Final Thoughts

It's been a long time since I updated this blog, and a lot has happened since the hockey game on April 2, when we saw the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Rangers. We made a hockey fan out of Herr Fuchs, who insisted on seeing the Hurricanes play during the playoffs the past week. I of course happily obliged him, because one more Carolina Hurricanes Fan makes things even better....

So what did we do since the game? Well, on the next Friday evening we all met up at the Blue Ridge Theater in Raleigh for an early viewing of the movie Bedtime Stories, which was good, and the next day, we threw the big party at the St. Giles Presbyterian Church fellowship hall; thank you to the fine folks at one my students' church for allowing us to use the space for food, music, games, dancing and fun. We probably should have hired a DJ to spin the tunes, since the kids' I-Pods sputtered a bit with different styles of music. But all in all it was great fun.

Then on Tuesday morning our German friends went off on their group trip to Georgia, South Carolina, Tybee Island, Wilmington, Atlanta, Savannah, Charleston. We met at 5:30 AM bright and early for the send off. Their return was on time as scheduled on Easter Sunday at 5:30 PM.

On the next Herr Fuchs ventured off to Williamsburg, VA for an outing with whoever was interested. I remained at Enloe to crunch numbers for grades at the end of the quarter.

The remainder of the week was filled with our Hebel guests giving their required presentations on various topics to classes at Enloe. By all accounts their talks were greeted cordially by our students and staff. Topics of these talks included German customs, German music, schools in Germany, the Rhein-Neckar region around Hebel's home city of Schwetzingen, and teenage life in Germany.

Thursday night of that week, Enloe's Theater Arts Department regaled our guests with an awesome musical, The Pajama Game. I think they were suitably impressed with the production and left feeling pretty amazed at the quality of theater Enloe can put on.

The final weekend was a relatively quiet one, until Sunday night, when one of our host families whipped a North Carolina-style barbecue dinner for everyone at their home in North Raleigh. We feasted on some down-home cooking and socialized until it got dark. Then the Slumdog Millionaire was projected big and bold onto the family room.

Tuesday we met the Mayor of Raleigh, Charles Meeker, who welcomed all of us into his office for a little question and answer session. He and his staff were very kind to us, and we were whisked into the City Council Chambers to hear some proclamations and be recognized in the minutes for all to see. (Click on the video link for April 21, 2009 to some of us sitting there listening to the meeting!). We then strolled down to the Capitol building and took some pictures and enjoyed a beautiful Carolina day away from Enloe High School.

Thursday morning was a bittersweet day for everyone, as we met at the airport to see our new friends off to Germany. We took some pictures, I received a sweet card from our German exchange students, who I found to be a most polite and agreeable group. Parents were there to help out, some tears were shed, there was laughter and joy, and our happy clamour resulted in many stares and smiles from airport travelers and TSA personnel also. Our Hebel friends touched down safely in Germany, and now we look forward for the next phases of our GAPP exchange: preparing for travel to Schwetzingen, flying for our two-week sojourn in the Rhine-Neckar Triangle, traveling to Munich for a week of excursions and fun in Bavaria and nearby Salzburg, and finally for a return flight to Raleigh.

All in all, everything has gone smoothly thus far. It's been a memorable time with our German friends from GAPP!!