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That's so Un-American part 2

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 20:21:58 +0100

In Germany we only have two sale days out of the year. One occurs at the end of summer to get rid of summer goods and the other is at the end of winter to get rid of the winter goods. In America, some one has a sale going on every day. So, if you want a good deal, you better make sure you are in town the weeks of these sales.

We have Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Easter Monday. So, the stores are closed Friday to Monday. In America, the stores would be having big Easter sales. Here all are closed and you better have stocked up on food on Thursday so that you can make it through the long weekend.

In German school when you talk about what class you are in, you are referring to the grade level. When you talk about the Mark you made in class, you speak about the grade you made. When one wants to know when you have math class, they ask what hour you have class. As a teacher, I do not have 5 classes, but 5 hours. I correct and make marks, not give grades. I'm so confused! It makes it hard to talk about my work at BFA.

Frog crossing signs. Here in Germany we have signs for frog crossings like you have signs for deer crossing in the states. They even put up little green fences to keep the frogs out of the road. Every night/morning the Germans go to collect the frogs in a bucket and carry them across the road to the other side. Unlike the chicken who could cross the road, these little guys tend to get squished by the tires of cars. When they get squished, they make a slippery mess on the road, which is why we have frog crossing signs here in Germany.

The Darkest Winter

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 19:59:54 +0100

While the sun is still trying to shine through and the tulips are in bloom, spring is still not yet here. We've had a few sunny days and everyone has found their spot in the sun to bask. While it was still to cold to stay outside, I was able to throw back the curtains, pull a comfy chair over to the window and bask in the sun like a cat, or Iguana. It was so nice to see the sun again after a long bleak, dreary winter. Yet, winter is still here.

The German news has described this winter as the darkest winter in 40 years. They said we had 50% less sunshine this winter. I'd believe that with the overcast skies every day whether it snowed or not/rained or not. Morning, noon, and evening, when one looked up into the sky nothing but dreary gray.

SAD is seasonal affective disorder. This is the feeling of depression, mild or severe, when there is not enough sunshine present. This lack of sunshine disrupts the body clock and can drop the level of certain "feel good" chemicals in the body. This is a real condition that affects many people in the northern regions where there is a big difference in the daylight hours in the winter seasons. This was a tough season for those affected by SAD this year. I know my body jumped for joy over seeing sunshine this month for the few days that we had it.

Meet My New Classmates

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 15:26:14 +0100

I do appreciate my new class. It is much smaller than the other class and it is an older bunch. In the first class I had 20 classmates and they were mostly 20ish or early 30s. There was a lot of competition in my other class. This new class just wants to survive. I like the ease of this new class. In this first picture, you see Sunnette and Olga. Sunnette is from South Africa. She speaks multiple languages. She is in her early thirties and is married. Olga is from Russia, somewhere near Siberia. She is single and is hoping for a better life here in Germany. She is so serious about life and very opinionated. Her sense of humor seems to always surprise me. She is really trying to make life work for her here in Germany. Oh, and that is Cuddles the "fahren Hund"/traveling dog on my shoulder there. In this picture, we are supposed to be writing a 3 way dialog about where to go on vacation. This was the assignment that was supposed to take 10 minutes to complete, but in actuality took 30 minutes to complete. Not because it was hard, but because we were having so much fun with it.

The first from the left is Ludmyla, who is from Balarus. She is married and has grown children. She has lived in Germany for many years. While her vocabulary is large, she is working on improving her German grammar. The other two are Alexandra and Alena. They are married and have been for 33 years. They are from Kyrgyzstan. They moved to Germany to be in a safer and better place. With so much political unrest in their country and so many people being killed unmercifully, they thought they would be better off in Germany. Alexander has roots in Russia, while, Alena has roots in Germany. Her Great grandmother moved to Kyrgyzstan many years ago to start a new life there. Alena remembers speaking German with her as a child. Their children have also settled here in Germany as well. There is one other person not pictured, Mi (me). He did not want his picture taken. He is Vietnamese and has lived here in Germany for many years. He has several restaurants that he owns and runs in and around Lorrach. He is a chatty little fellow and I do try my best to follow what he is saying when he speaks with me. But my vocab is small compared to everyone else in class. They are good about explain big words that I do not understand.

Even the teachers are wonderful. I have two teachers. Frau Ludmyla, same name as my classmate, is about my age, perhaps a little younger, and Frau Weiss, she is in her early 60s. Both know English and Russian, as well as, German. Both came over to Germany when they were young. Frau Ludmyla is much more structured in her lessons than Frau Weiss. Frau Weiss likes to spend more time conversing, which has been a great big help for me. I am becoming more confident with the language.

