After we’d taken a bunch of pictures we went in search of a restaurant named Pisa Pizza. Get it…Pis-a pizza? Well at least that’s what I was searching for. Sadly, we couldn’t find such a place anywhere nearby and settled for some other pizza place with a leaning tower table decoration.
But honestly, how is there not a pizza joint in Pisa named Pisa Pizza? This should just happen accidentally, right? Isn’t that the greatest name for a pizza place ever? I can’t really be the first person to think of this, right? How is that even possible? I mean how cool would it be to order a Pisa Pizza?…in Pisa!
“Hey there, I’d like a Pisa Pizza?”
“Will that be one Pisa or two Pisa Pizza?”
I think I need a business partner. This would be huge. I mean, what tourist wouldn’t pop in to Pisa Pizza for a slice? I even have this logo design in my head with the leaning tower and a pizza-shaped slice is being served from it. This is money right here, that’s what this is.
For more pics, click here.
.
My friend Sally and I went to Croatia for two days for a little relaxation before we head stateside to visit family and friends and, of course, to work on raising more support. What a beautiful country! We stayed at a great place called Hiža Suzanna. The owners are Nigel and Sue. They are amazing!
Because this was a last minute idea, we didn’t spend a lot of time researching where we were going. So, of course, we arrived late Sunday night to discover that Monday was a national holiday and everything would be closed. This wasn’t a problem though because Nigel went to the neighbors and gathered up food for us. We ate homemade sunflower seed bread, homemade cheese, cucumbers, plums, and dried prosciutto. It was yummy, and we got to have a real Croatian culinary experience.
Our goal in Croatia was to relax on the beach and recharge. Mission accomplished. Nigel directed us to a great beach and lent us snorkels and masks. We saw anemones, urchins, crabs, fish, and sea cucumbers. Fun!
If you ever decide to go to Croatia, I recommend staying with Nigel and Sue at Istra Život. Tell them Sally and I sent you. 
In the past year I’ve received a few strange things in the mail from TelekomAustria, my phone company. All of these things are a bright yellowish green. Kind of the color of lime Jello or Mountain Dew. The first thing was a free pair of houseshoes (the slippers Austrians wear around the house.) Then it was a welcome mat that was really only big enough to wipe off one shoe at a time. Today, however, I got the best one yet – a bright yellow/green pizza cutter – free – right in the mail. Who says Austrians don’t know anything about customer service?
Well I’m back in Plymouth now for year 2 of my Master’s program in educational technology. My cohort is much the same as last summer, but we have picked up a few fresh faces to help spice up the class. We’re halfway through week 1 now and we’re looking forward to having a lot of fun and creating some interesting projects.
Fear the power of many geeks united.
Snort, snort.
In other news, it’s cold here. I went from 27-30 degree highs in Vienna to 15 degrees and rainy. Makes me wish I’d packed more than one pair of pants. I might be forced to go shopping *shudder* for more pants if it doesn’t get warmer pretty soon.
Ok, think happy thoughts…sunshine, warmth, lunch, the Internet…that’s better.
My favorite quote this summer involved one colleague describing another as someone who understands all the “X’s and O’s” of computers. Hmmmm…That’s not the kind of binary I was expecting to learn this summer…
One of my friends from my Master’s program in Plymouth created these really great tutorials for Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, and Excel) as well as Macromedia Studio (Dreamweaver, Flash, and Fireworks).
The site is called Quantunet, and the tutorials are really great. If you’re familiar with Atomic Learning, it’s kind of like that, but better, more extensive and easier to integrate into school curriculum.
Check it out!
.
Pete enjoys a Gute Fahrt
My good friend Pete finally made it to Vienna, albeit on a business trip. He was engaged in some very important meetings at the UN while he was here, and I’m pretty sure he solved some pretty major crises…like finding out what the Dutch delegate likes on a pizza. What’s that? Tuna fish and onions? Yikes! She can have her own…and, fortunately for her, Austria can accommodate her.
Every time I’m with Pete we end up searching for a putt putt course at some point, and this time was no different. Unlike other occasions we successfully located a course in the Prater. It was a bit rundown and lacked grass or a grass-like surface except on Hole 7 where we had to literally drive the ball over or through some roughly cut grass in order to get to the “green.” And the “greens” were little more than red-painted concrete. Nevertheless, there were some very challenging and fun holes and we had a good time.
I’m not really sure what Pete would consider more productive: his UN meetings or the putt putt game…well, actually I do know. But I’ll plead the 5th just in case Condi or W is reading this blog. I wouldn’t want Pete to lose his cushy government job.
Putt putt pics can be found here.
Enjoy!
Last February in Italy I encountered what might be the most bizarre situation I’ve ever been in:
While hiking between two fishing villages in Cinque Terre, we came across a picnic table. A cat sat watch on the table and tin cans littered the ground. On a nearby tree I noticed sign posted that read, in Italian and English, “Please feed the Cats.” It was then I observed a stash of cat food and some plastic plates. Intrigued, I approached the food and picked up a can.
Immediately I was surrounded by half a dozen meowing cats. Amused, I opened a can and began searching for something to scoop the food out with. I settled on a stick. By now I was joined by Bekah, who also prepared a plate or two of food for the now 15 cats surrounding us with mews and whimpers.
We distributed the food as evenly as possible and watched the cats eat hungrily. Several times I scanned the area, looking for a house or person, or even a camera. Something or someone to explain the purpose of this little cat sanctuary. Nothing else was found other than a cash box firmly attached to the picnic table. Presumably for donations. We left smiling and a bit bewildered at what had just transpired while contented cats meandered back into the woods to await their next meal.
Click here for more pictures of our cat feeding frenzy.
I own quite a few sweaters which some would describe as something Bill Cosby would wear while others would simply describe them as SICK! Well, it appears that two of my sweaters have broken free from my closet and are currently wandering around Vienna having their pictures taken with minor Viennese icons.
They have also gone through the trouble of creating their own blog to track their adventures: http://freesweaters.blogspot.com/
Please keep a lookout for them or I’m not going to have anything to wear this winter when it gets cold. brrrrrrr.
These are also linked from the wiki in my previous post, but here are direct links to my class playlists. The first playlist is photo essays my 9th graders did. The second playlist is music videos my 8th graders created. Enjoy!
9th Grade Photo Essays
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=639EC0658863D21B
8th Grade Music Videos
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=5EA7346C58E727C3
The books are shelved, the computers off, the files are…filed, and another school year is officially over. It was a fun year, and I’m really enjoying my classes. I did a lot of experimenting this year with software and technology I hadn’t used before in the classroom. As you can imagine some of these experiments turned out better than others, but even the experiments that didn’t go as well as I’d hoped laid the foundation for future classes. I tried out several Web 2.0 features such as blogs and wikis, and worked in some cross curricular assignments using Audacity and Movie Maker.
I am really excited about fine-tuning some of the projects for next year and implementing some different teaching and learning tools next year. If you’d like a sampling of some of the projects we did this year, here is a link to my class wiki.
