Wonders Never Cease

A little bit of relaxation and sightseeing at the same time. Sunday turned out to be a great sunny day, contrary to the rainy Saturday. Such a relief as we were going to the mountain, the caverns and the waterfall ... All in all, we visited the GRANDFATHER MOUNTAIN and the LINVILLE CAVERNS. We ran out of time to see the LINVILLE WATERFALS. Here we go:

Our University bus

The National Park bus

The windy and curvy road to the top

one of the views from the top

The Swinging Bridge

Myself just about to walk on the bridge

Another view from the top

and yet another...

a Harley-Davidson, naturally

Mildred the Bear

Rainbow trout in Linville Caverns

Green Draperies in Linville Caverns

Bat healthcare precautions - visitors are required to clean their footwear following the visit in the cavern to protect the spread of disease among bats

Pictures speak louder than words...

Here's the collection of posters prepared by TEA Fellows (representing 34 countries):

The Beginning

So, we got started... The welcome address in the morning, then the workshop on American education system, the discussion on our expectations, the meeting with host university representatives and the poster preparation. Really exhausting... And it all happened on my BIRTHDAY :) Anyway, today we finally had some time to go out and explore the area. The nearest metro station is located just round the corner of the hotel so we jumped onto the car (blue line) and shot off to Washington DC. This is what we saw:

the White House behind the fence

the White House without the fence

with peace activist Conception "Connie" Picciotto - a very nice lady, protesting for 31 years in front of the WH

United States Department of the Treasury

the Capitol by night. We got back to the hotel with the yellow metro line. Tomorrow exploring continued......

The Journey

Just a quick update from Frankfurt airport. The flight from Warsaw was ok, we got a croissant and a drink on board, landed safely in Frankfurt. At the moment waiting for the plane to Washington. Hope everything goes well after yesterday's shooting in DC. There's a lot of Polizei around... &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&7 Po udanym locie z Warszawy czekamy na lotnisku we Frankfurcie na lot do Waszyngtonu. Mam nadzieję, ze wszystko będzie ok, zwłaszcza po wczorajszej strzelaninie w Waszyngtonie. Na lotnisku widać niemiecką policję federalną. Wszędzie tłumy ludzi, generalnie multi-culti, dzieci, nawet psy... Ceny jak z kosmosu: kawa na Okęciu 18,00 zł, bułki we Frankfurcie od 1,50 do 5,50 Euro :):):) Photo update:

the view on the left wing (flight from Warsaw to Frankfurt)

a little bit of OUR Boeing 777 waiting in Frankfurt

Lufthansa fleet

the view on Canada's coastline

tracing the flight

What's Last Minute TEA?

Last Minute means I REALLY did it as short as one hour before deadline.

TEA stands for Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program.

The author of this blog is a Fellow of the Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program, a program of the United States Department of State, administered by IREX. the views and information presented are the grantee's own and do not represent the Teaching Excellence and Achievement Program, the U.S. Department of State, or IREX.

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Dlaczego Last Minute TEA?

Odpowiedź jest prosta:

TEA to fantastyczny, sześciotygodniowy program szkoleniowy w USA dla nauczycieli (nie tylko języka angielskiego) autorstwa Departamentu Stanu USA, zarządzany przez IREX.

Aby się zakwalifikować, wystarczyło wysłać Application Form (tylko 17 stron), zdać egzamin TOEFL (tylko 4 godziny przed komputerem) oraz oczarować komisję rekrutacyjną w ambasadzie USA w Warszawie (złożoną tylko z 4 osób).

Wniosek wysłałam 29 lutego 2012 r. o godzinie 22.41 czyli godzinę i 19 minut przed upływem terminu. Dlatego mój udział w programie nazwałam LAST MINUTE TEA :)

Egzamin TOEFL zdałam w Poznaniu z wynikiem 112/120 punktów a sama rozmowa kwalifikacyjna przebiegła w bardzo przyjaznej atmosferze.

Wylatuję we wtorek o godz. 6.50 rano z Warszawy. Dzięki magicznemu przesunięciu w czasie, już po godzinie 15 tego samego dnia będę w Waszyngtonie.

Wracam do pakowania walizek, a Wy trzymajcie kciuki!