Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner...

...that I love London town

True story.

Anyway, the last week of term before the Christmas holidays is always an exciting one, no matter where in the world you are, and this one was no exception. The festive spirit in school was palpable throughout the week. After the excitement of Munich over the weekend, Monday was a fairly normal day, except that I saw ‘Der Hobbit’ with Emily and Heidi in the evening. I’m a pretty mega Lord of the Rings fan, and The Hobbit is one of my favourite books, so I've been looking forward to seeing it for ages. Also, Richard Armitage, one of the most gorgeous men on the planet, and potentially my future husband if things with Colin Firth don't work out so well, was one of the protagonists in the film. Ok, so looking like a dwarf, slightly podgier than usual, with long hair and dressed up in medieval clothes, he wasn't looking at his best, but it was nice to gaze at him for an hour or two, anyway. 

On Tuesday, I got to go to Strasbourg on a day trip with some of the students studying French. Strasbourg has long been one of the cities I would most love to visit (aren't they all!), and it didn’t disappoint. Maybe it was just my perception of it, but it was a lot smaller than I expected it to be, but was very cosy and beautiful, all the same. Something I've noticed about cities in Europe generally is that you could go to a very typical town in France or Germany; possibly even Luxembourg or Belgium, and the towns and cities have a very similar feel. Very...what's the word...European. The buildings look rather similar, and there is definitely a common atmosphere to a lot of the places I have visited so far. It's not a bad thing; merely an observation. It's a well-known fact of life, however, that the British like to do things differently, so I have a feeling that a bit of a culture shock may be awaiting me when I go home. Another thing I noticed was how hard it was to speak French! I think I've become so used to hearing and speaking German most of the time, that trying to squeeze French words out of my brain was very, very tricky indeed. Final year is going to be interesting. 

On Thursday I finally got to explore the Bensheim Christmas market properly, meeting up with some of the teachers from school for a mug of Glühwein or two before the staff xmas party. Staff Christmas parties are definitely a lot tamer over here than they are in the UK. You get a couple of glasses of wine inside the Brits, and off we go, having no inhibitions whatsoever about drunkenly doing the YMCA or singing along at the top of our voice to the Grease Megamix. The Germans were far more sophisticated, choosing instead to enjoy the delights of the buffet and (mostly sober) conversation. We were also treated to a performance by the teachers' band, which just goes to show how much hidden talent there is lurking in school. I'm really glad I went along to it, as it will be the only staff Christmas party I get to experience, under these circumstances anyway, and the atmosphere was very relaxed, casual and festive. The teachers I have befriended at school are all just so wonderful. They've made a real, conscious effort to include me in things, check I'm ok, put up with my stilted German and have been warm and welcoming at the same time too. It was a great way to round off what has been a brilliant couple of weeks. 

Steffen and the Christmas Angels

And finally, on Friday, I had my last early morning for three and a half weeks, headed into school for one last bit of festive cheer and to say a sad farewell to Emily before heading home. It was a bit of an odd end to the term, for reasons that I probably shouldn't divulge, but at least now my fellow colleagues and I can breathe a sigh of relief that the first term of the year is done, and has been done well. 

Now that we've established that the world probably isn't going to end today, all that remains is to put the last few bits and pieces into my suitcase, check, double-check and triple-check that I have my passport and tickets, and I’ll be off back to England. You have no idea how happy that makes me. The last four months have been fantastic! I have met some great people, seen some great places and done some great things. But despite being so far away for so long, my connection with my ‘Heimat’ feels stronger than ever, and the prospect of heading home to the people I love most in the world is bringing one huge smile to my face right now! I have no doubt, however, that come January, I will be ready to face the new year, refreshed and raring to go, to make my second half of my year abroad one to remember. 

So, operation ‘Home Time’ is a go-go. Destination: good old London town. 500 miles and counting. 

Maybe It's Because I'm A Londoner - a bit of British culture to share with you

Have a very merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Bis Januar. Alles Liebe und Gute.

Turrah for now.

Emily

München

To hell with imaginative blog post titles. This one needed an eponymous heading.

So I had planned on my last weekend before the holidays being a fairly relaxed one. A chance to pack all my stuff properly, clean my flat, tie up any loose ends, and maybe even one last trip to Heidelberg for any emergency Christmas presents that might need buying. Somehow, however, I ended up in Munich. Ok, so I’m exaggerating. It was planned; but only like a week in advance. And coming from the Queen of ‘let’s take a minute to think about this,’ it was one of the most spontaneous decisions I’ve ever made.

As the holidays approach, regardless of your situation, everyone starts to look forward and countdown to them. That’s natural. Everyone needs a break. But for me, the holidays have another significance as well, as it will be the first time in four months that I can go home, relax, be looked after, and most importantly spend some time with the people I love most in the world. It’s easy, then, to lose all perspective, and lose yourself in a slump of moroseness, and just focus on all the things you love about home. The grass is always greener, after all. Am I guilty of this? Of course. Well, sometimes. But I’ve been making a really conscious effort not to let that dominate the past few weeks, and have tried to make the most of every opportunity. Germany has so many wonderful things to offer, and I would be a fool if I didn’t make the most of them. Hence, Munich.

Emily and I headed off early on Friday morning, with Jorge and Heidi following a couple of hours behind. I seem to say this about every German city I go to, but Munich is definitely up there with one of the most amazing places that I’ve visited so far. As we sat on the train, the snow got deeper and the terrain more mountainous, until we eventually arrived in a small town of a mere 8 million people in the south of Bavaria. Just as the sun was beginning to set, the four of us headed into the main city centre to do some exploring. Munich is known for its iconic architecture, and it is extremely hard to miss the dominating structure that is the ‘Frauenkirche;’ a huge cathedral with two domes that look like mushrooms atop its spires. Other activies included a visit to ‘Residenz’ – a huge collection of historical artefacts stored in a palace-like building in the centre of Munich, and before we left on Sunday, an hour or so at the outdoor ice rink that accompanied the Christmas market. I have a hard enough time remaining upright when I am on flat ground with flat shoes on…so let’s just say I don’t think I’ll be receiving an invitation to appear on ‘Dancing On Ice’ any time soon. Heidi, who plays ice hockey back in Canada, was very patient with the three of us, leading me slowly round in a circle while I hung onto her hand for dear life, and occasionally skated around by herself, making the most difficult way to move look perfectly easy and elegant! Munich is also undoubtedly known for its nightlife and love of alcohol – Oktoberfest, beer halls, anyone? But, rather than having a night or two on the town, we opted instead to stay in our youth hostel, and play a few cheeky games of cards. It was the most I have laughed and the most fun I have had in ages!

