! Monday marked our 2nd day in the German state of Thuringia. We had a delicious Fruhstuck (breakfast) of breads, cheeses, fruits, and pasteries at the hotel and then split into two groups for our first vocational day. Kevin, Melanie, and Tina headed out to a local school and library to see how these systems work overseas. The young German students were eager to ask many questions about the US and the older ones practiced their English vocabulary skills with the GSE team. Schools compete for students in Germany and their grading system seems much tougher than in the US... to get their equivalent of an "A" students must score better than 95%. Even before the students leave what we'd call elementary school they must decide what track they want to follow for the rest of their schooling... to go into a trade or work towards going to University.The second group consisted of Will and Jessica. They met with one of Arnstadt's city planners to discuss how they maintain the historical character of the city. Zoning rules are more stringent here than in Pennsylvania... all development must take place within city limits so that they don't get the urban sprawl that is so typical of the US. After that the group traveled to nearby Erfurt to meet with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Environment to discuss climate change and biodiversity protection. Germany is very proactive when it comes to adapting to the effects of climate change; we can learn a lot from them!
After such a jam-packed day you'd think we'd all take a nap, but not so. We walked around the beautiful town that is Arnstadt, visited the train station, then headed to out first German Rotary meeting where we would give our first presentation (see photo above). The Rotarians were so welcoming and friendly and the language barrier only slowed us down a tiny bit. Warm greetings and jokes seem to transcend languages. For instance, the mai course of dinner was a local variety of sausage. Three of us don't eat meat, however, so we were worried we'd offend people by not eating it. They might have thought we were a bit strange for not eating meat, but they kidded around, saying that at least we drink beer!
Our presentation went over very well, even with out broken German. They seemed to love the Hershey's kisses we handed out, particularly one man in an armed forces uniform that remembered when American soldiers passed out Hershey's chocolate bars to kids after WWII. It's hearing these personal stories and seeing the non-touristy side of Germany that is really making this trip so worthwhile. So until next time, tschuss! (ie. "goodbye;" that is spelled somewhat incorrectly but there is not umlaute or the extra vowel that is used in the German language).
Jessica
Beer, the common denominator between peoples!
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