It’s been absolute ages since I’ve last updated—I’ve become somewhat lazy, I suppose. Or rather, been the same amount of lazy but rearranged my “priorities” a bit. I’ll try to address the most important things, but I bet you’re not going to make it through this whole post, because it’s going to be really, really long!
First off—my spring break. I had two weeks off (this is one of the very, very few aspects of the Berlin school system that I love—lots of vacation—although the summer is drastically reduced to like 6 or 7 weeks) and thus had the privilege of going back to the U.S. for the admitted students weekend at HLS. It was great going back to Boston, especially since this time I didn’t feel as rushed to see everyone. Daren, thanks to some unfortunate circumstances, hosted me the whole five or so nights I was there (and thus in the end it wasn’t all that unfortunate for me, although I am sure my constant presence on her couch was a bit of a disturbance). Harvard totally sold me—for the second time in my life—although I think we all knew there was no doubt about it. Oh yeah, when I arrived in Berlin, I found a rejection letter from Yale in the mail. I was not at all surprised or disappointed, although my parents ask me every now and then if I am still upset about it. I would admit if I were at least a little sad about it (I guess it does lightly punch my pride in the face), but the reality is that I couldn’t see myself being there and I applied realistically knowing that I had a snowball’s chance in Hell getting in. I don’t think I’ve even looked at the YLS website before. But the weird thing is I still haven’t heard from Stanford! It is April 23 and the deadline to notify schools is May 1, yet they have told me nothing! I don’t know what to take this as meaning, but it doesn’t matter, because I just applied there because it’s Stanford. I love California and all, but I don’t see myself being back there just yet at this stage in my life, plus I’ve never even been to Stanford before. Anyway, this week I will be sending Harvard the first $500 of what will amount to be a small fortune over three years, which will make it official! HLS Class of 2011! I actually thought I was going to be in the Class of 2012 and even wrote that in some official emails before I sat down and did the math. I’m quite thrilled to be heading back (although at this point I really wanna go on a tangent about Berlin—I’ll refrain but see below).
So yeah, after about five days in Boston, I headed to NYC for two days. I stayed with a fellow Harvard ’07 linguist, Amanda, who is an all-around awesome person. I just truly enjoy being in her presence—especially because I can talk all I want about ling without her rolling her eyes at me like all my other friends do. And we did talk a lot about ling, especially when Mary, another ’07 linguist from Harvard and now Yale (studying Greek), came over for a dinner that Amanda prepared. She is seriously the best cook in the world. Her snickerdoodles kept me company all the way to London. I think my two days there were spent eating quite a lot, because we also went to an empanadas place and a Polish diner. This trip made me realize I could deal with living in New York if I had to. But I think I still prefer somewhere a little smaller and without all the edge (does that make sense?).
After New York, I was off to LONDON for 10 days and 9 nights! I wish I had written this earlier, because now a lot of what I wanted to say has totally escaped my mind, I’m sure. I loved London. I want to live there. If I had a good excuse to live there for a year, I would absolutely go there. Maybe in the summer during law school or afterward? It just combines the neatness of living in a foreign country with the simplicity of being able to speak your native language. And England is charming! I had good company while I was there, that’s for sure. I’m surprised that Ryan, Chris, and Neal were able to tolerate me for so long, as I’ve sure my periodic bossiness and irritability got on their nerves. But they make wonderful travel partners, that’s for sure. And it was nice to catch up with Peter and help him discover a little of the city he’s been living in for almost a whole year now. I think we did most of the major touristy things in London—all the major museums, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s, changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace (my least favorite experience), etc. We also saw all the major sights as well. And we rented a car—an experience of which I have very fond memories—and drove to Stonehenge and Bath on one day and then Oxford on the next day. Stonehenge was cool to see, especially since you’re driving on the road and then out of nowhere pops up Stonehenge. Bath was a really cute city and the weather was actually nice on that day (the weather was miserable the rest of the time, if you ask me). And then Oxford was awe-inspiring. I want to study there now! It was so huge and I really think people who think Harvard is impressive should go to Oxford and eat their words. There is so much else I want to mention—the food, the people, the culture—but then this will truly be a never-ending post . . .
