FROschTOsch

by Rudi Floren (BvA)

Recently, German politicians decided to shut down all nuclear power plants until 2022. 7 of our oldest reactors are brought down now. The rest will follow between 2015 and 2022.

The whole story started as the dramatic catastrophe in Japan happened. Many German activists saw new ways to enforce their sakes. The problem was, no-one knew how the hole in the Germans’ energy need should be filled. The first answer was: renewable energies.

But how? To fill the hole we have to invest a lot of money to build wind or water turbines. Or rather solar pannels? All these techniques are not yet as efficient as nuclear power.

The other problem is that the more effective off-shore wind turbines are only buildable in the north of Germany. But the energy network is not  extended enough from the north of Germany to the south. We have to build 3600 km of new power lines. This is very expensive.

A new problem is that these power lines don’t pop up out of the ground in one second. It is a process. As long as we don’t upgrade the equipment we are dependent on energy from our neighbours.

But is that the solution?
France produces a lot more energy by nuclear power. Some reactors are placed near our border, in the middle of an earthquake region.

And Romania has built a new nuclear power plant …… yes, .. in the middle of an earthquake region.
Some of the German nuclear power plants were safer than those earthquake endangered reactors!!!

It is a vicious circle. We want to get rid of nuclear power because of its risks, but now the risk is – in some ways in the next years – higher than before.

We will see what the future will bring.

by Julita Kowalów, Karolina Krukowska, Magdalena Mańkowska, Katarzyna Sielaczek (LOG)

Sport is one of the most famous way of spending free time in our school. It’s very important for young people’s health and mental condition.

Our students take part in many competitions and they attend many extra ordinary lessons after school. They devote their time for improving their sport skills. Also our teachers commit themselves to training pupils.

We have 3 school representations: volleyball team, football team and basketball team. They achieve many successes in regional competitions. Our biggest achievement is the fact that we have been champions in our region for 7 years in volleyball and basketball as well.

We are proud of our sportsmen and we wish them more and more success.

by Julita Kowalów, Karolina Krukowska, Magdalena Mańkowska, Katarzyna Sielaczek (LOG)

Euro 2012 is  organised in Poland for the first time. As we all know it’s associated with many changes and improvements in our country’s infrastructure.  It’s  a great opportunity to promote our country in the world. It is  also a great entertainment for football supporters.

The sports stadiums are being built in Gdańsk, Warsaw, Poznań and Wrocław. These buildings were designed not only for sports competitions but for other kind of entertainment like concerts or shows. We also started to renovate our railway stations and airports. For example we built a new terminal in Łódź and we are building many motorways.

Euro 2012 is a chance to cooperate with neighbouring countries mainly  Ukraine. Poland and Ukraine are planning to organize  the final together. During the sport event in our country there will be about 3500 journalists who will be reporting championship for millions of people all over the world. Communication network area’s preparation are connected with cooperation with Ukraine, therefore it is a task  which must be mastered together.

On the other hand, it is a big responsibility to cope with such a duty. There are some complications with infrastructure. There are some delays, the motorways may not be built in time. Chinese consortium which is building motorways in Poland doesn’t  pay Polish subcontractors on time so they went on strike. Problems are also appearing in roads’ investments and building of National Stadium. The disparity between official work plan  and actual situation is 16 per cent. But authorities think that these problems won’t disturb in completing the task on time.

There are 361 days left to the Europe Championship and despite of some complications we hope that everything will be successful.

by Frauke Brecko and Ailish Eickhorn (BvA)

In April 2011 the attention of the world was focused on Japan. 25 years after Tschernobyl, another power plant catastrophe occured in Fukushima, Japan, because of a tsunami in combination with an earthquake.

For weeks the news were dominated by new reports from the nuclear power plant. The operator company TEPCO and the Japanese government gave many contradictory statements and annuled them again concerning the dimension of the catastrophe.

In Germany this catastrophe broke loose a heated discussion about energy politics. Not long ago the German government had decided in favour of a lifetime extention for the German nuclear plants.

The people in Germany are quite concerned about nuclear energy as is proven in the election results in Baden-Württemberg and Rheinland-Pfalz. The Green Party had the highest voting results in their history.

These days German politicians discuss to reinstall the older version of energy politics which included a sooner withdrawal from the nuclear energy programme and greater sponsorship in alternative energies.

But Germany, Austria and Switzerland are the only European countries which decided to withdraw from the risky technology of nuclear energy. Also countries which just have the financial opportunities to afford nuclear power plants now try to gain profit from it. Therefore they conceal the dangers of nuclear energy.

