德国没有令人汗流浃背的艳阳

德国没有令人汗流浃背的艳阳 2007年暑假，讀完“在另一個世界撿到自己“一書，初識已有60年歷史的國際交換志工組織ICYE－ International Cultural Youth Exchange。十月，毅然決然填完中英兩份報名表參與初步甄選，三個月後參加英 文面試。2008年四月得知自己得以前往我的第一志願國，或唯一志願國－德國，內心百感交集，興奮期待 之情往往抵不住對未來陌生無知的焦慮。 決定出走，並非偶然，而是一個新目標的實踐，一個視野拓展、自我學習與精神充電的機會。面臨的 不是以往熟悉的中英文，反而是德文'，一個擁有瘋狂文法，動詞變化外加名詞區分成陰、中、陽三性別的 語言。 選擇到德國除了希望增進自己的德語能力，最主要的原因是藉此機會了解德國生活文化，教育（華得 福教育），有機農業，環保，貿易，建築及科技。又德國為世界第一大商品出口國，許多國際展覽皆在此展 出，期待有機會得以一睹國際大展之風采。 我大一修習過幼兒教育哲學，對於Rudolf Steiner創始的人智學-Anthroposophy以及依其理論為基礎所創 立的華得福教育深感興趣，進而向ICYE爭取至德國境內212所華得福學校其中之任一所從事志工工作，最終有幸如願以償。確定工作單位後，繼而要自己辦理休學手續、購買機票、健康檢查、申請良民證與辦理 VISA、物品裝箱海運以及行李打包。此外，為了要介紹台灣，還特別到行政院新聞局以及青輔會拿德、英 文版的台灣簡介，以分送給其他國際交換志工和德國人。 ICJA(ICYE in Germany) 工作projects主要分為教育類（幼稚園，青年課後活動中心與特教學校），照護 類（孤兒院，身心殘障照護或老人療養中心），公平交易（fair trade）與公益商店管理，農牧場與海港服務工作。All we need to do is to specify our wishes so that the host country will do there best to fulfill it. 出發至接待國後的第一週必須與其他各國交換志工一同受訓，上語言課(3 days)。At the Orientation camp, all the participants recieve a 50% Bahncard(50% discount railway card) from ICJA and will be able to pay only half price 12 to buy railway tickets. 培訓結束後再各別前往工作單位。(ICJA bought the train tickets for us for the journey to go to our Gast families or work projects.) 工作單位會安排志工吃住，每月配給定額零用金。住宿方面依不同工作單位安排而有差異。有的志工 獨自一人居住WG(公寓內有個別房間，共享客廳、廚房和浴室)，有的跟我一樣住寄宿家庭, there are also exchangees live with other exchangees in the same house。 我的工作單位－Johannes Schule 是以華德福教育經營的特殊教育學校。其位於西德中北部一個名為 Evinshausen 的小村鎮。四周自然森林公園環繞，若大的馬場與玉米田近在咫尺。兩百公尺外為另一所普通 華德福綜合學校－包含幼稚園、小學、中學、校園書店與咖啡廳。 我所服務的特教學校共十二個年級，一年級一班，採混齡制。每班學生八到十二位不等，各班皆有兩 位老師。我的班是二年級，學生年齡五到八歲不等，共十二位。班上除了兩位老師與我，尚有一位替代役。 每天六點半起床，七點半跟我同住的老師會開車和我一起到學校，車程約十五分鐘。八點到學校先幫 班上的小孩準備點心時間吃的Müsli(綜合麥片)加優格。早上全校一起朝會，除了照顧班上的小孩，有時必 須負責彈鋼琴。平常在班上要協助老師照顧學生 , teach English. 學生包括學習發展遲緩的兒童或過動兒，也有學生無發展障礙卻來自孤兒院或單親家庭。無論是室內或戶外遊戲時間，授課時間以及校外教學，我都 必須時時刻刻眼觀四面，耳聽八方。 低年級固定12點半放學，我一點會與高年級學生共進午餐。兩點參與一小時高年級課後活動課程，包 括木工、焊接、蜂蠟製作、毛線編織、竹籃編織、種菜植花、舞蹈運動等等，三點下班。每週四固定下班 後與老師開會，討論學生課堂與遊戲時的行為、情緒反應與學習狀況。有時會和醫生或音樂、美術、舞蹈 治療老師開會討論課堂教學及輔助方法。 我住在學校鄰近的小城鎮Bramshe－一個隨處可見蘋果樹，十月可隨地撿蘋果的小鎮；一個退休族勢利 龐大，鮮少壯年人口的小鎮；一個用雙腳步行十五分鐘便可到達市中心與火車站的小鎮；一個只需花一小 時就可以把市中心完全瀏覽的小鎮；一個走在街上看不到其他亞洲人的小鎮。 目前寄住在一位53歲的女老師－Gertrud Ebker家，其兒子目前在Stuttgart讀大學，家中尚有一隻十六歲的狗作伴。每天早、中、晚無論晴雨霜雪，我都會固定溜狗。下午放學後會獨自到家裡附近的森林或是小 河田野間慢跑，有時會順著小鎮的鐵道邊閒逛，看著來往奔馳的火車，亦或至麻雀雖小，五臟俱全的圖書 館看書。 晚間多半是自修德文的時間，最常啃的是又硬又難吃的德漢大字典，其他尚有德文課本，文法書以及 德文童書。週末則常和 Gertrud一同靜坐冥想，做瑜珈，做家事，烤點心，煮飯以及自修閱讀。 13 十月開始常下雨，每到隔天，廣闊的草原上會瀰漫著深白色濃霧。十一月下起第一場雪，讓我意識到 自己應多準備幾件貼身羊毛衣與毛襪。德國沒有令人汗流浹背的豔陽，而是足以讓皮膚龜裂脫皮的寒風。 普通乳液可謂無用武之地，到頭來直接改用德國出產的按摩油，跟我同住的老師更直接放置橄欖油於浴室。 It has snowed a lot since November. In Feb., it snowed nearly everyday when I was in Schwarzwald(Black forest) The temperature is around -5? to 4? in Winter, it’s a lot colder in Schwarzwald region. It could also snow in April!!! 德語是我每天從早到晚不間斷聽與說的溝通媒介，在Bremsche小鎮鮮少人能與我用英文溝通。無論是在家或是在學校，我都必須努力聽德文，大膽說德文。剛開始很難適應這種全天的語言轉換，然而這反倒 是我德語進步的關鍵。學校有兩位美國籍與一位芬蘭籍老師可以與我用流利的英語溝通，而我仍要求他們 跟我說德語。只有在我嚴重感受到鴨子聽雷時才會請他們翻譯成英文。自己更買了一本手掌大小的德英、 英德字典至於背袋中，以備隨時查閱畫記。 少了電視與網路的生活，讓我有多點時間出外散步，唸書，靜坐冥想，甚至坐在窗前賞樹草花鳥。聆 聽蟲鳴鳥叫，或風聲、雨聲、下雪聲。不過，網路對我而言實在太重要了！由於自己喜愛四處旅行，必須 時常透由網路預定便宜的車票機票，搜尋旅遊資訊以及博物館開放時間與簡介等等。十二月初，我與寄宿 家庭媽媽討論後，她決定更換電話公司，我再自己加買伺服器(50 Euro)並安裝連接，十二月底家中的無線網路終於可正式啟用。 大部分德國人一天之中只吃一餐熱食，其多半為午餐。早晚餐是德國傳統麵包加茶或咖啡，早餐有時 是 Müsli (麥片)，晚餐有時則是濃湯配麵包。剛開始自己並不適應，冬天時更想於晚上吃些熱食暖身。在我 與寄宿家庭媽媽討論過後，她同意我可以自己煮。有時我會多煮些讓她順道嚐嚐。兩人同住的家庭雖小， 但是卻很自由便利，充滿歡樂。 