Moin Moin from Kiel! For those of you reading this who don’t know what that means, it is the standard greeting here in the north. It is similar to Good Morning, but you can say it all day long. It’s little things like that, that separate the North from the South here in Germany. One thing I was really excited about though was to find out that there are Laugenbrezeln/broetchen in the North, even if they don’t taste quite as good as they do in the South!
Wow, I can’t believe that I have been here for almost a month now! It seems to me as if I just arrived a few days ago. Last weekend I met up with Ryan (Scotland) and Diedre (Canada), who are also teaching assistants in Kiel. We went to Subway (they didn’t have much money) and then spent the rest of the night wandering around the city looking for places where the younger crowds gather and searching for Kieler night life. We found plenty of bars and a few discos. To our surprise, we even stumbled upon the small but still present red light district of Kiel! We had a nice evening together which was mostly spent getting to know one another. I was the experienced one having been here much longer than them. They just arrived the week before last week and therefore are just getting started. I am constantly reminded of how good I have it to be living with a family who won’t let me pay for anything and to have a bed to sleep in. Ryan was living in a youth hostel for three days, but finally found an apartment. The only thing is, is that the apartment isn’t furnished and therefore he is sleeping on a foam pad on the floor. Lots of TA’s I have met here have had a similar start. I’m thankful I didn’t have to do that.
Monday my host dad and I took a trip to Rendsburg to get my Visa/living allowance. This time I didn’t have to wait hours on end like I did in Heidelberg! I was completely shocked! There must be more foreigners living in Heidelberg than around here. However, if I would have had to go to Kiel to get it, I probably would have had to wait longer, but since the town I am living in belongs to a different county, I got to take the short way out. Tuesday it was back to school, but halfway through the day, I was asked by a history teacher at my school, if I would like to join him and his class on a Jewish tour of Kiel. His class just finished the topic of WWII and he likes to plan trips that coincide with the material in the classroom. This was an interesting 2 hour tour of Kiel concentrating on places where Jews have lived and memorials that have been erected for those who were killed during the Holocaust. I think it is always good to make history a bit more personal, so that students can actually understand how real the situation was even if it did occur in the past. I then attended one of the History teacher’s fifth grade classes on Friday and the students thought that I was a new student! Yeah, go figure! I’m hoping it is the height thing… They thought it was “really cool” though that I am from the U.S. and that they could understand me when I introduced myself in English.
Also on Friday I was shown around the University by one of my teachers. It is fairly large in comparison to Heidelberg’s or perhaps it just appears this way because the buildings are all concentrated together. Friday night I went out with the History teacher “Lars” and some of his friends with whom he had studied in Kiel. They were all very nice and want to show me around the state I am in! Lars has his PhD and it is weird for me and probably most Americans to think that he teachers grades 5-13. I talked to my host family about this and they said that most Germans who get their PhD don’t necessarily intend on teaching at the University level and many just do it for their interest in research, not to move up in any chain. I found that quite interesting. I also found out that professors and teachers make about the same amount of money. That is, there isn’t much of a pay difference between working at a high school and working at a college. I thought in the U.S. this would be unacceptable, but then I remembered what some of my professors at Bethany make and well it is the same if not lower than high school teacher salaries…
Yesterday, Saturday, my host mom, grandma and I took a trip to Eckernfoerde, which is a small city close to Kiel. Its architecture is older and it is very beautiful. Not that Kiel isn’t! In the evening, last night, I met up with the other teaching assistants again and we went to dinner at an Asian restaurant. It was delicious. Then we went to the movies to watch Spiderman 3 in German. The theater we went to is like the theaters back in the day, old fashioned, with a balcony and a curtain that hangs in front of the screen. It is only one room and it only cost 2 Euro to watch the movie. It reminded me of the old theater that Barnesville used to have. I remember we took a field trip there once. That is what it looked like. After the movie we went to the “Kieler Brauerei” where total chaos had broken loose. My family informed me that it is always that wild there. It was funny though to watch the people (men, mind you) dancing on tables. I felt like we were at Oktoberfest, which by the way starts this week…not that I will be able to go, but just food for thought.