This is the case, for example, in Belarus and Czechia where people still suffer the most from nuclear radiation. Only some people try to give the majority of the population an idea of the dangers.

In Germany at least, the catastrophe in Japan, which cost again many lives, exert  influence on politics. It is not forseeable yet in which dimension, but it happens.

by Linnéa Tölle and Nina Weber (BvA)

When we arrived at our hostel, a great breakfast buffet was waiting for us. A large table, full of different things, as if we were royals. Even the room in which the table stood had a charme like a royal palace. That showed us how important hospitality is in Poland. We were quite surprised about it because it was the first time that we saw such hospitality. The mayor’s wife, who is very friendly and polite, accommodated us very well. Every morning we got such a great breakfast and it’s obvious that we felt very well because of the good start in the morning.

Politeness and good manners are really important to Polish people. They showed it to us in different ways, for example at the bonfire, which took place on Sunday, where the Polish people gave us dishes for eating without us having to ask for them.

When we were visiting the school in Gostynin, which is older than 100 years, some of us went upstairs, finding the music and art room and suddenly singing came out of the room. Straight away boys brought us chairs, so that we could sit and listen to the beautiful voices of the Polish students. That showed us the difference between German and Polish students. The German students would have stopped singing straight away and no thought would have come to their mind to bring us chairs.

All in all, we can sum up briefly that the Polish people are very polite and friendly and we had a very interesting and good time with them in Poland.

by Martin Piechullik and Jill de Clerque (BvA)

Płock is a city in central Poland. It was the capital city of Poland during their reign from 1079 till 1138. Płock is a city full of history, a place where you can see century-old tradition and history of state and the nation. The most important church of Płock was built in the beginning of 20^th century. It is called “Temple of Mercy and Charity “. It is located on a steep, high hill called Wzgorze Tumskie situated above the bank of the  river Vistula (German: Weichsel). This impressive, monumental building was reconstructed many times. There are relics of the following architectural periods: Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance and Classicism. Documented historical sources present Płock as a significant, dynamic centre of politics, culture and art.

When the Polish and German students visited the city of Płock, we first walked at the market square. After walking a while  though Płock we were standing in front of the church of  Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Płock .We had a guide who showed us the treasury of the relies of the church. After that we visited the church inside and were able to see the coffin of Bolesław Krzywousty who was buried there in the 14^th century. When the guiding tour was finished,  we moved to the river Vistula. There we had a great view over the city.

The bus took us from the river Vistula to the shopping centers of Płock where we had time for shopping and to have some food. The shopping centers where  as big as those in Germany. After two hours we were taken back to our hotel by the bus.

All in all, Płock is a small old history town which was very interesting to visit.

 by Niklas Altgen (BvA)

It’s the year 2006, summer, Germany. The whole world was looking to my country. One huge event took place in the summer of 2006 in Germany: the FIFA World Championship. An event, when the whole world was looking onto Germany for a month. A world championship always has a political implication somehow. What I mean is the patriotism that you feel especially at this time. More than in “normal” times. When your country is playing, you walk around covered all over with flags tattoos or face paintings in your national colours. Usually, nearly everyone has got a flag in his window or these funny flags for the outside mirrors of his car.

Well, that’s what it is like in most of the countries, which take part in the tournament. But not in Germany. For many years it wasn’t acceptable for many Germans to show such big patriotism, because of our history. This has changed with the 2006 World Championship. Germany was a complete black-red-gold country for a whole month. Everyone was proud to show “See, I’m German and love my country.”. I mean, why shouldn’t it be okay as a German to show, that you’re proud to be German? Every time I’m in England, I can see lots and lots of English flags or the “Union Jack” in the windows, even when there is not any kind of tournament.

And I think that is okay. You should be proud of being what you are and you should be able to show it, without having a guilty conscience. You don’t do anything wrong or forbidden, do you? I’ve seen every single match of the German team on the public viewing screen in the park with thousands of other fans. Everywhere, virtually on every single square centimetre of the park, you could see flags. Not just German flags, also English, Polish or Argentinean flags, depending on what country our opponent in the match was. This was an absolutely gorgeous and overwhelming atmosphere. We were partying peacefully together with the other fans and had so much fun. No one had problems with the patriotism of other nationalities.

Nowadays, that should be normal. Even for us Germans with the load of our history. You see, the thing with history is, that it is history. We are living now and shouldn’t let us control by our history for all times. That’s why I think that it is totally correct and acceptable, that even we Germans may show our love for our country.

