Stress Waves

It is hard for me to believe that I've only been here for two weeks!  I feel like so much has already happened, and therefore tend to think that I should be on more stable footing than I am, even though it's understandable given the two weeks. 
In short: I am still in a lot of stress.  But there are upsides as well.
Over the past week I managed to take care of some of the stresses, like opening a bank account, signing a lease, and registering for my residency permit.  But there are still lots of upcoming things to do, like figuring out what I'm doing with the university.
My first week at school went well overall, but was also difficult because I'd have a different schedule each day (meaning figuring out transportation), visit different classes with different teachers who I'd just met, and then be unsure of what I was supposed to do in class.  All of my colleagues are really nice, but it is frustrating to be the new person and try to get to know people (and remember names!) when there are so many teachers in and out of the teacher's room all the time.  (Note - in Germany teachers change classes, not students.  So on their breaks and in between classes they go to the teachers' room).  I think it is the social aspect that might be most difficult for me right now since I don't know anyone that well yet and people are often busy in the teacher's room anyway.  Add on the factor that all of this has to be done in German and everything becomes 2x more difficult.
On the other hand, I had to end up leading the drama club for 6th graders by myself on Thursday and while I was sort of playing it by ear the whole time, it was a lot of fun.  Plus, I had a really nice conversation with a 12th grade class about cultural differences between the US, Germany, and other countries and felt like I'd finally broken the ice with a class.


I was definitely glad to have a break from school stress this weekend and be able to see a bit more of the city!
Today I went to the Sprengel Museum, which has a really good modern art collection, especially of pre-1945 art.  One of the highlights is a reconstruction of Kurt Schwitters' Merzbau.

Merz was Schwitters' art philosophy and while I don't quite have a firm grasp on it, he shaped different rooms out of found items to try to create a new existence.  The reconstruction is not complete and was a little less exciting than I thought it would be because I had expected it to resemble more of a flea market explosion, though I think maybe this was supposed to be the phase where he was influenced by De Stijl (think Mondrian) and painted everything white.  However, it does have a neat feel as if you are in a grotto.  It is a completely different spatial experience; a small room where the walls are spilling out in all types of geometric shapes. Neat, but not that homey.


Another exhibit I really enjoyed for the experience was light works by James Turrell.  The first piece involved sticking your head into a dome where all you see is colored light.  You can change knobs to adjust colors and the frequency of light, and it is a cool experience where your entire world becomes color.  The second piece involved walking down a pitch dark path into a room where you have to feel for the chair and then sit for six minutes while your eyes adjust even more to the darkness.  Afterwards, you start seeing a faint glow in front of your eyes and at first I thought my eyes were just acting weird, but then I realized that it was indeed the installation which seemed to change form, though the boundary between the light and total darkness was very slight and I couldn't quite tell.
I think some of my favorite modern art is that which can completely engulf me and play with my perceptions.  I'm not sure how it directly affects me afterwards, but it is just a really awesome experience!


I'll leave you with a picture of another work I liked.  The Red House, by Marc Chagall.