Spending a lot of time in my classroom during the first month of school!

This month I’ve moved back to Venezuela for another year of adventure. This means that I will have slightly more free time that I can dedicate to my blog since I don’t have family and best friends taking up all my free time (though I am doing my best to convince them to visit me!).

Around the web:

Something that I think about quite a lot is whether I should use extra money to invest or pay back student loans (…or travel).  This blog points out a fabulous calculator that helps you answer the question mathematically. For me, it makes more sense to pay off my student loans before investing extra money (though I still put a little away just in case).

I really love good food so I was so excited when I hear about this app, Chefsfeed! It is an app that points you to restaurants that chefs like. I was a little crushed when I found out that it is mostly operational in just the US (including my hometown, Portland). Check out this page to see if it works in a city near you.

Two major goals I have are to travel as much as possible and to become a better writer. I really enjoyed this piece about famous writers giving advice about writing!

I’m always curious to hear about what other international teachers do over the summer. After five years of teaching overseas I feel like I might be getting to the point where I don’t feel like I HAVE to return home.  This summer I was only home for a little more than two weeks.  If you are an international educator you should take this poll about what you do over the summer.

I don’t really like online courses unless they are hybrid courses that have a lot of student interaction mixed in, but I occasionally take a look at this huge list of free online courses and think about joining a class just for the fun of it.  I love that there are so many courses available about Tolkien!

I just read an interesting take about the future of travel in this article “Is this the end of affordable travel?“. I hope not!

Books I’m Reading:

With the first few weeks of school, moving back to Venezuela, and trying to catch up with friends here, I haven’t been reading as much as usual.  One book that I recently finished and really liked is called “The Dovekeepers” by Alice Hoffman.  Here is my review on “The Dovekeepers” that I wrote on Goodreads.com, “This book is a historical fiction novel based on events that I had never heard of, with quite a bit of religion thrown in the mix too. Despite these things I was still intrigued by this book. I normally go to Alice Hoffman for strong female characters and a bit of magic, and this book has those things, but this novel feels a bit heavier than her other work. I love how it tells of these four strong women who were forced to be even stronger during this dangerous time in history and how they grew to rely on one another. It might take a bit longer to get through, but when I was nearing the end of the book I didn’t want it to finish!”

Apparently, enough people liked it to make it into a mini-series, but I haven’t seen it and it looks like IMDB is only giving it so-so reviews. Read the book first!

Music:

I don’t usually go for rock music these days so maybe I like this because it reminds me of listening to “classic rock” with my parents, but I really enjoy, “Could Have Been Me” by The Struts.  It speaks to my, “embrace adventure” motto that I have going on.  Check out, “It Could Have Been Me”:

When I happened to come across this song “Like I’m Gonna Lose You” by Meghan Trainor ft John Legend I just thought to myself, “finally!”.  I have always thought that her voice would be capable of going to this smoky, bluesy place, but when she went for it with John Legend it just sounds magical to me! 

I’ve never heard of Rita Ora until I was poking around Youtube, but I like a couple of her songs.  Does anyone else think her voice sounds similar to JLo? While I’m not a fan of Chris Brown, I do have to say that the song, “Body on Me” is pretty hot!

Movies:

Trainwreck is a movie that my girlfriends and I loved and my guy friends still enjoyed watching.  I usually enjoy dramas the most, but I think its a good sign when you see several people laughing until tears come to their eyes. I feel like it kinda turns the traditional rom-com on its head with Schumer playing the “guy” role. Gotta watch this!

TV Shows:

I was away from my computer for a while over the summer so I never even heard of Sense8 until I got back to Venezuela and had a bit of free time on my hands.  Sense8 is about 8 strangers who are brought together psychically and begin sharing thoughts and emotions.  A very fresh take on the sci-fi genre.