German Kezboard Frustration

i hate german keyboards because 1) the y's and the z's are swtiched so i alwazs end up writing zou instead of you and yoo instead of zoo...although i dont write zoo too often...hm...i should change this. reallz. and then the enter button is further awaz so when i hit it i usuallz end up getting this szmbol # instead of emptz space like i wished. damnitalltohell. and then the @ sign requires extraordinarz effort because zou have to press this special button and then q at the same time to get it. but in the process of finding this special button zou get QQ@ (inbetween the q's were two additional failed efforts because strq + q and alt + q equal emptz space instead of the @ szmbol which requires the alt gr + q kezs). < then the shift kez is further awaz so i alwazs get this szmbol < instead of a larger letter, see above "Then". aaaand when i want to ask a question like, how are zou_ i get that stupid line instead of a question mark because the question mark decided to haul its butt all the waz up to its OWN button laaa dee da next to yero. and bz yero i mean zero. when i want to use a quote, i have to then find the shift button, which maz i remind zou often turns out to be the < kez instead of shift, and ones i realiye this error i have to then press that button and the 2 key at the same time...and then the quotation marks are BACKWARDS! or shall i saz < bacwards. let us not forget, that the german language also has four additional letters, the ö the ä the ü and the ß. lets just saz i need to start memoriying where those are located...that could be useful..zes. good thing germans don#t use apostrophes because thez would continue to get the # szmbol instead of the ' wich also requires considerable effort with finding the shift kez, getting the < szmbol again and then refinding it and then searching for the apostrophe. sigh. there is more...but ill stop now. hahahha alles klar_ und tschüß

A Place To Live!

