6.26.2003
This should be the last out of order summary and then I'll be caught up. I hope.
The Monday after we got back from Vienna (6/23) we got to participate in a scavenger hunt throughout Oppenheim. First we had two homeroom periods to meet with our students. It was the first we had seen of them in days! They had a lot to say and some complaints, but it was mostly because they had been just with their partners for so long. Another sad thing was that Mrs. Wilson's husband's father passed away on Thursday and he found out Friday night here and went home on Saturday. His father was ill, but it was still a bit unexpected. Mrs. Wilson stayed with us which is good for Julie. We told her she could go but she made up her mind to stay and it was all good with their family.
We left the school in three seperate groups for the "rally," as they called it. I took the 6 boys and we had a great time. We had a sheet of questions we had to answer that required us to walk around the city and find buildings and ask certain people questions. I was so worn out afterwards! Our group climbed this mountain to see an outdoor theatre and then from there one of the guys said, "Hey, there's my house." So we went down and his host mother helped us with the questions! It was really funny. All the groups then met at McDonald's to finish and we did the best. Of course. ,-)
Once we were all there, we treked to the beach. It was seriously about a 3 mile walk in the hot sun. Oh, well. We had a little picnic there and some of the kids swam for a while. I waded in but didn't have my suit on so I didn't swim. The kids really liked being all together again.
Birgit drove us home from there and we rested a bit before dinner. We went to Uli Weingelt's house to eat with some other adults. Uli is the art teacher and he is really, really cool. I want to be like him. He's about my height with a bald head and beard, wears Birkenstock sandals, has little black rimmed glasses, and wears khaki pants with a loose buttoned shirt. He just looks so cool and comfortable. His apartment was really cool, too. Very artsy and he had a studio. We ate dinner at a table set up in the yard and it was great...but long. Started at 7 and we left about 9:30...and had to ask to go! All meals take forever here. Very different than America. The two big glasses of wine I had at the beginnig wore off by the time we left. Thankfully. He actually brought out ice and they thought it was so funny. NOBODY uses ice here. It's all basically room temperature. We had a good time, though, and Julie loves Uli (hehe) so she really enjoyed it.
We walked home (have I said we walk everywhere?) and went to bed early. There were fireworks late that night but we decided not to go. We knew the kids would go and would tell us all about them.
The Monday after we got back from Vienna (6/23) we got to participate in a scavenger hunt throughout Oppenheim. First we had two homeroom periods to meet with our students. It was the first we had seen of them in days! They had a lot to say and some complaints, but it was mostly because they had been just with their partners for so long. Another sad thing was that Mrs. Wilson's husband's father passed away on Thursday and he found out Friday night here and went home on Saturday. His father was ill, but it was still a bit unexpected. Mrs. Wilson stayed with us which is good for Julie. We told her she could go but she made up her mind to stay and it was all good with their family.
We left the school in three seperate groups for the "rally," as they called it. I took the 6 boys and we had a great time. We had a sheet of questions we had to answer that required us to walk around the city and find buildings and ask certain people questions. I was so worn out afterwards! Our group climbed this mountain to see an outdoor theatre and then from there one of the guys said, "Hey, there's my house." So we went down and his host mother helped us with the questions! It was really funny. All the groups then met at McDonald's to finish and we did the best. Of course. ,-)
Once we were all there, we treked to the beach. It was seriously about a 3 mile walk in the hot sun. Oh, well. We had a little picnic there and some of the kids swam for a while. I waded in but didn't have my suit on so I didn't swim. The kids really liked being all together again.
Birgit drove us home from there and we rested a bit before dinner. We went to Uli Weingelt's house to eat with some other adults. Uli is the art teacher and he is really, really cool. I want to be like him. He's about my height with a bald head and beard, wears Birkenstock sandals, has little black rimmed glasses, and wears khaki pants with a loose buttoned shirt. He just looks so cool and comfortable. His apartment was really cool, too. Very artsy and he had a studio. We ate dinner at a table set up in the yard and it was great...but long. Started at 7 and we left about 9:30...and had to ask to go! All meals take forever here. Very different than America. The two big glasses of wine I had at the beginnig wore off by the time we left. Thankfully. He actually brought out ice and they thought it was so funny. NOBODY uses ice here. It's all basically room temperature. We had a good time, though, and Julie loves Uli (hehe) so she really enjoyed it.
We walked home (have I said we walk everywhere?) and went to bed early. There were fireworks late that night but we decided not to go. We knew the kids would go and would tell us all about them.