So, this is my new class. Hope you enjoyed meeting my classmates.

That is so Un-American!

Sun, 09 Dec 2012 16:36:00 +0100

Thought I'd share with you a few differences between German life and American life.

1. Students are allowed to have a pocket knife at school.

2. In Nebensatze, all verbs go at the end of the sentence. (My classmates like to help me finish my sentence because I get lost in these type of sentences. By the time I get to then end, I've forgotten what my verb was. As I pause to think, my classmates fill in the verb for me. This has happened often enough that now the teacher tells the class to be quiet and let me finish my sentence!)

3. We have a test every 7 chapters. You are expected to know the information from all seven chapters for your test. Unless your name is Hunter and have a teacher who is giving a test after every other chapter. Hmmmm. Differences between having a German for a teacher and a non-German for a teacher.

4. Grades are not A,B,C,D,F, but are 1,2,3,4,5,6 with one being the best grade and 6 being the worst. 1.8 is not as good as a 1.2. In other countries the grading is 1-10 with 10 being the best. Of course, everyone wants to know what happened to the 'E' in our grading system. Wait until I tell them that today it is A,B,C,D and U!!

5. The school kids ride the public transportation to school and are not dropped off right at school but near school. Likewise, they take the public transportation system when going on field trips too.

6. Teachers can put signs on the kids that say "IDIOT." Honest to goodness. A friend was sharing this with me the other day. I don't remember what she said the kid did, but afterwards the teacher told the kid that he/she got to wear the (ID- ay- o-ta) tag for the rest of the day. She said she did not have a clue as to what the teacher was saying until she read the tag! (I checked it out. That translates the same in German, although I don't think it is a normal German word.)

So as I started out saying, "That is so un-American!!"

Kaffee and Kuchen

Sun, 09 Dec 2012 16:44:47 +0100

It is that time of year where the weather is cold and sitting at a cafe drinking coffee (in my case hot chocolate) and eating cake is appealing. So, lets have a Coffee break and talk.

I would start the conversation by saying that I've had it rough in language school the last couple of weeks. I'd tell you that the chapters we'd covered were all new to me and I was understanding very little. I'd also share that at one point I was ready to pack up and return home. But I have not. I am still here. In the roughest moments I reminded myself that I was here because of God's plan for my life. As long as it is God's plan, then I must remain no matter how hard or despairing it gets. We'd talk about God's strength and how God will help us through the hard times. We'd quote some Bible verse such as:

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Isaiah 41:10 fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

     Then I would talk about how I sought God's strength to get through the tough times. How I had quit feeling friendly and how I wanted to just shut down. How at one point I had wanted to tell my table partner, sweet Alena, that if she corrected me one more time I was going to slap that pretty face right off her head. (We'd just learned body parts the week before so I could have said this in German....but God held my tongue and I did not.)   I would also share that I had started dreading conversations with another classmate, Alexandra, because she was only coming up to me and talking about the things I'd done wrong in class and telling me how I needed to listen in class! I wanted to say, I am listening....I just am not processing! I'm really not as dumb as I appear to be! And then shake her. But again, God helped hold my tongue and arms and hands. And so, I'd pray, "Lord help me to be friendly. Let your light shine despite the frustrations I have in class." Only as God can do in his amazing ways did He present me as friendly to my classmates. I don't know what they see, but it has got to be God, because it is not me. I am still dealing with frustrations.
      As God leads one classmate after another to talk with me, I open up and am friendly with them. Alena, continues to be my friend despite my "dumbness." Alexandra has had two conversations with me where we talk about life. She is from Belarus and speaks Russian and some French. She is an only child and her mother misses her fiercely. She talks with her mother regularly by skype. It will be Christmas before she can go visit her mom. She is here in hopes of a better life. She has met a German and she hopes to marry him one day. He has several siblings. One is a younger brother who is about 7 years old. He deals with diabetes. He has a pump that regulates his insulin intake. He is going to school now and the family is concerned about how well he will do with school and the insulin regulations. This little fellow has a special place in Alexandra's heart.
    I have also had several conversations with Kamilla. She is from Hungary. Kamilla bikes to school every day. The ride into Lorrach takes about 20 minutes so when it rains, she does not come to school. She too has come for a better life. She must learn German in order to find a job. She is discourage that she can not work right now....due to lack of language....but looks forward to the day she can work. She is a bit envious of me that I already have a job. I have a company that will pay for my language education and that there will be a position waiting for me when I complete my class. She also thinks I am a special person to love on the school children as I do.
    I'd follow up with Feray who paid me a complement this past week. She called me her friend and asked to have her photo taken with me. We have had several conversations. She likes to just have conversations to help each of us improve upon our German. She focuses much on getting the language correct. She wants to excel at learning German. She is often frustrated with the learning just as I am. The class moves quickly for her at times. I know just how she feels. She gets frustrated with the delinquents when they try to act up in class. She has no tolerance for them. We are here to learn! Not play. I totally get it. She is a really neat person that I'd love to get to know better.

