Letter of Intent

The following is my letter of intent written to Teach for America:

During my year as a Fulbright Teaching Assistant in Germany I learned that a country’s education system is not only closely intertwined with its culture, but also a reflection of its values.

I was placed in two high schools in an affluent suburb of Munich, one of the wealthiest cities in Germany. Later in the year I had the opportunity to visit a school in a small and economically struggling East German town. After a day of visiting classes there, it was clear that they had access to the same technology, their buildings were equally as up-to-date, and their teachers were equally as qualified as at my schools. The German education system is far from perfect; they struggle with many of the same issues we do in America, including integrating their growing immigrant population. But I saw that German children, regardless of their geographical location, had access to the same educational resources and were expected to meet the same academic standards.* Germans recognize that this equality is necessary in order to move toward a better and more unified nation. This experience made me wonder; what would an outsider think of American values if they were to visit a public school in a poor rural town or inner city? I hardly think that the American public school system portrays the values of freedom, equality, and inclusiveness we pride ourselves on.

I want to join Teach for America because I want our schools to be proof that we are a nation that values all our children, not just a privileged few, and recognizes that they will all play a part in the future of our country. I want to be one of many Americans to reach out and tell those children who have been ignored that they are important to us, to America, and to the world. I believe that I can begin to accomplish that in my two years as a corps member by setting high expectations for the kids in my classroom and working hard to provide them with the support and knowledge they need to reach those expectations.

Teaching abroad and returning to work for an education association has taught me a great deal about myself and my strengths and interests. I am passionate about education and plan to pursue a higher degree in a related field, but before I continue my studies I want to see first hand the impact that I can have on one school and one group of students. My experience in a classroom will make me more aware the issues that require the most attention and that I will be most able to impact in my future. German school children taught me more about German culture than I could have imagined and I believe that American school children will inspire and motivate me to take an active role in shaping the future values of America.

*Obviously this is an oversimplified comparison, a 250 word essay does not allow space for a discussion of the complex pros and cons of the German school system (This article discussed some of the major problems they are facing especially with immigrants.). My comparison is based only on the Gymnasiums (highest track college preparatory public high schools) that I saw in Munich and Greifswald. Money is spread equally among schools within each German state. Teachers are likewise assigned placements by the state. This means that there is very little disparity between same-track schools in different areas of Germany. Of course this equality cannot make up for the discrimination that exists in the tracking process , I discussed this issue in this post. (In that previous post I wrote that placement was determined based on grades and tests, I learned that that is is not entirely true, the ultimate decision on tracking is made by the parents with recommendations by teachers.)

Ra Ra for Richmond!

I can't believe how German I am sometimes... living there for so long affected me more than I thought. I bought a bike over the weekend and I can't even tell you how much I have complained (at least in my head) since then about the lack of bike-friendlyness in DC. Not only that but I find myself worried about rules and laws and feel distressed that there seem to be no laws about bikes. I'm sure there are, but no one knows or follows them. How can people bike without bike laws??? How can there not be a bike rack outside every building?? But riding a bike to work is fun, and a huge improvement over taking the bus, so I guess I'll relax about it. I would like to start a campaigne to make DC a more bike-friendly city. Someone out there get on that for me, would you?

Backpedaling a bit (haha, it's a bike joke!), I had a great weekend in Richmond. I drove down there Friday night and met Jackie and Emily at Jason's apartment. Saturday afternoon we went down to Carry Town and then to UR campus to wander around. It was weird but nice. I somehow forgot how incredibly beautiful it is. I guess you don't notice so much when you're living there, but it really is a perfect little bubble of prettyness. And they remodeled the science center AND the dining hall which blew me away, I'm a tiny bit jelouse. Overall it was nice to see it and made me happy that I went there and have so many fond memories, but I'm done with that part of my life and wouldn't want to go back now. It's a good feeling. What I miss most is my classes, but that just means I need to get my butt back in school soon, and I can manage that. Moving on, Saturday night some of Jason's friends from high school living in DC came down and we all went out for a very nice dinner at one of my favorite Richmond resturants. (The Hard Shell, in case you're interested) There was wine and bread and wine and crab legs and wine and key lime pie and a little more wine.... It all felt very posh and grown up. Richmond night life is kinda like that. After dinner we went out to a couple bars and then all went back to Jason's to continue the party..... a good time was had by all. Sunday I stopped at Target, bought a bike and a de-humidifier (oh the joys of living in a basement) and then spent half and hour with two high school aged target employees trying to fit it in my car, I finally had to buy a wrench to get the front wheel off and get it home. whew.

