Holocaust Memorial, Brandenburger Tor, and Museums - Sonntag, 23.6.13

Left: Brynnen and Ryan exploring the Holocaust Memorial

Middle: Group Photo in front of the Brandenburger Tor

Right: Sophie standing front of the Reichstag

Like Saturday, we got up and ate our hostel breakfast and made it out the hostel door by 10am. Many of the students learned that I was serious about them having their emergency contact numbers (with mine, Tod's, and the hostel's phone number) and a miniature map. That was their ticket to leave the hostel for the day. We did our classic count-off, "Eins" "Eins" "Zwei" "Zwei" and so on. We traveled on the U2 to Potsdamer Platz and walked over to the Holocaust Memorial.
When we arrived at the memorial, we allowed the students to experience the installation for 45 minutes. The experience was memorable and indescribable to many. We all had different experiences of eerie, confusion, and impact. It was heavy and powerful. Students appreciated the installation, while also critically thinking about the meanings imprinted on the minds of the survivors, victims, and perpetrators of the Holocaust. This experience certainly held for powerful discussions about culture and genocide.
From there, we walked two blocks over to the Brandenburger Tor. There was much construction being dismantled from the previous CSD weekend. On the east side of the Brandenburger Tor, there was a pedestrian zone where many people were walking around taking pictures and posing with the many street performers. There were many different street performers ranging from a bear (the city mascot), an "American" and "Russian soldier befriending each other, "DDR officers" stamping passports with "DDR", and a man making enormous bubbles. One could donate to his little cup and he would help others make enormous bubbles. Lily and Cassandra made bubbles for all to watch, which was very mesmorizing. Even Sam couldn't help himself to chase after them to pop them.
After spending enough time at the Brandenburger Tor, we walked four blocks over to the Reichstag and took pictures. We only spent about 20 minutes taking photos and it was time for lunch.
We started walking back towards Potsdamer Platz to grab some food and realized that our appointment for the Pergamon Museum was sooner than we had planned. We turned back around and hopped on a bus (about 10 stops) towards the Museumsinsel. We arrived to the museum and many of the students were famished and had forgot to grab a snack. We made the decision to enter the museum and our budget allowed us to rent the headphones to walk around the museum. Some students chose to come into the museum for a while and then grab some food outside of the museum (which was a little tricky to find because of the surrounding construction). All students did have the opportunity to view the wonders of the Pergamon Altar and see many of the other exhibits throughout the museum (about 90 minutes). There was an incredible exhibit about the discovery of Uruk (one of the world's first metropolis'). At the end of our time, we met up to move over to two blocks to the Neues Museum.
The Neues Museum was just as beautiful and had an incredible exhibit of Neferiti. We got to see the real bust (3,300 years old)! We chose not to obtain the headsets and spend about 45 minutes viewing the thousands of years of history. It was also not only the exhibits, the museum itself was incredible. It felt like we were walking inside a building. As we were nearing the end of our day at the museums, we were beginning to feel silly. We all met in the courtyard outside the museum and students were released for their free time at 4pm. The weather was warm and students had already made plans to go on their small adventures. I made my way back to the hostel to go meet up with a former employer, for whom I nannied from 1999-2001. I even got to see the 14-year-old kid that I used to take care of as a 3-year-old. It was beautiful.
At the end of the night, all of the students made it back to the hostel and lights out happened at 11:30. This exchange trip continues to get better everyday. It is obvious that all students are getting along with each other and many have found life-long bonds.

Left: Mr. Tod Grobey showing off the famous Pergamon Altar in the Pergamon Museum

Right: Jess and Ryan in the Neues Museum with Queen Nefertiti in the background (in room behind them in glass)

Photos from this Day

CSD and Stasi Prison - Samstag, 22.6.13

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.

Photos from this Day

Projekttage bei der Schule and Travel to Berlin - Freitag, 21.6.13

           

Left: Nick excited to take photos of the senior prank. 
Right: KWR students jumping around the balloons in the entryway. 

We arrived at our usual time of 9am at Kaiser Wilhelm-und-Ratsgymnasium to start our dance course, but we had the surprise of the big senior prank. It is tradition for the senior class to collaborate to set up their prank the night before (they were gathering last night as we were leaving our farewell party). They are allowed to do any prank, as long as they are willing to clean up the mess. As seen above, we arrived and the entire entryway was packed with balloons. Students of all ages (the school has 5th-12th graders) were jumping around and popping balloons everywhere. As a result of the prank, we were unable to start our dance class  (the hallway where we were practicing was the main way for students to get to classes without having to walk through all of the balloons), so we postponed our dance class and had students perform their skits.

There were about nine different skits and all were very entertaining, silly, and dealt with at least one aspect of understanding  (or misunderstanding) cultural norms (German or American). One group made a skit about the difference in water (mineral, tap, or sparkling); another about the service mentality between both countries; another about speaking another language; and many more. 

