My school entred a foreign language competition, where they had to perform something in their chosen language. I wrote a play about the story of the Great Fire of London, which ended with the song London's Burning, and then from about mid October till February we spent one lesson a week practicing the lines, learning the song, and rehearsing it all. It was sometimes the most stressful lesson of the week, and I was quite glad once it was filmed and we sent it off, I presumed that would be the last I'd have to think about it!
However, I am proud to announce that our school WON the competition, and we have been invited to the awards ceremony. Awards ceremony is probably a bit of a loose translation, for a competition which I imagine only had one entry (...I'm still in shock that we won, if I'm honest) but I'm excited anyway. As scriptwriter, co-producer, co-director and co-English trainer, I hope I'm allowed to take some of the credit, though of course it's the kids who are on film who did most of the work.
And of course, in true awards ceremony style, I'd like to thank my mum, for sending me a poem about London's Burning, and the internet, for helping me research, and so on, and so on... I hope I don't actually have to give a speech!
But yeah, next stop Hollywood, I assume.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Continental Europe's Traffic System
Dear continental Europe,
Let’s talk about your traffic system. So, you drive on the right. That’s a bit weird, but I can deal with it. I’ve been here long enough to know everyone here thinks driving on the left is the ‘wrong’ side of the road. ‘Right is right’ or ‘Recht ist Recht’, as they say. You have a lot of cycle paths. I am a fan of this, though I am intrigued as to what came first- the thousands of people who own bikes and use them as their main form of transport, or the facilities (cycle paths, bike racks and so on) that enable them to do so easily?
Pedestrians are not allowed to cross the road while the Ampelmann* is on red. I’m sure this makes a lot of sense, and as the punishment is a hefty fine or maybe even a jail sentence, it explains why everyone stays glued to the kerb till the Ampelmann turns green, even when there is no traffic in sight or earshot. Just a tip, it does make you appear quite odd to foreigners. Though I suppose when the foreigners get arrested or run over, they might stop laughing at your system.
I do have a question though: If pedestrians aren’t allowed to go when the signal for cars is on green, why are cars allowed to go when the pedestrian light is on green? Maybe you have a different system of physics laws operating here, but I’m fairly certain that if you get hit by something coming from the right, it will still hurt just as much as being hit from the left. So why are vehicles allowed to turn right onto a road even when pedestrians are crossing legally at a crossing?! I know there is sometimes a flashing light alerting drivers to be careful at the crossing, and that pedestrians have right of way, but a big truck and a small person being allowed to cross the same part of road at the same time sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.
Speaking of which, I couldn’t help noticing that some pedestrian crossings seem to beep (and by beep I mean click) when the light is on red, and others seem to beep when it’s on green. Surely that’s just going to get messy? Maybe that’s just Stralsund, or maybe the clicking is caused by the traffic light’s inner workings, and just means that it’s running, but it’s still slightly alarming. On a similar note, I have to say it is a very interesting technique that you use at night, turning off ALL the traffic lights. I’m sure the polar bears will be very happy about all the energy that is presumably being saved, but I can’t help wondering if it’s really a good idea.
Just thought I'd raise my concerns, though I'm sure you have it all under control.
Yours sincerely,
Hazel
A slightly confused exchange student
*Excuse my random insertion of German words, I appear to have forgotten the English word for the man on the traffic lights… I’m sure that’s not a good thing- this year is meant to improve my German, not damage my English!
Let’s talk about your traffic system. So, you drive on the right. That’s a bit weird, but I can deal with it. I’ve been here long enough to know everyone here thinks driving on the left is the ‘wrong’ side of the road. ‘Right is right’ or ‘Recht ist Recht’, as they say. You have a lot of cycle paths. I am a fan of this, though I am intrigued as to what came first- the thousands of people who own bikes and use them as their main form of transport, or the facilities (cycle paths, bike racks and so on) that enable them to do so easily?
Pedestrians are not allowed to cross the road while the Ampelmann* is on red. I’m sure this makes a lot of sense, and as the punishment is a hefty fine or maybe even a jail sentence, it explains why everyone stays glued to the kerb till the Ampelmann turns green, even when there is no traffic in sight or earshot. Just a tip, it does make you appear quite odd to foreigners. Though I suppose when the foreigners get arrested or run over, they might stop laughing at your system.
I do have a question though: If pedestrians aren’t allowed to go when the signal for cars is on green, why are cars allowed to go when the pedestrian light is on green? Maybe you have a different system of physics laws operating here, but I’m fairly certain that if you get hit by something coming from the right, it will still hurt just as much as being hit from the left. So why are vehicles allowed to turn right onto a road even when pedestrians are crossing legally at a crossing?! I know there is sometimes a flashing light alerting drivers to be careful at the crossing, and that pedestrians have right of way, but a big truck and a small person being allowed to cross the same part of road at the same time sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.
