Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Humaine Klinik Bad Saarow
Well, I have now officially had my first experience with a German Emergency room. Yesterday afternoon I fell on the ice and caught myself with my right hand. It was really a cartoon fall, the only thing that was missing were the bongo drums as my feet slipped on the same place a good three or four times before falling. Oh, it was in the middle of the school courtyard, too, in front of approxomately the entire student body. Anyway, I convinced myself that it wasn't that bad, and went on with my two lessons. After which my elbow was completely swollen, and I couldn't really move it at all. Great. Well I got my stuff and went home and asked Klaus if he could find a doctor for me and take me there. Of course at this point it is 3 o'clock on a Tuesday, so all the normal doctor's offices are closed. So we had to go to the emergency room at the closest hospital, in Bad Saarow. After a total of almost 3 hours waiting time for two x rays and a bandage, I got sent home again with three extra strength ibuprofen and phone number to call in the morning to see when I should come in to the D-Arzt. Since I fell at school it is a work related accident, and I have to go to the doctor for that. I got there around 9:30 and had to wait again. Even though this is a hospital, it's also for a small area, so there is actually only one waiting room for the emergency room and the other doctors, and there were multiple people who we recognized from last night who were all back too. When anyone walks in or out of the waiting room, everyone greets them, and they have to greet back, of course. When the doctor saw me this morning, he didn't take any more x-rays like they said might happen, and actually only needed me there to see my elbow and to giver answers like "yes, it hurts there." The rest of the conversation was directed at the secretary who typed up a report of everything that was wrong with my elbow. I now have a pretty ugly elbow brace (dirty gray with blue stripes around the elbow. If I was athletic and had this as a battle wound, it might not be so bad, but as it is, I am really glad that I have to wear long sleeves.) Today my arm can already move more than yesterday, so I am hoping it will continue that way and heal quickly. After coming home I managed to get my arm in the sleeve of my coat for the first time since I fell, so that was also an improvement. Anyway, that was sort of the shock of the day, and hopefully of the week. I need to walk very carefully across the ice to class now, and I hope that all of you are warm and well.
Monday, January 23, 2006
Wintry Weekend
I know, I talk a lot about the weather, but it's been sort of impressive lately.
I mentioned last time all the snow we just got. It was such a pretty snow, all the rooftops and trees white again... Well Friday evening it rained, just enough so that everything was immediately frozen. Spiegeleis was what everyone was calling it, mirror ice. It kept me from wanting to go down the icy stairs to the microwave in the laundry room, because walking on ice that slippery with a dish in the hands sounded like a disaster. Because of the ice the fairy tale evening was cancelled, since so meany people didn't want to drive over. Saturday it kept raining, and got up to a good 3 if not 5 degrees. So the entire town was slush. Imagine walking through an exploded snowcone factory. Huge, car sized puddles of slush. And with it being so warm, people were walking around without jackets. But this was the warm air right before a cold front. That night it got down to 12 if not 15 degrees below zero (all in celcius over here, of course.) My friends and I went bowling and then dancing, and as we were walking home in the wee hours of the morning, the puddles were still in the process of freezing. But since they were puddles of slush, there wasn't that sheet of ice to break through into water beneath, the whole thing was freezing slowly. So when you stepped on a puddle, it bent. The wierdest walk home I have had in quite a while. And normally on our street when it snows, the Florschützes and other consciencious neighbors sweep a walking path in front of the house, so there is a strip of ground free of slippery packed snow. But you can't really sweep slush, and since it all froze in the middle of the night, the whole street now is a good chunk of ice. But it's not even flat ice, all the tracks and footprints in the slush froze that way. So it is pretty much impossible to ride a bike on. I have to walk my bike up the corner where there is a cleared sidewalk, and then I can start to ride. And since we have such a quiet street, you can always hear when a car is coming, and for quite a ways. But on Sunday you could hear the cars for a lot longer, because first you heard the crunching ice for a good 30 seconds before you could hear the motor. It got down to negative 18 last night, and is up to 10 during the day, I think, and will be hitting the 15 mark or so again tonight. The nice part is, it is really sunny. The not so nice is that it is not worth it at all to go walking outside. People here are sort of excited about it, because it hasn't been this cold since 1978. Ooh, lucky me. :)
Hope everything is well with you all, and think warm thoughts for me!
