Dear class 2AB and Miss Clarke,
We would like to thank you for all the interesting reports you sent us. We enjoyed them a lot and
hope you liked ours, too. Looking forward to getting to know you better next year we wish you a
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Your class 8 A and Miss Hafensteiner
 
by Anna, Alex and Anna-Lena.
In Bavaria we take the wonderful traditions strictly. It is a lot of fun to celebrate the traditions with our friends and relatives.
Many people in Bavaria play typical Bavarian instruments, for example the harp or the accordion:
 

We will tell you about the following topics:


Sternsinger (= collect money for poor people)

Trachtenverein (= traditional dancing club)

Fingerhakeln (= kind of sport)

Schnalzen (= kind of sport)

Musik (= Bavarian music)

Maibaum (= Maypole)




We hope you enjoy it.





The “Sternsinger”
by Anna-Lena

In Germany boys and girls dress up as Casper, Melchior and Balthazar the holy 3 kings, they go from house to house in around 8000 parishes.

The “Sternsinger” or “Dreikönigssänger” visit on Epiphany (6. January), families, ill and secluded people. They are going in groups of 3 or more and proclaim with prayers and chant the message of Jesus´ birth.

They write with consecrated chalk an old benediction prayer about the entrance door:



20 + C + M + B + 12
I------The year------I

To remind the benediction prayer you can think about the beginning letters of the holy 3 kings´ name. But the original meaning is:

christus mansionem benedicat, that’s Latin and calls: Christ bless our home.



The money, which the “Sternsinger” collect, gets to poor children around the world to build schools or orphanages.

When people open the door, then the “Sternsinger” are singing this or other “Sternsinger”-songs and say a demanding:





http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZptkEaq9_U&feature=player_detailpage  

 


 
The “Trachtenverein”
by Anna, Alex and Anna-Lena

A „Trachtenverein“ is a traditional Bavarian dance club.
Anna and Alex are in the “Trachtenverein”.
Every community has one, but the communities have some differences, for example the “Tracht” (=costume) is not the same.
                                                                                                                                            

At the “Kirchanschöringer Trachtenverein” (=the club, where Anna and Alex are members) all the girls wear a dark-blue “Dirndl”, a light-blue apron with little flowers on it, a withe blouse, a withe pantyhose, dark dance shoes and a black hat with a white spring.
When you are new in “Trachtenverein” and your grandmother or mother was not in it either, then you have to buy the costume. But when your mother, or grandmother (or other female ancestors) were in the club, then they inherit it to you.



All the girls must have long hair, so that they can plait a braid or a "Gretel":



Woman who are married have a black hat and a "Gretel" too:


All the boys wear a black short “Lederhosn” (=lederhos),
 a white shirt, black shoes and grew stockings
 and black hat with a white spring too.
The boys must have short hair that’s the tradition.






The Dances:

There are different dances, but mostly boys and girls dance together. The girl turns on her own axis. The boy stands in the middle of the circle and hits with his hands on his legs and thigh.
Here you can see some dances: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF739mqqG4I&feature=player_detailpage

(Those are people from another club, so there clothes look are a bit other than from the club where Anna and Alex are.)


Some appearances they have to do:

- Faschingsball (a carnival dance event in Februar)
- Maibaumaufstellen (do the  Maypole up)
- Fronleichnam (a catholic holiday)
- Erntedank (thank god for a good harvest, in september)
- Hochzeiten (when people married)
- Beerdigungen (when people die)
- Gaufeste (the „Gau“ is a region, on the “ Gaufest“ the „Trachtenvereine“ dance against the others, you can win a cup)





Fingerhakeln
by Anna-Lena
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When people do Fingerhakeln, the two opponents are sitting opposite around the table. They are trying by using their fingers to pull the other across the table. Only strength and a good technique can defeat the other.


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Usually the opponents hook the middle finger into a leather thong. Sometimes they hook without a leather thong the index finger into each other.


Today Fingerhakeln is a sport, but allegedly people in the villages used to resolve their arguments this way.

It can happening that the people hurt, and it often happens, that the Fingers are bleeding.


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When you are the winner, you get honor. Sometimes you can win a cup.








Schnalzen
by Anna

There are two kinds of „Schnalzen“. The first is “Aperschnalzen” and the other is “Goaßlschnlazen”.

The difference is, you make ‘Aperschnalzen’ to expel the winter and to wake up the spring, that is handed from the Bavarian history. That’s because the people earlier didn’t like the winter because they didn´t have much to eat and they couldn´t store their inventories, so it was a hard time for them.‘Goaßlschnalzen’ is a hobby. You do it to produce a loud bang like a whip-cracking.

Aperschnalzen is a rhythmic sound with a thing called “Goaßl”. This is the end of the “Schnalze” (whip). The loud bang happens when you swing the “Goaßl” in one direction, then you change your movement very fast, now you get the loud whip-cracking or a bang. It is done in groups between seven and nine people. In some districts you swing the “Goaßl” on the ground and not in the air because it makes a different sound. The tradition happens between the 25. December called the “Stefanietag” and the carnival Tuesday, which can be in February or early March.

