Monday 29 July 2013

DIY: A mobile case makeover once again

It has been my first day at work after the CELTA today and to be a 100% honest, I just felt really exhausted. But all the hugs, smiles, snuggles, "Johanniiiiiiiiii"s and sticky kisses made totally up for that. (Though we might or might not have broken the coffee record....at least we would have if it wouldn't have been for our immense self-control!! Yeah I am proud of that fact. Though, 3 is still too much I guess...)

Anyway, I thought to start of light after the blogging break, I might share another mobile case makeover (again). This happened somewhere during the last four weeks (when I was actually supposed to write a lesson plan....probably. The chances for that were always quite high).


As usual, all you'll need:
  • A plain phone case
  • nailpolish
Easy peasy!
I went for simple lines and I loved to break the colour pattern with one single line of yellow.  And the most amazing fact: This phone case will match my nails about 75% at all times ;P
So get your nail polish out (or just drop by my place. I'll be happy to share) and get your creativity flowing!!
Design No.1 and No.2 are here.

Saturday 27 July 2013

My CELTA experience

Hey there!
I'm finally back after my nearly complete four weeks on silence on this blog. That was a first! And I might just admit that I rewrote this post about a hundred of times. So, either I'm really out of the whole writing thing (naaah, 4 written assignments in the last week?! Gracefully mastered. No way I'm out of the whole writing thing...yeah ok I am) or maybe its just that I'm out of words to describe my last four weeks.

We'll start easy of with the most important point of all:
I want to send a Huge (as in with a capital 'h' and a bigger font) excuse and 'thank you' to everyone that stayed in contact with me (or well, rather did not) during the last four weeks. The experience of doing this course was definitely unique but, here comes the but, I probably wouldn't have wanted to be around myself all the time during that time as well (I really didn't want to haha).
After not getting good sleep for weeks, staying under constant stress (yeah I'm still whining. I really should shut up. They are just lame excuses)...ok so no more excuses.
I simply was one self-centred, hysteric, sleep-deprived....too make it short: Horrid person to be around.

Sorry, sorry, sorry! You'll all get a cake...or cookies...or a hug. Or all of it ;)



                                 ~************************************************************************************~

 Having said that, we might actually take a closer look on what was actually happening.
For those of you that didn't get the information yet, I participated in a CELTA 4 week intensive course. The CELTA is a certificate by Cambridge to train future ESL teachers.
If you consider taking it/wanting to, inform yourself about it: This is the official site.
Though...here are also two rather less official sites, but definitely worth taking a look at. Especially if you consider taking i!. (The use of heavy sarcasm and irony should be a common trait of yours, if you do so!)

For me, ...

There was this one point where my fb profile picture seemed to sarcastically smile down at me while I refreshed the page for the 100th time in hope to find enlightenment there. That, did not happen whatsoever. 12 pm. (And we're talking of facebook(!)  anyway. I should have known enlightenment wasn't going to show up there...)

Resubmission.s Jep. Argh. We'll let it pass.

My new mantra for the weeks was: You'll be fine. You're smart, you'll learn it all soon I'm sure. (Desperately trusting other people)

I was so proud to say that my coffee intake was down to one coffee per day....that, however, was before the celta. Secret statistics are not going to be published.

I don't care if it's a B or not. I want to PASS. Simply pass.

Hysterical laughing attacks were a common thing. To all. times. of. the. day. (Adequate or not).

Birthday cake celebrations in the middle of the week made it special again.

Finger techniques. A lot of blushing. More hysterical giggling. Jeez, and you would expect us to be grown up!

The moment when you actually count a facebook messenger conversation as a social activity. Did happen. A lot. Not often enough though.

Break downs. A lot. Again. Often. With random people. In all kind of situations.


But there was also this feeling of doing this together. As a group.
And Friday evenings with....let's say 'apple saap' ;).... at the Main Ufer.
And Starbucks Frappuccino lunch breaks with favourite American girls.
And new shoes.
Ellie's awesome cakes!
And sushi talks.
Lots of other talks.
Awesome students.
Secret second life assassins.
And funny videos.
And hysterical giggle flashes.
And more hysterical giggle flashes.
Blushing.
Facebook stalking.
Bread and healthy eating habits conversations.
New shoes.
New Outfits adviced by Jo (not me though ;P).
"Jo"wesomenes!!! (YAY!)
And so much more that can't be described.
AND: I will miss them all a lot. It has been just for four weeks. But this group of people I met, were some really special and awesome personalities!

One unique time, I wouldn't want to miss!

                                 ~*********************************************************************************************~


Btw: On a more serious level. If you do consider taking the CELTA course (or simply: you found this page by googling it and are hoping for some life saving advice. Yeah. I'll know. The statistics tell me exactly how you got here ;P)

This course is (kind of) hardcore!
I might have to admit, that my point of view makes it even a bit more hardcore. I was the youngest participant (haha I just slipped in, having the minimum age that is required), no real teaching experiences (though I didn't feel like this was a real disadvantage) and English not as a native but as a foreign language.
BUT: It is manageable. And even fun!
Though keep in mind:
If Cambridge says you won't have a social life for the course duration: They. are. not. kidding. whatsoever!
If they say it is intense: It is intense.
If they say it's a lot of pressure: It's a huge amount of pressure.

