I left this afternoon with 15 students from Cherokee Trail along with two other chaperones, my friend Michael and my principal. It has been a series of little adventures ever since.
We started out waiting for one student at check-in. We waited and waited. This was not expected from so one of us stayed to wait and the rest of us headed to the gate. On the off chance the student was already at the gate, I forged ahead of the group. Luckily I found her there so I called my principal to come join us. (adventure 1)
Naturally the kids wanted to be able to sit together on the plane. I had checked seating assignments and we basically had two rows. The students sat basically where they should of but I had one student standing. I knew which seat we were supposed to have and went to speak with the woman. She was not happy. she did not want to show her boarding pass and she did not want to move. she insisted it was her seat and she should not have to leave. The flight attendant came over and asked to see her boarding pass. She refused her as well. It was obviously double-booked and now they really wanted everyone seated. Finally the flight attendant managed to get the lady moved, our student sat down and we were able to take off. I was exhausted from that little exchange. (adventure 2)
Lastly, about mid-evening we were woken by a flight attendant. One of our students was sick. she has thrown up and was currently on oxygen and sleeping in the bathroom. we managed to get her into a bed in business class and are hoping that it is just motion sickness and all will be well. Time will tell. (adventure 3)
We are about to land and will hop another plane into Berlin.
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Well, we missed our plane by about 2 minutes. Rebooked for one that leaves in an hour. (adventure 4)
After finally arriving in Berlin we headed to the hotel and dropped off our luggage. Our guide's name is Anga and she is nice and patient with us Americans.
We hopped on the subway and headed down to Alexander Square. We are all tired and cold. There are a million Dunkin' Donuts here so I have scouted out breakfast.
After a quick stop in the square we did about an hour walking tour. Unfortunately we really just passes things by and didn't go in anywhere.
Dinner was a buffet on the "top shelf" of an apartment store. Reminded us all of IKEA. After dinner we walked down part of the wall. Unfortunately it was dark and very cold so pictures are minimal.
It seemed to take us an hour or two to finally make it back to the hotel. We are all pooped. Planning on posting this and crawling into bed. Just found out it is daylight savings time here so we will lose an hour sleep. Sigh....
Hope i'm more coherent tomorrow.
