By the way, very cool that the Blogger has just opened new sites in Hebrew and Arabic. Very cool. But I don't think I can get it in Hebrew on my laptop or any computer in the US anyway.
After Berlin, the idea of learning German just sunk into me. The echo of Professor Bankier's words that unless I learned German, it would be very difficult to get a job in a Holocaust research center or museum. And I want a JOB in there. I also can see some new exciting research within Germany in the future and I would want to be part of it.
Berlin changed my attitude towards German. It's part of the national history especially that the Jews were so integrated in it and I would not want to miss out on that. I can't change Germany's national history to avoid the language, I have to embrace it especially for the German Jews.
So I spoke with one of the German professors at Colgate about learning how to read in German for academic research. She was so excited and talked about all things relating to the German language and the Jews' participation in the national history. So starting Monday as soon my textbook comes in, I'm going to meet with her intern once a week to pick up the fundamentals. The professor wished that she could work with me but she is on sabbatical this semester.
So yay for Monday and German. And a job in the future.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Last Days in Berlin
My last day in Berlin was wonderful. I really got to walk around a lot. First, I took the Bahn to Potsdam and walked all the way down to southwestern part of Berlin to visit KaWeDe, the fancy German department store that had an entire floor devoted to gourmet food, including a huge chocolate section. I took the S-Bahn back up to Potsdam Plaza and walked around its Christmas marketplace where I had bratwurst and saw Europe's "largest man-made sledding hill." It looked liked a lot of fun! But I had no one to watch my stuff and I didn't trust anyone. Then I wanted to see Reichstag or the Soviet Memorial.... I couldn't find the Soviet Memorial and I figured that I had already seen Reichstag there was no need... Berlin is really very walking friendly actually. I just hopped on the Bahn just to cut some time so I went from Potsdam down to near Checkpoint Charlie. By the way, remains of the Berlin Wall still exist around the city and often there'll be some German "soldier" giving a brief history of the Wall for tourist attraction. They even will stamp your passport with the old stamp but I didn't take up the offer... I didn't want to make the US immigration officials question my passport. From Checkpoint Charlie, I walked another 10ish minutes to the Jewish Museum where I could run into Lena and anyone else tagging along with her (I was supposed to meet back at the hotel but I had no time).
What struck me when I saw the Jewish Museum was two buildings standing next to or attached to each other, very different in architectural styles. One was a beautiful yellow colonial Victorian style mansion and the other was extremely modern black thing. I went inside. I was struck by the interior architecture of the "new" part of the Museum with its 3 axis- Holocaust, Diaspora, and one other that I forgot... that connect Jews together in modern Jewish history. The rest of the museum was solely focused on educating the public the important contributions that Jews made to the national German history starting back in 1600s with a brief overview of the ancient times. I recognized a lot of names and events from my Early Modern Jewish history (thanks Prof. Schwartz!) and felt a bit like an idiot for not appreciating these characters more when I took the class. I gave 5 eurocent to a machine that converted it to a Moses Mendelssohn coin. He's the most famous German-Jewish philosopher who questioned Judaism and advocated for assimilation but discussed the issue of the loss of Jewish identity. Many historians see him as the "father of Modern Jewish history" or the "Father of Reform Judaism." To me, he did hold some responsibility for encouraging assimilation instead of striving to balance Judaism and the national identity. Anyway, the exhibitions bored me a little because I knew so much of the stuff in general but thought it was a terrific resource for anyone wanting to know more about German Jewish history. They barely covered the Holocaust.
Afterward, those who I met up with the Museum and I took a bus out to Dr. Pruin's apartment for a reception of tea and some German sweets. Note to Mom and Dad: she made all of us take off our shoes in the hallway!!! It was the first and last time that we congregated as a group to discuss our opinions and feelings about the trip. (I was kind of wondering if Dr. Pruin picked up some kind of cue from Lena that we Americans like to talk about our feelings and give opinions.) Everyone certainly had something to add. My friend, Hilary, made a point about why I just felt so content when I visited Terezin last year. She mentioned that her visit to Poland and Auschwitz last spring made her feel uncomfortable with the Holocaust and coming to Germany allowed her to reconcile her feelings towards the Holocaust. For me, I came to terms with the Holocaust long time ago- when I worked for the USHMM, not because I wanted to but because my job demanded it. I shared my opinions how it would've been a bit easier to explore Berlin on the first day because it's not easy for American Jews to come to Germany and it wasn't really until our free time on Wednesday night did I start to feel at home in Germany because I had the opportunity to see Berlin up close in person, not some face out of the window on a bus. Other than that, I highly recommend this trip for any American Jew as a "must-do" trip along with birthright Israel because coming to Germany really allowed many of us to confront with the impact of Jews in Germany, how much Germany needs Jews, and the Jewish issues in larger perspective such as the Russian Jews in the Diaspora and how can American Jews use its power to restore Jewish communities in Germany. There was a sense of purpose there to promote Germany as the home of modern Jewish history and the privilege of being there and given the chance to revive Germany's great Jewish culture.
I really came to terms with the German language. For a long time, I knew that I needed to study German but I went towards Russian because I wasn't emotionally ready to deal with German. After my internships at the USHMM and watching the Nazi films, I just couldn't do it. I also didn't have enough time in school to take German. I was going to do it last summer but again, I wasn't ready for German. I thought about it for this fall after Professor Bankier told me that it would be very hard to get a job with a Holocaust museum without German but with senior thesis and grad school applications, I wouldn't be able to put 100% effort in German. All still, I wasn't emotionally ready. I was too uncomfortable to hear "harsh" German and I trembled seeing the German text. Berlin gave me a whole new perspective on German- it seemed like maybe I can handle German. It's not that difficult.... but being around the language 24/7 was encouraging because German is not really spoken all that harsh- it's actually very soft (which is why German accents are hot!). I'll think about it.
After reception, we went to an amazing Greek restaurant where I had my first taste of lamb in FOREVER- probably since Spain last January! It was SOOOOOO cold out that I couldn't wait to head home!
