Wednesday 31 October 2012

Two Weeks Later...

Hey everyone, you may have thought I'd been kidnapped or something in the last 2 weeks but no, I'm still here. Well actually I did run away to GB for 9 days I just couldn't stand Germany any more.



...nah just joking, I love Germany. But I did head home! As of Friday the 19th of October at 10.40 am my school had 2 weeks holiday. So what did the teachers do? Get drinking, naturally. We cracked open the beers in the team room, then headed out to an italian restaurant and ate pizza. I cannot stress how lovely the other 7 teachers in my "team" are, in the last few weeks they have been so welcoming and helpful AND they even paid for my pizza!

I then caught the train back, grabbed my (pre-packed, thank God) bag and went to catch the coach to Frankfurt Hahn airport. I was genuinely sad to be leaving my flatmates for 10 days, they are so lovely and good fun, but equally happy at the prospect of seeing my uni friends and family.

For those of you who don't know, Frankfurt Hahn airport is a bit odd. It is in the middle of nowhere in Rhineland Pfalz, and only does RyanAir flights. Because of this I had to travel there the night before and stay in the B&B hotel across the road (literally), as my flight was at 6.30 am.
I'd never stayed in a hotel alone before, but I was so tired and had to get up so early I fell asleep at 8pm and woke up at 4am, fully refreshed.

Later came the biggest challenge: negotiate the London Underground. Another first to do alone, as I can count on one hand the number of times I've even been to London. This proved even trickier than expected, as a lot of the lines were semi-down, and I accidentally got 2 poor German tourists lost with me, awkward. Eventually I managed it though, and made my way down toSouthampton, where I study.

Officially this was to do some research for my YARP (year abroad disseration thingy) but it was unofficially a chance to revisit the delights of Portswood's nightclubs and see my friends still in Southampton, both of which I'm pleased to report I did enthusiastically. A LOT of couch surfing was involved, and also a dash of dressing up as a sheep and hitting Jesters with the CymruSoc lot (highlight). I did get my research done too, somehow.

After that it was a case of heading back to Wales to see my parents and (briefly) my brother, and a  lush few days were had. I also got to go to the Cowbridge Food and Drink Festival! (http://cowbridgefoodanddrink.org/) Wandering around with a couple of my oldest friends I was hit by how much of a mixed bag my life has become: one day I'm learning about the intricacies of German culture and helping (or rather failing to help) my flatmates make Apfelstrudel. A few days later I'm back in Wales wandering around lovely stalls of Welsh cheese, cider and wine.

Being home also triggered several conversations about the things I wish I'd known before arriving, so that will be my next blog post!

I was pleased when I realised that I was excited to come back to Germany, and got straight back into life here, including singing karaoke twice (not my usual style) with a mish mash of erasmus students the night I got back. I love Trier!!!

Brilliant jet setting plans (well car-setting) this weekend, news on that next week!

I leave you with a few pictures:


Lush cheese, that I brought back with me to Germany.


Cowbridge Food and Drink Festival

Finally Southampton University Hartley Library, which deserves a mention as a) I love how it looks and b) I have spent way too much time there in the first 2 years of my degree.

Friday 12 October 2012

Entertaining Times as an English Language Assistant

Guten Tag, wie gehts dir?

What is your name?
Where are you from?
Do you have any hobbies?
Do you have any brothers or sisters?
What did you do in the holidays?

I realised that despite my new job being obviously a big part of my new life in Germany, I haven't really mentioned the work I actually do, apart from the awkward part anyway.

So above is a taster of a lot of the stuff I'm doing at the moment: taking students individually out of class and asking them questions such as those above. This has varying results.

Some kids are über keen, which considering I usually do this activity with the G course kids (those who will leave the school after class 9, so Hauptschule standard) is always a nice surprise. Some play it cool, which I get. I mean, I was a reluctant school kid myself once.

Its the ones who are visibly terrified of me that breaks my heart! I mean, I'm 5 foot tall. The only self defence I know I learnt from Miss Congeniality (SING: Stomach, Instep, Nose, Groin, if you're interested) and I don't even have any piercings to speak of. I am possibly the least terrifying person in the whole school, yet when I see them shaking and they forget all their German, let alone their English, I really have to resist the urge to give them a cwtch.

