Während ihres Aufenthalts in San Francisco vom 22. Oktober bis 12. November 2011 erstellten die Schülerinnen und Schüler einen Web-Blog zum Thema „Picture of the Day“.
Das „Picture of the Day“ soll eine kleine Geschichte über den Alltag in San Francisco „erzählen“. Dabei geht es nicht um klassische Touristen-Sujets, sondern vielmehr um eine Episode aus dem Alltag. Es sollen z.B. ein kultureller Unterschied (im Vergleich zur Schweiz) aufgezeigt werden, oder typische oder besondere Aspekte aus dem Leben in den USA oder auch Kalifornien und San Francisco im Speziellen herausgehoben werden.
Wie üblich wohnten die Schülerinnen und Schüler während des dreiwöchigen Aufenthalts in Gastfamilien und besuchten den Unterricht an erstklassigen privaten „High Schools“ (University High School, Menlo School, Urban School, und erstmals die College Preparatory School).
An Act of Courtesy
November 9, 2011, by Cara
Every day I commute to school with BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit). On my first day of school I was oblivious to the fact that people actually queued to get on BART. After having been reprimanded on my second day for trying to get on BART without having stood in line, I noticed with astonishment that people behaved very fair-minded. The people who arrived first were those who were allowed to get on BART first and had the chance of choosing a place to sit.
For me this was fascinating because it displays a lot of respect to fellow passengers. If you compare this to Switzerland, one can really make out a big difference. In Switzerland people rush into the train and sometimes don’t even make space for the people trying to get out.
Go Sharks!
November 8, 2011, by Barbara
This picture was taken at a NHL hockey game in San Jose where the Sharks played the Predators from Nashville. It illustrates one of the typical American characteristics that I like the most about this country - team spirit. Only here you can find a full stadium with hockey fans all dressed up with the team’s jersey and doing the same cheering after a goal. Especially unique is the guy dressed up in the team’s mascot getting people to cheer even more. Most fascinating for me was that the fans of one team (the Sharks from San Jose in the above picture) did not show any aggression towards the other team at all. When the other team did something magnificent there was no cussing, the whole stadium just went very silent because the few fans from the other team were scattered all over the stadium. In comparison to Switzerland there are no hooligans, no fan sections, and people do not use bad language towards the other team.
Team spirit is an integral part of fan culture in America. It is alive in professional games at NHL level as well as on high school level. The behavior of the fans is the same. Even at school games students dress up in their schools colors, watch their teams play, and cheer enthusiastically for them.
Pay with your Fingerprint
November 7, 2011, by Nora
I have chosen this picture because I think the cafeteria gives a good impression of the school that I’m attending during my stay in San Francisco. The cafeteria and the library are the most common places at University High School where the students spend their free time at school. All Swiss Students got a card for 20 free lunches when we arrived, so we normally eat lunch at the cafeteria.
The cafeteria offers one meal per lunch and a big assortment of salads and sandwiches, which are custom made depending on your choice.
The technological advance of UHS, compared to our school and cafeteria, is noticeable everywhere. Not only does every student possess his own iPad, but also it’s common to pay with your digitalized fingerprint at the cafeteria. So there is never a long queue at the cash desk.
Thanksgiving-Turkey!
November 6, 2011, by Dominique
When my host family realized that we Swiss students are going to miss Thanksgiving, they were pretty sad about that. In previous years Thanksgiving dinner has always been a highlight of the exchange program. My host mother said that this dinner gives a good insight into the American way of live and the American traditions. Thanksgiving is actually celebrated every year on the fourth Thursday of November, but my host family had the wonderful idea to organize the dinner earlier this year and invited all the “Menlo host-families”.
My host mother spent the whole day preparing the meal and in the end there was an incredible amount of food and a good number of people in the house. Of course there was the world famous Turkey (actually there were even two of them!) and that’s what you can see on the picture. All the guests and Swiss students liked the turkey a lot. Additionally there were tons of side dishes, like mashed potatoes and stuffing. To top it off there was a delicious dessert at the end.
