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Ricarda Thiesen, Alexander Dagge, Oskar Offermann and Thomas Zander (clockwise from top left):
Photo: Jörg Müller / Agentur Focus;
THE MIRROR
Are people cheating more often again, Mr. Zander?
In February, private detective Thomas Zander, 50, reported that people sometimes stay in their homes for days during the shutdown and are apparently more loyal. "Maybe that's because most of them just stay at home and there are fewer places to have an affair," said Zander.
“People still seem to be cheating less than they did before Corona. Fortunately, however, I am still being asked to work as a detective; I usually have more to do in spring and summer than in winter. I tend to deal with maintenance disputes, like checking to see if someone has a new partner. But I also investigate theft, stalking and fraud. The year brought another decisive turning point for me: I have been running a school support since August. We have a daughter with trisomy 21, and in the spring the head of her school escort at the time threw in the towel relatively spontaneously. I was quite perplexed, the children still need their school attendants, and the school attendants still need their jobs. So I decided relatively spontaneously to take on the job, and sent the district a concept,and now I have 30 employees. However, I do not accompany the children to class myself, I am not trained for that. Instead, I write reports, organize the shifts.
I can no longer get too much sleep with the two jobs: I get up at half past five in the morning and don't go to bed until half past twelve in the evening.
In the morning I take care of a substitute companion in case someone is absent at short notice.
This is important to me: no child should have to stay at home just because there is no companion.
In the afternoon, in the evening or at night I work as a detective and observe people.
The other day a detective agency said that it now had more jobs because it had to check whether people really work from home.
This is total nonsense.
If you work from home, you can work from anywhere else and organize your time freely.
I would never accept such a stupid assignment. "
How many people have you vaccinated since then, Mr Dagge?
Alexander Dagge, 46, is a general practitioner in Lübstorf am Schweriner See. At the beginning of the year he was allowed to vaccinate as one of the first family doctors in Germany. How did that affect his year?
“We are currently drowning in people willing to be vaccinated, which was not the case at all in the summer. We vaccinated a good 6,000 people against Covid-19 this year. But of course we will continue to take care of all the other patients. This year there were many people with fears and mental illnesses, but of course it is also about the patients with high blood pressure, diabetes and back / shoulder / knee. It was really an incredibly exhausting year for us family doctors. Many people say yes, they had time during Corona to take care of things that have been lying around for a long time. That doesn't apply to us, the work grew more and more for us. In the vaccination process, paradoxically, it takes the longest to issue the digital vaccination certificate - we will do that right here,then nobody has to run to the pharmacy anymore.
We not only vaccinate in practice, we have also carried out vaccination campaigns in the town hall and for the police. One day my team and I even wanted to vaccinate 250 policemen, unfortunately only 140 could come because so many demonstrations are currently taking place. The officers so often have to be yelled at - at demonstrations, on the street - often by people who may not want to be vaccinated. Of course they still exist, even in our rural areas. I think you can roughly divide them into three groups: On the one hand, there are people who have concerns and fears and need medical advice. Then there are the stubborn, who may have had bad experiences in authority before, where red lights come on when they are pushed to do something,what is unfortunately happening at the moment. But with good arguments you can pick up these people. And then there are those who think the earth was flat and that Donald Trump was a good US president. Unfortunately, I cannot reach these people. But the virus, nature is merciless. I hope that these people will not only be won over by an illness. "
Where do you keep your Federal Order of Merit, Ms. Thiesen?
Ricarda Thiesen, 43, teaches elementary school students in Niebüll with hand puppets she has sewn herself and learning videos. For this she was awarded the Federal Order of Merit in March. This is "an award for our entire profession, which has really surpassed itself in the pandemic," she said at the time.