Funniest thing to happen though: Last Friday I went along with a teacher to a low ability yr 8 class. So kids who are 14 - 15 years old. I did the standard taking them out one by one thing, but each time I came back I grew more and more apprehensive of 3 boys, who were all a) a good foot taller than me b) very rude to the teacher and c) making it very clear they thought I was a bit of a joke.

When the time came to take the first one out I was more than a little nervous, but to my utter shock this guy, and the ones after him, were perfectly polite and very respectful! They even spoke some English, which to be frank I hadn't expected. Not entirely sure why they behaved to this day, presumably they were stupefied by my Englishness.

The best feeling so far though is when you find a student who, when you're sat there explaining what life in Wales is like, or asking them about what music bands they're into, actually gets bright eyed with interest, asks questions and does their best to answer. Even better, a few walk off repeating the stuff I taught them under their breath, and now greet me enthusiastically whenever they see me. I know these students are few and far between, but the feeling you get when you feel like you have actually made a small difference in someone's english ability makes me wonder if I was wrong in assuming teaching wasn't a long term option.


Addition: I wrote the above a few days ago but have something to add.

So today I went to class 8d to do a cover lesson that I'd arranged over a week before and prepared. I walked in a there was a teacher I didn't recognise there. She looked at me and said defensively "ich nehme es für die Dritte und Vierte" (I'm taking it for the 3rd and 4th lesson). I tried and failed to argue then slumped off back to the staff room.

15 minutes later the headmaster comes in and asks why my class has come to him saying Frau Thomas has left them alone for a quarter of an hour. Turns out the teacher was referring to the television, not the actual class. Oops. I blame German and its ambiguity!

Wednesday 10 October 2012

Wer zu spät kommt, den bestraft das Leben

Today's title has little to do with the post, its just a german phrase that my first german teacher Fr. Perks used to say to anyone who was more than 30 seconds late through the classroom door, and its one of my favourite things to say in German.

Translation: Those who come late are punished by life.

A little harsh in my opinion.

Anyway, I thought a little update was needed. I am alive and well, and things are good.

The school is lovely to me now after our little misunderstanding and there's always someone asking if I'm ok, do I have something to do etc etc. They were also very understanding when I eventually succumbed to the billions of illnesses the schoolkids have undoubtedly exposed me to. So long story short I'm very glad I said something and I have no complaints now. So ist das Leben :)

Best news of all: I have a semesterticket!!

This means I can finally travel on all public transport in the Trier area and several trains out of the Trier area for free. Including the train I take to work, saving me 22.50€ minmum a week, result!

Due to a couple of mistakes and a large amount of confusion (both on my part) it took a lot longer to sign up for the uni and receive my semester ticket than it really should have. I'd attempted to do it weeks before and failed miserably, so it was only when I had the bright idea to ask Annabel and Tylor what they'd had to do did I realise my mistake(s).

Cue me traipsing to the uni for the sprechstunden early the next morning to beg the woman to put my application through despite the fact I'd originally missed my deadline. This sort of disorganisation is a new part of my character that has only appeared since arriving in Germany. In fact, I don't think I'm actually becoming more disorganised, rather Germany's expectation of organisation is much higher than Britains.

Anyway, I digress. I arrived (sneakily, I thought) 20 mins before the office even opened, but lo and behold 8 people had already had the same idea, scheisse. My spirits sunk further. Until at least it crept closer to the important hour and to my surprise floods more people arrived and started queueing for the woman. Queues! I was mainly surprised by this, as Germans only really do queues in supermarkets, until I realised that duh, this was the international office.

So suddenly I found myself one of the envied, powerful few who had arrived early enough to have a seat and a smug look of comfort etched on our faces. Once the original 8 people had gone in (and come out again, obviously, this wasn't the beginning of a horror film) I cheerfully sprang to my feet, grinned at the guy about to steal my place and said "ich war die nächste" and strolled in. So I suppose my blog title is actually relevant after all!

Happy days.

I've also done a lot of travelling around with various assistants and also my fellow Southampton language students Helen and Meg recently, dass hat viel Spass gemacht.

Pictures below!
 From left to right: Whitney, Emma, Annabel, Hilary and Tylor. All Trier assistants.
Meg, Tylor  and Helen.



PS. Now I have no excuse not to start my Year Abroad Research Project. I repeat: scheisse.