I GOT A NEW TURTLE!!!

His name is Irwin. He is the size of a poker chip. A poker chip!! Thats so small!! And he is soooo cute. But sometimes, I feel that he is no longer MY turtle... I feel like my roommate has taken over responsibilities as owner. He is OBSESSED. He does homework with Irwin. And eats dinner with Irwin. And has long conversation with Irwin. And even has dreams of Irwin. Ridiculous.

Okay So:

Check this out. This is the COOLEST way to procrastinate (trust me. I did it tonight...)

http://www.inudge.net/index.en.html

To all my loyal readers: which is like, 2 people; I think it is time to delete the 'ol blog... It was a great idea while I was in England with three classes, but now I have 21 credits aka: 9 classes and they all require countless hours of reading and essay writing to do *sigh*

So. I will probably be deleting this soon... Any objections?

Monday and Thursday nights, I am at Sabino High School. I am still helping out the marching band, and I am loving every minute of it. The pit got a new player last Monday. He has never played a pit instrument before, and he does not know how to read music. All I hope for is that I make a good impression of music on him so that he wants to continue. He caught on really fast, and can even play the first few lines to Part I of the show! Although slowly, he can still play it. I was very impressed.

So here I sit at 5am.
Why am I up, do you ask?

For the last few days I have been working as a trumpet instructor for Sabino High School's Band Camp. I have taught 4 people to play the trumpet and have helped others learn the proper technique for marching.

I am also the pit percussion (the people who stand and play xylophones and cymbals and stuff at the front of the field) instructor.

Last weekend I moved into my new apartment. My Mom, Dad, my friend Jessie and my boyfriend Travis all helped me. I think the most exciting part about that day was watching Travis and my Dad try and get the double bed box spring up the stairs. My stairs are TINY. They are sooo narrow. You first have to go up about three stairs, then turn a full 180 and go up a bajillion more. They worked for about 5 minutes trying to figure out ways to get it up there, but none would work. FINALLY, we realized we had to go through my bed room window!! Travis and my Dad pushed the bed up to the window, and Jessie and I grabbed onto it and held on for dear life. At the same time, my Dad ran as fast as he could up the stairs to help us pull the bed into the room. It was pretty crazy.

And I FINALLY just got internet. I had called to get it hooked up on Tuesday, but noooo... it wouldn't connect, would it? And who had an ONLINE CLASS ASSIGNMENT due the next day? Ya. Me. So instead I had to go to Jessie's house. Now, I'm not saying I hate her house or anything... but I'm paying for internet!! It didn't get turned on till Friday... but luckly, I am getting my $$ credited back to me. GOOD.

My roommate, Roy, is finally starting to move in as well. He's down in Tucson for a few days, because the POA (Pride of Arizona) is having a small drumline camp, and he is here for that. I think he will be leaving back to NM for a bit, but then comes back for good. :) I can't wait! I'm soo soso excited for us to finally get everything moved in and settled! :)

Newgrange:

They believe that Newgrange was a place to house the dead. There are hundreds of mounds/tombs in this particular area, but none like the one that we went to.

I don't have a picture of it from far away, so you should def. google it, just to see the amazing construction of it...

This is the front of Newgrange. The stairs are recent, as they needed a way to get the tourists inside without having to climb over the rocks... The white granite, they believe that thats how it used to look. The roof is covered with grass. It was a few tons of dirt on top of it. When they found it, it was completley grown over and the walls were collapsed a bit, but they have reconstructed it to the best of their knowledge. The black rock, that is not original. It is just carved out to make room for the stairs.




Anyway. We went inside, down this long tomb, and it was amazing. The construction of the roof... wow. It has not leaked since it was built, which was like, 3100 - 2900 BC!!!

The coolest part of Newgrange...The front of it, is aligned with the winter solstice. So when the sun comes up, light shines down the hall way leading into the open cavity that we were in. I can't quite remember how long it stays lite, but I belive it was for something like 14 minutes. How COOL is that?!

