I headed into the school for my teaching internship, not in the least knowing what to expect. Upon arriving, I discovered that my teacher would arrive late due to complications from the weekend. I was thus assigned to help my students fill out a worksheet of the digestive system. The worksheet was in German and I was incredibly thankful for the answer sheet, due to the fact that I knew basically none of the digestive system parts in German except for der Magen (stomach). Did you know that the duodenum in German is called der Zwölffingerdarm? Learn something new everyday!
After Eva Maria arrived in the classroom, she reviewed with me her weekend misadventures. Unfortunately, she accidentally lost her insurance card, in addition to facing problems with her application for a sabbatical to teach in Egypt (after 42 years of teaching in Austria!). We talked things over and then I helped another teacher, Bianca, as she reviewed German literature homework with students in the next period. I helped review the students' homework for grammar and content, but faced difficulty with one student who would not accept my correction of her spelling of the word Stiefmutter. As an excuse, she told me I don't speak very good German, which is true to some extent. I cannot speak fluently like her teachers and sometimes need to ask for help with words. I find such situations challenging, because I simultaneously know some right answers while still requiring much growth. I need to remain firm in the areas where I know the answer, asking for support from teachers. (In subsequent days, my prayer became that God would "give me a voice"...a voice to glorify Him in all I do, a literal voice to speak German well, and a voice to remain confident in difficult situations). Ultimately, I asked the classroom teacher to help the student make the proper correction.
I finished up my morning with Eva Maria by helping with a younger class, who recently started to learn English. Certain children in this class had arrived in Austria only 3-4 weeks before and faced the challenge of learning both German and English. Eva was teaching the children Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How questions and used me as an example for her question answers. I then worked with the children one-by-one on the side, asking them to repeat the questions and answers with me. I found myself completely at a loss for a solution with one girl, Lydia, who arrived in Austria about 3 weeks before. She did not understand the difference between a question and an answer in English and thus repeated my words after me, regardless of whether they were a question or an answer. Eva Maria later explained that you must use body language and learn phrases of the child's language, in order to help them understand. As I pondered my experiences in the classroom while traveling back to IES, I felt overwhelmed and somewhat inspired by my experiences. Also a little shocked with the amount of new things which I witnessed in 3.5 hours. More to come on this topic...
17 February
Normal school day, although I received an e-mail today letting me know that I received a German conversation partner through IES's language buddy program! Her name is Franziska and I began to look forward to meeting her, especially since we have similar linguistic and cultural interests. As far as our school, our Viennese Theater teacher was sick. We watched a recorded version of the play we would soon see, but the echo in our classroom and the challenging Austrian dialect made the play rather difficult to understand. Experiences like these make me feel like I can speak hardly any German, but I must remember to keep persevering.
18 February
My Cultural History of Austria class had our first excursion into the city today! We visited the Roman ruins museum in Vienna and saw some original ruins, which were discovered during the bombing of Vienna in World War II. Our tour guide spoke quite quickly, but I could understand the majority of her discussion of water purification and aqueducts in ancient Roman times! We then visited St. Ruprecht's church, a Romanesque style church with original parts from the late 700s. Crazy to see a church that old!
In the afternoon, Fransizka and I planned to meet on Thursday and I quickly became excited about meeting her. The highlight of the day happened in the evening, when I went ice skating in front of the Rathaus with my roommate's sister, Lisa, and her boyfriend, Max. The Rathaus is a large political building in Vienna, which holds meetings and offices for Austria's two governing chambers (similar to the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, although the power distribution differs). The Austrian government creates an ice skating area with two rinks and several paths during the winter season. I smiled as we glided along the paths, the cool winter area rushing past my face. (Reality check: this smiling happened after I figured out how to ice skate again, since I had not skated for several years!). The lights of the Rathaus glimmered from the soaring front of the elaborately sculpted and carved building, while the Burgtheater rose behind the rink. I switched between talking with Lisa and Max and enjoying the permeating calm of sliding across the ice. All in all, a magical night!