This rescheduled Thanksgiving dinner certainly showed us important aspects of the “American Way of Live”. From now on I will also associate Thanksgiving dinner with a tremendous amount of delicious food and many, many leftovers.
Hi, you may cross the street!
November 5, 2011, by Patrick
The man in the picture above is the crossing guard. He’s actually just doing the same job as traffic lights do. He tells pedestrians when to cross the street and when to wait, and he stops cars or lets them pass.
The first day I went to school I was very surprised by this man because I’ve never seen anything like him before. I thought it was funny and a kind of ridiculous to employ a man standing around a whole day at the same place and just saying “wait” or “go”. The students who cross the street are mostly between the age of 15 and 18, and I think that it wouldn’t be a problem for them to cross the street on their own. In Zurich I’m able to cross the streets without getting hit by a car and those streets are sometimes even busier than this one.
However, I recognized that this man takes his job very seriously and seems to be very proud of what he’s doing. He is friendly, in a good mood and always says hello to you when you cross the street. He definitely doesn’t take his job for granted and appreciates it a lot. If I had to do this job, I would probably not be very motivated, but this guy is doing his job with such a passion, that it’s hilarious to watch him. I’m very respectful for what he’s doing, and also the other students seem to be grateful for his presence.
He represents to some extent the American way of working and life, one might say. Americans always try to do their best, whatever they are doing. They are very proud, motivated and nice people, as I have noticed during my stay in the States.
Composting: the Berkeley Method
November 4, 2011, by Anais
As you can read in Sharon's blog we visited an organic farm yesterday. While we were there the farmer told us about a special composting method that they use and that was developed in the University of Berkeley.
The method includes that you first build a pile of organic kitchen garbage and normal soil. The middle part of this accumulation starts to heat up which is an indicator for intense decomposition (= decomposition is the process by which organic material is broken down into simpler forms of matter).
After a few days you mix the pile of compost and you will continue with this periodical switching and mixing for a few weeks. Through this switching and mixing one can speed up the decomposition of the kitchen garbage and what would otherwise take a year is accomplished within a few weeks. In the picture one can see the different piles of compost and stages of decomposition included in this method. Finally the organic debris has decomposed entirely and you will end up with perfect compost soil for farming.
The Melting Pot
November 3, 2011, by Emily
Using public transportation in San Francisco shows you how multicultural the city actually is. Places like Chinatown or North Beach (Little Italy), where there are many immigrants of the same culture living together, are known to most tourists who visit the city. Even though I knew that the number of different cultures was high in San Francisco I didn’t quite realize it until I rode the bus for the first time. When you get in the rather small bus you see so many different kinds of people (Asians, Hispanics, Russians…) feeling completely at home. Even the signs and announcements informing passengers in the bus are in languages like Chinese and Spanish so everyone can understand. It was interesting to see this because in Switzerland, or generally in Europe, the language used to help everybody understand is usually English. Whereas here the national language is actually English and things are still translated into different languages to try to adjust to the people living here.
How to Grow Vegetables on a Highway?
November 3, 2011, by Sharon
Today the students of our class that go to school at UHS visited the farmer’s market and an urban farm.
First we had to interview in groups organic farmers and learn about the local food movement.
After interviewing local farmers we travelled with the bus and arrived at an urban farm. A farmer explained us all about the farm. It was really interesting to hear about it and we learned a lot about composting etc. He told us that originally the farm was part of the highway and that after the big earthquake in 1989 the street was totally broken. Since 2008 they use this former land of a highway for farming. I was really impressed by how an urban farm works in a city like San Francisco.
Be a Fan
November 2, 2011, by Massi
One of the first things I noticed on my initial day of school was how differently the students dress here. School seems to be a place where everyone dresses extremely casually and sportily. In Switzerland you wouldn't usually see kids just wearing a hooded sweatshirt, basketball shorts and tennis shoes while in San Francisco this seems to be completely normal. The outfit we chose for school on the first day made us almost feel overdressed.
Their interest in sports is reflected by their daily clothing style. Probably every student at the school owns at least one San Francisco Giants baseball cap or jersey, which some kids also wear to school occasionally. It seems as if the fan gear creates a bond between them because almost everyone is cheering for the same team and debating recent games.
