Underworked, Overpaid

This post is about school. I love it! This week I came up with my permanent schedule for the next three months, so I will be attending 2 high school classes, 2 middle school classes and 2 elementary-ish classes spread out over all the different kinds of schools. By this I mean Gymnasium, Real- and Haupt- schule. Each class level and type of school is fun for different reasons. The little kids, for example are amazing because they are SO excited I am in the classroom and just want to be near you and ask you questions. The older kids are cool because they speak English well and can actually have conversations. The Gymnasium kids are good to work with because they are (in general) quick thinkers and really want to learn and the Hauptschule kids are fun because they admire everything I have done and are excited to work with me. I dunno, it's just a really cool experience.
Yesterday I led a debate on "Saviour Siblings" like from the Jodi Picoult book My Sister's Keeper. They kids got really into it and it was so much fun. Plus they listened to me and I got to teach them something about debating ideas. It's amazing to me that they can do this so well auf Englisch. I also had a funny experience yesterday when I was working with a group of 8th graders putting together dialogues in English. They were all speaking in German about how they didn't like the teacher, and all of sudden looked at me and asked if I understood German. I was like "uh huh" . . . and they looked at each other and then were silent for the rest of the block. It was hysterical. Also funny was being in a 6th grade class and saying "bis morgen" to them when I left, and they all laughed at my accent. Sigh.
Two of the teachers with whom I will be working are relatively young (Arne and Sabine) and both offered to include me when they go out with friends to different things. So, Yay! That's really cool for me. :-)
Today the four of us Fulbrighters in Goettingen are getting together for an Indian food dinner. It should be fun! This weekend we are going to Munich for Oktoberfest, which should be AMAZING. Maybe another post tomorrow if something exciting happens, if not, then check again on Monday for post-Oktoberfest madness . . .

Permanently Blue

Berlin really is like a second home to me. I have lived there for only 6 months total ever, but still it is more comfortable and comforting to be there than it ever was at Boston College. I arrived at 11pm on Thursday and Basti picked me up from the bus station. It was so great to see him and we had a huge hug and I felt so good. We stopped at a kneipe on the way back to his WG and talked for a few hours about life and how everything is going. Suddenly it was 3am and we had to go to sleep because we had an engagement (not ours, unfortunately) in the morning. Friday I showed up and surprised Michael and, by that way, Susanne also at the Bundestag, which was great. Also got to see Serge again who, I think, has just come to expect to see my face all the time at the Reichstag.
That afternoon we walked around and went for coffee, chatting just like we always had. It was fantastic. Then we went to play beach volleyball with Basti’s friend Ansgar who turned out to be one of Basti’s friends that I met two years ago at the Germany v. Argentia game on the Fanmile. Unglaublich! This was a hilarious experience because I somehow led them to believe that I knew nothing about volleyball (when, what I had in fact said was that I didn’t play well . . .) so they insisted on teaching me every move in volleyball, never hesitating to stop the game entirely to correct my hand position. Two incredibly cute German guys touching me to move me into proper volleyball position . . . nicht so schlecht ;-). After 3 hours of volleyball, Ansgar said he loved playing volleyball with me, that I was such an incredibly fast learner (no duh . . .) and couldn’t wait until next week when we could play again. It was then that I clarified I am not actually living in Berlin, and he was sad. It was a nice compliment though!
That night we went to Ansgar and Christian (another one of Basti’s friends I had met in 2006)’s WG to make dinner and talk. It was really really nice. Then we went out to a bar with 3 Ost-Europaischen friends of theirs and then out to dance at a disco – also fun – then another bar and then finally at 5am home. New lessons of the weekend: 1) how to take a shot of liquor 2) how to take four shots of wodka in a row 3) a liter of beer and four shots of wodka is not enough to give me a hangover.
Saturday, Basti had to work, but left me a sweet note on his desk when he left! J I explored berlin and ran some errands and got back in time to meet Basti when he got home. We made my favorite dinner: Paprikasahne Haenchen and salad. It was delicious. Then we took naps and went out at 2am to a birthday party, where Basti remained relatively silent and I talked the whole time to German guys who marveled at how well I speak german after only two years and only one real class. I appreciated the attention, although it was sort of embarrassing because I know how bad my German still is.
Sunday, we made breakfast together and went out to see an exhibit on Germania in der nahe von dem Denkmal fuer die ermordeten juden Europas. It was interesting, but no really new information. Then I gave Basti his birthday present (a stuffed animal turkey and card) and got a big kiss on the cheek : swoon :. And then we left for dinner with Susanne and Michael, which was great, if all in German (HARD!). It was so nice to see them, but it was a quick dinner because I had to run right off to the train station.
I cried on the way home, not sure why. I guess I just feel llike Basti and I could have this amazing friendship, and we do to an extent, but it will never be complete because we’ll likely never be in the same place again.