Today, well every Sunday, we have a huge breakfast with boiled eggs and a variety of delicious breads…mmm. After breakfast we (Host mom, grandma, and I) headed to Strande, a small town outside of where we live. There we walked for miles through fields, past old farming houses that have been renovated, and along the Baltic Sea coast. The weather is beautiful today! Something we haven’t experienced too often since I have been here. The smell of the water and sand was refreshing. My family is trying to show me as much as possible and I continue to be spoiled, since their only daughter is in Australia.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Settling in
Well it’s the weekend. I made it through my first week at the school! I am starting to get adjusted and am slowly learning people’s names, that is the names of my collegues. I am just starting on learning the names of my students. To make this clearer, I don’t just teach one individual class, I teach about 8 different classes and so it will take a while to learn all of their names, if that is even possible! The reason I am teaching so many different classes is because all of the teachers want to make use of me as a native speaker, which I think says a lot for the school and its teachers. All of the teachers that I am working with, eight total, are extremely nice and have gone out of their way to make me feel comfortable. I will be able to teach sections of lessons and whole lessons soon, which is exciting and scary at the same time!
In most of the classes, I was introduced to the students and then they were allowed to ask me questions. Of course you can imagine some of the questions they asked. The typical “How old are you?” and “Where are you from?” and then the most important questions, for example “Do you speak German?” and “Do you like Bush?” Some students asked for the cultural differences between America and Germany, which I always find hard to explain. There are so many that I had to pick out a few of the larger (in my eyes) differences for example school, lifestyle, environment and such. In one class, Herr Meyer assigned a homework assignment about me. He told the kids to write a short article from the information I gave them about myself for the yearbook! This should be interesting....Overall the kids seemed impressed with what I had to tell them and were very interested. Their English skills are also very good. Of course they should be good because they have had as many years of English as I have of German and many of my students have already spent half a year to a year abroad in an English-speaking country. Studying abroad is very popular for high school age students.
Thursday I went out to lunch with two of my colleagues. We planned to have movie nights once a week at Andrea’s place, which will be fun. Yesterday it rained most of the day so my host mom, grandma and I stayed in and watched a movie. Today grandma and I woke up early and went into the city to try to finish my paperwork for my bank account. I should have an account by Wednesday so I finally get my money, which is important for survival. Then we went onto the top floor of a department store and out onto the parking lot to watch the brand new cruise ship from Norway coming into the harbor. There is a huge celebration in the city today and 30,000 people are expected to be there. People were coming in herds on their bikes into the city and we watched it all from above. We had a great view. The Norwegian Band Aha is also playing a live concert this afternoon, which I will unfortunately miss. I had planned to go to it with Ryan from Scotland and a few other teaching assistants who are living in Kiel, but instead we are all going out for dinner together later this evening. I haven’t actually met any of them yet, but have been in contact with them through email. It will be a good start to meeting younger people here and will give me someone to do things with.
A few days ago I finally booked my flight to Croatia for fall break! I will be there for 12 days total visiting my two friends I met in Heidelberg. I’m really excited to see them again and for them to show me around their country! I told them that one day I would come visit them in Croatia and now I am really doing it. It’s hard to believe! In addition, I already have a trip scheduled for October 8th to a school in Bremen through the US Consulate. I will be talking to two groups of students for approximately an hour about immigration and the American Dream. I think this is such a huge topic that it will be hard to condense into an hour, but at least I have a lot of material with which I can work. Well that is my update for this week!
In most of the classes, I was introduced to the students and then they were allowed to ask me questions. Of course you can imagine some of the questions they asked. The typical “How old are you?” and “Where are you from?” and then the most important questions, for example “Do you speak German?” and “Do you like Bush?” Some students asked for the cultural differences between America and Germany, which I always find hard to explain. There are so many that I had to pick out a few of the larger (in my eyes) differences for example school, lifestyle, environment and such. In one class, Herr Meyer assigned a homework assignment about me. He told the kids to write a short article from the information I gave them about myself for the yearbook! This should be interesting....Overall the kids seemed impressed with what I had to tell them and were very interested. Their English skills are also very good. Of course they should be good because they have had as many years of English as I have of German and many of my students have already spent half a year to a year abroad in an English-speaking country. Studying abroad is very popular for high school age students.
