August 4

Today was education day. Our scheduled meetings had us visiting the Teacher Training Institute, the Ministry of Education for the Hanseatic City of Hamburg, and a school visit at the end of the day. As has come to be expected in Hamburg, however, things didn't exactly go as planned!

Our first visit to the Teacher Training Institute was interesting. We learned about how teachers in Hamburg actually do their professional development each year at this place rather than at their schools.

After this appointment we went back to the hotel for lunch and a short break before our next appointment. I went with several other people to find a store that sells Birkenstocks. Birks are a bit cheaper over here than what they are in the States, and since I know that they are good for my feet, I really wanted to get a pair. Great success! I quickly found the exact sandal that I wanted, and was out the door in time to grab a slice of pizza, a franzbrötchen (Liz, they ARE great!), and a Mezzo Mix (mix of Coca Cola and Orange Fanta).

Our next appointment at the Ministry was interesting because it showed how the city-state of Hamburg is dealing with integrating cultures other then German into the schools. Traditionally all instruction has been in German, and it has been a sink-or-swim approach to learning if you did not speak German. I thought that the speaker was really interesting, but others in the group found him to be boring. I thought he was fascinating because he was a perfect example of a politician making decisions for schools, and these people crack me up. Besides, he did have some good ideas.

We didn’t get to do a school visit because, guess what? School’s out! This seemed weird because we were supposed to go to parts of Germany where school was still in session. That didn’t happen. I was disappointed in this, as were others because we are all teachers and we were interested in seeing what goes on in German schools. Has the trip to Hamburg been cursed?

Now with ample amounts of free time on our hands, we headed to the Rathaus area and the area around the Alster. I looked inside the Rathaus which was absolutely stunning, and then looked at a temporary art exhibit inside that dealt with different themes and how they are interpreted in each of the world's five main religions (Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, and Hinduism). I was so impressed with the exhibit that I ended up purchasing the accompanying book, even though I swore to myself that I would purchase no more books! I just liked how it showed the similarities between the five religions.

I had shopping time after this, but I didn't have anything I needed to buy as I had done all of my souvenir shopping here and there when I had a few minutes to spare. Now, I had almost three hours! I ended up getting a cup of hot chocolate at Godiva and walked over to drink it on the banks of the Little Alster. No sense in spending money when you don't have to (Dad would be proud!). I then headed back to the square outside the Rathaus and was able to witness something pretty funny. Apparently there is a tradition that if a man turns 30 and is not married/engaged, his friends can harass him outside the Rathaus. This guy was dressed in a bunny costume and was sweeping the sidewalk. The only way that he could be freed from doing this was to have a woman kiss him and free him. It was interesting to watch because they were really having a good time, drinking beers and laughing.

We ate dinner that night at a Turkish restaurant. Germany has a high number of Turkish immigrants, so this made sense. I have no idea what my food was called, but I had hummus, some ground meat thing stuffed with goat cheese, a salad, rice, and some drink of apple juice that is mixed with sparkling mineral water that I have not had 20 of while on this trip. We were brought out shots of some liquorice-flavored alcohol that tasted a lot like ouzo. I’m pretty sure it was ouzo, but they called it something different. Tasty tasty.

That night at the hotel I had to pack up the bags, which are oddly heavy (stupid books) and get ready to leave Hamburg for Frankfurt.