For some reason, the place where you write your blog won't load for me. I had to change my post setting from 'updated editor' to 'old editor'. AKA: post one picture at a time and wait 34987324876 minutes for it to upload... awesome. Does anyone know how I can fix this problem? It took me FOREVER just to figure out how to get on this 'old editor' setting... so, sorry for the wait. Now to Ireland...!

My parents and I went to the Clifff of Moher. I've always wanted to go there. IT. WAS. BEAUTIFUL!!


*My Mommy and Daddy :) *




*My Mom sorta doesn't like this picture.... okok. She likes the picture, but she doesn't like where I was to TAKE the picture. I wanted to walk on the edge of the cliff. But there was a sign, and in big bold letters it said, "FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY, DO NOT GO BEYOND THIS SIGN!" So what did my Dad and I do? We went beyond the sign... I didn't get to go very far though, as my Mom was FREAKING out the WhOlE entire time*


*I was VERY excited to be at the Cliffs of Moher, because it is full of Puffins and Gannets. If you don't know what a Gannet is, check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gannet
They SWOOOOOP down and dive in the Ocean to fish. It is THE COOLEST thing. Ever.
This rock is at the tip of one of the Cliffs. You can't really tell from the picture, but it is FULL of Puffins. They were soooo loud. I think they were having a party. A party that lasts 24/7. I think if they were college students, they would be red tagges; every night*

Well. That is it for the Cliffs of Moher.
I really wanted to go to the Giants Causeway: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant's_Causeway
But we didn't have enough time. :( Check out the link if you're interested in what it is.... It reminds me of the Mirror Lab... Mirror people, you will know why.

It has officially been a week, and I am STILL living out of a suitcase... Well actually, the suitcase has been put away. So I am living off the floor/bed/desk/window seal/chair/music stand/fan...

That's the worst part about coming home after a long absence... putting everything back where it used to belong. Mostly, I think I'm just too lazy to... but also, I'm getting ready to move into a new apartment, and I still have boxes of stuff in my room from when I moved back to my parents house a year ago.

More pictures of our family vacation to Ireland will be posted... eventually... once I stop watching the whole box set of Sex and the City that Travis bought me for my birthday.... and once I put away all this stuff...

Here's a random picture of Lisa and I... We found a TV out by the river in Norwich...

So I have been home for basically a week, now. I got in on Monday at 8.30p, and then the next day I went to work 8am... I know. I'm crazy...

Even though I'm home now, I still have a bunch to write... So, here it goes:

Blarney Castle. A very pretty castle, indeed. But there is only one real reason why I wanted to visit... and you will find out more soon...

I forget what this is called, but it's a rock... shaped like a witches head... It was next to the witches kitchen/Druids cave...!

These steps are MAGICAL. If you go up the steps, and then down again (backwards) with your eyes closed, the wish that you were thinking will come true... I'll let you know when mine does...

Mom and her red tree...

Blarney House. We were too late to go inside :(

THIS is why we went to Blarney Castle... to kiss the Blarney Stone. I now have the gift of eloquence. (just maybe not spelling...!) Even Winston Churchill has kissed the Blarney Stone!

Me. In yet another tree... I'm always climbing trees. I think my Mom has a bajillion pictures of me in trees

The End

My parents finally made it to England, safe and sound (well, on the 8th). This was their first time over the pond. I'm glad they got to experience the beauty and culture that the UK and Ireland has to offer!

I first met them at Heathrow Airport, and from there we began our adventure:

Aww... arn't my parents cute?? This was my THIRD time on the London Eye. Loved it. I love that stupid faris wheel. I think it's one of THE COOLEST things about London... I dunno. Maybe I'm crazy; but it's my favourite there... (P.S... if you don't know the lay out of London very well... thats Big Ben there behind my Ma)

My Daddy and I in this 'African' Garden outside of the british Museum

Warwick Castle. This was one of the best days we had. It was soooo much fun. Warwick is my absolute favourite castle. This was the second time I've been here, and it was SO much cooler than the first time I went. First, we went on this Dungeon tour thing. But they had actors inside that showed you around and showed you what they used to do to the prisoners and such...

