cshapiro

Sorry about the cold weather, I know it can be hard on people not used to it.  Today it's only -2 and I find it quite warm but my brother has lived in the Caribbean for the last 10 years and can't stand it here even in the spring anymore.  I hope you feel better soon.  In a couple of weeks I am actually going to Germany for about a week.  One of my closest friends from med school is getting married and I am going to the wedding.  I am pretty sure the weather is usually much milder than here but I have never been.  Anybody know of anything good to do in Munich or what it's like in December.  I am looking forward to the wedding but, I still have four other days to fill.  I am getting one day to spend with my friend which, I am really looking forward to.  He lives in Boston and we are both crazy busy and never see each other anymore.  This will be the first Christmas in 15 years that I won't be working and to get the time off I am now 36 hours into my first of three 48 hour shifts and I will have to work a 24 hour shift on New Years(6pm new years eve until 6 the next day).  It's one of my oldest and closest friends so it's all worth it though.

shinny

Will you be there before Christmas?

meljones_83

Thanks guys, especially barb for the basket of goodies!
I still don't feel too good but I'm not so tired now and the achiness has stopped so I intend to go back to work tomorrow, provided I still feel ok in the morning! Yay!
I know supply teachers do a great job, it must be so hard to come in and have to take a class you don't know, I wasn't trying to knock them, it's just nobody else does things quite the same way as you have planned!

imarielle626

I don't know in comparison to where you are, but Germany is not know to have mild winters.  But I've never actually been, I just hear from my friends who live in Europe and have been.

So it randomly got warm here and it is now throwing off my immune system...just what i need a cold during finals! At least I won't freeze while taking my exams though.  I can deal with a little runny nose and a cough as long as it doesn't get worse!  But I hear it is supposed to get cold again next week.  All this drastic temperature change is not good for me!  I'd rather it stay one temperature all season, preferably a nice comfortable cold but that will never happen!  Our winters can range from highs in the 80s to lows in the 20s F in the same week!

waterlilybarb

Well, my Meez is still doing what I've been at off and on for the past few days.  It's been snowing steadily here.  I had to go to our old house today (which is on a dirt road) and I had to leave the car on the road.  The snow in the driveway was nearly up to my knees, and it's uphill!  I would have gone yesterday had I noticed the weather report because we needed good drinking water and the well at the old house is spring fed.  Unfortunately that driveway is at least 75-100ft long.  I am SO exhausted from trudging through all that snow, and shovelling everything here at the house.    

Mel, I'm glad you liked the basket of goodies.  I just wish you could pop them out of your computer and really enjoy them.   I know what you mean about supply teachers, and when I think of the hassle we gave them as students, I feel even more for them (we were really quite rotten to some of them ).  I'm sure the kids will be happy to have you back when you're feeling well enough (hopefully tomorrow).

Arielle, I hope your cold doesn't get too bad, especially during finals.  There's not much worse than a stuffy head when you're trying to concentrate.

cshapiro

I wouldn't call it tropical and compared to Florida I'm sure you would find it cold but Munich only really goes down to around 0 at night at the coldest and is around 10 or so during the day.  Compared to Canadian winters it's quite nice.  Try to keep warm and have hot drinks to keep your immune system up.  You can crash after exams.

Mel, you are more charitable than my wife about substitute teachers.  She finds that they don't follow her instructions and lesson plans and they end up being so far behind.  It's frustrating for her since she is so conscientious.  I see her spend an hour or two working on detailed lesson plans for the sub while having 102 fever and being really sick, only to have them ignored.  It drives her mad!  I'm sure you're happy to be back in the class again.  Not to knock the subs, but if you want anything done right, you need to do it yourself!  Try to stay as well rested as possible to allow yourself to fully recover(I know, easier said than done but I said TRY).

cshapiro

I will be arriving on the 23rd of December.  Any advice about what to do there would be appreciated.
Thanks.

