Travel Schmavel

My Visited Countries

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So 17 days until I fly home in for Christmas. But in other news, I found this website where you can put in the countries you've visited and it puts it on a map of the world. Mine is really skewed though. I've been to Moscow and St. Petersburg, so therefore Russia is filled in, but it's a massive country and I've really only seen very little. I guess I don't feel the need to try and go to as many countries or see as many places, but rather just go where I find interesting. I mean, I definitely would like to try and go to a lot of countries, but there's more to it than just going to as many as possible. Although this map does point out that I haven't come anywhere near the Southern Hemisphere.

Things here are going well. Emily and I went to the Weihnachtsmarkt in Erbach on Saturday. It was really cute, really fun too. Saturday night I was also able to talk to my parents, and sisters Nancy and Rebecca, so that was really great!

In teaching on Monday and today I taught the 12th graders about gun control in the United States. It was pretty interesting. I didn't really know very much about it, so I had to do a lot of research. I tried to be balanced and show both sides of the issues. I was really impressed with how open minded the kids were about the issue.

Too warm for December...

50 degrees. That's the high for today. It's December 2nd and the high is 50? Over the next ten days the lowest high is 43. Although it's nice that it is sunny today, it draws away from the Advent/Christmas season. Emily and I are headed to the Weihnachtsmarkt in Erbach today. Neither one of us has been there, but we saw a sign for the Markt, and it looks cool. (But it would probably look cooler with snow.) I guess I'll just have to hope it will be cold and snowy when I'm home for Christmas (less than 3 weeks).

Last night Emily and I went to the Weihnachstmarkt at my school. All the different class bake or make things to sell. All the proceeds are donated to charity. It was really neat. The school was decorated, and there were kids and parents all over. I saw a number of my students, so that was fun.

Yesterday my sister Rebecca and my nephew Robert both celebrated their birthdays. I always remember when Rebecca and I were little, I would get a present on her birthday as well. We both always got wrapped advent calenders.

Handball instead of class...

Ok, so I showed up this afternoon to teach my usual Wednesday afternoon 9th grade bilingual history class and was greeted by a few of my students in the hallway. They asked if they could all watch their friends play handball instead of having class (their class is 7th period which is an extra class - students are only required to be there through 6th). I told them I couldn't make this decision, and they would have to find Monika. Unfortunately, we couldn't find her, so we asked another teacher, Herr Koettel, who gave us the ok. So, I went with the kids to the gym where I watched my first handball game. It's a great game! It's like a mixture of soccer (same idea of scoring - get the ball in the net), basketball (use your hands, they also dribble, and similar defensive strategies like zone and man to man), and hockey (similar penalties, players can be taken out of the game for a period of time). It's a really exciting game to watch and looks like fun to play. I missed the game that Gross-Bieberau played in, but watched Gross Zimmern play Babenhausen.

Another quick, interesting story: On Monday, one of the 5th graders still had a question when class ended, so I went up to talk to him. He asked me about how the US justifies the totale Verschendung der Papier (total waste of paper) that is dollar bills. I found it funny, I mean of all the wasteful things the US does, I don't really think dollar bills is the worst!

Thanksgiving Picture

Here's a picture of the Waldsee second half people who were at Thanksgiving (thanks to manfred)!

Thanksgiving and a Great Monday

So as is becoming my habit, I have not posted in quite a while. I've been meaning to, but haven't. Things are going pretty well. I just got home for the day, and it was a great day. Today I went to a 5th grade class. They first asked me questions in English, but they were pretty limited since they've only been learning English for about 8 weeks. At the end they were able to ask me in German. At the end of the class, 2 girls came up and give me pictures they had drawn. It was so sweet! I'm going to hang up the pictures in my apartment. Today I also did a Thanksgiving lesson for the 6th graders. It was really fun. They drew turkeys from tracing their hands and we listened and sang to Over the River and Through the Wood. I think they all liked it (and they were all very interested in my ipod!)

