i traded my sketchers for heels.

you remember the movie, never been kissed, how drew barrymore goes back to her high school as an undercover reporter and gets a second chance at learning high school lessons? my experience is nothing like that. however, today i was a substitute teacher at my middle school and worked alongside the same teachers i had studied under ten years ago. this is an incredibly eye opening experience – to see that even teachers swear during their lunch period, are nicer when they don’t have to discipline pre-teen boys, and at the end of the day – they’re rushing to their cars like we always rushed to the buses.

our town's middle school has now seen FOUR lindemann children, i introduced myself to a teacher as part of a town-dynasty at one point during the day. the last of our dynasty will graduate this coming june and the lindemann name will only be a memory to the teachers and staff of the middle school. ”so much has happened since i roamed those halls during my awkward years,” i thought to myself as i walked by the picture of my graduating class: the class of 2000, “it feels like a different lifetime.” i walked by my locker (third from the left in the eighth grade hallway) and a feeling of nostalgia came over me – but not one strong enough to make me feel like I’m thirteen again. no, i’ve since grown up. now i am the one wearing heals that firmly walk the tile floors, with determination in my step and knowledge in my mind. i am the one who can look up the answers in the teachers’ book when i cannot remember how to figure out that math problem (what is the purpose of stem-and-leaf graphs ANYWAY?). and i am the one who tears up a little at the end of reading the pigman because i now know what it feels like to lose someone close. even furthermore, i am the one who no longer takes the comment: “you’re my favorite substitute!” as a compliment – because it means i haven’t disciplined well enough.

though i woke up this morning preparing to teach the future of america, i came out learning more than i expected to. isn’t that what school is all about?

why i love this town #3

in wolfburg, germany, they have two moons.

one is the real moon, and the other moon looks like this in the daytime:

welcome to autostadt. :)

berlin!

my computer is going through an identity crisis. yesterday google was in polish and today it's in german. i'm in berlin! i'm sitting in the lounge of a hostel called the "sleep cheap hostel" (yes, no joke) and i'm simply amazing and in awe of the fantastic adventures of these past few days ... actually, MONTH. i'll write more later about how i got here to berlin, but let's just say for now that it involved missing our train TWICE in poznon, poland and meeting some incredible friends along the way. in some ways, it's a blessing to be so dependent on other people because we've made some really good friends just because they speak english and can help us communicate.

today we want to see the berlin wall. so we did a google seach of where it is and were directed to a list of all of the pieces of the wall - south africa, france, california, chicago, maine, washington d.c., new york.... um, i'm sorry - i thought the wall was in BERLIN!? we'll ask someone later.

the woman who owns this hostel is polish and the woman at the bistro this morning is actually from wrocław - and was THRILLED when we said that is where we were coming from, and then spoke to her somewhat in polish. i love polish, i really do. actually i miss it very much already being here in germany. that and i speak such little german that it's even hard to be POLITE. oh well, more makings for more adventure.

more stories to come!