Rotary International GSE 2010 to Germany District 1900

June 11, 2010 Detmold & Lippisher Land

2010-06-10T22:02:00.001-07:00

We followed a Detmold city guide dressed as a minstrel from the Middle Ages. As he explained the city's history, he had us play historical figures, complete with capes, hats, and even some swords. Jason was a multitalented farmer and later a knight, Trudy played the tambourine, Amy was a cook, Sherry a fair maiden and Tracey a milkmaid. Our host Gunther Koch was a merchant and Barbara played a princess. It was lots of fun even though we got a few quizzical looks.
Later that afternoon, we went to see the statue of Herman the German, who defeated the Roman army. The statue was erected to celebrate Gemany's defeat of Napolean in the 1800s. The weather was beautiful and we had a clear but windy view from the top of the monument. Later that evening we joined friends for a tasty meal of herring with various sauces followed by an assortment of schnapps.

June 10, 2010 Vocational Day

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This was our last vocational day

Tracey:
Today I visited Lukas Hospital, a 350 bed general hospital associated with the protestant church. I met with CEO Mr. Reiniker and Dr. Kerstner, who toured me around the not for profit facility and demonstrated how well they are meeting their community's needs. In particular, they have cooperated with independent dialysis and cardiac care facilities to expand patient services while continuing to focus on their core mission of being a community based general hospital.

June 9, 2010 Berlin to Herford

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We stopped to look at the impressive architecture of the Jewish Museum on our way to visit the Haus at Checkpoint Charlie. This museum documents the division of Berlin and the inventive ways people used to escape the tyranny of the former East German government. We then stopped to view a preserved section of the wall that once divided this beautiful city. On our way out of Berlin we stopped to admire Schloss Charlottenburg as we headed to our next city, Herford.

June 8, 2010 Berlin Day 2

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We started the day with some shopping at the Kaufhof des Westens (KdW) and then walked to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. The remains of this bombed out church and post war new building serve as a powerful testament to the destruction and suffering of war, and is now dedicated to encouraging peace. We then went on a private tour of the Reichstag and Albert Lobe building arranged by fellow Rotarian and Representative to Germany’s lower house of parliament, Dr. Mattias Heider. Dr. Heider’s assistant Phillip Riedel did an excellent job of showing us the impressively rebuilt historic building and we enjoyed the view from the dome on a clear day. We then walked to the Brandenburg gate and Tracey was particularly interested to see the new American Embassy located at its historic location at Pariser Platz. We walked through the Holocaust memorial and then headed off to see a floorshow “Qi” in Berlin’s historic Friedrichstrasse Palast. This singing and dancing extravaganza included ice dancing, a swimming pool, and a trapeze act!. We finished the evening at an Indian restaurant and then had a beer in the colorful Haeckisher Hof.

June 7, 2010 Berlin Day 1

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It was great to be in Berlin, and we spent a good deal of time walking around the eastern section of the city and admiring the beautiflully restored architecture. We were amazed at the art in the Altes Museum, where we saw the Door of Ishtar and Nephretiti. We all decided Trudy bore a resemblance to the famed Egyptian queen known for her beauty!

Tracey was happy to find a shop that sold wood carvings so she could stock up on souveniers, and we all enjoyed a boat tour through downtown on the Spree river. It was a beautiful day!

June 6, 2010 Travel & Potsdam

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This morning we piled in the van and headed to Berlin. On the way we stopped at the memorial at the former Checkpoint Bravo, at the former border to East Germany. It was sobering to walk through the rooms where cars were searched and interrogations took place for so many years
When we got closer to Berlin, we stopped at Potsdam to visit Cecielienhof, one of the last residences of the Hollerzollern family. Cecielienhof is well known for being the site of the Potsdam agreement reached between the Allied powers at the end of WWII. The Potsdam agreement sought to denazify, decentralize and disarm Germany to avoid future conflict. It also set the stage for the cold war, as divisiveness was apparent between the Allies and Germany was divided into occupation zones. Cecielienhof is a well preserved memorial to this important period in history, and provided valuable historic perspective for our visit to Berlin.