There was also this AWESOME story teller... He told us stories about the dragon that lives under the mound at the castle. He is a professional story teller! How would you like THAT as a job??

I decided that he was soo cool, I needed a picture with him...

Stupid sword was suck in the stone... *sigh*...

This is me, pretty-ing up at Daisy's, The Countess of Warwick's, dressing table.

This Daisy character was a pretty cool chick. Ma bought a book on her, and I have started reading it. She was also VERY beautiful... Google her, if you're interested...

Aww... My Mum and I at Kew Gardens, standing on a carpet of purple flowers.

The whole reason we went to Kew Gardens was for this 'Tree Top Walk'. I was on skynews.com (as I frequently am) a few months before I was to leave for England, and read an article on it. It's basically just a walk about the trees. Very peaceful and quiet. I am on the OTHER side of the walk, taking my parents picture.

In the Butterfly House!!!! I love Butterfly Houses!

This butterfly wasn't afraid to let me pick it up and pose with him. :)

More pictures to come... once I get them uploaded onto my computer!!

The day before Travis and I left Norwich, we went to a place called 'Go Ape'.  Basically, a jungle gym in the trees; including zip lines! This was the first time either of us had done anything like this, and it was SO.MUCH.FUN.

This was the first 'Tarzan Swing'. It was tiny. Easy-Peasy

A bit rocky, but still pretty easy

These shook sooo much! I held onto my ropes and ran across. Look how far down the ground is!

Travis coming in on the zip line. He was much better at the landing then I was. I think I was only successful once... haha... :)

He was HORRIBLE at the trapeze swings!! I think they were my favourite!

That's me... slaming into the net at the end of the huge trapeze swing...

After our Go Ape experience, we spent some time playing in the kiddie area. It was pretty awesome. Almost as awesome as Go Ape. This slide was HUUUUUUGE.

The End

More to come... this time, about Ireland!

Travis and I went on this Mississippi Style River Boat trip along The Broads. It was very nice and relaxing.

A coach picked us up from school, and we spent a total of three hours on the water.  

On board, they had a live band.  A guitarist, a bassist, and a sax/calrinet player playing jazz. So nice. This whole trip was only £5! How exciting is that?!

Check out this good lookin' guy :) ....

Here's what the Boar looked like

Woo! Stonehenge!

Pretty much just a pile of rocks.... but still pretty awesome...

At the Roman Baths:

Drinking some of the mineral water from the Baths. Sorta gross.... At least, I thought so...

Travis and I went on our first real date :)

This was dessert. It was DELICIOUS

The hostel that Travis and I stayed at arranged us a tour to Auschwitz. The price included a van, to and from Auschwitz, entry into the camp, and a private tour guide.  We went on the 3p tour.  I am glad we chose that time, for there was NO ONE in the camp.  I think the fact that there wasn't anyone there made it all the more creepy.

Everything in the camp was original, except for this sign. "Work sets you free".  Less than a year ago, three guys stole it! I don't know how they did it, or why, but they did.  They cut the sign in three parts, one word for each of them.  How horrible of them to do that.

Like I said, no one was there. It was sorta hard to get around the fact that we were walking on the same ground that people involved in the Holocaust did.  It's hard to explain how I felt.  I didn't feel sad, I didn't feel angry.  I guess I sorta felt like I wasn't really there.  It all felt unreal to me.  It was hard to imagine the things that took place in such a beautiful atmosphere.  The trees were so green, the air was crisp and fresh...

I guess I didn't really start believing that I was standing in Auschwitz till I saw the exhibit of the collection of shoes and hair cut from the prisoners.  That was sorta weird. 

Gas Chamber.

It was weird, standing in front of it.

Just behind it, about 500 yards away, were these beautiful buildings where the Nazi's and their families lived. It was so crazy. We went inside the gas chamber. Saw the opening on the roof from where they dropped the gas... saw the furnaces...

This was all in Auschwitz I.  If you don't know, there are three parts to Auschwitz.  After visiting the first place, we went to Auschwitz-Birkenau II.

Don't really have much more to write.

