Perks of Teaching English

-Having students who really want to learn

-Helping adults with real-life work situations

-Laughing... a lot, over silly things like the difference

between telling a woman to 'stand up' and 'push-up,'

the later being what my students associate with lingerie.

-Feeling proud of your students

-Not feeling guilty for speaking English

-Learning more about the differences between British and

American English

-Seeing their smiles when I speak a little German for them!

-Getting flowers on the last day of class

. . .

My New Favorite German Word

-After lifting weights, I have a 'Muskelkater': a muscle-tomcat or muscle-hangover, but pronounced "Muss-kull-kat-uh."

Botanical Garden

Germany actually got a little sun today, so we took advantage of it by going for a walk. Ben smoked his Cohiba while I fed the ducks and then we strolled through the Göttingen Botanical Gardens. Not spectacular in winter, but we did see flowers popping up in the spring-like weather.

Finally, we stopped by the Botanical Cafe and had a long talk about trip plans, Atlanta and communes over a bowl of Chai and a large beer.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Even though V-Day is not as popular here, we still received many cute valentines in the mail. And I sent Ben a special message taped over the outside of our door (Ben I love you). Later, he asked me, "Why do you always have to embarrass me?" But I don't think he'll mind as much when he is smoking his Cohiba!

der Schnee or la nieve

..........................................

The snow here lasts just long enough to make a snowman or get hit by a few snowballs before it all melts away the next day in the rain. I was hit with a snowball while standing in the kitchen and drinking hot chocolate during the break of my German course. Überraschung! (Not a very nice surprise.)

Funny thing about learning German, is that it seems I only have the ability to use one foreign language at a time. A few of my friends in my German course speak Spanish, and so naturally they all speak it with me during the break. Yet whenever I open my mouth to respond, some horrible mix of mostly German and a little Spanish spews out. "¿El fin de semana? Mein Mann und ich möchten einen Film sehen. Se llama Babel." Disgusting.

I really love when one of my German students asks me, "What's the word for the small parts on the Dach (roof)," and the word shingle has temporarily flown from my brain to the unknown land where all of the Spanish words must be residing.

The ducks are obviously year-round residents of the Leine. Ben helped me take a few pretty snow pictures while it lasted.