Prussia Day

First of all, the really terrible news. Some of you will know that during the weekend my cat Laptop had to be put down. He developed a fast growing tumour in his mouth that couldn't be operated on so the best thing was to let him go. Probably the worst email I've ever woken up to. Saying goodbye on Skype was really difficult and not being able to mourn with the rest of the family has been hard. Thankfully, he was old and had a wonderful life and will always be here in my heart.

The military band 

On a more positive note, the rest of the weekend was a lot of fun. Manuela and I drove to Koblenz where Siegfried works and spent the afternoon walking around the Altstadt (old city) and I bought a dirndl! Next weekend is Oktoberfest in our area so I''m going with my younger host-sister Ute and her friends. Should be interesting and everyone knows I can't pass up the opportunity to buy a pretty dress. Pictures will follow. In the evening we drove up to the old Roman fort where they were holding the Prussia Day celebrations. I have no idea why they do this but I'm not complaining. We had a stunning view over the city as the sun went down and then listened to the military band by firelight.

With the Kaiser (guy wearing what looks like a lampshade)

On Sunday we took the gondola back up to the fort and watched the fashion show. Not your normal fashion but a walk through the last 200 years or so of clothes. Some rather crazy outfits and some crazy people to go with them but a lot of fun to watch. I had a go on some of the old bikes and hammered away at the blacksmith as well. Later, we were "attacked" by the "enemy" and so they fired all the cannons which was very loud and very awesome! It was interesting to wander around the fort as it is largely intact even if you aren't allowed inside most of it. Very impressive and you can tell that it is built to be a death trap for any enemy who made it past the curtain wall.

Ritchie liked the cannons

Looking down from the top of the fort

Learning how to ride this bike was not as easy as it looked!

Prepare to fire...

Back to school again today and I taught my year 12s by myself! I thought it went pretty well although I came out feeling like I had no idea what we were going to do for the rest of the year. But on the bus home my head began to swirl with ideas so I guess it will go just fine!

Tradition, Teaching, Technology

It seems that new village traditions pop up every couple of weeks here! Last week we had the farmers market where Ritchie was fascinated by the tractors (old and new) and I was more interested in the horses. Very cool to see some of the huge, expensive farm equipment as people prepare to harvest the corn soon. Also, since it's autumn, everyone now has pumpkins outside their doors. Why not I guess? Definitely some strange varieties of pumpkins around and none seem to look like the ones we have at home...


Manuela and I have been trying a different church each week and so far I haven't found anywhere I like. It seems that the most modern thing churches here have done in the last 100 years is to say mass in English instead of Latin. But hopefully I will eventually find somewhere. I'm also nearly registered as a student at Düsseldorf Uni so maybe there will be a Christian group there I can connect with.

Teaching is in it's second week and I am more than ready to start doing stuff. Just sitting in class watching has got rapidly very boring and I'm looking forward to being the real thing next week. Looks like Drama won't be happening as organising it got too complicated and I'll be running conversation classes for teachers instead. Got to admit I'd rather be doing the Drama! I missed my bus this morning by about 10 seconds and the only option for getting there on time was to bike. Now, we are all aware that I haven't been able to much exercise for the last year because of the knee so this was a bit of nightmare. Plus I think the 8km to school is probably the furthest I've biked ever. In my life. AND, school is at the top of the only hill for miles around. Typical huh? But I managed it and apart from the sore muscles thought it was quite a nice ride. Perhaps I should do it more often...

Probably the thing that has surprised me the most here is the technology. Or rather, the lack of technology in school. So far the music room is the place I've seen a whiteboard, everything else is blackboards and chalk. I think only a few rooms have data projectors and most others have overhead projectors (I'm not sure I even know how to use one of those!). I think there may be one computer room but I haven't been there yet. It means I'm having to review my thinking about lessons and what resources I can use. Not being able to show videos and pictures makes things just that little bit harder.

Training and first day

Ritchie in our hotel room

Maria in der Aue

On Monday I went to a training program at Maria in der Aue, a beautiful hotel near Köln. I was surprised to meet over 140 other English assistants and they were only for 3 of Germany's regions. Apparently there are over 900 foreign language assistants in Germany at the moment! Most of the people in my course were from the UK and Ireland although there were 5 other Kiwis and one lone Australian. They did a lot of explaining of all the paperwork we have to do (German bureaucracy huh?) and then attempted to tell us enough about teaching to get us through the next 9 months. I am SO glad that I know a bit about this already. I can't imagine what it would be like going into a school with only a day and a half of training. I personally didn't learn much but I guess that's a good thing. I did meet a lovely Irish girl and some of the people who are living near me.

Climbing in a sports store in Köln

Yesterday was my first day at school and it was definitely a bit overwhelming. The school has 1300 kids between the age of 10 and 19 but it looks like I'll be mostly working with the older kids. My mentor teacher seems really nice and so was everyone else I met. Every time I was introduced to a class they were told that I speak no German, therefore they have to speak English! Pretty funny trying to pretend that I had no idea what was going on. The scary bit is that they want me to take classes on my own. Technically this is not allowed but they think I'll be fine with just 13 kids. It's definitely daunting to think that I'm going to have be organising my own lessons by myself right from the start but at least they mainly want me to do speaking practice. So no difficult grammar lessons. I've also been asked to start a Drama club with the younger kids - again by myself. These kids don't speak a lot of English so that will be interesting to see how it goes. I've been given my keys and told that I am under no circumstances to lose the keys! Would be just my luck to be the one that means all the locks in the school have to be changed.

I believe I shall be the first person to send in an insurance claim. Had to go to the doctor yesterday with nasty itchy bites. Apparently they aren't from a mosquito but some other bug with a nasty poison that they've been having problems with this summer. Basically just have to wait for my immune system to sort it out and try not to itch it in the meantime. The bites are also very sore so a bit unpleasant.

Overall it looks like school is a welcoming and nice place to be. Yes, it's scary to start off with but I hope that it will get easier and I can fall into a routine quickly.

At St Martin church in Köln

Arrived!

Just a quick post to let everyone know I've arrived safely. Flight from Auckland was bumpy all the way to LA but I managed to sleep for 4 hours. Lufthansa was better than I was expecting and I spent 11 hours watching movies! It is HOT here, 31 degrees in Frankfurt when I arrived. Thankfully my train was easy to catch and my host-mum Manuela met me Köln. Then it was about 40 minutes in the car home. I went to bed pretty early and have slept really well. Another hot day and I've just been unpacking and lazing around. The German is going all right although there is definitely a bad smattering of Spanish in there! Manuela is forever saying "ah Anna, Spanish I think." Oops. But I'll get there!

Here we are with the Southern Man at Dunedin Airport

And Ritchie getting used to our new room

Time to leave (again)

It's hard to believe that I've been home for 6 weeks but yes, it is time to head off again. I am heading to Germany for the next 9 or 10 months on a scholarship to teach English. I'll be living with my host family from school exchange which is super exciting and also makes this move easier than Chile. At this stage I'm not sure what age group I'll be helping with but it should be teenagers! Definitely a change from my Chilean kindergarten kids.

If you want to look up where I'll be living try finding Effeld, Germany on a map. It's pretty darn small so a better bet might be Wassenberg which is the town I'll be teaching in. If that fails head for Aachen and I'm an hour north of there! I'm looking forward to a new and different challenge though I'm sad to be saying goodbye to my family again so soon.

I have no idea how often I'll be posting but will try to send out an email message to let you know and probably post the link on Facebook as well. I hope you all enjoy coming along for the ride and we'll see what I get up to!

Plus, meet Ritchie who will be accompanying me. Perhaps he should have his own blog :-)