Dachau Concentration Camp

I do not want to talk about this camp. Just look at the pictures. If you know any history you know how painful it was to walk through there.

Zollberg-Realschule

1972- A famous handball player thought it would be important to have a sports orientated school. There is only one other school in this state that has a sports track.

If you are on the sports track you have gym 5 hours a week, and if you are not on the sports track, you have three hours a week of gym.

Boys and girls are together in the gym class, which usually does not happen, and they are usually separated at age 12. Though, they are separated into two teams, girls and boys. Gym offers many opportunities for the students including fencing, climbing, and tennis.

Students in the sports track tend to be more academically advanced, with more drive and organization.

OK- Now more about the school, and most realschule in general.
The Realschule is a step down from the Gymnasium, which I talked about a couple posts back. In this school students tend to have greater weaknesses in reading and writing. The focus is on getting students into the workforce when they leave.

Discipline is a big problem. Students seem to have trouble with the transition between Grunschule and Realschule. (they have officially grown up, can ride the bus on their own, so they think they are the bomb...) I would assume the discipline problems are close to the ones we have in bigger cities in the United States, an assumption though.

With tracking- the principal and student council gave us some insight.
Students have mixed feelings about being in a Realschule. They worry because companies look at their marks (grades), but not only that. They also look at how they are doing in school, and lessons. How well they work with their teacher, do they talk all the time or listen. If you get a low evaluation and marks, then it will be very hard to get hired. Anywhere...

This is how the student council of the Realschule explained the three schools.

Hauptschule: 9 years of schooling
-Foreigners attend mostly
-Students don't want to go to school
-they have no motivation and fight alot
-do not study for tests
-do not listen to teachers

Realschule: 10 years of schooling
-students are more motivated
-the exams are harder

Gymnasium: used to be 13 years, but they have shortened it to 12
-classes are very hard
-no to little free time
-the students are learning all the time, even weekends
-abitur- means higher education and job opportunities
-students can be stuck up at first, but tend to 'grow up' fast

So the conclusion was they were pretty happy being in the realschule. They can move up to the gymnasium if they wanted, but they seemed happy cause the classes were easier. They seemed happy that they were not the lowest on the totem pole.

One of the interesting things we got to do was interview the Student Council in the school. They literally are... as the words say... the student council. If a student is having a problem in school with a teacher, they can come to the student council and talk to them about it and the student council will do their best to resolve it. They can even change rules, and throw events and parties for the school.

I just thought that was amazing, because the student council really has a bunch of control in the schooling.

Will post more in the morning.

Tuesday: Day 9- Halfway Through, Wednesday: Day 10

We observed at Zollberg Realschule. Refresh- It is the middle level school, between the Hauptschule and the Gymnasium. Students here had the middle/average test grades.

The Principal was sick the night before, and yet still came in so we could ask her questions! Very nice of her. WE talked with her for two hours... More than we needed, but we got a bunch of information out of her. ( The light is off in our hotel room right now, since we needed to open the windows because of the heat (no air) but the bugs outside come inside when the light is on.
So I cannot read my notes. )

But she and the secretary had this table set up with the most amazing pretzels I have ever tasted. And we at sooooo many of them... sooo many.
I cannot wait to start counting calories and working out again when I get home. I simply cannot wait. You know all that weight I lost? With eating bread constantly here in Germany(its the thing to do...) I'm sure I put some of the weight back on. So heres to working out for the rest of the summer! :)

We went out to dinner afterward in a 700 year old wine cellar called Einhorn. (Unicorn) WE drank rose wine made in the town we are staying! Esslingen is known for its vineyards. And the wine was actually pretty darn good! I don't even drink wine!

I got a great dinner. I ordered Maultaschen, which is almost like a pasta lasagna, but not... In a beef and onion broth. So good. So amazingly good.

The entire group!

Outside of the wine cellar restaurant.

Today I got to observe in a Musik class! General music, 5th and 6th grade, because the Realschule is a sport oriented school. They do not have a band class like most American schools. If a student is going to play an instrument, the parents have to pay for private lessons outside of school. If they wanted to be in band, they have to already know how to play their instrument. THey would not be allowed in the band program if they could not play.

