Hi!
I’ve been back in school for a
week now, and I’m not entirely sure where my two-week holiday went! I had a
really lovely half term, even if it did appear to fly by!
I’m going to start by telling you
about the last school trip I went on (because if I don’t do things in
chronological order, I get really confused!) I think I mentioned that I was
going to a museum where they produce musical instruments with a year 6 class.
It turns out the trip was seriously understaffed and none of the music teachers
could make it, even though it was a trip that they had organised! So 50
children, 2 teachers and myself set off to the museum, and none of us had a clue
what we were supposed to be doing! Because of the lack of staff, I was asked to
be in charge of one of the groups. The children in my group got very excited
when they were told I was in charge of their group, and they were even more
excited that I was speaking German to them after weeks of nagging me to speak
German in our English lesson! Thankfully, my group were really nice and all
very well behaved, which made the day more enjoyable. It was also nice to hear
one of the museum staff asking me from which part of Germany I originally come from. He
was quite surprised that I could speak ‘such good German’ when I told him that
I actually come from Wales! He seemed really interested in Wales, although it
soon became clear that he hasn’t a clue where it is when he asked me if Wales
is a part of Scotland or Ireland!? I’ve got used to having to explain to people
that Wales is its own Country, and not a part of England, but this one was a
new one on me!
So, on the first day of half term
I went to Berlin to meet Jon. We had an absolutely lovely time. There’s so much
to do and see in Berlin that we couldn’t possibly see everything in just four
days (an excellent excuse to have to go back, I say!). So after meeting Jon at
the airport and checking in to our looovely hotel, we got straight to being
proper British tourists! ;) We went to see all the ‘obvious attractions’ such
as the Fernsehturm, the Brandenburger Tor, the Wall and Checkpoint Charlie. My
favourite, however was the GDR museum. We met Andrew, who’s spending his year
abroad studying in Berlin, and the three of us had a really good day! Jon and I
also went to the Reichstag, where we managed to skip the three-hour wait when a
man came up to us in the queue to ask if we wanted to go in straight away. I’m
still not entirely sure why, but I didn’t complain! The four days went by way
too fast, but as I said, I will definitely have to go back some time this year.
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| Our Hotel Room |
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| GDR Museum- The Trabi |
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| The Brandenburger Tor |
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| Jon and I outside the Reichstag |
We spent the rest of the week in
Plauen, and even managed to fit in a trip to Dresden before Jon had to go home
on the Sunday morning. During the week, we had all possible weather! In Berlin,
it was 20 dgrees+, and we were walking around in t-shirts, which I found very
strange in October! Then we had typical autumnal rain followed by some very
unexpected snow! Although it makes everything look very pretty, it also manages
to make everything so much more of an effort! Thankfully it only stayed for a
few days!
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| Snowy Plauen |
After Jon left, I decided that I
didn’t want to stay in Plauen by my self, so I went to Cologne to see Phil and
Charlotte. We had a lovely week and it was nice to see some familiar faces :)
This time we had plenty of time to visit the Lindt factory… definitely my idea
of heaven!
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| Yummyyy! |
This week I have been back at
school. I started my week by giving lots of lessons on the history of Guy
Fawkes. Then I was suddenly expected to give lessons on the American voting
system and the presidential elections. I’m also giving lessons on the
Australian Aborigines next week. Being Welsh, I am obviously an expert on these
two subjects…. Well, that’s what my teachers think at least! I’ve come to
realise that they expect me to know everything about every English speaking
country. At least I’ll be learning new things too, right!? I also joined the
volleyball team this week. I’ve never played volleyball in my life, but thought
it’d be a good way of meeting new people. The team are all really nice and friendly,
so I’ll probably be going back next week. I got a lift home with one of the
women on the team who happens to live across the road from me last week and she
mentioned that her son is really struggling with English. So we’re going to
talk about the possibility of me giving private tuition next week, which should
be good.
At the end of this month, I’ll be
going to London :) I’ve been chosen to be one of the ‘UK-German Connection’
Project ambassadors, so will have to go to the training weekend in London this
month. The aim of the scheme is to create more contacts between British people
learning German and Germans learning English. During the conference, I will
pair up with a German who’s working as an assistant in a British school, and we
will plan and run a bilateral project together, me in Plauen, and my partner in
the UK. My plan is to set up an ‘English Club’ in the school, where I will show
English films, play games etc. so that the children can learn English on an
informal level, without the pressures of the classroom. Hopefully, we will be
able to keep in contact with a similar club in the UK. I’m quite exited to get
started, and am really looking forward to going to London…even if it is only
because I can eat proper cheese and drink proper tea! ;)
As well as organising my trip to
London, I have also booked my flights home for Christmas! I’ll be flying home
on the 19th of December and coming back on the 2nd of
January. I’m really looking forward to seeing my family and friends at home.
Only 7 more Mondays ‘til home time!! :)
Well, that’s all from me! I
actually have a busy weekend ahead of me this week! I’m going bowling with
Stefanie and her work colleagues tomorrow and then Sarah (the Australian
assistant) and I are going to the theatre on Sunday to watch My Fair Lady in German. Really looking
forward to it!
Tschüss! :)