Thursday evening Emily and I flew to Vienna for a Waldsee Thanksgiving weekend. It was a fabulous weekend! We stayed with my friend Lynn from Notre Dame. She has a great apartment and it was so fun to see her! My friend, Liz, organized Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday. We had everything - turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, cornbreak, and more! I made stuffing for the first time ever, so that was exciting. There were 16 of us at Thanksgiving dinner. It was so great to see so many Waldsee people! In addition to celebrathing Thanksgiving we spent the weekend hanging out and staying up way too late talking at night, and on Friday night we went to see the new Bond movie. I didn't really take any pictures this weekend, but will hopefully get some from people soon!

I fly home for Christmas in less than 4 weeks, which I am very excited about! In the meantime I will be visiting lots of Weihnachtsmärkte (Christmas markets)! Also, I've talked to some various teachers about bringing in American Christmas carols when Christmas gets close, so that should be fun. This evening I am planning to meet Emily at the Weihnachtsmarkt in Darmstadt.

Auslaender does not equal outlandish

So, I really haven't updated in a long time, but I definitely have been meaning to. Things are going pretty well at this point. I've been teaching some classes regularily, visiting some classes regularily, and then randomly going to a couple classes. I've started working with the 6th graders every week, which I am very excited about.

Over the weekend, I read the essays the 9th graders wrote about Napolean and how he influenced France. Overall the essays were really good. But a few of the girls must have used some translator. I believe they were trying to get the word "foreigner", which in German is "Auslaender" (directly translates to outlander). They ended up using the word "outlandish", which made no sense in the context and definitely confused me. It's really interesting to see some of the words that the kids come up with!

This week classes will be pretty normal. Today I finished a lesson with the 10th graders on The New Deal. Wednesday I will continue with the 9th graders on The American Revolution.

I know I haven't posted in a while....

So, I definitely have been meaning to update my blog for a while. I even started a post about Poland, but haven't finished it! Things have been kind of busy lately. This post will just be a quick update.

After returning from Poland, my friend, Liz, from camp came up to visit Emily and me. She has been here since Thursday and is heading on to Freiburg today. It was so great to have her here! Having visitors is always fun!

I have been working on lesson plans and what not. Right now I really need to get back to finishing up my lesson on the American Revolution (I will be teaching the 9th grade bilingual History class on Wednesdays by myself every week, and until shortly before Christmas, I will be teaching about the Revolution).

One quick interesting story though: yesterday I was observing 9th grade History, and the students were presenting posters about Napolean that they had made. One student, Jan, had a very interesting project. He explained Napolean's life as a metaphor. Instead of presenting him as a military and political leader, he explained him as a soccer star! It was a really neat project. I was totally impressed by his creativity.

Hopefully I will get some updates about Poland and what not up here soon!

So it snowed in Minnesota...

Ok, so I've been meaning to post for a while and haven't. Things have kind of fallen into a routine though, and I'm feeling pretty settled. I'm really starting to appreciate a lot of things about living in Gross Bieberau. I've been seeing more students around town, and faces are starting to be familiar. Plus, the weather the past week has been great! Although it's been foggy and cool in the mornings, most of the afternoons have been sunny and warm. This afternoon Emily and I went and walked around the Naturpark outside of town. It was great - perfect weather!

Things at school are going pretty well. Things are definitely picking up. Break started this weekend, so I have 2 weeks free, but after break, I think I will be pretty busy. I will hopefully be starting up with some tutoring to make some extra money. In addition my English AG (after school club that will include creative writing, discussion, short stories, and maybe some films) will be starting the first Thursday after break. There seems to be quite a bit of interest, so that's exciting. I think the students are getting more comfortable with me, and some are really excited that I'm here.