In America, we teach students to play. We are the teachers.

In the school we were observing today, (and yesterday) The general music class does not learn with recorders, which American schools tend to gravitate towards. I would choose a recorder because its hand positions are like most woodwinds. The students can learn notes, and become accustomed to where the hands and fingers fall on a regular instrument.

In this school, the students learn on Harmonicas. They say it is easier, but I am skeptical. Then again, I have never tried a harmonica. (New goal for this year!)

I asked the teacher why they do it this way, and she told me that its easier to play. She is not looking to get students used to holding their hands and mouths a specific way. Rather she is looking to help the students learn the notes and rhythms with ease. Learning an instrument is not the music teachers responsibility.

We started out the lesson with some singing, and some harmonica playing. Then switched over to music theory. In 6th grade... I never got music theory in 6th grade...

She was working on intervals with the students. (How far one note is from another) The first exercise: she had two notes written in, and the students had to answer how far apart the intervals were. After they finished that, they stood up and did a clapping Call and Response exercise. (just to keep their attention on the work, and not on goofing off) Then she did the next examples, where the first note was written in, an then the number of the interval. The students went around saying what the second note should be.

Then they did another singing/dancing exercise.

Back to the third example- She would play each interval, and ask them which song it sounded like. They threw out answers. Somewhere over the rainbow (first two notes) is an octave.
This is not something I did until college. As a music major. IN COLLEGE....

*facepalm*

These kids make me feel dumb...

ANd this was not even a music school!! I cannot even imagine the theory and aural training that would happy in a music specific school. The gymnasium we went to the first two days was a music school... I just missed out on all the music days... Sigh...

The 5th grade was working on Peter und der Wolf.

"Peter and the Wolf (Russian: Петя и волк, Petya i volk), Op. 67, is a composition written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936 in the USSR. It is a children's story (with both music and text by Prokofiev), spoken by a narrator accompanied by the orchestra." Wiki

She put up pictures of each of the animals and people in the piece, and asked the students to name some characteristics of each animal/person. (Wolf-mean, scary Peter-playful, quick....)

Then she asked them to name instruments that would fit each character. After that was all written down, she played an except for each character and compared answers.

"Each character in the story has a particular instrument and a musical theme, or leitmotif:
Bird: flute
Duck: oboe
Cat: clarinet
Grandfather: bassoon
Wolf: French horns
Hunters: woodwind theme, with gunshots on timpani and bass drum
Peter: string instruments"

They did pretty darn good in connecting the character with the instrument! I am positive I would not have done so well if I were in their position years and years ago. I don't believe I really knew Peter and the Wolf much until my college career!

The story of Peter and the wolf if you do not already know:

"Peter, a young boy, lives at his grandfather's home in a forest clearing. One day Peter goes out into the clearing, leaving the garden gate open, and the duck that lives in the yard takes the opportunity to go swimming in a pond nearby. The duck starts arguing with a little bird ("What kind of bird are you if you can't fly?" – "What kind of bird are you if you can't swim?"). Peter's pet cat stalks them quietly, and the bird —warned by Peter— flies to safety in a tall tree while the duck swims to safety in the middle of the pond.

Peter's grandfather scolds Peter for being outside in the meadow ("Suppose a wolf came out of the forest?"), and, when Peter defies him, saying that "Boys like me are not afraid of wolves", his grandfather takes him back into the house and locks the gate. Soon afterwards "a big, grey wolf" does indeed come out of the forest. The cat quickly climbs into a tree, but the duck, who has excitedly jumped out of the pond, is chased, overtaken and swallowed by the wolf.
Peter fetches a rope and climbs over the garden wall into the tree. He asks the bird to fly around the wolf's head to distract it, while he lowers a noose and catches the wolf by its tail. The wolf struggles to get free, but Peter ties the rope to the tree and the noose only gets tighter.

Some hunters, who have been tracking the wolf, come out of the forest ready to shoot, but Peter gets them to help him take the wolf to a zoo in a victory parade (the piece was first performed for an audience of pioneers during May Day celebrations) that includes himself, the bird, the hunters leading the wolf, the cat and grumpy grumbling Grandfather ("What if Peter hadn't caught the wolf? What then?") In the story's ending, the listener is told that "if you listen very carefully, you'd hear the duck quacking inside the wolf's belly, because the wolf in his hurry had swallowed her alive."

