Sunday is delayed until Tuesday.

Unfortunately (not for me) I'm away travelling this weekend. Please check back on Tuesday for tales of moving flat, Ikea and medieval Goslar...

The last tea bag.

It's been an up and down sort of week, what with Reubs going home, running out of tea bags and the realisation that I'm not going back to Warwick this year. I never thought that I'd miss uni but I'm strangely envious of everyone moving back to Canley ready for another year together. The other low point was going to make myself a cup of tea and discovering that I'd run out of tea bags. I bravely tried the generic Teakasse black tea but it is disgusting. I miss England!

School was pretty quiet this week as classes 6 and 9 were away on a school trip.

- 5a. Good lesson, lots to do and stayed for second lesson.

- 7d. Final lesson before the class test, attempting to construct sports poetry...

- 7a. More sports, more posters, more presentations.

- 5c. A couple of incidents (9th formers bursting into the classroom due to one of the 5c-ers annoying them, another 5c-er crying because she wasn't getting enough attention) but otherwise fine.

- 5b. Loving 5th form this week. Helped Martin take a cover lesson which was a fun way to end the school week.

Due to having a visitor I actually went somewhere other than Rewe during the school week. Firstly the Kabusturm, another random tower in the middle of the woods. I still don't understand why these constructions exist but there is a good view from the top.

View from Kabusturm // Kabusturm // Somewhere between Badse and Wesseln

I also had my first ever Currywurst (how I got this far without trying one is beyond me, inadequate German student) in Hildesheim and it was amazing. Literally amazing. Will be going back there. Wednesday was Hannover day. After a wander to the Rathaus and some last minute Milka buying I deposited Reubs and a suitcase on the train to the airport. I had a brief Primark raid, chat with Meadbh and made the second to last train home... success.

For my exciting exploring Friday I went to Wolfenbüttel, not a particularly big place but known at the home of Jägermeister. Unsurprisingly I wanted to visit the Jägermeister factory (on Jägermeisterstraße) and was offered the wonderfully early 9am tour (you have to book in advance). I only had to leave the house at 6am,  enjoying a dark, misty and freezing cold walk to the station. The level of dedication was well worth it as the factory tour was amazing.

The basic mixture for all the Jägermeister in the world is made at that one factory in Wolfenbüttel! The tour started with the ingredients: 56 herbs and spices are used to make Jägermeister, of which we saw 25 and 4 are top secret (to the point that they are stored behind frosted glass in the factory). Next stop was the labs, where all the ingredients are analysed as well as the Jägermeister mixture at various stages of production. Apparently 383 quality control checks are carried out! We also saw the maceration tanks, oak barrels for maturation (the biggest containing over 22 000 litres of Jägermeister), and the bottling process. It was very impressive. My knowledge of Jägermeister production is now comparable to my knowledge of salt (alarmingly high). For example, 98 shots of Jägermeister are drunk per second worldwide. The tour itself was completely free and at the end we were given a present of a small bottle of Jägermeister and two shot glasses to thank us for visiting! Incredible.

Already loving Wolfenbüttel I set off into the town centre, full of the standard timber-framed buildings. The Herzog Ernst August Bibliothek [library] is apparently world famous so I went there to admire the floor to ceiling leather-bound books and the library-associated (and logically named) Lessinghaus [Lessing House], a house that Lessing lived in. It had been made into a mini museum, so I've now seen a handwritten copy of Emilia Galotti. Wahoo.

Stadtmarkt // Historic town centre // Herzogliches Schloss // Side street // Hauptkirche Beatae Mariae Virginis

Wolfenbüttel town centre was lovely. It had a nice market place (like all towns here), a nice Rathaus (like all towns here) and some nice churches (like all towns here). There was also a Jägermeister shop where you could buy items from bikinis to toasters.

Stadtmarkt

On Saturday I went for an 'Anna walk'. For the uneducated, an 'Anna walk' is a walk where you don't follow a route or even take a map, instead wandering wherever you feel like. My walk took me (a very indirect route) to Wesseln, the next village along the valley. Along the valley because I wasn't in the mood for a hill.

The week finished with Konzert in the Kurpark. Brass bands seem to be a German obsession, and able to play anything from Flashdance to a Toto medley (Africa was surprisingly effective). Worryingly there was also a sing-along schlager setion... something about a Fischerin von Bodensee... No idea on the others. Despite all this the highlight of the week has to be Niedersachsen winning the Bundesvision Song Contest 2013.

The blog post that almost didn't make it.

A day late thanks to the atrocious internet but we made it in the end...

Another week is over. Although I really like my school I'm still not feeling particularly useful. I'd expected to be sitting and observing for the first couple of weeks but this is week three and there have still been lessons in which I haven't said a word. I'm not saying I want to take a lesson (or even lead activities) but I can cope with reading out vocabulary and answering questions. There is no point in me sitting in a class and listening to Luca, Ellie, Adam and Berry (the characters in their English textbooks) discussing a trip to the beach. Martin was also away for a couple of days which caused a bit of a kerfuffle.

