Ever heard about the Ruhrtriennale? It’s a famous annual music and arts festival in the Ruhr area. The venues are sites of industrial heritage, e.g. the famous Jahrhunderhalle in Bochum. The program never really attracted me: ever it was too hard to get tickets or it wasn’t something I wanted to see. Due to some circumstances I am going to see some things. By accidents all of them will be at the Jahrhunderthalle.
I chose serveral things which would suite even people who are not easy with German language or don’t speak German at all. (Besides ‘The Tin Drum’ adpated as a stage play.) For example, the Triennale offers a variety of concerts. I chose to see and hear “Love’s Deep Ocean” which the program book of Ruhrtriennale describes as follows:
Whenever he appears on a concert stage the experts agree: Alim Qasimov, in the words of New York Times after a recent appearance at the invitation of the Kronos Quartet at Carnegie Hall, »is simply one of the greatest singers alive. His voice makes each line a revelation«.
If the New York Times writes about it, it should probably be enjoyable without knowledge of German language.
But for now we have to live with his “The Genglish Diary“. It is also written by his German sweetheart. The author is going to move to .. (the Ruhr area?) in September. The project of the diary – a blog – is about intercultural experiences. Yes, I know what they are talking of. Pam and I have the same experiences. Especially interesting are those little things which are considered to be same but just aren’t.
Some examples:
I will try to follow the diary of Anja and Ali.
Pam – my wife – said “Jackpot?!?“ to me, when I found that page. I first found a list of English groups, theaters, institutions and doctors on www.foodfromhome.de, second I found the page of ‘The Social Club’ in Mülheim an der Ruhr which offers more interesting links. The rest of this article will cover ‘The Social Club‘.
On Februar 12th i wrote about a supermarket on wheels called ‘food from home‘. On Saturday, 13th of June 2009 my wife and me finally visited its stop at the theater of the musical Starlight Express in Bochum. Well, it’s more a van than a lorry. We only bought Kraft’s Maccaroni with cheese (without any cheese in it) and a packet of baking soda. Later we found out that we could have used ‘Kaiser Natron’ which is available at pharmacies. Anyway, I produced a small video of one minute length about the supermarket on wheels with British-American food.
Right now I am working on several videos to be released soon but this is the first one ever published on youtube.
My wife and I heard about it form another American women in Bochum: There is a mobile market (a lorry) that comes to Bochum frequently which offers food and some other stuff from the USA and the UK. Talking about it again, I was told about an website of that guy. It’s www.foodfromhome.de.
I had a short look at the page and here is my summarize: You can get all the stuff via mail order or from the mobile store which travels through North Rhine-Westphalia and parts of Holland (the Netherlands). The website contains a list with place where the mobile store with about 250 different items (out of more thatn 1,500 available) stops.
In Ruhr there are stops in Bochum (2nd Saturday in month, 13.15 – 13.45h at Starlight Express), Bottrop (2nd Saturday in month, 17.00 – 17.30h at carpark Osterfelder Straße/Hans-Böckler-Straße), Dortmund (2nd Saturday in month Rheinische Straße / Langestraße, 14.20 – 14.40h) and Duisburg (International School St. Georges School), 2nd Tuesday, 1st and 3rd Friday in month, 15.00 – 16.00, Birkenstraße 15, Tuesday at Kranichstraße 21), Essen (2nd Tuesday, 18.00 – 18.30h, ica halle Am Westbahnhof and 2nd Saturday in month, carpark at Barbarossa Platz), Gelsenkirchen (2nd Saturday, 12.30 – 12.50h, Ringstraße 75-80), Hamm (3rd (!) Saturday, 17.00 – 17.20h, Carl-Goerdeler-Straße 3) and Recklinghausen (2nd Saturday, 15.20 – 15.40h, carpark at Kemnastraße / Hertenerstraße).
You can get English magazines there, too. I’ll hopefull try it in May.
Today I had a first look at the information folder of the International School in Bochum. I thought it is a branch of the International School in Heiligenhaus. This is sort of right. The website of the Bochum one is a copy of the Heiligenhaus one. The CEO is the same at both schools: Dr. Ursula Mock. I think there will be some sort of cooperation but I also realize that the Bochum School is an own company. Surely, this has several advantages like reduction the risk if the project in Bochum or in Heiligenhaus gets in trouble it wouldn’t effect the other one.
A look into the folder showed some differences to the Carolinen-Schule which I had expected. The International School Bochum chose the way of an additional school (Ergänzungschule). In the end, the school will offer a way to fullfill the German compulsory school attendance. Note, that Germany knows compulsory school attendance, not compulsory education. Therefore the school has to be officially recognized as a school where this duty can be fullfilled. Another option would be to set up a private substitute school (Ersatzschule). This would go along with the duty to take over more form public schooling but also receiving financial assistant from the state.
The International School doesn’t. As a result the fees have to be higher to pay all bills for teachers, building and staff. The academic year is split into three terms with four months each. Fees have to be paid for each term, starting from € 2.900 in first grade to € 3.700 in tenth grade. Nursery is cheaper. There is an additional administration fee of € 150 per term, an appilcation fee of € 500 and a non refundable one time registration fee of € 3.000.
Remarkable is the following: Chinese starts from first grade, Latin is offered additionally and further languages can be chosen from fifth grade. Thirty percent of the lessons shall be held in German, the rest in English. The curriculum shall contain the curriculum of North Rhine-Westphalia for German, the British National Curriculum and part of the programme of the IBO. The school aims to certify at the IBO to grant the IB-Diploma (International Baccalaureate). There is a school uniform. Breakfast and lunch are offered at school.
Further information and probably an own information folder can be found at:
www.internationalschoolbochum.com
www.schoolbochum.com
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