29/7/07 - Heidelberg, Germany - Koblenz, Germany

This morning we began at the local swim center, which turned out to have a number of pools both indoors and out, water slides, hot tubs, saunas, tanning beds and a cafe. The students had a lot of fun and I got some reading done. I'm almost finished with the Bryson book and it's laugh out loud funny at times.

Then we drove to the small town of Rudesheim on the Rhine. We walked to the restaurant through more rain for a lunch of pork, french fries and chocolate pudding. After lunch during free time, I visited a medieval torture museum complete with authentic torture devices, shackles, and artwork showing how the items were used. Pretty interesting.

At 4pm, we departed Rudesheim for a four hour cruise up the river to Koblenz. We had rain early on that cleared up later on for some nice views of the 20+ castles lining the banks at every town we passed. There were no bridges until we arrived in Koblenz; the only way across is to drive onto a ferry...or you could swim I suppose. The Rhine is not the longest river in Europe, but it is the most crucial to continental trade and there were many barges working the river today. On board, we had a nice dinner of chicken, potato hash and vegetables and a cherry dessert with heavy cream.

Tonight we had some more free time so I went next door to a computer place to update my blog and e-mail the parents.

I'm feeling a bit like I'm the heavy enforcer when it comes to 1-on-1 dealings with students. Today I had two more people fill out behavior improvement plans: one for moving his seat 2-3 times today from the section he was told to sit in and the second for continuing to wear her Ipod headphones while walking on the street after being reprimanded for it earlier today. The group continues to be too loud and oblivious to their surroundings so they've been told that if we have that problem tomorrow, there will be no free time outside tomorrow night.

I learned last night that CNN International broadcasts The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Global Edition. It is a weekly clip show of the best segments of the previous week from his Comedy Central show with some added commentary. Think about this: The Daily Show is technically a news parody, but is being broadcast around the world on the United States' main news network. I think it's great because Jon Stewart tends to express what people like me think about American policy, but I'm still shocked to see it on CNN.

Change at Ridge HS

I saw in my Ridge HS e-mail a couple days ago that the Director of Curriculum for the district (social studies supervisor when I was hired) took a position as Assistant Superintendent in Bridgewater-Raritan. Today there is a posting for the K-12 Supervisor of Social Studies for the district, my direct boss. I know he had aspirations to move to a higher level and either he moved up or was let go. I sent him an e-mail. Perhaps I should apply for it just for fun now that I've completed my Master's degree.

28/7/07 - Freiburg, Germany - Heidelberg, Germany

It seems like almost all the students had positive homestay experiences. Our two boys were removed to the other delegation leaders` hotel. The leaders managed to hook them up with other kids to spend the second full day with though.

1pm - Explore Heidelberg

When we got to Heidelberg, the ambassadors were sent off with E6.00 and a series of scavenger hunt trivia questions to answer in groups of five. I got a bratwurst at another market outside the cathedral. Then I ascended narrow spiral staircases of the cathedral for a great view - my legs sure did hurt afterwards though. I also sat in a cafe with a cappucino and a chocolate croissant before walking the town some more.

4pm - Heidelberg Castle

We had a guided tour of the renovated parts of the massive Heidelberg Castle. The impressive cathedral and banquet hall can be rented for private functions. The royalty who used the castle also maintained a huge wine cellar with barrels capable of holding 20,000+ gallons of wine. It rained off and on during this tour, but did dry up in time for us to descend down to the city by foot.

6:30pm - Dinner

Flammkuchen (a thin dough like pizza with sour cream, cheese, and ham), salad, ice cream and "tea". The proprietor of this particular restaurant likes to take care of the P2P delegation leaders that come through so he prepares a mug of tea for each carefully delivered because it is "hot" with sugar and creamer on the side in a nice, big mug. The "tea" is Reisling, the local white wine.

7:30pm - Free Time

I didn`t do much more than wander around the city as I already had done earlier for a long time.

