Day Six – Friday, July 17
Prague, Czech Republic
Another hotel with a great buffet breakfast spread. I had pepperoni and cheese on bread, fruit and yogurt, bacon, scrambled eggs, and peach cake with the requisite coffee. My “system” for People to People trips has always been to eat as much as I can at every meal. For plated meals, I have not left anything on the plate so far. For buffets, I make sure I am good and full. The food has been wonderful so far, but every once in awhile we usually get a rough meal. I always have some granola bars in my bag just in case, but I don’t want my supply to run out.
This morning learn a few words in Czech and practice the pronunciation. Maybe you will remember some of the phrases like “Good morning” and “Thank you.”
I missed most of this activity because we had seven boys not present for breakfast and still not present when the activity began. Another leader and I began banging on doors and eventually discovered three rooms of boys that overslept. As we were waiting for one room to answer, one of its inhabitants showed up. He had been hiding under a bed in another room where he slept for the evening when I went to wake up those students. In other words, after curfew, he switched rooms. This is a no-no on the program.
Once we got them all caught up with the group, my colleague Tony and I went into investigation mode. I think we both like doing this; it’s exciting and different. We got keys to both rooms and checked them for alcohol or other evidence of bigger problems. Then we pulled each person from the rooms out one by one to get their stories.
To make a long story short, two students visited the rooms of one another and had a “sleepover” in one of the rooms. One roommate was aware of this arrangement and chose to let it happen (not that I would have done something different but still) and the other two roommates claim to have slept through the goings on. We made all of them fill out Behavior Improvement Worksheets and have the two guys who went out after curfew with us during free time tonight. And yesterday I wrote about how nothing like this was happening this year.
As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t really catch much of the language and culture presentation. I did get some more information about the unification and split of Czechoslovakia in 1918 and 1993 respectively. I also learned that Slovakia has been much more successful since the split in building a strong economic system. They have been accepted into the Euro monetary group while the Czech Republic has not.
Discover the old and the new town of Prague and get an impression of this fascinating city: stroll along Wenceslaw Square, marvel at the Astronomical Clock on the Old Town Square and cross the famous Charles Bridge.
This walk was the first time that I felt like I was in a magnificent old European city with large squares containing a cathedral, cafes, and markets, old buildings with beautiful architecture, and uniqueness around every corner. We spent A LOT of time walking today – the vast majority of the morning and a decent amount of the afternoon too.
Our guide for the day was the same person who presented in the morning. He is originally from Columbia so he did not have a European English accent so much as a Spanish English accent, which was a change from our delegation manager from Austria who speaks to use in English more often than anyone else we interact with.
Our most notable stop was Astronomical Clock. Our guide’s description of the clock was much more interesting than the actual mechanical movement on the hour, but as I explained to the students who were disappointed in its simplicity, it was crafted hundreds of years ago and its accuracy and functionality was exceptional for the time. I am very bad at remembering the details of these sorts of things even when I think they are fascinating, but the clock contained all kinds of rings of information around the hands: astronomical signs, number of hours of darkness/light, Arabic numerals, Roman numerals, and who knows what else.
After the clock display, we had a bit of free time in the square. Our delegation manager warned us that lunch was not going to be very good so I took the opportunity to taste some gelato from a vendor. I had a fruit variety cone which was great.
It was quite hot today with temperatures in the high 80s and sun so the full day of walking took its toll. We all handled it pretty well, but I admit to being less than enthusiastic, especially towards the end. One interesting stop on the city walking tour was the Jewish section. Here we saw a number of synagogues and other notable buildings. Prague was occupied by the Nazis in 1938 and throughout the war, but it was not destroyed by Allied bombing. In addition, Hitler hoped to use it as a showcase city so he did not order it destroyed while under Nazi control. Even upon retreat, the Nazis only destroyed a little of the city so it remains intact today. Despite the difficult times of living in the Soviet bloc, Prague still maintained its charm and is today a major tourist destination for people from across the world. There were more Americans around today than anywhere else we have been so far.
Lunch will be served at the restaurant Beograd.
The lunch we were warned about turned out to be pretty good in my opinion. It started with a vegetable soup that was awesome. I think there were pureed potatoes in it to give the broth a little thickness, but it wasn’t a creamy potato soup. I don’t exactly know what it was, but it was good. The main course was roast pork with Czech dumplings (essentially bread), and cabbage. I don’t know if I have ever eaten a full serving of cabbage before, but this cabbage was good and sweet. For dessert we had an apple tart pastry.
Continue with your guided orientation: Some of the many names that try to explain the uniqueness of the city are: “City of a Hundred Towers” or “Heart of Europe.” Set your focus on the hill where the Prague Castle is situated – the “Hradschin.”
We had a decent chunk of free time after lunch so I escaped the heat with some time in an Internet café and then stopped at my second gelato stand of the day. This time I had strawberry. The prices of things in Prague are reasonable despite the craziness of the currency. 1 US dollar is equal to approximately 19 Kronas. This 1:19 ration makes even inexpensive items appear expensive at first glance, but it provides more value for the buck than the exchange from US dollar to the Euro so things are cheaper now than they were in Germany in reality.
The highlight of the afternoon tour was the Prague Castle. The Castle itself appears to be relatively young compared to some of the surrounding areas. We were there for the changing of the presidential guard, which was interesting although not as much of a production as those we have seen elsewhere on previous People to People trips. (I think I am becoming a little jaded. These things are incredible, but it takes bigger and bigger wow moments to get me excited now.) The real focal point of the area around the Catle is the cathedral behind it.
Construction began around 1400 and concluded around 1929. 500+ years of continuous construction on this gothic cathedral. I can’t even fathom the reality of such a project. Imagine going to work everyday of your life knowing that there was no chance of ever seeing the project complete. Imagine authorizing the spending from the national treasury for a project that would continuing incurring costs for a time span more than twice as long as the entire history of the United States. It opened the year of the stock market crash in the United States but it was started before Columbus and his friends began hanging out in the Americas.
I heard some people from another tour group talking about Gothic cathedrals while I was walking around. I need to check the list of largest Gothic cathedrals in the world sometime (maybe someone can post the answer as a comment to this blog!). I toured a cathedral in New York City (not St. Patrick’s) while planning a field trip a number of years ago and I thought they claimed to be the largest. St. Peter’s at the Vatican is the most famous and there are many other massive cathedrals throughout Europe, but I would like to see a list of the top 10 or so.
After a day full of activities enjoy your dinner at the Klasterni Restaurace next to Prague Castle.
Tonight’s dinner began with a salad and then moved into fish and chips with cole slaw. It was probably my least favorite dinner so far. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t anything special. We finished it off with a dessert that looked and tasted sort of like cheesecake, but I don’t think it actually was cheesecake.
In the evening get on your bus and return to your hotel.
We met with our “Magnificent Seven” when we got into the hotel and doled out the punishments I described earlier. Nancy, our sick delegation leader, stayed back at the hotel all day today to rest. She says that she feels a little better, but she did not leave the room all day and has not eaten anything so that doesn’t seem to be too good. If she is still ill tomorrow, I think we are going to insist she visit a doctor. Tony also received some not so good test results from home tonight. I’m not sure if that will have any effect on things, but it does complicate the day to day.
We are leaving tomorrow for Krakow, Poland and what promises to be the most emotional part of our journey – Auschwitz. I know we have at least one student who lost family members in the Holocaust and we have quite a few Jewish students who have at least indirect connections to what happened. Our delegation manager shared a story about a student last year whose grandfather lived through Auschwitz. The student freaked out in the hotel and said there was no way he could stay in a place so close to the camp. I guess they got him settled down eventually, but I expect that our visit will conjure up powerful emotions in some of our students.
Stay overnight at the Clarion Congress Hotel Prague.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Day Five - Prague, Czech Republic
Day Five – Thursday, July 16
Prague, Czech Republic
Head for Dresden, the capital of the German region Saxony.
On the bus ride from Berlin to Dresden, one of the delegation leaders threw up. At a rest stop, she did so some more but thought she was feeling better. To be continued.
We spent the morning driving to the city of Dresden, completely destroyed during World War II by American firebombing. Since the end of the war, the city has been rebuilt to appear as it did before the war began. As a result, buildings that look to be hundreds of years old might have opened in 2005 as is the case with the largest Lutheran church in the city.
Have your lunch at the restaurant “Café and Bistro am Zwingerteich” in Dresden.
When we got to lunch, I sat with the delegation leader that wasn’t feeling well on the bus ride. She thought she might be able to eat a little something, but ended up excusing herself to the restroom every few minutes throughout the meal due to problems from both ends. She was unable to eat much of anything. This was especially unfortunate since lunch was very good today. We had meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and carrots with a dessert of peach mousse with whipped cream.
Enjoy a delegation manager guided walk through the city of Dresden, the capital of the German state Saxony. One of its most famous buildings is the “Frauenkirche” (Church of Our Lady). Destroyed in WWII it was finally rebuilt and inaugurated in 2005.
We walked through what appears to be a medieval city but, like I explained earlier, looks can be deceiving. The buildings are no more than 60 years old and many are younger than that. It was still nice to walk through and take in the old city feel of the city. We had a bit of free time and I browsed a 1 Euro store hoping to pick up some German-flag cheap gifts to use as prizes for trivia games or whatever else comes up but was unsuccessful.
Our sick colleague spent this time sitting on a bench in the shade. When we picked her up to get back on the bus, she was feeling worse instead of better. She spent most of the next few hours in the bus bathroom and once her body was empty of fluids she began losing some blood too.
Check in at the hotel.
Check-in took longer than usual, but it was worth the wait. We are staying in a four star hotel that dubs itself the largest Clarion hotel in the world. At first glance, it is quite extravagant with fountains, bars and restaurants, and its connection to a mall. Deeper analysis reveals that it is quite nice – certainly nicer than our hotel in Berlin – but it is missing some amenities one might expect from a luxury hotel. While there is a pool on site, it costs about $15 to use. Internet access exists but for a fee. There are not a lot of activities available to keep our students occupied tonight during their free time from 7:45 until 11:00, which could lead to trouble if they get too creative.
Enjoy your dinner at the hotel.
And enjoy we did. We had a large dining room to ourselves with a full buffet. I sampled quite a lot; let me try to remember some of the items. Freshly carved ham, baked potato (this was potato with eggs, ham, peas, and some other goodies), Czech-inspired dumplings, rice, salad with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella, and roast duck. It was all really good. For dessert, I had a small chocolate cake, vanilla, caramel, and strawberry ice cream, and fruit. We have eaten well on this trip so far, but tonight’s buffet really set the standard.
We brought some rice and bread to the ill delegation leader hoping she might be able to stomach something at some point tonight.
Stay overnight at the Clarion Congress Hotel Prague.
Some general thoughts on the trip so far. The students have been really good at the little things that usually lead to annoyances. We do not have issues with students forgetting their lanyards/nametags. No one is late to meals or meeting times. We are generally quiet in restaurants and while walking on the street. The hotel rooms have been clean. We have been quiet in hotels even when there is little to do but sit around and play cards. These may seem like small things, but they go a long way to the leaders’ sanity.
Prague, Czech Republic
Head for Dresden, the capital of the German region Saxony.
On the bus ride from Berlin to Dresden, one of the delegation leaders threw up. At a rest stop, she did so some more but thought she was feeling better. To be continued.
We spent the morning driving to the city of Dresden, completely destroyed during World War II by American firebombing. Since the end of the war, the city has been rebuilt to appear as it did before the war began. As a result, buildings that look to be hundreds of years old might have opened in 2005 as is the case with the largest Lutheran church in the city.
Have your lunch at the restaurant “Café and Bistro am Zwingerteich” in Dresden.
When we got to lunch, I sat with the delegation leader that wasn’t feeling well on the bus ride. She thought she might be able to eat a little something, but ended up excusing herself to the restroom every few minutes throughout the meal due to problems from both ends. She was unable to eat much of anything. This was especially unfortunate since lunch was very good today. We had meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and carrots with a dessert of peach mousse with whipped cream.
Enjoy a delegation manager guided walk through the city of Dresden, the capital of the German state Saxony. One of its most famous buildings is the “Frauenkirche” (Church of Our Lady). Destroyed in WWII it was finally rebuilt and inaugurated in 2005.
We walked through what appears to be a medieval city but, like I explained earlier, looks can be deceiving. The buildings are no more than 60 years old and many are younger than that. It was still nice to walk through and take in the old city feel of the city. We had a bit of free time and I browsed a 1 Euro store hoping to pick up some German-flag cheap gifts to use as prizes for trivia games or whatever else comes up but was unsuccessful.
Our sick colleague spent this time sitting on a bench in the shade. When we picked her up to get back on the bus, she was feeling worse instead of better. She spent most of the next few hours in the bus bathroom and once her body was empty of fluids she began losing some blood too.
Check in at the hotel.
Check-in took longer than usual, but it was worth the wait. We are staying in a four star hotel that dubs itself the largest Clarion hotel in the world. At first glance, it is quite extravagant with fountains, bars and restaurants, and its connection to a mall. Deeper analysis reveals that it is quite nice – certainly nicer than our hotel in Berlin – but it is missing some amenities one might expect from a luxury hotel. While there is a pool on site, it costs about $15 to use. Internet access exists but for a fee. There are not a lot of activities available to keep our students occupied tonight during their free time from 7:45 until 11:00, which could lead to trouble if they get too creative.
Enjoy your dinner at the hotel.
