Life goes on...

This weekend was relatively low key. Friday night I went to Emily's and we just hung out Friday night and Saturday during the day. The weather was not very nice, so we didn't really feel up to doing much. Also, we are going to be busy during the upcoming weeks and won't have much time to just hang out.

Saturday night we went to Frankfurt to meet up with Mark - he lived with my family as a foreign exchange student in 2003-2004. We decided to go ice skating. It was really fun. It was disco night! The inside rink played disco music and had disco lights. We spent most of the night at the outside rink though, since it was pretty warm (around 50 degrees). (In the pictures you can seem Mark and I as well as Emily and I doing some pairs skating!) After skating we went to Konstablerwache and met up with our friend Lisa for a drink. It was great to see Mark again. We hung out also during December. We are hoping to go to the Opera maybe sometime in March (along with his twin brother Philip) and maybe kegeln (a game similar to bowling).

This week I'm starting a unit with a 10th grade class. I met them for the first time today. They seem like a nice class. The unit is called Righting the Wrongs and focuses on some issues in the United States. It should be interesting - I will teach my first lesson with them tomrrow.

Culture in Leipzig and Weimar, Karneval in Mainz

I meant to write this entry last week, but never got around to it. Last weekend we had a long weekend due to Karneval (Germany's form of Mardi Gras). We had Monday and Tuesday off. On Friday morning, Emily and I took the train to Leipzig. Emily's and my friend, Lena from Waldsee lives in Leipzig. Unforutantely she was out of town for a seminar, but she was kind enough to let us stay in her apartment. We also were able to meet her roommate Franziska who gave us some great tips about what to see. We both enjoyed Leipzig. It is a beautiful city. Bach spent most of his career in Leipzig, so we were able to see the church where he worked as well as visit the Bach museum. Also, we went to the Museum in der Runden Ecke, which was the former Stasi (secret police) headquarters for Leipzig during the time of the German Democratic Republic. We were able to catch the daily tour and learned a lot about how the Stasi worked and gain insight into the fear the Stasi fueled into everyday life.

On Sunday we headed to Weimar for the day. Weimar is where both Goethe and Schiller spent most of their lives. We went on a tour of the city and were able to see many of the places where they spent time as well as other important parts of the city. Weimar is also a beautiful city. It is relatively small, only 60,000 people, but full of culture and history.

Sunday night we headed back to Darmstadt, so we could go to the Rosenmontag parade on Monday in Mainz. It was really fun! Our train was absolutely jam-packed with people dressed in wild costumes for the celebration. The parade ahd tons of different floats with people tossing not only candy, but also bread, popcorn, and other random things. It was a really fun experience!

The pictures are from the weeekend. The first one is the Museum in der Runden Ecke, the second one is the Völkerschlachtdenkmal (Monument of the Battle of Nations), and the final one is the Garden House that was given to Goethe in Weimar.

Off for the weekend

Well apparently I've been very on top of posting lately! Crazy, considering right before Christmas break I pretty much totally stopped. For whatever reason I was really tired during the day all week. It made it difficult to stay enthusiastic during classes. It may because we didn't really see the sun all week!

Today though the weather cleared up, and it was sunny and gorgeous. I went for a run, and the weather was perfect! This weekend Emily and I are heading to Leipzig and Weimar in the former East. They are suppose to be very pretty, historical cities, so we are excited! Monday we will head to Mainz or Cologne for Rosenmontag. We have Monday and Tuesday off for Fasnacht (The German equivalent of Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras). The weather is suppose to be in the 50's and sunny this weekend, so it should be wonderful!

Hold on, I need to call Mr. Bush...

This was one of the responses used by a 13th grader during a globalization debate today. She was a representative from the US government and used this when she was caught unprepared. Everyone (myself included) found it pretty clever and funny. Overall the debate was really interesting. The students were assigned various roles from government officials to celebrity advocates to academic speicialists to CEOs of multinational corporations, had time to prepare, and then debated. The students were able to express themselves very well and brought up many interesting and valid points.

Also today I had a double period with the 11th graders. There were only ten students, because the others were participating in a math competitions. It was wonderful. The students who were there were those who are really interested in language. In addition everyone was able to participate in discussions and answer questions. Also there is one problem student in that class and he was absent on Monday and at the competition today, and the class runs so much more smoothly when he is not there. It's amazing what a difference what student can make!