St. Martini Kirche from the Altrathaus

- 5a. Very slow start due to planner checks, homework checks, etc. I really enjoyed listening to Luca, Ellie, Adam and Berry discussing something.

- 9b. The cover teacher thought I was a student (apparently I look 16. I got asked for ID as well last week) and no amount of explaining would change his mind. I was told to sit with the class, join a group and do an A to Z of Australia poster. Fortunately my group was lovely (even giving me a thank you pressie at the end!) and the cover teacher sort-of apologised at the end... it seems that suggesting 'quokka' for 'Q' was enough to prove my Englishness.

- 6d. Not needed so got sent home.

- 7d. More sports but still good. At the end I managed to remember everyone in the class' names... wahoo!

- 7a. Complete fail of a class. There was no cover work and the cover teacher didn't turn up. After waiting ten minutes I went someone to the staffroom to get a teacher. Not ideal really.

- 9f. New class. Not exactly the hardest group of students but they were friendly (even if they'd only talk in German).

- 5c. Uninterested in English. Shockingly Jens hitting the glockenspiel didn't restore control.

- 6b. Another new class. I had been switched out of the less than successful 7abc and this was my replacement. I took a small group out of the class and we had a lovely time identifying verbs in the simple past. So much better.

- 6c. I got to write loads of sample sentences on the blackboard and the students were actually asking me questions. Success.

- 5d. More problems with cover teachers meant I got left alone with the class for half the lesson which was going fine until someone started crying. My ability to comfort in German is limited.

As routine dictates I went into Hildesheim after school on Thursday. This got off to a great start with an out of order ticket machine, so I did the unthinkable and got onto a train in Germany without a ticket. I went to the library but wasn't allowed to borrow anything because I forgot to bring my proof of address certificate. Oh German bureaucracy.

For my new city of the week I went to Braunschweig/Brunswick, the city of Henry the Lion. It didn't do well on first impressions, with a 2km walk from the station to the city centre, past many 'lovely' buildings (including a youth drug rehabilitation centre). I got very confused, walking round in circles in the Aegidienviertel. The actual city was nice (once I made it) with lots of modern shopping in old buildings. This was epitomised in the Residenzschloss [residential palace], the majority of which is now a shopping centre. Interesting. There were a couple of reconstructed rooms in the palace which I was thoroughly confused by and I got glared at for standing less than a meter from the elaborately set dining table. Hmph.

Burgplatz // Alte Waage // Rathaus // Residenzschloss

On a walk into the centre of Braunschweig I saw the Rathaus [city hall] which was very pretty but hosting so sort of wedding expo. The whole Burgplatz area with the Burg Dankwarderode castle, Dom St. Blasii cathedral and of course the Braunschweiger Löwe (lion statue). After all, no self-respecting 'city of the lion' would be complete without a lion statue. Next I headed to the Altstadtmarkt and the Altstadtrathaus which had been made into a little city history museum. There were lots of maps and documents showing the history of Braunschweig and it was an interesting place to hide from the rain. Finally I went to the Old New Town, home of a church, Wollmarkt Alte Waage and the Liberei (so plenty of half timbered buildings). Other things seen at some point (effective exploring) include the Staatstheatre and Happy Rizzi Haus.

Braunschweig was a city which tried really hard to feel like a big place but was actually not. I kept putting the map away, wandering for ten minutes, panicking and thinking I was lost then turning around and being next to a church which I had originally thought was too far away to walk to. This wasn't entirely surprising given the number of churches. St. Martini Kirche, St. Ulrici Bruedern Kirche, St. Andreas Kirche, St. Magni Kirche, St. Aegidien Kirche and St. Petri Kirche. And the cathedral. So on first impressions Braunschweig wasn't amazing but it did improve. 

Bad Salzdetfurth // Presents from England // Bad Salzdetfurth

I headed into Hannover on Saturday to meet my next visitor, contending with a train that completely overshot the platform and had to reverse (standard DB Bahn). Due to the suitcase situation, Reubs and I headed straight to Badse and then back out into Hildesheim (lovely Niedersachsen ticket) and had a wander, schnitzel and ice cream. Hildesheim was slightly chaotic with politcal party members everywhere in a final push for votes and some sort of disaster had happened on a side street. A disaster that required multiple fire engines, police cars and the wonderful Katastrophenschutz. The weekend ended in usual style with Kaffee and Konzert in the Kurpark... ahh, Badse!

Just follow the music.

I cannot believe that it is nearly three weeks since I moved to Germany. The time has gone so much faster than I thought it would, which must mean that I like it here. School is seeming strangely familiar. I know where most of the classrooms are, I have my place in the staffroom and I have teachers that I talk to during breaks. When I walk down the corridors students say 'Hi Miss Wilkinson' and they wave at me when they get on the bus to go home. However, I have no idea what the students are called. Well maybe one or two. And there seems to be a Stine [steen-ah], Nele [nay-luh] and Leon [lay-on] in every class. Ah well, they are still confused by my name so it's even.

Hameln // Marktkirche St. Nicolai //  Me and Katherine // Market Square // Old town // Bürgerhus

- 5a. Same as last week but this time happily learning about animals. The proud moment of being asked what Bartagame is in English and knowing the answer. Bearded dragon. Win.

