This Monday I only ended up doing my conversation class, since the teacher for the Year 5 class was ill - yes, it appears the 'epidemic' still hasn't cleared. Of course, I was pretty happy about this. Tuesday was back to normal and involved me speaking with some more groups and doing a little reading for some other classes. I was also asked to help out in a Year 5 lesson with a class who haven't met me before. Again, cue lots of questions. The entire lesson consisted of the class asking me questions, which I feel was a good thing. Some of my favourite questions this time round were 'Do you like purple?' 'What are you parents called?' 'How many friends do you have?' and 'Do you have Facebook?' which was closely followed by 'What's your surname?' - Recognising that if I were to tell them my surname, I would be inundated with friend requests from 11 year old German children, I told them that they can just call me 'Marcus'. It was good fun and I'm pretty sure almost every child in the school knows me by now. The afternoon lesson was spent with the Year 10s again and working on the speaking exam. Once again I was required to act out a role play with the teacher. As I remarked last time, I'm no actor and it was very forced and unrealistic, but it doesn't bother me. Before this whole Year Abroad experience, something like that may have worried me, but now I just get up and do my thing. My increase in confidence is one thing I've recognised as my time here moves on. And that's just one of the many positive effects this experience has had on me.
As I browsed the German news that evening, I was surprised to find 'Bradford, West Yorkshire' mentioned in one of the headlines. Reading it further, I learnt that Bradford wasn't really being portrayed in a very good light. The article told of a wedding gone wrong, after someone threw a pork pie which then started a food fight. The wedding reception ended early with the bride being covered in pork pie remnants and WKD. It's great to see Bradford gaining such a positive reputation in German national press. You stay classy, Bradford.
On Tuesday night I had internet problems. I got pretty stressed out, more worried at the prospect of no internet for a prolonged period of time, rather than actually not having internet access right then. On Wednesday morning, I awoke extra early and made my way to school via the Tourist Information shop in Regensburg, since they offer round the clock free wifi. It was as I was sat on the cold stone steps, with the sun having just risen at 7:30 on this February morning and checking my emails that I realised just how dependant I am on the internet. My day at school went well, however and since I didn't have any internet access at home, I stayed at school and helped in an extra afternoon class. Following this I was invited for a coffee with Anja - In all honesty, I was putting off going back to the flat, since I knew I would be bored, so this invitation was just perfect. As you can see, the fact I lost my internet connection actually had positive elements, in the fact that I had to do some good, old-fashioned socialising. Anja took me to a great little French café in Regensburg, that serves amazing tasting coffee. We spoke German and it was a fantastic opportunity for me to practice. Despite stuttering my way through the entire conversation, I felt reassured that I could actually hold a German conversation, that made at least some sense. After passing the time back at my flat with a little cutting and sticking for the following days lessons, luckily for me, I managed to sort the internet issues out, with help from my landlady. I was massively relieved to be able to surf the web once again. Yes, I rely on it too much, but I would also argue that it is absolutely necessary for me at the moment. I use it to plan lessons, to practice German, to communicate with friends and family, but saying this, as I learnt, there are also some positives to life without it.
On Thursday I began a little later and in my first lesson participated in some speaking activities with the year 10s. After this, I found myself taking control of a lesson which I was in as the teacher was late. Last time I was in this class, they got very rowdy when the teacher was once again late and certainly took advantage of this fact. So much so, that when the teacher did arrive, the classroom was a complete mess. I made an effort not to let this happen again, so went to the front and began chatting with them. Sure enough, they were soon quiet and when the teacher arrived, she was pleasantly surprised. In this lesson I did some grammar exercises with a small group. Not that I'm very good at teaching and explaining grammatical rules (I do find it quite difficult), but I did my best and I hope I helped, even if just a little. The number of students in my afternoon conversation class was particularly small this week, meaning the 'thrilling' activities I had planned wouldn't really have worked. This scenario required me to think on my feet - a skill which has improved considerably during my time as an assistant - and fortunately the class went well. It was actually quite nice, as I was able to mix with every student. We had a good discussion before I let them leave early due to the poor turn out.
