first day of laissez-faire teaching, the bare necessities
after much anticipation, i went to my first day of teaching today at the HAK III/HAS IV Vienna Business School in the eighth district. worried that something freakish might happen that could cause me to be late - a mugging? an earthquake? the apocalypse? i don't know - i hopped on the bus at 7am, and arrived at school a half an hour early. like preparing for a bad blind date, i circled the block twice, watching kids wander one by one into the building. i finally came to my senses, checked my reflection in a nearby window, and went in.
after meeting the secretary, who was very bubbly and overly excited by my presence, i ventured into the teacher's lounge, only to discover that my Betreuungslehrer - my advisory teacher - was not even at school that day. another english teacher, professor tunkel, took me under her wing for the day and tried to find things for me to do. instead of visiting classes (i went to one of hers, quickly introduced myself to the kids, and sat in silence while they discussed a novel), i instead was asked to copy down the classes of all the english teachers, then type it up in a legible format for scheduling.
... for some reason, i guess i assumed that this would have been done before i got there. ...i suppose not.
anyway, after a few classes, professor tunkel said that i might as well just go home for the day, and come in at 9am tomorrow to start working with the kids. it was a startling beginning to the school year, since i had brought with me an introductory lesson and was prepared to do it with three or four classes on the first day. instead, it was like they weren't prepared for my arrival, or they just had a really laissez-faire way of welcoming the new assistant teacher. oh well. at the end of the morning, professor tunkel gave me a pat on the shoulder and said "we're glad to have you", and i went home satisfied.
since i had the entire afternoon off (i could really get used to this schedule!), i headed over to the Meldeamt to register with the authorities. apparently this is not as complicated of a process as the Fulbright commission made it out to be - all it took was a signature and a flash of my passport, and i was registered to live in Vienna.
after that, i bought a good 20€ ($25) worth of groceries, stashed half of them on the bottom shelf of our pantry and stuffed the other half into various nooks of the fridge. in case i haven't mentioned, i share a fridge with five other people... a waist-level fridge that, by american standards, should be used by a single college student. still, it seems like the housemates manage to respect each other's food, and shift things around when it gets a little crowded.
i have discovered, especially in the last 24 hours of living in a strange room, that there are certain things that i cannot avoid purchasing. a pillow, for example - something i have taken for granted all my westernized life, and last night i slept without one. sheets and a blanket, also, are some necessities i picked up today, having slept on a bare mattress with no covers. tomorrow definitely involves a little bus ride to IKEA on the north end of the city, where i will invest in the simple things like:
- a table lamp so i can read at night
- a cover for the naked lightbulb hanging from my ceiling
- a cup and plate... maybe i'll splurge and buy a bowl, and
- a trash can to put shit in.
it's the little things like these that i always assumed will be there, until i moved into a naked viennese apartment room with all of my bare necessities sitting in ohio. i leave you with the lyrics from a childhood song that pretty much sums this all up:
Look for the bare necessities
The simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife
I mean the bare necessities
That's why a bear can rest at ease
With just the bare necessities of life
after much anticipation, i went to my first day of teaching today at the HAK III/HAS IV Vienna Business School in the eighth district. worried that something freakish might happen that could cause me to be late - a mugging? an earthquake? the apocalypse? i don't know - i hopped on the bus at 7am, and arrived at school a half an hour early. like preparing for a bad blind date, i circled the block twice, watching kids wander one by one into the building. i finally came to my senses, checked my reflection in a nearby window, and went in.
after meeting the secretary, who was very bubbly and overly excited by my presence, i ventured into the teacher's lounge, only to discover that my Betreuungslehrer - my advisory teacher - was not even at school that day. another english teacher, professor tunkel, took me under her wing for the day and tried to find things for me to do. instead of visiting classes (i went to one of hers, quickly introduced myself to the kids, and sat in silence while they discussed a novel), i instead was asked to copy down the classes of all the english teachers, then type it up in a legible format for scheduling.
... for some reason, i guess i assumed that this would have been done before i got there. ...i suppose not.
anyway, after a few classes, professor tunkel said that i might as well just go home for the day, and come in at 9am tomorrow to start working with the kids. it was a startling beginning to the school year, since i had brought with me an introductory lesson and was prepared to do it with three or four classes on the first day. instead, it was like they weren't prepared for my arrival, or they just had a really laissez-faire way of welcoming the new assistant teacher. oh well. at the end of the morning, professor tunkel gave me a pat on the shoulder and said "we're glad to have you", and i went home satisfied.
since i had the entire afternoon off (i could really get used to this schedule!), i headed over to the Meldeamt to register with the authorities. apparently this is not as complicated of a process as the Fulbright commission made it out to be - all it took was a signature and a flash of my passport, and i was registered to live in Vienna.
after that, i bought a good 20€ ($25) worth of groceries, stashed half of them on the bottom shelf of our pantry and stuffed the other half into various nooks of the fridge. in case i haven't mentioned, i share a fridge with five other people... a waist-level fridge that, by american standards, should be used by a single college student. still, it seems like the housemates manage to respect each other's food, and shift things around when it gets a little crowded.
i have discovered, especially in the last 24 hours of living in a strange room, that there are certain things that i cannot avoid purchasing. a pillow, for example - something i have taken for granted all my westernized life, and last night i slept without one. sheets and a blanket, also, are some necessities i picked up today, having slept on a bare mattress with no covers. tomorrow definitely involves a little bus ride to IKEA on the north end of the city, where i will invest in the simple things like:
- a table lamp so i can read at night
- a cover for the naked lightbulb hanging from my ceiling
- a cup and plate... maybe i'll splurge and buy a bowl, and
- a trash can to put shit in.
it's the little things like these that i always assumed will be there, until i moved into a naked viennese apartment room with all of my bare necessities sitting in ohio. i leave you with the lyrics from a childhood song that pretty much sums this all up:
Look for the bare necessities
The simple bare necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife
I mean the bare necessities
That's why a bear can rest at ease
With just the bare necessities of life
posted by Leah at 9:18 PM
5 Comments:
...I should have sent you Baxter.
At least your feet would have been warm.
so have your flatmates observed your relationship with food yet? *wink* you should kiss some pancake pockets and think of me.
Excellent closing thoughts. i also find that most of life's problems can be easily answered by the jungle book
Hey! Just so you know, schools not having a schedule for you when you show up is totally normal. They are just getting their schedules finalized (believe it or not.) Even after two years, I showed up at the beginning of the last semester and they didnt have a schedule for me.
Love you!
In my head, I had already started singing the song and then the lyrics were there...
-Emily
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