I've kind of accepted that I don't really think I'm going to have German friends here, at least not really my age in Gross-Bieberau. Fortunately, there are some TA's in the area that I can hang out with. I hung out with Emily (TA in Roedermark, living in Darmstadt), Jessica (TA in Darmstadt, living just outside of Darmstadt), and Lisa (TA in Frankfurt). We hung out Friday night and yesterday. Tomorrow we are making dinner together at Emily's and may be going to a movie. We are planning to hopefully get together at least once every week to make dinner at someone's apartment.

Tomorrow Emily and I are headed to the University in Darmstadt to hopefully, finally get ourselves registered! We both have our diplomas and transripts, so hopefully it will work out. Then Tuesday we are heading to Poland. We are planning on going to Warsaw and Krakow for about a week. Lisa may come with us to Warsaw and then come back. We are pretty excited. Emily and I have both never been to Poland, so it should be quite the adventure!

Teaching, Teaching

This weekend I spent hanging out with Emily. On Friday, she moved into an apartment in Darmstadt. Her mentor owns the apartment, and no one is using it, so they are letting Emily stay there for the year. The apartment is right near the center of town and is super nice! Friday was also Emily's Birthday, so it was nice for her to finally get settled on her birthday.

Friday night we went out for dinner. We found a cheap, good Asian restaurant in Darmstadt, so we are pretty excited about that. After dinner we just went back, hung out, and went to bed early. We are both getting used to our schedules during the week...we went to bed around 11 and got up before 8am! Saturday we ran errands around town to help Emily get settled. Although her apartment is fully furnished she needed somethings like laundry detergent, trash cans, and groceries.

Saturday evening we took the bus back to Gross Bieberau. Again Saturday night we just hung out, watched a movie, and went to bed early. Sunday morning we went to mass here in Gross Bieberau. This weekend was a Family Mass (every other week was a family mass), which was nice. The whole mass was geared toward children, and although the message was simple, it still s important for everyone. I really like the church here and am hoping to get to know some people there. I'm hoping that as people start to notice I'm there, and as I get more comfortable, I will start talking to people.

Emily took the bus back to Darmstadt around 11:30, because she needed to get back and work on her apartment. In addition, I needed to get to work on my lesson plans for today. Today I taught a lesson on the "Roaring 20s" to the 10th grade bilingual history class. I think it went relatively well. We talked about various political happenings, inventions, fashion, and other important events. They seemed to respond pretty well. I really like the 10th grade history class. There are only 17 students, and they all seem very nice and are hard-workers. I think the plan is that I will teach them on my own every Monday.

This afternoon, I taught a double period to the 12th graders. I taught about the US Constitution, includng the branches of government and checks and balances, the electoral college, and the upcoming midterm election. It was a lot of information, but they seemed to get it. There are two students in the class who did an exchange year in the United States, so it's a lot of review for them. It's nice to have them in the class though, because they are less afraid to participate and are more comfortable speaking English.

Monika told me that both the lessons went well, so I'm happy about that. It's really hard to tell what the students think, but hopefully they learned something!

The Tent....Weekend at Oktoberfest

So on Friday after school I took the bus to the train station in Darmstadt. Since I was taking the bus at about 1pm, it was full of students from my school! It was kind of interesting. A couple of the them recognized me and talked to me, which was nice. From Darmstadt I got on a train to Munich. In Stuttgart, Erin joined me on the train. When we got to Munich, we decided to wait for Liz and Amber, so we grabbed some dinner. Once Liz and Amber got there, we ventured to our hostel, "The Tent".

We made our plans to go to Oktoberfest pretty late, so we could not find a reasonably priced hostel. We still really wanted to go, so we decided to camp at "The Tent". It's located on the outskirts of Munich, so it took a while to get out there on Friday. We got out there, checked in, and set up our tent. It was pretty late by then, so we decided to hang out there for the night. There was a campfire and a lot of people around. While sitting at the campfire, I saw a guy wearing a Notre Dame fleece, so I asked him if he went to ND. Turns out there was a group of kids from the Notre Dame program in Toledo there, so we hung out with them for the night. They also lent us some extra blankets for the night! Needless to say that was very helpful, because it was very cold on Friday night, and none of us had sleeping bags.