I'm off to bed.  I finished a 48 hour shift this morning at 8am and have been up all day.  It's around 11pm here now and I have to be in by 6am tomorrow morning.

shinny

I've never been to Munich myself, but I heard it's great from friends who have been. I heard that the one thing you must do, is the Christmas Market. The reason I was asking when you'd be there is because they end on Christmas eve (24th) so, you'll just be in the nick of time.

Check out this website. It  give details on the Christmas Markets + other things:

Munich

penny3760

I just stopped in to say hi to everyone.  I hope that you all are doing great.

waterlilybarb

Hi Penny!  Nice to see you.   I'm well, though I think I'm starting to get a touch of a cold.  'Tis the season for them, that's for sure.

Hope you're well and keeping busy.

shinny

Hi Penny, nice to hear from you. I know that you are too busy being an expert gamer !! Well done you !!

Hey everyone, I'm sooooooooooooo happy it's Friday. This was a long week for me, but now the weekend is almost here and I can relax a little.

I need to finish off my Christmas shopping, but I have most of it taken care of now. I'm really looking forward to Christmas now. It's probably my favourite of all the holidays because all the family get together.

meljones_83

I am also very glad it's Friday. I really need these two days off this week!

I have done all of my Christmas shopping online this year as I've had so much going on that it was easier. It certainly has been useful but I've missed that browsing in the shops and the atmosphere that you get coming up to Christmas. I haven't missed the queues though!

I also agree with you about Christmas being so great because it's a chance for the family to all get together. I'm looking forward to seeing all my aunts, uncles and cousins.

studiojek

Hi Penny, thanks for checking in!

shinny and mel: I am so with you on the needing 2 days off!!! What a crazy week it's been, so busy at work, and it's just been non-stop rain here for almost 2 weeks straight, plus it's the holiday season so everyone's more stressed than usual. Agh! Fridayyyy!!!! =)

barb, how's the snow going? Still having to keep up with the shoveling!?

waterlilybarb

Thankfully it didn't snow last night, so I'm staying in today.  I've been out there digging us out pretty much every day this week and am enjoying having a day off.  If I remember to bring my camera (I finally got one LOL) I'll snap a pic over at the old house next time I go over to show you all what it's like here.  That house is in the country, so the snow drifts are much higher than here in town.  Funny thing is, the folks around here call where we live the "banana belt" because we don't get quite as much snow as the towns on either side of us.

studiojek

Haha, yes I guess you can feel lucky to be living in the "tropical" part!!

waterlilybarb

LOL.  I was out shovelling again today, and snapped some pics over at the old house.  I'll put them up in the next day or two so you can see how lusciously tropical it really is.

cshapiro

Thank you very much for letting me know about the Christmas market in Munich, I will definitely check it out.  I am also happy to be done with my week.  I just finished my second 48 hour shift and rounded up my 108 hour work week.  I am getting too old for this stuff.  All this for 6 days off.

  I agree with you completely that being together with family is the best part of the holidays.  It is the people you have around that makes it a true holiday.  One reason I'm so looking forward to this trip to Munich is, all the people we know from Boston are going to be there.  When we lived in Boston we didn't have any real family and this group of people became our family and that's how we think of them as, our "Boston family".  All of us being together again is like a family reunion and my wife and kids are so looking forward to seeing everyone again.  Being reunited with our Boston family is a holiday in itself for us.

cshapiro

Hello Penny.  I wanted to give this a separate posting.  I was glad to here you are well, it is lovely to here from you as always.  Take care and we all hope to see you around the forums more often again.

shinny

No problem at all. I hope you have a brilliant time. You deserve it after working all of those hours. I have no idea how you and many doctors put in those hours.

waterlilybarb

I told you guys I'd show you what it looks like up here.  Here are a couple snaps I took of the long driveway at the old house.  You'll see why I'm so happy I don't have to shovel it.

View from the front porch:


View from the end of the driveway:


That isn't even bad.  The snow had been plowed and we had also had a bit of a thaw, so it wasn't too deep.  It just gets deeper as winter progresses.  Here in town, I was shovelling the walkway & driveway today and, because we'd had rain a couple days ago, there was a sheet of ice under the snow.  Not fun.