So, time is very short... I really should get to bed soon... but I'll give you a few highlights of the week, in hopes that they will brighten your day.
The big transition this week was saying goodbye to my Germ 201 class... it was hard. They are all such good and enthusiastic students. We watched Harry Potter V in German and had a discussion about it as our last fun activity. Laura came and recorded it for me so we could critique it in my German pedagogy class. Everything seemed to go smoothly, which was a relief. My new 202 class has 10 fewer students than my 201 class, and it is an hour later in the day, which makes the class preparation a lot less stressful. It looks like it's shaping up to be an awesome class as well.
Ben had to leave Friday morning for Denver, Colorado to present his current physics research at a conference, so Laura and I decided to spend some time together. She came over Friday evening for an evening of chicken parmesan, a chick flick, and lots of girl talk. After she left I spent about 4 hours trying to get final grades together for Germ 201, and I almost finished that.
Saturday morning I took my roommates to go shopping for the German house, then rushed home to study for and take my French exam. Luckily it went pretty well, I think. The walk home wasn't particularly fun due to some stormy, rainy weather, and it matched the outcome of the homecoming game (a sad loss for the cougars), but Ben came back late Saturday night, so it wasn't that big of a deal :).
Today we had a marvelous stake conference. I was really inspired by the speakers, and am excited to put some of my new goals and resolutions into practice. After two sessions (yes, we had them both today) of stake conference and ward prayer, we had a ton of people show up at our apartment (which looks beautiful at the moment) to help us surprise our roommate Rachel, who had had her birthday on Saturday. Happily, the surprise was total and complete when she walked in the door, the refreshments delicious, the atmosphere conversational and festive. I just can't believe that the weekend is over once again and the treadmill never stops rolling...
Love and miss you all and hope you have a wonderful week!
Margaret
Sonntag, 25. Oktober 2009
Sonntag, 18. Oktober 2009
Mid-Semester Madness...
Wow... I'm kind of drawing a blank right now about the latest happenings in my life...
Let's see. Life is still somewhat stressful when it comes to my current academic activities, but everything has become a regular stress, and thus in its regularity slightly less stressful. The irregularity this week was my presentation for German 441R on the history of witchcraft, which went pretty well. The biggest stress is still German 201 - it's my last full week teaching 201, and I'm really going to miss my students. Thursday and Friday I administered oral exams to each one of my twenty eight students, which meant that on Friday I had a three hour marathon of exams without a break. Oral exams were only the beginning. I hadn't gotten my syllabus together for 202, so yesterday I spent over four and a half hours in my office (the longest time span I've ever been there) organizing the readings, grammar chapters and homework with Jared Cook, the other TA in charge of 202. This is the first semester that the 202 classes will actually have a corresponding syllabus, and the readings we decided to incorporate this time should be really helpful to the students. It feels good to have that somewhat more solid... now the next thing I'm going to have to figure out is a speaking activity that I can do for my last day of German 201, so that I can bring it to my pedagogy class on Thursday for someone to critique.
My life certainly isn't all work though. Some of the highlights of my week included eating lunch with Ben and two of his late summer honors friends in the WSC, getting together with Laura to watch devotional (I have to admit we spent the entire time talking/catching up, which we needed desperately, but that was really important), then at the end of the week (Friday) a double date with Ben, my old roommate Allyson and her husband Ben. We went to see the Victorian exhibit in the MOA, then made a fancy, delicious meal (zucchini cheesecake, pork chops, salad, and carrot cake for dessert). It wasn't easy to persuade Ben that sometimes it is important to enjoy more good food than just the essentials (for him the essentials are peanut butter, bread and oatmeal). Saturday morning I visited the BYU lost and found sale, where I found three pair of dance shoes that fit me for under thirty dollars total, then after my marathon in the office Ben and I made stir fry, went for a walk, spent abt. 20 min. in the basement of the HFAC singing/playing the piano, then did some hw.
To sum it all up, life is beautiful... I know the Lord gets me through every day of it.
Love and miss you all!
Margaret
Let's see. Life is still somewhat stressful when it comes to my current academic activities, but everything has become a regular stress, and thus in its regularity slightly less stressful. The irregularity this week was my presentation for German 441R on the history of witchcraft, which went pretty well. The biggest stress is still German 201 - it's my last full week teaching 201, and I'm really going to miss my students. Thursday and Friday I administered oral exams to each one of my twenty eight students, which meant that on Friday I had a three hour marathon of exams without a break. Oral exams were only the beginning. I hadn't gotten my syllabus together for 202, so yesterday I spent over four and a half hours in my office (the longest time span I've ever been there) organizing the readings, grammar chapters and homework with Jared Cook, the other TA in charge of 202. This is the first semester that the 202 classes will actually have a corresponding syllabus, and the readings we decided to incorporate this time should be really helpful to the students. It feels good to have that somewhat more solid... now the next thing I'm going to have to figure out is a speaking activity that I can do for my last day of German 201, so that I can bring it to my pedagogy class on Thursday for someone to critique.
