Auf Wiedersehen...

Left for our long treck back to the US early Monday morning. Everything went really well, no one got lost, all the luggage was in the right place etc....until we got to Salt Lake City. We had boarded our airplane, when we were told one of the two engines wouldn't start up. Mechanics were called, they tried to fix it, didn't happen, we had to get off the plane...by then already an hour delayed. They tried to get another plane ready for us, but then they didn't have a crew. So hours later we were told that we had to stay over night in Salt Lake and fly out in the morning. We were so tired and dissappointed. Got separated boarding a shuttle to the hotel they booked for us. Lots more confusion especially since we had to board the shuttle in 3 different groups till we all finally were at the airport the next morning... It was so good to be back in Spokane and see our families. Eveyone disappeared very quickly...hope you all had a marvellous time despite that little glitch in the end. See you all in the fall! Take care, Frau Hanks and Frau Wipp:)

Photostory: Goeppingen 2010

Check out this Video! It is a 15 minute photo story of our fantastic experience in Goeppingen. Have fun watching it and who knows...maybe it will inspire you to want to host one of our great German students next spring and/or join our tour to Germany in the summer of 2012:)

Day 4 in Munich, last day in Germany...

Today on our last day here, we went by boat to Herrenchiemsee and Frauenchiemsee, 2 beautiful islands in a huge Bavarian lake called Chiemsee. On Herrenchiemsee we got to see the Herrenchiemsee Castle and the castle gardens. We went on to Frauenchiemsee, the smaller island, where we took a walking tour of the island, went swimming and had a wonderful lunch in a charming restaurant. The weather was nice at first but then a heavy storm came in, and we had to find shelter from the downpour as we waited for our boat. Exhausted but happy we traveled back to Munich, were we packed and got ready for an early next morning to start our long treck back to the US.

Day Three in Munich, Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau

Neuschwanstein, Ludwig's fairy tale castle, was todays goal. We hiked a beautiful path with the most amazing, breathtaking views up to the castle and then enjoyed a very interesting tour in English of the finished parts of the castle. As we were starting our descend it started pouring and we were lucky to wait out the downpour in an excellent restaurant, just in time for an exquisite late lunch. Hmmmm, that German food!

Day one and two in Munich

When we arrived in Munich and after checking into our Youth Hostel we went on an informal city tour led by Frau Wipp and to the Olympiastadium that was built for the Summer Olympic Games in 1974. On Friday we went on a very moving tour of Dachau (We had an excellent guide and learned a lot about the Holocaust!). Many people there complemented us on the respectful behavior of our students!
In the evening we went swimming at the Olympic Pool.

Thursday 7/15/10

I will let the pictures speak for our tearful good-byes this morning at the Goeppingen train station! Thanks to all the wonderful German families who hosted us and did such a great job making us feel welcome. Thanks also to Frau Wasnick and Herr Moebius for organizing all the great activities we got to participate in here in Goeppingen! Auf Wiedersehen!

Wednesday 7/14/10

Today is our last day at school. We will practice our presentations 'How strange are strangers' and then give them in German (!) in front of an audience of students and teachers...
Tonight we'll have a good bye celebrations with all the students, their parents and the teachers involved in the GAPP exchange.
We'll leave for Munich early tomorrow morning and since I don't know the internet situation at the Youth Hostel yet, I can't promise any updates during that time. I will however make sure all the updates are completed during the week of our return.
Hope you enjoyed following our journey so far and see you all again very soon.