Enjoying some of the culture Munich has to offer

Preparing to take our lives in our hands...and go skating. 

What can I say, we were naturals! 

The weather, though, was f.r.e.e.z.i.n.g. Once we had left the Bergstraße (where Bensheim is located,) the temperature dropped by a good few degrees. The German solution to this cold snap is merely to add more layers to the ones you already have on. So, if you don’t mind walking around bearing a startling resemblance to the Michelin man, you’re on to a winner. Coming from a country, however, where girls and guys will go out on  Friday night in the middle of January wearing little more than the bare essentials, i.e. a top and some form of trouser, because they’re too stingy to pay for the cloakroom in clubs, walking around looking like the yeti from the depths of the Antarctic is not really something I’m willing to do. However, we did plenty of exercise, so that kept us warm for the most part.

On Saturday I visited my first concentration camp. It was without a doubt the most thought-provoking, oddly-fascinating, humbling, sobering, haunting, spine-chilling experience that I have ever had. Anger and sadness seemed to hit me in waves. Dachau was the first concentration camp used by the Nazis, and was to become a model for all future ones. The town itself really is nothing special – rather dull, rather bleak, yet its name is known throughout the world for inhumanity beyond all reasonable understanding. It sounds odd, but I’m glad I went. You can learn a lot about what happened in concentration camps in text books; you can gasp and shake your head at the statistics, but it is not until you see one for yourself that the true horror of what Nazis inflicted on innocent people really comes into focus. Visiting it somehow made it personal. The most heart-wrenching point for me was seeing someone’s personal belongings contained in a glass cabinet. It makes you realise that each and every person to be trapped behind the gate had a story. I will never know the beginning of that story, but I think I can make some fairly certain conclusions about its end. What went on behind those gates is a capacity for evil that I will never be able to understand, and it was an experience that will stay with me for as long as I live.

Fritz Dressel, wherever you are, may you rest in peace

Some of the most spine-chilling words I have ever read.

Seeing Dachau made me put a lot of things into perspective. I talk a lot about how much I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends over the holidays, and think that four months away from them seems like the longest time ever. Some of those poor people, however, went into that camp probably in the full knowledge that they would never see their family or their friends again. Especially as its Christmas, it made it all the more poignant and clearer in my head as to just how good I have it. As our train pulled away from Munich, and the mercury inside the thermometer rose a few degrees as we approached the Bergstraße, I thought a lot about just how lucky I am to have all these opportunities and to have so many wonderful people in my life.

Emily 

The pursuit of happyness

I was in quite a pensive mood the other day, and felt the need to have a good old think about things. At the risk of sounding incredibly corny, I’ve learnt an awful lot about myself since being here. I guess it was always there for me to discover, but I’d never really thought about it properly until now. I’ve learnt that when push comes to shove, I am a lot better at getting on with things than I first thought I was, that living a long way away from family and friends can, at times, be much tougher than first anticipated, and that it is not a failure to admit that things are hard at times.

It’s a strange thing, happiness, and I’ve discovered that my view of it has been entirely warped. I decided, probably around the end of Year 10, so when I was about 15, that languages were the route I wanted to go down in life, so the knowledge that at some point I would be spending a long time in another country was a prospect that has gradually been edging nearer for several years. It was only really last year, though, when ‘Life in Germany’ became a real deal that I had to cope with. So whenever I hit a bit of a bad day at uni last year, I just kept looking for the German light at the end of the tunnel, telling myself that when I eventually got there, everything would work itself out, and happiness would be achieved. Mentally I had it up on a pedestal, hoping that when I made it to Germany, everything would slot into place. As you know, most of the time, it’s fantastic, but I couldn’t work it out in my head why I wasn’t ‘happy’ all the time. But then it hit me. No one is happy all the time, no matter who you are or how mentally strong you may be. It’s impossible, because happiness is not an absolute. It is relative; completely and utterly relative.

Happiness, unlike Germany, is not a physical destination. You do not arrive at its station at 8.20 on a Monday morning and are there to stay. Happiness is an emotion; it undulates, ebbs, flows, comes and goes like any other feeling. It’s not something you acquire over time; it’s not something you can achieve. So the days when sadness, homesickness or stress is the prevailing emotion should not be thought of as a failure. And it’s taken me an awfully long time to figure that out.

I guess it was quite naïve to think that every day in Germany would be plain sailing. I mean, I’m on my own, 500 miles away from everyone I know and love, in a country that’s unfamiliar, in a culture that’s not my own. Of course there were going to be some rocky patches. In fact, I think I’d be more concerned if there weren’t. Often, when people are going through a tough patch, people tell them to just stick at it, push on through and make the best out of a bad situation. Fortunately, this doesn’t apply to me. I don’t have to make the best out of a bad situation. I am lucky enough to be able to make the best out of a brilliant situation. Germany is a fantastic country, with so many places to explore. I have been placed in a lovely school, with lovely colleagues and lovely students. Simone is, as ever, unfailingly brilliant. She and Thomas are quickly becoming two of my favourite people in the world. Simone, despite being one of the busiest teachers in school, is always ready to make time for me, whatever my question or query, and will go to every length to help me solve it. She has been an invaluable source of support and encouragement, and has quickly become a great friend, as well. But in spite of all of that, not every day can be a great one. And I guess those not-so-great days  seem all the worse when you live a long way away from home, because the people that would normally make you a cuppa and talk you through the bad patch are no longer on hand.

