A New Chapter

 

When I started out teaching German at the (then) German Language School of Marin I had no idea what was in store for me (you can read here how I got the job). At that time, in 2015, the campus in Santa Rosa had opened only the year before and there were only two classes - one kindergarten class and one adult class. I was the new teacher for the adult class whose "old" teacher had quit on very short notice. The big campus was (and still is) in Novato in Marin County.

The level of German skills in my class was all over the place and it was a real challenge to create lessons that were interesting for all of them. With this constellation it is pretty clear that there are always students who are either bored or overwhelmed. It's a bit like a tiny one-room schoolhouse.

Things became easier in the second semester when another teacher was found and we could split the class. From that moment on I really enjoyed what I was doing. Our little campus grew - we added more children's classes as well as classes for adults. In our peak time we had eight classes on our once very small campus. We changed our name from German Language School of Marin to German Language School of the North Bay since Santa Rosa is not in Marin County but in Sonoma County. I became first Lead Teacher and then Head Teacher which brought with it a whole set of new tasks and the questionable pleasure of being a member on the Board.

Then the pandemic hit, and it hit us hard. Within two weeks we converted to online teaching, and when the new school year started in September we had to downsize since we couldn't offer two classes online for the same level. Some older teachers who struggled with the technology took the opportunity to leave the school, and the rest of us took up the challenge and taught via Zoom for the entire school year. Teaching a foreign language online is not something I necessarily recommend.

When we returned to in-person classes at the start of the 2021/2022 school year, the Santa Rosa campus had shrunk to just two classes for adults. Enrollment was way down - a difficulty we not only shared with the other German Schools in the Bay Area, but with public schools as well. We are a non-profit organization and we finance our school through tuition and money we get from the Ministry of Education of Germany. That money from Germany depends on how many of our young students pass the German language diploma (DSD I and DSD II). Thankfully we always have had a good number of teenagers who passed these exams (including my own daughter, before I was a teacher there). The years following the pandemic have been challenging, but very fulfilling at the same time. Most classes were in Novato and the teacher of the other class in Santa Rosa and I enjoyed the freedom we had here.

Over the years I had wonderful students who worked hard to learn the "awful German language" (according to Mark Twain).

In those nine years I created reams of worksheets, trying to explain German grammar. Here's an example about the relative pronoun in the dative case:

They fought their own battles with German spelling and some unknown letters like ü, ö, ä and ß.

We read poems by Rainer Maria Rilke und Christian Morgenstern, short stories by Wolfgang Borchert, a Krimi (mystery novel), wrote our own pieces, listened to German music and also tried our own singing voices by singing a German birthday song whenever one of us had a birthday.

When we still had the kids classes in Santa Rosa we had some events like Karneval/Fasching, Laternenfest and of course a Winterfest and Abschlussfest (at the end of the school year).

Twice a year there was a book fair with - you guessed it - German books.

And in the summer I invited my class to my home where we enjoyed a traditional Erdbeerbowle (drunk strawberries). Everybody brought a dish to share and we spent a few wonderful hours in my garden, chatting and laughing. If you want to know how to make Erdbeerbowle, you can find the "recipe" here.

In December of our first post-pandemic in-person school year I invited my class again and we had Glühwein (mulled wine). It was cold, we were outside, everybody in their warm clothes - just like in Germany when we drink Glühwein (usually at the Christmas market).

But last fall, after the new school year had started, I had my first thoughts of leaving the school. It's not that I didn't like my students anymore or that I had lost my enthusiasm for teaching. But I was tired - tired of being dependent on school holidays and not having the opportunity to spend a long weekend away with my husband or just go away spontaneously for a couple days. Both the Geek and I like to travel, but we deeply dislike doing that in the summer. It was nagging at me - first more like a whisper, but it eventually became louder and louder. The Geek and I talked about it and then I finally decided to retire after this school year.

It was a very bittersweet decision. I will miss teaching and I will miss my students, some of whom have been with me for several years, but the boring board meetings and all the "school stuff" not so much. I have met some wonderful people through the school and I hope we will keep in touch (there certainly will be another Erdbeerbowle get-together this summer). 

Saturday a week ago was my last day. We had our Abschlussfest in the courtyard of the church where we have rented the rooms for our classes (over all these years they have been a great landlord). The Geek had helped to set up, we had pretzel sandwiches (fitting for a German school) and he was assigned to cut the Bienenstich, a very German cake. We all sat together - it was only a small group since some people couldn't make it - and had a good time.

My students had written cards for me and they brought tears to my eyes when I read them at home. The biggest compliment came from my "longest" student (she was with me the entire nine years) who called me an "authentic human".

