New Experiences

The end of studendom

2008-06-16T12:59:00.003Z

So I should have realised as I wrote my last post about doing a PGCE that I wouldn't blog til the next year! I can't believe it, but I finish the course on Friday. It's been an interesting year - people keep asking me if I've enjoyed it, but I'm not sure that you're meant to enjoy the PGCE. I've survived, and there were bits that I didn't hate, so I think that's quite positive!
I've got a job starting in September at a school out by the coast. It's nice to be staying in the North East, but I'm a bit scared about this whole work thing. I like being a student, although this year has been a bit of a transition to adult working life (it's awful when you consider going into uni for 9am a lie-in). So now I have to pay income tax, national insurance, council tax, I have pay for all the things that go along with having a car, I need home contents insurance...the list goes on and on. I never realised how expensive it would be to have a job. Still, it'll be nice to introduce myself as a teacher, rather than as a student.

Teaching

2007-10-10T18:07:00.001Z

How scary is it that I'm going to be a teacher?!
The PGCE seems to be going well, although I haven't actually done any teaching yet so that might change! It is a lot of work but at the minute it's manageable and I'm enjoying it which always helps. I've been placed in a really nice school, with a great mentor who has helped me loads. I'm nervous about having to get up in front of a class but part of me can't wait to just get that first lesson over and done with! If you're in the habit of talking to God, I would appreciate a bit of prayer for my lesson tomorrow in which I have to do a vocab test with my Year 9s. Not the most awful thing in the world to do but this will be the first time I'm up at the front of their classroom so a bit of prayer wouldn't go amiss. (it's at about 1.20) Next week I have to teach a full lesson to my Year 10 class - it'll be a revision lesson (also at 1.20) so please pray that I'll prepare properly for them ,but that I won't spend every waking moment thinking about it! Not that I'm likely too, but just incase!

Summer continued

2007-09-28T22:04:00.000Z

So we arrived home from China, a bit sad, but ready to start our next summer adventure! After sorting out dad's luggage (which didn't make it from China, in fact hadn't even been put on the plane in China!) we headed north to Stirling for the wedding of a friend who lived across the street from us when we were growing up. Suzanne and Mike came back for the wedding so we had some extra time with them which was great.

Next up we went to the lakes for a week. My aunt and uncle have a cottage there which they kindly agreed to let us use. The five of us had a great time and Mike's mum and gran were able to come and join us for a couple of days. We even had nice enough weather to have a BBQ!

After the lakes, Suzanne and Mike went back to Manchester, mum and dad headed home to NI and I made my way across to Newcastle for Liz and Harry's wedding! It was really beautiful, quite traditional, and relaxed.

Then it was home to do nothing for a few days before Rose came to stay (sorry no photos yet - updated when I steal Rose's!), and then Phil and I headed off to Scotland to visit her mum (we went to the rare breeds farm, hence the second photo).

And I think that was it! I'm now back in Newcastle doing my PGCE (Secondary German and French) and I think it's going ok! More about that in a later post. We've had our church weekend away which was physically exhausting but mentally/spiritually refreshing, and I'm due to start playing hockey again this weekend - I can hear my muscles screaming in protest already!

Holidays

2007-09-25T20:13:00.000Z

Wow, it's been a while since I posted anything. Summer was hectic but fun. Here's a snapshot of what I got up to:

1. Graduation 12/7/07

We had a fun day; the ceremony was traditional but relaxed. My Pop (granddad) made it over for the day which was great, and I particularly loved swooping around in my gown!

Being hooded as part of the ceremony

With the folks

With Auntie Sue (who lives in Ncl) and Pop (who is not Ian McKellan, as some others have thought!)

Not much explanation needed really!

2. Then we went off to China to visit my sister (Suzanne) and her boyfriend (Mike) who live there. We had an amazing time - didn't do a whole lot apart from chill out, catch up and a bit of culture (ha, 3 alliterated points - I should be a minister!)

The Wall:

Hong Kong and Macau - we went for a week of ultimate relaxing (and even shared a hotel with some premiership football players!):

Hong Kong Conference Centre - our hotel was right behind this so we had a great view :)

Lawrie Sanchez - former Northern Ireland Football Manager, now manager of Fulham - at our pool!

Reading Harry Potter by the pool in Macau - it was tough

Our hotel in Macau - view from my lounger

Visiting the casinos......but only for dinner!

Random selection:

In Tiananmen Square

View down from Suzanne's 31st floor apartment. Bottom right, if you can make it out, that's my parents sitting in the garden swing!