Waiting for Tonight oh oh oh . . . haha

For the last few days, I have been busier than I remember being in a long time. Since school ended really. I go to school every morning and sit in on classes, which is sort of fun but also sort of boring – it is high school after all. The classroom (again) is just so different here. The kids talk out of turn all the time and are just plain obnoxious and loud, which can be true in the US but is really usually not. Especially given the fact that US classes are 3 times the size of these German classes.
Apartment searching has been going really well and also not really well. I have seen tons of great apartments and met nice people, the interviews have gone really well, but still I have gotten nothing. Sean had luck this week, though, which is so exciting!!! I will finally have a place to leave my computer with internet all the time . . . soooo excited for him to move in. I have two more appointments today. Yesterday, I saw one with a Jacuzzi and a full backyard, deck and garden . . . 25mxm was the room size with a fireplace and all for 300 euros a month, without any further nebenkosten. AMAZING!
On Monday night we went to the Orientation for the scholar Fulbrights and now Sean and I have two more friends in Goettingen! Hans is researching at the Max Planck Institute for something sciency and went to Brown, and Tim is studying history at Georg August Uni and went to Princeton. The dinner was really fun and interesting; unsurprisingly I found that I fit in much better among the scholar Fulbrights than among the teaching ones to a large degree – we had much more to talk about. But I must say, the teaching Fulbright is a much better deal – a larger stipend, and I can have an easy schedule while completing my project . . . works for me . . .
I am going this weekend to Berlin to visit Basti!!! I will stay in his WG as, what we call, the Grand Palace is currently occupied. I leave tonight and arrive at 11:30pm or so . . . then tomorrow I am going to the opening session of the SPD in the Bundeskanzleramt with Basti. By our plot, we haven’t told Susanne and Michael that I will be coming to Berlin, so we are planning to surprise them at this even tomorrow when Basti tells them he has someone to introduce to them. It should be really funny. Anyways, I should have internet at Basti’s, but on his computer. So hopefully some lustige posts from Berlin will follow!

Untouched By Man

Sorry I have not been writing so much -- it's not so much that I am busy as that it is a pain in the neck to have to come down to this cafe and buy food that I don't need so I can use the internet. I am getting so so frustrated by this procedure, and I practically know the wait-staff by name. Well, actually I don't know any of their names, but if I did, I would have them memorized by now.
ANYWAYs. Friday, I went into GSG for my first day. It was super disorganized and the teacher who was supposed to be waiting for me was not, so I wandered a bit until I found Klaus, who helped me. I got a password so I can use the internet at school, which is cool and he introduced me to a girl who is an exchange student from Texas in the 6th grade (WOW). Finally I met up with my teacher and we talked over some stuff, but she didn't have any of my paperwork, which was sort of annoying. I went to her next class, which was Grade 12 Honors (sort of . . . note that German schools go to Grade 13) and they were giving presentations on science and technology in order to prepare for Brave New World. So I helped edit some handouts and helped the teacher assess their english. It was fun! The best part was the 20 year old student in the class who is adorable and plays the guitar and has an amazing voice (because he sang/played as part of the presentation so I know this) . . . must not date students must not date students.
It was interesting because the rules are really super relaxed and everything is casual. I could tell this from the 7 pingpong tables and 3 fussball tables that were in the hall of the building I was in . . . where masses of 6th graders were playing during break. It was insane! But cool. That was really pretty much the end of my day. That class seems really nice and I look forward to working with them more. I go back to school again tomorrow to start a full time schedule (by which I mean 12 hrs a week) at 7:50 am. . . with an hour walk to school that is the earliest I will have gotten up in years. I hope it goes well! Tomorrow we'll also go and register for our Visas, transfer money into our Deutsche Bank accounts and I will mail my mom's birthday card.
Yesterday we went to Hannover, which is about 30 minutes North of Goettingen on the high speed trains. It was a fun day, we met up with a Fulbrighter who is there and walked around doing the touristy thing. It's not quite as cute as Goettingen, but is much more lively and like a Boston -style city. We had a nice time, hung out in her apartment, saw where the Hannover 96 Football team plays and then went to dinner. Afterwards we went to the international fireworks competition and saw the Denmark part of the competition. They put together a 25 minute fireworks presentation synchronized with music and it was amazing! The best part was Con te Partiro with beautiful gold chandelier fireworks underneath giant pink hearts . . . so cool.
Today I went to mass at St. Paulus again, which was nice. Now I am sitting in the cafe (shocking!) Trying to get all of my internet to-do list accomplished before they kick me out. Oh yeah, I booked a hotel room in Munich for Oktoberfest 9/26-9/28 -- so that is good. My dream of going will be fulfilled! This afternoon I will hang out with the girl (lauren) from my dance class and hopefully that will go well! Okay, that's all for now, I'll be online again later tonight.

