More festivities and a weekend in Frankfurt

Monday morning began with an unfamiliar greeting. As I entered the staffroom, a teacher greeted me. "Good Morning Rudolph". "Oh, hello" I replied. She was, of course, referring to my little red nose, which I had acquired after my very cold cycle to school. Obviously, since I'm now living a little further from school, it takes me a little longer to get to school - My commute to school takes around half an hour on the bike, but it really doesn't phase me. When I leave it's often very dark, but there is something really quite nice about a cold morning bike ride in the dark, that I enjoy. ("what a freak" I hear you think. Oh and don't worry Grandma, I have lights on my bike) Yes, ok, my hands get cold. Oh, and my ears. And my nose obviously shows signs of penetrating through the cold, German morning air, but I really do enjoy it. The route is relatively flat, bike paths are provided and the surface is smooth. And I like to think that it helps me maintain some of my 'form' that I built up over months of summer cycling, so that when I get back and hop back on the bike, I won't be huffing and puffing by the time I reach the end of the driveway. In addition, the lovely Beate, with whom I currently living, allows me to use one of her bikes. It's a lot lighter than my previous one and much more enjoyable to ride.

So back to school - On Monday, I had a very easy day. I only had two lessons scheduled and one of those was cancelled due to a test. I spent most the day wandering round Regensburg and doing a little Christmas shopping at the markets. I could definitely get used to that! But I did assist in the school in the afternoon and did some extra work with a few students who were struggling with certain aspects of English language.

Tuesday involved me, once again, working with students who needed a little more practice. I had prepared some worksheets to work through and we went through them together. At the beginning they did struggle a little, but by the end it really seemed as though they had got to grips with it. It really was very rewarding and I think I even saw that 'click' moment (which of course was accompanied by an 'Achh soooo') as their brains suddenly realised what was required. This moment gave me a little understanding as to why teachers teach. That feeling of actually teaching somebody and them understanding it and then them being able to use this, can't be compared to anything else really. (but don't get me wrong, I still don't want to be a teacher)

On Wednesday, I had a very busy day. I took part in several classes, which involved lots of speaking games and moving around the class. Despite my charming looks and attempt to be 'smiley' very few people actually want to be paired with me, so the teacher often has to suggest a specific person comes and work with me. I totally understand this, as even now, for me, speaking German to a native can be a scary experience. I did some more exercises with pupils who were struggling (This time trying to teach them the difference between 'since' and 'for' - they really do struggle with this, as in German you use one word. They really get mixed up ie. "I have been at the school since two years", but by the end of the session, I felt that some of them had it.)

My last lesson on Wednesday was with a totally new class and I spoke about School in England. I had prepared a presentation and they genuinely found it interesting. As the Germans don't wear uniform in schools, the concept of a school uniform really does fascinate them. Many of them even said they would like a uniform (What do you think about that, Freya!?) They were interested to learn that school starts later in England and finishes later and they decided that they preferred school in Germany, because they could have afternoons free. They were horrified by detentions and isolation as punishment (here they get a letter home or even worse, have to bake a cake for the class). I brought an school photo to show them and I had brought in my school tie from high school as a 'real-life' example. Only one boy in the class knew how to tie a tie (Why would the others... they don't wear them, remember!) and he demonstrated how it looked. I then demonstrated how the 'cool kids' wore their ties (big knot, tiny tie) which they found funny. Overall it was a good lesson and I feel like I taught them something which they really found interesting. Following the lesson, some girls started questioning me about various aspects to English and England and I ended up staying for quite a while as we talked. It was nice and they begged me to come back next week. It's nice to be appreciated.








This is an Advent Wreath in one of my schools - Every Sunday in December a candle is lit, until all four candles are lit meaning Christmas is soon!