Now it's back to work for me. Work is getting a bit more interesting as I get involved with more projects. I'm very excited for the meeting I'm going to in Minneapolis in a few weeks because a)I finally get to meet some members and see some faces to go with all the names I'm e-mailing and it should be interesting and b) It's in Minneapolis which means it's a free trip home and I get to see everybody!! :)

Suburbia and Beyond

Whew. I feel like I've been on a constant high since getting back a week ago. I can't believe it's only been a week. The jet lag finally caught up with me the last couple days, but was nothing a few unplanned afternoon naps couldn't fix. It's been a full week of family and friends and driving my car (I love my car!) trying to get stuff done, but mostly avoiding things I should be doing, like unpacking for example. Oh well. On the fourth I got decked out in my Germany gear and went downtown and meet Lindsay (von Dusseldorf)at a Brittish pub to watch the football game. It was actually packed and there was a big screen set up and fans from both sides, we even spotted a real italian and a real German! Great atmosphere, heartbreaking game :( We wandered around after and got lots of "sorry for your loss" from passers by and were generally finally feeling a little better about not being in Germany at the moment. We ended up hanging out downtown long enough to stick around for the Minneapolis fireworks, which I had never seen before. They were quite nice and we had a great view with the skyline in the background.

Sunday I went out and ran some errands. Shopping! on a Sunday!!!!! crazy. I even went grocery shopping which was pretty exciting. Last night was Music in Plymouth, which means more fireworks! which we had a not so spectacular view of directly behind a clump of trees. OH well, at least we saw the AMAZING (ly cheesy and horrible) laser show.

Now I'm hanin' out at home because Mom is on a buisness trip, Bob is at work and the rest of the family is at the lake and it is blissfully quiet and peaceful around here. Maybe I'll even unpack sometime. or not.

On the whole, it's nice to be back, I love Minnesota, but I can't live here, not now anyway. I just can't do it, I thought I might want to, but after the first day here I knew I was going to have to leave. So I'm plugging along with the job search, I have a few good looking prospects, I'll let you know how things turn out.

Sweet Home Minnesota

I made it. And it's kinda like I never left. The flight was long and uneventful. Being back in the US is a little strange, but I'm getting used to it quickly. I few thoughs I've had, in chicago O Hare- Holy Diversity! I forgot how many different people are all americans. The diversity thing went away however upon arrival in MN where everyone pretty much looks German. I forgot how it's acceptable for americans to walk around in public wearing sweats and T-shirts and generally looking scrubby. I guess I can stop trying to look presentable now :-P I also forgot how much I love skim milk. mmmm. Yesturday driving up to the lake house I stoped at Target. It was confusing and disorienting. I bought batteries, flip flops and cereal all at the same store! Insanity! Also at Target (in Buffalo, which is beyond suburbs and into small town Minnesota) I realized how incredibly Minnesotan everyone sounded. Please tell me I don't have that accent! Now I'm at the lake, hanging out. My cousin and her boyfriend are here, Uncle Nick and his family should be here soon. It's a busy place. Fishing, swimming kayaking, it's nice to be home. I gotta get outside now, it's too nice to be in here. I'll write more later. Ciao.

Oh! the Germany game friday was amazingly intense and awesome, I can't wait to watch the next on the 4th, they're going to smash Italy!

26 hours to take off....

Before I left I wrote down a few goals for myself for the year. Seeing as things are coming to an end now, it seems like a good time to look back and see how I've done. Keeping in mind that these are wishy-washy kind of goals I'm going to take the rose-colored-glasses aproach to evaluating myself :-P


1. Be a dedicated teacher. Stay on top of lesson plans, be creative, get to know the students and keep them interested. Impress the students and teachers with your maturity and confidence. And speak loudly enough for them to hear me!! Go above and beyond. Find a project you care about and follow through, start an after school club. Remember, teaching is the reason I'm in Germany!

