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.