Monthly Archives: October 2006

Little Adventures in Autumn

In other news, I enjoyed the autumn holidays (we had two weeks off from school) – we went to a friend’s birthday party and another friend’s wedding near Stuttgart the first weekend.

On the second weekend my sister and her boyfriend from Hamburg visited us. Together we went to the Rhine and visited Boppard (where we rode the chair lift to the Vierseenblick which offers a great view over the Rhine valley) and the Marksburg castle (good website if you turn off the sound, check out the panorama photos) which dates back to the 14th century.

During the last week I spent two days in Stuttgart visiting with a friend. But now I’ve been back in school for a week and will have three math tests to grade by tomorrow, two of which I’ll have to finish preparing now.

The weather has been really nice in the past couple of days – if you want to know how nice, check out André‘s photos from today! I especially like the peacock butterfly and the dandelion.

Cooking in Autumn

I’ve had a cold for the past few days, and I find that a hearty soup always makes you feel better, especially in autumn. Yesterday, André cooked my favourite minestrone with chicken (recipe in German), but I think I’ll try some of the soups from this AskMe thread on soup recipes or a pumpkin soup like Daniel made.

I’d also really like to try to make some spicy Asian soup with ginger – I’m sure it would clear my sinuses right up! If you’ve got a recipe, drop me a line in the comments or via e-mail!

Als Nachtisch könnte man dann umgedrehten Kürbiskuchen mit Pecannüssen und Cranberries essen. Gerade vor ein paar Tagen habe ich in der Obstabteilung unseres Supermarktes frische Cranberries gesehen und überlegt, was man damit wohl anfangen könnte – da kommt dieses Rezept mir gerade recht!

Sunny autumn

Yesterday and today were beautiful days here in the Hunsrück – there was fog in the morning, but it cleared after a few hours, and then it was sunny and quite warm (though a bit windy today). Since the weather was worse during the previous week this inspired me to take a few photos in the garden.

Here’s a late insect (I don’t think it’s a bee, it just mimics one) busy gathering some nectar – I didn’t think I would see any this late in the year.

bee on a yellow flower

And here are some pretty purple flowers for you, Garret. Happy Birthday!

bee on a yellow flower

Click the photos to enlarge.

Teaching Advanced Physics

The Institute of Physics offers resources for teaching advanced physics:

“Welcome to Teaching Advanced Physics (TAP). This website contains detailed ideas and resources for teaching physics to students aged 16-19. The site aims to help those new to teaching this age group, and assumes only a limited access to equipment, to resources, and to advice from experienced colleagues.”

I’m teaching a bacis course of physics in 11th grade for the first time at the moment and am checking out their material regarding mechanics as it is the the current subject in my course. I try to have the students do experiments every week (unlike in the US, German schools have different timetables every day; my course consists of three lessons per week, a single one on Tuesdays and a double lesson on Thursdays), but this calls for a lot of preparatory work – and good ideas for experiments. TAP offers background information as well as suggestions for experiments, and the material can be downloaded as Word documents, so you can make your own adjustments or add notes if you like.

Via Physik-Journal, the magazine for members of the DPG (Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft).

Diese Woche in der Zeit

Einen Tag vor den Herbstferien komme ich mal wieder dazu, nicht nur die Zeit am Tag des Erscheinens zu lesen, sondern auch auf ein paar lesenswerte Artikel aufmerksam zu machen:

Wirtschaft: An die Kette gelegt. “Die Buchpreisbindung sollte kleinen Händlern und Verlegern das Überleben sichern. Doch inzwischen fördert sie die Konzentration in der Branche.” Von Jens Uehlecke.

Aus der Reihe Patient Kind: Fataler Irrtum in der Abwehr. “Neue Therapien sollen Allergien bekämpfen. Die Ärzte träumen von einer wirksamen Prävention.” Von Ute Eberle.

Literatur: Krimskrams ist Gold wert. “Die Jury von ZEIT und Radio Bremen stellt vor: Antje von Stemms Kindersachbuch »Extrembasteln«”.

Leben: Wohin mit den Eltern? “Weshalb wir überfordert sind, wenn Mutter oder Vater zu Pflegefällen werden.” Von Susanne Mayer.

»Sie ist eine Lady« “Wie ist es, wenn die eigene Mutter wieder zu Hause einzieht? Ingrid Noll kennt sich damit aus – sie pflegt ihre 105 Jahre alte Mutter. Ein Gespräch mit der Schriftstellerin.”

Reisen: Gut gepolstert zu den Göttern. “Komfortabler kommt man nicht von Mumbai nach Goa. Der Luxuszug »Deccan Odyssey« lässt Indiens Wunder wie einen langen Film vorüberziehen. Draußen ist es 43 Grad heiß, drinnen reicht Pravakar Schnittchen.” Von Karin Ceballos Betancur.

Schule: Die Mathe-Revolution. “»Sinus« verändert den Mathematikunterricht an deutschen Schulen. Ein Beispiel aus Brandenburg zeigt, wie.” Von Julian Hans.