Domspatzen

Wednesday was of course our excursion day. I didn't write about last week's, because honestly, it wasn't that fun. We stayed in Regensburg, and went on a tour of the old court house and a Jewish ghetto that had been built over. I did have a really great lunch at an Italian restaurant that day though. This Wednesday was pretty cool. You've probably heard of the Vienna Boy's Choir, but it turns out, Regensburg has a pretty reputable choir as well. It's called the DomSpatzen, which means Cathedral Sparrows. I can't remember what age they said they start out, but they had boys that were as old as 18-19. The German school system is quite a bit different, so students don't go to college until they are about 20.
I think orange must be the school's color, because when we got inside the admin office, the floors were all orange, and several of the secretaries were wearing orange. Or else it was just a really strange coincidence, but we all remarked on it. When we got there, we were kind of in between classes, so we met some of the teachers in the teacher's lounge. One of the teachers, or maybe it was the headmaster, was really excited, and kept wanting to take pictures with us. It was pretty funny. The point of this visit was for us to speak with the students, as they are required to take English. We waited in the teachers lounge for a bit to be assigned to a teacher to go with. A female teacher walked into the lounge and asked us who would like to go with her. She told us she had grade 13, and that the boys were around 18. She also told us that they had specifically asked her to bring girls. (It's an all boys school) Another girl and myself offered to join almost in unison. I thought it would be funny to see how they would act. I was afraid they would be typical highschoolers and do nothing but joke around. They did at first, of course, but they actually were interested in asking us questions. Another one of the groups was not so lucky and got a group of trouble makers that weren't too interested. They asked a couple of silly questions, that I don't really remember, because they were mostly talking amongst themselves at first until their teacher said, "Come on boys, we talked about this yesterday...and you had a lot of good questions to ask". They finally settled down a bit, and I think one of the first questions asked was why we started to take German. We introduced ourselves, it was Kate,Ted, and myself, and told them our majors. They asked a lot of questions about the elections, and one kid in particular was really interested in Michael Moore's movies. I felt kind of bad because he seemed to be really into them, and wanted to talk about them, but none of us had really seen any of them. I think Ted had seen bowling for Columbine. One rather funny moment was when one stupid asked us what we thought of Obama, and the three of us agreed we were for him, and Ted said that he loves Obama. Apparently you can't say you love something in Germany unless you really mean it....because all the boys started to snicker. I explained to them that Americans say they love everything from their new pair of shoes to ice cream...but they kept laughing anyway. Typical boys. I asked them what they thought of as the typical American stereotype, and strangely enough, they really didn't hit us too hard. They all laughed when I asked the question, but the wouldn't really say anything too negative, I was impressed. I'm sure they had plenty of things to say!! And I thought Germans were really honest!! They asked us the same question, and I told them that a lot of my friends at school said I should be prepared because Germans are always mad, and everything they say sounds angry. I have to admit, from the exposure we get to the German language, I completely concur. Once you here it in everyday setting, and realize how infrequently you really hear anyone yelling, German is actually a much softer and subtler language than I had originally thought.
Sidenote...We were talking about movie dubs...and one of our professors, who is fairly young, said something like, when movies are translated into German, it just looses the punch of the English language. He said something about a bad guy in a movie being confronted by the good guy, by saying "MR Smith!!" Apparently he doesn't think "Herr Smith" sounds anywhere as strong as it does in English. Which is funny, because probably all Americans think Herr sounds much more strict and rigid. Anyway..
The first group of boys were pretty cool. One guy was really into music and asked a lot of questions about bands and stuff. It was pretty cool though, because he had been to the states, and had actually been to St Louis...wow?! How is that possible. Kate is also from St Louis. Normally though, if a German has been to the States the have been to : Florida, New York, or California. Always. He asked us about Blueberry Hill, which is a cool bar in St Louis! He said he wanted to get in, but couldn't, as he was underage.
I wish I could remember more of the questions that were asked with the first group, but at some points, it got to be more of a discussion in general than questions and answers. The class ended for this group of boys, so the three of us headed back to the teachers lounge. We finished up before most of the others, so we went to another class. This time, it was a male teacher, and he told us he would be taking us to a group of..I think 5th graders. Most of them looked a tad younger than Sam though.
First, the teacher handed back the student's tests that they had taken a few days before. It was kind of strange to me though, because they were all pretty open about what grades they had gotten. It was funny to see them interacting in this way though...looking at each other's tests, some of them looked a bit disappointed, some of them looked pleasantly surprised.