Church! Beijing International Christian Fellowship to be precise. Foreign Passport Holders only

Ok, that's all for now - will finish the rest of the summer in the next post :)

Travelling home

2007-06-14T20:47:00.000Z

I would like to tell you a story of my travelling adventures yesterday:

I left my house in Fenham at 11.45, caught the bus to Central Station and then the metro to the airport, panicking at South Gosforth when it changed drivers and we had to sit and wait for that. But I arrived at the airport with more time to spare than usual and after checking in and dropping my guitar case at outsize luggage, proceeded through security, only to be told that our flight was delayed an hour. That's our Easyjet flight, just to be clear. So I bought some food, and thought that at least it wasn't a five hour delay. Then they told us it would be another half hour. I started to worry. Eventually they called us down to the gate, where we then sat for another half an hour as the flight hadn't actually arrived. Finally, an hour after we should have arrived in Belfast, we were boarding the plane. We finally arrived in Belfast, and I have never been so glad to see rainy Northern Ireland.
However, the saga did not stop there. Up to this point it hadn't really been a big deal, I mean, getting delayed is an inevitable part of having to travel. It was just ironic as the day before I'd been having a flybe/easyjet debate with Mr D from church (for the start of this, see here) who had had some issues with flybe on a recent trip to Southhampton. On arriving in Belfast, I discovered that my guitar hadn't quite made it from Newcastle (thankfully it wasn't my new beautiful guitar). I suppose I should be understanding I mean, Newcastle's such a huge airport...no wait, that's not right. Yes, but I arrived at the airport with only minutes to spare until the plane left...no wait, that's not right either. I hadn't checked on an extra bag when booking my flights...no, I paid £5 extra when booking to make sure I could bring it. I think you know where this is heading.
I.do.not.like.easyjet. OK, granted, it's not really based on the fact that I was delayed or that my bag didn't make it , I just don't like it that they won't assign seat numbers! It's the weirdest system ever! Does it save time? no. Does it save money? no. Is assigning a seat difficult to do? no. Does it mean that if you travel in a group you have to arrive about 5 hours before the plane's due to leave just to make sure you get seats together, but then might still be assigned a lower boarding group and not get seats together because every other group has thought of the same thing? Yes!

Well, my guitar arrived today, so no major damage done. Just thought I'd give you all a laugh, you especially Mr D :)

Finished

2007-06-07T17:07:00.001Z

It's over! I did my last exam today and it feels....weird! It's bizarre that I don't have anything to do, no theorems to remember, no lists of vocab to learn. I'm exhausted - it feels a bit like suffering from jet lag. I keep wanting to go to sleep and I keep having to make myself stay awake until later tonight!

I've got a great night of celebration planned. First, ER at 9, then Big Brother with Becky at 10, then all-new Grey's at 11 - nice :) Then tomorrow it's out to do some exercise because it feels like all I've done for the past 4 weeks is sit at a desk and eat chocolate biscuits.

On sadder note, Sim left today and so The Plan is no more. Although, technically, I say it's not over until he gets married at the end of June, but it's still sad that we're all going our separate ways. This has been a good year - good housemates, good church, good classes (mostly), good plan for my life...:)

Music Practice

2007-05-30T18:00:00.000Z

So, following a number of house groups (particularly the sessions on the book "If you want to walk on water you've got to get out of the boat" and 40 days of community) where I felt that my lack of confidence shouldn't be stopping me serving, I plucked up the courage to volunteer to play in the music group at church for the Sunday services. I went along last night to the practice, just to see what it was like and start to learn how to play with other people, and somehow it finished with me agreeing to play on Sunday! Not quite sure how that happened!

I was really nervous before going and pretty much the whole way through, but it was so fun playing with everyone! There were some things I was a bit unsure of but there are other guitars too so I can just hide behind them a bit if I'm not sure!

Just for fun, here's a pic of my beautiful guitar which I fell in love with the moment Sim pointed it out in the shop:

2 down, 2 to go

2007-05-25T21:13:00.000Z

Ha! Well, it went ok today thankfully! So much for the lecturer saying "it'll not be like last year's paper because the dept has a policy where the paper's got to be 80% different from the year before". It worries me that this is the Maths dept and they aren't aware of what 80% means. I do believe the paper was remarkably similar to last year's.......thank goodness.

PS. If you're wondering about the title of the post, it's ok, I can count - I had French on Wednesday so didn't mention it in the last post :)

Exams

2007-05-24T22:35:00.000Z

So, it's that time of year again, the time that every student dreads, this one being no exception. But I've had a couple of reminders today that I'm not going through these exams alone, that even when I sit for 3 hours, staring at a couple of sheets of paper, trying to commit the funny shapes and squiggles to memory, and feeling like I'll never manage it in time, it's ok because God's already seen the paper, He's seen my results, He's planned my future...oh yeah, and He created this system that we call mathematics. If you're so inclined, a little prayer would be great. Here are the dates of my exams:

Maths: Fri 25th May, 2pm
German: Monday 4th June, 9.30am
Maths: Thursday 7th June, 9.30am.

