Welcome Mrs. Krauter!

Rotenburg I finally made it!  I will be teaching for the year at the Jakob-Grimm-Schule in Rotenburg an der Fulda, located about an hour and a half northeast of Frankfurt in Hessen.  I arrived on Thursday after finishing up orientation and was greeted at the teeny tiny "hauptbahnhof" (main train station... with 2 tracks! so cute!) by my mentor teacher, Sara.  She immediately took me to my apartment for the month, an adorable studio apartment with a little porch out the back door. We dropped off my luggage and went straight to the school and grocery store.  After a whirlwind tour of the grounds as well as stocking up on Nutella from the local Rewe, I settled into my very own apartment for my first taste of "adulthood." This is so weird.

I started class bright and early the next morning with Sara. I worked with her 9th grade English classes for the day. As soon as I introduced myself as an American, they all freaked out.  There was one boy in particular in the front row who just stared at me... for 45 minutes straight.  I must say, his eye contact was impressive! Something I noticed as I went from class to class was that at least one student in each class, if not more, was wearing something with the American flag on it -- be it an American flag scarf, t-shirt or even shoes.  It always surprises me how ubiquitous the American culture is. The school is much larger than I originally thought -- it is the only school in the area so it has between 1500-2000 students with 120 teachers.  My mentor told me that many of the teachers are young -- so much so that 8 of them were pregnant last year! Whoa!

The school is comprised of students in Gymnasium, Hauptschule and Realschule.  Germany divides their schools differently than in America-- sorting the students into programs best suited to their strengths. They start this process very early on in Germany so that by the time they reach high school they are either on track to go to university or to go into vocational training.

One thing I noticed throughout my first day was that all of the teachers were either referring to me as Frau or Mrs. Krauter.  At first I thought I was just misunderstanding their accent and then I thought maybe this was because I wear a gold band on my right ring-finger (many Europeans wear wedding rings on their right ring-fingers instead of left).  After the third or fourth time this happened, I told them that actually, even though I'm wearing a gold band (which is actually a rosary ring I bought from a nun in the Vatican) I am not married so that means I am "Miss" not "Mrs." Krauter-- as MRS implies marriage.  Of course, this is a huge difference in Germany where they have almost completely gotten rid of their term for Miss (fräulein) so as to be more politically correct.  Even women who are single are still referred to as Frau/Mrs.  Oh cultural differences! Always a source for entertainment!

After working at the school for two days, it is obvious that the students will need a bit of time to get used to my presence.  I tend to make every one nervous because I am a native speaker and they are all learning a foreign language which can be very intimidating and scary at times -- especially when you have an expert in the room!  The funniest thing that has happened so far was in one of the 8th grade classes-- a student asked me if I had ever seen any "stars."  I had to think for a second and then remembered that during the Super Bowl in Indy I saw Neil Patrick Harris.  As soon as I said this, you would have thought I had just offered them all free front row tickets/VIP passes to the next Justin Bieber concert. Who knew German middle schoolers were such huge fans of Neil Patrick Harris?!

On a different note, Rotenburg an der Fulda is beautiful!  All of the buildings in the innenstadt look like a set from Disney World -- the fact that some of the foundations are crooked just add to its charm! I feel like if I were to walk up to one of them and push they would all collapse.  The river that runs through the town, the Fulda, adds even more to this town's charm.  I am a bit sad I will be moving to Kassel to live with fellow college students in a month, but take comfort in the fact that I will still be working here every day. Oh life! How exciting you are! Feeling especially blessed on this chilly fall night.

ps... my apartment is located in the "suburb" area, surrounded by families and is right next door to a little park that is always full of very, very energetic children... who enjoy ding-dong ditching.  I'm more impressed that this is an international pass-time!  Once again, who knew?

Regensburg & Austria & Orientation Oh My!

I'm baaaaack!  The lack of blog posts is certainly not due to my lack of adventures (duh), but rather, internet connection. I finally gave in and bought an internet USB stick because it looks like the next time I will have the luxury of WIFI won't be until I move into my dorm in October... Small German towns and internet cafes don't really go hand in hand... who knew?

Back to the stories! SO- before I left for orientation I took the train from Freising to meet up with my cousin Daniel in Regensburg for the Regensburg Volksfest (similar to an Oktoberfest but just for the town... think State Fair in comparison to County Fair).  First of all: I LOVE VOLKSFESTS!  To me, they are the such a wonderful example of Bavarian joy and culture.  If you ever have the opportunity to go to a Volksfest- GO. Daniel & I started off the night with maß biers (duh) and traditional Bavarian roasted chicken with some bread. YUM.