 
Goaßlschnalzen is like a whip and it sounds like a
whip-cracking.
It is a kind of sport. There are different species of it. The
three most famous ones are: the forehand slap (Vorhandschlag), the backhand slap
(den Rückhandschlag) and the dubble-cracking (den Doppelschlag). 



http://youtu.be/IdZloV69odw 
 

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That kind of sport is mainly practised by men or by boys but a few
women do
it too.



Traditonal bavarian music
by Alex

Traditonal music is played on festive occaisons of the community at church celebrations.

Sometimes a band plays at an inn.
http://youtu.be/2c7xqHx6LEg

Typical musical instruments are:

  • Ziach ( a kind of accordion)
The “Ziach looks almost like an accordion.

A “Ziach” has on the contrary to the accordeon buttons instead of a keyboard.

The accordion in Bavaria called "Ziach".

It is played mainly in Bavaria.

The "Ziach" is a bellows.

When the "Ziach" stretch and and a button is presed a sound occurs.

  The buttons on the left are for the melody and the buttons on the right are for the bass.

It's not easy to learn"Ziach", because there are no notes. Because of that you have to learn the different songs by ear.

  • Guitar
  • Harp
  • "Hackbrett"
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"Hackbrett"

  • Trumpet
  • Trombone
  • “Alporn”
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"Alphorn"

There are different types of Bavarian music:

Folk music 
Folk music sounds a bit contemplative. The music for the dances of the Trachtenvereins is folk music.   

Brass music 
The brass band consists of brass instruments and drums.
There is a brass band almost in every community. 
It plays mostly on special occasions.
When sometimes a large festival is, there is a parade.
The members of the marching band march through a village and play together on their instruments. 



 
Maibaum
by Alex


Always on the first of May in our region, the maypoles are set up.
It is a decorated tree, which is sometimes in the Bavarian colours blue and white.

The maypole is set up in front of an inn in the community.
The tree must be at least 30 m tall and 100 years old.
Men from the community cut the Maypole.
They cut it between Christmas and 6 of Janury.
3 days before the first of May, they bring it in the front of the inn.
People from other communities are allowed to steal the tree.

So that the maypole is set up on the first of May, the people who stole it want a free snack, bevore they give it back.
Then on May 1st all people from the community go to the inn to drink, eat and celebrate.
The marching band from the congreation plays and the people dance traditional dances.

The maypole is set up by the men, who wear Bavarian garb.
There are also some signs on the tree, which show the different businesses of the community.
 
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Introduction
Munich is the capital of
Bavaria. 1, 2 Million inhabitants live there It’s a very big and exciting city.
There are many sights for example the: “Marienplatz”. For teenagers Munich is a
wonderful place. We like to go there. 
Munich is about 100 km away from us.  Munich has the motto “München mag dich” (Munich likes you). 



We are going to tell you about the:
+history of Munich
+ sights
+ And the footblall-club "FC Bayern-München"

From: Ali (Alicia) ,Lisa H. ,Sarah S. ,Babsee (Barbara)

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English  Garden


History
The English Garden was created in the late 1700s. originally it was
  supposed to be a so-called "military garden", designed to provide soldiers with
information on agriculture and also give them a place to enjoy outdoor
recreation. The military gardens opened in 1789 and soon thereafter, Carl
Theodor established Munich's first public park to the east of the gardens. It
opened in 1792. Eventually, the land that included the military gardens was
  added to the public park.



What to See
The words English Garden refer to the style of landscaping throughout 
the park;. The park is larger than New York's Central Park However, visitors do indeed flock to the two Beer Gardens located in
each section of the park. In summer a lot of people go sunbathing there, often
in the nude, play games or watch the surfers on the little
‘Eisbach’river.


 Chinesischer Turm
A popular meeting point is the Chinesischer Turm is a 25-meter-high
  structure. The tower, built at the end of the 18th century, was bombed during
  World War II and rebuilt to its original design. It is Munich´s second largest
  beer Garden. 





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 The Victuals Market

The Victuals
Market, only a few steps from the Marienplatz, is Munich's most popular open air
market. A walk across the "Victuals Market" can be a sensual revelation. Stalls
not only offer the freshest fruits and vegetables in Munich, but traditional
Bavarian Schweinshax'n (a pork roast) and Bacon , sea food, delicious cheeses
from all over Europe, herbs, honey products, sushi and hand-made straw puppets
are also for sale. Or would you prefer a freshly squeezed apple-carrot-ginger
juice? For all those who appreciate culinary seduction of the senses, this is
the perfect place to spend your lunch break, get inspired for new creations, and
buy those rare and special herbs and spices that can't be found anywhere else in
the region.However, although this is its main purpose, the Victuals Market is
not only a place for buying and selling : the market also hosts a number of
traditional and folkloric events, such as the colorful carnival festivities and
the masked dance of the market women on Shrove Tuesday. Right next to the
Victuals Market is the site of the "Schrannenhalle", built under King Maximilian
I according to a French model. This was a market hall over 430 m long, where
grains were sold, and which burned down in 1932. Rebuilt with the original
wrought-iron frames, the new "Schrannenhalle" was inaugurated in September 2005.
Housing a market, shops, restaurants and cultural venues, the hall is a meeting
place for old and young in the heart of the city.