And enjoy we did. We had a large dining room to ourselves with a full buffet. I sampled quite a lot; let me try to remember some of the items. Freshly carved ham, baked potato (this was potato with eggs, ham, peas, and some other goodies), Czech-inspired dumplings, rice, salad with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella, and roast duck. It was all really good. For dessert, I had a small chocolate cake, vanilla, caramel, and strawberry ice cream, and fruit. We have eaten well on this trip so far, but tonight’s buffet really set the standard.
We brought some rice and bread to the ill delegation leader hoping she might be able to stomach something at some point tonight.
Stay overnight at the Clarion Congress Hotel Prague.
Some general thoughts on the trip so far. The students have been really good at the little things that usually lead to annoyances. We do not have issues with students forgetting their lanyards/nametags. No one is late to meals or meeting times. We are generally quiet in restaurants and while walking on the street. The hotel rooms have been clean. We have been quiet in hotels even when there is little to do but sit around and play cards. These may seem like small things, but they go a long way to the leaders’ sanity.
Friday, July 17, 2009
People to People Update #2
Dear Parents,
Can you believe that our program is already 25 percent complete? Things are flying by on this end.
The students are exploring Prague on their own right now after a busy morning of a language lesson and a walking tour of the Old City. Our students were quite excited to find that our current hotel is attached to a mall - until they discovered that the shops had already closed for the evening.
Things are going pretty smoothly on this end. This is likely our best group at handling the little details that make travel go smoothly. There is very little complaining about minor inconveniences like an extra long walk to the bus, no one has been late to any meeting points after free time, journal entries are excellent, and all seem to be having a great time. We did have three rooms of boys late to breakfast this morning for the first time, but we want to believe that this was an isolated incident.
We will have more regular access to Internet once we enter Poland so I will attempt to send out a couple photos of the group. Our current hotel charges a staggering 20 dollars for one hour of usage so now is not the time for long updates.
Hope all is well at home,
Mr. Mingle
Can you believe that our program is already 25 percent complete? Things are flying by on this end.
The students are exploring Prague on their own right now after a busy morning of a language lesson and a walking tour of the Old City. Our students were quite excited to find that our current hotel is attached to a mall - until they discovered that the shops had already closed for the evening.
Things are going pretty smoothly on this end. This is likely our best group at handling the little details that make travel go smoothly. There is very little complaining about minor inconveniences like an extra long walk to the bus, no one has been late to any meeting points after free time, journal entries are excellent, and all seem to be having a great time. We did have three rooms of boys late to breakfast this morning for the first time, but we want to believe that this was an isolated incident.
We will have more regular access to Internet once we enter Poland so I will attempt to send out a couple photos of the group. Our current hotel charges a staggering 20 dollars for one hour of usage so now is not the time for long updates.
Hope all is well at home,
Mr. Mingle
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Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Day Four - Berlin, Germany
We had another great breakfast at the hotel this morning with an even later wake-up call than yesterday. I had two ham and brie sandwiches on great bread, yogurt with granola, and some coffee.
Depart for guided orientation of Berlin.
Enjoy a guided orientation through the capital of Germany. Pass by the Victory Column, the Brandenburg Gate and the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. In 1990 the reunification of both Germanys took place but visual differences are still noticeable.
Guided bus tours are often boring or at least hard to follow due to the big bus full of students and someone attempting to speak about hard to see sights in broken English on a microphone. Today’s guided tour was not like those.
Our guide was a retired lawyer who spent some time as an exchange student in the United States when she was high school or college aged. She was funny, interesting, and informative. There were times towards the end of the 3+ hour tour that I started nodding off, but it was just the setting and not the speaker.
I am not going to write much about the areas she pointed out while we were driving through Berlin, but I will share a little about the places we got off the bus to explore. Our first stop was the Berlin Parliament (previously the Prussian Parliament). The building was designed to accommodate a legislature of over 400 and now handles fewer than 200 so there was a lot of space inside. We spent some time studying three large paintings comically depicting the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Outside the Parliament building, we could see one of the few areas where the Wall still stands. Very little is preserved. I think this is because the people were so excited to tear it down in 1989 and the last thing they were thinking about was saving the wall for memories. You can buy pieces of the wall all over the place and can find large chunks throughout the world – I saw some at the Kennedy Presidential Library in Massachusetts and at least one other place I can’t remember.
I found it interesting to note how easy it is to cross the “border” from east to west Berlin now. I obviously knew this to be the case, but 20 years ago it was far from it. People risked their lives and at least 150 died trying to cross the border that we can jump across at will now. There is not much visual difference between the eastern and western parts of the city as far as I could tell on our bus ride today, but we saw some of the more significant long-term effects of the divide later in the afternoon when we did our service project.
An interesting story shared by our guide that I was not well aware of took place in October 1961. Earlier in the year, President Kennedy and Premier Khruschev reached an agreement on key points regarding post-war Germany. One of the points was that all Allied personnel had the right to move through the entire city at will if they were in proper uniform. The United States tested this agreement in October 1961 by moving tanks to the border of the American and Soviet sectors at Checkpoint Charlie. The Soviets refused to allow the Americans through and it became a staring contest. Eventually the Soviets blinked, the city was opened to everyone, and World War III was averted.
Context note – the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989.
We took a brief stop to see a scaled model of the city. This helped us visualize the arrangement of the city historically and today. The guided pointed out the influence of French Huguenots who settled in Berlin in large numbers.
We took some time to walk through Brandenburg Gate. We saw the spot nearby where President Reagan declared something along the lines of, “Mr. Gorbachev. Open that gate; tear down this wall.” Immediately next to the Gate is the new American Embassy, opened in 2008. During the split Germany years, Western powers like the United States maintained embassies in Bonn, the capital of West Germany. After reunification, Germany voted to return the capital to Berlin, but there has been a constant adjustment since then. The United States resisted moving to the location near the Gate due to security concerns, but the German government agreed to realign the streets to provide a wide security berth for the Embassy.
Near the Embassy was the Hotel Aldon made famous by Michael Jackson when he dangled his ridiculously named song Blanket out of a window.
Our last walking stop of the mostly bus tour was the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. We visited this site before from the outside, but had a few minutes this time around to go inside the new church, which looks nothing like a church. The inside is very interesting with many small windows that shine a soft blue light into the building.
Lunch time at the restaurant Bavarium in Berlin.
Like all of our meals so far, lunch was very good today. We had chicken with mushroom sauce, spinach pasta, and ice cream with raspberry sauce.
Depart for your service project.
Take part in a service project in Berlin where you will help build an adventure playground for local children.
I never really look forward to these service projects. I’m not sure why; I don’t have anything against community service, it’s just that they often wind up being incredibly boring doing something like pulling weeds for a few hours. This one seemed to start out that way, but it turned into something else that was a lot of fun.
The site of the service project was a community park area on the outskirts of Berlin. As a part of East Germany, the residents of the area were shocked to see the incredible superiority of West German playgrounds. A group of local parents came together with the mission of designing something better for the local children. It is a large complex, but looks nothing like you would think a playground to be.
The students divided up to tackle a variety of tasks. Some mowed grass, others picked cherries, painted small huts, decorated a wooden structure, dug areas to allow young trees a chance to “breathe,” stained doors, pulled nails out of boards, etc. I spent most of the work time bouncing from group to group taking pictures.
When we arrived, the community members present had prepared a wonderful spread of snacks for us: pastry items with powdered sugar like Italian pizzeles, fresh berries, watermelon, cantaloupe, apples, and other melons. A wide selection of beverages included a freshly made drink that had picked mint leaves and lemon juice and other fruit juices.
As the groups finished their work, the focus turned to play. I spent a lot of time playing basketball with a few of the ambassadors, then played some soccer, and Frisbee. It was a lot of fun and these types of activities are the easiest way for me to get to know the students. I struggle with the small talk that takes place at awkward lunches when three students get stuck sitting with one of the delegation leaders, but it is easier when playing cards (the normal way I get to know students on these trips) or sports.
After your service project, refuel your energy with dinner at the service project.
Some of the community members spent a few hours preparing for our dinner by barbequing sausage, preparing salads featuring herbs and produce from the on-site gardens, and more fresh fruit. They also lit a large bonfire and some of the students baked something they were calling “stick bread” in the fire. As the name suggests, they stuck dough on a stick and held it over the fire. After it was cooked through, some type of fruit jam was placed in the bread – I had banana – to enjoy as a dessert.
There was time for more sport playing and talking before we left the community around 7:30. One of our students – a Montgomery High School Band member as a matter of fact – took it upon himself to write a thank you postcard in German and present it along with a pencil to our hosts. As I sat on the bus, all of the people still there stood to wave goodbye to us including a young boy so I ran out and gave him a New Jersey pin I had and then another delegation leader joined me and gave him a New York quarter. As we got back on the bus I could see his mother explaining the items to him as she posed likeh the Statue of Liberty to help him understand.
In the evening, get on your bus and return to your hotel.
Stay overnight at the Park Hotel Blub in Berlin.
Two of the delegation leaders are spending the evening with a cousin that lives in Berlin so that leaves two of us at the hotel. I’m on duty from 8:30-9:45 and the other will cover fro 9:45-11:00. That’s when the two of us will have to check all the rooms, but after that I have two vouchers for free beers in the hotel courtesy of our delegation manager. That is certainly something to look forward to.
Tomorrow we leave Berlin for a short stop in Dresden and then country number #2 – Czech Republic.
Depart for guided orientation of Berlin.
Enjoy a guided orientation through the capital of Germany. Pass by the Victory Column, the Brandenburg Gate and the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. In 1990 the reunification of both Germanys took place but visual differences are still noticeable.
Guided bus tours are often boring or at least hard to follow due to the big bus full of students and someone attempting to speak about hard to see sights in broken English on a microphone. Today’s guided tour was not like those.
Our guide was a retired lawyer who spent some time as an exchange student in the United States when she was high school or college aged. She was funny, interesting, and informative. There were times towards the end of the 3+ hour tour that I started nodding off, but it was just the setting and not the speaker.
I am not going to write much about the areas she pointed out while we were driving through Berlin, but I will share a little about the places we got off the bus to explore. Our first stop was the Berlin Parliament (previously the Prussian Parliament). The building was designed to accommodate a legislature of over 400 and now handles fewer than 200 so there was a lot of space inside. We spent some time studying three large paintings comically depicting the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Outside the Parliament building, we could see one of the few areas where the Wall still stands. Very little is preserved. I think this is because the people were so excited to tear it down in 1989 and the last thing they were thinking about was saving the wall for memories. You can buy pieces of the wall all over the place and can find large chunks throughout the world – I saw some at the Kennedy Presidential Library in Massachusetts and at least one other place I can’t remember.
I found it interesting to note how easy it is to cross the “border” from east to west Berlin now. I obviously knew this to be the case, but 20 years ago it was far from it. People risked their lives and at least 150 died trying to cross the border that we can jump across at will now. There is not much visual difference between the eastern and western parts of the city as far as I could tell on our bus ride today, but we saw some of the more significant long-term effects of the divide later in the afternoon when we did our service project.
An interesting story shared by our guide that I was not well aware of took place in October 1961. Earlier in the year, President Kennedy and Premier Khruschev reached an agreement on key points regarding post-war Germany. One of the points was that all Allied personnel had the right to move through the entire city at will if they were in proper uniform. The United States tested this agreement in October 1961 by moving tanks to the border of the American and Soviet sectors at Checkpoint Charlie. The Soviets refused to allow the Americans through and it became a staring contest. Eventually the Soviets blinked, the city was opened to everyone, and World War III was averted.
Context note – the Berlin Wall fell on November 9, 1989.
We took a brief stop to see a scaled model of the city. This helped us visualize the arrangement of the city historically and today. The guided pointed out the influence of French Huguenots who settled in Berlin in large numbers.
We took some time to walk through Brandenburg Gate. We saw the spot nearby where President Reagan declared something along the lines of, “Mr. Gorbachev. Open that gate; tear down this wall.” Immediately next to the Gate is the new American Embassy, opened in 2008. During the split Germany years, Western powers like the United States maintained embassies in Bonn, the capital of West Germany. After reunification, Germany voted to return the capital to Berlin, but there has been a constant adjustment since then. The United States resisted moving to the location near the Gate due to security concerns, but the German government agreed to realign the streets to provide a wide security berth for the Embassy.
Near the Embassy was the Hotel Aldon made famous by Michael Jackson when he dangled his ridiculously named song Blanket out of a window.
Our last walking stop of the mostly bus tour was the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. We visited this site before from the outside, but had a few minutes this time around to go inside the new church, which looks nothing like a church. The inside is very interesting with many small windows that shine a soft blue light into the building.
Lunch time at the restaurant Bavarium in Berlin.
Like all of our meals so far, lunch was very good today. We had chicken with mushroom sauce, spinach pasta, and ice cream with raspberry sauce.
Depart for your service project.
Take part in a service project in Berlin where you will help build an adventure playground for local children.
I never really look forward to these service projects. I’m not sure why; I don’t have anything against community service, it’s just that they often wind up being incredibly boring doing something like pulling weeds for a few hours. This one seemed to start out that way, but it turned into something else that was a lot of fun.
The site of the service project was a community park area on the outskirts of Berlin. As a part of East Germany, the residents of the area were shocked to see the incredible superiority of West German playgrounds. A group of local parents came together with the mission of designing something better for the local children. It is a large complex, but looks nothing like you would think a playground to be.
The students divided up to tackle a variety of tasks. Some mowed grass, others picked cherries, painted small huts, decorated a wooden structure, dug areas to allow young trees a chance to “breathe,” stained doors, pulled nails out of boards, etc. I spent most of the work time bouncing from group to group taking pictures.