I had made little cards for my class with a quote by the great German philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment, Immanuel Kant - Ich kann, weil ich will, was ich muss (I can do what I have to because I want to). I know how much they sometimes struggled to learn this difficult (but beautiful) language and that sometimes it must have been hard to give up their Saturday morning for sitting in school, and I do hope they will go on learning with a new teacher.

Winterfest with German Christmas Cookies

 

Ten days ago we had our last German class before Christmas and that's when we usually have our "Winterfest". At our big campus in Novato this is usually an elaborate event, but at our tiny campus (only two classes) in Santa Rosa we usually have a "gemütliches Beisammensein" (a "cozy get-together"). Since we are a German language school, the main characters at this gathering are the Christmas cookies - German ones of course. 

These are very special cookies because they are all baked by our admin (her mother was German) who is a first class baker. One afternoon before our last day she stood in her kitchen and baked all these wonderful cookies for us and her husband made the gebrannte Mandeln (roasted almonds) which are a staple at German Christmas markets.

There were Raspelberge (coconut macaroons)...

Spekulatius (spiced cookies similar to speculoo) and Nusstaler (hazelnut cookies, some of my favorites)...

Zimtsterne (cinnamon stars) ...

and of course Vanillekipferl (vanilla almond crescents).

Some of these cookies you're probably familiar with. Now you know where they come from.

My personal absolute favorite aren't the cookies, but the roasted almonds. They are loaded with memories. Our admin put them in cute little paper cups.

These cookies fit perfectly Rain's theme this week over at Thursday Art and Dinner Date.

Our get-together was really nice. I liked how students of the two classes mingled and talked with each other. I got to know some of the students from the other class much better - they are beginners while my class is for advanced students. A good mix actually.

There were enough cookies to take some home. Our admin had provided some cute containers for exactly that purpose (she does think of everything). The Geek was very happy when I came home with a container full with cookies and a cup of roasted almonds.

By now everything is already gone, of course. Roasted almonds and home baked German Christmas cookies do not survive for long in our home.

A Bleak Place

 

source

We're still in County Laois in Ireland and just had our cream tea in Abbeyleix. Our next stop was the Donaghmore Famine Workhouse. Here families lived (and died) before, during and after the Great Famine of 1845 to 1852, also known within Ireland as the Great Hunger or just the Famine, and outside of Ireland as the Irish Potato Famine. This and about 130 other workhouses operated as a means to provide relief for extremely poor people. They would do some work here in return for food and a roof above their heads. The living conditions in these workouses were very harsh since the aim was not to encourage people to stay there.  After the Great Famine it became a place for unmarried mothers, illegitimate children, orphans or mentally ill people - people that society wouldn't accept. Donaghmore Workhouse was opened in September 1853 and closed in September 1886.

This felt like entering the world described in the books by Charles Dickens. Not a place where you would like to end up.

The museum also houses an Agricultural Collection with a wide range of artefacts that had been donated by local people. It was quite the collection!

Can you imagine doing your ironing with these? I have to admit, I don't iron anymore, even with our modern irons.

After all this bleakness, let's bring this post to an end with something more joyful. There are bottles and kettles that would already get me into Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday, but my drink related contribution dates to last Saturday when my German class came over for our annual summer potluck get-together. As usual, I had made Erdbeerbowle ("drunk strawberries"), a typical German summer party drink. It was a very hot afternoon, but we sat in the cool shade of the big privet in my backyard. It was lovely to see everybody (we don't have class over the summer until the weekend after Labor Day).

Ah, summer...

T is for This and That

 

Foggy December sunrise

Hello T gang - last week I had to pass Bleubeard and Elizabeth's T Tuesday because I was summoned for jury duty. Usually I don't mind being called for jury duty, but this time it really bugged me since it was so close to Christmas and I was very busy fulfilling Christmas orders for my shop. You can't knit in the courthouse (they don't let you through security with knitting needles, those murderous weapons!) in order to fill all those times you are waiting. And there is a lot of waiting involved. It's such a poorly managed process. Nevertheless, in the end I was excused on Thursday afternoon and could return to my knitting needles. I had published an early deadline for Christmas orders, but still many orders for Christmas were put in after that, most of them by men who realized that Christmas is on Decmber 25th (indeed!) and they were looking for a gift for their wives, mothers, lovers... and thought hand knitted socks and hats are the ticket. The socks are made to order, but the hats are ready-to-ship - of which I almost ran out! Only a couple are left. I am determined to have a bigger inventory next year.

