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Island Holiday

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An Estonian Island Spring Break Gone  We always wanted to visit islands for spring break and this year we had the chance, so we took it!! In western Estonia there are a group of large islands - some of the more than  2000 islands the countries boast. For our spring break we spent our time on the large island of Saaremaa . The largest city on the island, Kuressaare was our home for the week.  In addition to exploring this city, we rented a car and traveled around the island. Like many cities in northern Europe, Kuressaare has a medieval castle and old town center.  The castle is very well preserved with a walled fortification system and is considered one of the best examples of a convent castles in northern Europe. It sits at the head of the Kuressaare Bay and would have been the gateway to the city through the centuries. One restaurant of note was once the weights and measures building on the market square. It provided refuge from our old town tour a few times during o
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Holiday Vacation

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We took advantage of the two week winter break from school to travel! Estonia We spent Christmas in Tallinn.  We stayed in the Old Town and enjoyed the Christmas market - considered one of the best in Europe- and exploring more of the Old Town. We face-timed with our families back home and we started a new tradition - ice skating on Christmas Eve!  While there was a slight concern, Santa did in fact find us in our hotel room in Tallinn so I guess Owen and Lillian were good this year! Tallinn "Fat Margaret" in Tallinn Norway Next we traveled to Oslo, Norway and took a train across the country, arriving in Bergen to spend the Birthdays and the New Year's holiday.  While we knew that mid-winter is the rainy season in Bergen, we tried not to let it dampen our sprits.  We were fortunate to spend time on Mount Floyen on one of the days that was rain free.  Not only did this area provide a great views of Bergen, there are old growth cedars and great hiking as
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Petree and Kirkpatricks at play!

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What have we been up to? No, it has not all been travel and having a cocktail in some far off town square...(However, we do hope to soon post our Scandinavian holiday trip photos :) but we are trying to stay active and do as much as we can around our school and work schedules.    We have traveled to the city of Narva-Joesuu a few times. Located just a few kilometers north of Narva, we take a local bus that is free to travel between these two cities. Narva-Joseuu sits on the Gulf of Finland where the Narva River enters the sea.  Historically a resort town on the gulf, it is still filled with a number vacation homes, year-round residences, and three destination spa-hotels. It is known locally for these spas as well as nature.   Gulf of Finland  The forests of Narva-Joesuu On the coast Many Narvans travel to Narva-Joseuu to hike through the woods or spend time on the beach. Early this winter we spent an evening in one of the spas. The hotel spas and &
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The Books Close on the 1st Quarter at Narva Keeltelütseum

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Where has the time gone?   Lillian and Owen complete the first quarter  at Narva Keeltel üt seum First day of school  It seems that both Owen and Lillian have settled into the school routine nicely - and what a routine it is! They start their day with one-on-one Russian language lessons and then go through a typical Narva Keeltelutseum school day consisting of a combination of classes including handicrafts, technical drawing, art, music, PE, math, social studies, science, Russian language, Estonian language, and Russian literature.   In addition to these classes, they both have an English language class - their favorite class because they are the star pupils!!    Rhonda's colleagues directed us to this school because of its strong reputation for delivering high-quality English language instruction. We thought this would be an advantage as our kids rely on English-speakers (both other students and the adults) as they work to decipher content, instructions, and home
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From the Baltics to the Balkans: Fall Fulbright Reflections

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Narva College As the days are growing colder and the Christmas candies are appearing in the shops, I am finally making time to reflect in writing upon my first few months as a Fulbright Scholar in Estonia. During the past few months, I have had the pleasure of teaching serious and smart students, working with helpful new colleagues, and traveling throughout Estonia and to Serbia for professional conferences.   Opening Day Celebration at Narva College I am teaching four master’s level classes and two bachelor’s level classes at Narva College of the University of Tartu. The master’s level students are current English language teachers taking methodology, academic writing, media in English language teaching, and skills development courses. The bachelor’s level students have an oral communications class and a thesis seminar class with me. It has been really interesting to learn about the educational system and the local culture from my students. They, like students in a
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