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)