Update from the Fearless Leader...

Our Executive Director Jill Robbins is in Germany for the next week with a group of kids who were selected from our Germany Street-Cups this summer. 3 kids from Atlanta and 3 kids from Miami are participating in a youth festival bringing together kids from 4 different countries.

If we have some technological luck, we'll have some pictures and video for you this week. Keep checking back here...

Happy Columbus Day

We’ve done a bit of exploring ourselves, having spent what seemed like 2 whole days traveling. The Miami kids left Miami on Saturday morning, arriving in Atlanta by 11 a.m. Then they waited for the Atlanta contingent to arrive at Hartsfield 3 hours later. After introductions and pictures, we made our way through security and boarded our plane. The flight was a long one – leaving at around 4:45 p.m. and arriving in Dusseldorf by 6:30 a.m. local time (12:30 a.m. EDT). We then hung around the airport terminal and airport train station until our train left just before noon. At this point, there had been only a little bit of sleeping on the plane. Our train trip was 4 ½ hours to Erfurt, most of which was spent asleep. I did get to see some of the lovely countryside. At the Erfurt train station, we missed our first connecting train, but caught the next one the following hour, made the last train to Sommerda, at which we literally ran to the last train to Kolleda, where the vans to take us to camp were waiting.

It has been somewhat dreary and rainy all the time we’ve been here. It is also cold, with highs in the 50’s (and 40’s today, through Thursday.) We should be seeing the sun tomorrow through Thursday, though it will be chilly.

The kids have been anxious to play football. The time spent at the Dusseldorf airport was in a fruitless attempt to find a soccer ball, seeing that no one thought to pack one. While at the Dusseldorf train station, the kids fashioned a ball out of paper to play a little 3-on-3 in the hallway. The paper ball lost its shape and a pair of folded socks was then used.

Once we arrived in camp, the first question was “when do we get to play?” which was promptly answered, “tomorrow.”

The kids did some ice-breaker activities after dinner and got a chance to meet some of the other kids. There are several countries represented here: Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, and USA. Everything is being conducted in German and English. One of the teamers is also from Cuba and has been able to communicate with the kids from Miami in Spanish.

The kids are getting their wish right now, as they are out at the football pitches (street style, small pitches) playing on their mixed teams. They formed the teams by having each player choose a piece of the puzzle out of a sack. The kids then formed their teams as they discovered the picture to which their piece belonged and the other kids who also had pieces from that puzzle. Each of our kids are on separate teams. I am anxious to see how they did. (I was sorting out the internet thing and have missed most of the tournament.) They will also play after lunch. There are eight teams and they will play against each team, with a final among the top finishing teams. We will using this format for tomorrow and Thursday. Wednesday we are doing travel and Friday we play in Erfurt with our country team. We will then do a tournament here on Saturday with our country teams as well.

Breakfast was the typical German breakfast … wonderful, soft crusty rolls, with cheese and coldcuts. Cereal with milk, tea and coffee. Not sure what to expect for lunch. We may be “meat and potatoed” to death. I’ll keep you posted on that.

The accommodations are fairly comfortable. The beds are a bit hard for me, but I’m used to a waterbed, so that’s not surprising. The bathrooms are Spartan and a bit disgusting. But that’s to be expected also, as there are 15 people to share 2. The younger boys are bit intimidated by their much older roommates, but have been given latitude to switch into another room. Two of our boys have a room to themselves, so the other two will probably switch to their room. Overall, they seem to be adapting well. I think that the “expect anything, be flexible” speech has had a positive effect.