My flight back to Rochester was horrendous. We had a 5 hour delay in Berlin to London because of very heavy fog. Half of the passengers had connections in London so naturally we were all concerned. British Airways did a wonderful job of handling us. Fortunately there was wireless in the Berlin airport (which by the way there is no central security area, each gate has its own passport control, security, waiting area, cafe, WCs, and duty-free store) so I got on the Internet and talked with my dad (7:30 AM in EST!). When we boarded the plane, British Airways gave us a nice snack bag with water bottles. I was SO exhausted that I just clunked out when I sat down and remained so for the next 3ish hours. When we took off for London, British Airways gave us dinner of sandwiches- sweet! I was tired still so I fell asleep for another hour.... Then once I got off the plane in London, I jogged through the security, had to wait for the stupid terminal transfer buses (45 minutes connection. good god!), and ran up through Terminal 3. A lot of flights had been delayed or cancelled and I just mostly wanted to find a JFK flight. Dad had mentioned that the 8 PM US Airways flight was the last one so I ran over to look for its gate. After talking with the people, I was placed on a lonnnnnggggg stand-by list of like 15ish people. The woman had doubts on whether I'd even get on or not. Once I got the stand-by ticket, I decided to use the bathroom. Not thinking there was one already in the gate waiting area, I went out the main hall and one of the guys from the gate stopped me and ask to hold my passport while I used the bathroom. Sheesh, some security! Fortunately, a lot of us on the stand-by got on the flight because so many flights were delayed. Yay!!! Then I realized that I needed to know what time my Jetblue would leave. So I asked a person near me in the plane- turned out that this plane would land 5 minutes after Jetblue's scheduled departure time. I quickly formulated a Plan B- just call Dad and ask for Amtrak schedule figuring if there was a train at 1 AM or 2 AM, I'd still get home sooner than if I waited until the morning at JFK. On the way over Atlantic, I spent a lot of time sleeping.... I was THAT exhausted from that trip! Once I landed at JFK, Dad called me to tell me that Jetblue had been delayed. I said fine and see what time. JFK was experiencing so much air traffic (thanks to some weather troubles in Chicago) that a lot of Jetblue flights were delayed at least 4 hours. So I barely missed the 8:25 PM flight that'd take off ar 12:48 AM. So I stuck around in the terminal, away from the furnace in the middle area. I found such an amusing sight- a family of four was sound asleep between rows of chairs! My cell was low on battery so I couldn't turn on its alarm clock so I could snooze. My flight was to be delayed until 3 AM but we actually didn't take off until 3:30 AM. I had originally told my parents to forget trying to pick me up because to pick me up at 3:30, 4 AM was not a good idea. Once I heard that we'd land at 4:30ish, I thought that it'd be more humane hour for my mom who gets up at 5:30 for her spin class. I met her in Rochester a little after 5 AM after sleeping on the plane all the way over there. First thing when she and I went into my room that I wanted to do was to shower! I was so wide-awake, having gained full night's sleep in intervals since Berlin. Mom thought I was crazy and I should go to sleep. I showered anyway... and went to bed because there was nothing better to do for another 2 or 3 hours.
For the next 3 days, my brain felt so fried that I couldn't absorb anything, not even meaningless tv shows or cartoons. I had never felt so strange in my life and even when I saw my final grades, I felt nothing (except happiness that I had passed Stats with a C!). I just ..... didn't want to do anything.
What struck me when I saw the Jewish Museum was two buildings standing next to or attached to each other, very different in architectural styles. One was a beautiful yellow colonial Victorian style mansion and the other was extremely modern black thing. I went inside. I was struck by the interior architecture of the "new" part of the Museum with its 3 axis- Holocaust, Diaspora, and one other that I forgot... that connect Jews together in modern Jewish history. The rest of the museum was solely focused on educating the public the important contributions that Jews made to the national German history starting back in 1600s with a brief overview of the ancient times. I recognized a lot of names and events from my Early Modern Jewish history (thanks Prof. Schwartz!) and felt a bit like an idiot for not appreciating these characters more when I took the class. I gave 5 eurocent to a machine that converted it to a Moses Mendelssohn coin. He's the most famous German-Jewish philosopher who questioned Judaism and advocated for assimilation but discussed the issue of the loss of Jewish identity. Many historians see him as the "father of Modern Jewish history" or the "Father of Reform Judaism." To me, he did hold some responsibility for encouraging assimilation instead of striving to balance Judaism and the national identity. Anyway, the exhibitions bored me a little because I knew so much of the stuff in general but thought it was a terrific resource for anyone wanting to know more about German Jewish history. They barely covered the Holocaust.
Afterward, those who I met up with the Museum and I took a bus out to Dr. Pruin's apartment for a reception of tea and some German sweets. Note to Mom and Dad: she made all of us take off our shoes in the hallway!!! It was the first and last time that we congregated as a group to discuss our opinions and feelings about the trip. (I was kind of wondering if Dr. Pruin picked up some kind of cue from Lena that we Americans like to talk about our feelings and give opinions.) Everyone certainly had something to add. My friend, Hilary, made a point about why I just felt so content when I visited Terezin last year. She mentioned that her visit to Poland and Auschwitz last spring made her feel uncomfortable with the Holocaust and coming to Germany allowed her to reconcile her feelings towards the Holocaust. For me, I came to terms with the Holocaust long time ago- when I worked for the USHMM, not because I wanted to but because my job demanded it. I shared my opinions how it would've been a bit easier to explore Berlin on the first day because it's not easy for American Jews to come to Germany and it wasn't really until our free time on Wednesday night did I start to feel at home in Germany because I had the opportunity to see Berlin up close in person, not some face out of the window on a bus. Other than that, I highly recommend this trip for any American Jew as a "must-do" trip along with birthright Israel because coming to Germany really allowed many of us to confront with the impact of Jews in Germany, how much Germany needs Jews, and the Jewish issues in larger perspective such as the Russian Jews in the Diaspora and how can American Jews use its power to restore Jewish communities in Germany. There was a sense of purpose there to promote Germany as the home of modern Jewish history and the privilege of being there and given the chance to revive Germany's great Jewish culture.
I really came to terms with the German language. For a long time, I knew that I needed to study German but I went towards Russian because I wasn't emotionally ready to deal with German. After my internships at the USHMM and watching the Nazi films, I just couldn't do it. I also didn't have enough time in school to take German. I was going to do it last summer but again, I wasn't ready for German. I thought about it for this fall after Professor Bankier told me that it would be very hard to get a job with a Holocaust museum without German but with senior thesis and grad school applications, I wouldn't be able to put 100% effort in German. All still, I wasn't emotionally ready. I was too uncomfortable to hear "harsh" German and I trembled seeing the German text. Berlin gave me a whole new perspective on German- it seemed like maybe I can handle German. It's not that difficult.... but being around the language 24/7 was encouraging because German is not really spoken all that harsh- it's actually very soft (which is why German accents are hot!). I'll think about it.
After reception, we went to an amazing Greek restaurant where I had my first taste of lamb in FOREVER- probably since Spain last January! It was SOOOOOO cold out that I couldn't wait to head home!
