First of all I would like to thank everyone who has been reading so far - from the two people in Ukraine who presumably had no idea what I was on about, to the five who somehow accessed my blog using a Deep Web browser. Sorry, no guns or drugs on sale here...
I wrote my last entry having just spent a week in Berlin and much has happened since then. For the end of the Autumn holiday, I headed home to see the parents and my friends and girlfriend at Warwick.
Also, some guy from the Junior Apprentice
And then, having returned to Bedburg after a 45 minute flight (good work Ryanair), the real teaching began. I felt as though I'd only just got started before the break, so was looking forward to getting into the flow of things now. My conclusion? I'll never be a teacher. Not that I can't pass on knowledge - I taught a class how to start a conversation recently and the group definitely seemed to come away having learned a few phrases. But standing in front of a group of teenagers for 45 minutes at a time, several times a day, is hardly my idea of fun. As it is, I don't have to do that and being a language assistant is, for the most part, fun. This is especially true with older classes, where you can actually discuss things with pupils instead of saying a sentence in English and then having to repeat it in German because half the class didn't understand. Discipline is also an issue in the younger groups. I always found it easy to control kids as a lifeguard when I had a whistle and a clear set of rules defining what was and wasn't allowed, but in a classroom it's just not as clear cut as that. Take for instance, the lad in the front row of one of the classes I teach alone who will not stop talking... in English. Should I tell him to shut up for disrupting the class? I feel as though that would suppress his love and talent - and he is genuinely talented - for speaking and wanting to practice a foreign language. And it feels so mean spirited stopping kids having fun in my lessons. Yesterday, one boy informed me that his friend "likes to look at porn," and rather than telling him off for being inappropriate I couldn't help but laugh and correct him: "no, you watch porn." Similarly, instead of telling another student to take his hat off in class, I took issue with the fact that it promoted the Oakland Raiders.
An actual Raiders fan.
And then told him to take it off.
In short, while I do enjoy teaching at times, it's not the life for me.
In other news, I turned 21 a few days ago, and celebrated with a few friends in Essen before being greeted at school on the day by my mentor teacher with a cake. My host family also came out with a pair of new jumpers and a Thai meal, while even the neighbours chipped in with some small gifts: popcorn Milka may be shockingly unhealthy, but it is also amazing. Ultimately, I felt as though this was a good indication of how well I've settled into life here, although I have to say I would never have thought I'd spend my 21st in small-town Germany teaching English!
Most recently, last weekend was the official opening of the Cologne Karneval - basically an excuse for 100,000 people to descend on the city centre in fancy dress and drink beer all day while some of the most German music ever written is played out on a stage by musicians who have passed into local legend. For the locals, these songs are as ingrained in their culture as the Beatles are in ours, with Viva Colonia being a kind of national anthem of Cologne. For me, it was an excuse to see friends from whom I've felt a bit isolated out here in the sticks and get to know the city a bit better. Apparently the main Karneval in February is ten times the size - ie. a million people attending - so that could well be the highlight of my year.
And so life continues. I've finally made it to the gym and hope to keep that up. The football is improving, and I now have seven goals in four games playing with the teachers, which is as many as Emile Heskey scored in 62 appearances for England. And I have seen what I am sure is the best spy film of this or in fact any year: Agent Ranjid rettet die Welt.
An IMDb rating of 3.3 for this masterpiece is a disgrace.
On top of it all, my German has indeed improved, and I can now watch South Park or Family Guy in German as if they were in English, which had always been my benchmark in terms of listening fluency. Speaking isn't quite at the same level yet, but I've got the whole year for that!
Seriously though, Skyfall has nothing on this:
