Ride to Roskilde and Skipping to Sweden

My second morning in Denmark and I awoke still feeling exhausted. Maybe I need to be in the bed earlier than 1:00am Europe time instead of trying to stay up at the 7:00pm North Carolina time. Our group once again enjoyed breakfast in the downstairs of the hotel---this always consisted of yogurt with cereal, every kind of bread imaginable, and some type of meat. Even though I wanted to try something Danish I decided to stay away from the meat in the mornings.

This morning was designated to be spent at the Viking Museum. I experienced my first train ride in this city and it reminded me a lot of the subway system in New York City (except much easier to understand the stops). Once arriving to the train depot in Roskilde, I realized that this was also a busy town, but not as bustling as Copenhagen. Roskilde was actually the first capital of Denmark along with five viking ships being sunk off the coast between 1070-1090 A.D.

We walked down the cobblestone streets and enjoyed a scenic shortcut through paths and gardens along the way to the museum. The Viking Museum intrigued all o f us regarding the excavation of the ships since they were over a thousand years old. The archaeologist studied the ships carefully to restore them in the original form, and it took only 25 years---talk about patience.

The history buffs in our group were in awe over the artifacts, so we had to leave them behind to continue with our journey.

As with all window shopping, there becomes an item one can't live without and this became my longing for leggings. A fashion statement in Denmark (and Europe) was the trend of leggings, no matter the color, under dresses or even longer shirts. I was in need of these particular necessities because my legs were freezing since I brought mostly dresses and skirts. I went into a contemporary store called Dere's, which reminded me a lot of our Express. The leggings were luckily on sale and this became my first keepsake from Denmark. Thank goodness they will keep me warm throughout the rest of the trip.

In the middle of the afternoon, we maintained our energy and spontaneity to travel to Malmo, Sweden (Malmo actually has two dots of the "o" in this word). It became easier to manage the train schedule and we arrived to Sweden in 35 minutes. We crossed over the Oresund Bridge, which connects the two countries and is known as the world's largest bridge carrying both road and railway traffic.

Sweden was similar to Copenhagen with the beautiful buildings and cobblestone streets, but still not quite as busy. Sweden's prices were also much cheaper, so of course we took advantage of the souvenir gift shop before returning to the expensive Danish prices. While browsing through toy shops, we discovered the Swedish word for Cinderella was "ash pot." Doesn't sound as romantic...

Sweden still accepted the Danish Kroner for currency, even though their primary currency was the Swedish Kroner. To determine the American value of expenditures, in Denmark dividing by 5 was used, but in Sweden we divided by 9 (which explains why it was cheaper). As mentioned before, I was constantly doing mental math calculations to convert money, temperature, time, and measurement.

Malmo was hosting a worldwide youth soccer championship during our short visit to the city. There was an entire square reserved for this exciting event with music and radio stations scattered everywhere. The United States had lost the day before, so we did not see any fellow American athletes. This sport is not referred to as soccer as in the states, but as football. It remains to be a popular sport in Europe.

We found our way back to Copenhagen by train and walked miles trying to locate Hard Rock Cafe, and it turned out to be near our hotel in the opposite direction. I know this is the typical tourist American attraction, but at that time, we were craving just a regular cheeseburger. Additionally, it was important for me to take home the regular memento (Hard Rock Hurricane glass) from this world renown restaurant.

Tomorrow will begin our independent research day, and I will be traveling with Sonya and Bernard---aka the speedy walkers, so my tennis shoes are ready!

Lesson Learned:

Nothing taste better than an American Cheeseburger after spending hours in two European countries.

Denmark-Part 2

It was refreshing to have a shower and some rest before leaving for the Newark airport AGAIN. I was eager to be on a plane to Europe. Instead of flying straight to Denmark, some us had a layover in Paris and Amsterdam. I was disappointed separating from everyone, but those were the only confirmed seats available to get us to Copenhagen. I was assigned with the group going to Paris with hopes of seeing the Eiffel Tower and the Mona Lisa---bust as with my luck, I stared at airport walls the entire day. It took approximately seven hours to reach Paris and then the time change began now becoming Monday morning (6 hours ahead). One stop closer to Copenhagen, even though upon our arrival, we were made aware that we were once again not confirmed. This equated leaving Paris at 8:00pm instead of 3:30 that afternoon...ughh!