Thursday I went out to lunch with two of my colleagues. We planned to have movie nights once a week at Andrea’s place, which will be fun. Yesterday it rained most of the day so my host mom, grandma and I stayed in and watched a movie. Today grandma and I woke up early and went into the city to try to finish my paperwork for my bank account. I should have an account by Wednesday so I finally get my money, which is important for survival. Then we went onto the top floor of a department store and out onto the parking lot to watch the brand new cruise ship from Norway coming into the harbor. There is a huge celebration in the city today and 30,000 people are expected to be there. People were coming in herds on their bikes into the city and we watched it all from above. We had a great view. The Norwegian Band Aha is also playing a live concert this afternoon, which I will unfortunately miss. I had planned to go to it with Ryan from Scotland and a few other teaching assistants who are living in Kiel, but instead we are all going out for dinner together later this evening. I haven’t actually met any of them yet, but have been in contact with them through email. It will be a good start to meeting younger people here and will give me someone to do things with.
A few days ago I finally booked my flight to Croatia for fall break! I will be there for 12 days total visiting my two friends I met in Heidelberg. I’m really excited to see them again and for them to show me around their country! I told them that one day I would come visit them in Croatia and now I am really doing it. It’s hard to believe! In addition, I already have a trip scheduled for October 8th to a school in Bremen through the US Consulate. I will be talking to two groups of students for approximately an hour about immigration and the American Dream. I think this is such a huge topic that it will be hard to condense into an hour, but at least I have a lot of material with which I can work. Well that is my update for this week!
Monday, September 10, 2007
Last Day of Orientation/New Start at School
Our last day of orientation made me really excited to get started at my school. We had a special meeting for the 20 students who are participating in the Diversity Initiative Program. We discussed integration in the German School systems, mainly its successes and faults. This was really interesting for me and now I have 20 contacts, which I can use for my research, if they are willing to help me out. I also once again discovered how small the world is. At lunch I sat with a kid who was from the Seattle area, I believe. He kept telling me that I looked really familiar to him, but he just couldn't place where he had seen me before. I told him that I didn't think I had seen him until then, but he kept insisting that he had. We bagan discussing our study abroad semesters and stumbled upon the connection. He and I both studied abroad fall semester of '05. He was in Freiburg, where I did my Goethe Institut language course and where I met and became friends with his roommate, Yeka from Venezuela. I had went over to Yeka's one evening for dinner and he saw me then. Completely crazy, I know! The fact that he even remembered blows my mind, but we had a good laugh about this. (Yeka, if you are reading this let me know!)
After we left orientation we arrived back at Koeln's main station and I caught my train back to Kiel, where my hostparents were waiting for me. I went almost directly to bed when we got home because I had to get up for my first actual day at my school. On Friday, I arrived at 9:30 at my school and the department head of English was there waiting for me. She gave me a short tour of the school and introduced me to many of my new colleagues. Lots of new faces to remember and foreign names to top it off! Then I was invited to the Headmaster's office for coffe and a short discussion about my duties at the school. This went smoothly and he too complimented me on my German skills. I was floating on cloud 9. After this meeting, I attended two classes with the teachers that I will be spending the most of my time with and who are responsible for me, Andrea and Katja. The first class were 13th graders, yes they have 13 grades at the college prepatory schools, which means that the students are very close to my age. Three girls gave a presentation on California because they had all been there in the past year. Their English was pretty much error free, so I am looking forward to working with this class because they are at such a high level. Next I went to a 10th grade class. Their language skills were obviously not as strong as the previously class but they seemed excited that a native speaker from America was in their class. They are now referring to me as their walking dictionary, which could become hard if they ask me a word in German and I don't know the English equivalent. Anyway, for the first week or so I will just be observing my classes to get a feel for the students and their abilities. Once I am comfortable with them then I will start teaching. One difference that I already noticed was how talkative the students are. They talked during the entire lesson and it was mostly not about the topic. Maybe I just never noticed this in High School in the U.S. but it seems that the students here are less respectful and don't pay as much attention. I guess I will see in the next year. It will definitely be challenging at times, but I hope that I can share my culture and language with my students and make it interesting.
