It has been a while since I last posted on here, so a mid-term update seems in order. Much has indeed happened since I arrived in Bedburg, the general nature of which I will now proceed to outline:
Leaving The Bubble
Much like the campus of Warwick University, the town of Bedburg can induce something of a bubble effect on the inhabitant. Faced with all necessary services within walking distance and limited outbound transport options, it can be all too easy to stay in one place, not realising that there is a whole foreign country outside to be exploring. Escape came in the form of an invite to a birthday party for my coursemate Louise in the north of my state, a mere three-hour train ride away in Recklinghausen. It was definitely worthwhile - after catching up with some people I met at Altenberg over a few drinks, we hit the town to head to a club with a suspect reputation and questionable moral principles. As it turned out, it wasn't that bad - certainly nicer than anything Bedford has to offer - and save for the advances on the female members of our group by some Russian lads, a good night was had by all.
Any club that plays Gangnam Style can't be all bad: simultaneously the best and worst song of all time.
The weekend opened my eyes to the fact that I can get out of Bedburg as long as I make an effort, and I resolved to accept any invitation that came my way.
Shortly after, I was summoned to Cologne by my regional co-ordinator for a meeting between all language assistants in the area. We discussed how things were going, and she gave us advice on how to make the most of our time spent in school. Hearing how others were faring, it seems like I've had a pretty easy run of it - some people were still yet to find long term accommodation or be properly introduced to their colleagues. I decided that living in a small town might not be such a bad thing after all. Anyway, at least the British Council are looking after us, reimbursing our travel costs to Cologne and providing a serious selection of cakes.
After this, life continued as normal. I received my first pay package, sorted out my Erasmus grant and opened my international scoring account at a football session for disadvantaged youths in the area, having tagged along with one of the girls I live with, who is volunteering there for her Abitur.
It looked something like this.
Berlin
So armed with my new frontier mentality, I jumped on the chance to get to Berlin in the first week of my autumn holiday, joining a group of language assistants from Nordrhein-Westfalen who, like me, were looking to get out of their smaller towns.
This introduced me to the bizarre but brilliant world of long-distance car sharing, or Mitfahrgelegenheit, a scheme whereby you pay a stranger to drive you from one place to another. While it might sound like a haven for murderers and kidnappers, it is in fact a legitimate and established scheme, and apparently the norm for travelling cross-country in Germany, often for a quarter of the price of a train. My ride there was Dzelal, a stylish and friendly Balkan who tore up the Autobahn in his black BMW while blasting an excellent range of hip hop from his sound system. He even took me to the front door of my hostel. On the way back I was with Ango, a West African man with a van who seemed to make a living out of car sharing alone, and who paid for my train ticket from Düsseldorf when he decided I would be too late getting home from Cologne. When looking to get around Germany, I can only recommend it.
The drive from east to west is an experience in itself - open fields and industry one minute, until you cross the border into Brandenburg and find yourself in the Soviet Union: dark, cold forest littered with the (literally) concrete reminders that this was a communist bloc nation less than 25 years ago.
Fig. 1: an actual field in West Germany
Fig. 2: Somewhere in East Germany, probably.
We had been told at university that the two halves of the country still faced economic and social divisions, but the reality is amazingly obvious - the former Democratic Republic clearly has a lot of catching up to do.
Berlin itself was as good as I remembered from my previous visit, although the entire population now seems to be Australian for some reason. We took the walking tour, visited the DDR museum and spent a day at Sachsenhausen concentration camp, a truly humbling experience made even more unsettling by the presence of the first ever gas ovens and Dr. Josef Mengele (if you're having a good day so far, DO NOT google that name). We also sampled the Berlin nightlife, on one occasion staying at the Matrix club, located in a disused underground station, until past 5 am. Otherwise guided by our resident Australian Geordie, who had lived in Berlin a few years previously, we sampled local bars and pubs, which were decent despite sometimes wandering around searching in vain for places that had been good a few years previously. I was also rewarded with a new favourite beer, the distinctly non-German Sapporo. All in all, an enjoyable week spent in great company!
In the middle of all of this, I've also taught some kids some English. But that can wait for a later post.
TJGreenwood.
