A very festive murder mystery!

Hi everyone :)

This week has felt like a very short one. Having Mum, Jen and Alison to stay last weekend, and the bank holiday Monday and Tuesday, meant I actually only worked on Wednesday. Thursday is my day off at my second school, and then Friday was a training day, so the week went by very quickly.

On Thursday I worked on my Year Abroad Research Project, as in school next week I will be working through the classes getting them to fill in my questionnaire for my research, so I've been busy designing and finalising that.

Our training session on Friday was a follow up to our training week at Hinterglemm in September, which now feels like forever ago! It was lovely to see everyone again, as some I haven't seen since September, and to see how we're all getting on. Some people presented their 'Greatest Hits' in the classroom, so it was fun to see how everyone teaches and what has worked for them. We also got some more tips and ideas to use from other English teachers, and generally felt more confident about our teaching ability than three months ago!

On Saturday, something very exciting happened. I'd organised a Murder Mystery evening for some of the Teaching Assistants to come over. Everyone had a character, it was Christmas themed, and it was fancy dress. Overall the evening went very well, everyone got into character and played along really well, and there was a lot of fun and laughter! The bribery and suspicion just made it all the more fun. Naturally as the host, I was Santa Claus, "Head of North Pole Operations" (and because I went all out with my costume, I won the 'Dressed to Kill' award :P ) The best acting went to my beautiful wife for the evening, Emma Cate (Mrs Claus) and 'Mrs Money Bags' was Lisa (Spanky the Elf), who ended the night with the most money, due to her bribery skills. The murderer, Chloe (Jangle the Elf) did a very good job at spreading rumours and covering her tracks, so much so that no one guessed that she was the murderer! So hats off to Chloe! Here are a few pictures from the night that show the fun that was had...

Me getting into character as Santa!

Mr and Mrs Claus

A group picture of us acting out our roles for the night.

Now I am officially in the festive spirit, and I'm ready to teach my students all about Christmas in the UK whilst wearing my Christmas jumper. I hope they're ready for me!

Thanks for reading!

Laura :)

My First Thanksgiving

Hi everyone :)

Yet again this week has flown by! Apart from work I've done a few exciting things:

1. I went to see the new Sound of Music film. It's a modern-day take and the story is told from Agathe's point of view, the oldest daughter in the Von Trapp family. There aren't all the famous songs, but it's the same story and it's a good film. I'd definitely recommend it.

2. I went on a lovely walk with Chloe, one of the British TAs in Linz, at a little lake near where she lives. It was freezing, but the sun came out (between snow showers) and the view was beautiful.

3. I found a 1kg limited edition jar of Nutella with Santa's face on it in my local supermarket, and naturally I bought it...

4. I spent most of my weekend working on my 1000 word progress report (in German) for Southampton University. It's a report on my year abroad research project, saying what I've done so far and what my plans are. I have finally completed it, and have a plan of action for the next few weeks, so that is good!

5. As a reward for finishing my progress report, I baked some Christmas biscuits. These are the ones that didn't end up burning (the oven likes to cook stuff quicker at the edges of the tray...)...but the burnt ones didn't go to waste! ;)

6. On Sunday afternoon, I celebrated my first ever Thanksgiving. Being me, I took along the most British dish I could think of: apple crumble. The food was amazing, and Carissa very much enjoyed my reactions to all the new foods - sweet potato casserole was definitely my favourite! It was such great fun to spend time with lots of the TAs from Upper Austria, and it made me realise how thankful I am for the wonderful friends I have made since moving to Austria. 

Chloe, Carissa and I post-dinner :)

Carissa and I post-dinner :)

The thing I am most excited about right now though, is that Mum, Alison and Jen are coming to visit me next weekend, and I cannot wait to see them! I'm sure next week's blog post will include lots of adventure, and many pictures!

Thanks for reading!

Laura :)