Updates

Hi all,

Sorry I haven't updated lately, but gosh - I had no idea I'd be this exhausted from working! My respect for lower school teachers and kitchen staff is climbing exponentially.

Speaking of respect, a good deal of the kids here don't have any. Because the school is a "freie Schule" (literally, a "free school"), the concept of boundries is rather blurred. The kids have many responsibilities and liberties, and on the whole manage well. The teachers, however, are split on what being a "teacher" here means. Does it mean that one needs to teach, actively, at a chalkboard? Does it mean one needs to set an adult example, or can one blend in with the kids? Does it mean one is an authority figure, or rather is one there to guide the children, without imposing oneself as an authority?

No one really seems to know. Or, rather, they all know, but no one agrees. That results in kids not having any set boundries - they are different for every teacher, and there is no one standard to fall back to and say, "Okay, you're right; that was out of line." The kids are often very fresh and speak to the teachers in ways I would never imagine being tollerated back home, or even in other schools here. As an intern, I (along with all the other interns) get the brunt of this, but the regular classroom teachers deal with it also. They also do not show respect towards each other, or towards the building and supplies/etc. It's unbelievable.

Today I was with the Einsteine (a group of 3rd/4th graders), and we start the period off with circle, and the teacher, Doreen, spoke for a good ten minutes about respect, and how lately the kids have displayed a distinct lack thereof. She mentioned that in the new building (we're moving!), there will be accomodations for students with physical handicaps, as currently the school only has 'normal' kids as well as those who have ADHD , ADD, or other assorted learning differences. This raised the question of, "How does one behave around those who are handicapped, whether it is physical or cognitive, or otherwise?" They had a good discussion about it, with all students asking questions and answering them, sharing experiences, etc., and then I went off to do English with five of them. We were reading a story aloud, and it became Leon S.'s turn. Leon has a very difficult time with reading and speaking, let alone in another language. I convinced him to give it a go, and he did. Of course he couldn't do it very well, and the other kids knew this full well. What did they do? Break out laughing. FIFTEEN MINUTES AFTER THE CONVERSATION ABOUT THIS EXACT TOPIC.


Yes, I really am grateful for my 14 years of Quaker education.

School

Monday was my first day at work (strange thinking of "at school" as "at work"), and I'm settling in well, or as well as one can after two days. Ramona is in charge of the kitchen, and she is wonderful with helping me figure things out. Kitchen work here is very easy; as most of the food is delivered, there is little in the way of culinary preparation.

Duties include:

• Dish washing -- there is a super cool dishwasher: takes four minutes to wash, and heats up to 85ºC, and so when the dishes are taken out, they dry themselves.
• Setting tables for lunch
• Keeping on top of tea, water, juice, and milk
• Making sure kids at least try lunch; they do not need to finish it, but they must at least taste
• Preparing and overseeing afternoon snack

There are several other interns at the school, and all are very nice. Anne is studying to be a social worker, and Angelina is finishing up her training as a lower school teacher. We all seem to have more time on our hands than one would think, especially when working at a school. Not that we're complaining, mind.

Now it's Wednesday and I'm exhausted. Normally, I'm used to two options for Wednesdays:

1. Summer/Holidays: my own schedule, relaxed, generally not many responsibilities
2. School Year: Meeting for Worship during school day.

Now that I'm working, which is comparable to being in school (set schedule, responsibilities, lots of loud children), I'm noticing that the enforced pause of MFW is really very important. Even if the time is not used for reflection or spirituality, but rather napping or mentally reviewing statistic formulas, it is still 40mins of necessariy quiet and physical calm.


There is a monthly meeting here in Magdeburg, which roughly 10 of Germany's 500 Quakers attend. Although I enjoy the meeting, it's difficult for me to settle there; something about a room full of 200 diverse, spirited teenagers all sitting still is very powerful and moving in a way that a cozy, genuinely religious gathering is not. I still remember clearly Meeting during Pre-K. Because we were too young to go to the Meeting House, Tr. Jean led our own mini-MFW in the classroom. We sat in a circle, and in the middle she placed a jar filled with sand, glitter, rocks, and shells, which she had shaken up. We watched the contents settle and, as they did, so did we.