Oh the joy ..... of teaching?

If I had written this post on Monday, I would have told you straight away that I NEVER EVER WANT TO BE A TEACHER! Stop laughing everyone! This is perfectly true, honestly. But maybe I should start at the beginning.

Last Friday my father gave me a call and asked if I could step in at my old school for two days to cover for some collegues who were on a further training session. I said yes, because it was a chance to get some more teaching practice and to earn some extra money. In Hessia the federal government has introduced a programme called "Unterrichtsgarantie Plus", which means that teacher (e.g. retired or on maternity leave), students but also everyone else who likes can cover or better supervise lessons, when there is need to do so. The aim of this programme is to guarantee that no lessons are cancelled and the students are not left alone. The person is paid according to his/her specific qualification. There are a lot of students who earn some extra money with that. On the other hand there have been some very nasty scenes in some classroomes where the people covering were totally lost in "the hell of a classroom." As I am a nearly fully qualified teacher I am allowed to really take over lessons in my two subjects and therefore I am paid 20 Euros for each lesson.

When I came home from Bamberg Friday afternoon my father presented me with a timetable: 11 lessons in 2 days! Okay, not too bad, even though I was also to cover in lessons of which I have no clue: e.g. Spanish, French and Geography. But I was told that they had work to do and my job was just to supervise.

The first 3 lessons on Monday were quite alright (Geography Yr 7, English Yr 7 and English Yr 8). But the last two lessons of the day were just hell - I am not kidding!
This Yr 11 group (Realschule - middle set) is know as the worst class in the whole school. Great. Well, I was supposed to take over two French lessons. The teacher had left specific tasks for a group work and so I thought that would go alright. Anyway, the first thing that happend was that they were all 15 min late, because they had to sit a maths exam and it took "a bit" longer. Therefore I could not really deny them to eat something or go to the toilet, as they had no break at all. But I guess we all know how motivated one is when one just came out of an exam, especially after a maths exam! They absolutely did not fancy to do anything at all. So first they told me that they needed a longer break, then they told me that some were ill that day and they were the only ones who had the tasks, and so on! I had to cope with mp3 players, feet on the table, singing, shouting and everything you can think of to annoy me. Of course they knew that as a U+ supstitute, I have no right to give detention or send someone out of the room or grade them in any way. So these two lessons were just absolutely demotivating.

When I came home that afternoon I slept for 3 hours and I really thought about giving up teaching as I had failed completely. Of course I had to cope with lack of discipline before, but never like this, that was more like a small rebellion. One of the students said to me on his way out: "Well, we gave you a hard time, didn't we? It was fun!"

I was not looking forward to the second day of teaching. But I had signed a contract and so I had to go. The deputy headmaster asked me how the day went and I told him about my problems with the Yr 11s. He then said to me that I am not the first teacher who came out of this class absolutely crestfallen and I should not worry about that too much. This second day went absolutely smooth and I felt a lot better. The lessons were good and I got some positive feedback from the students. I was able to help students to prepare for their upcoming exam and repeat grammar with them, I sang with the younger ones, I played vocabulary games with another class. I know I can teach (I proved that many many times), but somehow I needed this positive exerience on the second day, to get over this dreadful Yr 11 experience.

Three Weddings and a Funeral

The last few weeks had their ups and downs - but mostly ups. First I had to manage to be in two places at the same time: my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary and my friends Eva&Tobias' wedding.

This day was really exhausting, because we - Eva, Christoph and me - had promised both couples to sing/play at their services. I was able to convince my grandparents that they have their service in the morning, followed by lunch and coffee. Eva and Tobi had their service at half past one, followed by coffee and dinner...delicious!

The service in the morning for my grandparents was really special. As most of you know, my brother is a Catholic priest and therefore he celebrated the service. It was really emotional, because he started is sermon with: "Dear grandad, dear granny!" I had a big lump in my throat, I can tell you, which made it quite hard to sing. We performed "Amazing Grace", "Only You" (Starlight Express), "Ich fühl wie Du" (Tabaluga & Lili), "Arie" (Flute Solo) and "Lean On Me" (Bill Withers). I guess I am already too old to celebrate my 50th wedding anniversary one day :-(