.

 


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Marienplatz


The Marienplatz is the centre of Munich. There are two townhalls: the old townhall and the new one. The Marienplatz exists since 1158 it was founded by Heinrich der Löwe. In the year 1315 it became the market freedom of Ludwig der Bayer.

Today in winter there is always a christkindlmarkt. There are always lots of stalls and a very big Crhristmastree.  And of course there are thousands of lights.

The new one was built in the year 1867 until 1909 there is also the famous chime. Every day at11 o´clock there is the dance of the coopers (the little figures you can see in the picture)                  

                                The old one was built in the year 1310.


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Olympiastadion mit Park

The Olympic stadium  was built in 1966, because the Olympic games of the year 1972 were held in Munich. There was also a parc next to the stadium there is a lake and some paved paths and lawn .

There is also the television tower with a restaurant that reside on the top. The Olympic stadium has got an undersoil heating it cost 137 Mio DM and it has around 69.000 seats. The roof of the stadium is a sky dome.

Today there are pop concerts, track meetings and in summer there is the “Tollwutfestival”


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FC Bayern-München


FC Bayern München is a football club from Munich.  
FC Bayern München are the giants and they are on the frist from the Bundesliga table. So Bayern-München is the most succesful German football club.

Here is a little profile:

name: Fußball_Club Bayern, München e.V.
place: Munich, Bavaria
founded: 27. February 1900
club colour: red-white
stadium: Allianz Arena
places: 71,137
president: Uli Hoeneß
trainer: Jupp Heynckes






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The Allianz Arena




General information about the Allianz
Arena:



The Allianz Arena, opened in 2005 and is home to  both major Munich
clubs, Bayern München and TSV 1860, It was designed purley as a football stadium. The architecturally unique arena was constructed  viteni not even three years.




 


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Construction dates:

Foundation stone laid on 21. October 2002 Handover from Alpine Bau
GmbH completed on 30. April 2005.

Opening games:

30. May 2005: TSV 1860   3-2   FC Nuremberg
31. May 2005:  FC Bayern 4-2   Germany

Construction cost:

€ 340 million


 Parking:
9,800 parking places in four x four-storey Esplanade car parks (the largest Europe)

Inside of the Arena:

-28 Kiosks
-2 fan-restaurants, each with 1,000 seats
- Offices and conference rooms
- 54 ticket counters
- Shopping faclilities
- 2 warm-up rooms
- 550 WC-cubs



History of  Munich (Origin)
 

The year 1158 is assumed to be the foundation date of Munich,
which is only the earliest date the city is mentioned in a document.
By that time the Guelph Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria,
built a bridge over the river Isar next to a settlement of Benedictine
monks.The monks' presence dates back to the 8th century, although
settlement in the Munich area can be traced back to the late
neolithic.
 To force traders to use his bridge (and charge them for doing so) Henry
also destroyed a nearby bridge owned by bishop Otto von Freising (Freising).
Subsequently the bishop and Henry quarreled about the city before
Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa at an Imperial Diet held in Augsburg in 1158.
This sanctioned Henry's spoliation, and awarded an annual compensation
for the bishop, and also confirmed Munich's trading and currency rights.

Capital of the reunited duchy Bavaria

When Bavaria was reunited in 1506 Munich became the capital of all of Bavaria.
The arts and politics became increasingly influenced by the court.
During the 16th century Munich was a center of the German counter reformation,
and also of renaissance arts. Duke Wilhelm V commissioned the Jesuit Michaelskirche,
which became a center for the counter-reformation, and also built the Hofbräuhaus for
brewing brown beer in 1589.
  The Catholic League was founded in Munich in 1609. In 1623 during the Thirty Years' War
Munich became electoral residence when Maximilian I, Duke of Bavaria was invested with the
electoral dignity but in 1632 the city was occupied by Gustav II Adolph of Sweden. When
the bubonic plague broke out in 1634 and 1635 about one third of the population
died.The baroque Theatinerkirche on Odeonsplatz in the historic city centre. 
After the war Munich quickly became a center of baroque life. Elector Ferdinand Maria’s
consort Henriette Adelaide of Savoy invited numerous Italian architects and artists to the city,
and built the Theatinerkirche and Nymphenburg palace on the occasion of the birth of their son
and heir Maximilian II Emanuel, elector of Bavaria.Munich was under the control of the Habsburg
family for some years after Maximilian II Emanuel had made a pact with France in
1705 during the War of the Spanish Succession. The occupation led to bloody
uprisings against the Austrian imperial troops followed by a massacre while
farmers were rioting (the "Sendlinger Mordweihnacht" or Murder Christmas of
Sendling). The coronation of Max Emanuel's son elector Charles Albert as Emperor
Karl VII in 1742 led to another Habsburg occupation. The city's first academic
institution, the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, was founded in 1759 by Maximilian
III Joseph, who abandoned his forefather's imperial ambitions and made peace.
From 1789 onwards, when the old medieval fortification was demolished, the
English Garden was laid out - it is one of the world's largest urban public
parks. By that time, the city was growing very quickly and was one of the
largest cities in continental Europe.

