Holiday Highlights

Holidays are sadly over and I have 3 months of school until the next ones (far out their school year is badly planned!). After Christmas both my host-sisters, their boyfriends, Ariane and I went to Heidelberg for a couple of days. The weather was a little stormy but we still had a good look around the ruined castle and the old part of the city.

Heidelberg castle

Goethe's seat

New Year is a big deal over here and we celebrated with a large group of family and friends. The traditional meal is called raclette and is a really fun and social way to eat a meal. Basically a small bbq is set up on the table and everyone has a small pan. You then load up your pan with meat (fried first on the top of the bbq), mushrooms, capsicum, broccoli, corn etc and then a layer of cheese on top. Your pan then goes inside the bbq and cooks. The end result is vegetables and meat covered in melted cheese. Yummy! At midnight we all went out on the street and let off fireworks and then played board games until 3am.

I then went down to Stuttgart for 5 days to see Claudia and Christian and their two kids, Lina age 3 and Klaus age 8 months. Claudia and Christian used to live just down the road from us in Dunedin and Lina was born while they were studying at Otago Uni. It was wonderful to see them again and to meet the new baby. I had a lovely couple of days joining in the family life and seeing a bit of their local area. Definitely a great time away.

Claudia and Klaus

Me and Lina at Ludwigsburg

Me with Klaus and Lina

Visiting a castle

Klaus being totally cute!

Merry Christmas (only slightly late)

Schloss Merode

Christmas Market at the Schloss

I know you will all be finished with Christmas but I'm still smack bang in the middle so I thought I'd write a bit about how it all works over here. Last weekend both my host-sisters arrived home for the holiday which is awesome and so the whole family went to a Christmas market at a palace/castle/big pretty building. Definitely one of the cooler markets we've been to mainly because of the castle and the atmosphere that creates! They also had people dressed up doing flag dances and people telling the nativity story and crowd carol singing so it was a whole lot of fun. We also decorated the real tree all together and I must say it looks pretty darn good!

Vera and I putting on the lights

Christmas here starts on the 24th with church (I played the flute) and then a large evening meal and then present opening. I've been given a 1000 piece puzzle that is mostly black and white so I suspect that will keep me amused for a good long while. On the 25th we went to Manuela's parents and had lunch with them, checked out their village church which is super old and then ate a very large evening meal. Then we played a card game and did the dishes until 11:30 pm. Today was our day off and we went rock-climbing (Christmas present for Vera's boyfriend Steffan) which was fabulous. Having not done any climbing for the last year or so, my muscles are definitely not pleased but it was good to be up on the wall again Check out the link! Climbing/Flying
 My knee performed beautifully and I hope we go back soon.

Sisters! (Ute, me, Vera)

Tomorrow the eating continues with lunch/dinner at Siegfried's parents and all his side of the family. I'm rather glad we did some exercise today otherwise I'd be feeling rather unhealthy! I hope everyone at home had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you all a very happy holiday.

Christmas Fever

There are positive and negative things about the start of December over here. The major negative being the weather. We had our first big storm of the winter at the end of this week with high winds and snow showers. Thankfully better than most of the rest of the country! But I've definitely noticed the temperature dropping and find myself asking why on earth I came for the German winter. But I've resigned myself to being freezing for the next 3 months or so and can only look forward I guess. The positive thing is that 1st of December is the start of the Advent time and therefore the start of Christmas markets. Last Sunday we had a very little market here in Effeld and my orchestra had our Christmas concert. Thankfully it went better than I expected and I had a lot of fun. It's been getting dark about 5pm now and everybody has lights in their windows or lights in their trees and the village looks rather festive. On Wednesday I sang with my choir at the Heinsberg market and Manuela took a video for you all to watch. My camera isn't great with video so I'm afraid the quality is pretty average but hopefully you can get an overall impression.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=194kBkId218

The 6th is Nikolaus day and the kids all put their shoes out and in the morning there are oranges and nuts and toys and chocolate inside. I went to primary school with Manuela and Nikolaus came to school and so they sang songs and read the Nikolaus story and then all the classes received special bread. Pretty cool tradition!

Ice-skating outside

On Saturday we went to Koblenz and the Christmas markets there which was awesome. The rain stayed away so I only had to combat the cold. Koblenz is different from a lot of other cities because they spread their markets out through all the little squares. This means you wander through the streets and come around a corner to find brightly lit stalls, yummy smells and music. Most markets are half food and drink stalls and half crafty Christmas themed things to buy and so there is something for everyone. The guys tend to find somewhere to stand and drink mulled wine while the girls go shopping!

