Middle School Musical

During my time in Berlin, I've been regularly volunteering at a local school with whom I have connections through HIA. I've worked mainly with students in 7th and 8th grade with occasional visits to a 9th grade class. Last night, I was invited to the school's annual musical—put on by the students themselves.

There wasn't one particular theme to the night, but as I found out from the rolling credits at the start of the show, it was 44 students having fun on stage. I haven't been to the school in nearly two months as I have been far too busy once my research interviews really started taking off (balancing 12 school schedules is no easy task), so when I arrived and bumped into a few of the students I've worked with, their first question was:

"Hey, are you never coming back or what?"

As the teachers have explained to them and as I myself have tried to explain, my schedule from here on out is going to be much more random. Hence, while I may be able to join them once or twice more during my remaining two months in Berlin (more on that in a minute), it's unlikely I'll be able to join them regularly like I did in November and December.

Nevertheless, I had a fun time catching up with students as I walked into the Aula (the auditorium). Kinda funny seeing a few of the students whispering that I was there and then, upon seeing me notice them, waving with a smile and then turning around quickly. 

I commented to the student sitting next to me (another one of my tutorees, who decided to sit next to me) that it is a rare sight to see an auditorium so packed with the show not starting for another 10 minutes. Not only was it packed and dark inside the Aula, it was swelteringly hot. At least I didn't have to run around on stage though.

For an hour and a half, I watched many of the students I've worked with dance, sing, and act on stage. Though I suppose I shouldn't have been so surprised, nearly all the songs the students sang (normally two or three students together) were American songs (except the three boys of Turkish background who rapped a few songs in German).

A couple of girls sang "Grenade" by Bruno Mars. I was pleasantly surprised since some of those students are always very reluctant to speak with me in English during tutoring hours. 

Later on, a group of girls and guys danced with glow in the dark costumes to Lena's version of "Taken by a Stranger." Lena is the German star who won the EuroVision contest in 2010 and was unsuccessful in defending her title this year in Düsseldorf. (Side note: save your ears and do not watch any YouTube clips of EuroVision 2011). 

I suppose it's only natural, but why is it that young middle school girls want to act so "grown up"? Too much make up, etc. It was rather uncomfortable watching my students dancing to Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful." I can only imagine what the older fathers in the audience last night were feeling...I'm guessing it doesn't get any less awkward.

Throughout the night, there were a number of acts last night that were witty, funny, and downright impressive though. My favorite was probably the row of 8th grade boys I work with who spun plates in a row, while two girls in their class would come along and knock them over. Pretty amusing and...you just had to see it.

Another was one of the 7th grade guys I work with who breakdances. Undoubtedly, one of the more popular acts of the evening.

One of the more entertaining moments was a group of young boys (Turkish backgrounds) who pretended to be in an English class and read some text in purposefully bad English. Their "teacher" then scolded them for doing so poorly and saying that they simply weren't speaking English. Their brilliant idea: sing "We Will Rock You" with the audience's help. Definitely chuckle-inducing.

Finally, the end of the night closed with a couple of guys in robot-like glow-in-the-dark suits dancing on stage. Then the rest of their peers streamed out of the backstage room with glow sticks for everyone. As everyone danced around and tossed out glow sticks, the room just looked like a giant rave party. It was only a matter of time before people started throwing their glow sticks clear across the auditorium. I nearly caught two of them as they hurtled toward me.

After the show, I went out to a bar with two of the teachers with whom I've developed a close relationship. One is actually a Teach First Deutschland corps member (German version of Teach For America), and sadly, he will be finishing his teaching career at this school in only a few weeks. We had a great conversation over a couple of beers though, and both teachers agreed that my German has improved significantly since they last saw me in March. I blame all the interviews. :)

Speaking of interviews, I've got five different schools to visit in the coming week. It's going to be busy, and I'm also meeting with my advisor. My transcriptions are still going slowly, but I need to get them done as my grant period ends officially on July 15. I will need to finish up my project by then, which shouldn't be a problem. But without transcriptions, I can't do the analysis I need. 

Beyond that, I fly home in just a little more than two months from today. Hard to believe it, and I really don't want to head back just yet. I suppose part of that is the travel bug I can't seem to shake and part of that is just me loving Berlin for being such a great city. I'm already thinking I will probably suffer through some reverse culture shock when I return to Seattle. 

Gotta keep making the most of my precious time over here. :)

Toodles,

Sam