The last day at school.........for Year 10!

It was with some trepidation that I decided to come early to school this morning. For 7am and the first lesson, instead of 8am and the second lesson as is usual for me on Fridays. I had been told at the BBQ on Wednesday that I had to come early, because it was the last day for class 10a, class 10b and class 9h. In Germany school only lasts until 16 years for Realschüler and until 15 for Hauptschüler, so the middle of the road pupils, and the the struggling pupils respectively.

I arrived on the bus in Schmiedeberg, and we (me and the pupils on the bus too school) already had a welcome party waiting for us. Members if class 10a and 10b were assembled at the bus stop with all manner of water guns and and super-soakers, as well as make up and hair spray. The middle door of the bus opened, (in Germany you get off in the middle and off at the front usually), and the poor kids immediately got soaked. I decided I wasn't going to make myself such an easy target and tried to sneak out of the front doors, a couple of clever pupils also followed. I was seen, and they opened fire, while also attempting to hair spray and lipstick me. I eventually got passed them and made a run for the teachers' entrance. Too late other members of class 10 had seen me and were already on an intercept course, and I got sprayed again.

Eventually getting inside school and to safety without being too wet or having too much hair spray on. I dumped my bag in the staff room and came back down. Some teachers were already there supervising. In some ways the pranks that were going on are similar to what happens in Britain, but here it is more allowed. Year 10 pupils are allowed to get the other pupils and teachers wet, and also have an allocated 2 lessons in which to plan fun and games. The pupils entrance had already been prepared for the in-coming pupils. There was a table blocking their way, and several girls from the leaving-classes ready with hair-spray and make-up. There was also a paddling pool they had to walk through, so they were guranteed to get wet, there was no escape! Pupils were not allowed into the classroom part of the school, once they had put their bags safely out of harm's way in the lockers, they had to go outside into the playground, where more members of the leaving-classes were waiting with super-soakers. Lambs to the slaughter, but all in good fun of course!

Once lesson time officially started the leaving-classes had organised a program. First up, different teachers were asked different questions which they didn't know the answer to, myself included, I didn't even get the english one that another teacher got and couldn't answer! Then was a relay obstacle course pupils against teachers. The first person had to run with an egg and spoon, the second person had to go there and back on a trike, the fourth had to run, jump a vault and come back with an apple in his mouth, while the fourth person had to throw a water balloon at a target. The first competition the teachers won, second up I was in the teachers team. I had to do the vaulting and apple carrying (in my case carrot carrying) third part. We were already behind before I started so I made a run for it, top speed at the vault. Prepared to jump Crash! I'd jumped into it and knocked it over, cue numerous laughs from alround. Still clueless as to exactly what had happened, I dunked my head in the bucket of water to get the carrot, but my head was too big and couldn't get it out, so I picked it up and put it in my gob and ran back, to laughs and applause.

After a quick carrot eating competition we had a bit of a sketch. Five teachers were taken, not me, and had to pretend to be pupils, while various pupils did impressions of the teachers. The funniest was the last, where David from 10b did a great impression. Everyone knew from the sandals, white socks and beige shorts that it was history teacher Karsten Tresp. His hilarious impression, right down to the talking about football was priceless, had everyone in stitches.

With this over, the show was done, and everyone went back inside for lessons while the leaving classes tidied up. Then in the middle of that following lesson, the leaving-classes marched through the school with loud horns and whistles throwing sweets into the classrooms. They came into the classroom I was in two or three times. They also came through asking for donations for their partying this evening, I donated a bit, although I'm sure it'll be spent on alcohol, nevermind. ;-) The following lesson the leaving-classes had form time, then they were gone, and exams notwithstanding, never to return to Mittelschule Schmiedeberg. In the near future I'll know how that feels.....

Kegeln

Rita invited me to play skittles this afternoon. Was mighty fun. After school I went with two pupils from her class to join her at the Kegeln bahn on the edge of Schmiedeberg. Not something I'd ever done before. Not like bowling. No holes in the balls, 9 pins instead of 10, and they're arranged in a diamond rather than a triangle. Also have to stand and throw it a certain way, aint all that easy.

So after a bit of practice for everyone, and me not totally missing all the time, we had a few games. First one, in teams of three, you had to hit a certain number of pins. At first it's easy, because you have to knock down all the different amounts, but once you've knocked 7 down once, you can't knock it down again, you have to knock a different number of pins down. Until you have knocked all the differing amounts down, all very fun!

The other game was you had to get the biggest number by having five goes, and placing the amount pins you knocked down in an order, so for example you knocked down 0 you'd put that last, if you knocked down 9 you'd put that first, other numbers you'd have to judge depending on how many goes you had, and whether you thought you'd better it.

Overall wasn't an easy game, and this isn't some chill-out hobby, they take it seriously do the Germans. With stretches and warm ups beforehand, with skipping rope and allsorts. Was really fun and interesting. Another good day all round!

Goodbye BBQ

It was very much to my surprise that my mentor teacher said to me a a week or two ago that the teachers wanted to have a BBQ to celebrate my time at the school. Not because I think they all hate me or anything, but because I just wasn't expecting it. So on Wednesday (even though there's still some time at school left for me) after lessons, and the staff meeting afterwards, the BBQ was started. The school head make a speech, as he likes to do, I thanked the members of staff, and they then gave me pressies. I got a picture drawn by the art teacher that was signed by all the staff, a candle holder, and two books, one with pictures of Dresden, and one a funny book about the pisa study.

After that we started eating, all very yummy, especially the salads that had been made by some of the teachers. There was also drinking involved, with bubbly beer and wine all flowing. Later on one of the teachers did a small stand up thing about manners in rhyme, saying funny things in rhyme at such dos seems to be a bit of a tradition in Saxony, happened at Christmas as well. At the end of this bit, I got given more pressies in the shape of a rucksack with a hat, some beer and spirits, and a pen-knife in it! The evening wound down and Rita drove me home once everyone had tidied up. One of the best days at school, good weather also helped. Maybe I wasn't that bad after all....