 
 
Hello everybody!
We have the topic “Our School”. We divided our topic in five areas.
  
  Julia Kluge
· Everyday school life
  Lucia von Kannen
· History of our school
  Simone Graspointner
· Afternoon care
  Vanessa Gocke
· School festivals
   Laura Schnell
· Optional Subject

We hope you have fun! 
Everyday School Life
by Julia Kluge

When we arrive at the main station in town early in the morning, the buses are already waiting for us and take us to the school. From the station to our school, we need only ten minutes. But afterwards, we have to climb our big steep hill to get to school. Sometimes it’s very exhausting, but you get used to it. In the winter, we often slip on the hill, because it’s so smooth. And in the summertime, it’s terribly hot. We can say, it’s our involuntary morning sport.

The first lesson starts at 8 a.m. with a morning prayer. One lesson takes 45 minutes. After the first two lessons, we have a break of 15 minutes. We are allowed to go outside, but we have to stay near the school.  We can also buy something to eat in the hall, like sandwiches, fruits and so on, or stay in the classroom. Afterwards we have four more lessons and no break. Maybe that sounds a bit strict and boring, but lessons can be also very funny. We have nice teachers and they do their work very well.
Between the different lessons, we have to change the classrooms. So of being there at the right time, we are often three minutes late. So we are in hurry, when we’re going to the next lesson.
If we have only six lessons, we can go home at 12:40 p.m.
But if we’ve the 7th and 8th lesson, we have a 40 minute lunch break. A lot of pupils go to the cafeteria and eat there. We can go to one of the three day rooms, where we can stay and do our homework or study.
When the break is over, the next two lessons are waiting for us. School ends at 2:40 p.m.
In our school, we have to choose a branch in the seventh form. We can choose between the branch of maths, French, social studies, business and home economics and domestic sciences.
Our form is divided in two branches: The branch of math and French. The whole class have biology, music, geography, German, history, English and sport together. The ones who chose French also have: math, physics, French, economy and IT (information technology) together. And the s.o. have: math, physics, chemistry and IT together.
And of course religion, which divides the class in catholic and Protestant.

Zeit für uns - Time for us

We’ve got so called ZFU-lessons, which means “Time For Us” (in German: Zeit Für Uns). Every other week we have time to talk about problems in the class, to support our class community or to organize an event for school. For example: On November 24, 2012 we are having a Christmas bazaar in our school for selling cookies, tea or flower arrangements and lots of other homemade things. So we have to organize this event. What are we going to do? Baking a cake, making things with one’s hands or doing something else? We are looking after little children this time and we might get some money from parents. Back to the “Time For Us” lessons. The pupils sit in a circle and two girls, who lead this lesson, stand in the middle. The teacher is only looking after the class.
Sometimes we don’t have anything to talk about, so we are allowed to play games, to support our class community and have fun together. It’s also a balancing to the other lessons, like maths and French.
We usually have to do everything quiet, but that’s very difficult amongst girls. –You know!

The History of our School
by Lucia von Kannen

In 1894, a girls boarding school was built on a small mountain, the “Sparzer” mountain. It started with nine pupils. But the number increased.
1907 the building was enlarged and were added a gym and a chapel.
On 3 June 1913 the school was recognised as a high school for girls. But there was a war and it was a very difficult time for Sparz.
1923, new rules were introduced, with six school years and only one foreign language.
1932, a second language, and a Latin course were introduced.
On 16 July 1941 Sparz was closed because of another war.
On 22 December 1945, the reopening of the school was approved.
1946/47 there were 127 pupils. More and more pupils came to Sparz.
1959/60, there were already 306 pupils.
1964/65 the school was called “Secondary school for girls of the Institute of the English Mademoiselles Sparz".
On 1 April 1966 the school was enlarged.
In 1993 the school was sponsored by the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising.
1994/95 the boarding school was closed and more classrooms were built instead.
1997-1998 new art rooms and computer rooms were built.
2006, each classroom was equipped with a laptop and sometimes even with a Beamer.
2007 Biology, Chemistry and Physics rooms were furnished.
In 2008, the main entrance was rebuilt and allentrances were video monitored.
Since 2009/10 there is also a lift, of course we aren’t allowed to use it. Only the teachers are allowed to use it or pupils who can’t walk because of an injury, the other use the stairs. That is exhausting.
27th January 2011, the last nuns were adopted.
         The school now                                Our school many years ago
        The festivalroom                                    The old festivalroom
           Our classroom                                   An old classroom
Farwell of the nuns

After 154 years, the last nuns of the Congregatio Jesu left unfortunately our school.(The Congregatio Jesu is a religious community of women following the example of the Jesuits. Today there are about 2 000 nuns in over 20 countries.) On 27/01/11 the seven sisters Sr. M. Werburga, Sr. M. Alba, Sr. Assumpta, Sr. M. Berne Hilde, Sister M. Christiana, Sr. M. Hedwig and Sr. M. Magna were in a celebratory ceremony act adopted. They had to take their retirement and move to other monasteries like Eichstätt, Munich, Nymphenburg,  Simbach and Reichenhall.