Friday was a wet and miserable day so Lois and I made the decision to stay around the flat. We spent the morning doing some essay work, before going to the shops to get some supplies. The rain was falling and got heavier whilst we were in the shop. On the way home, a car pulled up and asked us where we were going. I replied and the gentleman offered us a lift. Now I know that both of our parents and grandparents, are hoping right now that the next sentence will explain how we politely declined the lift and trudged back in the rain, wet through but secure in the knowledge that we were safe. I hate to worry you all, and probably disappoint you, but that isn't the case. We accepted the lift and within 5 minutes we were back home. The man was friendly and, like many Germans, had a very nice car. There were two of us and I had my phone. Poor excuse, but we made a quick decision and that was that. Don't worry, neither of us would ever do something like that alone. This friendly man just wanted to help us out and do his good deed for the day. Car sharing, as we have already experienced, is a lot more common here in Germany than in the UK, and though you may call me naïve, I think it's a lot safer. It's just a different culture. Furthermore, this also proves something very important - Germans are friendly too!
Friday afternoon consisted of films and relaxing, whilst on Saturday we ventured into Regensburg and sauntered round the city. It was a glorious day, perhaps the best day of the year so far, and the fine architecture of the city looked beautiful in the sunlight. We had almost forgotten just what a great place it was, since the past weekends have been so miserable, but this week, we really appreciated what a great place it is. The streets were bustling and the atmosphere was friendly. This was just a taste of what the city will be like in a few months and we can't wait! We visited a different, even bigger supermarket this week for our weekend shop and also, seeing as though we had come to the end of our first crate of beer, we bought another one (after we had cashed our old bottles in, so to say, and received our 'pfand' back). We're getting to know the best beers now and have bought a particularly nice one - It's a Munich beer, so we're also supporting Bavaria! Hoorah! Needless to say, as I plodded back, straining under the load of 20 X 0.5L bottles of quality German beer, I got some pretty surprised looks. If people don't think we're alcoholics, then they must think we host crazy parties. Some guy on the bus back mumbled something to me as he got off which I didn't quite catch - something along the lines of "have a good night" I suspect. I'm just glad I didn't see any of my students!
Not content with our very own crate of beer, we went back into Regensburg on Saturday evening with an eye to discovering a few new bars. I know I've told you before, but Regensburg has got the highest concentration of pubs/bars in Germany, so it shouldn't have been hard. And it wasn't. We began with cocktails at a standard German style bar. After this we found a really cool, trendy, young persons bar, playing cool music and with a huge variety of drinks. To finish we discovered another buzzing bar, again with good music and lots of other young people. Although our 'mini bar crawl' only consisted of these three venues, and we each only had one drink in each, I soon began showing the effects of the strong German beer and even stronger cocktails, in the typical 'Marcus' fashion of getting a little bit 'eager' and trying to sneak onto the dance floor. Looking back, fortunately Lois was there to hold me back. The evening went super fast, so much so that a little run was required to catch one of the last buses back!
On Sunday we planned our half term break (I will explain shortly) and did our usual Sunday wander. Once again the sun was shining and it was very pleasant. After tea it was once again time to say goodbye, but with half term to look forward to, it made it easier.
So, although the British half term is this week, the Germans take it the week after. And naturally, with a week to kill, we needed something to do. So what better way than to discover some more German cities. Next Sunday we travel to Düsseldorf where we will be staying for the entire week. Düsseldorf is in Nordrhein-Westphalen in north west Germany and is conveniently located very close to lots of other cities. During the week we hope to visit Bonn, Dortmund and Cologne. As I said, we have made a rough itinerary and since our friends Matt and Anna are placed not far from this area, we hope to catch up with them too. So we have an exciting week planned and we can't wait!
Due to us travelling on the Sunday, I will update my blog next Saturday before we go. The following week I hope to write a thrilling account of our half term experiences.
So until then,
Tschüß
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