My life certainly isn't all work though. Some of the highlights of my week included eating lunch with Ben and two of his late summer honors friends in the WSC, getting together with Laura to watch devotional (I have to admit we spent the entire time talking/catching up, which we needed desperately, but that was really important), then at the end of the week (Friday) a double date with Ben, my old roommate Allyson and her husband Ben. We went to see the Victorian exhibit in the MOA, then made a fancy, delicious meal (zucchini cheesecake, pork chops, salad, and carrot cake for dessert). It wasn't easy to persuade Ben that sometimes it is important to enjoy more good food than just the essentials (for him the essentials are peanut butter, bread and oatmeal). Saturday morning I visited the BYU lost and found sale, where I found three pair of dance shoes that fit me for under thirty dollars total, then after my marathon in the office Ben and I made stir fry, went for a walk, spent abt. 20 min. in the basement of the HFAC singing/playing the piano, then did some hw.
To sum it all up, life is beautiful... I know the Lord gets me through every day of it.
Love and miss you all!
Margaret
Sonntag, 11. Oktober 2009
These Happy Golden Days...
Fall is such a beautiful month... I just want to take the brilliant sun, the crisp air, the pristine blue sky, the majesty of the fiery mountains and keep them with me forever. Of course, it's tricky to make time enough to get out and really enjoy the season, but with Ben's help I've been able to manage it a few times... :)....
I didn't have time to really elaborate on Ben last time, but he's become a big part of my life and you should all definitely know about him. First of all, he's one of the busiest people I know with two majors (German and physics), two jobs (teaching German 101 and a physics internship), a huge calling and inter-mural soccer, and that just scratches the surface of all that he's doing/some how staying on top of at the moment. He works extremely hard all the time. He's one of the most considerate people I know, always going out of his way to serve people, and his highest goals and priorities all have to do with putting the Lord first, and doing His will, no matter what. And he doesn't just say that. He lives it. We see each other every day, even if it's only a few minutes, to study the scriptures together (we're working on the Gospel of John), talk, and if we're lucky, we snatch a few minutes outside to enjoy the beauty of fall together.
On Friday Ben came over to help me make some apple strudel for the German house's Oktoberfest event, before he rushed off to his soccer game. I met him on campus, and we went to his apartment, made dinner, then walked back to my apartment just talking for hours. Saturday morning we both had church meetings to attend... I had an enrichment activity (or relief society meeting as they now want us to call them) that went really well. Lots of people came, we had an amazing bagel/fruit breakfast organized, and we talked about the importance of visiting teaching. It went so smoothly... Katherine, the girl in charge of enrichment, was so organized and on the ball. Everything fell into place, and all I had to do was be there to help and support from the sidelines. As soon as our meetings were over, Ben and I drove up to Alpine to enjoy the last of the fall leaves in the area. The weather and the way were breathtakingly gorgeous - tall slender birches, stalwart mountains covered in patches of snow, and a beautiful waterfall. After a picnic, we left and just did homework together the whole rest of the day. It was simple, yet one of the best weekends of my life...
Other news... well, it's hard to think of anything else as exciting as all of that... Thursday I had my first International Dance Lab, where I participated in a mock-competition for foxtrot. I wore my brand new standard ballroom dance shoes for the first time, and felt like Cinderella. I had two partners, since I'm the tallest girl in the class, so I got to dance three times before I got cut. I was quite happy to leave when I finally got cut, since I had a ton of hw to do and I came home to see Ben. Shortly after I got back Laura, Cara and Janneka came over to visit, and it was really good to catch up with them.
I only have about one more week of teaching German 201 before I'll have to switch to German 202. It's really pretty sad, since I'm just starting to be really confident with my students' names (yes, I know that took me forever, but I just couldn't help it). School is stressful, but okay... my drama class is still my favorite, and we just started reading Faust, which I absolutely love...
Anyway, I love and miss you all, even though it probably doesn't seem like it because I've been so bad with my correspondence lately, and I hope you are all doing well and that you have a wonderful week!
Love,
Margaret
I didn't have time to really elaborate on Ben last time, but he's become a big part of my life and you should all definitely know about him. First of all, he's one of the busiest people I know with two majors (German and physics), two jobs (teaching German 101 and a physics internship), a huge calling and inter-mural soccer, and that just scratches the surface of all that he's doing/some how staying on top of at the moment. He works extremely hard all the time. He's one of the most considerate people I know, always going out of his way to serve people, and his highest goals and priorities all have to do with putting the Lord first, and doing His will, no matter what. And he doesn't just say that. He lives it. We see each other every day, even if it's only a few minutes, to study the scriptures together (we're working on the Gospel of John), talk, and if we're lucky, we snatch a few minutes outside to enjoy the beauty of fall together.