9pm - Free Time at the Hotel

I guess there wasn`t much to write about today. I did finish Barack Obama`s book about growing up with the struggle to develop his racial identity (his father was black, his mother white). I ended up really enjoying the book and learned a lot about racial identity. In fact, I was able to apply some of Obama`s ideas to the social dynamics of our delegation. Now I`m reading Bill Bryson`s book "I`m a Stranger Here Myself," which chronicles his experiences upon returning to the US after living in England for twenty years. Originally written for a weekly magazine column, the book is a quick read and presents a funny, sometimes frightening, look at American culture.

27/7/07 - Freiburg, Germany

The plan for today was to sleep as much as possible so I`d be able to make it through a full night out tonight. I had breakfast at 8 and then went back to bed until 11:30. I walked through the bike paths and found the local soccer club`s field and sat to read a book. Then I went for lunch at the Italian cafe I passed two nights ago. My margherita pizza was good and the waitress made small talk in English. I told her where I was from and she said it must be hard because of Katrina. I tried to thank her for her concern and let her know that Katrina didn`t directly affect us in NJ. She also asked if I was stuying here. No. An au pair? No again. I explained P2P very basically. After I ate, I told her the pizza was very good and she immediately went inside and announced that I complimented the pizza to the cooks and other employees. When I went in to pay my E5.50 bill, they had no coin change (the smallest paper bill is 5) so they had me pay 5 and said I could fix the difference tomorrow. I went back to the hotel to get E1.50 (standard tip is 5%) and walked back to complete my payment. They seemed shocked and I even heard a "wow" as I was leaving. Hopefully their impression of Americans are positive as a result of the encounter. I had the opportunity to directly challenge a stereotype/expectation and I wanted to do my part well. Maybe I`m overstimating my role in German-American relations, but I don`t care.

I got into the city around 6pm on Friday and got back to the hotel around 5am Saturday. Thanks to MySpace, I met up with a local teacher who served as my Freiburg nightlife guide. We had a beer at a bar near the university to begin, croweded but not uncomfortably so. Then we went to a disco that had a cool setup but few patrons. There were only about 10 people there at midnight so we left for Crash, a rock/harcore club that stays open latest. It got busier as the night (or morning) wore on as people began coming in from other places for a last drink or dance. I met a few Germans who tested out their English and observed the young crowd "dancing" to a mix of German hardcore and American favorites Nine Inch Nails, Rage Against the Machine, Tool, Prodigy and Nirvana. I caught the last night bus at 4:30 which had me at my hotel`s door in only 20 minutes. I was surprised by how quiet and calm the clubs were and a little disappointed that my clothes now reek of cigarettes, but I got my genuine local experience so now it`s back to the regularly scheduled P2P program.

26/7/07 - Freiburg, Germany

Nancy and I met for breakfast at our hotel at 8. It was nothing fancy, but it got us going for the day. We sucessfully traversed the local bus to the tram and I left Nancy when I got off at Freiburg`s main station where we dropped students off for their homestays. I spent some time on the train ticket computer terminal playing with destinations, times and costs. All of the places I`d thought about going to cost over $100 so I decided against that. I spent time in an Internet cafe in the main train terminal looking into some possibilities. I decided to stay in Freiburg for the day and found a tourist information center where I could buy a tour book. I set off on a 3-4 hour walkig tour of the city. Because German school holidays began today, I suspect I was not the only out-of-towner walking the city. In fact, I saw quite a few other 20-somethings walking with their backpacks just like me. The house of Desidirius Erasmus was a highlight for me, but the Müncher cathedral is the jewel of Freiburg. A large Gothic cathedral (although it was originally Romanesque), the Müncher was one of the only buildings not destroyed during bombing of 1944. It is under constant restoration and I didn`t get the same sense of awe I`ve had in other Gothic cathedrals of its era for some reason. It could be the construction scaffolding or the market setting surrounding the cathedral selling handcrafts, fruits, vegetables, flowers and meat. I bought a bratwurst from a vendor for E1.80 (about $2.50) and ate it in the shade of the cathedral. I also enjoyed orange/grapefruit juice fresh squeezed in front of me for E2.50 (about $3.75). Throughout the city are gutters with constantly running water diverted from a river. Originally to feed animals and wash away waste (presumably dumped from home windows like other medieval cities), the gutters are now clean enough to clean your hands with. After my city tour, I cruised the Internet some more in search of exciting things to do and somewhat decided on a train to Stuttgart before getting in touch with a teacher here in Germany via MySpace. We are going to attempt to meet up tomorrow evening in the city to go to an alternative rock/punk disco nearby. This will mean limited sleep going into Saturday`s delegation reunion so I`m going to try to sleep during the day tomorrow in preparation. It is much more difficult just going for it with no knowledge of the local language when I don`t have three great people along with me like in Japan. I ate dinner at a sushi restaurant here at the main train terminal. Now, I`m sitting at a nearby bar with a beer and then I`ll figure out how to get back to my hotel room.

