In Deutschland: Warum Nicht?

Hort (Translation: After School Care Club, Refuge, or Shelter)

So after my day off I obtained a volunteer position through my boss type people at this thing called a Hort. Hort is like day care during the school breaks, and it is a really fun place to work. My first day we flew kites in a field nearby; it reminded me of my last few days in Louisville, when me and Pete (one of our many guests at the Convent) randomly decided to make a kite after catching a snippet of Mary Poppins. It was a good kite, and had a button warning everyone that it did, in fact, collect souls. It was a black kite, made from a garbage bag and some of Katie’s dowel rods, she wasn’t too happy about that. We decorated it with a piece of a bag of Tortilla chips that said Fiesta or something in Spanish. Then we took it to the skies and got a pretty good flight time. I figured after making old Darth Fiesta (we named the kite something like that) fly, a proper kite would be no problem, even without much wind. It seems, however, that our kite design was somewhat superior to some of the cheaper store bought kites, so, Pete, if you’re reading, Kudos to us and Darth Fiesta (or whatever his/her/it’s name was). After a bit I was able to make most of the kids kites fly, as long as that got a running start that didn’t stop. After successfully helping one of the more impossible kites fly I was sought out as the kite master. This was cool, because I felt pretty popular and intelligent, but it also meant that every kid came and asked me to help them with their kite, and that worked at to someone asking me at least once every 15 seconds. After the kites got boring we went to a playground, where the kids decided to attack and jump on me. That went on for a long while.

Then I rode my bike home. Yea, I rode my bike to work, which wasn’t really far away, only 5 Km or so. After the hort that day we were supposed to have an English lesson at this internet café in Nidergörsdorf. Gary had a meeting in Berlin, so I went solo, and on my bike. I ended up getting there late because on the way the chain on the bike fell of and it took about 15 minutes to get back on. It didn’t end up mattering too much because no one was there when I arrived, so I knocked on the door of the café and a woman answered with a look that told me I wasn’t expected. She only spoke German, so I did my best to explain the reason I was there. She told me she didn’t know anything about that, but checked with the other lady that was there, then called the lady that is usually there when Gary and I are and came back saying ‘Yea, you’re supposed to be here, but the kids aren’t’. Then she gave me some Powerade and I waited. An hour later it was time for the sport in the gym. Three kids came, but neither of the two adults that usually help us showed up. So I was alone, and we played in the gym for 2 hours. It was confusing and weird but I got through it. Then I rode my bike home.

The next day at Hort we went to Jüterbog where I held the kids hand while we crossed the street and other supervisory type things. I got a free lunch out of the deal. The best thing about the Hort is that the kids are from the school, so I get a chance to spend time with them where I’m not a teacher. Because they know me, they trust me. It’s fun to get to play with kids that I usually teach, even though the teaching is mostly playing games anyway. It is still different. And it’s a lot more fun than having any real responsibilities, at least for a while.

posted by Keith @ 3:22 PM