Yesterday: Schneider Factory and the Public Viewing

Yesterday morning, we went to Frau Bunge's 6a english class. We answered some questions about America, which I guess we all are kind of used to getting now. There was a kid there who just moved a year ago from New York, so he was fluent in english. We pulled out some American candy (Whoppers and Sour Skittles) and the kids went jumping off the walls. We left from there and went to Chemistry and Biology in that order. The americans talked about home, about some of the things that happened in the school year, I guess I feel we are all connecting now on a more personal level. Trying to survive in a foreign country brings people even closer than you think they could be I guess. We then went to Math, and I was less than happy to learn about Geometry in a foreign language, even less english, so I played some Solitaire (Barbara says the germans call the game 'Patience' I guess I can see why) on my iPod. We then went out to the front entrance where we hang out for breaks, and we all walked to the Schneider factory. We got there and gotr a little history on the company, that it was made in Wernigerode a really long time ago, and are apparrantly one of the highest quality makers of fountain pens in the world, sounds like a fun tour huh? It actually wasn't too bad, I think Hines would have stroked if he saw all the expensive equipment they had and all the techie stuff they used. We walked through every step of production, where we picked up some free 'samples' on the way, our tour guide was really cool, he said he didn't see anything and even got us some from the line. We walked back to the school after this, and I walked home with Annika and Sam, I walked the other half alone. Pia was in religion class. Barbara cooked me fish with green beans and potatoes, which was really good, but I am starting to miss my mom's cooking. She then left, she had an appointment with another patient that afternoon. I thought I would watch some German TV, and try to get a feel for what was going on around the country, but I feel asleep upstairs. The next thing I know, Barbara woke me up, I fell asleep for 3 hours! We then walked down a short way to Nikolaiplatz (Where the bands all played on Rathausfest) to watch the public viewing. All of the Amis living in Wernigerode were there, with thier partners of course. Everyone there was nuts, there were about 600 plus people there, all decked out in hats, flags, face paint, you name it, they had it. We watched the game, Germany scored really quickly. We left at half time to the Venezea. I got a Hidlebeer (Blueberry) Serbet. We walked back and watched the rest of the game, with no more scoring, The whole place just went insane, flags and hats went flying. Some car went off, I guess it got smashed. Germany will play Portugal now on Thursday, who are apparantly the best team. We then walked home, no drunks tonight thank God. I fell asleep pretty fast, because we went to Berlin today.