Oktoberfest!!

Hello again!

Teaching last week went very well. Late last week I finally got a "Stundenplan," which is my fixed (more or less) teaching schedule. That have given me a lot of flexibility in terms of how I manage my time on weekdays. Other than that, there is nothing too exciting to report on the teaching front. I have found that I am learning just about as much as the students while I am at school, which makes for interesting days. Also - my colleagues are all very nice and funny, and make my days easy.

After a not-so-long week of teaching (I'm only required to teach 12 hours a week), I made the 5.5 hour train ride down to Munich to take part in Oktoberfest!

I met up with two other Fulbrighter's, Alex and Ashley (both friends from Orientation), and we enjoyed 2 days worth of Oktoberfest. Ashley also had a friend visiting at the time, named David, who is coincidentally from the state of Oregon. It was nice to talk to someone from my neck of the woods.

The 4 of us had an incredible time throughout the entire weekend! We met on Friday afternoon and pretty much headed straight for the festivities. After walking around and checking the scene out, we were lucky enough to find 4 spots at a table in the beer garden outside of a tent (they aren't really tents, but rather big buildings that fit hundreds of people). After waiting a little too long for some service (we were fortunate enough to pick a table that was smack-dab in between two different servers, so they rarely came to our table), we bought 4 huge 1-liter mugs of beer (in german it is called a Mass, pronounced kind of like moss - the stuff that grows) and had a good time.

Oktoberfest can be likened to the Disneyland for adults who enjoy beer and eating. Like Disneyland does for children, Oktoberfest offers a man or woman everything they could desire in terms of tasty drinks and delicious eats. And everyone you see is there for essentially the same reason (drink beer, have fun), so it ends up being a great time no matter where you end up.

Another thing I really enjoyed about Oktoberfest is how many different kinds of people I met. I met people from Canada, the States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Germany (of course), and just about every neighboring country in Europe. It was a very eclectic atmosphere, which led to some pretty funny scenes because ever so often small groups would break out with drinking songs from their respective countries.

Unfortunately, the biggest jerk we ran into during our time at Oktoberfest was a German dude named Lucas. Lucas was at our table on our first night (Friday). Once he found out that we were from the States, he began rediculing us over this and that (his main focus was bashing on our government and the american people in general). Now obviously, being from America, I have heard from pretty nasty things said about my country, and I can deal with most because, unfortunately, some are kind of true. However, Lucas didn't know what he was talking about (probably too drunk to understand his own words) and eventually crossed the line. Once he realized that me or one of the other two guys with me were about to punch him in his kisser, he went straight into "apology-mode." From then on he had nothing but nice things to say, strange huh.

Anyways, Lucas could do nothing at all to ruin our fun, as we all agreed on Sunday that the past weekend was one of the best times of our lives! Okay, here are some pictures from the weekend:

From right to left: Me, David, and Ashley on the first night.

The Mass!

Alex and I toasting the second day's first Mass.

One of my favorite pictures of the weekend.

You can see how excited I was to find this guy and get a picture with him. I made sure to thank him plenty for his cooperation.

That's all I have for now. Thanks again for reading my blog. I hope that by reading this you are able to get a better picture of my travels throughout Germany.

yours,

Russ "I'm really glad I get paid in Euros" Wacker

A little bit about my "work" and my visit to HH

Hello loyal blog readers!

It is beginning to look like I will be making weekly updates to my blog, with the update coming on either Sunday or Monday. It just looks to have worked out that way.

So, since the last time I updated, a couple of blog-worthy things have happened: First, I had my first week of teaching! And secondly, I made my first of what looks to me many, many weekend trips - this one being to my neighbor city, Hamburg.

I had been partially dreading the beginning of my working days here, because I happened to be placed in a Hauptschule. A Hauptschule is the school where kids are placed if they are perceived to have learning/behavioral/etc problems. It is an association that unfortunately sticks with them throughout their schooling, which I do not think is fair. Anywho - I was worried that I would be spending my time fending off a bunch of wild banshies, but that is definitely not the case.

