With just two weeks left until I go home, I’d like to think I’ve survived the long German winter! Although, I’d rather not speak too soon because it’s still on the cold side and until I don’t need a scarf to go outside, it’s still winter in my head. I also think ‘survived’ is an interesting choice of word given I was crippled by a cold for much of last week and have had a few tough days at school, as anticipated, but it’s also marked the start of some fun end-of-term stuff such as the small quirk of a murder mystery dinner! Illness has also given me the ability to reflect back over what I’ve learned in Germany and on my year abroad thus far.
Another week at school
Last week was a mixture between utterly shambolic and actually pretty promising. It was shambolic because so many teachers were off and if you looked on the Vertretungsplan (cover lesson plan), it extended on for four pages because so many teachers were ill! It can be a bit frustrating when your lessons fall through, especially when you drag yourself out of bed at silly o’clock in the freezing cold to teach them, and even more so when you’re actually there but the kids misbehave. However, when I think about it, this is the toughest it has been and hopefully will be the hardest it gets. I say that because, well, it doesn’t really get much harder than looking on the plan to see you’re down to teach a double lesson with thirty 13/14 year olds with five minutes notice. Oh, I’d also done zero prep and the kids have a limited knowledge of my language, although that limit was thankfully quite high. Somehow, I managed to pull it off (I mean, everybody survived and the kids actually learned something) so I took that as a little victory. It’s a little bittersweet because you can feel pleased accomplishing your job but you never know what they want you to do next: maybe swim the Rhein as far as Rotterdam, run a marathon or sing a solo by Adele. Actually, the last one was only a request from the class of 13/14 year olds that I respectfully declined.
I’ve also had a dreadful cold to add to the difficulty of the week (cue lots of sympathy from the kids) but still managed to enjoy it, especially when the lessons you teach are actually quite interesting, such as talking about sports with class 7, youth gangs with class 10 and animals with class 6. The kids still make me laugh myself out of my chair but week 8 is one I’m glad to see the back of and I’m pleased there are only eight days left of school before the holidays!
Murder in Monte Carlo am Rhein
I’d originally planned to visit Rheinberg, the place where my great-uncle Doug is buried this week but when the cold crippled me I decided not to bother. It’s particularly hard to cope with it when you’re living on your own and therefore can’t go to your family and friends for tea and sympathy but I’ve controlled it the best I can and thankfully am almost 100% now. I won’t bore you with the details but I spent much of Thursday afternoon, Friday and Saturday dying on the sofa, watching an interesting mix of films and TV shows, from Home Alone 2 to Beaches to Slumdog Millionaire and Fawlty Towers. It actually provided me with a bit of a caesura in the term to set my house in order, although it made a depressing change from the weekends of travelling around to these various places. At least there was one consolation: it was absolutely throwing it down and I wouldn’t have wanted to go out anyway.
However, the weekend was not, in any way, an entire waste. I went to a murder mystery dinner in Koblenz hosted by my work colleague Gabi and her husband on the banks of the Rhein. It was a rather unusual feeling to spend two days cooped up on the sofa to then leave the house dressed in black tie, complete with Somerville College cufflinks, catching a bus to Neuwied and onwards on a train to Neuwied. However, it was an utterly remarkable and absolutely hilarious evening.
I’d never been to one of these things before so I didn’t know what to expect and I didn’t realise you actually had to act the character initially. I played the role of Prince Reynard, a French aristocrat who owns the palace where the murder took place and therefore put on my best French accent, itself a very weird mix of German and Russian. I was joined by my work colleague, Gabi, and her husband, and Sandra (another work colleague) along with four others who could speak impeccable English. The whole evening was great from start to finish with a few laughs being made at my French accent and my attempt at method acting (I pretended that the grapes for the wine were picked from my vineyard in the south of France). It’s the first time I’ve been the guest in a German home this year, besides that of my landlord’s, and the Germans really do put on quite a show. They wanted to hear some stories about Oxford and year abroad life, as many people do, and I was more than willing to impart them. After a few days out cold, it only takes a few hours to remember just why you’re there and how fulfilling the whole year, as a whole, has been. Even though it’s tough at times (and it is tough), these anecdotes that you have, of climbing through hills one day, acting as a French prince the next, and getting asked odd questions by German schoolchildren, really have been quite formative.
Was hat Ihrer Nase wehgetan?
Oh, and before I forget, the illnesses and ailments didn’t end there. I went to bed on Sunday night safe in the knowledge that my cold was on the mend and that I could therefore look forward to the penultimate week at school and Berlin next weekend. However, when I woke up in the morning and showered, I ran myself over something rather bumpy on my nose. Looking in the mirror, I noticed it looked like something had scratched me in the night! I had no idea what had happened to me, which was probably the scariest part, and I initially thought about missing school but never one to dodge an interesting day out (and a few stares), I jumped on the bus to school and had a few teachers diagnose me with what they thought had happened. The kids were curious although reacted better than I thought, mostly just stating ‘what did you do to your nose?’ and a couple making suggestions about a mysterious animal scratching me in the night. A couple also excitedly asked if I had a fight, which I unfortunately had to answer in the negative, although it would’ve given me a good excuse to lie a bit and boost my cred with the kids! With no miraculous cure inside, I gave Neuwied’s doctors a call and made an appointment for Thursday (two days after I’d hoped for) and prepared myself for my latest German experience, and one I hoped I’d never have. It was a very formal affair and I was addressed with ‘Herr Smith’ throughout, whilst the doctor shook my hand and examined what was on my nose. He concluded it was some form of bacterial infection and prescribed a cream to clear it up, the cost of which came to just shy of 16 euros! I coughed up and made a note never to curse the NHS again, although I must say the ease of actually rolling up at the doctors was much easier than it is in the UK.
Onwards and Upwards
It can be very easy to get down, particularly when it feels like you’re having one stressful week after another and you want the world just to swallow you up at times. Sometimes, you feel like things keep going from bad to worse and the whole experience is just one problem after another. It’s also tough when you’re alone in a foreign country without your friends and family in the long dark winter months, although the teachers at school have been a great help. However, I’m trying not to look at it that way because that’s when you stop enjoying yourself! Things are still, for the most part, on the up: school is now much less stressful because I’ve only got four days left before the holidays, and the cold is now almost gone, except for a slight cough. It’s also beginning to be nice and sunny on a daytime, and warmer too (although still not what I’d called ‘spring-like’). So really, other than this thing on my nose and a bit of guilt at not having accomplished more academic work (I had planned to write an essay by the end of last week – word count now: 0), things are actually rather good. Tomorrow, I see my family, a fact I’ve barely mentioned yet, and that’s something I’m very much looking forward to, particularly given I’ve not seen them in almost nine weeks, a huge length of time, and then the week after I’m visiting Berlin again with some friends, which should provide a nice end-of-term blowout. After that, it’s back home for a week, where I’ll hopefully get to enjoy some home comforts, before the home straight well and truly starts. So, I’ve survived the long German winter, which at times has been very enjoyable (picture Christmas markets and weekends spent amongst the snow) and at times very dull (rainy days around home and dark mornings waiting for the bus). The saying that you have to take the rough with the smooth has never been truer: I think I’m going through (and hopefully approaching the end of) a rather rough spot, so here’s hoping the term takes a bit of a trajectory towards the end, that this thing on my nose clears up and that I can enjoy the last week and a half of the winter term in Germany!
From Shanghai to Germany 