4/8/13

Today started out much earlier than previous days! I mean I was actually up and showered and ready to leave my apartment by 8:30!! It was quite an accomplishment considering I have been staying in bed til nearly noon each day. I was up and out of the house so early today because it was my first day getting to meet some of the teachers I'd be working with.

The students were still on their Easter holiday, so it was just a teacher work day, where the teachers had a course on First Aid. Well let me tell you, that was a very eye opening event... The course was taught by a German man, who I think had what we could consider paramedic/first aid training. However, EMTs and paramedics as we think of them don't seem to exist in Germany. They operate on a pretty complicated system...

For example, there are like 3 or 4 different emergency numbers... 1 for Fire and emergency rescue, 1 for the police (so you call them to report a crime), 1 for what is called an emergency doctor (apparently the paramedics actually can do very little, an actually doctor is needed for a lot of things), and there was one other that I can't remember. I'm really hoping nothing happens while I'm here, because I've spent my whole life with the ability to just dial 911 and ask for help... I probably could write an entire blog entry on the first aid class section I attended, but I think I may save that story for when I get home and can tell it in person :)

So anyways, after meeting a group of the teachers I will be working with I was allowed to leave on the break in the first aid training (which was probably for the best because it took all my will power to remain professional when the first aid guy started referencing Baywatch... no joke). I am happy to say after meeting the many teachers I will be working with, I think I'm going to fit in just fine.

I was allowed to leave and though I had accepted this training to take nearly all morning and into the afternoon, I was back in my apartment by 11:30. Which kind of rocked because I only slept for like 4 hours and I was already tired... So I came into my new apartment and took a nap, and when I finished napping I spent sometime reading. Reading some of my "just for fun" books, that is.

I never realized that by reading one of my very much loved books, I felt very connected to home. Even as the pages took me off into a far away world, I felt in my heart like I was back home, sprawled across the couch at Mom's or in the room at Dad and Debbie's. These books are things that I have always loved, and I realized today as I read, that no matter where I go in my travels, books are a tie to home. My love of reading, and the many people who have shared it with me (Justin, Kristy, Mom, Debbie, Daniel...) connects me to home always!

Ok, enough about my books and a little bit more about my adventures today. So after I took my nap and read my book I had to get up and get going. I had dinner plans with Chelsea, the American student teacher. She has been in Germany since February and has a much better grasp of everything around us. So she picked the place for dinner.

I hoped on the train around five and met her at the station near the mall (the one I talked about in detail in other posts), where here apartment is. We walked for about ten minutes and on the way to the restaurant she pointed out the Charlottenburg Palace. To be honest I don't know much about it right now, we only saw it from the outside, but I finally got some tourist pictures of me! It's a pretty building, and I think later on I will head back to it. I believe there is a lot of history in it, so I will so explore it at some point.

Chelsea and I posing outside the Palace.

I finally got in a picture (so now you all know I'm alive and kicking).

After posing for the tourist pictures, Chelsea brought me to a place for dinner. Guess what all I was actually adventurous. I had Currywurst... Yup, that would be bratwurst with a curry sauce, and surprisingly it was good. It reminded me a bit of a hotdog in bbq sauce, so it was pretty good. 

Woody posing with dinner!

I finished up my dinner and then hoped a train back to the apartment, where I met a bit of a surprise. I know I have mentioned before that I live very close to the Olympic Stadium... Well so close that right now I can hear the crowds cheering. Apparently there was a soccer game tonight, and the German's take their sports seriously. Did you know they will actually drink beers right out in the streets and on the train as they are heading to the games? Also, they are apparently such hardcore fans that the police come out in large forces to maintain crowd control. I'm talking when I stepped off the train it looked like the swat team was out in force. There was even an entire bus for the police! So hopefully nothing will get out of hand, and I can sleep through the cheering.

Oh and Dad, today's word of the day was Goodbye, it is pronounced Tschuss. It is the informal way of saying goodbye, though I have also heard many people say Chow as a goodbye. Anyways that's all I have to share for now. Tomorrow I begin at the school (just observing at first), and I know that I'm going to love it once I get started. Good night (and good day) all, I will keep on posting!