June 5, 2010 Paderborn to Bielefeld

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We overlooked a small lake as we enjoyed and outdoor brunch with our Paderborn hosts. It was hard to say goodbye to them when Peter Giese, the GSE team leader from the German team that that visited Florida in November, picked us up in a large van and took us to visit the largest glider airfield in Germany near Oerlinghausen. After watching the gliders, we continued to his home in Bielefeld where we had an interview with the local press before walking to a local restaurant to enjoy a gourmet meal with representatives from the Oerlinghausen Rotary club.

June 2, 2010 Vocational Day

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Jason - Heinz Nixdorf forum
Amy - Matern & Wäschel Architects
Trudy - Dr. Frank Berlage
Sherry - Paderborn University
Tracey - St. Vincenz & St. Josephs Hospitals

Tracey enjoyed a very informative tour of two hospitals, St. Vincent & St. Joseph. The hospitals run profitably, and St. Vincent's has developed a well regarded cardiac unit. Like the other hospitals I saw, ratio of the emergency department beds is about 1-2% of total bed count. Patients are generally moved more quickly to a floor rather than being kept inthe ED, and there is board certification in emergency medicine for physicians. Instead, doctors will take an additonal course to work in the ER St. Vincent also had a window where a despondant parent can leave a baby child in the care of a nurse rather than abandoning it. If the window is opened an alarm sounds so a nurse will know a child is in need of care.

June 4, 2010 Paderborn

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Christopher Pluempe and Tim Kempe arranged a guided city tour for the morning. We visited the cathedral in downtown Paderborn. Our personal guide led us along the city’s river namesake: Pader. Fresh water springs discharge water near the city’s center, and the Pader’s born. Along the way our guide explained more the city’s heritage on our path towards the Poseiden Fountain. We concluded the tour with lunch at the Ratskeller followed by a casual stroll through the shopping district.

Later in the day we tried a unique German beverage: Bionade. At first, Bionade seems like another soda pop. It’s a actually a brewed beverage which contains no alcohol, and is made from alternative ingredients not found in the beer brewing process.

For the evening, we rendezvoused at the Heinz Nixdorf Museum for a trip to Dr. Frietag’s Bavarian beer garden. The charter bus was full with our team, host families, and prominent Rotarians from two Paderborn Rotary clubs. We arrived to a table large enough for us all and enjoyed a spectacular feast in the garden.

June 3, 2010 Paderborn

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Today we focused on renewable energy. The landscape is dotted with windmills, and we got to see one up close. We then toured a biogas facility, which turns agricultural waste into warmth, electricity and fertilizer. We finished up with a tourof a dam and a water treatment facility. It was facinating to see how our hosts managed their sustainable natural resources.

That evening we were treated to a very tasty cookout at the Piepenbrock's garden. The chef is Hr. Dr. Freitag, and the food and company were both wonderful!

June 1, 2010 Dortmund to Paderborn

2010-06-10T22:00:00.001-07:00

Today we left our Dortmund host families and traveled to Paderborn. When we arrived we were greeted by a welcoming committee and toured the Heinz Nixdorf computer museum. The museum had an extensive collection of calculator imaginable, from the abacus to super computers. It was great to be met by Christopher Plümpe, who had been a member of the German team that had visited Florida.

May 31, 2010 Vocational Day

2010-05-31T06:26:00.004-07:00

Today is our third vocational day.

Jason-Com Net Media
Amy-Peter Rundholz Construction Comp
Trudy-Klinikum Dortmund
Tracey-Ferrostaal AG
Sherry-University of Dortmund

Trudy:
Another interesting day at the hospital. Today I was in a City run Hospital and was surprised to learn that the doctors were on strike. For the last 2 weeks, all of the doctors that work in City Hospitals throughout Germany have been striking against low wages. Currently, doctors who work the night shift are paid less than doctors that work during the day. The reasoning is that when anyone works at night they do not work at 100%. Anyone who has worked through the night knows that it is very difficult and they should, at least, be paid the same as someone who works during the day. Hopefully this strike will work. Needless to say, the only Ophthalmologist who was operating today was the Director of the Clinic, Dr. Thorsten Boeker. I had a nice morning with him in the operating room. In the afternoon, the clinic was almost empty with only the most urgent patients being seen. In all, this was another 'eye-opening' day.

