Updates!
Did you all miss me? ;)
Ok, I'm all settled in Germany now! I've actually had internet for a few days but I was knocked out by a cold one of my students so lovingly gave to me... So you get a slightly belated update. Sorry |D Uh, this is going to be super long so I'll seperate it into sections
Oookaay, where to start?
Oh, the flight! Well, everything went absolutely fine XD I got a bit panicked the day before trying to make sure I had everything/the weight for my baggage was right/that my room was clean... but taichou was amazing and helped me do everything I needed to do <3 We got to Gatwick with no problems at all and taichou was nice enough to stay until we'd gotten me off to security despite us thinking that she would miss the train back to central London that she'd planned on getting (she got on it ok though~) because the line for check-in was super long |D Security was completely fine, after all my worrying! They didn't even check with me about my medication! Despite it being a class B controlled drug O.o they just x-rayed the bag and waved it straight through. I didn't end up too emotional but I think that was mostly because I was hyped up worrying about things going wrong. Not helped by my boarding gate opening 6 or 7 minutes late! And having to run along to it...
The flight itself was brilliant, though. I was really worried I wasn't going to like it XD But I actually really enjoyed it. I got a window seat and spent most of the time staring out at the patchwork ground and the clouds. OMG the clouds! They were so pretty! And I thought we'd only been in the air for like 20 minutes when they announced that we were starting our descent XD
So I got to Cologne without any trouble at about 9am local time. The coach to pick us up for the induction course wasn't supposed to get there till 2.30pm XD I spent about an hour working out how to get from the airport to the train station and actually getting there (my German for reading the ticket machine was rusty! XD) so arrived at the Hauptbahnhof around 10am. I spent a couple of hours milling around the station, went to starbucks, got food, ect... And ran out of things to do about 12pm. So I set up camp near where I thought we were supposed to meet and waited anxiously for about an hour till people started showing up XD Then I made some friends~
It was weird to hear/see German everywhere. I know it shouldn't have been, being in Germany and all, but it really was! Just to see billboards and things in German... Just the start of culture shock I guess XD
So the coach turned up on time and took us off to Altenberg, about half an hour's drive from Cologne. It's really pretty out there! I don't have any pictures of the sceneary but it was a small village surrounded by woods and it was gorgeous! I do have some pictures of the inside of the place we were staying and the cathedral next door, though. I'll get those uploaded sometime soon for you guys to see.
The place was like a big community centre (but I mean BIG. It had two dorms of sleeping rooms, plus a cafeteria, plus a big hall, plus various conference rooms). It was really old and pretty :3 I have to admit, I wasn't expecting much of the place because we were only paying 30 Euros for accommodation and food, but it was really nice! I shared a room with two other girls but we all got our own beds (which were really comfy) and there was plenty of space/showering facilities. Everywhere was really clean, too! And the foooood. The food was AMAZING. They really, really liked to feed us there! We had breakfast, lunch and dinner every day along with coffee/tea and cake in the afternoon. Breakfast was either a bread roll with cheese/ham or conflakes with coffee or tea or juice. Lunch was always something cooked and there was both vegetarian and meat options. I took the vege food most of the time because the meat options tended to be with red meat and I don't like red meat much. The first night there was this mushroom and rice dish with a creamy brown sauce that was absolutely delicious! I ate nearly three bowls of the stuff. There was also a bar in the evening (tried some German beer, didn't like it).
The course lasted three days and was really intensive. 12 hour days intensive |D But also really interesting! They did a general introduction to Germany, on cultural norms and things like supermarkets, how to use the trains, ect, along with telling us exactly what we had to do when we got to our schools (registration with local authorities, bank accounts, ect). Then we were introduced to various teaching strategies, given some teaching materials and told to plan a lesson. The next day we all gave practise lessons for various age groups in groups of 2-3, with the rest of the group of assistents pretending to be the kids who were being taught. Pretending to be a 12 year old learning English is fun ;) It was a really good experience to see the different teaching styles and to try and decide which one worked best for you.
I made a lot of friends over the three days :3 We'll all keep in touch through fb and hopefully meet up over the time we're here~
After breakfast on the last day (at 6am, ugh) the coach took us back to Cologne where we said our goodbyes and set off for our various schools.