well, its about that time for an update. I really like those people who try to earn money by dressing up as statues and standing very still in cities. I saw one yesterday as I was in Hamburg with Jeff...and he was the best one Ive ever seen! I gave him a euro and he offered to take a picture...but of course the one time I DIDNT have my camera with me. damn. Ill just have to remember it for the next time I wander around the city looking for a decent and relatively inexpensive place to eat (which usually takes us an hour or so haha partially because Im often indecisive when it comes to stuff like that). And then after shaking my hand he went instantly back to statue mode and it was rediculous. then there was this creepy guy dressed up as a Geschwindigkeitsbegrenzungsshild (heh silly germans squishing words together to make new words, however long they may be...but apparently as I just learned today they changed the grammar/spelling AGAIN this year so that words that mean the same thing separated should no long be smushed...I prefer smushed so I will keep writing them that way...just as I will continue to use the s-z symbol for "ss".) This guy was dressed as a speed limit sign with a huge wig and moustache like super mario and was most likely drunk and was tormenting this absoulutely terrified little child...I was terrified. I was prepared to intervene. Jeff and I saw Koenige der Wellen ins Kino, and it was such a great movie! The theatre was full of kids, but like the proper american boys we were, we took the opportunity to enjoy a German luxury and bought a huge Becks for the movie...heh. so is life/so ist dass Leben!. Either way, great movie, see it, the end. We searched for lunch one day and ended up going into a huge Bavariaesque pub that was for Fussball fans and ended up not eating there, haha. We went walking in this place called Planten un Bloomen which was really beautiful and right up my alley, i have pics (i discovered a new button on my camera which lets me take close up and focused pictures...woo!) ill upload them later. I have my solid fester Stundenplan/schedule, and now am working with two 6th grades, 1 8th grade, 1 9th grade, 2 11th grade, 1 12th grade (patrice's class, my hostbrother who's a pretty cool kerl), and 1 13th grade class. So far so good, Ive actually been working on one successful project with the eleventh year and am taking it to my new 11th year class tomorrow, it is a project about characterization and expressing emotions through looking at photoart and developing personality based upon those emotions. its a tough project, but they are doing really well! one girl said I was the best teacher she had all day! woo! Me and Camilla, the AFS exchange student from Brazil, also in my English class for 11th grade, went together to Sambucada, a Brazilian drum group in town to meet some kids our age and have some fun, it was great! They played at our Jubilee festival last Friday where we celebrated our 25th anniversary as a gymnasium in Tostedt. I stayed at school that day for 10 HOURS! it was horrible. haha. but the kids were cute. This week I have to come to school yet again on my free day, friday!, and introduce myself to the entire student body with the other new teachers. sigh. I cant event begin to discuss the level of...im not sure what, at this school, everything needs to be proper and perfect and professional and strickt....im already being EVALUATED and OBSERVED in class by the principal...rediculous. We will see how that goes! Ive taught quite a bit so far, with the older classes this week I talked about Big City versus Country culture, the American Political System, the Military, American Schools and Universities amongst other things like Wal-mart and my 9/11 experiences abroad. Its been going rather well. Im using the Purple America political map to try to break down a few prejudices and barriers many Europeans have built up about america to show them even more how diverse the country is, and how different the culture is from one region to the next. It has been very successful so far and the students seem very interested (either that or they have no idea what im saying and are very good actors haha!). I had some difficulties in the 9th year today, I had to have them try to explain a short article about War of the Worlds to their parents in 4 sentences...which isnt so hard, except I went at it with the assumption that they knew already from other classes in German how to write summaries, what a summary was, introduction was, etc.... this turned out not to be the case. I need to learn a lot still about teaching, but luckily with some help they got it in the end. I have to come up with something to do with them next class that will be fun and educational but also age/level appropriate...just have to wait and see. ps. I love it when im wandering around Hamburg or waiting on the train and hear groups of guys and girls chanting their infamous fussball songs, especially after their favorite team, the HSV, has won! Its pretty fantastically German/European, and it makes me smile. Oh yea! I found an apartment and am moving in this Weekend! Its the second floor of a house literally right in front of the school where I work. I have a kitchen a bath, a small living room, a large bedroom and closet. its perfect and the couple im renting from are rediculously nice, and its mobliert! meaning there is already all the furniture I need there! (now the trick will be to figure out how to make it "home", my kind of "home" without spending too much money, plus i need to get internet and a bigger tv) I know I know, I shouldnt care about TV, but its a great way to hear german, particularly when you are speaking english all day in class. Well, this weekend is Reeperbahn Festival, kind of like the Kneipennaechte in Stendal back in the day, and I plan on going with some buds, Kyle is coming up from Koeln, and I have a friend from Sambucada who might go with me and Jeff and perhaps Jennifer and Alex from Bremen, we will see. Its like one big city party! Then next weekend ill be off to Berlin to visit Katie, one of my favorite professors ever! Ill be living with Milli there, a friend from my Gymnasium when I lived there SIX YEARS ago! can you believe it! Ill get to visit my old hostfamily again, and Malak and her family, if they havent moved to Jordan. Im really excited!

