Student Teaching Berlin Style: Step One- Getting There

Hello All!

 

As you know I am FINALLY in Berlin! I must add I am already falling in love with this city! It is absolutely amazing! I didn't know what to expect coming here so I feel like I have already been completely turned upside down. My house mom, Kirsten, is wonderful. She is extremely helpful and made me feel right at home from the moment I met her.  The two other girls who are here are super sweet as well. I am already learning so much. Being the minority is a wonderful, yet strange, perspective to gain on life and I know it is beneficial for my career.

 

My friend Jacqueline saying "good bye" at the airport.

The first time I felt that I was the only one around who was speaking English as their first language I was a little intimidated.   This occurrence happened when I first arrived in the Amsterdam Airport. It was odd because almost everything was written in English, however, no one was speaking English around me. My flight from Amsterdam to Berlin was about an hour and 20 min and I sat next to a wonderful lady who is actually from Berlin. I forget what she said she does for a living but she was in Ghana doing research on Diabetes. It is a 3 year study her work is doing because supposedly some groups of people are more susceptible to the disease than others. She was a wonderful introduction to the German people and she described Germans like pineapples. Tough outer shell but soft and sweet center. She said once you make a German friend you have a friend for a lifetime. By the time I arrived in Berlin I hadn't slept in 34 and a half hours because I packed the entire night before (not something I would recommend to anyone) and I wasn't able to sleep on the flights.

Awesome tunnel in the Detroit Airport the lights were synchronized with music!!!

Speaking of flights...I was 2 minutes away from missing my flight to Amsterdam! It was the scariest feeling in the entire world!!! There was not a gate number on my ticket so I asked an airport clerk and they told me to go to the gate A40.  I did as I was told- after grabbing a delicious salad from a Mediterranean restaurant in the airport.  This is also something I don't recommend!  ALWAYS double check what someone tells you.  I should have checked the computers in the airport but I assumed the clerk knew what she was talking about.  Anyway, I was just sitting there talking to a friend on the phone (Miss. Kelly Owens) when I received a call from a strange number.  It was the airport! The clerk asked if she was speaking with "Miss. Maria Brown" and then she went on to say "we are pulling your luggage if you are not here within the next two minutes! You have 2 minutes to get to Gate A56 or you will miss your flight!" I literally RAN through the airport as fast as I possibly could with a 23 pound backpack and a 25 pound suitcase! 

 

Thank goodness I made it.  I was the last person on the plane, not to mention it was the largest plane I had ever set foot on! There were easily 400 people on the flight. I was in the middle of the plane (row 26) and each plane was 8 seats wide. Every seat had a mini TV where you could create a play list to listen to your favorite songs, watch tons on newly released movies, or play video games.  By the time I sat down I was coughing up a storm and felt like a chain smoker because I still could barely breath. All of the European people were staring at me like I had 3 heads. I was quite embarrassed to say the least.  I quickly sat down and found to my surprise a lovely Italian man, he was probably in his late 60s and he was from Sicily. He was very nice and easy to fly next to. He owns some gorgeous camp sight in Italy that some 3,000 people visit each year. He was very sweet and showed me pictures and just around that time one of the nine flight attendants began to bring us our dinner, which was very delectable.  I chose a chicken dinner with salad, a roll, crackers and cheese, and a brownie.  After that I decided to watch Pitch Perfect and try to take a nap.  Pitch Perfect was great but unfortunately I was not able to sleep more than a couple of minutes at a time.  Even though it is fun to fly it is not very comfortable at all.  The flight was almost 8 hrs. long but it didn't feel like it. I definitely noticed I was becoming dehydrated during the flight. My lips were getting cracked and I was so thirsty. I wanted to get a picture of the inside of the plane to show how fancy it was but I didn't want to disturb anyone so I decided I would get one on the way home.

Here is the HUGE plane I almost missed...thank goodness I ran track. :)

 

A few hours later and still no sleep...

When I arrived in Berlin Steven (the principal at JFKS and the COST coordinator) and Olivia (one of the students from Alabama) picked me up from the airport. I was so exhausted but Steven told me he wanted me to shower and head to the school for a visit with Olivia. I was a little disappointed because I was planning on taking a nap to perk up a bit before forming any first impressions. I later found out that Steven has been a COST coordinator for 30 some years and understands how bad jet leg can be so he wanted to keep me busy in hopes of keeping me awake during the day so I could go to bed early that night to attempt to adjust my body to the time difference (which is 6 hours). I think other people probably get a good nights rest before all of their traveling, unlike me. I was so sleepy that I was literally falling asleep every other minute, on the U Baun, standing up talking to my host mom, eating at a the Coffee Cabana, you name it, it happened. Everyone definitely noticed how sleepy I was because not one person failed to comment on my horrible jet leg.  My eyes were only half open the entire day!  I was so happy when Kirsten put me to bed at 8 p.m. that night. I slept for 16 hrs. I haven't felt a bit of jet leg today and I'm so grateful I listened to everyone even though it was quite painful attempting to stay awake.  I don't think I have ever desired sleep more in my life than I did my first day in Berlin.

That is all for now.  I start my first day of school at JFKS tomorrow and I want to be well rested!

 

I will fill you in more tomorrow on how my first weekend in Berlin went!

 

Tschüss!

(That means "bye" you pronounce it like "shoes" but with a "ch")

 

P.S.

 

 

 

To all of my wonderful 4th graders at SVE and Mrs. Cary:  I miss you all and hope you have a wonderful week of school!  I will be taking your letters in tomorrow and I know the students will love each of them!