Today was the day. Yes! Today was the day I was going to attempt the Augsburg public transportation system to get to my school! I had been shown the machines to get the tickets and I knew the route I had to take (on paper), it was just the actual doing of it all that was daunting.
So I pulled myself out of bed and headed towards the Königsplatz where the big tram hub is. It's about a 10 minute walk to get there. I went back and forth several times trying to understand signs and automated machines. Finally, I broke down and found an information kiosk where someone spoke English and bought my ticket.
I hopped on the #4 tram heading north and sat back while we slllooowly made our way towards Augsburg-Nord, the end of the line. I figured once I got there, I could ask which bus to take, #51 or #58. Well, the end of the line came and that was it. It was just the end of the line. No kiosk no nothing. So bus #51 was there anyway and I hopped on hoping I'd get to the right place. As soon as I exited the bus I realized, yes I was on the right street, just a 1/2 mile away from the school. I walked the rest of the way and made it to school!
I'm in Bec's old classroom (one of the 3rd grade teachers who left me tons of stuff for free) and I got to work opening boxes and figuring things out. About three minutes in I realized they were all Grade 3 units so I putsed around, snooped around for about an hour.
Things I discovered:
1. They only have carbonated water. If you've ever been to Europe you know that getting a plain glass of water is almost impossible. Well, at school if I want water, it will be bubbly. Hello, Brita filter, you are my friend!
2. The staff room is almost as big as my classroom. Yes, they take care of staff here! There is a full kitchen with dishwasher, full fridge, real plates and silverware, glasses and three bottles of wine I'm guessing were left over from last year's end of the year celebration.
3. Fire escapes in Europe make me want to have a fire drill. Check out the one right outside my classroom! Woooooo...swirly stairs!
Anyway, after about an hour, Emma the PYP coordinator drove me to the tram station where I hopped on a shuttle to IKEA! I went just to price things (cheaper than in town but still more expensive then I'm used to) and bought a $2 pan and new dishtowels. The dishtowels Evan left I trashed in about three seconds because they were made of this weird Sham-wow-like material.
I spent about an hour strolling through IKEA before catching the shuttle back to the tram station to catch the tram back to the tram hub to catch the tram to my neighborhood. Walking into my apartment I realized why I was feeling so tired. I hadn't eaten anything in about a good 5 hours. I busted a bowl of cornflakes and wow, do they taste good with water when you are super hungry! (I still have not found a milk I like and they don't sell soy milk)
Thursday I'm possibly getting together with Sarah, Cathie and Margeret from school so we'll see how that works out. Now, I need to rest my poor feet and enjoy my grapes from Greece!
I want your classroom - with all the wonderful windows :-)
ReplyDeleteJust jealous.
Don't get too excited...the music classrooms are all in the basement, although they do have three rooms, one large one and two practice rooms.
ReplyDeleteWow- you are going to be totally fit in no time -all that walking! So - was that 3rd. grade room your 4th grade room for this year? You said you'd posted a pic of your room in the blog. All the school shots I've seen have been squeeky clean and modern!
ReplyDeleteBy the way Uncle Mel says "Thanks" for the tip of how to buy pudding and SWEAR you really meant to buy yogurt! He'll be getting chocolate, of course! Luvya, Aunt Jane