»I keep the Federal Order of Merit in a safe place, along with other prizes, for example the two-time award for vice world champion in teddy bear design and some swimming medals from the state and north German championships from my youth. The medal is of course a very special distinction, but I accepted it for all teachers who got involved during the pandemic. There is always so much abuse of the teachers, but there are also many who make an effort and try out new things - also digitally. I was lucky that this was seen in me. That is a good sign to the outside world. As a result of the pandemic, a lot has gotten rolling at the educational institutions, now all classes at our school have smartboards, and there are also rental iPads.In our computer group, the children learn the basics of programming or how to create presentations on a tablet. All of my colleagues are now able to use digital learning aids well, even those who used to be less tech-savvy.
After I was awarded the Federal Order of Merit, I continued with a lot of interviews and press inquiries. Fortunately, my colleagues have been infected by the attention, there is neither envy nor resentment. They give me new ideas, and some of them are now helping me to make the tutorial videos. A colleague recently sawed a wooden frame for HuPert's legs in order to be able to film a scene: We have just finished a Christmas video, there is still a lot of artificial snow in the auditorium. There are now four characters who appear in the videos: The pink HuPert, who is very convinced of himself, but always causes disasters. Then there is fluff, the cameraman who always freaks out because he thinks HuPert is doing everything wrong. There is Waldemar,the lighting technician who helps in the background, and there is Stine, the shy one, but who can sing really well. And now I have a Spanish doll in the pipeline.
The next project I'm planning to do with a friend is a theater group, so of course the puppets fit in well. I invented it to give the children in the pandemic support, to strengthen the class community. When HuPert explains in his charming, witty way: ›Adjectives are words and you can improve them«, then the children remember the subject matter much better. If I say that as a teacher, half of the class would have forgotten about it the next day. HuPert has now become a real identification figure at our school, he is present at every school enrollment and at other events. He is like a living being to the children, they talk to him and I answer. Of course, it works much better with the mask because I don't have to keep my lips still. "
Do you still work as a teacher, Mr Offermann?
Oskar Offermann, 40, played as a DJ in countries such as the USA, Mexico, Brazil and Japan. Then Corona came, travel became impossible, his jobs were lost. In June he said that because of this he had accepted a position as an art and music teacher in Offenbach am Main. The lateral entry was easy - but how is he doing in everyday school life?
“My position was even increased. I now work as a teacher three days a week: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. That works well, so I can rest on Fridays and do a gig on Saturdays. This year I also had a few gigs as a DJ in Austria, Russia and the Ukraine. After hanging up, I travel back on Sundays and relax on Mondays. Now the clubs are closed again, but that's a good thing. I have been vaccinated three times and the students are now wearing masks all the time again, but despite this I can't hang up in front of hundreds of people and then stand in front of a class again at the incidences. In the summer I saw the children without mouth and nose protection for the first time. I was really surprised because I thought they looked much younger. I became aware,how small they actually are.
I find the job as a teacher very fulfilling and I can try out a lot in class. Traditionally, art lessons are more geared towards learning handicraft skills in an analogue way, but I always try to break this open with my specialist knowledge of new media and, for example, to design my own logos with the children. You can also rethink a lot in music lessons: In the next six months, I will be offering a course in hip-hop and rap as well as music production as part of compulsory elective lessons.
The other day I had to take exams for the first time, I think I was more nervous than the students. I was scared that my requirements might be too high or too low, or that I wouldn't rate them fairly. I checked the work for three afternoons. That was really exciting for me because I was able to look inside their heads for the first time. Some quieter children were really good at writing.
Of course, the job is exhausting: when I turn around, erasers fly off, children throw pencil cases from the table and tell each other. And actually someone howls every day. Sometimes I go to school with the same feeling as I did when I was a student. It smells like it did back then, it looks like it did back then, and I feel like I'm stuck in an everyday mill. But at the end of the day I lie down on the couch and know what I've done.
Nevertheless, I plan to reduce my hours again next summer at the latest because my artistic career is suffering from my work as a teacher.
As a DJ, I have to research records, be active on social media, produce new music: my students are already asking what happens to me musically.
Maybe next year I'll go in the direction of German pop and get myself a new stage name, something like 'Herr Lehrer'. "
