I want to live on the Weinstraße!

Well yesterday was an average Thursday.  I taught two lessons, got home early in the afternoon, wandered through Baden a bit.  I also did some laundry, which I'm not sure if I've mentioned I do in the kitchen sink.  My washer is still broken, my landlord won't write me back about a time to meet... so I was my clothes in the sink because I'm pretty sure there's not a do-it-yourself laudromat in Baden.

Today I started out a bit slower than I had planned to, but since it doesn't get light until 8/8:30 it didn't really matter.  I ran some errands this morning, it was grey and foggy, so I thought I'd wait until this afternoon to go out for the hike I'd planned.  I almost always buy bread at the same bakery, and I think about half the time I order one thing, and get something totally different.  Today I ordered Karottenbrot mit Sonnenblumenkern (carrot bread with sunflower sees), I got the Karottenbrot once before (another situation where it wasn't what I ordered) and it was really good, its a dark bread with shredded carrot in it, which seems like a strange thing but I like it.  I ended up with a dark bread, with no carrots or seeds... I really don't understand!  Luckily all their breads are really good, so it's not really a bad thing, but it is a bit confusing.

After my errands and a light lunch I hopped a bus down to Bad Vöslau where I started my walk at the Thermalbad (Spa/ thermal pool).  I go by it every day on the bus, and I've never checked out anywhere in Bad Vöslau except the school and the train station.

This big blue manatee (which is a "fountain" spitting into the pond) is another thing I see every day from the bus, and I always think "Why?!?"  It turns out that Bad Vöslau was once at the bottom of the ocean, and "Linda" the manatee lived right here, or at least she died right here, where her sekelton was found.  Apparently her skeleton is on display at the city museum, I may have to go check that out...someday.

As part of my "tour" of Bad Vöslau I went to the Rathaus (town hall) to pick up a map of town, and wander through the Schloßpark that surrounds the Rathaus.  In the park is one of the coolest playgrounds I've ever seen.  Throughout it all is this water system that the kids can control and play with.  The water is currently turned off as it's too late in the year, but I think I would have just as much fun there as the kids.  As it is I rode the merry-go-round, it was quite small, and easy enough to push & ride by yourself; I got really dizzy & felt like a little kid again.

Part of the playground waterworks: you turn the spiral part which carries water to the trough on top, and then gets dumped onto the water wheel, down into the pool below and into the waterway.

From there I went to the Kurpark, which is quite a disappointment in comparison to the Kurpark in Baden.  It's certainly not as big, there aren't as many trees or plantings, and there's no where to look out over the city from the park.  I walked through the park, but I didn't spend much time there, I wanted to get onto the path that follows the Weinstraße (wine street).  On my way to the trail a woman stopped and asked me for directions, this happens surprisingly often, and sometimes (in Baden at least) I actually know what to say.  Every time someone asks it makes me happy, but I also walk off thinking, "God I hope that was right!" either that or I tell them I'm not from the town.  

The whole day ended up being foggy and cloudy, but it was still very pretty along the path through the vineyards!  The fall colors have started popping out on the hillsides, so it was a great walk, which I of course made longer by taking a different path than I had planned.  However, unlike usual I purposely took the longer path because it went closer to another landmark I see on the bus every day.

I always wonder what this castle is, and I still have no idea, but it looks like a fairytale!  I think it's actually a residence, but the main part of the place looks like an actual castle that's just had some modern windows installed (and a cool multi-colored roof).  On the other side there's a full tower with a balcony on top, it would be the perfect place for a B&B or a Buschenschank.  One day I'll go closer and see if I can find out what it is.  I know that I go on about what makes a proper ruins, but no lie, I'd live in a former (remodeled) castle in a heartbeat.  

After detouring further through the vineyards I wandered into Sooß, the small town between Baden and Bad Vöslau.  It's full of Heurige and wineries, and not much else.  It's a very cute town, and judging on the exteriors of the Heurige (and the fact that most of them were ranked in the top 100 Heurige) I'd say it's none too cheap.  After I got back on the Weinstraße path I saw this sign:

I've seen one similar, but it didn't get a chance to really look at it.  I think it's pretty funny and rather informative!  It's a Weather Station, the stone hanging next to it is part of it.  It says Stone dry- Sun, Stone wet- Rain, Stone steams- Sun after Rain, Stone swings- Wind, Stone invisible- Fog, Stone white- Snow, Stone gone- stolen.

I walked back along the path, and then through Baden until I reached my door.  I made a rather tasty sausage, veggie and noodle soup for dinner, and now I'm watching Harry Potter 3 in German.  All in all a very good day.

Tomorrow my friend Kristin comes up from Graz for a long weekend!  Have I mentioned that I have all next week off?  If there's a good sunny day I'll go down to Berndorf and hike up the hill to see the mountain (but it seems as though Berndorf is always foggy)!

