Today in Germany: German as a Foreign Language Reading Practice

Author: (German) Dorothea Nelke
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-12-01
Features: At half past six, the disciplinary headmaster called us awake. The St. Valentine's School is located on the cathedral square in Passau, where students from different countries live. I was the only Thai child living alone in Germany. Actually, it's only allowed from the age of 16, but my parents obtained a special permit. Because I came here for the violin. The headmaster of the Menüin School in Switzerland had been to Bangkok and thought I had talent. Since Thailand doesn't have violin classes like here, nor does it have a music high school, I am now studying at the "Sister Maria Wald" Music High School in Passau. It is a very beautiful and old school built on a mountain. Later, I will study at Menüin School. Three years ago, I came here. I didn't know a single word of German, which didn't matter to me at all. I found everything very interesting. I am always curious and want to have adventures, so I often flip through the atlas. Of course, I don't have time for these in the morning. Because at 6:50, I must go to morning prayers. Everything is very tight. Because sometimes my schoolbag isn't even packed yet, and the headmaster comes to ask questions. At exactly 7:00, it's breakfast. Before 7:30, I have to go to school. We can take the bus up the mountain, but I walk because the way to school is very beautiful. That was still early, when I was only 1.3 meters tall, there was a fierce storm once, and I almost got swept into the Danube River from the Schanzel Bridge. Monday's class is math. Our math teacher plays the organ in a church in the Bavarian Forest. I don't like Latin very much. Our Latin teacher, Dr. Orff, speaks Latin just like a normal person speaks German. Music is a major here. But all the theoretical stuff is unbearable, I hate the harmonic triads and those performance endings; they are very similar to grammar. I would rather take geography and history classes. In Thailand, school classes go until 4:00 PM. Then there's homework. But this doesn't mean you are educated, it just means you are always busy. If you do something wrong, you get beaten, one strike for each mistake. On the way home from school, I have to walk very fast. Because at 1:00 PM, there is lunch in the student dormitory. I love roast duck and dumplings, or egg noodles. No one calls me Maga Fon. Everyone calls me "Dom." "Dom" means "big bell tower" in Thai. Every afternoon, I have violin lessons or orchestra activities; German tutoring twice a week; one day, I have piano lessons with the headmaster. From 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM is study time, then I have half an hour of rest. From 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM, I play the violin. I practice every day. Many people think you must spend a very long time practicing. But a musician has a sense of it; if he feels that the music is perfect now, then the practice is over. There are also some Thai families in Passau, and I sometimes visit them: not because I miss home, but because I can eat a lot there. At first, I thought German food was very small in portion. But now I'm used to it. I often talk to the Virgin Mary