1. English Conversation for 10th Graders
I crossed my fingers that students would come to the first
meeting of English Conversation for 10th Graders, a new afterschool
club that I am sponsoring. When twelve bright-eyed students showed up, I was
thrilled. After covering the "ground rules" and goals for our club,
students wrote down a bit about themselves: their birthday, English goals,
reason for joining this club, the three things they most want to learn
about America/Americans, and the three things they least want to
learn about America/Americans. The list of least interesting things:
•
Geography
•
Politics
•
Government
•
Fat people
My eyes grew wide after the student shared the last point, and
then everyone burst out laughing. Americans are generally considered poor
eaters and unfit, so I hope she was just trying to express her disinterest
in hearing more about the unhealthy food and exercise habits of many Americans.
We can work on how to more appropriately express those ideas in the future.
Next week the students decided to learn about American high
schools. While I share a short PowerPoint, students will discuss their thoughts
about the American education system and compare it to Germany. I also made some
brownies for a student’s birthday. I can't wait!
2. Dinner with my Choir
Since everyone is busy during the holiday season, my choir
traditionally goes out to dinner after New Years. We ate at "Der
Pflaume" a restaurant I pass every Sunday on my way to church. I
enjoyed getting to visit with my fellow choir members while eating the
delicious food. As I was about to leave in order to finish preparing for school
the next day, the guitars came out. I couldn't run away after that so I sang
along to a few songs before pulling myself away from the festivities. However,
the music stayed with me, and I smiled the whole way home.
3. Ice-skating
I finally made it to the small, outdoor ice-skating rink in
Zwickau...twice. The first time a small group of us arrived just as they were
finishing smoothing the ice. Once our skates hit the ice, we couldn't help but
wonder what it was like before they smoothed it. The ice was still very bumpy.
However, after wobbling around a bit, I found my balance and had a wonderful
time.
Once the uneven surface ceased to be a problem, the ice posed a
new challenge. A forth of the rink was coned off, two small goals were set up
at the end of the cones, and hockey pucks and sticks appeared in the
hands of ten to fourteen year-old boys. Of course, the puck often slid past the
small orange cones into the mass of people constantly circling around the
remaining three-fourths of the rink. I caught my breath as I saw a puck glide
in front of a middle-aged woman, and then one of the boys extend his stick in
front of her legs in a dangerous attempt to retrieve it. I'm still amazed
the woman remained vertical.
On my second outing, I went with a fellow soprano, Christina.
The rink gradually grew throughout our time there, or rather the space we were
allotted to skate. Half of the rink was sectioned off for an ice-skating class
when we first arrived. Then, the hockey players reduced the forbidden territory
to a fourth. Finally, the whole rink opened up, and we “raced” across the
straight stretches.
4. Party all Weekend!
Okay, so I really didn’t party all weekend, but I did have a lot
of fun. Saturday night I cooked chicken and dumplings for seven people. Two
people asked for the recipe afterwards so I consider my first attempt at this
American classic a success. After eating we teamed up to play Settlers of Catan. Settlers is not usually a team game, but we had too many people to
play any other way. Chocolate also flooded the tables. I was introduced to a
new… and interesting Milka flavor. Imagine gummies and pop rocks surrounded by
a creamy milk chocolate. I’m not used to my chocolate exploding in my mouth,
but it was really quite good.
On Sunday I went with a few other girls to watch Die Eiskönigen, Disney’s The Ice Queen. All four of us adore the
classic Disney movies we grew up on, and found this movie a charming addition.
By the way, have I mentioned that you choose your seats in the movie theater
like in a theater? The half closest to the screen is a Euro cheaper than the
seats towards the back.
5. Guitar Lessons
Tine has generously offered to share her guitar with me so that
I can start taking lessons here. A local school offers group beginning guitar
lessons in the evening so I attended the first one last night. Although the
people were lovely and the teacher was very nice, it quickly became apparent
that this class was not for me. We spent an hour talking about time signatures,
notes, and clapping out rhythms. I acquired that knowledge in elementary school
and four years of playing the clarinet cemented it.
I’m still very glad I went. I learned some German music
vocabulary, and meet my soon-to-be private guitar teacher!
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| New sights: I saw ducks walking on ice for the first time. |
