GERMANY (revised)

I must first apologize for the long delay in writing. Internet has been scarce as well as time. This blog is going to be long - you are hereby warned! BUT keep reading anyway!!! Germany (and Europe in general) has been a very new experience for me. Here a just a few things that are different; EVERYONE smokes - and there are few if any laws against it. You have to pay to use the restrooms in a lot of places. The bread and cheese is much better in my oppinion, but they eat fries with mayonaise?!?! Europe is also a land full of beautiful architecture, ankle twisting stairs and languages that all sound greek to me. Germany is no exception. Most of Germany is very hilly and pretty, with tiny villages on the hillsides. I loved my host families and impressed them with my German (hehe).
During our week in Zell, Germany we had a Hunger Banquet. We began the day by climbing a mountain to a castle (not a bad start right?). Then after some picture taking and enjoying the view we gathered around to begin. Euro pennies were thrown in the middle of the circle after some of the cast had been blindfolded to represent disabilities. They said go and we made a mad dash to collect as many pennies as we possibly could. Some got five, others one, and some got none. Some of the people that had many gave to those who had none. After that we were divided up according to our status and given a piece of paper representing a real person from whatever status we were (first class, middle, or low). Later after a discussion with a monk we were lead in to the room where we were to have the banquet. We sat according to our status; first class at a beautiful table, middle class on chairs and low class on the floor. I was low class. Then Jarrod (a staff member) gave a wonderful presentation on poverty and hunger in the world. It was enlightening and inspiring and deeply thought provoking. Two thirds of the way through staff began to serve the first clas citizens a wonderful meal of meat, potatoes, etc. It was hard to focus as we were all hungry and only they got food at that point. After the presentation the middle class citizens got a meal of meat and rice on plates with utensils. Those of us in the lower class got only rice and salt water on paper plates and cups but no utensils. It was eye-opening and made me feel blessed for everything I do have.
During our stay in Prenzlau we tok a day trip to Berlin. It was quite a sight to see the remains of the Berlin wall that fell 17 years ago. It was also interesting to hear the perspective of each of the host families about the wall coming down, sicnce we were both on the East and the West side of Germany. Some of the group went to the Hollocaust Memorial and were deeply moved by the solomn rememberance. It was a day to just enjoy the city, and enjoy it I did. In Prenzlau we had Cast Appreciation Day. On show day we arrived at the facility prepared to go to work as normal (show days are long and hard). WRONG!! The stage was set up and beautifully decorated and with stars with each of our names on them, we were fed unlimited ice cream and served by our staff at lunch. They also performed a show for us to show there appreciation. Then instead of setting up and doing workshops, we watched ''Old School." All in all it was a wonderful Day.
Now I must tell you that I am officially gone from Germany and off to the Netherlands and its Imigration Week. YAY! Full of Education Workshops and fun. This week we played the Up With People Land game. Since it was immigration week our Education team devised a game to help us really put immigration into perspective. So we were given a status; citizen, migrant worker, legal alien, illegal immigrant, etc. We had makeshift passports that said our status, our job, our housing etc. The goal was to get a job and a place to live by the end of the week. the rest was up to us. We had a border patrol, a mayor, justices of the peace, etc. It was a lot of fun and really a great learning experience. If you lost your passport then you were demoted to illegal immigrant no matter what status you currrently were. you could change your status, you could get married, and the border patrol was very strict. Also during the week we partnered with local high school students to come up with our own immigration policy. It was hard, but cool to do. It was really cool to have the input of the local students, some of whom were imigrants themselves. It really gave us a feel for what its like to have to write policies. There are so many levels and details. We presented our policies to a panel of judges and they voted which one was most realistic. Yesterday we went to Amsterdam. What an interesting city. The architecture was beautiful and the people very friendly. I got to go to the Ann Frank House and see where she and the seven others realy hide. It was very fascinating. I read the book as a middle schooler and am now re-reading it. Well tomorrow we are of to Leuven, Belgium.. It is our last European city and that means that we have only 5 weeks left in the tour. What a ride this has been!