the last week of camp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Final week of camp! Sadly though I am with the Kinders all week doing “Down on the Farm” camp. On Monday I went in at 9 am and there were only 13 Kinders for all five of us staff members. Because of the large number of staff and small amount of kids, I only worked a few hours in the morning, got a four hour break, and then worked a few more hours in the afternoon. The day went by pretty fast and nothing too exciting happened. It was another training holiday and that’s why there weren’t too many kids. But that afternoon I did find out that I will be going to the away camp on Wednesday and therefore I am really excited.

Today I had the 5:30 am shift so that I would have the right shift an not have to work over 12 hours tomorrow when I go to the away camp. Man was it dark and cold this morning and so hard to get up. One again I count my blessings for my childhood life because when I got there at 5:30 am and the director wasn’t even there yet to open the center, a parent and kid were already waiting so he could be dropped off. I mean no wonder that child ends up having behavior issues in the afternoon… he gets there before 5:30 in the morning! And today I didn’t even get to go on the Dairy Farm field trip with the kids that I was actually excited about! Instead I had to go cover someone at the CDC again and I was with the toddlers. Seriously, that age group scares me. the CDC in general scares me. I have no idea how I am ever going to have my own child but I definitely can’t work with anyone younger than the age of six. No joke I was so uncomfortable I wanted to cry! Then when I got back I only had to work one more hour and then I was free!

This lack of sleep and unhealthy diet issue is really getting in my way! I am just tired, drained, and sore all the time and it prevents a good workout! Instead I have been sleeping and on the internet since I got off….

Tonight we are going bowling to have one more big bonding time together before Abby has to leave on Thursday. I think it will definitely be fun and I’m really excited.

I don’t know how much I will actually keep up with my blog this week since I will be packing, cleaning, and not doing too many exciting things. So my break down for the week is this:

Tomorrow I am going to the away camp and I will basically be there all day and night. I leave for the camp at 7 am and then I work in ratio until about 5pm. Then I am staying there for the family night BBQ to get one last time to say bye to all my 1^st through 5^th graders as well as say goodbye to the staff for the summer.

Thursday I am going to breakfast in the morning at the DFAC again for one final amazing hot breakfast for really cheap. It is also field trip day with the Kinders and I am pretty sure we are going to a Ranch and horseback riding. That should be pretty cool and I will make sure to get lots of pictures (but I can’t post them if the kids are in them). That night I think we are trying to have a bonfire or some sort of fun activity since it will be our last night in the barracks.

Friday I go into work at 9 am and then at some point I will be pulled out by my POC to come do a final room check and get our stuff. I then go back to work until 1 pm and then we leave for Nurmberg for a hotel for the rest of the night (where we won’t actually sleep) and at 4 am Saturday we will be at the airport to come home. Friday is also PJ Party day at the center so thankfully I wont have to wear my hideous uniform on my last day.

The week seems to look like it will go by pretty fast as I write it down and I hope that it does. I am ready to come home and I can’t wait to see all my friends and family again!

I will update you if my week changes or if anything exciting happens =)

it's decided... I'm Moving to Switzerland!

August 11th and 12th

This weekend was seriously the best weekend of my life! On the 10^th we ended up having cake first and then going to a place called Brazil’s for dinner. All I actually got was a strawberry colda and tortilla chips with cheese on it because I got so full on cake. We then went downtown to the Irish Pub to celebrate Abby’s and my birthday ad it was pretty fun. Only a small group of us went and I really didn’t drink much at all but I still had a good time.

On Saturday we got up at 4 in the morning for the last time for our final weekend trip. It was our last 5:30 am train and the last weekend to have such long train rides. It took 7 hours to get to Interlaken but when we got there I instantly fell in love! Interlaken is the most beautiful place I have ever seen in my life! The mountains were gorgeous and it was so cool to see some that still had snow on them while people were also out boating and tanning on the lake. It was honestly the most beautiful had and everyone was so nice. A lot of people speak English there so it made it really easy to find our way around (plus everyone knew the hostel we were staying at). Interlaken is like THE PLACE to go to do adventurous stuff. Of course we were going canyoning, but we saw so many paragliders, hang gliders, and tour groups leaving to go rafting, bungee jumping, sky diving, zorbing, etc. that’s when I knew this was my kind of place!

