Gross-Bieberau and Beyond

On my way home...

2007-06-20T18:13:00.000+02:00

So I am currently sitting in the Chicago O'Hare airport waiting for my flight to Minneapolis. I can't believe that my 10 months in Germany are over. There were a lot of ups and downs this year, but I'm glad I did it. I met great people and learned a lot about Germany, teaching, friendship, and myself.
I've been behind on posting lately. I don't think I've posted at all during June. The first couple weeks I just hung out in Darmstadt, Frankfurt, and Gross-Bieberau. Lynn came up for a week because she was done at the end of May. We had a great time, and she finally got to see the Bieberau.
Last week Wednesday to Saturday I went to Berlin with the 10th Grade Bilingual History class from my school. It was a neat experience. A lot of the things we saw I had seen before, but I also saw some new things. It was also neat to be there with a bunch of 16 year olds who had never been there. They pretty much all fell in love with Berlin. It's such a great city. It was also really nice to get to know some of my student better. It's just a bummer that it was right at the end of the year.

Last Thursday at School...

2007-06-01T12:03:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was my last Thursday teaching. Next Thursday we have off for Fronleichnam (Corpus Christi), the following Thursday I will be on a school trip to Berlin, and the Thursday after that I will be at home!

Thursdays I work with a 9th Grade Realschule class (but I will be helping them with a project on Australia next week), a 6th grade class, and have my AG of 9th and 10th graders. The 6th graders were really cute. They sang me a song, and we played a game. I was definitely sad to be leaving them. I really like my AG too, but I will still see most of them in other classes over the next couple of weeks.

This weekend Lynn is coming up from Vienna. I will meet her in Frankfurt this evening. We are going to hang out in Darmstadt and Frankfurt with Emily, and then she will stay with me in the Bieberau until Thursday.

München mit Caitlin

2007-05-29T21:37:00.000+02:00

This past weekend I took the train down to Munich to visit my friend Caitlin. Caitlin and I lived in Farley together and were both German majors at ND. Caitlin moved to Munich a few weeks ago and is spending the summer there. We had a lot of fun. We spent most of the weekend just hanging out and catching up. I've been to Munich on a few other occasions, so I'd seen most of the sites already. We walked around the area she lived in quite a bit, and on Sunday we had a picnic in the Englischer Garten. It was really good to see Caitlin.

Things here are going fine. I'm feeling pretty ready to head back to the States. School is going alright, but as the end of the year approaches, there is less and less for me to do. I will be helping out the 9th grade Realschule class with an Australia project next week, so that should be fun. This week is my last AG since it is my last Thursday at school (next Thursday is a holiday and the following Thursday I will be on a class trip to Berlin).

Mom and Dad in Germany!