I had a major cultural/linguistic block experience tonight. After a nap, I woke up around 9pm a bit hungry so I went down to the bar for a drink and snack. I ordered grilled pepperoni with feta cheese and olives off a German-only menu. It turns out that pepperoni = chili peppers not meat. So I had a plate full of peppers to add to the sushi already in my stomach. I ate a good portion and am feeling fine, but that was a bad choice on my part. I should have gone with my other choice, bruschetta.

Random Thoughts from Germany

This post consists of random ideas that have been rumbling through my head instead of thought-out, written journal entries as the other posts have been so far.

Health
It feels like everybody in Germany smokes. Smoking is allowed inside public buildings, restaurants, wherever and that`s just the way it is here. It´s an interesting paradox because people seem to be more health conscious in some ways. For example, Freiburg is a city of bikes. There aren`t many cars in the center city. Everyone uses efficient, abundant public transportation or rides bikes. At any given time there are at least 10 times as many bikes on the street as cars. The average person seems to spend a great deal of time walking, hiking and engaging in other physical activities as something to do during spare time as well. So why, then, do so many people continue to smoke and smoke so much?

Street Performers
I saw a oompah band of older gentlemen performing on the street in Zurich on the very first day. Tonight, I saw a small group of men singing and playing on instruments here in Freiburg. Before I could see them I would have sworn they were Australians playing digeridoos, but when I got close enough, although they looked like Australian aborigines, they were making the "digeridoo" sound vocally. A few blocks later I saw another group of street performers that included an upright bass, folk style guitar, a snare drum/washboard with cymbal, and a clarinet/saxophonist. They were dressed in good old hippie fashion and drew quite a crowd. Both groups of street performers were good and began hawking CDs near the end of their sets. It must be the thing to do on Friday nights in Freiburg because the audience included 2-3 people with accordions and a number with guitar cases waiting for their turn to perform perhaps.

Germany vs. the United States
While there is obviously a language barrier, I think Germany is a lot like the United States, perhaps more than any other country I`ve visited. Australia feels more like the US because of language reasons and politics, but I still think Germany is closer. That makes sense due to immigration patterns in the late 1800s and early 1900s I guess. Unlike most other places I have been, I don`t feel like I stick out while walking around here in Freiburg. Sure as soon as I open mouth I identify myself as an American quickly, but until that time nobody pays me much attention on the street. Certainly there are not as many obese people here, but the food selection is not really all that healthy. Lots of beef, pork and veal to be had without much chicken or fish on most menus. There is, as the stereotype goes, plenty of beer drinking happening in Germany. The dress of most people seems to match what I see in the US. Freiburg is a university town and most of the people in their late teens and 20s look just like people in an American university community.

Freiburg`s Location
For the record...Freiburg is located in the southwestern corner of Germany. It is very close to the Swiss and French borders. In fact, I had a flashback while on the bus the other day. I saw signs for Europapark, an amusement park that looks kind of like Epcot Center with a big spherical Spaceship Earth type structure featured. When I was on my second P2P trip as a student, my French homestay family brought me to this park. That was 11 years ago, but I knew it was the right park when I saw the exit sign advertising it. This park is in Germany though. That means that I`ve been to Germany before and never even realized it! People in Freiburg have adopted some Italian into their daily language too. Bon apetit and ciao are used regularly and when I didn`t speak German at a restaurant two nights ago, the waitress first asked if I spoke Italian before attempting English. It seems French should be more prominent due to proximity, but that doesn`t seem to be the case.

