Lass es schnee, lass es schnee...

Yes, it's snowy in Bochum. And currently -8 C. According to Glen's landlady, it could be -20 C at the weekend. I don't want to believe her, that seems stupidly cold. Surely nowhere could ever be that cold? I was pretty much wearing all my clothes today, and it was still a bit nippy. Have pre-warned my sister, who's visiting Koeln (rather than Bochum) at the weekend to see me...guess she didn't fancy the tin mining museum, one of Bochum's many attractions.

(NB. I just looked on wetter.de. It's not going to be -20. Silly Barbara..)

Tomorrow I get to move into my new WG, with my new German friends. I hope they really are as cool as they seemed when I met them; we've not had much time to hang out. Still, they don't have much to live up to; I talk to my current 'flatmates' so little, they don't even know I'm moving. Seems a bit of an awkward thing to announce when we usually say literally nothing to each other. Apart from the guy who insists on speaking to me in French. How many times will we have to go through the usual 'quoi? er...quoi? je ne comprends pas...' before he gives up and realises my French is not sufficient to have a conversation?

I also just got back from Bergamo, where I visited the lovely Alex de Mare on her birthday. It was my first ever trip to Italy! I can't remember the last time I went to a country where I could not communicate at all. It was weird. I hated it, actually. Felt like a right dick, having someone ask me something at the bus stop, and just having to say "I don't speak Italian". It also meant I couldn't argue my own way in the club when they refused to give me tap water. I caused a bit of a scene, then angrily reached behind the bar and stole a handful of ice (I was really drunk...it seemed acceptable at the time). Got a right evil glare from the bar woman.

That and the hungover plane ride home aside, epic weekend.

Hopefully expect an upbeat post tomorrow, with pictures of my empty new room.

Dora.
xxx

Sie verlassen jetzt West Deutschland

At the weekend I visited East Germany; it was exciting. I got a lift with a stranger in a van, as is the done thing in Germany, and we drove through 5 different Bundesländer to get to Sachsen, where Pippa lives.

Dresden is, as far as I could tell from my 3 day visit, really really cool and puts Bochum to shame a bit. There were lots of cool bars and a nice tea house with big cushions and funky graffiti on buildings. Disaronno only cost 6.99€ a bottle, and of course Pippa was excellent company. As were the 'hand animal' transfer tattoos we put on our hands for the weekend.

I was the giraffe.

My trip home was awkward; it was another Mitfahr (carshare) with 3 sächsische people, with the most difficult to understand accents ever. When they said vielleicht (maybe) it sounded way too much like fleisch (meat). They tried talking to me at first...the driver asked me something several times with me asking him to repeat himself cos I couldn't hear (I wanted to add, and can you try talking more like a GCSE listening tape please?), then eventually I answered that I lived in Bochum, which I hope was the answer to whatever he asked me. They left me alone the rest of the journey.

In other news, I'm moving to my new WG in a week! I'm ever so excited, if not slightly concerned at my lack of furniture. But my new Mitbewohner keep assuring me that I don't need to worry about that. I wish they'd tell me why I don't need to worry; it definitely feels like I should be more worried. Might nip to Ikea on Monday.

And Germany has finally got google street view! Would've been more useful months ago when I was trying to work out my way around Bochum, but whatevs. I'm going to make quesadillas now. Om nom.

One last thing; thanks to anyone who signed the petition I posted on my last entry. Protesting WORKED! The British Council have got their funding and have opened applications for next year. Result!

Dora.
xxx

I could've slept another 2 hours

I think I was confused as to exactly when the teacher of my class 11 was coming back. I thought it was this Friday, but seeing as I turned up to her 7.50am lesson and there was no one there, I'm thinking it must be next Friday. The teachers at my school do seem to have a habit of just randomly going off on holiday for weeks at a time, unannounced.

At least I got to come home and finish my cup of tea, which was still warm. Glad my school's only a 10 minute walk away or I'd have been much more annoyed. And I'm quite annoyed already.

Off to Dresden this afternoon to visit Pipsquin and experience the delights of the East! Will determine once and for all if frickin' Sabine in 'Ich fühle mich so 50/50' (if you weren't forced to read this poor excuse for a novel at A level, I envy you) was right to whinge about the east, then move to the west and whinge more. As yet, I have not found the choice of cheese in the west too overwhelming, so we will see.