Thanks :)

Essentials for writing a dissertation

2007-05-15T18:15:00.000Z

- an interesting topic which you continue to narrow down until the week before submission date
and which ends up being nothing like what you had planned to write about

- a parent or other loving relative willing to listen while you talk at them

- a knowledgeable flatmate to quiz about how to reference properly

- a supply of box sets - motivate yourself and reward your hard work by watching an episode (or 3) in the evenings (we heartily recommend "The West Wing")

- a library buddy

- CHOCOLATE

- the ability to cut out 2500 words in 2 days (and a kind next door neighbour to read it through and make sure it still makes sense)

- a good selection of music (which should include Casting Crowns and Take That)

- a flatmate who'll make you copious amounts of tea

- a clear route to the bathroom

- prayer

One last point: it is inadvisable to have flatmates serenade you on two guitars with 2 different songs while you're trying to write your final sentence.

Holidays

2007-04-30T18:17:00.000Z

Just back to uni after the Easter holidays and am feeling surprisingly well rested. We went to the mountains for a few days to relax and it was beautiful. Here's the view from our road:

Back in the city I spent lots of time with church friends, namely William and Paul, and also Richard and Deborah. Most of our evening together were spent playing Uno Extreme (culminating in Ultimate Uno Extreme, where you deal pretty much half the pack) and it was so much fun.

Over Easter I went to Edinburgh for Chris and Mairi's wedding. These are two of our uni friends, and it was an absolutely wonderful day. We were so pleased to see them get married, but it was kinda weird too! We spent the day, from the moment Mairi started to walk down the aisle until the ceilidh ended in the evening, going "awwh", "that's so lovely" "they look beautiful", "I'm so happy" and other such sentiments. It was great having so many uni friends all together, especially ones who have moved away from Newcastle :)

We had the chance to do a bit of sightseeing around Edinburgh the following day but due to the late night ceilidh dancing we spent most of the afternoon in a coffee shop!

Back at home and work began on my dissertation , a draft of which I had to get to my supervisor before going back to Newcastle. Thanks to Amazon for finally sending my books and to mum for allowing me to talk it all out with her - I think by this stage she could probably write it for me! It got written (eventually) and I'm waiting for word of how it has been received.

So I'm back in Newcastle and it has taken me the longest time to settle back in which hasn't happened in a long time. But then I went to church yesterday and now I feel much better. When I go to church here I feel like I'm coming home, which is a strange feeling in Newcastle, but a welcome one. I was taking Young Church, which is like Sunday School during the service. I work with the 11-14s and yesterday we were learning about the things that we do that keep us from coming to God, and how Jesus has broken down all the barriers between us and him. It was really cool and fun, and I really enjoyed being reminded of the lesson too.

Places I've Been

2007-03-10T23:30:00.000Z

This is a map of all the places I've been. Not that extensive yet,
but I'm working on it! I'm discovering you can find pretty much
anything on the internet and that the internet will do pretty
much anything for you!

create your own visited country map

Birthday

2007-02-27T00:26:00.000Z

Well, another 22 February has come and gone - sigh. This year I celebrated by going out for a pub lunch with Matt, Sim and Katie on Thursday. We had lots of fun and I LOVED the stripey paper they had used to wrap my presents :) (A flexible cake tin, a stripey jumper and a CD with songs from different musicals)

Thursday afternoon I chatted to Sara-Louise who had lovingly house-sat for me so as not to miss the delivery from mum and dad (from Tesco - chocolate cheesecake, cream, wine, chocolate - YUM!). We spent the evening with Becky and Emma from next door - we played Triominos and guess-who-you-are (ie, guess the name that's written on the bit of paper stuck to your forehead).

On Saturday night we had people over for a bit of a party (a small one). Everyone had to wear one stripey thing, resulting in Matt showing off the latest fashion of skirt-ponchos and Pete going all out on his shoes!

What Lynne Means

2007-02-12T00:13:00.000Z

Ok, I totally stole this from Beth but she's just so darn technologically wonderful and it kept me away from working for a while so it's gotta be good!

What Lynne Means

L is for Likeable

Y is for Yummy

N is for Neglected

N is for Nice

E is for Extraordinary

What Does Your Name Mean?

New Semester

2007-02-01T23:22:00.000Z

It feels good to get exams over and done with. The new semester is going well, although I haven't quite got back into the way of working again. It feels weird to still be seeing people for the first time since before Christmas, but with exams, everyone's holed up in their room or in the library working, so this is the first time most people have seen the light of day!