Okt 26 1955: Austria was freed from the aliens

Today is a national holiday here in Austria, so everything is closed!  On all my calendars it just said Nationalfeiertag, which doesn't really tell you what sort of national holiday it is or why.  This week in one of my classes the students all prepared a little cultural topic to discuss with me.  Their usual teacher assigned this, and it was a really great discussion, and I think we all learned a lot.  One of the girls told me what the holiday today is.  In the fall of 1955 Austria became a free unoccupied country, with a democracy and the current borders.  October 26th 1955 was the day that the last of the foreign troops left the country, and the first celebration was the next year.  So it's a bit like July 4th is for the US, but they don't really do much besides not work.  Most of the museums in Vienna are free today, and parliament is open for people to pop in. I got my title from todays post from my student's speech, she meant to say allies, but it came out aliens, and I rather liked it.  (Anyone want to make a Sci-Fi flick about aliens going back in time and controlling Austria? I'm sure it would be awful)

We also talked about the school systems here and back home, many of them wish that their gymnasium was more like our high school (less specialized, more choices, and you can study whatever you want when you go to college). We also talked about drinking and driving ages, they all like that they can drink beer and wine (they're 16/17), they don't have to wait until they're 21; they can get their drivers license at 17 here, so it's not that different from the US, in most of Europe the driving age is 18.  They asked me if boys are required to serve (either 9 months of community service or 6 months in the army here) after high school, which of course they don't at home.  The girls in the class seemed to be against the mandatory service, even though they don't have to take part; the boys on the other hand seemed to have NO opinion about it.  They weren't even sure which of the two they would pick after graduating!  Anyway, it was a very fun and informative discussion, and I was surprised with the topics and questions they came up with and were really very interested in.

Yesterday I was in my very first 1st form class (5th grade), so they've only had 2 months of English.  I had to really pay attention to what I said, speak slowly, act things out, and explain more complicated concepts/vocabulary with simple words.  It ended up being a lot of fun, they were very curious and excited and they did really well!  I was also in the class of 17 17 year old boys yesterday, it's clear that they're trying to be better students, as they'll be taking the matura (exams to graduate high school) next year, but they're still teenage boys so it's always a challenge.  My other class was a fun 3rd form (7th grade), we read a story with bits missing that they had to use their imagination to fill in.  They were pretty funny and eager to participate, at the end the teacher said she wished her student teachers were as competent as me, so overall it was a good teaching day!

When I was done with school I met up with my friend Johannes.  We met when he studied at UWEC, and we've kept in touch (it helps that he's visited the states a few more times since then).  He's living down near Graz at the moment, but he was in the area yesterday so we got to hang out.  He brought me some Weintrauben (grapes) from his parents house, I've had a few different kinds of Weintrauben here, and I'm always amazed at how delicious they all are with very distinct flavors.  We ran some errands since he had a car (makes me feel like high school all over again), and then we went to a neighboring town to check out a Heurige.  One of my teachers told me if I wanted to go to a Heurige I should go to Gumpoldskirchen, because you can't throw a stone without hitting one.  Heurige are similar to Buschenschank, but they're usually located in town and serve hot food, it's all still local food and family made wines though.  A Buschenschank is usually on the farm where all the food and wine is made, and the food is cold.  This was my first time at a Heurige (actually it was also Johannes' first time too), so I was expecting something a bit more like the Buschenschank.  It was still a good time, good wine for really cheep prices & decent food.  There was an old man playing traditional drinking songs on accordion, which really added to the small town traditional atmosphere.  We even heard a few songs that I knew from working at Waldsee!
*I forgot my camera, so I'm sorry to say there aren't pictures, but I'll be going back!

So far today I've observed the holiday by cleaning my apartment...and doing nothing.  It's a cold, grey, rainy day (as they've all been this week), and my cold is really in full swing making me feel miserable, so I'm making soup, drinking tea & planning tomorrow's lessons.

German Lesson of the day: How do you say "decongestant" in German? abschwellendes Mittel

If I had laughed any more I may have died

Wow, what a weekend! This might end up being a very long post, so get settled in.

On Thursday after I got back from school I picked up my package of winter clothes from the post office, and when I opened it at home I got a great surprise! My dad included 3 bags of peanut butter M&Ms in the box! They're my favorite candy, and you can't get them here in Austria, so that really made my day (thanks dad!!!!).  Then I hopped a train to Vienna to start my weekend.

Anne Storey, who works with TEA (Teachers of English in Austria), organized a mixer between Austrian university students studying to be English teachers and TAs.  Last week Thursday a bunch of us met with her in Burgenland, and she invited us to the mixer (we hadn't signed up earlier), and also said that we could stay with her in Vienna.  Her "apartment" is amazing! It's really about half of a house, and it's very old and gorgeous.  The three of us girls were staying in in the front of the house, which is really it's own apartment, but also can connect to the rest of the flat.  There were four guys who stayed there as well, two of them were in the upstairs, which also could've been it's own apartment (but it had no kitchen or second entrance), the other two stayed in the playroom off the kitchen.  She lives very close to a few tram lines, as well as the U-bahn (subway), so it was really easy to get everywhere we wanted to go.  Anne was also a really great hostess, she told us to make ourselves at home, and use whatever we needed/wanted.  She even provided food for breakfast, including homemade Marillen (apricot) jam!  We all joked about wanting to be related to her, but really she's an amazing person, and I hope I get the chance to stay with her again and chat more, she has great stories!