After most of the skits were performed, we moved back to the hallway to finish up our dance course. We practiced all of the dances that we learned (discofox, cha cha cha, square, and polka). It was extremely fun and all of the students certainly felt silly, but they had a great time. After our dance class, we returned back to the classroom and finished up the last two skits.

After the skits, Herr Schubert and Frau Buckesfeld distributed pieces of paper in the shape of feet. Some were blue and some were beige. On the beige feet, all students were instructed to write down a "good" experience from their exchange, whether the experience was in the United States or in Germany. One the blue feet, they were supposed to write a "weird" or "interesting" experience from their exchange. Once they wrote down their experiences, they were instructed to share what they wrote and tape it to the white board. 

Herr Schubert and Frau Buckesfeld pointed out that our footsteps and experiences were different, but together we make a wacky dance that would not be easy to follow. They both shared kind words about the exchange and invited Thuy and Emilie up to share a gift with us. They made bracelets for all exchange partners. They painted/wrote the exchange partner names or initials on the bracelets and distributed them to all of the partners (e.g. Ekin and Gunnar had bracelets that said, "Ekin + Gunnar"). They then thanked us teachers and gifted me a box of Lindt chocolates. I was very flattered and thankful. I shared some words of appreciation and excitement in the connections that were made between the students and their exchange culture. 

We excused all students and informed them to meet up at the train station at 3:30pm to say our farewells and take our last pictures together. This allowed them about three hours of free-time to gather their bags and buy any last minute Hannover items.

Left: Skit written by Deborah, Aryan, and Max 
Middle: Josephine and Hailey performing their skit
Right: Madelynn and Aryan showing off their dance moves

 
Left: All students wrote down a "good" experience and "strange" experience from their exchange (in Germany and the US). All quotes (feet) were then taped to the wall to visualize our unique dance. 
Right: All students (German and American) with several of the host parents and younger siblings saying farewells to each other at the train station in Hannover.

Left: The teachers aka GAPP coordinators involved for this amazing exchange between Hannover and Portland! (L to R: Frau Sophie Buckesfeld, Herr Ralf Schubert, Mr. Tod Grobey, and Ms. Myriah Day)

Thanks for making this exchange happen! All activities have been so fun and we are lucky to have been so successful with such an amazing community of host families, schools, and students!

1000 Mal Danke!


After saying our farewell, we boarded our train to Berlin. Our train trip was an hour longer than it was scheduled. About a week before we arrived, Germany had suffered from many floods across the country. As a result, some paths of train tracks did not pass the safety standards for travel. Our train took a detour through Braunschweig and Magdeburg. The time went by quickly as students wrote their thank-you postcards to our sponsors and family members. The excitement and energy among the group was great. Everyone was enthusiastic and thankful to have the opportunity to be on this exchange. As their teacher, I was very proud of all of the work that they did, the kindness that they extended, and the level of maturity and care they took in participating in school and host family activities. I would take this group of students anywhere!

After our slight hour delay, we arrived in Berlin safe and exhausted. We made it to our hostel St. Christopher's Inn in Mitte (U-Bahn Rosa Luxemburg Platz). We went for a brief walk around our neighborhood to move our bodies, but then we were all off to sleep for the beginning of our city adventures in Berlin.

Lily exploring the World Clock at Alexanderplatz (10 minute walk from our hostel)

Photos from this Day

Projekttage bei der Schule and Farewell Party - Donnerstag, 20.6.13

All students and teachers involved in the "International Friendship" project at KWR

Today's schedule was fairly short at school. We continued the Projekttage and started the day with our fun dance course. At the end of the dancing, we still had a couple of presentations to finish (they did not present last Friday). We had the opportunity to see presentations from Sophie and Hailey, Deborah, and Cassandra. All of the students watching and learning from them gave each one of them individual feedback about what they learned and a question they wanted to ask.
At the end of the presentations, we instructed students to get back into their skit groups and practice their skit for tomorrow's performance. They worked on their skits for about an hour and then school was dismissed.
We met back at school at 6pm to find ourselves caught in a thunder and lightening storm. The rain came down hard (which we don't see very often in Portland). It was amazing, amusing, and over quickly. We (Ralf and I) arranged a classroom to get ready for the potluck and farewell party. Students brought pizza, salads, and delicious treats to enjoy. We all hung out, chatted, and played some soccer on the playground. It was very sweet and relaxing. The farewell party was over by 8pm and many students went on their last downtown adventure with their hosts.
Tomorrow is our last day at KWR. I interviewed a couple of students about their experience at KWR and there is certainly going to be some sadness in leaving behind good friends here in Germany.

Our Farewell Party at KWR in the evening 6-8pm)

Photos from this Day