Things I have yet to get used to (2)

1. My neighbor who still heats his house with wood because he likes it better, and therefore spends a good part of the afternoon chopping wood

2. How great any sun is after days of rain

3. Did I mention my chorus director accompanies us on the accordion?

Also, minor tragedy: My breadslicer has died. I don't know what happened. It's probably only 20 years old.

And not to forget:

Happy Hellowien! (How one of my students spells it)

Yep, I am working with my 7th graders on Halloween projects. We have a party in just a little bit. I have copied my favorite sentences from their art projects, for your amusement and my memory:

I'd didn't going to play trick or sweat. I'd stay at home. I'd look TV and eat sweat.

Hellowien - I'll frighten startle people.

Children collekt candys.

Children are going from House to House with a costüm.

We make many disgusting eat.

In Halloweentime I have got in my room very much Pumpkings.

Halloween is a ghost fete.

We make our celebrate with our friends.

(A picture of a broomstick was labeled Whichstix).

By Halloween I go from House to House with my friends. We bekame much sweets.



I love working here.

Storkower Singverein

So, I gave you a teaser yesterday about the Chorus I am in. I am really liking it, and it's a pretty laid back group of people. It's just tricky getting used to having to shake everyone's hand at the beginning (all 30 or 40 odd people). The Director has been leading the chorus here for a good 35 years, starting back when it was still East Germany, kept right going through Unification, and still going strong now. Music Director is a universal language. I have already seen every impatient gesture and heard every phrase she's said at any rehearsal, only in English, from every Director I've had. That isn't the hard part. (Especially since everyone is so thrilled that someone is singing with them who has had actual experience. I can't imagine what would happen if someone who had studied music came in the door. They'd never let them leave.)Like any community choir like this there are 2 women for every man, and they do the best they can at trying to be heard over the womens voices. I am probably the youngest there by abou 15 years, and the average age i am guessing is at least 20 or 25 years older than me. maybe more. On trips we take where you have to pay, the make provisions for those who don't have as high incomes: me, as a student, and half the choir, who is in retirement. :) But they're all excited to see me there, and get very worried when they hear things like I'm not going home for christmas. Right now we're preparing for the Sängerball, which is a dinner, a singing concert, and a dance party afterwards. At least, from what I gather. I asked what we should wear, and was told "something chic!" I have no idea what that means, considering where I am living. I mean, i love it here, but chic may just mean something nicer than jeans, a sweater and a vest. And then later someone told me about the fact we have to wear costumes, too. And since our theme is forest and hunting songs, I need to have a forest peasant girl costume...? But all the grandmas are helping out, and I now have a blue velevet head scarf, a shoulder scarf, i said i had a white blouse, and everyone went home to see if they can find me a big colorful flower print skirt. Everyone says that the head scarf really makes me look right... which I am taking as a compliment. But yes, it is an evening full of folk songs and hunting songs. There is one where the audiencec sings along, about how the woodcutter Michel is not doing well, because we can't hear him. So we all sing " Ich old wood michel still singing?" and when the refrain is over, one chorus member from off stage has to start wailing out a song, at which point the choir and audience all start the second refrain "Yes! he's still singing!". Only it's a lot more repetitive than that as you might imagine. A few of the songs are being acted out in front of the audience, and one has been turned into a doo-wop boogie. Or, as much of one as is possible. During that song we all do the twist. It's really something I sort of want a video of, just because of how amazing it all is. THe only problem for me really is that everyone knows these songs. So we sing them once, put them in an order, and call it a rehearsal. I have never heard these songs before, and they use old fashioned dialect german, and i only understand half of what I'm saying anyway! I hope that I can take some time with one of the ladies here who have been the most helpful, and get them to sing through it again with me.

I should go, but be thinking about me around 7 tonight, when I'll be at choir practice, singing about the joys of wood chopping.

