This weekend bought my first visitor to this part of the world, Grace, from my Uni course. It was great to see her, and to show her around, and on Saturday we went to Rügen with Georgina and Carli, and Jeremy, obviously. Rügen is the island you can see from Stralsund. The guidebooks always mention that it's Germany's biggest island, and you can get to it with a train or car, as there is a giant bridge connecting it to the mainland.
Jeremy, for those of you who don't know, is the pink elephant who has had a very complicated lifestory, including a kidnap, ransom and subsequent release, and an ongoing custody battle between Becca and Zaq. He is spending this year in Germany with me, and I have to provide photographic evidence of his sightseeing.
Luckily everyone else joined in with that task, and Jeremy's trip to Rügen is well documented.
It was a really good weekend, even if it did involve a lot of sitting around at train stations. We missed the first possible train by about 5 seconds, we were just about to push the 'open door' butten when it pulled away. Foiled by the efficiency of the German transport system. So we waited at the station for half an hour, then got the next train onto the island. It went to a different town to the first train, but we'd planned to go there anyway. However, as we were travelling on a special group ticket, we weren't allowed to use the fast IC trains, which meant the ticket inspector came around, checked our ticket and informed us that we'd have to get out at the next station, or pay for a new ticket. So we had an unscheduled stop at Bergen. As the town seemed to be quite a distance from the train station, and we only had about 20 minutes, we didn't really see a lot. But still, if anyone asks about Bergen, I've officially been there and done that.
We eventually got to Binz, saw the sea, walked along the beach promenade, and had lunch in an Italian restaurant that also did locally caught fish dishes, and German specialities. The waiter taught us how to say everything in Italian. After a wander around the town, we got the train to Lietzow, where we had to change trains. Luckily we only had 20 minutes in Lietzow, and even then we had to resort in trying out the self timer functions on our cameras (with varying degrees of success). There were two platforms, a sign saying 'Lietzow', a bench, a clock, and nothing else. There was a slight fear that the train wouldn't come, and we'd be left there for ever, so it was a relief when it arrived, and we were able to get on our way to Sassnitz. We'd been trying to get there since 10 o'clock that morning, we eventually arrived at about 3pm, and the boat trips out around the island weren't running anymore. Oh well, we'll have to come back. We saw a lot of the town anyway, and the famous chalk cliffs- the inspiration for Caspar Davis Friedrich's paintings, don't you know. (Grace and I learnt about Romantic- Expressionist artists in one of our modules last year) Then we concluded our tour of Rügen's train stations with an hour wait at Sassnitz station. -It was either that or go back and change at Lietzow again, this time in the dark... At least Sassnitz station offered a place to sit that was inside.
T'was a good weekend.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
My first German party
Well, after the excitement of the bed, it turns out I don't have too much to say about my eating and sleeping habits anymore - Although I've not sure I've mentioned my recent muesli fixation? I didn't even really like muesli before I came out here, now I look forward to breakfast time, I have it as a snack with yoghurt, I have even breached my lifelong rule that I can only eat cereal in the morning.
So, German parties... There was a party going on at the student union of the college I go to. I got invited by one of my classmates from my 'German for Foreigners' class. A party! Social contact! Something to do in the evening! It was all very exciting. Even though it was on a Wednesday, and I still had school at 8.30 the next morning, I decided to go, at least for a bit. School on Thursday was my last day before the holidays, and I hadn't been out for so long! I cycled across town, met Rafał, (the classmate who had invited me) who took me to the flat where the 'Warm up Party' was going on. It was fun, there were a lot of people there, of all different nationalities. I spoke German for parts of the evening, English for the others, and sat and wondered what they were talking about, when they all broke out into Russian or Polish.
As the only English person there, I felt so much like a celebrity! As soon as anyone found out I was English, they just wanted me to talk English, so they could hear my accent, and practice talking English with a real native. It was very exciting. One of the Polish guys was going out for a smoke, and he said 'Will you rescue my chair for me'. There is no reason why rescue and save shouldn't be interchangeable in that context, so it was just another example of why I'm glad English is my native language, and I don't have to learn all these complicated differences...
It was a good party, we ended up staying at the flat until about midnight, which I had decided was hometime, so I didn't get to experience the German nightclub (and Oktoberfest party going on there) but maybe soon. I got home in one piece, and although I woke up way too early the next morning, and couldn't get back to sleep, I managed the full day at school and at college. At college, everyone looked slighlty worse for wear. As some of them hadn't got back till 4 or 5 am, it wasn't really surprising! It was a bit hard to get motivated about Konjunctiv 1 (Conditional Sentences, Regrets and Wishes) but our German teacher made us practice, with a lot of sentences like 'If only I had gone to bed earlier...' or 'I wish I was asleep now'. And by the time it got to the class at 4pm, everyone was in hysterics mood and laughed a lot, so at least it was fun!
Half term this week, yay!
xoxo
So, German parties... There was a party going on at the student union of the college I go to. I got invited by one of my classmates from my 'German for Foreigners' class. A party! Social contact! Something to do in the evening! It was all very exciting. Even though it was on a Wednesday, and I still had school at 8.30 the next morning, I decided to go, at least for a bit. School on Thursday was my last day before the holidays, and I hadn't been out for so long! I cycled across town, met Rafał, (the classmate who had invited me) who took me to the flat where the 'Warm up Party' was going on. It was fun, there were a lot of people there, of all different nationalities. I spoke German for parts of the evening, English for the others, and sat and wondered what they were talking about, when they all broke out into Russian or Polish.
As the only English person there, I felt so much like a celebrity! As soon as anyone found out I was English, they just wanted me to talk English, so they could hear my accent, and practice talking English with a real native. It was very exciting. One of the Polish guys was going out for a smoke, and he said 'Will you rescue my chair for me'. There is no reason why rescue and save shouldn't be interchangeable in that context, so it was just another example of why I'm glad English is my native language, and I don't have to learn all these complicated differences...
It was a good party, we ended up staying at the flat until about midnight, which I had decided was hometime, so I didn't get to experience the German nightclub (and Oktoberfest party going on there) but maybe soon. I got home in one piece, and although I woke up way too early the next morning, and couldn't get back to sleep, I managed the full day at school and at college. At college, everyone looked slighlty worse for wear. As some of them hadn't got back till 4 or 5 am, it wasn't really surprising! It was a bit hard to get motivated about Konjunctiv 1 (Conditional Sentences, Regrets and Wishes) but our German teacher made us practice, with a lot of sentences like 'If only I had gone to bed earlier...' or 'I wish I was asleep now'. And by the time it got to the class at 4pm, everyone was in hysterics mood and laughed a lot, so at least it was fun!
Half term this week, yay!
xoxo
Thursday, October 15, 2009
I HAVE A BED!
It only took about a month and a half, I really hope it was worth the wait. In Köln and the training course I didn't sleep very well, I wonder if it was because I wasn't used to the luxury (of youth hostel foam matresses...oh dear).
Man-o-man*, this was meant to be something other than a run down of my sleeping and eating habits, which the past few entries seem to have become.
However, if I can't talk about eating or sleeping, the next thing I think of to talk about is the weather. It is very cold. On my way to school today, there was a police van at the traffic light. The driver was wearing a jumper, and despite the fact it was obviously part of the police uniform, and it was a khaki green colour, with mustard yellow trimmings, which looked like it would get horribly misshapen, I caught myself thinking 'Wow, that looks like a warm jumper'.
I'd like to think that I've developed a sense of German practicality, in reality I think the cold may be affecting my brain. And still there's that nagging thought- it's only October, how am I going to manage the proper winter months?!
And finally: On the school trip to the zoo on Wednesday, the kids learnt all about monkeys, and then they created a little model monkey out of pipe cleaners and so on. One of the children named their monkey after me. I'm not quite sure whether to be flattered or offended...
*The kids say this all the time at school, I still find it hilarious.
Man-o-man*, this was meant to be something other than a run down of my sleeping and eating habits, which the past few entries seem to have become.
However, if I can't talk about eating or sleeping, the next thing I think of to talk about is the weather. It is very cold. On my way to school today, there was a police van at the traffic light. The driver was wearing a jumper, and despite the fact it was obviously part of the police uniform, and it was a khaki green colour, with mustard yellow trimmings, which looked like it would get horribly misshapen, I caught myself thinking 'Wow, that looks like a warm jumper'.
I'd like to think that I've developed a sense of German practicality, in reality I think the cold may be affecting my brain. And still there's that nagging thought- it's only October, how am I going to manage the proper winter months?!