I dared to hope

The European Cup Final, a time for the feast of football served up by the two best teams in Europe. I had dared hope this time that Liverpool might actually win it, all the pundits thought they would (that usually means alarm bells should have started ringing right there!), and the team is better than the one that beat Milan two years ago. I arrived at Campus (the bar near uni with sports tv channels) and the match was already four minutes old, having pretty much run from the bus stop, I did the best I could! I managed to find a stool at the bar, which was practical, because although that bar is normally waiter service, they were so packed that this was mighty convenient.

First ten minutes consisted mainly of Liverpool having the ball, but few chances. Milan then had a spell, but nothing came of that either Reina saving the one chance, and dealing with all crosses. The pendulum swung back Liverpool's way, and there were a couple of chances, Gerrard mis-kicking, and Alonso shooting wide from outside the area. As the half drew to a close you could argue Liverpool had had the better of it, even if quality had largely been absent from both sides, feast of football it certainly wasn't. But just before half-time Alonso, stupidly fouls a Milan player on the edge of the area (although having seen TV replays I am not convinced). Pirlo took the free-kick, and to my horror, Inzaghi got in behind the Liverpool wall and a wrong-footed Reina could do nothing to stop the shot. 1-0, 6th European Cup? You can forget it. I hit the bar, and rest my head in my hands.

Second half Liverpool never really got going. I banged my fist at every missed opportunity or Milan chance. Benitez brought on Kewell for defensive midfielder Mascheroni, and then suddenly Kaka has the space to slip Inzaghi in for number two. 2-0 down 12 minutes left, no way back. Liverpool bring on Crouch (barn door, horse, bolted), and the match winds down to its inevitable conclusion. I'm pissed off, the guys next to me had already told me nicely to chill, and then after 2-0 got me an extra free shot that was going round. Corner for Liverpool header on by Crouch header in by Kuyt, 2-1, stoppage time remaining. Liverpool never made another chance, and lost. Though if we're honest the game hinged on the moment where Gerrard missed that easy chance in the middle of the first half to equalise, had that gone in, Liverpool would have won.

I walked it home, no point waiting around in a bar full of Milan fans for the bus. I was angry, and a little upset. Strange that a game that in some ways is so inconsequential can bring out so much passion in me. I have not seen many Liverpool games this season, unless they're European it requires going to an Irish pub, so I haven't bothered much. But I still seem to be bothered about it. I know there are more important things in life, and yes I shouldn't get too bothered about a "stupid" game (looking at you Becky), but hey I'm a footy fan. What can I say! And its not like I don't get bothered about important stuff, anyone who sees me involved in political activist shiznit will know that! Ah well, another footy season over....

They didn't see the flowers

As I mentioned in my last blog on Sunday when I was in Berlin I went to the former Stasi-prison in Hohnschonhausen. As a keen Germanist and Historian such things are always of interest. I find East Germany fascinating, so much so that I did my year abroad essay on its demise. Hohnschonhausen was a prison of the East German secret service better known as the Stasi. It was a prison very much for political prisoners, people who were deemed to be threats to the regime, enemies of socialism as they were known, were held there, sometimes for months, sometimes for years.

The prison is today a museum/memorial, although it is not without its controversy, with our guide telling us that people call it the the so-called memorial, or that it is victors' history. I myself, while a "lefty", certainly don't condone the Stalinist police states in the eastern block, and I found that the tour steered clear of making political judgements on the cold war, and communism. Showing what happened at the prison, and showing the Stasi for what they were.

Our guide (the museum is only viewable with a guide) like all guides at Hohnschonhausen was a former inmate. He said that thankfully he was a prisoner for "only" a year or so. With the implication that many of his colleagues had been prisoners a lot longer. The tour started with a brief explanation in the lecture room. He then took us to the old part of the prison, the underground part known as the U-boot (or submarine in English). This was a former Nazi bunker that had been enlarged and turned into a prison. It had been first used by the Soviet secret service after the war, before being handed over to the East German authorities. One could imagine the nastiness of being a prisoner there, underground, not seeing any natural light, and being permanently locked up. The padded isolation cells which were completely dark, looked particularly horrible. The underground part of the prison was used until 1960, after which, it was left largely empty, apart from a small bit near the steps out, used to incarcerate new arrivals.

We then went to the newer part of the prison. This looked a lot more like any old prison, or how I imagine any old prisons to be, never having been sent to one myself (honest!). The cells looked a lot more habitable, and although it wasn't luxurious it did not feel any worse than any prison anywhere else. Not that I am a fan of prisons mind. What was nasty, was that you were permanently isolated, would be subjected to torture techniques until you confessed your crimes, (and even then). For example being subject to sleep deprevation, and even if you weren't you had to sleep on your back with your arms showing and the light on, so they could be sure you wouldn't kill yourself. The weird thing about the modern prison, is that there were as many interview rooms as cells. Our guide showed us one, slightly emotional, you always got the feeling that he was about to start crying. Exercise at the prison consisted or being put into a cell with no roof and being forced to walk around in it.

He started by taking us in through where the prisoners would have arrived, in a small special truck as shown in the film Das Leben der Anderen. Just a boring grey truck with adverts on the side, but inside where small cells to transport people. Inmates would be brought in in the truck, and the door to the arrival bay would be closed, the prisoners would then be allowed out of the truck, but because the bay doors were closed, they would not know where they were. They would then be brought into the building and processed, given prison clothing and slippers and put into a cell. Prisoners did not know where they were, indeed our guide only learned that he was an inmate here when he himself came for a tour and recognised the bay where he arrived.

