The Stuttgart Christmas Market which is called the Weihnachtsmarkt, is the oldest, and largest market in Europe. People from all over the world come to this and while I was walking around I could hear Chinese, English, Spanish, French, Italian and of course German being spoken. It has over 200 booths that sell everything from handcrafted ordainments, to toys to gloves to lights to candles to tea to pots/pans, etc. etc. All the booths have uniquely decorated roofs with nativity scenes, reindeers, Santa’s, nutcrackers, angels and more! I could spend hours looking at all the items in the booths plus it’s also great to go to and get some Christmas shopping done! I got to go to the market on opening day with my Aunt and her friend and we enjoyed a nice hot glass of Gluhwine!
Protesters for or against Stuttgart 21 has lead to many demonstrations in the city. Stuttgart 21 is a project that plans to move Stuttgart’s main railway station underground. This way it will connect to more stations and brings in more tourists to the area. The only problem is that many(over 300) trees that are over two hundred years old will be cut down as well as tearing down part of the old train station. What I think is funny is that the project is still in the “talking” stage and nothing has been decided but there are already many trees being torn down. If you want to read more about it: Stuttgart 21
I went and volunteered in Leila’s classroom this week! It was really fun! I asked the teacher if I could observe English and I ended up teaching it. lol I brought in a few English books to read (Today I feel Silly by Jamie Lee Curtus, There’s A Wocket in my Pocket by Dr. Seuss as well as One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish). I then, taught them the “If you’re happy and you know it song” And then they sang the “Good morning” song to me.
Herr Kaiser is a really fun teacher! He brings out the guitar and sings with the children. Although, when I first asked him to come and observe he said that they weren’t teaching English that day. Kind of makes me wonder if they ever do teach English. Leila says that all they do for English is sing American songs. Plus my German teacher told me that some Elementary teachers that teach English can’t even speak it that well. Hmmm. The first graders in her class didn’t really know any English. Which, for me was good because it made me pull out German words and phrases I learned but when I read the books Leila ended up doing a lot of translating. She is becoming so good at it!
The rest of the time I was there, the kids colored a Christmas tree and put fancy decorations on it. Wow. Teaching in German seems so easy because the kids don’t do anything. It kind of frustrates me though because these kids have to be ready for to get good marks in the 4th grade because that determine their future and all they are doing is drawing a Christmas tree. It just doesn’t add up. I mean, if I was the teacher at the school, I would push the kids to work hard to learn and prepare them because I would want them to do well and get good marks so they could succeed and have bright futures. Luckily for Leila- she is naturally smart and catches on quit.
For my family who still thinks Aunt Victoria works for fruit and vegetables, I can now tell you not anymore. My Aunt works for a company named Coilex and on Friday I got the grand tour of the factory. Coilex is a company that specializes in steel. Coilex itself, receives the coils of steel and then cuts the coils into smaller coils (usually in 3rds) or flattens them and then delivers them to companies for use on cars, desks, tool boxes, lockers, etc. My Aunt works as an accountant in the building and the other day she had to write a check for $999,000 dollars! It was very interesting to see how the machines take the big coils of steel and compress them. Also, one coil of steel can be used to make 26 cars. Wow!
Random observations/my take on things-
*Backpacks for children are square.
*Being a train driver would really test one’s patience. I would be so annoyed if I had to slam on the brakes every 2 min.
*Bushes are decorated with bows. Lots and lots of bows.
*Heated floors are just LOVELY.
*The word for zit in German is pickel. Pronounced like pickle. teehee
*Water with gas is definitely an acquired taste. I don’t think I will ever acquire that taste.
I hope you had an amazing Thanksgiving with your loved ones! I missed seeing my crazy huge family and of course the pumpkin pie. It snowed here the day after Thanksgiving!
All my love.
-L
Next time Victoria writes a $999,000 check (euros would be fine as well) just make sure you put in my name :)
ReplyDeleteWater with gas?
Glad to see you are having a good time - just don't have too good of a time. We want you back :)