I have survived my first chaotic, busy, interesting, brilliant week in Germany!
I really don't know where to start!! Firstly, I just want to take a moment to say that I have well and truly fallen in love with Trier. Every time I walk through the town, I have this big, goofy smile on my face. It's just so pretty and there is always something going on or something new to look at! Here are some photos that I have taken of the town:
[The Hauptmarkt]
[The Porta Nigra]
[Me with my first ever Currywurst]
[The other ELA's and I]
[The Palace Gardens]
See, it's really pretty, isn't it?!
On Monday, I had my first day at the school. School starts at 7.50am, so, not knowing how long it would take to get there, I got on the 6.45am bus and ended up arriving at 7.10am! It was a bit like a ghost town when I arrived, but I didn't mind that much because it allowed me to find my way to where I needed to be without other people laughing at how lost I looked. Despite this, my confusion must have been spotted because the caretaker wandered over and asked if he could help me. Well, I presume that's what he said. He had such a strong accent, that he could have been speaking Swahili to me for all I knew! Anyway, he seemed to have understood me and took me into the school. I then followed him to the staffroom, where (at a more reasonable hour) I met my new colleagues, who are very friendly and welcoming, despite speaking to me at about a million miles per hour. My new most used phrase is "wie bitte?" (pardon?) and I have also become very accomplished at nodding and smiling blankly. Anyway, I digress...
So, I went to my first lesson (a year 6 class) and they showed me around the school while asking me a multitude of questions. They are all so adorable apart from one boy who, when he found out that I couldn't speak French, decided that it would be fun to talk to me entirely in French, just because I can't understand it. Thankfully, after a couple of times chatting to him and allowing him to discover that I'm not a complete psycho-ogre, he now speaks to me in a language that I (semi) understand and is becoming one of my favourites! There is also a girl in this class who reminds me of one of my best friends because neither of them have "inside voices" and they are so cynical and sarcastic.
The year 10 class that I taught were a different kettle of fish! They are all quite rowdy, but they are great kids. The teacher had them write me letters introducing themselves, and I must say, I was very impressed with some of them! Others on the other hand were a little... Interesting. I had one boy write that while I was at this school he would do anything for me which was sweet and made me laugh a lot! Another student wrote that they were happy that I am here to help them to "speak and ride English" and another asked "Why did you come on our school?" Although they were funny, I understand what it is like to learn another language, so I wasn't too harsh on them!
On Wednesday my mentor teacher was off, so I shadowed another teacher. I went to a year 9 class, where they didn't let me introduce myself at first, but instead talked over me, asking me if I was the teacher's wife, sister or daughter! They were a very low ability class and were also, frankly, a little scary! I don't think that I will ask to go back there again...
All in all, this week at school has been a busy, yet very enjoyable one! It's been chaotic, though, because I've had to register at the town hall and set up a bank account etc. By last night I was completely shattered! I went for a Chinese with some of the other ELAs (English Language Assistants) and could hardly keep my eyes open towards the end of the evening! But that may have also had something to do with the "Tsingtao" and "Bitberger" beers and strawberry (yes, strawberry!) wine that I drank!
So there you are, there is a brief overview of my first week at school! I know that there must be things that I have forgotten to put in, but every time I come to write this blog, my mind goes a bit blank and I forget everything that I meant to write! Oh well, they will come back to me and I will write them another time. Right now, a bath and a glass of my (surprisingly good) strawberry wine is waiting for me!!
Thanks for reading,
Bel xxx
P.S. As promised in my previous Blog, here is the picture of the pickled veg aisle in the supermarket.
Enjoy!
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