In this sense, we are allowed to say:

I love England

Kocham Polska

Ich liebe Deutschland

by Philip Kulej (BvA)

From the 8^th up to 13^th June the German Comenius group of Langenfeld had a visit to their partner city Gostynin in Poland. When we arrived at the hostel in Gostynin, I went towards my room.

But after  ten minutes, Mrs. Arnold called me and asked me to come down to her and Mrs. Śniecikowska – she is the wife of the major of Gostynin and our hostel leader.

Because my whole family is from Poland I know this language and could help to translate a few things at the morning for example when the breakfast should start. After our breakfast we went to the school, the Liceum Tadeusza Kościuszki in Gostynin and had there a German-Polish guide who showed us the school. I understood  everything the Polish students talked about  us .

On the trips to Plock, Torun and the old town of Warsaw, the Polish students got to know me better and were surprised when they heard I can speak Polish. So sometimes I had to translate  between the German and Polish students when they had problems to communicate in English.

One afternoon Mrs Arnold, Martin and I met  the mayor and his wife at the hotel by coincident and had a difficult conversation about the Polish and German school system. The conversation was very intensive and long. So I had sometimes difficulties to translate things but Martin can speak Polish too, so we helped each other and had a successful conversation.

At our last breakfast in the hotel we had a special guest, the mayor Mr. Włodzimierz Śniecikowski,  who talked to  us about the history of Gostynin  and other things. All in all my  unexpected translator job in Poland was very exciting and was a lot of fun.

by Oliver Flaskamp, (BVA) 

Wednesday, 17^th, 6 o’clock at Düsseldorf Airport. 

Eighteen tired German students from the BvA met in front of the baggage check-in. The two teachers Mrs. Arnold and Mrs. Ehl gave their last instructions for the flight and so twenty German people checked in for the direct flight to Birmingham Airport in GB.

Why did these people fly to Birmingham? The Comenius Project is a gathering of different schools from different countries.  Participating in Kington were the German Bettine-von-Arnim-Gesamtschule, Langenfeld, the Polish Lyceé, Gostynin and our hosts, the British Lady Hawkins School in Kington.

So at 7.30 we, the German students and teachers, were flying to the people who drive on the left side of the road and to the homeland of rain .

At Birmingham Airport the travellers had to change to a bus for our journey to Kington, a little town near the border to Wales.  Most of us wanted to take a nap, but our bus driver was not paying attention to the tired Germans who wanted to sleep in the little bus. Instead he drove on the winding country roads like a Rally-driver.

After a two-hour-bus journey we arrived at the hostel in Kington and carried the baggage in. Then twenty German visitors had a walk through Kington to the Lady Hawkins School. In the school we ate a very good lunch for only £1.40.

In the evening the boys and girls who stayed with a host family went with the English students to their homes.  The others went to the hostel in Kington. All Germans were very tired and went to bed at 8 o’clock.

Thursday, 18^th 

In the hostel we had an “English toast” for breakfast and went to school afterwards. We could choose our lessons at school. I sat in chemistry with the teacher teaching – in English, of course – about plastic compounds. But the teacher didn’t use the board and chalk. Each classroom has a beamer and an interactive board. The equipment is very modern in the English school and I am envious of that modern equipment, I admit.

In the evening we drove to Leominster with little buses (very fast again!). In the “Grove” we played bowling. It was a good evening activity to mix with the other delegations.

Friday, 19^th 

Friday morning the Germans, the Polish group, and some English students went on a trip to Birmingham. We visited the “think-tank”, a learning-by-doing museum. A lot of Germans had a lot of fun in the playground with building bricks and such things .

In the afternoon we were set free to go shopping. A lot of pounds were spent at “Primark”, a cheap but very good shopping centre. Contented about the day, we came back to Kington and went to bed.

 Saturday, 20^th 

On this Saturday the Comenius group went to a special classroom. The High School in Kington has an “Eco-Classroom”. This room is an energy-efficient classroom, with solar collectors on its roof and everything is natural.

In this room the project group had the chance to listen to the online-editor of a local newspaper, the Herefordshire Times.

In the evening we had a trip to a cinema to watch the newest Harry Potter Film: “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows”. It was a wonderful small cinema.

 Sunday 21^st 

The German and the Polish groups were in Cardiff, the capital of Wales. We visited the national museum “Saint Faggans’ ”, an open-air museum. Some students looked around in this big museum park, but it was very cold and rainy. So most of us needed a cup of coffee or a cup of tea in the Welsh café of the museum.

In the afternoon we went to Cardiff City, where all students ran to the big shops like Apple, Hollister and Primark, or visited the big Christmas Market. The students spent lots of money at the British shops, and returned to the bus with very, very big shopping bags.

