(more future plans)

Oh- also in the near future: I'm changing host families. I don't know what my internet situation is going to be there, so I'm trying to get lots of emails written now, while I still have this amazingly handy connection. If I fall off the face of the earth in October, forgive me!

Cheers,

Russ

Big plans, nothing much happening at the moment

Okay, so the Germans are CRAZY for holidays! I have every Friday off, and next Tuesday is a holiday, so naturally the schools are closed on Monday too! I'm planning on travelling to Dresden (and maybe Prague) to see what I can see. I'm going to bring some other language-assistants (I can say bring, because I'm organizing them. It's a bit like herding small distracted children). I love meeting all of these other english-speakers, but sometimes it feels a bit like we're only friends because we speak english. It's not really a firm foundation for a meaningful, lasting friendship! Ah well. They're good people.

Also on the horizon (not next weekend but the weekend after).... my PARENTS COME TO EUROPE! YAAAY!!!!!
Okay, maybe it isn't cool to admit how excited I am, but I'm looking forward to seeing them so much. I've met tons of wonderful people here, and everyone's been so kind and generous, but I'm just dying to see someone I knew before August 24th. And it's not just anyone... it's my Mom and my Dad! and I get to show them my schools, and my homes, and they can meet some of my host families, and I can show them how my German isn't pathetic like it was 3 years ago when we were last in Europe together!

Oops- must go to dinner. More soon!
Russ

Bremen weekend

Got away from my not-so-intense grind, and explored Bremen last weekend! The weather was rather glorious, and I had a good, mellow time. It's just an hour away by train- just nice.

I booked a hostel the night before, and lucked out... it worked out really nicely. It was quite close to the train station, which was convenient- not a neighbourhood I would choose forever, but for two days, just fine. The only complaint was a roommate whose snoring really defies description. Certainly the loudest I've ever heard, but also incredibly irregular... the best I can think of, is a mower or chainsaw that's having problems. He was also the only person in the place I talked to- pleasant enough when awake, and quite a normal voice, besides the Chicago accent.

Bremen has about half a million people, and the downtown area is very pedestrian and bike friendly- multiple streets which are pedestrian only, or pedestrian and transit only. So nice! There were also a lot of parks, lakes, and a river. Of course, the old buildings are still impressing the heck out of me- Europe just has that added depth!

As I showed you in the blog before, the group of 4 animals are quite the town mascot. They also have a big old sculpture called Roland. I guess it beats Maple Ridge's mechanical horse?

I also visited a really nice art gallery, and took quite a few photos, only realizing on the way out that I wasn't supposed to. Ooh! Illegal Bremen Kunsthalle photos! I hope they don't deport me. One of my favourite pieces, which I didn't take a photo of, because it felt creepy, was a series of 3 video screens, which showed the wall behind it. Every once and a while, one of the art guard people would walk into the frame, and stay there for a while. They might say, "stand back please" (in German), or something else. It was cute!

There were also these two video screens set up like portraits, right next to each other, and at first the faces looked like they were still, but in fact they were moving super slowly- kind of like those living statues? They kept changing emotions, ever so slowly. It was SO captivating. (That's the photo at the top - in case you hadn't figured it out!)

Hmmm... what else?
Ooh! Friday night, I watched a concert by Anne Sophie von Otter, a bigger name in the classical singing world. She was 'slumming' with folksongs, Abba tunes, and such. She truly does have a lovely voice, and I enjoyed the night a lot! I have to say I prefer Abba singing the more energetic tunes like "Money Money Money", though....

On Saturday, I visited a natural history museum (yeah- I'm a nerd. The salary they pay me doesn't permit high-priced shopping and clubbing. That's my excuse) Its newest sections on Asia and Oceania were really interesting, and had a nice English audio guide (I asked for it in my best German, in my defence). The upper floors were kinda musty- they felt about 20 years older.

Later that day was a open house day at the town theater (which, being in Germany, includes opera, and ballet). I got to see interviews with the resident performers, and hear concerts, all for free! It was sweet. I've been practicing a lot more since I came back.

By the end, I was feeling a bit lonely, but I was glad to get away from children and being friendly and polite for a bit. Now I feel like I can enjoy the people around me a bit more!

Oops! Tomorrow is my early morning. I'd better go to bed!

Take care,

Russ

A little bit of fairy-tale help?

Okay, dear readers, I need some help. In Bremen they have some sort of story about these animals as the town musicians. I never really heard it, but I saw donkey, dog, cat, and rooster sculptures all over the town! Can you tell me anything about this?
Thanks!
-R

The Bensels' Sailboat

ooh - and just a few things before I forget:

Weird dream:
I remember quite distinctly a dream from the last few days where my college music history teacher, Dr Lamberton (one of the sweetest teachers ever), sent an Xmas card to my family! But she called Spencer some weird name.... I don't remember anymore.

