Update!

So yeah...it would appear I haven't been so good at keeping this blog up to date! I can't actually believe that February was the last time I wrote a post! Time has gone so fast here and a lot has happened in the past few months! I'm not going to bore you with every tiny detail, but I will try to give you an idea of what I've  been up to!

So, I think I'll start with the places I've been and the people I've visited. The first trip to mention is our trip to Berlin for Charlotte's 21st all the way back in March! Seven of us Bangor students met up in the capital to celebrate Charlotte's birthday and we had a lovely time. It was so nice to spend the weekend with friends and the visit definitely confirmed that I would like to be in Berlin for the summer if possible! The weekend after, I decided to travel to Saarbrücken, where Charlotte is spending her year abroad. Phil, Ryan and I were all staying with Charlotte for the weekend and, again, we had a wonderful time. We spent the Friday evening cooking and baking a cake, then on Saturday we decided to travel to the Saarschleife. It was a bit of a mission getting to the Saarschleife because after getting the train, we found out that the bus we had planned to take didn't run on a Saturday (despite it saying it does on the website!) So...we started to walk. When the pavement ran out and we were walking up a steep, winding road, I got a little dubious! We decided to walk a little further, but eventually stopped at the side of a road and decided to call a taxi (which isn't so easy when you don't know where you are!). We did eventually get to the Saarschleife and the view made the journey absolutely worth it! We spent the evening celebrating Charlotte's birthday again with her friends from Saarbrücken and I made the nine hour journey back to Plauen the following day!

Six of us (plus Idris the dragon) by
the Brandenburg Gate

Four of us (and Idris!) at the Saarschleife

Shortly after my trip to Saarland, it was time for the Easter holidays. As Sachsen had already had a 2 week holiday in February, we only had 1 week for Easter (whereas most of the other states had 2) I managed to convince my family that I was going to be spending the week with Jon in Scotland, however this wasn't the plan at all! I landed in Edinburgh on Saturday evening, and after spending a day in Scotland with Jon, we both made the journey home on Monday morning. Needless to say, my family were surprised to see me turn up on the doorstep later that afternoon! I had a lovely few days at home and spent the week visiting friends and family. Jon and I also went to Chester Zoo with my Cousin Sam, her partner Kyle and their baby and we had lots of fun before I had to come back to Germany the following day!

Chester Zoo. Still kids at heart!

The next trip I went on was to Passau to visit Amy, Rach and Ellie. It's so nice to have Bangor students dotted around the country- it means I get to explore more of Germany and see friends at the same time! Again, we had a really good weekend. The Passauer Dult was taking place the weekend I got there (this was a festival with a fairground, beer tents and bands etc). The atmosphere was fantastic and having everyone dressed in Dirndls and Lederhosen, dancing on benches whilst drinking their Maß of beer really conformed to Bavarian stereotypes! Whilst in Bavaria, we also went on a day trip to Munich where we went shopping, visited some churches and went to the olympic village. The weather took a turn for the worst when we arrived at the olympic village, so we took shelter in the olympic tower and although the weather wasn't so good, we got some nice views of the olympic village and BMW World. After a nice day of exploring Passau, it was time for me to return to Plauen after yet another lovely weekend with friends.

I think they're the main trips that I've been on. At the beginning of May, I had to go back to London for the second half of the UK-German connection conference, but it was a whistle-stop, one-day trip so there's not much exciting to say about it! I also went back to Cologne and spent a lovely weekend with Phil and Rebecca for Phil's 21st. Other than that, I've not been up to a huge amount apart from going to the theatre a few times and also to the cinema. I'm now finished at my school, but I am still in Plauen at the moment. Life without school is a little on the dull side! I had a really good nine months at the school and was a little sad to be leaving! I am hoping to spend the summer in Berlin, but have had no luck finding a job there up to now. I think I'll give it a few more weeks, and if nothing turns up, I'll go to Scotland to spend some time with Jon.