Saturday we got up, packed up our stuff (determined not to return to the tent that night), and headed off to Oktoberfest. Fortunately, Erin's Dad was able to get us into the tent where his company had a table. Before heading in we met up with Pete, a 2000 ND grad. It can be really difficult to get into tents at Oktoberfest since they have limited capacity. But the only way to get beer and really experience Oktoberfest is in the tents. There was a live band and lots of people dancing and celebrating in Lederhosen and Dirndl (the traditional Bayerish dress).

In the afternoon, we headed to the train station to meet Emily. She wasn't able to come until Saturday afternoon, because she had been on a field trip with her school to Cornwall. The rest of the day we spent around Oktoberfest. That night we headed to a bar where we were hoping to watch the Notre Dame game against Purdue. Unfortunately, none of the channels in Germany were playing it. We did get to hang out and watch some football though. The only game that was showing was the Alabama/Florida game, but at least it was football! That night we were able to stay at Pete's apartment, which was a nice change from the tent. Liz and Lotti took the night train back to Vienna because Monday was their first day of teaching.

Sunday, Erin, Emily, and I headed back to Oktoberfest. We spent the day hanging out at the tents and meeting different people. Emily took and evening train back to Roedermark, while Erin and I took a night train back to her house in Weil am Rhein. I had Monday and Tuesday off form school (Tuesday was Tag der deutschen Einheit, German Unity Day). Monday, Erin and I spent the day watching movies and hanging out, and I took a train back early Tuesday morning.

On Tuesday, Emily came to Gross-Bieberau for the day. We were able to buy plane tickets to Vienna for Thanksgiving (there is hopefully going to be a Waldsee Thanksgiving in Vienna), and we talked about our plans for our fall break. We have the last two weeks of October off and are hoping to maybe plan a trip to Spain.

I Come from a Land Down Under...

So here are a few more pictures of my apartment. This is my living room. It has a couch, some shelves and drawers, a desk, and coffee table. Today I also got a TV, so that's a new activity for me. I had asked my landlord about it yesterday, and he came down and rang my doorbell this evening. I have to go online and register it still, but it'll be really nice to have.

I've been meaning to post, but unfortunately blogspot and I have been fighting a lot. It doesn't like to always follow through when I post things. I noticed that the picture thing didn't totally work on my previous post, so I'm going to try and fix that.

This week has been going fairly well. On Tuesday I went to Darmstadt and met up with my friend Jessica again. It was really nice to get together. We just walked around, did a little shopping, and grabbed some dinner. Hopefully we will continue to get together regularily. She is also going to try and take a class at the University in Darmstadt.

Yesterday, I observed a 9th grade and a 10th grade English class. They were both taught by Herr Koettl. The 9th graders are reading about an African family that lived in Great Britain for a while and then returned to Africa. The 10th graders are reading the book, Holes. I really liked both of the classes and hope to have the chance to work with them again.

This morning I worked with the same half of the 9th grade Realschule class that I worked with last week. It went pretty well. They are somewhat unruly though. They tend to talk with their neighbors while someone is talking and don't always pay attention.

Tomorrow I will be doing three lessons (normally I will have Fridays off, but this week I said I would come in tomorrow). First I will be working with the 13th grade English class. They are working on Australia, and their teacher Frau Lorenz (Christina), asked me to bring in a modern Australian song. I was kind of lost, so I talked to my friend Scott from ND who studied in Australia. He suggested, along with some others, Down Under by Men at Work. I found some interesting information about the song, and it has some Australian slang in it, so hopefully the students will find it interesting. It is from 1982, but is still popular.