- 9b. Again, same as last week. Not very enthusiastic about anything.

- 6b. A class with a bad reputation but were actually really good. The lesson was more like what I expected to be doing as a language assistant, as I took groups of seven out of the class to practice a dialogue, changing group every 15 minutes. The first group started talking amongst themselves, discussing how much they wanted the lesson to be over. I let them continue for a couple of minutes then said "ich kenne Deutsch" [I know German]. Hah. More priceless reactions. Now they all think I'm super cool for pranking them. One of the girls even came up to me at the end of class and gave me a keyring! So, it seems their reputation is worse than the reality.

- 7d. So much talking about sports. But we got to 61 on FizzBuzz so that was a success!

- 7a. Yet more sports but otherwise good.

- 7abc. Awful. My first lesson with this class and they had no questions for me at all. This is a lower ability class and their English is limited. I'm not entirely sure what the point in me attending their lessons is, as they know their English is poor but are not remotely interested in improving it. Even worse, the teacher thinks I am also a teacher so wants me to take the lesson next week... I think I've got some explaining to do.

- 5c. There wasn't much for me to do this week but it's a lovely class. They are the most talkative and happily chat to me in both English and German. Pretending that I don't understand something usually results in them attempting to translate it into English for me so it's good practice too. For some reason one of the students brought real chinchilla fur into school and they all love it. No idea.

- 6c. Not in school today, something about a research project in the woods.

- 5d. Also not in school, not sure why.

Other highlights of the working week included putting my name label on my letter box (and feeling like a proper German) and watching The Great British Bakeoff. The internet went a bit crazy and actually worked, so I downloaded a VPN program (means I can connect to a UK network, pretend that my laptop is in the UK and therefore access iPlayer!). There was only one thing to do: make myself a cup of tea, whack out the Dairy Milk and enjoy. It sounds like such a small thing but it made my day.

With all Thursday lessons cancelled I headed into Hildesheim for the afternoon (and evening as Katherine's train journey didn't go quite to plan). I went to the library and registered for a library card, so sat reading until Katherine arrived.

Despite having a visitor I wanted to continue with my plan to visit a different city every week so on Friday we got ourselves a Niedersachsen ticket and headed off to Hameln/Hamelin. Yes it is a real place, and yes it is completely obsessed with (and defined by) the Pied Piper. Literally everything was Pied Piper themed and the selection of rat shaped items was vast. There were glass rats, mirror rats, cuddly rats, bottle-opener rats, giant statue rats, cobblestone rats and bread rats. Seriously, bread rats in multiple bakeries.

Bread rats // Cobblestone rat // Bridge rat // Mirror rats

Hameln itself was a very pretty place, full of narrow cobbled streets and old timber buildings, so we had a lovely time exploring the historic city centre. During our wander we went into the Münster St. Bonifatius, a very impressive building from the outside but less so from the inside. There was however a sign for the tower climb. The door was unlocked for us and we set off up the spiral staircase, which progressed to wooden stairs and walkways with doors to open, until eventually we arrived at a the bottom of a wooden ladder. At the top of the ladder was a closed trapdoor. Not to worry, we had been warned before climbing the tower that the trapdoor to the top might be closed. Eeek. So up I went, unbolted the trapdoor and clambered out onto the top to be greeted by a stunning view of Hameln and far beyond. It might not have been the safest ascent ever but it was incredible.

Hameln // The trapdoor

Safely back on the ground, we encountered the Pied Piper. I will concede that he wasn't the actual Pied Piper but he was dressed up, playing a whistle and leading people through the streets of Hameln. The obvious choice was to follow the music/Pied Piper on what we thought was a free walking tour (in German of course). Later we discovered that is was actually a private group tour costing 130€. Oops. But we can still say that we followed the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Next stop was the glass blowing works in which we were the only visitors (that just keeps on happening). The glass blowing demonstration was amazing and really interesting, although the jokes were definitely lost on us. We headed back to Badse, stopping in Hildesheim for a schnitzel (my first since arriving here!) in a restaurant on the market square, the name of which I somehow translated as Bone-Fang-Tusk.

At this point you'd think that the day had been eventful enough, but Bad Salzdetfurth had other ideas. On the walk from the station we heard music and decided to follow it. In most places this would have led us to a house party, but here the source of the noise was a concert in the town centre. The band were best described as a 'Fleetwood Mac' tribute but were actually quite good. Katherine unleashed her A-level German and successfully ordered drinks that weren't beer and we stayed for the remainder of the concert. Of course, we didn't question the CDU umbrellas, assuming it was some sort of fundraiser. We were proved wrong when Ute Bertram (the local CDU candidate) hopped up on stage at the end and asked us all to vote for her in the upcoming election. Ah. I did gain some CDU gummy bears though.

The weekend was uneventful, beginning with the Saturday morning shop for roast dinner ingredients (upsettingly minus parsnips). We did very little, staying in Badse, eating and watching 30 über Nacht [13 going on 30]. On Sunday I went to Konzert in the Kurpark as usual then headed home to prepare for the 6am start.

