See Ya Lederhosen
Guten Tag!
As many of you might be aware, we are moving to Germany. After being questioned by so many people if we are going to have a blog while abroad, we caved! This is an amazing experience that we are excited to spend together and are happy that you want to follow along with us. On this blog, we will do our best to post updates, but our priority will be enjoying our time abroad and making the most of every opportunity.
Getting to this point has been difficult. The application process started in October, and confirmation was not completely given to us until last month. We will begin our journey on September 4th! SO close.
How we acquired this opportunity was through a multinational program that sends University graduates abroad to do research, journalism, teach English, and much more. I was able to receive the grant for teaching English as a foreign language! A couple of circumstances that I am nervous for are being able to communicate well in German, and teaching effectively. We have been placed in a German state that has a thick dialect that I am not very familiar with. With that being said, I have a degree in German, however, I still have a lot of work to do. I am hoping that being there will allow me to learn a lot more about the language and culture, and I am comforted to know that I have a solid background in my German education. As far as the teaching part, well I am sure you can understand the nerves of just wanting to be an effective and engaging teacher.
While this is an amazing opportunity and I hope to get a lot out of it, this trip is not about me. My time spent in Germany is for me to represent the United States as a teaching assistant. The purpose is for me to be engaging in cultural exchange. In these posts I intend to write about not only what I learn, but what I am teaching, and what challenges I might face. This puts me in a unique place, as when most go abroad it is about what those travels provided and taught you, and not what you were able to provide to others you encountered.
Being able to communicate cross-culturally is crucially important, and the program I am working with emphasizes that very much. By travelling and encountering those from around the world, we are able to look outside of our own life experiences, something that is very difficult to do but is unquestionably eye-opening. I hope that I might be able to do just that, and learn new perspectives of our world, as well as provide them to my colleagues and students.
Like I have mentioned before, this has not been an easy process, and there are still many things to be done. There will be more paperwork, applying for visas, opening a bank account and finding an apartment once we get there. As we embark on this journey together as a newly married couple, we ask that you might take a moment or two to pray for us. We definitely are facing some fear and anxiety, but nonetheless feel extremely blessed with this opportunity and cannot wait to get started on our new adventures!
Tschüss!
-Johnna Lasswell