Well now that I'm done with Europe...

Evan was teasing me because I haven't written about anything since Europe.. which was two months ago. Ok. What I've been up to...

-Hanging out with Evan
-We had our 6 month in July: Went to Brewvies & played pool & saw Get Smart
-Went to an awesome wedding reception at La Caille with Evan
-Went to my first drive in movie with Evan- The Mummy #3 and Batman Dark Knight: very fun! We stuffed a bean bag chair into the back of my truck
-Went to my family reunion in Wolf Creek and played a LOT of games, went on a hike/short walk and went swimming...
-We went to Las Vegas and Zions with Patrick
-Getting Evan ready for BYU
-Moving to Orem
-Hanging out with Evan some more
-Started teaching at Lehi High
-Had lots of meetings for work
-Going to BYU Football games and seeing my first and second shut outs! Awesome! #3 here we come!
-Decided to go to a figure drawing class when Evan was busy
-Went out to Cold Stone with my friend Andra
-Went school clothes shopping
-Went to India Fest- they burned a 12 headed bad guy Ravanna (I THINK)
-Took Evan to Sam Hawk (yummy Korean food here in Provo)
-Hiked to Bridal Veil Falls with Evan and his roommates
-Went to Sundance with Kelsy&Dan. Took funny pictures

Anyway- We've done a lot :)

This week we went to FHE, tonight we're going to a Bodies exhibit, tomorrow is Parent Teacher Conferences, which I am NOT excited about- Parents complain a LOT at Lehi... I get an email a day. It's really annoying because they expect me to justify my job on a daily basis when their child comes unprepared to work in my class. uuumm, oh yeah. THE OFFICE is on Thursday! Friday is the Gala and this weekend we're doing something outdoorsy! And then it's the week again. I'm all for staying an extra two hours a day at school in order to have Fridays off. Carissa, I'm jealous!

Europe Day Eight

Today was a DOWNER. We went to Dachau. Very sad. Also depressing because today was our last day. Jess really didn't want to go to the concentration camp because she was afraid she wouldn't be able to handle it. I can't believe there are people who think that the Holocaust was just made up by some government. Really made you think walking around there. We watched a video on the victims first. Women were little less than sex slaves and the men were forced to do hard labor, sometimes they were forced to just stand perfectly still for hours on end. All because someone thought they weren't human. You see this today. You'd think we would learn from history and have a little compassion for each other. Guess we'll never learn. What will will do when the world has killed everyone off? After the video Jess, Jen and I walked around. They had two bunkers rebuilt. Inside, men were stacked like chickens in a chicken coup. The "showers" were even more frightening. I started having an anxiety attack in there. People were split up into groups. One group was told to go get ready to take a shower. They really did look like gym showers! This was to fool the people into a false sense of security. Only it wasn't water that came out of the pipes. The gas chambers were never put into use in Dachau but it still made me sick. I am German and Austrian. The worst part is that people living nearby didn't really know what was going on. Those that found out and tried to help also disappeared. Everyone was really quite when we got back onto the bus. We had a lot to think about. How lucky we are to live when and where we do. I wish there was a way to end suffering around the world. Maybe I'll get to see that day. I can hope for it anyway. That's why I love to learn about other cultures. By learning about them I can appreciate our differences. I don't hate the extremists that are tearing our world apart. It makes me sad because I am so interested in their culture. Too bad people can't learn to appreciate one another's differences. The world would be a better place I think. Anyway. I'm off track. The rest of the day we chilled in Munich and hung out with people in our group. I was SO excited to go home and see Evan! Luckily we just had one flight on Luftsansa...NICE AIRLINE. I would definitely fly with them again! You felt like first class! And yes, I've flown first class by a happy accident so I know I'm comparing correctly. I slept most of the time and watched The Spiderwick Chronicals and Friends. Anyway. Evan picked Jess and I up and had a great time!

Europe Day Seven: Munich

Well... Munich is pretty "tight" as my students have been saying this whole trip! We took a bus tour in the rain, visited the Glockenshpiel which was AWESOME! Wish we had cool stuff like that in Utah! Lunch was Italian since Jennifer, Jess, Rachel and I were sick of German food. Delish. Dinner was in this cool old brewery.. But alas. It was German food. Jess and I walked around and tookcool photos. It's been so much fun hanging out with her. I really miss all of the people I've met along the way. It's good to be home with Evan though ;)

Anyway, after dinner Jen, Jess and I watched Friends and The Office and went to bed.

