May update

I'm officially a spotty correspondant. But there hasn't been a lot of really big news... after the big exciting Easter trip, the weather here was brilliantly summery for a few weeks. I moved from family 3 (Nerees), back to family 1 (Bensels), because they had less than their fair share of me at the start of my time here. It hasn't really worked out ideally for us seeing a lot of each other... sailing season is just starting, so they're away nearly every weekend, and I always have one little appointment which keeps me in town. Ah well! It's fun, anyhow.

It's field trip season right now: I went to court with a grade 6 class, slept over in the school one night with a grade 3 class, took a trip to a sand-duney island in the North Sea for a week with a grade 4 class, and I have a day trip to a cliff island with grade 13 students coming up Thursday. I've enjoyed all of the field trips, but find that they tend to involve a lot of similar-to-parental nagging: 'Be quiet!' 'Leave him alone!' 'Clean your room!' 'You are not an animal- don't eat like one' etc...

It's also holiday season: in May I get 5 days off school because of Labour Day, Acension, and Pentecost, among other things.
This adds up to very little time in the classroom, so sometimes it feels more like a special occasion when I am there! I spend most of those days explaining where I've been, and why I won't be there the next days.

This long weekend, I travelled down to the west Rhine area of Germany to visit Emily Cheung, a friend from UBC who was touring around Europe with a choir. I spent a fun afternoon and evening with her, and caught their choir concert! Then Friday morning I took an early train to Kassel, where I had done my summer German program two years ago, and told the current students about the assistant teacher program I'm doing now! I got a bit of stage fright, and said everything a bit too fast, but was saved by other helpful teachers. It was fun to see an old friend, Iain, who had lived with the same host family two years ago. We caught up and shopped the rest of the sunny Friday. The whole experience of being in the school and Kassel with Canadian students again two years later was a bit trippy. I really noticed how much more comfortable I am with German now.

Future plans? Send many of my possessions home, say many thank yous, and leave Wohltorf on the 1st of June with Anna Angotti, a high school friend who's touring around Europe this summer. We'll spend three weeks together, touring through Switzerland, seeing Rome, and doing as much of France as we can squeeze in! Then I'm flying home on the 24th of June, in time to see the Chor Leoni Bard on the Beach show the next day, and leave for a family trip to Vancouver Island the day after! So if you're wondering when I'll be back, the practical answer is: Canada Day.

I'm really enjoying these last crazy weeks here, but also looking forward to coming home to my friends and family. There's no replacing you! I hope you're all doing well, and enjoying the lovely long days of May!

R

Spain spain

1) Purple pointy hats- part of a Holy Thursday procession
2) The America's Cup- a famous sailing trophy. The competition is being held this year in Valencia
3) A famous painting by Velasquez, in the Prado museum in Madrid
4) The .... interesting interpretation by Picasso, among many in his very own museum in Barcelona

Russell in Brussels

1) EU Parliament
2) Don't skate on the lake, you hear?
3) Celine, charming girl. There's another one in Vancouver- my Mom! I think she's charming.
4) A smurf, in the cartoon museum.

Easter Hop, Skip, and Jump

Hello!

I just had a really busy Easter holiday! My schools have two weeks off to celebrate, so I took off and explored a bit more of Europe.

First I stopped in Brussels for two days, and enjoyed the mishmash feel. New buildings, old historic ones, and in-between ugly ones are pretty evenly mixed! I saw the EU Parliament, a musical instrument museum (really well done!), and a comic museum.
The official languages of Belgium are French and Flemish, so I tried fairly unsuccessfully to remember my years of French classes. There have been too many other languages since writing my provincial exam in Jan 2001!
I also sampled their many unhealthy national specialities: chocolate, waffles, and French fries. I enjoyed all of them, and searched high and low for some salads and fruit in between!

Then on the 3rd I flew to Madrid, and saw a bit of Holy Week in the capital of Spain. I managed to catch one of their very slow moving religious processions – buckets of people wearing pointy hats reminiscent of the Klu Klux Klan, but not necessarily white, or covering white supremacists. The parade I saw was a purple-hatted one!
I also saw the Prado art museum, which was quite overwhelming. Most of the art was renaissance or baroque, which doesn’t tend to be my favourite era of paintings, but so many of these were famous or well-done, that I couldn’t help but spend half a day there.

