Busy Busy Busy!!

Hi!

The last few weeks have been a bit mad, which can only mean one thing...I have lots to tell you! I had to go to Altenberg last week on the introductory course, and haven’t had a chance to write since getting back to Plauen, so again, apologies for the long post!

Before leaving for Altenberg I got a little bit stressed out! My package still hasn’t arrived in Germany, and after receiving an email asking me to contact UPS directly to confirm my details, I was told that it had, in fact, been sent back to the UK. As you can imagine, I wasn’t at all pleased! Jon had to contact them several times whilst I was in Altenberg, until eventually they refused to speak to him and demanded that they spoke directly to me! I was told that if I wanted the package to be sent back to Germany, I would have to pay the fee again, despite the fact it was actually their mistake, not mine! It’s been such a hassle trying to phone and mail them from Germany, but this afternoon, they finally agreed to send it back to me free of charge! :) Hopefully, it will get here in 3-5 days!

On top of all the hassle re. my package, I also had a bit of a stress trying to meet my mentor! I wanted to see her before I left for Altenberg, as one of the reasons I came out early was to be able to get to know her and the school. We arranged that she would pick me up from my flat on Thursday afternoon, but she didn’t actually turn up! Apparently, she was a little late, and was actually let into my flat- but I was in all afternoon and definitely didn’t see her! So yeah, I did start to feel as if nothing was going right and because I didn’t really know anyone here, I started to miss home a lot. But I seem to have snapped out of it since Altenberg! 

Kölner Dom

So, because Altenberg is sooo far away from Plauen, and I didn't fancy the 7 hour journey on the Monday morning, I decided to travel to Cologne (where we were being picked up) on the Sunday. Phil, who is working in Cologne for his year abroad, kindly offered me a place to stay on the Sunday night and,as an added bonus, Rebecca (who also studies with me in Bangor) stayed the night too! It was sooo lovely to see some familiar faces, especially after having a few rubbish days! Rebecca, her friend Geordie and I spent the following morning in Cologne (unfortunately, Phil had to work) and we had a lovely time going up the Kölner Dom, even if I was nearly dying by the time we got to the top!! Köln was lovely, and Phil and his flat mates were extremely welcoming, so I’m sure I’ll be paying another visit some time during the year- especially seeing as I didn’t go to the Lindt factory this time!

Köln

So yeah…the course in Altenberg! I think it’s fair to say it wasn’t the most thrilling time of my life! I don’t feel like I particularly learnt much at all, and did find that I was bored a lot of the time! However, it was really nice to meet the other assistants who are working in Sachsen. I particularly liked the fact that you share a room with the person who’s school is geographically closest to yours. My roommate was an Australian girl who’s teaching in a Grundschule and a Gymnasium about 40 mins away from Plauen. We got on very well, so I will definitely be meeting up with her sometime soon :) Despite feeling bored a lot of the time, meeting some more people and being able to see Phil and Rebecca definitely made the course seem worth while!

95 course members from the UK& Ireland, Canada, New Zealand
and 1 from Australia!

I went to the school for the first time on Friday and (finally!) got to meet my mentor, who is lovely! I didn’t do very much on Friday apart from filling in some forms, getting my key for the staffroom, classrooms and copy room and meeting some of the staff. Being in the staffroom felt a bit daunting at first, but I soon learnt that the staff were all very friendly and really excited to have me in the school. One of the German teachers also has a desk that I can have, so they’ve all been really friendly and welcoming so far! Today was my first day of teaching, and when I arrived at the staffroom this morning, I found a vase of flowers on my desk off my mentor to welcome me to the school :) I taught classes 5, 6 & 11 today and had loads of fun! I really enjoyed teaching all of the classes, and was impressed by their standards of English. I also sat in on two Leistungskurs Deutsch (advanced German for the ‘sixth formers’) classes for my own benefit. It was really interesting to see how the Germans study German, and it will be interesting to see what literature they will be studying throughout the year. I had a really good day today, and am looking forward to tomorrow- even if school does start at 7.30am!

My Flowers :)

Even though I am really enjoying teaching up to now, I am super excited for the half term break in three weeks! Jon has booked his ticket to come and visit, and we are going to stay in a lovely hotel in Berlin for my 21^st birthday! I’m really really looking forward to it!

I think I’ve moidered enough now. This week I am going to join a few clubs- the shortlist so far consists of hockey, theatre and choir! Hopefully it’ll be a great way of getting to know more German people!

I shall be sure to let you know what I get up to!