The place

This is the conference center in germany. It was a wonderful place, very german. It came with a heated pool and sauna (for an additional entry cost, that is), lovely conference rooms with fireplaces, german food which was tasty (sans the liver). They had some rules though. Before eating, we were to be waiting outside the dining hall. Then they would open the doors and we were to come in and sit down quickly. The manager of the place would then read a bit of the Word, and pr. over the meal (in German). Then we got in line for the buffet of delicious breads, cheeses, and who knows whatelse was on it. Also, you had to wait at the end of the meal for another reading from the Word and another pr. It is a good practice, I was just not accustomed to it. Also, on the tables were this little trashcans. At the end of your meal, you would put all the left over food and trash into these little trashcans, and then stack your plates at the end of the table. This conference center was really a sorta an assisted living place as well. There was a group of elderly folks living there. Once the pr. was said, they ran to the buffet, while all the americans were., of course, talking very loudly. Its amazing how loud we really are. Another interesting rule (country wide I believe) is that you could not take off your shoes. The entire place was carpeted and when folks from this region of the world see carpet, they think to take off their shoes. Its a polite custom in north africa, but an offense in germany. Another rule, country wide apparently, is that there are 'quiet hours' from 1pm to 3 pm everyday. This is difficult for americans to adust to, being a loud people that we are.