Sorry about the monologue. But it’s just that I’ve only really begun to appreciate this in the last week or so, and felt the need to get it off my chest. There are days when I wake up, raring to go, and think to myself; today will be a good day. Let’s do this. There are days when I don’t stop smiling all day. There are days when I can't wait to speak to my parents to tell them about all the amazing things that have happened that day. There are days when I want to stay in Germany forever. Then there are days that don’t go so well; when I long to go back to my flat and spend the rest of the afternoon in my pjs watching episodes of Downton Abbey. There are days when things don’t go smoothly and I get stressed; when I am angry at the world and everyone in it. There are days when I just need a good cry. That is ok. That is not a sign of failure or of weakness. That is just life.

Just my thought for the day.

Bis später,

Emily

Jingle Bells and Jolliness

We're walking in a winter Wunderland!

 
The festive cheer is now engulfing the Vaterland, and I must say it is such a nice atmosphere. I don’t know what it was exactly, but something seems to have twigged in my head, and I’ve realised that whenever I’m having a self-pitying, ‘the-holidays-are-still-so-far-away’ moment, the trick is to keep busy. I’m glad that I haven’t sat around, twiddling my thumbs, waiting for the holidays to arrive, as, actually keeping busy is both a great way to have fun and see new things. And before I knew it, there were only a couple of weeks left till my return to the Heimatland.  

On Sunday morning, I awoke to find Bensheim an inch deep in snow. Not the rain that was disguising itself as snow, as we had in October. This was proper, full-on, ‘weather outside is frightful’ type of snow. Twas very exciting. I may be in my twenties now, but that does not mean I still don’t have the reaction similar to that of a four year old when I look out of my window to find that the snow really is falling all around me. I always think that snow is at its prettiest during the night, as there are very few people or cars around to mess it up and spoil how perfect it looks. The Germans, however, don’t waste time enjoying the prettiness of the snow. Ever the efficient, logical people that they are, (and I love them for it,) the minute the world wakes up, they’re out on the street with their shovels and brooms, making sure that the weather doesn’t stop them going about their daily business. It made me chuckle to myself, as at the first sign of snow in the UK, everything comes to a grinding halt – cars are abandoned, train lines stop running, and God forbid the schools should stay open, where you run the risk of a child falling over and getting injured! Not here. Everything carried on pretty much as per, but it was an excuse for me to crack out my new wellies to walk to school on Monday.

Did someone say 'Schneeeeeee?'

Continuing with the Christmas spirit that has dominated my blogs for the last few weeks – I do apologise, I’m a big fan of Christmas – 6^th December in Germany is ‘Nikolaustag.’ I’d come across it when we studied German traditions at school, but it didn’t really occur to me that it was going on until I got to school on Thursday morning to find a chocolate Santa in my pigeon hole. The lovely Simone had sent it to me, which put a big smile on my face. I also got a hot chocolate on a spoon from another mysterious ‘Nikolaus,’ but I have yet to discover who it was.

On a sadder note, I found out this week that both the Emily’s are going home. It’s a shame that their year has been cut so short, especially as their German was really beginning to come along.  But that’s life, I guess. Full of the unexpected. Although having said that, even though I’ve only known them a few short months, I can already tell that they are the kind of girls that will make a success out of anything they put their minds to, so I wish them the very best of luck.

On Saturday, I met up with a couple of language assistants in Nuremberg, to visit the Christmas market there. Although I walked around for most of the day not being able to feel either my toes or the end of my nose (the BBC reported a temperature of -4 degrees!), we had a really lovely day, as it’s always nice to meet up and see how everyone’s getting on. I think I’ve mentioned this already, but the Christkindlesmarkt in Nuremberg is one of the biggest and most famous Christmas markets in Germany, so I’m glad we got to visit it while we are over here. It certainly didn’t disappoint! Hannah mentioned this, and I definitely agree - the thing that's so lovely about the way the Germans do Christmas is that it’s so much more traditional than in the UK. Crimbo at home is lovely too, don’t get me wrong, but I think it’s become much more modernised in recent years, whereas the Germans choose to embrace the holiday season in all its traditional, tasteful glory, which makes it feel even more festive and cosy. We wandered round the market for most of the afternoon, as in amongst the crowds it felt a little warmer, stopping every couple of minutes to admire all the little gifts the stalls have on offer -you really can buy anything and everything to do with Christmas from these places - and stopped to have a mug of Glühwein, (or Kinderpunsch for the less hardy among us, namely me) to help warm us up a little bit. 

So the woman's head kinda ruins the picture, but at least you get an idea of what a Christmas market sells

Glühwein and giggles :) 

To hell with 'Pfand' - I'm keeping this mug!! It's proving useful already.

The last couple of weeks have been so much fun. I am soooo ready for a few relaxing weeks at home, but life in Germany, apart from the occasional blip, is proving to be everything I hoped for, and more.

So that’s all there is to report, really. It appears that Christmas in Germany really is all around.

Emily  

German Christmas Adventures

Is it just me, or is Christmas on overdrive this year?

Nope. This is just how the Germans do Christmas. And it’s bloody fantastic! There is no better country to get you into the Christmassy mood. This is hands down my favourite time of year, and the Germans like to embrace it. Big style.

I wrote in my blog a few days ago that I was determined to make these last few weeks of term count. And that’s what I’m trying to do. When in doubt, do as ze Germans do. Here’s a snippet of some of my adventures:

Last weekend, just as Bensheim was beginning to prepare for its own Christmas market, I met up with one of the Emily’s, and we went for a hot chocolate and a chinwag in this dainty little coffee shop in town that I’ve adopted as my new favourite watering hole. It’s good to have someone to chat to – although only a mere 16 years of age, she is lovely and wise beyond her years, and it’s comforting to know that she has been experiencing exactly the same culture shocks as I have been. Bensheim is beginning to look very festive, and I’m looking forward to discovering all the delights its Christmas market has to offer over the next weeks.

