Karneval

This week was the start of Karneval! (think of the same celebration as the Rio Karneval).  Our area of Germany celebrates this festival in all it's glory, and so of course we had a day of Karneval fancy dress on Friday.  This was my outfit, that I made the night before.  I was (obviously) a Parrot, although I did get called the Roly Poly bird from Roald Dahl's Enormous Crocodile story (I'm OK with that), and a chicken (definitely less OK with that one!).

This week has been a very hectic one.  Out of the 3 Year 6 teachers, two were off for the entire week.  While this was hard work for myself and the other TA who took over the classes, it was incredibly stressful for the 1 teacher left to deal with all the issues of year 6, parents evening on Wednesday and Ancient China day on Friday (which was one of the teachers who was off's idea, but he went off sick before he could prepare anything, but of course after the kids had been told it was happening).  Ancient China day was due to Chinese new year taking place next week, and China being the History topic for Year 6 this half term.  We talked about China, and Chinese new year, and swapped stories of those who have been there, then made Chinese fire-crackers, money envelopes and lucky decorations, as Chinese children do during the new year celebrations.  Then we had a party with Chinese food in the afternoon.  It was really hard work, but the kids enjoyed it.  

After school had finished was the Karneval Disco.  This was for all our kids in year 3-6.  It was much like the Halloween disco, with the hall decorated, and a stall for sweets and glow sticks.  In the style of Karneval teachers took it in turns to go onto the stage and throw handfuls of sweets into the crowd, which was pretty fun.  Tidy up was much easier than the Halloween disco because we actually had bins this time, so all the rubbish wasn't thrown on the floor!  It was such a long week, but Matt and I still managed to go to a Karneval house party on Friday after work.

On Saturday and Sunday people go out in fancy dress and use Karneval as an excuse to start drinking at 9 am.  This, and the huge crowds didn't appeal to either of us at all, so we have just had a quiet weekend in.  A friend came over yesterday to watch the rugby and have fajitas, which was nice.  Tomorrow we are off to our cottage in the Rhine Valley.  The weather has turned very mild and sunny, so our holiday will be wonderful in the beautiful valley.  I can't wait!

Snow, Rugby and Pizza

This is how the week started off!  This was my walk to the tram stop to go to work on Monday morning!  The snow was really heavy, falling in huge snowflakes.  It was very cool, but by the end of the day it had disappeared.  It tried to snow on and off throughout the week, but nothing settled.  You wouldn't think it, but now we have blazing sunshine, and it's not even that cold today.  On Thursday it was -4!!!  Very cold, especially when I have a 45 minute outside duty from 8am on Thursdays!

The week at work has been busy, but mostly back to normal as people are gradually coming back from being ill last week.  We are all having our appraisals at the moment, so I am covering PHSE lessons which our boss normally does, so that he can meet with teachers.  I like teaching PHSE as the kids are really interested in learning about new things, and lessons are normally full of tricky questions and debate.  This week however, my boss decided to do something book-week related (it's a Roald Dahl themed book week this year), so the kids were all making up their own stories and making mini fold up books.  It was a lovely lesson, but I had to teach it 7 times in 2 days.  Not such a lovely lesson when you've done it that many times.  On Thursday I did it 5 times!!!  More appraisals next week, but after half term I should be back on my normal timetable. 

Friday was dress up day for book week, and everyone had to dress up as something to do with Roald Dahl.  My costume is below.  The kids loved it, but kept trying to grab me, insisting that I was the key to their entry into the Chocolate Factory!  It was a fun day.

On Friday night, the 6 Nations rugby kicked off with Wales Vs England.  We invited some people over, and ended up having 16 people squeezed into our living room!  I was most impressed by the fact that we had chairs for 13 of them!  The match didn't start until 9pm, German time, so we ended up having quite a late night.  The last stragglers left at about 2.30am!  It was a really fun night, and it was lovely that so many of our friends came over.

 Today, we are having a lazy day, clearing up after last night, doing the food shopping at the local market (below) and watching more rugby.  Tomorrow will probably be more of the same.  We have one more week of school before half term, when we are off to a quiet cottage in the middle of the Rhine valley, surrounded by interesting castles and villages.  I can't wait!