WWII
I am not sure what the proper protocol is for discussing world history here in Germany. It was an open discussion on my trip to Japan, but I think that was different than the norm here. On my walking tour of the city yesterday, there were lots of references to the destruction of the bombing of 1944, but never was that bombing related to a larger conflict called World War II or anything of that sort. This city was almost entirely destroyed in November 1944, very near the end of the European fighting, and although the city is a few thousand years old, with roots in the Roman Empire, almost all the buildings are approximately 60 years old, rebuilt, I presume, as part of the Marshall Plan. This should get cleared up a bit as we continue with the P2P program because we will begin visiting WWI and WWII sites, most notably Normandy.

25/7/07 - Hinterzarten, Germany - Freiburg, Germany

9:30am - Service Project

We began the day with our delegation`s service project near vineyards outside Freiburg. Our mission was to pull two types of invasive plants from a field area for about two hours. It was nice to be outside because we finally had some nice weather. Some students weren`t really into it, but we made it fun. I was with a group that began playing story games in a circle, adding on to a story one word at a time for example. I couldn`t imagine having that kind of light, fun relationship with last year`s kids. A handful of students really stepped up this morning and did some fine work.

1:00pm - Lunch
Salad, taco, fruit cup

5:15pm - "Homestay"
Nancy and I were dropped off at our hotel in a residential neighborhood about 15 minutes outside of Freiburg. It´s really a bed and breakfast. I walked the area for about 30 minutes and found one small pizza place and a liquor store but little else. There is a bus stop right outside though so I`ll be able to get into Freiburg tomorrow and maybe even beyond that.

8:00pm - Dinner
Nancy and I had dinner here at our hotel outside. It was like Japan in that the menu was not in English and we relied on the broken English explanations from our waitress to choose a meal. I had salad, jagerschnitzel (a regional pork special with mushrooms) and spietzel. I also had my first local beer. We talked for awhile and then came inside.

While updating my journal, I received a call from a student reporting that he and his fellow ambassador felt uncomfortable and unsafe in their homestay. This is a major issue in P2P terms. Nancy and I worked to get a call to the other delegation leaders and our delegation manager. She is now handling it through the area coordinator for German homestays and it could lead to the students being picked up tonight and transported to a hotel or another family if possible. They are with a boyfriend and girlfriend with no kids in the home and were offered beer and wine, a big P2P no-no. After dinner, the hosts invited friends over and they are sitting in the kitchen getting drunk. The boys called me while locked in their bedroom. I´m sure I`ll be updating on this as it develops.

Last night I sat in a hallway to interrupt students on the phone after lights out. I busted two phone calls (four students). Today they filled out behavior improvement forms for me and this serves as a verbal warning for them. One of the students has a very poor attitude and has been breaking other rules recently so I will try to notify her mother while at the homestay/hotel of this latest issue.

24/7/07 - Hinterzarten, Germany

We woke up to even more rain and it continued throughout the day, pouring at times. The students stayed positive through most of it so far.

10:00am - Official Meeting

The town hall office manager of Breitnau welcomed us to his town of 2000 and to the Black Forest region. He told us about the local area and answered quite a few questions from our group. This town, and the one our hotel is located in, are centers for ski-jumping including hosting the world cup of ski-jumping on turf grass in August.

11:00am - Traditional Farm

We rode our bus through tiny, narrow roads to a farm near Breitnau. The farmer gave us an entertaining tour of his property: saw mill shop, chicken coop, cheese-making room, hay barn, cow stalls, etc. He and his family (at least 9 generations in a row now) have reinvented their operation over and over again to adapt to chaning times. He now cooperates with a neighbor to increase profits and possibilities. They even go to the point of turning cow manure into methan gas to reduce their reliance on oil from Arabians (his word). We were able to taste cheese made from his cows`milk and aged on his property. The absolute joining together of private life and working life was most amazing because it takes constant hard work to compete with the larger corporate farmers and saw mills. He said he could sell his land for lots of money, but then his son or his grandson would have no farm to operate and he believes it is better to not have too much money or too little; rather, working hard somewhere in the middle was best.

