Klausurzeit! (That's right, exam time once again!)

I have been preparing for the end of the Summer Semester here in Mainz and I have to say, time is absolutely flying by! I have been here almost a 10 months now and my final days here are just disappearing. I don't leave until the middle of August (giving me just about 10 days to organize everything for the beginning of of new UofL semester), as I will be working for my boss as a Tutor/Assistant for the International Summer German Course at my university. Not to mention that exams at most (including my) university don't end until the middle of July.

Well, I have already managed to face two of my final exams: Wissenschaftssprache yesterday, and Christa Wolf's "Kein Ort. Nirgends" this morning. The first was a course dealing with the construction and use of scientific and generally higher level German (everything from the dangers of over-fertilization to world population growth...). I had actually planned to take a additional German course this semester dealing with Business German, but unfortunately that course was canceled two or three weeks into the semester, but hey, that's just life! Regardless, I am happy the exam is over, but it is just a step in the right direction for the rest of the semester!

This morning I took my oral exam over the novel "Kein Ort. Nirgends" by Christa Wolf (I believe that the title was translated at some point as "No Place On Earth," in the off chance that you have read it). The course consisted of reading and analyzing the book while learning the historical figures and appropriate contexts (in this case, Heinrich von Kleist, Karoline von Günderrode, Goethe, and of course, the situations surrounding the Author in former East Berlin etc. etc. etc.). Every week we would prepare about 8 pages of the text and work through the book line by line, every student analyzing and paraphrasing 10 or so lines in his or her turn, working our way around the classroom. The book was particularly interesting, as it takes place across the river from Mainz in the company of some very famous local early 19th century personalities. Though I knew what to expect from the final oral exam, as I had the professor last semester for a play by the Austrian playwright Arthur Schnitzler, I was still put on my toes for some of the questions: (keep in mind that this was, of course, in German) What similarities, if any, could be drawn between the opinions of Christa Wolf and Kleist in regards to their societies, respectively? This lasted about 15-20 minutes with a series of varying question and themes. WELL, maybe it wasn't too bad... but you get the point, and to be fair, the professor is a genuinely great professor. And hey, I have nothing to complain about, I received a grade of 1.5, a pretty unusual grade... but that's another story. Either way, a 1.5 is considered to be substantially above average (it is incredibly difficult to get anything 'above' a 2.0, as the German system is a reverse scale from 1-5, one being the highest), and I am especially happy with it!! It could end up a 1.7, depending on what happens next week, either way, I couldn't be more pleased.

Otherwise things have been 'normal' here. I have just been busy with the usual day to day affairs, that we tend to take for granted (I will definitely think that next year when I am back in Louisville!). I went to Cologne a few weeks ago to meet up with a few teachers of mine from High School, who were on a trip through Europe with a group of students. I was actually on the last trip that my school went on 5 years ago! Talk about a flash from the past. It was great to see them again - one of whom, appropriately enough, is the German teacher. Nonetheless, it was great to see them!

I recently spoke with Michael and Heidi Boel, from the Sister Cities Louisville organization, and they were kind enough to invite me to come and visit with them as they are spending the summer in Germany! I don't know if I will have the opportunity to visit with all of my exams, but I will certainly try to work something out.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Last week was Johannisfest here in Mainz - a huge 3 or 4 day festival celebrating the most famous Mainzer of all time (and the namesake of my university), Johannes Gutenberg. The entire old town was covered with stands, rides, book sales, stages and all sorts of other things. From Schillerplatz to the Rhine River (a very very large distance), the town was converted. One of the traditional activities for this festival is the 'gautschen' - the dunking of students who have finished studying book making. The students are lifted up and thrown into a giant cask of water on a stage in the shadow of the 1000 year old Cathedral while their names are announced. I found a video of this year's ceremony:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DdU5dchW78 (notice that they took a beer break half way through... dunking students is hard work). Either way, this is really important step in the students lives, and it was a very culturally significant thing to see!

yours

justin

World Cup! GO GHANA!

Another week has passed quickly in Tamale, and i can't believe that I now only have one week left in Ghana! Much excitement has been caused as the World Cup has gotten underway! Everyone here was more than excited for the first game for the Black Stars in the World Cup and seeing that the game was on a Sunday the entire congregation even prayed for a victory at church that morning! Luckily those prayers were answered as Ghana pulled off a 1-0 victory over Serbia! As the next game approached people were fully decked out in their Ghana attire and ready to once again cheer on their team to victory. Unfortunately, the Black Stars didn't pull through that day and tied 1-1 to Australia(even though Australia was playing a man down the whole game!). After a bad performance in the Australia game many are beginning to lose hope in the team. The game against Germany this evening will determine if we progress to the next round! Even with dwindling hope everyone is ready to support the Black Stars in their last game of the first round. GO GHANA!