On my return to Berlin, I was informed that an English teacher at my school was going to be away for an indefinite amount of time. I knew that she’d be missing the week before and after break because I had to substitute for her (totally against Fulbright’s rules, but no German school seems to care about Fulbright’s rules, which I confirmed with all the other English assistants), but when I found out that I’d be taking over two of her classes indefinitely, I was a little peeved and alarmed. I had no idea what I was supposed to be teaching them. And I can’t teach each class three times a week, so two-three hours are canceled a week. The poor students—although they don’t seem to mind—are getting screwed, if you ask me. I am doing my best but I am not really preparing them for the Abitur next year. I have been teaching them about current events—like the pregnant man and the human-cow embryos—and showing political movies in another class, but I don’t feel like that’s helpful. Plus, until this week, only like ¼ of the students came because I didn’t know that I could take attendance (long story) and they figured they’d take advantage of the system. I have been trying to get the scoop from the other teachers (in an innocent way), but no one here seems keen on gossiping or speculating. I don’t really want the gossip, I’m just curious about how this could be possible! If this happened in my school, my parents would be furious. All the other English teachers have taken over her other classes, without more pay, which I find absurd (one teacher confided in me that in all her years of teaching she has never not had to do this). I found out this week that she is apparently coming back next week, although I can’t be sure, because there are conflicting reports from different teachers. I can’t wait, not for selfish reasons, but because I feel bad for the students. She’s only taking on my classes though—the other teachers will have to continue teaching her classes until the end of the semester. I knew she had been stressed out before, and that she was going to a Kur (which is like a health resort that German insurance pays for because stress is a medical problem—HA! I wish) to deal with the stress of getting a divorce. I didn’t know she was having such problems though, and I really pray that she’s doing better. I also hope that she doesn’t say: “You taught them about WHAT? A pregnant man?!?!”
But actually being needed in school has been nice! I need to write a post entirely devoted to my school experience, and I am sure I will towards the end of my time here. Actually, in the past couple weeks, I think I’ve helped quite a bit. In two of my 11th-grade classes, I’ve been teaching grammar alone (doubly not allowed by Fulbright). One class gives me heck—boys throwing paper airplanes out the windows, for example—but I actually like them as little people who are still being shaped. Although today a couple of them got busted for cheating on a test, which disappointed me and at the same time delighted me that they actually FINALLY got punished for something! That has like never happened before! And you thought Germans were disciplinarians! Think again! Anyway, it’s nice to feel a little loved by the students. In February I started with new classes so now I’ve taught almost everyone in the school, which means I can’t walk down the halls or outside of school without being greeted by broken English and “good morning” and all-around friendliness. Also, they wrote on the board last week “We LOVE MEGAN” (yes, Megan, which is better than Meggy, which one class still calls me without at all realizing their mistake) and they cheer whenever I come in class. I can’t decide whether they actually like me or if it’s because they hate their teachers and I’m a welcome relief, but I do believe that some of them actually do like being able to benefit from talking with a real live American (except six months into the school year: “Wait, are you from England or America?”). And all the 13th-graders started taking their Abi exams today, which means they don’t come to school hardly at all, and I have to say I miss them a lot. They were my favorites, primarily because they were the most mature and their English was the best. I am keen on knowing what they are all going to be doing with their lives, but save the four who regularly came to my extracurricular English class, I really have no clue.
