Camping galore...

I have been super busy working (teacher & House Frau duties) plus planning our upcoming road trip to Holland & Denmark so blogs will be posted every 2 weeks.

Here are a few quick updates:

My childhood camping experience was limited since Cindy & Ira's idea of camping was staying at a Holiday Inn Express.  My Uncle Jim once took us and our white water rafting "guide" was tossed into the rapids.  

Anyway, Scott has been "craving nature" so we went camping with Joe & Mariel in the German alps.  GI Joe is a master outdoorsman so I felt safe as we hiked all day into the mountains where we pitched our tent.  

Our campsite where Scoots spotted mountain goats in the distance

It started raining as soon as we set up camp but we stayed dry and peacefully slept (Scoot) / froze to death (Me) in the middle of nowhere (Since acquiring frostbite, I have ordered a legit sleeping bag rated for negative degrees). 

Up front- Body (Gi Joe's camping dog)

Last weekend, we rode our bikes 16 kilometers to Esslingen.

For more info:  http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Dick

The Stuttgart Hashing Club was on a pub crawl that began at 10 am.

Monopoly was the theme (a bar for every spot on the board - very ambitious bar crawl

By the time we joined them (3-ish pm), many appeared tanked and hilarious.

Scott's boss Jim on right

Our diverse crew of friends (all ironically from Charleston but we met them in Germany)

Teaching Germans is interesting because I am learning a lot about their culture and their opinions/stereotypes of Americans.

Random info I have learned from my classes:

- "Kehrwochev" is governmental assistance for homeless people.  In Stuttgart, they each get 11 euro per day with an additional 5 euro if they own a dog (I found this totally mind-blasting since I have been curious how so many homeless have adorable pooches)

- Germans don't celebrate Fathers day with gifts but instead spend the day drinking lots of beer and hiking as a family.

- Over 60% of Germans rent for life and never buy homes (thus, they were shocked about the housing bubble/mortgage crash in the USA)

Teaching Topics:

- Students were amazed by my lesson on Amish people (in an effort to show that not all Americans are consumers...)

- They also enjoyed "Waiting for Superman," a documentary about poor inner city schools in the USA (they thought that ALL American schools resembled Saved By The Bell)

- Gun Control (As the most conservative teacher in our private school, I provided readings from both the NRA website and The New York Times)

If you (reader) have any suggestions for topics (current events, American culture...) please send them to me ASAP!

So Friday we are headed on a trip that includes many nights of sleeping outside in a tent on the ground.  For some reason, I pictured a warm and sunny summer camping trip (even Michigan is hot and sunny in July).  However, Central Europe has been experiencing record low temps (of course, the year we moved here).  Please pray for me :)