My Monday and Tuesday were fairly uneventful. On Monday I did my conversation class and then was able to leave since the Year 5 class was cancelled. I was also informed that the conversation class next week would be cancelled which meant I had an even later start the following Monday. However, moments later I was approached by another teacher and asked to come to her class in the morning. My relaxing Monday morning had vanished in a flash, but I wasn't bothered really and I like to be kept busy. My 12 working hours a week are nothing compared to 'real' work and even then I still have the audacity to sigh when I have things to do. I'm genuinely worried about how I will cope in the real world, doing a full time job if I complain at the miniscule amount of hours I'm currently doing. C'mon Marcus, sort it out!
On Tuesday, another class was cancelled but I was already at school so I spent the time planning lessons. A few classes later and I was finished for the day thanks to a teacher conference resulting in my afternoon class also being cancelled. Whilst I really like the idea of no classes, the reality is different. Boredom has been an issue this week. I've found myself with almost nothing to do after lessons have been planned. Thank goodness I have the internet since I would be pulling my hair out without it! It's not much fun being on your own and not having anything to do and I was willing the weekend to arrive even more than normal.
Despite arriving at school for the first lesson on Wednesday, I found I had nothing to do until later so I once again planned some more. I was also informed that Anja was absent and was asked whether I would take one of her classes. I hadn't planned anything and hadn't a clue what to do, but I accepted. I felt a sense of responsibility and I felt saying no was an easy way out and I didn't want to disappoint. I spontaneously thought up a short lesson and hoped everything would be ok! Fortunately it was. Like every other time, the students cheered when they discovered the teacher was absent and I was there to replace them (but maybe this is because they know they can get away with more and not due to the fact that they actually like me). We talked a little bit about the London 2012 Olympics and I got them to do a few exercises listing different sports and thinking about how they would organise an Olympic Games in their city. With a little time left at the end I showed them a video of 2012 Olympic highlights. After this we only had 5 minutes left and I still had two more videos to show them, so I took a vote to see which one they would prefer. The options were James Bond and the Queen at the opening ceremony or Mr. Beans performance at the opening ceremony. Mr Bean took it hands down and we ended with this video. (Mr. Bean is very popular here in Germany). After this I had a lesson with a Year 8 class who had been nagging their teacher for weeks and asking her to get me to take a lesson. I did a lesson about food, national dishes and told them a little bit about British food with the help of a quiz. Lots of 'yuck's and 'urgh's could be heard as we discussed Haggis and Black Pudding and I once again had to explain to the students that we don't eat Fish & Chips every day, which they seem to think! (I also asked them to give me an example of a food that could be described as 'hot'. As someone gave the answer 'a hot dog' I realised I may have to explain this one a little). At the end of the class I offered the students some sweets that I had bought especially for this lesson, but only if they could tell me some of the words I had just taught them. They were able to and so earned some sweets. If there is one way to get a class to like you, it is definitely through the distribution of sweets!
Thursday was another largely uneventful day at school. I did a little more speaking practise with some classes and my conversation class didn't go ahead due to an early finish. This was fine with me as it meant I could go to Lois' earlier! The sun was blazing once again and after a super fast packing session at my flat, I was on the train an hour earlier than planned. It was lovely arriving in Eichstätt in the sun and going to Lois' for a change. I haven't actually been there for several months because we've both agreed that is more to do here in Regensburg, which is why this is normally where we spend our weekends. However my time in Eichstätt was short lived, as on Friday morning we departed for Munich where we would then catch a coach to Zurich.
We've never travelled by coach here in Germany, so we were looking forward to the change. The coach was cheaper than the train and just as quick so we thought why not. We weren't disappointed either as the coach was comfortable, clean and had free Wifi! (Megabus need to get on this!). The coach was on time and the journey was pleasant as we crossed into Austria and then into Switzerland. The Alps totally surrounded us at one point and looked particularly spectacular in the sunlight. As we got closer to Zurich we began to notice huge Golden bunnies next to buildings on the side of the road - the ones that everybody recognises as the Lindt Gold Bunny. It was as if they were welcoming us into their country of origin. 4 hours later and we were in Zurich. With the help of Lois' trusty iPad (which has successfully navigated us to our destination more times than I can remember!) we reached our apartment. This apartment was particularly high-tech. There was no reception or staff, instead just a key box in which you inputted a unique code that had been given to us and your key automatically fell out. It was cool! Our apartment was actually just a room, as the kitchen was shared, but that didn't bother us really as the room was nice.
