Merry Turkeymas

Well. It's been a disjointed sort of week.

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving, my American friends. I at least got to teach about the food. I celebrated by having Gluehwein at the Celle Weihnachtsmarkt, which opened today.

Second of all, it looks to be another long post. I need to start writing more regularly again so that this doesn't become a regular occurrence.


Monday: Lesson Planning with Karolin

Since Monday is my free day of the week, I rode with Karolin, the teacher-in-training, to The Coffee Shop, a...coffee shop in the Altstadt to which I had never been but Karolin frequents. Though I spoke in stilted Germanglish, which eventually turned into more of English with some German on the side (I really did continue to try), we had a rather enjoyable time getting to know each other. However, our main objective was to set up our lesson plan for this Thursday's Thanksgiving lesson, and I will add that Karolin does have what it takes to be a successful Grundschule teacher. The nice (and very surprising) thing for me, though, was that she actually picked up the bill for the both of us, and, though it was under five euros, I repeatedly told her that I'd pick up the check the next time. She just smiled and shrugged it off.

Karolin is a very sweet woman, only about a month and a half older than I am, and seems rather enthusiastic about her future job. She has a very quiet nature about her, but not like the kind that I have: instead of discouraging conversation, Karolin's quiet seems to encourage it. She's the typical, tall, willowy, and white-blond Northern German, and though the children are still a little wary of her because of her newness, I'm sure that they will warm up to her soon, since her personality is appropriate for dealing with the young'uns.

Anyway, the lesson was planned, and we set off to take over the world.


Wednesday, Part I: Wild Things

There are two parts to this Wednesday: a good part and a rather poor part. We'll start with the good part, since it happened first that day.

I had mentioned a couple of weeks before to Frau Doehrmann that I wanted to plan a lesson around one of my favorite children's books, Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, for 2a. I think she was happy to hear me say that, since now she knows that I actively want to do more in the classroom than I have been doing. I spent last week drawing and coloring the flashcards I was to use, along with planning (er, the night before the lesson) an activity for the students to do after the story. I drew two versions of an unfinished wild thing, and they were to complete it through my dictation. I was more than ready to tear through this lesson.

And, well, what do you know? It was quite smashing. With Dylan's help, I was able to get the children to understand what I was reading to them, but my favorite part of the lesson was when Frau Doehrmann and I decided to let the kids decide whether they want to follow my dictation or do their own thing when it came to completing their wild thing. Regardless of what choice they went with, their wild things were awesome. You do not even know just how awesome they were. And I loved it that the students who were listening to my dictation then proceeded to argue with me in the fact that the monster should have just two legs instead of the three I said. And the fact that Linda didn't know which color to give her monster, so I suggested her favorite color. Which was pink. And she totally colored her wild thing pink.

These kids are awesome.


Wednesday, Part II: Half a World Away, and Look What Happens

So, I had mentioned earlier that the second part of Wednesday was not-so good. This is because that Dr. Stephen Szilagyi, one of my English professors at UAH, had died the night before.

Shit.

I won't go into the reasons behind his death, but suffice to say that he was found unconscious a week or two ago, but at that time he had been expected to recover. Earlier this week a good friend told me that he had slipped into a coma, had renal failure, and wasn't thought to survive the weekend. Dr. Szilagyi passed away the 24th.

It's...surreal. I took two of his classes, enjoyed them, and probably wrote some of my better English papers under his instruction. I was usually concerned that he would keel over during class, though, as he mostly appeared sickly and weak. His was the last English class I ever took at UAH, it being Restoration Lit. I can still remember the dank basement room where we held class and my dismay that there were no windows to help with the drone of his lectures, even though, for the most part, I enjoyed the class. And I remember the last time I saw him: it was at Dr. Mebane's retirement party, and he and I chatted briefly about my Fulbright grant and what I was going to do while teaching little kids. (I also remember that he was more than a little soused.)

I suppose another reason why it's hit me a little hard is because I'm not in Huntsville with others who knew him. I know that my being there wouldn't help anything and that I can't help being here in Germany, but it does make me want to be back with my Huntsvillians (or Huntsvillains, fools--oh, yeah, you saw what I did there) for a sort of mutual support. I left Alabama hoping that something like this wouldn't happen while I was gone--not just to Dr. Szilagyi, but to many people...and I feel sad for losing an esteemed professor.

Thank you, Dr. Szilagyi, for your classes, for your odd ways, and your rather distinct and creepy laugh. Oh, and how you cracked yourself up. We miss you.