We then went out, and he showed us the prison courtyard with some nice flowers. He explained that if you were ill or injured they would not just walk you across to the hospital but take you to the bay, put you in a truck, drive around for a little bit, and then take you to the prison hospital. No prisoner was ever allowed out into the courtyard, they didn't see the flowers.

Berlinarations

Another weekend, and another tip away! Well I say weekend trip away, was more half a weekend trip away, but never mind. I spent most of Friday afternoon tidying the kitchen, rather than doing uni work, but never mind. Place needed a little bit of a scrub, although I don't agree with those who say the place was dirty. Anyhow Saturday afternoon, after dossing about a bit, I got the regional trains to Berlin. Change at Elsterwerda, took an extra hour and a quarter on top of the usual 2 hours by Euro-City, so 7 euros well saved. Didn't bother saving money on the return, because my monthly pass was no longer valid and I therefore would have saved but 2 euros, absolutely pointless.

Arrived in Berlin and met up with Enrico, managed to forgive him for being nearly an hour late, wasn't really his fault, his thing overran. Went for a cheeky beer, before meeting up with Tara for tea. Nice little arabic place near Kottbusser Tor, recommend it, recommend that area all round, seemed to have a lot of cheap little restaurants. Then it was off to a bar, even with my big rucksack. The bar was cool even with my big rucksack, although the drink prices were not. At 3 euros 80 a beer it was worse than Munich (and I didn't think I would be saying that in a hurry!) An enjoyable chilled out night was had, before me and Enrico headed back to his.

Sunday got up at around midday, and rushed for the bathroom, determined for no-one to see me before I'd washed and managed to get my hair in order, failed miserably, Enrico's sister saw me, (Enrico was out getting bread rolls, which he didn't manage because bakery was closed). Had a chilled out breakfast, before going out to the stasi prison museum near where Enrico lives in Hohenschonhausen. Was very interesting, tour guide was a former inmate, as they all are, which made the tour quite personal. I will write a more detailed blog about the whole thing at a later date.

Me and Enrico then went into the city centre, and bummed around, had a drink read the paper, just a generally chilled out afternoon. Before meeting up again with his sister, on the promise that I would speak English for her to practice (I'd already corrected her French homework!). Even though she was of a similar age to some of my pupils, being at a Gymnasium, meant her level was better. She does Spanish as well as English and French, a real linguistical talent.

Evening was chilled out back at Enricos, glass of wine, a film, all very nice. On Monday we got up slightly earlier, me and Enrico bummed around the city centre a bit more before I got the train home, school work awaiting. One of the most chilled out weekends away I have had, and it reminded me how much I love Berlin, the lovely 25+ sunshine helped as well no doubt. ;-)

Munchkin Munich!

It was with great anticipation that I travelled down to Munich on the train last weekend. The first weekend where I had three days off (Saturday to Monday) now that teaching teachers had finished, and I was determined to use them well. Left on friday evening, travelling down to Munich by regional train, adding only 45 minutes to our journey but saving us over 50 euros. And seeing as a large part of the journey is by regional train anyway, it was hardly going to be much of a loss. Arrived late Friday night went to our hostel, which was easier to find than I had anticipated. We had a drink in the hostel bar (had to be done, had to be done) before going off to bed.

I got woken up by Louise at some ungodly hour of the morning (7 or something) who herself had been woken up by some dick in the room who'd set his alarm, waking everybody up, then had the cheek to stay in bed! Nevermind, we eventually all got up had a smashing breakfast and went off to meet Morven. After reunifying at the station, we went round the city centre looking at the sites and sounds. Lunch was had in the vituelenmarkt, nice, if slightly pricey, followed by ice cream sundaes, again nice if slightly pricey. Went off to the Olympia park after lunch, which included a climb up the big tower, and a ride on the pedal boats. Back into Munich for tea, before going to a scottish society for some celiah dancing. Had never done this before, and had moaned like hell beforehand about doing it, partly to wind the others up. But it turned out to be ok, and it turned out that I could do it to a level so as not to be too embarrassing to myself or others. Although doing it in trainers made my feet hurt.

Sunday we met up with Morven again and walked round the city and the Englischer Garten. Was also a nice day, and fun was had. Afternoon dribbled away, and we went to see a funny film about this German dude who was a bit of a tosser, espcially to women, was very funny! The evening meal, again at the same Bier Keller (mmmmm Munich Bier Kellers mmmmm). Off for another drink before going back to the hostel again.

Monday we got up a bit earlier, dumped our bags at the station, went to the Deutsches Museum, which was very interesting, especially the super-douper model railway they had. Before going home. Thankfully Morven just made it to the station to say goodbye to us! Yay! The journey home was again fun-filled with work, but twas all good, apart from the massive rain-hail-thunderstorm when we arrived back in Dresden, ah well can't have it all I suppose!

Ascension Day, known in Germany as Himmelfahrt or Männer Tag

Bank holidays in Germany, like Sundays are, well strange. In my part of Germany at least anyway. They are, in some ways a return to a time that has been lost in Britain. For starters on bank holidays and Sundays in Germany, nothing is open, and I mean, nothing. No supermarkets, no shopping centres no clothes shops, nothing. Cafes, museums and restaurants are open aplenty, and you can still get stuff from a petrol station if you're really desperate. But those things aside, things are pretty dead on Sundays and bank holidays here. There has recently been a change in the law to allow shops and such things to open on Sundays, similar to the Sunday trading legislation that was passed in Britain about 10 to 15 years ago. But as of yet, in Dresden at any rate, there has been little change, the shops are still shut.

Now after living in a city in Britain for so long(well 2 years), I'd kind of gotten used to things being open on a Sunday. It was convenient, meant you could be disorganised. If I am honest it did grate when I first arrived in Germany, but now I have gotten used to it, it isn't so bad. In an age when we're consuming more and more, and planet has less and less, maybe having one day a week when aren't after the latest DVD, computer game, CD, size 34-D bra or blow up sex doll isn't such a bad idea. Granted people have freedom etc, and there's an argument for having food shops more open than they are in Germany, but there is also the argument that, there things in life other than buy buy buy! My only objection to it being Sunday, is that that is based on Christian reasoning, and is the church's decision, not the people's. The change in the law here in Germany (and 10 years ago in Britain) pushed through amidst howls of protests from the churches.

