Sinstorf, City and Welcome Dinner

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Today was quite a day...

The upper grade at Hanhoopsfeld Schule is promoting and thus it was their last day there. It is tradition for the promoting students to play pranks on the rest of the students and teachers. It's all harmless stuff really. What it meant for us though, was that we got to walk around with paint on our faces all day! Every student and teacher was met at the door by a student with finger paint. Be it random colors or intricate designs, nobody was spared! Those who tried to hide were caught in ambush attacks around campus.

After a meeting with our group, we were off on a walk to Sinstorf Schule. We met with students there and helped teach a few words of English, mainly through song. The first group of students came in and were immediately corralled into a circle by Heidi and Monika. What followed was a spirited round of the Hokey Pokey. After that was finished, the two groups of students were paired for discussion. When the time was up, each pair had to walk up on stage and introduce their partner to the rest of the class, including hobbies, siblings, and likes and dislikes at school. This entire process was repeated twice more before we were done. It was impressive to see our kids leading the song and really buying in to what was taking place!

After we were done with the English lessons inside, we were given a tour of the school. One thing that always strikes me as interesting is how many incredibly simple, but amazingly fun playground toys they have here! Today we happened upon a kind of elastic catapult. Several people jump on to a sheet of rubber forcing the one person on the other side to vault up into the air if they are able to get the timing just right. The German students are seasoned veterans with this device and really soared! A few brave souls from or group took a shot and did quite well!

We took a walk back through the park to Hanhoopsfeld and had an hour break before most of the group met to take a trip into the city. Shopping was the main goal of this trip. Nike Town, Kaarstadt Sport, the New Yorker, and The Adidas Store were all on the agenda. We did manage to get some major sights in including the Town Hall, main canal and the Inner Alster Lake before we hit the Europa Passage mall for a bit more free shopping time.

We caught the S-Bahn back to Harburg in time to watch a student theater production of self written one act plays before the welcome dinner began at school.

Speaking of the welcome dinner... it was great! The BBQ was running strong churning out several types of meat to go with the salads and pastas. Our students were given backpacks filled with goods to remember Hamburg by. Whoever decided to give Gabe a vuvuzela in his welcome bag will pay dearly!

It was another very busy day for us here. Pedometers were registering in the 28,000- 29,000 step range for most. We walked a total of about 10 miles today according to those pedometers!

Tomorrow and the weekend hold different things for everyone. Some are going to the North Sea. One may be headed to Berlin. Others are planning activities closer to home. I am headed off for a bit of a vacation myself. I'll be flying to Malta tomorrow!

I'll update the blog a bit from there, but Heidi will be in charge of the German portion while I am away.

It's been going great so far and I am constantly amazed at how great our kids are!

-Ben

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