When we arrived, the community members present had prepared a wonderful spread of snacks for us: pastry items with powdered sugar like Italian pizzeles, fresh berries, watermelon, cantaloupe, apples, and other melons. A wide selection of beverages included a freshly made drink that had picked mint leaves and lemon juice and other fruit juices.
As the groups finished their work, the focus turned to play. I spent a lot of time playing basketball with a few of the ambassadors, then played some soccer, and Frisbee. It was a lot of fun and these types of activities are the easiest way for me to get to know the students. I struggle with the small talk that takes place at awkward lunches when three students get stuck sitting with one of the delegation leaders, but it is easier when playing cards (the normal way I get to know students on these trips) or sports.
After your service project, refuel your energy with dinner at the service project.
Some of the community members spent a few hours preparing for our dinner by barbequing sausage, preparing salads featuring herbs and produce from the on-site gardens, and more fresh fruit. They also lit a large bonfire and some of the students baked something they were calling “stick bread” in the fire. As the name suggests, they stuck dough on a stick and held it over the fire. After it was cooked through, some type of fruit jam was placed in the bread – I had banana – to enjoy as a dessert.
There was time for more sport playing and talking before we left the community around 7:30. One of our students – a Montgomery High School Band member as a matter of fact – took it upon himself to write a thank you postcard in German and present it along with a pencil to our hosts. As I sat on the bus, all of the people still there stood to wave goodbye to us including a young boy so I ran out and gave him a New Jersey pin I had and then another delegation leader joined me and gave him a New York quarter. As we got back on the bus I could see his mother explaining the items to him as she posed likeh the Statue of Liberty to help him understand.
In the evening, get on your bus and return to your hotel.
Stay overnight at the Park Hotel Blub in Berlin.
Two of the delegation leaders are spending the evening with a cousin that lives in Berlin so that leaves two of us at the hotel. I’m on duty from 8:30-9:45 and the other will cover fro 9:45-11:00. That’s when the two of us will have to check all the rooms, but after that I have two vouchers for free beers in the hotel courtesy of our delegation manager. That is certainly something to look forward to.
Tomorrow we leave Berlin for a short stop in Dresden and then country number #2 – Czech Republic.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
People to People Update #1
Dear Parents,
Hello from Berlin , Germany
We are in the waning hours of our second full day in Germany
Today we visited Frederick the Great's palace in Potsdam and the Checkpoint Charlie museum in Berlin East Germany
Tomorrow we will be taking a guided tour of Berlin
Some important reminders:
1) Please do not reply to this e-mail. I will not be checking e-mail regularly so do not use this e-mail to send information that needs to get to your sons and daughters – you can contact them directly at the hotels if necessary.
2) Please be aware of the time differences before calling your sons and daughters at the hotel. Currently, we are six hours ahead of you, but that will change as we change time zones along the way. We recommend calling between 11:15-11:45pm when we can guarantee that all students will be in their rooms.
3) Please do not call your son or daughter every day. We have a few students sharing information with us that suggests they are spending an inordinate amount of time talking on the phone with people at home. This has kept them from spending their free time with other ambassadors, making new friends, and experiencing the local culture. We are enforcing strict limi ts on the use of cell phones for calling/texting. Students are only allowed to do this during their free time before or after the scheduled activities of the day. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation with this.
Thanks for reading! I will try to send another update in a few days.
Mr. Mingle
Day Three: Berlin, Germany
Day Three
Berlin, Germany
We had a decent first morning wake-up call of 7:00 and a great German breakfast: fresh, crispy rolls with an assortment of meats and cheeses, fruit, croissant, bacon, and coffee.
Continue your journey to Potsdam.
The drive to Potsdam took about an hour. It has become clear very quickly that traffic is a major problem in Berlin no matter where we go.
We visited Potsdam for its role as the summer home of the Prussian king Frederick II, but the city was also important in the summer of 1945 when the leaders of the United States, Soviet Union, and United Kingdom met to discuss their plans for post-war Germany. This conference, along with one at Yalta, led to the eventual division of Germany itself and the city of Berlin specifically into various sectors controlled by those three Allied powers and France.
Today visit the famous Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, which means “without worries.” The palace was the royal residence during summer for Frederick the Great! It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1990.
The palace and requisite gardens were nice, but I have to be a little jaded here. There was clearly influence from the palace at Versailles, but this palace was really a poor man’s Versailles. I imagine it was beautiful when it was first opened, but it has not been kept up the way Versailles has. There were great gardens with many sculptures, fountains, and interesting buildings designed based on Frederick’s interest in unique parts of the world according to 18th century Germany – Africa and Asia notably. Yet, the foundation of the palace was cracking in obvious places, the edifice clearly needed a good power washing, and the furnishings inside were sparse. It was a nice visit, but it needs some sprucing up to be on par with similar palaces in France and Britain.
Lunch will be served at the Potsdamer Weinkontor.
I already forgot to take photos of a couple meals so I am not going to commit to continuing throughout this journey. I will report that I had pasta with ground pork (I think) and a nice cake-type dessert topped with walnuts.
Potsdam has more to offer apart from Sanssouci. Stroll down the streets and cross the Old Market Square with the Nikolai Church. See Potsdam’s Brandenburg Gate, built in the baroque style and explore the “Dutch Quarter.”
We spent some free time exploring these areas prior to lunch. There were some nice little shops and even nicer looking cafes, bars, and food vendors. The entire market area was closed to traffic, which made for a nice area to stroll.
It’s time to return to Berlin.
I have taken to donning my sunglasses for a few minutes of sleep during the long bus rides (even when they are only a few miles they are long).
Visit the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, learn about the history of the former German Wall and how it influenced the people’s lives in Germany.
I was really interested in the contents of this museum, but it was not originally designed to handle the type of tourist traffic it now sees. It was set up as early as 1962 immediately after the building of the wall to chronicle the effect it was having on the people of Germany. It was built in a home just on the American side of Checkpoint Charlie. Today it is a major tourist destination with information about pre- and post-wall Berlin, the Cold War in Germany and elsewhere, artifacts from both successful and unsuccessful escape attempts, and a ton of other memorabilia.
Now the unfortunate part. The house was not air conditioned and was so overcrowded that it was incredibly uncomfortable. We had about thirty minutes to walk through the museum before meeting our local survivor. In that time I found a book that contained the names of approximately 43,000 people who were imprisoned in a Soviet political prisoner system upon occupation from 1945-1950. In that book, I located the name Adam Mingel. My great-grandfather’s name was Adam and I don’t really know much about his story so I filled out some paperwork for the German Red Cross in case this is a family relation. According to the information in the book, this Adam Mingel was born in 1901 and died at Buchewald in 1948. The Soviets utilized the abandoned concentration camps as their political prisons during occupation. About 1 out of every 3 prisoners died in captivity, most from sickness and disease.
Now have the chance to listen to one of the victims of the GDR regime, learn about his experience with the wall and how people suffered under the former political system.
Our speaker was filling in for the usual speaker. It was difficult to follow his guided visit in the Checkpoint Charlie museum due to the aforementioned hot, crowded conditions, but our students did a great job attempting to stay engaged. The tour concluded in a lecture room where he told us a bit more about his story and answered a few questions. It will be hard to summarize without unfairly minimizing the story he hold, but I will do my best. More information can be found on his website at http://alex.latotzky.de.
Alexander Latotzky was born in 1949 to a mother imprisoned by the Soviets. Her imprisonment came after she walked into her home to find her mother (Alex’s grandmother) raped and murdered in her home. Drunk, sleeping Soviet soldiers were still in the home, obviously guilty of the crimes. Since the war had been over, she reported the crime to the police. A brief inquiry into the allegations resulted in her being found guilty of spying on behalf of the United States against the Soviet occupiers. She was sentenced to fifteen years in prison.
While in prisoner, she struck up a love affair with one of her Soviet guards. This led to the birth of Alex. Children born in these prisons were not recognized and were not even given rations nevermind health care, diapers, or toys. Instead, mothers had to share their already limited food with their children. Eventually the conditions were improved some and children received partial rations.
I don’t remember why, but at some point children were taken out of the camps and sent to government-run orphanages. To avoid having Alex adopted by a family, his mother signed a contract to work for the Soviet government as a spy once her time in prison was over. She was paroled after ten years and sent to West Germany to spy on the United States’ interests there. Her son was kept in the orphanage to ensure her loyalty to the Soviet cause. Once she convinced the Soviets with her reports, Alex was sent to meet her in the middle of the night at a train station in Berlin. He described the moment as full of emotion for his mother, but devoid of feeling for him as he met a stranger at the age of 9.
His mother turned out to be lying to the Soviets having made up all the reports she sent back. Ten years later, she died of unrelated causes leaving Alex alone again at the age of 19. He built a life, married, and had children of his own. Life many war veterans in the United States, Alex kept his story from his family as long as he could. In 1999, his Russian father finally found him. Alex’s mother had been told that his father was executed for fathering a child with a prisoner, but that turned out to be a lie. Alex has met with his father a few times since then and researched and wrote a book about the 90 or so orphan children with stories similar to this amazing one he shared with us today.
Depart to the Hard Rock Café, Berlin.
We had some more free time in the area of the museum and two of the other leaders and I found a place to sit down and enjoy our first German beer. It was nice to relax for a few minutes.
On the way to the Hard Rock Café, we walked near an old church (Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church) in Berlin that was damaged badly during World War II and left generally in disrepair since then. Next to it, an ultra-modern church that looks nothing like the old ones sits in contrast.
Enjoy your dinner at the Hard Rock Café in Berlin! Guten Appetit!
Use a little free time for shopping at the Hard Rock Café, Berlin: find the perfect souvenir for yourself or friends and family at home.
There is nothing exciting to report about the Hard Rock; if you’ve been to one, you know the story. I enjoyed my cheeseburger, fries, and ice cream.
Day three went well. The weather has been beautiful since we arrived – cool in the early morning and late evening and clear and warm during the day. Sunrise is sometime before 6am with sunset not until about 9:30pm making for really nice, long days.
Stay overnight at the Park Hotel Blub in Berlin.
Berlin, Germany
We had a decent first morning wake-up call of 7:00 and a great German breakfast: fresh, crispy rolls with an assortment of meats and cheeses, fruit, croissant, bacon, and coffee.
Continue your journey to Potsdam.
The drive to Potsdam took about an hour. It has become clear very quickly that traffic is a major problem in Berlin no matter where we go.
We visited Potsdam for its role as the summer home of the Prussian king Frederick II, but the city was also important in the summer of 1945 when the leaders of the United States, Soviet Union, and United Kingdom met to discuss their plans for post-war Germany. This conference, along with one at Yalta, led to the eventual division of Germany itself and the city of Berlin specifically into various sectors controlled by those three Allied powers and France.
Today visit the famous Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, which means “without worries.” The palace was the royal residence during summer for Frederick the Great! It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1990.
The palace and requisite gardens were nice, but I have to be a little jaded here. There was clearly influence from the palace at Versailles, but this palace was really a poor man’s Versailles. I imagine it was beautiful when it was first opened, but it has not been kept up the way Versailles has. There were great gardens with many sculptures, fountains, and interesting buildings designed based on Frederick’s interest in unique parts of the world according to 18th century Germany – Africa and Asia notably. Yet, the foundation of the palace was cracking in obvious places, the edifice clearly needed a good power washing, and the furnishings inside were sparse. It was a nice visit, but it needs some sprucing up to be on par with similar palaces in France and Britain.
Lunch will be served at the Potsdamer Weinkontor.
I already forgot to take photos of a couple meals so I am not going to commit to continuing throughout this journey. I will report that I had pasta with ground pork (I think) and a nice cake-type dessert topped with walnuts.
Potsdam has more to offer apart from Sanssouci. Stroll down the streets and cross the Old Market Square with the Nikolai Church. See Potsdam’s Brandenburg Gate, built in the baroque style and explore the “Dutch Quarter.”
We spent some free time exploring these areas prior to lunch. There were some nice little shops and even nicer looking cafes, bars, and food vendors. The entire market area was closed to traffic, which made for a nice area to stroll.
It’s time to return to Berlin.
I have taken to donning my sunglasses for a few minutes of sleep during the long bus rides (even when they are only a few miles they are long).
Visit the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, learn about the history of the former German Wall and how it influenced the people’s lives in Germany.
I was really interested in the contents of this museum, but it was not originally designed to handle the type of tourist traffic it now sees. It was set up as early as 1962 immediately after the building of the wall to chronicle the effect it was having on the people of Germany. It was built in a home just on the American side of Checkpoint Charlie. Today it is a major tourist destination with information about pre- and post-wall Berlin, the Cold War in Germany and elsewhere, artifacts from both successful and unsuccessful escape attempts, and a ton of other memorabilia.
Now the unfortunate part. The house was not air conditioned and was so overcrowded that it was incredibly uncomfortable. We had about thirty minutes to walk through the museum before meeting our local survivor. In that time I found a book that contained the names of approximately 43,000 people who were imprisoned in a Soviet political prisoner system upon occupation from 1945-1950. In that book, I located the name Adam Mingel. My great-grandfather’s name was Adam and I don’t really know much about his story so I filled out some paperwork for the German Red Cross in case this is a family relation. According to the information in the book, this Adam Mingel was born in 1901 and died at Buchewald in 1948. The Soviets utilized the abandoned concentration camps as their political prisons during occupation. About 1 out of every 3 prisoners died in captivity, most from sickness and disease.