12:30pm - Lunch

Cheeseburger, fries, black forest cake

1:30pm - Farm Olympics

The students, in the rain, competed in a number of individual and team events such as mock cow milking, joisting, lawn bowling and others. They had fun and it was good for them to get some energy out too.

4:30pm - Cuckoo Clock Factory

We had a brief tour where we were shown how cuckoo clocks are made. It was interesting to see some of the elaborate hand crafting involved and the different music and movement options available. I considered buying one but decided that I`d eventually tire of the annoying bird and would have spent a lot of money for nothing.

6:00pm - Dinner
BBQ steak, pork ribs (not good), baked potato, custard with cherries, logan berries and pomegranate.

We came back to the hotel and met to explain what the leaders feel is going well and what is not going well so far. The ambassadors complained loudly about having to be in their rooms at 10 with lights out at 11. Last night, Tony and I entered rooms until about midnight, shutting down those rooms that were loud so there is not much reason for us to extend curfew if they aren`t meeting our expectations yet. We also have one girl who is very homesick today to the point of crying and two girls finishing their sneaking out penalty tonight by yelling and screaming and crying with one another. It seems that one girl`s root problem is that the group she wants to be part of doesn`t want her hanging out with them anymore. Ah girls...

I still think this group is better than the past, don`t get me wrong. In fact, we are going to push cufew to 11 after the homestays as long as everything goes well tonight. This will show them that we listened to their concerns and that we are happy with this group in general.

So far...no homestay.

23/7/07 - Olten, Switzerland - Hinterzarten, Germany

We began the day with news of our first crisis situation which Ellie and Nancy (two delegation leaders) handled after bed check last night. For an overly dramatic teenage girl reason, three of our girls climbed out their second floor windows onto a glass roof to walk to other rooms. They were caught thanks to a tip from a roommate, their parents were contacted and we issued stiff consequences. All three are sitting with delegation leaders on the bus, staying with us during free time and writing letters of apology. Hopefully the harsh penalties will discourage future interlopers.

10:30am - Woodcarving Museum

We took a brief, but insightful, tour of the living museum seeing a master carver at work and elaborate pieces more than 100 years old. The only woodcarving school in the country is here in Brienz and the craft is taken very seriously. This shop also makes music boxes and does all the work down to tuning the instruments on site. We saw antique diorama style boxes with song and dancing dolls and newer ones with advanced music capabilities. The drive to this town took us up and over the Swiss Alps. I wish I hadn`t read a news story of a French Alps bus accident yesterday.

1pm - Lunch

Salad, bratwurst, French fries

2pm - Berne

Berne is named for a legend about bears so we began at a pit containing two city "mascots" uncomfortably couped inside. Then we walked through the city center, our first of 8 UNESCO World Heritage sites on this European Heritage program. We viewed a looming Gothic cathedral from the outside only. Countless sculptures and paintings on the edifice told the story of the apocalypse for the common people who attended mass without speaking Latin before the use of vernacular languages was allowed. I walked past Albert Einstein`s home when he penned the theory of relativity (before moving to Princeton) and took a look at the impressive 12th century clock tower that still presents a music and moving parts demonstration on the hour. The clock tells the time, month, and astrological sign all on its original technology. I sat in a cafe with our delegation manager Sylvia, enjoyed a cappucino and relaxed as it drizzled outside. Her experiences living in London, the Dominican Republic and New York reinvigorated mz desire to seek out a job in an international school sometime in the near future. I also need to get to eastern Europe and a cross country US trip too.

4:30pm - Bus to Germany

First 2+ hour bus ride, this one into Germany. I really loved Switzerland. Lucerne may be my second favorite European city after Venice now. I finished reading my group`s journals for the first time. Most were incomplete already after only three days so they`ll have to sit with me during free time to complete their entries. I, on the other hand, am finding that I want to write far more than the space in my P2P journal allows.

