Back from Germany!!

We got back to Ballyvaughan this morning around three, after a few days in Berlin. It was loads of fun, but really exhausting! I will definitely post pictures, stories, etc... only I feel like I should get caught up with everything else, or I'll get confused and forget things. So be patient :D

Until then, one story from Germany. It happened yesterday evening, as we were getting on the bus to the airport. It was a bus provided for us by the travel agency. The driver pulled up outside the hotel (along the street, by the little driveway into the parkinglot/courtyard). Most of us were on the bus, and the driver was waiting for the last of us to get luggage and working on making it all fit in the hold. Some idiot wanted out of the parking lot, and pulled up really close to the bus, got out, and demanded that the driver move the bus. When the driver asked him to wait a minute, he grabbed him by the collar and slammed him up against a car/on the ground (I did not see this part, as I was already on the bus, and everything was so crazy, there are conflicting views). At this point, one of the driver's two kids (who were sitting at the front of the bus) went crazy, and ran off the bus screaming and calling for his dad. That was when those of us already getting settled on the bus realized something was wrong. Because the car had pulled up so close to the bus, and because of the screaming child, my first impression was that the man had gotten run over by the car. Luckily that was not the case.

Our photo teacher got the child back on the bus, and I sat next to him, trying to calm him down. The language barrier proved itself to be very difficult - how to reassure a boy that his father is going to be ok if he can't understand what I'm saying?? I missed exactly what happened next, because of trying to keep the boy on the bus, but at some point someone from a shop next door came and tried to intervene/help. The guy backed off, but was still yelling a lot. It was really crazy - he was so very impatient that he couldn't wait two minutes? And had to resort to physical violence??

At this point, I was still with the boy, and our teacher was standing at the front of the bus before the seats started - she was being a barrier, both for keeping the boy on the bus so he didn't get hurt, and also to keep us all on. There was more arguing (all in German, of course), and at one point the man grabbed our driver again, and started attacking him. The man from the shop was able to get crazy man off the driver, and our driver got on the bus and called the police. The guy had calmed down a bit (?) and the rest of our group somehow managed to get on the bus. We stayed there for a while longer (not sure if it was to keep the crazy guy there till the police came), but then the driver got back on the bus again, and backed it up enough for the man to drive away. We stayed until the police came, and they talked to the driver and one of the girls who had been outside and seen most of it. His son had calmed down a bit, due to the fact that the crazy man went away, and with the help of games on somebody's iPod Touch.

Thankfully everyone was ok, and I hope that the police will be able to find the man. I missed a lot of the details, due to not speaking German, so I don't know what will happen with that. We made it to the airport with plenty of time, though I was rather shaky after the adrenaline rush wore off.
It was an interesting end to our stay in Berlin..