On the 6th I took a train (with on-board film, just like a plane!) to Valencia, the third biggest city in Spain, on the Mediterranean coast. It’s not such a big tourist town, but it’s hosting a big famous sailing competition this year, for the first time held in Europe: the America’s Cup. I watched a race, and after having sailed for the first time in September, was awfully impressed by all the skill and speed involved.
The next day I took a guided tour of the city, and really enjoyed getting a better sense of Spanish history. It had been a bit jumbled-up in my head before, but seeing in person the remains of the Christian conquest, and Spanish Civil War made it all very vivid.

On the 8th I took another train (this time watching Mission Impossible 3) to Barcelona, where I stayed at easily the friendliest hostel. An Australian currently situated in Norway showed me around my first evening, and gave me her maps and things, as she was leaving the next morning. We also tried the requisite paella, which was very good.

The highlight in Barcelona was easily getting to know the works of Gaudi, a really cool architect who lived late 1800s- early 1900s. He designed a cathedral called the Sagrada Familia (Sacred Family), which is still under construction, and still looks ultra-modern. When completed, it will have 18 turrets: representing the 12 apostles, 4 prophets, Mary, and Jesus himself. I think it’s a bit strange that a cathedral for the holy family doesn’t have a tower for Joseph, but somehow he always gets the short end of the stick. Anyhow, I loved it! After seeing many conventional cathedrals, it was refreshing to see that they don’t have to look gothic or baroque.

I also met a trio of fun backpackers from Calgary, who I gave some tips to, and ate with a few times. Said like that, it sounds a bit dull, but after a week and a half travelling on my own, it was nice to chat!

After all this time fumbling about in French, then Spanish, it was a relief to fly ‘home’ to Germany on the 11th, where I could finally talk in complete sentences in the native tongue again! I spent a few days with my host family from two summers ago, in the small town named Kassel in the middle of Germany. The weather finally turned into vacation weather while I was there- it had been off-and-on rain in Spain, and mildly warm. Back in Germany, there’s been nearly a week now of sun, and summery-warm weather! It’s been great.

I could go on much longer, but I’m sure you have other things to do! I hope the Easter Bunny was good to you! I miss you, and know that the next 10 weeks will fly by, and I’ll be back in Vancouver before we know it.

Take care,

Russell

Things I saw in Denmark:

1) Part of the Danish Crown Jewels

2) The famous Little Mermaid statue (10 other tourists there at 9am!)

3) Another beautiful statue near the mermaid

4) A Derain painting

5) Kronberg (Hamlet's Elsinore castle)

6) The Royal Opera House across the way, Amalienburg (the royal palace with guards) underneath, all seen from the top of a cathedral!

Denmark Detour

Last weekend, I took a 5-hour train trip to Copenhagen- the train went right onto the ferry! Friday the weather was kind of misty, and I didn’t hold out much hope, but the other two days I had beautiful clear skies, so I really lucked out.

After the short ferry trip, some officials came through the train, and at first I thought it was just to check my train ticket again, but it was passport control. Somehow in all my packing, I forgot that rather important detail! I had a moment of panic, and went through many scenarios as I went through my bag(hide in the bathroom? Get sent back to Germany? Call family from jail?). In the end, I smiled apologetically, and handed him my driver’s license, explaining my mistake, and asking him what would happen now. He let me go! No fine, no jail, no turning around right away.

After that, the weekend went really quite smoothly – I stayed at a nice hostel with a great name: Sleep-in Heaven. Copenhagen has a really nice feeling- a bit more relaxed than businesslike Hamburg, it seems to me. Bikes are even more important there ( I didn’t believe it was possible!)- the bike lanes are as big as car lanes!

I tried the local food specialities (so far, I’ve not encountered a place where the local speciality is particularly healthy!) : a Danish pastry, hot dogs, and open-faced sandwiches (there was so much piled on top, that I couldn’t see the bread!). I also tried a waffle with ice cream- I don’t know if that’s Danish, but I certainly hadn’t tried it before!

I saw the famous Little Mermaid statue, and many other less-famous-but-still-beautiful statues. I visited the very impressive crown jewels (Denmark has a royal family), saw the changing of the guard accidentally outside the royal residence palace and saw Kronberg, the castle in Helsignor, a half hour up the coast. ( It’s better known as Hamlet’s Elsinor.) It was built with 20-foot ceilings, on a rather windy point across from Sweden. Needless to say, the kings later decided that it was a bit drafty, so they gave it to the military.