Flashback - and I don't want the world to see me

Suddenly it is senior week, summer camp and FU-Best all wrapped into an intense 4-day orientation conference. Altenberg is a teeny tiny town (dorf) outside of Koeln that is basically big enough only for 2 hotels, hiking trails and the cloister/cathedral in which we had our conference. Really pretty -- really dead. The conference itself was incredibly boring for the most part, but it was really interesting to see what kind of people also got Fulbrights. By which I mean, I am definitely convinced that the Fulbright Kommission needs to add a "do you have a brain" question to its application. For the most part they were really nice, and I got to know a few incredible people who I intend to keep spending time with while in Germany through various trips. Others, however. Everyone did have really diverse backgrounds and most people really were genuinely interesting, down to earth and fun to talk to.
Probably the most fun day of the whole conference was when we were broken into groups of three and had to prepare a 45 minute lesson for a specific age-group of German english students. Sean, Michael and I decided to teach a "beginners" class (they would be maybe 8-10 years old) entitled "who are we?" that dealt with the crucial issues of hair/eye colour (yes, ou), height, and favourite hobbies. We were told by the German teacher who critiqued our lesson that we were super engaging and that we gave one of the best lessons of the day. That was sort of fun, but more fun was pretending to be German students learning English while the 4 other groups in our Arbeitsgruppe presented. We spoke broken english in German accents, threw spit balls, interrupted --> it was like the childhood I never had. HAHA. The best part was during the Valentines Day lesson, Sean and I had to write a poem for which we won the "best poem" award. We were given the word "flowers" and had to write at least a two line poem that used it for our valentine. Collectively. So we wrote the following and read it aloud with a German accent (read it aloud yourself if you can't understand it, the hyphens are to help with proper pronunciation):
I bought you deez fl-ow-virs
Zay grow in zee sh-ow-virs
Zay smell very goo-d
Even better zan foo-d
It was hysterical. The only other good part of the "programmed" activities was the talent show on the last night, which was actually really amusing. The better parts came after the programs, however, when there was a makeshift bar provided for us, by special request of the PAD in a church and we got to buy 1,50 euro beer/wine and hang out with everyone. SO FUN! Until the next morning when one can imagine, (ahem), some people probably awoke bleary eyed and exhausted after only a few hours of woozy sleep. There was also the case of the "first encounter," which led to a different type of bleary eyed morning, but if you know about what I am speaking, we'll talk about it. In any case, it was a good time and I am thoroughly amused.
Today I went to my first dance class --> the Fortgeschritten kurse (advanced class) at Die Goettinger Ballettschule. I thought it would be classical ballet, but it turned out to be a mixture. I will get 4 weeks of modern (in week 2 right now) and then 4 weeks of classical ballet alternating for 45euro a month. It was a really good class, and half of the girls (about 18-19 years old) were really really nice to me. The others were just annoyed I was getting attention because the director was making sure I was alright. Whatever. But one of the girls invited me to hang out with her on Sunday and meet some of her friends (who are older) and just find out about Goettingen and stuff. So that was great. :-) I am excited to see how this works out.
Tomorrow I go to GSG to fill out (zee) paperwork(s -- haha) and then sean and I are apartment searching and I will hopefully spend a long time on the internet. I hate not having internet at the wohnung. hate hate hate. Whatever. I am happy, I really am :-)

Result of Sean & My Touristy Day

Some pictures from Goettingen!