2007-05-22T09:12:00.000+02:00

My parents flew into Berlin on May 8 and spent 2 days there before flying to Frankfurt to meet up with me on my birthday! I picked them up at the airport in Frankfurt, we got our rental car and headed to Gross-Bieberau. That evening we went to the Italian restaurant in town for a nice dinner and then came back to hang out. We also watched the movie Pleasantville, because I need to see it to decide if I wanted to watch it with the 11th Graders to go along with the book, The Giver.
Friday I showed my parents around Gross-Bieberau. We also had lunch at the Blaue Hand, which is the a nice, traditional restaurant. We also saw the Post, Rathaus, and Bieberplatz.
On Saturday we headed to Giessen to pick up Mark. Mark lived with us from 1999-2000 when he was a foreign exchange student at my high school. We spent the day with him in Marburg. There we saw the castle, old city, St. Elizabeth's church, and walked along the river. It was really nice to see Mark again. I was able to see him a few other times this year, but I think it meant a lot to him to see my parents.
Sunday morning we got up and went to mass in Reinheim. Then we headed to Michelstadt for the afteroon. Michelstadt is a beautiful town in the heart of the Odenwald. We got lunch at the local brewery and walked around the old town. The town also has a really neat city hall.
Monday, the weather wasn't very nice, so we decided to take care of some things I needed to get done in the area like laundry and grocery shopping.
On Tuesday, my parents got a chance to get a look at my life over here. I had to go into school in the morning. After I was done, I picked up my parents and we went to school. Monika and I took the on a tour of the school. In addition to getting to see the school, they were also able to meet a few of my students. Afterwards Monika took us out to dinner in Ober Ramstadt (the town she lives in). We then spent the afternoon in Darmstadt. we went to the Mathildenhoehe which is an artist colony. There is also a beautiful Russian chapel there. We then headed to the Rosenhoehe where there is a gorgeous rose garden. We then went and met up with my friends Emily, Lisa, and Jessica for pizza in Darmstadt. It was nice to have a chance to show my parents my school and have them meet my friends.
Wednesday afternoon we headed to the Bodensee (Lake Constance) after I was done with school. The driving was not very pleasant due to traffic, construction, and rain, but we made it there. We found our way to our hotel in Konstanz and then headed out for dinner.
Thursday the weather was rainy, but after going to Assenscion mass at the Muenster in Konstanz, we decided to take a ferry to the island of Mainau. Mainau is a small island that has absolutely beautiful gardens. It also has a castle, cathedral, and a butterfly house. Despite the rain, we really enjoyed it there.
Friday the weather was looking better, so we drove to the island of Lindau, which is on the opposite side of the lake, near the Austrian border. We programmed the GPS and headed on our way and were surprised when we found ourselves driving through Switzerland and Austria to get there. The drive was beautiful and Lindau was wonderful too. We had a wonderful lunch looking out at the lake. We walked all around the island and saw the various churches and other neat buildings as well as great views of the lake with the Swiss Alps in the background. After driving back to Konstanz, we decided we were a little tired of German food, so we found a wonderful Indian restaurant.
Saturday we drove back to Gross-Bieberau. We had a relaxing afternoon and then headed to Darmstadt for mass. Emily met us for mass and we went out for Lebanese food. We also borrowed the movie Goodnight and Goodluck from Emily and watched it after we got back. It was a good movie and especially interesting to watch with my Dad since he remembered watching McCarthy and Murrow.
Sunday we drove to the Frankfurt airport to return the car. We then took the shuttle to my parents' hotel. It was a little farther outside the city than we had anticipated, so we had to take taxi into town. We went to Sachsenhausen and walked around. We then walked up to the river and had a wonderful lunch right on the river. We then toured around the city some more before heading back to Sachsenhausen for dinner and Apfelwein. After dinner we walked around some more before I put my parents in a taxi and had to grab the train to get home for the night.
It was absolutely wonderful having my parents here. It was nice to be able to show them what my life is like here and have them meet the some of the people I talk about. My apartment is lonely now that they are gone, but fortunately I will be going home in 4 weeks!

Trying to be cultural in Vienna...

2007-05-09T19:38:00.000+02:00

So I never got to actually uploading this post, although I uploaded the pictures a while back. I was in Vienna for cinco de mayo weekend. It was really fun. I got to meet up with Waldsee people (Sepp, Richard, Anton, Resi, Bella), see an opera (Daphne), see the Vienna Boys Choir, and go to a Maturaball. Lynn, Liz, Emily, Lana, and I had a great time. In the pictures you can see Hundertwasser's Kunsthaus, Waldsee Reunion celebrating Richard's graduation, our Mexican food spread on cinco de mayo, and Lana, Lynn, and I at the Maturaball.

der Maibaum

2007-05-01T01:20:00.001+02:00

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Last Monday (April 30) as I was walking home from tutoring I noticed a lot of people gathering around the Marktplatz in Gross-Bieberau. I kind of wondered what was going on, but kept on my way. A few minutes later I ran into the woman who lives upstairs who informed me that the Maibaum (Maytree)was being put up and invited me to come along. It was a very neat tradition to watch. Men dressed in Lederhosen carried the tree in and set it up in the square. Then various groups did traditional dances and finally the Bürgermeister (mayor)tapped a keg and everyone had a beer on the town. It was really fun. I enjoyed spending a little time with the Frau Holzhaeuser and getting to see one of the town's traditions.