So what do Germans do on Sundays, if they are not shopping or working? Well some will go to church, but as in any western country church attendance is declining. What does seem to be the done thing here in Germany is to go out walking on Sundays. The amount of times I have left my house on a Sunday, or even just looked out of my window, and seen groups of middle aged people with the full walking gear going past. When I say full walking gear, I mean the anoraks, the boots, and the posh walking sticks, even if it is for an afternoon stroll.

Bank holidays are much the same, and yesterday was no exception. I left the house (for reasons see previous blog entry) and hadn't gone for more than a minuter before I saw my first group of walkers. I walked a bit further, and came across a slightly different prospect, a group of young men, drinking just on the path, with a small pull-trolley full of beer. For this my friends, was Ascension Day, German translation Himmelfahrt, or the colloqiual name, Männer Tag. It is a perfect example of a religious holiday being given a new meaning by the people. Because dear readers, on Männer Tag (literally translated Men day) men go off into the woods with their mates and a trolley full of beer, and get drunk, returning home in the early evening. It is technically a walk, stopping every so often to drink, but there is no doubt that the drinking is more important than the drinking, the route seemingly irrelevant.

As I travelled on the bus, another group of men got on already quite drunk (and bearing in mind this was not even 12pm yet!) . They weren't violent or dangerous, just a little boisterous. They started singing, "Eins hoch auf unserer Busfahrer Busfahrer Busfahrer, eins hoch auf unserer Busfahrer Busfahrer Busfahrer, among other things. Literal translation, "Raise your glasses to the bus driver, bus driver, bus driver, raise your glasses to the bus driver, bus driver bus driver." To the tune of "Hail to the bus driver!" About to leave town on the return journey, I saw another group of men with a trolley, it had a posh mosquito net thing over it no less, end of the day saying goodbye to each other. Ah German bank holidays and Sundays, you've gotta love em!

Since the beginnings of May

What a fun-dovey couple of weeks it's been. All starting with my first weekend off from uni work, also the first weekend of May, since well ages. Was a good weekend, spent largely in the sun. Out with Enrico on the Friday, at the football on the Saturday, and jazz and chilling on the Sunday. The footy was good especially, 3-1 win for Dynamo Dresden, although should have been 5-0, they missed to pens, and Wilhelmshaven were, frankly, awful, no wonder they're struggling at the bottom.

School has been going well recently, definately benefiting from not being under as much pressure with uni work. Been enjoying it, and doing some interesting lessons, also been good that the topic in Class 7 (London) fits very well with assistanty type lessons. Oh and the teachers are holding a BBQ in my honour on 23rd May to celebrate the imminent end of my work at the school, which is great, although it means I may miss the European Cup Final.

The following weekend was a trip to Munich with Louise and Enrico, more about that in another post! Since then I have been enjoying not having much to do this week, having only two days of school. Followed by a bank holiday yesterday (Ascension Day) and a day off today. Went with Louise and Enrico to exhibition which has a view of 18th century Dresden painted on a large canvassy thing, 360 degrees round in a large former gas meter. It really feels like you're at the top of the catholic Hofkirche in 1756! Then we went for coffee and cake, before going home. Me and Louise then went on a small pub crawl in the evening, well I say small, we went on til midnight!

Today was spent cleaning the kitchen, was going to do some work, but problems occurred when I found I had forgotten my pad at school, so nothing to write on, and by the time cleaning was done, too late to and buy more paper! Whoops!

What's Left?

The final election this week, was the only one I actually voted in. The French Presidential elections. In the first round I risked voting for the Green candiate, despite the risk that the least worst big candidate (Royale) might not make it to the second round. However this did not happen. She got through. However, I had a sinking feeling as soon as the first round results came in, Royale was already 5% behind Sarkozy, not boding well for the second round. And despite my hopes being raised, with Royale and beaten centrist candidate Bayrou talking to each other, and opinion polls narrowing, they were eventually dashed last night, as news came in that Sarkozy had won with around 53% of the vote.

If truth be told, with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight vision, Royale had already lost the election months ago. Her gaffes mainly in foreign policy) at the start of the campaign (China has a good justice system, declaring her support for Quebec independence, and being done by satirical pranksters), meant she lost a lot of credibility. She seemed lightweight and, frankly uninformed. Yes a more experienced socialist candidate would not have made those mistakes, but frankly a more experienced socialist candidate (the old male dinosaurs) would not have even come close to touching Sarkozy, with a possible repeat of 2002, when socialist candidate Lionel Jospin failing to make it to the second round. No this election was lost because of the lack of ooomph from Royale, no real impact point.

One could also argue that the election was lost because France is going the way of other countries, following the drift rightwards. France still has a large state sector, and has not totally embraced the neo-liberal ideal. This will now change with Sarkozy, with his pledges of making the French work harder and so forth. Neo-liberalism; that everything can and will be solved through the market, with very little state intervention. I disagree with that view, for me it smacks too much of law of the jungle, survival of the fittest. I was proud of the fact France was ever so slightly different, that there was a very strong social conscience. Don't get me wrong France was not some socialist paradise, and had already been starting to follow its European neighbours in a drift rightwards, but there was still something different. A survey reported on the bbc news website apparently suggested that 60% of French distrust the unfettered free market, and large multinational firms!

Why in view of this, did Sarkozy get elected? Well maybe because people were that unimpressed by Royale's gaffes that they would vote Sarkozy because he seemed more firm and experienced. Or it could be that the fact that so many people believe that change is needed in France, that people would vote for radical change, even if it was radical change the other way so to speak.

