It is raining

I completely recovered from my fair experience and had a good couple of days. It is raining for the first time since I’ve been here in Freiburg. It is amazing how long we did without but still it is not very pleasant when it does. Luckily I brought my raincoat. Still I became wet on my way to school but it was the inside of my raincoat that made me wet. I sweated so much hmmmmm.

A school we learned about: the beginning of the human species, methods of heilpedagogiek, telling about our feelings and qualities in English and I meet the nice girl from last week again and got my first invitation to drink coffee with other class members of the 3rd semester.
I also had a lovely weekend. On Saturday I cycled to a small town for some freshly made apple juice. Actually Matthijs was going to join me but he was not feeling well. In the evening we talked about his work and the amount of time that he has to put in to his work. It is really al lot . Lot of things are taking more time than estimated.
Off course his hard work has an effect on me to. Most of the time we look at each other from behind our screens, so we decided to spend some quality time together and take our mind off of things. We cycle to an old ruin near Freiburg. The surroundings where beautiful, mountains with trees that look like gold, cow’s looking at you with a big bell around their neck and climbing up a “castle” tower. I can’t stop being amazed about Freiburg. (Sorry if I make you jealous) Anyway we had a really good time.

But now it is back to business. I checked my mail, wrote my project information in German and made an appointment with the German girl to check if it is any good. (Probably not!) The coming week I have to start working on my project!

Greetings josé

Nederlands in het kort:
Het is weer helemaal goed gekomen na de leuke kermis atractie. (zie filmpje op youtube op hyves)
Verder is het hier dus gaan regenen. De eerste keer sinds is hier ben. Ik was helemaal nat. Helaas niet dor de regen maar door het zweten van die plastic regenjas.
We hebben weer een leuk weekend achter de rug waar we naar een ruine in de buurt zijn gefietst. Onder weg echt anzichkaart plaatjes overal!
Ook heb ik alweer mijn twee schooldagen achter de rug en veel geleerd weer!

jose

Bad fair trip

Check out the fair movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WktfHwGhu1U

There is a big fair in Freiburg this week. Matthijs and I decided to go there on Thursday evening. It was a pretty big fair and surprisingly there where hardly any people. We walked pass the attractions and bright coloured lights. First we decided to go in the Wheel. It was so dark up there that you could only see the fair itself. Bur still it was very nice. We walked on to the rollercoaster. It didn’t look like a good structure but we thought that this would only increase the “scariness” factor. Actually it was a pretty scary rollercoaster from itself already. It felt that you where dropped down to the floor witch off course didn’t happened. We looked around some more and bought some candy. Then we spotted a fast spinning exited looking attraction. We looked at it for a while and decided to also try this one out. That was our worst decision since we moved here! We bought a ticked and got on the two seated egg chapped attraction. The thing was attached to a platform that would spin around really fast. Because of the weight in a the attraction it would spin up side down. The horns sounded saying that we where going to start. At first it was really cool. Matthijs even made a movie with oure camera where I was saying is this all… Than the machine started spinning faster and faster. We tumbled up site down time after time and I lost my ability to know what was up and what was down. I closed my easy. After 5 minutes the machine slowed down. This made the seat only spin around and it made me very sick to my stomach. I was so glad it was over and that we where slowing down so I get out. But no the men behind the microphone shouted “Jetz gehts loos” (it means something like: And now we go) ARGHHHHH I wanted out, not another time in this horrible machine!

This time I had to make sure I was not getting sicker than I already was. Unfortunately the man behind the buttons had found the speed button again. We tumbled over at least 6 times up site down. I only hold the bars in front of me and hoped that it would be over soon. It was no fun anymore. Matthijs and I sat quietly next to each other both knowing this was not what we had expected.
After another 5 minutes the machine finally stopped. By this time I was feeling so sick that I was not able to get out of my seat. I had the feeling I would throw up if I did. Matthijs warned me to get out before I would be in another round. This made me get out but I had to rush to the side to throw up. How embarrassing.
After a few minutes I found Matthijs again and we went home. The hole way home I was still feeling sick. Also Matthijs was feeling sick, and he can handle a lot! At home I sat on the balcony for 2 minutes before I had to rush inside to throw up again. I was feeling very miserable. I took a shower brushed my teeth and went straight to bed. No more fair for me. Luckily I woke up feeling okay. A cup of to and some crackers made me feel human again. This was by far the most “exiting” ride of my live. No more please

Check out the movie really funny: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WktfHwGhu1U

greetings jose

English lesson in German

On Monday I had my first English lesson in German. This class starts at 19.00 hour in the other fachhogschule here in Freiburg. (Yes they manage to have two social work schools in one city). Luckily I had been there before because the nights are very dark here. There where a couple of students waiting. I started talking with one girl. She was a student in one of the lessons I attend at the katholische fachhochschule as well. She told me that they all had noticed me in the class but had now idea how I was. It is the German mentality that they don’t come up to you and ask. But okay we where talking now.
We decided to sit together in the class. The lesson started of in German but the Professor soon switched in English. We all had to read a few lines from a text book about English for social workers. I can already talk and write in English but the specialist language fro Social work is not on off my skills up to now. The textbook (whish we don’t have to buy) that we are going to use is full of specialist language. During this course we are going to learn to express our qualities as a social worker in English. The Germans also learn how to pronounce English without the funny accent. (Okay maybe the Dutch need to learn as well ;-)
I had to talk to the person next to me in English (the girl I just met) about the situation where I helped someone. About half the class (the class is 40 people) was not able to tell their story in English. I was surprised about this. They where allowed to talk in German. So now we have a homework assignment to write our experience down in English for next week. I did learn a lot during the class. Not only that Germans can’t speak English ;-) I got to now a few people and I learned some technical language details on Social work. The professor teaches very well so it is great to be in this class. But I did get reminded by someone to start talking in German again as soon as the lesson was finished, to bad…