It was nice to see how a different surrounding can even change someone’s attitude towards fashion.
Waste Separation
November 1, 2011, by Gina
Contrary to all expectations the inhabitants of San Francisco care a lot about the environment.
Basically all restaurants divide the waste into 3 different groups such as compost, recyclable goods and "normal" waste (see picture above).
You might have the image of the Americans with their huge SUV's which are responsible for the pollution, but actually a lot of people in San Francisco drive hybrid cars. San Francisco has the second highest percentage of hybrid cars in the US with 8.85 hybrid cars out of 1000 new registered cars. Only Portland has a higher rate.
Also public transportation plays an important role in their routine. You can see a huge variety of different people in the Muni (San Francisco’s municipal transportation system) from different social backgrounds (businessmen, students, poor people, teachers).
The Department of Peace
October 31, 2011, by Timo
On my picture of the day you see an old lady which is protesting against the military engagement of the United States in the Middle East. As you can read on her poster, she suggests a department of peace.
San Francisco is a very liberal city and a lot of people were against the war in Iraq. Inhabitants of San Francisco are especially affected by the war, because the city is close to many military facilities. Nearly every family in San Francisco knows somebody who went to Iraq or Afghanistan. Some of these US soldiers died and many others returned with psychological problems. This lady stands for the large amount of people in San Francisco who fight against the engagement of US forces in the Middle East.
Powder Puff Game
October 30, 2011, by Xenia
We’re having a four day weekend at College Prep, so I drove down to San Jose to visit the school I attended last semester. It’s a catholic all girls school, so there isn’t a football team or field. Once a year, around Halloween though, juniors (3rd grade) and seniors (4th grade) each form a team and play one game of flag football against each other. It’s a big school event, called Powder Puff Game and everyone comes to watch the game, talk and eat. During this event juniors and seniors especially show a lot of what is called class spirit, meaning the whole grade is considered a unity. Usually, during the year, overall school spirit is more important than specific class spirit, but not on this day ? freshman cheer for the juniors and sophomores for the seniors.
Flag football means there is no tackling. Instead, you have to rip off a flag the opponent is wearing on a belt. I personally had a lot of fun. The teams are coached by teachers, and they are very amusing in this role. The money earned with the tickets and the food sold gets donated. This year the seniors won 42:21 (1 touchdown = 7 points).
Trick or Treat!
October 29, 2011, by Nicolas
Walk down any in San Francisco and you will not see a single house without Halloween decoration. Not only in San Francisco but in the United States in general Halloween is much more popular than in Switzerland. People organize parties and dress up. In Switzerland only the little kids dress up to get some candies, but here even adults may wear a costume and compete for the original outfit. Next week is a special week at my school, the UHS, only because of Halloween. Everyone has to dress up for school and every day they have a different theme: There is a pyjama day, a cowboy day and so on. I think this week is going to be lots of fun and I’m really looking forward to Halloween.
Traffic Jam
October 28, 2011, by Quentin
On the picture above you can see the entrance of Menlo School, which is the school I am going to while I am in San Francisco. Menlo is a private school, so the students who come to this school are spread all over the area of Menlo Park. It would be too complicated to organize a bus that picks up everyone in the morning and brings them home in the evening. There are also only a few students who are able to walk to school and public transportation is really bad. Therefore, they all come to school by car. In my case my host sister drives me to school, which makes me very dependent on my host sister.
Many students are younger than 16, don’t have their driving license yet, or have no car available. This means that their parents have to drive them to school. The big circular driveway on the photo helps them to control this huge amount of cars arriving every day during rush hour in the morning and evening. Nevertheless, there is hardly a moment without traffic in front of the main entrance.
The Agony of Choice
October 28, 2011, by Natasha
If you look at my picture you may think, why would someone take a picture of a pile of tomatoes? What is so special about these tomatoes? The day after we arrived from Zurich my host mother took me to the farmers market. At first it was completely normal, just like the one in Zurich, but then I noticed the much wider variety of fruits and vegetables. I realized that there were thousands of different kinds of food, half of which I never knew existed. They sold cauliflower in three different colors and six different types of tomatoes! After the farmers market we went to Walgreens, the local pharmacy, and there again was such a wide variety of different brands, sizes, and colors. I just could not understand how people are able to make such fast decisions on what to buy. At the end of the day at the dinner table I asked my host family how they manage to do shopping so efficiently without getting confused about all the choices. They answered that it was confusing at the beginning but at the end they just always bought the same brand and stuck to that. So I guess no matter where you are, you will find your daily routine.