Routines and Castles

It has been really good getting into a normal routine and focusing a bit on everyday life before heading off on new adventures. School is going really well and I am finding ways to be useful in all my classes. I had to show my scary side to the year 12s with positive results and the year 10s have finally figured out that I can speak German. I commented on their "private" conversation when they should have been doing their work and they were horrified to learn that I could understand them! I have been enjoying my Spanish course at Düsseldorf Uni even if it does take me two and half hours to get there. The Spanish it at the right level but I've had some issues when asked to translate it into German - or vice versa. My third language into my second language?? Um, slight problem right there. It has been getting easier but I'm glad I am not trying to pass the course. I bike along to symphonic band every Tuesday night and apart from the fact that I need earplugs to hear myself playing, it is going really well. We have a concert on Sunday for the first of Advent which will hopefully go really well. Choir every Wednesday evening is also great fun and we'll be singing in Christmas markets over the next couple of weeks.

Over the weekend I went down south to visit the Franks. They used to live in Dunedin when I was in year 9 and I practised my German with their toddler. They now have a total of four kids and I had a very intense weekend keeping everyone amused. I hadn't realised how much I missed having little people around although I very nearly went hoarse from book reading! The train ride there was mostly pretty boring but there is one stretch along the Rhine where every corner reveals a castle on a hill. It's like travelling through a fairytale!

Hambacher Schloss

The Franks took me to see their local castles as well which is always a win situation with me. I don't think I'll ever get sick of visiting castles. On Friday we went to the Hambacher Schloss which is where German democracy originated and they have a very good exhibition all about it. Very interactive and we could all get dressed up as well which the kids loved.

The Franks dressing up (Alena, Kilian, Esra, Marit and Pavo)

Castle Trifels from below

On Saturday we went to Castle Trifels which has to be the coolest castle I've been in. It's located in the hills and sits out on a big cliff. For anyone who know what Gondor looks like, it has a jutting out rock formation exactly the same. What was great was that we could explore all over without a guide or anything and you really get the proper feel of being in a castle. Oh, and Richard the Third (the Lionheart) was imprisoned here after his third Crusade. Pretty cool huh? I certainly had a fantastic time!

The throne room

Breslau, Poland

Buildings in the main square

Far out what a full on holiday. School was definitely a shock to the system this morning! On Thursday Manuela and I flew to Breslau, Poland to see Vera. Her friend Ariane and her mum came too and so did family friend Claudia. It was a new experience to be travelling as part of a big group and I found flying with other people way more enjoyable than by myself. my first impressions of Breslau weren't that great and I felt like we'd stepped back into post-WW2 Eastern Bloc. The houses are all grey and run-down and the place just has an un-looked after kind of feel. But the centre city has been beautifully restored and rebuilt and was an incredible place to visit. The other thing about Breslau it that food, accommodation and culture are ridiculously cheap. We stayed in an awesome apartment in the middle of town and payed less than half what we would in Germany.

Our first day we checked out the main square in the evening we went to a Bach concert. Sadly the Bach was pretty average (very poor choice of pieces) but the random Polish composer was worth going for. The next day was All Hallows and a national holiday so nearly everything was shut and the entire Polish population in church services or visiting graveyards. We strolled around the Cathedral island, saw where Vera is studying and living, looked at more churches (it's incredible how many churches there are in one place) and waited until evening. Then we also visited the main Breslau cemetery which is HUGE. We seriously walked around it for over an hour and a half. But every grave had massive bunches of flowers and coloured lanterns so that the place looked incredible in the dark. There were families out with their kids, couples, widowers, friends, all visiting family graves. Definitely something I hadn't ever seen before.

Breslau from the Elizabeth church

Saturday it rained so we slept in a bit and then visited the main Uni which had some amazing rooms that have all been restored after the war. Breslau has around 135,000 students over 30 universities and students come from all over Europe to study there. We also climbed the Elizabeth Church tower to get a view over the city. 300 and something steps and my legs were like jelly by the time I got back down. My physio would be happy! Claudia and I had a look around the city hall which is one of the oldest in Europe and then we all went to a cafe in the evening. I had a mint hot chocolate which was literally just melted chocolate with a mint syrup.

I could nearly stand my spoon up in it! Very yummy but a lot of sugar and I didn't feel like moving afterwards. We flew back to Frankfurt early Sunday and I came home rather exhausted. Thankfully school wasn't too strenuous and it was nice to be back in the classrooms. I hope everyone at home is enjoying spring and the students are looking forward to freedom at last!

