July 5

On Wednesday, some students went to their community partners, and others began working on the community asset map. The community asset map involves interviewing members of the neighborhood around our community placement, finding out what they like about the neighborhood and what they contribute, and researching other assets nearby. My group interviewed people in the neighborhood around Kottbusser Tor, or “Kotti.” Despite the fact that we were all focused on the same geographical area, some of us had very different experiences than others. For example, while some of our interviewees spoke good English, others found a friend – or trusty Google Translate – to help during the conversations. We learned some very interesting things about our neighborhood, and we’ve found many different organizations that support the diverse community there. In addition, navigating the language barrier throughout the program has reminded us how non-English speakers arriving to the U.S., or non-German speakers arriving to Germany, must feel when trying to have simple conversations.

Next week, we will present our findings in the form of a physical or digital map. Each of the maps is taking on a slightly different form. For example, while the Die Garternerei group is planning on drawing a map of the garden on a large piece of paper, my group is making a Google map with photos and descriptions of specific sites. I’m looking forward to seeing how different each of our presentations and maps end up being – many of us have had very different experiences during our time in Berlin, each with its own highs and lows, and I think that will show through in our presentations.

That night’s activities included an optional outdoor movie screening. When the weather finally cleared up a bit, I went to Arena Badeschiff, a swimming pool inside the Spree. We walked near the pool during our first few days in Kreuzberg, but I had never gone in until that night. As I watched the sunset by the TV tower in one direction and stand-up paddle boards gliding by the Molecule Man sculpture in the other, I suddenly realized how soon my time in Berlin is ending. Many of us are figuring out how to say goodbye to our community partners, to the now-familiar restaurants and shops on Schlesische Straße, and to Berlin as a whole. Swimming in (sort of) the Spree reminded me to make the most of every day I have left here.

July 4

THE FOURTH OF JULY aka MY HALF BIRTHDAY!!

As I have turned 20 and a half today, we all took to celebrating by meeting with Julie and Kathryn, going to our community partners, recovering from sickness, and/ or finishing up assignments. Because we all dispersed, I only got pictures from what I was included in, but everyone seemed to have a packed day. I know Ally and Catherine started their long week at 10:30 tomorrow morning working with kids, and will continue throughout the rest of the week. Becca and I watered some plants in the greenhouse. Zosia and Clayton went to the museum, and it was apparently a busy day for many of the employees. A few of us got Bavarian dumplings for dinner, but you could find everyone at some point with their computers open finishing their homework. Even though I did not see anyone, I know that no one celebrated our favorite American holiday, but as my cousin once said on snapchat over a picture of Donald Trump, “Why would we celebrate America if it is not free.” (Quote is open for discussion.)

           

            My cousin’s snapchat and some other comments my friends have made about feeling welcome in the United States coming from immigrant backgrounds, connects well with Markus Heide’s research on borders in the United States. What keeps people in, what keeps people out, and what defines an American.

            

July 3

Today, 7/3/17, or as the Germans would say, 3/7/17, was a packed day. We started at 10am at Humboldt with an American Studies Professor named Markus Heide. He talked about the research he has been working on about Migration and Borders in the United States. While his research was not focused much on migration and borders in Germany, he was able to tie in the information he learned about the United States to help us understand how borders are defined here. Race, gender, class, sexuality, and religion, are some of the most important factors I took away from Heide’s presentation, and while our class has seen these factors play a role in the United States, we saw this to be the case in Germany after Heide showed us a clip of a movie Fassbinder called “Fear Eats the Soul. This clip showed borders being drawn because of age, gender, religion, and race through not only the conversations and the body language, but also through the style of filming.

The lecture ended a little before 12 and the group parted ways to get lunch and rest before meeting up at 2:30, or as the Germans say “14:30,” for the boat tour. Sophie, Hannah and I took a trip to this huge German art store off of the Moritzplatz stain, and unfortunately, after 40 minutes, we realized Hannah’s phone was gone, and in fact in the middle of the road being continuously run over by cars. Somehow, despite it completely shattered screen, still managed to receive text messages from her friends and family. Currently, her phone screen is fixed, but both of the cameras are broken, the finger scanner doesn’t work, and the screen occasionally does not respond. But, she kept a smile throughout the majority of the tragedy, and I have mad respect for that.

At 14:30 the group climbed to the second story of the boat, a few people ordered beverages, and we set sail. Luckily, it was a very pretty day! During the tour a recording pointed out important locations around the water and their significance. Most was interesting, but I think the most interesting thing I saw was the kindergarten for government officials. I feel like that demonstrate how progressive the city is because it allows both mother and father to go to work and not have to worry about who will stay home and watch the kids, or pick the kid up from school. The location is convenient, and believe a step towards equality. My favorite fact from the tour though was that Berlin has more waterways than Venice, Amsterdam, and some other cities combined. Why go to Venice?!?

 

After the boat tour the plan was to go to the Bundestag, but unfortunately, most people did not have their passports which were required to get in. A bunch of us ran back to the hostel to grab them. The tour was very interesting, our tour guide was a little sassy, but I thought that made it all the more interesting. The building was very secure and had very slick technology. We learned a lot about how the German parliament works, and Hannah destroyed at the German government trivia game our tour guide decided to play with us.

After the tour people split in different directions. Some people left to get food, and a few of us stayed behind to visit the Memorial for Murdered Jews, and then the Topography of Terror. After that, everyone went their separate ways ate dinner, and prepared for the next day.