My flight back to Rochester was horrendous. We had a 5 hour delay in Berlin to London because of very heavy fog. Half of the passengers had connections in London so naturally we were all concerned. British Airways did a wonderful job of handling us. Fortunately there was wireless in the Berlin airport (which by the way there is no central security area, each gate has its own passport control, security, waiting area, cafe, WCs, and duty-free store) so I got on the Internet and talked with my dad (7:30 AM in EST!). When we boarded the plane, British Airways gave us a nice snack bag with water bottles. I was SO exhausted that I just clunked out when I sat down and remained so for the next 3ish hours. When we took off for London, British Airways gave us dinner of sandwiches- sweet! I was tired still so I fell asleep for another hour.... Then once I got off the plane in London, I jogged through the security, had to wait for the stupid terminal transfer buses (45 minutes connection. good god!), and ran up through Terminal 3. A lot of flights had been delayed or cancelled and I just mostly wanted to find a JFK flight. Dad had mentioned that the 8 PM US Airways flight was the last one so I ran over to look for its gate. After talking with the people, I was placed on a lonnnnnggggg stand-by list of like 15ish people. The woman had doubts on whether I'd even get on or not. Once I got the stand-by ticket, I decided to use the bathroom. Not thinking there was one already in the gate waiting area, I went out the main hall and one of the guys from the gate stopped me and ask to hold my passport while I used the bathroom. Sheesh, some security! Fortunately, a lot of us on the stand-by got on the flight because so many flights were delayed. Yay!!! Then I realized that I needed to know what time my Jetblue would leave. So I asked a person near me in the plane- turned out that this plane would land 5 minutes after Jetblue's scheduled departure time. I quickly formulated a Plan B- just call Dad and ask for Amtrak schedule figuring if there was a train at 1 AM or 2 AM, I'd still get home sooner than if I waited until the morning at JFK. On the way over Atlantic, I spent a lot of time sleeping.... I was THAT exhausted from that trip! Once I landed at JFK, Dad called me to tell me that Jetblue had been delayed. I said fine and see what time. JFK was experiencing so much air traffic (thanks to some weather troubles in Chicago) that a lot of Jetblue flights were delayed at least 4 hours. So I barely missed the 8:25 PM flight that'd take off ar 12:48 AM. So I stuck around in the terminal, away from the furnace in the middle area. I found such an amusing sight- a family of four was sound asleep between rows of chairs! My cell was low on battery so I couldn't turn on its alarm clock so I could snooze. My flight was to be delayed until 3 AM but we actually didn't take off until 3:30 AM. I had originally told my parents to forget trying to pick me up because to pick me up at 3:30, 4 AM was not a good idea. Once I heard that we'd land at 4:30ish, I thought that it'd be more humane hour for my mom who gets up at 5:30 for her spin class. I met her in Rochester a little after 5 AM after sleeping on the plane all the way over there. First thing when she and I went into my room that I wanted to do was to shower! I was so wide-awake, having gained full night's sleep in intervals since Berlin. Mom thought I was crazy and I should go to sleep. I showered anyway... and went to bed because there was nothing better to do for another 2 or 3 hours.
For the next 3 days, my brain felt so fried that I couldn't absorb anything, not even meaningless tv shows or cartoons. I had never felt so strange in my life and even when I saw my final grades, I felt nothing (except happiness that I had passed Stats with a C!). I just ..... didn't want to do anything.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Brandenburg and Shabbat
Today we got up to make an hour trip out to Brandenberg, a small town outside Berlin of about 80,000 people and a fair number of Russian Jews living here. It's actually very beautiful with much of the architecture which survived both world wars which was impressive.
Brandenberg's significance for this trip was that it used to house a mental hospital and it was where T4 cell was developed by the Nazis. It was primarily active in late 1930's and 1940 and many people did not know what was going on inside because records were very hidden. The doctors would write letters of sympathy to families and friends of the victims that their procedure or whatever didn't work out and the medical staff failed to save them. The mental patients came from all different backgrounds- children and adults, and Jews and gentiles.
First, we visited the Museum which a Russian gave us a tour explaining the history of Brandenberg from the Prussian empire. He was really nice. Second, we took the bus out to the former site of the mental hospital. We saw the barracks that used to house the SS and the spaces where the hospital used to be. The T4 cells still stood- the walls only reached about a foot off the ground as to give the perimeter of the site. Otherwise, there was nothing, no evidence. Archaeological digs had been conducted and they found lots and lots of human bones that were buried underground. Even the files were destroyed and the government and historians have had to construct what happened from eyewitness testimonies and archaeological excavations.
Personally, I was more struck by the town's charm than the site itself. If anything, it didn't impact me as much. If this was supposed to be comparable to Terezin, then I'd say that Terezin had stronger effect because really, no one lives in Terezin and it was truly taken over by the Nazis. People still live in Brandenberg and well, you just know that life goes on and trying to rebuild the community.
We had a bagel lunch and listened to our Brandenberg guide who was German and not Jewish give a talk in German while Jasper translated. Again, we found ourselves in "lost-in-translation" position and lost concentration. So I never really learned much about the Russian community.
Before we left Brandenberg, we visited the old Jewish cemetery. The first thing I noticed was that the ground was flat with a bunch of dirt mounts which obviously meant burial sites. The Nazis razed the cemetery and converted the area into a soccer field! So after they left, the Jewish cemetery was restored through a building of a wall that listed all the buried and it's really beautiful. Along one side was a fence that was supposed to resemble an old Jewish town with cut-outs of houses and shops. We recited the kaddish and put stones on the wall. The cemetery dated back to mid-1850s... so it was pretty old.
Once we arrived back in Berlin, I made most of the short time I had to visit the Dom (Cathedral). It was just stunning! Compared to the cathedrals that I visited in Spain, I felt much more welcomed. Maybe it was the choir singing when I walked in. Or it's just that the Protestant church never really kicked out the Jews as harshly as the Catholic church during the Inquisition. Anyway, it's mostly beautiful wood and marble inside. The Dom took on the Gothic look. I sat there to listen for a bit and then climbed up to the gallery. After that, I saw some people coming down from some stairs so curiosity took over. I found myself climbing a total of 277 steps from the first floor all the way up to the dome that took visitors outside!!! So I had the most spectacular view of Berlin at twilight. I could see the clock tower, the ferris wheel, various buildings lighting up....
I climbed back down and tried to get out. Apparently, you couldn't get out in the same way you came in so I jokingly told myself that the Christians were trying to trap the Jews for religious reasons. Anyhow, I found the exit but it took a long, long time. The path took me to a very interesting room: the gravesite. I sighed when I saw it because I figured it had to be all priests and bishops, right? Then I saw two royal crowns on a coffin each and wondered if maybe a king was here.... So I stopped and started reading the plaques. I found Frederick Wheilhem II!!! That was SO cool to see parts of the royal family there.