I had barely enough time to eat the soup before I had to leave for the seccond wedding. Fortunately it took me only 15 minutes to get to the other church.
A wedding is always a very special occasion and if there are friends "saying yes" to each other, I become quite "tearful" - I am a crab (cancer) which might explain everything:
Strongest virtues of the Cancer zodiac sign: emotional sensitivity, the urge to nurture, tenacity
Deepest need of the Cancer zodiac sign: a harmonious family life
Weaknesses of the Cancer zodiac sign: over-sensitivity, negative moods
Seems to fit, doesn't it? Even though I don't believe in these things :-)

Our performance at the wedding was a surprise present for Eva and Tobias and I am sure they liked it. As I had only returned 2 weeks before the wedding, the rehearsals were difficult as Eva and I did not know what we could manage in such a short time. I convinced Christoph to join us only two days before the wedding. But as Christoph and I are a experienced duett, we were able to sort something out and Eva's flute solos was just great.

They celebrated in a tent at Eva's parents, which was fabulous, as it was sunny and warm that day - quite exceptional for this summer in Germany! It was a great day and everything went absolutely smooth. I wish both couples all the best for their future- so in 2057 we celebrate another 50th wedding anniversary???

Two weeks ago my great cousin Sandra got married near Heidelberg. Her mum was at my grandparents' anniversary and asked me to sing at Sandra's and Markus's wedding. Of course I said yes, even though I had to cope with some problems. As I had spent the weeks before the wedding at Mario's and Anita's in Stuttgart, I had to find a way to get to their place on Saturday morning. In the end I found a train that took only 2 hours and I only had to change once, which was quite comfy. Unfortunately my wedding choir (chorus individudel) had to sing at another wedding and therefore I had no equipment apart from my microphone. My dad was able to borrow the school's electronic amplifier. It was a bit tricky to get this thing to work the way I wanted, but I managed in the end. Eva and Christoph of course were not able to come - it is way to far! - and so I had to improvise quite a bit. Therefore I only performed "Lean On Me", which I really like best anyway. Sandra and Markus had also organised another singer and were therefore quite surprised when I started to sing - only Sandra's mum, the priest and the other singer knew!

I hope they liked it as well and I wish them all the best! And the location at a wine yard was absolutely fabulous and the food ... without words ... mmmhhhh!


After these very happy events, I also had to attend a funeral of a good friend of the family last week. We were quite shocked when the letter with the news arrived and as my father does not get leave from school, I went with my mum to Hannover by train. This was a very sad business, even though after a short very serious illness it was good that it did not take too long, as there was no hope of recovery. Anyway, I hate funeral, because I cannot stand to see beloved people crying - then I have to cry as well.

Anyway, apart from that I settled back in at uni - even though courses have not started yet. I prepare for my exams, I go to my choir every now and then to relax a bit and I spent a lot of time with my family. There is a sunny weekend ahead and I am looking forward to it as I spent the last 3 days working at the library magazine - which has no windows!!! I need SUNSHINE!

Leaving party

No, this time it is not me who is leaving Germany for a year. Hey, I just came back and I will be grounded in Bamberg for at least another year. Okay I admit, I envy Steffi a lot. She left Bamberg to do her Master in Waterloo, Canada.

So friends of her decided to have a nice last evening with her and this took place on the 21st of August, as she was about to leave a few days later. Just guess, we were very creative: Raclette and Cocktails of course at my place.

But of course we also had to celebrate the degrees of Steffi and Ulrike and therefore we started or at least tried to start with a nice bottle of sparkling wine. It took some time until we were able to open it, but I can tell you that 2l of sparkling wine divivded by 5 leaves quite a lot for everyone. Especially I become quite tipsy when I drink this sort of stuff.

Our Raclette, of course, was delicious: new small potatoes, shrimps, turkey, ham, salami, curchettes, sweetcorn, pepers, tomatoes, morzarella and other cheese, baguette, onions, tomatoe sauce, fresh mushrooms, pineapples,...
So you see we definitely did not starve that night. And of course there was a desert afterwards as well: pears with chocolate sauce and vienetta vanilla icecream! Oh my god, I don't think I felt that full for a very long time.

And this is us later on with our delicious cocktails:
Silke, Jasmin, Ulrike, Nadja and Steffi

Well, we had a great night, äh and morning!

We wish you, Steffi, all the best for your year abroad and we will miss you lots!

Don't forget those left behind and at least I envy you for going abroad. Right, I should not complain, I only returned 8 weeks ago, but still, it is just great to live abroad!

Oh, this is by the way Steffi with my new flatmate: Shona Sheep!