He arrived in a huge, white car and his bodyguards arrived in a black car. The police were there too! We all were nervous but Mr. Elmo was very friendly. There was a big smile on his face when he left his car. The first thing he did was to say hello to Mr. Schall. After that he asked us if we wanted to see his car. Of course, we did! Mr. Elmo‘s car is a very safe car and it is bullet-proof. Then the break started and Mr. Elmo went into Mr. Schall‘s office with five bilingual students.

The five lucky pupils were Finn, Miles, Sophia, Theresa and me (Clara). We had a little small talk about sports. Mr. Elmo was friendly and he said a lot of funny things. It was fantastic to meet this cool guy!

Then Year 6 took him on a school tour. We showed him the cafeteria, the library, the Jufo, the teachers' room, the TR and our solar panels. He was interested in everything we told him. Mr. Elmo was very talkative and he had a lot of questions.

Now I have some special information about him: He has got a lot of cats. His favourite subject was Spanish and he has been to a lot of countries like Italy or Cuba. showed him the cafeteria, the library, the Jufo, the teachers´ room, the TR and our solar panels. He was interested in everything we told him. Mr. Elmo was very talkative and he had a lot of questions.

One bodyguard said that we were very talkative, had a lot of questions and were not shy at all. So bodyguards can be cool too!

It was such a wonderful morning and we were sad when Mr. Elmo left. We are proud that we were allowed to meet him. It would be nice if we could meet him again because it was so cool and interesting to talk to this special guest. (6b)

David Elmo: Explaining the USA - On tour at the GSS

On Thursday, the 12th of July, there was a high honored visit by David Elmo the deputy principal officer of the United States of America. He has been an ambassador over the past two decades and is therefore well experienced in his job. You could notice this experience from the first moment as he jumped out of his car until the very last moment, when he waved goodbye to the students.

As the tour started he was introduced to a lot of students from year six and year ten. He asked every student how he's doing and was very courteous to everyone. The students guided him through the school with seven different stations. During the tour, he mentioned that he likes baseball a lot and explained different strategies and at the same time, he was very interested in our school.

The tour ended in a class room where the students from year ten prepared a few questions which they were about to ask him. Firstly he pointed out that US-American citizens and Germans are very close friends. With the D.A.I, the exchanges and other programs there is a high cultural exchange. Even though there might be times in which the USA and Germany/Europe seem to be not that close on a political level, he said that America and Germany are like living together in a family - brothers and sisters sometimes argue and have conflicts but they still love each other, like in every other family.

During the talk, year 6 and year 10 covered a wide range of topics - on being a deputy principal officer, climate change in the USA and the promising role of California in this topic, the role of cars in the USA and the problem of public transport. It was interesting to hear that it can sometimes be a challenge that Mr. Elmo´s personal opinion can´t play a role when he represents his country´s or government´s policies. When it came to the question of climate change, Mr. Elmo rather opted to talk about how, on a local level, states like California and some cities try to fight climate change, rather than talking about how the current US government dismisses the idea of climate change.

Adding the question about the car-habit in the USA he justified this culture with the fact that American cities are built up around the car in the suburban areas. In rural areas, public transport is partly not even existing.

We had the feeling that Mr. Elmo really liked the talk and he always gave personal insights into all these topics - he is very approachable and tries to make every person in the discussion as welcomed as possible. However, since Mr. Elmo had another appointment in Frankfurt, the students could not ask all the interesting questions they've had.

After saying goodbye and lots of photos, Mr. Elmo waved goodbye and left the GSS in his bulletproof, state car-like Chevrolet. (10b)