I mentioned last time all the snow we just got. It was such a pretty snow, all the rooftops and trees white again... Well Friday evening it rained, just enough so that everything was immediately frozen. Spiegeleis was what everyone was calling it, mirror ice. It kept me from wanting to go down the icy stairs to the microwave in the laundry room, because walking on ice that slippery with a dish in the hands sounded like a disaster. Because of the ice the fairy tale evening was cancelled, since so meany people didn't want to drive over. Saturday it kept raining, and got up to a good 3 if not 5 degrees. So the entire town was slush. Imagine walking through an exploded snowcone factory. Huge, car sized puddles of slush. And with it being so warm, people were walking around without jackets. But this was the warm air right before a cold front. That night it got down to 12 if not 15 degrees below zero (all in celcius over here, of course.) My friends and I went bowling and then dancing, and as we were walking home in the wee hours of the morning, the puddles were still in the process of freezing. But since they were puddles of slush, there wasn't that sheet of ice to break through into water beneath, the whole thing was freezing slowly. So when you stepped on a puddle, it bent. The wierdest walk home I have had in quite a while. And normally on our street when it snows, the Florschützes and other consciencious neighbors sweep a walking path in front of the house, so there is a strip of ground free of slippery packed snow. But you can't really sweep slush, and since it all froze in the middle of the night, the whole street now is a good chunk of ice. But it's not even flat ice, all the tracks and footprints in the slush froze that way. So it is pretty much impossible to ride a bike on. I have to walk my bike up the corner where there is a cleared sidewalk, and then I can start to ride. And since we have such a quiet street, you can always hear when a car is coming, and for quite a ways. But on Sunday you could hear the cars for a lot longer, because first you heard the crunching ice for a good 30 seconds before you could hear the motor. It got down to negative 18 last night, and is up to 10 during the day, I think, and will be hitting the 15 mark or so again tonight. The nice part is, it is really sunny. The not so nice is that it is not worth it at all to go walking outside. People here are sort of excited about it, because it hasn't been this cold since 1978. Ooh, lucky me. :)
Hope everything is well with you all, and think warm thoughts for me!
Thursday, January 19, 2006
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.
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.
Saturday, January 14, 2006
Back in the swing of things
Hello again,
Well things here have picked up now that we're finished with the second week of school in the new year. This week has gond by really quickly, and I think that the next one will, too. We have been having multiple sunny days in a row here, which has made everything a lot easier to bear. The lake is frozen, but since it keeps dipping up to 0 degrees and maybe for a few hours a little above, I have been advised not to try walking on it. We took a walk today and saw people skating, but yesterday a little girl drowned not too far from here because the ice broke under her, and it took 40 minutes for the fire department to get there.
My classes are going pretty well. Got to have Nonsense Olympics with the seventh graders, games where they had to balance balloons on rulers and stuff like that, and have been working on Martin Luther King with some of the older grades, because there isn't a lot of material about him in the books. Sometime around seventh or eighth grade they read part of "I have a dream", but that's about it. I figured I'd try and use the holiday as a springboard for getting it into the lessons.
Yesterday I went swimming in the thermal baths in Bad Saarow. Oh man are those a good idea. It was so great to finally not be wearing five layers of clothes. You can swim inside and outside, and there are all kids of different jets and whirlpools and all of that so you can sort of get a massage. I also tried out the music/light therapy pool, where they play music underwater, then you lie on your back and look at the colored patterns on the ceiling. I liked it except for the music selection. But what can you do to change it?
Tuesday night to Wednesday morning we had a short, light rain shower, so that the entire world on Wednesday was a giant icy marble, it seemed like. I had gotten used to looking for the not slippery parts of the packed snow that is the road in front of my house, but there were no places that were not slippery. Walking to school takes usually somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes, and this time it took more like 15 to 20, because you had to go the whole way with slow little baby steps. ridiculous. But today it was sunny, and most of it has melted.
Alright, I am going to get a move on, but I hope that everyone is doing well, and that you are not slipping on ice all over the place like we are here. But if you have the time, do write, Most of my new email lately has just been advertisements that I never read anyway. Very sad.
Well things here have picked up now that we're finished with the second week of school in the new year. This week has gond by really quickly, and I think that the next one will, too. We have been having multiple sunny days in a row here, which has made everything a lot easier to bear. The lake is frozen, but since it keeps dipping up to 0 degrees and maybe for a few hours a little above, I have been advised not to try walking on it. We took a walk today and saw people skating, but yesterday a little girl drowned not too far from here because the ice broke under her, and it took 40 minutes for the fire department to get there.