All the flatmates are going away this weekend - Matt and Katie to NSC (Apage student conference) and Sim to Peterbrough - so I'm heading to Leeds for a couple of days to visit Helen. I'm looking forward to catching up with her and seeing Leeds for the first time.
I had a really fun time over Christmas, despite Dad not being well the first week and me having to write essays (yuk). It was great when Suzanne and Mike were home, I miss not having them around. I don't realise how much I miss them until I see them! We had a really chilled holiday together. In Newcastle we had secret(ish) santa in our house - I was very excited cos I got the new Superman DVD (from Katie):

(I love Superman - especially when Dean Cain played him in The New Adventures of Superman - yum)!

Next week I've got an interview for the PGCE course (teacher training) I would like to do in Newcastle next year. The interview'll last all day and I'm kinda nervous!

Returning to all things student-like

2006-10-07T19:14:00.000Z

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the planet, but I have found my way back to Newcastle for my final year of studying. After Germany I spent four fabulous months in Benin, West Africa, practicing my French. I had a really great time there, improving not only my French, but my knowledge of all things American. Although, I feel I still have a way to go! So now I'm back in Newcastle. And how is it? Well, I have the craziest timetable ever, and so much work you can't imagine, but it's fun to be back, to see all my lovely friends and catch up on all I've missed in the past year. My house is MAD - I live with 3 of my friends from the Christian Union and all we've done since arriving is laugh! We're having lots of fun! It's been great getting back to CU, although I feel decidedly past it, and they're doing really excellent things this year, so I'm excited. Ok, I've run out of positive adjectives so I'm gonna stop.
Here's some photos of my crazy, but lovely housemates:

Here we are in our snazzy African-print-and-made-by-Hermine PJs.

Matt and Sim lovingly reassembling my desk for me, while Lisa (Sim's fiancee) looks on and Jada (Lisa's daughter) helps!

Katie and I are so street!

Matt and Sim's birthdays were in the summer so here we are celebrating their official birthday. Well, if the Queen can have two.....

We bought Sim a yellow mini money box cos he's got to save for his wedding, and we bought the two of them NYPD T-shirts (as modelled by Matt in the background).

For those who want to speak proper like

2006-02-10T11:53:00.000Z

The lovely Katie emailed me the following link:
http://www.speaknorniron.8m.net/index.htm
It seriously brightened my day and had me giggling away in the corner of the computer room. I think you'll all appreciate it!
I also think this shows that Katie is slowly coming round to the ways of the Northern Irish - in no time she'll be facing facts and admitting that CS Lewis is from Ireland, and in particular from Belfast!

2006-02-08T13:03:00.000Z

Here, as promised, are some pretty skiing pics:

The little cabin on the right is where we had our lunch - it was really cute!

Happy February!

2006-02-01T10:06:00.000Z

May I wish you all a hearty welcome into what, I think you'll agree, is the most wonderfulest of months, and remind you that the most wonderfulest day in this Month of the Year takes place in exactly 3 weeks from today! But I'm sure you all are completely clued in (about this at least) so in the immortal words of Forrest Gump, that's all I have to say about that :) (for now).

Weekend activities

2006-01-30T13:40:00.000Z

A couple of weekends ago all of the Newcastle language students who are on their year abroad in Germany met up for a weekend in the lovely city of Bamberg in Bavaria. Quite handy for me as it's only 3 hours away from here but not so for those in the north, some of whom travelled 6-8 hours to get there! We had a great time and it was fun catching up with everyone. This year has been really good at helping me get to know the other people on my course :)

Last weekend I went skiing with one of the teachers from school and her husband, and it was FAB! We went cross-country skiing which, at first, I was a bit bummed about cos I really wanted to try downhill but we had so much fun! We went to a place called Schöneck which translates as Beautiful Corner, and it really was! It was so stunning, like a winter wonderland! (pictures to follow next post) I managed to only fall twice - a case of crossed skies on both occasions - but i thought that was ok for a first attempt! And I learnt a new word, Muskelkater, cos I was seriously suffering from it the following day! (translation: aches and pains in the muscles!)

On Saturday we had an open day here at school for both primary school pupils and families of existing pupils to come and look around. It was a bit manic! I was dancing with the dance group (country and western style, complete with hats), and my 10th graders from the english club did an english play, and they were great!