The next day I went to school again (katholische fachhochschule) Now I new some people in the class. This gave me a better feeling than sitting on my own in a classroom with 100 people (yes really and only students from the 3rd semester soziale arbeit). During the break I went for coffee again. Then the guy behind the bar said “your from the Netherlands right” (hmmm they always know) He was a exchange student with the Groningen Hogeschool (university) last year. He could also tell me that there was one other Dutch girl at the school. I gave him my email address and asked him to give it to Marjolein (the Dutch girl). Than he pointed out that I needed to listen to the music. He was playing BLOF in the canteen of the school. What a small world it is. Today they where playing Marco Borsato in the canteen, they really must love Holland?!
Greetings jose

The German school system

I have now decided on my final seminar program at the Katholische Fachhochschule for the winter semester:

Monday:
11.30-13.00 Didactic / Pedagogy
(a seminar of the 3rd semester or 2nd school year of the specialisation social work)
13.30-15.00 Klinische (clinical) Psychology
(the 5th semester or 3rd school year of the specialisation social work)
19.00-20.30 English for social work professionals
(open to all classes)
Tuesday:
09.45-11.15 Anthropology
(the 3rd semester or 2nd school year of the specialisation social work)
11.30-13.00 Fundamental “heilpedagogiek*” theories.
(the 1st semester or 1st school year of the specialisation Heilpedagogiek*)

A school year is divided in a winter and a summer semester in Germany. Unlike the Netherlands where we have 4 semesters in one school year. The winter semester started at the 8th of October and ends the 25th of January after that they will have exams. The summer semester starts at 31st of March until the 18th of July and than again exams. The holidays are then different off course. The schools start later but have therefore now autumn or spring break. Because of this seminar difference people say; “I am in the 3rd semester” in stead of being a second grader. At the beginning it was very hard for me to figure out what these semesters where all about. They have also have specialisations that are completely different to the education in the Netherlands. There is Soziale arbeit, Heilpedagogiek and Pflege pedagogiek. Untill today I am trying to find out that the differentiations mean exactly. I asked some students but they just comment that you can choose seminars from all the differentiations so you can make your own program.

Stunents have on average 20 school hours per week. But the school is open in evenings and in weekends!. Each student has to follow a foreign language course and follow a program where you learn about the social work in a different country. The school has close contacts with many schools in Europe (also in the Netherlands - Groningen) and students exchange know-how. It sounds very promising to me. Hopefully we get something like this at the The Hague uni. There is one more big difference. Students don’t pay a school fee at this school and they don’t have to buy school books. Yes you have read it correctly. They have a supposedly good functioning internet system at the school where the professors gives you a list of books that you could read about one subject and provides you with all the details before the lessons begin. And still the students complain???
The school system in Germany as far as I can see is not bad at all.

Greatings jose

*Heilpedagogiek is a specialisation in Germany that focuses on working with disabled or sick people and how to help them at best.

From now on the Dutch version will only appear on my Hyves account http://josekroezen.hyves.nl/

Moved again and uploaded my video

During the day I packed all our stuff into the bags again. It was quite easy because we had left all the clothes in plastic bags so I just had to put everything in the right bag. It took me 1,5 hour. I am really happy that we are going to move back to the apartment in the jos fritz strasse.
Matthijs came home after work and we went for dinner first. Earlier in the week I had seen a lovely Thai restaurant in the city centre. The food was delicious and I have to tell, we only paid 27 euro for a drink starter and main course for two persons. It is cheaper to go out for dinner than cook by yourself. Most main courses cost about 5,60 up to 7,- euro in any given restaurant. But in the Thai restaurant we decided to treat our self to a lovely dinner. We left the restaurant at 7.30 and cycled back to the apartment. We put the last items from the fridge in a bag and called a taxi cap.
Matthijs helped me to get all the bags in the cap. Then he started cycling with our two bikes to the other apartment. I drove to the new apartment and arrived in only 15 minutes. Fam. Gruninger was not there. They had told us earlier that they where on a short vacation. They gave us an extra key so we could get inn. I put all the bags inside and started unpacking the groceries. Matthijs arrived only 15 minutes later.
It was soooooo nice to be back. This house is much bigger and I can’t explain why but it just feels better. We installed internet made a couple of phone calls to our parents and went to bed.

This morning the first thing I did was uploading my self-made movie on youtube check it out in the side bar!!!

