Thank you TOP Goethe

Welcome to Historical Adventure 2011.

I had the opportunity to join 16 other teachers on a study tour of Germany through the generosity of the Transatlantic Outreach Program Goethe Institute, Washington, DC. We truly had the trip of a lifetime. As you read this blog, the journey starts with the earliest entry called "Making Sure Everything is in its Place." Check for it in the June listings. Thank you again TOP Goethe and all my new friends.

Hop on a plane to Frankfurt...that was the easy part.

SATURDAY, July 9
The fun is about to end...here is one final look at the vineyard last night. Melissa(NY), Canada(IA), Nicole (PA), Regina(NY), Karen(MI) and me(VA)
Thank you Mr. Goethe...we had a wonderful, historical adventure.

We all were on board the S-Bahn (commuter train) about 7 am on our way to depart from Frankfurt on a flight via Munich to Washington. That is the plan. So, we arrive at the Frankfurt airport and with relative ease, checked our luggage and herded through security. Once past security, we all made a mad dash to the Duty Free stores to get rid of any Euros that we had left. I, honestly, couldn't find anything and my goal was to exchange my 20 paper Euro into American dollars and try desperately to get rid of the 4.21 Euros that I had in change. The logical buy? Chocolate. Done.

As I am passed by the newsstand, I thought I would like a People magazine or something like it. I had purchased one for the long flight from Washington to Munich, but had such a good time talking with Pam(CO) that I never opened it and left it in the pocket in front of my seat. There was a German magazine that I thought would be a good souvenir and so I bought two...one for my husband and one for my dad. All set...10 Euro left for emergencies.

We change gates and finally board the plane for Munich. It is about an hour flight, but by the time we arrived, our flight to the US was boarding in another part of the terminal far, far, far away. We were slightly panicked, yet had talked amongst ourselves and figured we would be happy to spend the day in Munich. We even started planning what we would do. As we disembarked the plan, a Luftansa (they are an awesome long distance carrier) agent was waiting for us. He was holding up a sign and we began to quickly follow him. He was moving very fast. We arrived at the passport checkpoint and the first five are quickly passed through. Then, flight crews and some "carted people...probably sports icons" (they didn't even get off the cart-the driver took care of getting their passports checked---Lazy? or Rich?) went through. Anyway, next up is Karen(MI) she was asked why she was in Germany. I thought, uh-oh, I started thinking "don't go all 'KAT' on them or we aren't getting out of here." She just said she was here for the "same reason as the rest of them." I guess the agent believed her, because he let her through. The rest of us followed at a full out run...I take that back because GQ must have caught the eye of one of the lovely cart ladies as he and the rest arrived "refreshed" and ready to board the plane.

The plane was waiting on us and off we went. Everyone knows that I am cold natured, but everyone on this plane must have been cold. They had their blankets up to their necks. It was C O L D! I'm surprised I couldn't see my breath. Nicole(PA), who was sitting a couple of seats over, and I made an arrangement to nudge each other if food came by and the other was asleep. Done deal.

Yea! Finally 8+ hours later, we arrived in DC. We got through immigration quickly and then we waited, waited, waited, waited for our luggage to arrive. Normally, that wouldn't be a problem, but we had to recheck the luggage with our next carrier. For me, going through Customs, getting to US AIR, through security and to the plane in the next 57 minutes wasn't looking good. And still no luggage. Finally, the carousel started to move. With the help of my many new friends, of whom we had already hugged and said our good-byes, we watched for my giant orange suitcase to arrive so I could hit the pavement. It was one of the first ones off, so I took off to get in the clog of people trying to get to the customs paper takers. Done. Off to US AIR. No line. Great. Am I too late to make the flight? No, they didn't think so. However, I could not check the big orange suitcase and would have to check the 50 pound "orange" at the gate. I responded that I had liquids in the bag and the attendant said "they will make you throw them away."

Okay....RUN. Off I ran to security with the Big Orange. Of course, I get in the slowest ID check line. She is thorough and explains to me that my hair is cut shorter and I look younger in my passport photo. Lovely. Have a nice day. I get in the next long line and the attendant says "that is too big for a carry-on." I explained and moved on. I took a chance and plopped Big Orange on the conveyor belt. I waited for them to tell me to unpack it. I was prepared to do it...but they let me go. Victory. I had to sprint to the gate and they were making their final boarding call to Charlotte, NC. I tagged Big Orange and I huffed and puffed to my seat. BREATHE. We arrived late into Charlotte and my next flight was already boarding. However, since I checked Big Orange at the gate, I had to wait in the plane walker-downer-thingee for my suitcase. It was a slow process as many people no longer check luggage to avoid the $25 charge. It is so slow and the people are starting to panic. One nicely dressed man starts a TOP 3 type luggage toss. It is working, but one of the bags falls over and it belongs to a member of a flight crew. The flight crew guy gets really angry. Well dressed man says that there are people that need to leave and he is trying to help. Flight crew guy, in my opinion, picks a fight and they move to the back of the crowd and have words. I'm on a mission. I appreciate well dressed guy, get Big Orange and head off to the next gate. I have to check Big Orange at the gate again and explain why I have Big Orange again. I got on the plane and decide to call home to tell Fun Doug that I'm am going to be on time. I have not an ounce of battery. I asked the nice lady sitting next to me if I could use her phone and she said as long yes as I wasn't calling Germany.