Christmas continues

2006-01-10T14:31:00.000Z

Christmas has been and gone, New Year has done likewise, and it's been a week since I arrived back in Glauchau. I had such a fab at home over the holidays and it was weird to be back in Germany at first, but now it feels like I've been here forever! Last week I taught a lesson on Ireland to a class I'd never met before and this week I'm teaching them Irish Dancing! and yes, this class does incluude 10 15 year old boys - watch this space! On Sunday I went with Frau Stoll and her family to Seiffen, which is the cutest town I've seen! It's in the mountains and is really famous for Christmassy things! A lot of decorations are made there, and during Advent it has a popular Christmas market. We had such a nice afternoon but the best bit was when it was getting dark, all the lights in the town came on, all the Christmas decorations were still up and there was a whole lot of snow on the ground - it was so pretty!
Actually, the Christmas decorations here in Glauchau are only just being taken down today, and some houses near me still have theirs up! Christmas lasts a long time here! I don't think i put it in the last post but if you ask a German what date Christmas is on they'll say 24th December as they celebrate it on our Christmas Eve! I didn't know that before but they get to open their presents a day before us!

Christmas lights!

2005-12-10T17:07:00.000Z

Christmas is definitely coming! The time before Christmas is definitely celebrated more than Christmas itself here. All the decorations around town and in people's houses went up on the first of advent and they're all white! It's very weird but the light on the trees or round windows are all 1 colour and that's usually white! It's really pretty but not so colourful! So I decided to add some colour to our building and bought some multicoloured lights for my window. My flatmates came home from lectures to find me stressing out cos I didn't have enough cellotape to keep the lights up! But the lovely girls came to my rescue and now my room is particularly Christmassy (there were so many lights that they go round my window and then round my shelves!)!

Travels and teaching

2005-11-24T11:28:00.000Z

Well, since you last heard from me I've been to the UK and back! I had a weekend in Scotland with all my lovely friends from CU at uni, and although not much sleep was had, I loved every minute of it! I think I'd forgotten how much God has blessed me with friends at uni - it just felt so natural and easy to chat with them, even about the silliest things! The weekend was filled with teaching, singing, hugs, catching up, pirates, drama, mud, and much much more! I also got a chance to see Em, Katrina and Becky who I lived with last year which was fab :) But, all good things and all that, so Monday saw me and Sim leaving Newcastle heading south for Peterbrough where I saw Sim's lovely flat before making him get up at 5 on Tuesday morning to take me to the airport - thanks Sim, you're a legend! Thankfully I managed not to cry my way back to Germany and once here, Ramona came to collect me - yey! It's really nice to be back but I still miss everyone loads. Thanks guys for a great weekend, for remembering who I was, for giving me a bed, and for listening :)

16th November was Buß- and Bettag here which is a public holiday to do with forgiveness I think! Haven't quite worked it out yet! But i spent the day at a teacher's house baking for Christmas (oh my goodness, they have such yummy food here!) and playing the Disney equivalent of Trivial Persuit (I won!). Since then it's been back to porridge - I'm really enjoying the extra-curricular English class with some of the Klass 10s (7 of them to be precise). We chat and play games and it's really relaxed. My teaching is coming along slowly althought there are times I find myself standing in front of a class thinking "what on earth am I doing here?"! Today someone asked me to explain the difference between using "will" and "going to" in the future tense...I had no idea! But I quickly grabbed my grammar book and gave them a brief run down and a few examples - I'm learning so much!

Second week

2005-11-11T11:24:00.000Z

Monday and Tuesday of the second week were devoted to the English Camp at school. The English department is planning to run an English club one day a week for primary school kids, so they invited Class 3 students from the primary schools in the area to come to the school for a couple of days to try and encourage them to come to the English club. We had so much fun these 2 days - the first day we did classroom words so we sang songs, made pen-toppers and played lots of silly games. The second day was food which included a huge pumpkin sitting in the middle of the desk all day! We also made toasties (some of which had spaghetti in them - weird!) and banana smoothies. The kids had a ball, and I hope they'll all come to the club.
Wednesday morning saw me and Jos on a train bound for Hamburg. We went to visit the city and stayed with a couple of language assistants there who go to Newcastle Uni. Hamburg is such a lovely city and we managed to fit in loads while we were there, including a tour of the Rathaus (town hall), an organ recital and a trip in a tiny lift to a viewing gallery at the top of a church with fabulous views of the city. On Friday night we said our goodbyes and headed across to Berlin as mum and dad were arriving on the Saturday and I figured I really should be there to meet them! Berlin is an amazing place and if you ever get the chance, or have a spare weekend, GO!! The highlight was probably the 3 and a half hour (english) walking tour we did - it was so interesting and I really enjoyed seeing all the things that I've only ever read about in books. I was just overwhelmed by the amount of history there is and how almost everything has been remembered in some way, though a monument, a museum, or in the case of the wall, actual sections still standing. Seriously, go visit.
After Berlin mum and dad came down to Glauchau for a few days and were able to see my flat and even the school. They came in for a quick tour before meeting Ramona (who looks after me) and also the headmistress! We had a day in Dresden and visited the recently rededicated Frauenkirche, which is beautiful. Sadly they had to leave on Friday, but I had to sleep all day Saturday to recover from all the things we'd done!