It was very cold this morning. Everything was frosted. It is a big difference compared to a week ago. Than it was 21 degrees and sunny. Now it is -2 degrees but luckily still sunny. We went to the farmers market for groceries. The rest of the day I will be busy unpacking and playing on the internet…

Nederlands:

Overdag had ik alle spullen ingepakt. Het was vrij gemakkelijk aangezien alle kleren nog in plastic tassen zaten. Ik hoefde allen maar alles in de tassen te passen. Het koste me niet meer dan anderhalf uur. Matthijs kwam om 6 uur thuis. We zijn toen naar een thais restaurant gegaan. We hebben daar heerlijk gegeten, voor maar 27 euro voor drinken, een voorgerecht en hoofdgerecht voor twee personen. Het uiteten gaan is hier in Freiburg erg goedkoop. Voor een gemiddeld hoofdgerecht in een restaurant betaal ej tussen de 5,60 en 7,- euro. Het is bijna goedkoper om uit eten te gaan dan zelf te koken. Na onze buiken heerlijk rond gegeten te hebben zijn we terug gefietst naar het appartement en kon de verhuizing beginnen. We haalde de koelkast leeg en belde een taxi. Matthijs hielp me om de tassen in de taxi te krijgen maar ging toen zelf met onze twee fietsen alvast onderweg naar de Jos Frits strasse. Ik kwam na een kwartier al aan.
Fam. Gruninger was er niet, ze zijn ene weekendje weg. We hadden al eerder een reserve sleutel meegekregen zodat we naar binnen konden. Ik begon alvast met uitpakken en 15 minuten later kwam ook mattijhs aan. Het is heerlijk om weer hier te zijn. Het huis is groter maar het voelt gewoon ook goed om hier te zijn. Als thuis.
We hebben internet aangesloten en onze ouders gebeld en zijn toen lekker gaan slapen.

Vanochtend is het eeste wat ik gedaan heb is de video uploaden op youtube van onze (eerste) verhuizing. (hij staat in de side bar!) Het is eindelijk gelukt!!!.
We hebben nog even boodschappen gedaan op ene boeren markt hier in de buurt verder gaan we vandaag lekker internetten en genieten van ons huisje.
Groeten jose

Not feeling well

I wasn’t feeling well the last couple off days. My troth was hurting and I was feeling sick but not that sick that you want to stay in. And I wasn’t going to since I needed to go to school again. I took a scare and cycled to school on Monday and Tuesday. I followed two new lessons from heilpedagogiek (a kind of social work differentiation). These lessons where very interesting.

And I have to say thanks to my new friend the “Apotheker” (pharmacy). I’m not feeling sick anymore. They gave me a horrible tasting liquid. I have now idea what is in it, but it worked.

The rest of the time I worked hard on my report of the Janusz Korczak conference. I want to finish it before we move on Friday the 19^th of October. I only have to write one more chapter now. It is important for me to finish it because than I can continue with what is really important – My Project –

I was busy with school until now, so I haven’t spend any time so far on looking at organisations that work with handicap children in Freiburg. The great thing is that I see lots of young people in a wheelchair going around in the city centre. I can also go up to them and ask where they life. I wonder what they will think of me? Crazy Dutch girl. hihihi. I might have to think a bit more about my way of approaching them.

On Friday we are going to move again. We are going back to the apartment in the Jos Fritz strasse. I will make sure that everything is packed before the evening. So when Matthijs returns from work we only have to have dinner and we can order a cap to bring us back “home”.

We are moving already on Friday night because we have internet at the Jos fritz Strasse, and we just love the place. I will miss the great specious bathroom in this apartment. Well as they say; you can’t have it all.

I have to go now because I am meeting a nice girl that I have met earlier in an internet café. She wanted some help with some text translated from Dutch into German and she is going to help me later on to correct my German text. We where very lucky to meet. We where just in the right place at the same time. For her it was probably not so hard to recognize that I’m Dutch. Everyone says that they can hear that we are form Holland. We probably talk German with a VERY strange accent. I just have to practice more!

Greetings josé

Nederlands:

De afgelopen dagen voelde ik me niet zo lekker. Ik had veel last van keelpijn. Ik was gelukkig niet ziek in elk geval niet ziek genoeg om in bed te blijven liggen. Dat kon ook niet want ik moest weer naar school op maandag en dinsdag. Weer twee nieuwe lessen gevolgd ditmaal van Heilpedagogiek. Gelukkig heb ik er een nieuwe vriend bij “die Apotheker”. Ik heb een middeltje gekregen wat heel vies smaakt maar wel goed help want ik ben er na twee dagen alweer vanaf.

Verder ben ik druk bezaig geweest met het schrijven van mijn verslag over de janusz Korczak conferentie. Ik wil het verslag graag afhebben voor we verhuizen. Ik kan dan na de verhuizing beginnen met mijn echt belangrijke werk – mijn project –

Tot nu toe ben ik zo druk geweest met school dingen uitzoeken. Ik moet wel echt aan de slag gaan met het zoeken van organisaties. Een geluk is dat ik hier in het centrum van Freiburg altijd jonge mensen in een rolstoel zie rondcrossen. Ik ga ze binnen kort gewoon eens even vragen waar ze wonen. Ben benieuwd wat ze dan van me denken? Rare nederlanders? Hahaha nee ik moet nog even wat beters verzinnen....

Op vrijdag gaan we weer terug verhuizen naar de Jos Fritz strasse. Ik ga vrijdag overdag alles inpakken zodat we nadat we gegeten hebben een taxi kunnen bestellen en kunnen verhuizen. We gaan al op vrijdag avond verhuizen omdat we daar internet hebben en omdat we ons daar het meeste thuis voelen. Wel ga ik hier de grote ruime badkamer missen. Je kan ook niet alles hebben....

