Scotland, aye!

This weekend I took a wee trip to Edinburgh, Scotland to visit my good friend Lisa. Just the journey there was somewhat adventurous...I set my alarm for 5:45 am and thankfully, it woke me up. I threw my stuff together and was walking to the train station by 6:10. With ticket, water and fresh pastry in hand, I caught the train at 6:30 to Frankfurt/Main Hauptbahnhof. An easy trip down. Once there, I had to find the bus to Frankfurt-Hahn airport (which is a 1 hour 30 minute drive from the train station). Easy, I paid for my ticket and sat down. Then I started to listen to people around me. One guy was saying to the bus driver "this bus arrives at Hahn at 9:45 and my plane departs at 10:40...is that enough time?" The driver: "well, we recommend that you arrive 70 mins before your departure - anything less and we cannot guarantee you will make the flight, especially because there could always be traffic..." The guy said he had no other choice but to hope it would work out, so he got on the bus.

Cue: me freaking out. That was my plane too, at 10:40. "Hope it would work out?" Up until this point, I figured this was a guaranteed thing here. Why didn't I think to get on the shuttle bus a half hour earlier? Oh right, cause I would have had to get up at like 4:30 am to catch the appropriate train from Marburg. But what if I didn't make it? I had planned on calmly reading my book on the bus, but as we pulled away, my stomach was in knots and I stared nervously out the window the entire time. The girl two seats behind me was on the phone.

"I hope I make my flight! I missed the last one (...) Well, as you know Ryan Air always closes their gates half hour before departure and they're very very strict about it..."

Me: more internal freaking out. Gates close a half an hour before? We were to arrive at 9:45 (if the roads were clear) and that meant I would have until 10:10 to get through security. Why didn't I look into this more? I spent the rest of the time telling myself how stupid I was for making this trip so stressful already. I continued to stare nervously out the window while at the same time silently cursing Ryan Air for their annoying insistance on using airports in the middle of nowhere and for closing gates ridiculously early.

The bus arrived 5 minutes earlier than expected at 9:40. The people who were on the Edinburgh flight raced to the counter. I literally got through check-in and security in about 10 minutes. It was 10:05 and I was sitting in the lounge, congratulating myself on my most excellent timing and my choice of Ryan Air. What a waste it would have been had I woken up at 4:30 am! And look how much money I saved flying with Ryan Air! :-) But seriously, I'll never do that again (re: timing. I'll fly Ryan Air again...they're only slightly annoying.)

As we landed in Edinburgh, I turned on my cell phone to let Lisa know when I'd be catching the Airlink bus into the city, where she was to meet me. Cue frustrating moment #3: the German SIM-card in my phone requires me to type in its PIN each time I turn the phone on after it's been off. Naturally, I'd had to turn it off during the flight. And now I needed my PIN. But where was my PIN? Sitting on my desk back in Marburg. D'oh! Turns out, it wasn't a big deal. I took the SIM-card out, got Lisa's number from my address book and called her from a pay phone (after getting change). My roommate emailed me my PIN a couple days later.

Once I'd finally made it, we spent the first day in Old Town at the Real Mary King's Close tour (spooky!) and checked out Greyfriars and Deacon Brodies for dinner and a pint, then a few more pubs down the Royal Mile. Saturday was sunny so we headed up to the castle - fantastic. More walking around the mile followed, including lunch at the Elephant House, where J.K. Rowling wrote most of Harry Potter 1 & 2. They had some really tasty stuff there (Broccoli & Stilton quiche..mmm). We then walked down towards Holyrood and took some pictures of Arthur's Seat. Once back at her apartment, we had some very tasty Indian food for dinner and then got ready for the Ceilidh (cay-lee)! I'd personally never heard of a Ceilidh before (tsk!) but it was so awesome. Everyone dances, drinks and sweats, ha! We learned quite a few folk dances and continued the fun at some pubs (drinking that is, not dancing) with Lisa's friend Mary Margaret. Sunday was cold and windy. But it's Scotland, so we decided to go up to Calton Hill anyway. Great views of the city. We then walked down Princes Street, shopped, and ended up in a lovely church cellar cafe warming up with tea and sweet potato soup. We just relaxed and chatted. Afterwards, we made our way home walking through the Princes Street gradens (in the old Nor' Loch). That night, we went out with Danny to a few pubs, mixing a few different drinks, and hoping it wouldn't cause pain the following day...