After dropping off my stuff at her house and meeting up with some of the others staying there we headed down to the Austro-American Society where the mixer was being held.  The mixer was great, the Fulbright Commissioner (Lonny Johnson) was there, as well as our main contact in the commission, Jürgen, so it was good to see them again.  There were also a bunch of TAs there who I'd met in Graz and we all did some catching up, but the best thing about it was getting to know some actual Austrians!  I mostly talked with them in German, and one of the girls I met actually lives about 5 minutes from me in Baden.  I'm pretty excited to know an Austrian here in Baden, I need to make plans with her so I can meet other Austrians too.  When the mixer was over we went back to Anne's and hung out there for awhile talking and drinking wine in the kitchen.

On Friday morning we had a great breakfast, mostly made great because of all the laughter and conversation trying to plan our day.  We got off to a late start, finally leaving the house at about 11, and headed into the city center.  We spent a few hours wandering around the center taking pictures, seeing the sights (which most of us had seen before), saving money by not going in anywhere.  Then we went out to Schloß Schönbrunn and wandered through the paths and mostly-baren gardens.  While we were out there we had so much fun, and we were pretty sure they were going to kick us out for being so ridiculous.  We decided to start a new tourism fad, we call it Photo Jumping.  I know it's not really something new, to jump in the air while someone is taking a picture, but I don't think anyone did it as much or as enthusiastically as we did.  We talked about doing other group trips and having a whole series of us jumping in front of as many historical objects as possible.  Of course some of the group, weren't so keen on photo jumping, but in the end everyone got into it and we were all laughing and jumping until our sides (and legs) hurt.  That night we ate dinner back at Anne's, and then another TA friend, Alan, came over and we sat around drinking wine and talking.  Alan invited us to go to a club where he knew some Austrians, so we went out.  In the end I was the only one of us that really talked to the group of Austrians, the other three who came out pretty much stuck together.  I was pretty tired though, so I went back to the house long before the others returned.

Yesterday was yet another great day!  I met up with Bryce, another TA I got to know at Annes, and we went to the Naschmarkt together.  The others were just barely awake when I left, and they were all making plans to go back to their homes, so it was just the two of us wandering the market for hours.  I didn't end up taking any pictures in the market because it would just be impossible to capture everything in a picture.  I know they say a picture is worth 1000 words, but with places like the Naschmarkt you just have to go there and experience it for yourself because there's no describing it.  Anyway, I'll do my best.  On Saturdays as part of the market they have a flea market, which is pretty interesting.  There's a lot of clothes and junk, but there's also some really cool antiques, and tons of old (and not so old) books.  Since funds are running low and I've got 3.5 weeks until I get paid I wasn't really looking to buy anything, but it was still fun to see the stuff.  The market itself, which is open pretty much everyday, is full of great fresh produce, spices from around the world, specialty food shops, lots of dried fruits and nuts, and of course restaurants and food stands.  I wanted to buy some dried fruit because it's so good here (I don't know why/how really but it's different from dried fruit at home), but it was a little more than I really wanted to pay.  In the end the only food we bought was our lunch!  We had some great pepperoncini (finger tip sized red sweet/hint of hot peppers) filled with goat cheese, and falafel wraps (according to Bryce, who has lived in Vienna before, the best place to get falafel is the Dr. Falafel stand in the Naschmarkt).  It was a really incredible lunch, I wish we had a falafel place here in Baden!  We also picked up some wine for our dinner.  Bryce had some other shopping he needed to do, so we headed up to one of the nearby shopping districts, Mariahilfe.  On our way to the shops we stopped and had a krapfen, the traditional Austrian doughnut filled with apricot jam (of course they fill them with other things as well, but the ones with apricot are the traditional ones that I love).  After we finished our wanderings we headed back to Annes with plans to dump our stuff and head to the Stadtpark to soak up the beauty of the day.  The whole weekend was sunny and really amazing fall weather, so we thought it would be good to take as much advantage as possible.  In the end we didn't go, because when we got back Abby, a second year TA, was at Anne's and she was preparing dinner for us.  There were a few other second years who were coming by to eat and hang out so we just stayed home and chatted.  It was another great night of laughter and conversation.  Abby made two incredible soups, a corn soup (topped with delicious corn guacamole) and a chili with pasta.  She also baked some great crusty bread (which she made), and another 2nd year TA, Evan, brought over a pumpkin pie.  We were going to head to a bar at some point, but in the end we were having too much fun sitting at Anne's drinking good wine and eating great food to bother going anywhere else.

Now I'm back in Baden, after getting up early to catch a train out of the city, and I've got a day of planning lessons and cleaning up my apartment ahead of me.  This weekend was so much fun, but I'm so tired and glad to be home again!

O children...

Yesterday and today were really fun days at school.  I got done at noon yesterday, after teaching two lessons about Halloween to very excited 2nd form classes (6th graders).  Their English isn't very good because this is their second year learning it, but they're excited about everything, they want to talk (even if its Denglish), and they think everything is funny.  I also taught a 5th form class (9th graders) which was mostly boys who had way too much energy.  They were fun, but very loud, and hard to refocus.

