Teachers from Friedrich-Alexander-Gymnasium
Visit AdNU under EPECTO

The partnership between Ateneo de Naga University and Friedrich-Alexander-Gymnasium, Neustadt a. d. Aisch, Germany continued to grow as Frau Karola Klier and Frau Annette Mettenleiter visited the country from 20 December 2008 to 13 January 2009. With this visit, the Exchange Program on Education, Culture and Teaching Objectives (EPECTO) demonstrated steady growth and development—yet again. Since its formal inception in 2007, EPECTO has already sent ten individuals halfway across the globe: four (going six this April) from Ateneo to Friedrich-Alexander-Gymnasium and six from Friedrich-Alexander-Gymnasium to Ateneo.

Karola Klier teaches Chemistry and Biology at Friedrich-Alexander-Gymnasium, in which she is also the head of the Chemistry Faculty, an orchestra member, and the coordinator for EPECTO. Karola is neither a neophyte in the program nor a stranger in the Philippines. She is among the pioneers of EPECTO and Naga is her second home. She visited the country in her early twenty’s. She was an AdNU visiting professor in 2005, and has since then envisioned the creation of a locus for intercultural education in an exchange program that was hence to be fondly called EPECTO. Her return signaled the program’s shift to higher gears, as it not only evaluated EPECTO activities and facilities in Naga, but also advanced a year’s effort of involving more units and institutions in the organizational dynamisms of the program. Her return was also the long-awaited chance to revisit and nurture friendships in a place that was once, and will always be, a home to her.

Annette Mettenleiter teaches Music at Friedrich-Alexander-Gymnasium, in which she is also a chamber musician, a soloist, and a choirmaster. Annette is a professional violinist. Annette’s decision to visit the country for the first time was greatly inspired by the stories shared by Karola in her previous visits, and also by the strong musical sensibility that Annette discerned in an AdNU teacher who visited Germany in Spring. Annette’s visit forged strong collaborations and friendships with the Ateneo Choir, the Ateneo Band, the Campus Ministry, the bandleaders and choirmasters, and even with some of the top professional musicians, artists and publishers in the country. Her visit also charmed the Ateneo community with impeccable musical performances and with an intense spiritual presence.

Karola and Annette arrived in the country on the 20th of December 2008, touring Manila and the north in the company of AdNU friends. Arriving in Naga on the 29th of the same month, the duo celebrated intercultural friendships in oftentimes-unpredictable weather conditions. Their visit included some travel sessions in the region, some classroom activities, and a lot of socials. They also engaged in numerous meetings and appointments. Their visit in school culminated in a large-scale, multidimensional symposium entitled Existential Experiences: An Interdisciplinary Approach, which featured collaborative works of scientists, artists, musicians, poets and scholars on local, national and international levels.

The Ateneo Community sincerely thanks Karola and Annette for visiting us under EPECTO, and fervently wishes them many happy returns in their life and professional practice.