Skip to main content

Germany 2015 - June 15

Today was my first day in a German school!  Our partner school is the König-Karlmann Gymnasium.  Elli has to ride the bus to school, so I rode too, of course.  Although, don't think it was in a bright yellow school bus!  No school buses in Germany....just buses.  And they're much fancier and comfortable than our yellow ones!  Also, some kids end up having to stand because there isn't enough room to sit, and traffic never stops and many vehicles pass the bus.

First we all met in the cafeteria and had a welcome speech from the principle and our teacher, Frau Schneider (we just call her Frau), translated a letter from our school's principle.  Then Herr Galneder (the German teacher who coordinates the exchange with Frau) gave us a drink (Capri Sonne - aka, Capri Suns) and a pretzel.  We also got a bag with stuff from the neighboring city of Neuötting, as well as some pencils, a notepad and candy from Herr Galneder.  Then he gave us a tour of the school, ending at our homeroom, which was decorated and prepared especially for us.

Then our hosts picked us up and we joined them in their classes.  Since Elli and Nici are in the same class, Cassandra and I sat together behind them for most of their classes.  First we sat through French, with the teacher constantly asking us "oh, did you understand that?"  (NO - we are on a German exchange.)  Then biology.  (Oh, another side note - their teachers do not have to dress up, and many were in jeans!)  Then we went to gym, where there were four of us Americans, and we only sat and watched as they ran for 35 minutes in order to get an A and then did some throwing.  Then it was 1:00 and time to leave school!

At home was a yummy lunch - I don't know what it was all called, I just know it was yummy, sorry!  I ate with Elli and Julia and it was fun talking, some in English and some in German.

Later, while Elli tutored a little girl, I went out with her mom and Lukas.  We went into Neumarkt-St. Veit.  First we went into my favorite German store, Stecher, which is kind of like a German Staples and it was pretty cool (just on a smaller scale, of course).  Then we went to the butcher/meat store where there was so many different kinds of sausages and meats!  Then we dropped Lukas off at soccer practice and went to a grocery store.  Lastly we stopped at the (very small) doctor's office that Julia is training to work at.  I got a little tour and it was cool.  They smell the same as in America, though. :)

Also, I was very happy because while I was with her mom, we had a whole conversation in German - I could understand what she said to me (although occasionally I did have to ask her to repeat it first), and I managed to formulate pretty good German sentences in response!

Supper was kind of usual.  Bread/pretzels, meat slices, and Wurst Salat (umm...sausage salad?).  It was yummy, as usual.  :)

The entrance to their school....unfortunately, they were working on the roof, so there was scaffolding in the way of our pictures.

The welcome sign they always put up for us!

Our homeroom

The Aula (their lobby/auditorium area)

Julia at the doctor's office

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Guatemala 2018: Dirt Roads and 200 Cheeseburgers

It was a flawless blue-sky day as we drove out to Yalu once again, over two very bad dirt roads as we got closer to the village. Back at the school there for the third year, seeing the walls that we painted two different shades of blue two years ago, the youth did their skit once again. The kids really enjoyed doing Allelu Allelu with us, especially when they realized they should be trying to out-sing (yell!) the other half when it was their turn! Then, we played a crazy game of Sharks and Minnows with hundreds of excited children!! It was a crazy wave of little Guatemalans swarming us Americans. The kids watching the skit To shorten a long story, we had gotten a very late start in the morning and didn't have time to actually do physical labor for them, but we did see the location of where we at least left the supplies we had brought to build a chicken coop. It was a tiny little area where a family lives up along a hillside. It was the wife's idea to raise chic...

California 2018: Open Heavens and San Francisco

Seven years of waiting. Seven years...and I finally was on my way to California. More specifically, I was finally going out to a Bethel conference in Redding, CA, by way of San Francisco. Along with my friend Miranda, we were ready for our short four-day adventure October 3-6. I couldn't believe that I could get to Guatemala faster then I could California. Seriously, what is up with that? (At least the way home was a 1/2 hour shorter than the US-Guate flight.) We arrived at San Francisco airport, got our rental car (a much fancier one than either of us owns ourselves), and set the GPS for La Quinta Inn and Suites, Redding, and started driving. The landscape along the highway fascinated me. Such dry, golden-brown hills with dark green trees that stood out like little black dots from a distance and looked out of place up close. When we got to a stretch of very flat land for a good hundred miles at least, varying between dusty dry grass and some sort of tree farms (were they al...

Welcome

Welcome to my journeys!  I am excited to be sharing them with you.  Since this blog was only started after my second major journey, you will have to follow the following links to read about it.  However, the rest I will be blogging about as I have time.  Blessings as you follow along! Guatemala Day 1 Guatemala Day 2 Guatemala Day 3 Guatemala Day 4 Guatemala Day 5 Guatemala Day 6 Guatemala Day 7 Guatemala Day 8