Teaching has been at times rewarding, at times boring, at times really fun, and at times incredibly frustrating. I would say I've learned a lot about working in a school and being in a classroom. I would have liked to have done more, but I think it took me the first six months or so to realize what it is I could do and how to do it, before I started speaking up and feeling more comfortable asking teachers to do something with me or making my own suggestions. But in the end I hope I had some kind of impact. Getting to know students was hard at two huge schools, but I had a few classes I know well and of course my discussion groups who I had a lot of fun with. At least when I walk through the halls lots of kids say "Hallo Frau S!"

2. Utilize free time. You are in Germany for goodness sake. Get out of your little dorm room and do something cool! Visit every museum, church, park you can. Walk, hike (in the Alps!) , ride a bike, get moving! Take interesting classes, do the reading, learn something! Travel as much as possible and travel alone sometimes. Try new things, be open minded and adventureous.

Check and check. Ok, so there were a few dark cold months in there when I watched a lot of German TV, BUT overall I've done well I think. I did take classes, I did see museums, I did go to parks, walk, ride my bike and travel tons, although not so much alone, but I'm ok with that, I had great travel buddies. I've most certainly been open minded, tried new things, and had lots of adventures. yay :)

3. Meet people. Be outgoing, be confident. Make friends, but don't spend all your time with the same people, this is the perfect oportunity to meet new, different, and interesting people. Be open to anything and anyone (just don't be too naive).

Ok, so making friends in Munich was challenging, but I have a few. Some of the younger teachers last semester, Peter my language partner, of course my neighbor Katie. I've also met tons and tons of other divers and assorted people throughout the year, just not a lot that I clicked with and kept up with. But I have I think been open to meeting different types of people and people from all over the world, and I've had a number of interesting conversations and heard some new perspectives. The best friends I've made have been some of the other TA's who I've visited and traveled with, and we will definitely be friends for life. I think it's natural to gravitate toward people in a similar situation and place in life as you. I'm ok with that.

4. Speak German! Don't spend ALL of your time with English speakers! practice, read German, take classes in German, study German, write in German. German, German, German!

Umm, ok, I'm going to have to give myself a not so high mark on this one. Does German TV count? I did try to read a couple german books, and will continue to read them when I get home and actually miss german a few weeks from now. My German is a little better, especially listening comprehension. Speaking... I don't know, I'm more fluent, but my grammar is just as bad as always, I'm just better at slurring things and cutting off endings like the Bavarians do now :)

5. Budget. Plan a monthly budget and stick to it. Make some extra money to use for traveling. Cook your own meals, don't buy clothes or stuff you don't need and can't fit in your suitcases anyway! Be smart, plan ahead.

I'm pretty proud of myself on this one. I got some, but not THAT much money from my parents at the begining of the year. I did quite a bit of babysitting and funded my own travels, which is impressive I think considering the amount I've traveled and the fact that I live in the most expensive city in Germany. I've done lots of cooking and been good about avoiding too much shopping. I'm throwing out one big bag of clothes and everything is going to fit fairly easily into my suitcases (I think, I have two out of three packed so far!) I feel like I let go of a bit of my desire for more matierial possesions, and that's a good thing. AND I get my last pay check on Friday so I'm actually going to have money left over to start the summer and tide me over until I find a job!

6. Stay in touch. Send postcards, write e-mails, take pictures, write letters, make phone calls, blog blog blog. All that good stuff I can do to let you people know how much I love you even though I'm so far away.

Well, the blog is alive and well. I hope you all feel kept in touch with. I had so many visitors this year, I felt really loved, I have so many great friends all over. Everyone is so spread out now, keeping in touch will be challenge at home as well, but I don't think it will be a problem. There are some friendships that can withstand anything, and I'm lucky enough to have quite a few of those :)

I realize that these aren't the good kind of goals that you can actually measure, but at least it's something to look at if I'm ever feeling lonely, homesick, or just off track. Mostly I hope that I can have a great time, be happy, have fun, all that. And I hope that I can make it meaningful!