As of tonight, I am not assigned to a homestay; instead I am in a hotel in Freiberg. The possibilities there are great...hop on a train and explore some part of Europe even if it means staying in a hostel for one night along the way. Maybe I can get to a concentration camp after all, or further into Germany or even to Austria. It would be exciting to just go and figure it out on the way without much of a plan in place.

It`s rained at least 1/4 to 1/3 of each day so far, but usually at night or while we`re on the bus. Hopefully that clears up soon.

22 July - Olten, Switzerland

When I got to breakfast 5 minutes early this morning at least 8-10 kids were already there; that never happens at breakfast. A good sign for sure...

9:30am - Ascend Mt. Pilatus (named for Pontius Pilate)

We took 4 person cable cars from 1694 feet up to 4649 feet. This ride was not too bad, but it was rainy, foggy, and generally gloomy this morning which took away from the beauty of the landscape. At the cable car stop was a bobsled run that does not open during rainy weather. The staff dried the track for us as the rain ended just in time and we were able to enjoy an exciting trip down a few hundred feet of the mountain. At 11, we took a larger 40-person gondola up to the peak of Mt. Pilatus at 7000 feet. The clouds blocked our view of anything below, which made for an interesting experience. We ate bagged lunches (ham sandwich, packaged pretyel with butter, an apple and a milk and cereal type bar with Europe´s favorite soda, Fanta) and then explored the shops and hotels at the peak. I found a 40-foot alphorn, the longest playable one in the world (think of Ricola commercials for the type of instrument I am talking about=, a set of coin-operated beer taps bragging that they are the highest beer taps in central Switzerland and use Mt. Pilatus spring water and a photo timeline explaining how building materials were transported up the mountain to build the railway and hotel in the 1880s and 90s. The feats of engineering involved are mind-boggling. We descended the mountain on the steepest cogwheel railway in the world to a different town below.

2:30pm - Discover Lucerne

We took our first guided walking tour and found that these kids raen´t much better at walking to one side of sidewalks and listening attentively to our speaker than any other group. Our guide first showed us a sculpture embedded in a huge block of natural limestone. The artist was commemorating the deaths of 900 Swiss soldiers in 1792 who had been hired to protect Versailles at the time of the French Revolution. It was that event that led to Switzerland´s subsequent move to neutrality in international affairs that continues to the present. The guide also took us through the old city with its beautiful, colorful architecture and wonderful setting on the lake. It reminded me a lot of Venice, only cleaner. One stop was the Jesuit Church of Lucerne, built in Baroque style making it different from and older than most famous cathedrals in Europe which are later Gothic. It is a destination for choirs the world over due to its acoustics. We took a brief walk through the back of the church because a mass was going on at the time. We strolled past a Picasso museum that holds 69 pieces of his work and a home once occupied bz Richard Wagner. We also crossed the Chapel Bridge, built as a manmade boundarz defense along with stone walls in the medieval era to protect the city from invasion. Part of it burned down in 1993 due to a boat fire, but it´s been rebuilt. During some free time, I walked across another completely original wood bridge. Like the Chapel Bridge ,this one contained original paintings above the walkway. This one featured paintings from the time of the Bubonic Plague...skeletons looking up at dark, devilish figures mainly. I mostly walked during the free time to take in some more of the great city.

6:30pm - Dinner

We had a dinner of vegetable broth with vegetables, spietzel with fried onions (I had 2 servings) and a chocolate pudding like dessert. Then we walked a bit around the quaint Alpine village Sempach before heading back to the hotel.

8:30pm - Free Time

We kept the students at the hotel for free time tonight since they had a lot during the day. We are trying to reduce the couple and clique forming we´re already seeing by keeping a closer handle on things. These kids are much better than last year with few problems so far.

One event that did anger me today occurred on the 40-person gondola. There were a handful of non P2P people on with us. Near the end, the conductor, who was in the same car as us, began making announcements in German. One of our girls loudly proclaimed, "I only speak American." The conductor concluded his statements in German and then said, "For those that only speak American, or English as we say..." I brought the students sitting in that area together as soon as we got off the train, found out who said it, and lambasted her in front of everyone else. I made the point that that kind of behavior exactly why people outside the US get the impression that Americans are ignorant and obnoxious and is the opposite of what People to People is supposed to stand for.