This week in school passed as per, with relatively little going on out of the ordinary. That was until we got to Thursday. During my first period English lessons, we were studying writing invoices and payment reminders; very interesting, yet perhaps not the most spine-tinglingly exciting of topics. About half way through the lesson, some b.e.a.uuu.tiful piano music started up from the room adjacent to ours. Even though its sound was slightly distorted as it came through the wall, you could tell that whoever it was who was playing was really rather talented. After about 10 minutes, one of the girls asked Frau Fuda is she knew who was playing. It was apparently a young guy who had come in to practice. Well, you can imagine the effect that this had on the girls in the room. A mass exodus occurred, with pretty much only the boys, Frau Fuda and I staying resolutely in our seats. Even though I was desperate to go and have a look as well, I thought to myself, ‘No. I am supposed to be a responsible adult here. I will not be tempted out of the room by the prospect of a good looking guy and a piano.’ Screw that! The temptation quickly overcame me, and I went to watch, too. Well. What can I say. I wish I had recorded it, because I have seriously never heard anyone play the piano like that before. He was incredible. I had goosebumps and may even have shed a tear oder zwei. I think I may have fallen slightly in love. It was just so incongruous to what normally occurs during lessons; I could have stayed there all day.

So, after I had recovered from watching the beautiful man on his beautiful piano, came the news that some school students and a couple of youth workers from Amersham, UK had arrived at school, as they are looking to set up some kind of exchange partnership with the Karl Kübel Schule. That’s right; living, breathing, British people had arrived in my little corner of Germany. I’m not sure what made me so excited about it. I guess it was just nice to remember that people from my Heimatland do genuinely still exist! 

Anyway, the words ‘Christmas’ and ‘Germany’ are synonymous with one thing. Yes, Christmas markets. Christmas markets are what make Christmas feel like Christmas. They take those quintessential images of the holiday season; wooden shacks topped with snow, gingerbread, woolly hats, ‘chestnuts roasting on an open fire’ etc. etc. and squish them all together within a 100m x 100m area, (usually accompanied by bright lights, Christmas songs and of course Glühwein to make it feel even more atmospheric.) My first proper experience of a Christmas market à la deutsch was in Mannheim. I headed over there with two girls from Simone’s Yr 13 group, who are both so nice.  It’s such a cosy atmosphere, wandering round; a mug of Glühwein in one hand, a Bratwurst in the other, looking at all the quirky gifts on offer.  After that we ventured over to the National Theatre to meet up with some other people from their class, Simone and Thomas to watch a production of ‘Avenue Q.’ I’m forever seeing adverts for it whenever I walk through Leicester Square or Piccadilly Circus, so it reminded me a little bit of home, which was nice. It’s not what we’d call your ‘typical’ musical. It’s a little bit like The Muppets in that the actors carry puppets around, and it’s quite easy to forget that there are actually humans doing all the actions for them. The storyline and songs were a little bit eyebrow-raising, though. When they piped up with one number entitled ‘Das Internet ist für Pornos,’(I don’t think you need an English translation,) succeeded by a scene in which they undressed the puppets and showed them err…having a good time…I did wonder a little bit what we were in for. But it was very good fun, nonetheless. Afterwards we finished off the evening in a restaurant for a drink, a pizza and a chat, before heading home. The students from Simone’s class are the same ones I got to know a bit in Amsterdam, and it reminded me just how nice and friendly they all are! Apart from the fact that it has suddenly turned so damn cold, it was a really lovely evening, with really lovely people and I hope there are more opportunities like that one before I leave.

Then reality kicked in and I realised I had better start getting organised with my Christmas shopping. Call me crazy, but I actually really enjoy it. Ok, so it can be mildly stressful when you’ve left allyourshoppingtothe23rddecemberandthencan’tfindanythingbecauseit’sreallybusyincentrallondonandithasallsoldoutandahhhhh, but most of the time, it is fine. So on Saturday, I wrapped up warm and headed out into the cold to buy pressies for my beloveds. I was merrily buying away, when something dawned on me. Somehow, irgendwie, I have got to get all of these presents home in a suitcase. Oops. May have to do some premature package-sending before I fly home.  

You might think that once you’ve seen one Christmas market, you’ve seen them all. Oh no, no, no, sonny Jim. I have plenty more on my list. I got to see a little bit of the Heidelberg market, which is apparently one of the biggest and most famous in the area. I still have yet to properly explore the Bensheim one, which is now in full swing, and next weekend I’m venturing over to the Christkindlesmarkt in Nuremberg, which is one of the most famous ones in Germany, I think. That means many more opportunities for a few cheeky mugs of Glühwein, so I’m looking forward to the last few weeks over here. 

One last thing. On Wednesday I will have been in Germany for 100 days. That seems ridonkulous. I guess time really does fly when you're having fun.

This is a picture from a pre-Christmas dinner in Leamington this time last year. It's crazy to think how much has changed since then. 

<3 

Bis bald, Emily 

High On A Hill Stood A Lonely Goatherd

Counting Down to Christmas…

I kid you not, November has been THE. LONGEST. MONTH. EVERRRRRR.

But now it’s almost over and so the countdown is on. In less than 30 days I will be at home for Christmas. Ich freue mich drauf. This is my favourite time of year and it’s strange not spending it with the people I’m closest to. Things I’m looking forward to include: seeing my family, seeing my friends, Christmas festivities, being able to dunk my biscuits in my tea without people looking at me as if I’m growing an extra head, bacon sandwiches, speaking English ALL the time, lay-ins, going to the pub, having a car back, driving on the left side of the road....

You get the picture. Basically I’m looking forward to having my old routine back.  It’s not that I’m desperate to leave Germany or anything. In fact, quite the opposite. I hope that you’ve got an idea from my previous blogs just how much I’m loving it. I’m having the time of my life, but I feel like I’m climbing up a steep hill, with  the top of the hill (being symbolic of my return home over the holidays) just about coming into view. Occasionally I like to pause for breath and survey the beautiful view that surrounds the hill, reflect on how fun it has been trying to climb the hill so far, and actually just how far I’ve come since I started climbing the hill. But nevertheless I’m looking forward to reaching the top, and the top is still 3 weeks away.