Now have the chance to listen to one of the victims of the GDR regime, learn about his experience with the wall and how people suffered under the former political system.
Our speaker was filling in for the usual speaker. It was difficult to follow his guided visit in the Checkpoint Charlie museum due to the aforementioned hot, crowded conditions, but our students did a great job attempting to stay engaged. The tour concluded in a lecture room where he told us a bit more about his story and answered a few questions. It will be hard to summarize without unfairly minimizing the story he hold, but I will do my best. More information can be found on his website at http://alex.latotzky.de.
Alexander Latotzky was born in 1949 to a mother imprisoned by the Soviets. Her imprisonment came after she walked into her home to find her mother (Alex’s grandmother) raped and murdered in her home. Drunk, sleeping Soviet soldiers were still in the home, obviously guilty of the crimes. Since the war had been over, she reported the crime to the police. A brief inquiry into the allegations resulted in her being found guilty of spying on behalf of the United States against the Soviet occupiers. She was sentenced to fifteen years in prison.
While in prisoner, she struck up a love affair with one of her Soviet guards. This led to the birth of Alex. Children born in these prisons were not recognized and were not even given rations nevermind health care, diapers, or toys. Instead, mothers had to share their already limited food with their children. Eventually the conditions were improved some and children received partial rations.
I don’t remember why, but at some point children were taken out of the camps and sent to government-run orphanages. To avoid having Alex adopted by a family, his mother signed a contract to work for the Soviet government as a spy once her time in prison was over. She was paroled after ten years and sent to West Germany to spy on the United States’ interests there. Her son was kept in the orphanage to ensure her loyalty to the Soviet cause. Once she convinced the Soviets with her reports, Alex was sent to meet her in the middle of the night at a train station in Berlin. He described the moment as full of emotion for his mother, but devoid of feeling for him as he met a stranger at the age of 9.
His mother turned out to be lying to the Soviets having made up all the reports she sent back. Ten years later, she died of unrelated causes leaving Alex alone again at the age of 19. He built a life, married, and had children of his own. Life many war veterans in the United States, Alex kept his story from his family as long as he could. In 1999, his Russian father finally found him. Alex’s mother had been told that his father was executed for fathering a child with a prisoner, but that turned out to be a lie. Alex has met with his father a few times since then and researched and wrote a book about the 90 or so orphan children with stories similar to this amazing one he shared with us today.
Depart to the Hard Rock Café, Berlin.
We had some more free time in the area of the museum and two of the other leaders and I found a place to sit down and enjoy our first German beer. It was nice to relax for a few minutes.
On the way to the Hard Rock Café, we walked near an old church (Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church) in Berlin that was damaged badly during World War II and left generally in disrepair since then. Next to it, an ultra-modern church that looks nothing like the old ones sits in contrast.
Enjoy your dinner at the Hard Rock Café in Berlin! Guten Appetit!
Use a little free time for shopping at the Hard Rock Café, Berlin: find the perfect souvenir for yourself or friends and family at home.
There is nothing exciting to report about the Hard Rock; if you’ve been to one, you know the story. I enjoyed my cheeseburger, fries, and ice cream.
Day three went well. The weather has been beautiful since we arrived – cool in the early morning and late evening and clear and warm during the day. Sunrise is sometime before 6am with sunset not until about 9:30pm making for really nice, long days.
Stay overnight at the Park Hotel Blub in Berlin.
Days One and Two: Newark, NJ, USA - Berlin, Germany
We just checked into our first hotel – the Park Hotel Blub – on this People to People 2009 program: Imperial Capitals of Europe.
This long day began about 28 hours ago when Ali dropped me off at Franklin Park School to get on the bus for the trip to the airport. Things went fairly smoothly all the way through to this point with just the usual first day hassles to work through.
I was able to get an aisle seat on both the flight from Newark to Düsseldorf, Germany and from Düsseldorf to Berlin, but I was not able to sleep much at all. Lufthansa did provide us with individual entertainment units so I watched a few movies and sat with my eyes closed for awhile. There was a relatively brief period of the kind of turbulence that eventually causes the captain to tell the flight attendants to take their seats, but the flights were not too bad.
Welcome to Europe! Upon arrival at the airport your Delegation Manager and bus driver will greet you!
Customs was nothing in Germany. We didn’t have to fill out any forms or answer any questions. We just walked through security.
Before you continue with today’s activities, relax and enjoy your lunch at the Restaurant AV Insulaner.
Our first stop was lunch, but since we were running a couple hours ahead of schedule, we gave the students some free time to walk along a river. It was a nice, relaxed way to start out.
Lunch was in a small fishing club and was really good for our first meal of the trip. I sampled a little bit of everything from the buffet: goulash, stuffed peppers, pasta with broccoli, potato soup, salad, rice, vanilla pudding.
Hop on your bus and head towards the Glockenturm. Visit the bell tower close to the Olympic Stadium. You can go up and enjoy the wonderful view of Berlin. Learn about the history of the Olympic Stadium in Berlin by watching an educational movie.
After lunch, we were onto our only actual itinerary item for Days 1 and 2, the bell tower near the Olympic Stadium used when Berlin hosted the 1936 Olympics. Those were the Games when Jesse Owens medaled for the United States despite the rapidly increasing racism in Germany and the build up to World War II. We watched two short videos about the stadium’s history before during and after the war and how Hitler used it for his infamous rallies and military reviews. An elevator ride to the top of the bell tower provided great views of the sports complex, stadium, and surrounding area.
Quite noticeable was a large nuclear power plant right on the edge of the city. Unlike in the United States where local residents avoid nuclear power plants at all costs, European countries use nuclear power as much as possible.
We were ahead of schedule again after the stadium tour so Ana, our delegation manager, took us to a few unscheduled locations: a Holocaust memorial and museum island. The memorial museum was not open today, but we were able to walk through the large monument area. It consisted of large blocks of varying sized stones with hilly walkways meant to represent the obstacles German Jews faced in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The museum island walk was through an area where art, natural history, and other museums coexist. It was a nice walk even though we could not get into any of the museums.
This evening enjoy your dinner at the Restaurant Il Passetto.
Finally, we stopped for dinner at an Italian restaurant: tomato soup, lasagna, and ice cream. The tomato soup was better than usual, which is quite a compliment since I’m not a big fan of tomato soup, but the lasagna was not what I was expecting. It was okay, just not wonderful. The ice cream was excellent though.
Stay overnight at the Park Hotel Blub in Berlin.
Once we checked into the Park Hotel Blub, we had our annual first night rules meeting to review the first day and talk about where we need to give some attention. There aren’t too many major issues to deal with, but we like to jump on anything that comes up right away to cut the chances of problems developing.
Technically two days are down now with 17 more to go!
This long day began about 28 hours ago when Ali dropped me off at Franklin Park School to get on the bus for the trip to the airport. Things went fairly smoothly all the way through to this point with just the usual first day hassles to work through.
I was able to get an aisle seat on both the flight from Newark to Düsseldorf, Germany and from Düsseldorf to Berlin, but I was not able to sleep much at all. Lufthansa did provide us with individual entertainment units so I watched a few movies and sat with my eyes closed for awhile. There was a relatively brief period of the kind of turbulence that eventually causes the captain to tell the flight attendants to take their seats, but the flights were not too bad.
Welcome to Europe! Upon arrival at the airport your Delegation Manager and bus driver will greet you!
Customs was nothing in Germany. We didn’t have to fill out any forms or answer any questions. We just walked through security.
Before you continue with today’s activities, relax and enjoy your lunch at the Restaurant AV Insulaner.
Our first stop was lunch, but since we were running a couple hours ahead of schedule, we gave the students some free time to walk along a river. It was a nice, relaxed way to start out.
Lunch was in a small fishing club and was really good for our first meal of the trip. I sampled a little bit of everything from the buffet: goulash, stuffed peppers, pasta with broccoli, potato soup, salad, rice, vanilla pudding.
Hop on your bus and head towards the Glockenturm. Visit the bell tower close to the Olympic Stadium. You can go up and enjoy the wonderful view of Berlin. Learn about the history of the Olympic Stadium in Berlin by watching an educational movie.
After lunch, we were onto our only actual itinerary item for Days 1 and 2, the bell tower near the Olympic Stadium used when Berlin hosted the 1936 Olympics. Those were the Games when Jesse Owens medaled for the United States despite the rapidly increasing racism in Germany and the build up to World War II. We watched two short videos about the stadium’s history before during and after the war and how Hitler used it for his infamous rallies and military reviews. An elevator ride to the top of the bell tower provided great views of the sports complex, stadium, and surrounding area.
Quite noticeable was a large nuclear power plant right on the edge of the city. Unlike in the United States where local residents avoid nuclear power plants at all costs, European countries use nuclear power as much as possible.
We were ahead of schedule again after the stadium tour so Ana, our delegation manager, took us to a few unscheduled locations: a Holocaust memorial and museum island. The memorial museum was not open today, but we were able to walk through the large monument area. It consisted of large blocks of varying sized stones with hilly walkways meant to represent the obstacles German Jews faced in the late 1930s and early 1940s. The museum island walk was through an area where art, natural history, and other museums coexist. It was a nice walk even though we could not get into any of the museums.
This evening enjoy your dinner at the Restaurant Il Passetto.
Finally, we stopped for dinner at an Italian restaurant: tomato soup, lasagna, and ice cream. The tomato soup was better than usual, which is quite a compliment since I’m not a big fan of tomato soup, but the lasagna was not what I was expecting. It was okay, just not wonderful. The ice cream was excellent though.
Stay overnight at the Park Hotel Blub in Berlin.
Once we checked into the Park Hotel Blub, we had our annual first night rules meeting to review the first day and talk about where we need to give some attention. There aren’t too many major issues to deal with, but we like to jump on anything that comes up right away to cut the chances of problems developing.
Technically two days are down now with 17 more to go!
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Itinerary Overview
2009 SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES
GRH: IMPERIAL CAPITALS OF EUROPE
JULY 12 - JULY 31, 2009
SUNDAY, JULY 12
Depart for Berlin
-Meet your delegation and board your international overnight flight to Europe.
MONDAY, JULY 13
Berlin, Germany
-Welcome to Europe! After arrival at the airport your Delegation Manager and coach
driver will greet you!
-Visit the bell tower close to the Olympic Stadium. You can go up and enjoy the
wonderful view of Berlin. Learn about the history of the Olympic Stadium in Berlin by
watching an educational movie.
TUESDAY, JULY 14
Berlin, Germany
-Today visit the famous Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam, which means "without worries".
The palace was the royal residence during summer for Frederick the Great! It was
declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1990.
-Potsdam has more to offer apart from Sanssouci. Stroll down the streets and cross the
Old Market Square with the Nikolai Church. See Potsdam's Brandenburg Gate, built in
the baroque style and explore the "Dutch Quarter".
-Now have the chance to listen to one of the victims of the GDR regime, learn about his
experience with the wall and how people suffered under the former political system.
-Visit the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, learn about the history of the former German
Wall and how it influenced the people's lives in Germany.
-Use a little free time for shopping at the Hard Rock Cafe, Berlin: find that perfect
souvenir for yourself or friends and family at home.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 15
Berlin, Germany
-Enjoy a guided orientation through the capital of Germany! Pass by the Victory Column,
the Brandenburg Gate and the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. In 1990 the
reunification of both Germanys took place but visual differences are still noticeable.
-Take part in a service project in Berlin where you will help build a playground for local
children.
THURSDAY, JULY 16
Prague, Czechia
-Enjoy a Delegation Manager guided walk through city of Dresden, the capital of the
German state Saxony. One of its most famous buildings is the "Frauenkirche" (Church
of our Lady). Destroyed in WWII it was finally rebuilt and inaugurated in 2005!
FRIDAY, JULY 17
Prague, Czechia
-This morning learn a few words in Czech and practice the pronunciation. Maybe you
will remember some of the phrases, like "Good morning" and "Thank you"!
-Discover the old and the new town of Prague and get an impression of this fascinating
city: stroll along Wenceslaw Square, marvel at the Astronomical Clock on the Old Town
Square and cross the famous Charles Bridge.
-Continue with your guided orientation: Some of the many names that try to explain the
uniqueness of the city are: "City of Hundred towers" or "Heart of Europe". Set your
focus on the hill, where the Prague Castle is situated - the "Hradschin".
SATURDAY, JULY 18
Krakow, Poland
-Take a break in Olomouc, a historic city in the Czech region Moravia. Enjoy a short
walk through the historic city center. Your Delegation Manager will point out the most
important sights!
SUNDAY, JULY 19
Krakow, Poland
-Dzień dobry! Good Morning! Get ready to learn a few words in Polish.
-It's time for some classical music! Enjoy a wonderful concert in Krakow.
-Enjoy a Delegation Manager guided walk through the Jewish history of the Kazimierz.
-Join a guided visit of Wawel Castle - a Royal residence from 1038-1596. See the
cathedral where most of the Polish kings were crowned and entombed including the
famous "Sigismund's Chapel".
-Discover Krakow, the cultural capital of Poland! See the world's oldest "shopping mall,"
the Cloth Hall that has been in business for 700 years and see the famous St. Mary's
Church.
MONDAY, JULY 20
Warsaw, Poland
-Experience the darker side of European history and get an impression of the suffering
of more than a hundred thousand people. Auschwitz is a symbol of inhumanity,
intolerance and the terrible consequences of racism.
