Achtung Bette! (Attention Please)

Halo Family!
Sorry it has been so long since I last wrote but believe it or not I am been pretty busy these last few weeks. Ok according to the United States work ethic it was probably nothing, but for being over here is good old England I have been doing a lot.

Starting April 3rd I returned to my homeland...Germany! Originally I never thought I was going to be able to come to Germany but early in the semester, my friend here Kerri asked me if I would want to visit her really good friend who was studying abroad in Berlin. Surprising I answered with "Heck yes!" and booked my ticket right away. The best part about the deal was that we were going to be able to stay with him at his apartment for free, yessss (kip voice)! That was a definite plus. We got there on Thursday the third and Brian (the name of Kerri's friend) picked us up at the airport. Over whelmed by the crazy but awesome German language were very glad that he was there to pick us up. He showed up and we took the bus to another train that in turn took us to his apartment, however mid way in the ride he pulled out two bottlea of beer to start the night off, they were very tasty and in way cooler bottles than we have in the states.

Friday we started the day off by getting into a free art museum with Brian's class. He asked his teacher if it would be ok and she was so glad to have us. Pretty cool eh? We got to see the Pergamon Altar that was stolen from Turkey by the Germans in separate pieces, they now are the main exhibit at the Pergamonmuseum. They are so beautiful and full of ornate detail. Unfortuantely, as with a lot of things we saw in Germany, because of the language barrier it was really hard to get the history behind things if Brian didn't know. So I do know this altar was very important...but not exactly sure why haha. I will work on that for you all. Brian then took us into berlin city and showed us all the important buildings and since he is an architecht major he knew a lot about the buildings themselves and whn and why they were built. It was very cool to learn and see. [I thought of you a lot, Anna :) ] There were many places that were just fascinating such as thw Brandenbug Gate shown in this picture, the monument to the murdered Jews (inspiring and kind of eerie, picture below) , and the Sony center, but the two that stuck out to me the most were the Berlin wall and this momument that was dedicated to the burning of the books done by the Nazis. In the strip where there are lot of old government buildings there is this glass square into the ground that shows a bunch of empty shelves below the ground. The significant action that happened here involved, the library that was to the right. At the beginning of the Nazi reign Hitler ordered that all the books that "went against what the Nazi stood for" should be burned. Of course this was practically all of them and in the spot of the monument all the books were burned. The really creepy part of the whole thing is the plaque that is placed right below. It states, in german, a quote by a philosopher at the time that says "when there is burning of books, so too the burning of flesh will follow" and soon after the book burning in the plaza Jews were captured and tortured as well. This was probably one of the most shocking and aweing parts of the trip considering the Nazis. It was very cool to say the least.

We ate lunch at a beer garden where we got one of the best bratwurst ever tasted along with a litre of beer. It was so German of us! Haha. We then headed back after being out all day and eventually went to a local bar later. The bar was called Slumberland and it was run by these Jamaican men and there was sand on the floor! Yes sand! It was one of the coolest bars I have been to and the beer wasn't too bad either. We headed home and Kerri and I shared a bed on the floor ready to start another amazing day.

Saturday began with the Berlin Wall. While I have heard some disappointment from people involving this structure, saying it is just a wall and not that impressive, I completely disagree. I found it very fascinating and amazing that this was the actual wall that separated so much. It is now called the East Side Gallery because a lot of artists have come and done some very cool depictions of what has either happened there or the feelings that were felt. I loved it for sure. After that we went to what I think was my favorite part of the weekend, the Berlin soccer game!!! It was insane! I have heard that the German soccer games are more intense than the English ones, because there is more violence between fans.

The game was very close and there is this one section where the "hooligans" sit and it basically is where the crazy of crazy fans go and cheer the whole game. It was crazy and actually quite intimidating hearing all the German cheers go on for literally 3 hours. It was amazing...amazing. By halftime there was reported to be 60,000 people there in the Olympic staduium that holds roughly around 70,000 people. Crazy! I loved every minute of it and was so proud of my German heritage. Wahoo! The only section that was designated for the other team had to be gaurded by men in orange so that they wouldnt be attacked by the Berlin fans. If you look very close at this picture you can kind of see all the orange men lined up to keep the two peoples separate. After the game, in which Berlin lost in the last minute, we left with the pack of people who when coming in were crazy, singing, and chanting German things, but when leaving were sad and quite as if all the life has just got sucked out of them. Oh soccer, it can make or break days for these people.

Sunday morning involved a very early wake up to make the train that took us to the airport. Brian got as far as we needed and then it was supposed to be straight on out to the airport, however we come to find out half way to the airport that there is a rail replacement bus that we needed to take instead of the train. Since all the announcements were in German, the only reason we knew we had to get off was beacause everyone else with suitcases and such were heading off...unfortunately when we asked them what was going on they were all German speakers as well. So in a panic Kerri and I were just like "Alright, our best bet I guess is to follow all the suitcases!" So like little ducklings following their mother, we followed the Germans and their suitcases. Needless to say, after turning around 3-4 times we all managed to find he rail replacement bus and made it to airport just in time. Phew!! What is a trip though in a foreign country without some stress right? Haha. .We made it though and had a blast as well and that is all that matters.


Well, I know that was long but I had a lot to say. There is going to be a few more coming from me soon because I have a lot of updating to do but bare with me. I hope all is well in the states and just want to say that I will be arriving in less than 4 weeks! It is going to be bitter sweet for me. I am so excited to see all of you, but also very sad to leave this place that has been my home for four months and given me so many wonderful memories. I love you all and know that you are in my thoughts and prayers. Take care! Probst! (that is cheers is German)

PS- The name of this album is something that I said a lot on the trip. It was said all the time on the trains and is really fun to say. It is pronounced auktongue bitta! Haha, if you want say it all the time to your students, friends, and fellow workers. Make me proud! It means attention please if you didn't get that :)