1st views of Goettingen

Always Watching

For the first time since arriving in Germany I have a sense of time passing as my internal clock told me that today was Sunday . . . and thus my short legs practically sleepwalked me to the St. Paulus (powell-oose) Kirche, about 2 minutes walk from my apartment, at the (ironically) god-forsaken hour of 9:15am. I had read on the church's website that Hochmesse would be celebrated at 9:30 and, in an effort to reform my late-ways, I left early. It turned out that the internet was (of all things!) incorrect, and mass did not start until 10am. So God and I became reaquainted in the German language as I feverishly tried to relearn the "Unser Vater" auf deutsch. Then I learned that this mass was not just any mass, but a celebration of Father Norbert's retirment. 2.5 hours later, the celebration was finally over. It was an amazing mass though, despite the length, with some really great songs and everyone was so nice! I actually ran into two people who I know -- Frau Kramer who is a teacher at Sean's school and Frau Astrid Gerlach who is the Fremdsprachenleiterin at GSG. They both found me and said hello! It was amazing 1) to be recognized and 2) to have people care enough to say hi and give me hugs. Definitely made my day. *I was definitely dressed to impress in a pilsy, off-white (originally white) fleece, brown capris and (matching - hah) black shoes.*
It is actually sunny here today, which is incredible! I had such a nice walk back from mass and now am sitting at the internet cafe admiring the blue sky. Sean and I are going to walk around today and be tourists. We plan to take lots of pictures and generally be nerdy! So be prepared for more pics soon. Our wine/cheese/movie day went splendidly yesterday and we ate 75% of a Weizenbrot loaf, 2 wheels of herbed brie cheese and drank a bottle of Riesling out of aperatif glasses because we couldn't find any wine glasses? A gorgeous wooden thing on which to display our sliced bread, sure, but wine glasses are apparently just too much to ask.
Yesterday I also visited two apartments. One was absoltulely perfect! Two girls (i would be the third), a giagantic room with nice windows facing Theaterstr. right in the Innenstadt. Wireless internet, a nice kitchen, bathroom, washing machine, one of the girls even dances ballet (a little).It is a little on the expensive side, and they had two other girls coming to look at it last night. But I should hear back today, so keep your fingers crossed for me! The other one Sean and I went to together and it was also really nice and in der nahe von Sausalitos -- a mexican restaurant that occassionally has .49Euro drink parties (ALL drinks are 49 cents) -- which would make the walk home somewhat less harrowing. After apartments, we went shopping for more cheese and, oddly enough, chocolate. Then finished our movie night with the rest of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Boondock Saints --> I had never seen, SO GOOD! Made me miss Boston, as Sean anticipated. Hearing the words "Comm Ave." made me feel at home. haha!
I can feel my german getting better (even if it would still earn an "F" in a school) and I am very comfortable communicating at this point, even if what I am saying is completely grammatically incorrect. At least I'm talking! Sean and I help each other along, so it's good. Well, usually he helps me, but I have the occasional good fortune of clarifying something for him. As in, it's happened twice. Tomorrow we are off to Altenberg (near Koeln) for a 4 day orientation conference. There I will have the "First Encounter" . . . ugh. Will dress my best!

Saturday Morning Rain is Falling

Yesterday was a relatively successful day in the WG search . . . we saw three apartments in 1.5 hours and two of them actually appeared to be livable (and Sean could stand up in them, which was also a positive thing). We are supposed to hear by Monday so maybe one or both of us will have something by then . . . we have two more appts today.
Last night I went grocery shopping for the first time and was most ecstatic when I found my favorite brand of peanut butter (Barney's Best Crunchy!!!) in the local Rewe. Already, I have eaten 6 pieces of bread with erdnussbutter. Amazing. We decided to save money on eating out last night and bought spaghetti and bolognese sauce to make for dinner --> viel Spass.
Oh yeah! Also yesterday, I went to the Goettingen Ballet School! I talked to the director (all in German woot!) and think I am supposed to come in next week for a trial class of ballet and point to figure out what level I am. What confuses me is that she said she will call me on Monday and I am not really sure why. Oh well, I guess I'll find out!
Today, because it is a dreary, rainy in Goettingen, we are having a wine/cheese/movie day. All day. Between the two of us I think we have etwas 900 movies. So now we will go shopping for some fresh, incredible european cheeses and brot. I took pics of my apartment but forgot to upload them, so maybe tomorrow you can see where I am living currently.