Bis bald!
Shim

Walking Home from Hamburg

I will write more about my time in Hamburg tomorrow, because thats a geschichte in itself, but I wanted to write a shorter entry about my walk home from a great almost four day weekend. Sometimes, cliches are so appropriate for describing ones experiences, and often necessary to do so without using as many words. So, my cliche for my wanderings is "stop and smell the roses", smell them darnit. haha, darnit. ohye. Seriously, though, there are many times I find myself saying "stop, smell the air, listen, look, observe," and if I hadn't done so I would have missed out on a very fulfilling experience. I decided to take a different route home right before dusk from the train station in Tostedt by following a path to old train tracks, rusted away, that led through the forest. Along the way I discovered three small ponds, trails through the woods, and drained swamplands turned to farms. It brought me back to the sanctuary where I worked this summer. I mean, it is so spiritually, physically, and mentally fulfilling to work outdoors all summer long, connecting with children and nature. So, needless to say, I really had to take a moment and sit down on the tracks and watch, after having had prior to this respite a short discussion with an adorable black lab mix of sorts who came dragging its owner after me wagging its tail in excitement at the prospects of meeting someone new along the way. I tried for as long as I could to balance on the rusted red rail, and stopped at the sound of neighing horses. I decided to sit then and pulled out my camera to take a few pictures of what I then saw. The forest opened up into this large field, a field made from drained swamplands, lush and vibrant green (my fave color naturally). The horses were chasing one another as the sun was setting and the sky was divided into two colors, on the left a deep blue and on the right a light pink. Those horses were the roses. It was peaceful, serene, to sit there and watch them play back and forth, you can only imagine what was going on in their heads, how much fun they must have been having. The weather, just happened to be the nicest its been since I arrived in germany, the perfect temperature with the slightest breeze. The hint of fall and farm life in the air truly tied it all together. Either way, it was another helpful reminder, a post-it on the brain, to stop and smell the roses, every once in a while. Who knows what you might end up missing out on if you dont. Certainly, definitely, absolutely.
Peace,
Shim

My Attempt at a Collage

My First Week in Tostedt

I arrived in Tostedt with no problems. My host family, Ute, Herr David, Patrice and Marcel are all very nice and very interesting people. Although, I didnt expect to be hurled into the oh so very fun world of "germans do this" "americans do that" "germans are more sensible" with a hint of "our way is better" tossed into the mix. I dont mind really, except ive been there, done that, heard that, and dont feel like explaining incessantly the fact that you cant generalize things like that, because I can counter almost everything they say but have no bock for it. bock means urge, energy, etc....Funny thing is, Germans come across as so umwelt (environment) friendly, and my host family in particular, but I was in bremen today with Marcel and Sebi, and the river was DISGUSTING, the most garbage I have seen in any river EVER, as ten year olds were tossing their cigarrette butts in. oh btw, german law changed so you have to be 18 to buy cigarrettes, and now they are enforcing the law that you have to be 18 to buy liquor, and cant smoke in many public places. Tomorrow im supposed to chaperone some trip to the university hospital with seventh graders to show them what cancerous lungs from smoking look like and introduce them to an emphazeeeeema patient. fun. way to scare the poop out of them with the "nicht rauchen ist kool" program. speaking of poop, me thinks its really strange to poop onto a platform in a toilet. I mean, I shouldnt