LEIPZIG- So it’s been a busy couple of days to say the least. Every
morning, myself and the other teacher that is staying in the same apartment
with me (more on her later) get up and eat a nice simple “German”
breakfast….bread with meat and cheese and also toast. At about 8:30 we leave
the apartment and make the 20 minute walk to the University institute that is
hosting our summer course, which is about a block away from the Hauptbahnhof in the center of the city.
The weather has been nice so far, with a couple of warm, sunny days and a
couple of days that have been overcast and a little rainy. It has yet to rain
all day though. Usually, the rain will come for a little bit, then clear off,
and then maybe come again, and then it’ll stay overcast for the rest of the
day. And the temperature is perfect, rain or shine. So much better than the
temperature we have back in Oklahoma during this time of the year.
There are, as I believe I
mentioned before, 17 teachers attending this program. We come from all over the
United States. There’s a guy from Alaska, three or four from Michigan, one lady
from Boston, another from Virginia, one guy from New York and another from
Mississippi, just to name a few places (read: I can’t currently recall the rest). Several are in their mid-to-late twenties
like me, and several more are in their thirties, and there are a few that are
in their forties and fifties. As came as no big surprise to me, I’m the least
fluent in the language. And at times it can be frustrating for me…mainly I
don’t want to appear lost or look like I don’t know what’s being said. But
everyone has been really great about it, and when I get lost I can turn to a
neighbor for help. This is also where my roommate, Nancy, has been a God-send.
She’s been teaching German for years and is very fluent and has been able to
help me with the course work and also when we are talking with our
landlady/host mother (well…host grandmother). And even though I have my ups and
downs where one hour I feel like I’m able to pay attention and contribute and
the next I feel pretty lost, I have already notices my language skills
improving, which is reassuring.
On the first day of the course,
after the expected “get to know you” activities and an overview of the first
week (which is almost over already, which I can hardly believe!), we went to
lunch in a really cool, historic Beirkeller/
Keller, which is basically a nice
restaurant that’s in the basement of another building, often times under the
old city hall of the town but in this case under a commercial complex in the
old part of the city right on the main Markt
Platz. The food was good, although I’ll admit I didn’t eat too much of the
red cabbage…It’s not my favorite, that or sauerkraut. It was a really neat
place though, and a cool atmosphere, and historic as well. During the 1700s,
the famous German author Goethe studied in Leipzig and he frequented the
original Keller, which we were
actually able to go see after our lunch was over.
After the visit to the Keller, we went in four different groups
that had been pre-assigned that morning in class and each went and explored a
different quarter of the city. The area that my group went, known as Südvorstadt,
was really cool. It has a lot of artists living in the area, and also a lot of
students who attend Leipzig University. There were many cafes and pubs and
eclectic shops along the way. The next day, each group got to present what they
found to the whole class, and we learned a lot about some of the more famous
quarters of Leipzig
.
.
The last several days we have had
several workshops/lectures over pronunciation, grammar, and other related
issues. In the evenings I’ve gone with several others and done more exploring.
Leipzig is such a cool city to live in, with many people from many different
walks of life to meet or watch. We’ve found cool places to hang out and relax,
and some nice places to eat in the evenings.
More to come in the coming days.
Hope you’re enjoying these little snippets about what’s going on here on my
little Adventure in Leipzig.
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