Our hostel was also the coolest place ever! It was honestly like its own little village and it was comforting to know that it has been voted the #1 hostel for a long time. The hostel had its own bar, night club, restaurant, beer garden, game room, etc. It was awesome! After we put our stuff in our room and got ready for canyoning we waited out in front of our hostel to be picked up by our tour guide and got to learn just how rich people in Switzerland are! There were people flying fighter jets around and doing cool tricks just for practice and we saw one lady walking her dog while riding her horse down the street! Talk about insane! Next thing you know this guy with no shirt on comes screeching up on his bike and asked if we were the 7 girls going canyoning. We had no idea we were just a short walk away from the meeting spot for our canyoning experience and our tour guide just came down to walk us over there so we could get ready to go.

We had the coolest guys as tour guides ever! One was from New Zealand and the other was from somewhere in the States but I forget where (I think somewhere small like Delaware or something). They were cracking jokes the whole time and were just about the coolest people we have met in Europe. After we finally put on all our gear, we took a 20 minute van ride up a narrow twisty road towards Young Frau mountain over near saxteen canyon.

Canyoning by far was the most insane and best experience of my entire life! We were jumping off cliffs, sliding down waterfalls, and making our way through the river and down the mountain. I could not ask for a better time! I will admit there were a few times I was scared for my life but overall I was totally in my element and loving every second of the adventure! On one of the jumps my foot actually slipped so I did not jump out far at all! I thought for sure my legs were going to clip the side of the cliff, I would face plant on the water, and just be down for! It was the scariest moment ever but luckily I did not hit the rocks or the water hard at all. Also on one of the drops down a water fall I got caught under the waterfall so the current wasn’t pushing me anywhere! I felt like I was going to drowned but I finally came up and around the water fall! It was the coolest time of my life! Nora was even super cool and did a flip off of one of our extra jumps near a water fall! It was the most fun I have had since I have been here!

After we canyoned down the mountain and then had to hike back up in all our wet heavy gear (in the mud and dirt up the side of the mountain we just came down…. Oh joy…) we went back to the meeting spot. They gave us free beer (that only cost 50 cents they said), bread, and real Swiss cheese. Since we were the last group we got to have as much as we wanted.  It was absolutely insane but I guess it was a good way to celebrate my 21^st birthday! Our guides were also super cool and circled spots on a map of all the places we should go, what was going on that night, and where to eat dinner. So after we went back to our hostel and changed, we set out for the Golden Anker restaurant for dinner. Now normally the food can be kind of expensive (but also in bigger portions) but we got the back packers menu that was a little bit smaller portions and only 15 Francs for the dinner. Anneke and I split the Gnocchi dinner which also came with some werid clear vegetable and asian noodle soup and a four bite salad with a really good dressing. The coolest thing was that we finally got free tap water and free bread at this restaurant! The waitress said it used to be law in Switzerland to get free water and a newspaper at any restaurant and even though it’s not law anymore, most places still do free water at least. Even though we had just eaten so much bread at the canyoning meeting place, we filled up on even more bread here. Our Gnocchi was super delicious in a gorgonzola sauce with tomatoes, broccoli, and peppers and it was also amazing to dip the bread in the sauce. It was probably one of the best meals I have had in Europe… but it could have also been the hunger from canyoning and the fact that I was just so in love with Switzerland! After dinner we came across this awesome church choir singing in a plaza and a Chocolate shop. The choir was amazing and they were singing such beautiful gospel hymns.  Then the owner of the chocolate shop was also extremely nice. He gave us each a free sample of any truffle we chose and he even let us take pictures behind the chocolate counter with our chocolates! Because he was so nice all of us ended up buying something from there. I got this cute little milk chocolate swiss army knife and it was absolutely delicious.