I was very sick in Feburary. I caught a cold first and then got conjunctivitis on the next day. It was only happened to one of my eyes, and the other eye was also infected quickly afterwards. I couldn’t able to go to school for more than one week and went to a doctor in the end. My host mom took me to see a doctor and got the prescription. We then went to a pharmacy to buy my medicine. It was about 20 ? to see the doctor and 10 ? to buy my medicine. I simply filled out a form of travel insurance and enclosed the needed documents so I would be able to get my money back from the insurance company. It wasn’t so difficult as what I’ve thought before. 14 I’m fond of traveling around. I always try to search for cheap ways to travel. There are various ways of saving money. You just have to plan your travel and book your tickets in advance. I’ve already been to Amsterdam, Berlin, Postdam, Schwarzwald region, Freiburg, Bremen, Bremenhaven, Bestwig, Kassel, Basel and Frankfurt. I normally buy my plane tickets through Ryanair, it’s highly recommended by my German friends. People can also buy cheap tickets through AirBerlin if they book it very early. About the train tickets, people can buy weekend tickets or special price tickets. Berlin Linien Bus also offers good long-distance travel with reasonable price. Mitfahrgelegenheit is also very popular in Germany. People can travel with someone by Auto and share the petrol costs. The normal youth hotel in Germany costs about 20-25 ? per person per night. By Couchsurfing or Hospitality Club on internet, people search for free overnight staying. I’ve used the Couchsurfing once when I traveled in Freiburg. I lived with a girl at one uni-dorm. It was a great chance to meet new people, learn the local culture and the most important of all, it’s free! ICJA holds loads of Seminars for Germans who are going to be exchanged to other countries. I just happened to have the chance to join the training for being a facilitator which held by ICJA and enable to take part in seminars. It’s about 6 people in a team to organize a 50-person seminar. I work with other teamers and organize everything. We normally have to decorate the seminar rooms, design programs, intercultural learning activities and games that are going to be run in the seminar. It’s normally a great fun to meet German people and also share your own experiences with them. I got loads of new ideas from running seminars and learn new games and activities. I can also take the advantage of participating seminars to travel around in the nearby city. I think the most important factors of having a fruitful exchange year is to try one’s very best to learn the language, the culture and the people. Try to be open-minded and set one’s stereotype aside. I have experienced the difficult time at the very first beginning because of the limited knowledge of language and also the misunderstanding from people. I finally conquered the fear of talking German and also trying new things by facing everything optimistically and sharing my feelings and my thoughts with my host mom and my co-workers. Learning by doing, speaking, chatting, listening, discussing, traveling and thinking. I appreciate that I have this year to put what I’ve learned into practice, discover new ideas and knowledge! 15