And finally: On the school trip to the zoo on Wednesday, the kids learnt all about monkeys, and then they created a little model monkey out of pipe cleaners and so on. One of the children named their monkey after me. I'm not quite sure whether to be flattered or offended...
*The kids say this all the time at school, I still find it hilarious.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
A package arrives.
On the last day of the training course, we'd had to be up and out of our rooms, and returning our keys by 6.30am. After breakfast, we'd been returned to the station, and then it was 'just' a seven hour journey to get back to Stralsund. As long distance travel always seems to make me sleepy, and the hours on the training course were a lot longer than I've been used to recently, understandably I was a little tired when I got back.
You may be able to tell I am explaining all my reasons, and trying to build up a justification... I went to sleep at about 11pm on Thursday, and woke up at about 11.30am on Friday. I got up, had breakfast, read my book for a while, and then because I was getting a little cold, decided to read my book in my sleeping bag. Shortly after that, it was 4pm, and I was waking up. Presumably, I needed the sleep.
The big news of this weekend is that yesterday, I had a marmite sandwich. 'Marmite?!' I hear you cry, or at least read with a perplexed expression, 'how has she managed to acquire Marmite, in that strange land where they don't have real tea and they eat pasta with gravy*?!' And the answer to that would be that I have amazing family members, who are willing to send Marmite and teabags across Europe, to help me cope with German life.
I know I've been going on about how much I missed those food items, but I think I had actually forgotten just how amazing they taste. My marmite sandwich was definitely one of the best ever, and when I made a cup of tea it was actually slightly orange, rather than slightly grey! I used to hate tea that was too orange, but it was such a welcome sight! Though I'm having to remember I'm using English teabags now- German teabags have to be left to brew for about half an hour before they taste of anything, but the thought of doing that with an English teabag makes me feel a bit ill. When the doorbell rang, I was debating whether to answer it or not, as I was wearing my fetching polka-dot-pyjama-trousers-and-oversized-grey-fleece combination, but I'm glad I did.
That's about all there is to report from this weekend, I've spent the rest of my time drinking proper tea and eating marmite sandwiches. Oh, and I have been informed today that cheddar cheese is on sale somewhere in Rostock (the town about an hour away by train, where a few of the other language assistants are situated) so I may have to make a trip there next weekend.
I've got school tomorrow, hopefully my week away from school will have the effect of renewing my 'new and exciting' credentials, and the kids won't have forgotten who I am.
Bis bald! xoxo
* This is true, it was one of the meals on the training course- a big chunk of roast beef, gravy, and pasta. (and nothing else... there was a little bit of salad on the tables, but unless you were prepared to spend half an hour picking the seeds out of grapes to make them edible, there wasn't really much vitamin C on offer.) The pasta-gravy combination wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but it was still a bit weird.
You may be able to tell I am explaining all my reasons, and trying to build up a justification... I went to sleep at about 11pm on Thursday, and woke up at about 11.30am on Friday. I got up, had breakfast, read my book for a while, and then because I was getting a little cold, decided to read my book in my sleeping bag. Shortly after that, it was 4pm, and I was waking up. Presumably, I needed the sleep.
The big news of this weekend is that yesterday, I had a marmite sandwich. 'Marmite?!' I hear you cry, or at least read with a perplexed expression, 'how has she managed to acquire Marmite, in that strange land where they don't have real tea and they eat pasta with gravy*?!' And the answer to that would be that I have amazing family members, who are willing to send Marmite and teabags across Europe, to help me cope with German life.
I know I've been going on about how much I missed those food items, but I think I had actually forgotten just how amazing they taste. My marmite sandwich was definitely one of the best ever, and when I made a cup of tea it was actually slightly orange, rather than slightly grey! I used to hate tea that was too orange, but it was such a welcome sight! Though I'm having to remember I'm using English teabags now- German teabags have to be left to brew for about half an hour before they taste of anything, but the thought of doing that with an English teabag makes me feel a bit ill. When the doorbell rang, I was debating whether to answer it or not, as I was wearing my fetching polka-dot-pyjama-trousers-and-oversized-grey-fleece combination, but I'm glad I did.