This weekend I am heading to Munich for Oktoberfest. I am really excited. I am meeting up with a number of people including Erin from ND, Emily (but she can't come until Saturday because she is in Cornwall with her school), and Liz (another friend from Waldsee - she is a teaching assistant in Vienna). Some of my other friends I met at orientation are going to be there too, so we are hoping to meet up. We had some trouble finding a place to stay, so it looks like we will be camping, which should be interesting!

Go Irish! Beat Boilermakers!

Tag der Zahngesundheit

Ok, so I've decided to put some pictures of my apartment up. The one on the right is my bedroom. It's very nice. The window looks out into the backyard, which is full of pretty flowers and plants. The one on my left is the kitchen. In the kitchen I have a sink, microwave, fridge, hot pot, small oven, and small stove.

So, for those of you confused about the title, today apparently is Tag der Zahngesundheit (Dental Health Day). It hasn't had much of an impact on my day, other than they have been talking about it on the radio.

Well today I just observed again. I also met with Monika today to discuss my schedule. It looks like I will be working 8-12 hours a week depending on the week and what teachers want me to come. I'm very excited because I will have Fridays off. Most of my other Fulbright friends have Fridays off too, so it should be good for traveling. I will be working with the 9th and 10th grade bilingual History classes, 12th grade English, 13th grade English, 9th grade Realschule English, and 6th grade English. In addition, I will be offering an afterschool activitity/club. In it I will do reading, creative writing, discussion, and watch some films with the students (all in English of course). It will be offered to the 9th and 10th graders.

This afternoon I went to 12th grade English for the first time. They meet every other Monday for 2 periods. They are working with the American Dream and The Challenge of the Individual, so I will be helping with these topics. Today they were reading Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech. It was very interesting to hear what they said about it. I guess, I kind of take for granted that people should understand the Civil Rights Movement, but it really cannot be compared to anything that has happened in another country's history. It is so tied to how the United States was founded and really starts with the first slaves brought over and continues on today. It is also very interesting to hear the words they sometimes use to describe things, since their teachers are not necessarily aware of the current, politically correct way to say things.

I am pretty excited about the classes I will be working with. I'm really ready to just fast forward to where I am settled into a routine, know the students, and know what I'm doing!

Oh the Weekend!

This weekend Emily came from Roedermark to hang out. Friday we took the bus to Darmstadt. There my roommate, Jessica, from orientation met us. Jessica is a teaching assistant at a Berufschule in Darmstad and living with a family in Griesheim, which is just outside of Darmstadt. The three of us got some ice cream and walked around. I really like Darmstadt. There is a lot going on and there are a lot of neat stores and restaurants. Jessica had to head back to Griesheim relatively early, because she was going out with her host family. Fortunately I think Jessica and I are going to get together for dinner sometime this week.

Emily and I decided to take the bus back a little earlier, so we could get to the grocery store before it closed. After running to the grocery store, we walked around town and looked for someplace to grab dinner. We ended up going to the Italian restaurant and both had great meals! Emily thought the restaurant was excellent, and she spent a year studying in Florence. After dinner we walked back to my apartment. We had a somewhat late dinner and were walking back around 10pm and there was no one out and basically no noise in town.

Saturday ran some errands around Gross-Bieberau. While we were at the post office, I ran into one of the 6th graders from Frau Oess's 6th grade class (one of the classes that I think I will be working with semi-regularly). It was exciting to see someone that I recognize and that recognized me as well. That afternoon we took the bus to Brensbach for Apfeltage (Apple Days). There had been a lot of advertisements in the newspapers, so we thought we'd check it out. Brensbach is a little, cute town. The festival was rather small, but was fun to see. There were some live musicians and lots of little booths set up. Emily and I each had some Apfelwein (apple wine) and Apfelkuchen (apple cake). The picture above is of a man making apple cider in Brensbach.

Saturday night was Kneipennacht (bar night) in Gross-Bieberau. We made some dinner for ourselves and then headed down to check it out. I thought it might be a good opportunity to meet some people in town. There were a few people walking around. We went to one bar and had a drink, but no one was really interacting with anyone other than those seated at their table. So we decided to come back to the apartment and watch a movie.

