Message from Teacher and GAPP Coordinator Myriah J. Day

Our final group photo (with German and American students) at Kaiser Wilhelm und Ratsgymnasium on Friday, June 21st.

This exchange trip has been incredible! From our adventures in Hannover to our trip to Hamburg to our visit to Schloß Marienburg and from also our class times at Kaiser Wilhelm und Ratsgymnasium to our travels through Berlin, we have been so fortunate to have such incredibly, amazing students, both from US and Germany! 

All of the host families (both US and Germany) were so incredibly accommodating. Each host family had so much to offer and was so kind to open their house to someone whom they had never met before. With all respect and kindnesses from us, we are very grateful for the adventures and experiences that all of the exchange students (in Portland and Hannover) had the opportunity to live. Thank you so much, host families!

Frau Sophie Buckesfeld was such huge help to us while we were in Hannover. She was very accommodating and worked so hard to make our collaborative project well-organized. She is so very kind and she even loaned me to her German cell phone (much cheaper than international plan), which was especially great to have while I was in charge of the students. Her help is so appreciated. Thank you, Sophie!

Herr Ralf Schubert was an excellent exchange teacher. We arrived at the end of the school year and he extended his kindness and creativity to plan an amazing time for us in Hannover. As the head of the upper school, he extended his time and commitment to this exchange in ways that cannot be thanked enough. He has certainly been an great asset to this exchange. We are so lucky to have had such a great school in Hannover, have him as a leader, and to collaborate with such engaging teachers. Thank you, Ralf!

Mr. Tod Grobey has been an awesome and supportive chaperone, teacher, and co-pilot. He taught us so much and was able to share incredible amounts of information and knowledge about Hannover, Germany, and German culture. He is not only incredibly enthusiastic, funny, caring, but he is SO helpful. Thank you, Tod! You are amazing!

To all of our supporters (see side bar and many more)! We are so fortunate and glad to have had this unique and special opportunity to participate in this German American Partnership Program exchange. We cannot thank you enough for all that you have done for this partnership between Madison High School, Pacific Crest Community School, and Kaiser Wilhelm und Ratsgymnasium. Your support is greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Last, but not least, I could not have asked for a better group of students. Upon my return to the US, my family and friends asked me, "How was the trip?" I always quickly responded with, "I am so proud of the students and the trip could not have been better." From the excitement that the students showed to participate in sending the appreciation postcards to seeing the spark of cultural understanding light in their eyes, every moment was really incredible. Though there were a couple of those predictable lightly stressful moments, everything smoothed out easily. I am very proud of all of the students for all of their hard work, fundraising, openness, understanding, care, respect, learning experiences, and so many more things. I am so proud of you, you are truly amazing young people. I look forward to hearing about how you make the world a better place! Thank you to each one of you! Brynnen, Cassandra, Deborah, Gunnar, Hailey, Hannah, Jess, Lily, Madelynn, Nick, Ryan, Sam, Sophie! You really made this trip worth all of the hard work! Please keep traveling and experiencing the world!

100000 MAL DANKE to EVERYONE! 

Best, 

Ms. Myriah J. Day

Our way back home - Mittwoch 26.6.13

On our flight home from Frankfurt to San Francisco (12 hour flight)

This morning was certainly the earliest of all of our days! We got up at 4am and left the hostel by 4:30am. Lucky for us, it was not raining very hard. Although the U-Bahn was just outside the door, it was more efficient for us to walk 5 blocks to our bus stop (Bus 100 to Berlin Tegel). We got in line for our flight and I made sure all students made it through the security point and we were ready to board our first flight from Berlin to Frankfurt with Lufthansa. The flight was on time and we were all relaxed (aka tired as heck).
We arrived in Frankfurt and we boarded the enormous jet (three seats in on each side, five in the middle, and an upstairs) to make our way to San Francisco. The flight was long, but we had our own personal televisions with movies, shows, games, and radio. We all felt very fancy. Though it was very sad to leave Germany, we were all ready to be back at home in Portland, Oregon.
After a 12-hour flight from Frankfurt to San Francisco, we landed and had about 90 minutes to get to our connecting flight to Portland. We had another short ordeal with Gunnar's flight, but after a very kind and helpful ticket agent worked with me, Gunnar and I ran through the airport to meet up with the rest of the group. To our pleasant surprise, our flight was delayed for an another hour. If you see the link to today's photos, you will see that Sam, Jess, and Gunnar had a good time with our camera (very funny) during our layover in San Francisco.
As soon as we got off the plane in Portland, all students reunited with their eager families and we parted our ways. The adventures in our GAPP exchange came to an awesome and sweet ending.