And here we come to the crux of the matter. The reason for the rightward drift in many if not all western countries, is because there was a percieved problem with the status quo, and the right are the ones who appear to have the radical solutions. While the centre-left didn't seem to be persuing any equivalent left-wing radical policies, they were forced to follow the right-wing drift as well, and to conform to the neo-liberal mainstream. What the left, or more accurately, those of us with a strong social conscience need, is an idea just as radical to counter the right. An alternative vision of the future needs to be offered. We need a radical alternative to corporate capitalism without resorting to socialist dogma.

In the meantime, with Europe swinging on the right, all that is left for me is to set-up an anarchist commune on some Mediterranean Island. Anyone want to join?

A Tale of two Elections (or is that three?)

Busy week for democracy in Britain and France this last week. In France it was the climax of the Presidential elections with the second round election, while in Britain there were the local, Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament elections. So an interesting week all round then.

In English local elections, my reaction is generally meh, Greens made a couple of small gains, but apart from that it was very much a story of Labour of getting pummelled (yay!), but seeing as this was mainly at the Tories gain, it was hardly a cause for unbridled celebration. But then if you share Jim Hacker's (Yes Prime Minister), view that local government is just a load of jumped-up corrupt windbags, then I don't suppose it matters. I would of course would never be so cynical. ;-)

The Welsh elections were slightly better(even if the Greens won nothing), Labour again lost seats, but seeing as there is a form of PR in Wales and more parties, this did not result in automatic gains for the Tories. Now Labour have to try and hammer out a coalition deal, but the Lib Dems don't seem quite as keen to play ball. Well some of them aren't, there's dissent in the ranks it seems! So while they are tearing themselves apart, one is left to wonder, would a Plaid-Labour coalition happen? Would be interesting if it did, seeing as there appears to be a tribal hatred between the two camps. I would go as far as to say it would make for very entertaining politics if it did, I'd give it about two months.

The Scottish elections are probably the most fascinating, the result is pretty much a dead heat between the two big parties (SNP 47 and Labour 46) and the two smaller parties (tories 17, Libs 16). The maths has made it almost impossible to form any kind of coalition, with two parties at any rate, (unless SNP and Labour got together, which I think is about as likely as Satan ice-skating to work). I favoured a SNP-LibDem-Green coalition myself, which would have just produced a majority of one. But the Libs being like they are, have put the kibosh on that one, so looks like we'll have a wobbly SNP-minority government, or another election, which in light of the absolute electoral farce in Scotland, wouldn't be such a bad idea!

Teaching Teachers ends on a good'un!

Some of you who are avid readers (or any readers at all) of this blog (so that's all of two of you then), will know that I have been running a Lehrerfortbildung, that's a teacher training course if you translate it, along with another language assistant. However, it was not really a training course as such, we ran it, but it was more of a conversation class and English practice for teachers from the Dresden area.

You'll (that's the two of you again) will have read how I moaned when it didn't go all that well at the beginning, the first and third lessons in particular stand out as problem cases. To be honest we weren't brilliantly sure what we were supposed to be "teaching" at first. We weren't trained training people, heck we're not even trained teachers. What did we know! But after some early blips, when we moaned about the teachers who didn't seem that enthusiastic, and never wanted to talk, things started to improve. We started to get texts that they found interesting, we started getting game speaking exercises that they seemed to enjoy doing, and all in all it started improving.

Today was, in many ways, the icing on the cake. The lesson went very well, and when we looked at the questionnaire sheets, we were pleasantly surprised. Nearly all the participants had ticked good for everything, and when they didn't, they ticked unsatisfactory for the time, the one thing we had less control over. The comments were also nice (with one exception), and it just goes to show that we were much more successful than we thought! :-) Just goes to show, a little effort went a long way! Having said that, I don't regret now having my Monday's off from now on!

Year Abroad Essays: What's the point?

Year abroad essays, the bane of my existance for the past couple of weeks, and the thing that have been nagging me at the back of mind since January. Now this is quite easy you might all say. What are you complaining about? I hear you all cry. Well ok I don't mind doing work my problem is with how it is administered, the guidelines set out, and what we actually do.

First up I don't know about anybody else, but there was never any clear guidance on how much work is expected for these essays. Yes the year abroad essay(s) does/do add up to 120 credits, but no-one is going to tell me that you should spend 1 1/2 (or 3 times if your Single Honours) as much effort on a year abroad essay as you do on a final year dissertation. If this is(was) the case then you wouldn't do much other than work during your year abroad, considering the various other commitments you have (abroad student work or assistantship work, depending). If we ask, the tutors would have answered with something along the lines of "Are you asking if you can write an essay without any work?" Now the requirement for the history to have primary sources indicated that something more was expected than just year standard essay written in less than a week. But it was never said what exactly. Confusion abounds.

Then we get to the handing-in requirements, for history that is. It had to be in the history office by the 1st May, and one copy had to be posted. From what I could understand from the brief, this posted version had to be in the office by this point, being postmarked by this date did not seem to be good enough. I tried to clarify the handing-in requirements with Prof Peter Jones, he very helpfully referred me to the brief again, as well as saying that all essays had to be no more than the word count, and ignoring what I believe is the established 10% rule. Peter Jones was my biggest problem with the history thing, he was unhelpful, unsympathetic, and frankly rude. How he got to be a uni professor I don't know. Oh yes that's right because the department don't give two figs if lecturers actually like students, as long as they enhance the department's rep.

Now I don't think it has to be like this. I don't think I should have to double the work of my single honours counterparts (10,000 compared to 6,000), and I think the whole concept of year abroad essays is flawed. We're in a foreign country to learn about the country and speak the language. You speak the language by being in social situations, by working together, not by sitting in libraries looking through tedious academic sources. I don't think analytical academic essays are appropriate to a year abroad. The erasmus students should be writing plenty of those for their unis abroad, and those of us working as assistants frankly don't have the time, or the energy, to work on academic concepts after getting up at 6am to deal with screaming kids.