So, I've talked your ears off. Now it is your turn. What would you share? What have you been dealing with lately that has been troubling you? How has God helped you through your hardships?

One More Language Fau Pax

Sat, 03 Nov 2012 15:20:25 +0100

A couple of weeks ago I got on the bus and sat in the front seat. I noticed that the bus driver was being real talkative. Having observed some very talkative Bus drivers, I thought nothing of it and proceeded to talk with the driver. Seeing as how he was real interested in talking, I told him I was new and that I was going to language school to learn the language and that I worked at an international school. He was asking questions...some I understand and was able to answer quickly and others not so much...such s the repeated word "ledig". Ach. I should have remembered that word, but I didn't. As he was talking, I was nodding and smiling.....Note to self: don't do that again....nod and smile. He also kept saying pretty which I was interpreting as good job with the speaking. (As in you are doing a pretty good job for a southerner who draws out her words). That was not the case as I was soon to find out. As we were nearing Kandern after about 30 minutes of talking, the bus driver started slowing the bus down to a crawl and turned to me and asked for paper and pencil. Huh?! Shouldn't you be driving the bus and not passing notes?! Well, I slowly muddled my way through my bag acting like I was looking for pencil and paper. (Like I was really going to start passing notes to the bus driver!) Well, he gave up on me and found his own pen and paper. Ach...I am not in middle school...I'm not going to start passing notes! You need to be focused on the road dude! Well, he looked at me...and we were still creeping along the road. I can only imagine what the other passengers thought.....I was getting a little nervous. Well any ways, the driver looked at me and said, "Telefonnummer?" (I think you get that translation!) What?!?!? He wants my telephone number?!?! Ach! I immediately jump out of my seat and thrust my hand in his face and say, "verheiratet" (as only a true southerner can drawl out such a word) which means married. Now, I can really only imagine what the other passengers were thinking! I say this word several times...mutilating it each time and then realize I really need to sit back down and get my hand out of his face so that he can focus on the road. I do and I hear the bus driver say, "schade" which means to bad. Ach! So, the next 15 minutes were incredibly uncomfortable and a bit awkward but we both made it but not before the bus driver made one more offer. He told me that if things did not work out between me and my husband he'd be there waiting. Ach!!

Well when we got to the bus station, I exited the bus quickly. I did remember my manners and wished the driver a great weekend before running for my life! I must say, it's been two weeks and I've not ridden the 1:35 bus since. So, I have not seen Mr. Bus driver since then. I don't know if I ever will be able to ride the 1:35 bus again.

Oh, and by the way, ledig means single. The bus driver was asking me if I was single and I was politely smiling and nodding my head. Dumb American! No wonder the boy asked for my phone number!

Die iOR Sprachschule/The iOR language school

Wed, 03 Oct 2012 15:16:31 +0100

This is the building that houses our school. It is a short walk from the bus station.
The school is on the top floor. 79 steps from the ground floor to the 4th floor.

This is the door to school. Many days I wait in the hallway with many of my classmates until the school opens up.
I get to Lorrach about 45 minutes before school starts.

Here is my classroom. I sit in the second seat there on the right hand side. TSee my hot drink mug, my school books, my pink folder and the ever helpful German-English dictionary. The picture is taken from the front of the room.

Here are some of my classmates. That is Alena beside me with Ling, Lina, and Axana in the back. Our very personable and creative Istvan is posing there in front.

Here is where I do my homework some days.

Other days I do my homework here.