I think I've rambled enough now. If I do manage to find a job in Berlin, I will keep you updated on my year-abroad adventures!

Tschüss! :)

A (very!) belated Frohes Neues Jahr!

Hi!

So, I haven’t written a post for a while mainly because I keep forgetting! But also because time seems to be flying by! Although it doesn’t feel as though I’ve been doing much, when I look back, I have actually been quite busy!

February was the start of our two-week winter half term. Even though we had only been back in school for four weeks, it was lovely to have another break! Christmas didn’t seem half long enough! I had such a good time at home with my family and friends, and it was lovely to finally meet my cousin’s beautiful little baby, who was born in November, so it was really difficult having to leave everyone to travel back to Germany on the 2^nd of January ready to start term again on the 3^rd. Anyway, February half term was lovely! Jon came to visit in the first week and in the second week my parents came over to Germany. Jon and I spent the first few days in Plauen, then we managed to visit Dresden and Leipzig before spending the last two days in Berlin. Dresden was lovely. It’s such a pretty city with so much history. We started the day in the military museum, which was absolutely HUGE! We would have needed much more time to be able to see and read every detail, but we managed to see the majority of the exhibition and it was very interesting. Definitely worth a visit if you’re ever in Dresden. After spending quite a few hours in the museum, we decided to take a walk around the city and we went to visit the Frauenkirche. It’s such an impressive building! Again, worth a visit!

Dresden

In Leipzig, we met up with Mike. It’s always nice to catch up with friends from Bangor :) The three of us decided to visit the Völkerschlachtdenkmal, which is a monument to the battle of the nations, which (I think!) took place in Leipzig in 1813. On our second day in Leipzig, Jon and I visited the Stasi museum. I’m really, really interested in GDR history etc. and have been told that the Stasi museum in Leipzig is really good. It was very interesting, but we were a little short of time, so I may have to go back again to visit properly!

Jon and I in front of the Völkerschlachtdenkmal 

After our two days in Leipzig, Jon and I made our way to Berlin. This is the second time we’ve been to Berlin now. In October we went to lots of museums (mostly GDR-related!) so this time, Jon wanted to go somewhere that he would be more interested in- the technology museum. Again, the place was massive and we didn’t actually manage to see the whole exhibition. What we did see was very interesting, though- especially if you are interested in the whole development of computers etc.

 After two days in Berlin, I swapped Jon for my parents at the airport! We were originally supposed to spend a couple of days in Berlin and then make our way to Plauen. However, I’ve been having some housemate troubles, so I decided it would probably be best to spend the whole week in Berlin.

We had an absolutely wonderful week. My Mam and Dad had never been to Berlin before, so I showed them all the famous, ‘touristy’ sights such as the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, Eastside Gallery, Checkpoint Charlie and the TV tower. We also went to the GDR museum (my 2^nd time!) and to the museum at the Jewish memorial site. I had been to the Jewish memorial before, but the museum was closed, so it was good to have the chance to be able to go again. Some of the personal stories were really sad, but overall the museum was very interesting. We also went to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, along with Andrew, who is spending his year abroad in Berlin. It was a really strange feeling being there. I wasn’t quite sure how I was supposed to feel. It was definitely eerie and bitterly cold! Being there sort of made the history seem more real, I suppose. In a strange way, I actually enjoyed it (for want of a better word). As well as visiting all the historical sights, we decided to go to Madame Tussauds and we also spent a fair bit of time shopping! I really did have a fabulous time with my Mam and Dad and I was very sad to see them leave at the end of the week and having to return to Plauen by myself after a wonderful two weeks! But I soon settled back in to life in Plauen!