That's about all there is to report from this weekend, I've spent the rest of my time drinking proper tea and eating marmite sandwiches. Oh, and I have been informed today that cheddar cheese is on sale somewhere in Rostock (the town about an hour away by train, where a few of the other language assistants are situated) so I may have to make a trip there next weekend.
I've got school tomorrow, hopefully my week away from school will have the effect of renewing my 'new and exciting' credentials, and the kids won't have forgotten who I am.
Bis bald! xoxo
* This is true, it was one of the meals on the training course- a big chunk of roast beef, gravy, and pasta. (and nothing else... there was a little bit of salad on the tables, but unless you were prepared to spend half an hour picking the seeds out of grapes to make them edible, there wasn't really much vitamin C on offer.) The pasta-gravy combination wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, but it was still a bit weird.
The training course.
So, on with the story. The training was quite fun, if a bit pointless in places. It was good to get to know all the people in my area, and to meet some other language assistants around Germany, and share our experiences with other people going through the same thing at the same time.
However, as we've been here for a month, all the 'Introduction to the German school system' and 'What you need to do on arrival in Germany' talks were just a little bit pointless. They kept explaining that this wasn't the usual way of doing things, but they could have changed the talks a bit, rather than just apologising that it was probably going to be irrelevant, and then telling us anyway.
It was very nice to be with a load of native English speakers, but I'm beginning to be slightly distrustful of all those lessons we've ever had, telling us not to believe in stereotypes:
A vast majority of the English people there spent a lot of time complaining about tea. We even asked the catering staff specially, and they started providing pots of tea at breakfast (the German equivalent, but it was nice of them to try...).
The German tutor who was with us for our sessions was very direct. He was very judgemental, which isn't something I attribute to his Germanness, but then he went and told us his opinions of us, very clearly and directly to our faces. The other tutors, who gave feedback on our lesson plans, were equally direct. Luckily, the man giving feedback to our group admitted that he didn't really know how it works in primary schools on the other side of Germany, which meant we didn't get too much negative feedback.
They had planned to run a talent show on the last night, and were very surprised by the fact that none of us had volunteered and put our names down. The course organisers kept going on about when the Americans were at the training, and everyone had got up and performed, and it was just so 'Awesome!' but it just didnt happen like that with us. Luckily they changed plans last minute, and we had a pub quiz instead.
The final stereotype is that the Germans get up early. This is something I can confirm to still be very much true.
However, as we've been here for a month, all the 'Introduction to the German school system' and 'What you need to do on arrival in Germany' talks were just a little bit pointless. They kept explaining that this wasn't the usual way of doing things, but they could have changed the talks a bit, rather than just apologising that it was probably going to be irrelevant, and then telling us anyway.
It was very nice to be with a load of native English speakers, but I'm beginning to be slightly distrustful of all those lessons we've ever had, telling us not to believe in stereotypes:
A vast majority of the English people there spent a lot of time complaining about tea. We even asked the catering staff specially, and they started providing pots of tea at breakfast (the German equivalent, but it was nice of them to try...).
The German tutor who was with us for our sessions was very direct. He was very judgemental, which isn't something I attribute to his Germanness, but then he went and told us his opinions of us, very clearly and directly to our faces. The other tutors, who gave feedback on our lesson plans, were equally direct. Luckily, the man giving feedback to our group admitted that he didn't really know how it works in primary schools on the other side of Germany, which meant we didn't get too much negative feedback.
They had planned to run a talent show on the last night, and were very surprised by the fact that none of us had volunteered and put our names down. The course organisers kept going on about when the Americans were at the training, and everyone had got up and performed, and it was just so 'Awesome!' but it just didnt happen like that with us. Luckily they changed plans last minute, and we had a pub quiz instead.
The final stereotype is that the Germans get up early. This is something I can confirm to still be very much true.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Köln
7 hour train journeys are really not that bad. This is possibly becuase I had built it up in my mind that it was going to be the most boring thing ever, and I'd made sure I was equipped with a variety of things to do, and loads of food (which I rationed myself to one item of food per hour), but I was pleasantly surprised that the time passed quite quickly. Of course, I was still glad to get off the train when we eventually did get to Köln, and I wouldn't recommend a 7 hour train journey every weekend, but all in all, it wasn't too bad.