Hey You Gu-Uys

Check out my old Europe Posts. I added pictures :)

Europe Day Six

So, I am getting better at this right? It helps when you have nothing to do at work because your kids are finishing up projects :)

Day six we woke up and drove to Neuschwanstein Castle. I LOVE this place! We walked around town for a bit, Jess and I went shopping but I didn't find anything I wanted. It was all cheap tourist crap. Jess bought a cute necklace though. Then we took a bunch of photos and had lunch. I got the Schnitzel. Good but heavy food. Again, I will reiterate. I am not a huge fan of German food. The place where we had lunch was cool though. We had a good view of the castle and the waitresses were dressed in peasant dresses. Kind of fun. So, funny story. We had to hike up to the castle because Ben told us we could take a trolley or hike. Well the "Trolley" was a horse drawn carriage! I was so mad! That would have been SO cool to ride up to a castle in a horse drawn carriage. Sigh. Maybe someday. Anyway, those of us that wanted to get a shot of the castle from the bridge had to RUN up these very steep mountains in order to get there and what did I find when I arrived? A VERY sketchy looking bridge at least 300 feet over a roaring waterfall. Oh, and did I mention that this bridge was PACKED with people. Talk about hyperventilating! I stayed long enough to get my shot and then I be-lined it back to the castle. Everyone started hanging Ben their cameras to get a shot of the group. How annoying, they should have just gone on the website and downloaded it from there. So after 50,000 shots of the same thing Jess and I escaped to take some funny photos of us running up the stairs towards the castle & losing a shoe. The castle inside was SO cool! I wish we could have taken photos but no such luck. There was an AMAZING gilded ballroom and even a CAVE! Home sweet home. We even saw them making a movie. A girl in a Cinderella costume was wandering around being filmed. No idea what for but it was cool. I miss being on set sometimes. Anyway. After the castle tour we went back to our coach, drove and drove, and drove some more. The Austrian, Swiss and German countryside seem to be plagued by large marshmallows :) Stopped in a LITTLE town, looked at a church and drove.... to Munich, where we had more German food, I called Evan, watched Friends and the Office with Jen and Jess and went to bed, still tired even though I'd napped all day on the bus. :)

Europe Day Five

:) Yes yes, it has definitely been awhile! Ok, Day Five...

This day was fun. We spent the day traveling to Austria. We stopped and had lunch in Liechtenstein, I had my first European Donner Kebab- TASTY but I wish Evan would have been there to share- IT WAS HUGE! On the bus ride, as soon as we got into Austria we sang "Edelweiss." Kind of cool going back to where a good portion of my family is from. I'm not going to lie though, after Switzerland, Austria was kind of a let down....it looks like the Rockies. Anyway, at the border we all had to give Ben our passports so they could be stamped and we made a big joke about him running off with them and selling them to the Communists or the Muslim terrorists. I think it was one of those, "You had to be there" things but it still makes me laugh. After driving some more we made it closer to Innsbruck. We went to the Swarovsky Crystal Factory. It was SO cool! You walk through this hall of mirrors like Dorothy in 'Return to Oz' and into the factory. Imagine every sort of decoration you can-but all very modern- covered in crystals. They had a waterfall made out of crystal! Tres-Chique! Everything was, of course, VERY expensive- but fun to look at. I did buy a few crystal beads though. They're cheaper there than in the states at the bead fairs. Anyway. That was fun. Then we headed back on the bus to Innesbruck. In Innesburck we had a little time to do some shopping and take pictures- most of the shops closed around 6- weird. Anyway, I bought my mom a Christmas tree ornament (rocking horse- cute) and I took some cool photos. Then, again, back on the bus to go to our hotel which was up in the mountains. I do not like German food. It's all meat and potatoes- no fruit, unless it's cocktail. Gross. So dinner was uneventful. Bu-ut. We got our hotel room assignments. I was in room number 13 overlooking a graveyard. Spooky. Jennifer and I went for a walk and took some pictures of this old bar that wasn't open and heard some people singing in the church. The lady with the "stinky frommage feet"( according to Dragon (yes that's his real name) our old bus driver in Swizterland and France) was taking PHOTOS inside the church while people were trying to practice for their church choir. Very rude. We got back to the hotel and I went to hang out with my sister and some of the students. We sat around outside and talked until it got too cold and then I went to bed.

