Glow of Lights in Naturschuttzentrum !!

Naturschuttzentrum, announced Litcherfest on 19 November from 1.00 PM to 7.30 PM. Every year Naturschuttzentrum have celebrated this Festival of lights. Two weeks before we (Naturschuttzentrum team members) started our preparation for Lichterfest. We tastefully decorated and equipped rooms with numerous light and outdoor where children and family can enjoy their maximum level. 

The ultimate motto of Naturschuttzentrum by organising this lichterfest, Here the season comes the time of REST. Animals, plants, beings and human beings are preparing for winter. Nature giving darkness to all beings to take some rest after all these busy schedules of life. Some hibernate  to come back again with new and high strength for the new season. In this context, Naturschuttzentrum wants to thank each and everyone of the earth for their concern towards us. And through this fest we are welcoming a new world where dark should be hidden and lights should be glow. 

Above all we organised a fantastic work station for the children in the campus. Where the children can come and engaged with many creative works. Each workstations are leaded by the specialized experts of Naturschuttzentrum. 

When darkness fell, many parents and children found their way to Naturschuttzentrum to welcome the Lights for their life. 

At 1.30 pm all desks were filled up with small angels and their parents. That was a priceless moment. All children seems busy with different activities. Some children are made stars out of twigs, some were busy with coloring glasses, Some children showed interests towards carving little Gnomes, Some were busy in making angels out of woods and some were making lanterns.Each one of them chooses their perfect workstation for the evening. Within short time the visitors room was crowded by future Generation and their well wishers.

We also arranged a place for the families where they can have a social talk with the tastes of different cakes. 

The children were able to spent their time with various priceless activities. All in all it was a successful and nice evening with glow of lights.

When time started to run very fast, with the twilight the light conditions also changed. It felt like a billion stars lying on the ground. That atmosphere was special and many people enjoyed in the dark with a glow of lights. Many people found a good place to warm themselves by the fire. Around the small campfire they did barbecue with social talks.

As the clock ticked by it was time to say good bye. That was when i felt the pain in the eyes of children to depart from Naturschuttzentrum at the same time a sense of satisfaction in their heart. I was sure that everyone could take something from Naturschuttzentrum not in the sense of things but in the sense of thought or may be good experiences. 

Thanks to my co-volunteers from India for their active participation throughout the event. 

When Indian Mehandhi touches German Hands!

Whenever events took place in Naturschuttzentrum there will be a place for "Indian Mehandi Art". Once i showed Mehandi Designs to my mentor Veronika Lindmayer. She liked that very much. She asked me to do this with the children. But unfortunately we didn't get Indian Mehandi. I decided to do it with the Natural Colours. That means all colours are provided by nature. Green out of plants, Black out of fire, Gray out of ashes and so on.

I tried once in the small hands of children who are coming for different events of Naturschuttzentrum. They all liked it very much. From that day itself i always getting this amazing platform to promote our Indian Art. A big salute to Indian Mehandhi.

World of Concerts

Being in a different country is really an unique experience. Each day i am earning new experiences, each one of that is entirely different from other. This is my 7th month in Germany still something is very special and unusual for me. One of the special thing which i noticed in Germany was "CONCERTS". Within this 7 months we four volunteers attended en number of concerts. 

Germany is famous for the Concerts. Practically everyday in the whole year and can be sure we can find some Concerts within the country. Germany had most renowned concert halls. We attended small open air concerts and also big level concerts too.  All concerts are too lively.  

My Best Concert Diary 

We four volunteers attended many concerts within this short period. Still always our best Concerts are "Tanzania Concert" and " Istanbul Concert". 

Musical treat by Tanzania Choir, the best traditional music. It brings a lot of boost among the audience. This concert made everyone to step up with them. Music of Tanzania stretches from traditional African music to the string-based taarab to a distinctive hip hop known as Bongo Flava. 

Istanbul Concert is quiet different from other concerts. They sang German classical song along with the German group. Its goes like a Musical competition between Germany and Istanbul. 

Looking forward for more and more CONCERTS....

Oh my God ! Is this Tea?

One of my favorite drink is tea, i cannot imagine a day without Tea. I already brought some Indian tea bags with me but after 3 months all my tea bags finished. No other way , i decided to try German tea but after that i never turned back to German tea. Oh my God! i can't believe that was a Tea!? It is a trivial difference.

Coming from South Indian Family, for me Tea and Coffee meant,

Yes, It will be a combination of Milk, Tea dust and Sugar. Coffee means, Filter Coffee with milk and sugar.

Where as in German tea means,

Here normally tea and coffee is plain without milk and sugar. And variety of flavors also there for tea.I was sure that i cannot survive with these type of tea. My host family knows that my love on tea. They brought some Indian tea bags from their Indian friend. A big thanks to my host family.

