School

 Every (week) day, my host mom wakes me up at an ungodly hour with "Morgen, Anne! Aufstehen!" And I say "Moooorrrgeeeen", wallow in my misery for 30 seconds, then get up, dress as quickly as possible because it's freezing, eat bread, get bread to take to school with me, and go to school.
Then school happens. 

My schedule:
Monday:
(My favorite day by far because school doesn't start till 9:30 and we have two hours of English.)

9:30-11:05 Math
I can actually do stuff in this class because numbers are universal. Of course, it's more difficult for me because I usually don't understand the explanations and the words for shapes and such are different. And who knew there was a shape that's a cylinder, but with trapezoids instead of circles on the ends?! But I'm good at math thanks to my mom, so I get by.

11:15-12:50 English
The teacher only speaks English in English class, and the students are supposed to too, so I always have this ridiculous grin on my face the whole time because I understand everything and everyone else gets a small dose of what I deal with all the time. Plus, the accents are fantastic and I get to correct everyone. But don't think it's THAT easy. This week we wrote a text analysis.

And that's it! Then we go home and eat lunch and do homework.

Tuesday:

7:35-8:20 History
I understand next to nothing, so I just copy down whatever the teacher writes on the board and flip madly through my dictionary when she talks. She's an English teacher too, though, (and pretty much everyone here speaks English) so sometimes she comes and explains the assignment to me in English. 

8:25-9:10 French
This is the advanced French class that I sit in on because it's where my class (the students I stay with) are. A lot of it is IN French, which I have never taken, so I sit in the back and read my dictionary.

9:30-10:15 Geography
I'm lost most of the time, but our last test was just labeling mountains, rivers, cities, and states in Germany, so I studied and aced that sucker.

10:20-11:05 Biology
My time would be better spent sleeping.

11:15-12:50 Chemistry
"                                     "

1:45-3:20 Sport
The past two weeks, we did the high jump; you know, where you run throw yourself backwards over a pole onto a mat. That combined with the fact that our P.E. teacher is also the Bio teacher and he wears ridiculously short (I'm talking girls'-Nike-shorts-short) shorts, makes for a very laughable situation. Could you get more movie-stereotypical? Being a short white girl, I wasn't particularly skilled at high jumping, but it was an experience, something I can check off my bucket list (Just kidding, that's not on my bucket list).

I now have my actual French class instead of Sport. I'm with the eleventh graders from the Hauptschule who are just now starting French, but I still managed to be behind from the very beginning because I missed the first three weeks of class. Plus, the class is in German, of course. It's really just laughable.

Wednesday:

7:35-9:10 German
It's like an advanced English class, but in German.

9:30-10:15 Social Studies
Refer to Biology/Chemistry description

10:20-11:05 Geography
We go over the homework from Tuesday, and I find out I did it wrong.

11:15-12:50 Music
Right now we are working in pairs, and we have to write romantic songs. I feel really bad for my partner.
I'm writing this post over an extended period of time, so I can now tell you that my partner felt so bad for herself that she got the tea
Thursday:

7:35-8:20 Biology
I write down what's on the board, but it's too sloppy to read, so I spell everything completely wrong and the people beside me read my paper and laugh. (I do too, just for kicks)

8:25-9:10 English
My only chance to prove my intelligence.

9:30-11:05 Religion
Last week I came in late really conspicuously from a meeting with my scheduling lady (she's not a counselor) and accidentally called the teacher by the informal 'you'. *sigh*
Nevertheless, I think I'll really enjoy the discussion in this class in a couple of months. For now, I enjoy what I can understand and when I'm lost, simply soak in the calming atmosphere.

11:15-12:50 Math

Friday:

7:35-8:20 German

8:25-9:10 History
The girl from Iran and I always end of being partners somehow. So we perform our synchronized pocket-dictionary-from-backpack pull and begin to attempt to decipher our assignment, muttering in our prospective languages as we go.

9:30-11:05 French (the one where I do nothing)

11:15-12:50 French (the one that sucks)

And that's my week!

Here are some fun facts about school here:
We write with calligraphy pens
We have special markers to erase the calligraphy pen writing, then write over it.
There are all kinds of musical sound effects in the school building that mean things like break time, or you can stay inside during the break because it's raining. That might actually be it, but it's still cool and mystifying the first couple times.
In some classes the teacher just talks for the whole 45 minutes so what the heck.
It's freaking freezing outside, but we have heaters all over the school buildings, but the windows are always open, so it's always freezing inside too.
The teachers rarely check homework or give out classwork assignments, so most of your grade comes from participation in class discussion, so I'm pretty much screwed, at least for now.

School's gotten a lot better as I've gotten comfortable with my class and begun to understand a little more. I've actually raised my hand (German fashion, not all the way up, and with my fingers all droopy) in class, and taken a couple of tests, so I should be top of the class any day now.

Today's song: "Tubthumping" by Chumbawumba
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LODkVkpaVQA