Europe Day Three

Ok, I know it's been awhile, but this has been difficult to keep up with since I've been starting work.


Day Three-Bus Ride to Lucerne

We spent the entire day in a bus. I slept most of the way. I did find Evan's Cote 'Or in chocolate form so I bought him a few bars. The countryside in France is very flat. Once we got to Germany though we started to see more mountains. seriously though, I slept most of the day. Our hotel in Switzerland is AMAZING- not because of the hotel itself but because of the location. We rode our huge coach around these scary cliff sides. It was COLD too. Luckily they had this DELICIOUS celery soup waiting for us. We ate dinner, (turkey something on top of noodles and jello for dessert-ew), then Jennifer and I hung out with a few of our students in the common room, we played games and got GOOD hot chocolate- Swiss chocolate- YUM! Then I called Evan and went to bed.


Day Four- Lucerne

It rained and rained and rained. We visited the famous Lucerne Lion, The Swiss Army Knife shop, the chocolate/truffle shop, The Bridge that's really famous here, and then we just looked around town all day. I bought Evan's birthday present (a watch of course) and then we got this really good curry sandwich that was BRIGHT yellow. Delicious! I bought more chocolate as well. :) I think I bought at least ten to fifteen pounds of chocolate to give away. My favorite is Nehaus or Callier. Yummy! I took a ton of pictures and my kids were laughing at me because I kept crawling up posts or leaning on the ground to get some good shots. It was a good day. We heard bells ring and we saw an old apothecary that looked like it belonged on Diagon Alley. Dinner was disappointing but I had some more hot chocolate and then my sister and Jennifer and I sat up for awhile talking. Good day. :) This sunny photo was taken the next day as we left Lucerne...

Paris Day Two

Today was amazing! We woke up and had fresh croissants and REALLY GOOD hot chocolate! Amazing! Then we took a day tour of Paris in a bus. Our tour guide was very funny. He looked like Robert Redford and Brad Pitt mixed together with a french accent. Anyway, I learned a ton and took a lot of good pictures. Then, we went to Versailles. The Palace was HUGE. Kind of sad the peasants were starving while the nobles lived in luxury. A side note, Marie Antoinette never said "Let them eat cake" - that was just her attitude towards the common person, she didn't understand their struggles. Also, perfume became famous because of Versailles. NO ONE BATHED. Ew. The gardens were of course a favorite of mine. After that, we headed home to have dinner in a really cool restaurant in the basement of an old winery (from the look of things). For dinner we had a thin crust pizza thing- can't remember the name of it but man it was tasty! After dinner we took a boat tour along the Seine, and I saw the Eiffel Tower sparkle! What a busy day. I love Paris and can't wait to come back here someday!

Europe Day one and Two

My little adventure needs to be blogged. I hope within the next week I can get the whole trip written out... ok Here goes...I'll have to add pictures for the first two days later since I, the photo genius, took them in raw- a format my computer refuses to read...Luckily, I have a computer genius boyfriend ;) Anyway, my trip, I'm going to write about it as though I'm there, since this was the original plan and I was taking a mental journal of our journey...I just had no time.

