Monday 22nd February - Sunday 7th March
As the title suggests, this entry is rather like a supermarket promotion. You're getting two weeks worth of blog for the price of one entry! The simple reason for this is, as usual, I forgot! Luckily, I didn't do too much over these past couple of weeks; so this shouldn't be too long a read for you!
So, where did we leave the story? I'd just returned from Berlin, where I had a fantastic half-term. The first week back at school entailed a massive timetable upheaval (in that I swapped the days I worked at the schools), but once I'd got my head round it, it was a doddle! This half-year's timetable isn't quite as student friendly as the last one - I have 1 early start, and 3 starts in lesson 2. This means more early mornings, but as always, there is a plus side - I finish work by the fourth lesson on every day!
The rest of the first week was pretty much spent chasing my tail, trying to catch up on planning my lessons for my private students, and preparing for a project on addiction at the Gymnasium.
On Wednesday of the first week, we all headed out to Saarlouis to have dinner with Jenny, one of the assistants, who was leaving at the weekend to begin her next half-year placement in Paris. We went to a nice italian restaurant, and it was a very good evening. It was only slightly dampened by the driver of Bus 404 who decided that it was perfectly to stop at the Bus Station (not just any bus stop) for a mere 5 seconds, and then to drive off like a maniac despite the group of people running for his bus. Still, I got the chance to practise my complaining skills in German - and, touch wood, they seem to have been relatively successful.
On Saturday we saw sunshine - real unhidden, unblemished sunshine - it was really there! I could hardly believe it! Still, I soon realised that the appearance of the sun had had a similar effect on most other people. I went in to town to meet up with the others, and found that every man, woman, child, and all their dogs were in town enjoying the sun, and clogging up the main street. On Saturday, we organised our future weekend trips away, and we decided upon: Munich, Freiburg/Basel, and Lille. So keep your eye's peeled for those, although they're not until after the Easter holidays, which are remarkably close! Then we ended up stuck in Sarreguemines because Saarbahn decided that les Francais don't need a half-hourly service after 16.00 to Saarbruecken!
That was a brief summary of what I did duringg the first week - I may have done more, but nothing particularly memorable!
The second week, on the face of it, has a similar level of excitingness (I may have created this word, but can't be bothered to check!). The schooldays themselves were pretty normal except for Wednesday.
Wednesday saw the beginning of the 10. Klasse (Year 11) English project on addictions. This meant I had a full day of lessons (Periods 1-6), which is something almost unheard of for me. Never mind, though, I managed to cope! The students spent the whole day working on a mini-presentation on the topic of Alcholism, through which we guided them, and gave them support/advice. They now have to work on a series of other addictions over the next two weeks and produce some sort of handout, presentation and vocab sheet, which will help prepare them for their exam, as well as providing useful presenting skills - which, as anyone who has been through second year at Bath will know, are vital!
Friday was the other interesting day of this week - a trip to Heidelberg. Firstly, let me make reference to the weather; it was a fresh day (i.e. not terribly warm), but the sun was shining and that made all the difference. Looking at the weather forecast for Saarbruecken when I write this tells me that it's going to get down to -11 tonight - I may have to dig out the thick coat again! Anyway, back to Heidelberg, it is a very pretty city, especially the Old Town area, and the views from the Castle on the side of the valley are just fantastic. You could really see for kilometres (or miles if you refuse to me metricised!).
The weekend was used, sort of, to do household chores - i.e. cleaning up my room, doing the washing, and cleaning the bathroom - I know how to live!
Back to the topic of weather, it has snowed again - now I though we had got past the snow, but it would appear not. I'm a little sick of the white stuff, and have developed a nervous twitch in my fist when someone says "isn't it pretty/fun?".
At present, next week doesn't seem to be too interesting at the moment, but I'll see what I can do! We shall see!
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