So THAT'S why I came here...

All in all, this week has turned out a lot better than I thought it would. And honestly, I think that part of it was because I stopped trying to control many aspects and just decided to go with the flow. Hmm. May have to start doing this more often.

I've actually done a lot of activities with the kids this week, which has definitely made me feel like I'm actually doing something with myself. Definitely beats sitting in the corner and feeling very much like a walking/talking dictionary.

To start off the week I did presentations on American high school with the eighth graders, which was pretty funny. I think my favorite moment was when we had a discussion session at the end. I basically asked them if they liked American high schools, and what they specifically liked about it, what they would like to incorporate into German schools, etc. They immediately said that they loved how we have dances and sports teams, etc etc etc. It was then that I dropped the bomb on them: American high schoolers have homework every night, and (GASP!) that homework is graded. In Germany, teachers are very limited on the amount of homework that they can give, and it's never graded. I think I literally saw about 20 jaws drop instantly in front of me. I had to laugh out loud at that.......we play hard, but we work hard too.

Then came the Thanksgiving presentations/activities on Wednesday and Friday. Wednesday I started off with the 10th graders, and it went SO. WELL. I was thrilled. They absolutely ate up the turkey activity (pun intended), where I had them try to put the instructions of how to roast a turkey in order. Epic fail on their part, but they had a blast doing it!

It was on Wednesday night that I made the last minute decision to stop being such a hermit and catch the next train to Bochum, where my friend Emily lives. We went to the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) there, and had an absolute blast. The next day we once again made last minute plans and the two of us took the train from Bochum to Essen, where we met our friend Sara. There was another big Weihnachtsmarkt there, and we had a big dinner together since we all had to celebrate Thanksgiving away from home. I got home Thursday night oh-so-tired and broke, but oh-so-happy with life.

The week ended with my Thanksgiving presentation to the 5th graders, which I wasn't sure would go so well. Their vocabulary is pretty limited, so you can't do anything too intricate (read: interesting) with them. Probably the highlight of the week came when I taught them how to make hand-turkeys (you know, the kind that every one of us made at least fifty times in grade school by tracing around our hands). I drew one on the smartboard at the front of the class, and it was absolutely PRICELESS to see all their faces light up as if light bulbs had suddenly gone off in their heads - shouts of "OH, GEIIIIIIIIL!" (oh, cool!) came from everywhere and they scrambled to start drawing their turkeys. Best. Lesson. EVER.

Tomorrow I head off to Gladbeck for our big English TA Thanksgiving potluck...let's pray that the turkey works out. But yes - my mood is "spitze" right now, as they say in German. 21 days left until I come home, many activities planned to fill that time, and the only complaint I have is that I don't have an oven to make Christmas cookies. I guess that will have to wait until I get home!

Liebe Gruesse und bis bald,
Mary

Weihnachtsmaerkte/Christkindlmaerkte Pictures!

So here are some pictures from my spur of the moment decision to visit Bochum and Essen with the girls...enjoy!

At the entrance to the Bochum Weihnachtsmarkt

This brilliant spinny Christmas thingy...is also a bar. A BAR!

There was a flying Santa. He was on a cable, and stopped over the market to tell us the story of Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer. FYI - German version has angels instead of elves....

Bochum Weihnachtsmarkt

All I really wanted was sauerkraut...nice lady sold it to me for a euro. FANTASTISCH.

Emily was excited about her crepes. If you haven't realized it yet, there are a lot of food choices at these things.

Emily and her Pfannekuchen (pancakes...but fried.)

I tried a Dampfnudel. Big steamed bread/cake thing with vanilla sauce. Looks weird, tastes great.

Emily was excited about the size of the Essen Weihnachtsmarkt

At one of the Gluehwein stands, there were animatronic (SP?) people stirring the pot.

THE COKE TRUCKS WERE THERE! Sara was excited as I was...

"Nostalgic Toys" AWESOME.

Gluehwein!