TUESDAY, JULY 21
Warsaw, Poland
-Take part in a guided exploration of Warsaw, the Polish capital. It is the biggest city in
Poland and its Old Town is also part of the UNESCO World Heritage. Different
architectural styles like baroque, gothic or classicism shape the townscape.
-Visit the Royal Castle in Warsaw, which was entirely destroyed in WWII and afterwards
completely reconstructed.
-You will meet and take part in a discussion with a survivor (Jerezy Kowalewski) of a
concentration camp (Auschwitz). This is a unique opportunity and a true honor for
Student Ambassadors!
-Soak up the atmosphere at Lazienki park while walking around with your Delegation
Manager: Have a look at the "Palace on the Water", built on an artificial island in the
middle of Lazienki Lake. Afterwards enjoy some free time in these wonderful gardens.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 22
Vilnius, Lithuania
-Say goodbye to Poland and get underway to The Baltic States. In the evening arrive in
Vilnius, the capital of the first Baltic State, Lithuania.
THURSDAY, JULY 23
Vilnius, Lithuania
-Join a guided orientation in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. See the Gediminas tower,
the only part remaining of the Upper Castle and enjoy the magnificent view over Vilnius!
-Today you will have the possibility to talk to a priest about his life in a monastery.
Father Igor will speak to you and also answer your questions.
-Join in a visit to an amber museum. Watch this golden-brown precious stone be turned
into jewels.
FRIDAY, JULY 24
Riga, Latvia
-Siauliai is very well-known for the "Hill of Crosses". You have the chance to get an
impression of this hill, one of Lithuania's most holy shrines. Since the 14th century
pilgrims started placing crosses of every kind here.
SATURDAY, JULY 25
Riga, Latvia
-Today experience Riga, the capital of Latvia. Pass by the Latvian National Theater, the
Freedom Monument and the Powder Tower to name just a few sights. You will also visit
the Doma Cathedral, the largest medieval church in the Baltic states.
-One of the most famous buildings in Riga is the Riga Castle. So enjoy a guided visit
through this old building.
-Have some fun with bowling at the bowling center in Riga. Latvian students will join
you!
SUNDAY, JULY 26
Tallinn, Estonia
-Enjoy a short walk with your delegation manager through Parnu and, if time allows,
relax at the beach.
MONDAY, JULY 27
Tallinn, Estonia
-Discover Tallinn by way of a Riddle Rally. Divided into groups you will see the most
famous sights of Tallinn.
-Take it easy and enjoy some free time at the beach. See whether you are brave
enough to swim in the Gulf of Finland, which is not as warm as the Mediterranean Sea!
TUESDAY, JULY 28
St. Petersburg, Russia
-Today travel to the largest country in the world: Russia! On the way to St. Petersburg
enjoy the wonderful landscape along the coast of the Baltic Sea.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 29
St. Petersburg, Russia
-Explore St. Petersburg, this wonderful Russian city, situated on the Newa river! The
town is full of architecture from the different centuries and offers many impressive
sights to see. It is told that St. Petersburg has even more bridges than Venice!
-Situated on "Rabbit Island" is the Peter and Paul Fortress. Take part in a guided visit of
the cathedral that was finished 21 years of construction. Daily at noon, a gunshot can
be heard everywhere in the city center.
-Join a guided visit of the biggest museum in Russia - the Hermitage! To see the whole
building would take months! Your guide will show you the most important parts like the
Winter Palace.
-Explore the beautiful city of St. Petersburg as you cruise along the scenic river Neva
and its many canals.
THURSDAY, JULY 30
St. Petersburg, Russia
-Visit the park in Peterhof, the former royal summer residence of the tsars. Situated on
the Finnish gulf it is said to be the most beautiful in Russia. The park contains the "Big
Cascade" known as one of the largest fountain systems worldwide.
-After arrival at the Datcha you will be officially welcomed by a community
representative!
-Today you will have a very special home dinner! Experience Russian home life while
having dinner with local families!
FRIDAY, JULY 31
Depart from St. Petersburg for the United States
-Say goodbye to Europe! Have a nice flight back home!
General Information for P2P Trip
Flights:
July 12
Lufthansa #409 EWR-DUS (Dusseldorf - Nordrhein-Westfalen) 4:30pm-6:05am (Flight time = 7:35)
July 13
Lufthansa #248 DUS-TXL (Berlin - Tegel) 8:10am-9:10am (Flight time = 1:00)
July 31
Lufthansa #3221 LED (St. Petersburg - Pulkovo-2 Int'l)-FRA (Frankfurt/Main International) 6:00am-6:50am (Flight time = 2:50)
Lufthansa #402 (FRA-EWR) 1:15pm-3:40pm (Flight time = 8:25)
Hotels:
July 13-15
Park Hotel Blub
Buschkrugallee 60-62
Berlin, 12359
Germany
Phone: 011 49 30 600 03 600
July 16-17
Clarion Congress Hotel
Namesti OSN
Prague, 190 00
Czech Republic
Phone: 011 420 296 744 281
July 18-19
System Premium
al. 29 Listopada 189
Krakow, 31-241
Poland
Phone: 011 48 12 614 48 00
July 20-21
Novotel Airport Warszawa
ul. 1 Sierpnia 1
Warsaw, 02-134
Poland
Phone: 011 48 22 575 60 00
July 22-23
Martialis Hotel
Bistrycios g. 13
Vilnius, 10321
Lithuania
Phone: 011 370 5 2104800
July 24-25
Radisson SAS Daugava
24 Kugu Street
Riga, 1048
Latvia
Phone: 011 371 6706 1111
July 26-27
Meriton Conference and Spa Hotel
Paldiski mnt 8
Tallinn,
Estonia
Phone: 011 372 66 77 166
July 28-30
Karelia
M. Tukhachevskogo st. 27/2
St. Petersburg, 195067
Russia
Phone: 011 7 812 718 40 48
Phone numbers are direct-dial numbers from the United States. A 1 before the number is not needed!
In case of emergency, call office at 1-800-669-7882.
July 12
Lufthansa #409 EWR-DUS (Dusseldorf - Nordrhein-Westfalen) 4:30pm-6:05am (Flight time = 7:35)
July 13
Lufthansa #248 DUS-TXL (Berlin - Tegel) 8:10am-9:10am (Flight time = 1:00)
July 31
Lufthansa #3221 LED (St. Petersburg - Pulkovo-2 Int'l)-FRA (Frankfurt/Main International) 6:00am-6:50am (Flight time = 2:50)
Lufthansa #402 (FRA-EWR) 1:15pm-3:40pm (Flight time = 8:25)
Hotels:
July 13-15
Park Hotel Blub
Buschkrugallee 60-62
Berlin, 12359
Germany
Phone: 011 49 30 600 03 600
July 16-17
Clarion Congress Hotel
Namesti OSN
Prague, 190 00
Czech Republic
Phone: 011 420 296 744 281
July 18-19
System Premium
al. 29 Listopada 189
Krakow, 31-241
Poland
Phone: 011 48 12 614 48 00
July 20-21
Novotel Airport Warszawa
ul. 1 Sierpnia 1
Warsaw, 02-134
Poland
Phone: 011 48 22 575 60 00
July 22-23
Martialis Hotel
Bistrycios g. 13
Vilnius, 10321
Lithuania
Phone: 011 370 5 2104800
July 24-25
Radisson SAS Daugava
24 Kugu Street
Riga, 1048
Latvia
Phone: 011 371 6706 1111
July 26-27
Meriton Conference and Spa Hotel
Paldiski mnt 8
Tallinn,
Estonia
Phone: 011 372 66 77 166
July 28-30
Karelia
M. Tukhachevskogo st. 27/2
St. Petersburg, 195067
Russia
Phone: 011 7 812 718 40 48
Phone numbers are direct-dial numbers from the United States. A 1 before the number is not needed!
In case of emergency, call office at 1-800-669-7882.
Bachelor Party
Yesterday was part one of my two part bachelor party. Steve, Dave, and I drove down to AC just in time to check into the hotel, get Showboat cards, and buy into the 2pm No-Limit Texas Hold-Em tournament. Kawika (one of the Montgomery band directors) met us there to play. A total of 30 people played in the tournament with a $65 buy-in, the cheapest in AC.
Steve, Dave, and Kawika were all out of the tournament before the first break at 3:30pm, but I was not. 90 minutes later, I was still in and by the time we got to the third break at 6:30pm, I was one of only 8 people left. I had a couple of really great hands throughout the tournament at key moments and made very few mistakes. Steve and Dave wound up huddling behind me so they could see my cards when I checked them and then root me through the tournament. At around 7:10pm, we were down to the final two people. I had never made it to the money in a tournament before - only the top 5 got paid. The other guy and I agreed to split the pot instead of playing out the sometime time consuming process of heads-up play. We both walked away with $525 in winnings!
We thought we were going to be late for the Reel Big Fish concert because our tickets said 7pm, but it turned out that was the time doors opened so we had enough time to head to the House of Blues restaurant for a beer and dinner before checking out The English Beat and Reel Big Fish. RBF is one of the only bands that I really love so it was great to see them in concert for the fourth time. We had a lot of fun despite the very smelly teenagers running around in circles.
After the concert we walked around the Showboat a little more, but none of us were really in the mood for more gambling so we took a pretty long walk along the boardwalk before getting back to the hotel and crashing.
All in all, it was a great way to spend the day! Thanks Dave, Steve, and Kawika for making it!
Steve, Dave, and Kawika were all out of the tournament before the first break at 3:30pm, but I was not. 90 minutes later, I was still in and by the time we got to the third break at 6:30pm, I was one of only 8 people left. I had a couple of really great hands throughout the tournament at key moments and made very few mistakes. Steve and Dave wound up huddling behind me so they could see my cards when I checked them and then root me through the tournament. At around 7:10pm, we were down to the final two people. I had never made it to the money in a tournament before - only the top 5 got paid. The other guy and I agreed to split the pot instead of playing out the sometime time consuming process of heads-up play. We both walked away with $525 in winnings!
We thought we were going to be late for the Reel Big Fish concert because our tickets said 7pm, but it turned out that was the time doors opened so we had enough time to head to the House of Blues restaurant for a beer and dinner before checking out The English Beat and Reel Big Fish. RBF is one of the only bands that I really love so it was great to see them in concert for the fourth time. We had a lot of fun despite the very smelly teenagers running around in circles.
After the concert we walked around the Showboat a little more, but none of us were really in the mood for more gambling so we took a pretty long walk along the boardwalk before getting back to the hotel and crashing.
All in all, it was a great way to spend the day! Thanks Dave, Steve, and Kawika for making it!
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Millburn Update
Surprisingly, Millburn called back today. They created another option for me to be interviewed for the Social Studies supervisor position, but I am still on my trip then. I provided the secretary with my travel dates and she told me she'd call me back if they could bring me into the process then, but I find that highly unlikely. I'm surprised they even went this far for me. They might have been willing to let me bypass the first round of the process and join the remaining applicants in round two. I doubt they'll let me skip three weeks of the process though.
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Ugh - timing
New this would happen...
I just received a call from Millburn to come in for an interview for a Social Studies Supervisor position on July 14 or July 16. Those options are two or four days after leaving for Europe. Millburn is in a good location relative to Jersey City and is an excellent district.
Oh well. Things will work out when they are supposed to.
I just received a call from Millburn to come in for an interview for a Social Studies Supervisor position on July 14 or July 16. Those options are two or four days after leaving for Europe. Millburn is in a good location relative to Jersey City and is an excellent district.
Oh well. Things will work out when they are supposed to.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Another job opening
Sending in my info for an Assistant Principal position at Bridgewater-Raritan Regional High School. I previously worked with the marching band there and the current assistant superintendent was my first supervisor who gave me my first job at Ridge.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Sunday, June 21, 2009
No Westfield Update
No word from Westfield - tomorrow will be a full week since the interview. I don't take that as a good sign.
Some more resumes went out today, but it's a little late to work out now with my P2P trip coming up and then a wedding/honeymoon so we'll see.
Most recently sent:
1) Supervisor of Social Studies K-12, Millburn
2) Supervisor of Science, Social Studies, and Music, Clark
3) Assistant Principal / Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction, Wood-Ridge High School
Some more resumes went out today, but it's a little late to work out now with my P2P trip coming up and then a wedding/honeymoon so we'll see.
Most recently sent:
1) Supervisor of Social Studies K-12, Millburn
2) Supervisor of Science, Social Studies, and Music, Clark
3) Assistant Principal / Supervisor of Curriculum and Instruction, Wood-Ridge High School
Schedule - 6/22-6/28
Monday, June 22 - School (7:30-2:30)
Tuesday, June 23 - Curriculum Writing (9:00-3:00)
Wednesday, June 24 - Curriculum Writing (9:00-3:00)
Thursday, June 25 -
Friday, June 26 - Ali's friend's wedding in Connecticut
Saturday, June 27 - P2P Bon Voyage Party (1:00)
Sunday, June 28 -
Tuesday, June 23 - Curriculum Writing (9:00-3:00)
Wednesday, June 24 - Curriculum Writing (9:00-3:00)
Thursday, June 25 -
Friday, June 26 - Ali's friend's wedding in Connecticut
Saturday, June 27 - P2P Bon Voyage Party (1:00)
Sunday, June 28 -
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Westfield
I interviewed for the Social Studies Supervisor, K-12 position in Westfield on Monday. I think it went pretty well, but I am still awaiting a call to let me know if I will be moving on to the next step.
This is the perfect opportunity for this time in my life for a few reasons. 1) It is in a great district that is similar to Ridge and Montgomery, 2) It is located near Ali's job in Jersey City, 3) It starts on August 24 instead of July 1 like most administration jobs so it would not conflict with my People to People trip or my honeymoon.
