hi everyone, we are now at Ines Herrmanns, nr Magdeburg, (Ashersleben just south and then a little village called Klein Schierstedt . This is the second trainee we are visiting, and it says a lot for the Agricultural Exchanage programme we have been involved with. Everyone is so welcoming, and kind in putting us up in beds and giving us breakfast etc...we are very appreciative of it all and it is fantastic to meet the German people in their homes and villages.We are now in what was once East Germany, and it is more open and agricultural than the west. there are less trees and less villages and more ceral crops.Yesterday we did our first camp , it was in the Harz area, where there are lots of walking trails and forest, but its not like our bush, its all planted and managed, and the walking trails are wide and gravel and some even had lights onthem!!, And the funny thing is the walkers are all oldies, with those flash ski pole looking walking sticks, its hilarious.The camping ground cost about 55 dollars for the night, and only provided a shower block and toilets a little further away. You have to pay for the shower ($1 dollar) , but there are basins, for washing your dishes, but no plug for washing yourself or shaving! The ground was soft though, and although it poured, none of us got went, and we had a reasonable nights sleep. We went and saw a cave yesterday, and like most tours in germany, it was all in german, but the guide very kindly translated bits for us. the cave was 5 million yr old and they had found tools of the neantherals (early humans, about 60,000 yr ago), very interesting, and the cave although it had no stagmites etc, was eerie and cold, and you could imagine people living in there in winter.On the way up we saw a huge snail on the ground. we have seen orange slugs here and big black ones. they look like they could consume a cabbage in one gulp! Before we arrived in the Harz we spent, three days in a camping ground in heidi park and really enjoyed it all, the kids loved the theme park, and went on all the rides possible i think, nicola and stu did the desert race, which was the very fast rolller-coaster that shot out of the blocks like a cannon. Stu did the Colossus, which is the steepest wooden rail roller coaster in the world and went at 120ks an hr! I did the loop to loop, which was the standard rolller coaster, that was enough for me. Tim wasn't old enough to do the other too, otherwise he wouldhave gone with stu. he was pretty accepting of it though and didn't want to break the rules.we stayed there from 9 to 5, and everyone was suitably exhausted! a lot of walking as well as having fun. there were heaps of teenagers there, but by arriving early we managed to do a lot of the big rides before lunch-time and thus beat a lot of queues. We have two cracker photos of us going down the water rides, everyone looking very scared and surprised.well, i will send this off. hope you are all well and i will try to update the blog today too, but there is no guarantee we will be able to use this laptop at this place. chuse, bye for now, lots of love, sue, stu, nicola, tim and isabel.ps the village we are now in is celebrating its annual, shooting festival, which is probably more about drinking beer and having a good time than the shooting, last night we went to the choir singing in the church, and then it was down to the little community hall to have a beer and barbecue sauage etc....the handles were huge, but i managed to get a small one.tonight, there will be a band and lots of dancing, and then on sunday, at 8 oclock, the big shooting contest, the winner hasto shout the drinks for the weekend for everyone, and gets badges and medals i think. there will be a street march and a bit of ompa pa music! so think of us, enjoying our german festival this weekend! i We had a great time in Germany - the main part of the festival in the village of Klein Schindist,was held on Sunday. Although they had a party each night since Friday, with lots of food and drink available, at fairly reasonable prices. it is the local fundraising for the community.On sunday, after a hard night's drinking on saturday, although stu and i manage to get to bed early at 10.30pm, (some were awake till 4am), a brass band starts playing, guns are fired (the fallen are remembered - like anzac day) and the people walk around the town with music and beers at each place to pick up the shooters for the festival. Stu joined in, and had some fun, even managed to get in a photo in the local newspaper.The band played most of the day and eventually the kids and i joined up with them all at the community hall, which was decked out with benches and tables and one indoor table set for all the shooters. It was only five minutes walk from Ines's place.Shooting took place in the basement , and Stu took part, doing a practice shoot and then three shots. You shoot onto a card, which you get to keep. Luckily stu did not get in the final five, if you win, you have to come back to germany, that part is serious. We managed to get away from the party at 5pm, before we dissolved into a beer. Ines, father came home and soon afterwards fell asleep on the kitchen couch. the next day, was very slow for everyone, but we did visit the Aschersleben, the city nr the village, parts of it were built in the 12th century, it was very interesting walking around the city and through the parks with their stone bridges and cobbled pathways.We also visited the farm and Frank, Ines's brother showed us around, they grow 15 ha of majorham. Petra, ines, mum helps with this. They have a big processing plant now and market it themselves in 10kg bags.We ate a lot of meat here, mainly pork; sauauges and steak, and some chicken. We were thoroughly spoilt was guests in the village, staying with the lady nextdoor, who just loved children and picked Isabel up and squeezed her like a doll! She decorated the breakfast table with yoghurts, cereals, snack bars, fruit, boiled eggs, and processed meats, cheese etc..it was almost too much! Having been here one day, we feel like Denmark is like NZ, the houses are on the farms, not in villages like in Germany, the food is more similar to what we eat, meat, potatoes and greens. And there are less cars on the roads - in germany there are 80 million people, in denmark there are 5 million people! the freeway is only two lanes instead of three or four!It was quite scary going through the big cities like hamburg, even though you were on the motorway, there were many different choices and if you took the wrong lane , you ended up in the wrong direction! we went through aat least a 2k tunnel....right under the harbour. Hamburg is the biggest german port.