My school, Heinrich-Horstmann-Hauptschule, has students from the 5th to the 10th classes. I my first week and a day of work I have already spent some time with each grade level and, for the most part, the kids are awesome! I have noticed that many actually do indeed enjoy learning. They also do enjoy having fun, and this obviously can sometimes detract from the learning aspect of the whole deal, but it makes my days pretty fun. Everytime I walk through the halls on my way to a class, kids are running up to me and saying "hello" or some other greeting with their best English (a big proportion of them are the 5th graders, who basically view me as a celebrity). Combine that with my 12-hour work week, and it's no wonder why I am loving my job :)

One of my initial thoughts after working for a week there was that the kids are very similar to the rascals I tutored while going to school in Tacoma, Wa. Except instead of mainly Latino and black students, I am working with many Turkish and Middle Eastern kids. Basically - kids are all the same no matter where you go.

This past weekend I met up with Ian and Sean, both friends from the Fulbright Orientation, in Hamburg (Ian is teaching there). The three of us spend most of the daylight hours on Saturday walking in and around the city (about 4-5 hrs worth?). It sure it a pretty city.

Here are a few shots from the day:

After a long, long day of walking and snapping photos, we returned to Ian's apartment around 11 PM and cooked a tasty dinner. The three of us were pretty efficient in his small kitchen. After we finished eating dinner at around 12:15 AM, we rallied and went out to check out the Hamburg nightlife. We met up with a couple of friends Ian met through another friend in HH (both of the guys we met up with are from South America and were quite interesting to talk to) at a cool bar in what Ian called the "hipster" part of town.

The bar had a bunch of sofas, instead of chairs, situated around tables which made for a fun, yet comfortable, time! One thing that I have noticed about the nightlife in Germany, compared to the States, is that it goes well into the night/morning. On this particular evening, we didn't get back to Ian's apartment until 5 or 5:30 AM.

A few shots from the bar:

Alrighty folks, you can expect another update sometime early next week, unless something extra cool pops up between now and then. Thanks for reading! I hope that you enjoy my writing.

p.s. - Big shout outs to my family - Mom, Dad, Niko "the dude," and my newly engaged sister, Eva. Also Buster, the baddest little Jack Russell around (pictured below). Miss you guys!

where the actual work begins...sort of

Hello all!

I write to you after having participated in a very fun and worthwhile experience known as the Fulbright Orientation. It was essentially a 3-day crash course on the entire Fulbright deal, from the logistical stuff like our insurance plan and how to get paid, to our role in the classroom and how to come up with lesson plans.

During the day, we had a jam-packed schedule and it was quite tedius (although I did learn a lot). However, on the evenings, the Fulbright staff opened up a makeshift bar and sold beer and wine to all of us Fulbrighters (there were also assistant teachers from England, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia that were on a Fulbright, but I'll say 'Fulbrighters' to keep it simple). This turned out to be a blast b/c we were able to actually meet one another and do some networking. I made some great friends and can now visit them where they are staying throughout the country.

Here is a so-so shot of a bunch of people in the courtyard of the monastary (yes, we partied in a monastary) that we were staying/learning at. It is called Haus Altenberg.

The one guy in the blueish looking shirt that seems to be looking at the camera actually is from the Seattle area and went to PLU. I met several people from the Pacific Northwest, one of whom went to Inglemoor High School, my bitter rivals! He was a cool guy though, like everyone else there.

From left to right: Alex Behm, Ian Hooper, and myself.

The three of us kind of cliqued up and hung out a lot during the week. Both are very cool dudes. Alex is from Michigan and went to D3 Hope College. Ian is from Gig Harbor, Wa and went to D3 Lewis and Clark College. It turns out that Ian's dad, Kent, was one of my German Professors at UPS!

Another shot of a bunch of us hanging out in one of the hallways during Ian and Alex's jam sessions - both could really wail on the guitar.

All-in-all, the orientation turned out to be a blast. This is great because, at first, I thought it was going to be a drag.

Also, I just wanted to throw this beautiful shot up for fun. It is of the Dom (big, German cathedral) in Cologne, which is where we all met before going to Haus Altenberg. It was one of the first things that I saw when I got into Cologne.

Other noteworthy things:

-I had my first "all German" dream the other day during a nap. Boy, it sure was a trip. In it, I was completely fluent (that's why they call it a dream, right?) and I woke up so confused. I can't wait until that dream actually comes true!

