Happy Birthday, Julie!

Happy birthday to my most faithful (and, ahem, it appears ONLY) reader!

Here is a birthday salad recipe I came up with for you to make (it is SO yummy and quick since you are studyign so much german. It has four food groups all in one bowl!):

Julie's Greek Goddess Salad

-Sautee chicken breast stips in olive oil until golden brown and sprinkle with garlic salt and fresh ground pepper. Squeeze juice of one lemon over top and bring to a boil. Simmer until Chicken is cooked through (10 minutes)

-Toss stale bread cubes in butter and add garlic salt and oregano liberally. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes until golden and croutony

-Mix dressing: juice of one lemon, wine vinegar (either type), oregano, salt, pepper, olive oil, and one smashed garlic clove to taste. Add chopped fresh parsley if you have it.

Combine above ingredients with: red leaf lettuce, kalamata olives, halved grape tomatoes, vidalia onion shavings (vidalias are the sweetest), chunks of English cucumbers, and feta cheese.

YUMMMY BIRTHDAY, Julie!

Teaching

Yesterday was my first day in the classroom. I'm not sure I have what it takes! Why do I hate teaching yet keep pushing myself to do it? Is it the challenge? I dont' think so, because I hate the challenging parts of it! I'm not sure if I'm confusing my love of learning with a love of teaching. Or maybe it's just that I want to travel, so I feel like I'm doing so vicariously through the students who come here to study ESL? I bet it is the fact that there are teachers who make it look so easy and sound so fun...I want to get a piece of what they are experiencing! Probably a little of all of the above.

I could have kicked myself yesterday for starting work 5 days after moving across country. It has been so stressful! But if I want a job year-round, the best time to start is in July when they desperately need teachers. I love the school I work at. It is pretty much the best environment a new ESL teacher could ask for-in an urban mini-mall in the heart of Harvard Square. Lots of fun shops and restaurants for our students (and me!) to enjoy. The bus from my house drops me right across the street!

I think Boston is the city where they invented that saying "Every cloud has a silver lining." There are lots of nice clouds here. (San Diego has a dirth of clouds.) Did I tell you that the church we visited on Sunday listed, "My country 'tis of thee" in the bulletin as a hymn last week because the hymn had been written there in that church about 200 years ago? Amazing.

But back to teaching, do I want to continue until fall? Only time/God will tell. Who knows what I'll end up doing. Hopefully not something that involves hours of prep each day, a lot of stressful suspense wondering if my audience is going to buy my "product" for the day, not to mention 1,000 daily photocopies on the school's measly ONE machine. Sigh...

Thank you for reading, Julie. ;)