Ik moet nu gaan want ik heb afgesproken met een meisje dat ik ontmoet heb in het internet cafe. Ze hoorde aan mijn uitspraak dat ik uit nl kwam en vroeg of ik een text in het nederlands kon vertalen naar het duits. Zij gaat mij later helpen met het nakijken van brieven die ik moet versturen in het duits. Ze werkt hier als cliniclown en heeft de opleiding heilpedagogiek gestudeert. Leuke meid volgens mij.

Nou de groeten maar jose

For the first time to school in Freiburg

On Tuesday the 9^th of October I went to my new school for lessons, for the first time. I was there the day before and the week before to ask if I could be a “gästhörerin” (someone how’s only attending the lessons and doesn’t make an exam) They supposed to have send me a letter but I didn’t receive any. So this morning it was quite exiting if I could even join the lessons. I made sure that I arrived in time at the school. A nice person from the service desk helped me out and made copies of all the documents saying that I was a “gästhörerin”. They had now idea why I didn’t receive any. But what the heck I’m in.

I went down to the (super) small coffee lounge at the school and drank a cup off coffee ( this was also my old routine at the “The Hague university”). The catholic “fachhochschule” is a small school with a little over 1000 students, studying social work. I noticed that many of them have a piercing (especially in their face). You don’t see this in Dutch social work schools right? I must say it looks pretty most of the time :)

At 09.30 I started to find my way into the classroom. At first it was pretty empty but soon the whole class was filed. Some people even had to sit on the floor. I asked a girl if this was one class, since I was in the class anthropology of the third semester. (Second class) She told me that some of the lessons where attended by everyone from the third semester and some you could choose from. If you choose a specific lesson, you would be in a class with around 20 people. This way you can specialize already very early in school. (Very interesting difference!) And they work with semesters in Germany. Each school year has 2 semesters a summer and winter semester. So people from the third semester are second class students.

The anthropology lesson, third semester, started. I didn’t need to buy a book the teacher was giving a PowerPoint presentation and everyone (including me) wrote down de sheets (in German). I wrote my own notes in Dutch. The difficulty was that I couldn’t hear the teacher speaking in German when I wrote in Dutch. But I could understand every word! It also struck me how much the word faith and god appeared I in the lesson. At the Haagse hogeschool I never heard it before. Here at least 20 times. Off course this is the influence of the school being a Catholic school. After 2 hours the classroom went empty again. I waited to talk to the teacher and introduced myself. Then I went home.

At night my parents came by for the last time. They where going back to the Netherlands. It was nice having them here so I could show them Freiburg. We ate a last piece of cake and Matthijs and I waved them off. After they left we went to bed pretty early because I was pretty tiered after al long exiting day.

Greetings José

Nederlands:

Ik ben vandaag (dinsdag 9 okt.) voor het eerst naar school geweest in Freiburg. Via een tip van mr. Gruninger ben ik terecht gekomen bij de Katholische Fachhochschule Freiburg fur sozialarbeit. Ik was gisteren en vorige week al langs geweest om te vragen of ik als gasthorerin mee mocht doen. Er zou een brief verstuurd zijn naar de jos fritz strasse maar helaas geen brief... Vanochtend was het dus aardig spannend om 09.45 begon de eerste les en ik wist nog niet eens of ik mee mocht doen. Ik zorgde er voor dat ik om 9 uur bij de informatie balie was. Een aardige medewerkster heeft kopietjes gemaakt voor me en alles was gelukkig al geregeld. Ik ben dus nu Gästhörerin. Ik mag bij alle lessen meedoen van social arbeit.

Ik ben in een klein koffie hoekje dat in de school zit, koffie gaan drinken. Het is een hele kleine school met iets meer als 1000 leerlingen (allemaal social workers) en wat me opvalt veel latenatievelingen overal piercings en tatoos volgens mij is dat op de HHS niet.

Om half 10 ging ik opweg naar de zaal waar ik moest zijn. Het was nog aardig leeg en ben maar ergens gaan zitten. Al snel stroomde de zaal vol. Zo vol dat er zelfs mensen aan de rand moesten zitten. Ik vroeg aan een meisje of dit een klas is aangezien ik bij de les antropologie zat van het derde semester. (ze werken hier met semesters. Ieder jaar heeft een zomer en winter semster. Als je in de eerste klas zit dan begin je dus in het winter semseter 1. Ben je tweede klasser dan zit je dus in semester 3.) Ze legde uit dat er verplichte lezingen zijn waar iedereen aan me moet doen (dit was er een) waardoor iedereen van het 3^e semester dus in een lokaal zat. Maar er waren ook lessen waarin de groep werd opgesplitst, en ze in een klas zatten van ongeveer 20 leerlingen. Je kan jezelf zo dus specialiseren of juist kiezen voor een algemene opleiding. Ook vertelde ze na een vraag van mij dat er geen lesboeken nodig waren voor de meeste vakken. (lekker goedkoop!)

De Antropologie les begon. De lerares vertelde wat antropologie is aan de hand van een powerpoint presentatie. Ik schreef de sheets over in het duits maar maakte aantekeningen er bij in het nederlands. Het alstige was dat zodra ik in het nederlands ging schrijven ik haar niet meer hoorde in het duits. Ik kan geen twee talen tegelijk doen. Verder verstond ik alles heel goed. Verder viel het me op dat er veel over god en geloof werd gesproken. Zeker wel twintig keer in deze les en dat terwijl ik het op de haagse niet ene keer heb gehoort. Na twee uur was de les voorbij. Ik heb nog even met de lerares gepraat en me voorgesteld.

