School Daze, Crazy Daze

Instead of following around just one teacher I get to work with about six, which is awesome considering I get exposure to different age groups, teachers and students. It's a lot to take in though and today was definitely a ringer.

The teacher I had four out of my five classes today was home sick and I didn't know what to do. There are no substitute teachers here-- the school manages everyone's schedule so that if one teacher is gone another takes his/her place (which means he/she loses a planning period). But for the first double lesson there were no other teachers available, just the principle. So he came to the class, saw me there, and after talking I told him I would take care of it. This is the first class of the semester for these students and the teacher left no material or notes.

Big breath.

So I started talking about the first thing that came to mind, purposefully ignorning the fact the head of the school was sitting in the back of the room. We talked about downloading music and movies from the Internet and whether YouTube was "fair" to actors and producers, we talked about the upcoming Karneval, "race" issues in Cologne (such as the high number of Turkish immigrants and how students relate that to Turkey being let into the EU), issues in the school students would like to change (after principle left 30 minutes later), high school sports, football clubs, American schools, drinking laws and teenagers.....lots and lots of things.

The principle came up to my CT later and said he was very impressed with how I got the students talking, which made me smile the rest of the day. Even after I had the Class From Hell.

The Class From Hell is a 10th grade English class. I was really on my own this time and conversation was becoming a non-option quickly. Kids were throwing fruit at each other, listening to weird German techno, screaming, dancing on desks (to aformentioned music) and all kinds of other bad behavior. I could tell they were just testing me, so all I did was sit there. Not talking, just sitting there. Smiling. I can handle these kids and stuff like this isn't going to scare me away. Dance all you want, just don't hit someone in the eye with an apple. Have you heard of the Ying Yang Twins? Yes. Do you like Rap music? No. You want to know my first name? Karen. That's a jew name, right?

I'm sorry. What did you say?

Karen. It's Jewish, right?

So skipping over that remark I'm going to focus on behavior instead of words. I won't mention the cussing to the teacher, nor the Jew remark (because in all honesty the kid that said it was the sole person actually talking to me). Definitely an interesting class and the rest of the day passed in the same manner-- me just talking with students while sitting there watching them be teenagers.

Enough of school though. Went shopping for a Karneval costume an hour ago and you wouldn't believe how seriously people take their outfits. It really is like Halloween but...weirder. More "funny" outfits than scary. Cowboys seem to be popular this year, along with pirates and witches. I think I am going to buy a wig-- just don't know what color yet.

Went out with Karo yesterday and ate at Chang Buffet, which wasn't that bad considering it's Chinese food in Germany. Diane and I are getting along really well now and even though we can't talk much we laugh a lot (mainly at stupid things I do). Shopping with her tonight for costumes was good bonding time. She suggested that I wear a feather-covered bra while I told her to buy a skimpy nurse's uniform. We're still laughing at the image of a man trying on a 70's Go-Go outfit (made for a girl, mind you).