The trip home was a long one, I was up and walking to the Airlink shuttle by 9 am, and the flight landed in Frankfurt-Hahn at about 2:45 pm German time. Then 1 hour 45 minute shuttle to the Frankfurt train station, and another hour back to Marburg. Home, finally!

Today I woke up with a sore throat...it must have been the cold winds of Scotland...or, maybe I was infected by the old bog, the Nor' Loch...or...it's just my time to get a cold since I haven't been sick in months :) I'm tired, but I had to go to a meeting for the new English teachers at the Sprachenzentrum. One is an exchange student like me from an American university. Very nice. We got the low-down on basically everything...including a few matierals to sift through! For you ESL/EFL teachers out there, I have move, Destination, A New Start and Inside Out. Ha...time to make a syllabus. But first, a picture from this weekend!

"Na, hast du dich gut eingelebt?"

After the first few days of arriving in Germany (both now and in past years), this is probably the most common question I get asked - and rightly so. It means something like "are you settled in here?" or "have you settled in?" The answer is always "yes" because really, what would they do if I were to say "no" (ha), although a hedging "almost settled in..." is acceptable (with an explanation regarding why not, of course).

In past years, I've had to settle in rather quickly. A rush to get my bank account, then a speedy trip to the Stadtbüro (municipal offices) to get your "polizeiliche Anmeldung" which is something all Germans and non-Germans alike must do if they plan to stay in Germany for awhile. "Polizeilich" because it's required by the police (thus, punishable by fines and court dates I assume if you don't), and "Anmeldung" means registration. Basically, they want you and your address on record. Anytime Germans move anywhere, they have to report to the Meldeamt (within 7 days of moving) and put it on record. This is my 5th time living in Germany...and my 5th time jumping through those hoops. Likewise, when you leave, you have to tell them as well ("ABmeldung" in this case). I'll never forget the one summer I returned to Germany, and went to register with the city only to find out that I'd forgotten to ..."de-register"?? the year before. Oops! They were quite confused about that (Germans never forget to do this apparently).

"Andere Länder, andere Sitten" (translation: When in Rome...)

This year, however, I am not so rushed. University courses don't officially begin until October 12th. We have an orientation week starting October 5th, and I was expecting to do all of these things then. When you study abroad, the university's international office tends to guide you through these processes. All the important people come to you, instead of you having to run around the city to their offices, making sure sure you arrive at the appropriate times (many official offices in Germany close at lunch, or are only open mornings - frustrating!) But because I have all this time now before the semester starts, I decided to take the bureaucracy on myself (grrr! tough face!) Hey, I did it for 2 years in Karlsruhe - Kate and I were completely on our own there...unlike in Mannheim when we got the whole deluxe Uni shuffling process (which was so lovely).

So, yesterday, I went to the main university building to the international student offices. Armed with a checklist of things to do before I could be registered both at the university and the city, I headed downtown. First, to the AOK (insurance company). From them I needed a form that stated I was to be released from the requirement to have German insurance (I have travel insurance through PSU that is $28/month...69 Euro/month? No thanks AOK!). Check. Then, to the bank - Sparkasse. I had an account at Sparkasse the first couple of years I was in Germany, but at the time they did not give EC-Karten (debit cards) to people who were staying for a short period of time. That was no good, so in Mannheim I had an account at Deutsche Bank, which did issue EC-Karten. However, my two very knowledgable friends Jess & Jake (who lived in Marburg last year) told me that they had an EC-Karte at Sparkasse and that their branches were all over Marburg anyway. As it turns out, there's one 2 seconds from my apartment, so I figured why not. Bonus - free online student account with EC-Karte! Done and done.