Eastern Illinois' Orchestra did this a few years back. I absolutely loved it!!!

I know I left a bunch out because I am not reading my notes.. All... 10+ pages of them from today and yesterday. So when we get back from our trip tomorrow I will make sure to post all the interesting things we learned from the Realschule Student counsel, and vice principal!

Tomorrow we are heading to a concentration camp. It will be a very solemn day for us I am sure...

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!

Running behind

So I am a few days behind. But I promise I will fill you in on what has happened Monday and today.

We went on an epic hike with the 1st graders Monday, and today we observed at a Realschule.

Tomorrow when I get a chance, I will post!

Day 7-Sunday: Spa day!

A couple of the girls and our professor decided that they wanted to go to a horse breeding center (not sure if that is exactly what it was...)

So the rest of us, minus Tony of course, slapped on our swim suits and went to the local spa and pool, Merkel'sches Schwimmba.

So glad we did!

We walked up to this spa, with the wonderful art on the outside of the building. Young ones avert your eyes!

We paid 5ish Euro for the mineral bath, and sauna service. The building is huge, and beautiful. Oh it was beautiful!

The mineral bath was amazing.

" A bath for the senses. Weightless you glide along. "Sodium-calcium-chloride-sulfate Mineralthermalsäuerling" is the technical term for the precious liquid that gushes from the ground 200 meters. The special mix regenerated and revitalized. The skin is tender, the cycle mobilized, relaxes the muscles. Lose yourself in pleasant, warm thermal mineral water and feel the soothing effect for body and soul. "

It tasted like salt water. So you know its good. :)

The water seemed thicker, floating was so simple. It was nice to just float along with your ears under the water. There was even music playing under the water! It was so.... upscale.

A couple of us went on an adventure to see where the saunas were, and found a steam room, sat in that for a while. Then we found a small bath next to the sauna. I stuck my finger in thinking it was going to be warm. So so wrong. It was colder than ice. Maybe to cool off for the sauna? Not sure, but it felt great after getting out of the sauna. I thought Bikram Yoga was intense. This has beat the cake for intense temperatures!

We were drenched in sweat within seconds. But the freezing bath was amazing right afterwards.

We walked around for a little bit and turned a corner to see a full frontal of an older man. We quickly turned the opposite direction... but we will probably be scarred for life. Funny thing is... the man just laughed at our reaction. I'm guessing he could probably tell by our reaction that we were Americans.

Europeans use sexuality a bunch more than we do. In the train station there was a full frontal of a very attractive woman. Full Frontal. Everything was there. No bathing suit or bra.

I felt like a weirdo for staring, but I am just not used to it! People just walk past like they see it every day. And they do! Its nuts...

Until Tomorrow!

Day 6: Oh the adventures we go on....

I a a day late for day 6, but it is because we did so much yesterday!
Saturday- This begins our free weekend. Up until Friday we still did not seem to know what we were planning on doing. But Bettina offered us a scavenger hunt that she cooked up, and we accepted.

First off, we stopped by the Street market. They host these every Wednesday and Saturday morning, and the streets are filled with people.

The square was filled with stands of all different kinds. Teas, to butchers, to bakeries, veggie and fruit stands, flower stands. The smell was amazing!

Asparagus seems to be huge in Germany. I felt like I saw it at every stand! I love asparagus!

The apples looked amazing! Next Saturday I think we are all planning on coming back and gathering items for a picnic!

I saw leeks and I got really excited. Leeks are one of my favorite veggies. I learned how to cook with them last year when I made leek and potato soup. 8 Servings and I believe I ate half of all the servings at one meal, and half at another. Worth it....

After the market we started the scavenger hunt that Bettina had set us up with. She wrote down a bunch of questions pertaining to Esslingen, and Stuttgart, and we traveled along finding out the answers and taking pictures.