Lights over the Weihnachtsmarkt in Essen

I am thankful for...

In the spirit of the season, some things that I am thankful for:

• Family phone calls from across the ocean
• My new Fulbright friends...best support group ever
• Being placed at my school - the staff there, especially the Referendaren ("student teachers") have been soooooo understanding and supportive. After talking to other TA's I realized how lucky I was with how well they treat me at the CBG.
• Christmas markets (Weihnachtsmaerkte) and Gluehwein - for helping me put off homesickness until I come home for Christmas
• Skype's cheap rates - for giving me the ability to call people back stateside every once in a while

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Eenie meenie miney mo....

So it's been nice to put off reality thus far...

Now I guess it's time to bite the bullet and make some decisions.

Options that are currently on the table include (but are not limited to):

• Grad school AKA putting off reality for another two years (at LEAST)
• Looking for a real job back stateside...who knows where.
  
• Applying to teach for another year at my school here.
• Applying for another teaching program in Germany.
• ???

Things I miss most since coming to Germany...

1. My dogs. Let's face it - I'm hopeless without them.
2. Solo Cups...and American nights of beer-pong and flip cup.
   
3. Three words: Cheesy. Gordita. Crunch.
4. Halloween. That was a toughy this year.
   
5. Thanksgiving closely follows Halloween...they don't really do turkey here.
6. American TV. German humor is...well, different.
7. Being able to wear a t-shirt and a hoodie to the grocery store and not feel like a freak.
8. Salsa...they don't do spicy here.
9. American football...why are they so obsessed with soccer?!?
10. (Really this is since leaving college...but...) Random group dinner nights at CP - a little ziti, a lot of wine, and Mario Kart concluding with the standard trip to Finnie's.

Pictures - Barcelona

Emily and I at the beach

My disappointment with the tiny fried fish served with its HEAD attached

The bus trip into Barcelona from the airport!

We conquered the beach.

View from our boat trip!

Another beach shot

Group dinner - paella - ICK.

Too many things with eyes in this dish for Amanda and I.

Sagrada Familia Church

Group shot - Amanda, me, Sara, Emily

Sunset...

Outside of the large open-air market

Emily and Sara were excited about the fried fishies. I was not.

Christmastime has officially begun...

Well, it's official - Christmas has arrived in Germany, and it's here full-force.

Although the Christmas markets opened for the first time this past weekend, this has certainly not been the first sign of it approaching. In the US we are lucky enough to have some sort of division between seasons (even though we don't necessarily always stick with them). We have Halloween in October, Thanksgiving in November, and finally Christmas in December.

In Germany, however, both Halloween and Thanksgiving are non-existent. Therefore I've been seeing Christmas candies and decorations in the grocery stores for about a month now. (Yes, I bought Christmas lights, BUT they were purely for decoration purposes and weren't super Christmasy!) Even though I get pretty trigger happy when it comes to listening to Christmas music and watching Christmas movies, I really began to appreciate Thanksgiving simply for the fact that it packages the Christmas season up quite nicely.

So yes, Christmas has arrived and with any luck I'll be posting some pictures from Christmas markets soon (I'll be going to Dortmund the first weekend of December, and then down south to Salzburg for the second weekend).

The small group of us from the US has refused to forget about Thanksgiving, and we've organized a pot-luck style dinner this coming Saturday (cross your fingers that everything turns out okay...turkey and all). As you can imagine, Germans know absolutely nothing about Thanksgiving. I asked one of my tenth grade classes what they had heard about American Thanksgivings and all they could come up with was "Turkeys?" Needless to say, I'm giving them a presentation on Wednesday - I can't wait to see their reaction to the tradition of the president pardoning a turkey!

25 more days until I come back home, and it can't come quickly enough! I do enjoy my time here, but there's a heck of a lot of dead time to fill and not too much going on in my little town.

So sorry about the lack of posts, but I'll do my best to start punching them out more often!

Alles Gute und bis bald!