I've certainly had my share of loenly, homesick, and off track moments, but that was part of the challenge of living abroad. Overall I feel good about my year here. I'm so glad I made the decision to come. I have had a great time, had TONS of fun, and it's been meaningful. yay me!

Thats all, it's time to get to my last day of school now. One more long bike ride. One more round of rice krispy bars for my other conversation group :) and I get a fancy official "certificate" with a stamp and everything- how german. Then I have to finish packing and clean and do something fun with Katie! ahh! I don't really need to sleep tonight, I'm so excited and wired! Almost HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Berlin! Berlin! Wir fahren nach Berlin!

So, plans for when I return: Get into airport at 7:30pm. Home by 9pm or so. In bed by 10 or so. Sleep 12 hours and then.... Watch FOOTBALL!!!!!!!

Ha ha, that's right, for those of you completely in the dark, Germany just won and will be playing in Berlin on Friday against either Mexico or Argentina, we'll see in a few hours. Everyone is invited to my house, 10 am June 30th, to watch on the big screen from the comfort of large leather couches.... ahhh, home sweet home. Just to warn you, I'll be waving a german flag and wearing a german lai and belt, and possibly switching intermitently between cheering and crying because I'm not in Germany to watch it anymore.

Nah, I'm not really that sad to leave it behind. I wen't into the city today just to experience a bit of the atmosphere, but Katie had to work at 5 and I have failed miserably at making any other good friends in Munich, so I wandered around by myself during the game. I'm glad I did though, it certainly is a once in a lifetime thing. It was actually a great day for shopping, all the stores were empty, in fact most of the streets in the city were empty because everyone was huddled around every availible television set. But no matter where I was I could hear the game and roaring crowds when they scored. I din't make it to the fan park, but most of the action downtown was on Leopoldstr. where they blocked off traffic for about five blocks and all the bars and cafe's lining the street overflowed with football fans standing on their tip toes to see the screen inside. The beer garden at the Chinese tower was a hot spot as well, I was at least able to sit down there, just not in view of a screen. At the end of the game I walked back to Leopoldstr. which had turned into a massive throng of german flag waving yelling screaming horn and wistle blowing fans. Literally so packed you could barely move. The Germans might have been a little excited. By that point I had had enough and managed to squash myself into an u-bahn to get home and crash. Whew.

My living room is sounding pretty nice right now.

I sold my TV today, which means I have one less distraction from cleaning and packing...blah.

Aufwieeeeeedersehen.........

So goes the chant, goodbye US. And I didn't even get to watch the game because it wasn't broadcast on regular tv here and I was too tired and lazy to go downtown. Stupid Europeans. So, I don't have my birth country to cheer for anymore, Germany will have to do. You better believe I'm going to buy one of the those stupid little german flags for my car and drive around with it when I get home. Although it's tempting to cheer for Ghana as well, it would make a great underdog story if they went on to win. But they're up against Brazil next, so good luck to them with that.

I had my last discussion group with my girls today :( they bought me flowers. They are so sweet, we had a lot of fun hanging out speaking English this year. I'm going to miss teaching. I made them and the teachers Rice Krispy bars today, they were a big hit. Everyone is impressed by rice krispy bars.

So, now it's officially my last weekend in Germany. ah!! My room is a disaster, still. I'll probably get on that at some point. After sleeping a lot. Katie has Sunday off of work, I want to go to the Fan Park again, but England is playing and they are somewhat notorious for their hooligans... I think we can brave it though. Sorry, I'm talking about football again, someone stop me.

One week until home!

Football Fever

and by football I mean soccer, obviously, but I'll get to that in a minute.

Since I last wrote....

I did indeed to go the beach near Rostock with Julia, it's called Warnemunde and it was pretty cool. Actually it was pretty hott, but the water was freezing, BUT there were jellyfish all over! And they don't sting, so you can pick them up and play with them and stuff, I was pretty excited about this, never having seen or touched a jelly fish before. Also of interest, while the part of the beach we were on was populated mostly by people in bathingsuits, at least bottoms -topless is standard in Europe- we took a walk further down the beach to the FKK (Freie Korper Kulture = Free Body Culture = naked people) section, which was an experience to say the least.