After I was done with school I went for a hike up in the Kurpark again.  Eventually I'll know the park so well I'll either know exactly how to get where I want to go in it, or I'll just get more confused because I've been over it so many times in so many different directions.  I hiked up to a look out spot I hadn't been to before, checked out some of the fall colors; there aren't many yet.  I also found some nice little hang-out and picnic benches; must take a lunch, postcards & book with me up there sometime.  On my way back down I took some different paths further back on the hill and stumbled across a goat farm!  You can actually feed the goats (either bring your own snacks for them, or there was some feed from a dispenser), but they had signs up not to feed them bread.  I didn't have anything with me (including money) so I just tricked them to coming to the fence so I could take pictures and look at them.  Sounds strange, but they were cute & I just think that goats are funny.

My funny classes today were another group of 2nd formers, and the English elective course with the 7th formers (11th graders).  I was talking about Halloween again in the 2nd form, but as this was my first time in that class I also did my introductory spiel (Spiel is actually a German word meaning game, but we use it in English... and I don't know how you'd describe our definition of it).  There was one girl in there who spent the entire lesson asking me questions about my cats, Princess and Holstein.  We'd be in between activities discussing possible tricks, or costumes, and she'd come up with another question about the cats.  It was pretty funny, and I think we all know that she's going to go as a cat for Halloween. 

In that class they did a crossword with Halloween vocabulary, and one of the words was Graveyard, which most of them didn't know.  I saw some kids had put it in the wrong spot, which didn't have enough blanks (the word that was supposed to go there was Coffin), and had just written Gravey.  It made me think of gravy of course, and I about busted out laughing, not only because gravy has nothing to do with Halloween, but because it reminded me of another story.  When our friends from Leipzig came over for Christmas a few years ago we had gravy at Christmas dinner.  Marie's mom didn't know what gravy was in English, so we taught her the new word, but all through dinner she kept calling it gravery.  She also tried to offer it to my mom (the vegetarian); anyway, it was pretty funny, and hard not to bust out laughing.

A lot of the boys in the elective class (and it's almost all boys) play on the school's semi-professional handball team, and they had another big competition today, so they were pretty brain dead by the time we had class.  This lead to some pretty funny moments in class, I gave them very simple instructions, they were each supposed to read an article I gave them, they only had to read one article, and not everyone had the same article.  Then they had to answer some questions and write a short summary.  I never thought we'd get through it! There were so many guys who got so confused, the teacher and I kept looking at each other and laughing out loud.  Somehow during our discussion we ended up talking about their common mispronunciations.  Austrians tend to have a problem pronouncing a V (I have no idea why, it should be easy, it's a sound they use all the time!), and there was one article that talked about vengeance, which meant that each student who read that article talked about Wengeance.  I've also noticed it in the Halloween lessons, we talk about Wampires, sometimes it's hard not to laugh.  We also talked about the dreaded TH, which isn't in German, and they pronounce it as an F, a S, a T, or a Z.  There's one student who really struggles with that, and so then they all started doing it in a very pronounced (wrong) way: i.e. Sirty Sree Sousand, deaF (death) penalty, Tought (thought), Sink (think).  We of course talked about the ever famous Berlitz commercial if you haven't seen it please do! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMhICbFn2JI

Anyway, it's been a good week! Tomorrow when I'm done with classes I'm going to go pick up the package of warm clothes my parents send (Thanks!!!) and then I'm heading up to Vienna for the weekend!

Well that explains it!

As it turns out I'm not one for blogging everyday, there are all kinds of things that happen everyday that I think, "O, I should blog about that!" and then I forget about it, or in the end, it's just not that interesting.  That being said, here's what I did this weekend:

On Thursday I only had one lesson to teach in Berndorf, so after I was done I wandered around town a bit before I took the train back into Baden.  Berndorf is a very cute little town, with a surprising number of shops, and a rich history.  I read a bit about the history online before coming here, and then the Spanish teacher who gave me and the Spanish TA a tour of town told us more about the town.  The town was founded by Arthur Krupp (that last name should be familiar to any cooks out there), when he built his factory in the valley.  He built the church in town, a school, and housing for the workers.  The worker's houses were some of the nicest for the time, with running water and electricity.  The school and church still stand and are in use, and sometime I want to go in the school.  Each classroom has a different theme in the painting and decor, such as Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Turk and many more.  In the factory they made knives and silverware, which the Berndorf brand is still famous for today.  While the Berndorf factory is still here in the valley (and it fills the whole valley, it's HUGE, at least a mile long, and maybe a quarter mile wide) they no longer make silverware and knives here, they now make larger industrial metal parts.  The company has factories in Eastern Europe (where things are cheeper) that make the Berndorf silverware.  Many of the towns in the area are industrial towns with factories because in these small valleys there isn't enough room for much agriculture, but that doesn't mean that they're dirty or smelly like so many industrial parts of the U.S.  If I didn't go by the factory everyday on my way to school I'd never know it was there!  I just found out today that on my bus ride to Berndorf you can see the highest mountain in Niederösterreich.  I don't know how I didn't see it until today, I must be really zoned out in that stretch normally, but I got pretty excited when I saw it.  Now I have to hike up to that look out tower on the hill in Berndorf.

