A Productive Week

This week, I finally feel like I'm earning my Fulbright Scholarship for real. What I mean by this is that I'm finally visiting schools and talking to students regularly. Already, I've visited three different schools in Berlin and will visit a fourth tomorrow. I've gotten a few of my interviews done already, and here's what I'm finding out quickly:

1. German vs. English — Without question, my interviews have been substantially informative because I've conducted them in German, even at the elite grammar schools (where most students speak fluent English by the time they finish secondary school). Out of the seven interviews I've done so far, only one has been in English. That student had studied in an English-speaking country for more than six months, so speaking English was no problem.
2. Quality vs. Quantity — I knew coming in that quality interviews were most important to me, so despite the total number of interviews I want to complete before the end of my grant period, my main focus will be on gathering in-depth interviews. This means my initial estimate for length of interviews (based mainly on my work in Greece) was 10-15 minutes per interview. Funny, the average interview length of my seven so far: 25 minutes.
3. One-on-One vs. Group Setting — As my friend and fellow Fulbrighter, Tanlyn, noted today, some of the students I'm interviewing are sharing very different stories from what their teachers observe in their classrooms. Tanlyn is an English Teaching Assistant, and she shared with me that, for some reason, what the students are sharing with me is not what she has heard from them in the classroom. This leads me to want to include more school/classroom observation visits as part of my work as well. Frankly, I saw this at the Heinrich-von-Stephan Gemeinsschaftschule where I volunteer as well. So my question then: what exactly is the truth here?

I won't bore you with anymore details of my research project, but hopefully this gives you a small glimpse into the work I'm doing. Although I do record all the interviews, those are confidential and for me only. As such, I can't share any of those with you. Any stories I do share (as with the situations described above) will be with changed names or vague references, so as to keep the identity of my interview subjects 100% anonymous. Not that you'd know who I'm talking about anyway. :)

Tomorrow, I have to wake up early yet again (6 AM) for the hour-long ride on public transportation to the next school. I have two presentations on "Ethnic Diversity in the U.S." tomorrow and will also have about three hours for interviews at this particular school. I have to gather a few more things for my presentations and prep some more materials, so it may turn out to be a bit of a late night. 

Waking early has its bright sides though. For example, the sunrise.

The schools I visited today were both actually close to my old apartment, which would've only taken me 15 minutes to get to each school. Oh well. You can definitely tell it's spring here though.

Gotta love the public toilet on the corner too.

This evening though, my friend, Manuela, came over for dinner, and we had an absolute feast. My friend from Seattle, Joan, had taught me how to make lumpia (Filipino spring rolls) when she was here, so I tried it on my own. They turned out wonderfully! They do require lots of work though, and I had to start it last night.

The rest of our meal was Thai Sweet Chili Chicken, which I have made countless times this year already, I know. But I added a new side dish today, which I had only tried once: Green Beans stir-fried with oil, minced garlic, and oyster sauce. I tried recreating the green beans my family used to order in Chinese restaurants (naturally very greasy), and I think I succeeded more or less (greasiness included, though to a lesser degree).

Manuela and I had fun snapping pictures of our food plus the beers she brought (Öttinger), which was deliciously awesome.

Prost!

We watched The Daily Show while we ate too. As much as I disagree with Mike Huckabee politically, he is one of the best guests on Jon Stewart's show, I think. He laughs for real at Jon Stewart's jokes, even if they are making fun of him, and he always shares his opinion respectfully. Good stuff, as long as he doesn't become president. :)

Finally, since I didn't blog this week till now, I want to mention something from Tuesday. My friend from Pakistan, Nishat, was in Berlin for a visit, so we went to lunch at a Thai restaurant I had discovered in 2007 during my first trip to Berlin. That place was so good I went there twice in one week then. Sadly, I had not been back since. Well, until Tuesday. Look at this food!

It makes me miss food in Seattle for sure. No matter, I will be back in another three and a half months. :) Until then, I have much research to do. More after the weekend and Brandon's birthday party tomorrow (today's his birthday...happy birthday, B!).

Ciao,

Sam