Other unis do things differently. Some unis don't ask for work for other departments, some even don't ask for work for the language department! Others ask for translations, or blog entries of experiences. Surely this last idea would be a far better way of marking (if you must absolutely mark everything that is done at uni) a year abroad.

We could tell the non-language departments to go hang (especially the dinosaurs in the history department), and let language students concentrate on the country and language on their year abroad. You could write about your experiences what you have learnt, linguistical phenomena etc etc etc. In fact this last point could actually help lecturers in their research of the language (in my case German), by using what year abroad students find year on year in studying the development of the language. Would these ideas and others be not more worthwhile in many ways? Well they would, but seeing as Birmingham University has all the imagination of a goldfish, it'll likely never happen.

To be stressed or not to be stressed that is the question

Since Easter things have been rather hectic, yours truly has actually been working his little bee-hind off. Between finishing off my history essay, starting (finally) the German one, and of course school work. But fear not boys and girls, I have still managed to have a decent time from time to time. Went out with the assistants couple of nights the weekend before last, which was rather good I must say. Went to a bar called Planwirtschaft in the Neustadt among others, and it is really cool, they have a selection of Saxon beers, as well as a Saxon wheat beer, I didn't think they produced wheat beers outside the southern German states of Bavaria and Baden-Wurtenburg. But you learn something everyday.

The following week essay stress really really reached its climax, sending the damn history essay away last Wednesday by post and email. I then worried all week whether the postal version got there on time, I still don't know if it did. I got an email from Prof Jones, more about him in a later post, today saying he acknowledged reciept. I don't know if this was just for the email version, or both, and if the postal version arrived today (in which case that's five marks lost already), yesterday, or last week! So yes all in all not good.

But apart from that this last week has been ok. Lessons have been going ok, no unmitigated disasters. I started working a bit for the German essay end of last week, and really got going over my four day weekend, being able to finally write my report yesterday, I feel better about this essay already than I did about the History one for the entire time I was doing it, we'll see how long that feeling lasts!

Last Friday was good, went out with Louise and Enrico (who, by the way, has very kindly lent me his online subscription to Der Spiegel), and did a bit of a bar crawl. Ended with me falling asleep in the tram, Louise having to wake me up to get me to get off at the right stop, and falling asleep in the bus, missing my stop by two stops and having to walk an extra 20 minutes back. Since then things have been rather sober, although today was nice with an afternoon bite to eat with the teachers to celebrate a colleague's 60th birthday, cracking. Weiter gehts!

To Freiburg and Beyond!

Well well well, what a surprise, as soon as the work kicks in, the blog gets neglected. Might as well pick up where I left off last time, that is to say my visit to Freiburg to see Tom back on 13th April. 7 hour train journey as I recall, it was also reasonably early, and me being the lazy arse I tend to be, I slept through the early parts of it. Took my laptop with the intention of doing work, but while I had had the presence of mind to pack the charger, I had forgotten the adapter for the different plug systems, typical! So instead of doing 7 hours work both ways, it was limited to 3 there and 3 back, but at least I got something done.

Freiburg is as nice as I remember it, also it was the weekend when the good weather really started here in Germany, I arrived in Freiburg in my jumper and jacket it was 26 degrees. Something about micro-climates, so Charlie and Tom told me. Friday night considered of a BBQ at one of the student halls with a load of Erasmus Students, nice evening, reminded me of how I do miss the student lifestyle from time to time.

Saturday was a nice walk through the Black Forest, didn't got off to the best of starts, because me and Tom kind of made everyone else miss the train, so we had to wait half an hour for the next one, I very cheekily shifted the blame onto Tom, when it was partly my fault (I still maintain only partially!). The walk through the Black Forest was nice (not the entire Forest you understand, just a part), the hot weather was new and enough of a novelty for it not to bother me when walking, being in the trees and therefore shaded may have had something to do with it.

Saturday was a quiet drink if I remember rightly, though the fact it is fading as a memory may mean it was more then that! Sunday went to Titisee (no jokes please, it is the name of a lake). We hired a motorboat and went out onto the lake and each had a go at driving the thing. I put the shits up everybody, by driving like a drunkard, zig-zaging and playing chicken with the tour boats. I had only had one, I knew what I was doing! I have a driving licence don't you know! The rest of the afternoon was spent bumbing around on the trams and eating schnitzel and drinking beer, not a bad end to a good weekend!

PGF Inspection

The Parental Governing Force came for an inspection this week. Translation: my folks came for a visit, arriving as they did on Saturday at lunchtime. The visit is technically not yet over, seeing as they are leaving tomorrow, but seeing as I am buggering off the Freiburg tomorrow morning, will only see them briefly. Been good to see them, the last time was a brief meal in Brum when I was there campaigning for elections, bit tired and stressed out back then, so they got to see a better Julien this time round.

With regards to stuff we did, Saturday we bummed around the Dresden Alstadt looking at some of the sights and had a nice lunch. Found the place they were staying at and dumped stuff. I then showed off my digs, which met with approval (bit late now if they didn't with 7 months gone and only left!). Went back into town had tea and generally relaxed before going home.

Sunday was cold, still managed to show them all major sights and sounds of Dresden Alstadt, as well as visiting a couple of museums, the transport museum and the zwinger which has collections of art, all very nice and cultural.

Monday was great, took them to visit the lovely town of Meißen, before taking a steam train from Radebeul to Moritzburg and Radeburg. Had a quick look round Moritzburg, but nothing greatly impressive, well not compared to Meißen. Weather was a slight improvement on Easter Sunday, but still was cold when the sun went behind the clouds.

