What kind of pants do you wear when dancing into May in southern Germany?

April 28th-May 5th

Monday

Today I had a class with the 8th graders for the first time by myself. I had been to a few of their classes before, so I knew their level and what to expect from them. My teacher had given me some vocabulary books with worksheets on the differences between British English and American English. A lot of people don't think that the differences in British and American English are that extreme, but I can say that there are more than I originally thought existed since I have been hanging around the Brits here and there are times when I simply don't understand what they are saying. This makes me think of a story. Ryan, my Scottish friend who left for Sweden, once told Dee that he didn't have any clean pants to wear and Dee said that she wears hers more than once a week and he looked at her disgusted...Clarification: to the Brits, pants are underwear! Anyway I didn't think this was too appropriate to tell the class, so I had copied one of the worksheets and then I had created a crossword puzzle for them also. This was fun for them, even if none of them got all of the right answers. The kids were pretty loud, but in my experience with them, this is how they normally are. It is hard to get a German classroom to be quiet. Sometimes you have to just stand at the front of the class and wait for them to realize they are too loud to continue. In my LK 13th grade class, after wandering around the whole school in search of a room with a screen and a DVD player, we started watching the movie “The Kingdom,” which is about Saudia Arabia and the U.S. This was not the first time I have had to go in search of a room at the school. It occurs very often, that rooms are changed and a class will be in the room that you normally have your class in and they send you somewhere else, only to find that this room is taken, too. The result is usually a waste of the first 5-10 minutes of class...The school is simply not big enough for the number of students that we have. To give you an example of the tightness in the classroom, the rows are so close together that you can't ask students to get up to come to the board, and students who come in late usually disturb the whole class trying to get to a seat because there is no other way. The normal class size is around 30, but once again the rooms just aren't made to hold this many kids.

Tuesday

Today, I had the eighth graders again for another lesson. This time we did another worksheet and afterwards we played bingo. I took in the Reese's cups that Natasha had brought and they were the prizes for the winners. They were excited when they won. One of the girls kept saying, “they had these in the U.S. when I was there!” I just laughed and thought to myself of course they did! We continued watching the movie in my LK class and then I had tutoring after school. After tutoring, I rushed home to finish packing my things and then I took the bus to the station. When I got on the train to leave for Heidelberg, I realized that I had forgotten my cell phone at home. I knew that I couldn't go there without it because I wouldn't be able to contact my friends. So needless to say, I had to get back on the bus and go back to my apartment. I had a little bit of time before the next train to Heidelberg and so I decided to go to the station early and grad a currywurst for dinner. I also had some things in my bag to snack on during the train ride. The connection ended up being better than the first one so it worked out in my favor that I missed it. I made it to Heidelberg around 11 p.m. and Kathrin met me at the station. We took the bus to Bismarkplatz and walked from there across the Neckar to her apartment in the Brueckenstrasse. We spent the next hour or so chatting before getting ready for bed.

Wednesday

Kathrin and I woke up around 9:30 the next day, ate breakfast and got ready to go to the Neckarwiese or the riverside as we would call it. The weather was beautiful and we sat in the sun taking pictures and talking. Other people had the same idea and were also laying around on the grass. Some people thought it was summer already and were laying out in swimsuits, to which Kathrin and I had to laugh! After an hour or so we went back to her apartment to get our things and meet up with some of her friends who I also knew from my semester abroad for lunch at the PH. We got lunch and made ourselves comfortable on the benches outside. Of course I can't go to Heidelberg, well the PH at least without seeing someone I know and the first person I saw was Markku, an exchange student who came to Bethany last year. He immediately got my attention and we talked for a few minutes and then I ate my lunch with the girls. Kathrin had a meeting with one of her professors, so I had contacted Beth Ann (Bethany student and friend of mine studying abroad) and we met at 2. We had coffee and cake and Markku talked to us some more until he had to leave. Kathrin came back and I had a hot chocolate, while she drank some coffee and we tried to plan for the afternoon/evening. We had originally planned to rent a paddle boat on the Neckar, but it rained so much that we didn't get to, so instead we went shopping in the Haupstrasse. For the evening, we had planned to “Tanz in den Mai” (dance/party into May; it's very popular to do this in Germany, they also put out May poles in every city for decoration) Our plan had originally been to go up to the Thingstaette where every year there is a big party for students in Heidelberg, but this is outside so we had to wait until later in the evening to decide what to do since it was still raining, as it always seems to when I come!.... . We ended up not going to the Thingstaette because it had rained so much and was probably really wet and muddy, but instead we had our own version in Kathrin's Apartment, with her five roommates and some of their friends and it was of course just as fun! Her roommates are all really nice and I think everyone had a good time! Beth Ann was also there.

