Another week gone!

Time sure does fly when you are having fun...

Truer words were never spoken.  Another week has flown by here in Blieskastel and surroundings.  Last week, after the Monday holiday, we took a day trip to Speyer and had a guided tour of the city.  We climbed to the gallery of the Altpörtel, paused in the Judenhof for some history and went down into the Mikwe, where we had a chance to enjoy the cool air underground.  Additionally, we went into the Dreifaltigskeitskirche, where the Lutheran movement took off.  The interior of the church was spectacularly decorated.  The students had the afternoon free to explore the city and many went to find shade and a fountain to cool off in.  The rest of the week we spent at school, where we worked on our  presentation for Wednesday evening and our GAPP project about food.  Weekend plans included trips to Paris and other parts of France and a birthday party for Jordan, whose birthday was on Wednesday.  I had the privilege to travel to Goersdorf, France with Frau Buhr to a former monastery to relax and enjoy the French countryside.  

Saying goodbye to newfound friends is always difficult and our last five days in Blieskastel will probably pass by much too quickly and most likely a few tears will be shed.  I personally would like to publicly thank both Dorothee and Barbara for their support and planning here in Germany and to my host family, Sabine, Peter, Elias and Marie for taking such good care of me during the last  three weeks.  It is this kind of personal experience and connection that makes all the difference.

Bis bald!
Frau S.

Weekly Update

An entire week has flown by already here in Blieskastel.  We have been busy attending school this week and getting to know our partners and their families.  A quick roundup of what we have been up to:
Monday:  1st day of school, where we were greeted by the principal, Herr Koch, and given a tour of the school grounds by Frau Buhr's 6C English class.  In the afternoon, we attended a reception with the Burgermeisterin at Blieskastel's City Hall.

Tuesday-Friday: school with partners.  We meet for homeroom during third period every day.  On Thursday evening, we attended a "Thank You" evening for Saarland's youth clubs at the Saarland Halle in Saarbrücken, along with our partners and families.  It was amazing event with magic, a light show and music. A tour group from the United States, "The Young Americans" performed the finale.   A huge thanks for arranging for us to go.

Next week is a short week at school, as Monday is/was a holiday (Pfingsten) and Tuesday we will be traveling to Speyer on a field trip with the entire group of American and German students. On Wednesday, we will begin practicing in earnest for our Abschiedsabend, especially if the week flies by again so quickly.  Before we know it, our time here in Blieskastel will be over.  :-(

I am looking forward to seeing the GAPPies tomorrow and hearing about what they did over the weekend.  My weekend was filled with visiting the capital of Saarland, Saarbrücken, seeing good friends from Hahnheim on Saturday, exploring the art of Christian von Mannlich at the Edelhaus and the Römer Museum in Schwarzenacker on Sunday, and grilling with friends and going to a concert on Monday.  There is never a dull moment here in Germany!

Alles Gute und bis bald!  Frau S.

3rd day of school: Guest Blogger Anna Rath

So today in our first class, I joined my partner in Math.  It was a little past 8 am and I still wasn't fully awake yet.  I still felt like a zombie.  Math seemed extremely long and boring as they learned about limits and ratios.  I wrote in my journal to update my recent events and thoughts.  Once I was finished, I decided to read.  I didn't get much reading done.  I ended up closing my eyes a few times adn slowly bobbing my head, hoping the math teacher didn't notice.  But she doesn't even acknowledge us anyway.  

Our next class was Latin.  We changed rooms.  We had to pick up our stuff, walk across the courtyard to the music building and had our lesson in there.  We stood behnind our chairs and said "Guten Morgen" and then sat down.  They read through their Latin phrases which I found very boring.  Because I was still tired, I continued to write my thoughts in my journal.  At the end of the lesson, they practiced this song they are going to sing for a teacher who is retiring.  I secretly recorded a bit of the song and it was catchy.  :-)  When they started to sing, Olivia, Jordan and I were amused.  We figured out some of the lyrics, " we will miss you, don't go, we loved learning...." and stuff like that.  

After the lesson, we had homeroom with all of the Americans.  We talked about the things/activities we have been doing with our families and more ideas for our talent show.  Next, we had English (my favorite class) :-)  We learned about gangsters in Britain.  I helped my German partner, Jana,  with English words and adjectives describing the story.  It was interesting hearing how the German students present their thoughts to the class, how they perceived the story and learning new English words from Olivia, Jordan and me.  

