It’s my first week back and I’ve already broken into my stash of reserve peanut butter, however this time I brought 2 jars back so that should hold me over for a few more weeks at least… a little something to assist me in reintegrating to German life and food. The flight back went surprisingly well. I lucked out with an entire middle row to myself, so I made the most of it and was even able to lie down and sleep for a bit. I’m always impressed that United gives out whole cans of pop when their drink service comes around (a bit depressing that that’s the thing to look froward to on a flight) but was sorely disappointed in the “meal.” We all know the airlines are so starved for money, they obviously have to starve their passengers, too (Right, right?!)
I arrived in Frankfurt at the bright and early hour of 7:00am, which sounds unpleasant, but the upside was that there were no customs lines and no holdups at baggage, allowing me to blow through the whole process in about 10 minutes. BUT b/c of a previous bad experience with luggage in Frankfurt (waited 2 hours for airport personnel to eventually locate my bags) and an absolutely terrible experience (passport, phone, wallet, money, cards, etc. all stolen shortly before trying to get my boarding pass back home to Ohio), I decided to book my train back to Basel for several hours after my flight arrival time in preparation for anything that might go wrong — flight delay, lost luggage, persnickety customs officials, etc. — none of which occurred, resulting in an almost a 3 hour wait for my train with nothing to do. Better safe than sorry, I guess!
So, after a long but successful journey I finally made it back to my apartment, starving and tired. After rummaging through the cabinets for food, I settled on an old pack of Ramen (yummy) and then proceeded to sleep for about 5 hours, which didn't help the sleep adjustment process much, but now that I've been back for almost a week I can thankfully say that any jet lag has vanished. My sleeping schedule is still out of whack, but at least my body has adjusted to the proper time zone.
I’ve had a really fulfilling first week back at work, so fingers crossed this is an indicator of how the rest of the year will go. I brought back several bags of candy corn for the kids to try since most of them had never heard of it before. I passed it out to several of my regular classes as a little ‘welcome back from break’ treat. Some liked it, others refused to try it. I guess the German kids aren’t quite as used to excessive sugary sweet snacks like we are in the good old US of A. The candy corn ended up paying off more than I thought it would b/c one of the teachers had his kids make posters advertising candy corn (as an English activity). I’m now in possession of said posters (pictures below) which are hilarious and adorable, and make me want to go out and buy 10 bags of the stuff right now. I think my favorite is the one that just says "Eat candy corn, be a unicorn," and nothing else. No drawings, no explanation, but it makes me laugh. I also really like the one that references both Angelar Merkel and Taylor Swift as incentives to buy candy corn since they both love it so much.
Other than attempting to induce my students into sugar comas, I also taught about Martin Luther King, Jr. day, helped as a practice interviewer for a 12th grade class that is preparing for a statewide oral exam coming up this spring, and helped act out a role play with 9th graders who were practicing phones calls, pretending to call an English language school in the US.
I’ve already been reminded of the pervasiveness of the English language and American culture throughout Germany, some of which are impressive, others of which make me shake my head and wonder where in the world these ideas come from. The basketball team I play with had a game this past Sunday, and when I walked into the gym during the younger girls’ game the first sounds I heard were a bunch of girls chanting, “Take that ball away, take that ball away!” in rhythm. I’m always surprised at how much English is incorporated into sports here. On the opposite end of the spectrum are instances like when I saw an ice cream container yesterday advertising “American Ice Cream — Chocolate and Biscuits flavor!” with a picture of a cookie. The mixing of American influence while using British English is always comical to me.
I’m heading to Berlin tomorrow for the Fulbright Winter Ball, which I’ve really been looking forward to. I’m not so sure how it’s going to feel walking through a large city in the middle of winter in a dress and heels, but maybe we can put on our beer jackets before heading out…. hehe. I’m arriving Thursday evening since I have a 7 hour train ride ahead of me and the will be meeting 4 other Fulbrighters on Friday. We’ll be staying in a hostel together and are going as a group to the ball.
