday.  The show is really great and the kids are super talented.  They choreograph their own dances and do all the back stage work--it's pretty impressive!  It's fun to be a part of the show.

*A little wig fun at the spa last month. 

Surprise Birthday Weekend

Last weekend Carly organized a surprise birthday trip.  I was told a while back to reserve the entire weekend before my birthday---make no plans!  Then on Thursday Carly gave me my first clue.  1. Pack your bag.  We are leaving on Friday from school and won't be back until Sunday.  Bring your passport and bathing suit.  Then all day at school on Friday people would come up to me and wish me a happy birthday and told me to have fun.  So everyone knew the plans, except for me.  And all the ladies I assumed would be a part of it were also telling me to have a great time.  My guess was they were throwing me off and trying to make me think that they weren't coming.  So by the time Friday afternoon rolled around I had no idea who was coming or where I was going.  At 4:00 I met Carly at the front doors with my bag, ready for the adventure.  Carly made sure I had everything I needed and then said, "Ok, let's go!"  Then from the top of the stairs Maranda, Theresa, Cecilia and Catie appeared with their bags.  It was so fun!  So then I knew who was coming, but still didn't know where I was going.  I was super surprised at who was coming and super flattered.  Three of those ladies have young families and I was happy that they were coming on the weekend get-away.  They were also excited and said they needed this girl weekend away.  So we hopped in Cecelia's car and off we went. 

We ended up at the train station and that's when I learned of our destination.  We were headed to Berlin!  Lucy met us at the platform, which was another fun surprise.  So there were 7 of us and we were ready to have a fun time. The train ride to Berlin is just under 6 hours.  The ladies came prepared: vodka tonics in coolers, snacks, wine, music, even an ipod speaker set and a boiled egg (inside joke from previous train trips).  Needless to say, we had a great time!

Toothpicks--making sure our teeth are clean

Lucy!

We rolled into Berlin just after 11pm and we were tired.  We hoped on the S train and reached our hostel in no time.  We all climbed into bed and woke up the next morning ready for Berlin!

This was my 3rd trip to Berlin and it was nice not to have to worry about seeing all the 'highlights' of the city.  We were in a new neighborhood in the northeast and we spend the weekend wandering around the cute streets.  We shopped, stopped in cafes, ate great meals, and enjoyed some German beers. It was the first sunny weekend and we spent both mornings eating our breakfast outside.  It was wonderful.  I love when the cafe's set up their tables outside---it's the first real sign of spring.

Lucy and Maranda

After a day of shopping we went out to dinner at a wonderful Spanish Tapas resturant, down the street from our hostel.  The food was amazing and the wine was perfect.  It was a wonderful birthday dinner, indeed. At the end of the night the ladies made me climb on top of the bull for a birthday picture.  After dinner a few of us went out for some dancing.  It was fun to be out in a new city with new people to watch and interact with.

Theresa and I

On Sunday it was time for some pampering and relaxing.  I got to experience my first German sauna.  This was the reason behind the trip.  Carly knew I loved spas and saunas and she knew going to a German sauna was on my Poland bucket list.  So the ladies and I did like the germans do and got naked for an afternoon.  The germans love their naked saunas, they are all over town!  It was a wonderful experience.  I love the Korean spa in Seattle and have been there many times.  The german saunas, however, are for men and women.  So that was new for me, but was still completely wonderful.  We soaked in hot tubs, steam rooms, saunas and even swam in the big swimming pool.  The swimming pool was also partly outside.  You could swim under this bridge and you were outside!  It was awesome.  Swimming naked on a rooftop pool in Berlin---you know your normal Sunday afternoon.  One guy was swimming laps in the outside part---with goggles on!  We thought that was cheating a little bit. :) We laughed, we relaxed, we steamed out the stress in our lives.  It was a great weekend!

Thanks for everything Carly!  What a wonderful treat!

Sara Visits!

My dear friend Sara finally made it across the ocean to visit me in Poland. I was so happy! I know it's a long way to travel, but I think she found that it was worth it.  Sara came out to visit during my February break.  We had a great time together.  We started the trip off in Warsaw and then moved down to beautiful Italy.

It was fun to have Sara experience my life here in Warsaw.  She came to my school, meet my friends, toured around the city, and of course we just hung out on the couch talking.  That was our favorite part of the trip together--just hanging out in my apartment, ordering in Thai food and talking.

Italy of course was also incredible.  I just love that country.  We started off the week in Sorrento and on the Amalfi Coast and then ended with a weekend in Rome.  It was the perfect combonation of relaxing small town on the water and busy exiciting city.  I had never been south of Rome before, so I was particuarlly looking forward to our time in Sorrento.  Sorrento was a cute little town at the tip of the Amalfi Coast.  We enjoyed walking through the small colorful streets and breathing in the fresh saltwater.  I do miss living by the water. The city was also covered with lemon and orange trees.  It was beautiful!  The land of lemoncello--yum!

