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A couple of days ago my group woke up early to go to our "practice school". Here are some pictures of the garden of the school.
The courtyard.
We prepared a lesson the day before during our orientation class, where we decided to play a game with them to get them willing to speak english and then break up into groups and discuss stereotypes they had about Britain and America (since there were british and american TAs in our group). We got there about 7:15 and then went to the Teachers room. It was a set of 4 long tables, each teacher having their own chair and piece of the table, so it was kind of crowded. The school had about 600 students from Kindergarten to the last class, which is about 18-19 year olds. I think this is kind of unusual. We watched one english class which was their 2nd year of english, about 12 years old. The teacher introduced us and had the students asked us questions, like How old are you? Where are you from? They also prayed to a cross on the wall saying the "our Father" prayer in english. The students looked to us to see if we were praying along, which none of us were, which was kind of awkward. They were working in their textbook the whole period (about 50 min) learning irregular past tense verbs, and reviewing the simple past in english. They also listened to the "Don't know much about History..." song, and the teacher encouraged us to sing along. It was fun and the teacher kept their attention really well. Interestingly when a student gets an answer wrong its not uncommon for other students (especially the ones in the front row) to be like "NO NO NO" and raise their hand enthusiastically saying "Ich weiß ich weiß! I know i Know!" One mistake they tended to make was saying past tenses like "learned" as learn-ed and "read" like the present tense to read.
We then got the chance to teach our own class, which was the 5th class, but they were actually in their 6th year repeating all their 5th year classes. THere were a couple of rowdy boys in the class that settled down when we got into groups. I have to pretend I don't know german so that they will try to say everything in english. some of the stereotypes they had of america were that we all drank starbucks, ate fast food, were fat, and didn't like public nakedness. They got off topic after a while and one student kept asking me random questions like do you have a ps3? have you saw the superbowl? when i was trying to ask the girls on my right to explain when they say the Austrian Hymn (their countries' song) the boy on my left had cut off a piece of one of the girls' hair. Not much just a little whisp. But i was like NO! and took it away. Austrian students can be kind of rowdy and unwieldy. But I had fun and i think it will only get better when I learn to create better lesson plans to keep them engaged and get to know my students. I also learned a bit of Austrian german from them. In high german (what we learn in school) to say "I dont know" you would say "Das weiß ich nicht" but in Austrian german it is pronounced like "Dass wohs ich net."
We came back to the castle for lunch, which was once again really gourmet and special. Then went to meet with the Fulbright Commission representatives who went through the legal issues we have to do when we are here. I asked Anita (the coordinater) whether I could move to Leipzig and get my Aufenhaltstitel there. She said that would be a big problem since all the paperwork is already here in Graz, that I should go talk to the Graz Meldeamt and tell them my story and see what they say. She said that for them to send the materials over the Leipzig and have everything checked again would take a month probably, and therefore I wouldnt be able to register with the Austrian school board and therefore wouldnt get paid until December. She said maybe I could just have a teacher sign my Graz Meldezettel and turn that in and move later, but this seemed so roundabout and even if I did, where would I stay? I felt a bit disoriented, especially when she talked about how we need an address to turn in our Meldezettel, get our Residency Permit, open a Bank Account, and register with the schoolboard. Also without the Residency Permit, I cannot work legally with the school. After the talk, I kind of broke down. Not only did I not want to live in Graz, but in another city whcih I didnt have the papers for, but this seemed so hard to do, nor did i have a house in either city arranged, nor had my school teacher replied to my email yet. I started crying and that was a little embarassing, but my orientation teacher Otto, saw me and offered me to live in an apartment he owns in Graz that is near Jakominiplatz for as long or as short as I want to. This was extremely helpful and nice of him and I am going to go see the apartment today.
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Just saw the apartment, it was really cute. I have my own room with 2 windows, a bed, desk and closet. There is a small kitchen attached with a stovetop and refrigerator and sink. Seems like all I need! I share a bathroom with Otto's sister who is away for 2 weeks, so I will get to meet her then. Bettina (Otto's niece) still has all her stuff in the apartment but she will move it all out when she gets back from Salzburg. I can hopefully move in on Tuesday. For now I am staying in some hotels, as I am too wimpy to try out couchsurfing.com. Has anyone used this service with success? To get hot water for the shower i have to turn on a boiler for a couple of hours, which I find kinda cute actually. It'll be nice to settle in to a place of my own. I kind of wish that I was living with some Austrians, but I will do my best to get to know the Music students and Otto's sister who live in the same 200 year old building, which Ottos grandfather lived in. There is a farmers market right across from my apartment and also the Music university, which is nice that I am around lots of other students. There is also a Jazz club nearby which I am excited to check out. I still have my heart on living in nature though... :)
I went to the Meldeamt right after I met with Otto, who signed my Meldezettel. The office was kind of hard to find, but once I got their they dealt with me quite promptly. They told me where the other bulding was where I needed to pick up my Aufenhaltstitel which was about a 30 min walk away. "Viel lauferei" the woman said to me, which just means a lot of "laufen" (walking). I like that construction. I got a bit sidetracked in a market happening in the Hauptplatz. I saw some Austrian traditional music (brass, string, & accordian) being played by men and women in traditional austrian dress (lederhosen and dirndls) and then got a piece of bread with some pumpkin seed spread on it. By the time I got to the office it was closed. It is only open from 8-12:30 apparently, monday thru friday. I have to be at school all morning monday, so hopefully I can find time on tuesday or wednesday to pick it up. I need it to open a bank account.
I came back to the convent and said goodbye to the Nuns who were around and then walked with my stuff to a hotel. I got some bread and cheese and snacks and ate a bit. At night I went for a walk through the Volkspark which was a nice little stroll and then out to a bar called "Exil" where they had some chill music playing from a vinyl player in the front. I got a "Gösser" which is the local beer which was quite delicious and read some stuff I picked up at the local Art Museum, which is a really strange looking building they call the "friendly alien". There weren't too many people at the bar which was nice, somehow I was the only girl though. I didn't really feel like going to sit at tables with some random guys so I left after my beer and walked back to the hotel. At night I watched Star Wars in German!! The best part was Darth Vader saying "Obiwan ist hier. Der Macht ist mit ihm." It was great. I also watched some Austrian news. They have a lot of really shitty talk shows too.
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This morning I woke up and packed up my stuff to go to another hotel just a few doors down (I'm moving because it's cheaper.) I walked around passing through the same market area where today they had some traditional austrian dancers from Tirol.
Instead of saying "tanz" (dance) they pronounced it more like "tohnz". I saw a lot of lederhosen today actually. Usually I see at least one person wearing lederhosen per day, dirndls are more rare. It's always interesting to see them, cuz they stand out so much and they are so cute! I walked to another park which was the nicest one ive been to so far. It had a lot of cool play things for kids. It is south of the city center about 5 or 10 min but the amount of people there was soooo few. I guess everyone just clusters in the center. I walked over to the Museum der Wahrnehmung which is supposedly a visual illusion type museum but it was closed until 2. I walked around some more along the river until i got quite tired and came back to the hotel. I actually really enjoy having access to a tv here because I can practice my german and also I am learning things. For example, I watched a History program today about the fall of the berlin wall and the reunification of Germany. Today is the anniversary of the "Wiederverinigung" (reunification) in Germany. It occured October 3 1990, which isn't so long ago. It's pretty amazing.
Anyways I am feeling more comfortable with the city and thus more comfortable talking to people. The weathers been great (other than a bit of rain the other day) and i love being around German and the Austrian dialect.
Love the great stories, Ashley! Thanks for all of the details...I'm glad you have found and like your apt!
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