Monday Update

Hi Everyone!

I am not uploading any pictures, because they will look like all of the school ones from last week. The kids all had a good weekend and did various things with their partners and host families. I went to a museum to see an exhibit on Masks that was quite interesting.

Yesterday, was the European Parliament Election that occurs every 5 years. I went with my host family to the polling place. They vote for a party, not a particular person. The ballot was interesting because there were about 20 some political parties listed. Here is a sampling: The CDU/CSU (republicans in nature), SPD (democrats), Die Linke (the leftist party), Die Grünen (The greens or environmental party) and then the not so common ones: The over 50 party, Newropa(new europe), the Violettes, The Grays, and my all time favorite the Pirates!!! The republicans won in Germany, with the democrats second, then the leftists, the FDP and the Greens rounded out the top parties. Only 5% voted for the "other" parties. All in all it was really interesting.


In Vienna I will try to update in the evenings after we get back from the day's activities. This will probably be between 10 PM and Midnight.