On the 27 August 1956, the matron nun Sr. M. Werburga came to Sparz.She said: "I stood at 15.30 p.m. with anxious expectations before the venerable house." She worked as a teacher of shorthand and business economics. She supported the school very much. And she was a great help until her farewell.

They lived in the monastery which stands next to the school building. The monastery has been renovated and turned into rooms for afternoon care,music, art and handicrafts.(About the afternoon care you will get more information by Simone Graspointner) The nuns also looked after the little chapel by Sparz. It is closed at the moment.
             The monastery                                      The chapel
                                                                              Our School
The afternoon care
by Simone Graspointner

I'm in the afternoon care and I'm going to tell you something about it.
In the afternoon care are 35 pupils. After school, it’s time for lunch. In the
cafeteria we have our own room and we eat our lunch together. The
afternoon care is in the former monastery. We are in different rooms,
according to our class levels. They are all nicely renovated and we
enjoy being there. In the afternoon care we can do our homework
and study the subjects for the next day. I like the afternoon care because
I have a lot of friends there. In summer we go outside and play football,
volleyball and have a lot of fun. When we finish our homework we are
allowed to read a book or play some games. The teachers have a look
after us. I go home at 4 o’clock. The afternoon care is from Monday to
Thursday. On Friday I’m allowed to go home after school. The afternoon care
is voluntary. It costs 880 pounds a year.  In theafternoon care we have our
own computer room and 5 study rooms.  
Optional Subjects
by Laura Schnell

This is a small overview about our optional subjects:
  • choir
  • theather
  • tennis
  • schoolhousedecoration
  • schoolhouse embellishment
  • football
  • athletics
  • volleyball
  • first aid

remedial lesson:

  • LRS
  • maths
  • german
  • PET
  • italian
Music in our School

In our school pupils have the opportunity to sing in a choir. It is open for all classes. Choir is every Wednesday at 13:20
o'clock. They sing churchsongs and christmassongs at the moment. Managresse of the choir is Mrs. Zahnbrecher. At the end of the year they perform a musical. And Mrs. Zahnbrecher practices the songs with them. We have also a class where pupils learn how to play windinstruments. They start in 5th grade. If a pupil doesn't have her own instrument the can rent one from school. Throughout the school year they have several little concerts where they also invite the parents. The leader of the class is Mr. Schmidhuber. Mrs. Zahnbrecher and Mr. Schmidhuber are our Musicteacher at the school. We have also the chance to join our schoolband. Some of the sudents play theit instruments like the guitars, drums and flutes. But some sing songs. I think we have a good chance to make music. In our school music is very important.

Theatre

in our school we have got optional subjects below choir, theatre and tennis. And i want to tell you a littel bit about the theatre group. All classes can go to the theatre groupe. We have a small and a big kind of group. The small one is from 5-7 class and the big one from 7-10 class. Last year performed in the small one an act called "Lippel's Traum"(Lippel's dream) by Paul Maar. We came to play every Tuesday in the festival room. Now i tell you a littel bit about the act: Lippel is a young boy who is called normally Phillip. He has a dad who had to go to a congress for a week. So came a strictly lady to look after him. She give him a book. And Lippel has an adventure in his dream. At the end of the year we perform the act in front of on audience. Manageress of the theatre was Mrs. Jander but she retired last year. This year manageress is Mrs. Richter.
School Festivals
by Vanessa Gocke

Advent Bazaar

The Advent bazaar is on a Saturday and it is presence duty. This year my class look after the little children. We are in five groups, how be in different times. At one o'clock the Advent bazaar begin and finished at four o'clock. Everybody take things to decorate the room and someone take biscuits, Haribos and something to drink. We have different stations for the kids where thy can play games and can pointing. Other classes do handicrafts for example Advent garland and Christmastree jewellery. Other have took biscuits. In the Arcaden there are popcorn, Hot Dogs, salad and cakes. In the gym they sell coffee and cakes too. Pupils decorat the schoolhouse many days before, and the choir rehursel many weeks before. Pupils from the theatre group disguise as angel and stand in front of the entrance and gave plans  about the Advent bazaar to the visitors. The Sparzer Advent bazaar is also a meeting place for former Schoolgirls, who met their old friends. Every year many visitors came to our Advent bazaar. Last year, we got over 14 000,00 € and this year we got 18 000,00 €

Cultural Exchange with Egypt

On the 12th October had our school a visit from 50 schoolgirlsfrom the German School DSB in Kairo. They spent one week with theri six teachers in a hostel in Marquartstein a little villag near Traunstein. We divided the 50 girls into five groups, so that all 6. Classes from Sparz had the opportunity of an exchange intercultural. Our girls were very hospitable and offered homemade cakes, biscuits and something to drink and received the visit. After school was every girl riveted to German family. They spent the afternoon together, shooed them their villages, went for little walks in the area or took a close look at some farmhouses and got a little visited into Bavarian farming. On the Thursday it was the return visit. An oriental dance was performed and the "Song of the Revolution" was sung. Then there was the hostel rally in the garden and then everybody met again to eat cake and drink something. It's always hard to leave our new friends after such a listens time together. We can all learn a lot from each other.
Stefan Dettel and his Band

The Musicain Stefan Dettel  came to our school for a good purpose. The whole band was playing in the morning 18th October 2011 in the gym in front of the 5. until 10. classes. We realized how uncomplicated Dettel and his band  were, as they took one of our schoolgirls to play on the drums. Mr. Schmidhuber our music teacher , who plays in a band himself, joined them with his trumpet in a song too, It was a nice change from our everyday morning schedule.
 