The Perfect Weekend

It's been a really good weekend, rounded off quite perfectly today with my discovery of an email from the Museum Management and Curatorship Journal saying that they are going to publish the article I have written for them!  The article is an adaptation of my Masters dissertation, on the repatriation of human remains from the British Museum and the Natural History Museum in London.  I finished my Masters degree in 2012, then spent a long time re-writing my dissertation for publication.  I submitted it in March 2014, and have had it back from the publishers twice for improvements.  I submitted it once again in December 2014, and have now had it confirmed that it will be published.  It's been a very long journey, and I am absolutely thrilled that it has finally come to an end with the perfect outcome!  I'm not sure exactly when it will be published, as there are various procedures that need to be followed, such as copyright contracts, etc.  Also, i'm not sure how far in advance papers are accepted before they are published, but I will let you all know when the journal is due out!

The week itself has been very busy with lots and lots of cover work!  There is lots of sickness going around the teachers at the moment.  My busiest day was Tuesday when I covered Year 6 Science in the morning, then Year 4 German, then Year 1 German, then Year 2 German!  I was terrified about Year 2, not being part of that department (We are Years 3-6).  I don't know any of the kids, and the obvious - not speaking the language I was meant to be teaching!  

I came out of the lesson feeling really quite good.  The kids were all well behaved!  I told them that I couldn't speak German so I wouldn't be able to help them, then proceeded to prove this by reading a few lines of their work in a really dodgy German accent, making them howl with laughter.  Their normal teacher came in to collect them for the next lesson, and said how quiet is was in there!  She had warned me before hand that they could be quite boisterous.  The teacher came up to me later saying that the kids had really enjoyed my lesson, and that I had tricked them into thinking that I spoke no German!!!  So not only was the lesson a success, but I convinced them that I could speak a language that I can't!  I think I should get some serious brownie points for that.  It cheered me up on an otherwise fairly rubbish day of cover work.

Yesterday, Matt and I had a great day out.  I had just decided that I am going to put myself forward for doing a PGCE next year at school, and we decided to have a day out to celebrate.  I have wanted to go the the Neanderthal Museum since we moved here!  I studied Neanderthals while doing my Archaeology degree, and have always had a bit of a soft spot for them, since they are what really fascinates me about Prehistory, and what got me really interested in Archaeology in the first place.  Near to Dusseldorf is the Neander Valley, where the first European Neanderthal skeletons were found.  There are not that many discoveries of Neanderthals across the world, so when they are found it is quite a big deal, and can often change how we view Prehistory entirely!  Close to the discovery site is the Neanderthal Museum, which is all about the discovery of the skeletons, and about what we know about Neanderthals in general in terms of religious beliefs, burial practices, diet, methods of hunting, living arrangements etc.  The museum is well laid out, and there are stations every so often that you can plug your headphones into to learn about a particular subject.  These were in English too which is always useful!

The museum was great, and it was interesting to find out what Archaeologists have learnt in the few years since I finished studying Neanderthals myself.

Just a few hundred metres from the museum is a trail that leads to the original cave site where the first European Neanderthals were found.  The valley isn't much of a gorge any more, it's fairly flat, so you have to use your imagination, but it was great to see a site that I have spent some time studying in a lecture hall many miles away, and several years ago!

It was a lovely day, and we rounded it up with dinner in Dusseldorf, and a few beers by the river... and a few Dunkin' Donuts for good measure!

...

As promised, here are a few photos of us playing in the snow last weekend...

I love this tree, it's so beautiful!

Below is Matt's snow angel...

Skiing in Willingen

Skiing in Willingen!

Last week was the Year 5 residential to Willingen (a few hours drive from Duisburg).  We left on Wednesday morning and came back Friday afternoon, all exhausted, but having had a fantastic time.  We were worried leading up to the trip as there had been no snow.  Last year there wasn't any and they couldn't ski, but this year, the day before we left there was 30 cm of snow, and combined with the snow machines at the resort, there was enough for us to ski.

