Germany 08/09

Never expect the unexpected...

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 11:56:05 +0200

Sorry that it's been so long and I still haven't put photos up...

The past few weeks have been pretty hectic and as the title would suggest pretty unexpected too. I'm writing this blog from the computer room at UUC, (aka Coleraine N.I.!) after getting an early flight back last Friday instead of this Thursday as planned. Sadly my Granny passes away suddenly last wednesday so after a number of phonecalls and a very supportive boyfriend, I got sorted with a flight and made my way home. I arrived in Larne at 2am, the funeral was in 12hours time.
Thank you to everyone for your support and messages. It wasn't the most ideal way to come home but I'm glad I made it.

Before the family situation occurred I had been gallavanting around Germany. Evan had a weeks holidays and so came to see Bad Bergzabern and stay for a week. We headed off to Oktoberfest on Sat 27th a little too early in the morning and had a cracker day, when we managed to find it... (You think it would be big enough to stumble across, or that there would be signs, we didn't see anything until we asked a local!) But when we got there the rides and the beer were top notch. It turned into a great wee day.
Sun 28th was my birthday and so (thanks to Royal Mail all my post was late and didn't arrive til the Tues! Deutsche Post is much mroe efficient) Joanna, Kerry Evan and Me decided we would pop to France for a birthday lunch! From where I live, France is a twenty minute bus journey6 that costs 2euros. Fantastic or what?
We got the bus to Wissembourg where we frantically realised that our French was disappearing (most trips needed me thinks) but also enjoyed a lovely typically Alsacien meal - Flammkuchen/Tartes flambee.
On the way back, we got off the bus in Schweigen, which is the village right on the border so we dandered through all the lovely vineyards, eat a few grapes, bought Neuer Wein (bit too easy to drink!) and took photos at the border. It was lovely and it was awesome, however I am looking forward to celebrating my birthday with friends and family this weekend.

The rest of the week went reasonably well, Maria came round for dinner on Tuesday, when we discovered that Germans have two types of spud. Yes two! Apparently one does not lend itself well to mashing... And we successfully took the Minis and the Maxis Youth clubs on Wednesday afternoon. I spent the Monday night at the Hauskreis of Martin and Kerstin (who I had met the week before and had dinner with). They're recently married and Markus is like a youth pastor in Bad Bergzabern. They are lovely people and I get on quite well with them. The Hauskreis was like a small Bible study which I was keen to join as I tend to be travelling most sundays and haven't made it to church. It was difficult to follow at times but I did it, I got something from it and I know my German is better for it too!

It was Wednesday evening when my Granny passed away so the rest of the week was a little of a blur. I joined the teachers on the Thursday afternoon, the last day of school, for more Flammkuchen (which I can almost make myself!) and also to wish Jessica all the best as she was getting married. The rest of the day, and the following were spent packing frantically and getting to the airport.

Friday 3rd was Deutsche Einheitstag which meant that EVERYTHING was closed. Nothing was open but the only celebrations going on were in Berlin. Which in a way makes sense as Berlin was the most divided of all. However, I am quite glad to say over here in Ulster we use every excuse for a good knees up!

Since I got home, it's been pretty crazy and there's been a lot going on but I'm up in Portstewart for a few days with Joel to get my head cleared and have some fun. It is truly great to see my family and friends again. It really is, but I am really enjoying myslef in Germany and am looking forward to the challenges and experiences when I head back in just over a weeks time.
Oh, and my internet should be working by then too!

Till then, bis dann
Dani

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Bad Girl Nostop....

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:56:48 +0200

I´m working on the photographs, they´re making their way to photobucket currently so they´ll make it online soon!

Yes, originally the title to this blog was ´Breakfasting in Bonn´(credit to Evan) as I´ve spent the weekend in Bonn but when I saw this slogan on a girl´s tshirt today I knew I couldn´t leave it. Now my German isn´t perfect (as can be confirmed by the man on the phone who simply said I don´t understand a word, ich verstehe kein Wort, and hung up!)but I love the regular attempts over here to put an english slogan on a tshirt. The other I´ve come across is ´that is me sausage´ a direct translation of an idiom that means I don´t care. Fantastic.