Zum Bearbeiten hier klicken .
Hi, we are
Franzi, Susi and Sophia. We’re going to tell you about our Chiemgau
(our district). Our Chiemgau is 784 km² big. There are ca 120 village and little towns. Our district town is called Traunstein. It has got about
19 000 inhabitants. In our Chiemgau there are many lakes, where you can swim in summer. Our Chiemgau is the biggest district in Bavaria.
We live here and we love it because:

- The nature is unspoiled
- You can do so many different activities
- It is a safe place to live

The Mountains:

SOME MOUNTAINS OF OUR
CHIEMGAU


I am going to give some more information about three mountains.

The Rauschberg: 1672m
The Unternberg: 1425m
The Hochfelln: 1674m


First: The Rauschberg:


The Rauschberg has its name neither from the excesses of alcohol nor the lush blooms of the Alpine rose: the ´rush´ is actually the plumbiferous stone which people used to dig for on the Rauschberg. The
Rauschberg cable car has been bringing passengers to this mountain in Ruhpolding since 1953. On the mountain´s peak, a geology trail and an art mile of work by Angerer the Younger provide interestig deversions. “Adam´s Hand”, a 6 meter high, stylisted hand, pointing exactly towards Rome and created by Angerer the Younger has become a special attraction.
If you walk from the car park to the top of the mountain, you will need 2 hours to go. We have got a ramp for the paragliders, too. They take their equipment to the top in the cable car. In summer you can see how they are assembled their paragliders. It´s exciting very to watch that,, if you have never seen it before. 


Second: The Unternberg:


The Unternberg is about 1425m high. It is the ultimate sport and leisure area in  Ruhpolding! In winter it provides a great hiking area with magnificent 360° views from the Central Alps across to Lake Chiemsee. You can watch the hangliders and paragliders or learn how to do it yourself at the flying school. Anyone who climbs the Unternberg by mountain bike or on foot can be truly proud of themselves. It is easier to get to the top by chair lift. In winter the Unternberg enchants skiers, families, clubs and ski tourers alike with its small yet finely formed ski area. The host at the lovingly restored Unternberg Alm lodge are always on hand to provide an inexpensive hearty snack to help keep your strenght up.

Last: The Hochfelln:


The Hochfelln is the mountain which seperates the two
villages Bergen and Ruhpolding. Each year there is a big festival: “the
fellnerfest”. Many groups of traditional musicans are playing the whole day. Some people dance traditional dances. If you walk up to the top you will need ca. 3 hours. You can go by cable car, too. It drives from the foot of the mountain to the middlestation and then to the top of the mountain. Maybe, if you like you can get out in the station to walk the last part to the top by foot. In the year 1971 they took an elephant to the the gondola. At the top of the mountain there is a small guest house, where you can stay overnight. There is a small ski resort, too. So you are able to go skiing in the winter. In summer you can cycle the whole part to the top on bike. You can even take a course in Jodeln (it´s a special kind of bavarian singing)on the top of the mountain with a certified teacher. But the best of all is the spectacular view. On clear days you can see the whole mountain chain of the Austrian alps, even some glaciers in the back. 


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The Rauschberg
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guesthouse on the top of the Hochfelln
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The Kampenwand

The Chiemsee:

The Chiemsee is a very big lake, this is why it is named the Bavaria sea. The surface is 79,9 km² big. The Chiemsee is the biggest lake in Bavaria and after the Bodensee and the Mürtzs the biggest lake in Germany. There some islands in the lake. They’re called: The Herreninsel, the Fraueninsel and the Krautinsel. Some researcher thinks that our Chiemgau, the villiage Chieming and the Chiemsee are named after Count Chiemo.

In summer you can:

- swim in the lake
- chill out with your friends
- feed ducks
- eat ice-cream
- bicycle around the lake
- drive with a boat on the lake 
 

The Herreninsel:

The Herrenchiemsee is a castle on the Herreninsel, an island in the Chiemsee. There are two castles. The first one is called the new castle of
Herrenchiemsee, built in the year 1878 under the King König Ludwig II. The second is an old castle which was a convent before. You can ride around the island like a horse carriage. The landscape park from the old castle is very nice and there are many flowers. You can drive from one island to another with a boat.