Then the teacher asked us to come to the head of the class and we introduced ourselves again. He used our last names as a teaching method to show his students how diverse the US is. Ted and Kate's last names are both German, which he knew right away of course, and I had to explain to them that my last name is Croatian. He thought this was pretty cool.
Again, the first question one of the kids posed was what we thought about Obama. It was really strange to me to see how interested these kids are in our elections, and it was even more shocking when McCain's running mate got brought up, and one boy actually knew what her name was!! Of course, this was also the boy that asked us if it was the Lehmen Brother's fault that our economy is the way it is right now. At least, I think that's what he asked, because his English was a bit broken, but considering they had only been taking English for a year, I was really impressed. Hell, kids in the states don't know who the Lehmen Brother's are!!!! I Think he must have some very aware, and loquacious parents. That's awesome though. We got into a bit of a discussion about the economy, and I feel bad because I wonder how much they understood. At one point I felt like we were talking more to the teacher. I don't remember exactly how it got brought up, but he started to ask about our economical situation, and loans got brought up. Ted tried to explain the mortgage loan crisis, and credit rates got brought into the conversation. It was really funny though, because the teacher was like, "No, no, I don't think you understand the question. I'm not asking about credit. I'm talking about loans. Here, you have to have 30% cash to back up the loan you are asking for, otherwise you won't get it. Is it 30% in the States too?" I was like..no, no YOU don't understand. That's why we're in the mess that we are!! And I explained to him that in a lot of cases, the loans that were given out were given to people who couldn't actually afford them and that is why they are all falling through. Somehow though, I think he still didn't quite get it. But then....neither do we. It's hard to believe we're in the mess that we are in.
There were of course some sillier questions as well. One boy asked us what was bad about the States, and the three of us just looked at each other like..........................uh? I tried to think of a simple way to ask him to ask a more specific question, so he rephrased the question, "What do you not like about America". The teacher laughed and said, you need to ask them something like, What type of foods do you not like in America, or what do you not like about the media, or something like that. Another kid asked us what was easier to do in the States than it is in Germany. We were all kind of lost on that question too. Then, somehow we got onto crime in the states, and I told them how in some neighborhoods in St Louis, it's a bad idea to stop at stop lights or stop signs. My host mom told me how they had gone on vacation for a few days and had forgotten to lock the door..so. yeah. I don't know if they just live in a good neighboor hood, but that's kind of how these kids reacted to my statement as well.
I really enjoyed talking to the younger kids...they were really funny. A guy in one of the other groups told me about some of the questions his group asked. He said one boy asked him what airline he flew in on, and he told them Lufthansa, which is a German airline, and they all cheered. He was so confused...as am I. I can't imagine a group of Americans getting cheering for Delta or something. He told the kids he was from Columbus, Oh, and one of them asked him if Route 54 goes through Columbus. There were a lot of really funny questions though, I wish I could remember them all.
There were some sillier questions too though.
We finished up with this class and then headed back to the teacher's lounge. We were then treated to a choir rehearsal for a very young group of boys. They sounded really good, but the teacher was very precise and stopped every few seconds to critique them. It was kind of funny to see the exaggerated faces they have to make to create the right sound with their vocal chords, but then I've never been too musically inclined. I'm sure my cousin Natalie (woo, shout out to my GURL!) knows exactly what I'm talking about. They were learning a piece of music in Latin, and I was pretty impressed.
We talked to the music teacher for a little while after the class was over, and we found out that a lot of boys come from all over Europe to study here, and that it's the only school in Germany that is both a boarding school and a regular school. The students who come from very far away live on campus. She told us that the boys are required to wear special indoor shoes, and that if they wear them outside, they have to pay 1 Euro, and that it normally only happens once!! We also found out that they students have a one year hiatus, during puberty, where they only study, while their voice changes. This excursion day was quite a bit shorter than every other one we've had so far, and we were finished around lunch time. We all decided we had had enough of Schweinehaxe and Reiberknödle and we wanted something NORMAL. So where did we go?? A Chinese restaurant. How Ironic. Their buffet was no where as big as even the smallest buffet in America. There wasn't as much to choose from, but it was very good. No crab rangoon though!! I got a terrible craving for Mandarin Garden, and then Allison and I argued over which Chinese restaurant was the best in Evansville. I don't know if I've mentioned that or not. Allison went to Sig School and is several years younger than me, so I wouldn't have ever really met her, but we know a lot of the same people. She goes to Murray State now though, but it will be nice to have someone to hang out with in E'ville again!!