PS - Forgot to mention what the title of this is about: Germans have an incredulous amount of breaks from work & school. Over the next 5 months, I have a one week break for Fasching, a one week seminar in Berlin, then directly after that a one week break for Easter, and then a two break for Pfingstferien in mid-May. So in total, 5 weeks of vacation in 5 months. Amazing!
I arrived in Frankfurt at the bright and early hour of 7:00am, which sounds unpleasant, but the upside was that there were no customs lines and no holdups at baggage, allowing me to blow through the whole process in about 10 minutes. BUT b/c of a previous bad experience with luggage in Frankfurt (waited 2 hours for airport personnel to eventually locate my bags) and an absolutely terrible experience (passport, phone, wallet, money, cards, etc. all stolen shortly before trying to get my boarding pass back home to Ohio), I decided to book my train back to Basel for several hours after my flight arrival time in preparation for anything that might go wrong — flight delay, lost luggage, persnickety customs officials, etc. — none of which occurred, resulting in an almost a 3 hour wait for my train with nothing to do. Better safe than sorry, I guess!
So, after a long but successful journey I finally made it back to my apartment, starving and tired. After rummaging through the cabinets for food, I settled on an old pack of Ramen (yummy) and then proceeded to sleep for about 5 hours, which didn't help the sleep adjustment process much, but now that I've been back for almost a week I can thankfully say that any jet lag has vanished. My sleeping schedule is still out of whack, but at least my body has adjusted to the proper time zone.
I’ve had a really fulfilling first week back at work, so fingers crossed this is an indicator of how the rest of the year will go. I brought back several bags of candy corn for the kids to try since most of them had never heard of it before. I passed it out to several of my regular classes as a little ‘welcome back from break’ treat. Some liked it, others refused to try it. I guess the German kids aren’t quite as used to excessive sugary sweet snacks like we are in the good old US of A. The candy corn ended up paying off more than I thought it would b/c one of the teachers had his kids make posters advertising candy corn (as an English activity). I’m now in possession of said posters (pictures below) which are hilarious and adorable, and make me want to go out and buy 10 bags of the stuff right now. I think my favorite is the one that just says "Eat candy corn, be a unicorn," and nothing else. No drawings, no explanation, but it makes me laugh. I also really like the one that references both Angelar Merkel and Taylor Swift as incentives to buy candy corn since they both love it so much.
Other than attempting to induce my students into sugar comas, I also taught about Martin Luther King, Jr. day, helped as a practice interviewer for a 12th grade class that is preparing for a statewide oral exam coming up this spring, and helped act out a role play with 9th graders who were practicing phones calls, pretending to call an English language school in the US.
I’ve already been reminded of the pervasiveness of the English language and American culture throughout Germany, some of which are impressive, others of which make me shake my head and wonder where in the world these ideas come from. The basketball team I play with had a game this past Sunday, and when I walked into the gym during the younger girls’ game the first sounds I heard were a bunch of girls chanting, “Take that ball away, take that ball away!” in rhythm. I’m always surprised at how much English is incorporated into sports here. On the opposite end of the spectrum are instances like when I saw an ice cream container yesterday advertising “American Ice Cream — Chocolate and Biscuits flavor!” with a picture of a cookie. The mixing of American influence while using British English is always comical to me.
I’m heading to Berlin tomorrow for the Fulbright Winter Ball, which I’ve really been looking forward to. I’m not so sure how it’s going to feel walking through a large city in the middle of winter in a dress and heels, but maybe we can put on our beer jackets before heading out…. hehe. I’m arriving Thursday evening since I have a 7 hour train ride ahead of me and the will be meeting 4 other Fulbrighters on Friday. We’ll be staying in a hostel together and are going as a group to the ball.
PS - Forgot to mention what the title of this is about: Germans have an incredulous amount of breaks from work & school. Over the next 5 months, I have a one week break for Fasching, a one week seminar in Berlin, then directly after that a one week break for Easter, and then a two break for Pfingstferien in mid-May. So in total, 5 weeks of vacation in 5 months. Amazing!