Octoberfest in Huntington Beach and Other Events
The first two weeks of the second month were marked by many school and extracurricular events. For the upcoming Oktoberfest, I rehearsed the national anthem with the classes to sing along with the band. Oktoberfest was held in Huntington Beach, in a part of town called Old World. There is a beer tent there and many different German stores. Walking through the pedestrian area of the Old World, I was able to find many German impressions. For the main part of Oktoberfest, we then sat down in the tent, which had a homey atmosphere for me due to the traditional music and German food. After sitting comfortably together, we ended up singing the national anthem of Germany and then the national anthem of the United States.
At the same time, the teachers prepared the students for the upcoming Clean-Up Day and covered the topic of the environment. Clean-Up Day was brought about by the Pasch Initiative and involves German schools worldwide. On Saturday, we met with some of the students and cleaned up the beach area at the Newport Beach Pier. Despite the beach looking clean at first glance, we found and documented quite a bit of trash.
Besides the school events, at the same time, there were the ISA World Surfing Games, which were held at Huntington Beach. These championships included the title of ISA champion, the Aloha Cup, and the first part of the pre-qualification for the Olympics in surfing. Surfers from all corners of the world were present, introduced by a parade on the first day of the event.
Besides the many events, we worked on new cooking recipes with the children at school, such as the traditional German spaetzle, or the traditional French crêpe. But also in German and Spanish, the students now feel more confident in greeting each other in their respective languages and speaking to each other. Through games and lots of fun, the children are constantly motivated and encouraged to understand and learn the languages, as well as baking and cooking.
