Highlights from Obama Week

What an insane couple of weeks. Ever since I returned from Poland there's been something every day. Last weekend on Friday evening, I had some friends over to the apartment for a little get-together - music, wine and food. I usually don't do too well in the party planning department, but this time for some reason it came together nicely. I think that what binds us foreigners together while in Germany is the fact that we're all in this together - we're all going through more or less the same situation. We've left behind loved ones at home for either a new beginning or an extended, one or two month vacation. Most of the friends I've met while in Germany are just here for up to three months to learn German, then return to their homelands. Only one other guy, Mattias from France, will stay here in Berlin for a few years. Lately I've been spending a lot of time with Elena, a girl from Italy. I feel that she isn't like a lot of other girls, in the fact that she doesn't spend a lot of time in front of the mirror, and doesn't try hard to impress guys. Maybe it's the fact that she has a boyfriend back home, but in any case, it's nice to spend so much time with someone you can relate to. She doesn't speak much English, so our entire friendship is based upon the ability to speak German. It's been happening more often lately, that my conversations with my circles of friends are only in German. I'm basically to the point that because I'm surrounded constantly with newspapers, tv, locals, ads, etc. in the language, I'm starting to think in it. For example, as I was in a restaurant reading the menu the other day, and as I was unconsciously thinking about what I might like to have, I said out loud, "Was bedeutet 'Ente'" to my friend Clair, and then she told me that "Ente" means duck. She then asked me if I was starting to think in German, which got me thinking about all of this.

So after our get-together at my place, they were able to talk me into going to the disko (club). We found this place called Matrix, which reminded me a lot of Fur, in DC. It had about 7 rooms with different types of music playing in each. About an hour into it most of our group went home, but a friend and I stuck around because we wanted to dance. As I was getting tired I glanced at the time and it was 4am. I'm not usually one to stay out late, but it was a lot of fun. Here, the clubs don't open until 11 and aren't packed until 12 or 1. Seems to be like that in a lot of European discos.

Sunday we traveled to Dresden, which is the capital of the German state of Sachsen. It's about 2 hours south of Berlin, and was almost completely destroyed by bombs during WWII. Some parts have survived nicely, and the rest has been beautifully restored so that now it's a charming villiage. My favorite part was the wall that had former kings painted on it, and you could walk down this outdoor corridor to see them all. The River Elbe also runs through the city, and we sat at an outdoor cafe so that we could soak it all in.

Tuesday our class took a field trip to Eisenhuttenstadt (Iron Forge City), a small villiage an 90 minutes from Berlin on the Polish border. Built in 1950 as a model comminuts city, it really doesn't have much to offer. The buildings are plain, the streets are wide and straight, and there aren't any special landmarks. The one place of interest, and our reason for going, was the DDR documentation center. This center is a sort of museum that displays what life was like under communism in the DDR some 40 to 50 years ago. It was quite depressing - there were few choices for schools, food and drink, and even what you could buy. It's hard to believe that during part of my lifetime this was going on (until 1989.) Because the DDR (the former East Germany) was part of the former Soviet Union, the residents of Eisenhuttenstadt decided they wanted more choices and a better life. So in 1989 they broke away from the Soviets, and in 1990 were reunited with the former West Germany to make what is now Bundesrepublik Deutschland.

Wednesday wasn't too interesting because I had to prepare for my presentation in class the next day. We're required as part of our lesson to give an hour-long presentation in German about a topic in German culture. I chose to research the Brothers Grimm, authors of several children's fairy tales including Cinderella and Hansel & Gretel. The Brothers lived somewhat of an interesting life - they started collecting folk poems in 1806 and it wasn't until a few years later they started writing the fairy tales. They were heavily influenced by Dorothea Wild, who was the wife of the younger brother, and her family. It was from her that the Brothers heard the tale "Little Red Riding Hood." So after gathering some important dates and choosing a section from Rapunzel to read to the class, I gave my presentation. I taught the class several new words, which were part of the tale, and afterwards some told me that they really liked the style with which I presented my information. They said I made them look bad because mine was so good. Not sure if I believe them, but it was a nice thought.

Later that day a sure highlight of my trip occured - I got to see Barack Obama speak along with over 200,000 other people. He's really quite well-received here in Europe - they see him as the "black J.F. Kennedy." They see him as a catalyst for a change that we so desparately need in the States. He spoke not as a candidate for President, he said, but as a citizen of the world. He spoke about the importance of building global relationships now more than ever, and referred to the Berlin Airlift several times throughout the speech to show how when we work together we can accomplish great things. I was somewhat disappointed though, and as I have read in the newspapers here so too are a lot of Germans, that he didn't speak about how we should do this. Sure, he spoke of the importance of eliminating the threat of nuclear weapons and ending genocide in Darfur, but where's the money going to come from to accomplish all of this? We're sort of in the middle of a war right now, and many of our otherwise-available resources are tied up in Iraq. Nevertheless, I think he has a better chance than McCain does of ending the USA's isolationist and reckless policies towards war and global domination.

And finally, yesterday after class I traveled with Elena to the concentration camp Sachsenhausen, which lies just north of Berlin. Over 10,000 Jews were murdered here during the early 1940s. Elena made a good point - that now there are some wildflowers and trees growing on the grounds - the best time to visit would be the dead of winter so that we could see what it really looked like there year-round. I learned that many Jews were murdered if they started just the slightest provocation. Workers at the camp (the average age of the workers was 21) were often given bonuses or extra time off for shooting prisoners immediately when told to do so. The barracks were also horrible - two and sometimes three people were stuffed into a bed smaller than a twin. If you got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night you risked losing your spot. There was a roll call twice a day - one at morning and one at night - and if even one person was missing everyone had to stand there until he or she was found, sometimes all night. Your best hope was to get a job working in the kitchens - this required the least amount of physical labor and you could often secretly supplement your daily ration of less than a quarter loaf of bread. I remember reading the Diary of Anne Frank in eighth grade, but I never thought I'd actually see one of these places live.

In the evening we went out to celebrate the last day of three of our friends. Today they're back in Russia, France, and Switzerland. My good friend Yulia was one of the departing, so that was the main reason I went out. We danced for a few hours and had a great time. This club, called Dorf Berlin, was pretty intense. Most female bartenders were shirtless, and there was a cool show by these three guys with alcohol bottles on fire. The music wasn't very good, but I'm glad I got to see my friends before they returned home.

Less than a week left before the big move to Frankfurt...