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!