The interview was pretty quick - only about 15 minutes - but I think I was on target for most of their questions. I wasn't stumped by anything they brought up and handled the pressure well considering the size of the interview panel. They had the Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction, Director of Human Resources, a principal from elementary, middle, and high school levels, teachers from all three levels, another K-12 supervisor, and a special education teacher present. Each one asked a quick question in that short period of time.
I'm pretty sure they interviewed all of their first round candidates during the afternoon on Monday and they indicated a desire to finish the process by the end of June so I expect to hear something relatively quickly.
This is the perfect opportunity for this time in my life for a few reasons. 1) It is in a great district that is similar to Ridge and Montgomery, 2) It is located near Ali's job in Jersey City, 3) It starts on August 24 instead of July 1 like most administration jobs so it would not conflict with my People to People trip or my honeymoon.
The interview was pretty quick - only about 15 minutes - but I think I was on target for most of their questions. I wasn't stumped by anything they brought up and handled the pressure well considering the size of the interview panel. They had the Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction, Director of Human Resources, a principal from elementary, middle, and high school levels, teachers from all three levels, another K-12 supervisor, and a special education teacher present. Each one asked a quick question in that short period of time.
I'm pretty sure they interviewed all of their first round candidates during the afternoon on Monday and they indicated a desire to finish the process by the end of June so I expect to hear something relatively quickly.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Schedule - 6/15-6/21
Monday, June 15 - Department Breakfast, Exams, Faculty/MTEA/Department Meetings, Interview for Westfield Social Studies Supervisor, K-12 (4:45)
Tuesday, June 16 - Exams
Wednesday, June 17 - Exams
Thursday, June 18 - Exams, Detention (2:30-4:00)
Friday, June 19 - School (1/2 Day), MTEA Party, Graduation
Saturday, June 20 - Housewarming party for Ashley and Rob (?)
Sunday, June 21 - Father's Day
Tuesday, June 16 - Exams
Wednesday, June 17 - Exams
Thursday, June 18 - Exams, Detention (2:30-4:00)
Friday, June 19 - School (1/2 Day), MTEA Party, Graduation
Saturday, June 20 - Housewarming party for Ashley and Rob (?)
Sunday, June 21 - Father's Day
How to Teach 9/11
I came across the following while transferring files from my old computer to my new one...
Matthew Mingle
September 16, 2002
POSC 311
Writing Prompt #1
How will you explain to your own children someday the causes of 9/11?
As a history education major and future history teacher, I will have the obligation of explaining the causes of 9/11 to hundreds of students. Hopefully that practice will prepare me to explain it to my own children.
I do not believe in offering a one-sided view of history – not in my classes or in my private life. Once my children are old enough to fully grasp some of the issues involved with 9/11, I will do my best to present them with information so that they can make their own judgments. Rather than simplifying the terrorist attacks by arguing that the terrorists were evil and just hated Americans, I plan to explain how those individuals arrived at such a point. In most cases, terrorists grew up with the teachings that the United States acts only for its own self-interest. They are taught a skewed version of Islam, extremist Islam, which argues for violence instead of peace. Perhaps the most important thing I can offer to my children is an understanding of what true Muslims believe in. I, myself, was lucky enough to have a close Muslim friend throughout middle and high school so I learned quite a bit about the faith and the strict tenets it followed. Thanks in a large part to that friendship, I understand that only a minority of Muslims believes in killing innocent people.
Harder to explain will be why we, as Americans, were not able to protect ourselves from the attack. I will explain that Americans felt extremely safe and secure because the chances of some individual or group attacking us on our home soil just seemed ridiculous at the time. Such a mindset was ill informed and placed Americans in an extremely vulnerable position. Chances are pretty good that my children will not be able to comprehend such a world because they will grow up with high-level security screening at airports, high levels of government intervention in private affairs, and security measures that do not even exist today.
My hope is my children’s generation will have learned the lessons of 9/11 and will live in a world where terrorism is not a daily threat, but is something to read about in a history book. Is that a realistic dream? Perhaps not, but if those of us who experienced 9/11 firsthand work hard to avoid another such catastrophe and teach our children to understand and accept people who are different from ourselves, nothing is impossible.
I still follow this stance and spent an extended amount of time in my World Studies classes on the root causes of 9/11 for the first time this year. We traced the historical roots of the attacks as far back as World War I.
Matthew Mingle
September 16, 2002
POSC 311
Writing Prompt #1
How will you explain to your own children someday the causes of 9/11?
As a history education major and future history teacher, I will have the obligation of explaining the causes of 9/11 to hundreds of students. Hopefully that practice will prepare me to explain it to my own children.
I do not believe in offering a one-sided view of history – not in my classes or in my private life. Once my children are old enough to fully grasp some of the issues involved with 9/11, I will do my best to present them with information so that they can make their own judgments. Rather than simplifying the terrorist attacks by arguing that the terrorists were evil and just hated Americans, I plan to explain how those individuals arrived at such a point. In most cases, terrorists grew up with the teachings that the United States acts only for its own self-interest. They are taught a skewed version of Islam, extremist Islam, which argues for violence instead of peace. Perhaps the most important thing I can offer to my children is an understanding of what true Muslims believe in. I, myself, was lucky enough to have a close Muslim friend throughout middle and high school so I learned quite a bit about the faith and the strict tenets it followed. Thanks in a large part to that friendship, I understand that only a minority of Muslims believes in killing innocent people.
Harder to explain will be why we, as Americans, were not able to protect ourselves from the attack. I will explain that Americans felt extremely safe and secure because the chances of some individual or group attacking us on our home soil just seemed ridiculous at the time. Such a mindset was ill informed and placed Americans in an extremely vulnerable position. Chances are pretty good that my children will not be able to comprehend such a world because they will grow up with high-level security screening at airports, high levels of government intervention in private affairs, and security measures that do not even exist today.
My hope is my children’s generation will have learned the lessons of 9/11 and will live in a world where terrorism is not a daily threat, but is something to read about in a history book. Is that a realistic dream? Perhaps not, but if those of us who experienced 9/11 firsthand work hard to avoid another such catastrophe and teach our children to understand and accept people who are different from ourselves, nothing is impossible.
I still follow this stance and spent an extended amount of time in my World Studies classes on the root causes of 9/11 for the first time this year. We traced the historical roots of the attacks as far back as World War I.
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Schedule - 6/8-6/14
Monday, June 8 - AM Commons Duty, School
Tuesday, June 9 - AM Commons Duty, School, Screening of "Hotel Rwanda," Meeting with Hopewell Valley Central High School marching band staff (5:30)
Wednesday, June 10 - AM Commons Duty, School, Extra Help, Chaperone music department performances at Richardson Auditorium on campus of Princeton University
Thursday, June 11 - School, Extra Help, Spring Sports Awards Night
Friday, June 12 - School, End of Year Faculty Party, People to People Meeting (7:00)
Saturday, June 13 - County Recycling at Hillsborough
Sunday, June 14 -
Tuesday, June 9 - AM Commons Duty, School, Screening of "Hotel Rwanda," Meeting with Hopewell Valley Central High School marching band staff (5:30)
Wednesday, June 10 - AM Commons Duty, School, Extra Help, Chaperone music department performances at Richardson Auditorium on campus of Princeton University
Thursday, June 11 - School, Extra Help, Spring Sports Awards Night
Friday, June 12 - School, End of Year Faculty Party, People to People Meeting (7:00)
Saturday, June 13 - County Recycling at Hillsborough
Sunday, June 14 -
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Schedule - 6/1-6/7
Monday, June 1 - AM Commons Duty, School, Faculty Meeting, Baseball Meeting
Tuesday, June 2 - AM Commons Duty, School, Screening of "The Road to 9/11"
Wednesday, June 3 - AM Commons Duty, School, Detention Duty, Extra Help, Somerset Patriots Game (?), Matt & Allie's 3rd Anniversary
Thursday, June 4 - School, Dinner with Stephanie and Steve
Friday, June 5 - School
Saturday, June 6 - SAT Proctoring at Ridge HS, P2P Service Project, Mom's Birthday
Sunday, June 7 - P2P Leader Meeting (11)
Tuesday, June 2 - AM Commons Duty, School, Screening of "The Road to 9/11"
Wednesday, June 3 - AM Commons Duty, School, Detention Duty, Extra Help, Somerset Patriots Game (?), Matt & Allie's 3rd Anniversary
Thursday, June 4 - School, Dinner with Stephanie and Steve
Friday, June 5 - School
Saturday, June 6 - SAT Proctoring at Ridge HS, P2P Service Project, Mom's Birthday
Sunday, June 7 - P2P Leader Meeting (11)
Monday, May 25, 2009
Schedule - 5/26-5/31
Tuesday, May 26 - AM Commons Duty, School, Articulation Meeting, Baseball Team Meeting
Wednesday, May 27 - AM Commons Duty, School, Baseball at Franklin, Varsity Baseball vs. Franklin at TD Bank Ballpark
Thursday, May 28 - School, Extra Help, Meeting with Hopewell Valley High School band staff (4:30)
Friday, May 29 - School, Baseball Uniform Collection and Team Meeting
Saturday, May 30
Sunday, May 31
Wednesday, May 27 - AM Commons Duty, School, Baseball at Franklin, Varsity Baseball vs. Franklin at TD Bank Ballpark
Thursday, May 28 - School, Extra Help, Meeting with Hopewell Valley High School band staff (4:30)
Friday, May 29 - School, Baseball Uniform Collection and Team Meeting
Saturday, May 30
Sunday, May 31
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Schedule - 5/18-5/25
Monday, May 18 - Delayed Opening for Students (State Testing), School, Baseball vs. Princeton, People to People Meeting
Tuesday, May 19 - AM Commons Duty, School, Baseball vs. Hillsborough
Wednesday, May 20 - AM Commons Duty, School, Extra Help, Baseball Practice, Ali's Spring Concert
Thursday, May 21 - School, Baseball vs. Immaculata
Friday, May 22 - School
Saturday, May 23 - Dentist (11:15), Yankees Game (?)
Sunday, May 24 - Memorial Day Festivities (?)
Monday, May 25 - No School (Memorial Day)
Tuesday, May 19 - AM Commons Duty, School, Baseball vs. Hillsborough
Wednesday, May 20 - AM Commons Duty, School, Extra Help, Baseball Practice, Ali's Spring Concert
Thursday, May 21 - School, Baseball vs. Immaculata
Friday, May 22 - School
Saturday, May 23 - Dentist (11:15), Yankees Game (?)
Sunday, May 24 - Memorial Day Festivities (?)
Monday, May 25 - No School (Memorial Day)
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Chicago Pictures
Normandy Beach
Jungles of Vietnam
Outside the First Division Museum
World War I Trench
The First Division Museum
World War I Trench
The First Division Museum
Schedule - 5/11-5/17
Monday, May 11 - AM Commons Duty, School, Baseball vs. Franklin
Tuesday, May 12 - AM Commons Duty, School, Varsity baseball County Semifinals at Somerset Patriots stadium (4:00)
Wednesday, May 13 - AM Commons Duty, Extra Help, Baseball Practice, DCI's "The Countdown"
Thursday, May 14 - School, Baseball at Bridgewater
Friday, May 15 - School, Baseball vs. Somerville
Saturday, May 16 - Baseball at Hopewell Valley (11:00)
Tuesday, May 12 - AM Commons Duty, School, Varsity baseball County Semifinals at Somerset Patriots stadium (4:00)
Wednesday, May 13 - AM Commons Duty, Extra Help, Baseball Practice, DCI's "The Countdown"
Thursday, May 14 - School, Baseball at Bridgewater
Friday, May 15 - School, Baseball vs. Somerville
Saturday, May 16 - Baseball at Hopewell Valley (11:00)
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Gettysburg Agenda
From Thursday through Saturday evening, I will be in Gettysburg with the Nathanael Greene Liberty Fellowship. I believe I have Internet access at the hotel so I will try to update along the way.
Here is the agenda:
Day 1 - Thursday May 7
6:45 - Depart from Montgomery (NJ); Watch "Gettysburg" on the bus trip.
We did not leave Montgomery until after 7pm and, due to some traffic in PA, didn't get into the hotel until sometime around 11pm or so. My roommate (Erin Hodge from Watchung Hills High School) watched some Leno and then got some sleep.
Evening - Check in at America's Best Value Inn; After check in, discuss the film.
Day 2 - Friday May 8
7:30 - Breakfast at the hotel
8:15 - Board bus for Adams County Historical Society
8:30 - Tour Adams County Historical Society focusing on civilian life during the battle
We began our tour outside the Lutheran Seminary located near the first fighting on the first day of the battle of Gettysburg - July 1, 1863. The information presented was very interesting and informative. The Seminary was turned into a hospital during and after the battle, won by the Confederates, and after years of neglect became the home of the historical society in the 1950s.
Last week, during my limo ride from O'Hare Airport to the hotel, one of my car mates told us stories about her time as an intern at the Historical Society while she was getting her Master's degree in Applied History. She told us a story about finding unopened materials while researching because there are just boxes and boxes of artifacts waiting to be explored. In one such box, she found a letter with a tooth wrapped in it. During our tour of the building, this story was shared with us along with the follow-up that included tracking down the original owner of the tooth and his living descendents so the tooth could be buried (I think in Georgia) since his body was never located in one of the mass Confederate graves.
