From the Midwest to the Middle East: Accidentally in Love

I didn't plan on falling in love, but it happened. I fell in love with London. If I could move there I totally would in a heartbeat. I definitely want to go back at some point. I know I didn't see everything, but I sure put in a good effort.

The flight there everything went well. We even had our own row (each) so we could lay down from Istanbul to London, which was amazing because my legs are NOT made for airplanes. The task of getting from the airport to the hotel was a struggle. We went to the train information guy to ask him how to get there. We gave him the address and his response "Do you know there are blah blah blah streets in London?" "Do you know the postal code?" In short, he was not nice and I told him the postal code (which has letters and numbers so I wasn't sure if it was right) and he looked at me like I was crazy, so we just left and said we would figure it out. We went to a pub in the airport to eat and try and figure out what to do. Well, we didn't have internet, but we did see a woman go crazy and get arrested by two policemen (both of which had huge guns strapped around their neck). So that was exciting. We decided to go ask the bus people, they were so much nicer and helped us (or so we thought). We went on the bus, got off where they told us to (an hour and a half bus ride). Waved down a cab, told them the name and address and it was the WRONG place (apparently there are two places with the same name). We found out we are 45 minutes away (by tube), so we get more directions. Take the tube. We are pretty fed up at this point because we are hauling all of our luggage all over London. We finally get to the area. Wave down another cab. Again, we struggled to find it, but eventually (and I mean 6+ hours later) we arrived. Just in time to sleep.

I spent a week in London. While I was there I saw: Big Ben, London Eye, London Bridge, London Tower, Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle (changing of the guards), Bath, Stonehenge, Kensington Palace, Hyde Park, the musical Wicked, and probably more. It was simply amazing. The weather wasn't too bad. It was upper 40s so cold coming from Kuwait, but definitely bearable. Actually a little refreshing. It rained a little, but not nearly as much as London's reputation. There was a lot of runners everywhere too! Which might have something to do with my love for this city!

Big ole' Ben

First Tourist Pic

The London Eye

Westminster Abbey (You are westminster crabby, so many Friends quotes ran through my head while in London)

Buckingham Palace

Windsor Castle

Changing of the Guards at Windsor

Stonehenge

See why I love it?

One of my favorite things I did, SO GOOD!

Bird Man

So many Parks! I love it!

St. Paul Cathedral, for momma

Tower Bridge

For real though, why is this London Bridge? It's just brown and ugly

Amsterdam

Traveling to Amsterdam went much smoother. We found our hotel right away (both hotels, because we stayed at one closer to the airport the first night). Allison's sister flew from San Fran to Amsterdam! It was so great meeting her and nice to have family - even if it's not mine :) Our hostel was right downtown in the center of everything, so we could walk everywhere. We only had to take a taxi once and that was to the Heineken brewery. Everything else we could walk to. Amsterdam is so beautiful. I would love to go back when everything is in bloom. We were only here for a few days. While I was here I went to the Anne Frank House (definitely the best part of the trip), it was insane to be in the actual house where Anne Frank and her family were in hiding. Also, to see some of the things that were still there (like the bookcase that blocked the secret opening to their hiding place). I walked around Canal Park, so unbelievably pretty, and reminded me of my favorite move "The Fault in Our Stars, which I watched as soon as I got home. We also went to the Heineken Brewery. It was kind of interesting, but I don't like beer! The time here went really fast, especially since it was less time than that in London. Although, I don't feel like I needed that much more time here. There isn't that much for sightseeing. It is just a really pretty place to walk around and eat waffles!

I don't know what this is, but it's pretty :)

Korf Baby

A really pretty train station

Anne Frank House, Best thing I did by far

Does everyone else know that they love cheese here?

Upcoming Plans

I have one more vacation before Summer Vacation!! I have a week off starting Thursday! I am going to Myanmar to visit my friend Tiffany! Tiffany is teaching in Myanmar. We met at UWRF (she was an elementary education major and also has a love for mathematics). She is probably my only friend from college that isn't a runner! I love her anyways though. I am going to spend my first weekend visiting her in Myanmar, and then the rest of the time I will be traveling in Thailand.

I have received my ticket from my school for my flight. It is PERFECT. I fly to Amsterdam and then from Amsterdam to Minneapolis! So thankful for only one layover. I will be arriving in Minnesota on June 20th! I don't know yet when I will have to be back in Kuwait, but I am sure I will find out soon.

Here are LOTS of pics of my kiddos:

First thing he does as soon as I pull out my phone to take a picture...

So of course, I had to say "act like you're working"

Traditional Day - kiddos in their dishdashas

This kid....

They love signing "I love you" - I love teaching sign language

Light Unit!

My kids REALLY love science, all of them talk about wanting to be scientists. HUGE shout out to Boatwright from St. John's for that. You have no idea how much you impacted my planning and teaching

International Day - we did Poland. The kids learned about Poland for a few weeks, dressed in traditional clothing (or close to it) and then we ate Polish food (thanks to a student's mom) and we went around and saw all of the different class's different countries and set ups. Honestly, I think the only thing they remember is how to say hello in Polish, which is fine, cause that's all I remember too -Tesch