5 Vital Things

There are 5 things that one must know to survive as a teaching asisstent in Germany:

1. NEVER TAKE THE NOON TRAIN HOME. Taking the noon train will ensure that the train will be crowded with screaming, pushing and smelly youngsters-who will all want to say hi to you as they stampede past. *note - all the adults on the train then looked accusingly at me- like it is my fault they are little hellions???* Not a great idea ever, less so when tired.

2. LAUNDRY IS A PAIN IN THE ASS- AVOID IT. 'nuff said- I guarantee YOU won't be the smelly one on the train (see #1)

3. ENGLISH GRAMMER SUCKS TO LEARN and it is even harder to teach. Gird your loins.

4. DO YOU HAVE A FRIEND? This is a question i am repeatedly asked by the students. But, they are not asking if you have any friends- they want to know if you have a boy/girl friend. In german friend means specifically a bf/ gf. So when talking about a friend who is just a friend, one needs to say " a friend of mine"

5. ALWAYS TELL YOUR STUDENTS YOUR FIRST AND LAST NAME. They will be hesitant to call you something as informal as just your first name. So they will come up with their own variations to try and make addressing you as polite to their standards as possible. Thus, despite repeatedly telling them that it's just Emily, i am still frequently called Frau Emily or, failing to remember my first name, Frau Kanada. Step aside Captain America, there's a new superhero in town.

I just wonder what my super power will be- cause it sure isn't the ability to teach grammer...