Once I got back to Baden I met up with my friend Liz (another TA in Baden), and we took the train to Eisenstadt in Burgenland (the eastern most state in Austria).  We met up with some other TAs there, as well as Anne Storey (the president of Teachers of English in Austria) and Jürgen Hörmann (Program Officer for the TA's from the U.S.).  Anne had set up a reception with the Landespräsident (the Governor)of Burgenland for all the TA's in Burgenland, Liz and I went as party crashers since we're not teaching in Burgenland.  We met with him and his assistant in the parliament room.  It was really interesting to hear about Burgenland, which is a very agricultural state full of small towns.  It's belonged to many different countries, and spoken many languages through the years.  The Landespräsident said that many people from his grandmothers generation couldn't speak one language completely because the language in their schools when they were growing up changed so often between Hungarian, Serbian, Croatian and German.  We saw a short film about Burgenland (and we all got a DVD copy of it!), and then we went to the Landespräsident's office and had some drinks and snacks with him and his assistant.  He really set aside a lot of time for us, and the more informal reception in his office was a chance for us to really talk to him.  I can't imagine Scott Walker doing something like that at all! Not that I'd really want to spend 3 hours in the same room as him…

After leaving the reception we went out for a drink with Anne and Jürgen.  It was fun to spend a little time with them, and I think they liked getting to know us in a smaller group.  Normally they only address larger groups of TA's, and there's not much time to talk about individual experiences or places.  Jürgen has been in a lot of places around Austria, so he was able to give us some advice on places to check out.  After they left we went to one of (or possibly the only) good hang-out bars in Eisenstadt.  They had really cheep glasses of wine there (1.70 Euro) from local vineyards, so I tried Blaufränkish, which is just starting to arrive in the U.S. (there was an article about it in the New York Times shortly before I left).  It's a red wine, which I normally don't drink, but it has a good rich flavor, and it's not too dry.  I also had a really good Grüner Veltliner, which is a pretty standard Austrian white wine, you can find it pretty easily in the U.S.

I spent the night in Eisenstadt, it was fun to be with other TA's, comparing our teaching and school experiences thus far, and seeing where other TA's are living.  I took a rather complicated train back on Friday, which involved getting on and off various very small trains (1 or 2 cars) in tiny towns.  I was pretty tired, and very happy to finally arrive in Baden!  I spent the rest of the weekend in Baden, it was a bit chilly, but sunny, so very nice fall weather!  On Saturday I did a bit of shopping, there was some sort of Italian street market that I walked through, but didn't buy anything as I'm not getting paid this month.  I wandered up in the Kurpark to see how the fall colors are turning out, but so far there aren't many, a little yellow, red and brown here and there, but things are still pretty green.  Sunday I planned a bunch of my lessons for the week, which span a very wide range of topics!  I'm teaching about the Civil Rights movement, SuperSize Me, Invictus, Halloween, Friends and Family, Things & Commands in the classroom, Sports, Careers, and there's still a few classes that I'm not sure what I'll be teaching!  To say the least I won't be getting bored this week!

On Thursday there's a gathering of TA's in Vienna, where we'll be meeting up with Austrian's who are studying to be English teachers.  A few other TA's and I will be staying with Anne, and I think most of us are staying for the weekend!  It'll be fun to meet some more Austrians, and see the other TA's again.  I really need to start taking more pictures, so far I haven't been keeping up with my usual standards.  I also need to get some stamps for the postcards I've written, and people's addresses! (If you want a postcard send me your address.)

In other news, I just counted, I work with 13 teachers in 43 different classes! It's no wonder I know NO ONE'S name, if you figure there are about 15 (which is a conservative estimate) kids per class I have 645 students!

I *heart* Teaching

I just realized that I haven't posted since this weekend! I guess there really hasn't been much to report back on, the weather here is cold, windy, and rainy.  I feel like a bit of a wimp admitting that I've already turned the heat on in my apartment, but it was cold in here!  Actually the apartment was pretty cold even when it was 75 and sunny outside, so it's not that surprising that it was freezing in here when it was 50 outside.
         I'm hoping to get out and do something this weekend.  Maybe meet up with some other TAs in the area, or go visit friends near Graz, or go hiking around Bad Vöslau and Berndorf.  As of yet I don't really have any plans set in stone, so we'll see what comes up!  The weather this weekend is supposed to stay cool, but it should at least be sunny.
         The best thing about this week has been the students.  I'm still having some trouble adjusting to the lack of a plan that the teachers seem to have.  I've also had a few lessons that I've planned, and then the usual teacher sort of takes it over, or they continually interject.  I really miss being the teacher, not just a guest in the class.  My lessons so far this week have covered a wide range of topics, from free time activities, to race and gender relations in the U.S.  I've also taught quite a range of ages, from 2nd (12) form through 8th (18).  In the 7th and 8th form classes that I taught on Monday we had really good conversations about pretty difficult topics.  In the 2nd and 3rd form classes I taught yesterday they were so excited to have me there, even though their language skills are a lot lower it was still a lot of fun.  Today I was with classes in all different levels, but in each one the kids were really happy to have me there and they were interested in the lessons.
         It's been so fun to see their enthusiasm to speak and learn English with me as their teacher.  All the classes know that I know German, but I won't speak it in their class, so a few of them were saying they'd just have to talk to me in the halls.  Of course I tell them I won't speak German, but then inevitably something slips out in German!  It reminds me of Waldsee (where the languages were switched), and it always makes me smile.  I've also found that a lot of my classroom management vocabulary is in German, which isn't really something that I thought about before now, so sometimes I really have to stop and think of what I want to say and how to say it.  Another thing that's surprised me is how much German some of the teachers use in the classroom.  I understand when they're talking about administrative things, or maybe some difficult homework or a test that they do it in German so that the students understand, but some of the teachers, even in the upper levels, speak mostly German in class.  To me, having learned about the latest greatest world language teaching and acquisition methods, this is all kinds of wrong, and it's no wonder that the kids in those classes have a harder time with the language.
       Anyway, it's been a good week thus far! I teach 2 lessons tomorrow, and then the weekend begins! To end this post on another high note: Some students on my bus home smiled and said hi when I got on.