In fact, the train journey was one of the least stressful things of the whole day. After getting to Köln, I had to get a U-Bahn and a tram. I got the right place, and got on, but as I was standing by the on-board ticket machine, waiting for the person using it to be finished, I was approached by a conductor asking to see my ticket. I didn't have one, so I had to get off the train, and basically tell her my lifestory- I provided evidence of my passport, my registration in Stralsund, told her about why I was in Germany, what I was doing, that I had joined the college, and so on and so forth. I also had to explain that I had only just got on the train and I was waiting next to the ticket machine, which must have provided great entertainment, as I was using my broken German, and doing the actions of 'getting on the train', just to make sure she understood. Luckily, she decided not to charge me a €40 fine (for which I was very grateful) but it was very scary.
The conductor advised me to buy my ticket before getting on the tram next time, to avoid such a situation, so I went to the ticket machine at the station, but I didn't have enough small change to buy the ticket. There was an option to pay with a card though, so I tried doing that. However, it kept not working. I tried three different ticket machines, and they kept getting to various levels of being finished, but malfunctioning at the last moment. I didn't even have a €5 note on me, so I couldn't ask if people had enough change to exchange that. All the shops and drinks kiosks at the station were closed, so I couldn't buy anything and get change. I was seriously getting worried I would be stuck in the station all night. I had to start asking people if they maybe had 60 cents, but that didn't bring any luck. Finally, a girl took pity on me, and even though she didn't have any change, she said I could wait with her till her friend came, who might have change, or be able to take me with her. I can only assume they have some kind of multi-person ticket, (which I've seen in other areas of Germany,) as I wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but I was glad to be out of the station, and then finally off the tram without incident.
Then, I had to get to the hostel. The instructions did not make much sense, or the road names were not clear enough, or something, but I ended up wandering around Köln at night, asking if people knew where I should go. Eventually I got back on track, and I was so happy to see the hostel. (Though even there, the woman thought I had a reservation for two people, and I had to explain that wasn't the case- but I was proud that I told her I could speak German and carried on talking in German, even when she started speaking in English).
At least I got a lot of 'Excuse me, can you help me?' vocabulary practice...
The hostel itself was nice, there were five other people in my room, three of them were taking part in the Köln marathon the next day, one of them was pretty quiet, and the other one came in late, after the rest of us had all gone to bed. They were all gone next morning, and I made the most of the breakfast bufffet, then went out to see what Köln had to offer.
I kept meeting the marathon, and then I'd stand and watch and offer support for a while (at least until there was enough of a gap to cross the track). Köln made a better impression on me in daylight, when I wasn't panicky and lost. I didn't have much of a plan, so I just wandered around, saw the Rhein, the bridge decorated by padlocks -couples write their names/anniversaries/ love messages and attach them to the bridge, and it looks very nice and shiny- the Dom, and other sights.
I met up with Georgina, a language assistant from Meck-Pomm, who was also in Köln a bit early before the training course. We continued wandering around, took a few pictures, watched more of the marathon, and then went for food. I felt a bit bad for coming all the way to Germany and eating in a Pizza Hut, but the training course promised a week of traditional German food, about which I'd heard mixed reports, so I didn't feel too guilty.
After eating, we headed back to our respective hostels, but met up the next day to do more sightseeing. We set off to the chocolate museum, only to find out that it was shut on Mondays. Very disappointing. Even worse, we went to the tourism office, and found out that Monday was the day most museums were shut. The perfume museum (the birthplace of the original Eau de Cologne) was the only museum that was open, and after we eventually found it, organised a time for a tour-it was very small, and apparently it was too full when we arrived- killed time in a nearby cafe, and then returned, it was actually quite interesting, though the guide woman went a bit over the top when she sprayed us with an example of the perfume.
After the museum, we headed to the train station, to meet all the other language assistants on the training course, and it was quite exciting to find a massive group of English people, and talk to them.
I'll leave it there now, with us waiting at the station for the training course, as this has gone on quite a while...
