First Day Back @ SCH.

I had a wonderful time at school today. Everybody was glad to see me. 11D had made A REAL BIG CAKE for me! It was delicious. So, we ate the cake, drank tea and wrote and discussed the USA and the most popular prejudices and stereotypes about it. Time went really fast with them.
The next class was 11E who greeted me with a big Fazer chocolate and asked me to promise that I won't ever leave them again. This is a hard promise to keep but I'll try. They only have 1.5 years here, so it might be doable.
11B greeted me in the corridor and
I was glad to see my 10E, who unfortunately had to take a test today, and thus we couldn't discuss things. Maybe tomorrow. We'll use the thinking maps that I've learned so much about.

My 10B came to greet me and meet me. They want to travel somewhere in the spring. We have to discuss that.
Talking about travelling 11E was sure that I'm going to join them in whatever journey they are going to take this year... I hope I'll be able to!

Ah, yes. And my own 10B in my Business English lesson.
We learned that ICT stands for I SEE TEA!
And they came up with their own creative idea how to memorize an abbreviation "AGM" (Using the lincs strategy that I had learned about but I didn't say a word)
Now AGM stands for the Annual General Meeting of ANGRY GARBAGE MEN! 
I loved it!
I used the tickets out of the door thing with the abbreviations and I would like to think it worked quite well. But of course my BE group is so small - it's easy to experiment with them.

In Estonian I liked the word "mittetähenduslik hinne" which is very hard to translate but was meant to mean kind of small and insignificant assignments given in class....

So, I'm looking forward to being out of my comfort zone. There is just SO much to do!
I'm glad to be back and see everybody again! :)

Wonderful time - ASU

We had so many good moments at ASU!



Let's give a big cheer to Holiday Inn Express, College of Education Building at ASU campus, all the lecturers/friends and TEA-fellows!
I miss y'all!

Home (bitter)Sweet Home

I have perhaps never faced something as hard in my life as was parting with my international friends on Nov 10 in Washington DC. Kristel has been really diligent in recording our life in "Our Nation's Capital" as well as the last days in Boone, NC.
I think I was just too sad to even think about writing anything.
Every end is a new beginning. End is a comma, not a full stop. There are going to be good times ahead. We'll definitely communicate with most members of the TEA-fellows group either by skype, by email or on FB. Some of them are really hard to part with, though. Especially if you are not sure that you are going to see them again. They have changed me and have changed my life and there are some that I honestly and deeply love.

So, unfortunately the first night at home is a little bittersweet.
The kind of night when you start questioning things that you have learned and discovered. But I promised not to doubt in myself and I'm going to keep that promise.

Washington DC was fun and sad. Fun, because we could spend a lot of time together preparing for the cultural evening, dancing and laughing, talking afterwards and sharing-sharing-sharing materials.

This is the Estonia group + 1 lady from Kasakhstan

at our farewell lunch in Washington Hotel, DC.

That's the day when we had done our microteaching presentations, handed in lesson plans, learned about the small grants for the TEA alumni (who we now are) and were looking forward to some food and a free afternoon together. 

I'm an official alumnus of Appalachian State University program and I also received certificates from IREX (who is doing the fund-raising, funding and organising the program) and from the Department of State that finances it. 

I promised to put these certificates on my wall...

in Facebook...

We had a terribly long flight but I'm happy to report that I'm really and truly not frighetened of flying anymore. Only the air-conditioning on the plane was something that I loathed. Due to that I have now sore throat and a persistant and nagging cough.

Although we had a delay in Frankfurt, everything went well and I'm happy to be back at home where my daughter was eagerly waiting for me. One of my best friends ever had prepared me some out-of-this-world delicious supper and another friend had left this in my fridge:

 Well, I think today may be just one of such emergencies:

I'm missing my new international family SO MUCH IT HURTS!

But in our life we have to face many challenges and this will not be my last trip to the US. I think these weeks just went too quickly to even understand what was happening. I have learned so much and I've made many great friends. I love y'all!
Let's not think of it as an END OF A FAIRY-TALE, let's think about it as a new chapter or a storyline emerging...

This poem by my Grandma has helped me a lot in these past few days.

I’d like to be a maple tree -

A broad and majestic plant

with roots that go so deep

and spirit that’s kindred to mine.

I’d like to be its leaves that are green -

they’re my youth so tender and sweet.

I’d like to bear its blossoms

and feel the dawn in the spring.

In the autumn – crowned colorful bright -

its leaves are golden and red.

They’re my feelings, each hue of which

sings a different tune.

In strong winds I’d fly away with

a withered and sallow leaf

over fields and faded meadows

over waters shallow and deep.

In the snowdrifts and icy blizzards

I’d sway as a branch so bare.

I’d be strong and over my lips

no sigh would ever come clear.