My house, in the middle of my street.

It's time for a special edition blog post. Quite a few people have asked me where I'm living in Germany, whether it's with one of the teachers, in a WG, in my own flat or in a cardboard box under a bridge somewhere. The answer is my own flat, which is actually the bottom floor of my landlady's house. The location is good: close to school and to the station. It is a bit strange living by myself but I'm getting used to it and it's nice to have a little bit of Germany that is mine.

Room 1: Lounge

This is my lounge which came complete with TV and 'interesting' paintings. Some of the items on the shelving unit are mine (the cards, millions of train timetables and rubber duck) but most of it was there when I arrived. There's an excessive number of places to sit but at least I have a choice! And the stuff on the ceiling that looks like wood is actually plastic. Nice.

Room 2: Bedroom

So, my bedroom. I don't know why it has three beds but it does. I've tried to make it feel like home by having various photos and things dotted around the room. The wardrobe is massive; I'm only using a quarter of it! The guard penguin is protecting my wonderfully rectangular pillow (the one to the right was my original pillow).

Rooms 3 & 4: Kitchen and Bathroom

My kitchen is little (no free work surface) but came fully equipped which makes up for it. There's everything you could possibly want apart from an oven tray. Why there is an egg boiler but not an oven tray I do not understand. But I went to the 1€ shop, bought a tray and now everything is fine.

Finally, the bathroom (complete with a little stool so I can reach the window). It's a fairly standard bathroom but special mention goes to the shower which is really good. And yes there is a toilet, I just couldn't fit it in the photo.

Well, that's it. Tour complete. It might not be the most modern flat in the world but I quite like it and feel at home here. It will be strange to move out in a couple of weeks time.

Was?! Ist dass die Engländer?!

Yes I am the English one, and although you don't know it I can understand everything you are saying. My first week working as an Enlglish Language Assistant at IGS Bad Salzdetfurth is over and and it went well!

IGS Bad Salzdetfurth main entrance

On Monday morning I arrived in school at half 7 ready for my very first lesson: sports and hobbies with 5a. Some of their ideas were a little… unusual, for example 'jumping from towers' but I'm here to try to help them speak English, not to question their hobbies! Despite their interesting choice of hobbies, the class was lovely and the lesson went much faster than I'd expected it to. At the moment I am in the Hospitationsphase, so observing lessons rather than actively teaching. I have obviously been answering questions and speaking both German and English but I'm not expected to lead any activities yet. The second (and final) class of the day was 9b, the oldest year group. They were far more reluctant to talk but hopefully in time they will get used to having me around and realise that I'm not going to insult their grammar!

Having only attended two classes I was free for the rest of the day (my Monday third class starts next week) so decided to be brave and head into the town centre and visit the Einwohnermeldeamt and the bank. The Einwohnermeldeamt is where you officially register your residence in the town, in my case located in the Rathaus [town hall]. My British passport caused great confusion for not saying my previous address and for generally being in English, but eventually it was accepted. Further confusion ensued when I tried to say I was single. Apparently in Germany a wedding ring is worn on the right hand not the left, so the ring on my righthand fourth finger (a present) here means that I'm married. Well that explains why I've been asked so many times whether it's difficult being away from my partner or if he came to Germany with me! Successfully registered as living in Bad Salzdetfurth I set off to the Sparkasse (my nearest bank) to open a bank account. I had no idea that I'd need an appointment, so happily wandered in and asked to open an account. Ah, so naïve. I was taken pity on by the very helpful and very tall (we're talking crouching to go under his office doorway) assistant called Torsten, who explained that we could start setting up my account then and finish it off another day. The next hour was one of the most confusing hours of my life. I left feeling completely bewildered and had to have a sit down and a cup of tea to recover. Basically, Torsten was super duper inquisitive about why I was in Germany, so questions about my bank account were interspersed with questions about my life choices, which was lovely but exhausting. I had no idea how much paperwork would be required… a small tree's worth it transpires. Seriously, they give you a folder to take it home in. Somehow I made it to the end of the 'beloved German bureaucracy' paperwork (everything here requires a lot of paperwork) and am now the holder of a Girokonto with Sparkasse Hildesheim. Interestingly I wasn't even offered a credit card with my account! Anyway, the bank is hopefully sorted and I have a meeting in two weeks time to make sure that everything is okay. Yay.

The rest of the school week was fine, and apart from Tuesday fifth which was cancelled went as planned. Oh, and the teacher who questioned why as a student I was in the staffroom and what I had done to get sent out of my lesson. Awkward.

