 Monday,
March 29, 2010
(Day 22)
Today's Distance:
11 Miles
Please go to
Paul's P.A.C.E. Blog to read about today's happenings
in Germany during P.A.C.E. Trek 2010. Also, be sure to take a few
minutes to view Paul's
videos
and
pictures!
 Learn
Something Today About Germany...
Kaiserslautern is a city located at the edge of the Palatinate forest ((Pfälzer
Wald) and home to about 100,000 people. In the city
and its surrounding district live approximately 50,000 NATO military
personnel members (mainly American), who often call the city "K-Town"
(somewhat to the chagrin of native German residents), and contribute
approximately $1 billion annually to the Kaiserslautern economy. In
World War II, more than 60% of Kaiserslautern was destroyed by bombs
from Allied aircraft. The railway and several main roads were primary
targets. The heaviest attacks occurred on January 7, August 11, and
September 28, 1944. Of the 20,000 homes, 11,000 were destroyed or
damaged. The cemetery wall opposite Kleber Kaserne still bears shell
marks of these raids. On March 20, 1945, as the last of Omar Bradley's
1st Army crossed the Rhine at Remagen, the U.S. 80th Division, 319th
Infantry, part of George Patton's 3rd Army, seized Kaiserslautern
without resistance. The war was over for this area, but there was little
reconstruction until 1948. Today, Kaiserslautern is a modern center of
information and communications technology and home to a well-known
university, a technical college and many international research
institutes located throughout the city. There are several pedestrian
only shopping zones with numerous restaurants located in the city center
surrounding the old city (Altstadt). In the Altstadt you will find the "Kaiserbrunnen",
a large ornamental fountain in which various historically important
features of the city are represented, including a sewing machine, a
football, and various creatures on which children can climb.
______________________________________________________________________________
 Learn
Something Today About Health & Fitness...
Many parents have struggled to keep their
kids and teens physically active, but a new study from the University of
Alberta, Canada, shows it may have more to do with an adult's attitude
than a child's laziness. The researchers found that a teacher who ruins
a child's experience in gym class can turn them off fitness for good.
The study interviewed 24 adults about their attitudes to fitness and
physical activity and sports. The researchers found that if the subjects
had had a rough time in physical education class, they were more likely
to carry that negative attitude towards physical activity into
adulthood. The negative experiences they heard about included:
 Being embarrassed or
humiliated in front of classmates
Having a teacher who
treated students unfairly
Having an apathetic
teacher with low energy
One study participant wrote: "I am a
51-year-old-woman whose childhood experiences with sports, particularly
as handled in school, were so negative that even as I write this my
hands are sweating and I feel on the verge of tears. I have never
experienced the humiliation nor felt the antipathy toward any other
aspect of life as I do toward sports."
The authors of the study, which appears in the journal Qualitative
Research in Sport and Exercise, say that coaches and teachers need
to put an emphasis on fun in kids' sports, and cut down on comparing one
student or player to another, verbal abuse, and constantly keeping
score. The study also revealed that participants had better experiences
from minimally organized activities such as a neighborhood game of
street hockey, compared to the more organized activities. Is it really a
surprise that 70% of kids end up dropping out of sports? P.E. teachers
should aim to make sports fun, playful and filled with positive
reinforcement.
______________________________________________________________________________
 Learn
Some Of The German Language...
"Where is the restroom, please?"
– Wo is die Toilette, bitte?
│ "Thank
you very much."
– Vielen Dank
│ "Goodbye"
– Auf Wiedersehen
│ "Could
you please help me?"
– Könnten Sie mir bitte helfen?
│ "What
is the price of this one here?"
– Wievel kostet das hier?
│ "Please"
or "You are welcome"
– Bitte / Bitte schön
______________________________________________________________________________
 Did
You Know?
Overweight kids often become
overweight adults, with increased risks for a wide variety of poor
health outcomes, including: diabetes, stroke, heart disease, arthritis,
and certain cancers. The immediate consequences of children being
overweight include cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood
pressure, high cholesterol, and the precursors to diabetes. Recent
national estimates indicate that only 35% of U.S. children meet current
physical activity recommendations and only about 21% eat the recommended
five or more servings of fruits and vegetables per day. In addition to
individual factors like these, social, economic, and environmental
forces (such as advances in technology and trends in eating out) may
contribute to the increasing percentage of overweight children. ______________________________________________________________________________
 Join
The P.A.C.E. Fitness Foundation Facebook Group...
Please take a moment to
join the free Facebook group of The
P.A.C.E. Fitness Foundation to keep up with future happenings with
P.A.C.E. and Paul Staso.
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