Freiburg

2007-04-29T23:33:00.000+02:00

On Friday morning Emily and I met up in Darmstadt to take the train down to Freiburg to meet up with Liz and Lana (Lana studied abroad with Liz in Freiburg 3 years ago). We had to switch trains in Mannheim, and I unfortunately left my backpack on the train. Emily went on to Freiburg, while I took a detour to Kaiserslautern to get my bag. I arrived late afternoon in Freiburg, and Liz met me at the train station and we headed to the hostel. That evening we walked around and saw various parts of Freiburg and then grabbed dinner at one of Liz and Lana's favorite restaurants.
Saturday morning as we were leaving the hostel, we ran into some other teaching assistants, including the other one from Winona, Alyssa. The rest of the day we walked around the city more, went to the market, and walked up to the top of Schlossberg for a great view of the city. Saturday night we headed out. Liz and Lana took a night train back to Vienna, and Emily and I went back to Darmstadt. It was a really fun weekend, and I'm looking forward to seeing Liz, Lana, and Lynn in Vienna this weekend!

8 Weeks Left in the Bieberau

2007-04-26T17:59:00.000+02:00

So I fly home from Germany 8 weeks from yesterday, and my parents come 2 weeks from today. In some ways I feel like time has been gone really quickly, but at the same time I feel like I've been here forever. I have some fun things planned for the rest of the time here, so I think time will go by quickly.
I've started tutoring a 6th grade girl who lives in Gross-Bieberau but goes to school the next town over. It's nice to have another activity during the week. I also really enjoy working one on one with her. She is relatively weak (corrected thanks to lynny)in English, but has a good attitude and is willing to learn.
The weather here has been wonderful. It's like summer here. I'm really enjoying it, but I'm hoping it doesn't get much warmer, because then school will be miserable. This weekend I'm heading to Freiburg with Emily. There we will meet up with Liz and her friend, Lana. Lana and Liz studied there together the same year I was in Innsbruck. We are also planning to see Lise, another counselor from camp. She is working on her PhD in Biology at the University there.

(The picture is from Katie's visit in March...Gross-Bieberau is a lot prettier now that it's warm and sunny!)

A Weekend in Brussels

2007-04-17T12:40:00.000+02:00

Last weekend, Emily and I headed to Brussels to round out our spring break. We took a train early morning from Frankfurt to Brussels. We almost missed it due to my being absentminded and forgetting my wallet (I missed my bus going back to get it, but was able to bike to the train station). We were in Brussels by around 11 and got to the city center by around noonish after getting ourselves lost. We walked around a bit, grabbed some lunch, and then headed to the Musees Royaux des Beaux Arts. After spending the afternoon at the art museum, we went and met our friend Farin at the train station. We have worked with Farin at Waldsee over the past couple of summers. He is half-German and half-Belgian and lives in Brussels.
We headed back to Farin's apartment where we met two out of his three roommates. He has a Belgian roommate, a Slovenian roommate, and a British roommate (very international - just like Brussels itself). We made ourselves pizza for dinner and then went out for some Belgian beer.
Saturday we spent the day mostly walking around. We saw a lot of Brussels. We were able to see the European Commission building and European Parliament building (pictured above). We also saw many of the different neightborhoods and parks around Brussels. We even head some Belgian waffles while walking around! That evening we went out for Chinese food before heading back to Farin's where we hung out with his Slovenian roommate and some of his friends (one was Danish, one Irish, and one Dutch).
Sunday we had a nice breakfast and then walked through the Turkish neighborhood Farin lives in to the train station. It was a really cool weekend. Farin was a great host and it was interesting to be in a city with such an international population.

Athens

2007-04-12T23:06:00.000+02:00

We arrived in Piraeus late Sunday night and took a cab to Athens. We had reserved a hotel in Athens, but when we arrived they had no record of our reservation. We then spent a while wondering around until we found a reasonably-priced hotel. Fortunatley we were able to find one and get some sleep.
Monday morning we packed up our things and headed out to see the city. We started out by heading up to Acropolis. We were able to see the Parthenon and other sites there. After spending some time there we headed to the Parliament building where we watched the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unkown Soldier. It was realy cool, the soldiers wear traditional outfits that involve tights and shoes the with big tassel-type things on the toes. The changing of the guard is almost more like a dance than a military event. Also while in Athens we saw the Panathenaic Stadium which was where the 1896 Olympics (first modern Games) took place. That night we watched the changing of the guard again before heading to the airport. We spent the night in the airport since our flight was at 4:30 on Tuesday morning. It was a fabulous trip and I really hope that I can go back to Greece someday and see more of it.
Tomorrow Emily and I are headed to Brussels. We will be staying with Farin, one of our friends from camp. It should be a fun weekend, before heading back to work on Monday!