One afternoon we took a bus down the Amalfi Coast to the cute town of Positano.  The windy ride down was something else!  Breathtaking views and sharp corners at the edge of the high high cliffs that literally took your breath away.  It was incredible!  It was the off season so most of Positano was shut down, but the beauty was still there.  We hopped off the bus at the top of the hill and strolled down to the beach winding past shops and houses.  It was fun to see the residential part of town and not feel surrounded by tourists.  Once we made our way down to the beach we enjoyed a wonderful meal with the ocean steps away and the sun shining on our faces.  It was just perfect!  We planned to take the bus further down the coast but we were sitting in the wrong spot and missed it by seconds.  We were super bummed, but all things happen for a reason.  We ended up heading back into Sorrento and enjoying the wonderful spa at our hostel.  Saunas, steamrooms, tubs and pools.  It was a perfect end to a wonderful day.

Our weekend in Rome was also amazing.  Rome is such a great city.  It was my 3rd time back (I guess throwing a coin over you shoulder at the Trevi Fountain does make you return to Rome again) and there were still plenty of new things for me to see.  We stayed in a nice B&B in a good location.  Just a 10 minute walk to the Spanish Steps.  We had many great meals, saw many great monuments, and just simply enjoyed walking around the city.  I could go on and on about the trip, but I'll leave you with yet another Animoto video montage.   I tried to upload the videos, too.  But my computer is acting up.  I'll have to share them with you later.

Enjoy and I'm sure you will end up Falling for Italy, too.

*Click on the link below and it will take you to the video:

Falling for Italy

Oliver

Oliver passed away this week and my heart is broken a little.  This is the first pet I've lost, besides our cats Lily and Meg.  Lily and Meg were so independent.  They were mainly outdoor cats and we had such a different relationship with them.  When we lost them it took a while to adjust to coming home and having them gone.  No more warm pile curled at the foot on your bed in the morning.  It was sad, too.  But Oliver---he was a part of our daily lives.  When I think about my parents I burst into tears.  I know this is much harder on them. He was in their lives every single day.

But the memories we all share with him and the cute pictures will be things that I hold onto forever.  He was a special guy.  A true friend and companion and a very important part of our family.  We will miss him!

Some memories that have made me smile this week:

*Our neighbor Luke when he was around 5 was Oliver's best friend.  Luke would come over in the morning and knock on the door.  "Can Oviler come out to play?"  We would then open up the door and out Oliver would run.  The two of them would dig in the dirt piles between our houses and throw rocks together all day long.  How cute is that?!

* Jumping off the rock at Pinecrest Lake and having Oliver jump in moments after you trying to save you.  He would swim out to us, bark and try to save us.  He in fact only made things worse because he would try to climb up on you and push you down deeper into the water while clawing all over your back.  But he would do anything for us!

 *Walking on the beach with Oliver and the family.

*Throwing balls with the chuck-it

*Covering him with wrapping paper on Christmas morning

*His ability to rest on the couch even though it was against the rules and sometimes dressing him up to our amusement.

*His head tilt ---adorable at all ages

We'll miss you Oliver!

I heart Saturdays

I woke up this morning to the sun breaking through my blinds.  It was so exciting!  This week the sun has started to poke it's head out from behind the grey grey clouds that have covered the sky since Christmas.  I was so excited to open my blinds and let the sun shine into my bedroom.  I even ate my breakfast in bed and watched the latest Grey's while enjoying the bright sun upon my face.  It was the perfect start to a Saturday morning.

And Sara is coming to visit on Thursday and I can't stinkn' wait!  We are going to spend a few days in Warsaw and then head to the Almafi Coast in Italy for my February Break.  It will be nice to be by the water again and in Italy---a wonderful country.  We end our trip in Rome which will also be amazing.  So waking up to the sun and the knowledge that Sara's visit is so soon, made me smile and start my weekend off with the right positive energy.

Now I am off to they gym with Carly for a little workout and steam room.  We plan to stop by a coffee shop on the way home for a warm lattee and a little book reading.  Then Lucy invited us out to a "lonely hearts."party in a club.  So I hope to end my night dancing.

Sounds like a good Saturday to me.  I hope your weekend is also off to a good start.

Ps. I think I officially got rid of my sinus infection.  I've had one all week and have been using my Nettie Pot like crazy.  I love that thing!  Way better than medicine and creepy Polish doctors.  :)