Sherry:
After meeting many university administrators\coordinators, I have discovered various similarities in American and German universities. This morning I met with Dr. Abraham van Veen, Dezernates für Studierendenservice (Director of Student Services) to learn about student support services at the University of Dortmund. In the afternoon, we took a trip via tram to Bochum to speak with Dr. Hans Stallman, Coordinator, about the University Alliance Metropolis Ruhr (UAMR) consisting of three major universities in the Ruhr area (Ruhr-Universitat Bochum, Technische Universitat Dortmund & Universitat Duisburg-Essen). The UAMR was established to join forces as a site of excellence to create the most successful and important alliance of German Universities. In additon to meeting with staff in the Office of International Studies, I also had the opportunity to 'play' in the lab with a few gravity and magnetic experiments which are used as hands-on recruitment tools for perspective students. Today was another interesting and informative day and gave me great insight into students affairs and support services in the German University system.

Tracey:

In the morning I accompanied my host, Martin Everding, to Ferrostaal, a world wide general contractor of industrial solutions. I enjoyed learning how this company provides turnkey solutions to solar energy plants, biofuels and transportation systems. In the afternoon I joined a fellow Rotarian, Erich Koester a partner at the accounting firm of RoelfsPartner as he reviewed files and advised a not for profit client. It was interesting to listen to the challenges faced by German not for profit companies.

May 30, 2010 Dortmund

2010-05-31T06:26:00.003-07:00

Despite the threat of rain the team ventured out today on a bike tour of Muensterland and several of its castles. We experienced firsthand the diversity of Germany's pristine countryside and landcape while also seeing an interesting art exhibit at Schloss Cappenberg.

May 29, 2010 Dortmund

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All over Dortmund, you will find colorful rhinos with wings. These are the symbol of the Konzerthaus because rhinos are known for their exceptional hearing and the wings represent music's ability to lift your spirits.

We enjoyed a Dortmund city tour with Carl Schmoelder and Martin Everding.

Here we are sitting in front of a fountain near the city hall.

Tonight we had a wonderful time at the Italienische Operngala Mit Feuerwerk as part of the Klangvokal Musikfestival series in Dortmund. Although rain was in the forecast, the evening was just perfect as we listened to the sounds of opera singers Ermonela Jaho and Saimir Pirgu under the stars. Even the ducks joined in on the fun by making several appearances in the lake during the performance. The team was joined by some of our host families and new Rotarian friends. We would like to give a special thanks to one of our regional coordinators, Carl Schmoelder, for arranging another outstanding evening in the lovely city of Dortmund. A first time experience for many of us, the open-air opera will serve as one of the many great memories during our time in Germany. An awesome fireworks display accompanied Aida's Triumphant March which ended the night with a bang!

May 28, 2010 Lüdenscheid to Dortmund

2010-05-28T08:40:00.008-07:00

Today we say goodbye to our Luedenscheid hosts.

Tracey and Trudy enjoyed their time with Herr and Frau Moeller and would like to thank them for their warm hospitality.

Sherry would like to say 'Danke Schön' (thank you) to her Ludenschein host family Dr. Lutz, Mrs. Jeannine & MarieCaroline Helweg. It was a pleasure spending time with your lovely family and being welcomed into your home so graciously.

Amy woud like to thank Jens and Anke Hansen for opening their home and their hearts to her during our long week in Ludenscheid; their hospitality and kindness was above and beyond FABULOUS!! And not to be forgotten is the rest of the Hansen family...Bent, Jonas, and of course Paula =)

Dortmund.

