weihnachtzeit aus deutschland

Of all the new situations and traditions I've observed during my time here in Germany, the Christmas celebrations are probably my favorite. The season begins a bit earlier than in the States because Thanksgiving is not recognized in Europe and there's no pressure to wait for that holiday to pass. Decorations go up on the streets, making nighttime in my fairy tale village almost magical.

wrapping it up

The last few weeks of school were a flurry of Christmas activities and meetings, in addition to writing finals and preparing my students to take them!

For my last small group we had a yummy raclette dinner, exchanged gifts, and reflected on God's incomprehensible love for us. My "Swiss Miss" Joyce even brought us authentic cheese from Switzerland!

the course evaluation strikes back

It's that time of year... the course evaluations have reared their ugly heads and once again we teachers find ourselves caught in the battle between laughing or crying over the feedback we've received from our students. This year, as I read through my evaluations a few items came to mind that I thought I'd share. These are on the humorous and possibly sarcastic side, so please don't be offended by what you're about to read!

Oh, and I can only say these things because 1) I was once a student myself, so I know what goes through their heads,  2) I love my students unconditionally, even when they write mean things on my course evaluations, and 3) a student can never fully understand all the work that their teachers invest in them; I myself only began to truly understand it when I became a teacher myself.

So without further ado I give you...

they said what? quotes from third culture kids, part 1

[Overheard during a round of Apples to Apples with kids who did not grow up in America.]

TCK #1: Who's Reegus Pillbin??


TCK #2: What's a Puff Daddy??


TCK #3: (singing) My, my, Miss American Pie...
Me: Actually, it's "BYE BYE Miss American Pie."
TCK #3: Oh. (resumes singing) Bye, bye Miss American Pie!

getting in the spirit

The Christmas season here in Germany began a little over a week ago, when our high schoolers attended the Christmas banquet on the last Saturday of November. A bit early, yes, but with all the craziness of December - finals, basketball and wrestling season, and all the kids heading to their homes around the world, it really is the best time to celebrate.


Kandern all lit up. I am SO blessed to live here!!!



giving thanks

Thanksgiving is not usually celebrated by the locals here in Germany. Since it's not a national holiday, schools and business do not close. This means that for the last three years, now, I have worked on Thanksgiving Day. Gone about my business as if nothing were any different about that day. Sad, really.

In my lifetime, Thanksgiving has always been celebrated with a feast and family members nearby. We don't have any set traditons aside from the turkey and Great Grandma Bertschi's sweet potato casserole; one year we "camped" in rustic cabins in the middle of Indiana with my dad's side of the family, another year we celebrated at Cracker Barrel, and one year I even came home from college for Thanksgiving break to met two brand new baby boys.

(2006: Remember when they were this tiny??

Seussical

November 10-12 was the combined middle school and high school musical, Seussical. This was the first combined production of middle school and high school, and also the first musical. (Well, since I've been here, anyway... there may have been others in the past!) When the idea was first presented there was a lot of push back from middle schoolers and their parents, who were at the same time learning that the middle school was moving away from the high school campus. Students were worried that they would lose all of their special middle school traditions, one being the middle school play. Sadly, there probably won't be a play this year, but I still think the Seussical was a huge success. Middle schoolers made up a significant number of the cast and crew, with the main role of Cat in the Hat played by one of my eighth graders! My heart swelled with pride and I was blown away by the talent of the middle school students, as well as the rest of the cast, the majority of whom were former students of mine. Here are a few shots:

7th grader Abby played a Bird Girl (center)

spirit day: games

Queen Frostine (Candyland), my sugar daddy

my weekend foray into motherhood

This weekend I had the privilege of spending four days with four middle school "dorm" students in the middle school house while their house parents took a few days off.

The fun began on Thursday evening, when I drove the Mom-Mobile to the high school to pick up dinner (the school hires a cook for weeknight meals!) and my children who were at play practice and intramurals. I also picked up "papa," fellow middle school teacher Megan. The kids have an evening routine involving chores (called gratises) and study hours so following dinner everyone went off to do their thing. Since they had about 15 minutes of homework, we let them watch a movie before they went to bed at 10.

Friday morning I was ready for school a whole hour before we had to leave. Since the kids have a strict shower schedule (Olivia at 7:00, Emma at 7:15, Solomon at 7:30 and Michael at 7:45) and there is only one shower in the house, Megan and I had to both get into the bathroom before 7:00. After showers they ate breakfast and made their lunches while chattering to each other in Minion speak.

Friday after school the kids got to ride home with us instead of on the crowded bus and we had after school snacks together. Played some Wii, had dinner, and then played group games. Megan's roommates brought over fixings for ice cream sundaes and we proceeded to sugar up the kids just in time for bed.

After school family time :)

Facing the Cookie

So close!

Frustrated!

This was NOT my idea...

Yum.

sugar!