I now have a rough outline of a schedule and have Mondays free, which is nice if I want to travel to visit people on the weekends. Friday evening my host family and I went out for dinner and a drink in the city with some of their friends. Thomas runs a travel agency and he and his girlfriend want to show me around a little bit. I think this is a very nice offer and will of course take them up on it. It continues to amaze me how everyone here is willing to go out of their way to show me a good time, y family, my school, my family's friends. In northern Germany the people tend to be referred to as quiet and zuruckhaltend, which is a term that means that they hold back a bit. But there is a saying that once a Northerner gets to know and becomes your friend, you will be friends for life. I can already see the truth in this.
One more thing I want to comment on that struck me as odd at first, is how quickly the people here have allowed me to speak informally with them and use their first names. I had expected otherwise. My colleagues are much more laid back than I suspected they would be and pretty much everyone I have met thus far except my boss has told me to speak informally with them. Gramatically this makes things much easier for me, as I am not very used to speaking formally in German and this does not exist in English.
As for spare time, I doubt that I will have much of that. I plan to register at the University and hopefully be able to take a class or two, in addition to my research. Also, I signed up for the U.S. consulate program called Meet US. This is a program that allows teaching assistants to volunteer to travel to schools in their area and meet with students who have no teaching assistants and would otherwise not meet Americans. You get to talk to them for a few hours and they ask you questions. I think this is a good way to promote America positively and perhaps I can show German school children that there are people in the U.S. who are interested in countries and languages other than their own.
After we left orientation we arrived back at Koeln's main station and I caught my train back to Kiel, where my hostparents were waiting for me. I went almost directly to bed when we got home because I had to get up for my first actual day at my school. On Friday, I arrived at 9:30 at my school and the department head of English was there waiting for me. She gave me a short tour of the school and introduced me to many of my new colleagues. Lots of new faces to remember and foreign names to top it off! Then I was invited to the Headmaster's office for coffe and a short discussion about my duties at the school. This went smoothly and he too complimented me on my German skills. I was floating on cloud 9. After this meeting, I attended two classes with the teachers that I will be spending the most of my time with and who are responsible for me, Andrea and Katja. The first class were 13th graders, yes they have 13 grades at the college prepatory schools, which means that the students are very close to my age. Three girls gave a presentation on California because they had all been there in the past year. Their English was pretty much error free, so I am looking forward to working with this class because they are at such a high level. Next I went to a 10th grade class. Their language skills were obviously not as strong as the previously class but they seemed excited that a native speaker from America was in their class. They are now referring to me as their walking dictionary, which could become hard if they ask me a word in German and I don't know the English equivalent. Anyway, for the first week or so I will just be observing my classes to get a feel for the students and their abilities. Once I am comfortable with them then I will start teaching. One difference that I already noticed was how talkative the students are. They talked during the entire lesson and it was mostly not about the topic. Maybe I just never noticed this in High School in the U.S. but it seems that the students here are less respectful and don't pay as much attention. I guess I will see in the next year. It will definitely be challenging at times, but I hope that I can share my culture and language with my students and make it interesting.
I now have a rough outline of a schedule and have Mondays free, which is nice if I want to travel to visit people on the weekends. Friday evening my host family and I went out for dinner and a drink in the city with some of their friends. Thomas runs a travel agency and he and his girlfriend want to show me around a little bit. I think this is a very nice offer and will of course take them up on it. It continues to amaze me how everyone here is willing to go out of their way to show me a good time, y family, my school, my family's friends. In northern Germany the people tend to be referred to as quiet and zuruckhaltend, which is a term that means that they hold back a bit. But there is a saying that once a Northerner gets to know and becomes your friend, you will be friends for life. I can already see the truth in this.
