WERNE: New Experiences

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Tuesday-My second day at AFG was my first official day in the classroom and it was truly a great experience. I began the day in Mrs. Eckert's 7th grade English class. When Mrs. Eckert and I entered the classroom all the students stood up from their seats and politely greeted us. The students the remained standing until Mrs. Eckert gave them the command to take a seat. Afterward I spent a brief amount of time introducing myself and telling the students a little bit about Kentucky and the area in which I live. Many of the students seemed really excited and seemed to enjoy the presence of an American in the classroom. For the remainder of the time in class I revised and reviewed some of the short stories written by the students in English. To say the least I was very impressed with their work. After Mrs. Eckert's class I went to the Romeo and Juliet play which was performed in the school theater room by a group of performers from England. The performance was great and the students were very respectful throughout the whole performance. After the play had ended and lunch was over I returned home and waited for Christian to return home as well. Christian had told me the day before that he and his girlfriend, Katie, would like to take me into town to give me a personal tour of the historic village that is Werne, Germany. Both Katie and Christian were very knowledgeable about their hometown. I was blown away by all the history of such a small town. Katie told me about the Nazi occupation of Werne and the mistreatment of the Jewish population in the town. She told me about the events that occurred in Werne on the Night of Broken Glass or Krystalnacht. The stories of he Jews who were removed from their homes that night and the demolition of the synagogue hit me pretty hard as Katie told the story. So many times we hear about the holocaust and know the destructive past of WWII but physically being in the presence of such history can be overwhelming at times. I was so thankful for the time I was able to spend with Christian and Katie on this day.

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