Einfuhrungstagung in Altenberg

So I spent the last four days in Köln learning how to be a teacher. Or something like that. The extent of learning to teach was that we prepared one lesson each with a group of three or four people. The first day was actually more useful since we learned about how the German school system works, got to meet the other people from the areas that we are in, and ask all those questions you never got to ask during German class in high school/college.

The trip started out poorly. The SudThüringerBahn (the train from Ilmenau to Erfurt) was late, so I missed my train connection in Erfurt. The next connection didn't leave for an hour so I ended up not going to Cologne until 4:05 (we were supposed to be there at 3:30), so I missed the bus out to Haus Altenberg. That sort of sucked. I had to take a taxi - which cost 30 euros. They did tell us that it was going to cost 50 - so at least that was a nice surprise. We ended up following the buses all the way to the place, so I just got out of the cab, paid the guy, and blended right in so no one knew I hadn't been on the bus. Other than that, the trip went well.

The train in Germany is just so much more relaxing than trains in America. In Germany (usually) you get on the train for a six hour train ride and you KNOW that you will be arriving at your destination in exactly six hours. On Amtrak, as we all know, it's much more, "I'll be on the train for maybe six hours, or maybe seven, eight, nine, ten...."

Haus Altenberg was pretty cool. It used to be a Catholic monastery and now its used for church youth group meetings and things like that. It's also a "big" tourist attraction so there are random people wandering around all the time.

On Thursday, we got back to the train station just as the train I had wanted to take was leaving - which was actually nice because I got a chance to see the Kölner Dom (which is super famous). Unfortunately, there was a mass going on at the time so I didn't get to see much inside. Surprisingly though, they do still let people inside during the service. That means that there is an entire congregation sitting there listening to a guy give a sermon - and then in the back are random people milling around pointing and talking and yelling about this or that frieze or pillar or whatever. The flashes are making the place look like a freaking disco and the priest just keeps on going. If I was in charge, I would just close the whole thing...