Salzburg, Austria

We went on a day trip to Salzburg, Austria. It was a day well worth it though we skipped the "SOUND OF MUSIC" tour because it sounded too tacky. Instead we walked around and explored every nook and cranny in Salzburg. The town instelf was quite small. We wandered through beautiful gardens, church courtyards, Mozart's birthplace, shopping areas and the famous castle. We saw hourdes of Korean tourists there and they were walking at quite a crisp pace, so I guessed the tours might be something like I experienced when I was in Korea -- Hop on bus, first destination, take pictures, 5 minutes freetime, hop on bus, next destination, take pictures, 4 mintues freetime, and so on and so on. Those folks know how to see it all in one month. It is quite possible, though they might find finding Korean food a little difficult in parts of Europe. We are leaving Munich tomorrow and starting our guided tour in London. The last three weeks of our trip. Very wonderful time and I have never felt so relaxed and in touch with myself -- when I am teaching full time I lose track of the things I love doing -- reading novels, going outside whenever I want, taking time over a nice meal, reading history books, talking about politics -- my brain is too overwhelmed with teaching teaching teaching. We've been talking a lot about going abroad and teaching as life experience and developing our quality of life, but the dreams are many and the reality of those dreams might not be anytime in the near future. Either way, I am enjoying experiencing who I am as a person without incredible pressure at work, without guilt for not having planned my next unit to the standards I expect of myself, and without ALWAYS thinking about the classroom. As a new teacher it is on my mind day and night -- I need to find a way to let these things go otherwise I won't last more than 5 years in this profession. Love Amanda and Stewart