"Day One"
Today was our traveling day. I hate having jet lag but it's necessary to go through it to see anything I want to see. I currently anxiously await the invention of an "I Dream of Jeanie" -esque form of travel and will pay lots of money to be able to do so... Well, last night my sister was sick and I spent the day sick on the three planes we took. How fun. I love it when you feel like you're going to throw up but can't. It's my favorite feeling I think. Okok, I'm being negative. SOrry. I am really really really grateful we made it here! Here's what happened. So our first flight was from SLC (Evan dropped us off at the airport at 5am- he's so sweet! Thanks hon!) to Phoenix- Which I think is a very ugly city. I'm not a big fan of deserts. That flight was just fine besides the sickness. I slept. Next flight was from AZ to Philadelphia. Interesting. We boarded on time. Then we had the privilege of sitting on the plane for an hour and a half while they fixed our engine. They told us they were having a mechanical error on one of the engines. I wanted to get off and go home on a different plane. They shouldn't tell people what exactly is wrong. We had an awesome flight attendant though who gave us loads of free stuff. He also proposed to me. Sorry Evan but we're getting married next Saturday. ;) jk, 55 year old men, even if they are Mormon and very funny, are not my style. I'll leave that to the FLDS girls...okok, bad joke, anyway... he totally made the flight and the wait better. This was the super fun flight I was the most sick on because of the turbulence. Oh ya, when our flight took off smoke started coming in through the roof and up the walls. Well, that was scary. After all, this was the plane with engine mechanical problems. :) No worries though, it wasn't smoke, Jeff our helpful little flight attendant informed me, just condensation that had formed while we were anxiously awaiting departure. Ha- it still looked freaky! Anyway, I slept and Jeff gave me free headphones and free cookies (they charge you for those things now- ridiculous). We arrived late in Philly and they told us they had booked us on another flight to Paris. I told my students to run to the original gate anyway just to check. That flight was also delayed so we rerouted back on to the original flight. Good thing we hadn't checked anything! Memo to me...ONLY BRING ONE book if necessary next time. I brought 5 and read 0...very heavy unnecessary weight. Silly me. So, we got on our flight to Paris and I slept again, most of the flight. We arrived at 7:39 am. Hurray!

"Day Two"
We arrived in Paris this morning! I still feel awful but I hope it'll get better tomorrow after a good night's sleep and some real food. We got off the airplane and met our tour director Ben, who seems very responsible and speaks very good English- WHEW! Our hotel is pretty cool too. We didn't have keys yet when we arrived so we dropped our luggage off and took the Metro in to Paris. I SAW THE EIFFEL TOWER! :) Not the whole thing since our walking tour didn't take us close but I will tomorrow. I'm so excited! Today we just wort of walked around, saw the Opera house, The Tuileries Garden, and bought lunch in a department store. I was taking photos of the bakery there and got yelled at by a security guard. Whoops. For lunch I had a bit of cheese and some raspberries. I couldn't eat very much though because of my stomach. After we walked through the gardens and I took tons pf photos we went to the restaurant where we were having dinner. We had to wait a bit for the rest of our group who got in later- They missed they flight though and never made it to the restaurant. SO glad that wasn't my group! I would have rescheduled the hotel since one of the main things I wanted to see was Paris. Dinner was good. I had turkey and potatoes and some kind of fruit and cream thing for dessert. Well, that's what I tried to eat anyway. It was good though. After dinner we took the metro back to our hotel and had a group leader meeting. I met my roommate- She's so nice! I'm excited! and Ben helped me get my phone card working so I could call Evan and my mom. Then I took a shower and went to bed. PS, I'm sorry but our shower is SO NICE! It's one of those cool really BIG shower heads so you feel like you're getting dumped on. It was AWESOME. Anyway, I'll write more about the rest later. Au Revior!

Snorkeling in Utah..No, I'm Super Serial! (aka serious for all you non-South Park watching people)

Well today was exhausting but very fun. I woke up with a call from Evan! Yay! But I couldn't really understand him because it was a bad connection. Boo! :(

He could hear me just fine though. We got to talk for almost an hour! YAY! :) So, for all of his family, he's doing great and having a blast! He's staying in a Buddhist monastery and then heading out to another small town in the Yellow Mountains. I'm jealous.