Still alive

2005-10-30T21:17:00.000Z

Sorry for the lack of communication recently. It's our autumn holidays at the mo which means I've had no email access for a coupl eof weeks as I use the computers at school. So what have I been doing on my happy hols? The first weekend I had a training course with a few other assistants in a town called Meißen which is famous for its (very expensive) china. We had a good weekend and even managed some wine tasting on the Saturday evening! I spent Mon-Thurs at Ramona's house. She's the teacher who looks after me, she lives out in a little village and I really enjoyed spending time with her family and even trying to keep up with her 6 year old son! I chilled out Fri-Sun, but the big excitement of the weekend was finding a church - yey! It's very new and a bit modern and it's even got young people! One family has taken me under their wing and had me back to their house for dinner. I really glad to have found good fellowship at last - thanks so much to everyone who's been praying for that :) Will keep you updated.Will fill you in on the second week in the next post.

German style celebrations

2005-10-12T12:18:00.000Z

Just thought I would show a few photos of the very German event in one of my teachers' villages last week. It was the village's 600th birthday and they had a big parade with floats from different organisations. On the right is the float Gunula and her family decorated, and all along the route people had put guys like these on the left in their gardens but I'm not really sure why! After this there was a kind of fair where you could drink beer, eat sausages and buy old postcards of the village. There was also a 60 foot crane that you could go up in to see over the countryside but I have to sayI decided to give that a miss as it didn't look particularly safe and because I'm totally petrified of heights! The middle photo is me with Gundula. It was really cool to see something so typically German and to get to know Gundula a bit more.

2005-10-10T08:56:00.000Z

My flatmates have arrived! I was a bit nervous talking to them at first but we get on really well, and I'm understnding most of what they say to me! They both have quite thick accents - Gisene's from Thuringen and Dorene's from Halle, near Leipzig - but it's really good to be speaking more German. They've been introducing me to the delight that is the German music world and attempting to help me understand the whole rubbish bin situation.

Yesterday morning I arrived at church to discover that the service started earlier than usual and was actually somewhere else, so I'm thinking that someone really doesn't want me going to church in Germany! This is a different church than before but I enjoyed the service here so think this is where I'm going to try to get involved, that is if I can get through the front door of course! I decided to go for walk around the church area and discovered a beautiful park with a little lake, and a bit further on I came across the reservoir! It's really pretty (though of course not as nice as Silent Valley for all you NIrish!) and I walked all the way around it. Also discovered a tennis club, so that was quite exciting too! On the way home I met some some of my Class 5 students who were able to point me in the direction of my house as I wasn't entirely sure where I was!

Lots of posts!

2005-10-04T12:49:00.000Z

For the sake of ease, I am publishing the following posts in one go! This brings me nearly up to date with my diary! Enjoy :)

Wednesday 14th September
Bins go out on a Wednesday. Well, when I say bins, I really mean bin bags, and more specifically, the yellow bin bags. These are for all packaging material, except glass and paper. At the minute I only have one bin in my flat, so if I want to avoid the nasty weekly bin sortage, I’m gonna need to get myself some extra bins.

Thursday 15th September
It’s official, I have watched my entire DVD collection, twice.

Friday 16th September
Ramona explained to me today what had changed since pre 1989.
Then:
1.there were only 2 state-owned TV channels. If you wanted more, you had to have a special aerial, which everyone had.
2.cars were in short supply as you could only buy ones that were made in East Germany. You couldn’t just go out and buy one, you had to register and therefore it could be 2-3 years before you got one. So people took good care of their car knowing that the next one could be a long time coming.
3.homelessness didn’t exist.
4.there were no drugs.
5.medicine and health care were free.
6.you couldn’t travel West, only East.
7.the school system was such that everybody schooled together until the 8/9th class (14/15 years old) and it was only then that you changed to Gymnasium/Realschule etc (grammar, secondary).
8.milk, bread, the essentials were cheaper.
9.there were certain you didn’t know existed because they just weren’t sold. Certain fruits were difficult to come by: Ramona had never seen a kiwi til post 89. Bananas were also in short supply.

Monday 19th September
The impression I get is that many young people are not proud if being German. When they discover that I chose to come to Germany, they all ask “Why?!” as if I’m totally crazy.

People are disillusioned by the elections as well. Especially because everybody wants change but obviously not enough to step out and vote for the opposition. The result is that there is now no government. Schröder called the elections a year early as he no longer had majority in the Bundesrat (like the house of representatives in the US) – the CDU (Christian Democratic Union) did so they made it impossible for him to govern. In yesterday’s election the CDU got 35,9% and Schröder’s SPD (Socialist Party) 34%. But Schröder is announcing he won as the CDU and CSU (CDU’s sister party in Bavaria) are technically 2 different parties and therefore his party has the largest proportion if the vote. This is crazy as the CDU/CSU have always been considered the same party when it comes to election results. This is the worst possible outcome as there needs to be at least 3 parties in the coalition to make an absolute majority.