Thursday

We woke up again around 9:30 and the four of us girls (Kathrin, myself, one of her roommates, and an old roommate of theirs) had breakfast together. We decided we were going to go out in a paddle boat on the Neckar this morning if the weather stayed nice. Sure enough, it did and we managed to get the paddle boat for a half an hour. It was Kathrin's roommates first time in a paddleboat and you could tell she enjoyed it. We had a beautiful view from the river and as I said it was perfect weather! This was a great way to end my unfortunately very short stay in Heidelberg. I was having a blast, but had planned to head down to Crailsheim to stop and see Svenni before going back up to Kiel. I wasn't sure if I would have the chance to do so again before I leave so I took this opportunity to do so. This meant, however, saying good bye to Kathrin once again, although I know I will see her again in July, when I am back in Heidelberg.
We made it back in time to get my stuff, grab a ticket and catch the tram to the station. I made it to the station with plenty of time and got on the train to Stuttgart and from there the train to Crailsheim. I met Svenni and Soeren at the station and they picked me up in their brand new car that they got for Christmas. I hadn't seen it yet and it was very nice. We got to their house and they had planned to cook out because the weather was so nice. Svenni and I went downstairs to help her grandma with the preparation. Her grandma was really excited to see me again and I was happy to see her too. Svenni and I made the pasta salad and a dip for the cucumbers. Then we had a nice long dinner outside on the back lawn. In the evening we watched television before getting ready for bed and school the next day.

Friday

Yes, you read correctly. I went to school with Svenni the next day, even though it was my day off! We met up with some of Svenni's friends before class started. The first two periods, she had math and she asked her teacher if it was ok that I was there and he didn't have a problem with it. He then asked her if I could speak good German and she said yes, so he asked me where exactly I was from and if I was visiting Germany. I told him that I was teaching here in Kiel, but I am sure that he thought that I misspoke/couldn't speak German because he looked at me like he didn't believe me. He probably thought I look to young to be teaching...The next two lessons, she had physics. We sat in the back and played games the first lesson and the second lesson the teacher gave them a worksheet and then sat and talked to us. The last two lessons of the day were English. Her teacher noticed that a guest was present and immediately asked me who I was and where I was from. I told her the states and that I was a friend of Svenni's and then she asked me if it would be ok if they spent the first hour of class asking me questions and then the second hour they could have free. I agreed and told Svenni later that she owed me! : ) Most of the conversation consisted of her asking me questions. The only thing Svenni could come up with to ask me, was what my favorite food is. She said she knew everything else, of course! I ended up talking about the elections and public transportation and a variety of other topics, such as why I am here. The teacher thanked me and we left when the bell rang. We got back to Svenni's house and her grandma already had lunch ready for us so we went downstairs to eat. We decided that we would go to the Brombac Lake when we were finished because the weather was so nice that we didn't want to waste the day inside! I was really proud of Svenni for finding her way to the lake after she told me she had only driven there a few times before. We had beautiful views of the scenery around us on the way there and at one point we got distracted from talking and missed our turn off, but this didn't matter. We just went to the other side of the lake first. We went down to the water and took some pictures and then we went to get ice cream. Instead, they were selling something called a Germknoedel. I had never eaten this before, but Svenni assured me that it was good, so I took her word for it. Most Americans reading this probably think it sounds gross because it looks like it says germ dumpling, but it has nothing to do with germs and it is absolutely delicious! It is a type of huge bread dumpling with a fruit filling (ours was strawberry) and it had cinnamon on top and warm vanilla sauce all around it!! Mmm! I later found out this comes from Austria.

Saturday

Today, I spent most of my day on the train. In the morning, we woke up and ran to the bakery to get some breakfast and something for me to take on the train and then it was time to say goodbye. Heike, Svenni's mom had written me a note, since she was already gone for the day and I went downstairs to say goodbye to grandma. I'll admit it, I almost cried. There were definitely tears in my eyes, when she asked me if she would see me again before I leave for home and I told her I wasn't sure, but that I would definitely be back. As I said goodbye to Svenni at the station, it was the same for both of us. Neither of us wanted to cry, but we could both sense the tension of the moment so we just smiled and said until next time! The train ride back to Kiel went smoothly and I came back unpacked my things and went to the supermarket to buy food for the 9 hour train ride to Prague tomorrow morning. I then made dinner and packed my bag again and went to bed so that I would be able to get up at 5 a.m.

Sunday

Andrea and her husband picked me up at 6 a.m. from my apartment and we went to the station to meet the class and our other chaperon for the trip. All the kids were on time and we boarded the train. I was really excited for the trip and to get to know the kids, so I couldn't concentrate too much on reading or anything of the sort. When we had to switch trains in Buechen, a woman was sitting in one of our reserved seats and wouldn't move. It was really funny because she was asking us what we wanted her to do and we said get up and find a new seat! Isn't that obvious?? Then there was another class group that boarded our train in Berlin. The girls in this class kept trying to get the attention of our boys, but thankfully it wasn't effective! The train ride to Prague went by very quickly, probably because I was so excited and as we got close to the border and were riding along the Moldau, the scenery was so beautiful. We arrived at the station and were met by our Translator and guide for the trip. I never did get her name, but she was a very friendly lady. She helped us get our Metro tickets and then took us to our hotel and helped us get checked in. The next shock was to come, upon entering our rooms. We were originally told that there were only 2 and 3 person rooms and we ended up being four to a room. When we opened the doors, we understood. The rooms were originally for two people but had two extra cots placed in them and there was barely enough room to walk. It could have been worse, but we were paying just as much as everyone else and therefore complained. We were told we had to make it through the night and they would deal with it in the morning. I was in a room with 3 very sweet girls who I got to know very quickly. We ended up going into the city together after dinner for a few hours. Sascha, the other chaperon walked around with us and showed us the places to see. Then it was back to the hotel for the night. My first impression of Prague was that it was a very beautiful and clean city and I had only seen a very small part of it. I couldn't wait to see more!