Andrea Sydry

'Habe nun, ach ! Philosophie, Latein und Germanistik, Und leider auch Theologie! Durchaus studiert, mit heissem Bemuehn!' (Goethe, Faust) 'I have now studied Philosophy, Latin and German Literature, and even, alas,Theology all through and through with ardour keen!' at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet in Munich, Bavaria. But as Mephistopheles mentioned to Faust: 'Dear friend, all theory is grey, and green the golden tree of life', I decided to add some practice to all my theoretical knowledge, and so I also obtained a university 'licence to teach'after having already taught at some schools.

When I was a little girl and my father a primary school director at Lake Constance, I found myself often teaching or correcting his pupils' dictations. During the years I have taught everyone around me, first my younger sister, later Polish students for German university entry and finally my children Max and Valerie (who are by the way very happy to escape their mum's permanent control because I am busy now).

Before I started working for BISC I volunteered for the IFW Club as chairperson for many years. IFW is a non-profit organisation that not only helps foreign families to get settled in Wroclaw and make new friends,but also collects money and support for charity projects in Wroclaw. While being a member of KultNet, a German-Polish association for connecting cultures, I met and still regularly meet Polish and German managers, artists andauthors to discuss common projects. Should I mention that a friend of mine, owner of a restaurant on the Rynek,often asks me to translate her Polish menus to German? The rest of my time I spend with my children and Russian-blue cat Armani, with cooking, baking, music, and reading prose and poetry being my favourite pastimes.

So did you know that one of the most famous German romantic poets (and my personal favourite) once lived in 'Breslau'?