stevenpiziks (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stevenpiziks) wrote2010-11-10 10:48 pm
stevenpiziks) wrote2010-11-10 10:48 pm
Chicago!
On Sunday, I got up at 5:00 a.m. to join 50 teenagers and 6 adults in boarding a bus for Chicago.
Since this is part of the German/American exchange program, everyone spoke a mixture of German and English. I flipped back and forth, depending on who I was talking to. Several of the German visiting students were surprised that I spoke German and several said my command of the language was perfect (meaning my accent was very light), which was nice to hear--I haven't been to Germany in over 20 years.
The trip in was, naturally, long--about six hours--and since the hotel wouldn't be ready for us, we headed straight for the Museum of Science and History, which is currently exhibiting German submarine 550, which was captured during WWII and gave the Allies access to an enigma machine. We were allowed to tour the inside of the sub, which was pretty cool.
Lunch was at the museum's food court, and then we boarded the bus for the Sears Tower (which isn't officially called the Sears Tower anymore since another company bought it, but no one calls it anything else).
Wee pause about the weather. It was stunning. All three days. Sunny, no wind, mid-sixties. Unusual for November and we couldn't have asked for anything more perfect.
Said weather allowed everyone a marvelous view from the top of the tower. And yes, I tried out the glass-bottom balconies. I didn't feel any vertigo while standing on "nothing" until I knelt down. Then I got a small jolt of it.
From there, we walked about fifty miles to check in at the hotel and then we walked another fifty miles downtown. The bus couldn't park anywhere in Chicago, you see, so we were on our own for transportation. I think we spent about 1/3 of the trip walking. It's quite a trick to shepherd 50 teenagers through a busy city street! Thank heavens for cell phones.
Next up was a Segway tour. For this, we split into groups of about ten. K---, the teacher who coordinated all this, asked me to chaperone a group of all boys, both German and English. Our guide taught us to use the Segways and the we whizzed off to look at different things and hear tidbits of Chicago history. It soon became apparent that for the boys it was all about riding Segways and not so much about history. They crashed into each other more often than those chariots in Ben Hur. After a near-collision with a pedestrian, I finally pulled everyone over and read them the riot act in both English and German. "You don't own the sidewalk, and you need to pay attention to the people around you," I admonished. Five seconds later, we were on our way--and two students crashed into each other. Sigh.
The Segway tour ended, and it was time for a late supper at Buca di Beppo (or something like that). Italian food served family style. A couple kids snuck out of the restaurant, and K--- and I dragged them back by their metaphorical ears.
Back at the hotel, it was lights out. Everyone was very tired, and just about everyone crashed quickly.
Morning was another walk to (eesh) McDonald's for breakfast. By now, I was spending a fair amount of time getting to know Mrs. Perchting, one of the teachers from Germany who teaches English over there and is in her second year. We got on fairly well, and I got to practice my German with an adult. So that was nice. It'll be good to see her again this summer in Stuttgart.
Breakfast was followed by the Shedd Aquarium (including a beluga whale and dolphin show) and a stop at the Field Museum and some free time for shopping. Here, I rebelled against more walking and took a taxi back to the shopping district. I wanted to visit the Lego store in the Nordstrom mall, so I did. It was kind of neat, though I was expecting something bigger. Still, I spent a big chunk of money on Christmas presents for Mackie.
I shopped some more. Bought the boys some chocolate from the Hershey store and my mother-in-law some cookies from Macy's. I lamented the closing of FAO Schwartz, because I wanted to do more Christmas shopping, and almost all the stores around me sold clothes (which I didn't want to buy without the boys). Ah well.
Supper was at Ed Debevik's, a hamburger place where the waiters insult you. ("It's just like eating in France," one of them said.)
Here, D--, one of the male German students, got very sick (not due to the food), so I took him back to the hotel in a taxi while the others went to the Hancock Tower. I made sure D--- took his meds and got into bed, and then I went back to my own hotel room. I checked on D--- from time to time, and he was improving.
Everyone eventually came back and went to bed. That night, we had some incidents to deal with, and we chaperones got very little sleep as a result. We were up until nearly 2:00 a.m.
We all yawned our way through breakfast (McD's again--argh! I opted to grab a muffin from elsewhere instead) and then toured the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which is the midwest's answer to the New York Stock Exchange. It was interesting seeing the trading floor. Then it was a bit of free time before lunch and boarding the bus for home.
On the way home, we stopped in Amish country and toured a visitor center/museum which gave the history of the Amish. It was distinctly religious and righteous in tone, and I felt . . . uncomfortable throughout. The presentations were preachy, and I finally ducked out of them.
For supper we stopped at an Amish family's home. They set up a little banquet hall and serve supper only to large groups. The menu is Haystacks. You pile a multitude of ingredients on your plate--crushed crackers, mashed potatoes, ground beef, various vegetable, even crushed tortilla chips--and pour gravy over it all. Then you eat. It sounds weird, but it tasted really good. On top of that, we had pie for dessert. Oh--and hand-kneaded bread. Very delicious. As we were waddling back to the bus, the family handed us sugar cookies. Oof!
