Week One

Alright here's the day-to-day blow by blow details

Day 1 - arrive in Munich, meet other teachers, have a nice dinner, go to sleep. The town of Starnberg where I am living is a beautiful little town on a lake...pretty wealthy and about 30 minutes outside Munich

Day 2- Go to apartment (I will try to send pictures). It's super nice, really nicely decorated, a little remote, but all in all is a place I'll be happy. It'll be good when I get my things on Thursday so it feels less like a hotel. Then ran chores (bank, registering in town, grocery shopping). They actually had a person who was basically my slave for the day, driving me places, translating, etc.

Day 3- See the school and do fun stuff like insurance, and phones, and taxes. Beautiful location, very German looking (everything is German looking), meet a few other people. We then have a BBQ at one of the administrators houses. Met my department head....turns out I will be the only girl in the department. I'm starting to get a little nervous about the work load and they way they do grades, but I'll figure it out.

Day 4 (Sat)- sleep in, relax. Go out in the evening to one of the new teachers flats for wine and cheese. Very civilized.

Day 5 (Sun) - sleep in. I then explore Munich...it's stunning and very, very German looking :) More details to come at a later date.

Day 6 (Mon) - School stuff...start learning regulations and rules of the senior school, see one of my classrooms, and my workroom. This includes learning how to put out a fire. A lot of things were lost in translation, but they really did light a big ass fire for use to put out. Went out in the evening with a group of new teachers in Munich for Mexican food and margaritas of all things.

Day 7 (Today)- I'm off. No real duties. I wandered around my new hometown of Starnberg. Had a beer at a beer garden and looked at the alps.

Overall impressions

1- Thank God for itunes, ipods, and my mac. It makes the lack of TV much better. I should have internet in my apartment soon which will be fantastic
2- The German people seem really nice...I wish I could speak German, but they all seem willing to speak English. Also they wear liederhosen as an everyday costume.
3- Europe is expensive. I'm going to have to be smart.
4-The hill leading to my house is going to kill me. I am still mourning my lack of car.
5- The other teachers seem really nice and outgoing.
6-I get random pangs of missing home, but I think that everything is going to be great.