Too many goodies not to share even before we go to Heidelberg today!
It's fun seeing the kids grow more comfortable with the town. They are talking about the best places to grab a döner (a Turkish pita-type pocket with shaved lamb meat, veggies, sauces, and cheese that has become the German go-to fast food but is much healthier than typical fast food), which teachers they enjoy, etc. They are hanging out in the school bistro with crowds of Germans, moving comfortably through the school, and out and about town. I spotted Maija, Natalie, and Leah enjoying a soda with some of their hosts right beside the church on Friday, and on Monday Mia and Rayna joined their hosts for hot chocolate at the Schlossplatz, the town square. John B bought a birthday gift for his host's little brother--and the host promptly went in on it with him as he had forgotten his brother's birthday! They are really having fun in class, and I heard the field trip to Trier on Thursday was good for those who went.
Our final group member, Margaret, arrived after a bit of train confusion on Monday. Her host family and I met her at the platform, and after a good night's sleep she was smiling and greeting people at school on Tuesday. She was being greater with a squeal and a hug from another of the Germans whom she had known in Eugene.
I got to teach a 9th grade English class with a Q&A about America (they conveniently did not know I also spoke German). It was pretty fun from my perspective, and I think the kids preferred it to the grammar lesson with homework that had originally been scheduled!
Some fun stories from check in Tuesday (Mia, Natalie, and Leah on field trip, Margaret on other campus):
John M had more amusing translator app anecdotes. Apparently they ate "a German" the other night while his host was at driver's ed. Andrea C ended up on a walk that lasted 4 hours and also got gas in Luxembourg (where it is cheaper) when the family was driving near the border. Andrea S took a long nap the other day, so she was feeling pretty dang good. Lucas spent math class learning German regular verb conjugations and loved hearing that in the local dialect, many irregular verbs are turned into regular ones. Isabella is overseeing his progress. There was a general exclamation as Suzanne shared how little she had spent on Birkenstocks. Lucas may be planning a black market operation, and everyone else was thinking shopping---well, except Payton and me, as we aren't huge Birkenstock folks. John B decided that John M had comfortable knuckles as he was falling asleep on JM's hand. Several students noticed a bulletin board with the CAS abbreviation and asked if it meant the students here had to do CAS hours (the actual announcement was about permissible calculators for an exam, which turns out to be pretty similar and prompted yet more comparative discussions).
Now for our trip to Heidelberg:
After a night of HEAVY rain and an ominous morning, the skies parted into lovely weather during our 2 hour drive to Heidelberg. We rode the funicular up to the castle ruins (along with a large kindergarten class), where we had about 25 minutes to admire the view, take photos, and shop until our tour started. Ulli, our guide, was knowledgeable and eager to share. We started at the Elizabeth gate. Elizabeth Stuart (granddaughter of Mary, Queen of Scots) was in an arranged marriage to Frederick V, Prince Elector of Palatine, but they fell in love and had a happy life in Heidelberg Castle. Then we ventured past the crowds and under the massive portcullis. We saw the door knocker, which was cracked. The legend is that if you could bite through the knocker, you would inherit the castle. When a witch only managed to crack it, she flew up on her broomstick and cursed the castle, saying it would be destroyed (it was). After hearing more of what the castle looked like and learning about the tumultuous relationship the region had with Louis XIV of France, the Catholic/Protestant conflict, and the destruction (filling a tower with "kraut"--gunpowder--and then blowing it is a pretty effective way to do it, and lightning-induced fires don't help!), we headed to the courtyard. We learned about their toilets, the history of tennis, and how the stones were moved and then signed by stone masons to create the several-meter-thick defensive walls through which we walked.
After seeing the more modern room used for concerts (and even proms from the American schools on the nearby military bases!), we headed to the giant wine barrel, the world's largest. Kids walked up to the dance floor on top, then came back down to hear the story of Perkeo, the Italian court jester who had been induced to come to Heidelberg by the cask. When asked if he wanted wine, he would answer "perch no?" ("why not?"), giving birth to his nickname. He also liked to convince ladies in waiting to pull a lever. Maija tried it and held her ground when a fluffy raccoon tail attached to a bell jumped out at her! Perkeo's doctors talked him into finally substituting one glass of water for wine--and the day after he tried it, he was found dead. Some say he haunts the now-empty cask and the room.
We moved on to the castle chapel, then the exterior overlooking the river. Here we all put our footprint in that of the night who saved the princess from the burning castle by jumping down onto the patio, into the river, and onto the hillside beyond. You can make a wish, so we all did that. Then we left the castle to go down the steep cobbled walkway into the old town. The city of 150,000 is home to 40,000 university students, most of them at the University of Heidelberg, Germany's oldest and a premier school for medicine and sciences. We saw the statue of Catholic baby Jesus stabbing the snake that represented Protestants, the square with the church and town hall, and then walked down an alley to the place that sells Students' Kiss chocolate. We visited the bridge monkey, a cheeky fellow there to mock us all, and admired the bridge. Then it was up past the flood markers to the student prison. We ended our tour at the old university building (most of the campus is not in the old city as the university grew too large) and the Christmas shop. From here we said goodbye to Ulli and spent the next few hours shopping and exploring the old city on our own.
Our drive back was a bit dramatic. The air conditioner on the bus malfunctioned, and it was quite warm in the back of the bus. Only the front windows opened, and as we were stuck in pretty nasty traffic and hardly moving, this provided no real relief. Students took turns rotating to the front of the bus where it was much cooler, and we are requesting a refund from the bus company. The Stau (German for traffic jam, a word the students all came to love!) meant we got back much later than planned, but we made it in the end with fun memories of a great city (most of us rubbed the monkey's fingers and will thus return to Heidelberg)!
Thursday Maija didn't have morning class and just did a brief check in, while Mia was on another field trip, this time to Bad Kreuznach. Students were a bit quieter--mostly still tired from the day before. The talk of the end of the exchange caused some sadness. Plans were made for the coming days, and deteriorating "American" skills were laughed at.
Friday a group of students headed to Metz in France with the fifth graders. This was an optional trip for those who didn't have big plans with their families, and Suzanne accompanied them. There were graduation events going on, so only 2 classes. Since there is no school on Monday, many of the students had big weekend plans--either locally or in the greater region. Should be a fun weekend, especially since Germany plays Italy in the quarterfinals tonight!