After English, we went to biology.  We once again stood behind our chairs and greeted our teacher, Frau Busch by saying "Guten Morgen, Frau Busch" and then we sat down for the lesson.  At the beginning of class she reviews what the students had to do for homework by asking questions.  Frau Busch gets frustrated when a student doesn't know the answer or gets it wrong.  But then again, what teacher wouldn't be frustrated.  

In each class all the students are alert, paying attention and participating.  In all of the classrooms are green chalkboards that the teacher and students use during class to teach the lesson.  The boards are at the front of the room.  There is no clock.  No provided tissues.  Each student brings their bag with all the daily supplies.  Like today, I have a few small snacks, a bottle of water ,my journal and a book to keep myself busy along with my sport clothes for "Sport" or gym class.  I also have tissues for my stuffy nose and a jacket for the cooler classrooms.  None of the teenagers here wear sweatpants or sporty clothing, all nice clothes or jeans.  Most don't wear belts, which I think is weird, especialliy for some girls who may need one.  The guys and girls usually wear running shoes or Converse.  My white Converse fit in greatly.  The cursing and profanity on the t-shirts is new, but it is different.  Each student carries a binder with lots of paper.  And a pencil pouch with pencils, pens, a pen that looks like white-out and erasers.  Oh!  And all of the teens write in cursive, which is something we learned in elementary school but we never ended up using.  Handys (we call them cell phones) are banned during school, which isn't bad.  Kids aren't distracted this way.  After the students take notes on the lesson, they are assigned homework, which is similar to what we do.  We will learn a lesson, then do a worksheet or a section of the homework on the new lesson.  Another thing about the classrooms, when you talk, it echoes.  So if you do talk, you must whisper.  Most of my classes at home, we have individual desks.  In my classes here, they have tables in rows which two people sit at.  And here the chairs are wood and metal, versus ours are usually made with plastic.  As I write my homework in biology, a German student who is shy shares a table with me.  Her text book is tiny. Ours are like giant dictionary/brick books.  Theirs are like a magazine.  In some of my classes at home you might see kids sleeping, yelling, texting or not doing anything at all.  In the Gymnasium, you can't do any of those.  You must pay attention or you will get bad marks and if you get too many, you have to go to the Realschule, which is a comparison to failing a class at home.  It would be embarassing.  Some teachers are more strict than others and some do not care to help you.  Or they pick favorites and you may or may not get help.  

Aww...it is raining outside.  The bell rang and Jana and I left class and walked back to the main building where we will have Geographie, as Jana calls/spells it.  Once again when the teacher stood in front of the class, we greeted him by saying "Guten Morgen" and sat down for the lesson.  I think they are learning about climates, the equator, the horizon and where things are on the world map.  But other than those few things I picked up, I have no idea what they are talking about unless they are whispering someething about Americans, Germany adn stare at me.  Ja, they may think I don't understand but I know enough German that I can understand what they are saying about me in German.  Ha!  Joke's on them.  This teacher does not like talking in his class.  He is writing definitions for some words in vocab and he is trying to give clues.  Oh, and when the students wiat to be called on, they sit and wait unlike some students at Bettendorf who wave and flail their arms all over the place unitl the teachers says their name.  Each class is about a half an hour, I think.  Some appear longer than others, especially during a "Dopplestunde", which are two periods of one subject, like when we were in middle school where we would have Language Arts for period 4 & 5.  

In Geography these girls were passing around this paper with sea creatures and Olivia drew Mr. Krabs and Jordan and I drew the Krusty Krab with the sign.  They put our picture on the wall!  Then we had gym with the history teacher.  We played volleyball.  It was also a Dopplestunde and it was fun! :-)  I like it compared to our gym class.  It's easier.  :-p

2nd day of school: Guest Blogger Olivia von Gries

Tuesday, June 3rd's School Day

Sophie and I, along with her friend Jacky and Jacky's sister, take the bus from St. Ingbert to Blieskastel in the morning and board the bus around 7:10 am.  Today, we stopped in the bakery on the way to von der Leyen and got warm rolls with chocolate chips in them to eat during a break.