I quickly made my way back- I realized how I was actually getting to know my way around Berlin. I know some people might think it's strange that I'd go out by myself but why let anything hold me back?
For Shabbat, some of us went to the New Synagogue for services and it was just okay. We had a bit of hard time following the services even though it was all in Hebrew (except for some sermon on Jacob in German). We managed to meet a couple of people afterwards to find out what was like to live as a Jew in Germany. One man was born in Germany to American parents who came because of music. A woman was there from Haifa, Israel who moved to Berlin over 30 years ago. She still spoke with a very, very heavy Israeli accent. Hila, one of the girls in my group, spoke in Hebrew with her to find out her story. Her husband found a job in music in Berlin and moved and she followed. They have their children in Israel. She said that the community's very close knit that many Jews feel comfortable being in Germany.
For dinner, we went to a delicious Israeli restaurant with falafels! And the best eggplant "parm" I've ever had. We did the Shabbat rituals in the restaurant (I think we pretty much had the place to ourselves) so that was enough even though the wine was unforgivable awful. I spent a lot of time making conversations with Jonah about being Jewish, relationship to Israel, and growing up on upper West Side in NYC. It was then that I found out that Second Avenue deli would be re-opening! I was so excited!
Half the people went out. I was just beyond exhaustion and I just wanted to get up in the morning to explore my last day in Berlin.... not enough hours in the way to see this amazing city!
Brandenberg's significance for this trip was that it used to house a mental hospital and it was where T4 cell was developed by the Nazis. It was primarily active in late 1930's and 1940 and many people did not know what was going on inside because records were very hidden. The doctors would write letters of sympathy to families and friends of the victims that their procedure or whatever didn't work out and the medical staff failed to save them. The mental patients came from all different backgrounds- children and adults, and Jews and gentiles.
First, we visited the Museum which a Russian gave us a tour explaining the history of Brandenberg from the Prussian empire. He was really nice. Second, we took the bus out to the former site of the mental hospital. We saw the barracks that used to house the SS and the spaces where the hospital used to be. The T4 cells still stood- the walls only reached about a foot off the ground as to give the perimeter of the site. Otherwise, there was nothing, no evidence. Archaeological digs had been conducted and they found lots and lots of human bones that were buried underground. Even the files were destroyed and the government and historians have had to construct what happened from eyewitness testimonies and archaeological excavations.
Personally, I was more struck by the town's charm than the site itself. If anything, it didn't impact me as much. If this was supposed to be comparable to Terezin, then I'd say that Terezin had stronger effect because really, no one lives in Terezin and it was truly taken over by the Nazis. People still live in Brandenberg and well, you just know that life goes on and trying to rebuild the community.
We had a bagel lunch and listened to our Brandenberg guide who was German and not Jewish give a talk in German while Jasper translated. Again, we found ourselves in "lost-in-translation" position and lost concentration. So I never really learned much about the Russian community.
Before we left Brandenberg, we visited the old Jewish cemetery. The first thing I noticed was that the ground was flat with a bunch of dirt mounts which obviously meant burial sites. The Nazis razed the cemetery and converted the area into a soccer field! So after they left, the Jewish cemetery was restored through a building of a wall that listed all the buried and it's really beautiful. Along one side was a fence that was supposed to resemble an old Jewish town with cut-outs of houses and shops. We recited the kaddish and put stones on the wall. The cemetery dated back to mid-1850s... so it was pretty old.
Once we arrived back in Berlin, I made most of the short time I had to visit the Dom (Cathedral). It was just stunning! Compared to the cathedrals that I visited in Spain, I felt much more welcomed. Maybe it was the choir singing when I walked in. Or it's just that the Protestant church never really kicked out the Jews as harshly as the Catholic church during the Inquisition. Anyway, it's mostly beautiful wood and marble inside. The Dom took on the Gothic look. I sat there to listen for a bit and then climbed up to the gallery. After that, I saw some people coming down from some stairs so curiosity took over. I found myself climbing a total of 277 steps from the first floor all the way up to the dome that took visitors outside!!! So I had the most spectacular view of Berlin at twilight. I could see the clock tower, the ferris wheel, various buildings lighting up....
I climbed back down and tried to get out. Apparently, you couldn't get out in the same way you came in so I jokingly told myself that the Christians were trying to trap the Jews for religious reasons. Anyhow, I found the exit but it took a long, long time. The path took me to a very interesting room: the gravesite. I sighed when I saw it because I figured it had to be all priests and bishops, right? Then I saw two royal crowns on a coffin each and wondered if maybe a king was here.... So I stopped and started reading the plaques. I found Frederick Wheilhem II!!! That was SO cool to see parts of the royal family there.
I quickly made my way back- I realized how I was actually getting to know my way around Berlin. I know some people might think it's strange that I'd go out by myself but why let anything hold me back?
For Shabbat, some of us went to the New Synagogue for services and it was just okay. We had a bit of hard time following the services even though it was all in Hebrew (except for some sermon on Jacob in German). We managed to meet a couple of people afterwards to find out what was like to live as a Jew in Germany. One man was born in Germany to American parents who came because of music. A woman was there from Haifa, Israel who moved to Berlin over 30 years ago. She still spoke with a very, very heavy Israeli accent. Hila, one of the girls in my group, spoke in Hebrew with her to find out her story. Her husband found a job in music in Berlin and moved and she followed. They have their children in Israel. She said that the community's very close knit that many Jews feel comfortable being in Germany.
For dinner, we went to a delicious Israeli restaurant with falafels! And the best eggplant "parm" I've ever had. We did the Shabbat rituals in the restaurant (I think we pretty much had the place to ourselves) so that was enough even though the wine was unforgivable awful. I spent a lot of time making conversations with Jonah about being Jewish, relationship to Israel, and growing up on upper West Side in NYC. It was then that I found out that Second Avenue deli would be re-opening! I was so excited!
Half the people went out. I was just beyond exhaustion and I just wanted to get up in the morning to explore my last day in Berlin.... not enough hours in the way to see this amazing city!
Thursday, December 20, 2007
German-Jewish Relations
Wow, what a day.... we met with four different speakers on various issues.
We began with a post-breakfast talk with the director of the Neue Synagogue, Dr. Hermann Simon, and a Foreign Ministry representative (very cute). We talked a lot about the Jewish community in Berlin and in Germany in general. Dr. Simon described the Jewish community and the challenges it's facing especially with the young Jews and the "Russian-speaking Jews" (PC term, really). Some people took the opportunity to speak more about the German-Jewish foreign relations in regards to Israel. We also discussed the problems of integration among the Russians.