We arrived on Wednesday early afternoon, had a very quick lunch, threw our ski clothes on, and were straight out again to hit the slopes.  The resort was a 10 minute drive away through a lovely town that I would have loved to explore if I was there without all the kids!  Next time!

It took ages for us to hire ski boots, helmets and skis.  Ski boots are probably the most uncomfortable things I have ever worn.  They give you no movement at all (for safety reasons) in your ankles, so you walk like a complete idiot, and feel like your breaking your ankle each time you put them on and take them off.  They hug your calves so tightly too, which isn't pleasant.

The kids were split into two groups of beginners and pros (some of the kids are fantastic and have been skiing since they could walk), Within those groups we were split in half again, and then the 4 teachers in the beginners group were given our own instructor, Claus.  It was great, even though he didn't speak any English at all!  We just left the kids to it, and got on with having fun, which was nice, and a far cry from the Year 4 trip when we were constantly watching the kids.  The year age gap really makes a difference.

At first we were just walking sideways up the slope getting used to the skis, and learning to go and stop.  Then when we got better we could go on the travelator to half way up the slope.  In the photo above, there are houses on the left side.  The travelator took us from the bottom of the slope to just below the first house.  If you look very closely you can see a dark line under the houses, and that is the travelator.  Pictures of us on the travelator are below.  Its lots of fun because you sort of stick your skis to it and it takes you up nice and slowly, which meant we had time to watch the kids having lessons.

I'm in the pink trousers at the front in the below.  Behind me is one of the Year 5 teachers.

We went back to the hostel after 4 hours of skiing on the first afternoon.  Dinner was rolls and cheese, and the kids had a movie night.  Two of the teachers were off at A&E with a lad who had hurt his shoulder.  Luckily nothing was broken, but it meant he couldn't ski on Thursday, and so neither could one of the teachers (though i'm not sure the teacher was too upset about the lack of skiing). We were staying in two houses, with about 25 kids and 3 teachers in each. Our lot were asleep by 11.15pm on the first night, which I didn't think was too bad!  One of the teachers did have to get up at 5am to shout at them to shut up though!

We had lessons again in the morning with Claus, doing much of the same as the day before.  Emily, my fellow TA managed to persuade Claus to let us go down the entire slope with him before our lessons finished, and he agreed.  Only 3 of us were brave enough, though the picture below shows my true feelings about the prospect of the slope.  The ski lift was fun!  I could have gone round that a few times, just without the terrifying, steep, unstable slope at the end of it!

I did most of the big slope with Claus in front of me skiing backwards, holding my hands.  I made a fair few pathetic noises while I was at it, and landed on my bum just the once!  But I did it, and the kids clapped when we came down (most of the advanced ones had been wizzing down it since the first afternoon).  Right after we came to the bottom, Emily (above) crashed into a fence and broke it,  She never did learn how to stop very well.  It went very quiet (there were lots of people around) and all you could hear was me and one of the other teachers howling with laughter!

We had packed lunches, and then could go back on the slope in the afternoon to do our own thing, with us under strick instructions from Claus not to do the big slope on our own.  Some of the kids who had also only done the big slope once decided they were now experts and did it a few more times, until I caught them at it and shouted for a bit!

The kids slept much better on Thursday night after a full day skiing and quiz night.  I woke all of them up at 7 on Friday morning.

We went to an indoor play centre on our way home, and exhausted the kids a bit more for the 3 hour coach trip home.

The whole trip was a huge success, and we all had a brilliant time.  I would definitely go skiing again, and I think Matt would love it!

We had snow in Duisburg on Saturday, but I will save those pictures for next week I think!

Health Kick

There isn't much to show, photo-wise for this week.  Work has been busy as ever.  The year 5 teacher has been off again, so I have been teaching her class.  We definitely understand each other now, and they are very well behaved.  I had a meeting with the Director of the school to discuss the possibility of me doing my Teacher Training next year.  I felt like he was trying to put me off doing it, and felt quite negative when I came out of the meeting,  He said that he would find out the answers to some of the questions I had by the end of the week, yet I heard nothing - so i'm feeling a bit flat about it really.

