First impressions of life in Germany

On the plane ride over to I sat next to a few great people; from PDX to Toronto, I talked with a woman who grew up in Mexico City, and from Toronto to Frankfurt I sat across the aisle from a German who teaches English in a Berufskolleg (the type of school where I'll be working). Talking with him about teaching and about Berufskollege initiated this feeling of excitement about and readiness for the task ahead of me.  We exchanged contact information before the flight ended - he even offered me a place to come stay if I felt homesick, needed to get away or anything at all. So far almost all Germans I've met have been friendly and eager to help with whatever I need, despite what I've been told about them in the past. Anyway, more on that later, now back to the point of this post.  (I feel really bad for anyone who reads this blog because my thoughts are always all over the place and tangents aren't exactly a rarity.)

Last Friday I arrived lacking sleep and a bit behind schedule in Frankfurt. Erik, one of the English teachers from the BBS 3, picked me up at the airport, and drove me to my WG (apartment) to drop luggage off before going to the BBS3 for the first time. As for the BBS3, I could tell right away that I would like the school. Erik and I went to the teacher's lounge type area - what a cool change, going to the teacher's lounge instead of hanging out with students on break! - where I met some of the other teachers.  All of them were nice, friendly, and helpful, much like almost every other German with whom I've come into contact. In the evening, Claudia, my Betreuungslehrer (supervising teacher), and her boyfriend Alex took me to dinner at a Weinstube in the downtown area of Mainz.  Upon seeing "Schnitzel auf Wiener Art" on the menu, I didn't really have to think about what I'd be eating for dinner.  I mean, I just love Schnitzel.  After dinner I went to their apartment to watch Deutschland against Belguim, a game that Deutschland dominated!  Then it was time for some sleep, after about 40-something hours with about 1.5 hours of sleep.  

Saturday morning I woke up early-ish, went to the T-mobile store to purchase a SIM card and some minutes for my lovely German cell phone.  Although this handy is better than the one I had in Austria, it's still such a joke of a cellular device compared to the various phones I've purchased over the last few years. Then it was off to buy my BahnCard 50 and train tickets to Cologne. The view of the Rheinland between Mainz and Koblenz is absolutely stunning.  Like woah.  Castles on the top of every hill, vineyards lining the hillsides.  This place is unreal.  

Cologne was basically a wash of a city.  The famous Kölner Dom was about all the city had to offer, well aside from the Kölsch beer, a beer that wasn't at all impressive to me.  It's typical for Kölsch to be sold in 0,2Liter glasses - less than 12oz - and my waiter basically told me that this was a way to make more money off of people.  True to its Gothic architecture, the cathedral was epic...I just love Gothic architecture (thanks to professor Hanreich in Vienna!).  Instead of staying in an expensive hostel in Cologne, I decided to give couchsurfing a try.  It was definitely a great experience...I stayed with two different people, but I enjoyed the second night much better.  Walter and Ina, an aussie and a German, lived on the opposite side of the Rhine from the Dom.  I borrowed a bike from them and explored the city for the day.  That evening we ate dinner together, and I joined Walter and his friend for a nice middle-eastern Jazz pianist's concert in a small bar across town. What an interesting style of music!! If you ever get the chance, definitely check it out! Later I had an interesting conversation with Ina about national pride, the world cup, teaching (they are both teachers), and greenpeace. In the morning I woke up, said thank-you and good-bye to my lovely hosts, and went down to meet up with the other Fulbrighters at the Hauptbahnhof (train station) located right next to the cathedral.  While we were sitting there waiting for the train and making small talk, I noticed a guy lying on the steps up to the cathedral.  Soon there were people pumping his chest, shortly followed by an ambulance and the works.  Unfortunately, they couldn't seem to recesitate him, and he died.  The craziest part about this whole event was how they left him lying on the bricks for about an hour after he was dead, just covering him with a white sheet.  (Side note: when we arrived back in Cologne after the Fulbright conference 3 days later, there were two ambulances (ambuli? ha) near the cathedral yet again. Upon seeing this and thinking about my unimpressedness by Cologne, I came up with a marketing slogan: Köln, eine großartige Stadt, in der ums Leben zu kommen - or - Cologne: a great place to die. Kinda morbid, but from what I witnessed there, eerily true..)

That's all for now.  I'm really terrible at this blogging thing, but I'll try to post one about the Fulbright conference and my first day of teaching soon.

Cheers!

Ashley

**View of Cologne from my first couchsurf there**

*I also thought this was pretty awesome - on the train bridge in Cologne, thousands [maybe even hundreds of thousands] of couples have placed locks on the bridge to show their love for one another.  There was also a spray-painted quote: Liebe ist nur ein Traum (love is just a dream) with a carrot thingy inserted so it would read: Liebe ist NICHT nur ein Traum (love is not only a dream)*