On Friday Ben came over to help me make some apple strudel for the German house's Oktoberfest event, before he rushed off to his soccer game. I met him on campus, and we went to his apartment, made dinner, then walked back to my apartment just talking for hours. Saturday morning we both had church meetings to attend... I had an enrichment activity (or relief society meeting as they now want us to call them) that went really well. Lots of people came, we had an amazing bagel/fruit breakfast organized, and we talked about the importance of visiting teaching. It went so smoothly... Katherine, the girl in charge of enrichment, was so organized and on the ball. Everything fell into place, and all I had to do was be there to help and support from the sidelines. As soon as our meetings were over, Ben and I drove up to Alpine to enjoy the last of the fall leaves in the area. The weather and the way were breathtakingly gorgeous - tall slender birches, stalwart mountains covered in patches of snow, and a beautiful waterfall. After a picnic, we left and just did homework together the whole rest of the day. It was simple, yet one of the best weekends of my life...
Other news... well, it's hard to think of anything else as exciting as all of that... Thursday I had my first International Dance Lab, where I participated in a mock-competition for foxtrot. I wore my brand new standard ballroom dance shoes for the first time, and felt like Cinderella. I had two partners, since I'm the tallest girl in the class, so I got to dance three times before I got cut. I was quite happy to leave when I finally got cut, since I had a ton of hw to do and I came home to see Ben. Shortly after I got back Laura, Cara and Janneka came over to visit, and it was really good to catch up with them.
I only have about one more week of teaching German 201 before I'll have to switch to German 202. It's really pretty sad, since I'm just starting to be really confident with my students' names (yes, I know that took me forever, but I just couldn't help it). School is stressful, but okay... my drama class is still my favorite, and we just started reading Faust, which I absolutely love...
Anyway, I love and miss you all, even though it probably doesn't seem like it because I've been so bad with my correspondence lately, and I hope you are all doing well and that you have a wonderful week!
Love,
Margaret
Sonntag, 4. Oktober 2009
From the Girl who has been MIA for Forever...
Dearest most Darling Friends and Family that I have so sorely neglected for way too long...
Wow… so much has happened in what seems like the blink of an eye. After I got back from
School has been a veritable whirlwind of everything. I love having Laura and Cara here with me, even though I don’t get to see them as often as I’d like. Classes are challenging, fascinating and draining all at once. My German 201 class jumped from 20 students to 30, and it has been a huge demand on my time and creative resources. I just feel like a sponge that has been wrung out too many times as I try to come up with new lesson plans, activities, unit plans etc. I’m taking a drama theory class for German that I absolutely love… we’re discussing the relationship between religion’s role in the development of drama by examining lots of famous German plays that I should be very familiar with already, that I haven’t gotten around to yet. My 284 ballroom dance technique class is trickier than I thought, but I love being able to concentrate on standard the entire time (my Cuban action for any of the Latin dances is sorely lacking). My mission preparation class is nice because it’s easy. French 201, well, the only thing that makes it hard is the fact that it’s something I have to fit into my schedule every day. Practicing vocab is also just really time consuming, but it’s really fun to practice with my friend Felicia after class… such a good excuse to just talk about the important things in life.
So, then I’m taking a German pedagogy class that meets almost every day. I was not very happy about it, since I had already been teaching just fine without it, but I’m beginning to see the value of it in more than one way. It’s been really helpful when it comes to planning different listening, reading and speaking activities. More importantly, however, a young man in that class asked me on a date… on several dates… and it has been awesome. We saw World of Dance together, went to a movie in the dollar theater, saw a choir concert, had a picnic at Provo River trail, climbed trees, waded through a river, went to the social dance club where I gave some intense dancing lessons and he was a pal for taking them, rolled down a hill, ran through the sprinklers, went to a football game, sang at an old-folks home and then again in the basement of the HFAC, watched conference in Salt Lake, made waffles, crepes and chocolate chip cookies… well… you get the picture J. His name is Ben. He’s amazing! More on this later.
Oh yeah – another really important development in my life that I forgot to mention. I have been called to serve as the second counselor in the Relief Society in the ward. It has been an amazing experience so far. Our presidency is a solid group of incredible women, and I’m learning like I’ve never learned before. The ward is really solid this year, with so many people from diverse backgrounds with something to contribute to the community. It’s beautiful.
And on that happy note… life is beautiful… full… but lovely.
Love and miss you all!!
Margaret
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