This morning we went to mass at Sankt Andreas here in town. After mass we made a nice breakfast and hung out. Then I road the bus with Emily to Reinheim where she caught a bus back to Roedermark. It was really nice to have her here for the weekend. In addition to having someone to spend time with, it was nice that someone got to see what my life is kind of like here.
This evening I bought my flights home for Christmas. I will be home from December 22 to January 13. I'm really excited. Emily and I were going to try to fly together, but it didn't work out.

Adventures in German Bureaucracy and Teaching

So yesterday I had the day off from going to school in order to take care of some things. First, I took the bus into Darmstadt to try and matriculate in the University there. I took the bus into Darmstadt and then walked to the University. After a long struggle to prove that I had health insurance, I discovered that I also need a copy of my degree and an official transcript. Unfortunately, I do not have either one of those items with me, so it looks like I will be waiting a while to matriculate!

After spending the morning in Darmstadt, I took the train to Dieburg. Emily met me in Dieburg, since it is about halfway between us. In Dieburg is the Landratsamt (the district office) where I had to go to get a residence permit. Although it took a while, and there was some confusion, I was able to get my residence permit.

Emily and I then spent the afternoon in Dieburg. Dieburg has a very nice Altstadt and some fun little shops. We got some gelato at the Eiscafe and just hung out. The picture above is of a fountain in Dieburg. Before leaving we grabbed some dinner, and a retired couple from Maine happened to sit down at the table next to us! It was very random, since Dieburg is relatively small and definitely not on the usual tourist routes. It was really fun to talk to them, but it didn't last long, because we had to head to the train station to catch our rides home.

Today I taught my first class. Last week and this week I went to a double period of 9th grade English. Today during the second period I took have of the class to work on a text. The class is about 35 students, so it is very helpful to be able to split them up. It went relatively well, but I think I'm really going to have to concentrate on speaking slowly and clearly with students. In addition I observed the 9th and 10th grade Spanish classes again.

Tomorrow Emily is going to come to Gross-Bieberau. I have to work in the morning, so she is going to come around noon. I think that tomorrow we are going to go shopping and hang out in Darmstadt. One of my roommates from orientation, Jessica is located in Darmstadt, so we may hang out with her. She also let me know that there is an event in Darmstadt tomorrow - Lange Nacht der Musen - and the museums are open until 3am, so we may check that out. Saturday I think we may go to Mannheim and then there is a Kneipennacht here in Gross-Bieberau that night.

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day

So, this picture is of the main street in Gross Bieberau, which, as you can see, is totally under construction. It is supposed to be during October - hopefully this will make downtown a little more active!

As you may have noticed, I figured out how to enter links into my blog, so there are some listed on the sidebar on the right now. Included are the websites for the school I am working at and the town I am living in.

This week I am doing mostly observing again. Yesterday I spent a period with the 10th grade bilingual History class as well as a period with 6th grade English. They are both very nice classes. After History, Monika and I talked a little bit about more specifically what I will be doing with her classes. It looks like I will be teaching a lesson for the 10th graders on the Roaring 20s in the United States soon (definitely will have to think back to what I learned in US History junior year!) Also, the 12th graders are working a lot with the United States in English class, so I'm going to work with the a lot on topics such as the structure of the US government and immigration in the United States.

I really enjoyed being with the 6th graders. We told them that I did not speak any German, so they had to interview me in English to find anything out. They were all very excited. One of the boys at the end of the class even came up and let me know that his father is from the United States. Today I went with the 6th graders again - one period of English and one of German. It's amazing how much the kids know in only their second year of English!

In addition today I spent some time in with 9th and 10th grade Spanish classes. The second foreign language (first is English, which starts in 5th) starts in 9th grade, at my school the students have the choice between Spanish and French. Although I was able to understand everything that was going on I had a lot of trouble communicating. It's really disappointing how much Spanish I lost by not using it for 5 years! I will be going to the Spanish classes again on Thursday, so maybe things will go a little better. Although it was difficult, I still participated in the class activities and the students asked me questions in Spanish about what I am doing in Germany for the year.

