Monday, April 23, 2007
11:01:22 AM

Today was an early start after a long night, as is usually the case with travel days. I was up at 6:30 this morning to finish packing, eat breakfast and head for the fair grounds at 7:15. For breakfast, I had the european version of frosted flakes called “Frosties” but still made by Kellogs. I’ve now been on the bus for about 3 hours and we’re just about to stop in Hannover. Its about 400km from Leipzig to Bremen, our next city. All along the way I’ve been seeing field after field of bright yellow flowers and lots and lots of windmills. Its a bright sunny day and the temperature is supposed to be near 26°C. Itß all Good™.
3:16:38 PM

We had a quick stopover in Hannover for lunch. The place we stopped at was the site of the 2000 world expo, so there was lots of new and interesting architecture. We ate our lunch outside; my host mom had packed me two sandwiches, an apple, a bottle of carbonated apple juice, and a box of chocolates that I am still currently enjoying and sharing around. We went inside the design building of the university there where we had a presentation on what is design by the industrial design professor there. It was really interesting, perhaps something I can do someday. He was using a PowerBook g4 to do his presentation; I coiuld almost predict that he was going to talk about Apple and its corporate image and good, well thought out product design. After his presentation, we had a bit of a cast meeting where we did the activity “Cross the Line” once again. The questions were varied. One of them was to cross the line if you were scared that the UWP Cast A 2007 tour was coming to an end. I didn’t cross the line, I know whats going to happen with my life after I’m done this program. Later the questions became increasingly hypothetical and philosophical. The question was asked, If you could kill one person to eliminate world hunger forever, would you do it? For me the question was answered simply, yes I would. Do the math, one life to safe tens of millions of lives. Anyhow, we’re back on the bus now and I’ve just finished collaborating with Patrick and Mary about the presentations we’re doing this week on the topic of globalization. I’ve gotten myself into a fair bit of work in preparation for this week. I guess its good to be back with the cast in that I’ve instantly become everyones tech support again. Its stuff that I find easy to help people with and I don’t mind doing it so I don’t have to feel like I’m not contributing to the group. Its all Good™ We ride for Bremen!

We arrived into Bremen in the late afternoon to the “Burgerhaus”, a community facility that we’ll be using as our base of operations for the next week. It has a nice location, next to the river/canal that runs through the city. Our allocation meeting was short. My room mate for the week was supposed to be Gabe from Arizona; but I found out soon after that he was going home because of a death in the family. I found my host family quite easily. This week I’m staying with a family of 4, but only two of them are home this week; home are my host mom and host brother of 18. Its definitely a learning experience for me this week on account of the fact that he has been disabled from birth and must use a wheelchair to get around. Despite this, he still plays sledge hockey, and loves handbiking. I get to stay in the upstairs of the house with a room to myself. We went for a driving tour of the downtown in the evening and then went out for a bee on the canal as to sleep better. I can’t complain. Its all Good™