So yes, after school on Thursday I jumped on a train and carried out a four and a half hour journey to Bonn, the current Heimstadt of Evan. It was an exciting prospect to spend the weekend speaking in the Ulster tongue and being able to share jokes that until now I haven´t been able to share!

Bonn is pretty sweet. Big cities are big cities but it´s always nice to see their defining features. I visited Beethoven´s House (Although unfortunately he wasn´t in) and also took a stroll round the uni grounds. Its a lovely big building surrounded by trees, kinda looked like Botanic Gardens in a not really like Botanic Gardens at all kinda way... I have to say that my favourite part of it all was the Rhein. It was awesome just to be near a massive expanse of water! The East Coast is tugging at me...

On Saturday we took a trip up to Kreuzau near Dueren to visit Louise in her Sunflower-clad town and had the experience of the Ruhrtalbahn. A bus-esque train that was, i guess, comfortingly like the Larne trains but with big windows. We were also delayed in Cologne because of the protests unfortunately.
I don´t know if anyone heard what´s been going on. There´s a whole big drama in Cologne at the minute between neo-nazi group Pro-Cologne and the citizens about a Mosque that´s being built. I´ll not go into all the details but there were protests on Saturday, bins being burnt in the street and lots of demonstrations etc The reason I´m mentioning this is actually because what I saw on the news was not what you´d expect. There were teenagers (punks and spides together) and senior citizens shouting at lawyers and doctors for their nazi beliefs. It seemed so strange to see the so-called upstanding members of society being part of a group which is abhorred by all, especially by Germany where they´ve spent so long trying to get away from the problem.

Sorry, got a little carried away but I hope I got the point across. It was great to see Louise and I hope hr birthday present comes in useful!
On Sunday morning we went to the all you can eat breakfast. Totally sprachlos when it comes to explaining it I´m afraid. It was awesome. Once again, photos soon...

I´ll update this again towards the end of the week. Upcoming things include performing with the teacher´s rock band on Tuesday and Oktoberfest for my birthday!

All the best to everyone heading off this week. Don´t sweat it, just go in with an open mind and enjoy it.
Bis bald

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Wine festivals and ´Sorry´

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 09:26:41 +0200

It´s been a while since I managed to get on here but I guess that just shows that I´ve been busy!
Due to the really nice rain on Saturday no forest walks or trips to France took place however I had a pretty good weekend regardless!
It seems to be that living in a very small town means you have days of extreme boredom and days when you just don´t stop. My weekend was a bit like that. I finished school on Thursday and by Thursday night I was itching for something to do! I ended up watching Popstars - nur 4 Maedchen, at Janas. A type of X-Factor where they´re trying to find 4 girls for a new pop act. See their pun there? Only 4 girls? Genius huh?
I have to say its something I have noticed with German popular culture, they love throwing the odd English word in. You´d be watching a real tearjerking moment on one of the popular soaps and they´d have just given a big long speech in German as to why they´d done what they´d done and then suddenly there´s a pause and a ´sorry.´What´s wrong with their own language? (Actually don´t answer that!)

Rant over. Saturday I spent with Jessica in the afternoon, she´s a teacher at the school and is getting married in the next few weeks. We drank tea, ate cake and just chatted. It was really nice actually. I left early evening to make my way to Landau where I met the other English assistants and we headed to Weinfest! The biggest wine festival in the world is where we were apparently in Bad Durkheim. Only 45min or so away. When you bought a glass of wine, it was 500ml unless you requested 250ml. There were loads of funfair rides and sausages. It was in essence perfectly German but it was fantastic. Hopefully the photos I´ve attached work below!