It was surreal to finally be in Europe and I became the typical American tourist still glancing at gift shops and challenging myself to eat something authentic from the cafe. I even tried to practice French language, since that was the only foreign language I took in high school. So I only understood oui "yes" and bon voyage "have a good trip!"
When we descended in Copenhagen, the view was breathtaking---the windmills, the water, and the beautiful landforms of Denmark. I had to remind myself that it was still daylight at 9:30pm, which really made it difficult to adjust to the time difference.

We considered ourselves fortunate that our luggage was at the baggage claim (remember our bad luck) and we waited for a taxi. It was obvious we were in Europe since every cab was a Mercedes. I also noticed that all the cars were smaller, no SUV's. The smaller, the better!




When arriving to the CabInn, we were happily greeted by the rest of our friends and colleagues. We looked at each other sleepily and went immediately to bed. The hotel rooms were no different from the cars---extremely small! I immediately went back to my college days because it reminded me of my dorm room. Cindi had luckily figured out how the lights worked (you have to put your room key into a slot), along with the faucet and shower. We also maneuvered our suitcases and travel items to make sure we had enough room to walk. Sleep sounded wonderful and stayed tuned for the many adventures in Denmark!

Video of our hotel room at the CabInn:


Lesson Learned:
We are not in America anymore...

Denmark-Part 1

It was sensible to divide this trip into two parts because of the numerous experiences prior to arriving to Denmark. This is the type of story my kids would love to hear, so blogging will allow me share this craziness with everyone! At this moment, I am resting in a Best Western in Fords, New Jersey (first time here) as we await another shuttle bus to take us BACK to the airport. Our journey began at the Raleigh-Durham airport yesterday morning at 10:00am as we prepared early for our 12:45pm flight to Newark. We boarded the plane and since this was my third experience on an airplane, I just held my breath as our plane prepared to lift into the horizon. The pilot and flight attendants went through the safety procedures and we even had our seat belts fastened when we kept hearing the announcement, "we still do not have confirmation for take-off, 15 more minutes." After several 15 minutes turned into 2 hours we ended up back in the terminal for Newark flight. So our 12:45 flight didn't leave until 5:00pm because of a thunderstorm in Washington, D.C. The other teachers who departed from Charlotte were already boarding the plane to leave for Copenhagen, talk about bad luck for all of us!




After a 2 hour nap in the clouds, we arrived to Newark safely and then plopped right on the floor keeping our fingers crossed as our fearless leaders, Bill and Lindsey, spoke with the representatives at the Continental Airline desk. They remained at the front of the line negotiating with Emmanuel (yes, we even knew his name) for 3 hours until we received meal vouchers and hotel rooms since we would be in New Jersey the rest of the evening. We located our luggage at baggage claims and slowly trudged to catch the shuttle along with the hundreds of other people who were also frustrated with the situation. At this point, we couldn't help to ask ourselves what would happen next?


Well, the bad luck continues as we rode 30 miles away from Newark standing up on a bus holding over the maximum capacity of fifty people. My arms cramped from holding on the the overhead rails, but great exercise right? After finally getting off the Interstate (or whatever they all it in New Jersey), we came upon the entrance of the Holiday Inn when the manager told us they were overbooked. So the shuttle bus driver just kept driving not letting us know where we were going. Now I was scared and wondered if it was too late to return home! Of course, I knew nothing else could possibly go wrong. Then, we had the room key that didn't work so another ten minutes of waiting on our suitcases.

I am already exhausted and we still haven't crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Instead of being in Europe, I am looking at a 25 ft. statue of either Ghandi or an Indian hero, but thankfully we have ordered Domino's Pizza since we are famished from no dinner. As Bill would say, that would be the silver lining to this situation and let's not forget we will be in Denmark tomorrow (hopefully).