We arrived back at the school fairly late--10-ish. Got the kids off the bus and into various cars. I drove home to relieve my mother-in-law, who was watching the boys.
It was a good trip, overall!
Since this is part of the German/American exchange program, everyone spoke a mixture of German and English. I flipped back and forth, depending on who I was talking to. Several of the German visiting students were surprised that I spoke German and several said my command of the language was perfect (meaning my accent was very light), which was nice to hear--I haven't been to Germany in over 20 years.
The trip in was, naturally, long--about six hours--and since the hotel wouldn't be ready for us, we headed straight for the Museum of Science and History, which is currently exhibiting German submarine 550, which was captured during WWII and gave the Allies access to an enigma machine. We were allowed to tour the inside of the sub, which was pretty cool.
Lunch was at the museum's food court, and then we boarded the bus for the Sears Tower (which isn't officially called the Sears Tower anymore since another company bought it, but no one calls it anything else).
Wee pause about the weather. It was stunning. All three days. Sunny, no wind, mid-sixties. Unusual for November and we couldn't have asked for anything more perfect.
Said weather allowed everyone a marvelous view from the top of the tower. And yes, I tried out the glass-bottom balconies. I didn't feel any vertigo while standing on "nothing" until I knelt down. Then I got a small jolt of it.
From there, we walked about fifty miles to check in at the hotel and then we walked another fifty miles downtown. The bus couldn't park anywhere in Chicago, you see, so we were on our own for transportation. I think we spent about 1/3 of the trip walking. It's quite a trick to shepherd 50 teenagers through a busy city street! Thank heavens for cell phones.
Next up was a Segway tour. For this, we split into groups of about ten. K---, the teacher who coordinated all this, asked me to chaperone a group of all boys, both German and English. Our guide taught us to use the Segways and the we whizzed off to look at different things and hear tidbits of Chicago history. It soon became apparent that for the boys it was all about riding Segways and not so much about history. They crashed into each other more often than those chariots in Ben Hur. After a near-collision with a pedestrian, I finally pulled everyone over and read them the riot act in both English and German. "You don't own the sidewalk, and you need to pay attention to the people around you," I admonished. Five seconds later, we were on our way--and two students crashed into each other. Sigh.
The Segway tour ended, and it was time for a late supper at Buca di Beppo (or something like that). Italian food served family style. A couple kids snuck out of the restaurant, and K--- and I dragged them back by their metaphorical ears.
Back at the hotel, it was lights out. Everyone was very tired, and just about everyone crashed quickly.
Morning was another walk to (eesh) McDonald's for breakfast. By now, I was spending a fair amount of time getting to know Mrs. Perchting, one of the teachers from Germany who teaches English over there and is in her second year. We got on fairly well, and I got to practice my German with an adult. So that was nice. It'll be good to see her again this summer in Stuttgart.
Breakfast was followed by the Shedd Aquarium (including a beluga whale and dolphin show) and a stop at the Field Museum and some free time for shopping. Here, I rebelled against more walking and took a taxi back to the shopping district. I wanted to visit the Lego store in the Nordstrom mall, so I did. It was kind of neat, though I was expecting something bigger. Still, I spent a big chunk of money on Christmas presents for Mackie.
I shopped some more. Bought the boys some chocolate from the Hershey store and my mother-in-law some cookies from Macy's. I lamented the closing of FAO Schwartz, because I wanted to do more Christmas shopping, and almost all the stores around me sold clothes (which I didn't want to buy without the boys). Ah well.
Supper was at Ed Debevik's, a hamburger place where the waiters insult you. ("It's just like eating in France," one of them said.)
Here, D--, one of the male German students, got very sick (not due to the food), so I took him back to the hotel in a taxi while the others went to the Hancock Tower. I made sure D--- took his meds and got into bed, and then I went back to my own hotel room. I checked on D--- from time to time, and he was improving.
Everyone eventually came back and went to bed. That night, we had some incidents to deal with, and we chaperones got very little sleep as a result. We were up until nearly 2:00 a.m.
We all yawned our way through breakfast (McD's again--argh! I opted to grab a muffin from elsewhere instead) and then toured the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which is the midwest's answer to the New York Stock Exchange. It was interesting seeing the trading floor. Then it was a bit of free time before lunch and boarding the bus for home.
On the way home, we stopped in Amish country and toured a visitor center/museum which gave the history of the Amish. It was distinctly religious and righteous in tone, and I felt . . . uncomfortable throughout. The presentations were preachy, and I finally ducked out of them.
For supper we stopped at an Amish family's home. They set up a little banquet hall and serve supper only to large groups. The menu is Haystacks. You pile a multitude of ingredients on your plate--crushed crackers, mashed potatoes, ground beef, various vegetable, even crushed tortilla chips--and pour gravy over it all. Then you eat. It sounds weird, but it tasted really good. On top of that, we had pie for dessert. Oh--and hand-kneaded bread. Very delicious. As we were waddling back to the bus, the family handed us sugar cookies. Oof!
We arrived back at the school fairly late--10-ish. Got the kids off the bus and into various cars. I drove home to relieve my mother-in-law, who was watching the boys.
It was a good trip, overall!