I would love to share all of the hilarious quotes from Friday night with you but a) I can't remember any of them and b) they were all "you had to be there" moments. You'll just have to take my word for it that these kids are hilarious.

Saturday we slept in a little and then I made brunch!

The majority of the day was pretty low key because Megan had a cross country meet to coach, Emma had musical rehearsal, and the boys went to play at a friend's house. That left Olivia and I with a quiet house and cozy couches all to ourselves. I finally managed to get caught up on both of my blogs and on my blog reading... it was a very relaxing day.

Dinner was tacos with chips and salsa. It was another fun and hilarious time with the kids, especially the part where I dumped half a bowl of salsa on myself.

salsa, anyone?

delicioso.

On Sunday morning we walked to church as a little family and enjoyed a delicious meal of leftovers consisting of chicken cordon bleu, potatoes, and carrots. Once lunch was cleaned up we had some quiet time, then spent the rest of the afternoon together in the living room playing Wii, reading books, and enjoying each other's company.

This is only my second experience in a co-ed dorm and I was really struck with how non-awkward the boy-girl dynamic was. The students interacted with each other like brother and sister, sharing responsibilities, playing games, sitting by each other on the couch... they didn't segregate up in their rooms but instead willingly spent their free time together in the family room.

It's so comforting to know that even though these children have families scattered all over the place, here in the middle school house they have a substitute family that feels almost like a real one.

middle school minds

As a result of moving to a new campus and hiring a strictly middle school staff, we have been able to write our own schedule and offer classes in a way that works best for our students. Our electives program was something we were able to add this year. Students get to pick two electives per quarter, for a total of eight different electives. These classes are meant to get the students' feet wet in various areas like music, art, technology, etc. and help them begin to discover their talents and gifts. During first quarter we had classes like Outdoor Drawing, Flag Football, Chapel Band, Leadership (for student council members), Industrial Arts, Outdoor Survival Skills, and Media Communication.

I was asked to teach the Media Communication class and the project my students decided to focus on for the quarter was a middle school newspaper, something we've never had before. It was rather challenging to essentially start from scratch, but the students picked topics that interested them (some took more "persuasion" than others!) and wrote their articles. We edited, edited, and edited some more! They took pictures, conducted surveys, and even did some interviews. Finally, our labor of love was delivered this past week, on the first day of the second quarter. It was hilarious watching the papers get distributed because everyone literally stopped dead in their tracks to read the newspaper that had been handed to them by a proud media student.

Fashion editors interviewing a teacher

A good journalist always has a pen...and a little ingenuity.

They learned what makes a good picture...

... and what makes a BAD picture.

Excited for the final copy!

This picture is not staged...it reminds me of the people that freeze in
place at Grand Central Station

life science update

As a teacher, nothing makes me happier than seeing students make discoveries. Throughout our massive plants unit in life science, my seventh graders have multiple opportunities to apply what they've studied and make fascinating realizations.

During the microscope lab, I didn't even need to give my strict "time to be mature" speech because they were so engrossed in their slides that they didn't have time to be silly! I couldn't help but smile at the random outbursts of "Whoa!", "Cool!", and "This is awesome!!" from around the room. Hearing one student say to his friends, "Best science class ever!!" on the way our the door made my heart leap. Seeing God's creation up close and magnified is really something special, and I'm glad I get to guide my students through that process.

Then I take the kids to the local nature park, where we hike through the forest and collect various types of leaves and plant specimens - seeds, cones, moss, ferns, etc. It's always neat to watch kids ooh and aah over the wide variety of plants we come across on the hike, or how excited they get when they find a fern with spores on the underside. I don't know how on earth I'd teach a plants unit without the Black Forest as my backdrop...

For energetic seventh graders, they walked really slowly.

fall party: movies

Alice in Wonderland

Staff: Toy Story

Beauty and the Beast

Carl from Up

Remember the Titans

Despicable Me

Inigo Montoya and Mr. Potato Head

me? afraid? never!

Wearing thick socks, gloves, and a hoodie over my pajamas, I gingerly opened the door a crack and peeked inside the room. No movement. My other hand tightly gripped a broom. I pulled the hood up over my head and tightened it as much as I could and still see. My heart pounding, I began nudging my couch away from the wall so that I could creep behind it, casting nervous glances at the huge plant across the room. It went that way for about two minutes. Nudge, glance, nudge, glance, nudge, glance...FREEZE at the sound of a rustle and a flutter in the plant, run back to the door, resume nudging... Finally I had cleared enough of a path behind the couch that I could creep behind and oh so sneakily move towards the window on the opposite wall. With one quick motion, I flung open the window and bolted out of the room by way of my couch tunnel, slamming the door behind me.

middle school overnight

A few weeks ago we took the middle school to Lörrach, Germany for the annual Middle School Overnight. Our time together included Capture the Flag, Dodgeball, s'mores, worship, and a hike that took us into Switzerland and back! Thankfully we had beautiful weather and weren't rained out like last year. Here are a few shots from the weekend.