Occupy San Francisco
October 27, 2011, by Marlon
This picture shows how people occupy the place in front of the ferry building in San Francisco. It shows one of the most recent worldwide protests against all the banks, the mortgage industry, and the insurance industry. The protesters complain about big companies being saved by the state while people from the street receive little support in difficult situations. People set up their tents at the ferry building and are staying there overnight ignoring the cold weather conditions. While handing out flyers with information on this movement protesters told me some of their own sad stories ? how they got into this situation and what they are fighting for.
It truly impressed me how strong their commitment was and I hope they will be able to make some difference for their own lives and the lives of many others. My picture is dedicated to all these protesters and their attempt because I was impressed with their endurance.
Caramel – Sweet as Hell!
October 26, 2011, by Olenka
In the US Halloween is national tradition. Originally it used to be a scary thing; kids would dress up as little monsters and vampires. Nowadays it’s mostly about having a creative and silly costume and eating as much candy as possible.
Here you can see a “Caramel-Apple”. It’s an Apple with a Caramel frosting, a layer of chocolate, and small candies as decoration. The people here love it, but for me it was kind of weird. It was almost too sweet, and I felt as if the sugar does not add to the flavor of the apple.
Caramel-Apples are one of the typical sweets served during the Halloween season. People make them at home and then give them out to kids that come by trick or treating on Halloween night - or they just eat all the sugar themselves.
Much more than we are...
October 26, 2011, by Luc
The picture itself is pretty boring - just showing an empty hallway at our school. The story behind it tells how respectful the students at UHS are and how they trust in their friends. It was the first day we went to school in San Francisco. When we first arrived at UHS we saw a kid who left his bag in the hallway unattended and ran away into a classroom. A bit surprised we went to our classroom and joined our classes. At lunch we noticed many other kids leaving their bags behind in a corner of the cafeteria. Many of the bags remained at the same spot all day. It appeared as if we saw the same bag from the morning at the same place, untouched. The next day we asked our host brothers if it was safe to throw our bags somewhere and leave them there unoccupied for the rest of the day. They told us that they would do that all the time even if their iPads and laptops were in the bags. Obviously, the kids here are really honest with each other and would never do anything against the rules.
In general, American students are highly motivated to attend school (much more than we are) and consider themselves as part of a big school family.
Bicycle
October 25, 2011, by Camille
The bicycle on this picture is one of the few bicycles I have seen during the trip until now. No one in California walks or rides a bicycle, even for short distances. Without a car you’re depending on your host families and even if you intend to take the train, they insist on driving you to the train station because the distances are too long (or they think that they’re too long).
This particular bus drove us to Fisherman’s Wharf during our sightseeing tour in San Francisco. The thing I loved best was Chinatown. For me, it was very surprising that the population density in Chinatown is so high. It really seemed to me, as if I were in China. This is just one of the many reasons why I fell in love with that city.
American Football
October 24, 2011, by Vanessa
After 11 hours up in the air there's nothing I'd favor over a shower and a bed. That is what I thought till I went to a football game straight from the airport. Quickly change into a new shirt (of course a Stanford fanshirt) and you're immediately ready for the game. Since I hadn't slept for about 18 hours I was very tired! But I didn't want to miss it, especially because it was the only chance to see such a game, as my host family told me. But I was almost falling asleep all the time, during the flight, waiting for the luggage at the airport, driving to the stadium with the car... But by the moment I walked into the stadium I felt as if I were part of one of those high school movies... Everyone wore fanshirts and the players were warming up on the field while the chearleaders were dancing to the music the band played. It is probably one of the best first impressions you can have of America. But even though it was a nice experience I was very happy to finally get home and fall asleep immediately.