Tonight during free time, a few of our girls made friends with a small group of Swiss guys and one girl who had been skating in front of our hotel. We were outside with them so I know nothing crazy happened, but it was interesting listening to what kinds of things our girls were asking about (the Swiss kids were never loud enough for me to hear them). Our girls were asking about gangs in Switzerland, whether they think Ashley Simpson´s breasts are real, what it is like to visit Amsterdam.

As I said earlier, things are going well so far, but we do have our potential hotspots to keep an eye on.

Look what I can do: ü ö ä ß €

21 July 2007 - Zurich, Switzerland - Olten, Switzerland

Day 2

9:00am - Arrival at Zurich

Our flight arrived a little after 9am due to delays at Newark. I slept a bit here and there on the flight, read some of Barack Obama´s book, and watched Blades of Glory. My seat partner was Ellen, a student at Union Catholic High School. Upon arrival, we were amazed that there were no customs to go through. We showed our passports at one checkpoint, grabbed our bags, and walked right out of the airport to meet our delegation manager, Silvia. Silvia is from Austria and she recently completed a fourteen month stint working in New York City. She will be responsible for coordinating all the program components - restaurants, hotels, transportation, etc.

11:00am - Tour Zurich

We briskly walked some narrow, hilly, cobblestone hills in Zurich to visit Grossmünster, a circa 11th through 13th century cathedral built on the site of an earlier church founded by Charlemagne. Zwingli preached there and stained-glass windows by Augusto Giacometti are a highlight. We had some free time to explore the cathedral and the surrounding area.

12:30pm - Lunch

Beef stroganoff with a potato side dish and fruit compote with fresh kiwi, blackberries and pineapple. I ate lunch with Tom from Edison HS, Kyle from Middlesex HS and Amery from St. Joe´s.

2:00pm - Stroll Zurich

We limited the extent of this free time because the ambassadors were exhausted. Tony, another delegation leader, and I found a bench on a river where people were eating their lunches and we sat and talked. During the one hour bus ride to the hotel, I took a pretty nice nap.

4:30pm - Check in to the hotel

The hotel is nice and typical of Europe: small beds, no air conditioning and functional.

6:00pm - Dinner

Second meal and I already forgot to take a picture of it. Salad bar, pasta buffet with three sauce options and lasagna. For dessert, we had a passionfruit sorbet type thing with fresh plums, pineapple and some other South American berry that none of us had ever seen before.

7:00pm - Gender Specific Meetings

Tony and I reviewed a few topics with the boys about personal hygiene, the fact that this isn´t a matchmaking trip, and the needed level of maturity to deal with topless women in advertisements (saw today), on the beach, and on regular tv (also saw today).

7:30pm - Free Time

A few students ventured out to explore the town and all were back with plenty of time to spare. I am surprised by how many stayed up, playing cards mostly, all the way to curfew after how long they`ve gone without substantial sleep. We`ll see how well they are functioning tomorrow.

20 Jul 2007 Newark, NJ - In Air

P2P trip number six is about to begin. We are in the group lounge for Continental Airlines enjoying some complimentary drinks and snacks. Things have gone fairly smoothly so far; hopefully that is indicative of the three weeks to follow. I am really looking forward to the destinations on the itinerary: Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, France and England. We have not had any major problems with kids yet, but we are taking preemptive action by holding a meeting here at the airport and again at the hotel on our first night in Switzerland.

Off to Europe

Time to go!

I posted my day-by-day itinerary a few weeks ago so anyone who wants to know where I am or how to reach me can find all of that information through the blog.

I plan to update the blog as frequently as possible while away. It won't be every day and it will be sporadic depending on when I can find Internet access. Hopefully I'll be able to post an update every few days at least.

Montgomery High School

The Montgomery Township Board of Education approved me as a social studies teacher at Montgomery High School on Wednesday. So now it is official. I will be leaving Ridge for Montgomery.