On a brighter note, I spent this weekend in Chemnitz with Jos. It was really fun. We spent Friday evening chatting to her flatmate from Dublin, Linda, went shopping on Saturday afternoon, after the lady in the tourist information refused to let us do a walking tour of the city – see, we really did try and do something cultural! Chemnitz was formerly called Karl-Marx-Stadt so Jos showed me the biggest landmark in the city – Karl Marx’s head. (not his actual head of course). We watched a DVD on Saturday night and then Sunday morning we went to church, although we needed to leave a little early as we both had trains to catch. I really like Chemnitz, it’s big enough to be a decent sized city but not so big that you can’t find your way around. I’m looking forward to going back soon.

Also, I finally got my oven to work – woohoo! It’s gas and I just couldn’t get it to light, even though there was definitely gas coming out! A nice English teacher sorted it for me – I’m sure she thought I was totally incapable, but the problem was I was trying to light it at the back (is that not normally where you light a gas oven? Please someone clarify this for me so I know I’m not totally insane! Of course, if you don’t light it there, I don’t want to know) and I needed to light it at the front. So I had baked potato to celebrate.

Wednesday 21st September
This week is Project Week in school. It’s also random excursion week so all of years 6,8 and 12 are away for the week, not really sure why! But the school is incredibly quiet! I went to Leipzig today with the class 11 (L6th) that I’ve been working with. Their learning about the American diplomatic presence in Germany, and they’ve all got slightly different topics to present, such as German-American relations, the Sister-Cities programme, the Embassies etc etc. So today we went to Leipzig to visit the Consulate-General. It was fun, and I learnt that Glauchau is in the process of becoming the sister city of Lynchburg, Virginia, which I thought was quite exciting. Afterwards we had some free time to look around, and I found ….. The British Shop! It’s amazing! I can buy PG Tips, Cadbury’s chocolate and even, wait for, Heinz Salad Cream! I hadn’t realised all the things I couldn’t buy here. To be honest, I haven’t really missed them (except the tea – had to get mum to post me emergency rations) but I can order from this shop over the internet, so I thought it might be fun to do a bit of a lesson on food. There’s not much difference between German and British food (ok, except the sausages) but we have so many different brands, and things just taste different! So I’m formulating that lesson plan for when the scary time comes that I have to get up in front of class and actually do something with them!

Ice-cream!

2005-09-13T12:48:00.000Z

The ice-cream truck came by today. It played its music, and then the ice-cream man got out and started ringing a bell! It reminded me of that bit in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang where the child catcher poses as an ice-cream man in order to capture the kids. Without the scary child-catcher of course.

Doing well at school

2005-09-12T19:46:00.000Z

My achievement for today is having an entire Klass 5 say “h” Northern Irish style :)

Church

2005-09-11T18:45:00.000Z

Well, I made it to church this morning, although I couldn’t figure out how to get in the building! When I eventually figured it out (seriously, it wasn’t as simple as you might think), I was then late, and the combined factors of German punctuality and the door being right at the front of the room, led to a rather red-faced Lynne. But, I managed to remain calm and cool, and awake for the whole service. It was rather a traditional service, complete with sung responses (kinda scary when it’s in English, let alone in German) so I’m going to ask around in school and see if anyone knows somewhere else I could try.

Weekend Happenings

2005-09-10T12:43:00.000Z

Town is dead at the weekend – if a shop is still open at 12.30pm on a Saturday you’re doing well. Managed to acquire my German sim – reminded me how much I miss my English Sim.

Checked out church times – it appears that not only are the Germans content with starting school at the ridiculous hour of 7.30 (not that I can complain since I don’t start any day until 9.20, but it’s the principle), but also starting church at 9, am, in the morning, Sunday morning. So it’ll have to be bed early tonight!

The junior choir had a concert tonight which one of the English teachers took me to. The little boy I sat beside in 6th grade English was singing and when he asked me if I was going, I was glad I could truthfully answer yes! They did a “round the world in 80 minutes” and sang songs from around the world – they even had a whole powerpoint presentation to go along with it! It was fab! I particularly liked “What shall we do with the drunken sailor” for Ireland!

Shopping, again

2005-09-09T12:54:00.000Z

Why does this happen? I don't know! But here's the post again!

