win some, (literally) lose some

Rest assured: I've survived my first week back at school and although I've been accosted with far too many memories of grades 5-11 for my own liking I made it through unscathed. I'm not sure if it's the wisdom that comes with no longer being 10 and seeing one's teachers (and pretty much anyone over the age of 25) as universally ancient, but almost all the teachers at my school seem quite young. It's a very relaxed environment, we use first names and the informal version of "you".

I'm working with grades 5-11 (my school is fairly new and next year they'll expand to include grade 12 and the year after that 13...very much like my own elementary/middle school which grew every year until we were a fully fledged 3rd to 8th grade institution) and there isn't a class I don't like. The 11th graders speak English quite well already and I can tell I'll be able to have some good debates during my weekly hour with them. The 7th graders were initially very standoffish but they've warmed up to me quite a bit. The 5th graders are far too smart to believe me when I tell them I can't speak any German and are also very disappointed that despite being from California I don't know a single celebrity. I have a feeling they suspect me of lying about this, too.

Again, I'm not sure if it's me wanting to romanticize my school experience, but I think German kids are slightly more rowdy than my American counterparts and I were. They settle down by the time they get to 7th grade, but the 5th graders seem to get away with a lot more tomfoolery than would have been allowed in the good old days of the 1990s. (Kids these days!)

I had my first (and hopefully only) misfortune this morning. I bought my weekly ticket for the streetcar/bus this morning and promptly lost it somewhere between going to work and coming back. Riding public transportation in Germany is based on the honour system, most of the time you won't get your ticket checked. Until the day you lose the 7 day ticket you spent €19.80 and then frantically search on the side of the road while a traditionally stern German officer watches your increasingly panicked rustling. Long story short: I couldn't find it, will have to pay a fee if I can't produce it within the next week (and I'm not too optimistic about this) plus buy a new ticket for this week, and I learned one very important thing: the ticket goes IMMEDIATELY into your wallet. Not in a pocket, not in a book, and never dropped casually into your bag (which in my case is evidently actually a portable black hole/portal to another dimension). 

To end on a happier note: I spent Saturday with some of the other Americans in Mainz/nearby towns doing some of my favourite things: discussing regional accents, drinking German beer, and wasting time in a museum. I'm glad there are so many of us in the area, I haven't really made any German friends yet (University hasn't started) and it's nice to have people to share experiences and frustrations with. 

(Dis)orientation in Köln

I arrived back in Mainz after 3 very stressful/helpful/confusing/information packed days with the other 140 Americans (and some Brits, Australians, and one or two New Zealanders) selected to participate in my program. We stayed in a smaller town outside Köln/Cologne called Altenburg. Jill, one of my best friends from my study abroad program in Munich, and I walked around Köln yesterday morning after orientation officially came to an end. I'm still experiencing technical difficulties (my camera cable hasn't gotten to me yet) so the photo of the Kölner Dom/Cologne Cathedral is one I've found online. It's a truly amazing building and the rest of the city surrounding it is beautiful as well, I wish we'd had more time there.

I got to meet the others stationed in my city and state and I don't know if I have amazing luck or if the western part of any country tends to attract laid-back, hilarious, genuinely kind people but I'm quite fond of all of them. It was indescribably comforting to get to meet the others in my exact situation face-to-face and make some new friends in this new city.I also got a lot of my questions cleared up and practiced presenting a lesson
(my group's assignment was to teach animals to beginners...kind of useless for us since we'll all be working with older kids but I had a good time making 15 American 20somethings sing Old MacDonald) so now I'm not quite as nervous about meeting my students. Whether or not I actually have a solid grip on everything remains to be seen, but for now I'm confident!

Parts of the organization of our Einführungstagung/Orientation seemed a little haphazard to me (for example: we weren't grouped according to our level of teaching experience, meaning those absolutely clueless beginners like me missed out on some basic teaching theory those of us with all kinds of teaching experience know so well and the education majors among us were probably bored half of the time) which just goes to show that the stereotype of the remarkably efficient German is just that: a stereotype!

Not to say that stereotypes don't have their genesis in fact: I have a mess of German bureaucratic hell to wade through starting today. I've already registered at the Mainz town hall/citizens bureau and am now an official resident! On Monday I'll have to go to the foreigner's office (it's a pretty direct translation, however jarring it sounds in English!) to apply for my Visa.  I technically have until the end of November to do this, but I can't get paid until I have my Visa and what little glamour there is in living on a (dwindling) fixed income has long worn off. I've opened a bank account but there's still a pile of literature sent to me by Deutsche Bank to read through, my PIN and bank card to activate, and money to transfer from my american bank account. Then once I'm registered at the foreigner's office with a working bank account, I can submit the paperwork through my school to start getting paid!

There's nothing like living in a foreign country and filling in their paperwork to make you feel simultaneously like the smartest and most confused person in the world.

I hope you all arae doing well, wherever you may be. I've just made my first attempt at our baffling washing machine (it's very nice that we've got one in the apartment, but my room mate is in Greece with her mother so I've no one to tell me how to use it like I would in a laundromat). Here's hoping nothing explodes or floods. Drück mir die Daumen/Cross your fingers for me!

-Emily

Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome

I made it to Mainz and apart from the most awful headache/first ever migraine forcing me to spend the majority of yesterday in bed under the covers cursing the world, everything's been fabulous so far.  (Seriously, that makes everything seem so much worse. It wasn't that bad!) I went to Ikea with my room mate Aline and then spent the rest of the day setting up my room. This is ordinarily the part where I'd give you all pictures, but I'm an absolute genius who left her camera's cable on the wrong side of the Atlantic. Photos are still to come, sorry!

Since 95% of yesterday was spent being pathetic, I decided to take most of today to learn my new city. Mostly this involved wandering around the old city, stumbling upon a farmer's market, far too many human statues for my comfort level, and a lot more Americans than I'd expected. At one point I walked into the Mainz Cathedral to find a spontaneous amateur choir performance. Germany will never stop surprising me.

I also booked tickets to go visit the closest thing I had to a host family for my study abroad year in Munich/my old home/the best city in the world. I'm so excited to see them and that city again.

That's all for now, like I mentioned I'll be in Munich from September 1st to the 5th and then in Cologne for my program's orientation from the 6th through 9th. So if you don't hear from me, I'm probably on a train somewhere.

-Em

watch this space

Hi everyone! I leave for Germany in less than 4 days. I've been telling people I'd set up a blog for those of you who wanted to follow my adventures (because I am an horrible mass-emailer, this was is easier for everyone) and I've (obviously) finally done it!

I'll do my best to update on a regular schedule, so check back about once a week.

-Emily