Computerteach

Last night the Decker family invited us to a working mill and showed us how it works. It was a great lesson in the ancient styles and techniques of agriculture. Mr. Decker did a great job of showing us how a water wheel works to run the mill and generate power. He showed the grinding process and how wheat is made into flour. We then had the opportunity to sit down to a wonderful meal of breads, meats, and cheeses that are common to the Black Forest region. The best was a Black Forest cake made by Allegra. We were lucky to have all of the students, their host students, and many of the host families. The families are the special part of this program that makes it even more meaningful. The connections to the whole family and not just the host student make the exchange deep in understanding that I am sure our families in Aurora also provided to our German students in April. Today’s pictures are from the event last evening and with a look ahead to tomorrow and the trip to Europapark and a chance to visit an amusement park with all of the typical rides including roller coasters. Did I mention that I was afraid of heights?

Last week during the morning break I was talking to students in the courtyard and talking about classes and experiences. I glance over to see this young lady looking strangely at me. It was beginning to creep me out until I realized that it was Lyndsay Whitehurst  who had graduated from Rangeview three years ago. She was in Germany visiting her host student from the exchange program several years ago and just happened to be visiting the school while we were here. It proves that these types of programs are long term and have an impact on students. Lyndsay  has been doing well in life and one of the key factors has been the study of language and the exchange program. Last year in college she took Gaelic as a way to increase her language skills even more. She is a shining example of what these types of programs do for students. The picture for this is a picture of some students but Lyndsay is on the right in blue:

I was informed this morning of what is considered a short German walk. For this area a short walk is 2 to 3 hours. I am used to a short walk being from the second or third row at Wal-mart and walking in. We spent the morning at Vogtsbauernhof which is a museum for homes and lifestyles of the Black Forest region for the last few hundred years. We toured buildings that were built in 1590 all the way to buildings built at the beginning of the 1900’s. The homes were very multifunctional. In some of the older homes you would have the family, stock animals, and food stores under the same roof. The ceramic heating is the most creative and still in use in modern homes. You heat the ceramic tiles that make up the mantle and fireplace facings and the ceramic holds the heat and will radiate heat for hours without a constant burning of fuel. Many of these homes were in use until the last few years when they were moved to this museum. We had the chance to see several industries of the area from mining to logging. The homes were practical and surprisingly large. The rooms were not tiny rooms like I associate with ancient buildings.

Our next part of the trip was to a health park for a short German walk. We walked a trail of different textures. Everything from small rocks, large rocks, sand, pine cones, mud, grass, and wood chips.  The trip was up and down a series of hills and 2 kilometers long. Did I mention that you take this trip  barefoot? What a great sensation and feeling on your feet when you are done. It was very refreshing and made me feel like I had new feet. We then went deeper into the valley and saw the world’s largest Cuckoo Clock. There was a little town a little further up the road. We had a chance to do a little shopping and had some wonderful ice cream. This trip was courtesy of the Koppel family that Kaila is staying with and was a nice family outing. Today’s picture will be the whole family in mud:

Below are the two links for the places we went.

http://www.parkmitallensinnen.de/park/

http://www.vogtsbauernhof.org/