Last Day in Heidelberg

We popped up early and took a lovely morning stroll to pick up some bread and pastry from a bakery.  Bread is huge in Germany and if you think you've had some good German sausage - oh man, the breads!  I have always loved soft pretzels, but I'm pretty sure I have a newfound love for the ones in Germany.  We packed up and had a quick breakfast with Brent, then walked for maybe 10 minutes to his school.  We dumped our things, toured his classroom, took a peek at some student work, and met some of his students.  It was super interesting to see another country's model of education.

Brent teaches kindergarten.  He has 12 students.  They get to school between 7 and 9:30, with instruction formally beginning at 9:30.  They officially conclude school around 1, going home between 1 and 2:30.  He teaches in an international kindergarten, so he has student from around the world.  It is an English-only school and language ability runs the gamut from native speaker to no knowledge of English.  Already, most of his students are at least beginning readers.  (Some have been in school since they were 3, others started this year.)  Their writing is incredible - I saw spaces, periods, and reasonably neat handwriting.  While we were in town, he prepped and taught a lesson on conservation of matter.  It really highlighted for me the benefits of preschool and small class sizes.  Here's a little peek into his third-story world.

I am so grateful for our stay with Brent.  Not only was he an amazing host who made our experience both smoother and more enjoyable, but he granted me a peek into a world I never would have been able to see as a standard tourist!

For the rest of the day, we walked up and down the pedestrian area, looking at the Aldstat (Old Town) and doing a little shopping.  It was a great day to just relax a little bit and enjoy the culture of the area.  We couldn't resist taking a couple pictures of things that made us laugh.  Below, Pizza Hut: the American Way of Pizza.  (For those who are interested, we've seen Burger King, Subway, Starbucks, and McDonalds as well.  We poked our heads into a McDonald's for a peek at the menu.  It's pretty much the same thing with different names, except all burgers have a full compliment of vegetables with green leaf lettuce as opposed to the shredded junk.)


We've been into grocery stores several times.  They've made good meals on the go or cheap eats.  We've had an opportunity to sample items unavailable in the US, note differences in packaging and preparation, as well as examining prices.  (Most prices are comparable, but $5.99 is a deal on bell peppers - yikes!)  One of the items that my eyes widened at was Hobbits!  I'm thinking that's why we no longer see hobbits - they're harvested to be made into crackers!  If you have any other funny ideas, feel free to leave them in the comments.  I've definitely been laughing at chicken stories!

Next up, the adventure to Munich!
Megan