Back at school this week and I´ve enjoyed it more now that I´m involved with the classes. I´ve taken two so far and I´ve another two to take. Standing up in front of 30 fifteen year olds is no easy task, especially when you´ve to watch everything you say to allow them to understand! All things considering though they´ve gone pretty well. Pretty successful all in all.

I´´m heading to Bonn for the weekend to stay with Evan and maybe visit Louise. Can´t wait to see them and catch up.
Hopefully the next time I blog, I´ll have internet in my apartment. Enjoy the photos. I´ll put them up when I´m next free, just heard the bell!

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School!

Tue, 09 Sep 2008 14:17:55 +0200

Who would ever think I´d be excited about going to school? I can tell you for certain that kids aren´t...

I´ve just finished my second day observing in the Realschule im Alfred - Grosser Schulzentrum. (Alfred Grosser is a man famous here for his work improving the relationship between France and Germany).
I can´t say I was nervous much, more just restless to start. I have classes from every year so I get a good variety and I´m off on Fridays. In fact, most of you won´t be out of bed by the time I´ve finished teaching - I finish at either 1215 or 1115 everyday. (Thats 11.15 and 1015 to the UK!)

So yeah it´s going pretty well. I´ve been part of 5th Grade, 6th Grade, 8th Grade and 9th Grade so far. The younger ones are easily distracted but are really sweet and are determined to impress me. 8R seem petrified to even move, they barely uttered a word, and 9U who are messers are great until they´re given work to do. 9th grade do a project on Northern Ireland and so this is the class that I´ve been looking forward to, it´s kinda like GCSE level but slightly higher. They started the topic of Young People´s issues today and were doing a questionnaire so they could find out what is most important to young people. They´ll be marked on the overall project so being me I decided to walk around and help with vocabulary or give suggestions but they refused to speak. It was so funny. I think they could be a really good class, everyone loves messing around in class, so I hope they get over me being a native and just chat!
I have to say though, some of the stereotypes are true, i try to subtly correct their pronounciation but it doesn´t seem to be working. Ze boy duz not lik playing in ze garten wery much... Bless them

The only downside to school is that I start at 7.55 every morning. It kills me but only cause i´m a natural sleeper - Joel will testify to this. I´m in bed every weeknight by half ten cause i´m so tired!

In terms of settling in I´m definitely getting there! I´m meeting with the Youth Pastor of the local church tomorrow and am going to help out with the Youth Clubs and whatever I can find! I´ve been invited to a Wine festival at the weekend, as well as a tour of the walks in the forests and a trip to France for lunch. Yes, a trip to France FOR LUNCH.

Bis bald
Dani

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Weekend

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 15:31:23 +0200

Still no internet in the apartment so the internet cafe is seeing a lot of me! Another 3 weeks or so should do the trick mind you.

So yeah, that´s the first weekend in Bergzabern over and it was a pretty successful one. I was at ´the disco´on Friday night, it´s normally over thirties and I was there with the teachers, who are all lovely. It was hilarious if I´m honest, i don´t think i was the youngest there but i was most definitely one of the shortest. The club itself was class with giant paint pots and brushes, trains and flowers hanging from the ceiling as decoration. The club itself was really nice and I didn´t see very many drunk people. That´s one thing I like about here, a lot of people can still go out and dance like an idiot without being wasted. They probably sell as many non-alcoholic drinks as they do alcoholic. As well as that you can buy coffee, buns, french fries, hotdogs etc etc etc all at the bar. How handy is that? No need to stop on the way home.

I spent a bit of time exploring over the weekend as well, there are red squirrels all over the place and I saw an actual person in lederhosen. I didn´t ask for a photo though as I didn´t think he´d like that...

Saturday night was spent at a Polta Abend (not sure of the spelling) which is a party a few weeks before someone gets married. It was a good night in the end although it was awkward at first cause I knew so few people.When we arrived everyone was carrying plates and bits of ceramic and I really had no idea why. When we got to the front door, they all started throwing it at the ground and wishing the couple all the best. It wasn´t til after that they explained the custom, although I still don´t know where it originates. It was good fun though and I tried Flammkuchen, which is a really flat airy pizza from Alsace. I was also told a dirty joke involving a pun, i can assure you that it doesn´t work translated in English and the German was spoken far too fast. Give me a few months!

