white blanket

This week it snowed lightly for three days. I went on a walk with some colleagues and friends for a couple of those afternoons.
So much white and more coming.
Looking at general uncertainty coming up in a few months, the whiteness over everything was nice. And the numb feeling toes... :)
It is perfect weather for Simon and Garfunkel's hazy shade of winter

Iggy's Christmas

One of my peace corps colleagues received a bag of Ty stuffed animals last year.
I pilfered a few from the bag and use them as classroom props. The first time my students showed interest in forming the future tense was when I introduced Iggy the Iguana and the class had to create a story for what Iggy would do next summer.
As a past tense review to a sixth grade class today, I pulled Iggy out from under my sleeping bag in the bag of my closet and took him to school today. I started the fictitious story on the board "Iggy had a great Christmas." And invited the students to elaborate while asking questions to encourage their sleepy creativity. This is the story of Iggy's Christmas.
Iggy had a great Christmas. Where did Iggy spend Christmas? Iggy celebrated Christmas in the jungle Who did he celebrate Christmas with? with his friends. What did he eat for Christmas? He ate flies and bananas for Christmas dinner. What did he do after Christmas dinner? After dinner he opened gifts. What was his favorite gift? His favorite gift was a pink girlfriend.

Yes. a pink girlfriend. I was thinking more on the lines of a computer game or a basketball, but a pink girlfriend (Iggy is green). Not a bad Christmas for Iggy.

Christmas Vacation

A wonderful, wintery week in Dresden


Decorating an outside Christmas tree. Putting lights up with a stick is NOT a simple task.


Dancing New Years away with colleagues and friends from Vama.