Back in Los Angeles!

I arrived home from Los Angeles a day later than originally planned. To make a long story short, our 11:20am flight from Frankfurt to Newark, NJ was cancelled due to technical difficulties with the plane. We had arrived at the airport so early (7:30am) that we ended up being at the airport for over 6 hours before they finally took all 300 passengers to a nearby hotel to feed us. Two hours later we were transported to a a Five star hotel "Frankfurter Hof" (Hof is the German word for hotel) where they put us up in the hotel overnight and fed us dinner and then breakfast the next morning. This is a picture of the hotel Continental Airlines put all 300 passengers up in overnight.

2nd Day in Berlin (Thurs June 19th)

The second day of our trip in Berlin was by far the busiest day of the entire trip. We had 6 different appointments. First, we meet with the director for Security and Arms Control, Dr. Geyr at the Federal Chancellery where we discussed the European Union and Germany's role in it. Next we meet with Dr. Klausa the director of the "German Resistance Memorial". I took a total of 4oo pictures on my trip to Germany, and so it is impossible to post them all to this blog.

(1st picture and 2nd picture) We took a guided tour of the German Resistance Memorial. This is the site of the famous assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20th, 1944. I am standing in the courtyard of the building where the assassination attempt took place. This building is now a memorial and museum to the small resistance movement against Hitler's reich.

Our third meeting was with Dr. Joachim Pfeiffer a discussion about Germany's energy policy which focused around Germany's two of Germany's political party's view of the topic. We meet at the Bundestag for this meeting. This would be equivalent to the capitol building in Washington DC where our Congress meets. Germany actually has 5 major political parties unlike the United States which has only 2.

(3rd picture and 4th picture) Each time we meet a German dignitary or tour guide we presented them with a gift. Dr. Pfeiffer is about to receive his gift from us in this picture. The 3rd picture is taken just after we are brought to the conference room for the meeting. On the left you see, Ellen, Nolan, Carrie, Mark, and Thais. On the right side you see Scott, Fern, Kathleen, and Bill. These are some of the California teachers that went on the trip with us. In the back of the room you can just make out Jurgen Pinnow, our tour guide and sponsor with Atlantik-Brucke.

(5th picture) Our last meeting of the day was a dinner meeting at 7:30pm with Sascha Steuer. He is a member of the Senate of Berlin and a member of the Christian Democratic Party. (This is the conservative party in Germany, but I would describe it as moderate.) We generally discussed the politics around the German education system and the major changes coming to their education system soon. This is a picture of us walking up to the restaurant where we were meet him. It was in a quiet little Berlin neighborhood. Unfortunately I did not take a picture of Mr. Steuer.

first day in Berlin

(First Pic) We took the SBahn from Hamburg to Berlin on the 18th. This is me central station in Hamburg waiting for the SBahn. The SBahn is a high speed train which travels at 200km hour (125 miles per hour).

(second pic) We meet with Jorg Schonbohm in our hotel in Berlin. He is the current ministry of the Interior for the state of Brandenburg Germany. He took over as commander in chief of the armed forces of the former Communist East Germany when the soviet union collapsed. He helped to plan Germany's reunification and its role in NATO. It was an honor to meet and sit right next to him while he talked to us about his experiences.

(3rd picture) Brandenburg Gates. Throughout the Cold War the Brandenburg gates were on the east side of Berlin (Communist Germany). They were built during the 1800's.

Durborg-Skolen in Flensburg, Germany and Denmark (June 17th)

The students that gave me a tour of their school.

(second picture and third picture) Our tour guide made a surprise detour to the country of Denmark after we visited this school. Denmark and Germany have an open border, meaning there is no border crossing and no check point to get into the country of Denmark. We stopped in Kollund Denmark just over the border and we got out to take pictures from the bank of the Baltic Sea. Looking across they bay we could see into Germany at the castle where the Nazis leaders hid after the defeat of Germany in 1945.

First stop - Keil Germany state of Schleswig-Holstein (June 14-17)

(first picture) We stayed here for the first 3 days of our trip learning about the German state government and education system of Schleswig-Holstein. We stayed in the dorms of this school while touring the state of Schleswig-Holstein. Germany has 16 states similar to the 50 US states.

(second picture) Downtown Kiel, Germany where we watched the

(3rd picture) This is me We visited a bilingual gynamsium (high school) composed mostly of the Danish Minority called the Duborn-Skolen. Its located just a couple of miles from the Denmark border. We had the chance to talk with the students about their treatment as minorities in the country of Germany, and they gave us a tour of the school. One of the teachers of the school gave us a history lesson about the Danish Minority in Germany.

Trip Itinerary

June 15th -June 17th I will be in Hamburg and Kiel

June 18th-June 22nd I will be in Berlin

June 23rd-June 24th I will be in Freiberg and Dresden

June 25th-June 27th I will be in Frankfurt

Atlantik-Bruecke Foundation

If you want to check out the foundation (along with the California Department of Education) that is sponsoring my trip check click on the link below.
http://www.atlantik-bruecke.org/