The hill up to the school is quite long and very tiring for my out-of-shape body. Usually I'm breathing very hard by the time we crest the hill.  Our first class today was Latin, and the teacher was wearing the same outfit she wore yesterday, oddly enough.  The Latein Lehrerin thought that we would be able to understand her explaining a brand new language to us in a language we are very limited in and she gave us a workbook so we could follow along.  Although Anna and I tried to follow along as long as we could, it was a hopeless cause.  Anna read while I wrote in my journal about what happened yesterday.

After Latin was over, Anna, Jordan and I went to the bathroom and discovered when we arrived back at the classroom that we were locked out.  Two major differences I noticed about von der Leyen and BHS are:  the same people remain together and the teachers change and that teachers lock the doors during class.  We waited outside the classroom on a couch until we heard the door open and a whistle.  

History class was interesting because they were talking about WWII.  The Lehrer in the class spoke some English and gave us and our partners pretty nice soccer jerseys.  While we are able to chew gum during class at BHS, they are most definitely not allowed to do so here, another difference.  Also, students here do not have lockers and are able to carry their backpacks around.  Plus, students have easy access to their food and can eat in the classroom during passing time.  Speaking of passing time, the bell here is really different than our bell at BHS; the bell here consists of three varying tones while our bell is only one tone.  

After history class, all of the GAPPies met on the third floor to discuss what to do for the talent show and to bask in the fact that everyone was speaking English.  We rejoined our class after homeroom and the subject was English, our favorite.  Herr Drexler, the teacher, was super nice and included us in the class activities.  Not many  people were participating, however.  Drexler said it was because they were nervous to speak English in front of native speakers.  Jordan, Anna and I came up with a title he used for a passage and words when he didn't know what they were called.  

"Maths" was the class after a 10 minute break and was a whole lot more sombre than the others classes were.  Workbooks were a big part of that class, another thing you don't usually see at BHS.  Then we were off to chemistry, where we actually knew what was happening.  Thanks, AP & Honors  Chem!  The Bio teacher also doubles as the chemistry teacher and is very friendly.  Regardless of how easy or hard the class is, though, we always make an effort to follow along and to show the teacher we are paying attention.  After chemistry, we had a 30 minute break and headed over to the Orangerie to have a quick lunch before our last two classes.  

Sophie, Robin, Carol and I had a double period of art together.  The Lehrerin was quite kind and came over to me and asked many questions auf Deutsch.  I could understand the gist of the questions and Robin translated the rest, as needed.  The class had been studying pop-artists such as Andy Warhol and were given a storefront to redesign using pop-art techniques.  Sophie's group was creating a hair salon and I helped Robin with his jewelry store.  

When school ended, we all met up and walked to the bus stop together, where we hung out until our respective busses came to take us away.

What I did over the weekend: Guest Bloggers Anna Rath & Mike Hughes

NB:  these are the students' own words with no editing on my part!

Anna Rath

Wochenende Samstag

So on Saturday I slept in late.  Jana came in and woke me up at 12:30.  We went downstairs and ate breakfast.  I had coffee and bread with Nutella and fresh strawberries.   Everything was so fresh and yummy.

Then I showered because, boy I needed one.  I got myself ready and even straightened my hair.  Jana's parents asked me if I wanted to join them on a walk and I did.  We took a walk around the hills/farmland for an hour and a half.  Then we went to a cafe for tea and cake.  I had strawberry cake with coffee.   We talked and visited with friends.  Then we listened to a German band.  Jana described them as elfs and singing about witches.  She said they were quite weird.   Jana's mom left then to make pasta salad (Nudelsalat).  

Once we finished our coffee and cake, Jana, her father and I went to an art gallery.  But an outside gallery with earth art.  It was different.  The artist made stuff with feathers, sand, rocks, shells, pine cones and leaves and flowers.  We took a tour of his art and his small farm.  We saw his chickens and donkeys.  Jana and I picked fresh eggs and drank fresh apple juice.  That was a new experience for me but it was fun.  Then we went back home to get ready for the barbeque.