The Fraueninsel:

The Fraueninsel is the second largest island in the Chiemsee.The island is 15,5 ha big and there live about 300 people. On the island there used to be a monastery for women. Until a few years ago, there was a boarding school for girls there, too. You can walk around the island with your family.
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The Chiemsee
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The Fraueninsel
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The Herreninsel
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The castle Herren Chiemsee

The cattle drive:

The cattle drive
is a very important tradition. At the end of September, the farmers bring the cows from the pastures high in the mountains, home to their farms. The cows wear beautiful headdresses, which consist mostly of straw, flowers and colourful ribbons. The women have spent many days doing the decorations.  But this only takes place when the alpine summer went well and no cows were hurt or died. The farmers all wear Bavarian ´Dirndl´ and ´Lederhosen´ and play traditional Bavarian brass music. They walk along the streets and many people are looking at them. The farmers are very proud of their cows. 

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A farmer (he is wearing a Lederhosen) and his cow (it´s wearing a nice headdress)
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A Bavarian brass band
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three girls who wearing Bavarian Dirndl.
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A pasture
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The cattle drive
(by: Franziska Steibacher, Susanne Koziel and Sophia Haunerdinger)
 
In our school there are many different nationalities. Students are from places such as Ireland, Philippines, America, India, Canada, Nigeria, Mauritius, Poland, Angola, Libya, Australian and lots more! This makes our school a very vibrant place, as we get to know different people and different cultures!

Here are the flags of the countries that we are from:

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Nigerian Flag
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Flag of the Philippines
We have a “Culture Club” in our school where we talk about lot’s of cultures and organise an international day to raise awareness about the great cultural varieties at Loreto College Crumlin.

It also gives us a chance to meet people from different countries, learn about many different traditions and compare it to how it differs from our own tradition.

Valerie, Sorcha and I (Janine) are all from different countries! We learned a lot of things from each other and became good friends!

In school we also have a class where people from different countries learn English as an additional language. This class helps them to improve their English language skills and become fluent speakers.

Coming from different countries means we all have different traditions such as different traditional dances. Here are pictures of some:

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A traditional Filipino dance
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A traditional Nigerian dance
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A traditional Irish dance
We also have different traditional foods:    
Picture
The 'coddle' from Dublin
Picture
The Filipino Acado
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A traditional Nigerian dish.
We hope you learned something about the different cultures and traditions at Loreto College Crumlin.

Thank you for reading! ^_^


 
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Most schools in Ireland have uniforms. Uniforms are worn everyday to school. Tracksuits are worn for Physical Education, knows as P.E.

The school uniform consists of a jumper (in dark green or light brown) with the school crest on it, a green tie, a cream-coloured blouse, a green skirt, green socks and black or brown shoes.

At Loreto College Crumlin first year to third year students wear cream blouses, green ties, green skirts, green socks, black or brown shoes, but brown jumpers with the school crest on it. In senior cycle (fourth to sixth year) students wear all green with the exception for blouse and shoes.

Most schools in Ireland also have school jackets. So do we. The coats are green with matching green-cream striped scarves. We often wear them during winter.


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The sports uniform of the Loreto Camogie team.
 
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We attend Loreto College Crumlin in Dublin 12. Everyday of going to this school is a new experience. We enjoy attending Loreto College. In fact we meet most of our best friends at this school. I attended Loreto College all my school life: first the primary school and now the secondary school. Jamie attended Loreto during primary school, too.

On Monday's and Tuesday's our school finishes at 3.40pm. On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we finish school at 3pm. Each class last for 40 minutes except on Tuesday and Thursday morning our first three classes only last for 35 minutes, because we have 15 minutes of tutor time before we have our small break at 11:00, which last for 10 minutes. Tutor time is a class we go to see our tutor, who then signs our journals and makes important announcements. Our tutor checks our journals to make sure we don't get any bad notes for misbehaving during classes. Our tutor is Mr. Brennan and our year head is Miss Maxwell. Our principal is Miss Dempsey and our deputy principal is Miss Murphy. We get homework in most of our classes, but sometimes our teachers give us a few minutes before the bell goes to get a start on it and if you get it all done you have no homework for that class which is great!

We wear a green skirt, cream blouse, green tie and crested beige jumper and black or brown shoes. When you get to 4th year (senior cycle) you get to wear a green jumper instead. Every year 6th years create a banner with a motto before they leave the school. These banners are then displayed in school for years to come.

We love attending Loreto College Crumlin!    

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Our Crest
 
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Emily Ringstetter in a modern Dirndl
Dirndl

Zum Depending on the occasion, a dirndl is made  from plain or printed cotton, linen or silk. Usually it is one piece with closure zipper, hook,various buttons or laces) at the front and in center. A zipper can also be attached to the back or to the side. Traditionally, the dirndl has incorporated a pocket at the front or side, which is hidden under the skirt. Mostlya white Dirndl blouse is one which only extends to just below the chest,as well as a shawl or a short scarf.





 
Between a classic dress dirndl, a one-piece dress with apron, and woven fabrics with traditional patterns, and also a country house dress that is made ​​of gray or colored linen, some with leather bodice
or stocking.

Since the 20th century, more and more designers are working on the dirndl topic of fashion. Bearbeiten hier klicken .