In between all of this history and royalty, I saw two really interesting collections of art. The first was the National Art Museum, which had a special exhibit on Andre Derain. He was a friend of Picasso and Matisse, and also very talented, but somehow he’s a bit unknown nowadays. I was impressed by how drastically his style seemed to change! The rest of the museum was also really interesting- they compared the techniques and subjects of artists from wildly different times. The other gallery I saw was a modern art gallery on the coast- they were doing an exhibit on an American photographer named Cindy Sherman. For many years she’s used herself as the subject of the photos, but with makeup, wigs, costumes, and props, transforms herself into different characters. She even copied some “old master” style paintings – making herself into a “Madonna and Child” or some hairy duke with a pointy nose. Really cool!

One evening I visited the Royal Theatre house ( a new modern building) and saw a new production written by Elvis Costello there. I liked the more varied first half, and the more classical-style soprano. The second half, which told a love story about Hans Christian Anderson and Jenny Lind, a famous soprano, and the RENT-style tenor weren’t my favourite, though!

Anyhow, this could be a lot longer, but you have better things to do, I’m sure! I hope you’re enjoying the longer days, and the start of spring! We’ve just had a lovely warm sunny week here- it felt like May instead of March!

Russ

Schwerin and Luneburg

The castle isn't warped- the window is!

Long and chatty. (Brace yourself!)

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

Where I am, now!

Chez Neree- my room is the lower right corner. Hans Edward, the youngest, wants to be a farmer. He showed me around the horse stables across the street.

Where I was, January

Photo 1: One Thursday, there was snow! It was pretty
Photo 2: The hurricane that hit Germany wasn't so bad in my neck of the woods.
Photo 3: My office chez Tiefenbacher- the wireless internet only worked in a few rooms.
Photo 4: Anton, the Tiefenbacher puppy who was still being house-trained.
Photo 5: The Tiefenbacher kids! Max, Cecilia, and Sophie

long overdue...

Sorry! This blog got really boring! I changed families, and they didn't have much of an internet connection. And it made me a bit lazy about updating this.

I could try and fill you in on everything since the last post, but I'm a bit too lazy and daunted at the prospect, so I'll just say: coming soon.

As for now/recently:

I went home for Christmas! I bustled around visiting family and friends, enjoying a break from speaking German. I had a cold right before I left Hamburg, so my ears plugged up, and I finally had to see a doctor halfway through my two week visit home.
He got me all fixed up, and I could finally hear everyone in time for New Years'!

What did I get for Christmas? Besides friends and family? Ummmmm.... some nice clothes (including hand-knitted gloves and scarf from Anna W!), great CDs, canadian books to help me tell everyone here about my culture.... and lots of other cool stuff.

January has been mostly a quiet month, but things have been a bit more interesting lately- I visited my mom's aunt Susan and uncle John in Austria last weekend! They live near Kitzbühel, a big skiing area, but we took it easy, watching videos (Schindler's List, and Cry Freedom, about the South African apartheid), and visiting. This weekend I'll be moving to family three... so who knows what adventures await me there! All I know for sure is, I won't really miss cleaning up after the new puppy that came at Christmas at my current house. He's really quiet well behaved, but we're still working on the 'don't chew on things' and ' pee outside, not inside' basics. You know how it is....

I'm starting to feel quite decently comfortable with leading the elementary school classes. Because English isn't a main subject at this age, there aren't any tests or grammar to worry about, so it's a bit easier to be useful every class. At the high school it's all stress about grades, so I don't get the chance to lead as much. But that also means I get to relax, so I'm not complaining!

Gosh I miss home some days! Often right after I spend a few hours looking after the kids and dog, but even just sometimes travelling, I see or hear something, and want to show someone from home. Ah well! I'm already halfway... it's downhill from here! There aren't many holidays between Xmas and Easter here... but there are two weeks at Easter, and a few long weekends after that, so I'll have more chances to travel later on.

This is awfully rambly! Again, sorry I neglected this blog for so long. No excuses really cover it... but I have good intentions to try better next time!

Russ

Hello hello!

I'm afraid I have to leave in a sec, but I just wanted to send an email to say that I'm having a good time exploring Dresden - I met up with three friends two days ago, and while they tend to be worse than small children in some ways, it's nice to have company - I was alone in Prague for two nights, and that was enough of the alone-ness. I know talking about weather is boring, but it's been SO nice here! Sunny, and so warm that you only need a jacket in the evening.
Okay - that's all i have time for, but I'll write more soon- my fall vacation is over in a few days, and then I'll have more time.
Take care!
Russ