The hills are alive...with the sound of people speaking German all the time. 

It’s also a strange and unfamiliar phenomenon that the school term ends so close to Christmas. Obviously it was similar when I was at school, but I was at home then, so I guess I didn’t notice as much and for the past two years I have accustomed myself to a university term that finishes in early December, giving me enough time to enjoy the delights of Christmas shopping in London once I get home. (That was sarcastic - Christmas shopping in London is many things; ‘delightful’ not being one of them!)  So I know that 600 miles away, the little bubble that I have made home for the past two years, will now gradually be winding down, getting ready for the holidays. Christmas-dinner-in-a-sandwich subs will be available from the Bread Oven, Curiositea will be selling cinnamon lattes and my housemates will probably already have chosen their Secret Santa gifts.

But not wanting to want to countdown to Christmas…

So even though something in my brain is beginning to switch off, not used to the fact that my early mornings must continue for a whole two weeks longer than normal, I don’t want to waste the next few weeks wishing my time in Germany away. By the time I come back after the holidays, I will be exactly half way through my time here. Was für einen furchterregenden Gedanke! I highly doubt I will ever get an opportunity as amazing as this one ever again, so I need to make sure I get my arse into gear, and make the most of every opportunity that comes my way. I’ve mainly got this thing down; I just need a reminder every now and again!

 “Don’t count the days. Make the days count.” – Muhammed Ali

Never was a wiser word spoken.

 I guess the point I'm trying to make is that looking forward to going home is not a negative reflection on anyone or anything German-related in any way, shape or form. I love it so much here, but I also love home. And I haven't been home in a really.long.time. By the time I walk through the arrivals gate it will have been four months, almost exactly to the day, since I was last on English soil. So I'm looking forward to-recharging the batteries, so-to-speak, so that I can enjoy my remaining months here in style. 

So in respect of this, I am determined to make the most of the next 3 and a bit weeks, as who knows when I’ll next get the opportunity to spend the festive season in the big D.land. I've got quite a few festive activities planned over the next few days, so I shall post again very soon with details of all these adventures. 

Until next time.

“…really really really wanna zig-a-zig-ah.”

I think I've come out from under the homesick cloud, so this week has been much better, if not very busy! There have been several teacher-conferences in the past couple of weeks that I've gone along to. I've never really appreciated before just how many teachers work at school – there are about 150 of them – I don’t think 9 months (well actually more like 7 now) will be sufficient to learn all those names. I can’t always understand everything that goes on during these conferences, but there seems to be plenty of opportunities to knock on the tables, [the German version of clapping – it’s brilliant!] so I assume they've gone well.

The Year 11s I work with have focused on English grammar, specifically tenses this week, which, considering I've been employed as an ‘English expert’ really exposes the gaps in my knowledge of the English language. One of the girls asked me, “Emily, would we use the present continuous or the present perfect in this sentence?” I must admit, neither of those expressions mean anything to me. I couldn't tell you, for example why we say “I saw the film last Tuesday,” but “I have seen the film.” I find myself taking notes on my own language’s grammar during the lessons, so I have a sneaky feeling that an English grammar book may be a key addition to my Christmas list. Joy.

The undisputed highlight of my week, however, came during last week’s ‘Deutsch Als Fremdsprache’ lessons (where I’m helping the foreign exchange students learn German). Now, I consider the two American students my allies in school, as obviously they’re native English speakers too. However, I realised that even people with the same mother tongue confuse each other sometimes. We were learning the names for clothes in German – skirt, trousers etc. and when I asked “what’s the German word for a jumper?” I was met with four blank looks. Emily then asked “errrr, what’s a jumper?” thinking it was one of those super-sexy, all-in-one, velour jobbies that people used to wear in the 80s. LOL. I should have realised, the Americans are far too sophisticated to use words like ‘jumper’ to refer to a sweatshirt.  

And speaking of the US, I stayed up all night on Tuesday to listen to the election coverage on the radio. I've been rooting for Obama right from the start. I've never been a Romney fan, mainly because he insulted the London Olympics, so it was worth getting next to no sleep to hear Obama get re-elected, but Wednesday in school passed in a bit of a blur to say the least!

After my swim on Friday, which is becoming my day-off ritual, I finally had my first proper ‘night-out’ since being in Germany. Before I elaborate, can I just point out that people in Germany are far more open about nudity than we are in the UK. After my swim I was trying to discreetly get changed, whilst being surrounded by women, (most of whom were deffo at least 60) wandering around completely starkers!! What’s all that about?!?! I didn't know where to look. Seriously people, it’s just unnecessary. In the leisure centre I go to at home, we don’t even have communal showers. Anyway, regardless, I headed to Heidelberg with my exchange partner Ann-Ka and some of her friends to a 90s party. I’m a big fan of cheesy pop music, mainly because you can sing along like a loony at the top of your voice, jump, sway, wave your arms, whatever and you don’t even need to be drunk. It’s wunderbar. We had great fun boogying on down to the Spice Girls, Take That etc., and I even got to learn some German songs from the 90s. One called ‘Männer sind Schweine,’ [Men are Pigs] was a personal fave. One thing I did notice, however, was that people in Germany can party for a lot longer than we can in England. When we eventually made it home, there was a 6 on the clock, which is round about the time I normally get up to go school. It made a night at Evolve look tame!

On a slightly more solemn note, today, 11^th November, is Remembrance Sunday at home. My parents sent me a poppy over, as I haven’t seen anyone selling them over here. Commemorating our war dead is a huge part of being British. It’s something that’s embedded in our culture. I find it quite sad that there’s no German equivalent. At the end of the day, no matter which side you fight for, if you are one of those brave young men or women that makes the ultimate sacrifice for your country, it deserves to be commemorated.

Lest We Forget

And before I go, the Christmas-market season is now fast approaching. I’m very much looking forward to Christmas shopping, Lebkuchen and Glühwein. Christmas songs have even made an appearance on my ipod.

Ta ta for now.

Ok, so I'll admit...

…I might be feeling a bit homesick. But more on that later.

