Informational day today

Today was more informational than touristy.  We first went to a gymnasium (college prep school= called Städtisches Bertolt Brecht.  It is an all girls school, which is we rare in Germany.  This college prep school specializes in the social sciences and mathematics.  The students were not there as they are getting ready for exams but we got to tour the building and meet with some of the teachers and principal.  I appreciate the fact that I have my own room at Johnston and my own computer.  In German schools, the students stay in the classroom and it is the teachers that travel!  Jane B- I thought you might get a kick out of the library.  It was very tiny but they did have copies of Diary of a Wimpy kid in German.

We then went back to Munich and met with the Minister of Education Dr. Andreas Meyer.  It was very interesting to listen to him talk about the problems that Germany has had with the immigration issue and assimilating foreign children into the school system.  It has been a slow and painful process.  To become a German citizen, you have to pass a test in German and it is very difficult.  Also, there really are no ELL classes for immigrant children to learn German so they are at a disadvantage right away.  He also talked about Holocaust education and the tremendous guilt many Germans have about WW II and the Holocaust.  He said they do NOT sugarcoat what happened and take students to the concentration camps.

Then my buddy Shirley and I went on a mission to find some souveniers for our family in Munich but we only had an hour and a half to go and eat lunch and be back at 2:00 pm.  We made it (barely) and got some cool things.  By the way, Jessica- your mom won the bet and it happened at the airport in Munich!!!  Scott- do you see the sign in the pictures?  Do you remember what that is!!!!!! :)  Also there street muscians everywhere in Munich. This was a really good string quartet.

We then met with Jürgen Weigmann, who is a college professor in Munich, who talked to us about helping the students who fall through the cracks and leave school.  He said that Germany is getting better at this but that there still is a long way to go in helping reach at-risk students.  It was very informational. 

We then had a relaxing dinner out on the terrace at an authentic Italian restaurant run by a man and his son from Itlay and it was DEVINE!!!  I had spaghetti with vegetables and proscutio (spelling?).  The for dessert, we had canolis that were heavenly as well.  We were there for 4 hours tonight talking, eating and laughing! 

Tomorrow we are going to Neuschwanstein Castle in the Alps by Switzerland.  It was built by King Ludwig II and was the model for Disneys Sleeping Beauty castle.

Bye for now!