Hairstylings

Here are some examples for hairstyling that we wear to festivals, for example the 'Oktoberfest’.

Here are some tutorials: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRxcjV6NlJM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCMy1me1mSQ&feature=relmfu

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Vanessa Höner wearing an old school-t-shirt
Schoolclothes

In our school we don’t have
 to wear schooluniforms. We  can wear everything we want to, as long it isn't too short or too sexy or else we have to wear one of our old school-t-shirts.


These are our new
school-t-shirts and -jackets. The prizes are 16 EUR for a t-shirt and 22 EUR for
a jacket.







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Our school-logo



Our school logo was designed by a pupil. Around 2 years ago, we had
a contest for our school logo. Every pupil had the opportunity to join the
contest. The teachers voted and the drawing with the most votes won

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our school
 
by Andrea Spiegelsberger, Hannah Stadler, Lisa Braxenthaler

We will show you about buildings, groups and usual things in our communities, because we all live in different villages. We hope our information will help you to understand our way of life.
The center of the village is usually the Roman-Catholic-Church. The worship is every Sunday morning and Sunday evening. Around the church there is a cemetery. On celebration-days there is also a worship in the church, on Easter we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and on Christmas we celebrate the birthday of Jesus. The church-tower rings every day every 15 minutes.
In a village we also have a day nursery. Before the children must go to school they can visit our day nursery. The parents bring their children from 8 o ´clock to 12 o `clock. The kids can play the whole morning. They also learn something, they need at school.

After the day nursery the kids must go to school in the first class of our primary school. The primary school is from the first to the fourth class. The children learn to read, write and they also do sports, music and painting. The primary school is not as exhausting as the school life from the fifth class on wards. The teachers are very friendly to the kids and they do not have marks even in the fourth class.
In our village we have a bakery. The baker must get up at night and go to the kitchen to bake for his store to sell it. He bakes pretzels, rolls, bread, cookies and so on. After church on Sunday morning most people go to the bakery and buy something for breakfast.

The maypole is a very high tree, but only the trunk of the tree. The trunk is ca. 30 m high and has always wonderful decoration, with different sings about professions in the village for example: baker, grocer, dancers, farmers and so on. In our village it’s tradition to set up the trunk every five years, but it can vary in other villages.
The guest house is often beside the maypole. In the guest house you
can eat and drink special Bavarian foods. It’s also a place for festivals, weddings, theatres, children´s carnival and so on. Very important is also the beer garden with the many chestnut trees. For large events as raising the maypole, people go to the village place. That is the place in front of the guest house.
In our community there are various clubs, sport clubs, the Catholic Rural Youth, the organ club, the gardening club, the cross-country club, the country club women and many more. In most communities there is a youth center, where you can stay, meet others and play games. In summer there are events for the whole family, with games, face painting, flea market, food- and drink stalls.

As we said, there are many clubs in the communities. I'll explain some closer. From the confirmation there is a youth group, the Catholic Rural Youth. Every Thursday they meet and make a variety of projects, as garbage collection, so that the community will be clean, in the Christmas time they go to the old people and give them flowers or cakes and in summer they practice to play baseball for a baseball tournament.

At any age you can go into the cross-country skiing club. You train two to four times a week and have a lot of fun and get to know new friends. You go on several trips together, such as in the high ropes course, boating, to the swimming pool and much more. In winter, a 3-day trip is the highlight. Of course there is also a cross-country track in our community. 


We also have a sport field where we can do sport activities, like playing football, basketball, hockey and many more. There are also different dance groups such as hip hop, break dance, step dance and zumba.
For children the village has a playground. You can come and go there when you want. There is a swing, a sandpit, a chute and more for kids. It is a lot of fun.

In the communities there are different festivals and events. This year, for
example, in St. Leonhard there was the “Wonneberger country fall”. True to the motto, “Show what we have” were Bavarian traditions, customs and old trades, like the blacksmith and broom makers demonstrated their skills to the visitor. They also showed old ways of working and attachments. For children there was of course something going on.  The rural youth supervised the young children, played with them and did face painting. For the physical well being naturally was also provided.


Typical of Bavaria are the houses that are built with lots of wood and
usually very old. The balcony is decorated with many flowers, especially
geraniums. Most people in Bavaria have their own garden where they plant
flowers, vegetables, fruit and herbs. Mostly the people have a large garden with many fruit trees, especially apple- and cherry trees. The front part of the house is where the people live. Often in the back of the house there is the stall, where cows, calves, pigs, horses, hens and lambs are. They need to be fed and milked twice daily. The farmers sell the milk to a company who produces cheese, milk or yoghurt. In the summer the animals get fresh grass of the meadow, and in the winter they get silage, which also consists of grass.

    The Authors:

    We are the students of 8A at the Maria-Ward-Schule in Traunstein, Germany and of 2AB at Loreto College Crumlin in Dublin, Ireland.

    This blog was created for our first virtual exchange project. Every week we will upload different topics about school life, tradition, culture and leisure in our home countries and exchange ideas and comments about these.

    Feel free to join in our discussions!

    We are looking forward to a fun and enriching exchange of ideas!

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