Ritchie with some of the gnome statues which are all over the city. I have no idea why they are there!

Class trip and Kiel

Polar bears but sadly no ice...

Hedwig!

It's been a busy two weeks but I have thoroughly enjoyed myself. Last Monday I went with 3 year 7 classes to Bremerhaven for the week. It was definitely interesting to be on the other side of a class trip! The bus trip there was VERY loud and the kids were very happy to finally arrive after about 6 hours underway. The weather was average but we still had a great time in the really cool museums. I found the shipping museum very interesting but I suspect the kids were not so enthused. However, the German Immigration House was very well put together. Everyone received a passport and then we immigrated. They had built a wharf where we learnt about why people left and where they were going and then we boarded the ship. Inside they had built three replica cabins showing how the ships had evolved over time from the sailing ships through to modern day cruise liners. We then left the ship and could watch films about Germans in other countries. Then we immigrated back to Germany! Definitely a great experience and interesting to learn about.

In Samoa

We also spent 4 hours in the Climate Change museum which has to be the best museum I've ever been to (including Te Papa). The first part was a special exhibition about the dinosaurs with life-size plastic models and also live animals like snakes, crocodiles, turtles, lizards etc. No tuataras though! Then you go on a world journey. Bremerhaven is at 8degrees East longitude and they take you through all the other countries that are on the same line of longitude. Each place is built to look like somewhere in that country and is the same temperature as well. There are videos, listening stations, pictures, info sheets in each country and you learn about a family there. They tell you all about the climate in their country and how climate change is affecting them.

 Very amazing to walk through, though the 48 degree temperature was not to my liking. Thankfully Antarctica came next so I cooled down there. The third part is more scientific and explains all about climate in the past, present and future and the final part is all about how we can change our lives to be more environmentally friendly. Overall a fantastic place to go and very thought-provoking. We also went out on the mudflats, on a harbour boat-tour and visited the zoo. I didn't get a huge amount of sleep as we had to keep on getting up to deal with kids but a very fun week!

Exploring the mudflats. NOTE: in bare feet! Freezing

Ritchie and I on the ferry

The canal

Wiebke

On Friday I caught the train to Kiel to see an old friend who was in NZ for a year. Wiebke is studying medicine there but had only just started the Uni semester so had time for me too. It was really nice to be by the sea and one day we took a ferry out to one of the beaches. But on the way our motor broke and we spent half an hour or more bobbing around in the shipping channel until we could be towed to the right place! We also visited Hamburg one afternoon and the Nord-Ostsee-Kanal which connects the North Sea with the Baltic Sea and is the busiest man-made canal in the world. I also got to do lots of sleeping and lazying around which was awesome too.

Kiel harbour

Stormy sunset

Oktoberfest

It's been a mixed week at school with some classes being totally boring and some being full-on work. My year 12 extension class were very hard work and I think some silly games are in order to lose some of their fear. They were definitely not keen to participate in a discussion and I found it very frustrating to ask a question and be greeted by 15 blank faces. But a challenge is always fun so hopefully I can find some way to bring them out of their shells. On Wednesday the teacher I was with told me, on the way to class, that I had half the year 9 class for the next two hours. Thanks for the heads up! "Just get them talking" she said. Out came the youth group games and drama exercises, tweaked a little and actually the whole thing went pretty well. The kids seemed to have fun and wanted to know when they were next with me. These are the kind of experiences that remind me why I'm here and why I want to be a teacher. Because it's so satisfying to see students enjoying a lesson and learning something useful!

Last night was our local Oktoberfest. I went with Ute and some of her friends and had a rather interesting evening. Getting dressed up in our dirndls was a whole lot of fun but the actual party was average. SO many people packed into a large tent, very loud music combined with everyone having shouted conversations and beer everywhere. The floor was sticky with it and there were beer glasses and broken glass all over the place. A serious danger was having someone tip their beer all over you because there was simply no room to move! We ate hot chips, checked out everyone else's dirndls, danced a bit and then I came home at 1am. It was cool to go and see but probably not something I would do again.

Ute, Maria and I ready to go

This week I head off to Bremerhaven with the year 7 classes and then it's school holidays. Hard to believe I know and I certainly don't feel like I've done enough work to deserve a break so soon. However, I'm not complaining and am going to enjoy visiting friends and seeing some more of Germany!