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Chapter 4. Once Noy entered the Spanish classroom, fear washed over her. Although she had talked with Ms. Castro and had been reassured that everything would be all right, she had no clue what to think at all. The idea of being in a Spanish class when she was already trying to learn better English was already overwhelming her. However, Ms. Castro told the whole class something promising. "If you come from another country, you will be happy to know that the Spanish you will learn this year will not be as hard as the English you are learning. You all are only sweet little three-year-olds, so there is no reason for me to make you learn hard things right now. So don't worry!" The first few minutes of the period were spent by Ms. Castro talking about how her class would end up running. "I want you to only focus on having fun this year in my class!" she explained, "No need to think anything bad about class! This is a fun and welcoming place!" The rest of period 2 was used as Castro's Social Hall. This was a tradition that Ms. Castro always had established in her class so that her students could feel more comfortable with her, as well as with each other. But Noy didn't say one single word. Instead, she sang songs to herself. "Oh, who is singing?" Ms. Castro asked curiously. Noy wasn't sure if she could tell the truth, but eventually she decided to say something. "It was me," Noy softly admitted. "Oh Noy, you have such a beautiful voice! I love it!" Ms. Castro replied, coming over and attempting to pat a startled Noy on the shoulder in approval. "Ms. Pacheco would love your singing! She is the music teacher for Year 1 through Year 5." "She will?" Noy clarified, taken aback. "Of course! She is very friendly anyway," Ms. Castro replied, smiling at Noy. Noy couldn't believe one single word her new Spanish teacher was saying, but she had a small feeling that maybe Ms. Castro was at least somewhat right. She did sound sincere, after all. When the bell rang for class to end, Noy stood up, feeling like she was going to throw up. Her next class was German, and she was not looking forward to it. Although Ms. Kastner did seem very friendly, Noy still had a feeling that her mother and father, who said that Germans were evil people because of the second world war, were right. However, the very thought of Ms. Kastner's voice made Noy attempt to think the opposite. With a few positive thoughts in her mind, she went out the door of the Spanish classroom, room 418. "Ms. Kastner is 419, right across the hall," Ms. Castro informed Noy, "When you get there, you will be in for a good treat! I'll see you tomorrow, OK?" "Yeah," Noy replied, trying once again to believe Ms. Castro. As Noy walked across the hall, she became disoriented. She had tripped over a wire on the floor, so she had to reposition herself to go into the right direction. Once she crossed the hall from where she thought she was before, she found a classroom, assuming that she had found Ms. Kastner's room, However, as she walked into the room, she heard an older woman speaking German to some older students. Noy began to panic, not sure of where she ended up. But she knew that she had no clue where to go, so she went toward the woman's voice. "Hello, dear," the woman said, "I see you are a Year 1! Welcome to our school!" "i need Ms. Kastner's room," Noy stuttered, trying to hide her fear. She knew this was a German, so she was fearful. "Oh, don't cry," the woman said gently, stroking Noy's back, "I understand you got lost. This is my room, 421. Ms. Kastner's room is 419. I'll take you there. By the way, my name is Mrs. Merkel. You will have me for German in years 11 to 15 if you do continue taking German. So I would be really happy to take you to Ms. Kastner's room!" Noy thought she recognized the last name Merkel, since Angela Merkel was the German chancellor from 2005 to 2021. "Did you lead Germans?" Noy asked, seeing if she actually knew anything about her future German teacher. "Yes, for about 15 years," Mrs. Merkel replied, "my full name is Mrs. Angela Merkel, by the way." "I know about you!" Noy admitted, "But Germans are scary!" "No, at least the Germans teaching in this school are not scary," Mrs. Merkel replied, taking Noy's tiny hand, "we are not like the ones in the wars many years ago. So please don't be afraid. Remember, no more tears, OK?" "OK," Noy replied, "No more tears!" "You are so cute and sweet!" Mrs. Merkel exclaimed, "now here is Ms. Kastner's room. It was nice meeting you today! What is your name?" "Noy," Noy replied, "Noy Song." "Oh my, Ms. Kastner emailed me during period 2 and said that she met you today. She loves you," Mrs. Merkel revealed. Noy felt better about German already, now that she had just met the advanced German teacher in a stressful situation. Although Noy was still generally nervous, she had figured out that the German people seemed to be very gentle and kind. They seemed to hate seeing others suffer, so they would comfort them until things were right again.