Ramona and I went serious food shopping today – it was fun!
1.I have not seen such an impressive sight at a supermarket than that of the “bottle bank” at Kaufland. It’s incredible! It’s ….a bank, it really is! Crates containing the same type and colour of bottle lining the wall from one end to the other, and back up the other wall! I’ll post a photo soon.
2.I can buy apple compote here – you don’t understand how exciting this is. Mixing it with yoghurt is the ultimate breakfast delicacy (no, I’m not prone to exaggeration).
3.They do sell kettles here – it’s a miracle!

Shopping

2005-09-09T12:41:00.000Z

First impressions

2005-09-07T19:40:00.000Z

…..and still couldn’t get my eyes open at 7.30 this morning! School was good, although after observing the classes, I’m feeling a little intimidated at the prospect of working with the older ones – I’m just not cool enough, and they all think I’m crazy, especially after I told them I like Britney (unbelievable as it is, Bryony, she is not cool here!)

The teachers are friendly and willing help. Met the headmistress who, in standard German fashion, had me in and out of the office in 7 minutes flat, having covered all the practical things I need to do for living here, arranging to take me to register (have to let the authorities know I’m here) and making me feel most welcome in her school.

Shopping was an interesting experience. Ramona took me to pick up a few essentials, and it’s funny how even the simplest of tasks is stressful in a foreign country. Thankfully Ramona was able to help me discover things I was familiar with, as well as recommend good sausage, and not laugh when she found me looking at an aisle full of tea and looking totally bewildered cos I couldn’t find PG Tips anywhere (seriously Becky, if you come to visit, bring a supply!)

2005-09-06T19:20:00.000Z

Missing post

2005-09-06T12:38:00.000Z

Sorry about Tuesday's post - not sure what happened there! But here it is:

Made our way across the entire of Germany today and despite being delayed in Cologne and consequently missing our connection in Düsseldorf, not to mention ending up in the wrong section of a train that was due to split and go in opposite directions, the trip passed fairly smoothly. It was good to have Jos, my roommate from Altenberg, for company. She continued on to Chemnitz after I descended at Glauchau.

Ramona is the teacher in charge of me and she’s lovely. She met me at the station with a bunch of flowers and brought me to my little flat. She has stocked my fridge, given me linen and towels, brought me a TV, and, most importantly, has furnished me with a chocolate supply! So tired that I’m going to crash now at 9.30.

Lesson Planning

2005-09-05T20:43:00.000Z

Today I gave a lesson to 13 native English speaking 20 year olds that was actually designed for 16/17 year old German speakers. Interesting! It went well, and I think everyone enjoyed it and I'm a bit less nervous of having to do it for real now.
How is it 5th September already? Just 2 months ago I was planning talent shows and dancing to the YMCA at Uxbridge and it feels like yesterday!
Spoke to a couple of people about Christianity today - it's hard to get away from religion and bring it round to Jesus. Praying for wisdom.

Assistantship Course in Cologne

2005-09-02T19:54:00.000Z

It's like starting uni all over again.

"Hi, I'm Lynne. What's your name?"
"Amanda*" [*name has been changed]
"Hi Amanda, where are you from?"
"Nottingham, you?"
"I'm from Belfast but I study in Newcastle. Which uni are you at?"
"Leeds [seriously, everybody is from Leeds Uni] Where are you going?"
"To a small town in Sachsen, west of Dresden [I can see by the faces they have no idea where that is]
"Oh right, I'm going to Hamburg [never been but there are a zillion people going there]
"Oh cool, that's meant to be lovely"
...............etc etc

It's exhausting but worthwhile.

Tip Top, Top Tips

2005-09-01T17:38:00.000Z

It struck me today how it's not just the language barrier you have to overcome in a new country but the foreign culture as well. For example how does one tip in Germany? This may seem like a simple thing, but not so. Do you add it on the receipt? Is it already added? Should you leave it on the table and hope they'll realise it's for them and not just money that the stupid Brits have left behind? Should you give them the tip in cash when paying the bill, then run out so they don't think you want change? Or should you just not tip at all? All of these, plus a few randoms others, were suggested at dinner tonight in Cologne when, between 6 of us, we couldn't decide how it was done. I'd never thought that there would be such a worry about "doing the wrong thing". Eventually the boys took an executive decision to leave it on the table and run!

First Post

2005-08-30T23:03:00.000Z

2 days to go, and I'm a bit nervous. The cash machine ate my card today which was mean but I'm looking at it in the proper perspective. Yes, it's annoying and really not helpful but any number of other things could have gone wrong so it'll be fine! I'm not really looking forward to this course I have to do in Cologne - I just want to get started on the teaching, although I'll probably not be saying that once I'm a couple of weeks in! This time next week I'll be arriving in Glauchau which is where I'll be spending the next 6 months. Am praying that God will provide me with a church and good Christian support.