Catching up! Day 8

I am a few days behind... We just get so busy and then by the time I get back to the hotel I want to chat with Steve, and then pass out!

Last post was about Sunday, and our relaxing spa day.

Things got very... unrelaxing come Monday.

We went to observe at the same grade school we were at last week. I volunteered for a hike with the 1st grade, thinking, "oh its first grade. I'm sure it will not be so bad."

I was miserably and horribly wrong. The path was extremely steep for the most part. The sun was very ... burning... It would have been easy if I could walk at my own pace, but I was walking along side of 1st graders who could not keep a constant pace. Oih.

The view was amazing though. We could see all the way to Stuttgart. And the kids were doing a great job walking. It was about a 45 minute walk, almost always at some sort of a slope. I was amazing at how the 1st graders were doing. I am almost positive that many American students the same age... would not be able to do even close to what they did...

On the way up, we passed by an egg vending machine. I have never seen that before!

Once we got to the top, the kids started warming up to Tony, Steph, and I. I made two little friends, who for the rest of the day could not be seperated from my side. They both fought over my hands, and were constantly calling my name. They would point out something, say the name of it in German, and then wait for me to say it in German, and then in English. I'd like to say I learned a bunch, but they only would say it once, and it was always too fast for me to catch on. But they were able to catch on pretty well, and kept saying the English word over and over again.

We went on this hike because the school is having an Earth, Fire, Wind, Water, type.... month? They do paintings, drawings, crafts, studies, and anything else about these elements. We had Erde (Earth) so we went on a hike collecting leaves, moss, branches, dirt, and anything else.
One of the other group made a fire and cooked meat. They got the easy job :)

We passed by a field of rhubarb, and broke off the leaves to make elf hats for everyone! The kids were so adorable!

When we were "relaxing" in one of the fields, the two girls decided that they wanted piggy back rides. I thought, why not. So I gave them both a ride or two, and turned around to find a line of the students waiting for a ride. I decided that was not going to work and told them Tony was a better choice. SO they crowded around him.

I thought that sitting down would save me from getting jumped on for a piggy back ride. I was horribly wrong. Those little German girls are violent!

We thankfully got to ride the bus back down the hills, and I was extremely grateful, because I was exhausted!!!

I learned that I really do love working with younger students. This is something I was always afraid of when student teaching, because I felt like I didn't have the ... rapport that I needed to have. But they seem to take to my amazingly. So much so that I can't seem to shake them off! I hope this proves to be a good thing in the future!

When we got back to the hotel we all passed out for quite some time. Then my two roomies and I went to the store to grab some food, and we ate a picnic in the park. It was a nice end to a busy, exhausting, but entertaining day!