Ice Skating with 4th Graders...

So on the first day of our orientation in Deutschlandsberg, a woman named Heidi informs us that she is in charge of the Teaching Internships at IES Vienna. Now, I had never heard of such thing because I apparently didn't read any of my incoming packets from the program (which can be proven by the fact that I turned in nearly every form in late), but this woman gave such a great pitch about her program, promising to be sure to get us out of our comfort zones, that I figured I would interview, and see if I had a chance. Two weeks ago, I finally heard back, and I did indeed get the internship. Seeing as I have no teaching experience in a school setting (I'm not sure the North Woods counts) and cannot speak German, I was/still am a little nervous. Last week, I was introduced to the teacher I will be working with, Ursi--short for Ursula. She teaches computer classes and the 4th grade at the Lutherschule---a private Lutheran school, attached to the church. Ursi was very insistent that the kids, and herself, are so excited to have me, and that the really find it a privilege to have a native English speaker in the classroom.
Today was my first real day of the internship, though I'm not sure I can call it ''teaching'' because I went ice skating for 2 hours! Pretty much the only teaching I felt like I did was showing a few girls how to skate backwards and teach all the crazy ten-year-old boys that they were throwing ''snowballs''--which the promptly learned and would call out Christy! so I would turn around and they would say snowball! and throw it at me. I will just go ahead and take this as a sign of affection. I also received many hugs and 'Hello's' and 'My name is some crazy Austrian name I don't understand'. I had a really great time, the kids are so sweet and eager to learn new words and find out about me ('What do you love color?'). One little girl named Jessie (I think) even gave me her pink fuzzy hat with devil horns to wear so I wouldn't get snow in my hair--she had an extra hat, so it was okay.
The biggest difference I've noticed in their school system so far is that these kids stay together throughout all of their pre-university schooling, meaning that these kids have already been in the same class with each other for the last 5 years. This makes them all very close, and they all seem to be friends with everyone else--no one gets excluded and they are always willing to help each other out. You can just tell, even after spending a few hours with them, that there is bond among these kids that I never felt in grade school.
I'm glad I decided to do this internship--I am still a little nervous about it, because I am unsure of what to expect, but Ursi is so hopeful and is giving me lots of tidbits about being a teacher. I'm not sure when I started feeling this, but I've recently felt that teaching could be something I might be very interested in, so I think that this semester will prove very helpful in me deciding just what it is I want to be when I grow up. Banker? Teacher? Austrian ski bum? The next Ben Bernanke according to JJ...