Herbst is here!

      Well I think the end of summer is finally here.  After three weeks of sunny and 70s weather the temperatures have gone down to the 50s, and it's been raining off and on since Thursday night.
      There isn't much to tell about the last few days.  Thursday was my first normal day in Berndorf, but I was only in two classes, and only one of them for the full hour. I'll be posting pictures today from both Bad Vöslau and Berndorf so you can see what the schools look like.
      Thursday night I went over to my friend Liz's house for dinner, wine, and King Kong (in German).  In the end we talked all the way through the movie about our schools, teachers, students, homes usw... (etc...).  Yesterday I caught up on housework, planned & read.  Since it was rainy and cold it was the perfect day to curl up and read a book!  For one of the classes I'll be teaching I'm reading Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, I should really take notes while reading it since I have a month until I'll be teaching it.  Today I wandered around town a bit since it looked like a nicer day, and I like to do some shopping on Saturdays, since everyone else is also out and about in town.  It was really windy and chilly, and then it started raining as I headed home from grocery shopping.
      I still haven't figured out my washing machine here, I can't find out anything about the model online, and there isn't a manual here.  There's still scummy water sitting in it, and my landlord has yet to get back to me about it... so I ended up washing a bunch of clothes by hand today.  My plan for the rest of the day involves watching Harry Potter in German (the voices are so strange!) and further lesson planning for the week.

Always look on the bright side of Death!

       Well today was a really good day!  I had some time during the day to prepare for lessons (although I was mostly using the materials the teachers wanted me to teach), so I wasn't flying by the seat of my pants as much, and the lesson that I planned and found materials for on my own went really well!  I also got a ride back to Baden from school, which meant that I got back to Baden at the time that the bus would've been picking me up in Bad Vöslau.
        I think the most challenging part of the day was teaching another 6th form class.  The teacher told me that it would be an easy day, because all the boys were gone, and apparently the boys and girls in that class fight constantly.  They're the only class in school that has to have an extra class per week just to teach them how to behave in school and how to treat each other! So far the lowest level class I've been in was 3rd form (so they had 3 years of English), and I think today's 6th form class was at the same level as the 3rd.  The reading that the teacher gave me to do with them was way beyond them (except one girl who speaks English with her parents), so it took a long time to get through the text, and I don't really think they understood it.  It's hard going into these classes and teaching students I don't know with lessons and materials that I didn't choose.  I also don't really know what they've learned and what sort of topics they're  working on this year.
       The 4th form class that I taught today was pretty good.  They were very chatty, but the teacher said they're always that way so I wasn't surprised by it.  My best moment in that class was catching two girls passing notes.  I didn't say anything I just gave them a look, which they both saw, and shook my head; they didn't pass another note for the whole period! Teaching tip of the day: practice "the look" it really works.
       The lesson I prepared on the Death Penalty (die Todesstrafe) went really well, hence the post title.  I started the lesson asking them some questions to get them interested and to make the death penalty (and the issues around it) a little easier to relate to. They don't have the death penalty here, and the government is strongly against it, so it isn't a topic they discuss in school or really even think about.  Then they had to do some research online with questions I provided.  The teacher I worked with really liked my questions, and the kids worked hard at finding very complete answers so they learned a lot.  Talking about their findings as a group didn't go as well as their research did, but most of the class is in the school's semi-professional handball team, and had spent the morning at a big tournament/game, so they were a bit brain dead.  Then they started reading an article about why some Americans still support the death penalty, but we didn't get very far before we ran out of time.  Even so I was pleased with how hard they worked and how much they learned in an hour and forty minutes, and we had a few laughs during the lesson too, so it wasn't all death.
       And now for something completely different (there seems to be a Monty Python theme here today): As I was turning onto my street I saw an elderly woman being taken out of the Heurige (wine garden/restaurant) on my street on a stretcher.  There was a minor traffic jam as the ambulance tried to turn around and there were actually other vehicles on the road (there's normally no traffic on Rohrgasse).  It was rather strange, and slightly funny (don't worry, the old woman was awake and talking to her husband, so it's not totally morbid).
       Since I'm home early I'm going to relax and read a bit before dinner!