Home...well, off the airplane anyway. Doug is waiting. I liked seeing him, but I missed those days when my little tow-headed boy and mixed-matched "I choose my own clothes" baby girl met me at the gate. They are all grown up now...and have moved out on their own.

"I could eat." Standard answer for Fun Doug and we headed to Taco Bell. All I really wanted was a full cup of ICE with a little water. It was delicious.

Tatem, the dog, and I enjoyed our reunion and she and I both became covered in her loose hair. It is good to be home. However, I must leave again in 11 hours for CT for a study of Duke Ellington. So it is laundry, repacking...and paying bills.

Thank you again TOP Goethe...I wouldn't have missed it for the world. Good times.

Last Day...and a GREAT ONE on the River

FRIDAY, July 8
It is a warm and beautiful day and we are going on a grand adventure. We start our day with a bus to Bingen where we prepare for a boat trip to St. Goar. This will be a cruise on the Rhine River past world-famous rocky outcrops. We will see vineyards, quaint little towns, and grand fortresses.
I am just relaxing...preparing to board the boat.

Imagine an SNL skit - Steve Martin and Dan Aykroyd...only a German version. They provided a short bit of entertainment.

Here are the Virginia representatives...Rick and me

If you gotta go, you gotta go.

We are on the boat and this is the first "wow" moment.

Having a great time Canada(IA), Ben(AZ), Karen(MI), Melissa (Canada), Nicole(PA) and Regina(NY)Gary(TX), Tony(CA), Sam(IN) and Cynthia(KY)

Steffan(guide from Frankfurt), me, Melissa(NY), Pam(CO), Laura(CO), and Carmen(guide from Wiesbaden)

Klaus(TOP Goethe, Washington, DC), John(MA) and Rick(VA)

Nice little place

We got off the boat and rode the bus to Speyer. Here was a huge Cathedral. From the outside, you could see the different times the church had been repaired, added on to, etc. It was an enormous church.This vessel was filled with wine...and all of it was consumed.

This is the Jewish quarter. This synagogue was bombed during the war. This was an entire settlement for the Jewish people in Speyer. The focus of the settlement was the Judenhog, the religious centre, with its synagogue for men and women and its ritual cold bath, today it is the only fully preserved mikvah in Germany.

The guide, agreed with what we had been told before, that the Jewish people really want the rest of the world to know that they are more than the Holocaust...they had a past before the Holocaust and they have had a future since the Holocaust.

This is the inside of the Cathedral.

We now go to our farewell dinner at the Gutsschanke Schloss Johannisberg. This restaurant sits above a beautiful vineyard. At the dinner, Ben(AZ) and I presented Klaus the Adidas soccer shirt from everyone in the TOP group. He immediately put it on and as far as we know, he wore it all night...as he had it on in the morning when we left.:) I think he liked it.This was dinner...to go along with really delicious wine.

Me, Melissa(NY), Melissa(Canada) and Nicole(PA)

The view from our table.

After arriving back at Motel One is Wiesbaden...a bunch of us went across the street to the "movie in the park." 6 am will come very early and I have no clock, no phone (Karen told me she would knock on the door at 6)...so I left the hard core "kids" at the park.

Thank you TOP Goethe for a great, great Historical Adventure.

Stiftung Lesen and Deutsche Bank AG

This is the Motel One mod front room. I took these pictures at our Motel One and the one we are in now is very similar. When you walk into your room, the tv comes on but looks like an aquarium and has this aquarium-ish sound. While walking through Wiesbaden last night, we came across these memorial stones. This was in front of an apartment building and each of the little tiles had names and other information on them. The tiles were placed in this "stone" to represent and honor the Jewish victims of the Holocaust who lived in this apartment building. http://www.stripes.com/military-life/wiesbaden-memorials-in-stone-honor-victims-of-nazi-regime-1.142717


THURSDAY, July 7

This morning we boarded a train(we are getting pretty good at this) and went to Mainz. There, we went to the beautiful house/office Stiftung Lesen. Stiftung Lesen is the Foundation for the Promotion of reading. They are really trying to get children, young people, young parents and I guess everyone to read for pleasure (thus, increasing literacy skills.) The scope of the foundation's activities is national. The foundation also carries out literacy research.
The house/office was beautiful and they had set out tables in the backyard for our discussion. We kindly asked if we could move the tables to the shade. We were all "dressed up" for today's adventure and all of the guys were wilting in their ties. Ben GQ (AZ) was having a difficult time especiall because he was sweating through his neatly steamed shirt. :)

In our discussion , we all heard great ways the foundation was working to help young parents read to their children. We also contributed ways in which we try to promote reading in our schools. My favorite idea came from Nicole (PA) who said that at her schol they have poster size pictures of the teachers promoting THEIR favorite book...and then the teacher donates the book to the library.

