I'm a true Kieler at heart

Tuesday Febrary 26th

Had a flat on the way to school had to park my bike and walk the rest of the way. I had left with enough time to spare though because I knew that my tire hadn't been cooperating and was going to do this soon. I had tried to repair it last week (found 4 holes in the innertube and patched them, but there must have been one that I didn't find.)

I went to my 13th grade class and the teacher told me that I would be presenting on myself (hometown, college, etc) the next week in class. Then I went to my 10th grade class where we had an intern join us. She asked me if I could speak any German since I have been here for a while and I had to laugh...she didn't know that I studied German. She probably thought that I studied English and that was why I am here. So then I explained everything to her. I walked back from school to pick up my bike. When doing so it started pouring down rain and the wind was gusting at high speeds. My bike and I were being blown forward and I didn't even have to put much effort into walking, since the wind was aiding me in the right direction! I was pretty much soaked by the time I got back to my place and then changed and warmed up. This is usual weather on the Baltic Coast. It clouds over out of nowhere and then pours. This is what you get when you live by the water!

Wednesday February 27th

We started watching the movie American History X in my other grade 13 class. I don't know if anyone reading it has ever seen it, but it is an intense movie. Unfortunately, I won't get to see the end...but my teacher told me what happens. This led to a small discussion about extremist groups in the U.S. My teacher was shocked that they aren't outlawed and I told her that they can't outlaw them based on freedom of expression. Anyway the movie deals with a lot of major and controversial issues in today's society in the inner cities of America. The movie takes place in Venice Beach in California. I was quite appalled by the end of the first scene, but I won't go into too much detail about the movie. Watch it yourself or read about it online.

On a lighter note, I did a lesson on the Amish with my 10th graders. We had already watched the movie "The Witness," also a good movie for anyone interested in learning about the Amish and interesting in general, so since the kids already had background knowledge to work with, we listed the Pros and Cons of being Amish on the board and then they were assigned to form groups and write dialogues as parents trying to convince their child/children not to leave the Amish community. Next week, they will present these in class. I think the kids find it intriguing to know that there are people living in the 21st century as if they were living in the 16th. They asked me a few questions about the image of the Amish in the eyes of Americans and whether or not they are integrated into society.

Thursday February 28th

I did a lesson on immigration again with my 12th graders. This time, I compiled a bunch of pictures that I got offline that had to do with immigration from the past and present. Some of them were of Europeans on boats to the U.S., some of Mexicans crossing the border, one of the wall along the border, one of the KKK and so on. I had the students look at each picture, tell me what they saw, thought of, how it made them feel, and why they thought I chose the picture to represent immigration to the U.S. This was one of my best lessons so far. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to get through the whole slideshow, but I could tell that the students really found the lesson interesting.

Today, I took the bus to school and then walked back. I found out it only takes about 40-45 minutes which is shorter than i thought. Apparently Germans Crime Investigation Series "Tatort" was being filmed this day and I walked right past it and didn't even notice. One of the teachers from my school had seen me walking and told me that I missed the excitement. I guess I just wasn't paying any attention because the weather was so nice that it was distracting me.

Friday 29th

Today was an extra day in February. I found out what Leap year is called in German from one of my teachers. She told me the name for it and I was unsure as to why it was called what it was called. I thought I must have misunderstood, so I came back and looked up the word online to make sure I had heard right. The word in German is Schaltjahr. In English, this translates to switch year. This is similiarly pronounced to what I thought I heard her say... which was "Scheitjahr" translates to Shit year! Now you know why I thought I had to be wrong with my listening comprehension!! I only have one class on Fridays now because one of my teachers asked to change my schedule. This is nice, but also somewhat pointless... Anyway, the class was my conversation hour (with three students) and we were continuing our discussion on the movie "Forrest Gump." The three students I work with are preparing for an important test and therefore the teacher is having me work with them individually and seperate from the class itself. It's fun and they are good at English so that helps a lot. In the evening, I just spent time making travel plans.

Saturday March 1st (It's March already!!!??)

It rained almost all day, but I did manage to go for a run in the 25 minutes that it stopped. I brought my bike upstairs and Nicolas my roommate had a look at it for me. He found another hole, patched it and now it appears to be fine other than the fact that the tire is bulging... which means I will probably need a new one. He was impressed with my patchwork on the other holes. He said I did it right and that he was shocked because Anke, our other roommate was the first girl he ever met that could do this and now he had another one to add to the list. I didn't think it was that difficult to do even though it was my first time patching a tire. I told him he just doesn't know the right girls! In the evening, it hailed and the wind was so strong, I thought it might blow us away, but this is actually quite normal as I said before! Welcome to rainy coastal Germany! I don't mind it though. I have definitely gotten used to it. It also makes you appreciate the days that are nice more and I make full use of them when they come!

Sunday March 2nd

Today began rainy and I thought it would last all day, but it didn't. Around 2 the weather turned to blue skies and I went for a run and later for a nice walk down to the water and back. It's days like these that I realize how beautiful Kiel is. I know I have probably written this a million times now but this place has become a part of me and I have become a part of it. I like to think of myself as a Kieler. I find myself attracted to the water and find it to be the most appealing part of Kiel, as do it's inhabitants, I have also found myself defending Kiel's beauty to one of the interns at the school (she was comparing it to Heidelberg, after I told her I had been there), I greet people with the traditional "Moin," and I find myself saying "na" a lot, which can mean a number of things depending on the context of its usage.

To add a little change to my routine, I didn't wake up to my alarm or the sun shining in my window this morning. I woke up to a strange alarm going off outside. My first thought was that it was a fire alarm in our building because it was so loud. But then I remembered that Germany doesn't have these or smoke detectors in buildings. I know, it is quite surprising. I finally did find the source of the alarm, it was on a building directly across from ours, but I never figured out what is was for or what caused it to go off. After about 15 minutes it finally stopped.