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A new High School in the ‘Hood'<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
?? In 2002 a new high school opened up in my city where ‘German' was going to be taught as foreign language. This was somehow a novelty since most schools only offered english. It was a ‘german high school' partially financed<\/a> by the Federal Republic of Germany. Soon some student would go there, from my high school and from other ones as well, to study there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? En el a\u00f1o 2002 se inaugur\u00f3 en mi ciudad un colegio donde se ense\u00f1ar\u00eda alem\u00e1n en sus clases de idioma extranjero. Esto era de alguna manera una novedad pues la mayor\u00eda de colegios s\u00f3lo ofrec\u00edan ingl\u00e9s. Era un ‘colegio alem\u00e1n' financiado parcialmente<\/a> por la Rep\u00fablica Federal de Alemania. Pronto algunos estudiantes ir\u00edan, de mi colegio y de otros m\u00e1s, a estudiar ah\u00ed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? As an interesting fact, they offered a “short exchange” of a few weeks in Germany. They were received by german families y asisted to a high school with classmate of their age. Likewise, these students receive in their home later on to germans teenagers for about the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? Como dato interesante, ofrec\u00edan un “intercambio ef\u00edmero” de unas pocas semanas a Alemania. Ellos era recibidos por familias alemanas y asist\u00edan a un colegio con compa\u00f1eros de su edad. A su vez, estos estudiantes recib\u00edan posteriormente en sus casas a adolescentes de Alemania durante el mismo tiempo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? I was fascinated about this short trip. I thought like a temporal unplug from what you know. Above all, nobody knew you in this place and you could make new friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? Qued\u00e9 fascinado por este corto intercambio. Me lo imaginaba como desconectarse temporalmente de lo que conoces. Lo m\u00e1s importante, nadie te conoc\u00eda en ese lugar y pod\u00edas hacer nuevos amigos. <\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? You would learn new traditions and customs; some of them you would never understand. I found out about a german festival called ‘Oktoberfest<\/a>‘ celebrated in autumn of the northern hemisphere. There are lots of beer, preztels and other german foods; all very traditional and very appealing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? Aprender\u00edas de nuevas tradiciones y costumbres; algunas tal vez nunca las enteder\u00e1s. Ah\u00ed me enter\u00e9 de una fiesta alemana llamada ‘Oktoberfest<\/a>‘ celebrada en oto\u00f1o del hemisferio norte. Hay mucha cerveza, pretzels y otras comidas alemanas; todo muy tradicional y todo muy apetecible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? I was wondering how it would be such experience and I knew people that had it already. Many of the testimonials were positive and few had interesting stories. Some were clearly exaggerated and false. As my people say, there are \u201cChendo-adventures\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? Me preguntaba c\u00f3mo ser\u00eda esa experiencia y conoc\u00eda unas personas que la hab\u00edan tenido. La mayor\u00eda de testimonios era positivos y unos pocos ten\u00edan relatos interesantes. Algunos eran claramente exagerados y falsos. Como dice mi gente, son \u201cChendo-aventuras\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? I ended up meeting some germans who came. Some were friendly, bearing in mind the cultural barrier it represented. We talked in english or in spanish; neither both were fluent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? Llegu\u00e9 a conocer algunos alemanes que vinieron. Algunos eran simp\u00e1ticos dentro de lo que la barrera cultural me lo permiti\u00f3. Habl\u00e1bamos o en ingl\u00e9s o en espa\u00f1ol; en ning\u00fan caso muy fluido.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? German girls were pretty, very pretty. Two friends from Ecuador, Truyek and Symos, told me that in class (in Germany) the 90% of their female classmates were super hot; as it were a class for models. Nevertheless, there were some considerable exceptions. I can still not forget some of their faces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? Las chicas alemanas eran bonitas, muy bonitas. Dos amigos de Ecuador, Truyek y Symos, me contaron que en clase (en Alemania) el 90% de sus compa\u00f1eras eran super guapas; como si fuera una clase para modelos. Sin embargo, conoc\u00ed tambi\u00e9n severas excepciones a la regla. Todav\u00eda no me puedo olvidar la cara de algunas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? But I also met germans that came to Ecuador with the mentality \u201ccharity for the third world\u201d. They believed that if they were talking with South Americans, they were making us \u201ca favor\u201d. Beyond this point of course, I had no further interest in having a conversation with them. How would I know that in Germany they were not going to be like this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? Pero tambi\u00e9n conoc\u00ed a alemanes que vinieron a Ecuador con mentalidad de “caridad al tercer mundo”. Cre\u00edan que si hablaban con sudamericanos, nos estaban haciendo \u201cun favor”. Llegado a este punto por supuesto, ya no ten\u00eda m\u00e1s inter\u00e9s de tratar con ellos. \u00bfC\u00f3mo sabr\u00eda yo que en Alemania ser\u00edan todos as\u00ed o no?