We met with the Dortmund-Neutor Rotary Club and gave our presentation. We were very honored when they gave us a standing ovation.

After the meeting, we spent the afternoon with our hosts. We ended the day with a welcome Bavarian style dinner at Michael Brenscheidt's home (on the left above).

May 27, 2010 Lüdenschied

2010-05-28T08:40:00.007-07:00

Another sunny day in Lüdensheid!

Today we visited the Osthaus Museum which is famous for its Emil Schumacher exhibition. Here we are standing in front of one of his paintings. From right to left: Trudy, Lutz Hellweg, Amy, Sherry, Tracey, Paul Bossmans, Jason.

We then visited the Freilicht (Open Air) Museum that has a collection of historic buildings. They also have live demonstrations of old world craftsmanship. Trudy and Tracey made rope while Jason and Dr. Hellweg drank beer. Amy and Sherry learned about the Gutenberg printing press and printed their own postcards as a souvenir.

We ended the day with a farewell grill party at the Hegering Luedensheid hunting club. We enjoyed listening to the hunting club's horn players who meet weekly to honor the animals they hunt. We had a chance to shoot clay pigeons and arrows. We then sharpened our skills by shooting at moving targets using a scope. Amy, Tracey, and Jason were able to hit the clay pigeons. Trudy was too small to hold the rifle for clay pigeons, but was able to get a 10 on the scope shooting, while Sherry's forte was archery. As usual, the food was delicious.

May 26, 2010 Vocational Day

2010-05-28T08:40:00.005-07:00

Today is our second vocational day.

Amy and Jason: ERCO
Sherry: Kostal
Tracey and Trudy: Hospital

Trudy:
Today is my second visit to a German Augenklinik (Eye Clinic). I met with the Director Dr. Susanne Kaskel-Paul and Dr. Rudolf Berret. I started the day seeing hospital patients with Dr. Kaskel-Paul. In Germany, many patients stay in the hospital after eye surgery. This is the opposite of what happens in the US where most surgeries are done on an outpatient basis. The reason that patients stay in the hospital in Germany has to do with how the doctor and the hospital are reimbursed by insurance. The insurance pays very little if certain surgeries are done as an outpatient. The doctors believe this will change in the future and their system will be more like the US. This has been such a good experience to see first hand how medicine is practiced in another country.

Tracey: Prof. Dr. Lorenz arranged for me to see the German ambulance system from the hospital's point of view as I met with various emergency room physicians. The German system differs from the American one in several ways, one of which is that doctors will leave the ER to treat a patient in the field prior to the patient being transported to the hospital. As a follow up to some of my questions, I was able to meet with the equivalent of the county's EMS Director and Medical Director. We were all surprised by the many similarities in our systems, and I enjoyed the conversations and learned a lot!

Today we also met with Representative Dr. Matthias Heider MdB (far left). He gave us a brief presentation on German Parliament and answered our questions.

May 25, 2010 Lüdenscheid

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Today we visited the Kulturhaus in Luedensheid. It is ~30 years old, but it has remained on the cutting edge of technology. For instance, its cooling system can refresh the auditorium's air during intermission and its stage/orchestra section can be adjusted to accommodate additional seating.

After the tour, we attended a Rotary Club meeting and then enjoyed a tour of Ulrich Baberg's (third from the right) private collection of antique typewriters, calculators, and other office machinery.

In the evening, we attended a "blind" dinner, where we were served and ate in complete darkness. This restaurant is staffed by people with physical disabilities and our waiter was almost completely blind. Although we were in complete darkness, he was able to serve and assist us during our meal. The meal lasted 2 hours. It was amazing how our other senses were heightened to compensate for our lack of sight. In the end, we gained an appreciation and understanding for those who go through life with physical challenges.

May 24, 2010 Lüdenscheid

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Today we spent the day with our host families.

The Moeller family took Tracey and Trudy to Burg Schnellenberg and Attendorn.