That involved a 5 hour train ride for me XD; A large group of us all got on the train to Hamburg, as we all had to switch there. So the first 3 hours were fun~ Then we all scattered at Hamburg Hauptbahnhof for various other trains and I got on my regional train to Elmshorn. I got very surprised when it had two floors! It's really weird to get on a train and go downstairs! Trains don't do that in England XD
My mentor was super nice and met me in Elmshorn to save me the trouble of switching trains again with my huge luggage XD There I met my mentor and the teacher I was going to stay with until my flat became ready (another teacher was moving in with her bf and I was going to take her old flat in Barmstedt). We chatted and had some coffee before Angela took me back to her house where I got to meet her adorable dog! We also hung out with the neighbours a bit who spoke very little English XD So I was very glad when I could understand/be understood, haha...
I stayed with Angela for a few days, during which I got my first day at school. It mostly consisted of meeting people and watching a few classes XD The kids were all super nice and so curious! It was adorable~ I really liked staying with her :3 We had a barbecue with the neighbours and their own adorable kids who were also really curious about me and England XD
We then helped the other teacher move out of her flat so that I could move in. The only problem was that the flat was unfurnished... Luckily, all my colleagues are amazingly nice people! So many people stepped up with stuff I could have or just borrow. I suddenly gained a bed, a matress for guests, a table, two chairs, a chest of drawers, various kitchen things, an iron and a bedside table without having to pay for any of it! The only things I need now are a washing machine and a microwave XD Microwave I can live without for now and Angela is currently being amazing and washing my clothes for me as there is no laundromat in Barmstedt. I am so amazed at how nice everyone has been! I've even been given a bike to get to and from school each day :3 (about a 10 minute journey)
So I'm happily set up in my flat~ It's a bit cold cause I can't turn the heating on yet XD (it's in summer mode) but it's pretty nice~ Barmstedt has enough shops for cheap food/clothes/books/ect and if I need anything else I can just hop on the train to Elmshorn (15 minutes away) or Hamburg (30 minutes).
The school is awesome! I just watched lessons for the first week, to see how different teachers taught/wanted me to help in their lessons and also to decide which classes/teachers I wanted to actually join when I set up my schedule. Starting this week, I've had an actual schedule with the kids I most enjoyed working with. I've got a nice mix of ages, from 12-19, though I have more classes with the younger ones than the older ones. But the older ones are encouraged to email/chat with me as much as I'm happy for them to outside of school hours XD The kids, all ages, are freaking cute! Especially the younger ones, of course, but the older ones can be cute too~ Some of the pronunciation is adorable and I know it's mean but I kind of have to smile. They smile too, when they realise they've done it wrong, so I guess it's ok XD;
I also have 'nachhilfe', or tutoring, with three 12 year olds a week. It's an hour after school each, where I can give them focused attention to help them get better :3 And I get paid extra, which is also nice~
There's also... I don't what to call it. Culture shock I guess? Little things that throw me off a bit because they're different when I didn't expect them XD Like not having on/off switches on plugs! And the windows! All the windows I've seen so far can be opened two ways; you can tilt them back to open them a little at the top, or you can swing them open fully. I've never seen windows like that before XD Milk also tastes different here, though I haven't a clue why... Also mosquitos. I don't like them :|
There's also the less obvious ones. The courtesy for bike riders is one! And it's nice XD Cars will actually stop volentarilly for bikers to cross roads, not just when they're forced to XD And there's a lot more biking here than I'm used to at home. LOADS of the kids ride to school every day. german kids also seem to generally be more well behaved... though that might be because I'm at a Gymnasium (the adademic high-school). Teachers routinely let the kids break off into small groups and go outside the classroom to work without supervision. In all the grades, so that's 12-19 year olds. We certainly weren't let out in small groups like that until at least GCSE (15-16) if not A-level (17-18).
And of course, the kids all seem surprised at how young I am, because Germans generally go to Uni later than we do in the UK. They all seem really surprised to hear that I'm in my 3rd year of uni XD And one of the 12 year olds commented on my height... "Wait, you're 20? But I come up to your shoulder and I'm only 12!" I know, kid, I know... Germans are tall XD When i taught some 15 year olds, they thought I was a new student till the teacher introduced me |D
TL;DR I'm happily settled and adjusting to my new life of teaching German children English~ I'm missing everyone at home, espcially taichou, but I'm coping and adjusting. Hopefully I'll get to explore the country a bit soon :3 I do have fridays off so weekend trips around are definitely possible =D
Sorry to ramble on so much! I love you all~ <3
Ok, I'm all settled in Germany now! I've actually had internet for a few days but I was knocked out by a cold one of my students so lovingly gave to me... So you get a slightly belated update. Sorry |D Uh, this is going to be super long so I'll seperate it into sections
Oookaay, where to start?
