Wine Club
In hopes of attaining class some friends and I have started a monthly wine club. We sit around sample wine and mostly pretend we know what we are talking about, in other words it is lots of fun. This last month we sampled Austrian white wines, the good, bad, and straight up weird.
Ask Miss Gerdes Jan/Feb.
Ask Miss Gerdes January
“How do I celebrate valentine’s Day the right way?”
Oh, Valentine’s day, the day of love. Now, one thing that I have noticed with some semblance of relief is that here in Austria, Valentine’s day is not that big of a holiday. You see, in America it’s a big deal. Giant balloons, giant cards, giant boxes of candy and of course giant stuffed gorillas that speak of the depth of affection one holds for another. Now, I think it is important to know the history of Valentine’s Day in order to increase your chances of getting a valentine. Valentine’s Day was started by Saint Valentine, a catholic bishop, who lived in Rome during the reign of Claudius II. Claudius was a hater, of love that is. He thought that marriage would make men weak so he made a law that men were not allowed to get married. Can you believe it? St. Valentine didn’t, he was a lover, and would preform secret marriages to protest Claudius’ rule. There are also some thoughts that Valentine’s day was started by the Christian church to “save” a pagan festival. Here is some information from the “History Channel’s” website on the pagan tradition around February 14th, “In ancient Rome, February was the official beginning of spring and was considered a time for purification. Houses were ritually cleansed by sweeping them out and then sprinkling salt and a type of wheat called spelt throughout their interiors. To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at the sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or lupa. The priests would then sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. The boys then sliced the goat’s hide into strips, dipped them in the sacrificial blood and took to the streets, gently slapping both women and fields of crops with the goat hide strips. Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed being touched with the hides because it was believed the strips would make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city’s bachelors would then each choose a name out of the urn and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage.” The Romans showed their feelings for one another similar to how middle school students show their love, hitting. So, whatever way you decide to celebrate valentine’s day make sure you make it good. You could give someone a giant card, a stuffed gorilla, a secret marriage, or even a good whack from a blood dipped goat skin, the options are endless. All of these ideas are certain to make your valentine notice you. Choose your love weapon of choice and fire away. Make sure that no matter what you do, you use this day to tell the people, that mean the most to you, how you much you care about them and even love them!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
“
How do I get better grades second semester?
Great question. The beginning of a new semester is beautiful. A chance to start over, to start fresh. I compare it to finding a patch of fresh snow and running and falling into it’s powdery goodness, flailing my arms and legs in harmony to create a celestial form and them trying to figure out how to get up without giving my new celestial art a big boot print on it’s leg. There was a point to that story…I think. Anyway, no matter what you do getting better grades means more work. That’s right people, there is no magic pill, no way to bribe your teachers, and certainly no way get out of doing your homework. As Nike shoes put it, Just do it! That means, write in your planner, know what your assignments are, bring your homework home, and get it done. Also, it is going to take some courage to kill the mighty dragon of Facebook. Stay strong when you get home or get on your iPhone and stay off of Facebook. Get your homework done before you check your news feed. The comments on your photos are not going to delete themselves, they can wait for you. It’s the beauty of cyber space, you can go and find things at any time! Making the hard decision, to get your work done and say no to other things is going to really pay off in the long run and help you get your work done and therefore, improve your grades for second semester!
Happy Studying!
It’s the little things
One of the giant perks of living in Vienna is the generally clean public transportation. I have done lots of things while on public transportation but a couple of weekends ago I did something I have never done nor have I ever seen anyone else do, I wrapped a present. I was on a street car with tables which was very thoughtful of Vienna to do that for me!
WE WON!!
I am coaching the middle school girls basketball team for the second year and it rocks. Last year we won one game, by one point, and it was amazing.
This year, we played really well our first game and even won our second game, which was tonight, 30-4. This was a new thing for my girls, who sadly are used to being on the losing side of the stat. Our first game last year we lost 2-80, yeah that was really the score.
I am so proud of how hard the girls have worked and love watching them grow and enjoy basketball and each other more and more.
Go Eagles!!!
“Ask Miss Gerdes” December
Ask Miss Gerdes December
Question 1: Is Santa real?
Well, first of all I must assume that you are referring to Jolly Old Saint Nick, commonly known as Santa Claus. If you were not referring to him, then yes he is real, at least I think he is. Santa is the beloved character, who knows when you are sleeping, who knows when you’re awake and more importantly knows when you’ve been bad or good. However, keep in mind that being “bad” or “good” is entirely dependent on Santa’s morality scale which we all know is available on Wikipedia. As far as Santa being real or not, I am afraid that I cannot comment on that subject for I do my best not to make Mr. Hamm cry. One thing I will comment on is this; is truly does not matter if Santa is real or not because Christmas isn’t about him anyway it’s about Jesus, who does see you when you are sleeping and knows when you’re awake but in a much less creepy way!
Merry Christmas!
P.S. If you do find that Santa is real and see him up on a rooftop, can you ask him how he shrinks himself to fit down the chimney, I desperately need that skill for a game of Sardines coming up next week!
Question 2: How do I remember to bring everything I need home to get my homework done?
