Springtime in Germany

This is what Spring looks like.

The Kaluses (my new host family) and I have been keeping busy for the past two weeks. The weekend before last, on the 25th, Judith and I went to an Abi Party with her friends. Okay, so the poster says WM party, and they had a few flags up and played “Love Generation” twice, but otherwise, you couldn’t tell it apart from any other small town wannabe disco.

I started to give Erika, from the Czech Republic, a bit of English help on Thursdays. Basically, it’s just a half hour or so speaking in English (Describe your hometown, you family, etc.). We tried having the sessions in the Wesel library, but we were a little too loud, and because we’re only talking and not working in books so much, we decided to meet up in a café somewhere each week. This week we’re going down to CentrO in Oberhausen, because both of us have afternoons free of school.

The week passed in a breeze of German radio music and class test returns (1+ in both English and Math! That made my week a lot better). Then it hit Friday with a jolt of busy-ness.

Friday was chess in the yellow house, again. I managed to get there on time by running from the bus. The last couple times I had been a few minutes late for various reasons (and in Germany, punctuality is key). Chess has been going a lot better these days. I’ve improved a lot this year. I even beat Moritz at Tannen (chess involving 4 players, in which you can stick extra pieces on the board which the person next to you has captured) yesterday. Moritz is maybe 14, and he’s really good at chess. He often plays two chess boards at once, when someone’s missing, on a 5 minute timer…and wins! No idea how he does it. When I’m not playing Tannen with the boys, I’m usually playing against one of the few girls in the chess club, Marie. She’s shy, and doesn’t talk much, but we play a lot together, especially when all the guys run off to play Magic in the corner during the last half hour.

Moritz on the left, playing chess with another one of the guys.

Marie gets ready to win another chess game.

Saturday I visited the Preussen Wochenende in Wesel with Erika. It was a historical weekend about when Wesel was under Prussian or French occupancy. Wesel is home to a Preussen Museum, so they celebrated it by offering entrance into the musem for 1€, for students free. We were going to go there, but I needed to leave shortly for a concert, plus we couldn’t find the place. And it was pouring the whole afternoon. Even with an umbrella we were soaked.

The guy behind him was making imitations behind his back.

The funniest part of the dreary afternoon (the weather kept most of the people in costume away) was a drink stand with a pair of singers with a stringed lute-like instrument. They sang us “love songs” which we couldn’t understand at all because they kept on using phrases and talk from the time period of the occupation. But that didn’t make it any less amusing.

Saturday night the Bislich Blasorchester played at a benefits concert in the Niederrheinhalle. The money is to benefit the construction of a façade on the Marktplatz which looks like the historical Rathaus, which was destroyed in WWII along with 98% of Wesel. The move is controversial, because many people think that the money could be used in more beneficial ways. The city is extremely tight on money these days, and schools or other organizations could make better use of it. However, the other side is completely understandable, too. Wesel is missing a large chunk of its old, visible culture which is normally in every European city. A large memorial of the past would bring moral, pride, and history back to the citizens of Wesel. The whole concert, the case “This House Would Rebuild the Rathaus” was running through my head. There was lots of time to think it over. The concert was over 3 hours long.

The girls in uniform.

Sunday I was back in Wesel at the historical weekend with Regina and Peter this time. The weather was much better, and they knew the way to the Preussen Museum, so we went there. On the lawn in front of the building were tents where a group dressed up in costume performed a small act every hour about how life the Prussian quarters in Wesel were, and life in Wesel in general. Then I visited the museum for free. It was only one room, and rather dry. There were some good portraits of the Prussian kings and Bismarck there, though. We also went to a pair of small chambers in an adjointed building which was dedicated to 11 men who were sentenced to death in Wesel by the Prussians, though they were innocent.

Peter and I

The Prussians, or Napoleon's Grande Armee, not sure which (note the French flag the construction workers put up in the background).

Wesel also had shops open on Sunday, so we could do a bit of shopping while we were walking among the huts in the Innenstadt. In Germany all stores are closed on Sundays, normally. During the week shops close at 6, too, which is starting to feel early now that sunset is nearing 9 at night. Germany has a big problem with loss of jobs (there’s a notorious commericial going around about it), and I wonder why they wouldn’t try extending the open hours and include Sundays, which would give them more work places. And it’s not like people wouldn’t buy anything on Sundays. Germans don’t have a lot of time to buy things. If you work during the week, you only have Saturdays left, and even then that’s not long.

Claudia and Sarah came over on Tuesday and I made hamburgers for them. The first good hamburgers I’ve had for over 7 months (McDonalds and Burger King are NOT good hamburgers). It was great, and they liked them. Sarah and Claudia and Hamburgers

Sarah’s last day at KDG was yesterday. She flies today to New Jersey for a 3-week exchange. For the most part it sounds like she’ll be with Germans, though, touring NYC and Washington D.C. Her itinerary includes a family stay and school visit, but that won’t be very long. Not nearly long enough to get as much as possible out of the experience. 10 ½ months is better. Apparently she was thinking of doing a year-long exchange before, but since in Germany when you miss a year you have to redo it, she and her family didn’t think it was a good option. Imagine being in high school until you were 21!

The last week for the 13th graders is this week before Spring break. On Monday they dressed up in pjs and baby suckers, Tuesday as preppy students, Wednesday as punks and hip hopers, and today presumably in business suits. Supposedly tomorrow they’re going to have a “Chaos Tag,” in which they go crazy all over the school, though they’re not supposed to.

They make me miss spirit weeks at Pacifica. German schools don’t have the same school pride and enthusiasm as in the US. They have a more formal pride, ie, “KDG is one of the best schools in NRW, and you need to keep up the name, blah blah.” But that doesn’t let the students have much fun, just more pressure.

Today is my 216th day in Germany.

Claudia, Sarah, mich, Christian, and Marvin, my school buddies.