After that we walked back to our hostel extremely exhausted. We didn’t even make it to midnight for my birthday! We were all in bed by 10:30 and talked until about 11 or so.

The next morning we got to sleep in a little bit. We had one other girl in our room that we didn’t know and man she made sooo much noise when she came in and left! She came in probably about 12 or 1 and then was dropping her iphone with an alarm that kept going off and dropping all her stuff and leaving at like 4:45 am!  I was so mad because she just kept making so much noise! But when we finally all woke up at 7:30 am I just could not believe it was my 21^st birthday and I was in Switzerland! For the free breakfast we got at the hostel we had more bread and Swiss cheese as well as a bowl of cornflakes served with room temp milk. I also had about 3 cups of mix in coffee and made sure I filled up as much as I could because I did not have any Francs left and barely any snacks left in my back pack.

After breakfast we got on the local bus system and headed to the lake. They didn’t really have beaches like we see in California, this area was more grassy or like rocky beaches. We found a beautiful spot on the water with a grass area to lay out on and the cold water right near us. It was amazing! The water was so blue and clear, the air was crisp and fresh, and the sun was so warm. There was a church service going on down the lake a little ways and so we heard morning choir singing. I feel like everyone around Switzerland sings or something because the whole congregation was singing and they sounded so good!

After a while of hanging out in our bathing suits, Nora got the courage to dive into the lake. I followed her and did it too because like she said “we are only here once and we might as well take advantage of every opportunity”. It was soooooooo cold but the coolest thing ever. I mean come on…. I jumped in a lake in Switzerland and layed out by the water for my 21^st… how cool is that? I mean yeah I did go to all the bars and have a huge party…. But I know I will still do that when I get back… but not many people can say they had the adventure I did in Switzerland. I was still pretty bummed not to be home but I definitely enjoyed my day.

After hanging out at the lake for a few hours it was time to head back to the train station and start our 7 hours journey back. Most of us were still hungry and wanting souvenirs when we got back to the train station so we started looking around. Another cool thing about Switzerland…. They take debit/credit cards. Almost nowhere else in Europe does that so we were all very excited.

Our train ride back was pretty boring and standard as usual, but on one train we had a group of monster children behind us running up and down the hall screaming and tackling each other. It was really annoying really fast. But other than that it was just crazy to think that we were on our last train journey in Germany!

After we got back Anneke, Nora, Chikyra, Abby and I went to the ice cream place down the street and splurged on big sundaes to celebrate my birthday! It was really cool! The place has like a 10 page menu all with these extravagant ice cream sundaes! I got a chocolate and cookie sundae and it was absolutely delicious! Anneke and I also split a chocolate and banana waffle…. It wasn’t as good as it looked but hey, who can turn down bananas and chocolate? We then all went totally overboard and had more cake when we got back from ice cream and we were all sitting in the hall way on our computers trying to talk to family.

It was the most amazing trip ever and I would totally move to Switzerland! I am so happy we saved this trip for last. It has been extremely hard to have motivation to get to this point and I know at one point I did not even care about going anymore I just wanted to come home, but I am so glad I went. I thought Paris stole my heart…. But Interlaken definitely takes the cake! I want to go back and have more adventures there! Only one more week until I am home!

Last full Friday at work!

Finally Friday! It was a training holiday today so no one was doing PT this morning outside our window and there were barely any kids at the center. All in total we had about 25 kids. I had to take over one of the camps this morning for a little bit but it wasn’t hard at all because they were building a Kinect rollercoaster and there were only about five kids. But then during my break I had a hard time working out! Apparently when it is training holidays everyone still goes to the gym! There were more people in there today than I have ever seen all summer! All I was able to do was keep on my elliptical for 45 minutes! There was nowhere to lift, do abs, or do kettle bells or even stretch!

When I went back to work I ran the SAS (school age services) Olympics. It was a great idea and took a lot of prep time but it did not run as smoothly. I had the kids break into teams, design a team flag, show off their flags and team during opening ceremonies, and then had some team events as well as individual events. It went ok but the kids were not always the most enthusiastic or nice to each other.

Then I got to start my weekend off early since the numbers were so low. I think my supervisor knew it’s been a long week for me plus I wanted to just get out of there to start packing so he sent me home over an hour early from work. Tonight we have birthday cake for Abby and me and we are hoping to go out for dinner and drinks tonight.

It’s going to be another sleepless night as we head off to Switzerland at 5:30 am tomorrow morning. It will be a great way to celebrate my birthday by canyoning in Interlaken and a good final trip while being here.

I’m sad to go but oh so ready to come home!

last field trip day =(

This morning a few of us went to the dining commons on base for breakfast and it was soooooo good. I had pancakes, bacon, hashbrowns, and tons of fruit and it was delicious. Everything I have been really craving plus two cups of real coffee. It was a really great way to start off the day.

Then it was my last field trip day with the kids! I was really happy because I got the older kids that I have been bonding the best with. And today they were really great. We went to Scholls Thurn Amusement park btu once again it was a weird type of amusement park. There were only like five rides and only one of which was a little kiddy dragon roller coaster. But I did go on a few rides with the kids and I saw some really cool animals! They had like a little zoo there and the animals could come right up to the fence and touch you! The amusement park is also set up in little cities like a medieval city and a western city and that was pretty cool as well. I went on this one ride that was really fun. It was like a water slide but you don’t get wet. You take a raft for two people and walk up this huge ladder to go down this crazy slide that then just stops and you are skidding across like astro turf.  It was really fast and crazy!

The kids were really really good and I had a ton of fun with them today! It was my last day with a few of them and the day just went by way too fast! I am so glad I got to be with them today though and I was sad to say goodbye to them!

After work I got a really good workout in and then went down town to get ice cream with a few girls. Of course I then locked myself out of my room and had to go to a different building to get the same key. Apparently this is not the first time this has happened to the girls here because when I walked in the guy knew what building and knew I locked myself out. He was really nice and just gave me the master key and told me to bring it back.

So tomorrow and Monday are training holidays which means I will get basically no sleep tonight because the guys party in the room right across from me and it’s so loud you’d think the party was in my room. I also found out the place we are supposed to eat at tomorrow night for Abby and my birthday is closed tomorrow so I don’t know what I am going to do. I just want to come home so bad. Coming home is just not coming soon enough.

sleepy sleepy wednesday

Today was just so tough! I got so much sleep last night and yet somehow I was sooooo tired today. I just could not open my eyes and I felt like such a zombie. I somehow barely got to ten and then when I got home I figured I would take a half an hour nap and then workout but I slept for my ENTIRE break and I was still extremely tired! I drank more coffee and I was still dead. All day I just could not tell you what was going on. One the bike ride I take the kids on for Wheels on Wednesday I just slowly biked and did not talk the whole time. And even when I wanted to be enthusiastic I just couldn’t. Today for large group we did a “Who dun it?” mystery and I was the sherriff in town talking about the robbery that happened but the whole time I was getting my country “y’all” talk on I felt like my eyes were forcing themselves to close and my body just wanted to collapse.

By the end of the day my whole body was drained and all the kids knew it. I felt bad because my mood and body language rubs off on them and I don’t want them to have bad days. I don’t know what is going on.

So of course today after work it’s been cookies and candy and no working out. Haha what can I say I just love the sweets. Hopefully I can just catch up on sleep and be back to my two workouts tomorrow and feel rested.

slow start to the week.... ten days and counting down!

August 7

This morning when I woke up we had the craziest 10 minute storm ever! I thought for sure there was no way I was going to be able to get to work and I had no idea what I was going to do! And all the guys outside had to just stand in it during PT. they were standing at attention in this crazy wind and pouring rain! Then when it stopped just in time for me to bike to work I saw all of them laying in the muddy grass to do sit ups! I felt so bad for them! Then when I was biking I passed this group where the guy in charge who calls out in a chant the “1,2,3” didn’t even skip a beat and said “don’t run me over” instead of “1,2,3” in perfect rhythm it was so funny!