S’avonds (di avond) kwamen mijn ouders voor de laaste keer lanks tijdens hun vakantie. Ze gingen wo weer naar NL toe. Ik had lekkere taart gehaald en we hebben nog even lekker gekletst. Ik ben vroeg naar bed gegaan want ik was heel erg moe na zo’n lange dag. En thanks voor de Süsser (een soort jonge lichte witte wijn) ma en pa. We gaan ‘m snel proberen

Moved to a different apartment in Whiere, Freiburg (DE)

As I wrote before we moved to a different apartment in Freiburg on Saturday. The night before we made sure that we where fully packed. We also could leave some stuff at the Jos-Fritz-Strasse. My parents came by care to the old apartment. We lend them our bikes and after a cup of coffee they went off to discover Freiburg by bike. Matthijs and I tried to put all the bags in to the Twingo car (small car). It fitted perfectly and we drove off towards our new apartment.

We met the guy how rents out the apartment in front of the building. It is a brand new apartment. The decoration is very modern. Our first impression was very nice, but modern means also minimalistic, so little cooking space and hardly any closets. As the guy went on he told us that internet was not available. I was not so happy anymore, no internet for TWO weeks (arghhh!)

We let it sink for a wile and started unpacking our stuff. As we put everything in place it became more and more our apartment (thanks to my colourful taste:-)). Especially the bathroom is really beautiful, very large and with a good shower. There are windows over the complete length of on side of the apartment with two glass doors to get to the balcony and there you can look at the forest. So in the end it is not bad at all. And maybe it is better that I don’t have internet for a while because I have to do a lot of work for my project and the conference (to get study points) and I don’t need internet for that.

We also did something really nice on Sunday. My parents picked us up at our new apartment and we drove off to the longest waterfall in Germany. Already the road to the waterfall was beautiful, the sunny weather, the mountain landscape and of course a lovely restaurant to eat delicious cake. The waterfall it self was beautiful. Matthijs and I made lots of pictures. At 3 we had seen everything and we drove to the Titisee (a lake). We walked on the promenade that looked like Scheveningen and rented a cycle boot so we could go in the water. After making many more photos, we looked for a restaurant. We had a good German meal. Matthijs is not really happy about the rich sauces that they accompany the dishes with. Most off the time it is all over his plate, than he doesn’t like it anymore. It is a wonder that German people are not really fat (it must be the outdoor air?)

We drove back in the dark along small, steep, curvy roads. Matthijs and my father enjoyed them selves very much. My mom and I talked in the back. It was a very nice day.

Today (Monday) I went to the “stadsanwalt” to get myself registered in Freiburg. There where 106 people in front of me. I had to wait for over one hour before it was my turn. After a brief interview, I’m now officially a residence Freiburg. In the city centre I could pick up a welcome gift so I went to the city centre. There I also shopped for a while. I got a present for my brother how’s birthday is on the 15^th off October. Tomorrow I will probably go to school for the first time. So far the important approval is still missing so wish me luck….

Nederlands

Zoals ik al eerder had aangegeven zijn we zaterdag verhuisd naar een ander appartement in Freiburg. Mijn ouders zijn met onze fietsen s’ochtends de stad gaan verkennen en matthijs en ik zijn de twingo gaan volstauwen. We hadden met de verhuurder afgesproken voor het apartement. Het apartement ziet er super modern uit. Het staat dan ook pas sinds afgelopen zomer. Het ruikt nog nieuw. Dat moderne betekend alleen wel dat het wel erg minimalistisch is ingericht. Weinig kast ruimte en bijna geen kook facaliteiten. Toen hij ook nog vertelde dat hij het internet niet heeft kunnen regelen was ik even niet zo blij meer. ARGHHH twee weken geen internet.

Maar ja mischien ook wel goed voor mij want dan ga ik teminste en keer aan de slag met mijn project. Nadat we al onze spullen hadden uitgepakt werd het al en stuk gezelliger (dankzij mijn kleurgebruik ;-))

Zondag zijn we met z’n vieren naar de langste waterval van duitsland geweest. De rit er naartoe was al prachtig, perfect weer, bergen en natuurlijk lekkere taartjes onderweg. Om 3 uur hadden we de waterval wel gezien en zijn we naar de Titisee gereden (een meer) We hebben daar een waterfiets gehuurd en zin even op het meer geweest. Daarna nog wat rond gelopen en lekker gegeten. Helaas voor matthijs is bijna elk gerecht onder een dikke vette laag jus bedolven. Het is een wonder dat neit iedereen hier modder vet is, zeker de buitenlucht???

