Recent Happenings

On Friday I got to head out to my new school where I'll be working in the fall and see my classroom, as well as drop off a bunch of books and supplies that I have.  The rooms were being cleaned so the halls were filled with desks, chairs and bookshelves, causing a maze to work your way through down the hall.  My classroom was much more of a rectangle than a square with one large whiteboard in the front and a large TV by the window (a window! yay!) and then on either side of the door I have a second smaller whiteboard and a large bulletin board.  The good thing about the rectangle is that I can run a huge timeline across the wall that we can add things to throughout the year.  My boxes got put in storage because of the cleaning, where they'll stay until late August when I can set up my room.

I drove around Vienna a bit after that to check it out and see what's there before heading to get some errands done.  On Saturday I went to the gym with my roommate and ended up joining for a couple reasons, 1) it's 2 blocks away, 2) they offer yoga and pilates classes, 3) Teacher discount!, and 4) I need to start working out so that I'm not dying half way though dance class and practicing bad techniques.  I have a fitness test tomorrow morning, the results of which I expect to be awful from my lack of working out over the last 4 years.

We had our housewarming party last night, grilling in the back yard with a pong table, cornhole and a very large jenga set, which proved to be a huge hit!  It was made out of foot long 2x4s, simply genius.  A lot of people came, each roomie had invited 10-20 people and it was great to meet friends of roomies.  I'm hoping to meet lots of new people in the next month, as well as hang out with some old friends too!

Learning to use Photostitcher

Photostitcher is a program that comes with Canon cameras on the CD you get and I just learned how to use it to create panoramic photos.  Enjoy!

Upper lake at Gleninchaquin Park, Ireland

Ring Fort remains, Bonane, Ireland

Bantry House, Ireland

View up Gragan Valley, Co. Clare, Ireland

Iron Age, Ring Fort, Inishmore, Ireland

San Gimiano, Italy, 2008

San Gimiano, Italy 2008

San Gimiano main square, Italy, 2008

Circus Maximus, Rome, Italy 2008

Rome, Italy 2008

Colosseum, Rome, Italy 2008

Life after Ireland

When I got back from Ireland, I had a new house that my roommate Chrissie had found.  We still had to find 3 people, but it's in Clarendon 4 blocks from the metro, so the location should make it easy to find people.  I also had 6 interviews set up in Fairfax County for teaching jobs!  What ended up working out was: we found 3 other people and moved in July 1st.  I had an unofficial offer with Madison HS to teach AP and was asked to attend the summer workshop, which in doing so was my unofficial acceptance.  I got the official job offer on Monday July 11th.  I got a TB test (negative) and filled out some forms to get my background clearance on Monday and then attend an orientation about benefits the following week.  I've been reading textbooks everyday, planning to teach World History II and AP USH in the fall.  Things are going well!

Currently watching Michael Collins about the formation of the Irish Republic.

Heading to Gettysburg tomorrow with M, L & P and my parents are meeting us there!

Ireland Week 2: Post 3

Our last day we visited Muckross Abbey and then Ross Castle, the last restored tower house in Ireland.

 We also had a fantastic dinner at Packie's in Kenmare, a place that Gma and Gpa had eaten at on a trip 15 years earlier.  The food was just as good!

Ireland Week 2: Part 2

From Kenmare we saw a ring fort from the bronze age.

 The stone circle in Kenmare.

 The Ladies' View of the Lakes of Killarney, so named by the ladies of Queen Victoria.

 Muckross House

 Torq waterfall near Muckross House.

 Another stone circle on the Beara Peninsula.

 Gleninchaquin Park

 Waterfall at Gleninchaquin Park

 View down the valley on the Beara Peninsula from the top of the mountain we hiked

 Sheep!

 Family picture

 The farm where we stayed.

Ireland Week 2

We headed south to Bantry from Doolin for our next stay.  Bantry is famous for a failed French invasion during the 1700s.  There's a beautiful old estate house that is owned by the grandson of the last Earl of Bantry.  They run a B&B out of the servants quarters and that's where we stayed for one night.

Bantry House

View of the house and the bay

Bay Side of the House

Billiards after dinner

After our day in Bantry, we headed a bit north to Kenmare where we rented a house with kitchen and laundry for the next 5 days.  Kenmare became our base of operations.