- 7d. Brilliant. They are old enough to know some English but not old enough to care about making grammatical errors. And the teacher and I decided to pretend I spoke no German at all, then five minutes before the end of the lesson he asked one of the girls to ask me a question in German. I responded in German. She then asked another question and I responded. Only then did the penny drop and she realised I'd spoken German!
- 7a. Less talkative but still really good.
- 8abc. Cancelled due to teacher illness so I stayed with 8a and watched them do presentations about their favourite sport. Really wish that they would learn to say dates properly, it would change the overall sounds of their English so much.
- 5c. Really enjoyed. The students sat in a circle and interrogated me on everything from favourite foods to countries. The prize for my favourite question goes to "So can you really say as much in English as we can in German". Erm yes and I think in English too. Mind blown. A particularly lovely (or stupid) student asked how my English was so good if I was born in Germany! I voluntarily stayed for the next lesson to help with pronunciation and rhyming words, partly because I was enjoying myself and partly because there's not a lot to do in the afternoons/evenings.

- 6c. Unbothered. Ended up just writing vocabulary on the blackboard.
- 5d. Difficult topic (favourite things) so they weren't that enthusiastic. They still think I don't know any German. It's a very weird feeling sitting in a class and hearing people talk about you because they think you can't understand them.

I celebrated the end of the working week by getting the train to Hildesheim and climbing the tower of the St Andreas Church. I didn't appreciate just how many steps there would be, most of which were a spiral staircase but the last few were practically a ladder! The view was well worth the climb as the visibility was really good so I could see the edge of Hildesheim and surrounding hills, as well as the Harz and Hannover in the distance.

View from Andreaskirche // Hildesheim Market Square // Inside Andreaskirche // Another view

Afterwards I decided to sort out my internet once and for all. For anyone who I have yet to complain about the internet to, it is terrible. Exceedingly unpredictable and frequently non-existent. Therefore I thought a usb-internet-stick-thing would be a good plan. Half an hour later I was standing crying in the middle of the Vodafone shop. To summarise (I'd rather not relive the experience by typing it) I've learnt that you cannot take a sim card back to a shop, but if you simultaneously cry and explain in broken German that all you want to do is talk to your family it is possible to get substantial discount on the adaptor to make the sim usable. To be fair, without the surfstick I wouldn't be blogging now! I cheered myself up with potato wedges from Nordsee and went home to watch Der Teufel trägt Prada [The Devil Wears Prada] and eat marzipan potatoes.

My body clock is completely broken after four days of German school, so I ended up on the half 8 train to Hannover on Friday. I had heard lots about the city so was looking forward to visiting it. I arrived just before 10 at a very impressive looking Hauptbahnhof and bumped into Meadbh (my roommate from the Köln course) on her way to school. After trying to find the historic city and failing (Hannover is such a confusing place) I went into a couple of gallerias on a map finding mission. I didn't find a map but I did find a Lindt chocolatier putting the filling in Lindor chocolates and then handing them out as tasters. From this point I knew it was going to be a good day! Eventually I found a pathetically small map in tourist information, so set off exploring the opera, the Kröpke, the Old Town Hall, the Market Church, another Church and the historic city centre in general. As usual there were loads of building works and road works which detracted slightly from the charm of the historic city. It was still pretty (in parts) but nothing like I expected it to be! After a few hours as a lone explorer I was joined by Meadbh who is living in Hannover and commuting to her school near Lehrte. We went to Jim Block for a burger lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon wandering round Hannover. It was so nice to be exploring with someone rather than being by myself so much of the time. We returned to the Lindor-providing galleria only to find some sort of musical interlude in the middle of the shop floor. Next was a fashion show of Oktoberfest fashion on the escalators. Thank you Germany for yet another bizarre experience: a parade of lederhosen and dirndls to a remix of ABBA's SOS meets Edelweiss (with people casually continuing shopping around the commotion).

Marktkirche // Old Town Hall // Hauptbahnhof // Historic City // Galleria Fashion Show

The aim was then to meet Katy, another language assistant living in Hannover, for cocktails before I got the train back to Badse. However, Meadbh and I got a little lost (like I said, Hannover is really confusing) and ended up walking through a very sleazy red light district, complete with men throwing stones at us (they missed)! We did make it to the cocktail bar which was back in the centre and shared a litre for 10€ (and then got given free mini Cosmopolitans). It was reassuring to have a catch up and made me wish I lived closer than a 16,50€ train away. At the end of a lovely day I went home on the last train back to Badse, arriving just as the church bells were striking 10.

Saturday was pretty uneventful. I went to Bodenburg, the village at the end of the Lammetalbahn (my train line) which was one of the least exciting places I have ever been to. I went for a walk in the Schlosspark and down the main street but the village was almost deserted. I saw more churches than people. Therefore the visit to Bodenburg was shorter than intended but it satisfied a curiosity. On the way home I went to Rewe for my pre-Sunday shopping trip and bought schnitzel! I had wondered why meat here was so expensive… it turns out that the price on the shelf label is per kilogram and that the meat is a similar price to home. Ahh.