Today has been spent sorting out my flat so that it feels more like mine. I´m also going to have a nosey for a church and see how that goes.
Tomorrow is my first day in school but I´m more excited than nervous. I´m really looking forward to teaching the kids and getting to know them. Plus I think it´s a good way to meet people and get the social life going (not that its been lacking with my ü30s disco and everything!)

This blog seems kinda thrown together but I´ll do another when I get sorted in school and hopefully, finallz get photos up.

Bis bald
D

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Bergzabern

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:47:08 +0200

You should all be glad to know that I found a lovely man on the train who helped me with my suitcase almost the whole way. Bless him the journey was an interesting one.

It took 4 hours in total and I had to change trains twice. I started in Cologne and went as far as Karlsruhe, then on to Winden and finally here. When i got on in Cologne, all the seats were reserved so I (and the lovely man, named as this cause he was so helpful and I never found out his name) had nowhere to sit. He was studying in Germany and came from Africa. We ended up in the dining carriage (yes not all trains are like NIR!) where I ate creme brulee and drank water from a glass bottle as we travelled along the side of the Rhine. Nice or what?
When we stopped in Karlsruhe we had no idea what side to get off so we got off the side the door opened, which turned out to be the wrong side. The conductor on the platform soon realised this and walked us along the tarmac between the traintracks until we could cross. I then proceeded to defend myself as he began to tell us off! I´m glad to say that I held my own against him and he shut up. Proudest moment yet.
The rest of the journey continued smoothly without anything worthy of putting up here. Total journey time:3hr55

But yeah, so I´ve been here since yesterday evening. I met Jana at the train station and she took me to my apartment. Its quite old fashioned and smells a little like old lady but I can fix that!
She was really helpful as she took me shopping to aldi etc so that i had all the heavy stuff and i´m sure there is enough food there to last me a month.

I´ve managed to unpack and I spent yesterday evening watching Home Improvement in German and the news.

Today I started off in school. To make you all jealous, I work Mon-Thurs and my day finishes no later than 1215. Is that not awesome? I was introduced to all the teachers and got sorted out with a library card and a code for the photo copier. I even have keys to the classrooms and the staffroom. It is crazy to be on the other side of the desk!

Feeling more settled today. I´m officially registered in Germany, I have a bank account (albeit an empty one) and I have a structure to my week. Yay!

Bad Bergzabern is really pretty and is about the size of Larne. The transport connections are better but still not perfect. I will get photos up soon of the area and my travels etc.

Bis bald
Dani

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The Beginning!!

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:07:35 +0200

I've been over here for 3 days now so I thought I should maybe write down what's been happening.

The past few days I've spent in buildings beside a Cathedral owned by the Arch Bishop of Cologne learning how to teach English. (There are actually rooms in the turrets, although I didn't get one...) It's been pretty boring to be honest and feels like its delaying what I'm here to do.

We're leaving at 7.30am tomorrow (thats 6.30am to all you lovely folk)to get to Cologne Train Station and I'm heading for a 3 hour journey to Bad Bergzabern which is where I'm living for the next nine months. I'm not sure yet but I'll more than likely be travelling on my own with a 30kilo suitcase so wish me luck!

The Unknown is a really strange thing and if I'm honest I don't know how to feel about tomorrow. I'm looking forward to leaving here, although it's been semi helpful and the food has been an 'experience' (scrambled eggs spinach and potatoes anyone?), I'm dying to get down to the village, get into my flat and get properly settled in but I don't know what to expect!

This is only a quick and reasonably vague blog but hopefully once i get internet sorted properly then there will be more soon, including photos and maps of where I am.

Loves
Dani

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