Lot of love to everyone
xoxo
In fact, the train journey was one of the least stressful things of the whole day. After getting to Köln, I had to get a U-Bahn and a tram. I got the right place, and got on, but as I was standing by the on-board ticket machine, waiting for the person using it to be finished, I was approached by a conductor asking to see my ticket. I didn't have one, so I had to get off the train, and basically tell her my lifestory- I provided evidence of my passport, my registration in Stralsund, told her about why I was in Germany, what I was doing, that I had joined the college, and so on and so forth. I also had to explain that I had only just got on the train and I was waiting next to the ticket machine, which must have provided great entertainment, as I was using my broken German, and doing the actions of 'getting on the train', just to make sure she understood. Luckily, she decided not to charge me a €40 fine (for which I was very grateful) but it was very scary.
The conductor advised me to buy my ticket before getting on the tram next time, to avoid such a situation, so I went to the ticket machine at the station, but I didn't have enough small change to buy the ticket. There was an option to pay with a card though, so I tried doing that. However, it kept not working. I tried three different ticket machines, and they kept getting to various levels of being finished, but malfunctioning at the last moment. I didn't even have a €5 note on me, so I couldn't ask if people had enough change to exchange that. All the shops and drinks kiosks at the station were closed, so I couldn't buy anything and get change. I was seriously getting worried I would be stuck in the station all night. I had to start asking people if they maybe had 60 cents, but that didn't bring any luck. Finally, a girl took pity on me, and even though she didn't have any change, she said I could wait with her till her friend came, who might have change, or be able to take me with her. I can only assume they have some kind of multi-person ticket, (which I've seen in other areas of Germany,) as I wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but I was glad to be out of the station, and then finally off the tram without incident.
Then, I had to get to the hostel. The instructions did not make much sense, or the road names were not clear enough, or something, but I ended up wandering around Köln at night, asking if people knew where I should go. Eventually I got back on track, and I was so happy to see the hostel. (Though even there, the woman thought I had a reservation for two people, and I had to explain that wasn't the case- but I was proud that I told her I could speak German and carried on talking in German, even when she started speaking in English).
At least I got a lot of 'Excuse me, can you help me?' vocabulary practice...
The hostel itself was nice, there were five other people in my room, three of them were taking part in the Köln marathon the next day, one of them was pretty quiet, and the other one came in late, after the rest of us had all gone to bed. They were all gone next morning, and I made the most of the breakfast bufffet, then went out to see what Köln had to offer.
I kept meeting the marathon, and then I'd stand and watch and offer support for a while (at least until there was enough of a gap to cross the track). Köln made a better impression on me in daylight, when I wasn't panicky and lost. I didn't have much of a plan, so I just wandered around, saw the Rhein, the bridge decorated by padlocks -couples write their names/anniversaries/ love messages and attach them to the bridge, and it looks very nice and shiny- the Dom, and other sights.
I met up with Georgina, a language assistant from Meck-Pomm, who was also in Köln a bit early before the training course. We continued wandering around, took a few pictures, watched more of the marathon, and then went for food. I felt a bit bad for coming all the way to Germany and eating in a Pizza Hut, but the training course promised a week of traditional German food, about which I'd heard mixed reports, so I didn't feel too guilty.
After eating, we headed back to our respective hostels, but met up the next day to do more sightseeing. We set off to the chocolate museum, only to find out that it was shut on Mondays. Very disappointing. Even worse, we went to the tourism office, and found out that Monday was the day most museums were shut. The perfume museum (the birthplace of the original Eau de Cologne) was the only museum that was open, and after we eventually found it, organised a time for a tour-it was very small, and apparently it was too full when we arrived- killed time in a nearby cafe, and then returned, it was actually quite interesting, though the guide woman went a bit over the top when she sprayed us with an example of the perfume.
After the museum, we headed to the train station, to meet all the other language assistants on the training course, and it was quite exciting to find a massive group of English people, and talk to them.
I'll leave it there now, with us waiting at the station for the training course, as this has gone on quite a while...
Lot of love to everyone
xoxo
Thursday, October 1, 2009
A hazelnut in Germany.
My last class today was with the DFK 2 class. DFK stands for Diagnose- und Förderklassen, and is for children with special needs or learning difficulties. There are only 10 children, but they all have problems with anger management and control, and have conditions such as ADD/ADHD. My experiences with them so far have been very mixed... either they are completely lovely, and give me thier attention and tell me stories about themselves, or they are trying to kill each other, and during those moments it is very clear that I am just an assistant and telling them to stop and go and do something else has absolutely no effect. It's a bit worrying that I always seem to be with this class when the teacher doesn't turn up for half of the lesson, or has to go and deal with another class, and leaves me to supervise them. This means that it's just a cycle of them getting more and more noisy and lively, and then me somehow getting them under control and quiet, only for them to get chaotic again.Luckily, everytime she comes back into the class room, I've somehow managed to get them back under control, and we are sitting quietly in a circle, but I'm dreading the day she comes in and the kids are all running riot!
