Afternoon at the Goethe Institut

The airplane ride from Columbus to Washington, D.C. was uneventful for a Friday the thirteenth.  I walked over to the Institut from the hotel with Beth Bucher from New York.  We recognized each other in the elevator.  Beth is an enthusiastic sixth grade teacher.  She has traveled extensively abroad.  I know that she will add a lot to this experience in Germany.

Our meeting at the Goethe Institut began with some introductions of the staff and group leaders.  Then we had a chance to introduce ourselves.  What an amazing group of social studies teachers!  After an ice breaker, we had a crash course on the German language which was followed by a Middle Eastern feast.  The dinner consisted of stuffed grape leaves, falafil, lamb, and a seemingly endless buffet of Middle Eastern delicacies.  An assortment of beverages were offered, too.  As a native of Croatia, my first choice was a red wine.  The dining experience gave us an additional opportunity to mingle and to get to know each other better.  We were also given a sheet with deadlines we'll have to meet when we return to the states.  Included with this sheet was a packet of additional materials consisting of a, pen, notepad, and our official name tag which we will have to wear in Germany.   

One teacher from Huntington, West Virginia who teaches across the river in Ohio just returned from Morocco.  Her best friend's daughter married the nephew of the King of Morocco.  Colleen and I walked back to the hotel together.  She shared her experiences of this extraordinary wedding (cost was in the millions of dollars) as we meandered back to our hotel room.

We will meet again at the Institut tomorrow morning after breakfast.  This meeting will be about German courtesies.  Then in the late afternoon we are off to Dulles to fly to Frankfurt.  I can hardly wait!