So for the last two weeks we've had ‘Herbstferien,’ which can only mean one thing…two whole weeks of lay-ins – hell to the yeah! Two weeks is actually quite a lot of time to fill, especially when a place is still quite new to you, but it was a nice break, nonetheless.

Luckily enough, during the first week, Germany was experiencing a mini-heat wave. According to the BBC, temperatures reached 22 degrees on Thursday – London, eat your heart out. No rain for us here! I took that as a sign to make the most of the nice weather while it lasted, and get out and about, with the odd lazy day spent in pjs with multiple viewings of the Lion King and Harry Potter thrown in, natch! I went to see a performance by Simone (my mentor’s) chamber choir in a huge church in a town called Weinheim, which was really lovely, and something a bit different. I’m a bit of a sucker for classical music anyway – I know, I know, you’re all amazed at just how cool I am – so a chamber choir / orchestra / big church combo was always going to be something right up my street. Plus it made me miss the good old days of Senior Choir and Mr Werner at school. I also paid the nearby city of Mannheim a visit, meeting up with a teacher from school and her friend for a very relaxed afternoon of coffee and shopping, and, due to the gorgeous weather on Friday, I cracked out the walking boots and went for a hike into the hills that surround Bensheim with Simone and Thomas – a great way to spend an afternoon; chatting, walking and blowing the cobwebs away.

A snippet of the weather we were having

On Monday, I ventured over to Nuremberg for a couple of days, as it was a great excuse to meet up with some uni friends and explore a new German city. Monday was mainly spent shopping, catching-up and enjoying ‘Kaffee & Kuchen’ – a German tradition that I’m embracing wholeheartedly at every opportunity, despite the calories. From what I can gather so far, we’re all going to comeback with many-a weird and wonderful tale of life here. I’m collating a small dossier of them already. After a dinner of Bratwurst - they’ll make a proper German out of me yet – Sarah and I wished tschüs to the others, and stayed overnight in Nuremberg to do a few more culturally things on Tuesday. After wandering aimlessly around the Hauptbahnhof for a while trying to find the tram (note to self: the overhead signs are there for a reason,) we eventually headed out of town to the Doku-Zentrum, to a huge Colosseum look-a-like that the Nazis had built for their party rallies during the 1930s. It’s hard to convey the sheer size of it unless you’ve been there yourself, but ‘imposing’ seems the most appropriate adjective to describe it... hence why they had it built, I guess.  Despite that, and the weather, which was beginning to turn much colder after the short-lived Indian summer of the previous week, Nuremberg is a truly beautiful city, and I think definitely one of my favourite places I’ve visited so far.

You may be wondering how the mention of feeling homesick ties in with 10 days of travelling, nice weather, and a Warwick reunion. Well, on the last weekend of the holidays, the famalam arrived in Germany to pay me a visit. In fact, I've just left them at the airport, which possibly isn't helping the situation. I've mentioned this several times now, but it does genuinely feel like I've been in Germany fooorrrrevvvverrrrr, and I've been looking forward to seeing my family for practically the last nine weeks – ever since I waved goodbye to them through the security gates at Stansted airport. The past couple of months have been all-systems-go, and my feet have barely touched the ground, so many have been the new experiences, new people and new places. But two weeks off gives you enough time to stop and re-evaluate your situation, so it’s only really been the last couple of weeks that I've begun to appreciate how much I miss home. That’s not to say that I’m not having a good time, or that I want to leave Germany, because I don’t. I really don’t! I absolutely love it here, I think I've settled in well, I’m [hopefully] making new friends, and feel really at home, but I miss my family and my friends…a lot. And hence I've come to the conclusion that it is ok to admit to missing home as well as wanting this year never to end.

Moving to another country and setting up shop there on your own can be a fairly daunting task at times, and everyone needs a family hug every now and again to give you an extra boost. We had a really lovely weekend, although the weather in Bensheim very hospitably made my family feel at home, by merrily tipping it down throughout Saturday. (Some of the rain, however, did turn to snow, which was quite exciting). Having had my parents visit me, it also means they can now appreciate for themselves all the things I've been harping on about for the last two months; the school, Lehrersport Simone and Thomas, double-decker trains etc. There have been several occasions in that time, however, when I've thought to myself ‘Gah! This would be so much easier if Dad were here to help me through it, and Mum were on hand to give me a massive hug, and the brother were around with his endless supply of “helpful” comments.’  But what I have to keep reminding myself is that missing home doesn't detract anything from how much I love this year.

There…I've admitted it…that’s a weight off my chest. Now to put the kettle on, crack open a packet of chocolate digestives, and put on an episode of Downton Abbey. There’s nothing like a few home comforts when you’re feeling a bit wobbly. 

Maybe I’ll have to wait a little while longer before I feel like a true German!

You Call This A Brew?!

The last couple of weeks have been a bit manic, so I haven’t really had the chance to update this, but I’ve now got two weeks holiday, so I thought I’d give you all an update. I’ve been in school for six weeks now, and Germany for nearly 7, which just seems insane. Time really does fly!

I’ve taken the opportunity in the last couple of weeks to explore Bensheim a little closer, as it really is a beautiful little town.  There’s a very dainty-looking tea shop in the town centre that sells Scottish shortbread, so last week I decided to see just how good the German attempts at a decent cuppa really are. Bless them, they do try, but sadly good-old English tea this was not! I suppose alarm bells should have started ringing when the very nice waiter served it to me in a glass instead of a china mug. Oh no, no, no!  I think he must have waved the tea bag at the hot water, and then whisked it away, as my 'tea' was definitely not tea-coloured. But the major issue was that there was no milk!! Now, tea that contains barely any calories (essentially flavoured water disguising itself as tea) is sometimes appealing, but I was looking forward to a decent brew, and instead I was left with a glass containing vaguely brown-ish water and bereft without my milk!! Maybe in future I’ll stick to just buying Scottish shortbreads from there!