Oh, the flight! Well, everything went absolutely fine XD I got a bit panicked the day before trying to make sure I had everything/the weight for my baggage was right/that my room was clean... but taichou was amazing and helped me do everything I needed to do <3 We got to Gatwick with no problems at all and taichou was nice enough to stay until we'd gotten me off to security despite us thinking that she would miss the train back to central London that she'd planned on getting (she got on it ok though~) because the line for check-in was super long |D Security was completely fine, after all my worrying! They didn't even check with me about my medication! Despite it being a class B controlled drug O.o they just x-rayed the bag and waved it straight through. I didn't end up too emotional but I think that was mostly because I was hyped up worrying about things going wrong. Not helped by my boarding gate opening 6 or 7 minutes late! And having to run along to it...
The flight itself was brilliant, though. I was really worried I wasn't going to like it XD But I actually really enjoyed it. I got a window seat and spent most of the time staring out at the patchwork ground and the clouds. OMG the clouds! They were so pretty! And I thought we'd only been in the air for like 20 minutes when they announced that we were starting our descent XD
So I got to Cologne without any trouble at about 9am local time. The coach to pick us up for the induction course wasn't supposed to get there till 2.30pm XD I spent about an hour working out how to get from the airport to the train station and actually getting there (my German for reading the ticket machine was rusty! XD) so arrived at the Hauptbahnhof around 10am. I spent a couple of hours milling around the station, went to starbucks, got food, ect... And ran out of things to do about 12pm. So I set up camp near where I thought we were supposed to meet and waited anxiously for about an hour till people started showing up XD Then I made some friends~
It was weird to hear/see German everywhere. I know it shouldn't have been, being in Germany and all, but it really was! Just to see billboards and things in German... Just the start of culture shock I guess XD
So the coach turned up on time and took us off to Altenberg, about half an hour's drive from Cologne. It's really pretty out there! I don't have any pictures of the sceneary but it was a small village surrounded by woods and it was gorgeous! I do have some pictures of the inside of the place we were staying and the cathedral next door, though. I'll get those uploaded sometime soon for you guys to see.
The place was like a big community centre (but I mean BIG. It had two dorms of sleeping rooms, plus a cafeteria, plus a big hall, plus various conference rooms). It was really old and pretty :3 I have to admit, I wasn't expecting much of the place because we were only paying 30 Euros for accommodation and food, but it was really nice! I shared a room with two other girls but we all got our own beds (which were really comfy) and there was plenty of space/showering facilities. Everywhere was really clean, too! And the foooood. The food was AMAZING. They really, really liked to feed us there! We had breakfast, lunch and dinner every day along with coffee/tea and cake in the afternoon. Breakfast was either a bread roll with cheese/ham or conflakes with coffee or tea or juice. Lunch was always something cooked and there was both vegetarian and meat options. I took the vege food most of the time because the meat options tended to be with red meat and I don't like red meat much. The first night there was this mushroom and rice dish with a creamy brown sauce that was absolutely delicious! I ate nearly three bowls of the stuff. There was also a bar in the evening (tried some German beer, didn't like it).
The course lasted three days and was really intensive. 12 hour days intensive |D But also really interesting! They did a general introduction to Germany, on cultural norms and things like supermarkets, how to use the trains, ect, along with telling us exactly what we had to do when we got to our schools (registration with local authorities, bank accounts, ect). Then we were introduced to various teaching strategies, given some teaching materials and told to plan a lesson. The next day we all gave practise lessons for various age groups in groups of 2-3, with the rest of the group of assistents pretending to be the kids who were being taught. Pretending to be a 12 year old learning English is fun ;) It was a really good experience to see the different teaching styles and to try and decide which one worked best for you.
I made a lot of friends over the three days :3 We'll all keep in touch through fb and hopefully meet up over the time we're here~
After breakfast on the last day (at 6am, ugh) the coach took us back to Cologne where we said our goodbyes and set off for our various schools.