Vandaag maandag ben ik naar het gemeentehuis geweest om me officeel in te schrijven als Freiburger. Hopelijk gaat het morgen lukken om voor het eerst naar school te gaan tot nu toe mist de bestätigung weer... ik zie het morgen wel weer

A Holi"day" and tomorow moving out again

Tomorrow Matthijs and I are going to move for two weeks in to another apartment. It was not possible to stay at the apartment in the Jos Fritz Strasse. So we are going to move to the Richard Kuenzer strasse 6a in Freiburg. This apartment is very close to the city centre in a lovely neighbourhood. We are using my parent’s car to get all our stuff to the apartment. Meanwhile my parents are going to use our bikes to explore the centre of Freiburg. At 5 o’clock we are meeting again to go to a biergarten near our new place.
The apartment is just been build and looks very modern. There is a bath so I’m happy. The only downsize is that because the building it self is brand new, we don’t know yet if internet is available. It should be but maybe they didn’t install the cables yet? We are not sure, so if you don’t here back from me please don’t think I forgot you guys.

So today I had a real holiday day. Me and my parents went up the shouinsland mountain in Freiburg. We went up with a cable car and went down walking. But first we started with a good German meal. It took us 3 hours to go down. Also lucky that my father had is GPS system with him not all the signs where right. We got home at 4 pm, had some tea and than my parents left to their apartment. Me and Matthijs have to start packing now so hopefully Biss balt….

Greetings josé

Nederlands:

Morgen gaan we weer verhuizen voor twee weken naar een ander appartement in Freiburg. Richard Kuenzer strasse 6a in Freiburg. Het kon helaas niet anders. We gaan de auto van mijn ouders gebruiken om alle spullen over te krijgen en mijn ouders gaan in de tussentijd op onze fietsen de stad Freiburg verkennen. Om 5 uur ontmoeten we elkaar dan weer voor een dinee in de Biergarten vlak bij ons nieuwe appartement. Helaas is het zo dat we nog neit zeker weten of we wel internet hebben. Als je even niet van ons hoort dan klopt dat dus. Nou ja morgen de grote dag dus....

Vandaag ben ik met mijn ouders naar de berg Shauinsland gereden. We zijn daar met de kabelbaan omhoog gevaren en weer de berg naar beneden gelopen. Het was boven heel mooi weer helaas beneden iets wat bewolkt. Het leverde wel erg mooie foto's op.

Groeten jose

Go to school and my first sachertorte

Photo of the school buildings

The neighbour gave me a great tip. He said that I good get a gasthörerin pass (a person how’s allowed to follow classes in the school but how’s not allowed to make exams)
I went to the University for Social Work here in Freiburg on Thursday. (Katholische Fachhochschule fur Soziale Arbeit. This is the same as HBO in the Netherlands.) I told my situation and it got a book with the class program for the coming semester. At home I choose the lessons:

Monday 19.00 - 20.30 English for Social Work Professional
Tuesday 09.45 - 11.51 Antropologie
Thursday 09.45 - 11.15 Geschichte Theorien und Konzepten der social Arbeit
On Wednesday 24th off October I want to attend the Fachtag „Positive Peer Culture”.

The school semester is not starting until next week in Germany. So my first lesson will start coming Monday. I was really lucky to go to the school this week otherwise I wouldn’t be able to go. The voluntary work will come later. I have 3 day’s left during the week to do this.

Today my parents drove to Freiburg. They are having a short holiday and we can use their car so we can move coming Saturday. Yes we have to move again. It sucks but we had now other choice. We are moving to a apartment near the city centre. I already been cycling in the area it is really beautiful! So that’s ok.

But first things first tonight my parents will visit us an we will have sachertorte (cherry/chocolate cake) for dessert. The weather is still great (24 c) and me and my parents will have a short holiday together and discover the surroundings off Freiburg. I hope they like it as much as I do!

Greatings jose

Nederlands:

Ik heb een tip gekregen van de verhuurder dat je in Duitsland een college kan volgen zonder examen te hoeven doen. Ik ben dan ook dinsdag naar de katholische fachhochschule fur sozial arbeit (de nederlands SPH) geweest en heb mijn verhaal verteld. Ik kreeg een progamma boek mee van dit semester en heb uitgezocht welke lessen ik graag wil vlogen (zie boven) De lessen beginnen hier maandag dus ik was precies op tijd.

Mijn ouders zijn vandaag naar Freiburg gereden voor en korte vakantie. Wij kunnen hun auto dan ook gebruiken op zaterdag als we weer moeten verhuizen naar een appartement net buiten de stad. Gelukkig is het in een hele leuke buurt dus het is alleen weer een hoop gedoe.

Maar belangrijke zaken eerst... vanavond hebben we sachertorte voor toetje met z'n vieren. Ik ben benieuwd hoe mijn ouders Freiburg ervaren. Gelukkig werkt het weer ook deze week weer me met zo'n 24 graden. Groeten jose

Janusz Korczak Youth Conference 2007

The Korczak conference was held in The Nivon House in Bergen aan Zee, The Netherlands. Everyone was expected to arrive there on Saturday the 22nd off September before 17.00. And the conference ended in the morning of Friday the 29th off September. Before hand we’ve been given a choice, what workshops we could attend to. As everyone came in we all registered and got a full program overview. I wanted to go to this conference because Janusz Korczak ideas interested me a lot. He was a Polish/Jewish pedagogue how set up Orphanages for street kids in Poland. He used a method where he respected the child and respected his/her rights. He has done some remarkable things ahead of his time. He died almost heroic because he was given a choice to leave the children and the deportation train to Auschwitz during the Second World War. He decided to stay and got gassed as he arrived in the concentration camp.