Second, we went to the AJC Berlin office and met with the executive director, Deidre Berger, who was just amazing. The AJC office is located right on Potsdam Platz and it overlooks the exact spot where Hitler committed suicide. Kind of weird and it was certainly a no-man's land for a long, long time so all the buildings around it were very, very modern (and ugly). Anyway, the director told us a little history of AJC Berlin and its role in European Jewish relations and discussed the importance of Germany as an ally to the Jewish people. She also talked about identities. She used to work as a foreign correspondent and in NPR Washington before taking a position with AJC in 1984 when she decided to move to Germany. Ms. Berger noticed that many of us were in international relations or political science and of course, Jewish Studies and she acknowledged that. We must learn German and Arabic as future leaders of the Jewish world. Eh, what about Hebrew? :-) So anyway, she emphasized democracy in the view of AJC and within the German politics and that it's one of AJC's goals- to promote democracy. I'll tell you that when she talked about it, I was wondering if I was taking democracy for granted because as someone pointed out later that there are so many shades of democracy and everyone has their own definition. For me, it's freedom of speech. For others, it could mean something else like the right to vote or participate in the government or whatever.
After her speech, almost every hand went up! So she took a few questions at time and wrote them down and then answered them. Someone asked about AJC's role in helping to shape the curriculum in German schools (which are NOT centralized and each school has its own curriculum not like in the US). He wanted to know if it's trying to work on really integrating Jewish history within German history. She said, of course, they recognized that only just couple years ago and are working on it. Some people asked about the political attitude among the Germans towards Israel. The Germans still call the Jews "co-citizens" and some other name to really single them out and AJC is working on to eliminate those terms as to help the Jews to feel even more integrated into the German society. I asked her about how, as American Jews with such varied interests and our own definition of our Jewish identity, can she expect us to be the next generation of leaders? How can we keep our identity from getting in the way of our work? She said that nothing's ever too personal and no American Jew should hide his or her feelings and views and that's what makes her a bit sad about the majority of American Jews who just don't think about it. Overall, it was a very successful visit.
We had pretty bad lunch- they served us these huge portions of noodle kugl with basically nothing except for some crumble of feta cheese. Needless to say, I didn't even really eat much of it and went for the Mediterranean platter instead.
After lunch, we walked down to Kruezberg, which is a very ethnic neighborhood filled with Turkish Muslims. Our guide, Wafaa, was a Palestinian. I think the whole room went very silent when she talked about her Palestinian background. Her parents had lived in Palestine and then became refugees after the establishment of Israel and escaped to Lebanon and then to Germany in 1970s. So she pretty much grew up in Germany all of her life. I must admit that when I first saw her, I knew that she could not be German or Jewish but when she opened her mouth to talk, I recognized the Middle East/Arabic accent (which strangely was a comfort to me as it reminded me of Israel). So anyway, she talked about the Muslim community, mostly Turkish. She was just incredibly open with everything that for a minute there, I thought, "TMI." Nevertheless, her attitude came from her parents who just basically accepted everything and was generally more secular than the Arabs that I've seen in Israel. Afterward, she took us on a little tour of Kreuzberg which is basically Turkish and then walked us to the Merkaz Mosque. By the way, in the entrance to Kreuzberg, there's a big sign in transliteration from Arabic-"Merkaz Kreuzberg." When I first saw it, I thought, what is a Hebrew word doing here? So anyway, she pointed out a couple of shops and explained that a lot of young people like to hang out in the area because it's really the only place in Berlin just to hang out. That's a good point- even though it's cold, I don't see anyone hanging out anywhere in Berlin. She also pointed out a couple of places where Muslim men could be "in closet" in terms of alcohol.
Then we walked down to Merkaz Mosque. Berlin has over 70 mosques and they're all in the backyards of different buildings. We saw the finished outer construction of the newest mosque, the first to be seen from the street. It's going to be very beautiful. She took us inside and then we took off our shoes and sat in a circle on the prayer carpet. I had never, ever been inside a mosque so it was all new to me. The first thing she pointed out after putting on her haji was the design of the rugs that are specially made for mosques. There's a "praying spot" where the person kneels down on and the design was architectural with columns separating each person with a point towards a certain direction- to Mecca (oh, someone asked why they allow pointed to one direction... wow, so naive). That was very cool. Then we asked a couple of pretty hard questions for her because she was a Muslim and a Palestinian. We did step away from the Israeli-Palestinian issues and just focused on learning more about her identity in Germany. She identified herself as a German Palestinian. We tried to bring up a bit about the Holocaust because of the prevalent Holocaust denial among the Muslim communities. She responded that she didn't believe in that denial.... it was tough for her. It was also something else for her to grow up with the Germans and learning about the Holocaust even though it had no connection with her. Otherwise, we really enjoyed her.
After the tour, we met with Aycan Demirel, the director of Kreuzberg Initiative Aganist Antisemitism. He only spoke in German, Turkish, and Arabic so our guides had to translate for us . It was a bit frustrating because of the lapses. So anyway, he talked about its mission to track anti-Zionist sentiments in Arabic countries and how that filters to Germany. The people watch for anything in the media so that they can ban it in Germany. He showed us one Turkish paper that compared Bush to Hitler and a couple of other things. It program mostly works on education for the migrants as to help them connect with the Holocaust as they tend to be quite ignorant of it. Apparently, they do support Israel to a certain degree as it's not anti-Israel. The program has a lot of trouble securing funds and grants to promote it further and enhance it, especially from the community. Many people are quite negative to it.
Finally, we had dinner with Dr. Jeffrey Peck, professor of Georgetown, to talk to us about Jewish-German history. Since we covered a lot in the past few days, he just promoted the summer program on studying just that and the current German-Jewish community in terms of relating to their identities and the rest of Germany. We took the opportunity, since Dr. Pruin was there also, to ask questions about the church-state relationship and American Jews in their relation with Germany.
Oh, we ate in an Israeli restaurant so in the back, there was a mini-market with Israeli products. imagine my joy when I saw that chocolate cake loaf! But for 4,5 euros when it was like 12 sheklim? I think I can wait.
We began with a post-breakfast talk with the director of the Neue Synagogue, Dr. Hermann Simon, and a Foreign Ministry representative (very cute). We talked a lot about the Jewish community in Berlin and in Germany in general. Dr. Simon described the Jewish community and the challenges it's facing especially with the young Jews and the "Russian-speaking Jews" (PC term, really). Some people took the opportunity to speak more about the German-Jewish foreign relations in regards to Israel. We also discussed the problems of integration among the Russians.