Today, after the initial ignoring-me-and-trying-to-kill-each-other-instead phase, I enjoyed the lesson. One of the kids is in my English club, so he told the other kids my name means Haselnuss auf Deutsch, and suggested we play the game we played at English club. So we taught the others, it's a game where you sit in a circle with one space free, and the person to the left of the free place has to say '1, 2, 3 ______ [one of the other names in the class] come to me' and then that person moves places, and the person to the left of the new free place starts again. Quite often one of them would say '1, 2, 3, Haselnuss come to me' but it's quite cute and I'd rather they call me Haselnuss than ignore me...
It's also very cute when I leave school and everyone says 'Tschüs, Haselnuss'', ''Byyeee Haselnuss''.
After the game, they sang the German song they've been learning with their class teacher, and it goes like this:
Die Fische, die Fische sind heute fröh,
sie schwimmen durch's wasser und machen so:
blop blop blop blop blop, blop blop blop, blop, blop
blob blop blop blop blop, blop blop blop, blop, blop
[a rough translation, though I assure you it sounds better in the original:]
The fishes, the fishes, they are happy today,
they swim through the water, and go like this:
blop blop blop blop blop, blop blop blop, blop, blop
blob blop blop blop blop, blop blop blop, blop, blop
It was a bit strange the first time I was in the class, and the teacher suddenly got out a guitar and started playing, and they all started singing along. I like it though, and because the teacher has to speak so clearly and slowly for the children, I understand nearly all of it.
However, the verses continue, with frogs, ducks, and doves, BUT in Germany, the frogs say 'quack' and the ducks say 'schnat'. Which is just confusing.
The song is also ridiculously catchy, so I have had it in my head all day!
[Edit: A few days after posting this, I had a sudden inspiration for how this could be translated so that it would still rhyme, and fit into the original rhythm of the song:
The fishes, the fishes, they are happy today,
As they swim through the water, this's what they say:
and then all the blops, as in the original.
Maybe there's a career to be found in translating children's songs and stories? ]
Today, after the initial ignoring-me-and-trying-to-kill-each-other-instead phase, I enjoyed the lesson. One of the kids is in my English club, so he told the other kids my name means Haselnuss auf Deutsch, and suggested we play the game we played at English club. So we taught the others, it's a game where you sit in a circle with one space free, and the person to the left of the free place has to say '1, 2, 3 ______ [one of the other names in the class] come to me' and then that person moves places, and the person to the left of the new free place starts again. Quite often one of them would say '1, 2, 3, Haselnuss come to me' but it's quite cute and I'd rather they call me Haselnuss than ignore me...
It's also very cute when I leave school and everyone says 'Tschüs, Haselnuss'', ''Byyeee Haselnuss''.
After the game, they sang the German song they've been learning with their class teacher, and it goes like this:
Die Fische, die Fische sind heute fröh,
sie schwimmen durch's wasser und machen so:
blop blop blop blop blop, blop blop blop, blop, blop
blob blop blop blop blop, blop blop blop, blop, blop
[a rough translation, though I assure you it sounds better in the original:]
The fishes, the fishes, they are happy today,
they swim through the water, and go like this:
blop blop blop blop blop, blop blop blop, blop, blop
blob blop blop blop blop, blop blop blop, blop, blop
It was a bit strange the first time I was in the class, and the teacher suddenly got out a guitar and started playing, and they all started singing along. I like it though, and because the teacher has to speak so clearly and slowly for the children, I understand nearly all of it.
However, the verses continue, with frogs, ducks, and doves, BUT in Germany, the frogs say 'quack' and the ducks say 'schnat'. Which is just confusing.
The song is also ridiculously catchy, so I have had it in my head all day!
[Edit: A few days after posting this, I had a sudden inspiration for how this could be translated so that it would still rhyme, and fit into the original rhythm of the song:
The fishes, the fishes, they are happy today,
As they swim through the water, this's what they say:
and then all the blops, as in the original.