Ok this blog is not about Evan, it's about me ;) sorry love. Besides, you said you wanted to know what I was up to...not have a re-cap of what you've been up to, right? I'm glad you're having tons of fun though! Only one more week of being girlfriend free! ha! ;)

So today I went snorkeling in Utah, really really! There's a place in the MIDDLE of NOWHERE called Bonneville SeaBase. It's near Grantsville, Utah... by the Great Salt Lake. I swam with sharks which was actually really nerve-wracking because you couldn't SEE the sharks, but you knew they were somewhere down below you. dun Dun DUN! The visibility was terrible because they're having an algae problem right now. Basically you couldn't see any of the fish unless they were eating from your hand. I bought an underwater camera so if those pictures turn out I'll put some up here. Really cool though, the water was warm and there is all this coral growing on the sides of the geothermal bed. I'm also assuming it was on the bottom but my ears hurt too bad if I dove too far. So here I was swimming around with a piece of lettuce (that's what we're supposed to be feeding the angel fish..but maybe it's just a garnish for the 'Erinne a Salade' I was about to feed the sharks) when all of a sudden I see something white flash in front of my hand, just barely out of visibility. So I hold really still. Duhhhhh-na, a flash of white again, duhhh-na, duh-na, DUHNADUHNADUHNA! (Jaws theme in print :) and yes, that's how you spell it :) ) Suddenly it's coming at me, swimming really really really fast! The creature opens its jaws.................

and eats the lettuce. Yes, just a really big angel fish..about a foot is size. They eat lettuce right out of your hand! SO COOL!

My mom and I got bored in the warmer water (and quite frankly I was a little nervous swimming around in that pond, not only because of the sharks, but um, they had this plastic roofing ONLY A FOOT over your head to hold in the heat and there were HUGE GYNORMOUS AND VERY HIDEOUS LOOKING spiders..Hundreds of them...spinning webs right above your head. Ew, I still feel all itchy just thinking about it. These things looked like black widows but they were a little larger than a silver dollar. I'm pretty sure if they had been all stretched out they would have been twice that size. YUCK YUCK YUCK YUCK!)...anyway, we were bored so we decided to swim through this tunnel (...ok sorry , another diversion..this tunnel was beyond cool. The water was green because of the algae right? So all you could see in front of you was this big green glowing circle. It was like those movies where people are searching shipwrecks! I felt totally like Indiana Jones underwater or something, so fun!.....) into the next pond which was very cold. There were no fish either. I started getting way too cold (shivering and unable to get warm no matter how hard I swam) so we got out. Well ok, my mom got out and I got distracted by this school of angel fish for about another fifteen minutes in the warmer water, still shivering though. Anyway, after we were out, there was no one else in the pool (pool is not the right word, this looked like a mucky pond) and all of these HUGE fish started swimming up to the surface! I was so disappointed that we didn't see more of them when we were swimming! My mom hadn't even seen any, just me. She did see one of the sharks though and I didn't get to so I guess we're almost even. Anyway, remember the boring pond that was cold through the tunnel? Well it was chock-full of TUNA! HUGE TUNA! Weird, because that part of the pond was completely DEAD when I was swimming in it. We were tempted to get back in but we were both tired and had already showered.

Very fun experience but not really worth the money or the drive more than once. I thought it was really cool though for a first time deal. Now I just need to find a place with clear water, no sharks or spiders, and some kind of something for my ears...and having help getting used to breathing underwater...that was also really weird and I started hyperventilating that the beginning because it was so odd. I finally got sort of used to it but I don't think I'd like scuba diving because if you hold your breath you get the bends...from what I hear. Man I'm a wimp when it comes to water (breathing, ears, choking)...or spiders...or not being able to see. Because if I had been able to see the sharks I probably would have been gutsier...they were only Nurse Sharks, so not too bad. Now a Great White, Bull Shark, Tiger Shark or something and I'd pee my pants and hop right back into the boat and speed away to land...not my cup o' tea. Anyway, I hope these pictures turn out! Oh ya, I got a funny tan line on my forehead from the goggles and didn't notice it until I got in the dressing room at the mall...after my mom and I went to a bead fair for a few hours...talking to lots of people...and the walked around mall... I am awesome ;)
Anyway, love you all, especially you Evan. :)

San Francisco

My trip to San Francisco last week (June 9-13) was A-MAzing! This was my first trip to this part of Cali and I had some very interesting experiences. I got into town Monday night, after the free shuttle to the hotel had cquit running for the night. Luckily, Evan was there to pick me up at the airport and we caught a taxi (twenty-seven dollars for a ten minute ride! OUCH).

