Wednesday 6/19

After our action-packed day trip to Bremen and Bremerhaven yesterday, today we stayed home in Löningen. But home doesn’t mean ho-hum! We spent the school day attending classes, and then met at the kinotechnik museum, home to a massive collection of old movie cameras and projectors acquired by a late native of Löningen. A giant thunderstorm on the way couldn’t stop our intrepid travelers, who sheltered under a bridge troll-style until a kindly German host mom picked them up and drove them the final mile into town. Once we’d all arrived safely, our tour guide, Michael, who came all the way from Essen just for our tour, taught us about the machines and the history of motion pictures. Favorite tidbits: the German word for a flip book (the first “motion picture”) is daumenkino, which translates as “thumb cinema,” and the premiere of the 1988 blockbuster Who FramedRoger Rabbit was held in a living room in Löningen. It may be a little town, but it’s a big deal. After the Kinomuseum, the American students had fun hanging out with their German hosts for the evening. And the American teachers also had fun hanging out with their German hosts, at a very German event: spargelbuffet! It’s all asparagus everything and it was delicious. Herr Mogen sagt, “Spargel ist lecker!”

~ Frau Marshall