We left for the barbeque.  In the car we listened to American music with artists like Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Coldplay, John Legend and others.  I knew most of the music.  When we got to the party, I joined Jess, Olivia and Kourtney on the teeter-totter.  Jess showed me how to juggle a soccer ball.  Alex taught me how to slack-line.  We even made up a game on the slack-line, whoever falls off first loses.  I was not every good at this game.  Then we played frisbee and volleyball before dinner.  

Soon dinner was ready and we ate.  I had two sausages,  something-Wurst.  It was a red sausage with pasta salad and fruit.  We mingled with the German kids in English and German.  Alex even taught me a new word "Dirlich".  He said it was another way of saying "naturlich" or "of course".  I made several new friends at the barbeque.  

After dinner I just talked with Emma, Alex and Olivia for a really long time, then we played frisbee until it was time to go.  When we got home, I was so tired so I slipped into my pajamas and went to bed.  Because tomorrow I have to wake up early.  

Mike Hughes

Wochenende-Sonntag

June 1, 2014  Sunday

On the 1st, we didn't do too many things.  However, what we did was more than enough fun.  

Being the lazy (and sick at the time) oaf that I am, I slept until nice and late (11:47) and then hurriedly readied myself, scarfing down a delicious croissant and speeding out the door to the ropes course with Robin and his mother.  We shortly arrived at    the ropes course (Fun Forest), geared up with Joshua and began climbing through the canopy.  

The first path that we embarked on was an easier climb, some parts proving harder than others, but the payoff (two ziplines over the lake) made it well worth it.  With the first course conquered, we moved on to the next tier of difficulty.  The ascent of this course proving harder that that of its predecessor.  While the payout of this path was not as grand as the ziplines, the journey was as, if not more, fun.  

After the course, we made our way into the center of town, partaking in a laser-light show and a Wheel-of-Fortune-esque game among other things.  After having fun in town, we made our way back to Robin's house, ate some delicious dinner and played computer games until 1:00.

1st day of school: Guest Blogger Jess Jacobsen

NB:  these are the student's own words.  I typed their reports as written with no editing.  :-)

Today was our first day of school.  Unfortunately, Edin and I were running a little late. Thanks to that, we had to walk.  We left the house at 7:30.  We walked down the street like we would on a normal walk into town.  We were running late enough that we needed tp go up the 209 (!) stairs next to the church for a shortcut.  After that, we made our way into the school and got there 2 minutes before class started.  

We went into the classroom and Joshua showed me where I would be sitting.  When the bell rang, people moved behind their chairs and waited a minute later.  A minute later the Lehrer walked in and put his bag on the table.  He said , " Guten Morgen" to which the class replied, "Guten Morgen".  After that, everyone sat down and class began.  

The first class of the day was called SZ.  It had something to do with social situations in politics.  Everyone got into groups and started working on arguments for why a town should get rid of a park for a parking garage.  After 10 minutes, the class set up tables in a circle and the arguing began.  I couldn't hope to follow along because they all spoke so quickly.  At one point, one kid threw a water bottle at another kid.  After that was done, the class moved the desks back and the bell rang.  

After the bell rang, everyone went outside and sat by the cafeteria. We talked for a little bit and the bellrang.  We went back inside.  We all stood behind our chairs and waited for the teacher.  When Frau Schäfer came in, we said good morning and we all sat.  Frau Schäfer then asked me to talk about America and the differences I noticed between home and here.  After thatt, she gave a lecture and talked tomthe kids about a fictional family.  The dad worked at the King Center and the mother was a reporter.  After that, we talked about the pros and cons of each job.  Then, we were given a sheet and talked about what the jobs are and what people would like to do.  After that, the bell rang again and we all went outside again.  

When the bell rang again, we had SZ again.  The man had us get into different groups.  Each group presented a different viewpoint on the topic.  Then we all went back to our seats and he talked to us in a lecture setting.  When he was almost done with his lecture, the bell rang and everyone had to leave.  Edin and I went to the courtyard to listen to the principal.  We were then partnered up with two or three kids from the 6th grade.  These kids gave us a tour of the whole campus. Two of the kids talked over each other nonstop while the girl didn't say much.  The kids were very excited to give the tour and they had a ton of fun.  We met back at the courtyard and said goodbye to the kids.  After that, our partners came back and got us.  Then Edin and I went home.  That was my first experience in a German school.