Today, I went back with all my documents to Frau Homann at the Uni and got my lovely Studentenausweis (student ID). It's official, I am a registered student at Uni Marburg! Not a second to lose, I took off from there to go register with the city and hopefully get my visa as well. While registering, the woman behind the desk kindly informed me that as I was staying for one year as a foreign student I was entitled to a one time gift from the city of Marburg - 100 Euros! I think I stared at her for a few seconds...wha?? The money gets sent to my bank account in March (to ensure I stay the year, I guess). Not bad! Then, to the "Ausländerbehörde", or the foreign office, for my Visa. I went up to the door only to see that (of COURSE) they were only open MWF 9-12 (TYPICAL) and today was Thursday. D'oh! Foiled by German bureaucracy again! Oh well, not bad for one day...and anyway, I don't need the Visa right away so I'll just go back next week.

Next up, Scotland! Yup! I'm going very early tomorrow until Monday to visit my good friend Lisa in Edinburgh. I am very excited to see her and tour the city, as I've never been. "Gut eingelebt?" you ask? Yes and I'm already leaving! :) Ah, but only a short trip.

Oh...and I swung by the Sprachenzentrum (language centre where I'm teaching) yesterday and met one of the professors. Very nice! The teachers have our first meeting on Tuesday...should be an interesting week.

An Hessen führt kein Weg vorbei

I'm here! The title of this blog is the official slogan of the province of Hessen. As the plane flew into Frankfurt yesterday, I saw it plastered (in many languages) all over the outer airport walls. The official English translation (not quite like the original, but I suppose the government found out it's a weird one to translate): "Hessen: There's no way around us!"

I guess not - Frankfurt is located in the province of Hessen, and also happens to have one of the largest airports in Europe. Millions of people fly to Germany through Frankfurt, or land there as they run to catch their connections to other European, Asian or African destinations. Few people fly to Frankfurt to stay in Frankfurt.

Me included. However, I will be one of the few that stay in the province of Hessen - Marburg, to be exact. I had four smiling faces pick me up from the Marburg Hauptbahnhof yesterday - a former exchange student friend at Penn State (Chialing) who is now back home in Marburg, her friend (Christoph), one of my new roommates (Yvonne) and her boyfriend (Marian). The boys took my bags and I was free. And tired. The WG (Wohngemeinschaft = shared living space = apartment, basically) is cute, my room is great. I'm unpacking and getting organized. Last night, Chialing and I met for dinner downtown, of course we walked around and I took many pictures. Exhausted, I crashed around 9:30 pm and I'm pretty sure it was the best sleep of my life.

Today, Chialing and I are going to walk around "die Uni" and tomorrow I will begin the more official process of becoming a Uni Marburg student. Hopefully soon after that, I will be able to meet with someone from the Sprachenzentrum (language institute) where I'll be teaching in a few weeks. Then, syllabus creation time...I'm nervous about the possibilities of having a blank slate as well as NOT having a blank slate. Does this make sense? I still can't believe I'm going to be teaching English.

20 days

...until I go to Marburg, Germany.

My name is Janice and I am from Toronto, Canada. I also happen to be a PhD student in the German department at a large North Atlantic university in the United States. As a part of this program, graduate students in our department are often encouraged to go abroad for one year. While abroad, we audit courses at the university in Marburg, collect data and read for our dissertation projects, and we teach English as a Foreign Language (EFL) at the language centre, even thought most of us have never actually taught English before. It's not that we haven't ever taught - we're all seasoned GFL (German as a Foreign Language) instructors. But this isn't German. And it sure isn't America.

It is interesting that in many countries, people with little teaching experience (English or otherwise) get EFL jobs simply because they are native speakers. Prized for their mother tongue, they are often hired over those who are not. Are they really better teachers? I know very little about English grammar. But I know German grammar. I can teach German. Teaching English, however, will be a new experience for me.

My native speaker proficiency in English does not give me the confidence that it seems to give so many EFL employers and hopeful students and parents around the world. Still, I'm really looking forward to finding out what it is like to teach English in a German context (and at all, really).

Departure date: September 20, 2009.