World Cup Fever

For the most part we all try to be impartial; being politically correct is something we are acutely aware of. However, when it comes to the World Cup, the gloves come off, passions run high and loyalties are etched in stone. This past weekend Sister Cities of Louisville and Greater Louisville International Professionals, hosted a World Cup kick-off celebration at Molly Malone’s for the highly anticipated USA V. England match. I should start by saying how impressed and excited I was at the enthusiasm and intensity of the U.S supporters. It was a far cry from 4 years ago and was practically non-existent 4 years earlier. It wasn’t just the fans who took a different approach this year either, the media and networks finally seemed to wake up and get on board. When I think back to the last World Cup I really don’t remember any build up and not much coverage either, in fact two of the key games were interrupted for 45 minute infomercials! This year, we feel like a country that cares about the World Cup and its team. A place where you no longer have to go out of your way to find that one international bar that is showing the matches. Is it too much to say we have become a soccer loving nation? If you were sat in Molly Malone’s on Saturday afternoon that would be an understatement. The room we had reserved was packed, the walls lined with people and still more squeezed in at the door as everyone watched on eagerly. In the main bar area U-S-A…U-S-A chants rang out. Our room held supporters for both teams; flags, shirts and face paint told the story. As we cheered on our different teams there was still a feeling of camaraderie, maybe that comes from Louisville’s Internationalism, where you can fit right in but still remain true to your roots.

Join SCL and GLIP for some other key matches at Molly Malone's on Baxter:

Thursday, June 17, 2:30 France V. Mexico
Sunday, June 20, 10:00 Italy V. New Zealand
And 2: 30 Brazil V. Cote D’Ivoire
Tuesday, June 22, 2:30 Argentina V. Greece
Wednesday, June, 23 2:30 Ghana V. Germany
Friday, June 25, 10:00 Brazil V. Portugal

Because of the Rain

Since the last time I have written I have spent another week in Lameshegu Primary School and learned much more. The biggest learning experience thus far came last friday morning. I arrived at Lameshegu at 8:30 just like every other day, however, unlike every other day none of the three first grade teachers were there. As I was walking in a teacher in a neighboring class explained that the teachers were late because of the rain the night before. I wasn't sure what to do. I was alone in a classroom with ninety plus children who were completely out of control. Many of them at this point were running around hitting each other with sticks and tackling one another to the floor. I decided that this was an inefficient use of school time and that I would teach. Remarkably, after telling everyone to sit and that we were going to do English, they listened immaculately. Everyone calmed down and filed into their crowded desks. I passed out books and began teaching, and though I know they struggle to understand me through my unfamiliar voice, they paid attention extremely well. After twenty minutes or so the teaching assistant showed up and if it was nothing out of the ordinary simply looked at me and said, "Good morning, I'm late because of the rain" and sat down. Things had seemingly calmed down, I assigned an exercise, which they dutifully completed and then it was time for break. During break men began removing the desks in the classroom to repair them, which generally would have been appreciated, but its difficult to conduct a class with no where to sit. Adding to the chaos that I feared the lack of desks would cause the teaching assistant(the only one of the three that ever showed up that morning) informed me that he needed to go to town. At the end of break things were even more chaotic than before. There were hardly any desks, and I was the only teacher(if you can call it that). Children were beating each other to the point of tears. So after pulling several boys off of one another I sat everyone down(the best I could with less than normal desks) and once again began teaching. When the teacher returned awhile later he again just sat down as I taught, and observed the now relatively calm classroom. It was an extremely chaotic morning! But I certainly learned a lot!