Ireland Week 1

We spent the first week of our Ireland trip in Doolin at a bed and breakfast called Cullinan's, which was great.  The day we arrived we went to see Bunratty Castle, a restored 15th c. castle.  Our first full day we went on a hike around Doolin, finding a 12th c. church in ruins and a megalith, stone ruins from about 3000 BC.

We also found walls with sheep holes.

We went to the Burren a bit that afternoon, a national park.  On the second day we went over to Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands.  We rented bikes and biked over the hill and down the hill, had lunch and then A & D went up to the Stone Age fort and M & I took the easy route back.

The next day we went up to Ballyhaunis, Co. Mayo where the Caufield side of the family is from.  We took the route along the coast and stopped along the cliffs.  That night we went to MacDermott's one of the local pubs known for music.  We had a great dinner then watched some of the soccer game before the band played some great music.

The next day we headed further south to our next destination, Bantry.

A's Graduation - Finally

A short recap of A's graduation weekend, 1.5 months later.  Gma, Gpa and I drove up to SC on Thursday, had dinner with M & D, fresh yummy pasta, and then headed up to Ithaca on Friday and had dinner with A.  We then went to a siblings party and Dino's for the evening.  Saturday we packed up A's room a bit, had a great brunch at Tracy's and then went to the reception on the Art's Quad and dinner at A's friend Andy's house with a bunch of other grads and their families.  We hung out for a bit at A's house Saturday night and then I headed back to our rental house.  Sunday A graduated in the football stadium with everyone and then walked across the stage with the Civil Engineer group.  After some quick food we went on a wine tour to 2 wineries over on Seneca Lake and then dinner at the base of the lake.  Monday we drove down to Dulles Airport.

Coucous Salad

Last night M & D had some friends over for dinner.  We made grilled chicken with an herb marinade and each of the couples brought a dish to share.  Mrs. P brought this recipe, which was fantastic!

Vegetarian Couscous Salad Recipe

An easy vegetarian and vegan couscous salad recipe with chickpeas and cucumbers in a light lemon Dijon dressing with chopped fresh parsley. Couscous salad is always a good choice to bring to a vegetarian potluck or picnic.

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked couscous
6 green onions, chopped
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 cup cucumber, chopped
1/2 cup chickpeas (garbanzo beans) pre-cooked or canned
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
3/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp salt
dash pepper to taste

Preparation:
Combine the couscous, onions, tomatoes, cucumber chickpeas and parsley in a large bowl.

In a separate small bowl, whisk or blend together the remaining ingredients and pour over the couscous, tossing gently to coat.

Enjoy!!!

John Cleese reports Threats

Start your week off with the latest news from the continent and beyond:

The English are feeling the pinch in relation to recent terrorist threats and have therefore raised their security level from "Miffed" to "Peeved." Soon, though, security levels may be raised yet again to "Irritated" or even "A Bit Cross." The English have not been "A Bit Cross" since the blitz in 1940 when tea supplies nearly ran out. Terrorists have been re-categorized from "Tiresome" to "A Bloody Nuisance." The last time the British issued a "Bloody Nuisance" warning level was in 1588, when threatened by the Spanish Armada.

The Scots have raised their threat level from "Pissed Off" to "Let's Get the Bastards." They don't have any other levels. This is the reason they have been used on the front line of the British army for the last 300 years.

The French government announced yesterday that it has raised its terror alert level from "Run" to "Hide." The only two higher levels in France are "Collaborate" and "Surrender." The rise was precipitated by a recent fire that destroyed France's white flag factory, effectively paralyzing the country's military capability.

Italy has increased the alert level from "Shout Loudly and Excitedly" to "Elaborate Military Posturing." Two more levels remain: "Ineffective Combat Operations" and "Change Sides."

The Germans have increased their alert state from "Disdainful Arrogance" to "Dress in Uniform and Sing Marching Songs." They also have two higher levels: "Invade a Neighbor" and "Lose."

Belgians, on the other hand, are all on holiday as usual; the only threat they are worried about is NATO pulling out of Brussels.

The Spanish are all excited to see their new submarines ready to deploy. These beautifully designed subs have glass bottoms so the new Spanish navy can get a really good look at the old Spanish navy.

Australia, meanwhile, has raised its security level from "No worries" to "She'll be all right, mate." Two more escalation levels remain: "Crickey! I think we'll need to cancel the Barbie this weekend!" and "The barbie is canceled." So far no situation has ever warranted use of the final escalation level.