The visit from Linda and Carl Garski was very nice. We had some enjoyable days discussing the program and introducing Linda to everyone involved in the program.
I spent a day fixing Tom's scooter. It needed a new wheel, and it took me a while to learn about scooters in German. My main teacher was the hotel maintenance man Hassan. Hassan is from Iraq. He left in 2000, and walked (yes, walked) to Turkey, and from there to Greece. I think he took a boat from Athens to Rome, and a train from Rome to Germany. He likes it here, even though it is expensive, because he can earn a good wage. He met his wife here. Tom now rides his scooter home from school every day.
Craig left yesterday for a five day school field trip. The entire fifth grade loaded into buses and drove to a small town near Augsburg.
I met the students during their break at Klartext today. They are all enjoying (to various degrees) their home stays. John's family made him steak and weisswurst, which made us all groan with envy. They also took him to the "Long night of the museums." Michael has his own bathroom (a luxury). Zack is getting along well with his family, and Nina has discovered that she is allergic to cats. Jackie really likes her family also.
Sunday the Felts went to Scheissheim, where there are three palaces and a very cool flight museum. This is also the location of an historically important airstrip.
There has been a strike of the S-Bahn several days in the last two weeks. The S-Bahn is only one of the transit options, and not our main option. The biggest effect on our lives is that the U-Bahn is extremely crowded. One morning two women got into a heated arguement, and Tom was somehow a central character. It all started when lady #1 pushed her way into the car, even though it was so crowded that others simply decided to take the next train. The rest of the conversation went like this (as far as I could tell - it was in German, of course):
Lady #2: Take the next train. This one is too crowded.
Lady #1: I did that, and this is the next train.
Lady #2: I am going to crush this little child. (Pointing to Tom) (I am standing one or two people away from Tom. I only know he is there because I can see his hat seemingly floating in midair between three adults.)
This week, there was supposed to be more S-Bahn striking, so we left early for school, but the U-Bahn wasn't crowded at all.
We leave for the fall break on Saturday, so I guess the next blog will go up after we get back in November.
You may find my email address in the following directory.
Page author: Andy Felt