Mainz in Spring

morrow is Fronleichnam (Corpus Christi), and as such, we poor stressed out students are given the day off from Uni! Giving us a nice little break during the middle of the week, and a well earned day off - or at least an opportunity to catch up on a little overdue homework or reading. Or maybe just the chance to go down to the Rhine and relax with friends, either way... the Summer Semester is full of one day holidays and random protests (preventing us from going to uni - as an example, when the public transportation strikes... very difficult to get around then). Just this weekend there was a great protest/party in the city - Night-Dance-Demo, in english - this was 500-600 people literally dancing their way through the old part of town with three large trucks carrying suspended mixing tables and a slew of dj's to entertain the crowds. Definitely one of the most interesting ways of taking an issue (literally) to the streets. It was so bizarre watching hundreds of people with live music dancing through the city - past buildings that are hundreds of years old, past statues of Johannes Gutenberg and Friedrich Schiller - juxtaposition if I have ever seen it! I have been auditing a few courses this semester (I can't enroll in them for credit as I last some serious prereqs, BUT I am here to learn, so that is what I am going to do!). One of the absolutely most interesting of them is Exchange Rates and International Capital Markets, the professor works in Swiss Finance and is just a wealth of information, especially considering Germany's role in the current Euro Zone economic troubles. The professor knows his material, and tries to represent as balanced a view of world Capital Markets as possible. Even though I am not taking the 'Klausur' (the exam), but I have definitely been trying to learn as much from this course as possible. Like last semester I have been really focusing on my German and taking a lot of courses about the language and the german literature - I have been trying to take advantage of every possible opportunity to learn the language while i am here. I do an English-German Tandem with a friend of mine, I live in a German-speaking WG (Wohngemeinschaft - apartment), and I am taking a courses about the language, that I simply can't take back in Louisville. I had signed up to take 'Business German' (Wirtsschaftswissenschaftsdeutsch), but the course was unfortunately canceled after 3 sessions due to lack of interest. I did manage to get into 'Scientific German,' which has been unbelievably helpful. I have been learning a great deal from my job in the International Office - just like last semester - but this semester I feel that my German has really gotten to the level that I can talk to the people I work with at a mature and appropriate level. Just yesterday my boss and I spoke about the events unfolding with Israel and the humanitarian aid ships, which has certainly taken a lot of people's minds and discussions off of the European financial crisis, at least for a little while. I am still translating documents and preparing an online portal for all the new exchange students, like last semester, but I would gladly do it for free just for the experience! I can not describe how great of an experience it has been working in a German office, even if it is only one or two times a week. You can read all about how an office should work, and how you are supposed to act in intercultural situations, but to actually work in one... that is something totally different, something totally unique. Definitely making my experience here worth it in my mind, without a doubt! Liebe Grüße, Justin

Back to Tamale!

On May 22 I boarded the plane from JFK to Accra for the third time! I could not wait to return to Tamale yet again! When I arrived two days later I was greeted by many familiar faces happy to welcome me back into Tamale. After a few days of settling in and calling on various chiefs I began work both at Lameshegu Primary School and with Sister Cities.

My first day at Lameshegu I began in the Primary 1 class, which is complied of mainly six year olds. Though I had been told I could immediately start teaching I opted to observe so I could see how classes here were taught. As expected, it is very different than your typical American first grade class. Firstly, there are about 90 children in a small classroom with one teacher, obviously making any kind of instruction fairly difficult. However, the students were well behaved and the teacher did a good job controlling them, at least for awhile. After teaching one lesson and assigning an exercise the teacher left for about 10 minutes. She later returned with her one year old daughter, who she promptly started breast feeding in the middle of the class. After this point no more teaching was accomplished. For the rest of the class the children sat impatiently in their crowded desks anxiously awaiting break, while the teacher graded their exercises, all 90 of them.

After being at the school for a few days I have noticed that this is very common. Teaching is done for a few minutes at the beginning of class, an exercise is assigned and then graded one by one while the students sit there with no further instruction. I have already learned so much about the school system and can't wait to learn more. Tomorrow I will begin teaching english at the first grade level and will progress up to the sixth grade by the end of my time in Tamale!

The British are Coming

By Joanne Lloyd-Triplett
Over the past two months I have met more Brits than the whole 5 and half years that I have been in Louisville and it's all thanks to GLIP: Greater Louisville International Professionals. Through years of working and volunteering in the International Community I know many immigrants from dozens of countries, many have their own groups, associations and support networks, some even their own festivals. As far as Brits though, in 4 years I had met only one. It seems that we are hard to find; I happened to find them down the Pub - it figures.

I volunteer as the United Kingdom Ambassador for GLIP and last month through GLIP, myself and one other Mancunian (that's someone from Manchester) organized the first 'Brits Night Out' in an effort to find our fellow countrymen and women, and out of the woodwork they came. We had roughly 11 Brits that had never before met and last night at the second 'Night Out' even more new Brits showed up, plus 2 Australians and several Americans. I can't possibly explain in words the emotions of finally finding people from your home country after years of trying to 'fit in' to a new culture. No matter how well adapted and content you become in a new environment there will still always be a part of you that enjoys the comfort of the familiar; the need to 'breath out' after 'sucking it in'. To talk to someone with your own accent, to know that they too sometimes can't remember which is the British or the American term anymore - do we say courgette or zuchinni? Someone who can relate to the experiences and challenges you have also faced, to recall things from home and reminisce together. In the same way that a certain scent or taste can have the power to immediately trasport you back to a vivid memory; talking with my new British friends last night made me feel like I was back home, at a pub in Manchester - just for a moment. It fulfilled a craving I didnt even realize I had and I intend to get my fix every month at Brits Night Out.

• Join us on June 12th for the USA V. England World Cup Match at Molly Malone's on Baxter Ave.


• For the next Night Out keep an eye on the GLIP website or Sister Cities of Louisville Events Page.