Some Language School "Funnies"

Wed, 03 Oct 2012 14:01:16 +0100

Teacher: Let's practice our ABCs
(After saying the alphabet multiple times)
Teacher: Now turn to your partners and spell your name.
Michele: Okay, M-i-c-d-e-l-e
Alena: Was (what)?!?
Michele: M-i-c-d-e-...
Alena: Nein (no) ! As she grabs my paper to look at my name....
Michele: Ohhh, Noooo! M-i-c-h-e-l-e
_______________

After entering the classroom one hot day and opening the window
Hunter: Ich bin warm (I'm warm)
Teacher: In German, that means you're gay. So does, I'm hot.
Hunter: Oh. Das Zimmer is warm (the room is warm). Bist das OK? (is that OK)
Teacher: Yes. That just means the room is warm.
_______________

While working on adjective endings one day---
Teacher: Hunter, when is your birthday?
Hunter: every year (with correct adjective ending on "every")
class starts giggling
Hunter: Oh, you mean 15 June.
________________

Teacher: Michele, Share your sentence with the class.
Michele: Okay, Ich esse fur Abendessen meine Freundin, Gail. ( I eat my friend, Gail, for dinner)
Class: roars in laughter!
Teacher: Wirklich?! (really?!)
Michele: Ach! I mean....Ich esse fur Abendessen mit meine Freundin, Gail. ( I eat with my friend, Gail, at dinner.)

There will be more to follow....I am sure!

A Day in our Life

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 15:44:27 +0100

So, that you have an idea of how our day runs, I thought I'd let you peek into a day of our life. This week the alarm has been going off at 5:45 am. I slowly wake up and then get ready for language school while Hunter gets ready for work. We eat breakfast, Hunter packs a lunch and I pack a snack and take a hot drink with me. 10 minutes before time for the bus to run, I leave the house and tell Hunter I'll see him at 12:45. Living next to the bus station is nice. I catch the bus at 7:20 and ride it into Rummingen where I switch to another bus that will take me into Lorrach for school. I spend my time on the bus in prayer....kind of like prayer walking but riding the bus instead. In Rummingen, the bus is waiting for me and so I cross the road and hop on. This bus is very full with adults going into Lorrach for work and school children. Again, I spend the bus ride in prayer. Once I arrive at the bus station in Lorrach, I have 45 minutes before school starts. So, I prayer walk the city. I am amazed at how much walking I can get in, in about 30 minutes. I make sure I am on time to class because Germans hate tardiness. (Thus the reason I've been arriving an hour early. One day the bus was late due to traffic which was due to construction on the highway, and it made me 10 minutes late to class. Uhg! The look I got from the teacher. Next week I'll go back to taking the later bus and see if it is running on time. If not, I do more of the early rising. If I take the later bus, then I arrive in Lorrach with just enough time to walk to school, unpack, settle in and say a few words with my classmates before school starts).

So I arrive at school and get settled in for class. Class is ALL in German. Every once in a while the teacher will explain something in English for hard to understand concepts. Those are rare. I take LOTS of notes. There are about 10 different nationalities represented in class. There are five boys and 14 girls in class. Tables in class are arranged in a horseshoe. I sit on the right hand side of the horseshoe second seat (closest to the teacher and whiteboard). The wall across from me is made up of windows and has a nice view of the city. We only use the overhead lights when it is cloudy outside. This is to preserve energy. The teacher will teach a while, then we will do some kind of activity and then the teacher will teach some more. We have a 20 minute break at about 10:30. This is enough time to leave the building and either take a smoke (which many of my classmates do), run and grab something to eat (which about half the class does), or just socialize outside which many do. Then we MUST be back in class on time. The teacher will lecture some more and we'll do some sort of activity in the afternoon and the teacher will lecture some more and then there will be a dictation which will be graded. Finally comes the homework. Practice what we've learned, learning all the new words with their articles (der, die or das) and multiple pages out of our workbook.

So, class is over at 12:45. I am happy to see Hunter between classes. We have time to quickly update each other on what our mornings were like and hand off the German-English dictionary. Hunter's school day begins. And his class runs very similarly to mine. His class will run from 1:00 until 5:00. He'll get home around 6:00. With class being over, I'll grab a snack and work my written homework. Catch the bus back home and work on more homework. It is a pretty busy day. In the evening there is dinner, small group time, shopping etc. It may be busy but that is okay as long as I'm learning something.

Mein Erster Tag in Der Schule/ My first day at school

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 15:32:13 +0100

Wow! What a morning--Alles in Deutsch...Alles! (all in German...all!) I came out of class exhausted! The top four words to describe my morning would be angst (or anxiety), accomplishment, fighting and Pain (which is a story all of itself). Despite the fact that three of the four words I've used are negative, today was not bad....just stressful. There is even a GREAT moment of humor in this day. Although at the time, I was not laughing....just beet red. Ach!