Santorini

2007-04-12T22:56:00.000+02:00

Santorini was definitely my favorite place we went. I felt like I could have stayed there forever. Pictures just cannot capture the beauty. We spent our time on Santorini enjoying the sun and relaxing meals on rooftop terrasses. While in Greece we had Greek Salad at least once a day, and I believe I am now going through withdrawl.
One day we tried to go to Akrotiri, an ancient city preserved by lava. Unfortunately, a roof collapsed on the excavation building last year and the site is closed. Our trip did not go to waste though, because there was red sand beach nearby where we spent the day. Also during our time on Santorini we were able to see some of the Holy Week and Easter celebrations, so that was really interesting for us.
After our time on Santorini we took a ferry on Sunday night back to Piraeus.

Crete

2007-04-12T22:44:00.000+02:00

So I decided to split my entry about Greece into a few different ones, so I could put up lots of pictures. We arrived late on Sunday night and took a bus to Piraeus (the port town near Athens). We spent Monday in Piraeus before taking an overnight ferry to Hania, Crete.
Hania is located on the northeast part of Crete. It is the second largest city. Although it is a good-sized city, the port area feels very cute and quaint. Unfortunately we were not able to go to any of the areas around Hania, because the buses weren't running. We still really liked Hania though. While there we mostly relaxed, walked around, and enjoyed the sun.
After a day in Hania we took a bus to Iraklion, the capital and largest city in Greece. Iraklion was very different from Hania, but still nice. We took a day trip to Knossos, which is the archeological site of the largest Minoan Palace on Crete. It was really interesting to see how they work to recreate what was there thousands of years ago. After 2 days in Iraklion we headed on to Santorini.

Happy Easter!

2007-04-10T16:53:00.000+02:00

So this morning I arrived back in Germany from Greece. The trip was absolutely amazing! Over the course of 10 days we saw Piraeus, Hania and Iraklion on Crete, Santorini, and Athens by tram, train, plane, bus, ferry, car, and van! It was fantastic. I am heading to Frankfurt to meet up with Emily and her parents for dinner, but will hopefully upload pictures and more information about the trip tonight or tomorrow!

Beautiful Greece

2007-04-03T18:20:00.000+02:00

So I am at an internet cafe in Hania on Crete and thought I would use a few minutes to write a quick update. We arrived in Athens at 2:30 on Monday morning and took a bus to Piraeus where we had reserved a hotel. Monday we just walked around Piraeus and booked a ferry to Hania. We took an overnight ferry last night and arrived here this morning. It is beautiful. Unfortunately none of the buses are running to the beaches or to Samaria Gorge because it is the low season. We are still having a wonderful time. Today we have just been enjoying the sun and the town.Tomorrow we will take the bus to Iraklion, Crete's capital. Friday we will take a ferry to Santorini and Sunday night we will head to Athens. Then we fly back to Frankfurt at 4:30an on Tuesday morning. We are a little disappointed because there is a lot more we would like to see, but hopefully someday we will have the chance to come back.

Off to Greece!

2007-04-01T17:01:00.000+02:00

Tonight I am flying to Athens with my friends Lynn and Liz. We arrive in Athens at 2:30am. We are really excited. We don't have exactl plans, but we are staying in Piraeus where the port is and are hoping to take a ferry to an island tomorrow! It should be a great trip. We fly back to Frankfurt on Tuesday April 10.
Last time I was in Europe, I spent Easter break in Italy (Rome, Florence, Milan, Verona, and Venice), so I decided to put a picture from that trip up. This picture is Devon, Peter, Maria, Julia, and I on Ponte Vecchio in Florence.

Kuks in Germany!

