Saturday, August 29, 2009

Aufwiedersehen August

Two more days until September.

September has such a different feel than August. The 'back to school' air, cooler days but still sunny skies, and an excitement that that differs from that of summer. This year, there will be no back to school for me, as now I am officially a college graduate. A couple of my friends back in NJ keep reminding me that school starts this week, which I find hard to believe because to me it seems like the summer just flew by, but a part of me doesn't believe that I. Am. Done. Even now after the whole Graduation thing, the whole diploma thing, the whole moving to Germany thing.

I will be signing up to take a German language course from the Volkhochschule for the end of September... so that'll be the extent of my classes for this "semester", but my main focus right now is trying to find a job. I say my main focus, but I actually haven't been focusing on it too much at all. LEOLingo has taken most of my attention and energy the last 5 weeks, but now with only one week left, I have to get myself moving on it. In all honesty, I guess I won't be too disappointed if I don't find work until perhaps beginning of October,which would give me some time to chill a bit and maybe travel some.

I had an "interview" of sorts yesterday with this guy named Jason, owner/creator of Nuremberg Tours in English. He invited me to come with him as he gave a tour of the Altstadt and the former Nazi Party Rally Grounds, and then to talk a bit after that. He was a really nice guy and although he couldn't offer anything regular or on a weekly basis, he said that if I learn the information for the tours, he might use me occasionally to give private tours. So while I still have to keep searching, I'm still excited by the possibility.

By this time next week, I will most definitely be in Italy. I am so so excited and looking forward to this well deserved and needed break at the completion of six full weeks of camp.

Sorry no pictures for today. I will definitely post some from Italy when I get back.

Until then. Viel Spaß.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

job hunting...

I can't escape it.

Somehow I thought finding a job in Germany would be a little less stressful than in the States, now that I'm an official college grad and all. But its equally so-- perhaps even a tad more.

I do realize that the fact that I don't speak German fluently (yet) severly hinders and limits the positions I have to apply for, but I thought finding a job to teach English wouldn't be too hard--and that teaching English this year would give me time to think about what I really want to do when I get back to the US sometime next year.

The problem has really been that I don't know where to even look. I've sent my resume to a couple of Language Schools in Nuremberg, but not more than two responded and they told me they aren't hiring. Several people have offered to "ask" someone they know to see if they are looking for an English teacher--but so far, I've got nothing.

I miss my craigslist...

This weekend went much too fast. Tomorrow starts another week of camp. Another set of German children for another five days. Work takes up the majority of my week, and yet I don't feel I have that much to say about it... is that normal? I'm not exactly dreading it--I only wish the weekend had more days in it. I have to try to use my weeknights more wisely. I don't want to spend each day wishing for the weekend.

Two weeks until Italy. (!)

No pictures to post this time.

Until next week. Viel Spaß.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Regensburg to Nuremberg

Its already been two weeks since I last posted (entchuldigung). I promised myself I'd keep this blog up, so we'll just have to jump ahead and skip the week in Regensburg. This past week I was in Nuremberg, which is also where I'll be working the next three weeks.

Tomorrow already starts a new week of singing about speckled frogs and Fred the Moose with 7 and 8 year old German kids. I'm getting into the swing of things working with LEOLingo--and while its exhausting working with kids, the days seem to fly by and once we reach lunch time around 12:30, it's only 3 1/2 hours until the kids go home. Only 3 more weeks of camp and 3 more weeks until I leave for Italy (San Marino) for Daniela's brother's wedding. (which I'm super excited about--my first real Italian wedding ^^!).

Anyways--not going to write much this entry, but here are some pictures of my kids from the last week.





until next time, viel spaß :)

Saturday, August 1, 2009

Gloßner Bier and Tipping Canoes

So this past week I was in Neumarkt for the LEOLingo (Sprachcamp für Kinder) training. There were 16 of us from all over the English speaking world--and basically we had 2 1/2 days of theory training and then 5 half days of practical training working with kids from the Hauptschule and Grundschule.

In Neumarkt I stayed with Tini Gloßner and her 9 year old son Maxl. Tini's family are the owners of the Gloßner Bier Brewerie in Neumarkt producing (of course) beer and other drinks under the label of Neumarkter, including their new energy drink Moosebuefel (which reminded me of Red Bull, but better) and so my room was stocked each day with different kinds of drinks to try.



Their family has been in beer brewing business for 14 generations--and if you look at the side of the brewerie, they have the names of all their ancestors who worked there going back on a huge mural size family tree. Tini is also the owner of a mother-child clothing shop called Engel & Bengel in downtown Neumarkt. I think I got lucky with my host family, they were really interesting people...

LEOLingo arranged a lot of different activities for us each night including Bavaria Night, canoeing on the Altmuhlsee (which ended with me and three other girls not being able to control the boat and therefore hitting a tree and capsizing into the waist-high river), and so on and so forth. Overall while it was a really fun week, it was pretty exhausting. We did get the weekend off, although it went pretty fast because in only a couple of hours, I'll be catching a train to Regensburg for the next week of camp. Regensburg is supposedly THE university town and its also nicknamed the northernmost part of Italy, because of all its cafes and bars. So from what I've heard, should be a nice place. I guess you'll know by my next update.

So I'll keep it short. Until then... viel spaß.