One more thing I want to comment on that struck me as odd at first, is how quickly the people here have allowed me to speak informally with them and use their first names. I had expected otherwise. My colleagues are much more laid back than I suspected they would be and pretty much everyone I have met thus far except my boss has told me to speak informally with them. Gramatically this makes things much easier for me, as I am not very used to speaking formally in German and this does not exist in English.
As for spare time, I doubt that I will have much of that. I plan to register at the University and hopefully be able to take a class or two, in addition to my research. Also, I signed up for the U.S. consulate program called Meet US. This is a program that allows teaching assistants to volunteer to travel to schools in their area and meet with students who have no teaching assistants and would otherwise not meet Americans. You get to talk to them for a few hours and they ask you questions. I think this is a good way to promote America positively and perhaps I can show German school children that there are people in the U.S. who are interested in countries and languages other than their own.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
September 4, 2007
Yesterday Silke Helge and I ate breakfast at 6:30 am and then they dropped me off at the trainstation to catch the train at 8:21 to Hamburg where I switched to get on my train to Koeln. Once I got to the station in Koeln (the ride was around 5 hours) I tried to find the other fulbrighters. They were outside sitting on the steps of the Koelner Dom (Cologne Cathedral). There wouldn’t have been enough space for us all in the station…Luggage was piled up along the steps and total we were 180 students from English speaking countries and there are three rounds that come through orientation. One group was last week, we are this week and the last one comes next week. 150 of the 180 are Americans and the rest are a mixture of Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders and British. So you can only imagine what a sight it was with all of us in the city. After waiting what seemed like hours and meeting a bunch of new and interesting people, we got on the buses that brought us to Haus Altenberg, where our actual orientation is taking place. It is an old monastery that has been turned into a place where students come for special meetings such as ours. It is solely used for this purpose, but there is a cathedral where the village people (not a pun) can come.
After arriving at Haus Altenberg we were immediately assigned to our rooms. This was done according to states where we are placed. I am living with Helen from Chillicothe, Ohio, who went to OU and Rebecca from Atlanta, Georgia. They are stationed about an hour and 2 and ½ hours respectively from me. Helen is living in a small village about 10 kilometers from Denmark so I might have to go visit her and we can cross the border together. I have been hanging out with my roommates most of the time because we are also in working groups with the people from our states but I have also met a wide variety of other people. Most are very interesting. The first person I actually met in Koeln was Stephanie, who is going to Munich. She’s is really sweet, so maybe if I get the chance to head south I will stop by and visit her. Of course the percentage of guys to girls ration is very good for the boys and not so good for the girls, but the guys that I have met thus far have been very nice. It’s amazing to see how many Americans actually study German. When you are a German major, you think you are one among maybe 20 in the country but it is nice to know there are more people than that, who find the language important in the states. Most people here know someone else here who either went to school with them or near them. Of course no one hear knows where Bethany College is so I try to explain it to them.
We have had sessions most of the time so I haven’t had much time for anything else. The socializing comes at dinner or after all of the sessions come to an end. Today we divided up into groups to do simulated lessons. There are two really strong personalities in my group so they argued the whole time (believe it or not, that does not include me), but we came up with a lesson plan despite the fact that I wanted to strangle the one girl. After the sessions Helen and I went wandering around the village checking out the creek, woods, etc. We are literally in the middle of nowhere. The cows even thought we were coming to feed them and took off full speed running at us. Well that is all for now. I'll right again at the end of orientation!