be so picky, but for some reason I feel uncomfortable going number two now, and that surely cant be good for my health. Especially when there are no matches to be found, anywhere, in our bathroom. cough. now im getting out of line I think, enough with the poo talk. haha. poo. Magurite, Trey, and Felix would appreciate that certainly. I digress. So my first day in the school I sat in on...two english classes? maybe? and a two period french class. Its been awkward switching from german to french to english etc.... I taught my first full lesson that day, but not really taught, more like answered questions and introduced them to some parts of the American School System and the typical day in the life of an Ami. That was fun. I have also taught/assisted in the 11a, 5d, 6e?, 8d, and 9b classes, as well as today another french class, I helped students with their postcards they were writing to one another as they were on "vacation". My period with 9b was a LOT of fun, it was two periods of us discussing the American Dream, Sustainable Development, Advertising/Market techniques (no joke), Dixie Chicks vs. Pink and being labled unpatriotic (we watched pinks dear mr. president video which is AMAZING!!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DEh0eSpNvY ) and I talked to them about the slight shift in american popular sentiments toward pres. bush jr.. Told them about different cultures even across states in the US. Told them about what I want to do with my future, and then played a word association game with them. I asked them if they wanted to do an ArbeitsGemeinschaft with me (AG) and every single one of them was like YAAAAH. They were very nice. Actually, I have only had good experiences with the classes so far. lets see how the rest of the year goes, I have to still plan out my schedule, hopefully with either friday or monday off. Im really excited to work with the students, many are very engaged and interesting. I think I might start Capoeira. Yah, that will be fun (spoken like Robin Williams). Ive been to three parties so far. I played volleyball last Friday with Marcel, Patrice, Sebastian, Eich, Leo, Simon, and Ferdi, I think. That was a lot of fun, they are all very good. Then I went out to a party with Marcel in his friends and met a lot of people, had some shisha (apple I think) and played some game with dosen (cans) that you had to knock over, and if you did your team got to drink until the other team set them back up and brought the crushed can you threw back to their side and said stop. First to austrink gewinnt. I wasnt that good. I like to enjoy a good beer now and then, not drink it so fast you cant taste it. We played some foozeball and got into some discussions about politics...naturally. Germans are very adept and up to date. Props. I met Golem, Robbi, Tim, Sara (who is having a gathering this week I think), Ferdi was there, another Sebastian I think, and a few others whose names I cant remember unfortunately, but I hope to see them all again, they were a lot of fun and really nice. Then the next day we went to a party at Smid's house and played billards and haben gemeyert (its a game you play with dice and have to get the other person to think you lied to them about the number you rolled, etc...). Marcel bought me a handy off ebay for fifteen euros, now I only have to buy a sim card and minutes then ill have one finally so I can actually call people and hang out. Marcel leaves friday for France. Im excited for him. I went out yesterday shopping with Kerstin and Camilla from Brazil which was nice, they are a lot of fun and we had a great dinner. Kerstin is trying to find me a place to rent, hopefully that will work. I am 23, arent I? But if I have to, I wont mind staying here, I enjoy their company very much. Either way. Tomorrow im hanging out with Toysrus, aka Jeffrey in Hamburg and that should be a grand ole time, full of shinanigans im sure. I have yet to see Hamburg, so im excited. Friday is party time for Marcel!!!
Until then my lieblings,
Namaste and Peace,
Shim