On Thursday I will be doing my first teaching. I will be taking half of a 9th grade Realschule English class to work on reading and understanding an English text. I am really excited to get started and see how things go working with the kids on my own!

Weekend in Weil

This weekend, my friend, Emily (on the right in the photo), and I took the train down to visit my friend, Erin, from Notre Dame (on the left). Erin's family is living in Wei am Rhein, Germany, and Erin is doing medical research at the Universit in Basel. We spent most of the weekend just hanging out with Erin's family. Erin is the third of eight children. Her three youngest siblings, Jamie, Emily, and Joey (ages 13, 12, and 11) are living with her parents in Germany and attending an international school there.
Saturday night we got to watch the Notre Dame game against Michigan. Unfortunately the game did not go as we all had hoped, but we still had fun. We cooked up a German tailgate with Wurst and Kartoffelsalat and even played some beer pong, Also, Bryan, a 2000 ND grad living in Basel joined us for the game.
It was really nice to get some time to hang out with people that I know and hang out in a family setting. Coming back to Gross-Bieberau was a bit of an adventure because my train from Frankfurt to Reinheim was delayed, but it all worked out. This week I will be observing again at school and putting together a regular schedule for what classes I will be working with.

Continuing on...

I'm still figuring out the whole posting pictures thing. I haven't figured out how to post them anywhere other than at the beginning of an entry. This is my apartment from the outside though. It is the lower section of the house on the backside(my windows look at the backyard). I have my own entrance (complete with doorbell and outside light). My apartment is very nice. It has 4 rooms - bedroom, living room, kitchen, and bathroom. I have pictures of all the rooms, but I'm afraid it will get hard to load this if i post them all at once.

Today has been a pretty good day. I spent quite a bit of time at school, which was nice. I observed four different classes and made a schedule for observing next week. Next week I am going to meet with Herr Boeker, who is like the assistant principal. Herr Boeker is in charge of all the scheduling. Next week I will be observing more English classes include all of the 9th and 10th grade bilingual History classes. Also, I will be going to some of the 6th grade English classes, which will be interesting (students start with English in 5th grade). Additionally, I requested to sit in on some Spanish classes, so I will be observing some 9th and 10th grade Spanish classes. I think it will be interesting to see if the same teaching techniques will be used in Spanish classes as in English classes. I am also interested in comparing it to my own Spanish-learning experience (I took Spanish in school from 5th through 12th grade).

Tomorrow I will once again be with the 9th graders for their bilingual History class. I also will be going to an 11th grade German class. I am most excited about sitting in on two classes of 13th grade English. This will be the oldest and most advanced students in the school. The woman who teaches this class has been really helpful. Also, I think I will be regularily working with this class as well as the bilingual History classes once I get a more permanent schedule.

This weekend I am heading down to Weil am Rhein, where my friend Erin from Notre Dame lives with her family. My friend Emily from Waldsee is coming down as well. I am really excited to have some time with some familiar faces. Plus we are going to watch the Notre Dame game versus Michigan on Saturday, so I am really looking forward to that!

Go Irish! Beat Wolverines!

The Bieber in Bieberau

Ok, so for those of you who did not know Biber means beaver, so that is where the name Gross-Bieberau comes from. Therefore there are of course Beaver statues in the town square.

Well today I observed two more classes. I observed an 11th grade German class as well as going to the 9th grade bilingual history class again. I enjoyed both classes. The German classes was working on a short story, and the 9th graders were learning about the French Revolution. In addition, during one of the breaks today, the principal introduced me to the faculty in the teachers' lounge. It was nice, because now everyone understands who I am and what I'm doing there. A lot of teachers talked to me afterwards. They were all nice, and I hope to get to know them better.

