Our 7^th day

In the early morning – at 5 o’clock – Nick, Selin and Omar already woke up. A little later then Bljeon and Sina woke up, too. Not to be bored, we played our favourite game: “truth, duty or consumption”.  At 8:30 a.m. we had to leave our hostel rooms. We washed ourselves and cleaned our teeth, pulled off our sheets and pillowcases and packed our bags. After we had finished we parked the suitcase in the luggage room and went to the breakfast room. For breakfast we could select among cereal, toast and jam, butter and various drinks. Of course, all children took “cornflakes”. Because Marlon didn’t get enough, he took an extra toast. After  breakfast we took the tube to Green Park Station. From there we went to Buckingham Palace. There we wanted to see the changing of the guards of the British Queen Elizabeth II. When the ceremony was over we walked to the Thames and London’s various attractions: we had a look at Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, London Eye and Trafalgar Square with  Admiral Nelson on the tall pillar. After the long walk we were very hungry and looked for a nice restaurant but none was really OK for us. So we walked and walked and …  around Charing Cross Station we found a nice restaurant for us:” Mc Donald’s “. There we could order the “large menu” because we still had a long day ahead. Again it was very tasty. After all had finished we had to go back to the hostel to pick up our suitcases. But before we went to the Backpacker’s we had to go into one of these important shops: into a souvenir shop – to buy some gifts.
Then we took the “tube” and the Stansted Express to the airport. Previously there was some trouble because someone had forgotten his tube ticket. Thanks to Mrs. Broska she had found the ticket.
At the airport we had to check in and then we had to pass the security. There some of our hand luggage was extra checked because we had some suspicious things in them (scissors, a metal bottle, etc) but finally we could pass.
Then we had to wait long for the departure. There was a delay of almost one hour. So we waited with the other passengers in a queue at the check-in counter and killed the time on chatting, playing and eating nice sandwiches. At 19:30 p.m. we could enter the plane.
At 10:30 p.m. we arrived at Schönefeld Airport. Our parents were waiting and received us with a big “hello”. Finally, we made a last photo of our Comenius group.
“During our last seven days we have experienced so much, that the trip seemed much much longer,” was Gesine’s conclusion.

Selin and Sina

Our 6^th day

We got up at 7 o’clock a.m. and packed the rest of our things. As usual we had breakfast at 8 o’clock. At 9 o’clock the coach fetched us and took us to Ferryhill. There we visited the assembly of Broom Cottages Primary. The pupils sang a lot of English and even a German song for us. The headmaster spoke about the Comenius project, the good team work and said thank you for our visit. We even got certificates about our stay at Moor House Adventure Centre. When we left all of them waved good bye.

Punctually at 11:44 our train left Durham. Our trip to London took three hours.  When we had arrived King’s Cross we went by tube to our hostel. It was near by Piccadilly Circus. There we checked in and left our bags in our rooms. Then we had lunch at Mc Donald’s, we enjoyed a delicious meal!! Afterwards we went to the Victoria Palace Theatre to watch the musical “Billy Elliot”. It was very difficult to understand what they said and sang, but nevertheless it was very funny. The most fantastic thing was that such a lot of kids were acting, dancing and singing in the show. After the performance we went back to Piccadilly Circus and had a stroll around there, eating ice cream and watching the London night life. It was very late now and we went back to the hostel. It was an exhausting but also a very exciting day.

Bljeon and Marcel

Our 5^th day

This morning we had a delicious breakfast, toast with butter and jam and muesli.

Afterwards we went climbing and abseiling, orienteering with GPS or had Tobaggan runs.

And what do you think was there for lunch?? You are right: sandwiches with ham and cheese, an apple, crisps, Kit Kat and a bottle of water.

After we had eaten these delicacies a coach took us to the beach near Sunderland and South Shields. We had a lot of fun there: We stepped into the water (it was very cold!), dug in the sand, collected shells, pieces of glass and beautiful stones, played ball or hung around. The sunny and warm weather made it really possible!!

For dinner we had fish and chips, chicken nuggets or sausage, the chips were not so delicious!

At 5 o’clock p.m. the bus took us to a huge shopping centre in Newcastle ( some time ago it was the largest shopping centre in Europe!) There were all sorts of shops and there was a lot to see. In one of the shops we could at least surf the internet. And we bought a lot of nice things!!

At 8 o’clock p.m. the bus took us back to Durham. Now we had to clean our rooms and to pack our bags, because of our early departure the next morning. It is intended to join the assembly at Broom Cottages Primary at 9:30 a.m. And at 11:30 a small bus will take us to Durham station for the train to London.

Nick and Rocco

Our 4^th day

This morning we woke up at 7:30  and Selin said, “Happy Birthday, Gesine.”It was Gesine’s birthday!!! We got up and Gesine opened her first present. There were a friendship bracelet and a lot of lollies.

Everything was prepared for a nice birthday breakfast: garlands, flowers and a beautiful birthday card. After breakfast we played outside together with our English friends. Then our teachers told us to get ready for our trip to York. We packed our bags and fetched the packed lunches. In each of them there were a bottle of water, an apple, two sandwiches, Kit Kat, and a small bag of crisps at one’s own choice. When we pulled out the coach was full of kids. We listened to music and had a lot of fun .

It took us 1 1/2 hours to York. After we had arrived everybody was in a hurry to go to the loo. Bljeon was not OK, he was sick. Our first destination was the Viking Museum. There we learned a lot of details

about the life of the Vikings. On little cable cars we went through a copied Viking village. It was amazing, everything seemed so real. There were surprisingly realistic men, they were moving and even looking at us. After our visit at the museum we had lunch in a nearby park. While we were eating hundreds of pigeons landed next to us.

We tried to shoo them away, but it didn’t really work. After the lunch break we got on a ship and had a trip on the river Ouse to learn interesting facts about York and to have a different sight of the city

from the water side. Afterwards we went to a fountain in the middle of York. Now we had  two hours free time. We made the appointment to go shopping in small groups and to meet again at the fountain. Just in time at 6 o’clock we met and went to a restaurant named “Russel’s”. There we had a typical British meal: several sorts of meat (turkey,roast beef, pork or chicken), Yorkshire pudding, vegetables, salad and for desert ice cream, cake or pudding. The English  and the Svedish kids had a lot of fun taking Marlon’s cap and putting it on their heads. After  dinner the coach took us back to Moorhouse Adventure Camp. The last event for today was our birthday song for Gesine. She got a birthday cake with burning candles on it. This birthday cake was sort of a late meal. Towards 10:30 p.m. we went to bed.

Selin and Sina

Our 3^rd day
Today we woke up at 7:00 o’clock and had breakfast at 8:00 o’clock.
Later we had a meeting and were divided into groups. Afterwards these groups went to their stations and began to do various activities: frisbee golf, archery and team games. The archery was great.
Then we had “lunch”: sandwiches with egg or ham and lots of crisps. Then we took a bus to Durham for sightseeing. We visited a very old cathedral where some scenes of Harry Potter were filmed. Then we went shopping. At 17:30 o’clock we went to a great Chinese restaurant where we could pick us lots of nice food at a huge buffet – we could eat what we wanted. Great! Everything tasted very good.
After this fantastic meal we were taken to  Broom Cottages Primary by bus to take part in a super disco, which was organized for us. There we danced and enjoyed ourselves until the “the boots were burning”.
And now – quite late – we are back and writing our daily text.
Omar and Marlon