- Yesterday, I took the train into the Bremen city-center and just cruised around on foot. I took Professor Hooper's advice from class and purposely got lost. This turned out to be a great time, as I saw all sorts of cool things and got some great exercise. I took some photos, but they aren't on my computer yet, so I'll put them in my next post.

- I start teaching tomorrow!

Ok, that's all for now. If you are reading this, please feel free to comment and give me any advice on how to make my blog better for your viewing/reading pleasure.

Your favorite Fulbright Fellow,

Russ

My temporary family, Bremen, etc..

It's been quite a while since I last posted (10 days I believe..), so I'll try to catch you up the best that I can. I will note, however, that I still don't have any pictures to post along with all of this boring text. I'm not used to bringing a camera with me where ever I go yet, so I will have to work on that..

Last Saturday, I parted ways with Wode and Kirsten and began my weeklong stay with Family Druenert in Bremen. My Mom and I found them through a program associated with the Fulbright, called Experiment E.V., and I was basically an exchange student living with them for the week. It was an awesome week! The family is "run" by a single mom, who is incredibly caring and went out of her way to ensure that I was enjoying my time with them. She owns and runs an "Apotheke" which is connected to the house they live in. An Apotheke is pretty much a pharmacy where you can buy all sorts of stuff to get you better. The rest of the family consisted of Sebastian (19 yrs old), Jonas (17 yrs old), and Caroline (14 yrs old? not quite sure, she is kind of shy). They also have an Australian Sheppard, named Lucy, who is a total lover. She just wants someone to pet her at all times and has been a good substitute for the coolest dog ever, Buster (my family's dog back home). I had a great time hanging out with all of them. Some of the things we did included:

- Lot's of biking/taking Lucy for walks. There are biking/walking trails everywhere here. We biked to the Uni See. It's a lake near the university in Bremen.

- Took the tram into the inner city part of Bremen a few times (very cool place, I'll get to that later)

- Saw the Batman movie in the theater in the city. It was fun to watch it auf deutsch. Also, they sell beer in theaters here, can you believe that? I had to get a couple just to say that I did.

- I helped the brothers do some work in their backyard that included cleaning out a rain water system. I didn't really do much (they didn't really let me do too much, actually haha) but helped where I could.

- I participated in something called Bremen Night Skating. It's something they do once a month every Summer. There were probably around 1,000 people at the starting spot and we just started roller blading through the city in a big group. It's a pretty big deal and people get all decked out for it. They shut-down the streets we pass over and everything. I didn't know what I was getting myself into, though, as it turned out that the course was 25 Km. long (approx 18 miles)!! I couldn't even remember the last time I was on a pair of roller blades, so I was pretty tired by the end of it. A great experience, even though I wiped-out twice, leaving me with a prety decent looking bruise on my knee.

All-in-all, it was a very fun and interesting week with the Druenert's. I am going to try and stay in contact with them throughout my stay here, seeing as how I will be living in Bremen while I am teaching.

Speaking of Bremen, what a cool city! It has just about everything - an incredible history with beautiful, old architecture to boot, a seemingly very active nightlife (haven't truly experienced that yet..), a great public transit system, and tasty food. I envision myself spending quite a deal of time down in the Innenstadt (inner city) throughout the year. Also, next time I do go there, I will definitely remember to bring my camera so I can share with all of you some of the awesome stuff I have seen. Also, Becks beer was established in Bremen, so the city is very big on that beer (no complaints from me).

Anyways, tomorrow I will begin the next part of my journey which takes me to Koeln and then Altenberg. I will begin my three day Orientation for the Fulbright. It looks like the schedule for that thing is jam packed, so it should be interesting. I am very excited to meet all of the other Fulbrighters though!

One final note - can the sports scene in Seattle be any worse right now? The Mariners suck (although, they have been playing decent recently and Morrow looks like a stud as a starter), the Sonics (aka Thunder, sweet name Clay) left, The Huskies football team is off to another 0-2 start (they just keep finding ways to lose..), and the Hawks got smashed today. I guess it was a good time for me to get out of there! :)

I probably wont be able to make another post until after my Orientation. So, check back next Friday or Saturday for more updates!