Speaking of which, I couldn’t help noticing that some pedestrian crossings seem to beep (and by beep I mean click) when the light is on red, and others seem to beep when it’s on green. Surely that’s just going to get messy? Maybe that’s just Stralsund, or maybe the clicking is caused by the traffic light’s inner workings, and just means that it’s running, but it’s still slightly alarming. On a similar note, I have to say it is a very interesting technique that you use at night, turning off ALL the traffic lights. I’m sure the polar bears will be very happy about all the energy that is presumably being saved, but I can’t help wondering if it’s really a good idea.
Just thought I'd raise my concerns, though I'm sure you have it all under control.
Yours sincerely,
Hazel
A slightly confused exchange student
*Excuse my random insertion of German words, I appear to have forgotten the English word for the man on the traffic lights… I’m sure that’s not a good thing- this year is meant to improve my German, not damage my English!
Friday, March 19, 2010
Social Contact...In Stralsund?!
So, the dramatic lifestyle change began on the day I met more of the Erasmus students. It feels as though they have all suddenly appeared in Stralsund, though many of them claim to have been here last semester. If that really is the case, I can't help thinking: Why didn't I meet them last semester?! But better late than never I guess, I'm glad that Daniela moved into the student accomodation, and that her flatmates don't mind me being the fifth flatmate in their four person flat.
It's nice to have some social contact in Stralsund, and while I don't usually speak in German to most of them, I can't help feeling 'not going mental sat at home' slightly overrules 'I must speak in German at all times'. However, after spending time with the large group of Spanish people, I can't help wondering: What exactly is the correct course of action in a conversation which is being mostly conducted in a language you don't speak? Should you pretend to follow it, and look at the person speaking, and laugh when the others do, or does that just make you look like a weirdo, as you don't really know what's going on? With Spanish, I recognise some of the words, and becuase they are so expressive, I can tell who is being made fun of, or the general gist of the conversation. I'm still not sure that's enough to justify pretending to take part though. The other option is to sit looking blank until the conversation returns to a known language- by the end of the week of school all morning and intensive German classes all afternoon, I was happy to adopt this strategy, and zone out for a while. Luckily there are some other people who don't speak Spanish, so I don't spend my whole time feeling confused.
At least at the parties, the loud music breaks down the language barriers, as noone can hear what anyone is saying anyway!
It's nice to have some social contact in Stralsund, and while I don't usually speak in German to most of them, I can't help feeling 'not going mental sat at home' slightly overrules 'I must speak in German at all times'. However, after spending time with the large group of Spanish people, I can't help wondering: What exactly is the correct course of action in a conversation which is being mostly conducted in a language you don't speak? Should you pretend to follow it, and look at the person speaking, and laugh when the others do, or does that just make you look like a weirdo, as you don't really know what's going on? With Spanish, I recognise some of the words, and becuase they are so expressive, I can tell who is being made fun of, or the general gist of the conversation. I'm still not sure that's enough to justify pretending to take part though. The other option is to sit looking blank until the conversation returns to a known language- by the end of the week of school all morning and intensive German classes all afternoon, I was happy to adopt this strategy, and zone out for a while. Luckily there are some other people who don't speak Spanish, so I don't spend my whole time feeling confused.
At least at the parties, the loud music breaks down the language barriers, as noone can hear what anyone is saying anyway!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
It's been a while...
The thing with a blog is that long periods of not writing occur either when I am not doing enough- reports about my afternoon naps and how I spent four hours staring at a wall hardly make for compelling reading- or when I am doing lots, and don't have enough free time to write anything.
The vast majority of the time that's passed between the last entry and this one would fall into category A, but luckily for anyone worried I was going to die of boredom, in the last few weeks a dramatic lifestyle change has occured, and a visit from Becca, another school trip to the zoo, an intensive German course at the Fachhochschule (college), meeting a load of new people, and many many parties have prevented me sitting around long enough to write about it all.
But for people who were wondering, I am still alive, Germany is definitely heading towards Spring (woo hoo!), and I will be updating as soon as possible!
The vast majority of the time that's passed between the last entry and this one would fall into category A, but luckily for anyone worried I was going to die of boredom, in the last few weeks a dramatic lifestyle change has occured, and a visit from Becca, another school trip to the zoo, an intensive German course at the Fachhochschule (college), meeting a load of new people, and many many parties have prevented me sitting around long enough to write about it all.
But for people who were wondering, I am still alive, Germany is definitely heading towards Spring (woo hoo!), and I will be updating as soon as possible!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)