Here are some photos I took of Montgomery during the grand opening a couple years ago.

Spirit of Newark

I have completed my commitment to the Spirit of Newark Drum and Bugle Corps. It was a frustrating, aggravating and sometimes even dangerous experience, but I am still glad I did it. I learned a lot about myself, teaching students who come from a wide variety of backgrounds and viewpoints and how not to run a drum corps.

This weekend the corps improved competitively, finishing ahead of two others both Saturday and Sunday so that is a good thing. If the administration allowed the design team to plan a show geared towards the ability level of the students instead of an unrealistic ideal, they could be doing even better.

I do not plan to return to the corps next year, but I need to hold off on officially resigning until I am paid for this season. I do not expect that to happen until late August, if at all.

A short video from rehearsal...

Hillsborough - 23rd best town to live in

My hometown of Hillsborough has been named the #23 best town to live in by Money magazine, second highest in NJ (to Montville in Morris County).

"Population: 41,100
Median home price (2006): N/A
Average property taxes (2006): $8,536
Situated about 13 miles from both Princeton and New Brunswick and 25 miles from Trenton, bucolic Hillsborough Township and the surrounding area were first explored by the Dutch in the middle 17th century. Today, the town's many parks - including one with four baseball diamonds and three soccer fields - play host to activities for children and adults alike. Residents have waged legal battles to keep the area from being overdeveloped, and about half the township is open space or farmland. Highly-rated schools add to the attraction. -J.M."

http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/moneymag/0707/gallery.BPTL_top_100.moneymag/23.html

Europe Contact Information

Just in case...

July 21, 22 = Arte Olten; Olten, Switzerland 011 41 62 286 68 00

July 23, 24 = Maria von Marschall; Hinterzarten, Germany 011 49 7652 90 10

July 25-27 = Homestay; Contact P2P Program Office 1 800 669 7882

July 28 = Holiday Inn Heidelberg; Heidelberg, Germany 011 49 622 178 80

July 29 = Scholz; Koblenz, Germany 011 49 261 942 60

July 30, 31 = Mercure Utrecht Nieuwegein; Nieuwegein, Netherlands 011 31 30 604 48 44

August 1 = Novotel Brugge Zuid; Bruges, Belgium 011 32 504 021 40

August 2-4 = Quality Inn Rosny-sous-Bois; Rosny-sous-Bois, France 011 33 1 48 94 33 08

August 5 = Overnight Ferry; Contact P2P Program Office 1 800 669 7882

August 6, 7 = Express by Holida Inn Croydon; Croydon, Great Britain 011 44 20 8253 1200

New Job

The big change I alluded to yesterday is that I am most likely leaving Ridge High School to take a position in another district.

I won't post the name or details until it is approved by the board of education, but I will be teaching world history and U.S. History II in the new school and will also be an instructor for the marching band there. It is closer to home, in a great district, at an excellent school that has a superb faculty and wonderful students. Sound like I'm exaggerating? I'm not.

I am still at Ridge until July 19 teaching Camp Bridge from 9am-12pm each day, but July 19 will likely be my last day there as an employee. It is bittersweet. I began my teaching career at Ridge in September 2003 and always assumed I'd stay there as long as I was a teacher. My departure is voluntary, but the board and district administrators certainly helped push me out the door by not giving the newspaper and my band positions back to me for next year.

I'm waiting on a meeting with the director of human resources and assistant superintendent sometime between now and Monday and I think there is a board meeting next week so it could be final before I leave Europe. More updates then...

Quick Update

There's a lot going on, but I'll do a quick bullet update:

• I passed my comprehensive exam so that means I've fulfilled all the requirements of my Master's Degree program. I now have an M.S. in Educational Administration.
• My final day with the Spirit of Newark/New Jersey is this Saturday, July 14.
• I leave for Europe on July 20.
• Today I finished my second day working at Camp BRidge. It's pretty cool and good money.
• Watch for a major update within the next day or two. There is a major change happening, but I don't want to write about it here until it's official.