Tuesday was great also went to Sächsiche Schweiz (Saxon Switzerland), lovely national park area south east of Dresden on the way to the Czech Republic. Got train to Bad Schandau, nice little town, and got this rickety old tram up the valley to a waterfall, we then did a small walk up through the forest, before traming it back the last little back to Bad Schandau. After meal back in Dresden that evening, I went out with housemate Holger to Katys Garage. Was good, opportunity to go Katys during the week is seldom working in school and all, so need to take advantage during holidays!

Wednesday bummed around Dresden , went on a boat tour down the river to Blaues Wonder big bridge painted blue. Then we went to the Grosser Garten, and round that on a little train. Then after evening meal, I met up with assistant Matt in Dresden visiting his girlfriend. We had a couple of beers and chatted shit as only students can do. Re-affirming my belief that I often find quiet drinky chats more enjoyable than big nights out.

Today we went to Leipzig. Basically consisted of bumming around the city looking at the sites, weather has reached a high point, actually spent most of the day with the jumper off! All in all it has been a good week, and these great hols continue with a trip to Freiburg, woohoo!

The holidays arrive, Morven returns, and I get some work done!

The week started with another reasonably successful teaching of teachers, proceeded as it was by some research in the university library, which brought to a conclusion my work with one of my primary sources. Yippeee, writing time for my history essay comes ever closer. We were also told that we should be getting paid after the Easter holidays, another bonus, seems to be that we're going to paid the full amount, despite us doing it together, we shall see!

Tuesday I went to school, it was Projektwoche at the school this week and with the projects already well under way on the Monday, I was largely left to my own devices, to go round and enjoy the various projects. Was fun, again you see another side to the school, with pupils and teachers allowed to be more relaxed, and that lovely school ethos also making a welcome re-appearance. Everyone coming together and helping and doing fun stuff.

Wednesday was much the same, except I didn't have after-school detention with one of my classes which I had on Tuesday (the bad lesson last Thursday), so once school was over and I had done some final photograph taking and saving on the computer, I was off home to Bannewitz for the the hols! Got back and me and housemate Holger cleaned the bathroom and bin in the kitchen, believe me they both needed doing, especially the bun in the kitchen. Anyway it was all nice and clean, and even before we started despite not having given the bathroom a proper going over since October, it was all still cleaner than the average student dump in Brum!

After my cleaning fetish was over, I went into town and picked up Morven from the station. We then went from a drink in Der Fliegender Hollander (the flying dutchman) in the Weisse Gasse in the Altstadt. Had a couple of drinks there, before moving onto posher place for evening meal. Drink there as well, before ending with a drink in my favourite watering hole; Bärenzwinger. Early finish at 11, and early to bed, good thing to I was shattered and so was Monster Morven!

Thursday went into town, bummed around the Altstadt, had an ice-cream, had lunch before seeing her off at the train station. I then went to the city library to do some more primary research. Spent a good five hours there, good thing too, the library is going to be shut completely over the Easter weekend, including Saturday! Shocking. This all meant that as extra research was going to be limited over the following days, I decided today to start writing my year abroad history essay, yay! Finally, after months of painstaking research (ahem). Might even have finished it before the end of the holidays, we can but hope! Anyway PGF is arriving tomorrow, yay!

Ode to my Somester Ticket!

Ah my Somester Ticket we've had some good times, some great times, and some brilliant times. We travelled to school, do Dresden, halfway back from Leipzig, to Glashütte, to Meißen, and to Radebeul. But now, sadly, our relationship must come to end. Mainly because your validity ended on the 31st March. I will still keep you, just because you've been so good to me, even though you are of no further use! You will remain to remind of ridiculously cheap transport that I have only have ever found so cheap in Dresden! An example for other universities and cities to follow! I salute you Somester ticket and thank you!

If anybody is wondering why I am writing an ode to a transport ticket, it is because it was a rather special transport ticket. When I registered at Dresden uni in October, I paid 140 euros, and the majority of this was to pay for this ticket. The ticket itself was my uni ID card, which didn't even have a photo on it, which is why I had to always travel with photo ID when using it. The ticket allowed unlimited transport within the upper-Elbe ticketing region for six months, and not just the Dresden city ticket zone. This was travel on all buses, trams, regional trains and city commuter trains. The only thing you couldn't use it on was the Inter-City, Euro-City, or Inter-City-Express long distance trains. And when I say unlimited travel, I mean unlimited, any time of the day, rush hour or on night-buses. At 140 euros (that's £100 roughly) for six months this was a bargain, and you could argue I didn't make as much of it as I could have! I could get half-way to Leipzig, to the Czech border, and halfway to Berlin, and pretty much everywhere in between. Brillaint!

Now granted this is the good even by German standards, every university has a Somester ticket but not all of them are as extensive as Dresden's. I heard that Leipzig wasn't quite as good for example. But regardless, students are well catered for in transport terms in Germany. With offers such as Mitfahr (car-sharing) and 50% discount for students on the 50% discount card on the train (so that's 103 euros instead of 206 euros, for 50% off all train fares for the year).

Pity we can't have this in Britain, where season tickets in Birmingham for the bus only for 3 months cost nearly as much as the Somester ticket, and the single tickets now costing £1.40.... Train fares, while cheaper to some extent in Britain, (if you know what you're doing), are partly because of generally shorter distances. German ticket prices are standard, peak-time travellers don't get swindled, and there are still very good offers at weekends on regional trains (unlimited travel for 5 people for 30 euros!) On the whole transport front, I am sorry to say that Germans are still ahead of the game. What I'd give for unlimited West Midlands transport at the price of the Somester ticket....

Now what to do about transport for my remaining two months here....

Nearly the holidays and 76.84!

Well the last three days of school passed without major incident, well barring one lesson on Thursday, but less said about that the better. School timetable did go rather chaotic in the last couple of days, because seven teachers were like ill or on training, or skiving (only joking, they're all a lovely hard-working bunch). Emailed Brum uni German Department about change of topic, year abroad tutors seem ok with it, tis up to my supervisor now!