Second, we went to the AJC Berlin office and met with the executive director, Deidre Berger, who was just amazing. The AJC office is located right on Potsdam Platz and it overlooks the exact spot where Hitler committed suicide. Kind of weird and it was certainly a no-man's land for a long, long time so all the buildings around it were very, very modern (and ugly). Anyway, the director told us a little history of AJC Berlin and its role in European Jewish relations and discussed the importance of Germany as an ally to the Jewish people. She also talked about identities. She used to work as a foreign correspondent and in NPR Washington before taking a position with AJC in 1984 when she decided to move to Germany. Ms. Berger noticed that many of us were in international relations or political science and of course, Jewish Studies and she acknowledged that. We must learn German and Arabic as future leaders of the Jewish world. Eh, what about Hebrew? :-) So anyway, she emphasized democracy in the view of AJC and within the German politics and that it's one of AJC's goals- to promote democracy. I'll tell you that when she talked about it, I was wondering if I was taking democracy for granted because as someone pointed out later that there are so many shades of democracy and everyone has their own definition. For me, it's freedom of speech. For others, it could mean something else like the right to vote or participate in the government or whatever.
After her speech, almost every hand went up! So she took a few questions at time and wrote them down and then answered them. Someone asked about AJC's role in helping to shape the curriculum in German schools (which are NOT centralized and each school has its own curriculum not like in the US). He wanted to know if it's trying to work on really integrating Jewish history within German history. She said, of course, they recognized that only just couple years ago and are working on it. Some people asked about the political attitude among the Germans towards Israel. The Germans still call the Jews "co-citizens" and some other name to really single them out and AJC is working on to eliminate those terms as to help the Jews to feel even more integrated into the German society. I asked her about how, as American Jews with such varied interests and our own definition of our Jewish identity, can she expect us to be the next generation of leaders? How can we keep our identity from getting in the way of our work? She said that nothing's ever too personal and no American Jew should hide his or her feelings and views and that's what makes her a bit sad about the majority of American Jews who just don't think about it. Overall, it was a very successful visit.
We had pretty bad lunch- they served us these huge portions of noodle kugl with basically nothing except for some crumble of feta cheese. Needless to say, I didn't even really eat much of it and went for the Mediterranean platter instead.
After lunch, we walked down to Kruezberg, which is a very ethnic neighborhood filled with Turkish Muslims. Our guide, Wafaa, was a Palestinian. I think the whole room went very silent when she talked about her Palestinian background. Her parents had lived in Palestine and then became refugees after the establishment of Israel and escaped to Lebanon and then to Germany in 1970s. So she pretty much grew up in Germany all of her life. I must admit that when I first saw her, I knew that she could not be German or Jewish but when she opened her mouth to talk, I recognized the Middle East/Arabic accent (which strangely was a comfort to me as it reminded me of Israel). So anyway, she talked about the Muslim community, mostly Turkish. She was just incredibly open with everything that for a minute there, I thought, "TMI." Nevertheless, her attitude came from her parents who just basically accepted everything and was generally more secular than the Arabs that I've seen in Israel. Afterward, she took us on a little tour of Kreuzberg which is basically Turkish and then walked us to the Merkaz Mosque. By the way, in the entrance to Kreuzberg, there's a big sign in transliteration from Arabic-"Merkaz Kreuzberg." When I first saw it, I thought, what is a Hebrew word doing here? So anyway, she pointed out a couple of shops and explained that a lot of young people like to hang out in the area because it's really the only place in Berlin just to hang out. That's a good point- even though it's cold, I don't see anyone hanging out anywhere in Berlin. She also pointed out a couple of places where Muslim men could be "in closet" in terms of alcohol.
Then we walked down to Merkaz Mosque. Berlin has over 70 mosques and they're all in the backyards of different buildings. We saw the finished outer construction of the newest mosque, the first to be seen from the street. It's going to be very beautiful. She took us inside and then we took off our shoes and sat in a circle on the prayer carpet. I had never, ever been inside a mosque so it was all new to me. The first thing she pointed out after putting on her haji was the design of the rugs that are specially made for mosques. There's a "praying spot" where the person kneels down on and the design was architectural with columns separating each person with a point towards a certain direction- to Mecca (oh, someone asked why they allow pointed to one direction... wow, so naive). That was very cool. Then we asked a couple of pretty hard questions for her because she was a Muslim and a Palestinian. We did step away from the Israeli-Palestinian issues and just focused on learning more about her identity in Germany. She identified herself as a German Palestinian. We tried to bring up a bit about the Holocaust because of the prevalent Holocaust denial among the Muslim communities. She responded that she didn't believe in that denial.... it was tough for her. It was also something else for her to grow up with the Germans and learning about the Holocaust even though it had no connection with her. Otherwise, we really enjoyed her.
After the tour, we met with Aycan Demirel, the director of Kreuzberg Initiative Aganist Antisemitism. He only spoke in German, Turkish, and Arabic so our guides had to translate for us . It was a bit frustrating because of the lapses. So anyway, he talked about its mission to track anti-Zionist sentiments in Arabic countries and how that filters to Germany. The people watch for anything in the media so that they can ban it in Germany. He showed us one Turkish paper that compared Bush to Hitler and a couple of other things. It program mostly works on education for the migrants as to help them connect with the Holocaust as they tend to be quite ignorant of it. Apparently, they do support Israel to a certain degree as it's not anti-Israel. The program has a lot of trouble securing funds and grants to promote it further and enhance it, especially from the community. Many people are quite negative to it.
Finally, we had dinner with Dr. Jeffrey Peck, professor of Georgetown, to talk to us about Jewish-German history. Since we covered a lot in the past few days, he just promoted the summer program on studying just that and the current German-Jewish community in terms of relating to their identities and the rest of Germany. We took the opportunity, since Dr. Pruin was there also, to ask questions about the church-state relationship and American Jews in their relation with Germany.
Oh, we ate in an Israeli restaurant so in the back, there was a mini-market with Israeli products. imagine my joy when I saw that chocolate cake loaf! But for 4,5 euros when it was like 12 sheklim? I think I can wait.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Holocaust in Germany
Today was all about the Holocaust.
