Football at AFNorth

Hello all! 

I hope everyone is doing well back at home. I am doing well and started teaching for good this past week. It so far has been quite the experience. I haven't really had to deal with any problems, but I do have some mouthy kids who tend to be really loud. Fortunately, I just pull out the cattle prod that Mom sent me and set them straight. Totally kidding... it is actually a ruler....  :)

I coached my first football game ever on Saturday, and I wish I could tell everyone that we won in blowout fashion. Unfortunately, (or fortunately... I guess from a coaches perspective) we were the ones blown out. The football team lost at AFNorth in the Netherlands 54-18. It was not a pretty game, but hopefully the kids will learn from this experience. The sad thing was that the team just quit after the first big play the other team had. Hopefully, through practice this week, we will be able to squash that bug before it gets any bigger. I really enjoyed coaching though especially seeing kids get it for the first time. I am learning a lot too, as the coaches are really helpful in getting me to understand what is going on. I ask a ton of questions and they answer each one and make sure I understand it. The six hour bus ride home from the Netherlands was quite the experience, and I promise to put up pictures of the game as soon as I get them. 

School hasn't exactly been what I thought it would be, and it is scary how close to the United States this place really is. I have to leave base just to remind myself that I am in another country. It is way to easy to just be stuck on base with all the work that has to be done, but I am continued to be invited out by the teachers and seeing Germany a lot more. We had our first teacher dinner last Thursday and it was just nice to get away from school. It was a great home-cooked meal, a lasagna of some type. I do miss home-cooked meals, I am tired of the peanut butter and honey sandwiches that I find myself eating all the time. I always end up getting home way to late for the grocery store (as it closes at 1900). Oh well, it is good that I like the peanut butter and honey, because if I didn't I might have gone insane by now... :) 

I was also asked to teach some of the show choir kids some swing dance moves, as the choir teacher found out that I was a swing dancer. And I found out about the swing dancing in Germany, so I might go there a couple of weekends to the different places. I am excited and nervous at the same time. We are planning a couple of more trips too, one to Vienna, Austria and another to Italy or Spain. It should be awesome! Plus as the weekends come up, I know that we are planning trips to different parts of Germany. We are headed to Rottenber (I think?) here within the next few days, and hopefully see the torture and medieval village. I am pumped! 

I know that there is a ton more to talk about, but I am drawing  a blank right now. We are working on a Constitution day presentation for Thursday, and it will be presented in front of the entire school.... so that should be fun. It will be interesting to see how the kids react. Anyways, I miss everyone very dearly, and I hope that you are all doing well. :) I love you all!