19 February
Fransizka and I met in the afternoon at Café Alte Wien, where we become acquainted with one other by explaining about our current work and studies. Fransizka works part-time in a literature archive here in Vienna, while translating and composing poetry on the side. I explained to her in German my business major, Operations Management, which proved quite challenging. I broke down the explanation of my studies into smaller sentences, describing each part with the words and constructions I know. We then went to a reading of works from Ludwig Wittgenstein, an influential Austrian philosopher and linguist. I could understand most of the reading if I followed along with the pamphlet, but found it hard to concentrate and absorb the full meaning of the reading if I merely listened. These linguistic experiences challenge me to continue expanding my German and adapting the vocabulary I already know to function in new situations. Listening comprehension on deeper topics is definitely tough, but that's what listening to German news is for, right?!
Fransizka and I left the Wittgenstein reading early, because we both planned further events for that night. I headed over to the Rathaus for ice skating again, since my small group from church wanted to see each other during the February. February is basically like Christmas break for the Austrian university students, so our small group decided to take a break from meeting for a couple weeks. I enjoyed meeting new people who have come to the group in the past and hanging out with our leaders.
20-21 February
My Managing Behavior in Organizations class decided to assign a ridiculous amount of reading, which kept me cooped up amongst other household tasks for the weekend. I was not particularly happy with my professor at this large assignment of reading and realized I would need to skim the readings in the future for important information, rather than reading word-for-word as usual. Trying to absorb 90-120 pages fully from an Organizational Behavior class would waste my time, especially since I already learned many of the concepts in former psychology and career preparation classes.
The redeeming night of the weekend occurred on Friday, when I went to a performance at the Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna National Opera) for the first time. A group of friends and I went to go see the ballet, Schwanensee, a dazzling performance with a live orchestra alongside gorgeous costumes and stage sets. I had no complaints standing for 3 hours to watch the performance!
You might be wondering at this point why I stood to watch the performance. Seats naturally cost a decent amount of money at the opera, but you can also buy a ticket for standing spots from which you can view the performance. These cost between 3,50-4 Euro, although you need to stand in line a long time to ensure your spot. We were actually the first in line after arriving at 3:45 for a 7:30 performance. It's great fun going through each stage of the line and then experiencing the relief of finally getting your spot. Once you get your spot, the staff admits you to the Stehplätze (standing places) sections. You mark your spot by tying a scarf on the railing in front of you and then you are free to go get delicious street food before the performance, such as a Käsekrainer. Käsekrainer are the Austrian version of hot dogs. They actually call them hot dogs here, but they are 1000x better! Picture a long baguette with a hole in the middle, into which is placed an even longer sausage inserted with cheese. Nothing short of delicious, fatty goodness (which you should really eat only once in a long while)!
I finished up my morning with Eva Maria by helping with a younger class, who recently started to learn English. Certain children in this class had arrived in Austria only 3-4 weeks before and faced the challenge of learning both German and English. Eva was teaching the children Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How questions and used me as an example for her question answers. I then worked with the children one-by-one on the side, asking them to repeat the questions and answers with me. I found myself completely at a loss for a solution with one girl, Lydia, who arrived in Austria about 3 weeks before. She did not understand the difference between a question and an answer in English and thus repeated my words after me, regardless of whether they were a question or an answer. Eva Maria later explained that you must use body language and learn phrases of the child's language, in order to help them understand. As I pondered my experiences in the classroom while traveling back to IES, I felt overwhelmed and somewhat inspired by my experiences. Also a little shocked with the amount of new things which I witnessed in 3.5 hours. More to come on this topic...
17 February
Normal school day, although I received an e-mail today letting me know that I received a German conversation partner through IES's language buddy program! Her name is Franziska and I began to look forward to meeting her, especially since we have similar linguistic and cultural interests. As far as our school, our Viennese Theater teacher was sick. We watched a recorded version of the play we would soon see, but the echo in our classroom and the challenging Austrian dialect made the play rather difficult to understand. Experiences like these make me feel like I can speak hardly any German, but I must remember to keep persevering.