Then this morning I had more kids so excited to see me and make more birthday cards for me it was so cute! It’s going to be like a weeklong celebration and that makes me have a little bit motivation to not want to come home like right now. Anneke and I then struggled to make the electricity trick with a potatoe work and I was just glad to get off for my break. I got such a good workout and then of course proceeded to eat more cookies. It’s so bad! I just need to get rid of them!!! Then the afternoon went by pretty fast and I got the kids to do a worksheet of the rebus brain teasers where it is a riddle based on a word oriented in a certain way like:

And once they got how it worked they really had fun with it.

After work our PC was here again and we had one final meeting and then went to a really really good restaurant for some more schnitzel. We weren’t able to go to the stables on base (where they train horses like in the restaurant) because it closed yesterday for a month! It was sad! So we went to a place called the schieshaus and it was really cheap for a ton of food. I got a half portion of food and it was still  A TON of food. It was insane that we went so late though! We were lucky we even got food! We got there right as the kitchen was closing! This schnitzel I got was plain schnitzel but it was the best stuff I have ever had! And their pommes (fries) were amazing too. Haha I actually mean it this time when I say tomorrow the diet starts…. Except the cookies I still have, birthday cake and Mexican food Friday, and a huge sundae on Sunday night haha!

I am so tired and I am excited to get some sleep!

August 6

Today was an up and down sort of day. The kids were really great and they have already starting making me birthday cards and singing happy birthday to me even though my birthday isn’t for six more days. It really put me in a good mood and made me super happy. The technology camp also built a circuit board that hooked up to the radio and sang Happy Birthday to me! The day went by super fast and it is insane to think that we only have one more week left. The weather has been super crazy and cold which I guess is typical for Germany.

After work I went on my run and then I went to the LIDL to turn in my recycling. I have been doing really good about working out and staying on track to keep in shape for when I come home but then I ruined it all at the LIDL. I got a Euro from recycling and the only thing that was a Euro was a bag of cookies and since I was so hungry from my run that I just basically ate the whole bag on my walk back to the barracks! My sweet tooth is so bad! But I’ve decided that I don’t mind as long as I continue to work out the way that I am.

I have already started packing to come home and I have successfully packed one carry on already. Other than that I just uploaded all my pictures and wrote my blog for the weekend. Not much really happened today. It’s going to be a slow week I feel like.

Back to Munich!!!!!

August 4^th and 5^th

Saturday morning was once again another early 5:30 am train to start our way back out to Munich. Thankfully I was able to get some sleep the night before because man was it a long day! Once we got in to Munich we went straight to our tour at Dachau. The tour took 5 hours and it was all standing and walking! But it was all very interesting and our tour guide really knew his history. If it wasn’t so hot and there were more places to sit I may have like it a lot more, but nonetheless it was definitely an intense experience. Our guide really knew all the straight facts that were all so different from the perspective we get in our history classes. He talked about the good, the bad, and the ugly that all the countries did throughout this time and I learned a lot more about how Dachau came to opening and how Hilter came to so much power. Before it was a concentration camp it was a factory and at the time of the depression everyone lost their jobs. Then when it first opened it was called a “reeducation center” for people that had political views that were not the Nazi’s views. I also then learned all about the different physical and psychological tortures of the camp and what it would have been like to be there. It was just absolutely mind blowing. Our tour guide told us about these pictures he saw of when they hung someone by the wrists and then a Nazi guard literally tore the guys body off leaving his arms dangling and his body on the ground. The guard then proceeded to stand on top on the prisoner and pose for a picture with thumbs up. I just will never be able to understand how anyone could ever do something like that. I could honestly go on for hours (especially since I was on the tour for five listening to constant stories) about the camp there. They had dark rooms where they just held prisoners for a year at a time and the prisoners could only keep track of time because thye got hot soup every 4 days. Men went insane in there and would commit suicide, and if they survived they were brought out into the sun and forced to stare at the sun in which they would go blind in 20 seconds. If you were injured or sick on inable to work for some reason or another you were killed. With every room I walked through and the more I learned I started to be in disbelief that anyone could have ever survived. Then of course it really got to me when we finally got to the gas chamber and crematorium. Our tour guide would even walk us through there because he said one time was one too many. It was just absolutely insane and I got really choked up and teared a little. It was just so hard to see and it is insane to me that there are still genocides and killings every day. There are memorials that say things like never again and warn the living and yet somehow mankind just doesn’t learn. It was very sad and depressing but also very worthwhile to see.