Let’s see, as far as what I’ve been up to outside of the classroom . . . well, I’ve gone to a couple birthday/housewarming/whatever parties, which are always fun. Good chance to meet new people and see Christians (Prots!) drink a lot (seriously, still can’t quite wrap my mind around that!). I’ve also hung out with friends in bars here and there. My tandem partner and I went to the Story of Berlin, a museum about the history of Berlin, and also the Botanischer Garten, which is beautiful (and it was finally a gorgeous day). It was kinda funny because she and I both don’t know botany in each other’s respective native languages, and so we sorta used Latin as an intermediary. She studies this stuff at university, so she’s an expert and knows all the Latin names. My problem is that I cannot identify most even common plants and trees, but the Latin names did help. Oh, I watched the Dortmund-FC Bayern Muenchen German championship soccer game on a huge screen with thousands of crazy Germans at the Brandenburger Tor last weekend with Anna and Calvin, American friends. While I don’t like soccer all that much, it’s a definite cultural experience that should not be missed while living in Europe. Sadly, FCB beat Borussia (Dortmund) 2:1 (German style of writing scores), but it was a pretty exciting match at the end (went into overtime), so it was ok. A couple of weeks ago there was a Fulbright conference, so I had a week of free food, although I still had to go to work. All the German Fulbrighters who live outside of Berlin got free travel and lodging and food, boo—I wish Fulbright would give us Berliners a free trip somewhere. Oh well. Oh yeah, the mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit—very notorious, openly gay, long-lost Baldwin brother—gave a speech at one of the sessions. I really liked the guy, even if our politics aren’t aligned. He spoke so frankly about Berlin—about all its problems, how poor it is, etc., and he seemed so proud of Berlin nonetheless. I don’t think he would have done well in America being so honest about things. Us Berliners at least got special treatment—a picture with him. My one consolation.
And a week ago today I celebrated my 23rd birthday! A momentous occasion! Ha, not really. 23 is not at all an exciting year, but I guess we’ll see what I can make of it. For my birthday a bunch of my friends met up in a bar. This was quite nice for me because when I first got to Berlin I wondered if I would have any friends at all, and now 20 people are showing up to my party! And several couldn’t come, given that it was a Wednesday night. But it’s nice to feel loved! And to get some presents, which I totally didn’t expect! I got some good books and movies and flowers (which I left in the bar and had to go back and get the next day, after being explicitly told by the three different flower-givers not to forget them!). Oh, Peter sent me I am Charlotte Simmons and a book full of a lot of politically incorrect jokes (thanks again, Peter, that’s so thoughtful of you and now that I’ve finished my latest book I can start on the Wolfe). My mom came the day after my birthday and took me out to dinner at the American diner by my apartment. It was nice to have a burger and fries after a long time (although that’s what I ate just about every day in London). She’s coming again tomorrow, which will be nice. Everyone’s always confused as to why she’s here so much and only for a day or two at a time! The life of a flight attendant!
Today I met up with a new sorta tandem partner person. He’s friends with people in Hillsong, although not a member, and we’d met here and there at things. He’s really keen on learning American English and his English is already quite good, but he wants to learn like every idiom in the book and how to behave properly in America and all that. I have to say he is one of the most enjoyable people to talk to because he’s just so excited about everything and extremely friendly. Although if we do do a tandem together, it’s going to be English-English because he doesn’t want to speak any German whatsoever. Fair enough, I guess enjoying his company is reason enough to meet up. And we even went to McDonald’s today. Although he is a vegetarian! And tends to hate conservatives. This is going to be fun!
Last night was the last meeting of my Alpha course. Alpha is an introductory course on Christianity and my church was giving it for the first time. I don’t think I learned that much from it since it was generally pretty basic, but it was great to get to know people on a deeper level. Just going to church and chatting with people does not always lead to those deeper questions on the meaning of life and how people got to where they are today and why they believe what they believe and so on and so forth. Last night the two different groups came together at the new pastor’s awesome apartment, and it was nothing short of miraculous for me to see how many people had participated and been impacted by Alpha.
At this point, I really would like to talk about how I am saddened by the thought of having to leave Berlin in just three more months. But because of how long it’s taken me to write this post and the fact that I need to prepare for class tomorrow (remember, that teacher is still gone), I should sign off now. But to my faithful reader(s), I promise to write an update within the next week.
Oh yeah, no pictures this time around because that takes too long, but I have discovered the wonders of Picasa and now you can view my life over the past nine months in pictures (although I still have to upload a lot of them):
http://picasaweb.google.com/meghangrizzle
Enjoy!