Oh, thank you for asking that question! This is a problem that plagues students all around the world. Two words feared by teachers everywhere, “I forgot” are heard over and over again. There are several things you can do to remember what you need to finish your homework and to do it well!
Buy my new “Forget me not” homework attachment system! For only 5 installments of 45.89 Euro you will never forget your homework again. A simple instrument used by teachers for years can save your grade. You guessed it, a stapler. Just, staple your homework onto your body as you go through the day and always have your stuff with you!!
Or, use another awesome tool called YOUR PLANNER!!! This incredible invention has space where you can write your homework for every class, every day! It is revolutionary!
While using this planner not only write down your assignment but write down the materials you need to get that assignment done. If you need your book, write down “take book home” or you can go all fancy and write “TBH”. If you need an African Camel, write “AC”, you get the idea.
Have a homework folder or section in your binder where you automatically put assignments when you get them!
Throughout the day, after each class if you know you need to take that book home put it in your locker right away!
Before you get distracted by all the drama going on around you at the lockers, stop, drop, and roll. Wait, that’s not it…STOP, THINK, and PACK, STP. Stop talking to people around you and look at your planner. Think about what classes you had that day and what your homework is for each class. Pack up all the things you need before you talk to all your friends and work to bring about world peace.
Thanks for your questions!
Miss Gerdes
New things
1)Having time to post something on this here blog
2) New Years festivities in Vienna
3)New TOM shoes
4) Baking this delicious Bread
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- The dough that turned into delicious Whole Wheat Bread
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- My new TOM shoes!!
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- Melissa and I out on the town
A geeky pleasure
One of my new duties as administration is a monthly column in our school publication called the “Eagle Eye” The editor came up with idea to do my new column as an advice column called ” Ask Miss Gerdes”, and I loved the idea. However, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed writing the responses, apparently I like giving advice! I wanted to share with you what I wrote for my first column. I was advised to save the juicy topics, like crushes and dating for my later editions, so stay tuned!
Ask Miss Gerdes November 2009
Q: What is this supposed “Ask Miss Gerdes” thing all about?
–Anonymous
A: Thanks for your question. This whole “Ask Miss Gerdes” column idea was brought together by the esteemed editor of the the “Eagle Eye” and I loved the idea. Moreover, life is full of questions, what to eat, what to wear, who to text, kepab or würst, and of course the classic, to be or not to be. In this column I will be addressing questions that I may have a moderate level of knowledge about, which narrows the field to middle school. Each month I will be answering one or more questions having to do with the crazy world of middle school. These questions will be generated by you the parents and of course the students.
The answers will be a mix of serious advice and attempts at levity or even humor. I understand how crazy and often scary middle school can be for the parents and for the child. I hope this column will bring about an understanding and more importantly open up conversation between you and your child. You are the final voice in your child’s life and it is your advice that matters the most. Therefore, if you do not agree with my opinion please feel free to express that to your child and share your thoughts with them. Thanks for having great kids and for allowing all of us to speak into their lives.
If you have a burning questions please feel free to email me at wgerdes@vcs-austria.org
Q: How do I make it to class on time with all my stuff?
A: Well, I would first suggest that you cultivate a super power to freeze the world around you so you can get all your things together while still being able to talk to your friends! However, if that is not something that you can do here are a few tips;
1) Plan ahead! If you know your next class is in the Keller or up on the 3rd floor bring your stuff with you so you don’t have to go to your locker.
2) Keep your locker organized! If you know where things are you will be able to get what you need out much faster and without causing a locker avalanche of papers and books.
3) Keep you binder organized! At the beginning of the day make sure that all your homework and other papers are in the the right section of your binder for that day.
4) Don’t talk so much to your friends! (Gasp!) Both you and your friends have to get to class on time so save the drama and other big conversations for break time, lunch or after school. I know it’s hard but your friends will still be there after school and maybe, just maybe, the drama will not be so dramatic by then!
5) Work together! Ask each other what you need for class that day and encourage each other to move faster. It’s easy to forget things and get distracted but if you find a friend that will help you out, not just distract you more, you will find getting to class on time, with all your stuff much more successful!
Just keep trying, you can do it, super power or not!
A new tactic
The girls(and some boys) at school are obsessed with the Twilight book series. For those of you who don’t know, it’s a teen gushy romance series about an average human girl who falls in love with a vampire. I read all but one of the series this past year so I could know what they are reading. They are basically bad news books, albeit entertaining. So, thanks to my friend Tricia I now have a “scare ‘em straight ” technique to use with them.
This is what happens when you date a vampire…
September happenings
Here are some pictures from some of the events in September. Sorry for the sparse blogging life is moving slightly faster then Mach 5!
I had to say “see you later” to my friends the Highley’s as they are back in the states. It’s been hard to be without them but I am excited to see what God does with them in America.
I miss her!
Britt with some of the 6th grade girls
We had our annual staff retreat at a Romanian church here in Vienna. It was a much needed break and refresher about why we are here and what God is doing! I was able to lead worship as well as act in a VERY funny skit!
Liz and I at staff retreat.
Bethany and I
