Day 9: yoyos

Day 9: Gerlachshausen/ Wuerzburg/ Yoyos One of the best parts of our trip is our program directors!  They are very experienced and funny.  You can tell they are friends, because they are always playing tricks on each other.  They come up with skits for us, teach us phrases to use when we go out into town, solve problems effortlessly.... all the while making us laugh.  They are Daniel, Daniella and Steven, alphabetically.   The guide for our group is Steven, patient, knowledgeable, cheerful and unflappable.  Every town seems like his hometown because he appears to have the inside scoop on everything.  All of the program directors must do their own research and come up with their own tour information.  It is fun at dinner to sit with people outside your group to hear what the other PD's have said during the day.   Daniel loves to yoyo and he carries two yoyos on his belt in specially made yoyo holders. His favorite brand is Henry, a German brand.  After a tutorial, I decided to try my hand again at yoyoing! What a blast! I can now use both hands at the same time AND I am learning the cool way to rewind the string.  I am now the proud owner of two brand new yoyos, thanks to Daniel, who found some in the town today.  Several people  indicated that they also are experienced yoyoers and were happy to show me their skills, which upon execution, appeared a little rusty, but enthusiastic none the less.  Today we toured the loveliest town, Gerlachshausen. I think this would be a wonderful place to live.  We had a delicious lunch in a local restaurant, which is the first place off the ship that we have eaten a meal.  We went to a famous Christmas shop, where we purchased the obligatory tree ornament with the town printed on it. Then we walked around the town for the afternoon, peaking in shop windows. European soccer championships are being played right now and Germany is going into the semi-final round.  Everyone here is going nuts with flags flying on cars, hanging over balconies and soccer stuff in all kinds of unlikely places like bank, pharmacy and bakery windows! I guess pictures will have to wait until I get home to add them to the blog.  My computer will not boot up and I can't load pictures to the blog from my iPad.  Smooches to everyone!