So the week has come and halfway passed, and it is time to actually talk about what we're here to do. Teach English! On Monday, Amy and I rode with Robert to the school-The HAK- in Oberpullendorf, and met up with Sarah, who also teaches there. She took us around to meet many of the folks at the school, including the principal and other teachers, who were excited to meet us. Everyone was very lovely. Sarah then had to teach two lessons at the mittleschule (the middle school) which is in a different part of the village, so we drove there with her and she had us talk to her students and have them ask us questions about the US and New Mexico. They were all very sweet, but Amy and I both noticed right away that there were things that absolutely would not fly in schools at home. Many of the students wear clothing or have bags with profanity on it, and Sarah is the only teacher that takes things away from them with the language on it. They also can talk about smoking weed and drinking (the legal age for beer & wine is 16) casually with teachers or each other. There is also a sense of camaraderie between teachers and students, and they joke around and talk casually with each other. For example, Sarah called of her students her stalker, because he found her personal email and address and wants to come over to her house. She told us this in front of the student and the entire class, and then took his pencil case and passed it around the class so students could take what they wanted from it. It's all in jest, yes, but Amy's jaw and my jaw were both on the floor because that sort of thing just doesn't happen at home without serious ramifications.

Things are so different at schools here. First of all, students have many routes through school if they desire to go to college (or not) or if they want a 3 year prep or a 5 year prep before college. If a student fails a single subject, they have to repeat the entire grade. Students also stay with their class, which are small, for all the years they are in school. This class stays in one room all day, and their teachers come to their room, rather than the other way around. Students also are not allowed to wear shoes inside the buildings, and instead wear slippers or socks inside the school (which means it is very clean!)

Our work this week is very unusual, both for the school, and the STARS program we are here with. Typically, the students have a different teacher for every lesson (which is like a class period), but they have all 6 with us each day for a whole week. The STARS program has us prepare a handful of lessons about NM and the US for students younger than 14, but these students we have are 16-19, so Amy and I have struggled to make our activities challenging enough for older students. We spent our first day with them yesterday and we were flying though activities we thought would take a long time, including vocabulary, introductions, and we ended up watching a movie in English while students took notes on what phrases they didn't understand. (We had planned to do something similar with a sitcom at the end of the day, but Amy and I were both in panic/ survival mode at that point.) We regrouped yesterday, and today went much smoother. We broke them into teams of 3 each that will work together all week, and the team with the most points gets a prize at the end of the week.

Here is one team (The Golden Eagles) presenting on their American city.

With the help of Sarah and her husband, Alex, we were able to round up baseball and football equipment to introduce American sports to the students. We spend this morning (our 2nd day with them) working on brochures on American cities, and the 2 lessons after lunch were spent playing football on the basketball court. We had to explain lots of rules about American football, but the students really got the hang of it and played well. The winning teams, of course, got points added to their totals. We've really been encouraging competition, because hey, we can't give grades, so it's a splendid motivator.

Here I am in a Broncos Manning Jersey (Jason wasn't too mad), showing them how to block at the line of scrimmage.

Amy is watching the huddle and helping her team. They did beat my team, so I suppose it helped.

  

This is also noteworthy- The students here eat 'pizza.' It comes from the baker who brings fresh bread in the morning and at lunch. Seriously. This particular pizza has corn on it, which is a very popular topping around here.  It wasn't too bad. The staff lunch today was a pumpkin seed veggie burger thing that Amy politely ate while I had corn pizza....

 After we got home, Robert took us for a lovely walk about his village of Deutschkreutz. It has been slightly overcast and very humid all day, and it finally started to rain on our walk. The drops are little and steady here, and Robert told us that rain like this has a name in German that means it comes down in strings or ropes because the drops are so straight and steady. The rain smelled good, but not like the rain in New Mexico, where it feels like it's cleaning the landscape. Everything is already clean and perpetually green, so there isn't any dirt to rinse off of anything.

On our walk, we ducked into one of the many wineries in the area and took a peek in their cellar. This village is small enough that Robert knows everyone, and when he takes us somewhere, we are always introduced and we get asked about our flight over and if Robert is taking good care of us. (We assure you, he is. He is spoiling us to no end!)

Amy says wineries like these remind her of her honeymoon with Adam in Sonoma Valley. 

A Pfingstrose- or Peony, we saw on our walk with Robert. 

I mentioned that Robert has been spoiling us, and he really has. Last night he took us to a winemaker's pub and we were there for 3 hours. I had a kasekrainer (Kaesekrainer) (a bratwurst with cheese inside) and Amy had fresh mozzarella and tomatoes. I even had a drink- though it was frou frou one and not a glass of wine. Those are for Amy, who is really enjoying the Blaufrankisch, a type of red wine particular for this region of Austria. 

Tonight Robert wants to walk with us to the cafe. (Everything is within walking distance in this village, except the school, because that is in Oberpullendorf.) Our time with Robert ends on Friday, when we will move to another host family. I'm sure they will be lovely, but I will also be sad to leave Robert. 

On one last note, Amy and I have been noticing that our understanding of German has just exploded, even though we aren't doing anything formal to help us learn. My ear has gotten better at understanding, and though I can't speak it, I can generally make some sense of a conversation I am standing next to. It's really quite amazing, and has sparked my curiosity in languages once again. I am sure if Jason and I were to move somewhere with another language that I would learn quickly and be able to manage getting around and polite conversation just fine. My accent has already dramatically improved, which just goes to show that native speakers make a difference, and that's why Amy and I are here. I'll end with that for today and make Amy write to you all tomorrow!