Russell is a klutz:
On the sailboat while I was still getting my sea legs, I managed to pull the cord on my lifejacket, and inflated it. I was flopping around, not able to stand.... Phillippa had to rescue me.
Then, a night or two ago, I nearly turned on the alarm AGAIN, while in the house! Luckily Mrs Bensel was there to stop me.

Cheers!

Finding a balance

Hello hello!

The news is petering out... life is starting to calm down!

Last weekend, I went sailing with my current family, the Bensels, on their boat, with another host family, the Nerees. This meant sharing a bunk room with three boys and one girl under 12... I think I'm learning new limits to my patience! But really, I had a wonderful time - sailboats are so relaxing... just floating along... the only wacky moment is when you change directions and suddenly the boat goes from leaning heavily to one side, to the other. (If you've been sailing before you understand, and if you haven't, I'm sorry about my sad description). My family warned me that it was really quick cool in the wind, and I brought many layers along, but we all forgot about my fair complexion until Sunday morning, when I woke up with a rather pink face. Always a bit embarassing

I'm slowly becoming more useful in the classrooms.... sometimes it feels like a ridiculous job, and I spend a few classes doing nothing. Then comes another teacher who treats me more like a partner in teaching, and I think, "this will be a great experience". I signed 20-something autographs for one grade 3 class on Tuesday... the eeriest experience. They mobbed me!

Yesterday I got a ride from some of the high school teachers to a demonstration in Kiel ( a port north of Hamburg, pop. half million), and planned on being a tourist for a few hours, but ran into 4 friends I had made at my training in Cologne! It was nice to catch up with them, and one of them already knew Kiel, so I saw a few more sights I might have missed alone.

Ooh! My laptop is now online, so this blog is becoming more interesting. I also have a silly blog where I just put up photos and make horrible punny titles, to honour Anna W.
www.rexphotos@blogspot.com
And you might actually see me on MSN at odd times of the day!

That's about it for now.... I hope you're all doing well! If I'm taking my time responding to an email of yours, do forgive me! It's a lot more work now that I don't see all of you in person as often! I'm still really glad to hear from you - you write mostly in English, and I'm so tired of new people who I have to explain myself to, "I'm from Vancouver, and I just finished a music degree...."

I'm thinking of you all, and missing you! Take care of yourselves, d'year?

Russell

Here's my room on the first day. (it's a bit messier now)

Philippa and Moritz, my current host-siblings

My home (at least this month!)

Day 16 - Time share au pair

Still the same as the emails - sorry if you're doing both!

Hello hello! I've survived the first week at the schools!

So far, I'm at the high school Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and at the elementary school Tuesdays, and last block on Wed and Thur. I have the same teacher quite a bit at the elementary school, so I was leading games of Simon Says quite quickly, which was lots of fun! At the high school I'm with a different teacher and different class nearly every block, so there have been a lot of names to learn, and I'm fed up with saying, 'My name is Russell Cripps. I come from Vancouver, in Canada. ....(more info)...... Do you have any questions?'

Some of the best questions have been, 'How tall is that tower in Toronto?' (234.9851 meters, give or take....) 'Can you speak German?' (nope, just Swahili) 'Is it boring in Canada?' (that's why I'm here! to escape) and 'Where do you live right now?' (the moon. The commute's a killer!)

Most of the students are really friendly and patient, and the teachers even more so!

I've also tried out two VERY different choirs: church and school

The church choir is Wednesday nights, and in addition to one or two songs for the next Sunday, they are also preparing to sing Bach's St Matthew's Passion in March. They aren't half bad, and the director is quite a nifty, energetic lady. The high school choir sings english pop-jazz (I Say a Little Pray-er For You, etc), and they don't pay much attention to their very nice soft-spoken musical teacher fellow. Consequently, we barely learned anything.... a bit irritating.

My living situation has been explained to me in a bit more detail, since I last explained it. If you think back (way back), I mentioned that I'm staying with one of three motivated mothers from the elementary school, who campaigned heavily to have an english-speaker at their school. It turns out, that they have agreed to share me?!

They're all nice, and live an easy bike ride from each other, but being shared around three families with children 11 and younger was not part of my 'year abroad' plans, I must confess. On the upside- it looks like I'll be paying nothing, or next-to-nothing, at all three houses, in exchange for speaking English with the kids, and occasionally baby-sitting (all children are out of diaper age, thank heavens). I learned today that I may be moving as early as the end of this month.... what an adventure!

But I would hate to seem ungrateful - they're all so excited, generous and helpful.... I'm off to go on a sailing weekend with my current family this weekend!

I think the thing is, to remind myself of what I want out of this trip too.... I'm lucky enough to have Fridays off, so I can take really good weekend trips away from all this 3- familíes, 2-schools, and-a-partridge-in-a-pear-tree chaos.

And my parents are coming to Europe in October, and I'm going home at Xmas, and before I know it, I'll be home in June, and laughing about all this September chaos.