Where I'm supposed to be

Number of times Sean and I have had to clarify that we are not married or dating: 700
Number of conversations focused on square meters, size of kitchen, quality of refridgerator and radiators: 100 million
Number of really sketchy apartments seen: 2

After I finally confirmed the Paypal transaction giving me 10 hours of internet at World Coffee, Sean found a free internet cafe, where I am now sitting, meaning I wasted two days and a lot of effort for nothing. Our time is mostly full of WG searching and we have a bunch of appointments in the next few days, but if they are anything like the ones yesterday, we will be homeless. Most notably, the last apartment we saw, which was in a building built in 1537 (AMAZING!) had cielings that were 6 feet high, only 35 minutes of hot water a day, only 1 half fridge, a weed plant growing in the tea kettle (and not of the dandelion variety), the walls were painted like it was a 70s pad and its inhabitants said their music of choice was death rock. hmm. Needless to say, neither Sean nor I took the apartment. Today we will look at two or three more, and hopefully make some more appointments.

Last night, we hung out with two guys I met (over the internet) while WG-suching. They were really nice Uni students, one Syrian and a German. They gave us a lot of advice and told us about the Student population in Gtg. etc. It was cool and definitely therapeutic after our WG experience. **Sexy Back is now playing on the radio --> glad to see JT has made it safely to Dland** Jason Maraz was playing while I was in the shower this morning, which was also comforting! Even though Sean and I are together all the time, it is hard not having internet because I really expected to get to speak with everyone regularly :-( Soon though . . .

Pictures: our first Doener and "mini" Doeners of the Fulbright year!

Ahhh!

Still having a great time and I'm not yet disillusioned :-) Sean and I have been running around exploring and trying to accomplish various things! We got cell phones, registered with the police, opened bank accounts and are in the process of registering at the university . . . amazingly, we have done this all auf deutsch, which is so cool!

I unfortunately don't have internet in my apartment, so I am stealing Sean's internet right now. I found this little Cafe called "coffee world" (Goettingen's version of Starbucks because they don't actually have one! I think this is the first place I've ever been without a starbucks) that has internet. But I tried to get online for 2 hours last night and 2 hours this morning and it wasn't working. So maybe tonight. Who knows. Very frustrating though!

This afternoon we are WG-suching, which should be fun and somewhat terrifying as it will require speaking with Germans over the phone. We shall see!!

Midnight train going anywhere . . .

Göttingen is amazing. It is perhaps the most perfect city to which I have ever been . . . if you know how that French village looks at the beginning of Beauty and the Beast when Belle is waltzing around reading and buying bread -- that is Göttingen. Absolutely picturesque and the people are so nice and everyone wants to meet me and talk to me, because I am American. Which apparently the know because I wear flip-flops ... that is what they tell me anyways. I have been speaking German almost constantly and found that, despite not speaking any for a year and 3 months, I am really not that bad! I have held whole conversations and done important things like buy train tickets and order a BahnCard 50 with someone who spoke no english! Basti and I texted and he is very happy that I am here . . . toll!

This morning, Sheila took me on a driving tour of Göttingen and then to see the Geschwister Scholl Gesamtschule (GSG) where I will be working. I met many of the teachers and everyone is so nice and excited that I am there, so that is fantastic. I will meet with Astrid (Fremdsprachendirektorin) next Friday after orientation. Afterwards, I met Sean (Brennan BC 08) at the train station today, and he, a teacher from his school (Otto Hahn Gymnasium) and I went out to lunch together. It was great! He and I are plotting American dinner nights and English Conversation clubs to hold with a mix of our students at various kneipe. I think we will have a lot of fun together, and we are both very enthusiastic. I also got a tour of his Gymnasium and got to meet many of the teachers there, so it is nice to sort of have two places where I am welcome. Tonight I move into a new apartment! It is nice, but with no internet somewhat nicht praktisch for the longterm, so I hope to be out by October.

Highlights from flight over: 1) spilling red sauce on my new Product (red) shirt bringing new meaning to the brand 2) attempting to eat the unidentifiable meat that United Airlines called beef, but in fact was beef in name only 3) UA losing one of my suitcases, an unexpected blessing as I then did not have to carry it and it will now be hand delivered to my apartment for free.