Working life.

I have now officially been at work for over a week. And despite a few natural teething problems, I am honestly in love with it! My students are great, my colleagues are very warm and welcoming, and the centre is absolutely gorgeous.

Where it has been a bit disappointing is the curriculum - but of course, over here, it is the Summer holidays. Hardly any staff are working, not many students are attending the service regularly because parents are on holidays, and students are only attending for half days instead of full while parents are free. So the curriculum content is barely existent. For me, there are moments where I have just felt like a glorified baby sitter - but I think that is also because I am struggling with the language barrier still. However, I am getting better. Every day I am learning new words (from my colleagues and students) and I am constantly being spoken to in rapid German by staff. So all in all, I know things are going to keep looking up. I am also starting to implement some of my own curriculum ideas, and my bosses are impressed, so I think I can only get better.

The pleasant surprise was when I was welcomed officially on my third day by my bosses with a beautiful bunch of flowers and my first work shirt! A proud moment!

So, I suppose there are a few highlights that I must detail. Firstly - the food. Now, I know food seems to be a topic for me in every blog... but this is a must discuss topic. Everyday, my students are fed breakfast (if they arrive before 8.30), morning tea, full lunch, afternoon tea and pre-dinner snack (if they are there after 5.30pm). The meals are amazing, with a full fruit platter at morning tea, a hot meal with sides at lunch, and more pretzels and meats than you can poke a stick at for afternoon tea. The lunch meals are the best, and every Friday they get fish, every Wednesday is vegetarian. The best bit? I get to eat with the kids! The food is cooked fresh on the premises by chefs and we dish up for the children, then get to serve a portion to ourselves. Its great because I don't have to worry about buying lunch or taking it with me most days. The only time I have to be careful is if the meal contains one of my allergens. Then I just grab a croissant from the bakery at the train station on the way to work!

That brings me to the trains - it has taken a bit of getting used to, but I am slowly remembering to leave home only about half an hour before my shift starts. I leave home, walk 10 minutes to the U-bahn station, jump on the next U6 that comes along (usually within 4 minutes of arriving on the platform) and then, 3 stops later, walk another 7 minutes to work. Its so quick and efficient and I love it!

The other thing that pleases me is the difference between Australian classrooms and here. Firstly, I don't have to write a safety plan for every little thing my students do.... like use scissors. I know that we keep an eye out for our kids and we do teach safety, but I thought things were getting a bit over the top in Aus when I had to include scissor use on my safety plan at work.
Here, the students are taught manners, as they sit down for each and every meal, they must wait until they have said 'grace' (its not really grace, its usually a chant about a witch or a mouse that finishes with 'Guten Apetit'). Then, once they are allowed to eat, they serve certain parts of the meal themselves, they use a knife and fork (I am proud of this because half my kids are 3 years old), and they clean their dishes at the end of lunch. Its great the way they all take their responsibilities seriously.


Here, the students are encouraged to play and learn, rather than just sit at a desk and learn. This is the reason I left teaching in Australia, and I am currently writing a research proposal for my masters about this exact contradiction between the two schooling systems. Now living and breathing it, I am certain that there needs to be a happy medium between play and education.

Where Germany and Australia are similar - its got to be the names. The common name in Australia was Josh. Here, of course it's still a 'J' name - I have 3 Julius's, and there are also several Raphael's in the centre, one in my room. I know all my fellow teachers will understand this. There are the weird names too, but I suppose parents will be parents, no matter what country you are in.

There is also the money influence here. The Akademie has a great reputation and families pay full fees to attend. I laugh because I have one young student who wears only Gucci. Yes, the real deal. Every day he is dressed head to toe in Gucci. And more often than not, white Gucci clothing. White trousers, white top.... although come lunch time, its usually more a red colour. I often wonder how much nappysan his mother uses!

I suppose that is all in regards to work. However, there are a few awesome things about life in general. Firstly - Cheese! Yes, I know I'm going back to the food topic yet again. But Michael and I were so excited doing our very first full grocery shop when we found a bag of grated cheese for 1euro. I distinctly recall being very sad at the cost of grated cheese in the Brisbane supermarkets at upwards of $7 a bag. When we found said cheese.... we did a happy dance in the fridge section of Rewe - our local shops.

To keep on a similar topic, grocery shopping in general is great. We did a shop last night for the whole week - just over 30euros. I have one or two small items to pick up mid week such as milk etc, but you know, that will only be 95c!

Doing our first grocery shop! So exciting!

On a final note - to everyone who is following this blog, our sincere apologies for the delay in writing again. We were promised internet at our apartment, it has not happened. We have been here two weeks now and we are still waiting. I am still being forced to do study at Starbucks just to use the free wifi. I hope to be a bit more active in the coming weeks, especially once we find a new apartment.

Keep watching though, as I hope to post photos of our recent weekend trip to ... LEGOLAND Deutchland! We had the most amazing time on our first mini holiday.... you just have to wait and see!