The proper way to serve a cup of tea - jus' sayin'

I’m still going with Lehrersport. We decided to mix it up a little bit a week or so ago, and headed to a sports park in Bensheim for a couple of games of badminton and squash. I’ve never played squash before in my life, so I thought it would be safer for all concerned if I sat that one out, but I did very much enjoy badminton. I also realised that I am slightly less terrible at badminton than I am at other sports, which was a bonus. My partner and I won 3 out of 4 games (Olympics 2016, here we come!), but somehow I suspect that was due to the fact that my partner was really bloody good, rather than my own abilities, but oh well! It’s also a tradition of theirs that they go out for a meal after sport during the last week of term, so it was really nice for me to chat to them in a slightly less sweaty environment than normal.

Over here in Hessen, we have two weeks holiday now, which was very welcome. Two whole weeks of lay-ins – boom! As they did when I was at school in England, things tend to wind down a lot towards the holidays, so last week was a very relaxed one in school. Some of the Year 11 classes I work with have moved onto learning about Shakespeare, and we studied one of his sonnets together on Thursday. I really did not enjoy Shakespeare at school – I’m sure he was a lovely chap, but his literature and I did not get on at all, so when it was mentioned that the students would be covering one of his sonnets, it did fill me with dread ever so slightly. It was, however, actually quite interesting to study it again, and to see how the students interpret it.  Because they’re studying literature that’s not in their own language, they obviously have to take it right back to basics, and analyse it from there, so they came up with some really good ideas, and gave me a fresh outlook on ol’ Shakey. Maybe he’s not so bad, after all.

On the subject of poetry, on Friday night I went to something called a ‘Dichterschlacht’ (poetry slam) in a city called Darmstadt with a friend from school and his German class. It was essentially a poetry competition by aspiring writers, who had to perform their various poems or short stories, and then we got to vote for our favourite. Apart from the fact that it was all in German, so understanding it was slightly tricky at times, it was very fun. But what I’m noticing more and more since being here is the way in which little English phrases or idioms are slowly infiltrating the German language. Phrases like “super-awkward,” or “true story” and even “homepage” and “meeting” are things regularly used in everyday German, and it always makes me chuckle when I hear them!

On Thursday afternoon, I got the afternoon off, and went on a staff excursion to a nearby town called Worms. As we had in Amsterdam, we had a woman take us on a walking tour of the town, and explained all about its history. It was a very pleasant afternoon, followed by a meal in a brewery. I still have yet to properly sample German beer, so that is definitely on my list of things to do in the near future!

So now it’s time to enjoy the holidays. I’m meeting up with some friends from uni and hopefully some of the teachers,  discovering some new German cities like Nuremberg and Weimar, and maybe even going hiking. How exciting!

So all is still good in the hood.

Although Dominos keep sending me texts reminding me about ‘Two for Tuesdays.’ I’ve never craved pizza so much in my life. It’s torture.

Gah! 

"Whatever you do...stay away from the coffee shops!" - Klassenfahrt nach Amsterdam

Yet another exciting week of my year abroad has passed. Only this week, I went on my first school trip as a member of staff, taking a group of Year 13s to the city of clogs and coffee shops…the one and only, Amsterdam!

Bright and early on Monday morning, off we went. Actually, it took us a while to get going, as no sooner had we sat down, buckled up and began to drive away from school, than one of the students helpfully pointed out that the luggage hold of the coach was still open. Once that was sorted, we thought we were off again. But no! We were just pulling out of the school driveway, onto the main road when the cry of “Achtung, das Taxi!” went up – for any non-German speakers, that means “Watch out you crazy bus driver, you’re about to hit a taxi!” - which, unfortunately, he did. So that set us back a bit. In respect of “ ‘elf ‘n’ safety,” the police had to be called. But once the police officer had come aboard, and clarified that none of us had been critically injured during the small scratch sustained by the cab, we were finally, (third time lucky), on our way. I did wonder if that would set the tone for the rest of the trip, i.e. one small disaster after another, but it definitely did not. It was an absolutely brilliant few days, and I think everyone thoroughly enjoyed it.

 Amsterdam, though, is truly the quirkiest city I’ve ever been to! It has none of the towering skyscrapers you would perhaps expect from a capital city – its skyline couldn't be more different to  London, for example – but it is beautiful in its own way, nonetheless, even if some of the buildings are quite literally sinking into the ground! Two major things that you can’t miss; firstly, they love their cyclists! Seriously, I don’t think I've ever seen so many bicycles in one place at one time, and the people who ride them are truly a law unto themselves. ‘Survival of the fittest’ became a phrase often used during the week.  Secondly, they don’t really seem to do pavements in Amsterdam, at least not along the side streets of the city centre, which often makes it quite confusing as to who has right of way when a car, or more often a tram is heading right for you. It would be interesting to see whether statistically people are more likely to get run over by a tram or a rogue cyclist!! Possibly even both at the same time. I also hadn't appreciated beforehand just how open they are about their ‘coffee shop culture.’ I thought the whole smoking-thing they've got going on would be much more secretive and on the down-low. But I discovered over the course of the week that it is entirely normal to glance into the window of a coffee shop and see a group of people sitting around a table, casually smoking a spliff! Each to their own, I guess.

A little taster of the Heinenken Museum

But of course, you can’t travel to such a famous city, and not see some of the sights it has to offer. I must admit, I’m becoming quite the tourist since arriving in Germany. We visited various sights; Madame Tussauds, the Ajax Arena to name a couple,  and visited the Heineken and BOLS ( a liquor) museum – I did wonder to myself whether there was a deliberate theme with those two! Both were very informative, but I think we were all most excited by the free glasses of either beer (Heineken) or cocktail (BOLS) that you get at the end of your visit, which were really rather tasty. There was also enough free time for us to explore the city for ourselves. I think Amsterdam is definitely a city, where, if you have the time and the willpower to search off the beaten track, there are so many things it has to offer! ( I do apologise if I’m sounding like a travel brochure!) The evenings, for example were free, so the other teachers and I mainly spent them sitting somewhere in a bar making the most of the cheap Heineken beer, or chilling in the youth hostel and enjoying Happy Hour, which was a really nice way for me to get on friendlier terms with some of my fellow colleagues, whilst enjoying a beer (or three). It was also really the first time since arriving in Bensheim that I’ve had the opportunity to properly get to know my mentor. She is absolutely wunderbar, and I think we are going to be great friends! On Wednesday night, we went to a nearby pub with her class of Year 13s. They are such a lovely group, and made me feel very welcome, so it was really nice for me to get to know them a little better too, especially as we’re almost the same age. Also, I was so impressed with how they were able to go out in the evenings, stay out till the small hours, and still make it up in time for breakfast at about 7.30 the next morning!! Maybe two years at uni has turned me into a premature old person, but honestly, if I go on a night out now, I need about three days to recover, so I don’t know how they did it.