After dinner we walked to the music tent where a Bavarian cover band was having a concert.  Daniel warned me at the beginning of the night that not a lot of his friends were coming out because they were busy with studies, work, etc. So I expected it to be a pretty chill night... NOT the case at all! Those Bavarians know how to party!  We ended up at a random table of Engineers whose company had reserved the table for their employees.  They had a few extra seats and said we could sit there until their colleagues showed up (spoiler alert: they never did. Yesss!). The highlight of the night was definitely when the band started singing "Amadeus" -- I'm pretty sure I was the ONLY one in the tent who did not know every single word.  At one point in the evening, Daniel had to excuse himself to answer his phone. When he got up to leave, the guys on the other side of the table asked me (in German) where "my boyfriend" had gone?  I quickly responded that he had to answer his phone and that actually, he was my cousin, not my boyfriend.  They both looked at each other and then back at me and said "Gut zu wissen!" (Good to know!) Ha! Those German boys are flirts.  The rest of the evening was jam packed with singing, dancing, drinking and celebrating this awesome event: The Regensburg Volksfest.  If any of you remember Aquafina's campaign a few years ago that showcased people all over the world drinking and enjoying water -- especially highlighting a group of Germans wearing dirndls and lederhosen and "cheers"-ing with liter sized mugs of water -- just replace the water with beer and that was the Regensburg Volksfest.  Everywhere you looked people were wearing dirndls and lederhosen, smiling and laughing and saying "PROST!" What a night. 

The next morning, I took the train back to Freising where Annerl and Rupert were waiting for me to go to Austria for the weekend!  Moments before they arrived at the train station, an ambulance and a set of paramedics pulled up to the front of the train station talking excitedly in German.  From what I could gather-- a woman had jumped in front of the train I had just gotten off of.  Luckily, the train had not gained much speed and the woman more or less fine, just a bit in shock.  "Pray-able" situation, as my Mother would say.  Anyway-- back to the good part. So Annerl, Rupert & I get to Austria around 4pm and the place we are staying at is absolutely idyllic!  The town is called Waidhofen and it is the sister city to Freising (the town in which Rupert works).  Here is the view from my hotel room.

As soon as we got there, we freshened up, changed into our lederhosen and dirndls and went to the city hall where we met the Waidhofen sister city representatives and got ready to go on our night tour of the city with the "Night Watchmen."  The picturesque town, surrounded by rolling mountains,  was breathtaking and for as small of a town as it was, there was so much going on!  They had an Italian market selling delicious wines, cheeses and pastries as well as several street performers (including a group of teenage Austrian boys decked out in Lederhosen performing a traditional line dance).  As we were walking on the cobblestone streets taking it all in among hundreds of people, a woman points to me and asks me in German (with a thick Austrian accent) if I have time for an interview.  I quickly responded that we were on a tour and I didn't think we had time to stop to which she responded (once again in Austrian-German), "it will take 20 seconds." Uhh... okay?  And that's how I ended up on an Austrian TV show. Here's the link... I start talking around the 3 minute mark --> http://www.m4tv.at/news/Einkaufsnacht_in_Waidhofen-2534.html 

If you're wondering what I'm saying-- the reporter asked me how I liked the evening market in Waidhofen and I responded that I liked it a lot and that I'm from America which is very different from Austria.  The differences are the buildings, the colors, the food, everything!  

Annerl, Rupert and I ended our tour of Waidhofen the next day after we drove up to the church on top of the nearest mountain.  What beauty God has created in this region!  I definitely want to go back to Waidhofen someday.  It was a dream.

Now on to the REAL reason I came to Germany-- to teach! Before going to orientation, I met up with 3 of my friends who I studied abroad with in Freiburg who are also in Germany for the year as Fulbright scholars!  We had a blast catching up and walking around Köln.  The dome there was unreal!  SO big and almost intimidating, definitely a sight to see. The rest of the city was different from any German city I've ever been in before- definitely a lot more grey and monotoned.  The overcast weather probably had a bit to do with that as well.  After our night in the "grey city" we met up with over 100 Fulbrighters in the Köln train station and loaded up in the double decker buses to a small town called Maria in der Aue. WOW! Another absolutely beautiful German hotel tucked away in a farming community.  The week was filled with lectures, simulated lesson plans and advice from previous Fulbrighters.  The best part was definitely the last night when we had a talent show.  Everything from Opera performances to Smeagol impersonations. Hilarious! One thing I loved about orientation was discovering all of the connections we had with one another and how small this world truly is.  My roommate for the week was a fellow AOII from Samford University in Alabama and I also met some fellow Hoosiers! We reminisced about IU tailgates and basketball. Ahh sweet Hoosier Nation I do miss you! 

Stay tuned for my first days in Rotenburg an der Fulda as Frau Krauter!