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.

Back at the Lake

 

The week before last was the first time since my surgery that I was back at the lake. I had missed these outings to "my" lake so much and it felt wonderful to be out again and walk the familiar trails.

I opted against the paved trail and chose to start out on the shaded trail up the hill. Only few people walk here and I had the trail almost completely to myself.

There's always something interesting and fascinating to see, like these roots.

I noticed that the Western Spice bush (Calycanthus occidentalis) had it first reddish-pink flowers and the California Buckeye (Aesculus californica) started to bloom as well.

Ferns peeked out from under old logs and lace lichen softly wafted in the wind.

Fallen trunks gave the forest a fairy tale like mood - Hänsel und Gretel, anyone?

My beloved Rattlesnake grass (Briza maxima) - this is invasive, but has very little ecological impact, therefore I feel okay to like it. The thistle (Carduus pycnocephalus) has become quite invasive in California - but boy, it's so beautiful.

Eventually I left the forest and walked along the sunny trail above the lake. The view from here fascinate me every single time.

Hairy vetch (Vicia villosa) was growing through the fence, a sweet little bi-color wildflower. It is non-native, but at this time not considered invasive in California.

On the fence a California Quail (Callipepla californica) was watching over his family who was foraging in the grass and bushes nearby. I was quite surprised how close he let me get to pass by him. Usually they're rather skittish and run to take cover in the nearest bushes.

I'm not quite sure what this is. I suspect it's some native plum (Klamath plum? Prunus subcordata), but I wasn't successful in identifying it without a doubt. Nevertheless, I thought it was very beautiful the way it was arching over the trail on my way down to the lake.

Closer to the lake, both Wild Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) and Hemlock (Conium maculatum) had already grown pretty tall. Both can be quite invasive and hemlock, of course, it highly poisonous.

Down at the lake I sat at one of the picnic benches, wrote in my journal and watched the waterfowl. The Mute Swan (Cygnus olor - and if I identified it wrongly, I hope that David will correct me) made a big splash and offered quite the show while doing the cleaning routine. The Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) paraded their youngsters along the beach. Aren't those goslings just too cute?

Before I go I want to share a photo of one of my favorite "corners" at the lake, this crooked tree. In the background you can see that the lake is still much covered by Azolla and duckweed, something that always happens during warmer days in spring. It eventually will die off completely.

The 366 Project: April

 

The past four weeks have been busy and it doesn't look like the next two weeks will be any different. I honestly don't know why the end of the school year always has to be so chaotic and this year seems to be worse than all the other years. Two more weeks and then this school year will be over and I will also have some news for you then.

For now, here are the 30 pictures for April, one for each day:

My favorite photo of this month was the one of the red poppies. They are growing in abundance in my garden and some of them have been growing through the fence. Due to some pretty strong winds a few of them toppled over, and in order for them not to be trampled down by people and dogs on the sidewalk I brought them in and put them in a vase. I did not the "put in boiling water for 10 seconds" or scorch them, fully aware that their vaselife is extremely short (just one day). I still prefer them out there, but I wanted to give these doomed poppies one more brief shot on life.

In our local independent bookstore I found this beautiful journal. It has lined and very smooth paper, I'm sure it will be lovely to write in it. Journals are something I can hardly pass by.

I will try and come around visiting you, but it may take a while. As soon as the chaos will have subsided, I will have more time. At least that is what I hope.