We then had a delicious lunch. We both ate white asparagus soup. Yummmm

May 23, 2010 Lüdenscheid

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We went to Burg Althena on Monday, which still houses the first youth hostel established in 1914. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed our English guide's tour of the castle first built in 1125 but substantially rebuilt between 1907 and 1915. We saw a real dungeon under the floorboards of the primary living area and even saw items once used torture prisoners! Jason tried on chain mail and we were all surprised at how heavy it was.

We ended the day with a wine and cheese tasting at Dr. Lutz Hellweg's home. Here is Tracey and Jason relaxing on the couch.

May 22, 2010 Lüdenscheid

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On Saturday we went golfing at the Varmert golf club. Our host, Ulrich Moeller, hired a pro to show us how it is done. Trudy did very well at the driving range, with some balls going over 130m! After the driving range, it was off to the putting green for some more practice including sand pits. All our hard work was rewarded with a relaxing lunch on the terrace while we enjoyed the sunny weather.

In the evening we joined the Lüdenscheid Rotaract club for a delicious dinner in a greek restaurant followed by and evening of 'kegeln' or German bowling. Kegeln differs from American bowling in that you can play various games. We had a great time learning them with our hosts. After a few hours we went to a local bar for a nightcap. It was a fun and relaxing end to another wonderful day

May 21, 2010 Essen to Lüdenscheid

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Farewell Essen.

It was very difficult to leave our first German families. Here is a farewell picture of Jason and Trudy with the Rijckens.

Amy would like to send a warm THANK YOU to the entire Jagerskupper family; they made the adjusment to the time change, associated jet-lag, and overall German lifestyle seemless. And an especially large thank you to Klaus for showing me the best of Germany on my first day, a bike ride around the Baldeneysee, followed by the best ice cream in Werden!!

It was a short drive to Ludenscheid.

When we arrived we were introduced to our host families. We were then given a tour of ERCO where they "Tune the light". Next time you go to a museum, look at the lighting system and you'll likely see that it was made by ERCO. They are the ones that illuminate the pyramid at the Louve. We then went to a Ludenscheid history museum where we learned that buttons were first created in Ludenscheid.

We then had our first dinner.

This is Thomas Fischer standing in front of our dinner: a large assortment of meat. Needless to say we ate well. We were also joined by Felix, the Germany GSE member. It was nice catching up with him. Also worth mentioning, the sun was shining and there was no rain in Ludensheid today.

May 20, 2010 Vocational Day

2010-05-28T08:23:00.000-07:00

Today is our first vocational day.

Jason- Move:elevator

Amy- City of Essen Department for Environmental Affairs and construction projects

Trudy-Kliniken Essen-Sud with Dr. Andreas Scheider

Sherry-Duisburg-Essen University with Dr. Rainer Ambrosy

Tracey-Dr. Oliver Bruder Managing Director of Body Guard Team at Elisabeth-Krankenhaus Essen

Everyone was grateful for the opportunity to observe how their profession works in another culture.

Jason:
I visited Move:elevator which is a full service advertising agency in Oberhausen. The insight to their business gave me an opportunity to see how newer agencies are offering multidisciplinary services to clients. The agency is small and versatile but still can compete with larger agencies with heavy clients. After my visit I had lunch with both owners and the senior project manager and we discussed the challenges they faced with start up and how they remain competitive in the current economic environment.

Trudy:
I enjoyed learning about how Ophthalmology is practiced in Germany. I was even able to observe Dr. Scheider in surgery. Although the structure of healthcare is different in Germany compared to the US (everyone is insured), the actual practice of Ophthalmology is the same. This is because of the global community of Ophthalmology tries to keep everyone informed about the latest techniques and procedures.

Tracey:

I had a fascinating day at Feuerwehr Essen. Andreas Herchenroeder toured Dr. Oliver Bruder and me around their state of the art facility. They enjoy a dedicated decontamination area complete with showers, a special ambulance with only stainless steel surfaces in the patient compartment for the transport of patients with infectious diseases, and an inter-facility transport unit for patients requiring specialty care. Very impressive!

