BY TIFFANY DEMELL
I am to the point in my exchange year where I am down to just one month- but rest assured Cooperstownians- I will be making themost of the time that I have left in this beautiful country and home, Germany.
I already have several things planned for my finalmonth as an exchange student.
This weekend is my school’s “Aftershow Party,” a celebration after the graduation ceremony. A good friend of mine told me that he will not allow me to leave Germany without going to Aqualand- a waterpark in Cologne, so we have made plans to visit there sometime in the next few weeks.
School is flying by, we have written all of our final exams, and at this point are watching several movies. I’ve been asked to make a typical American cake for my English class. For the past several lessons we have decided to eat cake, make waffles and enjoy other sweets during class. It is quite enjoyable!
In my geography class, (which is more like an earth science or environmental science class) we will be taking a trip to the nearby coal plant in Grevenbroich. In my education class, we are all making presentations on words given out at random, and are only allowed five to 10 minutes to prepare them. With the warm weather we have been having lately, during our pauses everyone is outside, talking, snacking and laughing. I don’t want to leave this.
Another thing that I have been involved in lately is helping out at the “Schneckenhaus” in Grevenbroich.
Translated, this means ‘Snail House,’ which is the name due to the architecture of the building. It is a wildlife refuge center, which for me, is an amazing place to be. A few weeks ago we had one-week-old bunnies.
Now we have a baby squirrel, two baby wild pigs, several baby deer, heaps of birds and some hedgehogs. One might think that little piglets couldn’t cause much trouble, but they are completely wrong. I have found that it is nearly impossible to have shoes remain tied for more than about 30 seconds when these two are awake. They love to play and get into any and everything that they can find. It is so comical to watch them. It is also a great place to meet new people. One of the workers there is interning with the World Wildlife Foundation, an organization that I would like to someday work for. There have also been several articles in the paper and reports on our news about this amazing place. The website is www.schneckenhausgv.
de, if anyone would like to check it out, and there are also several pictures on my facebook page, and I will post them to my blog as well.
I switched to my fifth host family, and am having a great time. My current host father comes from Israel, and has traveled around the world fir work and vacations. He was also my Rotary Club President up until the last week in June.
It is really an honor to be living here in his home. There is so much that I could learn from him. One month just isn’t enough time! I have come to realize now more than ever, that every day I spend here in Germany can not be taken for granted.
So I will continue to do as I have done throughout my exchange, and live every moment to its fullest and to keep learning and teaching others every day. It has really started to hit me that I will soon be back in the United States.
Several other exchange students have packed their bags and boarded their planes back to their home countries already. I am not ready for my Rotary Foreign Exchange year to come to an end. I will say this- being an exchange student has opened my mind to so many new things- new foods, new cultures, new people and a completely new way of life. What Rotary does for us is a beautiful thing, and I do believe that this- sending people, sending youth to a foreign country to learn a new language and culture is without a doubt a major step in making world peace.
TIFFANY DEMELL is a Cooperstown Rotary Exchange student who is spending the year in Germany.
Local News
LOCAL VOICES FROM AROUND THE GLOBE: The end of a beautiful year
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Caregivers and care partners play key role in getting well
According to a man who has provided support to two significant others battling cancer, there is a difference between a caregiver and a care partner. Jim Atwell, of Fly Creek, said a care partner, in some ways, shares in having the illness because that person is there for moral support, encouragement and coming up with solutions. There are no breaks, he said. A care partner is typically someone closely connected to the one needing care, he added.
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Bassett hijacks parking lots
Bassett Heathcare is trying to usurp the two village parking lots on East Lake Road near the entrance to Fairy Springs Park and has put up signs that say the lots are for Bassett Healthcare staff parking only.
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Local school budgets pass
Schools that stayed within the 2 percent tax limit seemed to get voter support. That was the case for Cooperstown Central School, Milford Central School and Cherry Valley-Springfield Central school. CCS’ proposed budget of $16,772,080 passed with a vote of 401 to 114.
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DA: C’town bullying charges adjourned
Non-criminal harassment charges lodged against five Cooperstown High School football players in connection with the alleged bullying of a teammate are being adjourned in contemplation of dismissal, Otsego County District Attorney John Muehl said.
