Softball, Scavenger Hunts and almost the end of the year!

Last week was a bit hectic, and the next two weeks are shaping up to be the same. We are into the second last week of school - less than two weeks until I am back in Canada!! I was thinking that things would be winding down by now, but instead I am going crazy trying to get everything done. In between year end meetings, activities and deadlines, I am trying to get ready for next year. Mostly this means working in the library. We have decided to put all the school owned books into our library system so that classrooms will rotate and swap books throughout the year. So this means that I am trying to track down all the books from each teacher, put them into the system and barcode them. And then, when that's all done I get to put together book bins for each of next years' classes. Just in case that wasn't enough work, on Wednesday we are running a Scholastic Book Fair at school. They have shipped us the books, but we have to organize and price them. Good thing I like working in the library!

Last week's activities at school were the Gr. 5 sleepover and a Euro Cup football tournament with the primary classes. Thursday and Friday proved to be rather tiring for me. Thursday was our prep day for the tournament. The students were split into teams and we spent the day making jerseys, learning about our countries and training. I was team Spain. Then after school I ran home to get ready for the sleepover. I somehow volunteered to sleep over with the Gymnasium students. The Gr. 5 teacher is pregnant, so I had to stay the night instead of her. We had a great evening - football, pizza, bonfire.... But the night was a different story. The kids of course stayed up until way too early in the morning, keeping the teachers up as well. A couple times one of the three of us had to get up and yell at them to be quiet. Plus sleeping on the floor, I didn't get much sleep that night. Then Friday I rolled straight into the Euro Cup again with barely a break. It was a good thing it was a pretty exciting day or I think I would have fallen asleep!! My team came in 6th (ie. last), but we had a blast playing and cheering on the other teams. At the end we then had three teachers vs. students games. First we played the reception and Gr. 1s, then grades 2-4s and then finally the Gymnasium students (gr. 5-6). Great end to a fun two days.

Friday night, instead of catching up on some needed sleep, I headed into the city for Andy and Lindsay's going away scavenger hunt. In teams, we had to go around the city collecting and taking pictures of things. Some of the tasks were taking pictures of our team in certain places, others were photographing ourselves doing things. We then had to meet up at a pub in Sachsenhausen by 10pm. To end the race you had to get a coaster signed by the bartender with the time on it. Katja, Jennifer and I were on a team and had a lot of fun, though didn't win. Here are some photos we had to take:

Me playing dead under the Bull and Bear statue in front of the Frankfurt stock exchange

Katja walking a random dog

All of us on a slide

Saturday and Sunday were softball days. Saturday we had a Freundschaftspiel (friendly game) against the "Äppler Gold" (the "retired" players from our team). Then Sunday we had a game in Dreieich. Before the game on Saturday I went with Minviluz to her daughters' Schulfest. We got to listen to a concert by a band of blind musicians and then eat. To raise money the parents had all brought food, and then you bought a plate and piled it with whatever you wanted. It was so delicious! I got to try a bunch of Turkish foods I'd never had before. 

It was a great weekend playing softball. I got to play 2nd base in the Freundschaftspiel. Highlight of that game - hitting into left field for a double. I've never hit that far and it was amazing!! Then, because a bunch of more experienced players were away, I got to play in the Dreieich game. I was playing right field, same as the weekend before when I played in my first game against Bad Homburg. Having never playing in the outfield, I am surprised how much I have been enjoying it! Highlight of that game: catching a fly ball (besides winning the first game - a first for our team against Dreieich). 

That was only meant to be a quick update, but the only thing I seem to have been able to shorten was my recap of softball. Surprising since that has been the highlight of my week for the past weeks :) Hopefully in between all the craziness of the next two weeks I will have time for another update. Otherwise, when I am back in Canada (Toronto July 1, then Vancouver July 5)!!!!