Lesson Learned:
No need to worry about the concept of time in an airport and to find the silver lining during all situations.

Finding Nemo

I guess you would consider the title rather odd for my actual topic of this blog, but it was suitable for this past weekend as we celebrated our wonderful mothers on Mother's Day. This was a special mother's day since all of you shared my excitement a couple of weeks ago when I announced that I was going to be an aunt. So instead of calling my future niece or nephew (gut feelings says it is a girl), I decided to name Beth's baby "Nemo."

I knew that when this day would come, I would be thrilled, but I never expected to be THIS excited. After Beth told me the great news, the first thing I did was go to Books-A-Million and purchase Nemo his/her first books because it is important for Beth to start reading stories now. Always a teacher right? I selected my favorite childhood stories along with the books Beth used to love when she was younger, including the Wizard of Oz and Goodnight Moon. This is when I realized my little sister was going to be a mama.

The same baby who slept through the night no matter how much noise was made...

The toddler who climbed the 25 feet slide in her diaper and slid to the bottom without hesitation...

The little girl who I walked to kindergarten every morning because she was scared to go by herself...

The best friend who would play Barbies with me until midnight and would clean her room by making piles in the corner...

The adolescent who made everyone laugh with her Jim Carrey impersonation...

The high school homecoming queen everyone adored...

The Wolfpack girl who refused to cheer for Carolina...

and now the English teacher and future mama!

To remember this milestone, I even painted a Nemo pottery piece for Bethy. It won't be long until we will "find Nemo"...and when I become "Auntie Trish"...What was your nickname as a kid? Or what about a name before you were born?

Would you want to live forever?

Throughout history many individuals have searched the world for the "fountain of youth" in hope to live forever. If provided the opportunity, several people would jump at the chance to be on earth for eternity. When I asked this question to my class, the students quickly responded with eager "yes" answers. However, after reading Natalie Bobbit's novel, Tuck Everlasting, opinions began to change about the value of life. We consider each day a gift because life is so precious, so what would we do if we stood still with time? The Tuck family made us challenge ourselves to remember that life is a wheel that is constantly changing as we live each day as it was our last.

After several in-depth discussions, we talked about the perfect age if we were "everlasting." Why would choose this age and what would be the problems regarding this age? Think about Jesse who was 17 years old in the book and how he would always be considered child-like and young. Would we want to be young forever?

Can't forget about Winnie's toad who does live forever...

Proper Etiquette

"Keep your elbows off the table"..."Always say thank you"..."Take your hat off in the building"...We have heard specific rules throughout our entire lives to ensure we demonstrate proper etiquette. I remain extremely conscientious in maintaining what my dad would just consider good manners. I have tried my best to instill some of these values within my own students to encourage them to exhibit acceptable etiquette behavior. For example, the most important is saying please or thank you. My kids have heard me on my soap box with this because so many people, both children and adults, have forgotten the meaning of please and thank you. I even made efforts to learn these words in other languages because the meanings are universal. When standing in line at the cafeteria, always say please to the workers if asking for something. If asking for permission to do anything, it sounds better to say please before your request. Expression of gratitude was continuously emphasized in my household as a child. If someone holds the door for you at Walmart, say thank you (it bothers me when people just walk by and never acknowledge you took the time to let them go first). If your friend's mother fixes you dinner, say thank you. We do not only need to say thank you for things that are given to us, but also with acts of kindness and consideration.


My dad's biggest pet peeve became my own regarding hats. This actually became a true indicator of my dad's approval after introducing my new boyfriends. If he came into the house with a baseball cap and never took it off, that was a major deduction of brownie points. More importantly, if the boyfriend never took his hat off at the table, that was even worst! My dad suggested that wearing caps inside the house or building was a sign of disrespect. I guess that is why I agree with the school rule of not wearing caps in the school building. Since my father always stressed this rule, I started using it myself.

