Ze first school day

First day of work today. Well, actually I had to go into school for 20 minutes this morning. It took me AGES to find the school, really should have looked more carefully at the map! I got there eventually, just in time. The school (http://www.camillo-sitte-lehranstalt.at/) is absolutely HUGE. There are 140 teachers, nearly as many pupils as were in my last three schools, and 1400 students. This does not bode well for learning names, especially if my other one is as large! A very friendly teacher showed me to the staffroom and introduced me to some teachers, not that I remember any of the names. My Betreuungslehrerin is really nice, though much older than I was expecting. They have given me a key to the classrooms and the school; obviously nobody has made them aware of how brilliant I am at losing things. After about 10 minutes of doing paperwork I went home, but agreed to go to the evening school.

In the interim (now there's a word I like, must endeavour to use it more!) I carried out some domestic chores. I worked out how to use the washing machine, which is not so easy when it's all written in German! Oh, and I opened a bank account. The lady was so friendly, she was very impressed with my German and somehow made it so I didn't have to pay for my account even though I'm no longer a student. Result! Oh yes, did I mention that my bank is just down the road from Hundertwasserhaus?

As night was falling (at like 6.30, it's starting to get dark ridiculously early!) I made my way back to school for the Abendschule. The teachers warned me that the students were very shy, very quiet, and not very good. Their predictions were correct. The phrase blood from a stone would not be out of place when talking about the two classes I met tonight. Most of them can't even form a full sentence, so I can tell that it is going to be a real challenge working with them. Hopefully it will be rewarding though. God, I sound so grown up. 

So, I will be doing alternate weeks in each school and my timetable for this one is amazing. I basically work Monday and Tuesday mornings plus Abendschule on these days and one hour on a Thursday. I have Wednesdays and Fridays off! I'd forgotten how amazing this job is! I think that's about all for now, Tschüssi!