One note about e-readers, the foundation found that the e-reader did not have an active effect on reading. The kids liked the novelty of it, but it didn't change their idea of reading.

The foundation brought out refreshments...sandwiches and more water. We, Americans, can't seem to get enough water. And, we prefer the "still" kind.

Back to the train...this time it is the S-Bahn commuter train to Frankfurt. All dressed up, we went to the Deutsche Bank's new sustainable new headquarter building. The building was refurbished over a period of three years. There were 2,100 workers at the construction site and they were from 24 different countries. This building was so professional, even the bathroom had a professional touch.This is an energy efficient building with the coolest "branding" at every point. The bank had contests to develop the different "brandings" of the bank. Very impressive stuff. In the cafeteria, they serve 2,400 meals per day from several different menus (which are posted weekly.) One of the offerings for today was a North Dakota burger. They encourage bicycling to work and have bike stalls in the basement as well as shower area.




Ms. Corinna Fernando, who was one of the Deutsche Bank tour guides, shared an experience she had living near the East German border. When the borders were opened, "welcome money" (100 Deutsche marks) was given to the East Germans. Aldi's (grocery store) opened at 8 am and had to be shut down at 8:05 because of overcrowding.

Afterwards, we took a walking tour of Franfurt. As we passed a book store, our guide Steffan, showed us a book NOT to buy, NOT to buy, NOT to buy...he was the author and the books were quickly snapped up. I ordered a copy when I got home, but was able to read a lot of it on the way home. Good stuff. THE XENOPHOBES GUIDE TO THE GERMANS. We then went to the Goethe statue and the Goethe House. Thank you Goethe family.

We then had a nice dinner... pasta with ham.
Now, back on the train to Motel One.

School with KIDS! and VERY big food

After a long day...this was just what two hungry guys will need. A meal created for two people. Here John(MA) and Rick(VA)
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The day started, however, with the sound of laughter and polite English in school.

This was a sign on the classroom door for us.

Wednesday, July 6
Today, we were going to see real kids at a real school! We have been to one other school but the kids had already been dismissed for the summer. Here at the Stadtische Joseph-Beuys-Gesamtschule Comprehensive School in Dusseldorf we were greeted by the Director Ms Regine Brochhagen-Klein. This was the lady to whom I would be giving my gift. After a brief tour of the school, she split us into three groups to see the children. I went to a 5th grade class. They were learning English and using it in conversation. We started out in a circle and the children each introduced themselves and told us something they enjoyed doing. We did the same. The teacher then started her lesson. If I were evaluating her, I would say she was great. She got the kids to work together and move effective around the room. She allowed us to interact with the students. They were working buying fruit and paying for it in English. Good job! Before we left, I gave the teacher a few Hickory Middle School items and gave the kids a HMS pen and "Sixth Graders are Great" pencil.
We gathered again in the cafeteria to discuss what we had seen and to ask questions. This school goes to grade 13. It is an integrated and differentiated all-day comprehensive school with students aged 11 to 19. The school brings together many different cultures. I thought the kids could have easily have fit into any American school. The discussion with the kids (older kids) was really interesting. Many of them hope to go to the US to go to college and/or work. One particularly caught my eye. He was interested in music and hoped to go to the Berklee College of Music. I told him about my colleague, Dan, and his degree from Berklee. He was so thrilled. I gave him my card and told him that if he wanted to talk with Dan, I would arrange it.
I was able to give my beach bag, taffy, peanuts, wine cork and Virginia cards and the director was very appreciative.
We had a quick tour of Dusseldorf...very pretty city. This was a really unique building I saw in Dusseldorf. Very cool.
Now, off to the Goethe-Institut in Dusseldorf. The plan was to have lunch with the staff or the Goethe-Institut Dusseldorf and the course participants. The students are at the institute in part to take intense English lessons. We met with the director of Mr. Stefan Brunner. After a discussion with him, it was apparent that the students were very hungry...they ate all of the lunch! So off we went in search of lunch. Many went for sushi, but Canada (IA), Ben GQ (AZ), John (MA), Rick (VA) and our guide, Nadejda, went to a very "bohemic" (is that a word?) restaurant. We were able to sit outside. It was a beautiful day. I had a pasta dish that was really tasty. We were in a hurry, so we didn't have time to really take the time to sit with the meal.
Our bus then took a trip to Wiesbaden were we met by our new guides, Carmen and Stefan. We settled into our Motel One...again very "mod." This Motel One was a little smaller. We do have the luxury of staying for awhile, so we could spread out the suitcase a bit.
Tonight, Stefan and Carmen took us to a restaurant in the beautiful city. So much to take in...really pretty. We all sat at one table and Stefan asked if he could order for us. He ordered 3 "shared dinners." These dinners were meant for 2 people and they are ridiculously huge. There were about 20 of us and there was so much food left over! Many rushed off to watch the soccer game and the rest of us walked through the town. Stefan guided us through the beautiful streets. I watched the soccer game in my room while reorganizing my mess of a suitcase.