The weekend before my jury duty we had our "Winterfest" at the German School. Since we are only a tiny satellite campus - the other one is in Marin County and way bigger - we had a small celebration. Everybody came together in my classroom and we just sat, eating cookies that our administrator had made (she is a wonderful baker), drinking spiced cider and having good conversations. Here you can see the display of the cookies, and to the right there are "gebrannte Mandeln" (roasted almonds) that are my all time favorites.

The hallway in our school (it actually is a church where we rent rooms in their school) was decorated with these cute reindeer. I couldn't help myself, I had to take a picture of one of them.

I brought some leftover cookies home which the Geek really appreciated. We were in a German mood that day and had a German, or better say, Swabian dinner - Kässpätzle. Spätzle is a Southern German kind of noodle made from flour and eggs. They're mostly eaten in Baden-Württemberg (where Swabia is located) and Bavaria, but the Swabian and Bavarian Spätzle are different from each other. The Bavarian ones are small lumps whereas the Swabian ones are longer and thin and actually look more like a noodle. In my completely unbiased opinion (ahem...) I think the Swabian Spätzle are better. Real traditional Swabian Spätzle are handmade - when the dough is done you scrape it bit by bit from a wooden board into boiling water. This sounds much easier than it actually is; unfortunately I have never managed this art. "Käs" means cheese, so these are cheese noodles, a bit like maccaroni and cheese; the most important part though is the slowly sautéed onions on top.

A glass of wine was the perfect companion and this, of course, is my contribution to this week's T Tuesday.

When I'm not knitting I'm taking walks in the neighborhood (usually to the mailbox to mail my orders) and am still finding autumn leaves on the sidewalks - pure poetry. Today Liz and I walked around the lake - she has a new dog that I had to meet, he's super cute - and we saw this beautiful Great Egret who landed next to the trail.

Last week I received mail from Kathy in Ozarks who sent me a beautiful handmade Christmas card. She put a gorgeous wax seal on the back of the envelope - look at the deer!

Inside was a very beautiful card - look at that:

And the back of the card - the kitty is drinking the milk for Santa - I so love this! Thank you very much again, Kathy!

Things are slowing down in the Bartz household. After tomorrow the Geek will be off work until after New Year - the company is shutting down over the holidays and I am very happy about that. They have been doing this for several years now, but this year the break is longer than usual. I don't mind, I love to spend time with the Geek. After almost 25 years of marriage I still love my husband very much.

I wanted to display our angel orchestra - these are little handmade wooden figurines that are made in the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains) in East Germany. They have been with us for a long time, but unfortunately we couldn't find them. I know they are somewhere, I am sure we put them in a "safe place" which is always a bad idea. But while looking for them we came upon this jigsaw puzzle that we bought 25 years ago when we were in Oxford, UK. So instead of putting up the angel orchestra, we sat down and assembled the jigsaw puzzle of Christ Church, one of the colleges in Oxford.

Do you like to put together jigsaw puzzles?

If you celebrate it, I wish you a happy Hanukkah.

T is for Totally Al Fresco

 

 

One of my dreams has always been to have friends over and sit with them at a long table in the shade of a big tree. This dream was nurtured by many French movies where people always congregate in someone's beautiful but artfully messy garden behind a big old French house with shutters on the windows and huge trees casting their shadows on wide lawns. Sunlight was filtered through the rustling leaves of the trees. People sitting at the long tables seem carefree, eating the most delicious food (it's France after all) and drinking wine. Of course there were loaves of freshly baked baguette (I remember one French movie in which Romy Schneider comes out of a boulangerie and she immediately bites into the baguette - oh heaven!) and baskets overflowing with fresh fruit. Above all there was this air of Mediterranean lightness.

I thought I would never be able to achieve this dream. 

But then I thought, why not?

There is a big tree in my garden.

It's a privet, so it's quite messy. But it's loved by the birds and it gives great shade and therefore I just take it with all its messiness. Under the tree is the sad, totally dried up remains of the lawn that used to be there (that I never watered in the nine years we have been living in this house since I never wanted a lawn in the first place). It's the perfect place to set up a table or two, chairs and invite friends over for a meal al fresco.

Even though we're having an exceptional drought, I was still able to pick some flowers from my garden and put together a little bouquet as a centerpiece. This was the only decoration I used and it worked well.

I had invited the students of my German class. Every summer we get together for something typical German - either food or drink -, but of course, last year we had to skip. Everybody turned up this summer; it was the first time that we all saw each other again in person since March 2020 when we changed our class to online learning. It was wonderful to see everyone again - and yes, we had this feeling of lightness, joy and laughter.

Everybody had brought something to eat and I had made a German Erdbeerbowle ("drunk strawberries"), a typical summer party drink in my native country. This, of course, is my contribution for Elizabeth's "drink post" - thank you so much for hosting!

Prost! - as we say in German.