The most interesting thing shared with us was the original will of Dwight Eisenhower. In retirement, President Eisenhower moved to an estate in Adams County, which is why such a thing would be at this museum.
The building has been restored to look the way it did while in use as a seminary dorm, classroom, administrative office, and anything else needed in 1861 and each room was set up to depict a different thing - dorm life of the time, death practices of the era, a school room, etc. It was a really interesting, unique way to begin the tour.
10:00 - Load bus for David Wills House Tour
10:30 - Tour the David Wills House in downtown Gettysburg, which tells the story of a town recovering from the devastation of battle, and a war-worn president who came to dedicate a national cemetery.
The David Wills House provided a stark contrast to our first stop as it only opened a few months ago and, despite its location in a period building, has been completely modernized with lots of glass, plasma televisions, etc. I moved through the house pretty quickly looking at some of the displays. David Wills was a lawyer who the Pennsylvania governor tasked with making arrangements to set up a national cemetery following the battle. When President Lincoln came to town in November to dedicate the cemetery (and deliver his famous Gettysburg Address), the Wills' home was his hotel.
11:30 - Depart for Lincoln Train Tour
11:45 - Tour the Gettysburg Railroad Station
This was the station President Lincoln rode into in November 1961 for the dedication of the national cemetery. I found the station to be intriguing. In 1861 it represented the end of this particular line so it was larger and more prominent than other stations may have been at the time. The main room of the station had two entrances - one each for men and women. A wall partitioned the waiting area with men on one side set up with spitoons and free to speak as callously as desired and women and children on the other side behaving more appropriately. A spiral staircase up to a second floor and cupola no longer exists, but the guides shared stories of wounded men (like most buildings in Gettysburg, this one also became a hospital during the battle) going onto the roof to watch the action while recovering from wounds.
12:15 - Load bus for O'Rorke's Family Eatery and Spirits
12:30 - Lunch at O'Rorke's Family Eatery and Spirits
This was the first of a few stops at this restaurant and bar for the day. It became the common area for a beer during down time.
1:35 - Board bus to Shriver House Museum
1:45 - Tour Shriver House Museum
This cool house including a saloon in the basement and a ten-pin alley in an out building in the back for Mr. Shriver to make a living. He was called away to the war before ever opening those establishments though and died in battle in late 1863 or 1864. Mrs. Shriver and her two daughters fled the house as fighting neared only to wind up at a farm even closer to fighting that was being used as - you guessed it - a field hospital when she arrived. Mrs. Shriver and her daughters (both under 10 years of age) were pressed into service caring for Confederate soldiers wounded in battle. While away from their home, it was looted by Confederates after they used the attic area as a sniper post. The tour here was great and provided an interesting look into the civilian side of the battle.
3:00 - Free time to explore the town and shops
I went in and out of a few shops but did not make any purchases. We wound up having good weather in the low 70s with a little bit of cloud cover - a welcome change to the rain we had been having for over a week.
5:15 - Walk to Dobbin House Restaurant
5:30 - Dinner at Dobbin House
This was the same place Ali and I ate a few years ago when we visited Gettysburg. It is a neat stone building, originally opened as a tavern in 1776.
Evening - Free time to explore on your own while walking back to the hotel
I joined in with most of the group for a Gettysburg ghost tour. I joined in expecting little, but thought there could be some spookiness to the whole thing given the sheer number of people who died fighting in the area from July 1-3, 1863. Nope - it was ludicrous.
Our guide was so over-the-top dramatic that I could not take her seriously. Her stories were far-fetched and mostly unrelated to the battle itself anyway. At one point, as she tried to tell us her story about honeymooners feeling like "something" was holding them down in their hotel room, one of my colleagues burst out with his disbelief that anyone was honeymooning in Gettysburg. Other hard to follow lines and the fact our tour went from the backyard of a business to an alleyway behind the Dobbins House Restaurant to a little brook and back to the yard ruined the possibilities here. It was only $5 and we were entertained, although not in the way expected for a ghost tour.
Day 3 - Saturday May 9
7:30 - Breakfast at the hotel
8:00 - Board bus for Gettysburg National Military Park Visitor Center
8:15 - Tour cyclorama, film and museum experience - an immersive experience that places you in the middle of the action during Pickett's Charge, the climactic struggle durin gthe Battle of Gettysburg. Recently reopened after undergoing the largest conservation effort on the continent, the Cyclorama has been returned to its original splendor.
We began with a great film providing context for the battle of Gettysburg in the Visitor's Center. It really helped me understand the battle and how it fit into the larger Civil War. As this is one of my weaker areas of history since I don't teach it, the background was really helpful.
Next we visited the cyclorama. These were popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s before the advent of moving pictures. An artist painted a huge (100 yards long) painting that is presented in a circle so you are surrounded by the scene. Where the painting touches the ground, real artificacts are used to make it seem even more realistic. The painting here is of a particular moment on Day 3 of the battle of Gettysburg. Narration of the battle with sound and light effects use the images in the painting to give a sense of being in the event. It was pretty cool.
9:30 - Explore the museum and bookstore
The new Visitor's Center museum has well developed displays. I spent a good hour going through and skipped over lots of interesting information and movies. I enjoyed the interactive displays where you can explore some aspect of the Civil War or Gettysburg in your own way. Again, this provided good context before we headed out to the battlefields themselves, which are mostly fields and monuments if you don't know what you are looking for.
10:45 - Depart for Gettysburg Battlefield Diorama
11:30 - Gettysburg Battlefield Diorama - Learn and visualize the battle as it is beautifully and dramatically narrated with light and sound effects. Over 800 square feet of model display! Roughtly 20,000 hand painted soldiers, horses, buildings, etc. Get a bird's eye view of the battle in its entirety!
This had the potential to be pretty cool, but some of us noticed some inaccuracies in the depiction of the area based on things we learned on Day 1, which hurt the credibility of the entire operation. Basically, we sat on bleachers around a miniature version of the town and surrounding area. A narrator talked us through the events of the battle while spotlights showed us the areas being discussed. It did provide a good way to visualize the different attacks and counter attacks, but the scale was wrong and missing details were hurtful to the overall effectiveness.
12:15 - Depart for Gettysburg Family Restaurant
12:30 - Lunch at Gettysburg Family Restaurant
1:45 - Load buses for battlefield tour
2:00 - Guided tour of Battlefield and National Cemetery with Prof. David Booz
Professor Booz is a former high school teacher and administrator who currently works in the Civil War Studies department at Gettysburg College. His knowledge and passion for the topic really came through over a long bus and walking tour of the battlefield. We didn't even get to the national cemetery, probably due to how in depth he went all along the way. Luckily, the evening before a few of us explored it on our own with the help of our resident colleague content expert so we didn't actually miss out on the area.
It is hard to summarize everything here, but we revisited sites and took a mostly chronological tour of the three days of the battle of Gettysburg. I learned the significance of the many monuments in the Park, which are used to show the furthest advances of their respective namesakes. I have a much better understanding of the geography of the battle, the use of the natural ridges for example, and the Union's fishhook defense set up that allowed a successful stand against the charging Confederates.
Hours of battle at Gettysburg led to casualties that exceed the entirety of the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq. Casualties and deaths over 60,000 from three days of fighting are hard to even fathom. The fact that a town with a population of 2400 people saw 150,000 soldiers enter to fight doesn't even do enough to capture the fact that when the fighting was over those local residents were left to care for 25,000 injured soldiers who could not leave with their armies, and so many dead and dying humans and horses, that the stench could be smelled in cities 30 miles away.
The trip was a great way to get inside the events of this turning point of the Civil War and, therefore, of American history as a whole. It was great to get to know some of my colleagues better and share in their knowledge of the era. We had a lot of fun and learned useful things so it was certainly a successful trip overall.
6:00 - Depart for home; watch "Glory"
Here is the agenda:
Day 1 - Thursday May 7
6:45 - Depart from Montgomery (NJ); Watch "Gettysburg" on the bus trip.
We did not leave Montgomery until after 7pm and, due to some traffic in PA, didn't get into the hotel until sometime around 11pm or so. My roommate (Erin Hodge from Watchung Hills High School) watched some Leno and then got some sleep.
Evening - Check in at America's Best Value Inn; After check in, discuss the film.
Day 2 - Friday May 8
7:30 - Breakfast at the hotel
8:15 - Board bus for Adams County Historical Society
8:30 - Tour Adams County Historical Society focusing on civilian life during the battle
We began our tour outside the Lutheran Seminary located near the first fighting on the first day of the battle of Gettysburg - July 1, 1863. The information presented was very interesting and informative. The Seminary was turned into a hospital during and after the battle, won by the Confederates, and after years of neglect became the home of the historical society in the 1950s.
Last week, during my limo ride from O'Hare Airport to the hotel, one of my car mates told us stories about her time as an intern at the Historical Society while she was getting her Master's degree in Applied History. She told us a story about finding unopened materials while researching because there are just boxes and boxes of artifacts waiting to be explored. In one such box, she found a letter with a tooth wrapped in it. During our tour of the building, this story was shared with us along with the follow-up that included tracking down the original owner of the tooth and his living descendents so the tooth could be buried (I think in Georgia) since his body was never located in one of the mass Confederate graves.
The most interesting thing shared with us was the original will of Dwight Eisenhower. In retirement, President Eisenhower moved to an estate in Adams County, which is why such a thing would be at this museum.
The building has been restored to look the way it did while in use as a seminary dorm, classroom, administrative office, and anything else needed in 1861 and each room was set up to depict a different thing - dorm life of the time, death practices of the era, a school room, etc. It was a really interesting, unique way to begin the tour.
10:00 - Load bus for David Wills House Tour
10:30 - Tour the David Wills House in downtown Gettysburg, which tells the story of a town recovering from the devastation of battle, and a war-worn president who came to dedicate a national cemetery.
The David Wills House provided a stark contrast to our first stop as it only opened a few months ago and, despite its location in a period building, has been completely modernized with lots of glass, plasma televisions, etc. I moved through the house pretty quickly looking at some of the displays. David Wills was a lawyer who the Pennsylvania governor tasked with making arrangements to set up a national cemetery following the battle. When President Lincoln came to town in November to dedicate the cemetery (and deliver his famous Gettysburg Address), the Wills' home was his hotel.
11:30 - Depart for Lincoln Train Tour
11:45 - Tour the Gettysburg Railroad Station
This was the station President Lincoln rode into in November 1961 for the dedication of the national cemetery. I found the station to be intriguing. In 1861 it represented the end of this particular line so it was larger and more prominent than other stations may have been at the time. The main room of the station had two entrances - one each for men and women. A wall partitioned the waiting area with men on one side set up with spitoons and free to speak as callously as desired and women and children on the other side behaving more appropriately. A spiral staircase up to a second floor and cupola no longer exists, but the guides shared stories of wounded men (like most buildings in Gettysburg, this one also became a hospital during the battle) going onto the roof to watch the action while recovering from wounds.
12:15 - Load bus for O'Rorke's Family Eatery and Spirits
12:30 - Lunch at O'Rorke's Family Eatery and Spirits
This was the first of a few stops at this restaurant and bar for the day. It became the common area for a beer during down time.
1:35 - Board bus to Shriver House Museum
1:45 - Tour Shriver House Museum
This cool house including a saloon in the basement and a ten-pin alley in an out building in the back for Mr. Shriver to make a living. He was called away to the war before ever opening those establishments though and died in battle in late 1863 or 1864. Mrs. Shriver and her two daughters fled the house as fighting neared only to wind up at a farm even closer to fighting that was being used as - you guessed it - a field hospital when she arrived. Mrs. Shriver and her daughters (both under 10 years of age) were pressed into service caring for Confederate soldiers wounded in battle. While away from their home, it was looted by Confederates after they used the attic area as a sniper post. The tour here was great and provided an interesting look into the civilian side of the battle.
3:00 - Free time to explore the town and shops
I went in and out of a few shops but did not make any purchases. We wound up having good weather in the low 70s with a little bit of cloud cover - a welcome change to the rain we had been having for over a week.
5:15 - Walk to Dobbin House Restaurant
5:30 - Dinner at Dobbin House
This was the same place Ali and I ate a few years ago when we visited Gettysburg. It is a neat stone building, originally opened as a tavern in 1776.
Evening - Free time to explore on your own while walking back to the hotel
I joined in with most of the group for a Gettysburg ghost tour. I joined in expecting little, but thought there could be some spookiness to the whole thing given the sheer number of people who died fighting in the area from July 1-3, 1863. Nope - it was ludicrous.
Our guide was so over-the-top dramatic that I could not take her seriously. Her stories were far-fetched and mostly unrelated to the battle itself anyway. At one point, as she tried to tell us her story about honeymooners feeling like "something" was holding them down in their hotel room, one of my colleagues burst out with his disbelief that anyone was honeymooning in Gettysburg. Other hard to follow lines and the fact our tour went from the backyard of a business to an alleyway behind the Dobbins House Restaurant to a little brook and back to the yard ruined the possibilities here. It was only $5 and we were entertained, although not in the way expected for a ghost tour.
Day 3 - Saturday May 9
7:30 - Breakfast at the hotel
8:00 - Board bus for Gettysburg National Military Park Visitor Center
8:15 - Tour cyclorama, film and museum experience - an immersive experience that places you in the middle of the action during Pickett's Charge, the climactic struggle durin gthe Battle of Gettysburg. Recently reopened after undergoing the largest conservation effort on the continent, the Cyclorama has been returned to its original splendor.