What happens when the teacher leaves the camera in the hands of the students! Ha! We are almost home! Just waiting for our flight from San Francisco to Portland.

Photos from this Day

DDR Museum, Berlin Wall Memorial, and Turkish Market - Dienstag, 25.6.13

Left: Brynnen pretending to drive around Hailey in a Trabant (Trabi, former East German car)

Right: Group photo at Berliner Mauer Gedenkstätte (Berlin Wall Memorial).

We started out leaving the hostel a little bit earlier than our other days, 9:30. We had initially planned to walk to our tour reservation at the DDR Museum (East German Museum), but it was raining. It was not only raining, it was POURING. Not like at home in Portland, Oregon, like the "we better have some kind of rain protection or we will be soaked" kind of pouring. We changed our plan to walk and took the bus two stops and arrived at our destination about 15 minutes early.
The DDR Museum is located right next to the Museumsinsel and it was packed full of people. Our very kind tour guide mentioned to us that the museum is rarely as full as it was, but the rain brought many visitors in, and the museum was a small space. We heard learned a lot about Marx, Honecker, heard fascinating personal stories from our tour guides childhood, and interacted with historical displays (a Trabant, typical DDR living quarters, fashion of the DDR times, Stasi spy equipment, and many other things). Though it was very crowded, all of us enjoyed hearing the stories and playing around the museum.
After our tour, we put on our half-dried clothing and packed onto the bus to make our way to the Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer (Berlin Wall Memorial). We arrived in good time and only had to take one bus, the U-Bahn, and then a street car (about 20 minute travel time). We walked through the memorial site and viewed the heartfelt stories about the many people that lost their lives trying to get over the wall. We were able to see parts of the wall and to put into perspective what it looked like to view into the East. You could see a area of "No Man's Land". At the end of our time at the memorial, students were eager to start their free time, which started at 1:30pm. Hailey had to return back to the hostel with Tod, where she was accompanied to the airport to fly to Amsterdam to meet with her family. We all gave our farewell to her and sent her on her way.
During my free-time, I planned to go to the Turkish Market off of Kottbusser Damm. I had made plans to buy a new bag, to find some delicious food, potentially purchase some more gifts for my family, and see my friend Katinka (also accompanied us earlier in our trip in Berlin). If students chose to travel to the Turkish Market, they were welcome to come with me, but they would be responsible for the rest of their free time. Eight students decided to come along. As we travelled through the pouring rain, we eventually made it to the market. Students were able to purchase and barter prices for some jewelry, clothing items, and gifts for friends and family. Katinka met up with us and we all went out for some lunch at a hip sandwich shop (where they even gave us blankets to warm ourselves while we sat on the back patio directly on the Spree River). Most of the students were back at the hostel at 6pm (if planning to attend the dance performance).
All of the students that wanted to attend Dummy at Chamäleon Theater needed to be packed and ready for our early morning wake-up (4am) and departure (6:20am flight from Berlin). It was Deborah's birthday wish to see the performance and I agreed to take any student that could afford to pay their own ticket (35 Euro = $46) and to be completely packed and ready to go for our morning departure by 7pm. The Chamäleon Theater was a 15-minute walk from our hostel inside the Hackesche Höfe. The performance was mind-blowing. Deborah, Sophie, and Madelynn got to sit in the front row and Jess, Cassandra, Ryan, and I sat in the second row along the wall. Please see the link above or the following one: Dummy. Both videos show the amazing talents of the performers we had the opportunity to see. We were all so glad that this suggestion and wish was made.
We got back to the hostel at 10:30pm and found some students scrambling to finish up their packing. After finally getting everyone to bed, our last day in Berlin was over. We are leaving tomorrow and we all cannot believe that this trip is coming to an end.

