2011 Seior Tributes

After we got home from the restaurant, we had dessert out in the gazebo. It was angel food cake with strawberries (that we picked!) Luke and Taylor are the welcoming committee for the 7 seniors.

All of the girls wait for the yummy dessert to be served.

The angle food cake with strawberries and a tasty punch are enjoyed by S & M.

After dessert was eaten, the girls began to dance to the jazz music. Here Senior K is dancing with sophomore T.

Here are the 7 seniors. Their passports are from the US or Korea, but they are from all over the world: E is from Bosnia, S is from Turkey, H is from France & Belgium, S is from Tajikistan & Russia, D is from Jordan, J is from Turkey, K is from Turkey & Scotland & Hungary.

The staff: Stephanie, Luke, Bonnie, and Taylor, are giving the seniors their gifts.

Each girl received a unique mug made locally in Kandern, Germany.

Happy girls enjoy some of their last moments together. Enjoy the moment, take it in!

The upstairs seniors: H, S, and E!!

The dorm gathers to watch the sophomore tribute to the seniors on a laptop screen.

The End of the Year Dorm Party!

Went to a brand new indoor water park to celebrate the end of the year. We were not able to take pictures inside of the park, but here we are on the outside after our exciting time inside.

We then went to a Thai restaurant and had to wait a while for food. Some of the girls got a bit board...and this is what happened!

This table was not big enough for all of us to fit! With 26 people, we are hard to fit inside, but at least we had a nice terrace to sit on and look down at the plaza below.

All of the yummy menu choices were written in German and Thai...so choosing was interesting.

I had some interesting dinner conversation with D and H!

Capture the Flag...BFA Style

This weekend Palmgarten was in charge of Open Gym where dorm kids can use the gym to play game and such. Luke, the Dorm Dad, thought it would be a great time to play some Capture the Flag on the "field" behind our dorm. He is giving specific instructions.

Two of the guys take a break after running to capture the flag deep in enemy territory.

J is thinking of the best strategy to capture the other team's flag...

In celebration T holds up the flag!

Strawberry Picking!!

Myself and Stephanie and Taylor (my staff) took some of the girls to pick strawberries. For the senior appreciation dessert we were having angel food cake and strawberries..so we needed some strawberries!

Here H, T, & E show off some of the yummy sweet berries they picked. It is amazing that these girls loved doing this, as a child, this was always a chore I disliked!

The Palmgarten girls in the fields!

Happy Girls! E and M are making sure to get the ripe red juicy one.

H & S are enjoying their time. Please not S's hat...she is protecting her face from the sun! Intense!

JSB 2011: Broadway

The theme for the Junior and Senior Banquet was Broadway. The students looked wonderful all dressed up. Palmgarten has 7 graduating seniors. This is K and her date who is also her boyfriend.

Here are the 7 seniors, 3 juniors and the 4 palmgarten staff all dressed up and looking their best.

Here I am with some fellow RAs: Anne, Anna, Lauren and myself. We enjoyed the opportunity to dress up!

Here I am with E. She had a date...but I didn't get a picture of them together. Below you will see all of the seniors with their dates and another Palm shot of the Seniors, Juniors, and Staff.

Little Bits of Life

 Towards the end of the year there are always a lot of random bits of life.  It is always busy and usually FUN!!

The JV girls soccer team played the middle school team made up of girls and guys.  Palm has 5 girls on the JV team and sadly the middle school team won...but they had fun.

Just down the hill from Palmgarten is the wonderful Eis Cafe.  This is an Italian ice cream shop with yummy flavors.  Randomly we will take the girls out.  Here E & S are plugged in and ready for the walk down the hill for some eis!

H and I are very excited to get some yummy eis! I love mocha and mint!!!

This semester there is a very small choir. D, the 4th girl from the left, is one of my Palm girls. She did an amazing job singing in church.

The Sights of Istanbul

 Istanbul is an amazing city with many interesting things within. These are just a few things that I, Cathy, or LeAnn captured in our time there.

A view of the harbor.

LeAnn found some interesting advice.

The city streets...the choice color is black.

There is a pretzel/bread vender on every corner.

Check out these sweet watches.  Cathy and I bought ours in Istanbul to match LeAnn.

LeAnn and Bonnie ride the cool pulley subway system.

This is map of the city using glass work.

Bonnie & Cathy riding the pulley subway system.

A fisherman in the harbor.

LeAnn with a weaver's loom.

The Basillica Cistern

 This underground water system  was used for the city of Constantinople and then later for the Ottoman Empire.

The water system sits underneath the city of Istanbul.  Many columns allow the cistern to remain under the city without it collapsing.  Two of the columns have Medusa heads as the base of the column.  The Medusa head dates back to Roman times. 

If you compare these columns to the top picture, you will notice that the shape of the columns changes.