We began with a great film providing context for the battle of Gettysburg in the Visitor's Center. It really helped me understand the battle and how it fit into the larger Civil War. As this is one of my weaker areas of history since I don't teach it, the background was really helpful.
Next we visited the cyclorama. These were popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s before the advent of moving pictures. An artist painted a huge (100 yards long) painting that is presented in a circle so you are surrounded by the scene. Where the painting touches the ground, real artificacts are used to make it seem even more realistic. The painting here is of a particular moment on Day 3 of the battle of Gettysburg. Narration of the battle with sound and light effects use the images in the painting to give a sense of being in the event. It was pretty cool.
9:30 - Explore the museum and bookstore
The new Visitor's Center museum has well developed displays. I spent a good hour going through and skipped over lots of interesting information and movies. I enjoyed the interactive displays where you can explore some aspect of the Civil War or Gettysburg in your own way. Again, this provided good context before we headed out to the battlefields themselves, which are mostly fields and monuments if you don't know what you are looking for.
10:45 - Depart for Gettysburg Battlefield Diorama
11:30 - Gettysburg Battlefield Diorama - Learn and visualize the battle as it is beautifully and dramatically narrated with light and sound effects. Over 800 square feet of model display! Roughtly 20,000 hand painted soldiers, horses, buildings, etc. Get a bird's eye view of the battle in its entirety!
This had the potential to be pretty cool, but some of us noticed some inaccuracies in the depiction of the area based on things we learned on Day 1, which hurt the credibility of the entire operation. Basically, we sat on bleachers around a miniature version of the town and surrounding area. A narrator talked us through the events of the battle while spotlights showed us the areas being discussed. It did provide a good way to visualize the different attacks and counter attacks, but the scale was wrong and missing details were hurtful to the overall effectiveness.
12:15 - Depart for Gettysburg Family Restaurant
12:30 - Lunch at Gettysburg Family Restaurant
1:45 - Load buses for battlefield tour
2:00 - Guided tour of Battlefield and National Cemetery with Prof. David Booz
Professor Booz is a former high school teacher and administrator who currently works in the Civil War Studies department at Gettysburg College. His knowledge and passion for the topic really came through over a long bus and walking tour of the battlefield. We didn't even get to the national cemetery, probably due to how in depth he went all along the way. Luckily, the evening before a few of us explored it on our own with the help of our resident colleague content expert so we didn't actually miss out on the area.
It is hard to summarize everything here, but we revisited sites and took a mostly chronological tour of the three days of the battle of Gettysburg. I learned the significance of the many monuments in the Park, which are used to show the furthest advances of their respective namesakes. I have a much better understanding of the geography of the battle, the use of the natural ridges for example, and the Union's fishhook defense set up that allowed a successful stand against the charging Confederates.
Hours of battle at Gettysburg led to casualties that exceed the entirety of the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq. Casualties and deaths over 60,000 from three days of fighting are hard to even fathom. The fact that a town with a population of 2400 people saw 150,000 soldiers enter to fight doesn't even do enough to capture the fact that when the fighting was over those local residents were left to care for 25,000 injured soldiers who could not leave with their armies, and so many dead and dying humans and horses, that the stench could be smelled in cities 30 miles away.
The trip was a great way to get inside the events of this turning point of the Civil War and, therefore, of American history as a whole. It was great to get to know some of my colleagues better and share in their knowledge of the era. We had a lot of fun and learned useful things so it was certainly a successful trip overall.
6:00 - Depart for home; watch "Glory"
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
The American Culture of War
11:30 The American Culture of War
Adrian Lewis, Professor of History and Director, Office of Professional Military Graduate Education, University of Kansas
Repercussions of war are different – instead of 30% of casualties being dead, now it is much smaller so many injured soldiers are coming home and need support in a variety of ways
Interagency cooperation is ideal for operations – ie. Department of Agriculture should play a role in Afghanistan instead of Army handling those duties
Change of communications – lower level officers are allowed to comment directly to the media due to better training rather than going through the slow chain of command
Distance between the people and the military has grown since Vietnam
The United States is not at war, the military is at war.
1% of Americans bear the burden of the war.
What does this say about the nation?
So consumed with current conflicts that military is unable to prepare for contingencies.
Support systems are overburdened and cannot keep up with the demand for their services.
Army = 535,000 soldiers, authorized to increase to 575,000 but unable to get enough recruits
Stop-loss program is still in effect
Problems
Currently do not have a strategic reserve of ground forces (Army & Navy); reserves are only Air Force and Navy
Removing deterrent forces from around the world to meet demands in the Middle East
US cannot implement its doctrine
US doctrine calls for 400,000 troops to respond to counterinsurgency in a place like Iraq, but only had 140,000 in place
US doctrine in Afghanistan cannot be employed b/c of size of military
Social issues
Suicides
Family break ups
Multiple tours is ruining social fabric
Some soldiers up to 5 tours of duty in Iraq
70-80% suffering from some degree of PTSD
US Army is active in 60+ countries
This is not a new problem – what did we do in the past?
Conscription/draft that led to military rising to the occasion
Demand is not increasing to call for the draft
1939 – 190,000 men in US Army
1945 – 6 million men in US Army ground forces
1950 – 500,000 men in US Army
No army in the history of the world had demobilized as quickly as the US after WWII
Draft instated
Korean War – 1.5 million men in US Army
Does this matter?
No South Korea without this response
Eve of Vietnam War – 850,000 men in US Army
Draft instated
1968 – 1.5 million men in US Army
Strategically and operationally stopped the Tet offensive
Vietnamization removed ground forces from the war
1973 – Draft ends
1975 – Vietnam collapsed and the war ends
Even of Persian Gulf War – 800,000 men in US Army
Following Persian Gulf War – 450,000 men in US Army
Removed light infantry divisions
Offered early retirements rather than RIFs
George W. Bush – planned to cut two of ten divisions but halted due to attack on 9/11
Why haven’t we gone back to our normal approach of using the draft to fight the nation’s wars?
Transformation from 1945-1973 of American people removing themselves from the conduct of the nation’s wars
Roles and missions changed immediately after WWII
US had not had a long history of maintaining large armies due to protected geographical location
As one of two superpowers and due to the lessons of interwar isolation, US recognizes need to remain on the world’s stage in a strong position
Replaced Britain and France on world’s stage due to their destruction in WWII
US occupied Japan and Germany after WWII
130 million people in US
Also responsible for the security of 100+ million people in Asia and Europe
How does a small military maintain security of a world empire such as this?
Belief that strategic bombing would the ultimate instrument of war
Army and Navy would be obsolete
Use of atomic bombs at end of war changed the beliefs of the role of ground forces
New war became deterrent and stockpiling of strategic nuclear weapons
Guided missiles, new jets
Science and technology can remove the carnage from war
Make war nice and clean
Korean war challenged this belief b/c warfare was more primitive than WWII
Air power not decisive
Ground forces protected Pusan Perimeter
Vietnam war
Air power through graduated response was never decisive
Ground forces fight on strategic defense, never using offensive maneuvers
Best potential outcome is not losing
More primitive than Korea or WWII
Rumsfeld’s vision of current wars
Advanced technology would win the war
Despite “shock and awe,” air superiority didn’t win a decisive victory
Counterinsurgency war demanded greater numbers of ground forces
Belief that concept of total war needs to go away due to reliance on nuclear weapons
Geography, weapons systems, forces engaged are limited from the top down
At the tactical level, there is nothing limited about war – the bullets still work, death is still final
Americans disapprove when it is put in smaller terms – if my son/daughter is in war, I want every tool of war employed
War upsets individualistic and materialistic nature of American life
Written about in the 1950s
Americans believe nothing should disrupt access to consumer lifestyle – oil, credit, goods
Professional, long-standing army
Eliminates American people from the conduct of war
Greater freedom of action
Most Americans ignore war willingly because it doesn’t affect them
Old trinity of war = military, civilian leadership, the people
Fragmentation of the United States
Some argue - national unity is now in question
Languages, enclaves
State = political instrument; nation = cultural entity with ties binding it together
Military = 1 cluster within the American state with different values than other Americans
Militarism
Def. 1 = Inculcation of military values and ethics into a people
Def. 2 = Expending resources beyond what is necessary for a necessary defense
Secretary Gates argues that it is time to transform from old military ideology to new military ideology
Services resist
Congress resists
American people resist
Industry resists
There needs to be a rethinking of the American Way of War.
Only method of modern war is engaging human beings and that cannot be done from the sea or the air.
Stop loss = backdoor draft
People are leaving military despite a desire to have military careers due to the extreme negative effects on family, social, health, etc.
Adrian Lewis, Professor of History and Director, Office of Professional Military Graduate Education, University of Kansas
Repercussions of war are different – instead of 30% of casualties being dead, now it is much smaller so many injured soldiers are coming home and need support in a variety of ways
Interagency cooperation is ideal for operations – ie. Department of Agriculture should play a role in Afghanistan instead of Army handling those duties
Change of communications – lower level officers are allowed to comment directly to the media due to better training rather than going through the slow chain of command
Distance between the people and the military has grown since Vietnam
The United States is not at war, the military is at war.
1% of Americans bear the burden of the war.
What does this say about the nation?
So consumed with current conflicts that military is unable to prepare for contingencies.
Support systems are overburdened and cannot keep up with the demand for their services.
Army = 535,000 soldiers, authorized to increase to 575,000 but unable to get enough recruits
Stop-loss program is still in effect
Problems
Currently do not have a strategic reserve of ground forces (Army & Navy); reserves are only Air Force and Navy
Removing deterrent forces from around the world to meet demands in the Middle East
US cannot implement its doctrine
US doctrine calls for 400,000 troops to respond to counterinsurgency in a place like Iraq, but only had 140,000 in place
US doctrine in Afghanistan cannot be employed b/c of size of military
Social issues
Suicides
Family break ups
Multiple tours is ruining social fabric
Some soldiers up to 5 tours of duty in Iraq
70-80% suffering from some degree of PTSD
US Army is active in 60+ countries
This is not a new problem – what did we do in the past?
Conscription/draft that led to military rising to the occasion
Demand is not increasing to call for the draft
1939 – 190,000 men in US Army
1945 – 6 million men in US Army ground forces
1950 – 500,000 men in US Army
No army in the history of the world had demobilized as quickly as the US after WWII
Draft instated
Korean War – 1.5 million men in US Army
Does this matter?
No South Korea without this response
Eve of Vietnam War – 850,000 men in US Army
Draft instated
1968 – 1.5 million men in US Army
Strategically and operationally stopped the Tet offensive
Vietnamization removed ground forces from the war
1973 – Draft ends
1975 – Vietnam collapsed and the war ends
Even of Persian Gulf War – 800,000 men in US Army
Following Persian Gulf War – 450,000 men in US Army
Removed light infantry divisions
Offered early retirements rather than RIFs
George W. Bush – planned to cut two of ten divisions but halted due to attack on 9/11
Why haven’t we gone back to our normal approach of using the draft to fight the nation’s wars?
Transformation from 1945-1973 of American people removing themselves from the conduct of the nation’s wars
Roles and missions changed immediately after WWII
US had not had a long history of maintaining large armies due to protected geographical location
As one of two superpowers and due to the lessons of interwar isolation, US recognizes need to remain on the world’s stage in a strong position
Replaced Britain and France on world’s stage due to their destruction in WWII
US occupied Japan and Germany after WWII
130 million people in US
Also responsible for the security of 100+ million people in Asia and Europe
How does a small military maintain security of a world empire such as this?
Belief that strategic bombing would the ultimate instrument of war
Army and Navy would be obsolete
Use of atomic bombs at end of war changed the beliefs of the role of ground forces
New war became deterrent and stockpiling of strategic nuclear weapons
Guided missiles, new jets
Science and technology can remove the carnage from war
Make war nice and clean
Korean war challenged this belief b/c warfare was more primitive than WWII
Air power not decisive
Ground forces protected Pusan Perimeter
Vietnam war
Air power through graduated response was never decisive
Ground forces fight on strategic defense, never using offensive maneuvers
Best potential outcome is not losing
More primitive than Korea or WWII
Rumsfeld’s vision of current wars
Advanced technology would win the war
Despite “shock and awe,” air superiority didn’t win a decisive victory
Counterinsurgency war demanded greater numbers of ground forces
Belief that concept of total war needs to go away due to reliance on nuclear weapons
Geography, weapons systems, forces engaged are limited from the top down
At the tactical level, there is nothing limited about war – the bullets still work, death is still final
Americans disapprove when it is put in smaller terms – if my son/daughter is in war, I want every tool of war employed
War upsets individualistic and materialistic nature of American life
Written about in the 1950s
Americans believe nothing should disrupt access to consumer lifestyle – oil, credit, goods
Professional, long-standing army
Eliminates American people from the conduct of war
Greater freedom of action
Most Americans ignore war willingly because it doesn’t affect them
Old trinity of war = military, civilian leadership, the people
Fragmentation of the United States
Some argue - national unity is now in question
Languages, enclaves
State = political instrument; nation = cultural entity with ties binding it together
Military = 1 cluster within the American state with different values than other Americans
Militarism
Def. 1 = Inculcation of military values and ethics into a people
Def. 2 = Expending resources beyond what is necessary for a necessary defense
Secretary Gates argues that it is time to transform from old military ideology to new military ideology
Services resist
Congress resists
American people resist
Industry resists
There needs to be a rethinking of the American Way of War.
Only method of modern war is engaging human beings and that cannot be done from the sea or the air.
Stop loss = backdoor draft
People are leaving military despite a desire to have military careers due to the extreme negative effects on family, social, health, etc.
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