On Thursday morning, I was in another class. My role was to answer any questions, as they were doing exam practice. This was a year 9 class and it was all boys. The teacher said to me at the beginning "They can be very loud, so you have to treat them like they are complete assholes" - Just another example of how the Germans don't beat about the bush. I joined a year 6 class later that day as a spectator, since the class was being taught be a trainee teacher who was being assessed. The young pupils are still very intrigued by a native English speaker and kept turning around during the class to try and talk to me! I felt very guilty! On Thursday evening I made my way to Eichstätt to see Lois. We had a chilled evening and then did some lesson planning on Friday morning. On Friday afternoon, we had our first meeting with German snow, which got us both worryingly excited, to say that we are both 'adults'. On Friday evening we visited Ingolstadt, a city just half an hour from Lois and went to the Christmas market. It was a really nice market and there was a great atmosphere. It was however, as seems to be the norm now, absolutely freezing, so we didn't stay for a long time, but it was nice to experience yet another market.













 Ingolstadt Weihnachstmarkt






                                Eichstätt looks lovely in the snow










On Saturday, we awoke bright and early and caught a train to Frankfurt. This was a spontaneous trip, planned only a week previously, and we had arranged to meet with two friends from university. Anna, is a friend from our first year at Aston and is doing her second year abroad and is also a teaching assistant (She loved it so much the first time, she stayed for another year!) and Anthony, also a friend we met in first year, is just doing a 6 month placement at a German University. This was the first time, we had seen them for a long time and it was so lovely to see them when their train arrived at Frankfurt station. We all got on immediately and it was just like 'old times'. We laughed about first year antics, reminisced about university life and got all excited in anticipation for our final year together back at uni.

We made our way to the Christmas Market, which was huge. The Christmas Market in Birmingham is the Frankfurt Christmas Market and it was a similar layout, but here it was obviously bigger. We arrived mid afternoon and it was busy and throughout the afternoon/evening it just got even busier. We enjoyed Bratwurst, Sweets and delicious candied nuts, coated in every flavour you could imagine. Once in got dark and we'd browsed all of the stalls, we sampled a few of Frankfurts bars and enjoyed some drinks / cocktails. We visited the Skybar, which is a bar on the terrace of a really tall building and looked at the Market below which was cool. In one of the bars, we decided to make a prompt departure, when Lois noticed a mouse scurry up one of the curtains! This put us all off and we swiftly moved on. It was after midnight, when we decided to head back to our hostel for the night. Our hostel was a short tram ride away but it was a top-notch place. The word hostel, makes people think of dirty, dingy rooms shared with random weirdo's but at a cheap price. This hostel was indeed cheap (less than 20Euros each for the night!) but was a very comfortable place. We shared a 4 bed room and it was spotless - equipped with a TV, a really nice bathroom and beds that were really comfortable ("more comfortable than my actual bed" exclaimed Anna!). The staff were friendly and we were really impressed with our experience. We would definitely stay again. (It was called Meininger and it is a chain - If you ever need a cheap place, check them out - we can thoroughly recommend them!)

On Sunday we woke, packed up and then went back into the centre for breakfast. We returned to a bar / restaurant we had visited the previous night and enjoyed a fantastic buffet breakfast. For less than 10 Euros, we enjoyed the huge spread of food (from bread rolls and meats to cereal and yogurts. From sausages and eggs to doughnuts and pastries) and we all 'filled our boots'. It was delicious! After this we made our way to the station. Unfortunately, due to mine and Lois' train leaving in three minutes, we had to say a quick and rushed goodbye and quickly go our separate ways.

We both had such a great time. It's so nice to meet up with friends and share experiences and laugh about previous ones. We all got on so well, to say we hadn't spent time together recently and we all have many good memories from the weekend. It went so fast and it's a shame we only had such a short time together. In terms on Frankfurt, we didn't really see much. The Christmas Market was very impressive and some of the huts are like houses, built especially for the Market, which shows how much of a big deal it all is over here. The city was very modern and had lots of good shops and since Frankfurt is the finance capital of Germany, the skyline, with all the tall buildings, is very impressive. I'm sure we will visit again.

Frankfurt Station looking very festive

 Enjoying Bratwurst

             I told Santa what I wanted for Christmas

 

I posted my Christmas wish
 

Good times spent with good friends :D

 So many nuts!

 

 

 

 

 

 Classy!