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| The cool Key-Box |
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| Crazy looking Swiss Francs |
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| The Swiss seem to love bikes even more than the Germans! They have special 'VeloParks' all over the place - Like a car park but for bikes! |
The next day we awoke to grey clouds and a miserable looking sky. Typical. As I said in my last post, it's now clear that the sun takes the weekend off, as this was the first time in the whole week that the sun wasn't shining. We got breakfast on-the-go from a supermarket and then ventured into the city again. At this point it started to rain. After buying an umbrella, which would be a life saver later on, we did our own little tour around the city. Zurich is a cute city, with lots of little passages and lots of high end shops. Boutique shops line cobbled streets and café after café take up pavements with outdoor seating (which were deserted due to the rain!). Several bridges cross over a river which opens out into a huge lake and the city, whilst being small, is nice. It is very clean and has a rather posh feel to it. However we certainly didn't see it at its best, considering by now the rain was coming down a little harder and the skies were worryingly grey. We enjoyed just sauntering round and exploring the odd little shops (mainly the chocolate shops which had huge arrays of expensive, but mouth-watering, chocolate). We went inside a few Churches, which were very plain and boring compared to the beautiful Churches and Cathedrals found in Germany, and also went up the tower of one of them which gave us a great view over the whole city. Like I said, its very small and it seems very crammed, but the houses are pretty and the river makes the city look very picturesque. The temperature had dropped considerably from the previous days and we were in need of a rest so we visited a Starbucks and begrudgingly, through gritted teeth, paid the high price for a warming coffee. We were hoping the rain would ease but instead it just seemed to get heavier and with a walking tour starting soon, we sadly had to go back outside. We met a guide and along with several others took part in a free walking tour. By this point it was raining pretty heavy and since the whole tour was outdoor we all began to get cold, wet and miserable. The umbrella Lois had bought began leaking as it struggled to cope with the downpour. But we soldiered on and tried out best to stay interested. We soon found out however, that Zurich doesn't really have much history. Ok, Lenin lived there for a few years and many artistic movements originated there, but there was nothing significant or particularly interesting that we got out of it.
Fortunately the tour lasted just over an hour, by which point we were definitely ready to head back to the apartment just for some respite. The guide very kindly gave us a voucher for a free brownie at a posh café (and the tour was free! Not bad!) but we didn't have the desire to take advantage of this right then and just wanted to get back. We were both fed up and paced back as quick as we could, getting a little lost on the way which didn't help. Once back we warmed up, Lois changed her shoes which were drenched and, feeling hungry and in need of energy we went out for some food. Once again, we found ourselves in Hooters - mainly because of its close location and because of the price (And not because of the girls!). We enjoyed a really good meal and felt like we had deserved it. We both slept really well that night!
On Sunday we left our apartment, dropped our key back in the automatic key box and proceeded into the city. We didn't have long before our coach back to Munich, but we did have time to take advantage of the free brownie voucher we had received the day before. We found the café and it was indeed pretty classy. Our brownie would have cost 4 Swiss Francs each, so not bad at all for a freebie. We changed our money back to Euros and got back on the coach as soon as we could, in an effort to stay warm as it was even colder than the day before. On the way back we went through snow storms, heavy rain fall and even more rain before arriving in a cold and wet Munich. We have to say that we were impressed with the coach service and would definitely consider it again. As for Zurich, we think it is a nice city, but unfortunately we didn't experience it at its best. Because of its lack of history, lack of things to do and because everything is so expensive, we felt a day there was perfect. Any longer would have been too long. One thing that I haven't mentioned is the dialect. Since Zurich is so close to the border with Germany, they speak German. Signs etc are all in German (Elsewhere in Switzerland they speak either Italian, French or Romansch). But they speak with a very strong, often for us as learners of German incomprehensibly, accent. Nevertheless we spoke in German and tried to get along. We wouldn't go back to Zurich but would like to visit other cities in Switzerland - maybe when we've saved up a little bit!
We left each other in Munich station and went out separate ways. We're already looking forward to next weekend, since one of our friends from university, who is also doing a Year Abroad, is coming to visit, so we're hoping to show him the delights and wonders of Bavaria. I have a few exciting events which I will be partaking in this week with my schools so I'm looking forward to these too. I will update you next week!
Until next time,
Tschüß
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