And saying all of this, is way easier after having it done (and being finished and starting to realise I might actually have some free time on hand now!!). During the course I thought ahead not much more than for one day. Ok. Make it more: I thought in one morning, one afternoon, one evening and one night. Short period of sleep. Repeat.
I also should mention, that I did the four week intensive version. There is one that will take longer and therefore be less stressful.

But (2nd time) This was also one of the most special and fun times in my life so far! And for nothing in the world would I have wanted to miss it. (And all the people that came along with it and that I hope to keep in touch with!!)
Take a look at those two pages (mentioned above 1 + 2). They sum it up quiet well. They made us laugh when it was pretty necessary. Though keep in mind, that people surviving the CELTA, tend to have a tendency towards sarcasm and irony (just sayin').
And: Every time you think this is hard and complicated and exhausting. Keep in mind: You can still do a hardcore DELTA course after that. Or a Master. You'll be thankful for just having to deal with the CELTA after those stories ;)

And that was my CELTA story....after four weeks of silence on this neglected blog. I can now focus on getting my life back on the tracks. Jeez. Oh and we're officially passed the countdown of two weeks!!! At this point in two weeks...


....I'll be blogging FROM CANADA again!!!
...haha ok probably not blogging right now. But anytime soon ;)
Less than two weeks guys!!!!

And that makes up for one big photo overload

Lots of fruits and salads

I might have tried to dip dye my hair with organic hair dye at one point...yeah, I was kind of desperate at that point...

I wasn't desperate at all times ;)



Dinner with the best friend ♥



Friday Evenings

We were back to desperate....

Some people in the course were really doodle-talented!!


Awesome pre-lesson paper messes...


A "quick" trip to Augsburg in between...there wasn't really time for anything...not even sharp pictures.


Last day after-class-party with the students


African "Good-bye" dinner. IT looks weirder than it is. Actually, it was pretty good. Stuffing myself to the top good!

One last and amazing evening

Sunday 21 July 2013

Recently...


* Enjoyed the soft morning air out in our garden, where or lawn is a soft field of dying grass
* Painted my nails pool blue
* Watched the sunlight patterns wander
* Wanted to make my life beautiful. As in pastel and white beautiful with lots and lots of friends,
   laughter and ice cream
* Wanted to make my life more adventurous. As in adding things to my bucket list, doing stuff first
   and than thinking about it. Burst out with thoughts and get some bruises
* Met some really cool people
* Learned about teaching
* Counted days....

Saturday 20 July 2013

Yes, I'm still alive...


...well, or at least: merely. One more week to go! (Sorry for the silence. Bare with me).

And what's keeping me up, nice comments from really nice people:
You'll be fine. You're smart, you'll learn it all soon I'm sure.

(I'll try to trust it. We. can. do. this!)


And if that doesn't help, we'll listen to music!

 

Sunday 7 July 2013

A little update {tiny little starter steps}

Not really interesting or important but this is probably the longest I ever went without posting a post since I started blogging!
So here we go. I'm sorry for all the silence here. You better believe, my life is so not silent right now.

Attentive blog readers (or just really good friend of mine) might have noticed that I went through a lot of applying recently. Included into all this applying was also one application for a teacher teaching course. And I was more than happy to find my acceptance in my email inbox one day last month.
With all of that, it is easy to say that, finally, this week this course started!
I was giddy. And scared. And excited. Nervous, unsure, happy...so many emotions! It was really hard to keep waiting for it to begin.

It was one tough week. Tough but fun. It's surprisingly hard to make the switch from being a student to actually thinking of myself as a teacher (Ok. We are probably far from being a real teacher. But! Do I have students? Yes! Are they learning something? Yes! Does this put me into a teacher/teaching position? Yes! So I guess...we made the transition! And just on the side...I just also included some nice CCQ-practise ;P). So with that being said, I'll leave you with some picture impressions of the rest of my week....(and won't mention that I just started to analyse where exactly the stress of this sentence lies, or the importance, or that right now I'm doing the phoneme analysis of 'exactly' and how I'd explain sentence structure and pronunciation to my students...you better believe I woke up in the middle of the night, stressing out because I thought I had forgotten to give one last clear instruction and my students wouldn't be able to work right now. Talk of making it even more stressful for myself...jeez).

Somewhere at the beginning of this week I really needed something to boost me up in the morning. I made myself a smoothie. And: This week was the week of cherries. Love our backyard cherry tree!
Ascending the S-Bahn stairs...
I used my first-day-lunch-break to just lie down and stare into the sky...my brain wasn't really functioning anymore at that point.

Sadly...or should I say luckily? the weather changed on our third day in. I really don't mind some cooler temperatures with all the learning ahead!
Thursday girls evenings were changed to take place in the city this week. A little break in between. And sorry...that picture really didn't like being send, copied and copied again. Got all blurry.

And back to learning. My Easter bunny made it on my folder...though everyone says it looks more like a chipmunk...I probably shouldn't have eaten his ears first...
Half of my Saturday than was a off and I went out together with my dad. It felt like holidays. Love those mornings. Saturday afternoon was filled with going to my other job.

I really don't mind savoury breakfasts....
And I'm thinking about this flower/general design as a band tattoo on my arm...what do you think?!
Sunday was filled with a morning run, cleaning, organising and now I'll spent more quality time with all my papers (After I just spent one hour on my computer getting rid of something that made my computer collapse three times in a row. Yay...not!). I'm wishing everyone a wonderful rest of the weekend ;)