That involved a 5 hour train ride for me XD; A large group of us all got on the train to Hamburg, as we all had to switch there. So the first 3 hours were fun~ Then we all scattered at Hamburg Hauptbahnhof for various other trains and I got on my regional train to Elmshorn. I got very surprised when it had two floors! It's really weird to get on a train and go downstairs! Trains don't do that in England XD
My mentor was super nice and met me in Elmshorn to save me the trouble of switching trains again with my huge luggage XD There I met my mentor and the teacher I was going to stay with until my flat became ready (another teacher was moving in with her bf and I was going to take her old flat in Barmstedt). We chatted and had some coffee before Angela took me back to her house where I got to meet her adorable dog! We also hung out with the neighbours a bit who spoke very little English XD So I was very glad when I could understand/be understood, haha...
I stayed with Angela for a few days, during which I got my first day at school. It mostly consisted of meeting people and watching a few classes XD The kids were all super nice and so curious! It was adorable~ I really liked staying with her :3 We had a barbecue with the neighbours and their own adorable kids who were also really curious about me and England XD
We then helped the other teacher move out of her flat so that I could move in. The only problem was that the flat was unfurnished... Luckily, all my colleagues are amazingly nice people! So many people stepped up with stuff I could have or just borrow. I suddenly gained a bed, a matress for guests, a table, two chairs, a chest of drawers, various kitchen things, an iron and a bedside table without having to pay for any of it! The only things I need now are a washing machine and a microwave XD Microwave I can live without for now and Angela is currently being amazing and washing my clothes for me as there is no laundromat in Barmstedt. I am so amazed at how nice everyone has been! I've even been given a bike to get to and from school each day :3 (about a 10 minute journey)
So I'm happily set up in my flat~ It's a bit cold cause I can't turn the heating on yet XD (it's in summer mode) but it's pretty nice~ Barmstedt has enough shops for cheap food/clothes/books/ect and if I need anything else I can just hop on the train to Elmshorn (15 minutes away) or Hamburg (30 minutes).
The school is awesome! I just watched lessons for the first week, to see how different teachers taught/wanted me to help in their lessons and also to decide which classes/teachers I wanted to actually join when I set up my schedule. Starting this week, I've had an actual schedule with the kids I most enjoyed working with. I've got a nice mix of ages, from 12-19, though I have more classes with the younger ones than the older ones. But the older ones are encouraged to email/chat with me as much as I'm happy for them to outside of school hours XD The kids, all ages, are freaking cute! Especially the younger ones, of course, but the older ones can be cute too~ Some of the pronunciation is adorable and I know it's mean but I kind of have to smile. They smile too, when they realise they've done it wrong, so I guess it's ok XD;
I also have 'nachhilfe', or tutoring, with three 12 year olds a week. It's an hour after school each, where I can give them focused attention to help them get better :3 And I get paid extra, which is also nice~
There's also... I don't what to call it. Culture shock I guess? Little things that throw me off a bit because they're different when I didn't expect them XD Like not having on/off switches on plugs! And the windows! All the windows I've seen so far can be opened two ways; you can tilt them back to open them a little at the top, or you can swing them open fully. I've never seen windows like that before XD Milk also tastes different here, though I haven't a clue why... Also mosquitos. I don't like them :|
There's also the less obvious ones. The courtesy for bike riders is one! And it's nice XD Cars will actually stop volentarilly for bikers to cross roads, not just when they're forced to XD And there's a lot more biking here than I'm used to at home. LOADS of the kids ride to school every day. german kids also seem to generally be more well behaved... though that might be because I'm at a Gymnasium (the adademic high-school). Teachers routinely let the kids break off into small groups and go outside the classroom to work without supervision. In all the grades, so that's 12-19 year olds. We certainly weren't let out in small groups like that until at least GCSE (15-16) if not A-level (17-18).
And of course, the kids all seem surprised at how young I am, because Germans generally go to Uni later than we do in the UK. They all seem really surprised to hear that I'm in my 3rd year of uni XD And one of the 12 year olds commented on my height... "Wait, you're 20? But I come up to your shoulder and I'm only 12!" I know, kid, I know... Germans are tall XD When i taught some 15 year olds, they thought I was a new student till the teacher introduced me |D
TL;DR I'm happily settled and adjusting to my new life of teaching German children English~ I'm missing everyone at home, espcially taichou, but I'm coping and adjusting. Hopefully I'll get to explore the country a bit soon :3 I do have fridays off so weekend trips around are definitely possible =D
Sorry to ramble on so much! I love you all~ <3