"Herr Dalton, I have a proposition for you." I turned to see Herr Becker, one of the English teachers approaching me. We were in the staff room of the German Grammar School where I was a Language Assistant, basically I was a student of German at the University of London spending the third year of my four year course abroad. I could have elected to go to a German University for a year, but had opted to go to a German school instead.
It was a different life to that of a student, actually being in a proper workplace, and I was quite enjoying it. True, my workload, which consisted of taking English Conversation classes for a variety of age groups wasn't exactly onerous, but some of the kids themselves were. Despite the perceived reputation of German schools the truth could be a long way from it. By way of example, one notorious class had forced the teacher to lock them in with her, then had injected super glue into the lock so no-one could get out or in.
Notwithstanding, I hadn't experienced any such problems, getting on well with most of the pupils and in particular those in their final year. After all, I was only twenty-one and some of them were already nineteen, so very much of an age. One group in particular had had taken me under their wing, inviting me to go ice-skating with them, playing skittles, a very traditional German pub game akin to 10 pin bowling, and even on one occasion to the opera.
"It is customary for a class to go to the Eifel Mountains to a hostel that the town owns and runs, as a treat. This year it is my class and I wondered if you'd like to come? It is for a whole week and we do various outdoor activities, walking etc. as well as a small amount of school work. Naturally there will be female teachers as well to look after the girls." He mentioned two names, a middle aged woman Frau Oppenheimer, and a much younger woman Frau Hesterkamp who was engaged to one of the other teachers. I knew them a little and both had seemed very friendly.
The trip was planned for the middle of the summer term and on the whole it did appeal to me. My host, as it were, was a really nice person, he taught English and French and we'd hit it off right from the beginning, him involving me in the teachers' skittles evenings and getting me involved in informal games of basketball at a local gym. He was an all round popular teacher and I immediately said I'd go.
"Great I'll let you have the details soon."
Whilst I didn't forget I was going, the time slipped by and suddenly the trip was upon us, the coach set to depart at eight o'clock on Monday morning. I'd just finished a class with the final year group, and one of the girls, who'd always been very friendly came up to me, "Auf Wiedersehen Herr Dalton, I'll see you on Monday."
"I'm afraid not Rita, I'm off with Herr Becker on a class trip all week so I won't see you until the following week."
"Actually I'm coming with you, they thought it would be good to have some intermediaries between the children and the teachers, to provide some supervision in the dormitories and the Head Boy and I are going along as well."
"That's nice Rita, I'll look forward to spending the week with you." I hoped she hadn't taken that the wrong way, but it was true, she was a very pleasant person and she'd been the one to invite me to the opera. It was a family trip for her and they'd had a spare ticket, and knowing my interest had asked me. She was also very good looking, with a nice body, slim and trim, already nineteen and in different circumstances I would have been very attracted to her. She was very much still a pupil though and I was considered a teacher, so despite the similarities in age, I knew there could be nothing inappropriate between us. She disappeared off with her friend Annika, and looking over their shoulders at me, laughing away. If only I wasn't a teacher I thought.
We were all ready promptly on Monday morning and everyone was soon loaded on the coach, the four teachers at the front, Peter The Head Boy and Rita, who I found out was the Head Girl, behind us, the kids, mostly fifteen and sixteen year olds at the back, chattering noisily away.
I shook hands with the other teachers, a German formality carried out every morning, greeting them by their surnames, prefaced with Herr or Frau. All female teachers in Germany were 'Frau', just as all female teachers in England were 'Miss'. "I think we can dispense with the formality on this trip," suggested Herr Becker, "we'll almost be living together, so I suggest we use forenames and the informal 'du', rather than 'Sie'. Do you prefer to be called Robert or Rob?" I confirmed that Rob was fine, using his name 'Hans' although it seemed very strange, not having the same distinction in English.
The coach journey was about five or six hours and we settled down, making small talk, the kids getting more and more raucous as the excitement built. The use of the word 'Mountains' attached to Eifel is a bit of a misnomer, the range of hills is only 2,000 feet high, but the surrounding National Park is very pleasant, large woods, sweeping vistas and in the winter some skiing. Various activities had been planned, mostly around getting the kids out and active, some plain hiking, some orienteering type walking, and some treasure hunts.
Finally we arrived and began unloading. The accommodation was fairly basic for the kids, a male and a female dormitory, with a small room at the end of each for Rita and Peter to sleep in, affording them some privacy. The teachers were a floor above in a small suite of rooms, we had a common room, then a bedroom each with a comfortable looking double bed, and the use of two bathrooms, one for the men we decided, and one for the women.
Hans called everyone together and outlined the rules. One that surprised me was in relation to drinking. Anyone over sixteen, he told them, could go into the local pubs and drink beer or wine, as was allowed under German Law, but under no circumstances was anyone to get drunk and no spirits were to be consumed except for those over eighteen. He looked at Peter and Rita in this regard. Finally absolutely no alcohol at all in the Hostel. He dismissed them and the four of us trooped up to our common room.
"Right," said Frieda, "who's brought what?" She dug into her bag and fished out a bottle of schnapps, Maria a bottle of brandy and Hans a bottle of scotch. "That should keep us going for a while," commented Frieda. I apologised for not bringing anything, not having realised I was going on a drinking week.
"Don't worry Rob, you can come and help me get some beer from the local supermarket." Hans led me off and we were soon walking back with a crate of beer in glass bottles. "We can't really be seen going into the local pubs and someone has to be on duty here, so we'll stay in and enjoy ourselves," he told me. We got back an immediately shared a couple of drinks before dinner, creating a nice buzz on an empty stomach.
The food wasn't bad, we all ate together and Hans gave me a tour of the place, large recreation areas where the kids could play table tennis, or chess, and other games. There was a small gym as well, but it didn't look very well used. We retreated to the common room where Frieda and Maria were shuffling a pack of cards. We played a few games, finding that British and German card games were often similar. The drinks went down well and I soon fell into the German habit of taking a schnapps chaser with my beer. Although as a student I was well used to drinking, I was beginning to feel a little heady.
