Christmas Thursday

Nothing kicks off Christmas better than a last day of school. Let's get straight in and do some hardcore, pornographic blogging. Without the pornographic part. I mean, come on, I can't do porn; this is the internet. Show some class.

First Lesson - Janina
Very simple and easy lesson with Janina. She gave us a stimulus card (which are always easy) and I quote Janina saying this: "My job is done. You no longer need me." She said this because I nailed a huge complicated paragraph full of subjunctives. I was all like "yeah" and *air-fist-grab-pull*. She then taught us about Weihnachts nach Deutschland. Famously, they have their Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market), which I was able to see one year in fact. They're brilliant. They sell everything you could possibly want for Christmas, ranging from decorations to Bratwurst. Although Bratwurst is just staple for everything in Germany, whether a Feier (celebration) or not. Forgive my use of Deutsch, it's really in my Kopf right now. But what you may not know is that on the 6th of December, they all clean their shoes and put them outside so that St. Nikolaus (not Santa, but the guy who Santa is said to be... yeah, it's a little confusing) can put small gifts in them, usually sweets. Also, the 24th is official present day, since the 25th is all about eating a huge goose for lunch. Hah, Janina didn't know that geese and turkey were different birds. That's a little funny.

Second Lesson - DT
I didn't really get much work done this lesson, despite the fact that it felt like I was working all lesson. I remember making lots of measurements for something or other. At the end of the lesson though, I didn't really come out with much more than I had started with. Oh well, it matters not. I also said my goodbyes to my kids today, and went to see the kids that I didn't see yesterday who're doing Engineering. They're a fun lot, and I believe I have them next term. Fun fun. Also, it was Miss Quinreynolds' last day today, because in a couple of weeks she's going to give birth to another little sproglodyte. Aww.

Third Lesson - Deutsch
We finally saw die Ende der Welle, and I can't remember whether I talked about it on here or not, but it's a freaky film. It essentially captures the Nazi regime and bottles it down to a classroom environment, to show that it could happen again. I remember watching it thinking, "This is really cool" and "they're really benefiting from this" but then the freaky stuff started happening, like the uniform coming in, and the Wave salute. As awesome as the Wave salute is, it's so weird watching a bunch of kids do it in synch. I recommend you watch it, even if you don't understand German. Aside from that we got to watch a bit of Dinner for One, which is oddly a European tradition that died out in England for some reason. Basically, it's Miss Sophie's 90th birthday, and all of her friends are now 25 years dead, but every year she gets her butler to let them live through him. The popular phrase "Same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie?" "Same procedure as every year, James." is known all over Europe. Like, all of them know it. Absolutely freaking every single one of them. They get to watch it every year on New Year's, in English without subtitles, and they love it. I don't know why we don't have it here. Es macht kein Sinn. This was also the moment where Christmas officially began for me, because as Mr Nicholls always says, "Christmas doesn't begin until you've watched Dinner for One."

Fourth Lesson - Free
I honestly can't remember what happened this lesson. I talked to Sophia a lot about stuff. I think it was about Harry mostly. I don't know, the events just seem a little blurred together because they all happened in the same spot and didn't alter very much, so the whole lesson seemed like one little event.

Fifth Lesson - Free
The last free of the term was upon us. I began it rushing around trying to finish my little notes for my upcoming speaking exam so I could give them to Herr Nicholls. I did this quite quickly, and when I gave them to him he gave me the essay I wrote last week back with lots of scribbles on it. I read this while walking back, and was disheartened that the essay wasn't as awesome as I thought it was. Apparently immigration is just a topic I can't write in German. Never mind though, there's always one topic you can't get on with. Anyway, the girls and I ended up going for a drink in the coffee lounge, where we found a Joe, a Janina, and some other fellow German compadrés. Events unfolded for a while and I'm tired so I'm just going to sum up the fact that I love my family, and Becca has officially accepted that she and the other members of my Real Family are in fact my family, as opposed to the people I'm forced to live with, and I like that. We ended up back in the coffee lounge at some point to fetch Joe and then we went up to top green seating where we kicked back, ate some chocolate and talked the rest of the lesson away.

Post-Bus Journey
I've done a bit about the trip after the bus journey before, but it never got its own section. In fact, it was lumped in with lesson five. That shouldn't happen. I here at Cliché Life Stuff need to keep a balanced and fair system of organisation through headings. This section has been clearly marked as 'Post-Bus Journey' to mark the fact that I want to talk about what I did after a dull bus journey. Okay, it's going to happen now. After the dull bus journey, I walked part-way home with Courtney, and we had a wonderful chat about our plans for the holidays, as well as the snow that was ruining my day because it arrived at just the wrong time to make my journey home slightly more uncomfortable, and I got to amaze her with my story of how awesome the snow is in the Alps. The snow is awesome in the Alps at this time of the year. It's like 20ft deep, or whatever. That's pretty deep. Best part is, you only need to wear a jumper up there, because the air is so thin and the cold doesn't get to you. It does get to your feet though, so snow boots are a must. So are sunglasses and sun-tan lotion. Anyway, yes, Courtney is definitely the nicest out of her year group, and is always happy to talk to me, and that's why she's probably my favourite student. If you don't believe me, then you're an idiot because my word is gospel. Literally.

Anyway, that was the last day of term and it was a good'un wasn't it? I've got a hugely busy schedule ahead of me, so I'll definitely stay in touch or I'll lose track of what I'm doing.
Buhbye.