This morning Stefan had to take the bus to school. While standing at the kitchen window I snapped a shot of him waiting for the bus. His suitcase wouldn't fit on the luggage rack of the bike. Where's he going? He's off to the Ostsee - ie the Baltic. (Unterwegs means 'on the way' auf Deutsch) When I posted earlier about our trip to Cuxhaven I mistakenly called the Nordsee (North Sea) the Baltic as well, but they're different. This time Stefan is certainly headed to the Baltic with his class of 5th graders. 28 of them to be exact. He will be gone 7 days - leaving this morning and then returning on Sunday night. Then he has to go back to teaching on Monday morning. This point I find particularly astounding.
It's just Stefan and another teacher and nope, Germany doesn't have ratio laws of how many adults per X amount of students. Don't get me started on how this country has about 5 million lawsuits just waiting to happen. I'm not even one to sue, but goodness, if it were my kid and something happened, you can bet I probably would. I'm sure some of this stems from my prior experience having to develop and train in outlines of risk management for past programs that I've worked with, but still...there's just some basic logic in requiring more than 2 adults for 28 11-year olds, especially for a whole week in a location 6hrs away! In fact, they only require 1 adult. The other day Stefan decided to take his class for a walk up in the castle gardens to discuss some point of a lesson, so they just all walked out the door and off they went. It boggles my mind how this is even remotely acceptable, and yet it's perfectly normal here.
So I have the house to myself this week. I found out this morning that I passed my Orientierungs Exam - hooray! - and also found out that I did horribly on the section I thought I would. Out of 9 incorrect answers 5 of them were on the 'Bundes - something or other' section. Mostly because it was a matching section, and of course, if you get 1 wrong then you automatically get 2 wrong and so on. So annoying. I received a 'Gut' which is ok. In the US this is the equivalent of a solid 'B' - and 85%. So it's back to tending the garden (can you believe this closeup of a bee I was able to get on the balcony?!) and preparing for the Zertifikat Deutsch exam....less than 2 weeks away now - eek!
4 comments:
Hey,
Oh, I wish I was there to hang out with you this week! We are stuck at home (or the mall, if we so choose), trying to hide away from the almost 100 F weather.
My junior high teacher, by the way, took us 9th graders to Berlin for a week via Sweden and Denmark on a bus. I sometimes still admire his courage. We did have a couple of parents come along for the trip, but still, it was all on him... and my 6th grade teacher took us to Lappland for a week. I think the difference also has to do with the fact that kids are generally used to more freedom so they don't go crazy when the first opportunity presents itself. In other words, I didn't get killed in Berlin at the age 15 without the much needed parental guidance 24/7. We were actually allowed to go out at night. Bizarre. Yes. I agree.
If I was Stefan, I would have called in "dead"!!!
Wow, the bee picture is unbelievable! Hope you aren't too lonely there this week - I can certainly relate to having dad travel. So proud of you for acing the German exam, too!
Love, MOMO
Congratulations!!!! This is wonderful.
Your post is really funny. (Out of my very German perspective.) We notice the same thing with our friends, who have kids. The German parents are more easy going whereas the American parents are much more protective!
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