                After that sad trip we then went on a fun beer challenge (except not really a challenge more just like a beer tour) through the city of Munich. We met so many people from all around the world and that was the best part of the tour. Of course we could have gone to the different beer houses on our own but the experience of meeting people from everywhere was so cool. We first had a beer made in Munich in a bottle that we just walked down the street with. In Germany you can seriously go anywhere with any sort of open container of alcohol and it just felt so weird to walk down the street drinking a beer! Then we headed to an outdoor beer garden and that was such a cool atmosphere. These older gentlemen just loved the crowd of young people that came in and wanted to chat it up. Then as we were leaving the beer garden our entire tour group sang happy birthday to me and a few other people that had birthdays in August. It was super embarrassing and one of my roommates has a picture so hopefully I will get that soon. After that we headed to a few more places and we got to experience all types of different beer house atmospheres. We saw people in the traditional lederhosen (or however you spell it) and saw some traditional dancing and the Haufbrau house. I even tried the Pope’s beer which I am not sure why it is called that; it was really loud in the bar and could not hear the tour guide talk about the beer. All in all it was a really fun night and even though I did not drink a lot (cuz the beers we had to buy ourselves were expensive and I really do not drink a lot of beer) I still had an amazing time. We then got on the tram and headed to our hsotel

The tent was the coolest hostel ever! It was super laid back and everyone was so nice! When we go there there was a bonfire and the bar at the hostel was still open. People were playing music and singing and just having a relaxing night that you would if you were camping in the woods. But all of us were so tired that we just got our blankets and went to bed. Where we slept was literally a huge party tent with 100 bunk beds in the room. Since we got there late we all had top bunks and it was really interesting to try to get into them because there wasn’t a ladder to get up onto the bed.

                In the morning we were able to see more of the grounds and I thought it was really cool. It was just a giant area for people to camp out at and they had a huge bathroom and shower area, a kitchen, pinics areas, a volley ball court, a bar, and a café that was super cheap. I got a ton of food and coffee for only 2 Euro and it was a great way to start the morning. We then headed to our tour of Neuschwanstein. It was a two hour train ride there plus a bus to get the the base. It was the most beautiful area I have ever seen in my life! We then took a carriage ride almost to the actaul castle and then walked the rest of the way up. It was just so beautiful and it’s understandable why Disney used the design. Of course now Disney pays the castle owners and Germany every year for stealing the design but it was just gorgeous. Only 30% of the castle is complete inside and Kind Ludwig of Bavaria was just a nut who built all these catsles he didn’t have money for and so they were never finished when he died, but man it was just so cool. I was also able to eat ablskeevers and drink the fresh spring water from the Alps. It was awesome! After seeing the outside, getting some souviner shopping done, and eating, our tour group went down the back way and hiked down the mountain through the forest. It was gorgeous! The most beautiful water fall ever and the best walk of my life! We got down to the base and back to the bus just in time because without warning we watched a curtain or pouring rain just come at us. It was completely dry not even sprinkling where we were and we just watched the storm come down the mountain and a minute later without any warning rain it was absolutely pouring.

                All weekend we had great luck of getting everywhere on time and making all the trains until that afternoon. Because of the storm and a road block our 5 minute bus ride took over an hour and because of that delay we missed every train going back to Munich. We then had to get on another bus for another hour to catch back up with the train to get to Munich. From there we got back on a train and headed home.

It was definitely a long and grueling weekend but probably my best trip yet. I had the BEST time with the girls I went with and I really learned so much about the places I went to. I could go on forever about what I learned at Dachau and about crazy Ludwig whose death is still a mystery, but because it was such a long weekend I can’t even remember. It was an amazing weekend and I am so glad I went.