Berlin Day 3

Restaurant where we had dinner. I gave the dance lessons. Students you know how good of a dancer I am.

Outside of the bohemian restaurant. Really cool historic building, originally from the early 1900's.

Right in front of checkpoint Charlie. I later got interviewed a few minutes later.

That is me in front of a torn out piece of the Berlin Wall. Next to Checkpoint Charlie.

Border crossing between freedom and secretiveness. Soviets were something else!

The building where we had the lecture on teacher training in Germany. Very cool looking building outside of Germany.

View from inside of that building looking out.

First activity of the day at the Berkeley of Germany. It was crazy, the protesters blockaded buildings. This is not the protesters, these are those silly looking Americans named my colleagues. Here though is a banner displaying their dissatisfaction with the current situation.

Well, I will now be known all around Copenhagen, Denmark. No, I didn´t do anything stupid. I was interviewed by a journalist from Copenhagen for a newspaper article to be published on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. I was getting my passport stamped at Passport Charlie, the checkpoint between east and west Berlin, when a woman asked if she could speak to me about why I was visiting and what the checkpoint meant to me. Somebody needs to keep an eye on that for me. She took my name and seemed very captivated by my charming personality : )

The day began early. We left the hotel at seven in the morning. We went to west Berlin, finally. I don't care what the Germans say there is a noticeable difference. Especially in the old American sector of west Berlin. Much more modern and well off. We went to a college university to have a meeting with a professor of environmental policy. However, when we got there we couldnt get in the building to meet with the lady. There is a lot of change going on in Germany right now. The students are protesting against their education system and the possibility that they might actually have to pay for their education. College is free for Germans, however the education system is really different over here and that is another conversation for another day. It was cool seeing the students protest and blockade buildings and doors. We were able to meet with the lady in another building. The lecture was very interesting learning how progressive Germany is in regards to renewable energies and the environment. I have a lot to talk about here too when I get home. Jess you would have loved this conversation and dialogue, even I was interested and came away thinking that I need to make some changes in my life to become more environmentally friendly.

Following this we went to a nice little cafe for coffee and croissants. Very charming little place.

The next activity was visiting a school that educates teachers. I must admit I did not enjoy this lecture. It was hard to understand. The man spoke in German forever and then it was translated to English, very hard to understand and follow. I was not able to follow. Good thing they had more coffee there.

We then went back to east Berlin where we had lunch. We had a very cool lunch, I had some turkish lamb sandwich, delicious. We ate outside and enjoyed the day.

After lunch we went to the Foreign Office for integration and migration. Fascinating discussion on how immigrants have had an effect on modern Germany. Dad you knew I was interested in this aspect so I was all eyes and ears. I asked some questions and really got a lot out of the discussion. However many of us were not pleased with some of our colleagues from South Florida. I was rather embarrassed and ashamed of their questioning. They really layed into our speaker about how the governments policy in regards to immigration is meant to keep or prevent people from assimilating and feeling German. They made it seem to our speaker that our country is much superior to Germany in regards to this issue. It took every ounce of my being to not say anything. I later found out that the overwhelming majority of our group was appalled with the tone of the questioning. We certainly have our own problems with regards to immigration. I prevented our speaker with my gift, a quilt from a Mennonite woman who's family is originally from Germany. It was an appropriate gift since we were discussing not only immigration but also emigration. I then later bought a brochure written in Polish about the second largest immigrant population in Germany, the Poles. I was going to give it to my Grandpap to look over. As some of you know my grandfather is 100% Polish. Very informative and enriching discussion minus some uncomfortable interrogation by two of my colleagues.

Our last activity was visiting Checkpoint Charlie. As I mentioned this was the site of the border between east and west Berlin. The gate is still there. The museum described the terrible events of the cold war in this area. From the June 17 revolution which was violently put down by the Staszi or east German secret police, the attempts to smuggle people out of east Berlin and many other events of that period. I enjoyed the museum but we only had an hour and fifteen minutes to check it all out. Although after awhile I could only read so many stories of escape attempts. However I have come to the realization that I need to read some more about the Staszi and just how brutal the Soviets were. Unfortunately even today the Russians refuse to open up documents to help the healing process. I have my concerns about the Russian government to say the least. There are so many secrets that are still being withheld.

Lastly, I promise, we went to an awesome restaurant in the bohemian section of Berlin. The restaurant is sort of like an open hall that offers dance lessons. We walked in and witnessed lots of couples working on their tango, waltz and who knows what else. Very cool restaurant from the early 1900's. The restaurant, just like most of Berlin, was heavily damaged during the war. However it was recently redone using old pictures as the standard to rebuild. We had a great time!