I hope the back-to-school season finds you all well and reasonably calm!

Cheers,

Russ

Day 15 - the bike

Over the last week, I've been using the bike to get around, and I feel quite virtuous! It's about a half hour easy ride to the high school from my (current) house. I've been borrowing a bike the family doesn't use much, and it isn't the perfect size or anything, but it works! The thing is, I always feel so warm. So today, my host mother, Susanne, said it was supposed to be 30 degrees... so I figured, 'right - no jacket today! Enough with that extra bulk'. Or course, that meant that it rained. Pelting down rain. I rode half an hour back from the high school this afternoon, in soaking jeans, T-shirt, and sneakers. I had to completely change clothes before I went to the elementary school. I was NOT impressed!
So, I figure it's high time for me to become more village-transit savvy. I know how to get downtown, but now I need to know the busses too, not just the train lines. Wish me luck!

Also, wish me luck trying to get my own computer connected to the internet here. It's one of those details that I feel bad bothering the very-busy Susanne about, but I think it would make keeping in touch a lot easier - with MSN and a normal keyboard and the ability to upload photos, I would be in heaven!

Email coming soon - I have tomorrow off!

-Russ

Day 8 - A week in Britain

Hello! (This is similar to the email I sent out. If you're reading the emails, look for the light blue bits, and skip to them.

I wasn't exactly IN Britain over the last week, but it sure felt like it!

After arriving in Hamburg and meeting my lovely generous host family last weekend, and speaking a great deal of German, I was a bit worried about the training week I just survived.

Monday morning I packed my backpack and modest bag (leaving the big monster sulking in my closet), and walked to the streetcar station, leaving plenty of time. Of course, I realized I had forgotten my wallet about two minutes before the train came, so I hustled back, missed the streetcar, and the connecting train to Cologne. Luckily, I'm starting to get quite good at this - I had chosen an earlier train than I really needed, so I was able to just take a later train.
At 4pm I was surprised to be confronted with a GIANT posse of foreign-language-assistants at the Cologne train station - about 150, with many many bags. After standing in the rain for about twenty minutes, we got on the coach busses, and were on our way.

We stayed at a monastary-cum-catholic-youth-hostel thing about half an hour out of the city. There was a beautiful cathedral there (I saw a bit of a local gospel choir rehearsal - the enthusiasm and choreography were good!). We spent our time going from info sessions (where they told us what to do at the schools, how to register, etc) to work groups, (where we discussed what makes up good lessons, and did a practice one ourselves), to mediocre mass-produced meals, where we made never-ending small talk.

Of those 150 students I mentioned, possibly 30 were NOT from England. There were 8 from Canada, 7 from Australia and NZ, and another handful from Ireland and Scotland and Wales and such. So I didn't speak much German this week, but my British is much improved. I can say 'whinging', 'fit' (as in attractive, not just athletic), and 'lorry' with the best of them, and I found myself swallowing all my vowels and sounding, if not exactly British, distinctly less Canadian. I also found myself under attack for spelling it 'mom' and not 'mum', and many other minor things!

Despite this national identity-crisis (I even have to use my British passport while I'm here to avoid a whack of paperwork ), I really enjoyed the week, and think it was valuable. Now I know that the other foreign-lanugage assistants are just as human and afraid as I, and in many cases, younger, and less used to travelling. Isn't it horrible that other people's weaknesses comfort me? I think I just imagined perfect bilingual robots until I met the real people. Now I know we're all struggling away, so I'm willing to. They're also a lot of fun, and I've made some good/interesting friends!

I tried something new that I learnt at the ESL camp I worked at this summer: There was a talent-show at the end of the training week, and I hadn't brought any sheet music, so I planned a Banana Eating Competition. (The following is a silly secret/trick - don't spread it too far!). I asked four friends(well, friendly acquantainces of two days) to take part, and explained that in fact, it's just a trick. (Two of them didn't even like bananas). I called them up to the stage on the performance night, and explained that they were the best banana eaters at the camp, and I didn't think anyone from the audience could beat them, but one person was welcome to try. I got one volunteer, sat her in the middle seat, and blindfolded all 5 contestants. Once I handed them their bananas, I said, 'ready, set, go', and my 4 pre-set contestants took off their blindfolds, and we all watched poor Michelle eat her banana super-fast! She was excited to learn she had won, until I handed her the other four bananas, as her prize. Besides having to avoid her the rest of the evening, it was a success!

I can't tell you how many times I wish I could see a face I knew more than a week ago - even just coming back to Hamburg today was a bit of a relief!

Monday I'll be starting at the schools, I suppose, although they've given me no indication whether I'm working at the primary or the secondary school Monday morning! Perhaps most Germans have ESP?

Ah well, I guess I'll just have to let Monday come. Until then, it's time for a weekend of errands and laundry! The excitement never ends in Germany!

Cheers,

Russ