Friday, November 20, 2009

First day of school...

So Thursday was my first day of school. I have to go to school once a week(except i must also go every 4th Monday...boo) to learn horse knowledge and some other things needed for my bereiter test.

So I was totally and completely petrified to go to school. Not only did I have to drive by myself to Cologne(about 40 miles away) on the autobahn, park the car, and find the school/classroom, but i also speak NO German. I couldn't sleep at all the night before and ended up just sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee and reading. I finally decided to just leave the house(at 5:45am!, school doesn't start until 8am, haha) and drive to Cologne to make sure i find it okay and all. Since there isn't a speed limit on most of the Autobahn i got there at about 6 20am. Found some parking not to far away and walked around for an hour and a half. I found two different bakeries and got some food at both! Had to search far and wide for a bathroom(too much coffee). Finally 7:30 came around so I made my way back to the school, which was basically a community college(i think). I found the classroom and waited for the teacher to come and open it. After being let in and finding a seat that wasn't saved for someone the day got started!
It took the first teacher, Frau "Mean as Hell", half an hour to take role and get organized. In her 15 minutes left to teach she talked about horse semen and something else i couldn't understand. After that class she took me aside to get my boss's phone number and to ask me(in very broken English) why the heck i was at school if i didn't speak any German. I told her " ummmm i don't know, because my Chef told me to?!?!?" She then preceded to get angry at me for not understanding her and not participating and what not. I just smiled and said sorry and "Isch Sprecken keine deutsche"!
When she was done a very well dressed professor with came and talked to us about business, taxes, and politics...He was much nicer about the language barrier and said we would figure something out!
The day went on.... 3 more teachers. 2 nice, 1 not. Didn't really understand anything more than the subject of the lectures and what not. My last class had a test planned for that day. The teacher gave me the test and a textbook to see if i could get anything done on it. I could answer two of the questions(out of ten). And they were both right! But that's all i could get done. So i got to leave early!

All in all it wasn't to horrible. The other kids weren't very friendly(except for one very homosexual jumper rider), they all laughed at my non-German speaking. Pointed at me and whispered(why whisper?). Lets just say it was nice to come back to the barn and work with my "friends" here. I go on a different day next week so we"ll see if those kids are a little bit more hospitable...

O yea... That first teacher i had in the morning(the rude one) called my boss's wife who manages the barn and does the office work. She asked her why they sent me there and all. Told her i didn't speak any German(like she didn't know?!?), and that it was stupid of me to go. My boss's wife told her to bug off basically and that i was going to school to learn more German and get better at it. I didn't get to hear all the details of their convo but i think it was pretty hostile! sounds like fun!

well i think that's about it. I don't want this blog to make me sound like I'm miserable or anything.... It was just one hard day. I know it will get better. I wasn't expecting school to be easy and fun. I knew the language barrier would be a HUGE problem, but it will get better with time! I am very happy over here! I'm learning more than i ever could of imagined, seeing places i never dreamed of seeing, and meeting truly amazing people that I'm making life long friendships with. So all is good, just bumps in the winding road of living in a foreign country trying to live my dreams!!!!
(did that last paragraph make any sense, I'm not good at being all inspirational or eloquent, but i try anyway!!)

All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

1 comment:

  1. At least you got the first one over with. It will get better I bet. Don't get in an accident on the autobahn. That would suck. It sounds like you're having one hell of an experience there. Just do the best you can and f the rest .

    Andy P.

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