On Tuesday I saw the Golden Gate park for the first time! It took me 2 or three hours to get there... RIDICULOUS! I also ended up taking this random way there which ended taking me through a sketchy part of town. I had to wait at a bus stop in the sketchy part of town for 45 minutes. During that time, I was the only white person...the only one...I saw for the whole time! Also, I got to sit next to a few gangster kids smoking and swearing up a storm, before another girl showed up talking on her cell phone about how this girl at school got jumped with a knife...she thought this was hilarious! Wow, I am really glad I teach school in rural Utah. No one bothered me though and the gang members (I really think they were from what they were talking about) actually gave me their seat and helped me figure out when the next bus was coming. Anyway, that was interesting adventure. Once I made it to the Golden Gate Park I headed for the de Young art museum, only to find it closed in a few hours. Not wanting to pay fifteen dollars for an hour or so (I was meeting Evan for dinner and had to leave this area of town soon since it was way out of the way), I headed for the Japanese Tea Garden. Four dollars well spent! I would say the hardest part of my day was figuring out how to get around without a car. After Evan got off work he wanted me to meet him at 1 Market Street...due to a funny miscommunication, I ended up at 1st Market street and we walked back and forth between several streets trying to find each other. Kind of annoying at the time but also very funny! We went to this FANTASTIC Thai restaurant called Osha. I tried my first Thai
Pumpkin
Red Chicken Curry....DELICIOUS! We also walked around Fisherman's Warf, Ghiradelli Square where we got free chocolate, and we sat by the ocean for a bit. Very fun but very awkward because there was a couple making out a few yards away from us!

Wednesday Drew and I headed to Chinatown where we went into some very interesting little tourist shops. We also took a lot of pictures, and played around. If anyone were to go to Chinatown, I would recommend eating at a little side shop rather than a major restaurant. I would say that there is more authentic food, less Americanized. The restaurant we went to for a snack was set up more like a bakery and the food was DELICIOUS! Too bad we couldn't find it again. They had really good potstickers for sixty cents! The restaurant we went to for dinner however was AWFULY DISGUSTING. Evan and I got duck...which wasn't cooked...so much for trying to save some money. We wanted to try the Empress of China (which was pretty expensive but we were going to share) but Drew wanted to go even cheaper... funny though, we ended up spending about what we would have spent at the expensive place. But now I can say I've tried duck and I never have to eat it again :) ... Afterwards we walked around Little Italy, went into a funny shop where we bought Sarah's birthday present, then took the bus and the Caltrain back to the hotel (which was way nice by the way! I love the Marriot! Free Bath and Bodyworks shampoos, very comfy beds and pillows, flat screen tv's in every room...so nice!) and we all sat in the hot tub for a bit.

Thursday Drew and I had an adventure! We took model shots in the Emporium Gardens, walked about eight miles to the Golden Gate Bridge, and took a bus to Sausalito (a little town across the bridge, SO FUN!). In Sausalito, we went to a few art galleries, had a clam chowder bread bowl, and took pictures for an hour or so. I also got to ride my first real ferry!!!! I've been on ferries that take cars across but this was a real boat! :) For dinner, we met up with Evan and headed back to Little Italy. The food was very authentic and delicious...well I thought so, Evan didn't like it. We ordered Gnocchi Romano, which is a potato pasta covered in a veal cutlet tomato sauce. YUM! The service was awful though. It took us forever to get anything, and forever to get our check. We also stopped and bought some Gelatto (of course) and Tirimisu! DOUBLE YUM!







Friday Evan had some time off so we headed to Boudain on Fisherman's Warf and had bread bowls for lunch. I saw the famous seals and we saw a very weird street performer. Evan tried to find somewhere quiet to call a co-worker he was going to meet up with and instead we found a "Got Milk" wagon. They were giving out free milkshakes and taking pictures of people with milk mustaches. A lady from the San Fran Examiner was also there taking pictures for the paper. She took our picture and got our names but the article hasn't run yet. Oh well. We also hiked up to Lombard Street..The winedy-est road in the US, or the World...I'm not sure. Then we went to Grace Cathedral and looked at some cool art. The flight home kind of sucked because it was totally full and Evan and I couldn't sit together but we made it home! :) All in all, a very fun week!!!