Before the conference I read two books. How to love a child (hoe houd je van een kind) by Janusz Korczak and Janusz Korczak about being small and growing up (Janusz Korczak over klein zijn en groot worden) by Kees Waaldijk.
These books gave me a very good impression of Korczaks ideas on the way you could bring up a child and respect its wishes without loosing grip. He specially wrote about children with difficulties. And because I work with handicapped children it was very interesting for me to go to this conference and learn more about his ideas and work.

Saturday
I arrived at the conference by my self. I finished unpacking and went downstairs. There was a group of people in the lounge talking to each other. I decided to sit with them. We talked about where we came from and what kind of work we where doing. There where 18 different nationalities attending this conference and all where working in the social care in one way or another. I already got business cards from a girl from Malaysia and a woman from Bangladesh. They both worked with children. And they had an interesting story to tell.
After dinner we all got together and introduced ourselves by playing games.
We stayed up late, talking about our work and why we came to this conference.
Sunday.
This was the first full day at the conference. We started with:
08.00 -09.00 Breakfast
09.00 Introduction of the day.
09.30-12.30 Workshop. I had chosen; Children and multimedia.
This workshop was about children and internet use. What the risks are and how we can give the children some safety while surfing on the net.
12.45 - 13.30 Lunch time
14.00 - 17.00 A creative workshop I choose The world of animation.
I made a short movie with 2 others, by placing lots of pictures behind one another.
17.00 - 19.00 we had free time and we went outside for a walk to the beach
19.00 - 20.00 was dinner time
20.00 – 22.00 open podium. At the open podium everyone could give a presentation about their work. Today was the first presentation, it was about street work in Paris. Very interesting The second presentation was from a Dutch girl (24 years old). She visited Ghana for 6 months and set up a business with people from Ghana and with the help of micro credit. She told an inspiring story about here stay. Afterwards we talked and exchanged numbers.
22.00 - Until late… I stayed up and talked to a lot of interesting people.

Monday

Each day we had the same time schedule but with different workshops and presentations.
Today me and a small group of nice people got up very early to see the sunrise at the beach. After breakfast there was a presentation about the Rock and water program used at schools to handle aggressive boy’s and girls. Really interesting. After that I attended the second part of the workshop children and multimedia.
In the afternoon I went to a creative workshop called Build your own environment. A architect how started a project in Holland. She would let children build their own hangout place so it wouldn’t be destroyed. Our group decided to build a bench out of wooden pellets. They became popular to sit on during the long nights.
The presentation at the open-podium was about street work in Brazil. I also talked to the lady afterwards because here project interested me very much. There was also a presentation of the lady from Bangladesh how started schools for street children on the street it self. I bought a card that the children had made. Hopefully I can visit here someday and help out or send students from our school for a training period.
Tuesday
Today I woke up early 07.30 and helped out in the kitchen. After breakfast there was a very interesting workshop.
09.30 – 12.30 the workshop Integration of disabled and chronic ill children. We talked and discussed about the different views and methods that are being used in the different countries. Off course this was a direct link to my current work so a very good learning experience. It made me realize that my project about gathering information about handicapped children could be very interesting since none of the participants from the different countries knew about the different views. I kept good contact with the lady how had organize it. She would like to have a look at my interview for the project.
In the afternoon we had an excursion to the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam. (there where also 3 other choices) I showed the people from Russia some parts from Amsterdam. I was getting more tiered because of the little sleep I would get during the night but nevertheless it was still impressive to visit the museum. We got back at the conference at 20.00. The Dutch students organized a stoelendans in the evening (a Dutch game) we had lot of fun. I also talked to some people but went to bed early (02.00) because I was really tired
Wednesday
In the morning the second part of the workshop integration of disabled people started. We watch a American movie about integration. It was full of situations that I thought where not in the best interest of the child. In the afternoon I wet to the workshop “from rubbish to art” I made several puppets out of rubbish It was really fun doing.
There where some extra presentations during the free time. One about street kids in Lithuania and one about the Korczak organisation in Russia.
After dinner we started with a concert of Jewish story telling and singing. The lady how sang had such a beautiful voice. I got a lot of energy out of listening to the concert. After the concert we all started to exchange addresses because we all realized the conference would finish soon and there where so many interesting people to get in contact with.
At night was finally able to send Matthijs an email saying that everything was ok. I went to bed around 03.30
Thursday
The workshop on this day was about children and aggression. The lady wrote a book about here new method of getting children to stop with their aggressive behaviour, and to talk about their fear. We had to talk about our own fears. This was for some pretty hard. After such intensive contact and so little sleep lot of emotions came out. It was a hart warming workshop and very intense (it felt like a strong connected group that new each other for many years already). I bought the book afterwards so I could read more about the method of changing behaviour. In the afternoon I decided to make the decor of the play that we where going to perform in the evening. I don’t like being on stage so I did the preparations. I had my hands covert in cement because we where making huge spoons and a tea cup. It was fun making! After dinner I really needed some time on my own. So I missed the first minutes of the play. It was really funny. Afterwards there where some more improvised music performances that we listened to. I Stayed up until 04.00 talking to the Germans I met and all the other people at the conference. We didn’t want the conference to end.

Friday
This was the last morning. We could sleep half a hour later. Until 08.00 We had to clear our room and help clean the kitchen. At 11.00 we sang some songs for the last time, hugged and said goodbye. It was pretty hard to leave. The atmosphere was so special that it felt strange to be in the “outside world” again. The people that attended this conference where very serious about their jobs. Every one of them could talk passionately for hours about it. It was great to be apart of such a group of people. I learned a lot and gained many friends from all over the world. This was my first conference but for sure not my last!

