Who has more to offer?
Today is quite a big day for the Germans, as today will decide the shape of government for the next four years. I like the fact that the Germans vote on a Sunday, which means that most people do not have to stress on their way to work.
Unlike the US two-party system, the Germans have a huge number of parties. There are the ecologically-minded Greens, special interest parties such as the Grey Panthers (senior citizens), the Bible-Abiding Christians, etc., although there are two parties that emerge as the strongest, the relatively conservative-minded Christian Democratic Union or CDU, epitomized at the moment by Angela Merkel, and the SPD, traditionally known as the party of the working man. Although the parties are supposed to hold more or less antithetical views, they governed jointly in a grand coalition over the past four years as neither was able to gain the majority, so that the televised ‘debates’ a few weeks ago led to yawns all around (one US-born political science teacher who shall remain nameless even dozing off between times). But realistically, what choice did the two parties have but to laud themselves for a job well done? The ‘duel’ became a ‘duet,’ fumed the press, and therefore less than compelling to watch.
Running Amok
During my first week at school in Dakar, I had heard an odd noise during a meeting with the school’s director and could not resist looking out the window. The sound turned out to be the bleating of a sheep, and I was amused, as this was not the sort of thing that would ever occur during board meetings in New York. This strange noise and the occasional bit of homework not done were memorable among the ‘challenges’ I faced during my time teaching school in Senegal. The students were bright, articulate, rose to greet their teachers and, more astonishing still, usually (though not always) remembered to clean the board without prompting at the beginning of class.
At my first school meeting in Dortmund, on the other hand, two big topics of discussion were a) the swine flu and b) what to do in case a student went amok. Fears re the latter had intensified because of a recent incident in a quaint city of half-timbered houses near Stuttgart. In the usually peaceful haven of Winnenden, Tim Kretschmer killed fifteen people and then himself on March 11, 2009. He was only seventeen and came from a fairly well-to-do background. Talk about culture shock! Such an occurrence would have been simply unthinkable in my Senegalese school, so I decided to conduct a bit of research on such incidents in Germany.
September 11 in History
It was a shock for me to realize in class today that my present ninth graders were in KINDERGARTEN when the Twin Towers fell. I remember the morning as if it were yesterday – walking from the subway to my workplace on 20th Street, running into my friend Leah on the way, standing still in astonishment and wondering how any pilot could be so daft as to fly into the World Trade Center. I remember Leah telling me in no uncertain terms that we were witnessing a historic event, when the thought had not yet begun to percolate.
I remember the uneasy atmosphere at work, everyone exchanging stories and trying to find a radio station, attempting to call loved ones to make sure they were all right, trying to find some way to grasp what was going on, some logical explanation for what appeared to be inexplicable.
On Making a Difference
When I first opened the door to my new apartment in Dortmund, Germany (I seem to be curiously drawn to places beginning with a ‘D’?!), I was enormously moved to see that my new next door neighbor, Bettina Broekelschen, an artist, had left me two prints of local scenes as a welcoming gift – the kindness of strangers! As I did not yet have a coffee machine, I suggested that as a thank you perhaps I could invite her to a local cafe where we might sit and get properly acquainted sometime.
Today was that day, and what an inspiring story she has to tell! She can read artwork the way other people read books, she explained, and she often uses the medium to understand troubled young people. She spent years working with a nonprofit organization helping local homeless children. She has great empathy for them, for she grew up in the north of Dortmund, which even today is considered quite rough, and managed to get herself kicked out of school not one, not two, not three, but FOUR times! She excelled in sports and in art. This is how she managed to rally all the kids in her class on her side, to the extent that they did a great deal of her schoolwork for her, which is how she muddled through. She always found school and its restrictions too boring to hold her interest and sought various ways to spice things up, generally to the deep and abiding displeasure of the school’s leadership.
D is for Dortmund
Leaving Dakar for Dortmund was slightly scary in more ways than one. Though I had a firm job offer to teach at a German high school, no contract had yet been signed. On the strength of what amounted to little more than a solemn promise, I had bought a plane ticket and put down a month’s rent on a furnished apartment I had located on the internet but not actually seen. I was really quite petrified, but I argued to myself this way: the rainy season was coming to Dakar, so I could deal with the electricity cuts, the sweltering days and the ever-determined mosquitoes or take my chances, head to Europe, visit friends and family and see what happened.
I had not actually been overly eager to come to Dortmund, located in
North Rhine Westphalia, Germany’s most populous state. The region in
general is affectionately, if also somewhat pejoratively, referred to
as the “Ruhrpott,” a reference to the region’s thriving coal mining
industry. The auto industry was also a huge one here, with Opel
headquartered in nearby Bochum, so in my imagination I saw a huge
metropolis characterized by blackened buildings and smokestacks, huge
commercial centers and buildings and very little charm. Thankfully,
that has not turned out to be the case – I live in what is called the
“Kreuzviertel,” right near Dortmund’s TU, or technical university. The
neighborhood is full of pleasant cafes and restaurants, immaculately
clean, tree-lined streets, and quaint buildings so that I am reminded
a bit of the brownstones I used to enjoy so much as I would wander
around Brooklyn Heights after a walk across the Bridge.