Schule

    Today went really well.  Everything that went wrong yesterday went right today, plus I spent more time at Bundesgymnasium Bad Vöslau-Gainfarn.  The teachers there are all very nice and welcoming, and they can't wait to get me up in front of the class teaching.  That means that I have to be very flexible, and I also have next to no prep time so I flew by the seat of my pants a lot today.  I'm a planner, I like making plans, and then following them, but I don't know how much that's really going to happen here.  Maybe it'll just be that way this first week, and then all my other lessons will have more structure (and be less teaching from the book, which I don't like so much), but who knows!
      I was in a pretty big range of classes today, from the 3rd form (13) to 7th (17), so I had to adjust my language a lot depending on the level.  The 7th form class that I taught was 22 boys, no girls.  It was a bit crazy, I don't know how anyone can keep a class like that engaged in learning for the whole hour!  I did alright, but mostly because I was a new face, and they wanted to show off.  The teacher told them that I didn't speak German, which made it a bit hard to talk about myself, since speaking German is sort of a big thing in my life.  It did force them to speak more English since they'd have to explain what they were trying to say if they couldn't find the right words.  I think it's good practice, but so far I just tell the classes that I speak German, but I won't be speaking it in their classroom.  This helps the lower levels, because they know I can understand them if they don't know how to say something in English.
        I don't know if I'll ever really get a handle on the schedule and classrooms at Bad Vöslau.  I'm on a four week rotation there, so every week I have a different schedule and it doesn't make much sense to me at the moment.  The schedule at Berndorf will change each month, so I'll have a little more time to get used to that.
       Now for a bit about Gymnasium vs. Realgymnasium.  Both of the school buildings that I'm teaching in have both of these types of schools.  In larger towns there are usually a few different kinds of schools, but in smaller towns they usually just have these two types.  The Gymnasium is like a college prep high school, they take a wide range of classes, and in their last two years they have to pick a few subjects that they're really interested in and take further classes in those subjects.  Those classes take place in the last two hours of the day, when the younger kids have gone home.  I'll be teaching one of those tomorrow about the death penalty in the U.S. (I'll be doing lots of preparing later tonight!)  The Realgymnasium is sort of a cross between a regular high school and a vocational school.  Most of the kids in the RG won't be going on to a university, but they may go to a school sort of like a Tech college that specializes in a few different (but related) areas.  This is just a summary of what I've seen/heard/read about the different types of schools here.  Like I said there are many more in larger towns, but Bad Vöslau and Berndorf are too small to have more than just these two.
        Some more interesting observations about Austrian schools:

• Students usually change shoes (into slippers, or indoor only shoes).  They don't do this at Bad Vöslau right now, but that's probably because they're going to rip down that building and put up a new one that's big enough for the school.
• There's a big room where all the students leave their bags, shoes and coats (no lockers).  More precious things (like motorcycle helmets for the older kids) are kept in the classroom.
• Students pretty much just stay in their classrooms and the teachers change rooms.  I'm not a huge fan of this since I like decorating a classroom, and it's nice to be able to leave your things spread out in your room.  Instead all the teachers have a small table in the staff room.  There really isn't much room for anything!  At Bad Vöslau I have a small bit of table and a chair for myself, but in Berndorf there aren't any free tables or chairs, so the other language assistant and I just hang out in the staff kitchen/lounge when we're not in class.
• There isn't really a lunch break.  Most students leave around 1, so there's no need to serve lunch to them.  They do offer lunch for the kids who have classes later, and they get that during the short afternoon break (usually about 20 minutes).

Well I'm off to pick up my Aufenthaltstitel (residency permit)!  Schönen Tag noch! (Have a good rest of the day!)

Focus on the silver linings

        Today was my first day of school, and to be completely honest it really didn't go that well.  While public transportation is very good in Austria (and much of Europe), the people working said transportation aren't terribly helpful.  Also, transportation to the small towns in the valleys around here is difficult and doesn't run as often as one might like.  Most of the issues from my day stemmed from the problems I had with public transport.  The other issue I came up against today was the Austrian idea of working hours.  I really needed to get to the bank today, but they close at 3 everyday, and I didn't get back into town until 4:30.  So all that was very frustrating! 

       ^To me this seems like a very non-native English speaker sentence, but as I've been switching between languages a lot today, and much of my English has come out like I have no idea how to speak the language I'm just going to leave it!

        On the bright side of things both of my schools were really good!  Bundesgymnasium Bad Vöslau- Gainfarn is my main school, where I'll be on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  I got to meet a lot of the English teachers there (and there are quite a few!), they all seem really nice, and excited that I'm there.  They want me to jump right in and start teaching this week, and I'm all for that!  The schedule there seems like it will take quite a while to get used to, they have me on some sort of rotation through all the classes that I don't quite understand.  I wasn't really able to see much of the school as I was mostly doing administrative paperwork, and then talking with the teachers before I had to head over to Berndorf, so there will be further impressions of the school/town tomorrow I'm sure.

