Teach.Travel.Find.Design

This summer has been a whirlwind of good things.  I was able to attend the 84th Piunz Reunion, held in Columbus, Ohio, and spend a total of 10 days at home!  It's been a few years since I've spent time in Ohio during the summer and I enjoyed every moment. 84th Piunz Reunion, July 2013   The family reunion was conveniently scheduled as the same weekend as Comfest :) Natalie, me, and Carrie Lee, Comfest 2013 And, I was able to spend some quality time with my favorite cat in the world.  Chococat, handsome as ever My mother spends a lot of time working and mingling in the Harbor, a historic district in my hometown, Ashtabula.  This year, I was able to attend the 5th Annual Beach Glass Festival  and watch her in action; selling her bags and my sister's adorable handmade cards. Mom and me, Beach Glass Festival 2013 Lift Bridge, Ashtabula Harbor Carrie Lee and her cards, Beach Glass Festival 2013 Speaking of beach glass,...

These days, technology plays a huge part in travel and makes traveling a bit more independent.  Lizzy and I both brought our iPhones on this trip, our MacBooks and Lizzy’s iPad.  Sounds a bit excessive but we used our devices to the max. While teaching at No. 4, we created PowerPoint Presentations to accompany our lessons.  I also utilized the Kindle App on my laptop to project read-alouds for the students.  The school does not have capabilities to connect their projectors to the iPad.  Lizzy and I both purchased VGA adaptors for our laptops in order to connect to the projectors.  Here’s a link to the one I purchased:   Apple 30 pin to VGA adaptor We also purchased adaptors for the school and our hotel rooms.  I bought a universal one from the UM bookstore and it worked well but was a bit bulky. While arranging our travel, we did need help purchasing our train tickets.  Ask your cooperating teachers or hostel owners...

Things always seem to come full circle and that was certainly the case in this latest adventure in China. It seemed like ages ago that we were in a taxi with Professor Rhea headed from the Shanghai Pudong Airport over to Hongqiao Airport to catch our flight to Guiyang and it was decided that the driver would cruise through downtown to show us the Bund. First glimpse of The Bund A little taste of Shanghai and a glimpse of what was yet to come, I was hooked and looked forward to our last days in China simply because they involved exploring one of the world's largest cities that I knew was full of art and wonder. Shanghai's famous skyline  Lizzy's friend, Melissa, graciously invited us to stay in her apartment and I looked forward to reuniting to rehash our weekend at the Miao Village as well as commiserate with teaching stories as Melissa was an English Teacher at a private school.   We landed in Shanghai and had no trouble finding a taxi to Melissa...