First off
Question: How many stairs is it up to the castle in Esslingen?
Answer: Alot. But we cheated on accident when we asked how to get to the stairs. One of the ladies in the traveler info shop told us that there are 313 steps up to the castle. We decided we were still going to walk them. I got my workout in for the day with these steps.

313 steps. What a blast!

The view was amazing though. You could see for quite a distance, and everything was beautiful.

Look at the vineyards! There are everywhere in this part of Germany, covering the big hill in the center of town.

Question: How many canons are in the castle?
Answer: We found 3. So we assumed there were 3. :)

Question: Find the residential castle.
Answer: We found it! Took us a while to figure out the train system. Meaning we got on the wrong train and had to backtrack.

"The New Palace (German: "das Neue Schloss", which may also be translated as New Castle) is a building which stands on the south edge of Schlossplatz, the central square in Stuttgart, Germany. The castle is built in late Baroque style.

From 1746 to 1797 and from 1805 to 1807, it served as a residence of the kings of Württemberg. (At other times, the Ludwigsburg Palace, a few miles to the north was the favoured residence of the royal family). The palace stands adjacent to the Old Castle.

The castle was almost completely destroyed by Allied bombing during the Second World War and was reconstructed between 1958 and 1964. During this time most of the inside of the castle was also restored and the building was used by the Baden-Württemberg State Parliament. Today it is used by the State Ministries of Finance and Education. Public tours of the building are only permitted by special arrangement" Wikipedia information

The courtyard was filled with so many people. And the grass was so soft! WE sat around for a little bit before moving on to our next scavenger hunt situation.

Question: Go to Stuttgart and have fun.
Answer: uhhh.. that's not a question but I believe we can make it work.

Tasha recommended we try a dish named currywurst. It is a bratwurst covered in a sweet ketchup, and then they put curry spice over it. They serve it with a baguette. It was amazing. I have not yet been let down by a food yet.

We also witnessed a rally in Stuttgart.
Could not understand a word they were saying, but we asked around and found out they rally were people against the rebuilding of Stuttgarts train station and multiple other things. It was titled K21, or Kein 21.

"Stuttgart 21 Protests
Stuttgart 21 is a massive urban development and transportation project with a goal of making Stuttgart the "heart of Europe". For many reasons, from the uprooting of 200year old trees for the project to the outrageous costs, and the dubious ways it passed through local government, S21 has seen much opposition.
One of the interesting things about S21 is traditionally, Stuttgart is a very conservative city not known for protests of this scale. Every day at 7pm, people all over the city participate in the Schwabenstreiche, a Schwabisch style of protest. Basically it is 5 minutes of blowing whistles, banging on pots, and making noise.
There are usually 2 very large and organized protests each week as well."

We traveled to the Porshe museum to view some cars, but turns out it was not a free entrance fee. So we hung out in the gift shop for a little bit and headed back to Esslingen.

Where we took a much needed nap.

Once we all woke up, groggily... We decided to grab dinner and drinks in the park near our hotel. Our waitress was a teacher in one of the Grundschule (grade schools) here in Esslingen. She spoke little English but made us speak in German. She helped us with words and even made Tasha and Marcela say the German word for silverware when they were asking for it. After dinner she sat with us and chatted (the best we could) thankfully one of us knows some sort of German. Emily was embarrassed to speak German, but she did a great job! We were all so proud.

Most of us are starting to really understand German, and even though we can't find all the words to speak it, we are able to listen and pick out the main topics of what is being said.

The waitress even taught us about German coin money. You know how we (in the states) have the quarters from different states? Well that is how the Euro works too. Germany has its own design on the coins, which is different from Spain, or France, or any other country in Europe. All the coins work where ever they take Euro, but its just different designs. She even went through her money pouch to show us the different types that she had with her.

We showed her American coins, and even gave her one of each coin to keep. She was a rather amazing waitress, and I think everyone had a blast. Her manager came over and told her to wait on her other tables too (in German) but she just laughed and said she wanted us to have a good time. It was a great end to a great day!

Btw, I think I found a beer that I can drink! It's beer mixed with cola. So I am not full out beering it. But I am getting closer. :)

Today seems to be a rest sort of day. Zoo may be in store, or canoeing, or a mineral water bubbly swim. We will see.