I have my final exam on the Holocaust tomorrow.

If you ever decide to take a trip to Krakow, Poland, you HAVE to stay at the Mosquito Hostel.

It was soooo nice! Usually hostels are sorta tacky and dirty, but not this one. The people who worked there were sooooo nice, and it was clean, and they offered different activities each night, free tea, free Internet, had a huge tv. It was just really cosy and cute. The colour scheme was blue, orange, gray and white, but they made it work.

This is one of the walls in our room. They had that cute little mosquito painted everywhere.

MMmmmm.....! Breakfast!! It was actually really good

The first day we got there, we ate at a traditional Polish place. It was crazy weird. The decor was, interesting, and EVERYTHING was in Polish. We even had to order in Polski because the lady taking the orders didn't speak English. I swear. No one spoke English. It was rather ridiculous

Rumproast, onions, and mash. It was REALLY good. But, unfortunately for me, this was not my meal. I WAS going to get it, but Travis wanted it as well. I thought that we should get different meals, since we were in a different county. So I maned up and picked something else....

I got some sort of ravioli thing. But. It was WEIRD. It was filled with this white stuff and raisins. It was sweet. The cream stuff on top, I think it was watery/melted sour cream? Sour cream, and sweet doesn't mix in my book. I ate about three of them before I had to give up. Sorta felt like I was going to puke.

We decided that we wanted to try some 'Polish Alkohole'. This is a random beer that we picked off the shelf.

This is St. Mary's Cathedral. The inside was SO pretty. It was unlike any church I've ever seen. Beautiful paintings were everywhere, amongst the intricate carvings, the various chapels (small alters to pray at) around the church.  If you look at the picture below, we climbed around 239steps to the tower that is on the left.

Here are a couple views from the top of St. Mary's Tower:

St. Mary's Tower is also known as the Watch Tower, Wake, Alarm, or Bugle Tower. I would have to agree with the name 'Bugle Tower'. For over 600 years, every hour, on the hour, a bugle has been played from the windows.  This guy played this short excerpt 4 times from 4 different windows. It was a rather stupid song, but it was still pretty cool...

This is the Barbican. It was the forward defence tower for Krakow way back in the day. We got to go inside and explore it, as well as some of the old walls of Krakow.

Behind us is where the draw bridge used to be. There used to be a huge moat around it.

Here is part of the castle. It was too hard to get the whole thing in a picture because it was just so big. We didn't go inside, because there was a HUGE line and it was sorta expensive, but walking around it was enough.

Once upon a time, in the old city of Krakow, when the land was owned by a King and a Queen, there lived a dragon.  This dragon made his home at the bottom of the castle. The people of the town feared his fire breath and scaly skin. Knights from around the land came to earn their honor by killing the Dragon. None had any luck. They were each burned to a crisp and eaten by the mighty dragon.  One day, a young boy, a shoe maker, came to the King and told him that he himself could rid of the Dragon. The King just laughed and told him to leave. Again, the boy begged the King to let him try. He told the King of his plan. Intrigued, the King decided to give him a chance.  That night, the boy worked by candle light in his shoe shop, sewing sulphur and mustard seed inside a fake lamb that he made. The next day, he went to the dragons lair, placed the lamb in front of his cave, and waited behind the trees. The dragon, greedy and hungry, saw the lamb and ate it in one gulp. The sulphur and mustard seed, reacting with the dragons stomach, burned his insides. He went to the near by river and began to drink the water. He drank and drank and drank and could not stop the burning.  Finally, it exploded inside him and he was no more.

The End

No, but seriously. That is the legend of the Dragon of Krakow. I was rather upset... the dragon's cave was closed because of flooding from the river. :(

There WAS a cool statue of him though!

Just some random piano we found chilling in the MIDDLE of the street... not too sure why...

The whole point of going to Poland was not to see the Dragon, and was not to eat gross Polish food. It was to go to Auschwitz. My post of that experience will come next... I didn't feel comfortable taking pictures there, but Travis took a few. I will post some so you too can see what it was like to walk the streets of those involved in the Holocaust