1st day in Charlotte

This morning at 8 o'clock I had to get up unfortunately, because we had to go to school as Assistant Teacher for the so-called 'Open House'. At this event, parents come to the school and are allowed to look at the students' classrooms and get to know the class teacher, basically a parent's evening. But before this Open House, we were warmly welcomed by our German contact person at the school and we first got a small tour of the school building. Of course, each of us was also personally greeted by the principal. The school is so typical American, you could almost think that 'High School Musical' was filmed there. The shiny floor everywhere is striking. Everything is coated with lacquer and there are small lockers for the school in the corridors. I think pictures speak louder than words here. Just have a look for yourself.

I have to say that I am really excited about the faculty. They are all very friendly and take good care of us, making sure that everything runs smoothly. Even our German contact person drove us to lunch and ate with us. I will be teaching in the kindergarten until December, which corresponds to 1st grade in Germany. The two kindergarten teachers work very closely together, so I basically have 2 teachers. Both are very nice and one even drove us to the supermarket after the parent's evening and helped us unload our groceries into the house. This is absolutely atypical for German standards. After work, it was time for some fun :) First, we did a little training session and then my two roommates and I went to the pool, which is 1 minute away from our house.

I have to say, it was really nice with the two of them. And now we're going to have a little game session to finish off.