         While getting to Berndorf is not the easiest thing to do, the town and school really make up for it in friendliness and charm!  The head English teacher at Berndorf Bundesgymnasium/Bundesrealgymnasium introduced me to the whole staff room, and the principal (who invited me to coffee with him sometime next week), as well as their new Spanish TA.  All the staff were really interested in talking to both of us, and it was fun to talk to another language TA.  One of the Spanish teachers took the two of us on a tour of the town in her car, it was quick, but we saw the main things in town (not hard since it's so small).  I did a little introduction and Q&A with a 6th form class (15/16), it was a nice way to get started since they were pretty interested in me and I didn't really have to do much except tell stories.  I also observed a 7th form (mostly 17) two hour elective course.  I don't really know how they choose the courses, or what this elective course was called, but at the moment they're learning about South African history.  Two students came up and gave talks.  I'm not really sure what the first one was about because the boy was really unprepared, but the second one was all about Nelson Mandela and the girl did a really good job of presenting him.  They started watching Invictus (which is a pretty good movie, you should check it out), and they really understood a lot of the film from the discussion we had in the last few minutes of class.

       I'm glad I don't have to go to both schools on the same day normally, so I'll get this bus thing down soon!  Or I'll just figure out car pooling with the teachers since there are a few at each school who live in Baden.  Now I have to go make up a presentation about me to show other classes this week...just wish I had a map of the US for the classes that don't have a computer!

      Tomorrow: a short explanation of the Austrian school system (mostly about Gymnasium/ Realgymnasium)

Consider me oriented

          Well I just burned my whole Sunday morning trying to figure out the various bus/train schedules between Baden, Bad Vöslau and Berndorf.  I'm beginning to see that getting to Berndorf won't be that easy, and I'll be arriving an hour earlier than I have to, because there's only one bus that runs on the days I'm going that gets me there before 9am.
         Anyway, I'm sure it'll all work out! I talked to one of the teachers I'll be working with in Berndorf yesterday, and she's very nice.  I also got an email from the main teacher in Bad Vöslau with my schedule (roughly).  And another sweet email from another teacher in Berndorf who I'll be observing/assisting tomorrow.  As of now the plan is to be in Berndorf Mondays and Thursdays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays I'll be in Bad Vöslau, and Fridays I have off!  I'll be at both schools tomorrow since I have to fill out all my employment paperwork at Bad Vöslau tomorrow, and then I'll spend the afternoon in Berndorf.

       Now to fill in what I've been doing for the past week! I've been in Graz for the English Teaching Assistant Orientation (for eastern Austria).  It was so great to be back in Graz, I had a lot of good times when I studied there, and being back in the city really felt like seeing an old friend again.  I loved knowing where things were and getting to visit some of my favorite places in the city.  We were staying in this convent/dorm/hotel less than a block away from where I lived so I knew the neighborhood (aka Turkish ghetto).  It was fun to meet the other TAs in the area, but at times it was just too many new people.  I got really sick of having one conversation over and over with different people: What's your name, where you from, where are you teaching, is this your first time abroad/in austria, have you seen your schools/teachers, do you have your residency permit/bank account/Meldezettle? There were over 100 people there, and I didn't meet all of them (thank god!) but I met enough to feel like I wanted to live in a cave in the hills and only come down to teach & get supplies.
        There were plenty of people there who I got to know a little more, and who I'd like to get to know better, so that was good.  The seminar itself was geared more for people who have no (or very little) experience teaching a foreign language.  Not that I have TONS of teaching experience, but there weren't many of us there who had spent much time in the front of the class.  A lot of our group sessions were sort of crash courses in teaching, creating materials, activities and readings, so I was sort of bored.  The best parts of the week happened while we were out in the city, not stuck up in a remodeled castle sitting in classrooms.
         One afternoon we went and met kids from a school in Graz who had prepared a tour for us in English.  The three boys who led my group around the city did a really amazing job, their English was great, and they knew quite a bit about the places we went.  I was our group leader (since I know Graz), so I talked to the boys quite a bit (mostly in German) and helped them out with words they didn't know, and asked them follow up questions about different places.  I'm pretty sure we had the best tour guides, they made sure we saw everything important near the city center, and they were just a lot of fun.  After our tour we got a Döner Kebab at one of my favorite places (near Jakominiplatz), and then we went out for some drinks.
        On Thursday we got to go in and observe and teach in schools around Graz.  My group was actually back in the school where our tour guides went, and the other two girls in our group actually observed their English class.  The main lesson I learned from this experience was to be flexible, and that Austrian schools aren't really any more organized than American schools.  The teacher I observed had no idea that we were going to be in his class that day, but he rolled with it pretty well.  Then they changed when we were supposed to teach (which also changed the age and level of the students), and we ended up teaching for the same teacher I'd observed.  I felt sort of bad that we basically walked in and said, "Hey this is our class now, sorry!"  But the teacher who sent us to him said it would be fine.  The lesson worked well anyway, I think it actually went better with them because they were a little more advanced than the group we were supposed to teach.
           I got back to Baden on Friday, but I was totally drained, so besides getting some food I really didn't do much of anything.  Yesterday I went and wandered around Baden to check out the Baden Oktoberfest.  It was pretty fun to see all the people out in Tracht (traditional clothing), and I heard a few songs from Waldsee including Anton aus Tirol (which is really one of my least favorite songs).  I didn't stop to buy anything because I spent quite a bit in Graz this weekend, and this week I have to pick up (and pay for) my residency permit.
       Hope you all had a nice week! Come back tomorrow for my first impressions of my schools.