The heat is on...

We are up in the 90s again, except it is so much more humid here than in Spokane when it gets that hot, so the heat feels much more intense...We are sweating! Nevertheless, the kids did a great job at the Basketball game last night. They got fourth place. Although we definitely had some star players (Alec and Logan...) the team spirit was what amazed me most about this group. We had some kids fighting pretty hard that have not played B-ball since elementary school:) Everyone is off to an exciting weekend with their host families. Back to school on Monday morning for two periods, then on to Ulm for a canoe trip and a city tour.

Thursday 7/8/10

I can't believe 'we' (Germany) lost the soccer game yesterday, how disappointing. Alec didn't seem to mind though, hence he was wearing his soccer gear out again today:)
We got the chance to accompany an art class of the Freihof Gymnasium to a modern art exhibit this morning in Fellbach. After an amazing guided tour of the exhibit, we went to Stuttgart where a Freihof history teacher offered his services and gave us an exquisit historical tour of Stuttgart. He has published several books on the subject and was incredibly interesting to listen to. He gave his tour in English! Very impressive!
After that, there was some time for shopping, but most everyone was ready to return to Goeppingen at around 3PM due to the heat. Another nice day in Deutschland, we are so lucky!

Wednesday 7/7/10

What a great day at the Mercedes Benz Museum (so much great historical information about the invention and development of the gas engine and the motor car) and at the Stuttgarter Wilhelma (an amazing zoo with botanical gardens). Not much time for a lot of text today, since we are all getting ready for the Germany -Spain soccer game! Cross your fingers for Deutschland...:)

Tuesday 7/6/10

Another day at school... Students are preparing their presentations for the project: "How strange are strangers?" The next three days will be quite eventful with visits to the Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart, the Wilhelma (zoo), a public viewing of the German WM soccer game against Spain, a visit at the Art Museum in Fellbach, stroll through Stuttgart (as they are predicting the hottest temperatures yet) and the NBA tournament on Friday evening at the Freihof Gymnasium. Our team has some very enthusiastic players and cheerleaders already...wish us luck. The word out on the street is that the teacher team has been winning this game every year so far and we are hoping to break this record this year...;)

Monday and Tuesday, 7/5 and 7/6

Today and tomorrow we are going to be in school. I will attach a few pictures of the Freihof Gymnasium. In school our students will visit classes, give their presentations and interviews in English classes. We will have a homeroom today and tomorrow during which we will discuss exercises from our travel journal (ie. cultural differences, school life in Germany, host families etc...). We will also start working on our joint project "How strange are strangers?"
Great weather again today, sunny and blue skies...

Happy 4th of July....

We just got back from our field trip to Strasbourg, France, yesterday evening. Had a great time and saw the city, the cathedral (climbed over 350 stairs to the top), got a guided tour of the European Parliament, examined modern art at the Art Museum and went shopping among other things...The temperatures are super high, weather is great! We had fun cheering for the German soccer team on our way back in the bus as they won their game against Argentina! Our American student are turning out to be even bigger soccer fans than the Germans:) What a blast!
In the evening we got to go to the senior prom or "Abiball".

The Major and Hohenstaufen

Tuesday: Visiting classes with our hosts and a wonderful reception with the Major of Goeppingen (quite an honor that he took the time to meet us).
Wednesday: Wonderful hike to the Hohenstaufen fortress. We had a guided tour and received valuable historical information in the museum and on top of the mountain.