Dear Friends and Family,
The beginning of this week I led my first two discussion with the Meet US Program through the U.S. Consulate. I was of course totally nervous (you know me) but in the end it went really well. My debut on Monday didn't run as smoothly as the presentation on Tuesday, but it may have been due to the difference in topics. The Monday presentation was about "The American Dream" and Tuesday's about "America: A Land of Immigrants."
It is funny how high school students are the same here in Germany. You have your classic groups: The snickering boys in the back, the overachieving girl in the front, and the slackers that I didn't even notice until the very end. Now I know why teachers favor the good students. There is NOTHING worse than standing in front of a class, asking them questions, and no one answers. Bless the nerdy girl in the front on Monday's presentation for saving the day.
As I said, Tuesday's went much smoother but was by no means easy. I thought it would be a piece of cake talking about America in my native tongue...not the case. Representing a country of MILLIONS and being thrown questions that challenge issues such as national security and bringing other problems our country has into light is not what I call an easy morning. The kids were SUPER smart but also ready to throw fire at an American when given a chance. I tried to create a very open environment in the classroom for them to express their ideas and concerns, but also was very careful to not the let kids walk all over me and call me a colonialist. Again, NOT an easy job.
If you want to see how I got famous, check out this link: http://frankfurt.usconsulate.gov/ you can see me in action and read a little blurb about the presentations.
Alright, that is all from me. Oh wait, one last thing. Swimming lessons were yesterday and when I was putting together our swimming bag I could not find my one piece bathing suit for the LIFE OF ME. I have NO idea where it went and I was naturally panicking. Because time was running out I had to grab my two piece and LORD was I unhappy. When Timmy and I were then changing into our suits at the pool he made me feel SO much better about myself by again pointing out "dicke Bauch, Kay-tee!" (fat tummy, katie). Thanks Timmy, just what I needed. That is when I contemplated throwing him in the pool without his floaties on. Just kidding...but I did find myself using his floaties as shields while entering the pool so the other moms didn't have to see my "grosse dicke Bauch."
Love to you all, Katie
1 comment:
yeah, you have an idea what my job is like, trying to talk to high school students! :) No, sounds really fascinating, thanks for the link to the picture of you "in action." I would have loved to have been in on the conversation.
If you can make it down here to Saarland anytime soon, there is an exhibit called "The American Dream" in Völklingen with sculptures by Duane Hanson. Pretty interesting, a very sadish look at people whom the American Dream has failed.
What were some of the specific questions you got? Criticisms?
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