wow my first blog! And it only took me six weeks...

o.k so first off I apologize to everyone for my delayed blogging and lack of updates! It's been a whirlwind since being here (but I know that's no excuse!). I'll go back to the beginning a little bit and start with school.

So the school I was teaching at (and I say was with emphasis because I love that I can now use the past tense) was beautiful and amazing and quite the teaching experience. It's called the Bavarian International School (Bis) and the school itself is actually in an old Schloss (castle) from teh 1700s. I got the shaft to the middle school building (which was attached to the castle) but I did still get to go eat my lunch in the schloss every day! The entire building has been preserved so you pass these ancient ancient sculptures, paintings and beautiful archetecture on your way to class. Some of the classrooms are pretty amazing too..for example the gold room (which is basically just an ornate room covered in gold) is where high schoolers have art. Can you imagine sitting in a room covered entirley in gold for art class? unreal. It felt surreal being there most of the time. I was staying a 5 minute bike ride away, through the field in the German countryside. So in the mornings I would wake up, grab my bike and ride first through a forest beside a river, then through a horse pasture and finally to this giant castle in the distance. It sums up Germany though...green fields and castles! Anyways back on track...at the school I was teaching grades 6,7,8 math and science with my mentor teacher Phil. Interesting guy....Australian who used to have 40 snakes and do snake shows. Just before I left he got a baby corn snake for the classroom...which I didn't mind that much until I watched it eat the baby mouse. He's a great teacher. And I say the great part with emphasis because he really truley is one of those few great teachers. A good person to learn from but a hard act to follow I found. I'll start off by saying that the teaching was challenging. Really really good students from good families but some of the logistics made it difficult...including the fact that I had seven different classes (90 names to remember!) and a really challenging rotating schedule where I had to move rooms every class, and teaching the same lessons to different classes! This one day I was getting so pissed that one of my grade seven science classes didn't finish their homework...so i was off on a teachers rant about how the expectation is that homework is finished and I expect the same respect as any other teacher blah blah blah...when one kid in the back raises their hand and very politley says...'miss wolfenden...you didn't assign this for homework' and then comes the realization that I assigned the homework to my other grade seven class. I don't even want to think about how often that happened! Overall though I loved working with middle schoolers. They are SUCH a funny, energetic and totally loveable age. The grade 8's are cocky and have hella attitude fun in their own way. And the grade 6's are just wonderful and lovely. Some of my favorite memories...grade 8 boy raising his hand in class and asking 'Miss Wolfenden...would you ever date a younger man? which took a lot of effort not to give him a smart ass response! Another time I'm doing a research period in the library with one of my grade 6 science classes on body systems. So this one kid is researching the reproductive system (on a dare for two euro) and he asks me 'Miss wolfenden I understand what the system does, but I'm struggling with the ovum and testis can you help?' So I start trying to explain things and we get into a really good discussion about sperm and why the testis are outside the body etc. (and you have to picture this kid valentin I'm talking to...he's the popular, good looking kid with a slang english accent having a serious conversation about sperm) when this other student ben puts his hand on my arm (he's literally shaking with laughter) and says ' O.k I tried really hard to be mature but do you realize how utterly rediculous you two sound?' I honestly couldn't stop laughing...I tried to pull the mature teacher card after that but I was literally giggling like any other one of the grade sixes. So that said it was fun. I am however soooooooooooooooooooo happy that it's finished. Because I was teaching more advanced classes (grade 7 science was doing what we do in grade 9 science in canada) every night I had to lesson plan and study for what I was teaching. Plus I helped after school with math fun club (no laughing please!) , track and field, and I was the honorary yearbook photographer for after school events. Which was an incredible amount of fun, but made for some working long nights and weekends. It was neat too to figure out how international schools work...I hate to play the connections card but it helped with making contacts for different itnernational schools. I had offers to come back and teach in Germany, Taipai and China...pretty incredible! O.K so that doesn't even begin to describe the past 6 weeks of teaching but it's the best I've got right now.