2007-03-25T23:26:00.000+02:00

This past weekend, one of my roommates, Katie, from college came to visit. Katie is currently in grad school at Princeton for civil engineering. Her sister is studying abroad in Salamanca, Spain, so she came to Europe for her spring break! It was so wonderful to have her here!
Katie flew in from Madrid on Thursday evening, so we spent the night in Frankfurt. We walked around the Zeil (the main shopping area)and then headed to Sachsenhausen for some traditional German food and Apfelwein. Then we headed back to Darmstadt to stay with Emily for the weekend.
On Friday, Katie and I headed to Gross-Bieberau, so she could see where I live. She got to see all the highlights - beaver statues, war monument, my school, and my apartment. That night we went out for pizza in Darmstadt with Emily and then for a drink at a Mexican restaurant.
Saturday Emily, Katie, and I took the train to Heidelberg. On the way, Kate, another TA, joined us. Although the weather wasn't great, Heidelberg was still really pretty. We went up to the castle and walked around the old town. In addition we got ice cream at an Eiscafe and split a boot of beer.
This morning, I took Katie to the airport. It was such a blast to have here, so I was pretty sad to leave her at the airport. Hopefully, I will get to see her this summer though!
This afternoon I met up with Lisa, Kate, and Emily to see Music and Lyrics at the English movie theatre in Frankfurt. It was really cute, and we all enjoyed it.

Berlin Berlin!

2007-03-21T14:59:00.000+01:00

Last week was the annual German Fulbright Committee Conference in Berlin. All Americans doing Fulbrights in Germany were invited as well as those doing Fulbrights in other European countries. There were researchers, teaching assistants, exchange teachers, and exchange professors. For the conference we stayed at the Park Inn right on Alexanderplatz. We had a nice mixture of presentations from various Fulbrighters as well as talks and panels with people from other institutions.
At the conference I also got to meet up with the a lot of Fulbrighters that I haven't seen since orientation, which was really fun. Also, my friend, Lisa, who lived in Farley at ND also was there. She is doing a reaserch Fulbright in Estonia.
Being in Berlin was really fun. It's such a great city! I wish we would have had more time there too. The weather was great, so that helped a lot! The city is so interesting. It's amazing to think that it was split in half and the two halves were parts of two different countries. In addition Berlin has become a very mulitcultural city. I'm really excited to go back with the 10th graders in June!
The pictures are both from Berlin. The first one is Emily and I at a Mosque that we took a tour of (it was beautiful). The second one is Lisa, Veronique, Maureen, Emily and I with the former ambassador from Germany to Russia.

So much to talk about...

2007-03-19T20:28:00.000+01:00

So I haven't posted in a while, and that is due to the fact that I've been pretty busy and gone. I met Maria again in Frankfurt on Thursday March 8th after she had worked in Bonn. We met up with Lisa, Emily, Thomas, and his girlfriend, Sara to go bowling. It was really fun. Needless to say none of us should turn to a career in professional bowling, but we had a lot of fun. After bowling we went out for a drink in Sachsenhausen, which was fun as well.
On Friday Maria, Emily, and I headed down to Mannheim. We spent most of the day just walking around and shopping. The most exciting thing for me that day was that I have been searching for pink golashes since I studied abroad in Innsbruck. I found an absolutely adorable pair in Mannheim, so I was really excited. It was also appropriate that Maria was there since she has been there since the beginning of my search!
Saturday, we slept in and then I headed back to Gross-Bieberau, so I could get organized. Maria spent the day buying gifts and things in Darmstadt. That night we went out for pizza with Jessica.
Sunday morning we got up early and headed to Frankfurt. In Frankfurt Emily and I left Maria and headed to Berlin. Maria was not flying out until Monday, but I had to leave on Sunday to go to the annual conference hosted by ther German Fulbright Commission. It was great to have Maria here and be able to introduce her to my friends here and show her around.
I will post more about Berlin later, I need to go finish up lesson plans for tomorrow!
Saturday I had

The Return to Innsbruck...

2007-03-06T20:08:00.000+01:00

On Thursday morning my friend, Maria, flew in from Minnesota. Maria and I had German together our first semester at ND and have been friends ever since. Our friendship was solidified during our year in Innsbruck when we were basically inseperable. She is now working for Lockheed Martin in Minnesota and is working in Bonn this week. She came early, so we could spend the weekend together, and we will hang out again this coming weekend.

Friday morning Maria, Emily, and I took the train from Darmstadt to Innsbruck (well I first took the bus back to Gross-Bieberau, because I had forgotten my passport). In Innsbruck we met up with Liz and Lynn (Lynn also studied in Innsbruck with us). It was so amazing being back in Innsbruck(even though I was there a month ago with Amy adn John), and it was especially neat to be back with Maria and Lynn.