Whew! Four more days to talk about

Somehow the weekend got away from me...When we last left our small band of adventurers, we were still in München...

On Thursday, we spent the day on a bus trip to Neuschwanstein castle.  Bayern was celebrating the religious holiday of Christihimmelfahrt and also Vatertag (Father's Day).  The first order of the day was getting to the bus on time and pretty much running through the subway system between trains.  On holidays, the U1 subway runs only every thirty minutes outside of the main core of the city.  Hindsight being 20/20, we really should have eaten breakfast at 7:00 instead of 7:30.  Oh, well.  Long story short, we made it, huffing and puffing onto the bus.  Some of us participated in my very specific GAPP bus-bingo (I really should change the name to bus I-Spy) game, with very specific items to find, such as a half-timbered house with at least three window boxes full of RED geraniums, while some caught an extra 90 minutes of shut-eye.  Once at the castle, we did another bike ride around Swan Lake and took pictures of both Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles.  We then ate our picnic lunch and watched a close up magic show, performed by Brad, our tour guide for the day.  A brief rainshower postponed our runs down the Alpine Slide and unfortunately limited the number of times the students could ride the sleds to only one.  At 3:30, most of the students hiked up the front mountain-bike path to Neuschwanstein while I rode the local blue bus with Anna, Olivia, and Emma.  The waterfall gorge path had been closed the week before by a landslide, otherwise we would have all hiked.  We took obligatory "selfies" on the Marienbrücke (Mary's Bridge).    Our tour of the castle was led by an official tour guide who had the mannerisms of Sheldon Cooper from the TV series "The Big Bang Theory".  The GAPPies tried to get him to answer questions about King Ludwig II outside of the memorized "official tour" script with no success.  We then walked back down the mountain in a rain shower and boarded the bus back to München.  I believe everyone slept on the bus ride back, including me.  We rounded out the day by having supper at the "Altes Hackerhaus" on Sendlingerstrasse.  We had the distinct honor of being seated in the basement, near the bathrooms because it was so busy but any port in a storm when you are travelling with 7 hungry teenagers.  Hackerhaus specializes in bayrisches Essen.  Students tried Schweinebraten, Jägerhackbraten and Maultaschen and Sauerkraut.

On Friday. we packed our things and made our way to the München HbF to catch our Eurocity train to Heidelberg.  It was a little cool and rainy but several students wore shorts.  By the time we boarded, many of us were suffering from blue fingernails and goosebumps. We shared our compartment with an large group of French students and a German Bundeswehr soldier.  Many chose to catch up on sleep again as we drove through the German countryside.  In Ulm, we were able to see the tallest church spire in the world as we briefly stopped and in Stuttgart, we could see the Mercedes Soccer Arena.  In Heidelberg, we had to catch the S1 to Homburg.  The train was completely packed, so we  had to spread out with bag and baggage along the length of the train.  By Mannheim, most people had disembarked, so we could finally find seats and put our luggage out of the way.  From Heidelberg to Homburg was 2.25 hours, as the S1 is a regional train and stops at EVERY train station along the way.  Our homestays were waiting for us on the platform and there were a few awkward moments while everyone tried to figure out to whom they "belonged".  I was very happy to see both Frau Schaefer and Frau Buhr on the platform.  Now was time for the real test to begin, 24 entire hours without Frau S.  

On Saturday evening, we met at the Weier for a Grill und Begruessungsparty.  The teenagers all hit it off spectacularly while I got to know the parents a little bit.  The Schwenker (a swinging grill) took care of the cooking, and the families brought along a potluck smorgasboard of bread, salads and desserts.  After the party, I once again deserted the students until 11:30 on Monday morning at school.  

  

I spent Sunday afternoon exploring the Saarschleife and the town of Mettlach, home of the famous porcelain factory, Villeroy and Boch.  Reports about the weekend will follow in tomorrow's post from Mike and Anna.

On Monday, Frau Buhr's 6C English class gave us a tour of the school grounds.  They were nervous about giving native English speakers a guided tour for the 1st time since they began learning English last year.  The 6C students "ganged" up on our 7 Americans 2 or 3 to 1, but I think they did a wonderful job.  Here is a photo of our GAPPies and our intrepid  tour guides.