Day 12 – Part Drei – School in September?

My first day at German school is pretty good. The classroom is a decent size with four large walls, one of which is made up almost entirely of windows. I find the desks to be a bit small and the chairs are kinda uncomfortable. The desks are those six-sided hexagonal ones that are actually two desks back to back. The surface is a sturdy plastic and the legs (there are four per desk half) are made of powder-coated tubular metal. Plastic inserts prevent the feet from scratching the floor.

By the beginning of the second hour I start to think those robots in the Matrix were on to something. The classroom starts to get really get warm before the instructor opens the windows. It’s those cool German windows with the handle that locks the window closed when in the down position, opens it wide like a regular door in the middle position and opens at the top when in the up position. A very clever design. I’m going to see if I can bring back a kit and make one at home. Now that the windows are all the way open the room cools down to a decent temperature.

Easily my second-favourite feature of the classroom is the whiteboard – this thing is super cool. It’s on vertical rails so that the teacher can effortlessly change its height. No more straining to reach the top or bending over to write at the bottom. It’s also on wheels so that it can easily be repositioned around the room.

The dry-erase markers are even better. There are four colours (red, green, blue, and black) and each has its own inkwell that holds the marker when not in use. This has two functions. The first is that it keeps the tip from drying out. The second is that it refuels the marker. This is a great system as it is probably way cheaper over the lifetime of the marker (the tips will eventually wear out) but it probably costs more initially.