Lady Gaga and her new band - available for bookings now! 

And then, as it inevitably does, Friday came around, and it was time to wave Auf Wiedersehen to Holland, and head back to Bensheim. Walking around a city for three days on the trot did eventually take its toll, so I was very excited to sleep in my own bed, and make the most of my lie-in on Saturday. Also, maybe it’s a European thing, but try as they might, they just can’t make a good brew like the Brits do, and surprisingly enough, Yorkshire Gold wasn’t a brand of tea bags that was available in our Dutch youth hostel, so it was nice to get home, curl up with a good cuppa, and look forward to many more exciting weeks here in Deutschland.

Ciao for now.

Die Zeit geht so schnell vorbei!

This week marks the four-week post of my time in Germany. How cer-aaa-zy is that?!  On Wednesday I will have been here exactly a month. I’m having such a great time so far, so if time would be so kind and slow down a bit, I would be very grateful!

I feel like I’m finally getting into the swing of things, and establishing a routine and a life for myself here, especially with working in the school, which is a nice feeling. Don’t get me wrong, the first few weeks were brilliant in their own way too, but there’s always that feeling of apprehension lurking in the pit of your stomach while you adjust to a new place, as you’re never quite sure what each new day will hold, but, (*touch wood*) that seems to have gone now.  I’m becoming more confident, both when I’m hanging around in the staff room in between lessons, and when I’m actually teaching. I’ve added another couple of lessons to my repertoire this week. On Wednesday I taught a class of Year 11s, and surprised even myself which just how much I enjoyed it! The class is full of really lovely students, and my fabulous mentor teacher was in the room with me, which helped. But there seems to be some sort of bug going around school, so the teachers were dropping like flies towards the back end of the week, which meant that on Thursday I had to teach a class of twenty 16 year olds completely on my own. Although the thought of this beforehand terrified me – the class can become…restless…shall we say, all I had to do was remind myself a few times: “me, teacher; you, student,” and it proved much easier than I thought to keep their attention. I even managed to raise my voice a few times to quieten them down, and that’s normally not something I’m very good at!

I’ve also managed to download a few of my favourite TV programmes onto my computer. So I’m now able to watch ‘The Great British Bake Off,’ ‘Dr Who,’ and even ‘Mock the Week’ entirely at my leisure, which is a nice touch of home to have, especially on quieter days like Sundays, or if I’ve got nothing to do of an evening. And very slowly, but nevertheless surely, I am kind-of beginning to get to grips with the fact that they drive on the wrong side of the road here. Actually, I say getting to grips, when what I actually mean is that I’m learning that if I think the traffic should be coming at me from one direction, in all likelihood it will be coming from the other direction. Either way, I’m walking out into the road in front of far fewer cars that I was when I first arrived!  It may even be time to invest in a bike!

One of my proudest moments of the week, however, was that during this Wednesday’s Lehrersport, I managed to master that weird technique volleyball players use whereby they clasp their hands together and hit the ball with their wrists. Ok, so maybe ‘master’ is a strong word, but I managed to hit the ball using this technique and…wait for it…it went over the net. Boom!! I also almost scored a basket in basketball (funnily enough!). Get me!! However, the dreaded word “hockey” was mentioned by one of the teachers; I have a feeling they won’t want to let me loose with a hockey stick, so maybe I’ll sit that one out!

Seeing as I’m spending the vast majority of my time at the moment speaking and listening to people in German, I’d almost forgotten that I do, in fact, study two languages at university. My somewhat limited knowledge of the French language has been a little neglected thus far, so I thought it was about time I refreshed my memory, and went along to a couple of Year 11 French lessons this week.  It was useful, as I don’t think I had realised up until that point, just how immersed in the German language I had become, so I hope it will prove helpful to have a weekly dose of French to keep me going. Otherwise I feel trying to attempt final-year ‘Modern French Language III’ could prove to be very tricky indeed!! The class I went along to has only just started learning French properly, so, as you would expect when learning a foreign language, the teacher kept switching between French and the class’s native language. Unluckily enough for me, however, this meant that the conversation in class kept switching between German and French, which essentially meant I was learning a third language through my second language. Mind-boggling is the only adjective I can think of to describe that lesson! It’s good brain-training though, I suppose. Mixes it up a little.

And to tie up the week, I ventured to Frankfurt, to embrace my inner-tourist, and meet up with a friend from uni. I don’t know about you, but when I think of famous German cities, Frankfurt isn’t one that immediately springs to mind. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect; envisaging perhaps a 60’s-style concrete monstrosity, but it isn’t like that at all! It’s an eclectic mix of the very modern and very quintessentially German. Round one corner, there are towering skyscrapers, huge modern shopping centres and of course, the European Central Bank. (I did get very excited when we spotted the big EURO sign outside, half-hoping that Gavin Hewitt would appear at any moment and start doing a report for the BBC, but it’s closed at the weekends, so  sadly no big ‘Greek Rescue’ this week.) Then if you walk for five minutes towards the river, you come across the ‘Altstadt,’ where it’s all cobbled streets and iconic pointy-roofed buildings. It’s a really nice city though, with something to appeal to everyone, and it’s really easy to get to for me, so I definitely want to go back there at some point over the year, especially when those infamous German Christmas markets get underway! 

Outside the ECB

The Altstadt in Frankfurt

Ta ta for now.