Karate in Leeds

Germany 2007 - page 3

Wednesday was rope games day. This year Thorsten took us to a new place full of trees and wires! Some of us ran around in a demented state seeking out the best and most exciting zip wire but on every occasion we found that young Beth England had beaten us to it.

What to us was breakneck pace was just a jaunt for this energetic young woman. A couple of the group managed to get 'yellow cards' for not doing as told but all in all an excellent morning out. The most popular zip wire was that over the ravine and back and most of us went back and forward as many times as we could.

In the afternoon we all went to Clopenburg, a beautiful little town full of old world charm.

A small group took the opportunity to go swimming at a local pool with a water slide. Modesty forbids the full story but Harriet K's claim to fame came at the end of the water slide. On the way back several of us enjoyed further training with Thorsten. Another free night awaited and once again groups did their own things.

Exxon and Milk Bar

Thursday was a packed day. It was also the day of the dreaded quiz that had been carefully planned. We took the bus to Dopenburg and on the way we were issued with group numbers, group composition and the questions. Team work soon prevailed and we were off on our way just before lunch looking for answers to some of the clues.

At lunch we were joined by 3 senior executives from Exxon Mobil, the biggest gas producing plant in Germany. These very busy people formed a group learning English under the tutelage of Jacqui. They were under instruction to answer only a couple of questions from the groups but pressure from the groups forced them to answer all the questions (unfortunately incorrectly on one or two occasions!!) The meal was excellent and made even more so when our hosts explained that Exxon Mobil would be paying for the meal as we were to be revered guests of this multi national company!

Following another short stroll 1.5km we were led into the presentation room at Exxon Mobil and each of the executives delivered a short presentation outlining the history, structure and operations of Exxon. We then had a short tour of the plant. We left with gifts of Exxon Tiger key rings and as can be seen one of our colleagues David was not prepared to let his go under any circumstances!!

The next stop was a milk bar in the middle of nowhere. The coffee and cake served there was superb. We knew that Tobias knew a lot of people but we were more than surprised when he started talking to one of the girls there and later found out that she too was one of his many friends. At the milk bar, we chatted about the day and just generally chilled out. Jacqui had already counted up all the team scores from the quiz. The worthy winners were David, Yvette, Sean, Karen and Thorsten.

I have checked this out and have been reliably informed that Thorsten didn't know any of the answers! The worthy losers were me, Julie, Harriet P and David. Although we had many of the answers correct, we had made one cardinal sin - we hadn't all written them on our quiz sheet!! Our punishment was to pull the drinks cart and serve everybody continuously on the 5km walk back to the hotel. What joy that was!

In the evening we were joined by our many friends from Ganderkesee for a last meal. Without much ceremony we took the opportunity to present Thorsten's colleagues with Key Rings, Jessica with a necklace and Thorsten and Jacqui with a digital photo frame. On this night we were able to see the video from the games and the show. What a laugh that was.

Last Day

Friday came too soon. Once again, German hospitality prevailed. We were taken to a small shooting club in the town and took several turns at air pistol shooting. We later learned that the owner of the club had opened us just for us and he had paid the cost of our shooting experience.

Some more training followed and after lunch it was time to leave. For those of us who had visited Thorsten and friends many times this was a sad experience and many of the group were moved to tears when they said their goodbyes.

We had a great time. Throughout the week people made new friends and just generally enjoying themselves. The following additional pictures hopefully reflect that mood.

We are just waiting for Thorsten to contact us to prepare for our trip to New Zealand in 2009!