Left: After adventures in the rain at the Turkish Market, we all stopped for food in one of the many Turkish neighborhoods in Berlin

Right: Seven students and I (teacher) decided to attend "Dummy" at the Chamäleon Theater. It was Deborah's 16th birthday wish and we all got amazing seats. 

Photos from this Day

Siegesäule, Ku'damm, The Story of Berlin, & Dinner - Montag 24.6.13

Left: Gunnar pretending to eat the Siegesäule 

Middle: Hailey pretending to drive an old car while touring The Story of Berlin

Right: Deborah, Hailey, Sophie, Madelynn, and Hannah exploring the many stories in The Story of Berlin exhibit

We started out Monday morning at our usual time of 10am leaving St. Christopher's Inn. We took the long route to Ku'damm (Kurfürstendamm).
We got off of the S-Bahn at Bellevue and took a walk through the Tiergarten to make our way to the Siegesäule (Victory Column). As we approached the column, everyone started to get out their cameras and take several photos. We made our funny poses and then made our way to Ku'damm. Once we arrived at Ku'damm, we walked over to the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche (Memorial Church). We were stunned to see that we could not actually see the church (it was surrounded by a semi-permanent structure). It was being renovated. We went inside the church and looked at some of the incredible photos and read the stories presented in the small exhibit. One of the difficult things about the renovation is repairing a building that is falling apart that needs to remain "falling apart" (see photos and story on above link). After we left there, students were given an hour and a half of free-time to roam around Ku'damm (go to KaDeWe [Kaufhaus des Westens]), shop, eat, and/or sight see).
At the end of our free-time, we met in front of the Kaiser Wilhelm Gedächtniskirche and walked towards our bus stop. According to the time, we had a couple of moments to stop at the Ampelmann Shop, where several of us purchased gifts with the Ampelmann on it (see links).
We boarded the bus and only traveled about 5 stops and got out to make it to our exhibit reservation at The Story of Berlin. As we walked briskly towards a shopping center (where the address led us), we found the museum/exhibit. After we checked in, I gave the students their scavenger hunt assignments. I printed four different languages for the scavenger hunt (German, Spanish, French, and English). I knew that there were varying abilities of different languages that would guide each group of students through the exhibit in a language other than English. I allowed students about 20 minutes with their chosen language other than English and then decided to allow them to engage more into the exhibits by giving them the scavenger hunt in English. There was so much information, many interesting photos, and hundreds engaging objects to view about the different eras of Berlin (dating all the way back to when Berlin was built). We were in the exhibit for about two hours and still didn't have a chance to see every room! As predicted, at the end of the exhibit was a gift shop and many of us purchased Berlin souvenirs to bring home to our friends and families. We couldn't believe that we will be leaving less than 48 hours!
After we left The Story of Berlin, we got on the bus again and traveled further down Ku'damm to have an early dinner together. It was only 4:30pm, but we were hungry. It was our last dinner together as a large group (Hailey is flying to Amsterdam tomorrow afternoon and Hannah is meeting with her parents tomorrow evening). Tomorrow is also Deborah's 16th birthday. As a result of Deborah's wishes for hummus throughout our travels, I found an amazing Turkish restaurant called Restaurant Tugra. I had called to make reservations yesterday and throughout the day, but nobody at the restaurant had answered. I crossed my fingers (or pushed my thumbs [as you do in Germany]) that they would be able to accommodate 15 of us. As soon as we arrived, to our surprise, they welcomed us enthusiastically. We ordered a couple bottles of white wine for students to experience and made a toast to our trip. We ordered delicious food that made our mouths water and our excitement about our travels come out. The wait staff brought Deborah a small birthday treat and they sang, "Happy Birthday". We asked them to take our photo in front of the restaurant and they asked to join us (which we were excited about). It was an excellent last dinner together!
From dinner, everyone had free-time (about 5:45pm) and all returned to the hostel by 11pm. Today was amazing and tomorrow we take on our last adventures in Berlin.

Group photo with the awesome staff at Tugra, who served us delicious Turkish fare and catered to our wishes. They all even sang "Happy Birthday" to Deborah!

Photos from this Day