18 February
My Cultural History of Austria class had our first excursion into the city today! We visited the Roman ruins museum in Vienna and saw some original ruins, which were discovered during the bombing of Vienna in World War II. Our tour guide spoke quite quickly, but I could understand the majority of her discussion of water purification and aqueducts in ancient Roman times! We then visited St. Ruprecht's church, a Romanesque style church with original parts from the late 700s. Crazy to see a church that old!
In the afternoon, Fransizka and I planned to meet on Thursday and I quickly became excited about meeting her. The highlight of the day happened in the evening, when I went ice skating in front of the Rathaus with my roommate's sister, Lisa, and her boyfriend, Max. The Rathaus is a large political building in Vienna, which holds meetings and offices for Austria's two governing chambers (similar to the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, although the power distribution differs). The Austrian government creates an ice skating area with two rinks and several paths during the winter season. I smiled as we glided along the paths, the cool winter area rushing past my face. (Reality check: this smiling happened after I figured out how to ice skate again, since I had not skated for several years!). The lights of the Rathaus glimmered from the soaring front of the elaborately sculpted and carved building, while the Burgtheater rose behind the rink. I switched between talking with Lisa and Max and enjoying the permeating calm of sliding across the ice. All in all, a magical night!
19 February
Fransizka and I met in the afternoon at Café Alte Wien, where we become acquainted with one other by explaining about our current work and studies. Fransizka works part-time in a literature archive here in Vienna, while translating and composing poetry on the side. I explained to her in German my business major, Operations Management, which proved quite challenging. I broke down the explanation of my studies into smaller sentences, describing each part with the words and constructions I know. We then went to a reading of works from Ludwig Wittgenstein, an influential Austrian philosopher and linguist. I could understand most of the reading if I followed along with the pamphlet, but found it hard to concentrate and absorb the full meaning of the reading if I merely listened. These linguistic experiences challenge me to continue expanding my German and adapting the vocabulary I already know to function in new situations. Listening comprehension on deeper topics is definitely tough, but that's what listening to German news is for, right?!
Fransizka and I left the Wittgenstein reading early, because we both planned further events for that night. I headed over to the Rathaus for ice skating again, since my small group from church wanted to see each other during the February. February is basically like Christmas break for the Austrian university students, so our small group decided to take a break from meeting for a couple weeks. I enjoyed meeting new people who have come to the group in the past and hanging out with our leaders.
20-21 February
My Managing Behavior in Organizations class decided to assign a ridiculous amount of reading, which kept me cooped up amongst other household tasks for the weekend. I was not particularly happy with my professor at this large assignment of reading and realized I would need to skim the readings in the future for important information, rather than reading word-for-word as usual. Trying to absorb 90-120 pages fully from an Organizational Behavior class would waste my time, especially since I already learned many of the concepts in former psychology and career preparation classes.
The redeeming night of the weekend occurred on Friday, when I went to a performance at the Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna National Opera) for the first time. A group of friends and I went to go see the ballet, Schwanensee, a dazzling performance with a live orchestra alongside gorgeous costumes and stage sets. I had no complaints standing for 3 hours to watch the performance!
You might be wondering at this point why I stood to watch the performance. Seats naturally cost a decent amount of money at the opera, but you can also buy a ticket for standing spots from which you can view the performance. These cost between 3,50-4 Euro, although you need to stand in line a long time to ensure your spot. We were actually the first in line after arriving at 3:45 for a 7:30 performance. It's great fun going through each stage of the line and then experiencing the relief of finally getting your spot. Once you get your spot, the staff admits you to the Stehplätze (standing places) sections. You mark your spot by tying a scarf on the railing in front of you and then you are free to go get delicious street food before the performance, such as a Käsekrainer. Käsekrainer are the Austrian version of hot dogs. They actually call them hot dogs here, but they are 1000x better! Picture a long baguette with a hole in the middle, into which is placed an even longer sausage inserted with cheese. Nothing short of delicious, fatty goodness (which you should really eat only once in a long while)!
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