Yesterday Silke Helge and I ate breakfast at 6:30 am and then they dropped me off at the trainstation to catch the train at 8:21 to Hamburg where I switched to get on my train to Koeln. Once I got to the station in Koeln (the ride was around 5 hours) I tried to find the other fulbrighters. They were outside sitting on the steps of the Koelner Dom (Cologne Cathedral). There wouldn’t have been enough space for us all in the station…Luggage was piled up along the steps and total we were 180 students from English speaking countries and there are three rounds that come through orientation. One group was last week, we are this week and the last one comes next week. 150 of the 180 are Americans and the rest are a mixture of Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders and British. So you can only imagine what a sight it was with all of us in the city. After waiting what seemed like hours and meeting a bunch of new and interesting people, we got on the buses that brought us to Haus Altenberg, where our actual orientation is taking place. It is an old monastery that has been turned into a place where students come for special meetings such as ours. It is solely used for this purpose, but there is a cathedral where the village people (not a pun) can come.
After arriving at Haus Altenberg we were immediately assigned to our rooms. This was done according to states where we are placed. I am living with Helen from Chillicothe, Ohio, who went to OU and Rebecca from Atlanta, Georgia. They are stationed about an hour and 2 and ½ hours respectively from me. Helen is living in a small village about 10 kilometers from Denmark so I might have to go visit her and we can cross the border together. I have been hanging out with my roommates most of the time because we are also in working groups with the people from our states but I have also met a wide variety of other people. Most are very interesting. The first person I actually met in Koeln was Stephanie, who is going to Munich. She’s is really sweet, so maybe if I get the chance to head south I will stop by and visit her. Of course the percentage of guys to girls ration is very good for the boys and not so good for the girls, but the guys that I have met thus far have been very nice. It’s amazing to see how many Americans actually study German. When you are a German major, you think you are one among maybe 20 in the country but it is nice to know there are more people than that, who find the language important in the states. Most people here know someone else here who either went to school with them or near them. Of course no one hear knows where Bethany College is so I try to explain it to them.
We have had sessions most of the time so I haven’t had much time for anything else. The socializing comes at dinner or after all of the sessions come to an end. Today we divided up into groups to do simulated lessons. There are two really strong personalities in my group so they argued the whole time (believe it or not, that does not include me), but we came up with a lesson plan despite the fact that I wanted to strangle the one girl. After the sessions Helen and I went wandering around the village checking out the creek, woods, etc. We are literally in the middle of nowhere. The cows even thought we were coming to feed them and took off full speed running at us. Well that is all for now. I'll right again at the end of orientation!
The next few days
On Friday I went out to dinner with the two teachers that I will be working with most of the time, Katja and Andrea. They are lots of fun and again I have to admit that I am very lucky to have landed in Kiel with all of these great people. We had a great time and it was like we had known each other for a long time! I am excited that I will be working with such nice colleagues and am confident that they will be helpful with everything. They told me that on next Friday, my first day in the school, I can just sit and watch them and they will show me around. So no stress, we are taking everything pretty slow, which I find to be good. They are letting me decide which age level I want to work with, which I can’t decide because I have only taught some language labs at Bethany and teaching experience with other age levels, I lack. I guess I will just go where they need me.
My colleagues also signed me up for student housing through the university and I will find out in October if I will receive a room. If not, then I am thinking about possibly staying with my host family. Although it is not directly in the city, which I would prefer, it is nice to have someone to constantly talk to when I want and like I said before they are just very wonderful people in general. Last night we had a dish from India for dinner, which was delicious. After dinner, I spent the next few hours showing them pictures from my hometown, family, Bethany and much more. We had interesting and hilarious conversations the rest of the night.
The weather remains rainy and is a bit of a downer but this will hopefully be better next week. Silke, my host mother, said that if the weather is better next weekend that we can go to Denmark!! See what I mean, when I say they are amazing! It’s like I am really their kid and they want to show me everything. Today we had a large breakfast with lots of delicious German broetchen! Mmmm…nothing beats German bread. After breakfast we went into the heart of Kiel and I took a few pictures even though the weather was not so beautiful. Then we went to see the ships entering the Nord-Ostsee Kanal (North-Baltic Sea Canal). If I understood correctly, this canal is the most important in the world and the number of ships that go through it yearly is higher than anywhere else. It was created by Kaiser Wilhelm for military purposes and it is very practical because the ships do not have to go north to get around Scandinavia, they can simply use the canal, which shortens the length of travel. Currently one of the locks is damaged because a boat drove into it, so they are working to fix it. Right now everywhere in Kiel is a construction site. Lots of roads are closed for repairs in every direction.