Bodenburg Schlosspark // Bodenburg // Kurpark // Kuchen

On Sunday morning I was happily sitting in my flat (writing my blog incidentally) when I heard a marching band. The obvious response was to grab my camera and run outside to take a photo. However, my plan didn't quite work out as Doro (my landlady) was part of the procession and invited me to join them! I was introduced to the Bürgerkönig and Bürgerkönigin and asked to walk behind them in the procession, along with the uniformed members of the Schützengesellschaft Salzdetfurth. Infront of the Bürgerkönig and Bürgerkönigin there was a marching band and flag bearer, and of course there was a tractor at the end of the procession. We marched through the main street of Badse, straight across the crossroads ignoring the traffic lights (all the cars pulled over to let us through) until we reached the Blockhaus. I also went to what I'm going to refer to from now on as Konzert in the Kurpark. This week was a performance by Burgstemmen brass band, with a lovely selection including Pirates of the Caribbean, Joseph and the Technicolour Dreamcoat and a Neil Diamond medley. The compulsory cake was consumed and all was well.

Behind bad luck comes good luck

It's Sunday which means it's time for a blog post. Not just because Germany is closed on a Sunday...

Hildesheim market square // Kurwerk // Rosenstock // Kuchen // Adolf Stoffregen Turm // Stadtmuseum // Gospel and Jazz festival

Sooo, on Friday I went for an explore in Badse. I wanted to find out for myself where everything is and more importantly how long it takes to walk there. There is a tourist information office at the far end of the main street so I bravely wandered in and got myself a couple of Badse maps, a Hildesheim map and a couple of train timetables. More on the trains another day as they deserve a post of their own. The main shopping area is the opposite side of town to where I live but only a 20 minute walk or so (longer when carrying potatoes). My proudest purchase is definitely the beautifully rectangular polyester pillow. You people in Britain appreciate those pillows because here they are hard to come by. I lucked out and found a solitary specimen for 5€ in a 1€ store! And it sounds awful but yes I prefer it to the square, puffy, goose down one!

I went to Hildesheim, the closest 'big place' for the afternoon. First task was to buy a German sim card for my phone. This was a big ask as phone shops confuse me in English, let alone German but it had to be done. Success. I am now a vodafone.de user with 100 minutes, unlimited texts and unlimited internet for 15€ per month. And I even got a compliment on my German! To reward myself I bought ice cream and sat in the market square listening to the jazz band... so civilised. My inner tourist then demanded some sight seeing so I went to a couple of churches, decided it was too late to climb the tower of the St Andreas Church and ended up at the cathedral. The cathedral was undergoing major repair works (as they always seem to be when I visit) but for the huge fee of 0.30€ you could visit the Rosenstock. This was the ground floor of the building which (from what I understood) had been protected from the World War II bombing raids, including a rose bush (more like a tree) which was planted in 815 when the cathedral was built! I have no idea how they managed to protect a tree from the fire which engulfed the upper floors of the building but it was nice to see that something survived! I've just done a bit of research (read: looked at wikipedia) which says that a bombing raid on 22 March 1945 specifically targeted Hildesheim and destroyed 75% of buildings in the city, including nearly the entire historical city centre. Well that would explain why there is such a mixture of building styles and ongoing repair work...

Saturday set off with a walk to Rewe [rew-way/ru-wuh/I don't know how you say it], my closest supermarket, to get enough food to survive the dreaded German Sunday. For those of you unfamiliar with this phenomenon, everything is closed on Sundays. If you run out of food you don't eat. Anyway, my dictionary and I had a lovely time with me trying to look up words without anyone noticing that I was wandering round a supermarket with a dictionary. The highlight of the trip was going to the cheese counter and asking for "Englische Käse, vielleicht Cheddar oder so?" [any English cheese, perhaps cheddar?] prompting the sales assistant to reach into a drawer behind the counter and produce a block of cheddar. It seems they are too embarrassed to put it out on the counter with all the other cheeses! After that triumph I got through the checkout at top speed with minimal talking to the assistant so blended in quite nicely.

In the evening I got the train to Hildesheim Ost to meet M., S. and some of their friends for a meal. I went a little early so I could get to know M. and S. before everyone else got there and before the cooking started. The food was amazing (and pretty spicy) and I had a lovely evening attempting to talk but mostly listening. I was happy with how much I could understand, ranging from discussing dogs and moving house to the upcoming elections! It was a bit frustrating not being able to say anything but that will improve with time (it had better!). By the way, today's post title was from my fortune cookie (it was a Chinese meal) and I thought it would be something good to remember over the next few weeks. We finished up the evening with a game of 'Bluff' auf Deutsch before I had to get the last train home. Defo possible to have a wild night out and get the last train home at 22:42 on a Saturday. Everyone loves the Lammetalbahn [Lamb Valley Railway]! The evening was lovely and I'm feeling lucky to have been placed at IGS Bad Salzdetfurth with such an enthusiastic mentor. Although I still can't believe that out of all places to go they decided that the Scottish Highlands would be an amazing destination...

From the top of the Adolf Stoffregen Turm

Along came the aforementioned German Sunday and it was actually brilliant! I headed off with my map (which turned out to be rubbish) and went for a walk in the woods feeling like a true German (albeit without the hiking poles!). Eventually I worked out a reasonable route and headed out of Badse towards the Adolf Stoffregen Turm, a bit to the North so hopefully providing a nice view of the town. I was a little unsure of the tower but climbed it anyway and it sort of gave me the view I was after. I'm sure it was very safe but I was quite pleased to be back on the ground! The walk was shorter than expected so I decided to go to the town museum.

