The last week has confirmed my disliking of 6-year-olds. Yesterday (Thursday) featured a short walk around a part of our corner of Dresden for the 1. Klasse. This little excursion started at 7.30. The kids were full of energy and the teachers were full of caffeine. I was full of neither, so it didn’t take long for the little dears to start getting on my nerves. Less than five minutes after leaving the school, I hear “Heeerrrrr Evaaaaaans? When’s breakfast break going to beeeeee?” The reply I wanted to give would have been entirely inappropriate, so the kid got a not-untrue “I don’t know” instead. In the following four hours, the kids’ voices along with the individual unwillingness to exceed the speed of moss of more than a few of them became a near constant source of irritation for me. The whole thing was mentally exhausting.
Kids in the Erste Klasse don’t study English, so my weekly contact with them is blissfully short. The kids I do see regularly are great. The novelty of having me around has yet to wear off, and they seem very keen to prove to me they can speak English. I’ve been very involved in lessons, so that’s nice. I’m still getting to grips with certain techniques, but I think I’m getting there.
The only thing is, I’d be lying if I said I’m enjoying the job. I get in and within minutes I’m looking forward to going home. When I say ‘home’, I do of course mean the hostel I’m currently being forced to hole myself up in. Therein lies what I hope is the problem. I love Germany and the Germans. I really like Dresden. But I’m still currently homeless, as it were. As a result, I haven’t registered myself as a citizen of Dresden yet, I haven’t registered myself at the Aliens’ registry office, and I have therefore yet to open a bank account. I’m not settled yet. I think (hope) that once I’m all settled in with a room, neighbours, a bank account and all those other good things, I’ll start enjoying myself a bit more in my job. We’ll have to see. Until then, there’s still that voice in the back of my head saying “it’s not too late to back out, you know”, and it’s getting more and more tempting to do just that.
I’m really trying to keep positive, and I’m succeeding for the most part. I’ve got a lot of music to keep me upbeat. I spent most of the last week listening to either We Shall Not Be Shaken or Nightmare on repeat. I need to find somewhere to live soon. I don’t know if this post is downcast. I felt I should write something, and all this came out. I could review it and rewrite the whole thing, but this is how I'm feeling and I think it’ll make good reading for myself in a few months’ time. Publishing it means I WILL look at it again.
I can’t promise my next post will be more positive, but I’ll try my best.
In other news, I’m returning to England next Thursday. YAAAAY! (See, more positive already!) Thursday because I have Fridays off, and I’ll save money on hostel fees by not staying any longer than necessary. I will be going to Sheffield. I’m not sure if I’ve told anyone yet.
I’m determined to end this post on a high note, so I’ll leave you with Klaus and Ula. “Who?!” I hear you cry. Klaus and Ula are an elderly German couple I encountered in the hostel bar on Tuesday night. We had a great chat. I’m sure my German was awful, but we understood each other, so that’s the main thing.
Bis bald!
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