May 19, 2010 Essen

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We started the day with an Essen City tour and visited the Folkwang Museum where we had a guided tour. We saw an exhibition of the museum's original art collection that was taken and sold by the Nazis because it was "degenerative art". Although these pieces of art originally belonged to the Folkwang, they are currently on loan from other museums around the world.

We then attended a Rotary Club Essen-Hellweg meeting for our third Rotary Club presentation.

In the afternoon, we visited the Zollverein World Cultural Heritage site. The Zollverein site was a major mining facility in the area which has been transformed into a cultural location to recognize Germany's heritage in the mining industry.

Afterwards, half of the team visited the Red Dot Design Museum and the others shopped at the newest shopping center in Essen.

May 18, 2010 Essen

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We started the day with a visit to Die Basilika St. Ludgerus in Essen-Werden where the soothing sounds of singing monks filled the church (too bad it was just a CD). In the music school next door (Folkwang-Hochschule), however, we did hear the students practicing playing their instruments.

We then visited the Villa Hügel which was owned by Friedrich Alfred Krupp.

We then had our first Rotary club meeting (Hattingen) where we did our presentations for the first time. This was a good practice for us because we had our second presentation after dinner with the Essen-Centennial club.

In the afternoon, we visited the Henrichshütte Ironworks. We had no idea making steel was so complicated.

May 17, 2010

2010-05-18T15:15:00.000-07:00

This is our first full day in Germany. We went on an all day tour of Köln and Düsseldorf. We started the day in Köln where we visited the Cathedral. Amy, Jason, and Trudy climbed to the top of the Cathedral (97.25 meters) and had an excellent view of the city. We had a traditional Köln lunch at Früh and had our first taste of German bier (Kölsch). After lunch, we drove to Düsseldorf on the Autobahn where we saw Frank Gehry buildings, shopped, and strolled in the Altstadt. It started to rain, but that could not stop us!! Back in Essen, we had dinner with Christoph Reimann (Tracey's host), and Emile and Machtheld Rijcken (Jason and Trudy's hosts).

View of the Köln Cathedral across the Rhine River:

Guten Tag!!

2010-05-18T10:01:00.000-07:00

We have arrived in Essen. On Sunday, there was a welcome reception at Christoph's home (far right). Here is the group photo with our host families.

New team member

2010-03-09T14:56:00.000-08:00

We had another planning meeting on Saturday, March 6. Unfortunately, Shandi is leaving the team because she and her husband are expecting their first child. We are so excited for them, but sorry she cannot make the trip. So we welcomed to the team, Jason Carter, who is a new media designer. He is another outstanding team member.

Preparing for the Trip and Dinner

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Saturday, January 23rd

We spent a lovely afternoon at Tracey's home in Port Orange. Our host prepared delicious lasagnas while the other team members brought skewers, salads, and lots of wine.

With Michael Buble and Norah Jones singing in the background, our team accomplished many tasks. There is defiantly a sense of excitement in the air as the date of our departure comes closer.

Our team comradery gets stronger and stronger as each meeting passes. We are all looking forward to a fulfilling experience that will last a lifetime.

Our First Encounter

2009-11-18T13:01:00.000-08:00

Cocktail Party

Saturday, November 14

Rotary Club of Palatka

The Rotary Club of Palatka was gracious enough to host the first meeting between the German inbound and outbound teams. Fun was had by all this past Saturday with live music and food. The inbound team seemed very excited to begin their journey through a new country. I think I can speak for the outbound team when I say that I believe we will be just as excited to land in Germany as they were landing in Jacksonville last Thursday.

Furthermore, we are excited to have them here in Florida and wish them the happy memories.

Welcome to our Blog!

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This blog will allow you to follow Trudy, Amy, Tracey, Sherry, and myself through our expereiences in preparation and throughout our trip to Germany. All five of us are looking forward to representing America well and insist upon comments linked to our blog.

~Shandi Anderson