Sick of the Oerchkatzelschworf (not really)

So on the down side, I've had a sore throat for over a week, and in the last day or so it has turned into a full fledged cold with a nasty runny nose and a cough. A perfect combination right when I am shaking hands with all my new co-workers and for spreading sickness to all my new students. Luckily I actually brought a box of non-drowsy nasal decongestant. Yay! I hear teachers get sick more than people in almost any other profession. Sweet! I can take it. Bring it on!

On the up side, I got to go rock climbing on Sunday! WooooHooooo! One of the teachers at my 1st school, Johanna, climbs too. When I was introducing myself to one of her classes last week, I told them that I climbed and so after class she invited me to Innsbruck for the weekend. On Saturday night we went to a rap concert, in German. Then climbed most of the day on Sunday. Johanna and I have a pretty similar climbing ability, but we went with some friends of hers that are really very good climbers. I don't have the European rating system completely figured out yet, but I'm sure they were easily climbing 5.12. I on the other hand, after not climbing most of the summer, I spent a lot of time hanging on the rope. This can bit a bit embarassing, especially with people you don't know, and especially when you are hoping they will invite you to go limbing again. Unfortunatelly there wren't many easier climbs in that area, but it was still fun, and at the end of the day, we found a couple that I could do. So I got in one successful sport lead and one tough, but doable route on top rope. It was a nice end to a hard but super fun day. It was so nice to be outside with other climbers and I think we will proably do it again. Maybe next time Johanna and I will go without the pros so we can actually feel good about ourselves :) Another positive thing was that I learned a lot of new climbing vocabulary, like "Sloper" which is "sloper" in English, or "Hang-dog" which is "hang-dog" in English, one really hard one to remember was, "Boulder" which is "bouldering" in English. There are a few words that overlap, but actually I did learn how to say other things that actually were German words like: Rotepunkt-redpoint, Henker-bolt, mehrereseillaenge-multi-pitch, or sichern-belay. Now you too can show off your awesome climbing vocab auf deutsch.

I have now been to 16 different classes since last Monday and have 9 more to go before I start seeing students for the second time. That means I have repeated my name, hobbies, homeland, and other such important information 16 times (or more, depending on how well the students are listening). I also always get to explain that I am from the Washington that's in the Northwest and not the one where all the cool politicians hang out. Some of the most popular questions that students ask me are: What do you think of Bush? How old are you? (To which I reply, "how old do you think I am?" just for the fun of it) Have you ever met/seen a movie star? and Can you say, "Oerchkatzelschworf"? (not really sure on the spelling) Which is the word for "squirrel tail" in the Tirolian dialect. The first time a class asked me, of course it caught me off guard, but since almost every class asks me if I can say it, I now have lots of practice. Most classes are quite impressed with my ability to say it, especially when they think that I can't speak any German. Today in one class, before they asked me if I could say Oerchkatzelschworf, they asked me if I cold speak any German. I promptly told them that the only thing I knew how to say was Oerchkatzelschworf. They actually laughed quite a bit over that one. I think I have won that class over with my charm and wit.

There was a class the first week that I don't think was so impressed with me. Evidentally they were disappointed because I don't look like an American. Naturally, I was curious what it was that didn't quite match up in their minds. Turns out that I shouldn't be blond and my shoes were a bit strange. I think there was more to it than that, but those were the only details I could get out of them. I did tell them that I dress a bit differently when I am the teacher than when I am hanging out with friends, etc. Oh well, what can I do?

It is pretty cool, because now when I walk down the street I frequently see my students, although usually they recognize me first. Since there are about 300 of them so far, I have trouble remembering their faces much less their names. But they say hi to me and I had a nice conversation with a group of them while we were ordering Donner Kebabs in town. A couple girls also said hi to me and I asked them if we had had class together today. They said no, that they just saw me at the school. I thought it was prety cute that they started talking to me even though they hadn't actually ever met me. We talked for a minute and when I walked away I think I heard one of them say that I was nice (yes!). Hopefully they will still think that when I start giving them homework.

Well, tomorrow I am presenting my first real lesson for the whole period on the U.S. school system, so I need to get to work. I am a bit nervous but excited. I am actually really enjoying my time in the classroom so far and look forward to trying out my lesson planning skills.

Tschuss! (Bye)