Orientation in Altenberg

So, the first few days here I spent at this orientation session near Cologne, where we got to meet the other American Fulbrighters, the Brits, Canadians, and Australians, and one Kiwi. We stayed in this monastery dorm place, and there were 4 to a room or so. They put us all together with the people going to the similar area/state/city. We met often with tutors who were german english teachers who came from almost all the states in germany to help us learn. Ours for Niedersachsen were very very nice and a lot of fun. We had to prepare lessons together for different age groups and teach 1 hour long classes and when we werent teaching we had to pretend to be that age group in germany, haah, you can all guess that I had a lot of fun with this. For the second youngest group we got to learn about halloween and drew costumes and described what and why we wanted to be this or that. I being the smartbutt that I am started out drawing peter pan, but changed my mind when I drew tinkerbell flying around him and decided that an overly feminine, tiny, flying pain in the rear who tells people to to think of happy things all the time, make funny faces like they are constipated, and then gets glitter in their eyes all in the name of flight to "neverland" or some land of pedophiles more likely hahahahaha was the way to go to keep things entertaining. what crazed man wrote that book!? (im kidding of course, peter pan is my favorite story/movie). Then we had to say out loud "I want to be for halloween Tinkerbell because she is funny and small and my costume will be pink and blue with sparkles and it will be funny because I am a boy" hahahahaha man...sometimes....it got some good laughs. I kept having to go to the bathroom, I progressively got louder as I spoke to my neighbor in german, I spelled things wretchedly wrong like "introducshun" hahaha. One lesson involved this word association game, and naturally, within three minutes was already on the topics of sex, pregnancy, infidelity, and Thomas Jefferson. well, that last one was a stretch but, yea. Our lesson went rather well, I did this wierd camp song which they had fun with but I was warned that it may take several decades for the germans to get used to such a thing, I told her I was very persistant and that they didnt know what they were getting themselves into, those poor deutscher. Every night we had a beer night and met with those who got an extended second year with the program. The last night we had what ended up being the best ad hoc talent show I have ever seen a group of people put on, ever. I started things off with a group song "ushy gooshy ushy gooshy good icecream, slurrp" haha and everyone was REALLY into it which i was nervous about, but according to my friend Kyle, ive got quite the charming personality that draws groups in like that, so woo hoo for me. after that i gave them all a brief history about step and where it came from and put together a three min routine for them of some stuff I choreographed for PAWS. they really seemed to like it. then there was a frenchhorn duet, a girl named Emily Crockett sang an opera song 5x better that miss i havent hit puberty yet but can sing better than you charlotte church (Emily was SO AMAZING ive never met someone who was my age and sang opera so well...), some guy played bohemian rhapsody on the piano and the entire room sang it, apparently we are a professional choir because it sounded really good. Then Alex from GB played piano, a great piece called Samba, and then one could black and white (keys?) by chopin which was excellent. Then there was a stand up comedy act, a camp skit called "candy shop" which i was fortunate enough to be called on for (I was a lamp that when my nose was pushed turned on and said "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" like that ahhh you make when something slightly holy happens halleluja light beams down from the heavens kind of ahhhh, and when turned off went "wwwwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaoooooow". Turns out they didnt need people to get up and play the role of candy because we were all the "suckers" hardy har har. I felt like a kitten who has just gotten sprayed in the face with water. sigh. There was also a bayerish german lesson and berlinerish lesson, a song by myself and two others called "das alles ist deutschland" by the Prinzen, and then also a girl from GB got up and played guitar, her name is emma greenfield (www.myspace.com/emmagreenfieldmusic) and was soooooo goood! I fell in love instantly. It was really an excellent evening. We had some beer afterward and I opened up about the past few months of life to my friend Kyle and a bit to Jeff and Emily C. All in all, a great first few days in Germany. Plus, I got to smell cow manure whilst listening to the most beautiful and POWERFUL church organ ever (not really) but it was great, and very hypnotising. a touche and a well done to the catholic church i must say. It was sad to leave everyone but luckily some are in Hamburg who I got close to, and Annalise is in the school right next to mine. Now....off to teach.