First, we visited the Wannasee Villa where the Final Solution was implemented in January 1942. The place was renovated into a museum so there wasn't really a feeling of obvious eerie of actually being there. But when I looked out to the lake behind the house, I felt real chills as I looked behind me to see a diagram of the SS men. The historian, who guided us, gave us a lecture on the Wannasee Conference right in the same room as these men agreed on the Final Solution to the Jewish Question. Then we moved to other exhibitions (it was essentially a small, focused Holocaust museum on the Nazis' plans to kill the Jews). He talked about the death and concentrations camps and the mass killings and played a couple of eyewitness testimonies. Obviously, you shouldn't surprised to konw that I wasn't at least surprised by some of the questions that other kids asked that were just a little obvious to me ("why so many camps are located in Poland? Not Germany?" or "Oh, I didn't know that there were so many Jews in Poland!") Lena asked the historian how he got started on this Holocaust thing. He said th
at he didn't hear much about it for a very long time and then just sort of dove into it and did his community service at Yad Vashem. Afterward, I asked him if he knew anyone at Yad Vashem that I had worked with- it was over 10 years ago. Oh well.
Lena asked how I liked this particular museum knowing that I had experiences with Yad Vashem and USHMM. I told her that I keep an open mind when I visit different countries because their experiences were different and I'm no judge to do that. I mean, now I realize the museums in the US and Israel have their own purposes and how they want to portray themselves. For example, the USHMM is far more of a very American museum with its universal theme whereas Yad Vashem is very, very Jewish. This one was outright honest that it even included some facts and pictures I had never seen before (ex: the gorges at Babi Yar). Lena said that many of the Eastern European countries have only begun to open up their Holocaust memorials and museums and they're just very honest about it and it's just new to the public.
We went to Track 17 memorial. I think this was my most emotional moment so far with the Holocaust. There's a short stretch of tracks that used to hold trains that'd stop to pick up Berlin Jews. Obviously, this was separated from the regular tracks that the Metro (or "meeeeeetro" as the Germans say) travel on. Along the tracks on both sides is a section of metal strip that had the date of pick-up, number of Jews, Berlin to _____. I noticed that many of them went to Theresienstadt, which where I was last February, with only exactly 100 Jews from 1941 to 1942 and parts of 1943 and 1944 (obviously the numbers declined by then). I decided to count how many deportations to Theresienstadt took place.... I only was able to count one side and honestly, after counting 60 strips of different places, it just a bit overwhelming that there wasn't just one or ten large deportations from 1941 to 1945 but over 100 from Berlin alone. Theresienstadt dominated until Auschwitz was built and then the deportations alternated between the two places. The trains also went to Riga, Warsaw, Kovno, Lodz, and a couple of other places. When all of these came together, including the counting aloud, I just felt that loss of all the Jews. I'll say that this is my place in Germany to feel that loss and connection with the Holocaust.
Afterward, we had pasta lunch with the Holocaust survivor. His story was quite interesting. He wanted to create themes as to help relate with the audience and thought he'd be able to do music until he found out that only like 5 of us were involved. So he ticked off places- Germany, China, Israel, or the US. Immediately, I asked him to tell us about China as I explained to him that I had heard many survivors due to my internship experiences at the USHMM but no one ever talked about China. Unfortunately, we had to cut it short as the restaurant was kind of small and people were coming in for lunch. So we finished up his talk on the bus later. He was about 10 when he and his family left Germany for Shanghai which required no visa in 1938. Then they went to some Russian town in very northern part of China. They stayed until 1947 in which they moved to Israel. They also lived in the US afterward because life was too hard in Israel for them to actually want to start over again. It was just not the place to be for them. So when they lived in the US, they lived in south Florida. Finally, the survivor visited Berlin in 1961 just before the Wall was built just to see how he felt about being back in Germany. The family had never really felt at home anywhere so Germany was their last option. So anyway, the survivor went and felt right at home and encouraged his family to follow him in 1963. His parents were ecstatic to be able to speak in their language and be part of their culture. That's their happy ever after-they've been living in Germany since. He still lives in Berlin and doesn't let his memories get to him. He also talked about Israel and the meaning of the War of 1967 as a heroic struggle for the Jews. It was so great to hear him talk about 1967 like that as a survivor.
When we left him, we went to the Holocaust Memorial site that we were supposed to visit yesterday . It was... very, very interesting . We didn't have the time to go "underground" to see the exhibitions. Basically, it looks like a graveyard with lots of stone blocks of different height lined up neatly in rows, taking up an entire block. The ground was uneven. As I went through the walls, (though the architect had no real purpose in his design) I felt as if I was a nervous Jew being crowded by dangers with the ground being uneven as an added effect.
I want to apologize for not posting any pictures on the Holocaust. For me, and as all others should too, it's just disrespectful to take photographs or film videos of memorial sites as it's just not enough to show respect for the murdered. These victims should be visited personally, not showed around the world through artificial means.
Then, we had 4 hours to ourselves to do whatever we wanted to. Some people wanted to sit and have coffee and others wanted to nap a bit. But with my vision, I had to get going if I wanted to see much of Berlin in daylight as I could (it gets dark by 4 PM!!!). It was 3.... So anyway, I went off on my own to walk towards the Brandenberger Tor (Gate). I was able to get up close to different buildings along the way including the Egyptian/Papyrus Museum, the Berlin Dom (Cathedral), the ice skating rink (which I might do on Saturday for a bit!), etc. Finally I got to Brandenberg Gate and just couldn't keep my eyes off it. It's really a majestic thing with that Christmas tree for an added effect in front of it. I picked up some Starbucks latte (most expensive I've ever bought in my entire life for 5.5 euros) and just stood there, sipping, while looking at the Tor. If I had a peace spot, this is it. I have a special spot in every city that I spend time in where I can just look 
and spend time alone with my thoughts. I think that the Brandenberger Gate is different for me- it's not about the Holocaust or the Jews. Its majesty and historical symbolism strike me as something that anything's possible and life can be beautiful. This was where the first part of the Berlin Wall was torn down.... All of my thoughts about the Holocaust earlier today just disappeared and I was able to relax and just enjoy being in Germany.
Then I walked back in the opposite direction, trying to head for the hotel. Of course, I saw a big, big building for the VW dealership so no surprise that I'd go in for my brother. There wasn't anything to get for him except for a 18,000 euro Polo.... too expensive for a 18th birthday present!
Tonight, the group and I went to a classical concert playing Christmas music. It was very, very nice. We all liked it and were impressed by the European style orchestra hall. It's so regal- it's better to be here than in the Lincoln Center in the US. The music was beautiful and the maestro was so graceful in his hands movements. Being jetlagged for the second time, I snoozed for a bit though I could hear the music playing through my brain (never got any REM).
Afterwards, we all went out to an Italian restaurant for late-night munchies and drinks. It was so fun!