Mam, Dad and I in front of the Brandenburg Gate

Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp

Since being back I’ve been fairly busy. I’ve met up with a few friends for lunch and went to the cinema with Moreen. I’m hoping that we’ll go to the cinema again soon ‘cause I really want to see Les Mis and Til Schweiger’s new film Kokowääh 2! I also have a new timetable at school. I still get Fridays off, which is good! But now I see some classes more than once a week. I find that I get to know the students better this way, and I get a better idea of what they’re doing and how they’re developing. I’m still really enjoying teaching. Although receiving praise from the other teachers about my lessons is always good, nothing beats the students themselves telling me that they enjoy learning English in my lessons. A few weeks ago we had an open day at my school. In Germany, parents are allowed to choose which school their children go to. There’s more than one school in Plauen, so they basically compete against each other to try and make their school look the best. I never realised how competitive the whole process is! After deciding on a school, parents then have to apply for a place. Very different to my experience of school back in Wales. Anyway, for the open day, I was asked to prepare a short sketch with a group of 8 students from class 5, which we then performed at the open day. The aim was to show how much English the students have learnt in less than a year at the school. The students did very well, so well, that we then decided to enter them into a talent competition! We continued practising the sketch and last week, the students performed at the talent contest. We are still waiting on the result, but I think they did very, very well! I was very proud of them!

Outside of school, I have joined a step-aerobics class and a gospel choir! I’ve never really sung gospel before, but they were the only choir I could find that didn’t consist of only older men! The choir only meet once a month, but it’s a good opportunity to meet some new people. I’ve also been trying to work on my dissertation. It’s not going as well as I would like at the moment, but it’s getting there slowly!

So, I’ve just realised that this post has ended up being really long!! Tomorrow morning, I am going back to Berlin for the weekend to celebrate Charlotte’s 21^st birthday. I am so, so excited! There’s going to be 7 other Bangor students there, so it’ll be so nice to spend some time with friends! I think that is all I had to say so I will leave it here!

Bis Bald!

Fast Weihnachten!

Hi!

I can’t believe how fast time is going! I haven’t written a post since the start of November, even though it feels like yesterday! I have no idea where time’s going to be honest with you, but not having written for such a long time means that I now have lots to tell you! I will try and condense it as much as possible so as not to bore you too much!

At the end of November, I went to London for a weekend for the UK-German Connection conference. The aim of the conference was for us to find German partners, who are working as Foreign Language Assistants in the UK, so that we can work on a bilateral project in our schools, as well as also learning how to run a successful project. In order to find the right partner, we had a kind of ‘speed dating’ session on Saturday morning. We had 2 minutes (per person, obviously) to talk to 21 Germans about our project ideas which, on the one hand was a lot of fun, but on the other hand it was exhausting having to take in so much information at once! I did, eventually, find a partner called Anke, who’s working in a school in Lichfield. We are planning to run a project with the sixth form, even though this wasn’t originally my plan! We will be setting up pen pals, showing films and reading literature with the aim of making English (and German) more fun, and to set up more contacts with native speakers. I am also planning to run a similar sort of English Club with years 7,8&9, where we will also play games etc. Hopefully both projects will be successful! As well as my project with Anke, I have also paired up with a girl called Veronika and we will be running a Christmas project. Her year 9 and one of my Klasse 7 will be sending each other a parcel containing typical German and British Christmas gifts, decorations and food. The kids are all very excited, and I think it’s a lovely way for them to learn about Christmas traditions in the UK (and Germany). We are looking forward to sending receiving the parcells!

Whilst we were in London, we also had some spare time, which can only mean that we shopped a lot, and we also did some sightseeing and visited a ‘German’ Christmas Market on the Thames (how ironic!). I had a lovely weekend until it came time to come back to Germany! The journey back was an absolute nightmare! I had a three-hour delay in Heathrow, which meant that I arrived in Berlin just before midnight, only to find that my luggage wasn’t there. After reporting my luggage missing, I was told that there was nothing that the could do until morning, as the airport has to shut at midnight, however it was likely that someone else had taken my suitcase by mistake, as there was one case left on the belt that looked similar to mine. So, off I went to the train station, hoping that my suitcase would show up in the morning. I then found out that as it was midnight, there was no train going in Plauen’s direction until 6am the following morning! I was less than impressed! Thankfully, after a few hours of sitting in the train station, I managed to get hold of Andrew, who came to rescue me! I am very, very grateful! The following morning, my suitcase had been found and was delivered to Andrew’s flat, and I eventually got back to Plauen at 8.30 PM- more than 24 hours after I had left London! I have never been so happy to see my bed!!