Aufenthaltsgenehmigung

OK. So I have been in Storkow now well over a month. And one of the first things I did upon my arrival was plow through the 20 pages of burocratic forms i had to fill out to stay here. One of them being my Aufenthaltsgenehmigung, which allows me to stay here longer than my 3 month tourist allowance. This has to be glued into my passport, and so I had to give up my passport, too. I got a card saying they had recieved my application and everything was normal almost a month to the day ago. And had not heard from them since. I was getting worried about not having my passport and not really knowing where it was, so I asked the school secretary to help me call them, because I'm still not so good on the phone with big words. Anyway, we tracked down the Ausländerbehörde for Landkreis Oder-Spree, and talked with the lady there. First she wanted to know why I had chosen "such an expensive apartment", not that it's any of her business, and then told me that my passport has been there, for me to come pick up, for two weeks. apparently, when it came back, she called one of the three Herr Florschützes, and told him that it was there, which she souldn't have done, she should have called the school, where i mailed it from. anyway, he, whichever one it was, never passed the message on to me. so. So today, now that I am done with classes, I am taking a second fieldtrip to Beeskow. to the Ausländerbehörde. To retrieve my passport. I will try and write soon about the songs we're singing in chorus. One really is the german lumberjack song, like you would hear in Monty Python. Only its the real thing. "The very most fun folk are lumberjack-folk, hi holdrio holdrio... With arms full of strength and hearts full of laughter, hi holdrio holdrio... they pick up their axe and tell themselves they're cutting the legs of the devil in two, the very most fun folk are lumberjack-folk, hi holdrio holdrio." Oh yes. The chorus thinks its so cute that i enjoy the music so much, but i can't stop smiling mostly because of how unreal it all seems. That being said, I am off to get back my most important form of ID here. that has been sitting on someone's desk for two weeks. bye!

Back in School

Well, the two week vacation is over, and I am back at the high school here. I wasn't really looking forward to having the next 9 weeks follow essentially the same schedule all the time, it seemed sort of dull compared to the previous 9 weeks. But it turns out that it won't be a problem, because they have redone all the teachers' schedules, and now I have a whole new weekly plan. I think I have it worked out so that I am still seeing the same kids though, which makes me happy. But this week I am still meeting classes for the first time. So if I keep this schedule through Christmas, that will be a break from routine in and of itself.

It was wonderful to visit Berlin with Jason. Rather than make a lot of touristy stops, we mostly just visited the spots of town that I knew, where I had spent a lot of time, and got caught up. It was a great break, because I could talk as much as I wanted to, as fast as I wanted to, for almost an entire week, in English, and not ever have to ask if he had the vocabulary to understand me. We got him to his very early flight, and he should be there by now, getting to see his school and family in Arusha, Tanzania.

The weather must have know it was vacation, because for the last 2 weeks it was amazing. Rarely cloudy, it might have drizzled once, if that much, and some afternoons it was warm enough to go out without a jacket or sweater. Starting Sunday though, the grey rolled in and hasn't left. In a couple of weeks I think we hit daylight savings time, but then it just keeps getting darker and darker until the sun rises around 8 or 8:30 and its dark again at 4. I am looking forward to the fact that even though it will get colder in January, technically the days are already getting longer, and that can only be a good thing.

The kids seem to be holding up pretty well considering they just got back from vacation. Today I heard a presentation on "Billy Jo-el" (like Noel) which was full of some great sentences. "In 1980 he was made the singing disc on his band." Which was aiming for he made an album in 1980 with his band. I can't get enough of constructions like that.

Well, I have the 8th graders now, which should be fun, so I have to go, but I hope you are all well, and that you can drop me a line when you get the chance.

A Note from Berlin

Well, the project week is over. It was exaughsting, but I'm glad I did it. I volunteered as translator during any tours we took, since the groups from Poland and the Czech Republic couldn't actually speak German as well as they said they could. In some cases, they couldn't speak German at all. And there was some confusion about whether or not we were all working together, or if we were the hosts and they the guests, in which case we should do all the cooking and cleaning. It wasn't very satisfying in the meeting people from other countries part, all the countries were pretty clique-y. But I got to know the Germans a lot better, and it will help to have some more familiar and friendly faces in the classrooms. And now I know just how difficult it is to paddle a canoe (my partner and I had to separated part way through because we couldn't stop turning in circles) and how nice it is to come home after a 25km bike ride. I have seen a lot more of this part of Brandenburg, and it kept me busy during the first week of fall vacation. Saturday evening I was at a 50th wedding anniversary party. I sing in a choir here, and one of the members just had her 50th anniversary, and it is quite standard here to throw a big party. If the choir isn't invited, they show up anyway, sing a few songs, have a glass (or two) of sekt, and then leave. But this time we were really invited for the dinner and everything, and it was a really nice time. I swayed along with the whole table as they all sang drinking songs along with the music, and came home with a purse full of the small bottles of liquor that the waiters kept bringing around (sleeping drops, as one helpful lady at the table said). It was a fun time, and I'm glad I had the chance to see a party like that, another chance isn't likely to come my way soon.

This is the first day of the second week of vacation. Jason, my friend from Wooster, is coming to visit. I thought at first he was coming for a day, but it turns out his ticket was from today until sunday. Only, he flight got messed up, and now he is coming tomorrow. Still I am looking forward to showing him a little of Germany while he is here. I don't know when my next update will be, hopefully no later than next tuesday.

Happy Birthday, Dad!