We spent the weekend hitting up some of our favorite spots in Innsbruck - pizza from Simay, dinner and beer at Theresienbraeu, 11erhaus, Limerick Bill's, Sillpark, Goldenesdachl...etc. We also ran into Herr Guertler (the ND Innsbruck program director) on the street. He had told us he wasn't going to be around because it was semester break, and he was at Notre Dame, but he had to come back early. We were able to have breakfast on Sunday with him and his wife Anita. It was very cool to see them again.

Also, on Saturday I was able to meet up with my guest family - Camille, Andreas, Arabella (now 15), and David (now 9). When I was in Innsbruck I lived in a dorm, but had a guest family that I would eat dinner with our hang out with regularily. They were wonderful. We went out to lunch and then up to their house for cake. I really enjoyed catching up with them again. We may try to get back to Innsbruck sometime, and I will hopefully see them again.

It was really hard coming back from Innsbruck since it was such an amazing weekend! This week I'm pretty busy with teaching (I'm doing some extra teaching) and working on some other things. My weekends in March are really busy, so I need to get things done during the week! Maria will be back on Thursday night or Friday morning and we will take a day trip to possibly Mannheim or Heidelberg. Then on Sunday it's off to Berlin for the Fulbright Conference!

(Pictures: top - Maria, Lynn, and I with Herr Guertler, middle - Maria, Lynn, and I with our favorite pizza-maker, bottom - Liz, Emily, Lynn, Maria, and I in our hostel)

Life goes on...

2007-02-26T14:10:00.000+01:00

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

2007-02-25T12:15:00.000+01:00

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

2007-02-15T20:41:00.000+01:00

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...

2007-02-14T22:27:00.000+01:00

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...

2007-02-11T20:05:00.000+01:00

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

2007-02-07T11:47:00.000+01:00

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

2007-02-05T23:50:00.000+01:00

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!

Limburg an der Lahn

2007-01-28T16:52:00.000+01:00

This weekend Emily, Jessica, and I decided to take a day trip to Limburg an der Lahn. It's a small town northwest of Wiesbaden that is included on our Semesterticket
(therefore we could get there for free). It's a neat, little town. It
has a a lovely Cathedral and the town is located on the banks of theLahn River. In the picture you can see Jessica waddling with the ducks along the Lahn. We spent the day seeing the Altstadt and visiting various little stores. I bought some LImbrger Fruechtekorb Tea which I'm looking forward to trying.

It looks like I will be pretty busy teaching this week. I'm starting a new Unit with the 11th graders called "Moving Out". I'll also be teaching about the social conditions of the Industrial Revolution for 9th grade History. Tomorrow I'm doing a lesson on the State of the Union Address for the 12th graders, which I'm pretty excited about.

I started running at the beginning of the year, but stopped when it got
cold. I've started up again and am hoping to stick with it. There
aren't a lot of options of where to run around here, but I'm hoping to
maybe discover some different routes.

Lahdee, Lahdaa, Frau Hoodecheck ist da...

2007-01-25T14:15:00.000+01:00

So, this is the song that some of the 6th graders sang when I came in today. They're so fun. They love singing and doing activities. They are currently learning about accidents and along with that about body parts, so today they sang "Dry Bones". They were all wonderfully enthusiastic.

This week has been pretty quiet. I didn't have too much to do - lots of observing. The most exciting thing that happened this weeks is that winter arrived in Germany. Monday morning I woke up to find it about 20 degrees colder than it's been the entire time of been here. Now compared to Minnesota, it's not really that cold, around 30 degrees, but I've become accustomed to the mild winter we'd been having. Also, winter is far less fun for those (such as myself) who are reliant on public transportation (in particular a bus that likes to run 20 minutes late).

Next weekend my sister Amy is coming to Europe with my brother-in-law John. I'm extremely excited! Amy and I chatted last night and made plans. I will meet them at the Munich airport when they arrive on Friday morning. We will spend Friday night in Munich, Saturday night in Salzburg, and Sunday night in Innsbruck (I've arranged with my school to have Monday off). It should be a wonderful weekend. From Innsbruck I will head back here while Amy and John will travel onto Venice, Florence, and Rome.

Stormy Day

2007-01-18T12:11:00.000+01:00

Normally on Thursdays I have my after school AG, but today school is cancelled after 6th period due to stormy weather. The weather is crazy - super windy (over 30mph), stragely warm (over 50 degrees, but it's been like that a lot), cloudy and rainy. There are thunderstomr warnings, but I'm not exactly sure what the concern is to end school early. Regardless, I'm taking it as a sign that I should spend the rest of the day hanging out at my apartment. I was going to go to the bank, post office and library, but those errands will have to wait.

In other news, school went relatively well yesterday. I had a great time with the 12th graders. We played a translation game and then "Apples to Apples". It was great! I'm hopefully going to play with the 13th graders next week. I had some problems with the 9th graders - I think they were trying to take advantage of me, but it worked out. I also really liked the 11th graders. There are a few boys who were somewhat unruly that I had to speak sternly to, but most of them were great. Also, the exchange student from the states is in that class, so I talked to her some more.

(The picture is from at the Weihnachtsmarkt in Erbach at the beginning of December. I thought Rebecca might like it espcially, plus pictures make my blog more fun!)

A few pictures...

2007-01-17T12:33:00.000+01:00

I thought I would just put up some pictures from Christmas break and before I left. I still haven't really figured out how to control where the pictures go in relation to the text and what not on here, but I'm trying. The first picture is Katie, Molly and I celebrating New Year's Eve in Milwaukee. The next two are from Christmas - Rebecca, Kayla (age 5) and I and Ryan (almost 2). The last two are from before I went home - the first is of me, Lisa, Thomas (Lisa's mentor for the University in Frankfurt) and Emily at the Weihnachtsmarkt in Nuremburg and the second is of my AG that teach on Thursdays on the last day before break (they are all 9th and 10th graders).

Alright time for the Industrial Revolution with the 9th graders!

Readjusting

2007-01-17T12:22:00.000+01:00

I arrived back in Gross-Bieberau on Sunday. Being at home was wonderful - I loved constantly being around people I loved and who really knew me. Over break I was able to see a lot of my family - 3 of my 4 sisters and their families, my parents, and Aunt Mary and Uncle George. In addition, I got to see 3 of my best friends from high school, 2 of my roommates from college and one of my best friends from study abroad. I had some quality time in Winona as well as visiting Milwaukee, Fairmont and the Twin Cities.

This week is proving to be difficult. Jet lag and I are not friends (My long afternoon naps are most likely not helping). In addition, I had forgotten how much I really dislike living alone. It's just lonely. Fortunately, last night I got together for dinner with Emily, Jessica and Lisa, which was great - I'm so lucky to have them nearby.

Monday and Tuesday were pretty quiet at school, but today Monika wasn't there, so I'm teaching 5 hours for her (4 are done!) This morning I taught double periods of 12th and 11th grade English. It went pretty well. We did some cool games including "Apples to Apples" which went over really well! Also, there is a new American exchange student at my school. She was at a different school and with a different family up until now. She is 18 and graduated from high school last year. I think we will end up hanging out some, which should be good for both of us.

I found out that I may have some new readers since my Dad included my blog address in the family Christmas letter this year - Hopefully this will inspire me to update more often!

Also, I am planning to more pictures on here, but I'm trying to upload all my pictures to snapfish. If you would like to see them, just let me know, and I will invite you to see the albums!

Travel Schmavel

2006-12-06T21:35:00.000+01:00

My Visited Countries

Get your own Visited Countries Map from Travel Blog

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...

2006-12-02T11:40:00.000+01:00

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...

2006-11-29T17:11:00.000+01:00

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

2006-11-27T22:57:00.000+01:00

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

Thanksgiving and a Great Monday

2006-11-27T12:29:00.000+01:00

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

2006-11-13T18:28:00.000+01:00

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....

2006-11-01T10:23:00.000+01:00

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...

2006-10-12T21:52:00.000+02:00

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

2006-10-09T21:38:00.000+02:00

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

2006-10-04T10:33:00.000+02:00

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...

2006-09-28T17:34:00.000+02:00

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

2006-09-25T20:52:00.000+02:00

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!

2006-09-24T22:11:00.000+02:00

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

2006-09-21T19:48:00.000+02:00

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

2006-09-19T23:15:00.000+02:00

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

2006-09-18T13:17:00.000+02:00

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...

2006-09-14T22:08:00.000+02:00

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

2006-09-13T20:53:00.000+02:00

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

2006-09-12T21:29:00.000+02:00

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

2006-09-11T21:19:00.000+02:00

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.