Ahh the town museum, or officially ‘Stadthistorisches Sole-, Salz- und Kali-Bergbau-Museum’ (this place seems to specialise in long place names). I should have taken the -erm- restricted opening times as a warning (Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, 14:00 to 17:00) but continued anyway. It turned out that I was the first visitor of the day so ended up with a private tour of the museum, courtesy of an 80 year old former salt miner. Obviously everything was in German so I was struggling to understand the descriptions of boreholes and mine shafts etc yet look super enthusiastic. He and his colleague told me I had to sign the visitors book... awkwardly I got to write the first ever entry in the book... I have never eaten so much salt in my life. Every time we encountered an unusual looking block of salt my tour guide said “noch Salz, guck mal” [still salt, see] and proceeded to try it. The only accepted response seemed to be for me to try the salt too. I was then shown upstairs to the rest of the exhibition which hadn’t been unlocked yet! The guided tour continued through rooms of all the minerals found whilst mining, how the salt is purified and gifts of salt from other salt mines. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any stranger the tour guide asked me to pick up blocks of minerals. They were clearly labelled ‘do not touch’ but I was allowed to, with the tour guide delighting in the fact that, no, I couldn’t pick up a piece of iron and halite twice the size of my head! Despite the bizarreness of the museum visit, I have to say, it was interesting and my tour guide and his friend were amazing.

After a piece of Apfel und Eierlikör Kuche to recover from the experience I went for a leisurely walk through the Kurpark, past the Kurwerke (a way of removing impurities from the salty water, by running the water through twigs - it’s embarrassing how much I now know about salt). This plan went out of the window when I found myself in the middle of the ‘Bad Salzdetfurth Gospel and Swing Festival’. There were choirs from all the neighbouring villages and a large audience so I stayed a while (aka it seemed rude to just leave). Some of the choirs/songs were really good, others not so much... ‘can you feel the love tonight’ (The Lion King) will never be the same. Think ‘carn you fweell ze luff tonahht’. Mind, my German is appalling so I’ll stop with the pronunciation analysis.

Ah. My landlady has just given me a stool because she has noticed that I haven’t shut the bathroom window yet and thinks it’s because I’m too short to reach it. I’ve forgiven her because she has also brought me cheesecake.

To conclude, Sunday was brilliant, bizarre and I’m slightly excited to see what happens next Sunday!

A German, an Englishman and an Irishman walk into a bar...

Herzlich Willkommen!

I can officially announce that the Lucy is in Germany! I may have confused you into thinking that this is Sunday. It is not Sunday, I just got all keen bean and decided to blog about my week so far. Exciting times. On with the show... 

Badse Solebad // Badse // Marktstraße // Bad Salzfetfurth Solebad Bahnhof

On Monday morning my 19.9kg suitcase and I got a horrendously early flight to Köln. Yes the weight limit was 20kg. This meant that we arrived in Köln a few hours before we were due to meet for the language assistants training course. Therefore we deposited out suitcases in the hole under the Hauptbahnhof (actually a secure luggage storage area at the station but it was still a bit scary putting the suitcase in a lift and watching it disappear). Free of our insanely heavy suitcases, we visited the cathedral, ate pretzels and used McCleans toilets (the obvious highlight). At half past 2 the coach arrived to take us to Maria in der Aue, a sort-of-hotel-but-not-quite-a-hotel kinda thing in the middle of nowhere (Wemelskirchen?). Despite being over 3km from other human life, Maria in der Aue was perfect for the course. Ahh yes, the training course. Over the next two days we had numerous presentations and discussions about what makes a good language assistant. If you're interested, the answer is personality, everything else will come in time. The second day was dominated by the soon-to-be language assistants attempting to teach. Our teaching groups (of around 10) were split into 2s and 3s, with each group having to plan and teach a 45 minute class. Sadly the PAD (people who ran the course) did not bring in coach loads of German school children for us to teach, instead we had to play the role of the pupils. Safe to say pretending to be an 8 year old German child in an English lesson was pretty funny. My go at teaching was fine but I'm hoping that I will feel less stupid teaching English to people who aren't already fluent.

The other purpose of the training course was to meet other language assistants going to my area. Unsurprisingly noone is particularly close to me but I do now have someone to stay with in Hannover. The whole course was more enjoyable and useful than I expected it to be... yay! Now I even know what should happen with the whole Anmeldung shebang. On the last night we played a sort of pub quiz, one that involved drawing horses as well as general knowledge. Our team lost (completely undeservingly, we’d really like a remark) but did manage to win the award (Toblerone) for the best joke.

"A German, an Englishman and an Irishman walk into a bar. The German pushes to the front and orders a drink because he doesn't know how to queue."

(member of team Hessesaxonburgers)

Thursday was yet another early morning, this time for getting back to Köln and then travelling on to our destinations. This sounds really simple but the road to Maria in der Aue is so narrow that coaches can’t fit down it. Instead we had to get a mini bus to shuttle everyone to the main road, at which point we got on the coaches! It was a little surreal at the train station, as gradually people left to get on their trains going to all over Northern Germany, so I was pleased that my train was one of the earlier ones. I left Köln at 10:21 and arrived in Badse at 15:52. And this is why...