First, we visited the Wannasee Villa where the Final Solution was implemented in January 1942. The place was renovated into a museum so there wasn't really a feeling of obvious eerie of actually being there. But when I looked out to the lake behind the house, I felt real chills as I looked behind me to see a diagram of the SS men. The historian, who guided us, gave us a lecture on the Wannasee Conference right in the same room as these men agreed on the Final Solution to the Jewish Question. Then we moved to other exhibitions (it was essentially a small, focused Holocaust museum on the Nazis' plans to kill the Jews). He talked about the death and concentrations camps and the mass killings and played a couple of eyewitness testimonies. Obviously, you shouldn't surprised to konw that I wasn't at least surprised by some of the questions that other kids asked that were just a little obvious to me ("why so many camps are located in Poland? Not Germany?" or "Oh, I didn't know that there were so many Jews in Poland!") Lena asked the historian how he got started on this Holocaust thing. He said th
at he didn't hear much about it for a very long time and then just sort of dove into it and did his community service at Yad Vashem. Afterward, I asked him if he knew anyone at Yad Vashem that I had worked with- it was over 10 years ago. Oh well.Lena asked how I liked this particular museum knowing that I had experiences with Yad Vashem and USHMM. I told her that I keep an open mind when I visit different countries because their experiences were different and I'm no judge to do that. I mean, now I realize the museums in the US and Israel have their own purposes and how they want to portray themselves. For example, the USHMM is far more of a very American museum with its universal theme whereas Yad Vashem is very, very Jewish. This one was outright honest that it even included some facts and pictures I had never seen before (ex: the gorges at Babi Yar). Lena said that many of the Eastern European countries have only begun to open up their Holocaust memorials and museums and they're just very honest about it and it's just new to the public.
We went to Track 17 memorial. I think this was my most emotional moment so far with the Holocaust. There's a short stretch of tracks that used to hold trains that'd stop to pick up Berlin Jews. Obviously, this was separated from the regular tracks that the Metro (or "meeeeeetro" as the Germans say) travel on. Along the tracks on both sides is a section of metal strip that had the date of pick-up, number of Jews, Berlin to _____. I noticed that many of them went to Theresienstadt, which where I was last February, with only exactly 100 Jews from 1941 to 1942 and parts of 1943 and 1944 (obviously the numbers declined by then). I decided to count how many deportations to Theresienstadt took place.... I only was able to count one side and honestly, after counting 60 strips of different places, it just a bit overwhelming that there wasn't just one or ten large deportations from 1941 to 1945 but over 100 from Berlin alone. Theresienstadt dominated until Auschwitz was built and then the deportations alternated between the two places. The trains also went to Riga, Warsaw, Kovno, Lodz, and a couple of other places. When all of these came together, including the counting aloud, I just felt that loss of all the Jews. I'll say that this is my place in Germany to feel that loss and connection with the Holocaust.
Afterward, we had pasta lunch with the Holocaust survivor. His story was quite interesting. He wanted to create themes as to help relate with the audience and thought he'd be able to do music until he found out that only like 5 of us were involved. So he ticked off places- Germany, China, Israel, or the US. Immediately, I asked him to tell us about China as I explained to him that I had heard many survivors due to my internship experiences at the USHMM but no one ever talked about China. Unfortunately, we had to cut it short as the restaurant was kind of small and people were coming in for lunch. So we finished up his talk on the bus later. He was about 10 when he and his family left Germany for Shanghai which required no visa in 1938. Then they went to some Russian town in very northern part of China. They stayed until 1947 in which they moved to Israel. They also lived in the US afterward because life was too hard in Israel for them to actually want to start over again. It was just not the place to be for them. So when they lived in the US, they lived in south Florida. Finally, the survivor visited Berlin in 1961 just before the Wall was built just to see how he felt about being back in Germany. The family had never really felt at home anywhere so Germany was their last option. So anyway, the survivor went and felt right at home and encouraged his family to follow him in 1963. His parents were ecstatic to be able to speak in their language and be part of their culture. That's their happy ever after-they've been living in Germany since. He still lives in Berlin and doesn't let his memories get to him. He also talked about Israel and the meaning of the War of 1967 as a heroic struggle for the Jews. It was so great to hear him talk about 1967 like that as a survivor.
When we left him, we went to the Holocaust Memorial site that we were supposed to visit yesterday . It was... very, very interesting . We didn't have the time to go "underground" to see the exhibitions. Basically, it looks like a graveyard with lots of stone blocks of different height lined up neatly in rows, taking up an entire block. The ground was uneven. As I went through the walls, (though the architect had no real purpose in his design) I felt as if I was a nervous Jew being crowded by dangers with the ground being uneven as an added effect.
I want to apologize for not posting any pictures on the Holocaust. For me, and as all others should too, it's just disrespectful to take photographs or film videos of memorial sites as it's just not enough to show respect for the murdered. These victims should be visited personally, not showed around the world through artificial means.
Then, we had 4 hours to ourselves to do whatever we wanted to. Some people wanted to sit and have coffee and others wanted to nap a bit. But with my vision, I had to get going if I wanted to see much of Berlin in daylight as I could (it gets dark by 4 PM!!!). It was 3.... So anyway, I went off on my own to walk towards the Brandenberger Tor (Gate). I was able to get up close to different buildings along the way including the Egyptian/Papyrus Museum, the Berlin Dom (Cathedral), the ice skating rink (which I might do on Saturday for a bit!), etc. Finally I got to Brandenberg Gate and just couldn't keep my eyes off it. It's really a majestic thing with that Christmas tree for an added effect in front of it. I picked up some Starbucks latte (most expensive I've ever bought in my entire life for 5.5 euros) and just stood there, sipping, while looking at the Tor. If I had a peace spot, this is it. I have a special spot in every city that I spend time in where I can just look 
and spend time alone with my thoughts. I think that the Brandenberger Gate is different for me- it's not about the Holocaust or the Jews. Its majesty and historical symbolism strike me as something that anything's possible and life can be beautiful. This was where the first part of the Berlin Wall was torn down.... All of my thoughts about the Holocaust earlier today just disappeared and I was able to relax and just enjoy being in Germany.Then I walked back in the opposite direction, trying to head for the hotel. Of course, I saw a big, big building for the VW dealership so no surprise that I'd go in for my brother. There wasn't anything to get for him except for a 18,000 euro Polo.... too expensive for a 18th birthday present!
Tonight, the group and I went to a classical concert playing Christmas music. It was very, very nice. We all liked it and were impressed by the European style orchestra hall. It's so regal- it's better to be here than in the Lincoln Center in the US. The music was beautiful and the maestro was so graceful in his hands movements. Being jetlagged for the second time, I snoozed for a bit though I could hear the music playing through my brain (never got any REM).Afterwards, we all went out to an Italian restaurant for late-night munchies and drinks. It was so fun!
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