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CCS fifth-graders finish science projects
Cooperstown fifth-graders have been hard at work learning about what scientists go through when working on a new idea. As part of a science inquiry unit, students were asked to come up with their own question of interest that could be tested.
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Award winners announced
The village of Cooperstown Historic Preservation and Architectural Review Board announced its 2010-11 Preservation Awards in a brief ceremony last week.
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Seminar focuses on pet vaccinations
Do we vaccinate our pets too much? That was the question posed Saturday at a seminar organized by the Healthy Dog Project, which is based in Cooperstown, and held at the Fenimore Art Museum.
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Cherry Valley Artworks prepares for busy season
The air inside the old Judd Foundry building at 44 Main St. is a bit cool. But who needs to spend money on heating an old building, when money for the arts is in such short supply and your mission is to produce exciting exhibits and public events that each year draw throngs of people to this wind-swept northern Otsego County village?
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’Tis the season for gardening
Next Wednesday will be a day for gardening in Cooperstown. It is the date of the annual Spring Festival at the elementary school’s Kid Garden and the start of a new initiative to involve the whole family in gardening called Growing Community. Students at all levels of the elementary school have been busy this spring starting seedlings, Kid Garden Coordinator Kristen Griger said this week.
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LOCAL VOICES FROM AROUND THE GLOBE: Traveling in Great Britain and Europe
Grüezi again! So, this past month I was extremely busy and I continue to be even busier as my departure date is just one month away. In April, my host family took me to Scotland for a week, which was incredibly generous and nice of them.
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LOCAL VOICES FROM AROUND THE GLOBE: Returning home later this month
The Ganges River is cold and sweet, at least where I swam in and tasted it. There, in theHindu holy city of Hardwar at the foot of the Himalaya, I walked amid thousands of pilgrims and spiritual seekers along the crowded streets, skirting beggars and pesky priests demanding donations.
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Event features ‘Faces Against Fracking’ contest winners
The New York Public Interest Research Group, Mayor Jeff Katz and town of Otsego board member Julie Huntsman presented some of the winners in NYPIRG’s “Faces Against Fracking” photo contest at an event at The Smithy Gallery last Thursday.
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CV-S announces valedictorian, co-Salutatorians
Cherry Valley-Springfield Central School has announced its valedictorian and co-Salutatorians for the Class of 2012, according to a media release from the school.
Continued ... - Friday, May 11, 2012
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Public hearing gives one last look at proposed budget
A handful of people gathered in the Cooperstown Middle/High School cafeteria for a public hearing on the district’s proposed budget. The district is proposing a $16,772,080 spending plan for the 2012-13 school year. Although this is a decrease of $140,907 (.83 percent), it was upped by nearly $58,000 before being adopted on April 4 by the school board.
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Six candidates vie for four seats on BOE
Tuesday marked the first time in a long while that a Meet the Candidates Night has been held for district residents to interact with those vying for seats on the Cooperstown Central School Board of Education. The gathering was a held by the League of Women Voters of the Cooperstown Area.
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Top four students named at CCS
On Sunday, June 24, 85 Cooperstown Central School seniors will put on caps and gowns to conclude one phase in their lives and prepare to embark on another.
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Not many attend Main Street meeting
Few people attended a meeting last week to learn more about a proposed project that would give Main Street a facelift. The board of trustees scheduled the town hall-style meeting in an effort to gauge public opinion about some design elements and material selections for the project.
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CCS graduate receives recognition
Cooperstown Central School graduate Phil Pohl has been shining on and off the field. He is among 10 finalist in the Lowe’s Senior Class Award, and Clemson University announced Friday that the College Sports Information Directors of America named Pohl First-Team Academic All-District IV for the second year in a row.
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Relay for Life cancer awareness event to focus on caregivers
The Cooperstown/Northern Otsego County Relay for Life is coming soon. The event, now in its 14th year, has raised more than $1 million to help the American Cancer Society create a world with less cancer and more birthdays.
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County hires firms for tax sale
Otsego County lawmakers agreed Wednesday to farm out the county’s annual auction of tax-delinquent properties to private firms already handling the same task for numerous other upstate counties.
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Caregivers and care partners play key role in getting well