Friday was cool, got to help teacher with marking the presentations in the first lesson, then a double lesson with the cute class 5s, fun and easy as always, even if the poor darlings are still rather confused as to how to tell the time in English, quarter to, quarter past and half past caused problems, cos telling the time is the other way round in Saxony. You say quarter-one meaning quarter past twelve, and three-quarter one means quarter to one, while half one means in fact half past twelve in English, yes you're confused, imagine how the kids felt! Class 10 was some fun speaking games for the last 20 minutes, (thank you Matt Sheeler for those ideas, they worked rather well, well as well as any ideas do work with class 10!

Friday night I went for a meal and drink with the teachers and parents of the ski trip back in January. The idea was for every adult to turn up, in the end only seven did, including myself. However, fun was still had, lovely and cheap food (but what would you expect from a village Bierkeller!), was followed by showing the photos of the ski-trip, on a big screen (kindly drilled into place on the overhead beam by the Bierkeller staff) using a beamer and a laptop. Good photos, good memories! After the meal and four beers (well four for me), we headed home, a very enjoyable night!

Today was spent a little bit in the library looking at old newspaper articles as part of my research, and generally mooching around Dresden and chilling here. Next week at school is only project days so nothing to prepare, and it is only Monday (when I am not there anyway) Tuesday and Wednesday, cos as of Thursday it is the holidays. Highlights of holidays could and probably will include, a visit by the legendary Morven, a visit by the lovely PGF (Parental Governing Force), and a visit to Freiburg to see Tom Hall, as well as a bit of uni work. Should be good, here's to the rest of the working term, and the up and coming holidays!

Oh yes and that leaves me with the number that's in the post title. 76.84, it's the cost of this month's phone bill. Yes that's right 76 euros and 84 cents. That's nearly half as much of my monthly rent again, (140) and over three times as much as the normal phone bill, I am paying nearly as much in VAT as my housemate is paying overall! The reason? Well those elections of course! Ringing your campaign manager on his mobile on a daily basis for a week is going to cost, ah well that'll teach me to run an election campaign from abroad, let that be a lesson to you all, campaigning from abroad costs money! Now I wonder if I can claim that cash back from the Guild somehow......

Leipzig and French Beaurocracy

Well in the end the lesson on Monday went quite well, certainly better than all other odd weeks we've had, even if not as good as weeks 2 and 4, but I'd still say we've managed to buck the trend I mentioned in my last post! School on Tuesday was ok, nothing extra special, supervising one lesson, while kids did project work, and taught in the other lesson, into which I even managed to slip in an easter quiz, which is always good.

Once I had finished school for the day Tuesday afternoon, I then get the bus to Dresden, to get the train to Leipzig, to go the French honorary consulate to do some paperwork. (Jeez how many tos in a sentence!). Just managed to get the 14:55 train, despite the fact there was a queue at the ticket office, and the machines had people who were taking absolutely ages (no doubt to piss me off on purpose, because they could see I was in an exasperated rush!). But no matter, I got on the train without a ticket after checking I could buy one on the train. I had to get to the consulate in Leipzig before it shut at 5pm, and I had to do it on Tuesday because that was the day when they had special people down from Berlin who could do what I needed to be done. What was needed to be done was filling-in a form so my mum can vote for me in the French presidential elections.

I arrived in Leipzig just after 4, and proceeded to find tramline number 9 (I had sensibly found out beforehand the address of the consulate, and also which tram was required to get there!), found it no problem, although I just missed a tram, and then had to wait 10 minutes. Tram arrived and I was on my merry way, two stops later, I got off, and started working around the Thomaskirchhof (Thomas church yard, loosely translated) looking for the consulate. After about 10 minutes I started to think it was going to be one of those occasions where I didn't find something that was straight in front of me, or worse I would find it after closing time. In the event I did find it, and I had walked past it minutes before and not seen it, but with only twenty minutes til closing and French beurocracy notoriously long and slow (I once waited three hours to be seen to for a passport!), I fully expected to be turned away because of lack of time. In the event I had to wait five minutes, the form-filling took another five, and I was done a whole 10 minutes before closing, not bad for French beaurocracy, must be that efficient German influence ;-).

Being done quicker than I expected meant that I had time to enjoy the sun and the city. It was my first time In Leipzig and it wasn't bad at all. I got some chips, and then an ice-cream, and just general bummed around some of the streets. I'd been told that Leipzig was bigger and my mentor teacher had said it was more modern than Dresden. It is bigger in population this is true, though not by loads, and yes the city was more modern if you will. It felt more like a city than Dresden, in the sense that everything is packed closer together, the buildings are taller and the streets narrower. There were also fewer things growing. Now granted I was only there for a grand total of two hours, but Leipzig certainly felt like other German (or even European cities) I've already visited. Dresden on the otherhand, does not have as many high-rise buildings, has wider streets, more open spaces and generally just feels less busy and more relaxed. This is not to say I didn't like Leipzig, I did (well what little I saw), I just Dresden is, as we say in German etwas besonderes (something special). Well I think so anyway.

And so after my analytical walk through the city centre I mosied back the the train station and got the regional train back to Dresden. On the way in I'd got the Inter-City-Express, but at a cost of 15 euros single I decided as I was not in a rush I would take the regional train. The regional takes longer, but it is a couple of euros cheaper, and I only had to pay half the distance, because my wonderful semester ticket was then valid on it, once we reached the Upper-Elbe ticketing region. So in the end I only paid 5 euros 30, yay me! The 1 hour and 40 minute train journey, as opposed to 1 hour and 10 allowed me time to think, and get bored. Think so much that I decided to randomly change my essay topic for my German Year Abroad Essay. But that's another story for another post. In the end I got home safe and sound, after having, in the end, I rather enjoyable afternoon!