Maybe there's a career to be found in translating children's songs and stories? ]
German Efficiency ...or not.
Germans seem to divide into two very distinct categories. The first is very direct, very efficient, if they say they'll have something done by tomorrow, they probably have it nearly finished already. The other category is a lot more laid back, if they say they'll do something tomorrow, you won't see them for another two weeks, and when they do they'll still have certain obstacles to deal with, before they can get whatever it is done.
I have been very lucky that both my supervisor at the school and my landlady are firm members of the first category. My supervisor almost overpoweringly so- my first week in school, where I was easily confused and everything was new, she asked me what the project for the interschool foreign language competition was going to be, and seemed a bit disappointed that I didn't alrady have a fully formulated plan. I don't want to disappoint her, and I'm trying to do everything as efficiently as she does, but even now, she'll ask me to do something, and she still seems a bit surprised when I actually do it and return it to her... I'm hoping that's more to do with her being the head teacher, and always being so busy and having so much on her mind, and that she doesn't actually think I'm completely useless.
On reflection, perhaps my landlady belongs to a small subset of the first category, she is very efficient and will do everything as soon as she said she would, but unfortunately she never seems to be home, so even though I know she'd help me as soon as I ask, she is never around to ask! At the moment, our flat has no washing machine, so we have to ask her for the key to use her washing machine in the cellar. I have some washing that needs doing, but I have been knocking her door and ringing the doorbell every afternoon this week, and I still have not been able to get hold of her. (She lives upstairs, and rents out the entire ground floor, so it's not like I have far to go, but I don't want to have to add 'being smelly' and 'having no clean clothes' to my list of things to deal with!) Also, I have no idea how late is too late to knock on someone's door, especially you are knocking from within the same house. I know the Germans get up early, but I don't know what's the average time to go to bed, and seeing as I'm religiously going to bed at 10pm every school night (or at least trying to), anything after 8.30 pm seems horrifically late!
Unfortunately, the teacher who has the bed seems to be very much a member of the second category, which is why, nearly 4 weeks after moving into this flat, I still have no bed. It doesn't look like I'll be getting a bed this weekend either, then I'm going to Köln for the week and I'm not going to be in school to ask her if it's sorted, or arrange a time, so it's going to be a while yet...
Maybe I should start taking bets on what will happen first: will I get my clothes washed, or will the bed arrive?
I have been very lucky that both my supervisor at the school and my landlady are firm members of the first category. My supervisor almost overpoweringly so- my first week in school, where I was easily confused and everything was new, she asked me what the project for the interschool foreign language competition was going to be, and seemed a bit disappointed that I didn't alrady have a fully formulated plan. I don't want to disappoint her, and I'm trying to do everything as efficiently as she does, but even now, she'll ask me to do something, and she still seems a bit surprised when I actually do it and return it to her... I'm hoping that's more to do with her being the head teacher, and always being so busy and having so much on her mind, and that she doesn't actually think I'm completely useless.
On reflection, perhaps my landlady belongs to a small subset of the first category, she is very efficient and will do everything as soon as she said she would, but unfortunately she never seems to be home, so even though I know she'd help me as soon as I ask, she is never around to ask! At the moment, our flat has no washing machine, so we have to ask her for the key to use her washing machine in the cellar. I have some washing that needs doing, but I have been knocking her door and ringing the doorbell every afternoon this week, and I still have not been able to get hold of her. (She lives upstairs, and rents out the entire ground floor, so it's not like I have far to go, but I don't want to have to add 'being smelly' and 'having no clean clothes' to my list of things to deal with!) Also, I have no idea how late is too late to knock on someone's door, especially you are knocking from within the same house. I know the Germans get up early, but I don't know what's the average time to go to bed, and seeing as I'm religiously going to bed at 10pm every school night (or at least trying to), anything after 8.30 pm seems horrifically late!
Unfortunately, the teacher who has the bed seems to be very much a member of the second category, which is why, nearly 4 weeks after moving into this flat, I still have no bed. It doesn't look like I'll be getting a bed this weekend either, then I'm going to Köln for the week and I'm not going to be in school to ask her if it's sorted, or arrange a time, so it's going to be a while yet...
Maybe I should start taking bets on what will happen first: will I get my clothes washed, or will the bed arrive?
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