So Ill start with the word Angst. this morning I got up to the feeling of anxiety as I knew today would be all German and I would either sink like a bolder or swim. Guess what?! I didn't sink. I was able to swim! But I must say it was more like dog paddling. I understood 80% of what the instructor said. Yea! But only after much fighting through the language. It was very comforting to know that there were 15 other students in class who felt the same way as I did. While I was the only one with the "deer in the headlights" look on my face, you could tell many of the others were stressing along with me. The teacher and the receptionists all know me by first name. That would be due to the "deer in the headlights" look that I have on my face every time I've been to the school. I hope that this goes away some day....sooner rather than later.

I thought this picture pretty much accurately depicted my Angst

I was so happy to see Hunter out in the hallway after class. He was a welcoming sight to see! It was so wonderful to see another English speaker in the building! I almost cried on his shoulder of shear relief from class being over. I didn't. Instead, I went in search of some comfort food. Anything American which wound up being McDonalds. I went in and ordered a Menu item: sandwich, large fries....and yes....large coke. I figured if I was going for comfort food.....from McDonalds? yes, from Mcdonalds......I might as well go for the caffeinated soda. I sat down and drowned my stress in good ole American burger, fries and coke. Ach! I can not do this every day. If I do, I will turn out to be Two-Ton-Tessie by the time class is over!

The next word is fighting. I will divide this into two sections. The first is the competition going on in the classroom. My peers were competing to out show the other person in knowledge. My whole reaction to that was "Really folks?! Come on....we are here to learn stop being childish." Then I remembered that I am in Europe, they grew up in a school system that was very competitive. It was all about who could give the right answer first and get the teacher's praise. So, yes, really. Ach. I guess I'll be the "dumm Americanerin" in class. That is absolutely okay with me. My goal is not to compete with my peers and outshine them. My goal is to make a good grade. At one point, the teacher actually called the class down and told them to be quiet. :) Yes, German school is going to be an experience for me. The second part to the fighting is just fighting through the translation part to understand what is being said. I took many notes today. And when that "deer in the headlights" look turned to sheer panic, the teacher would ask, "Sie Verstehen, Michele?/ Do you understand, Michele?" To which I'd reply Nein/no. The instructor would take the time to explain. Danke Gott for such an understanding Lehrerin! (that would be genglish...German and English mixed together)

On to the word accomplishment. I survived my first day! I not only survived, but I understood what the teacher was saying. I didn't just understand my teacher, I carried on a basic conversation with one of my peers! yea! Oh, but it was so draining. The lady who was sitting next to me is from Belarus. She is taking German so that she can talk to her boyfriend. Right now they try speaking English to one another-which they both know very little of...according to her. He is German. She wants to move permanently to Germany. The hope is to marry her boyfriend in the future after she learns German. Wow! I am so glad Hunter was/is an English speaker and I did not have to learn a new language just to get to know him better and marry him.

     At this point, I'd like to just spend a minute saying that this class addresses many of the learning styles. I do like this. We had book work, group work and even some hands on activities. So, it was not like we sat all morning long. that was good. We threw a ball to one another for telling who we were, what country we were from, and where we lived. Just to name one active activity.

     The last word pain. I am sure by now you are wondering what was so painful in all this. Well let me explain. This story actually goes back to one week ago where I ran into the wall and hurt my shoulder. So, how does one run into the wall ad hurt their shoulder? Well...only I can do that. See, as I was walking down the circular staircase with the vacuum cleaner in hand, I got too close to the wall and just ran into it with my right arm/shoulder. Which seems to have done quiet a bit of harm to the shoulder area. I was hoping that my shoulder would heal in a week, but alas it has not. And today did not help the shoulder at all. As I stressed, I carried all that stress in my shoulders. I was so tense and I was constantly reminding myself to relax the shoulders. Then before I knew it, I'd have my arms close into me and tight as could be. So, that is how my first day of class was painful. Tomorrow I'll have to work on not carrying the stress in my shoulders.

    Now the funny part of class. Yes, you are allowed to roll with laughter and guffaw as loudly as you want. Because, now as I look back at it, it is rather funny. So, we were saying our German ABCs and we'd repeated this multiple times to get the right sounds out of our mouths, when the teacher asked us to turn to one another and spell our names. So, I did. I turned to my neighbor and began spelling my name M-I-C-D-E-L-E. You know D comes after C but before E. (a,b,c,d,e) My peer got the most peculiar look on her face and then picked up my name tag and said nein!/no! To which I responded, "Was?/What?" As I looked at it. I became mortified. I'd just misspelled my name! She is just laughing so hard and all I could do is smile and correct myself. Mistakes we make. Only I would misspell my name!

Hope you enjoyed this entry! Have a great day! I'll let you know how the week ends. Have a wonderful week! Now to finish up my 3 hours of hausaufgaben/homework.