Hello hello!
I’ve already been in Germany 6 months now! It’s hard to believe, but also exciting. Spring is around the corner, and along with it, many holidays and trips. So far, in April and May, I’ll be spending 7 days on field trips, and 17 days in school- all the rest is weekend and holiday! Definitely an easy end.
February has been a warming-up month. I’ve been settling in with the Nerees, and changing classes at school. I know have everything from 2nd grade to grade 13, including one advanced grade 12 German class, where I do my best just to understand everything! My first day with the grade 5s I got applause, which I think was a particularly good start. When my host-teacher and I were making my new schedule we made a mistake, and accidentally signed me up for two classes at once. I didn’t figure it out until a few moments before it was time to go, so suddenly there were two teachers discussing politely about who could use me more! A very nice feeling. Another good sign was that I was asked to travel with a teacher from each of my schools to a conference in the Parliament in Kiel, as one of three examples of how language-assistants can be used. I’ve found out that not many others are shared between a high school and elementary school. It was quite intimidating to speak (in German) in front of all of these German teachers and principals, but I smiled and poured on my often-used foreign charm, which makes up for the many mistakes I’m sure I still make.
The weather’s still feels a bit brisk to be a tourist, but I’ve seen some sights nearby. I spent a day in Schwerin, which you’ve probably never heard of, and by German standards it’s nothing special. But if its castle were in Canada, everyone would travel for miles to come see it. It’s in the former east, so it’s still being renovated, but it’s already quite dazzling. A week or two later, I visited Luneburg, an old salt-mining town, which was run by merchants, rather than a king. So instead of a richly decorated castle, there was a richly decorated town hall. At a certain point, sea salt became cheaper to produce, and the town lost it’s importance, so there are still many (late medieval?) buildings there. I have a pretty decent network of English acquaintances here- both of these trips were planned rather late, but I still found a friend to go with. Just yesterday, I was a tourist in Hamburg, and finally saw the very impressive town hall (I’m sorry I didn’t take you there, Mom and Dad!), and a art exhibit of American paintings (mostly landscapes) from the 1800s. I had a good-bye drink with a friend who is moving to France, in the famous redlight district! It was truly an interesting day.
Two weeks ago, the church choir I’ve been singing with performed Bach’s St Matthew’s Passion (after 6 months of rehearsing)! It’s been really great to sing such an ambitious work with people who actually understand most of the old German texts. I sang a short duet with another fellow in the choir: Right after Judas tells the priests he made a mistake and tries to give back the money, and hangs himself, there’s a moment where the priests say, “We couldn’t give the money back to the church- it’s spoiled by his death” (which means they’ll greedily keep it). In my slight nervousness, I managed to mess up the text quite blatantly, but sang on with all my heart. Anyhow, it was a grand old time.
I also saw two shows this last week: first “Die Frau ohne Schatten”, by R. Strauss (not the waltz king) on Tuesday night. The opera deals with a spirit-woman who doesn’t have a shadow and can’t have children. These are linked. So a witch offers to help her buy a shadow from a human woman, and at first the human woman goes for it, but in the end she loves her husband too much, and the spirit-woman can’t bear to tear the mortal couple apart. This new-found tenderness produces her shadow, and she and her fella are happy too. It was a very long dramatic opera, with some very lovely spots, and a few slightly confusing ones. I wasn’t too smart to get a ticket for that night- I had my earliest morning the next day!
The other show I saw was decidedly shorter, and less polished, but very fun. It was a show called Momo, and it was done by the high school theatre club. Most of the students in it were around the grade 5-7 ages, and often they were playing many different characters. The story revolves around these monsters who steal people’s time by convincing them they need to save it by hurrying everything, and ignoring their hobbies and loved ones. Momo is the name of the child who sees through all of this. It’s also the nickname of Moritz, my host-brother from my first family. So I saw the show with him and Frederic, one of my current-host-brothers, on Thursday.
Gosh, this has been long! I hope you’re all doing well? January and February can be such a slog, but now it’s time for spring to come! Already the days are so much longer, and I enjoy my bike-riding much more.
More and more people have been asking me (here and there) “what are you doing after all this Germany business?” At first, my answer was, “good question!”. Now I’ve been working on some possibilities. I finish working here at the end of May, and then I’m planning on travelling with Anna A, who conveniently speaks Italian and has a couple contacts in Paris, for a few weeks in June. I’ve sent off a long-shot audition for World Youth Choir, which would rehearse and perform during three weeks in July in South Africa. When that doesn’t work, I’m hoping to go on the Chor Leoni tour of ‘central’ Canada for a week in August. Anna W. and I are trying to get the rights and venue for performing an exciting 4-actor musical in September. I’m also working on an application to the Music Education degree program at UBC. Of course, all of these could somehow not work out, so if you have an idea, do let me know! I also have a few other vague-er ideas floating about that I might work on. Who knows!
Okay, so now you’re sick of me, and I’m sick of writing about me. Tell me about you, if you have a moment! No matter what, know that I miss you, and I’m looking forward to seeing you! Being overseas has really made me realize what lovely people I know in Vancouver (and/or Canada)
Russell
1) Part of the Danish Crown Jewels
