Berlin

I'm finally in Berlin! I spent the last week trying to recover from my flight at an orientation meeting in Altenberg, which is near Cologne. We stayed in an old monastery, which was attached to a beautiful chapel. It would have been very relaxing if it weren't for the chapel bells, which rang every 15 minutes starting at 6am. And not the soothing bells you think of when you think monastery. The first morning I thought it was some kind of monastic fire alarm.
Other than the bells, it was pretty good. We did practice lessons for different age groups, with other teaching assistants pretending to be German students, where I learned that the only thing worse than 12- and 13-year-olds is a bunch of twenty-somethings pretending to be 12 and 13.
After Altenberg, I took a train from Cologne to Berlin. It was supposed to arrive at the shiny new central train station (built where no man's land used to be) at 4:10pm, but it was 15 minutes late. I've never seen so many irrate Germans in one place together! The people waiting for the train were also none to pleased, including my (for now) mentor teacher, Brigitte. During the 20 minutes of terror while she drove me to where I'm staying, she gave me a running commentary on Fritz-Karsen, where I'll be teaching.
I'm relieved to have survived the trip, but I'm a little concerned about the school. It seems to be in a state of upheaval. A new headmaster started this year, but had to take a leave of absence after just one week because of heart problems. Brigitte is thrilled to be quitting in a few weeks. Starting this year, the students have 2 hours for lunch, during which they "get into mischief." The only reassurance Brigitte could give me is that at least I won't have to have lunchroom or playground duty. Brigitte also told me that there are hardly any bilingual students at Fritz-Karsen, which is really disappointing.
I start on Monday morning. Wish me luck!