Catch Up Post

     During the first coffee break on Monday we were welcomed by this parade:

It was weird seeing military vehicles and the protesters' children participating in the event. They were trying to bring awareness to class warfare in Germany.

On Tuesday we went swimming:

It was warm when we decided to go- but freezing by the time we got there.  At least we had the entire 50m pool and slide to ourselves.

On Thursday I went to a training for my program in Bonn:

The training was officially for us to learn about German school and working environments, and unofficially to allow our group to commiserate.  The session was very interactive. We broke up into small groups and presented on what we believed "culture" is and then later we staged 3 debates between assigned "German" and American panels.

The intent of the debates was to make people feel more comfortable talking about controversial topics; our topics were:
- Patriotism (too much? does it affect foreign policy?),
- Environmental Stewardship (disproportionate use of resources, higher GDP per capital but less investment, 40% of waterways not swimmable or fishable in US, etc.),
- The Influence of Religion (in politics, particularly school systems).

These topics were also chosen to bring attention to the mixed-feelings Germans' have towards their own patriotism, their own focus on environmental matters, and the fact that religion is on decline within their country (whereas it appears to them mainstream in the USA).

Some of the participants are very quick witted and great at debates; we had a fun time playing with the concept.

Out seminar leader was a participant of PPP in 1987 who lived in Washington and got to work in Chicago.  I thought the most interesting part of the day was hearing his story.  He had to drive from NYC to Portland in a Greyhound bus in his first week, when he arrived to his "host" they had been called to a family emergency- so he was home alone for a week, and he didn't have a car so he had to walk to school along the highway.  Despite all of this, he was incredibly positive and talked about how his time in the USA made him feel more German. For example, during his group's program departure, there was talk about claiming to be Swiss or Austrian because they were afraid of how they would be received.  He found out, only after being in the USA, that it was okay to be German.

^I hope the condensed version of this day didn't oversimplify too much.

After the training I met up with my high school friend David:

It was great seeing him and hearing about how excited he is for his year of university. He has been studying German for 5 years, so he is pretty much a pro.