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.