Still its not like tea from my Grandma. Longing for Indian Tea....!!!

Educational System of Germany

Generally the education system of Germany is to be applauded and it has always been known for the good quality of higher education. Irrespective of the nationality, focus on quality education has been a top priority. Public universities of Germany providing free education to all students including international students. Universities only collecting administration fee at very low cost. Everyone is equally treated by German Government when it comes to education and jobs. But learning German is kind of must but that's expected when you are in Germany.

The entire educational system of Germany is basically a three tire system that divides students into three different tracks. It involves General secondary school or Hauptschule (grades 5-10), The intermediate secondary school or Realschule (grade 5-10) and The academic high school or Gymnasium ( grades 5-12 or 13). The children are assessed by their teachers who decide which school best suits a particular student based on their performance.

Pre-school Education (Kindergarten), before the period of compulsory schooling begins children aged 3 to 6 can attend preschool institutions. Unlike schools, preschool education is not free and attendance at kindergarten is voluntary one.

Primary level (Grundschule) Normally, schooling for all children begins at the age of six in the first year of a Grundschule. Children attend the Grundschule for four years. After which they transfer to one of four different types of secondary school.In Grundschule teachers recommend their students to a particular school based on the special criteria such as academic achievement, potential, confidence, personality, ability to work independently and so on. However,in most states the parents has the final say as to which school their child will track to following the fourth grade, and some parents go against teacher's recommendation because they believe higher level tracks of education for their children's future.     

Gymnasium is the most sought after or preferred school. The dream of every parent for their kids to be selected for Gymnasium.  Don't be fooled by the common word "Gymnasium" in English and German. Gymnasium has nothing to do with physical education.It is a college preparatory high school which is attended by students from grade to 5 to 12 or 13. Yes! of course 13 grade does exist here. Only few students are picked up for Gymanisum, who continue through the final grades. The mandatory requirement for the Gymnasiasten is to take a rather challenging exam known as Abitur in order to secure their diplomas. This diploma paves their way to university.

Hauptschule is primarily a remedial education. Hauptschüler leave school after the ninth standard, mostly such students don't receive a diploma and thus end up taking menial job.

Realschule sees the influx of more average students. Realschüler also take an Abschluss or term end exam before they leave school after 10th grade, after which they begin apprenticeships in different fields. The brighter ones may also get transferred to Gymnasium to finish their studies.

Gesamtschule or Comprehensive schools, enroll students of all ability levels in the 5th through the 10th grades. Students who satisfactorily complete the Gesamtschule through 9th grade receive the Hauptschule certificate, while those who satisfactorily complete schooling through the 10th grade receive the Realschule certificate. 

Berufsschule is an upper secondary school form which students may enter to pursue part time academic study combined with apprenticeship, following the successful completion of either Hauptschule or Realschule . The successful completion of apprenticeship program leads to certification in a particular trade or field of work. 

This is the pattern in which the entire German school system operates, obviously it differing in each state.

According to me this complex three tier school system is sentencing many many brilliant children to a life of uttermost frustration, and a future of obscurity. I think fourth standard is not an age to judge the true talent of a child.Its hard to imagine, but this is how the whole schooling structure is built up here. So according to their intelligence, they are filtered out and shown direct educational tracks that best suit their caliber. I am wondering that how can a teacher judge a child as young. There are many children who show their real talent at later age. So if any child couldn't perform well for some reason in the given slot of time, then they would be deprived of Gymnasium and thus their future options are brutally narrowed down. There could be decent reasons for the lack of performance of a child, they might be very intelligent in real life, what if they got nervous during their examinations? That means they has no chance of getting into a good school. Educational Pragmatism can solve many problems in this context. 

Qualitative education is a tool which can use by all Countries to create a Good Citizen. ! 

Daylight Saving Time Ended in Germany

It was really a different experience to live in Germany with two different time zones. When i arrived in Germany i was very happy that because the daylight was lasted till 10'O clock. When the days passes the daylight also started to dim very soon. Before 5'O clock itself its started to darken.

When local daylight time was about to reach Sunday, 29 october 2017, 03:00:00 German clocks were turned backward 1 hour to sunday, 29 october 2017, 02:00:00 local standard time instead. Sunrise and sunset were about 1 hour earlier on 29 october 2017 than the day before. There was more light in the morning. also called Fall Back and Winter time. 

Daylight Saving Time (DST) is the practice of setting the clocks forward 1 hour from standard time during the summer months, and back again in the fall, in order to make better use of natural daylight. Daylight Savings Time was first introduced by Germany during the Great War and later so many other countries and many other European nations were started to follow it. 

Now the gap between German and Indian time is 4.5 hours.