So I’ve arrived in my little corner of Germany, more
commonly known as Bensheim. But before I could reach this lovely, quintessentially
German town, I spent three days on a so-called ‘Einführungstagung’ in a place called
Altenberg, near Cologne. Basically you
are thrown together with a group of people you’ve never met before, who are
also aspiring language assistants, for three days and you are taught how to
teach. It reminded me very much of Freshers’ week, just with less alcohol and
more work. (Although having said that, the one bar that was open for us did
very good business while we were there!)
Before we went on this course, our university lecturers
warned us that “it’s in the middle of nowhere, and food is scarce.” This was,
fortunately, only really half true. It’s not exactly at the heart of
civilisation, (being a former monastery, this is perhaps unsurprising), but
then again it wasn’t the shed-in-the-middle-of-a-field that I was expecting, either.
As for the food, it’s available in abundance if you’re willing to ask for it,
but I was nevertheless still grateful for the couple of cereal bars I’d chucked
in the backpack (you’re not allowed to take a suitcase up to your room with
you), just in case.
I’m not the most outgoing of people, so doing something like
this, even if it is only for three days, takes me so far out of my comfort
zone, it’s a small speck in the distance. There’s a lot of information to
absorb in a very short space of time, and not only do you spend almost every
waking minute in the company of people you don’t know very well, but at the end
of the third day you have to get up in front of these people and pretend to
teach them English for 45 minutes. But, I survived, and I’ve learnt a lot from
it. And what’s more, I think I’ve made some really nice new friends out of it.
Every cloud, and all that! It’s also good to share your expectations and
worries about your imminent arrival in your destination with other people. Some
of these turn out to be unfounded, but a lot of them are actually shared by the
people you meet there, so it’s nice to feel like it’s not all in your head. Wir
setzen alle im selben Boot, after all.
And then comes the time when you have to leave the shelter
of the monastery, and make your own way to your town. As my train approached
Bensheim Bahnhof, I must admit I don’t think I’ve ever felt so nervous. But the
town is lovely, and living practically in the town centre means that, luckily enough
for me, I’m right in the centre of it all. I also couldn’t have asked for a
nicer mentor. She has been an absolute star already – and I’ve only been here
two days!! I wouldn’t have felt half so at home it if were not for her. I was
really nervous on my first morning in school, but all the teachers and students were really
welcoming, and I hope that once I adjust to life in Germany and get into the
swing of it, that I’ll relax into it a bit more. Fingers crossed!
So now I’m off to enjoy a wine festival-type-event…but
German-style! My first proper experience of German culture, and I’m very
excited.
Oh and one thing I forgot about Altenberg. The bells! Every
morning, 6am, there they were. Only the lucky few amongst us slept deeply
enough not to be woken up by them. I, unfortunately, was not one of these! At least I can sleep a bit more peacefully now I'm in Bensheim. (She says, as the wine festival starts up directly across the road from my flat.) Joy!
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