London Sightseeing!

So, over the past week or so, I have met lots of new people! I found that Zwickau has a university, and after looking at their language department’s website, I found that they also have a tandem programme, which means that you find a partner and help each other with your langauges. (i.e. I offer help with English in exchange for help with my German). I thought this would be a good way to meet some new people who are a similar age to me, and so far it has proved to be a success! I have been in contact with three people, and on Sunday I met up with one of my tandem partners called Linda. We had a lovely afternoon looking around the Christmas market in Zwickau and I’m looking forward to meeting up with her again soon :) I will also be meeting two other girls, Sina and Jeannine, but probably after Christmas because the run up to Christmas is so busy! It’s nice to finally be meeting some new people, though!

Last week, I also taught at the private school here in Plauen. I taught three classes (one of which my flatmate was in- very strange!), and I spoke about the British school system and the NHS (as most of them are studying to work in the medical profession). I actually really enjoyed teaching there, and all the staff were very welcoming. Bärbel, the English teacher, invited me round for a traditional German meal last Saturday and I was also able to meet her daughter, Daria. We had a lovely day of walking through the snowy countryside, visiting the Christmas museum and market in Rodewisch and watching the GDR’s production of Cinderella before returning to Plauen, where we also payed a quick visit to our Christmas market here! :) I really did have a lovely day with Daria, and I was feeling extremely Christmassy by the end of the day!

The Vogtland looks beautiful in the snow :)

As well as meeting Bärbel and her family at the private school, I also met the school’s secetary, Moreen. Apparently, she was quite excited to hear that I was going to the school, so she invited me round to her house that afternoon to spend time with her and her family. She’s 31 years old (even though she looks like she could be one of my students- I didn’t believe her when she told me she was married with 2 kids!) and also lives in Plauen. We had a lovely afternoon together, and tomorrow evening, we’re going to the cinema together. We get on really well, and again, it’s really nice to spend some time with new people!

You may have already gathered from this post that I am now feeling very Christmassy! I’ve already been to the Christmas markets here in Plauen, and in Zwickau, Rodewisch and Lengenfeld. They are all really small, so I’m really looking forward to going to visit the market in Nuremberg this weekend with Sarah, the Australian assistant. I have also bought some typical christmas decorations that originate here in the Vogtland and the Erzgebirge to try and make my room look as Christmassy as the streets and shops do! I really like the traditional decorations made of wood- I think they look much nicer than plastic decorations :) 

  

 Plauen's Christmas market

         Our pretty Tree in front of the old Rathaus

My traditional decorations :)

I genuinely can’t believe how close Christmas is now! I will be home two weeks tomorrow! I haven’t been this excited for Christmas since I was a little girl! It will be so nice to spend some time with my family and friends, especially now that we have a new edition to our family! My cousin (who also happens to be one of my best friends!) had a little baby girl last week and I cannot wait to meet her! I was a little bit sad that I wasn’t home when she was born, but it just gives me more reason to look forward to going home!

Well, that is all I have to tell you for now! These last two weeks before Christmas are looking very busy already. I will try and post again before Christmas to let you all know what I’ve been up to (for those who actually read this!) :)

Bis Bald :)

Tschüss, Herbstferien!

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.

Our Hotel Room

GDR Museum- The Trabi

The Brandenburger Tor

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!

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!

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 19^th of December and coming back on the 2^nd 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! :)