Last Friday during our formal dining experience, we specifically discussed dinner and table etiquette. We all learned our bread plate was the left (you use your left hand to form the letter b) and the drink glass was to the right (use your right hand to form the letter d). This was always confusing at a multiple dining experience, because everyone would get confused which plate belonged to each person. Mr. Harris, our kind presenter, reminded gentleman to pull the chair out for the ladies at the table before sitting down. We were asked to place our napkins gently in our lap and reminded to never place our elbows on the table. It was great to finally learn which fork and spoon to use at a formal setting. You work from the outside to the inside with each food course. That evening, our main course was chicken with spaghetti so it became interesting having to use our pasta spoon to twirl the noodles neatly before eating it. We had many picky eaters, so Mr. Harris told us the polite way to not eat a specific food was to gently push it away to one side and place your silverware across the bowl/plate. This will show the host or server that you will be eating that certain dish. From a waiter's perspective, it was important to not lean in or to talk with other guests at the table while the server was trying to pour drinks. Another bit of information was the waiter serves from the left and picks up the food from the right.


I was amazed at how well all of us responded to these rules, and I jokingly asked the students to demonstrate this behavior the following Monday in the school cafeteria. The following Saturday, I had a meeting regarding my upcoming Denmark trip. The presenters introduced basic cultural expectations when traveling to this foreign country. It was ironic to hear the etiquette for the Danish because it was completely opposite of America's expectations. First, you never place your hands in your lap during dinner because that is considered dinner. Therefore, your elbows are somewhat on the table. If eating at a Danish restaurant, be sure to allow yourself three hours because the service is slow because they want you to take your time with the meal. It is not appropriate to tip your server in this culture and the server will be offended if money if left on the table. In the US, it is expected to tip at least 15% of your total bill.

Every culture practices different traditions regarding etiquette, so it becomes an interesting topic of discussion. What are some of your rules for good manners?

2nd time around

We have always heard the "second time around" is better, so I hope this is no exception when I turned in my National Board entries again yesterday. I started the National Board journey last year with my wonderful fourth graders and I was hopeful to certify the first time (even though we are all aware that this is a three year process). I attended support session offered by the county along with using my valuable resources (other NB certified teachers---Mrs. Binns). Any teacher who decides to pursue his/her National Board certification will admit that it is a rewarding, but stressful experience. At the beginning, I had many ideas of what to include in my portfolio and even the video taping did not scare me. I felt competent enough to express my teaching through writing, but having to limit my pages became the most difficult. However, in January, I was overwhelmed when I was announced as a regional finalist for the NC Teacher of the Year. Of course I was thrilled, but this added more responsibilities AND writing to my to do list along with teaching everyday. I turned in my National Board "box" on March 31st and prepared for the teacher of the year competition the next month.

Almost eight months later, we received our results...I will never forget the nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach that I could barely breathe when checking my scores on the computer. That day, I was actually attending an informational meeting at Learn NC in Chapel Hill with my other teacher of the year team members (who are all NB certified). Therefore, I was hesitant to check my scores with such influential educators, but it proved to be the best decision to have their support when I missed certification by 4 points. I was so disappointed and frustrated with myself and it didn't help calling my mama and listening to her sob the entire time. It amazed me because the areas that I considered to be my strongest, were scored the least. After days of contemplation and convincing from Will, I decided to try again this year to earn the points. I knew this was once again a busy year, but I know those sweet fourth graders from last year would once again by my cheerleaders in the 5th grade. I only had to redo two entries (social studies and learner/leader/community), so I was determined to work diligently to obtain those few points. Thank goodness for Cindi as she read through Entry 4 at the very last possible minute. She was an expert on that entry after scoring a perfect 4 a few years ago. My husband was also helpful when trying to cut two pages from the social studies commentary.

This opportunity allowed me to reflect on my teaching practices while encouraging me to become a better educator. It also allowed me to instill the lesson of never giving up to my own students. Walking in the classroom to tell the kids that I had failed was probably the hardest! However, they said to do it again and they didn't even mind being videotaped again..haha! They reminded me that a great teacher continues to reach for their dreams.

No matter the outcome of my "2nd time", I have become a stronger teacher who will never let anything stand in the way of my goals. We all say that the "third time" is a charm as well....