Sticky Apple Kisses

Thirteen Places I Recommend1….Since this week over at Thursday 13 is a theme week, and one on traveling, I thought I would jump in again as it is not that difficult for me to come up with 13, in fact I can think of many more, but decided to limit to only places I have visited since I have had my digital camera and therefore I can share! :-)Number 1: La Posta in Azul Argentina! Pollo has a place that is open for any motorcyclist to stay for free, and he has one of the biggest and kindest hearts in the world! Once your there be sure to participate in one of his Asados! (unless your vegetarian, in which case you may never recover from the sight!) You can read more about Pollo and La Posta here in the latest Journizer log! 2. Japan!!!! The food, the temples, the vending machines with adult Hello Kitty products, life as you know it will never be the same! 3. Skiing in Austria WITH Germans. Why do you need to add Germans? Because they are the only people I know who think that drinking till 5 am and then getting up to ski at 7 30 am, to be on the slopes by 9, is not only normal, but essential to the enjoyment of skiing. And not one day, but two or three days in a row, (usually prefaced and followed by drinking on the bus). 4. Vietnam! 5. Thailand! Beaches for the party type, and beaches of the secluded type, Thailand has what you want, even if it is illegal to want it. 6. The Ukraine I loved the Ukraine even more than I had anticipated, the cops were corrupt, but the people were wonderful, even if they did insist on giving me strange looking grapes and watching to make sure I ate them. 7. Argentina’s Grand Salar may not be as big as Bolivia’s salt lake, but it was impressive anyway! 8. Chile What can I say other than there is not much I wouldnt do to be able to go back. 9. Lake Como Italy Just don’t bother in a Mini Cooper. 10. Lake Constance Be it the Swiss side, the German side, or the Austrian side, or if you call it Lake Constance, the Boden See, or the Swabian Sea, it just rocks. 11. Rome I would not rush to go back, but it is one of those places that should be on everybody’s list! 12. The ruins of Pergamun in Turkey are well worth a visit, although I would say skip Troy unless you are a hardcore fan! 13. The Alps Again, it doesn’t matter which country you are in, the Alps are just amazing. Though the Swiss Alps are better known for a reason. And no, he is not photoshopped in.

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Thirteen Things about My Life In 2007 Inspired by Raven’s Roads and Driftwood Dragon 1. January 2007: The year started where it ended - in Germany. I was in a German course, trying to get a job, but all the job offers required a VISA, and to get the visa I needed a job offer. It was a vicious cycle and it was frustrating me. As a pick me up I booked a flight to Rome for the weekend ( I love Europe) and then decided to go home and get the Visa.2. February 2007: Home in Newfoundland! I was home for a full week, got to see my family, friends, and my babies!!!Then I was off to Ontario to see my brother for the first time in 3 years (the last time I saw him was when I left for Japan, we were never in the same province again for a full 3 years.) More importantly I got to meet Sky J Baby doll. Who is awesome beyond awesome.3. March 2007: I took a job at a call center to make some money and keep me busy while waiting for my German visa to be processed. (I went through SWAP, it cost me a lot more money, but it was worth it not to have tear each shred of hair on my head). More importantly my heart was stolen forever and ever by Princess Sky J. This was also when I taught her to get off the couch head first. Whoops.4. April 2007: I decide dnot to return to Japan (I did toy with it, or went as far as to ask for contract) and booked my ticket back to Germany. The hardest part was leaving Skye J. Though I would not miss 7 am wake ups as she pushed my nose in and my brother set up his video console in my room (which happened to be the TV room as well), the rest of the day with her was wonderful. I still miss coming home at lunch time and having her whip her out her dummy and charge me waving her arms in the air. But the 28th of April I was on a plane back to Germany.5. May 2007: I brought with me the cold Canadian winter. The hottest spring in Germany plunged into freezing cold/wet Spring. I also begun the job hunt. Chain school hired me, however told me I missed (mandatory) training by days and I would have to wait 2 months before the next one. So I began to set myself up with privates and the groundwork for English coach was laid. May was also family motorcycle vacation time, and we spent it in the Italian alps.
6. June 2007: I decide to get my German motorcycle license, however I find out just how torturous a process it is. WITH my German car license, I still had to do 6 in class lessons (in German) plus over 15 lessons on the bike. The grand total was to come in at just under 2000 Euros, and at this point I was only working privates. At least I started the in class sessions.7. July 2007: Finally training with chain school arrived and by the end of the month I was working in full swing. English coach also took off and I found myself with more and more work. Finally I have the money to begin my on the bike time, but no time to do so. I had planned to drive myself on our Eastern Europe vacation, but it was starting to look more and more like I would not have the time. But I did get to visit Janine in Dortmund, wheeeeeee!