On another note, sign this if I haven't already harassed you to do so. Or next year, there will be no year abroad blogs to read.
http://www.petitiononline.com/BCLA2010/petition.html

Cheers.
Dora.
xxx

edit: just got back from school. Made the mother of all mispronunciations in front of my year 12 class. Instead of Zwangsjacke (straitjacket), I may have said Schwanzjacke (penisjacket). Fail. To be honest, I think they were kind not to laugh at me more.

Düsseldorf dorf dorf, can you geddit up...Düsseldorf dorf dorf, is you big enough?

I spent the last 3 days in Düsseldorf with all the language assistants from two districts called Arnsberg and Detmold (I'm not convinced those are real place names but it seems Bochum is included), at what they referred to as a course on the invitation. It was compulsory. Thinking back to the Altenberg course, I envisioned another 3 day piss-up. However, this was interrupted by constant activities.

The first day, we went to the Landtag, which is like the Nordrhein-Westfalen mini version of the Reichstag. We had to sit through a talk where they told us about, from what I could pick up, the founding of NRW and political shorthand. Then without any kind of explanation of where we were going, the woman finished her talk and just told us to come with her. We then sat through a number of other talks about...things, in a number of round rooms with tables and microphones in. When this was finally over, we were rewarded with cake.

Trekking back to the hostel, a bunch of us decided to have dinner, buy some pre-drink and go out, except we were so tired from all the round room tours that we ended up getting drunk and staying in the hostel. The next day I woke up with a bitch of a hangover and a 10-hour itinerary of museum tours to attend. Bleurgh.

The Ruhr-Museum might have been interesting if I had an attention span of longer than 10 minutes and if we'd been allowed to wander round and look at the cool stuff, like the stuffed animals and the dinosaur fossils. Instead, we got a tourguide who explained how to separate coal from steel and showed us such fascinating items as a jar of water from the war.

Back on the tour bus, we then went to Oberhausen where we were let loose in a shopping centre for a couple of hours. A trip to H&M and a portion of currywurst later, we were meant to be meeting at the Gasometer. We did eventually find it, despite some confusion caused by the signposting.

The gasometer (which was a big cylindrical building with solar system-themed art inside) was probably my favourite part of the day, partly because of the lack of tourguide and partly because there was a giant 25m model of the moon inside it. Everyone loves the moon. We also got to go to the top of it and look out over Oberhausen, which was fun because I like tall buildings.

After Gasometer time, we went on some sort of night walk around an iron...making...factory. It was dark and scary; probably would have been quite interesting if it wasn't cold and rainy and if the rickety steps didn't make me feel like I was going to die. That together with the fact that I really wanted a nap. Still, we got a nice view of Duisburg (pronounced Doos-borg, after much debate) and Ikea from the top. I think the point of the day was to learn about the industries of the Ruhr-Gebiet. Of course, the joke's on them because I wasn't paying attention. Hmm.

Back at the hostel, we'd promised each other we'd make it out to a club or at least a cocktail bar, but ended up staying in and getting drunk again, shattered from our long day of learning.

The next day, we had to attend a 2 hour talk (theme unknown) at the hostel; we were 15 minutes late and didn't get seats and so had to sit on the floor for two hours, while we were told things like not to bunk off school and how to make friends. This time we were not rewarded with cake.

The day's final activity was meant to be a 2 hour tour round Düsseldorf-dorf-dorf in the rain. No one fancied it; a group of us decided enough was enough, and went downstairs to hide until the tour left without us and we could sneak out. We ended up standing around in the car park until we got the all-clear and could escape in Matt Hardy's car (cheers, mate!). Home free.

Back to school tomorrow. Me, Tami and Glen are also going to go for a jog. I'm hoping that's enough exercise to burn off the quantity of beer I've consumed since arriving in Germany.

Dora.
xxx

Dora does teaching and dressing like a vampire (but not at the same time)

Since Herbstferien, I have started to feel more like I have an actual job. And I actually quite like it. Today I taught a class of 12 year olds about the London Underground; the first time I've ever stood in front of a class (not just since becoming a teaching assistant, but ever, in my life) and not been terrified. Maybe because for the first time, I felt like I knew what I was doing and also because these kids are inexplicably well behaved and enthusiastic. Wouldn't happen in the UK.

Halloween weekend was pretty special; I discovered that I like looking like a vampire and am somewhat tempted to do it every day, and also that in Germany it is perfectly acceptable to invite yourself and your friends to a party full of people you don't know. Our couchsurfing party was a success. I got far too wasted because people kept bringing me more drinks.

Me and Heidi on the train; before I got 'absolutely panini-ed'

Tomorrow I'm teaching the simple past tense; first I have to learn what that is.

Dora.
xxx