Our last day in Doveren

Our last day has begun and we are nearly fit again. We have a little �sight-seeing tour� through Doveren and the surrounding towns, where we buy some gifts for our family at home.

We were in H�ckelhoven, which is known for its coal-mines. The mine �Sophia Jacoba� can be found here; it was the most modern mine in Europe from 1960 to 1997 and produced coal from 1914 till its closing in 1997.

From 1936 to 1972 a hill arose from the mining waste, next to the mine. This hill is called �Millicher Halde� and is about 70 meters high and planted with trees since 1970.

In 2008 the �Himmelsleiter� (Skyladder) was built on the hill. The �Himmelsleiter� are 400 stairs that lead from the bottom of the hill to an outlook at the top.

 

 

The sight from the outlook and from the stairs is worth the ascent

 

 

Since the area of the mine is not used anymore (except of a part that is used as a historical monument), new shops arose on the empty space over the last years.

After we have seen everything in H�ckelhoven, we went back to Doveren.

Here we visited the church: St. Dionysius. The church was built in 1771, but was destroyed in the Second World War, so that it had to be restored in 1949.

We learned that Doveren has many houses, which were built before the war and were restored instead of teared down.

We played Handball!

 The next morning we�ve learned a new kind of sport: Handball!

Handball is a very fast, dangerous and especially hard sport. This type of sport is typical for this region wherefore we directly had the courage to try it but just as a goalkeeper because we weren�t yet familiar with the rules.

Then it got serious because a regular-season game took place but we preferred to just watch it. It was an exciting game whereby our host get injured seriously. The following days we had to care for her and unfortunately she was also caught by flu epidemic which we picked up, too. At that time all of us were lying in the bed and we had time to tell about our adventures which we had experienced till now.

The landscape on the way to the handball match.

A day at school and we did a lot of work for a fantastic YouTube Channel

Today we accompanied our host to school. She took us to her classes and explained us the educational system.
She is in her final year in school, year 13 and has to do the �Abitur�, the school leaving examination, soon.
Two years ago she had to choose two school subjects as advanced courses. These courses have more lessons per week, because you have to learn more than in normal courses.

Her biology course welcomed us warmly and even took a souvenir photo with us!

It�s only one month till the last exams, the stress increases and the pupils have to learn all day.

Paul helps with Math

Hans also learns diligently: German!
Even after an exhausting day at school there is no time for relaxing, because more work for Youtube has to be done.

 visit Melinas YouTub Channel

http://www.youtube.com/user/ReadingBookChannel

and her Facebook page

http://www.facebook.com/Readingbookchannel

and get a fan of her work! ;-)

In the evening we went to the all you can eat restaurant "Grand Canyon" to relax from the stress of the day.

Our next stop is a smal German village called Doveren

Our next host, who accommodated us in the little German village Doveren, was up to her ears in work, when we arrived at her door.
She was relieved to get a break and showed us with pleasure our beds for the next days and other parts of her house.

As we entered her room, we got shocked. We saw several books, lying all over the floor, surrounding a computer with a headset. When we asked her, what has happened in this room, she just replied:� my work for Youtube!�
Our host told us that she records audio books of the books we saw on the floor and that she uploads them to Youtube. Furthermore she asked us for our help, because she wanted to start with a new audio book, but could not decide which book she should choose. After this, we also helped her to cut the recorded audio on the computer. We experienced that producing a video takes a long time and also needs much patience.

Her male hamster, named Tina, also felt happy about our visit and instantly tried to eat us.