Getting ready to go out on our adventure to CSD and the Stasi Prison.
(Please notice that we are pointing to a shirt designed by Samuel Jeans when he attended Madison High School. Samuel donated $900 to our Indiegogo fundraiser. Thanks Samuel!)
We woke up at 9am and ate our breakfast from St. Christopher's Inn. Breakfast was mostly Brötchen (rolls) with butter and cheese, four different kinds of cereal, coffee and tea, and toast. I disbursed student food money and we made our way to meet at 10am in front of the Volksbühne (theater) across the street from our hostel. There was an installation in the grass in front of the theater, where one could climb the platform and speak into the horn-shaped sculpture and make sounds for the whole square to hear.
As students waited for all to arrive, they played around the sculpture (see above) and we discussed our first adventure travelling through Berlin. Seven students had decided to travel with Myriah and Katinka (an old friend of Myriah, who lives in Berlin) to CSD. CSD is a parade supporting people in the LGBT community and celebrating the diversity of the world. Six students decided to go with Tod to Hohenschönhausen, a former prison from the former Stasi (secret police from East Germany). This prison was also shown in the film "The Lives of Others" (which the students watched in school on Monday).
Everyone that went the CSD parade had a great time. We hung out on the west end of Kurfürstendamm and waited patiently for the parade people watching and getting to know each other. The parade started and all were excited to receive the free items tossed from the floats goofing around dancing to the music. Many of the floats and contingents displayed signs bringing attention to the controversy in Russia. All had a great time and had the opportunity to see some of the sights of Ku'damm before making it back to the hostel at 4pm.
Everyone that went Höhenschonhausen were very affected by their experience at the prison. To the small misfortune, their tour was in German, so teacher Tod was working hard to make sure that he could translate many of the important details. Some of the students described it as "eerie", "powerful", and "intense". After the tour, students took some time to relax and discover some of the areas around the neighborhood of our hostel. All met up back at the hostel at 4pm to be ready to leave for the next adventure at 4:45.
The next adventure was at Rathaus Schöneberg for a discussion about John F. Kennedy put on by the Checkpoint Charlie Stiftung (Foundation). On June 26th 1963, JFK came to West Berlin for many monumental words regarding the relationship between the United States and West Germany. It was the first major speech given by a U.S. president after WWII that was working towards forming a healthy relationship between the two countries. This was the same visit where JFK said his famous line, "Ick bin ine Beerleener" ("Ich bin ein Berliner" aka "I am a jelly donut"). We were invited upon our interest to volunteer for the foundation and had the opportunity to be inside Rathaus Schönberg (where JFK was) and listen to a discussion moderated by Sven Felix Kellerhoff (a journalist from "Die Welt" and "Die Berliner Morgenpost"). He interviewed a man (Harald Karas), who was a journalist during the time that JFK was in Berlin. Also with him was a senator of building and housing with the city of Berlin (Klaus Franke). Lastly, an actress and translator (Anita Lochner), who was the daughter of the translator for JFK. They all spoke for about 90 minutes, while a PowerPoint slide show of images of JFK and the 1960s in West Berlin were shown. We were one of two schools (from the US) invited to listen to the discussion (all in German). The other school was CITADEL in Charleston, South Carolina. It was an honor to be there and all students were both excited and relieved to have a fully scheduled day come to an end.
We made it through our first day in Berlin with many things learned about the history of Berlin, but also the layout of the city. Some students braved taking the subway/street car on their own and made it back to our hostel before curfew (11pm). It was a long day, but these students make everything worth it. This group of young people are really amazing!
After attending the discussion about John F. Kennedy and the relationship between the US and Germany, we took this group photo in front of Rathaus Schöneberg.
This is the city hall where JFK said his famous, "Ich bin ein Berliner" quote.
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