AUSTAUSCH

Today we welcomed a 16-year old German girl to our house. She will be spending the next four weeks here, as part of an exchange ("Austausch") between her school in Northern Germany and my daughter's school. The exchange programme has been going on for many years, and both my sons went on it. They had a great time, and still keep in touch with the Germans they met through it.

I think exchanges between children from different countries are a great thing. They learn at a relatively young age that although the food, the tastes, the language and the culture are all different, at heart everybody is pretty much the same, a kid wanting to have good experiences and fun. We have had children from France, Germany and Algeria staying with us; and our children have been to Finland, Germany and England. My younger son spent a year in Switzerland as a 16-year old, and it did him a world of good. Against that background, when they listen to politicians going on about "too many immigrants" (as they are wont to do at the moment, at least in Denmark), they look puzzled. Denmark may be nice, but who wants to be just Danish and nothing else?

Already after 4-5 hours, we are getting on in a mixture of English, Danish and German, and my rusty German (I went to school, and worked, in Germany as a lad) is creaking its way out of its decidedly dusty mental cupboard. It's uplifting, and gives hope for the future.

Walter Blotscher