<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? 2 friends also had to answer commonly stupid questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? 2 amigos tambi\u00e9n tuvieron que responder preguntas com\u00fanmente est\u00fapidas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? I understand that if you watch a soccer match, like it was in the World Cup in Germany 2006<\/a>, they would see that most of the team are mulattos and black people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? Entiendo que si ven un partido de f\u00fatbol, como lo fue en la copa mundial Alemania 2006<\/a>, ver\u00e1n que la selecci\u00f3n de Ecuador estar\u00e1 en su mayor\u00eda conformada por negros o mulatos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? Another friend had a similar experience. During his first day of exchange, his family (well intentioned) began to teach him how to use the telephone or TV. When I heard this story, I was thinking in my head: Really?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? A otro amigo le pas\u00f3 algo similar. Durante su primer d\u00eda de intercambio, su familia (bien intencionada) quiso ense\u00f1arle a utilizar el tel\u00e9fono y la televisi\u00f3n. Cuando escuch\u00e9 esta historia, pensaba en mi cabeza: \u00bfEn serio?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? And it gets worse. A friens had to runaway from a neonazi<\/a> que chased him for many blocks. Apparently, due his brown skin. Germany wasn\u2019t exempted from social issues, as I realized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? Y se pone peor. Un amigo tuvo que huir de un neonazi<\/a> que le persigui\u00f3 durante varias cuadras. Aparentemente, debido a su color de piel morena. Alemania no estaba exenta de problemas sociales, como me daba cuenta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? Previously, I had a handful influences from the german culture. My first dog was called \u2018Kaiser\u2019 because my grandfather wanted to call him so. He also learned german after he retiring. My brother and sister-in-law also went to germany a few years ago. Even worse, the last name of my first girlfriend is \u2018German\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? Previamente, ya hab\u00eda tenido unas pocas influencias de la cultura alemana. Mi primer perro se llam\u00f3 \u2018Kaiser\u2019 porque mi abuelo quiso llamarlo as\u00ed. \u00c9l tambi\u00e9n hab\u00eda decidido aprender alem\u00e1n despu\u00e9s de jubilarse. Mi hermano y mi cu\u00f1ada se fueron de intercambio a Alemania unos a\u00f1os antes que yo. Para el colmo, el apellido de mi primera novia es \u2018Alem\u00e1n\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? I was told that there is around 4000 brands of beer, in Germany alone. I don\u2019t have any proof about this fact but it sticked in my mind before I went to Germany and when I came back… I still thought I didn\u2019t taste them all!<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? Me contaron tambi\u00e9n que en Alemania, hay aproximadamente 4000 marcas de cerveza, solamente en Alemania. No tengo ninguna prueba de eso sea cierto pero qued\u00f3 grabado en mi mente antes de ir a Alemania y cuando regres\u00e9… \u00a1sent\u00ed que no las hab\u00eda probado todas!<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? In Ecuador, we didn\u2019t have good beer at that time and there wasn\u2019t many options. Therefore, I didn\u2019t developed an exceptional desire for beer. But things were about to change…<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? En Ecuador, no ten\u00edamos en ese entonces buena cerveza y no hab\u00edan muchas opciones. Por lo tanto, no hab\u00eda desarrollado un gusto excepcional por \u00e9stas. Pero las cosas estaban por cambiar….<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? In the next chapter I'll write about my experience learning german. I almost gave up but I don't regret a single day. Why Germany? Because I earned this rewarding language that helps get along with the germanic tribes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n ?? En el pr\u00f3ximo cap\u00edtulo escribir\u00e9 sobre mi experiencia aprendiendo alem\u00e1n. Casi tiro la toalla pero no me arrepiento ni una sola vez. \u00bfPor qu\u00e9 Alemania? \u00a1Porque gan\u00e9 este gratificante idioma que me ayuda a llevarme con las tribus germ\u00e1nicas!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Click on the following link to browse likewise content in the blog<\/a> in voyageLlama. This index<\/a> will help you see what you are looking for in a bird's eye view.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhy Germany as Exchange?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Intriguing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Stories that (pre)shaped my thinking on why Germany<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Good Stories<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Bad Stories, as well<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Technology Teaching<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Other influences<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Beer of Germany<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Next Chapter! How was it learning?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
voyageLlama's Index of Content<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Keep Reading!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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