Briefing you all about everything
So a lot has happened in the last couple of weeks since I last posted. I have been pretty busy at school and trying to get myself all set up here. There were also two weeks of special activities at school. The first week was the school week, where students did projects relating to the main theme. The Theme was Wizardry and Magic in School. By the way, this would be impossible as a theme in American schools (although, a private school like this one could possibly get away with it). The next week was Europa Woche, Europe Week, which brought with it fewer classes and yet more projects. I almost got drafted into playing piano with some students, but I was so out of practice and never learned anything about that style of music anyway. So I got out of that.
Last weekend, I met some of the other assistants from the area, the bulk of whom are from Britain (including a girl from Northern Ireland with the coolest accent I've heard in my life!). I slept on one of their floors in Rostock and was really stiff thereafter. However, I didn't even notice how my shoulder or neck felt until the next day sitting in school.
This week in school was much shorter, because it was Tag der Deutschen Einheit (Day of German Unity). The main celebration for Germany was here in Schwerin, and it was PACKED. There was a presentation about the Bundestag, the national parliament, which was cool. The 'Speaker of the House' and the Governor of this state were both there to speak to us a little bit, as well as some conservative legislator who isn't well known. The legislator and the Governor gave little speeches proclaiming their support for a ban on the extreme rightist parties and for better health care, etc etc. Then we all were asked to vote as to whether the government should be in charge of the national education system. It was a nonsense question and the only person to vote against it was one of my students from 10th grade, who was dorking around about it.
Otherwise, there were a lot of different booths, with different foods and information about various things. For example, there was a tent with information about how one could get their files from the Stasi era (the Stasi is the 'Staatsicherheit' people, or State Security Department in East Germany, which kept files on many people, from major political opponents to regular people who may have said something vaguely against the state). There were booths from different governmental departments, different vendors of food. And each German state had its own section. I bought some real cheese from some Swiss vendor and some real sausage from a Hessian place. I also bought some local honey somewhere. There were many stages with music or children's programs. All this went from Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday evening, when there was a HUGE fireworks/music show at the castle. It was really cool, because they had the Schwerin castle lit up, laser lighting and spewing smoke and everything. The music was exactly what we'd expect from German musical performances: despite it being the main national holiday, I didn't hear the national anthem once, but instead kitschy 80s music. This included the first song during the light show, where the singer was on a platform that is raised and lowered hydraulically, and hanging under that platform was a giant disco ball. He himself was wearing all white and his gestures must've been gigantic, because I could see him clearly from across a river and down on the ground.
Anyway, it was a fun big festival. According to the People's Newspaper (Schweriner Volkszeitung), there were at least 250,000 people at the festival. Since the total population of this city is about 90,000, this place was packed, and it's kind of nice to have the place back to normal now.
Last weekend, I met some of the other assistants from the area, the bulk of whom are from Britain (including a girl from Northern Ireland with the coolest accent I've heard in my life!). I slept on one of their floors in Rostock and was really stiff thereafter. However, I didn't even notice how my shoulder or neck felt until the next day sitting in school.
This week in school was much shorter, because it was Tag der Deutschen Einheit (Day of German Unity). The main celebration for Germany was here in Schwerin, and it was PACKED. There was a presentation about the Bundestag, the national parliament, which was cool. The 'Speaker of the House' and the Governor of this state were both there to speak to us a little bit, as well as some conservative legislator who isn't well known. The legislator and the Governor gave little speeches proclaiming their support for a ban on the extreme rightist parties and for better health care, etc etc. Then we all were asked to vote as to whether the government should be in charge of the national education system. It was a nonsense question and the only person to vote against it was one of my students from 10th grade, who was dorking around about it.
Otherwise, there were a lot of different booths, with different foods and information about various things. For example, there was a tent with information about how one could get their files from the Stasi era (the Stasi is the 'Staatsicherheit' people, or State Security Department in East Germany, which kept files on many people, from major political opponents to regular people who may have said something vaguely against the state). There were booths from different governmental departments, different vendors of food. And each German state had its own section. I bought some real cheese from some Swiss vendor and some real sausage from a Hessian place. I also bought some local honey somewhere. There were many stages with music or children's programs. All this went from Tuesday afternoon to Wednesday evening, when there was a HUGE fireworks/music show at the castle. It was really cool, because they had the Schwerin castle lit up, laser lighting and spewing smoke and everything. The music was exactly what we'd expect from German musical performances: despite it being the main national holiday, I didn't hear the national anthem once, but instead kitschy 80s music. This included the first song during the light show, where the singer was on a platform that is raised and lowered hydraulically, and hanging under that platform was a giant disco ball. He himself was wearing all white and his gestures must've been gigantic, because I could see him clearly from across a river and down on the ground.
Anyway, it was a fun big festival. According to the People's Newspaper (Schweriner Volkszeitung), there were at least 250,000 people at the festival. Since the total population of this city is about 90,000, this place was packed, and it's kind of nice to have the place back to normal now.