My School!

Today I turned in my high school keys and faculty badge. I'm officially free to be an elementary teacher in Augsburg!

To help give you an idea of my school, here is an informational video they just produced this month.

Pictures from Disneyland

Check out my pictures from my great birthday at Disneyland on Facebook here.

Birthday at Disneyland

This year Disneyland is letting you in free on the day of your birthday if you register with them online. It just so happened that this year my birthday was on a Sunday!

I convinced my brother to join me, got an awesome, cheap hotel nearby and voila! Instant vacation!

It had been 8 years since I had been to Disneyland and almost 20 years since my brother and I had been there together. So early Sunday morning we drove up to Anaheim and started our 11 hour adventure! Here's a list of best/worst of Disneyland!

1. Best time to come: As soon as it opened. We got there 20 minutes after it opened and we got through the ticket line in 5 minutes, walked onto our first few rides with no wait time and had great morning Southern California weather(overcast and cool).
2. Plan of action: Do what you really want first. Otherwise, you will wait in line forever.
3. Best ride to get a Fast Pass for: Tie between Space Mountain and Indiana Jones. We had FP for Indiana Jones and still had to wait 20+ minutes because it is so popular. At 2PM at Space Mountain, they were giving out FPs for 9-10PM. Wait time for both rides without a FP was 70-90 minutes.
4. Ride with fastest normal line: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We rode this 4 times. Three times without FP and we only had to wait maybe 20-30 minutes. FP was especially good at night. We got on in 10 minutes.
   
5. Ride you should probably get a Fast Pass for just because the line is so mind-numbing: Roger Rabbit. Ugh. I can never have those 35 minutes back.
6. Best food in the park: Corn dog from the Corn dog truck on Main Street. It is $6, but it the best corn dog you will ever have. The ice cream was good too and was the same price you would pay at Coldstone.
   
7. Worst place to walk through due to traffic issues: Adventureland into New Orleans. If the amount of people didn't crush you, the hundreds of strollers outside of Pirates of the Caribbean will.
   
8. Ride that seems entirely inappropriate for children: Haunted Mansion. Seriously, I don't remember it being that bad. It was horrible. My brother, who watches horror movies and laughs at them, about halfway through went, "I'm super creeped out right now. Like, I'm really creeped out." We were in a funk for a good 15 minutes after that one.
9. Best ride for physical exercise: Davy Crockett Canoes. Man, that gets your blood pumping, especially when the steamboat was right behind us and all the tourists in front of us got tired and stopped paddling.
   
10. Most disappointing updated ride: I know you're thinking I'm going to say Pirates of the Caribbean, but no, it's a small world was sad. There was Disney product placement everywhere. When you went to the cute hula girl part, Lilo and Stitch were in front, blocking most of it. Underwater room, almost entirely taken over by Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo. The strangest was in Spain, Cinderella showed up. Seriously? And they don't even look like the rest of the animatronics. It looks cheesy and added on(can it's a small world be even more cheesy than it was? Yes. Yes, it can).
    
11. Weirdest people that you never knew were at Disneyland: So there are these people who collect Disney pins (like the kind you wear) and sit outside a cafe on Main Street for hours at a time, selling, bartering and trading pins. It's like a little Mafia. There's one dude who looks like a cross between Dom DeLuise and Marlon Brando. Seriously strange to watch.
12. Funniest thing my brother said: At the end of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (where you end up in Hell, seriously, not very kid friendly), my brother says casually, "Hey, I'm not supposed to be here!"
13. Best thing we did that my brother thought would be super cheesy: Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. Super fun show. Lots of talent, lots of laughs and just good old fashion fun.
    
14. Best place to be for fireworks: In front of the Magic Kingdom, but not behind Walt Disney's statue(2 hours before these seats are filled) or right at the intersection between Tomorrowland, Main Street, Adventureland and the lane leading up to the Magic Kingdom(we were here an hour early and it was great).
    

Pictures to come...

Helpful, yet humorous travel tips

Daniel Pink is just one of my favorite authors ever. Yeah, what he writes is good, but he blogs and speaks an awful lot and he is intelligent and super funny. If you haven't read A Whole New Mind, his fabulous book defending all things right-brained, you need to, it's awesome.

Anyway, Pink has been making informative and funny travel videos for the last few months as he is on the road. From which food court food to avoid to how to travel with kids, the tips are always interesting and have that certain "Pink" flair. His latest from today is a classic. Enjoy!

Pink's Travel Tips -- Tip#8 from DHP on Vimeo.

Learning new things...

Besides learning German, there is a host of new things I will have to learn in order to avoid becoming the "ugly American" in town.

Here are just a few:

1. Sort trash...I mean, sort trash, not just recycling. Germany is very green and one commentator said that Germany's second hobby behind drinking beer is sorting trash.
2. Bike. I will be cycling to work. Once again, Germany is very green.
3. Not take work home. It's a "no-no" in German culture. You work hard, get your work done, go home and have fun. Working overtime is seen as being inefficient and lazy.
4. Smile less and do not "overshare". Unlike Americans who automatically become friends with just about anyone ("Wow, you juggle chainsaws while reciting the Declaration of Independence? Here's my phone number! Let's have lunch!"), Germans are traditionally more guarded.
   
5. Be open to very blunt advice. It's Germany. It's normal to them.
   

Just like any culture change, I'm sure it will take time, but I'm trying to prepare myself as much as possible so I'm not super cranky. Thankfully, I found this blog by an American from North Carolina who's lived in Germany for several years now. I think my favorite post was this one, on how to not dress like an American in Europe. Awesomely funny!

What the future holds...

From my high school memory book, senior year (2000-2001):

What will you be doing in 10 years?

My response: Probably teaching high school students since I promised I would never teach high school students...

Whoa.

Video Preaching!

I'm stoked! My pastor, Art Evans, is doing live video teaching Wednesday nights at 7PM (Pacific time) and Sunday morning 11:AM (Pacific time)! Which means, you'll probably be able to see the back of my head on Wednesday nights. I usually sit in the second row.

Anyway, here was today's awesome sermon on how Jesus heals the brokenhearted. You will be blessed!