Tomorrow I leave for my orientation in Cologne and I have to leave early to make sure I catch the train because we are not sure if I will have delays because of the construction.
Orientation is four days and is held in an old monastery in a small city called Altenberg that is about 30 minutes outside of Cologne. All hundred and some assistants from the U.S. are meeting in the train station, where the buses will then take us to the castle. Needless to say this should be interesting and I am already wondering what exactly we will do for three days.
One more interesting thing I would like to add that has nothing to do with orientation but that I find wild, is that Silke’s grandmother is still alive. She is 101 years old. I have never met a person that old…close…but not quite that old. When I met her she opened her eyes to see who I was, but she doesn’t talk. She sits in a chair until 4 in which she usually sleeps the day away and then she goes to bed to sleep more. It isn’t really much of a life. She doesn’t move much at all and she has to be spoon fed. My host grandmother who takes care of her says that she thinks she was forgotten by God, which is kind of sad but in a way seems to be true. Anyway, that’s all for now. My next entry will cover orientation, where hopefully I will meet more interesting people and maybe I will find out that there is someone placed in a location near me in Schleswig-Holstein. Until then…much love!
My colleagues also signed me up for student housing through the university and I will find out in October if I will receive a room. If not, then I am thinking about possibly staying with my host family. Although it is not directly in the city, which I would prefer, it is nice to have someone to constantly talk to when I want and like I said before they are just very wonderful people in general. Last night we had a dish from India for dinner, which was delicious. After dinner, I spent the next few hours showing them pictures from my hometown, family, Bethany and much more. We had interesting and hilarious conversations the rest of the night.
The weather remains rainy and is a bit of a downer but this will hopefully be better next week. Silke, my host mother, said that if the weather is better next weekend that we can go to Denmark!! See what I mean, when I say they are amazing! It’s like I am really their kid and they want to show me everything. Today we had a large breakfast with lots of delicious German broetchen! Mmmm…nothing beats German bread. After breakfast we went into the heart of Kiel and I took a few pictures even though the weather was not so beautiful. Then we went to see the ships entering the Nord-Ostsee Kanal (North-Baltic Sea Canal). If I understood correctly, this canal is the most important in the world and the number of ships that go through it yearly is higher than anywhere else. It was created by Kaiser Wilhelm for military purposes and it is very practical because the ships do not have to go north to get around Scandinavia, they can simply use the canal, which shortens the length of travel. Currently one of the locks is damaged because a boat drove into it, so they are working to fix it. Right now everywhere in Kiel is a construction site. Lots of roads are closed for repairs in every direction.
Tomorrow I leave for my orientation in Cologne and I have to leave early to make sure I catch the train because we are not sure if I will have delays because of the construction.
Orientation is four days and is held in an old monastery in a small city called Altenberg that is about 30 minutes outside of Cologne. All hundred and some assistants from the U.S. are meeting in the train station, where the buses will then take us to the castle. Needless to say this should be interesting and I am already wondering what exactly we will do for three days.
One more interesting thing I would like to add that has nothing to do with orientation but that I find wild, is that Silke’s grandmother is still alive. She is 101 years old. I have never met a person that old…close…but not quite that old. When I met her she opened her eyes to see who I was, but she doesn’t talk. She sits in a chair until 4 in which she usually sleeps the day away and then she goes to bed to sleep more. It isn’t really much of a life. She doesn’t move much at all and she has to be spoon fed. My host grandmother who takes care of her says that she thinks she was forgotten by God, which is kind of sad but in a way seems to be true. Anyway, that’s all for now. My next entry will cover orientation, where hopefully I will meet more interesting people and maybe I will find out that there is someone placed in a location near me in Schleswig-Holstein. Until then…much love!
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