Hello...Today we are in Berlin. You guys would have laughed a great deal yesterday had you seen me trying to jump on and off the trains. Oh my goodness. Yesterday we toured Hildeshiem and a number of historical sites. We visited a school here and guess what...? When we went to the library they had the same type of sign-in sheet that Mrs. Lewman had...I took a picture and will upload it later. She was as nice as Mrs. Lewman so it was good. The students were very nice and they made me miss you...don't tell the others. lol Who would have thought that. Their school is very similar but they get to go out to lunch - they have 55 minutes. They do not have sports like we do they have "clubs". They play teams within the school but they don't compete against other schools. They are very serious about there studies because they have to qualify for the university...if they don't score high enough they can not get into the college of their choice. Anyway...the trains yesterday...they said to pack light but I didn't understand they meant pack light because you are going to have to carry everything yourself. We went to Nuremburg on Wednesday and I could check my suitcase at the train station but I had to carry my carry-on bag the whole day...like 20 some pounds. What a hoot. As my husband would say
"you packed it, you carry it!" Oh my. Then we got on the train but it was a 1/2 hour late because of a wreck and then we missed our connecting train and that is a whole nuther story. To say the least it was a long day. Today we went to the Federal Foreign Office and visited with the German-American liason. He has been involved in government for over 40 years. He had dinner with the US Ambassador to Germany last night and then met with me this morning. What a lucky guy. Next we met with a national parliment representative. Elections are this Sunday. The main issues of the election are the economy, immigration issues, taxes (they feel they should be raised), Afghanistan, Social Justice, and Income Disparity (It is too great). Then we went to a trade school. From the 9th grade on you are either in a trade school curriculum or a college prep curriculum. You have to decide by the age of 15. That would be hard. In the trade school they had welding classes/trade classes, culinary, cosmetology, and sewing/tailors. They were mainly disadvantaged youth...they were immigrants. In Germany they still call you an immigrant even though these students were 3rd generation Germans. Many are from Turkey and there is growing resentment of the Turkish population. Then we met with one of the leading business newspapers from Germany - somewhat like the Wall Street Journal. The liberals here are for less government...isn't that funny? They have 6 political parties - 2 large parties and 4 small political parties and they must form a coalition to choose the Chancellor. President O'Bama wouild have had a hard time becoming President under this system. The parties must choose. Then we went to Microsoft Berlin. It was an interesting presentation. Tonight I just went to dinner with my new friends and then back to do homework and blog. I hope you are all being good. We don't have much time for sightseeing but I hope that Saturday night I will be able to go to the "Wall" and the Brandenburg Gate. Tomorrow night we have a formal dinner with the organization that is sponsoring this trip - Atlantik - Brucke. They have been very generous. We have stayed in the best hotels and most meals are provided. Talk to you tomorrow. Love ya, mean it. Erv