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.
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