From the Principal’s office, day 7
Today was a shadow day for the students. They spent the whole day experiencing the school day from the Austrian student’s perspective. I am looking forward to our meeting tomorrow to debrief with them and hear the details of their day and their thoughts on the experience.
In my world today, I had vending machine coffee…voluntarily. Yes, I too was highly skeptical because my only experience with vending machine coffee involves hospitals and scalding hot watered down yucktastic ‘coffee’. I put in my euro…one single euro… and out comes a nice cup of creamy hot Irish creamy (sans alcohol) coffee. Just the right amount of sweet, just the right amount of cream, and nice and bold, just the way coffee should be. AND…This is located in the lobby of the school. I will say that I would LOVE to have a coffee machine JUST LIKE THIS in my lobby. This idea has so much potential!!! Imagine the happy parents coming to drop off- they would gleefully enter the building with huge smiles on their faces knowing good coffee is there for the taking. They could have coffee at the critical pick up hour too. Plus I could have coffee any time I wanted it- not that I can’t with the keurig, but that requires filling the tank, putting the pod in, and then ‘seasoning’ it to taste. In my world, sometimes it gets cold before I can get it seasoned. AHEM…PTO?
I have also discovered that I am not as navigationally challenged as some people think. I have figured out how to get to and from the school from several locations like the food court at the university, the tourist shops and the liquor store. It isn’t what is sounds like, really it is not! I have successfully navigated from the bus station back home, with out having to jump over 6 sets of train tracks. This is me feeling pretty smug.
I also woke up to the Money Fairy having made a nice fat deposit into my account. I don’t actually have a money fairy; I have an amazing husband who must love me to the moon and back because he is at home keeping the home fires burning and sent me money because he knows I love to spend it. It was nice to go and wander the shops and pick out gifts for my loved ones. In my wanderings, I also located another stretched penny machine. For those of you that know me, you know that no trip is complete with out a stretched penny to prove it. I have gone to amazing lengths to get my stretched pennies, and if my children don’t fight among themselves for the collection upon my demise, I will be very disappointed from the grave.
And the liquor store. This my friends is not your average, ordinary party store. Nope. This is like nothing I have ever seen before with over 100 different types of gins, schnapps, and cream liquors. This was sort of like the Olive Cart where you can sample the different vinegars and olive oils before you buy. Then as if sampling first isn’t a fantastic idea, you get to pick these beautiful bottles to have it hand bottled for you right there in the store!!! It was so amazing I had to go back a second time, and no, not just for the samples. I had to show this wondrous place to another person who I knew would be interested in picking up a gift like I did. I just hope my gift tastes as good as it sounded….because you know, I AM on duty after all. 😉
At the end of the day, we came home to a beautiful Greek salad and another one of those delicious beers. Note to self: take a picture so I know what to look for when I go the the imported beer section. We then took a walk through the old part of Hall of Tirol. The cobblestone streets and narrow passageways with three and four story buildings on either side that date back hundreds of years were amazing. The church was incredible. By far one of the most beautiful places I have had the good fortune to visit. We also went to the special salt water fountain that runs over these special sticks. the salt in the water and something in the stick purifies the air and is good for your sinuses and lungs. I think it is the only one like in in the world. Laura, Claudia and I enjoyed a delicious ice cream cone in front of the fountain before strolling home where I was confronted with the problem of where to pack the 40 pounds of stuff I bought.