As for the rest of it...the family that I've been staying with is incredible. I don't think I could have lucked out anymore. Theres the two parents Karin and Stephen and two daughters Alisha (13) and Josepha (10) and the dog Yula...whose name sounds a lot like mine in German (Gulia) confusing at times. I think part of the reason why I haven't felt homesick at all, is thanks to being a part of a family here. It's helped to have a home here (and a mom that could help with things when I was confused upset etc.). The girls are a riot too...Alisha has typical 13 yr old attitude but shes got a gem of a personality and love her laugh. And Joshepha is just the sweetest brightest girl...she makes cakes (with really complicated recipes) by herself for every occasion! It's really amazing. The family also has a beautiful, old home that they've just finished completley rennovating themselves. It's an old school house from the 1700s that has a river that runs through the backyard. Beauitful! So there I go lucking out again. The area here is called Haimhausen, which is so small that most people from Munich have never heard of it. It's a really rural area (about 20 minutes north of downtown Munich) that's close to Dachau. Most of the teachers thought I was crazy for wanting to stay in Haimhausen but I absoloutly love it. I love being able to go for a bike ride every day or take the dog for a walk through the park. We had about 2 weeks of incredible weather and all we did was bike to the nearby lake (10 minutes), lay on the grass and have picnics of bread, cheese, tomatos and wine. We went swimming too, which was bloody freezing. Everything here just has a nice laid-back pace to it. For example yesterday (my last full day with the family) I biked to the nearby flower fields with Joshepha to pick a boquet. Basically you walk through the field and pick your own flowers and then leave whatever money you think is fair in a bucket (the german people have an incredible honor system). Then we jumped in the river with boogie boards...which left me frozen for the rest of the day. After that Hannes (a friend who lives 5 minutes away) and I went for a walk and took some pictures in the park, then we had a family dinner and roasted marshmellows on the fire outside. That's what days are like here...and that's why I'm sad it's my last day! But no doubts in my mind that backpacking will be equally amazing.

Few last things before I take off...I haven't talked much about Germany itself. As a country (well speaking only about Bavaria because I haven't been outside that area yet) it's incredible. I don't think I could ever live here permenently (germans are so anal about some things!) but these things I really fell in love with...
-Biergartens (and wine gardens in salzburg). There everywhere and amazing. It's really an incredible feeling to sit outside in the sun and have an unlimited supply of cold beer
- Wiessbier! Funny that the first two things on my list are beer! It's literally (no lie) cheaper then water here. But wiessbier is a wheat beer that tastes amazing
- Beer for breakfast. I know realize that this may seem like overkill on the beer but it's just so tasty! I went for a Bavarian breakfast at a friend Lars's house...it was wiesswurst sausage (veal sausages that have to be eaten befoer noon) with sweet mustard and beer at 9 in the morning. Most satisfying breakfast possible I think...
- How incredibley efficient germans are!!! And how they have bizzare rules for everything that are never enforced but everyone follows anyways. For example the trains are expensive and no one ever checks for tickets...yet everyone alwas buys them. Example of bizzare rules...you HAVE to have a red A-frame roof on EVERY house!
- Unlimited speeds on highways. If you see a section that has a circle with a line through it...watch out because cars pass you going over 260KM.
- Bike riders. There everywhere! There's no such thing as public parking lots for cars but they do have public parking lots for bikes...everyone bikes everywhere
- The honor system...I mentioned it before but if you lock your bike up, people laugh at you. There is such little crime here
- Spargel (WHITE ASPARAGUS!) amazing!!!! thats all I have to say...if you haven't eaten white asparagus you haven't really lived.

There is tons of other things but those are the important ones for right now! So today I leave my family and go into Munich for a few days to stay with a friend Phil. After that it's on to different parts of Germany to visit distant relatives (who I've never met before). So hopefully I will update more regularley so there not all crazy long to read like this one.

love you all and miss you all!