After school, Monika invited me to go to get something to eat. We decided to go to Dieburg, since that is where I needed to go to get a visa. Unfortunately, although I already registered in Gross-Bieberau, I am not in the system yet, so I was unable to apply for a visa. I will have to go try again next week. But the trip to Dieburg was still very worthwhile. Dieburg is larger than Gross-Bieberau and has a lot of nice stores and Cafes. It also has a very cute Altstadt.

Tomorrow I will be spending most of the day at school. I am observing all day except for one class period. I'm very excited to being spending more time at school tomorrow and getting to know so more teachers. The only bad things it that the first period starts at 7.45, which is pretty early for me!

I have not figured out how to put links in the column indicated for links on here, but for reference if anyone is interested, my school's website is: http://www.aesgb.de.

Day 1 of Observing

Well this picture pretty much shows the most exciting happenings of today. I did my first observing today and met some students. In addition I was able to get a bike from my school. This picture shows some of the 10th graders during their gym class. In addition on the far right is my mentor, Monika.

Today I observed three classes - a 9th grade history class taught in English, a 10th grade German class, and a 10th grade theatre class. I was also able to get to know some more teachers. I met three of the English teachers in addition to Monika. I also met some of the younger teachers and one student teacher.

The school also gave me a bike today, and Monika was kind enough to buy me a lock. I'm really excited to have a bike, because it will give me a lot more mobility in gettting around the area. This afternoon I biked to Reinheim, it's only about 3 miles away, to the train station there. So, now I can easily get myself to a train station. There is also a bus I can take to Reinheim or Darmstadt.

The weather has been great since I got here. Yesterday and today it was around 80 degrees. Unfortunately it's going to cool down and get rainy over the weekend, which may interfere with biking around! Tomorrow I think I'm going to try biking to Dieburg, which is a little farther than Reinheim.

One week in to my 10 months

Ok, so I'm really new to blogging. I'm doing this so that anyone who is interested can kind of have an idea of what I'm up to this year. My landlord was nice enough to install internet in my apartment today, so I should be able to do this relatively regularly (I probably will do it regularly, since, at least now, I don't have too much going on).

Well, I arrived in Germany one week ago today. I flew over with my friend Emily who I've been going to Waldsee (German camp) with since we were about 10. Last week we had orientation in the little town of Altenberg outside of Cologne. At orientation there were 140 Americans, about 40 Brits, and then a few people from Canada, Ireland, and Australia. I was able to make some great contacts, and sort of get prepared for this year.

Friday I enjoyed the adventure of taking the bus from Altenberg to Cologne, then a train from Cologne to Mainz, and then a train from Mainz to Darmstadt, where my Betreuungslehrerin (mentor), Monika, picked me up. Monika showed me around a little bit and took me to my apartment. My apartment is below the house of a retired couple, the Holzhaeusers. They are very nice, and I'm hoping to get to know them quite well during my time here.

On Saturday Monika took me to Darmstadt to get a cell phone, so I could have contact with the outside world. She then took me to lunch. I was then somewhat left on my own until this morning. I spent my time taking lots of walks, reading, writing letters, and then walking around some more. Unfortunately my apartment does not have a tv, but that may come yet. Fortunately since I got a cell phone I was able to get in touch with my parents.

Sunday was a partiularly lonely day. I went to mass in the morning, which was very nice. The church, Sankt Andreas (St. Andrews), is a small very nice church. The congregation and priest seem nice. Yesterday, I did not really feel up to introducing myself to anyone, but I think I may go in on Wednesday to the church and introduce myself.

Today I went to my school for the first time. It was nice, but I was only there for about an hour. Tomorrow I will be introduced to most of the teachers and things. But, the big event today was getting internet. I was expecting to get it this week, but not today. Internet also means I can now use Skype, which means I can cheaply (and sometimes for free) talk to people back in the states.

Well I just wanted to write a quick introduction. I'm sure I will write more tomorrow.