Holy Lackablogpost, Batman!!

Wow!!! Talk about a serious time out. Sorry about that. Things got pretty hectic around the holidays.
First of all, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year... late. I astoundingly did not make any New Year's resolutions, although my friend Henrikje and I had fun looking over our horoscopes (in German of course). I liked what mine had to say. I won't say what it is until maybe next year. We'll see how much of it comes true!
Before the Christmas break I had an orchestra concert. One of the things that I really wanted to do when I came over here was play some chamber music and play in an orchestra. The orchestra at the Mozarteum is much too young and competitive for me, but the University orchestra is just right. I feel kind of like Goldilocks. Just right! I'm not sure who all exactly is in the orchestra, but it's a variety of ages, mostly older adults with a variety of occupations (my stand partner is an OB-GYN) and we all love to play. I was especially excited about the concert. I just sat there on the stage thinking "Holy viola, Batman! I'm playing in an orchestra in SALZBURG!" It really doesn't get any better.
I spent the holidays with my friends in Nuremberg. It was a good time, although the weather was grim. For awhile there we said that we couldn't wait for the sun to go down because then we wouldn't have to look at the gray drippy weather. There wasn't any snow to put us in a holiday mood, so we compensated with a sun lamp and lots of sekt. We watched tons of movies, some of them dubbed into German and some with subtitles. We read books, listened to music, shopped, played with cats and in general had a calm and happy holiday.
New Year's Eve was a bit different than the States. They shoot off fireworks at midnight the way we shoot them off on the 4th of July. Since my friends have a beautiful panoramic view out of their upstairs window, we were able to see the fireworks all over Bavaria. OK. Maybe not ALL of Bavaria, but it was a good show nonetheless. The air was thick with the smell of ammonium perchlorate and after awhile the fireworks all blended together in a blue haze. Of course the haze hung on until the next morning when it was.... you guessed it.... gray and drippy.
I came back to Salzburg last Wednesday in time to teach my first class at the English Center. My students were Paulina, age 3, Anton and Luca, age 5, and Clara, age "5+1/4." There's a rather complicated way to say that in German which I fortunately understood. Actually, they speak about the same level German that I do, so it was all good.
I haven't taught that age group in a while, but I remember how much energy they have. Yikes! Here's what we did:

The Hello Song
Hop, hop, stop
Hop on One Foot Nanny Goat (I threw this in because they were wound up)
We read Chapter 1 from "Frog and Toad All Year." In this story, Frog and Toad go sledding outside.
I had flash cards with the names of winter clothing. We played some games.
We made up a song about dressing to go outside in winter. I played the guitar.
We made a craft project called "Me in My Coat." Draw your face on a paper plate, glue it to a construction paper coat and glue cotton balls around the edges of the plate for a hood.
Snack time!!!!

The class was deemed a success because no one had run screaming from the room! Apparently that's what they usually do. The moms were able to sit in the cafe and enjoy some conversation and coffee, but they did admit that they were really curious about what we were doing in there because it was so quiet. We also ran OVER in the time department.

By the time the dust had settled, everyone was happy, everyone had notes, there was a new student registered for my Friday class, and I was offered two more classes to teach!! 6-10 year olds and a mother and baby class.

How fun is that????