8. August 2007: My birthday! I finally went to Neuschwanstein! As much as I complained about chain school (and now that I am free from it I am overjoyed) but working this entire month on a regular basis was great. I finally had a steady cash flow of my own money again, and through chain school I got to meet some awesome people. My life was beginning to look like mine again as opposed to being defined by my partner.

9. September 2007: I admit defeat and accept I am a pillion for trip to the Ukraine, we hit Slovakia, the Ukraine, Romania, and Hungary. It was exactly what I needed, a nice break, and at one point I even found myself missing Germany! (This happened in Romania where all the restaurants were in fact bars wihtout food. I LOVE food, and I began to crave the bakeries of my new found Swabian home!!)

10. October 2007: Back in Stuttgart and I have a new job with a new school by the end of the month. good by chain school, and now I work with a local school (that cares about the quality of training offered as opposed to how many Euros they can squeeze out of the students) and my own private coaching has also taken off. But the sad thing is that my on the bike lessons are canceled, as my school only offers them March - October. In Canada it is so much easier to get the license!!

11. November 2007: Early Christmas in the Dominican Republic with my parents!!! And all the more reason I love my job, freelancing means you don’t need permission to take time off, or a set amount of holidays. Sweeeeeeeeet. (This works well for a gypsy princess like myself)

12. December 2007: Poland was canceled because I came down with the flu from hell (which then created that cold sore Christmas dinner conversation problem). Planning for our big trip through Africa kicked into high gear, with the agreement that planning is planning and maybe we end up heading in a different direction.

13. And so that was my last year. I can not believe how fast it flew by! Being busy means good or bad time is not going by slowly. If that is good or I cant decide. But I hit 10 countries, so at least my Gypsy ways are not threatened by me staying in the same country for a year or more.

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Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Thirteen Things I Have Just Learned About The Return Of Saturn    1.   I have been having something of a freak out the past 2 months (well longer, but it has been intensifying the past 2 months), a love hate relationship with my job, right down to the realization that I am going to be 30 in just 2 years. While ranting to a friend she told me I better get it cleared up as my Saturn’s Return was just around the corner, if not here already. So the first thing I learned about Saturn’s return is its name, which means just that, the return of Saturn.

2. I demanded to know more so she told me to google it to find it out for myself. I have to admit to not being a big believer in Astrology, but everything I read on this particular topic just fit - including that when Saturn enters into its original place in your birth chart your whole world turns upside down, right about when your 30. So I dug into it a little more.

3. It takes Saturn around 29.5 years to make its way back to its original position when you were born.

4. But Saturn stays in each house around 2 years, so the years between 28 - 30 is when you experience your Saturn’s return. AKA your first life crisis. Or at least mine, I was so freaking confident in everything I did up until now!

5. This is the time when you finally get to be an “adult” not 19 or 21. Which means I was right when I told everyone to stop freaking out at 24, we were still more or less teenagers. (I figured university delayed true adulthood, and so my age group at 23 or 24 were where our parents were at 19, 2 years out of school, Nothing!)

6. Each return is different based upon the house you were born under (so though I am a Leo I share a return of Saturn with anyone born roughly between 1978 - 1980. (You can find out exactly by checking out http://saturnreturn.net/where_is.html)

7. Even if the astronomy part is all crap, the timing is perfect. Right down to the fact that all of a sudden I find myself a workaholic obsessed with lists as the be all and end all to all my life’s problems. I bought Surviving Saturn’s Return as it was 12 Euros and I figured how can it hurt. If nothing else it will be fun. It was a little too fun as it all just fit a little too well, right down to the stress really kicking in September 3rd of this year, days before the Eastern Europe Motorcycle tour, which was awesome but tumultuous to begin.

8.  It happens again when we are nearing 60, as this is the second time Saturn makes his way around to his original location.

9.  More importantly if you do not deal with it the first time around, the second time is harder.

10.  The return of Saturn is a clock demanding that you do your inner work and get your life on track the way it should be for you, not the way others think it should be.

11.  The lessons astrologers talk about in preparing you for your Saturn’s return are important for  everyone all the time, as a believer or not.  At the risk of sounding like a nut job I decided to do this Thursday 13 because I loved the book.  but I would have loved it if it had been called “Common Crisis for Nearing 30 Women”  or “Freak outs of the average 30 year old.”

12. These lessons could be summed up as do your own inner work, be honest to yourself and others, love and trust yourself, and don’t surrender the power for any of your decisions to  anyone else.  Relationships and money are not the bandaids we are brought up to believe they are.

13.  If you love and respect yourself things work out.  The further you step away from that (staying with your partner because your afraid to be alone, not writing that book because it means everyone will laugh at you for giving up your job as a top exec, worshiping at the  feet of the great dollar instead of the divinity that is inside all of us) the further you work yourself into varying degrees of unhappy states.