At some point I left Rostock and went to Greifswald once again to stay with Chris. We went to the beach there, no jellyfish. I also went to some of his classes with him which was pretty fun. It was nice to see another Fulbright TA at work and to see a school in a small east german town quite different from Munich. His school is smaller and he only has one, which I think is a whole lot better. He actually knows his classes and teaches the same ones on a regular basis. I think I would have prefered that. But, I got to live in Munich, so I really can't complain. We attempted to team teach a lesson on A Brave New World which I read about 2/3 of the night before, it turns out I read 2/3 more than most of the class, so it wasn't so much a discussion as it was me and Chris talking. I could definitely see the difference in students between the two schools. On the one hand, my kids are kind of rich and snotty and cheeky sometimes, but on the other hand, the advantage to working in a more affluent area is that many more of them also study abroad for a year and have more ambitions to go on to better Universities and so they really want and need to know English. East Germany is still a very different place from West Germany, especially Bavaria.

Speaking of Bavaria... Chris came back down to Munich with me on the very very long train ride on Thursday. We met his friend Greg, who's interning in Stuttgart, at the station. The fun started immeadiatly with a trip to the nearby beer garden for dinner followed by a little bar hopping in the Glockenbach and getting home around who knows when. Friday I was determined to make it to Andechs Monestary and Brewery (yes, most bavarian monestaries are also breweries) So we got up fairly early and made the hour or so long treck out into the country. I'd say it was worth it. The scenery was beautiful, the beer was cold and the schweinhaxen were the best. I wasn't really feeling the best after the beer, schweinhax'n, and direct sunlight all day... but it was still worth it. We crashed waaaay early Friday night and slept for a very long time. Saturday we had a little grill party on the Isar river, which I had also been wanting to do. Other than the ten minute downpour early in the afternoon it was pretty perfect and I got one more use out of my little grill.

Saturday night was the USA vs. Italy game. We went to the "Fan Park" which is at the Olympic center where they have a huge screen set up and naturally lots of beer and sausage vendors. I had been kind of down on all the world cup hype going on before, but being there was actually really cool. It's an amazing atmosphere. We met tons of people, lots of americans, as well as Austrailians who were in town for the Austrailia Brazil game in Munich on Sunday and people from just about every other country you can think of. Everyone was super friendly and just having fun and enjoying the moment. I'd have to say I'm becoming a bit of a World Cup fan. The US by the way is not doing so hot, they still have a very slim chance of making it to the next round. Germany, however, is doing pretty great and has won every game so far. So I think I'm about to become a Germany fan :) I'm going to be a little upset if they go on to win while i'm not here anymore.

I'm getting a little sad about leaving Munich in general. I was downtown today and ran into the crowd of Serbia-Montenegro fans on their way back from the stadium after their team won. They were singing on the escalator up the U-bahn, it was great. How could I want to leave? The weather has been so nice, and all the people here for football is so exciting, and tomorrow I have to say goodbye to my girls in my discussion group. sigh. Of course I'm also still super excited to go home and think of new things about America that I'm looking forward to every day. It's going to be so strange to be back after being gone for nearly a year. I'm definitely going to have some reverse culture shock. I've become so aclimated to everthing here. The US will be weird. But I think I'll get over it quickly. Hopefully I still remember how to drive a car. Hopefully I will also get a job and know what I'm doing soon!

For the next week I will be trying desperately to sell off and get rid of as much stuff as possible before I attempt to cram my most valued posessions into two suitcases. I hate moving, especially packing. Also as long as this heat and sunshine continues I plan on going to the outdoor pool near my school a lot in an attempt to begin the re-getting in shape plan and also to get very tan :)

I'll probably write something more reflective before I go. Until then, I encourage you to watch some football/soccer. ciao

P.S. Ignore the last few Flickr pics, it's just stuff I'm trying to sell, unless you are in Munich, in which case, buy my stuff!! Picture from the rest of my travels are up though!