THIRTY EIGHT STOPS. (yes I get bored without internet).

The journey itself was stressful as the first train (Köln to Hamm) ran late, arriving 15 minutes later than it should have done. Considering that my transfer time to catch the next train was 15 minutes I had resigned myself to the idea that I would be missing the train. An announcement on the train changed all that, saying that the train from platform 9 (the one I needed) was delayed by 2 minutes. I made it. It involved running downstairs, through the station and up onto a different platform accompanied by my suitcase. Urgh. But I am so pleased I checked which platforms the trains left from. Fortunately the other two changes went just as planned and I arrived in Badse on time.

Martin was there waiting for me and took me to my first flat. It is really nice, lots of space and comes with everything I need down to washing up liquid and tea towels. The landlady seems lovely but doesn’t speak much English so it’s all been in German! Martin then gave me a quick tour of the school so I know where to go on Monday morning and I met the headteacher and some of the other teachers, all of whom seem friendly and pleased to see me! Next stop was the supermarket. After Martin had gone home I went for an explorey-walk through Badse and along the street that won ‘street of the year 2000’. Badse is certainly a very pretty place. 

Badse as seen on my wander.

Now that the story of the past few days is over I would like to discuss my attempts at speaking German today. I probably shouldn’t be proud but I am: I was the strange person who talks to people on trains.

1. German train tickets are confusing and after one of the other language assistants being fined 40€ for not validating her ticket I was slightly worried about not having a valid ticket. So I went along to the DB Bahn help desk and asked if I had to validate my ticket - answer - no because it already said a date. Useful stuff, even if I did have a verb fail.

2. On the platform I was confused (notice the theme?!) about the signs saying D, E and F (it turned out that A, B and C were further along the platform) so asked the person waiting next to me on the platform. Apparently A is where people for first class wait and B to F are second class. They also show which carriages allow bikes and which don’t. I then sat next to this lady on the train and had a chat about living in Germany. Happy days.
3. Another lady started talking to me on the train, complaining about the children who were being really noisy and not respecting the other passengers. I failed to say anything remotely engaging, resorting to ja, stimmt and er bleibt noch in die Toilette! but tried my best.
4. I managed to talk to my landlady.

To conclude, I am now in my flat in Badse, having had a lovely and informative few days with new friends at Maria in der Aue, and as long as the internet holds up everything’s okay.

This is it.

The alarm is set for 4am and the suitcase weighs 19.9kg. This can only mean one thing: I fly to Germany (ridiculously early) tomorrow morning.

This is the first of my Sunday posts (yes I have promised myself that I will update this blog once a week), hopefully providing you all with a 'wonderful' insight into my year abroad. This is going to be a super short post as if I go now I can still have four hours sleep. Sooo, the next time I post will be from Germany!

Hello there August...

August (also known as 'move to Germany month') has arrived and it's finally sinking in that in 12 days I will be on a one way flight to Germany. The apprehension is beginning to set in but so far I am managing to convince myself that it will all be fine and that I can survive a year abroad. Obviously I am excited about going, it has just come around a little sooner than I had thought. Where has the Summer gone?! 

Kraków // Schwarzwald // Leaving party // Freiburg // Schwarzwald Kirschtorte // Bahncard25

So that's where the Summer has actually gone. Special mention has to go to my friends for organising a surprise leaving party for me and K. (who is going on a year abroad to the Netherlands) which I genuinely had no idea about. Please come and visit me!

Moving on from the Summer 2013 review, it's time to discuss all things year abroad related. I have sent all my paperwork off to uni International Office at last (cue happy dance) so will hopefully receive my erasmus grant on time. Paranoia of forgetting something important (and consequently being dismissed from my teaching position and sent back to England) is making me super duper organised and my packing list and I are becoming quite good friends. I haven't actually started packing yet but I feel better knowing that there is some sort of plan.

Speaking of plans, M. sent me the English teaching year plan a few days ago for me to have a look at. I can request specific topics that I would like to help with (and one's I would rather avoid...) and collect some teaching resources whilst I am still in England. The special request is London maps and leaflets. The majority of the topics are standard for school language learning (think food and drink, sport, film and TV etc) so should be fine. In other school-related news, IGS starts at 7:45. I had prepared myself for early starts but not quite that early. Now is when I am so pleased I chose to live in Badse with school being an arduous 10 minute walk away as opposed to relying on the once-an-hour train and walk combo for commuting from Hildesheim. Happy days.

As the photos suggest, I went to Germany for a few days last week and popped in to Freiburg Hbf to get myself a railcard. I say 'popped in' but the queue (yes, a queue in Germany) was long and buying the railcard was the first true test of my ability to speak German in a 'pressurised' situation. After a lot of 'langsam und deutlich bitte' (slowly and clearly please) and making up verbs I am now the proud owner of a Bahncard25! To celebrate this I got all carried away and bought my ticket from Köln to Badse so now have another important thing to remember. Wahoo.