My classes are going pretty well. Got to have Nonsense Olympics with the seventh graders, games where they had to balance balloons on rulers and stuff like that, and have been working on Martin Luther King with some of the older grades, because there isn't a lot of material about him in the books. Sometime around seventh or eighth grade they read part of "I have a dream", but that's about it. I figured I'd try and use the holiday as a springboard for getting it into the lessons.
Yesterday I went swimming in the thermal baths in Bad Saarow. Oh man are those a good idea. It was so great to finally not be wearing five layers of clothes. You can swim inside and outside, and there are all kids of different jets and whirlpools and all of that so you can sort of get a massage. I also tried out the music/light therapy pool, where they play music underwater, then you lie on your back and look at the colored patterns on the ceiling. I liked it except for the music selection. But what can you do to change it?
Tuesday night to Wednesday morning we had a short, light rain shower, so that the entire world on Wednesday was a giant icy marble, it seemed like. I had gotten used to looking for the not slippery parts of the packed snow that is the road in front of my house, but there were no places that were not slippery. Walking to school takes usually somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes, and this time it took more like 15 to 20, because you had to go the whole way with slow little baby steps. ridiculous. But today it was sunny, and most of it has melted.
Alright, I am going to get a move on, but I hope that everyone is doing well, and that you are not slipping on ice all over the place like we are here. But if you have the time, do write, Most of my new email lately has just been advertisements that I never read anyway. Very sad.
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Happy New Year!
Hey everyone, I wish you all a healthy new year! I don't think this holiday is long enough for me to get in a true habit of saying that to everyone I see, which is sort of expected. I feel like here it is a lot more normal to have a little speech ready to say to people. You don't really just say "Happy Birthday!" You say "I wish you a happy birthday with your friends and family, and a year full of hapiness and health, and everything good." Or some variation on that, anyway, it's a lot longer. I have seen people give much longer expressions of good wishes on a birthday (and of course you shake the person's hand the whole time) but I havn't picked up on what all else there is to say. Hopefully by the end of the year I will have a store of polite German phrases to say to people on special occasions.
School started back up today, and everyone, teachers included, were sort of dragging. The next week and a half are still normal school, then the final grades for the semester have to be handed in, even though there will be another week and a half before the semester ends. During that last week or so we will either do nothing, or continue with assignments that then count for the next semester. although it technically hasn't started here. At least that is how it was explained to me, I am still a little fuzzy on why that is. All the grades are then collected by a teacher who is in charge of the whole section of students, and then he or she writes up the semester reports. When I told my students about what I remember from my high school days, where the grades were entered into a computer, then sent to the main school computer somehow, and then you were finished, at least as I remember it, they just sort of blinked. It just makes me that much happier that I don't have to grade papers. I did startle my one class today though because I collected what they had written in class to read over. I think they have gotten used to anything they write when I am there not really "counting". Heh heh. It won't get a grade, but I will go over it all with them next week.
I need to get back and get to bed so that I don't oversleep by an hour again (I am just glad it was only an hour, so I could still make a lunch before I left for school, though I did try leaving the house in my slippers) but I hope this finds you all well, and that you find the time to write me an email. I love to hear from all of you!
School started back up today, and everyone, teachers included, were sort of dragging. The next week and a half are still normal school, then the final grades for the semester have to be handed in, even though there will be another week and a half before the semester ends. During that last week or so we will either do nothing, or continue with assignments that then count for the next semester. although it technically hasn't started here. At least that is how it was explained to me, I am still a little fuzzy on why that is. All the grades are then collected by a teacher who is in charge of the whole section of students, and then he or she writes up the semester reports. When I told my students about what I remember from my high school days, where the grades were entered into a computer, then sent to the main school computer somehow, and then you were finished, at least as I remember it, they just sort of blinked. It just makes me that much happier that I don't have to grade papers. I did startle my one class today though because I collected what they had written in class to read over. I think they have gotten used to anything they write when I am there not really "counting". Heh heh. It won't get a grade, but I will go over it all with them next week.
I need to get back and get to bed so that I don't oversleep by an hour again (I am just glad it was only an hour, so I could still make a lunch before I left for school, though I did try leaving the house in my slippers) but I hope this finds you all well, and that you find the time to write me an email. I love to hear from all of you!
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