Chapter Nine - Nine weeks in!

Nine weeks in! (Monday 2nd November - Sunday 8th November)

Due to the fact, that now I'm back at school and just doing pretty much the same stuff each week, I've decided that this is going to become a weekly review (well, weekly-ish!) of anything different or interesting that happened during the week.

Seeing as this is the first week I'm doing the compact version - here's a summary of the more mundane activities: went to school, had a few drinks in town with some friends, did some lesson plans, and tidied up a bit!

Now, for the more interesting ones! I'll keep it as chronological as I can!

On wednesday of this week I was invited by the Ministry for Women, Families and Education (they've got some slightly unusual combinations in Saarland!) to go and do some recording for the Gesamtschule leaving exam. (Rather like a GCSE level exam). For this I will be given €50, whether or not they use my recordings! All the English Language Assistants were invited there to take part.

The first challenge was trying to find the place; it was in a distant suburb of Saarbruecken called Dudweiler. One of those places that people who actually live in Saarbruecken call Dudweiler, and the people that live there call it Saarbruecken-Dudweiler! Where I live is the complete opposite, everyone around here calls it St. Arnual, but everyone in the city calls it Saarbruecken-St. Arnual! So, back to the story! After waiting for one of the other assistants at the train station, who never materialised (we later learned he had had to get a Bus Replacement Service due to a train cancellation), me and Claire were forced to make our own way to this place. The main problem was that the person we were waiting for had a map...we had to make do with a rough sketch made from the back of a Bus Shelter! This was OK for getting to the town centre, and then we were slightly lost. So we asked a bus driver, after all, who would know the area better than someone who drives around it all day...as it turns out, absolutely anyone...he didn't have a clue! So, we adopted plan B; we asked at the chemist, the girl behind the counter didn't have a clue either, but luckily a nice old woman in the queue looked upon us kindly and furnished us with some directions. I would be being over generous to say her directions were spot on - but they helped point us in roughly the right direction! Needless to say, we did eventually get there, arriving only 3 minutes later than the scheduled meeting time...not too bad considering!

The recording itself consisted of us doing a lot of sitting around and talking, whilst preparing a paragraph on what we thought of Talent Shows, and after that had been recorded we prepared one on eating habits. Not a lot of effort really required, and quite an easy €50 to earn! So, after the recording we trotted back to Saarbruecken (trotted simply being an abstract verb meaning to go - rather than actually behaving like horses) where I still had a sixth form lesson after school to do!

To Friday then! To set the scene, I have a recurring problem with one of my toes (it seems like to become ingrowing quite a lot, despite having been operated on twice!) and this toe had recently been causing me severe pain (reducing me to between 3 and 4 hours sleep one night, instead of 7-8) and has been quite badly swollen too. So, I decided to go and see a doctor. I sought the recommendation of one of my colleagues who recommended his GP. I phoned the surgery at 7 in the morning, hoping to get an appointment for that afternoon, or if not Monday...two weeks, yes, weeks, was the earliest I could get an appointment! This, I decided was too long to wait!

I had noticed the day previously a doctor's surgery at the bottom of my hill, so I thought I'd give him a ring. I rang before the office hours, but found out he has like a drop-in clinic thing in the morning from 8. So, I popped down their at 8 o'clock and was waiting about 45 minutes to see him (a while, but not as long as 2 weeks!). He decided that it was ingrowing (I can see how he's a Dr.), and he gave me some cream for it, and some plasters! Now, I'm not entirely sure what's in the cream, but whilst it hasn't solved the ingrowing problem, it has reduced the pain by about 95% (the exception being when I stub my toe on something!). I've got an appointment on Monday afternoon with him, and we'll see where we go from there!


Another rant, I feel it necessary to have here, is about the quality of bus drivers on the 121 route. This is the bus that goes past my house, either to the train station, or to the town hall. I had one driver that was distracted first by looking for somewhere to put his pen, and secondly by trying to find change for a €20 note, whilst we were going along. With this driver we ended up on the wrong side of the road on numerous occasions...one of the few times I've been so concerned I nearly walked! The following morning the driver was using his phone whilst driving; which as those of you that know me will know, is a real pet hate of mine, and he crawled along whilst doing it - thus delaying the bus further! (I've become a right German when it comes to punctuality of public transport...I start tutting if it's two minutes late!) And the bus home that evening, the driver seemed to be suffering from a certain level of road rage...he was of the opinion that he, as a bus driver, has the full right of the road, and that anyone else should move out of the way...those that didn't incur his wrath!

On Saturday Claire and I went to Mainz. Mainz is the capital of the Saarland's buffer state, Rhineland-Palatinate. The weather was not great...which is typical British understatement. But the first thing we decided to do was to try and find the Tourist Information Centre - it has to be the most inaccessible tourist information centre I've ever tried to go to! The signs to it pointed, often, in the direction from which you came...it was a frustrating time! But, we did eventually find it, and got hold of ourselves a free street map, which meant we could have a look at some of the things there! Things we looked at included: the Cathedral, the Land Parliament, the Citadel, a few other churches, come nice squares, and we also had a look around the Germano-Roman museum, which was nice. (By nice, I mean it was better than standing in the pouring rain!). My general opinion of Mainz was one of disappointment, I'm not sure what I expected, but after comparing it to two other, non-state capital, cities in the same state, it just wasn't up to the same standard! Never mind, it was a day out, and another bit of Germany seen!

So, that was that...the first of many condensed blog entries. This should make it more interesting for you, the reader, and a damned sight easier for me!

I shall sign off in the words of Del Boy from Only Fools and Horses, "Bonjour".