Greetings josé

For more information: check

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janusz_Korczak Genaral background information.

http://www.korczak.nl/2004/index.html Dutch organisation that organised the conference.

First days in Freiburg

After arriving the fist day I had to pack again and leave to go back to the Netherlands on the 22nd of September to attend the Korczak Conference in Bergen aan Zee. I will tell more about this later.
The conference ended on Friday morning. It was pretty hard to get up since I only slept for 3 hours. After the closing ceremony I rushed myself to Duivendrecht (NL) where a girlfriend of mine lives (kitty). Together we went to the wedding of our common friend Brenda.The wedding was kept small but intimate and I really enjoyed it. They where so in love! The party finished at 12.00 for me. Kitty and here husband drove me back to my parents house. My mom was still up and we talked a bit until 1.30. At 7 my alarm went off again. We had a quick breakfast, talked about the conference and my parents dropped me at Amsterdam Central station 1.5 hours later. My train left at 09.30 as planed. The weather was horrible as I drove off. I felt really tired and just wanted to go home, home in Freiburg. During the train ride I slept every now and then. Everything went fine and as we drove in Freiburg hauptbahnhof (main station) I saw Matthijs standing at the platform. It was wonderful to be back. It really felt like home.
Matthijs bought a bicycle for me in the week before and we went for a ride to the city centre. Freiburg gives me a welcome feeling. Nice shops, cosy streets and nice looking people. We went home to eat. We watched TV for a while and went to bed early. I slept REALLY good! After one week with hardly any sleep. Sunday morning we got op early 8.30. Matthijs made breakfast for me with a croissant (so sweet of him to think of!) We decided to cycle to France. This is only 30 kilometres away. We packed our bags with food and cameras and we drove off.
I can’t describe on paper how beautiful the ride was. Sun was shining (23 degrees) beautiful mountain landscape all around, with lots of farmland. They grow fruits, corn and grapes on the hill side. We stopped at a small place where they sold freshly made apple juice. We sat in one of the fields and ate our lunch. And along the road we gathered some walnuts from the tree to eat.
After 25 kilometres we arrived in Breisach. This is a small town at the bank of the Rein (river). We walked up a steep road to go on top of a hill. There was a beautiful church, and you could overlook the whole aria. On the other side of the river was France. We decided to go there for coffee and patisserie.
At 15.00 we decided to start on our way back. We took another way home. This time we drove in the middle of the vineyards. Some of the grapes where still there (they tasted very good!) We had to climb a bit to the top of the hill but is worth while. Again a beautiful few. This time we could see Freiburg. This is the place where we are going to stay for the next 5 months, can you imagine? I feel so lucky to get this change. And I will get the most out of it! Today, Monday the 1st of October was my fist day on my own in the house. The weather was perfect, 22 degrees and sunny. Matthijs went of to work at 9. I started behind my computer. I did some laundry, talked with Frau Gruninger (the lady how rents out the apartment) and went out shopping. I must say the shops are much better here. More difference in products and pretty cheap. Also the taste of the products is better. A tomato, really taste like tomato. Matthijs came back at 6. I made a Italian noodles and cheese cake for desert (this I bought) We sat on our terrace enjoying the forest few. Can it get any better?
Tomorrow I will write about the conference because that was so GOOD!

Greetings josé

Nederlands:

Na een avond in freiburg te zijn geweest ben ik op zaterdag 22 weer terug gegaan naar Bergen aan Zee in nederland. De Korczak conferentie was geweldig! en ik zal daarover in een apparte entry schrijven. Nu vertel ik erest meer over de eerste dagen voor mij in Freiburg.

De conferentie eindigde op vrijdag morgen. Ik ben als een speer naar de bruiloft van vriendin Breda gegaan. Ik sliep die avond bij mijn ouders in amstelveen. Half 9 de volgende ochtend brachten ze me weg naar amsterdam centraal. Onderweg i nde trein heb ik veel geslapen waardoor ik nog best uitruste van die heftige dagen. Mattijhs stond me om 5 uur savonds op te wachten. Hij had al fietsen gekocht en toen ik thuis was en een beetje uitgepakt zijn we naar de stad gefietst. We hebben heerlijk gegeten thuis en zijn vroeg gaan slapen.

Zondag was het prachtig weer 23 graden. We besloten om naar frankrijk te fietsen. Dat is hier 30 kilometer vandaan. Ik kan niet op paier beschrijven hoe mooi de tocht werkelijk was. We reden tussen de boom- en wijngaarden, keken naar het heuvel landschap, dronken vers geperste appelsap, verzamelde walnoten die op de grond waren gevallen, keken uit over het dorp Breisgau, aten taratejs in Frankrijk en snoepte van de druiven terwijl we uitkeken op freiburg. Geweldig dus!!!

Vandaag maandag 1 oktober was mijn ereste dag alleen thuis. I khe bme bezig gehouden met internet en mijn email, gekletst met de buurvrouw en voor het eerst boodschappen gedaan. Alles lijkt on nee IS hier leuker en lekkerder. De tomaten smaken echt naar tomaat en de mensen zijn vriendelijk. Ja dat ga ik wel uithouden een half jaar...

jose