Much love, namaste, and forests of peace,
Shim

German Madness

So, after what seems like a very short summer, I find myself in Germany for the second time. Richy helped me pack and move and drove me to the airport. We left wednesday night and went to a club in North hampton, MA and then drove to his sisters house in Connecticut where we stayed two nights. They were all great and took me to a casino for the first time. Let me tell you, I had such a great time! Mohegan Sun looks so cool inside its like a gigantic indian mimd-west forest/mountain range park thing with thousands of stores, beautiful restaurants and decor hidden in peaks of fake mountains, a roof made of shining stars, everything. Even at 12am there were thousands of people happily playing slots and consuming their FREE alcoholic beverages! We sat down, put twenty bucks in right away together, and won $100. They gave me twenty bucks and I played the whole night. I cant wait to go back one day. Rich and I drove the next day to Adelphi on Long Island to finalize my thesis/transcript/degree and to say goodbye. Katie L. came with her son Kai and Mother (even though she didnt have to teach that day) to say goodbye, and I might see her in Berlin in a few weeks. She was a wonderful and inspiring teacher and now a great friend. I visited some friends and talked with Prof. Russell a bit, I told him about working at the wildlife sanctuary and he was happy that I got to spend some time connecting with nature and building within children a love for the environment at the same time. It has been the best job I have ever had even though, in terms of money, it paid little, but who am I to complain about that. We went out Friday night to a lounge and Simma met us there after work, man I love that woman! Saturday I visited Matt at Hofstra to wish him well and went to the city with Rich to see Avenue Q. That was an excellent show and rediculously funny (my favorite was Trekkie Monster haha) "....For Porn!" lol. Then we went to see Bently kick butt in Softball and walked almost the entire length of central park (it was very beautiful out). Then we went to Tsampa, my fave restaurant on E9th street and I introduced Texas (who I havent seen in FOREVER and missed very much), chris, katie, desi, avi, and rich to Tibetan food. We were off to the Belgian Beer tavern afterwards but couldnt find it and ended up in a Hookah Bar (shisha bar auf deutsch) somewhere where Rick, Joshau, and Simma met up with us. I love those bars, its such a relaxing place to talk with friends. Some of us went out dancing later, which reminds me that I got to see Peter for the first time in some time which was very nice. I got ot JFK on Sunday around 430pm and checked in with relatively little difficulty, had to pay around $50 bucks more for luggage however. The attendant was this really nice Indian guy and talked to me forever while there were hundreds of people waiting behind me, but haha whatever. He gave me a better seat so there. It was a brand new Lufthansa plane, but I didnt like it as much because you didnt each get your own personal TV to watch whatever movie you wanted like most other international airlines. Dafuer I had to watch Mr. Bean goes on vacation or something brainless like that, and by watch I mean sleep through. I got to Munich with only 15 minutes to spare to go through Passport control and get on my connecting flight. I made it, but there was a small mix up. First off my luggage didnt make it...it walked to slow and I couldnt wait for it to catch up to me so it took some other flight and made it to me two days later, needless to say I smelt really good (but that didnt matter much because it smelt like manure outside anyway, so no one really noticed). So I was walking along, I saw the Lufthansa plane in front of me and said ok good its a nice big one. A few minutes later I find myself alone staring about 20 Lufthansa employees in the face on a bus. I look over my shoulder and wonder "hmmm...now how could I have missed the terminal entrance for the plane...geegolly" so i gave them a polite "dont ask" smile, turned around and proceeded to walk back to the gate entrance. I happened to run into a late Lufthansa employer and she gave me the "what the hell are you doing going backwards down a gate" look that most would give in similar situations...or maybe its just a german thing. Eitherway, she politely told me the proper way to get to the Flieger and I followed her back onto that bus full of Lufthansa employees (hey, if you saw them all staring at you, was so exhausted that you had no bock left to speak german and explain your quizzical look, you would have assumed you went the wrong way too and that it was odd to take a bus to a plane through the gate...). Needless to say I made it on the right plane, got to Koeln, had to utilize my mad german skills to negotiate deals with Lufthansa baggage claim people to get my luggage to the next town over where my orientation was, explaining to them the urgency of my situation and that my life was in those bags, literally. Its funny, you go abroad, they see your American passport, and you start talking to them in their language and they automatcially start using English! For those of you who dont know, I dont really have a strong american accent when I speak german, but for some reason they pretended not to understand me and proceeded to speak english...gah. So i arrive in cologne, buy a BahnCard and ticket to Tostedt, and then, lo and behold run into a STARBUCKS!!!!! the disease of the world coupled with mcdonalds and walmart! so what do I do? I get thrilled and skip inside to order a chai with soy...i start ordering it in german, but ive ordered starbucks so many times that when i get to the "starbucks language portion" of the order, I start to speak Starbucks...and that fully confused the girl and so she immediately spoke Denglish to me making sure I knew what I was doing....again...::smacks palm against forehead::. I sat on the steps of the Koelner Dom, took a pic of myself which ill post later, avoided the skinhead group to the upper right corner, and stared at the hundreds of americans gathering with their luggage, pretending not to be one of them because I wasnt feeling particularly social at the time and didnt have my luggage so I could blend in(regardless of the fact I was wearing my billabong tshirt and Kirra baggy sweatshorts...very euro). eventually I scooched over and introduced myself. I met this cool cat named sebastian and we got up to break the ice by having a Bit (typical Koelner bier) or two (and lets just say it moved the conversation/friend making process along very well) Ill never forget walking into the bathroom and discovering to my utmost joy that germans sold for a euro from a vending machine condoms and TravelP _ _ _ _ (insert vulgar word, also another word for a cat). That made for good beer conversation. and many laughs. Voila, my first few hours in Germany.