German schools are big into class trips. Before finishing elementary school, Michael's fourth grade class, which had been together for all four years, had a week-long class trip to cement their bond. Now his fifth grade class had a week-long class trip to bond for the start of Gymnasium; they'll be together for five years.
This class trip was unlike any of the others though. They worked on a circus project for each of the five mornings, and on Friday, the parents were to drive the two hours to Lauterbach (northeast of Frankfurt) for their performance. So after teaching my first Writing I class of the summer semester until noon, I picked up Nina (Lukas's mom, who also works at the university), and we drove up the A5 for 1 1/2 hours, starving and grumbling slightly that these kind of activities are not made for working parents.
Of course, the circus was worth it! Each group had a different "talent." Michael was one of the jugglers, spinning plates. The children were in costume, in character, and oh so professional. Michael later told me how on Wednesday he still hadn't mastered spinning the plate, so he worked on it all day Thursday. You'd never have known watching him lifting his legs to theatrically bring the spinning plate under them or twisting his arms to move the spinning plate around his back.
In the afternoons they had other activities--swimming in a wave pool, going to a science museum where you could walk through the model of a heart, touring the old town of Lauterbach with its half-timbered houses. In the evenings, they had game evening, a disco, and a party (for which they were to pack a bag of chips or candies for the buffet); the night hike was canceled due to rain and cold. Michael was very happy with his group of four roommates, except that they wouldn't let him read his Warrior Cats book at night!
No comments:
Post a Comment