 Monday 22^th

On Monday we got a vivid lesson about Welsh history in the mine “Big Pit”. Our teacher was a former mine worker.  He explained to us that children had to work at this mine in the past. The galleries were very low so that some of us almost had to crawl. It was very astonishing to see what went on in this mine in the past. The workers had horses down there to pull the carts full of coal.

It was the last evening in GB, so we all had a dinner together in a restaurant and finally we had to pack our bags.  

Tuesday 23^rd 

Our last day in Great Britain! We said goodbye to our hosts in Kington and once again had a journey to Birmingham. The Polish group had their flight at 12 o’clock, so our bus stopped at Birmingham Airport at 10 o’clock. We took our bags to the airport and went to a train that brought us to Birmingham City again. We looked at our last pounds and went shopping, some sat in Starbucks or MacDonalds for hours. At 7 in the evening we flew back home, to Germany

by Sarah Fischer (BvA)

 “At last! We’re in Kington.”  That’s what all of us- the 20 travelers- thought so full of anticipation and exhaustion when we finally had finished our long travel and alighted from the bus that had taken us there. Those of us who were accommodated in the hostel were relaxed and calm, but the others, who would live in host families during our one-week-stay, became very excited. The excitement went so sky high because in this moment we realized what was happening. I was one of them, full of nervousness to meet the host family I would be living with and worries if the family and especially my host sister would like me and if everything would work well.  Those worries were without any reason, I can say in retrospect, because I had a wonderful and eventful week, which I would always like to relive. My “everyday life” in an English family for one week, the impressions I got and the experiences I made, I will describe in this article.

I got to know my host family- the Williams’- and my home for the following week only a few hours later and when I eventually stepped over the door sill of a small, cute, typically English house, all of my worries and the tension disappeared. They gave me a warm welcome and I was greeted with a dinner where we had our first conversations around the dinner table. So I could collapse into bed relieved and dropped off to sleep- as early as never before: at half past 7. For anything else I still had 6 days left.

On the following morning I was full of motivation again, and wanted to catch up on everything I had missed the evening before. But my first shocked thought in this morning was: “Where in the world am I?” when a friendly voice woke me up with the words: “Sarah! You have to get up! It’s half past seven!” ”What?!  English? “, I asked myself for a second. But then I looked around in the small pink-coloured room I lay in and I finally realized where I was and why I was there: I was in Kington! I almost said it loudly. The 12 hours of deep sleep left marks, I think. I was dazed with sleep and I was a bit confused. But I got up and walked downstairs into the kitchen where the breakfast table was already set, as every morning. There was nothing left to be desired- from a standpoint of an Englishman. After 4 days my host family finally could convince me and I tried baked beans very hesitantly. They told me I couldn’t fly back to Germany without having tried this …it wasn’t as bad as I had expected, but I still prefer “Brötchen”

At breakfast my host family and I had the chance to get to know each other better and to have a little chat – in English of course. And I have to admit that I worried too much at the beginning. I actually was surprised how much I understood – I almost understood everything I was asked or told, but I hesitated to answer nevertheless because I didn’t want to make a mistake. I tried to remember my English lesson: When do I have to use which tense? – I had no idea. simple past? Or do I have to use present perfect now – or past perfect? Did they understand me?  What about a German accent…do I have one? Does it matter? Those worries were always on my mind – at least till the middle of the week. Then I tried to forget about all that and just tried to express my ideas. I was more relaxed, but still a little bit embarrassed, I have to say.

 When I strolled through charming small Kington with my host sister Holly in her school uniform –a pleated skirt, a white blouse and knee highs- we got the opportunity to make a conversation without many people around us and without all the excitement. So both of us felt more and more at ease and communicative, after a real silent start. But from day to day we got to know each other much better and soon both of us weren’t as shy as at the beginning anymore So particularly with her I connect fantastic memories of my time in Kington: On trips with the whole group to Cardiff, Birmingham or different Welsh museums and also the hours at Lady Hawkins’ School, where she showed me her everyday school life. And in the evenings we mostly sat together with the rest of the family in the living room and watched a DVD or just listened to music and talked about the day alone in her pink-coloured room that we shared. There are too many great memories to list them all.

All in all: It was an awesome week I spent there. I did not only make new experiences, got to know a lot about the English culture and everyday life or discovered differences and similarities to Germany…I also met a wonderful family who always treated me well, I had lots of fun with and I would always like to meet again. I would like to thank them from the bottom of my heart.