Snow Shovel Symphony

At least, that is what I thought of the other morning when I walked out on my porch after we had another good snow. After weeks without alot of new snow, only the shady patches still had much left, and now everything is packed back in with a new 3 or 4 inches. Anyway, as I was getting ready to go to school, all along my street I could hear the snow shovels scraping in rhythm, with the drone of the occasional snow plow/lawnmower as various neighbors were getting the way clear to drive to work. It was an interesting experience, just because it's not a sound I grew up with, or that really reminds me of how much work is involved in making it.

Now that we have snow again, we also have snowballs again. No one yet has tried to hit me with one, I think I have a sort of diplomatic immunity. At least this go round there havn't been any more yells of "Make way for America!" as I cross the main line of fire, but lots of "Man, nicht auf Jessica werfen!" Even if it makes getting to school a little more hazardous, everything being beautiful and white again makes the cold a little more worth it.

My lessons continue to go well. I dragged two classes through "O Captain! My Captain", and considering they were 12th and 13th grades and had never once heard the name "Walt Whitman" I think it was a good thing, even if it's not my favorite poem. The other day I also experienced a class revolt when they saw their class participation grades. Ooh, if that doesn't teach me to keep real good notes on class participation someday, I don't know what will. The trick was the teacher didn't just look at how many times someone raised their hands, and then how many times they said a correct answer, but also how many times has she had to stop class to tell them to stop talking. This is my "bubble" class - eleventh graders who I have to keep telling to stop hitting each other, stop slapping each other with rulers, and stop drawing on each other with markers. We have little chats about personal space bubbles, and how you're not allowed to pop anyone else's bubbles. The thing is, even when they're unruly, they are smart, and participate way more with the real material in class than my other 11th graders, even if the other class is better behaved. Still, this period we didn't get to have hardly any class participation, because the argument about the grades lasted almost the whole time. I think the air will be alot more clear here when all the grades are printed and done, and everyone is a little less stressed about them all.

That is sort of all that is new here. Tomorrow night is the Märchenabend here with the Schülerclub, a lock in where we read fairy tales and watch fairy tale movies. It should be a good time, as long as my cough doesn't get too much worse. Then just one more week, and then vacation! Good old European work calendar with lots of breaks.