This week has mostly been about us getting into a healthy routine.  We went to the gym twice after school, and have been eating very healthily.  Soup club started this week (4 of us take it in turns to make soup for each other once a week - mine was Pesto and vegetable this week), and has been very successful this week.

Next week I am off on the Year 5 residential trip to Willingen to ski, however there is no snow, and doesn't look like there will be.  Everyone who is going on the trip has been getting things ready for it, and anxiously checking the weather report about 10 times a day - it's been a bit tense.  We have had to book all the no-snow activities, which is really quite disappointing.

On Friday, we went bowling with some mates from school which was fun - Friday is a cheat day diet-wise.  Saturday we went over to a mate's house to watch football.  He cooked Schnitzel for us which was nice.  Other than that we have just been relaxing this weekend really.  After Brussels, we needed a restful couple of days.  And I know that the residential next week is going to be exhausting.  So this week has been one of getting back into our routine, and waiting for next week to happen!

Since I have no photos of what we have done this week, this is a photo of the display that I was asked to do for Lower School.  I have had many a compliment on it!

Brussels

We went to Brussels for the weekend on Friday!  We hired a very nice car (Audi A4 - HEATED SEATS!!!!!!) and sped off through the rain on the autobahn after work (After Matt had played football and I'd been to the pub for wine and chit chat).  The car was much larger than Matt is used to, plus the steering wheel was on the wrong side, and the car was on the wrong side of the road too.  It took a while for him to get used to the dimensions of the car, and I helped,but after a while we were fine.  We arrived at about 9,30pm on Friday and went out for a burger/pizza near the hotel.  We didn't realise how central we were to the city centre until Saturday morning when we went to explore and discovered the Grand Place (above) just a few minutes walk away.  The buildings are wonderfully ornate and covered in gold in the Grand Place, and we sat outside a waffle house there, with huge waffles for breakfast (chocolate, walnut and nutella).

Unfortunately, it rained quite a lot, so we had to spend a lot of time going into pubs and chocolate shops which was a real shame!

Brussels is home to the Tintin comics... 

Brussels is all about food and drink really - chocolates, belgian waffles, beer, mussels and chips are just some of the things that Belgium is known for.  The chocolate shops are fantastic, but so expensive.  These giant meringues caught my eye in one shop window... 

Above is a chocolate shop window display of chocolates shaped like the Mannequin Pis, a statue of a small boy urinating, which has become a symbol of Brussels.

More chocolate shaped like tools!

On Saturday afternoon, Matt's parents arrived by Eurostar.  They were there for Margaret's birthday and only Tony knew that we were meeting them in Brussels!  We went to their room in the same hotel, and called out 'room service!'  Margaret was VERY surprised to see us!

We had a lovely afternoon wandering around, and stopping in pubs to escape the constant rain.  We went out for dinner in the evening, and the next day had a bit more of a wander around.  It didn't rain on Sunday, but it was bitterly cold.  It was nice to wander about, buying chocolate and beer, and soaking up the atmosphere. 

This was a wonderful clock we discovered on our wanders. The bells at the bottom played silent night at 11.30 - it was really very nice.

We like our art, and Matt found these lovely painting in a pop up shop in the city.  They are only about 6 inches high - very cute.

The spoils....

Christmas Holidays

Here are a few photos of Matt getting snuggly with Lola.  I think they are both besotted!

Us on a beautiful sunny day in Hampshire, walking the pooch.

Then off to the Harris family for Christmas day...

We had a lovely Christmas day and New Years Eve with the Harris clan.  It was very different to my usual Christmas, but I enjoyed it very much.

Over the holidays we went to a 60th Birthday party that was Japanese themed.  It was a great night with 'The Chums'.

 Then off to Winchester to spend the night in the Mercure Wessex with Mum, Dad, Sam and Amy, plus the Rayner family.  The Cathedral is beautiful, and we had a nice time.

We got back to Germany on Sunday, after a long day travelling.  We had a wonderful 3 weeks off, but are happy to be back with our lovely friends.