I have been reading quite a bit lately. I started Shogun by James Clavell last week and am really enjoying it. Although it definitely has gruesome parts, it keeps you interested,the story flows very well, and the characters are very intriguing. Also I spent yesterday afternoon reading The Giver, because I will be reading it with the 11th graders soon. It was a wonderful book. I can't believe I hadn't read it before.

Maybe time will fly by...

This weekend was really fun. On Friday, Emily, Lisa, Jessica, and I went to a movie in Frankfurt. We saw Vier Minuten (Four Minutes), a story about a piano teacher in a women's prison and her experience with a particularly talented inmate. It was really interesting and far better than the last German movie we went to. Afterwards we got dinner and Apfelwein (apple wine) in Sachsenhausen (a district of Frankfurt). Emily and I then headed back to Darmstadt to meet our friends Liz and Lynn who were arriving from Paris.

Lynn and Liz are both teaching assistants in Vienna. They had last week off, so they went to London, Paris for Eurodisney, and then to visit us. We mostly just hung out and talked a lot, but it was really good to have them here. We also planned a trip to go to Innbsruck at the beginning of March, so that should be really fun.

I'm starting to plan out the places I want to get to before I go back in June, and my weekends are filling up. I'm also busier at school, so I'm thinking the time may fly by. Although on rainy days like today time seems to crawl by.

Weekend with Amy and John

On Thursday I took the train from Darmstadt to Munich and Saturday morning I met Amy and John at the airport there. We headed to the hotel, dropped of their stuff, and then headed to take the train to Fuessen. In Fuessen we saw Neuschwanstein, Mad King Ludwig's castle that Cinderella's castle is based on. It was gorgeous. I was there when I was little, but it was neat to go back. While there we met an American Masters of Divinity Student studying in Munich, so we spent a lot of the day talking to him, which was interesting. After spending the day touring the castle, we took the train back to Munich and went straight to the Hofbraeuhaus for dinner, beer, and atmosphere. Then we headed back to the hotel and went to bed since Amy and John were exhausted from their flight and traveling.

Saturday we got up, got organized, at breakfast, and headed to Salzburg. Once in Salbzurg we found our way to our hotel and then headed out for some sightseeing. We hiked up to the Festung (fortress) for some great views of the city and the surrounding area. Afterwards, we headed down to town to explore the Altstadt and Neustadt and find some dinner.

Sunday morning we got up to take the Sound of Music Tour. It was great. We were in a minibus with 2 other people. Our tour guide, Rosemarie was wonderful. She gave us lots of historical information (as well as movie facts) doing our tour. In addition to seeing the sights from the movie we got to see some of the area surrounding Salzburg, including part of the Lake District. Rosemarie dropped us off at the train station after our tour, so we could jump on the train to Innsbruck. We didn't get to Innsbruck until 5pm which gave us time for a look around the old city and a peek in the Dom (Cathedral) there. We then headed to Theresianbraeu (probably my favorite restaurant and beer in Innsbruck) for dinner. After dinner we strolled around Innsbruck, so I could show Amy and John where I lived and where most of my classes were.

Monday morning we got up hit up Swarovski and hiked up to the Bergisel (the ski jump in Innsbruck). It was used in the 1964 and 1976 Olympics. It also has an amazing view of the city. We then headed down to town for some souvineer shopping before going back to the train station. Amy and John got on their train to Venice, and I wandered around the city for a little while before catching my train back to Darmstadt. My trip home turned out to be an adventure in itself since my train had some technical difficulties and we ended up over 2 hours late! Needless to say, the Deutsche Bahn (German train company) owes me some money!

My weekend with Amy and John was absolutely wonderful. It was so great to spend time with family. Also it was wonderful to go back to Austria where I had such a wonderful experience studying abroad. It was definitely very difficult to say goodbye when they left. I'm also bummed that now I won't see any family until my parents come in May.

(The pictures are from the top of the Festung in Salzburg, the lake district outside Salzburg, and from the top of the Bergisel).

great company, great sights, great beer = great weekend

I spent this past weekend with Amy and John in Munich, Fuessen, Salzburg, and Innsbruck. We had a wonderful time, and I was reminded of how much I love so much about Austria. Today they headed onto Venice, while I returned to Gross-Bieberau. It was so great to spend time with Amy and John, but also definitely hard for me to say goodbye today. Also, there were some technical problems with one of my trains, so it took longer to get back than it should have. It's late, and I have to be at school early tomorrow morning (I'm going to Mannheim on a field trip with the 9th graders), but I promise an update of the weekend with pictures soon!