Saturday, July 13th: The past two days in Saarbrucken have taken us back and fourth over the Franco-German border, educating us on cross-border relations between the two countries and the importance not only of peaceful coexistence but a new friendship between the two countries and the attempts by both to foster sustainable, environmentally friendly ways of life. On Thursday morning, we went to a type of school on the border that educates students on how to live environmentally friendly and conscientions. We also took a tour of the campus, had an organic lunch, and saw the living facilities that students and educators use when they do come to that particular facility. Often, schools within the Saar region will come to the campus for a week at a time to learn about sustainability. The goal is to facilitate change through education, a grassroots effort.
Later that afternoon, we attended a workshop on job searching within a four-country region (Germany, France, Luxembourg, and the Wallonia region of Belgium). Each day over 200,000 commuters cross into at least one of the four countries to work and then live in another. This is not too different from communters living in New Hampshire or Maine and working in Boston. There are different tax codes, social security, and health care issues to navigate through, but that organization, called EURES, helps make the transition easier.
Finally, Thursday night, we drove 10 kilometers to France to have dinner in what were former World War I and World War II battlefields. I tried frog legs for the first time in my life, and yes, they tasted like chicken.
Yesterday, we toured the famed Villeroy and Bosch ceramics factory on the border and then attended the headquarters of a university system that teaches in both German and French and students spend two years learning in a university in Germany and two in France.. Again, the whole system is facinating and demonstrates how much the relationship between Germany and France has changed since World War II.
Today, we leave Saarbrücken and take a seven-hour train ride to Berlin, where we spend the final week of our trip. We will be in Berlin tonight through Monday, spend two nights in Boitzenburg, and then finish with the last three nights in Berlin
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