And so as a believer or not, it fits right now. 

Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

1. (leave your link in comments)

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Thirteen Reasons I Teach EFLAs an English as a foreign language teacher I have a love hate relationship with my job. I realize that is not limited to us EFLer’s, however our jobs are viewed by most as transient anyway. No one expects to do it more than a year or two. So when you keep coming back to it, well there just has to be a reason.1. Number one is both a reason to keep teaching as well as to quit – the students! Just as some of them make you want to jump out a window to end everyone’s pain, some you really look forward to seeing and working with. I will never forget getting postcards from students after the course is over, or even how much I simply enjoy speaking with others. Some of my best discussions are with students. If anything I feel guilty, almost like they are paying me to be a friend. Every student that drives you crazy, there are 10 that you are happy you were able to meet!2. Travel!!!!! Teaching English lets you travel to your gypsy soul’s content. China for Christmas, Taiwan for New Years, and Rome for the weekend are just a few of the trips I have been able to do thanks to teaching English. There are times I wonder if jumping out the window is a better alternative than listening to a student argue that they know my language better than me (in which fine, keep making parties then, you obviously know what I do not! ;-P ) and then I think about how in 3 weeks time I am going to the Caribbean, and less than a month a long weekend in Krakow. It is the balm on those days with cantankerous students. 3. The FOOD!!! Tied into my real number one reason, which for no particular reason is appearing as number 2, the food you get to eat is amazing. Although sometimes what is placed on display for you is enough to make you queasy for weeks (raw horse meat, cow brains, and fermented squid guts have all been pushed upon me, none without a great amount of success) others make me wake up in the middle of the night craving a return. Mie Machi in Japan despite being a village in the middle of a rice field has restaurants that do not rival but surpass any and all I had been in before and since. And who could forget the Asado’s of Argentina as you feasted on a plain with no one but you and your travel partner in sight. 4. Who else is going to pay me that much money to ramble on about topics that interest me in the interest of bettering a students general conversational skills? 5. Mt. Fuji. I will never EVER do it again. But I am so proud of myself for doing it. 6. Movie theaters in other countries. This may be me being a freak, but I love going to the movies, and I love seeing movies in other countries. In Thailand they make you stand to the national anthem while pictures of the king and his family flash about on the screen, I would never have witnessed that if I did not teach English! 7. The people! I recently signed into Facebook to show a student an example of viral marketing and they could not believe I had over 250 friends. I explained to her that with Facebook you just add people you barely know, or people who knew years before, it is not an accurate description. However I would say I have 100 people on that list I would honestly count as friends, and 30 whom I would say are the true kind, no matter how much time or space separates us. I dont think this would have been possible if I had not lived in so many different countries and places. 8. Greater cultural understanding. Though far from perfect, I do have a much more open mind then seven years ago, and I always thought that I did actually have an open mind. But little things, like understanding the fear that a uniform can inspire in you has really opened my eyes to the immigrant experience in Canada, or other countries for that matter. 9. It is a great way (forgive me for being cheesy here) to fulfill your dreams. There is no way I would have been able to afford to do the traveling I have done, or the things I have seen, if it was not for teaching English, both in terms of time and money. Taking great breaks between contracts does not hurt your career as an EFL teacher, in fact its often expected and many contracts give you an apartment and a plane ticket, which also helps immensely. Even in Germany where they offer you neither, you are still in a prime location to have Europe at your fingertips. I am flying to Croatia in February for 50 Euros return. That would have been the taxes on my ticket from Canada – if I was lucky! 10. You can learn a new language as well! Most schools offer courses in other languages besides English, and will let you join a class for free or a substantial discount. Though I am hardly proficient in German, it is improving continuously as I am surrounded by German in my everyday life, on the TV, and technically courses, should I ever have the free time to take one. ;-P 11. Other teachers! Like the students you may find that some EFL teachers are, for want of a better word, completely loony. However that situation is found in any and all jobs. But a lot of the time you will find that other teachers are people like you, wanting to travel and experience the world, and they can be your best partners in crime, be it on the hunt for Tostitos in Hiroshima or a cultural backlash bitch at the local Starbucks (and of course your going to have them!). 12. You can do it pretty much anywhere! It doesn’t matter if your doing it to travel, or just because your in love with someone from another country, or who has been transferred there, chances are you can teach English there, even if there is Australia, Canada, or Ireland. 13. You can often work as much or as little as you want. This is especially true for freelancers like myself, where I have to agree to each class/student, or I can say no without any effect if I wish. But in Korea I took my time finding a contract because I didn’t want to start work before 12. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!) Amy, Dallas Miao, Julia, Mama Archer

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!View More Thursday Thirteen Participants