Travelin' sol..er...civilian

Long time, no talk, kids! This no internet thing is killing me. And not just because I can't compulsively check Facebook anymore. I never realized how much I relied on Google until I didn't have it right at my fingertips. There are so many times when I want to find lesson plan ideas, check out maps or just research places I'll be visiting and the only way I can do that is if I take a 20 minute hike to the train station and pay 1 euro for every 10 minutes. (FYI 1 euro = $1.29. Ouch.)

Another thing you have to pay for: a place to pee. Nurembergurg (which is where I went this past weekend - more on that in a bit) the going rate is .50 euro. Even in MickeyD's you have to pay about what you'pay for a small order of fries. Ridiculous.

Cool things I got to do this week:

1. Had NEA President Reg Weaver serve me brats and hear him speak at a Vilseck American High School Faculty/Staff meeting at a local pub/soccer club. (For those of you non-teacher types, NEA is the National Education Association. Its 2.8 million members make it the largest teachers' union in the nation. In other words, he's a pretty big deal. And he spoke to us in a private Vilseck faculty/staff social!) He was a big, boisterous, black man full of energy, passion and charisma. Although my life as a professional has been pretty short (umm..two weeks?), sipping beer and chowing on brats with other teachers and listening to this man speak ranks near the top of the coolest experiences I've had.

2. Saw Hitler's Nazi rallying grounds in Nuremberg Germany. Before actually stepping foot on the rallying grounds, we (i.e. me, Anne, Dylan and her friend Kirk who is doing his student teaching in Hanau, Germany and who will probably be tagging along with us a lot this semester) went on a tour through a museum that documented how the Third Reich was able to rise to power and gave the history of the construction of Zeppelin field and the surrounding buildings which were where the Nazis held their annual national rally. In the museum, there were original copies of architectural drafts for the grounds, Nazi propaganda posters, life-size posters of some of the most famous photographs of Hitler and the rallies, short documentary films, audio and video commentaries from people who were Nuremberg Nuremburg during the yearly rallies, and tons of other media that gave me a better understanding of the historical background and planning that went into constructing the rallying grounds. After the going through the museum/documentarium thingy, we walked on huge marching path that Hitler had built just to showcase the size and strength of his army as they marched onto Zeppelin Field. Once we arrived at Zeppelin Field, we climbed the steps where Hitler's high ranking officers were seated during the rallies to the podium and stood where Hitler once stood to address his adoring masses. I literally got shivers thinking of all of the hate that had once been gathered at that field. It was easily the most chilling moment of my life.

3. Wandered around the beautiful city of Nuremburg all day. We saw bustling open-air markets and gorgeous cathedrals and fountains dating back to the 1300's. We people watched, window shopped, snapped some pics, drank some beer (OK, a LOT of beer...), talked some politics and sang some karaoke before stumbling back home to our beds awaiting us at the Let 'em Sleep Hostel.

4. Book my plane tickets to Dublin and Rome!

5. Got a new nickname. About 4 girls stopped by to say "hi" to their favorite teacher (Mrs. Thornbrugh), whom apparently they dubbed "T-Dawg" during soccer season when she was the assistant coach. "T-Dawg" introduced me to the girls saying, “This is Miss. Fokken, and she'll be student teaching with me this fall. The girls heads kinda cocked sideways and they quinted their eyes and they all said, "Miss Whaaa.. Miss Fah-ken?" Then one girl pointed and laughed and shouted, "Dude! It's T-Dawg and F-Bomb!" Great. LoL!

P.S. As I'm typing this, I can hear some HEAVY artillery shells from the training fields at Grafenwoehr. I can hear them just about every night, but tonight is especially loud. So loud that my windows are rattling. On some nights, I can look outside my window and see bizarre spinning lights, aircraft, and the flashes from the artillery. It is truly eerie. But at least I have the luxury of comforting myself by reminding myself it's only practice...

6. Walked around on the top railing of a belltower in Weiden. Freakin' scary. The Vilseck High students got to go on field trips for the first two days of classes. Half of the students stayed on post for one day while the other half went to one of three surrounding cities - Nuremberg, Amberg, or Weiden - and then on the next day, the students who stayed on post gtravelede and the ones who had travelled stayed on post. I got lucky. I got to go off post both times. On the first day, I went to Nuremberg and saw basically everything I had seen the previous weekend, but I learned a TON more when I went with the students. (And I think I got the subway system figured out too...I hope.) On the second day, I went to Weiden and got a tour of an incredibly gorgeous cathedrals with a breathtaking cobalt and gold celestial mosaic on the ceiling. (Germans do churches right. I can't wait to check out the churches in Vilseck. And I can't wait for Christmas in the churches in Vilseck!) Then we got a private tour of the city's bell tower. At the end of the tour, we all got a 360 view of the city of Weiden and the surrounding small-ish mountains when we walked around the railing on the top of the tower. The view was definitely worth a bit of anxiety.

For some reason, the pic posting option on blogspot isn't working for me, so if ya wanna see pics, you'll have to check out my Flickr link at "Mien Fotos." I've got lots!