Treptow Park and other sights,Day Two

On the morning of June 18th we had breakfast at 7am, and then I got ready for the day and had a lovely conversation with my wonderful boyfriend back home. At 9:45 we met up with Manuella and Manka in the lobby and from there we left on a tour of some of the attractions in and around Kreuzberg. Manuella first stopped us right in the middle of a sidewalk, but she explained that at the spot we were standing we were in what was once the no mans land between East and West Berlin. There are no signs that there had ever been a wall near where we were currently standing. It was fascinating thinking that not so long ago, where we were standing would elicit fear in an East Berliner hoping to make it to West Berlin. After that we walked a few more meters to see a guard tower that had been preserved for memorial purposes. This was not a standard guard tower, but a communication tower between all of the rest of the towers. As you would expect, the tower was an imposing cement structure with only a door at the ground level and a few small windows near the top. I hope to come back on a Sunday when the tower is open to the public to go inside.

After the tower we traveled along the edge of the Spree River and stopped to see the artpiece that was placed in the River, the locals call the statue the Cheese Men because of all the holes that are in the figures, though the three men pushing against each other was meant to depict the struggles between East and West Berliners crossing the bridge over the Spree. The statues are made of Aluminum and their designs coverd with holes in order to be light and have little resistance to the high winds on the river. Its actually quite thoughtful of the artist to consider the materials that would last the longest in the River without polluting the water.

Then we walked through a public park with beautiful arrangements of flowers on our way to the enterance of a Soviet Memorial. The Soviet Memorial is a cemetary for more than 7,000 Soviet soldiers who died defending National Socialism, though more tha 22,000 soviet lives were lost during WWII. It was a humbling experience to walk past the five enormous rectangular graves and to see the statues and structures that surrounded them with words of remembrance. This is a place i will not soon forget.

After the Soviet Memorial we took a bus back to our hostel, where we grabbed our school bags before we headed out to get lunch and head to Humboldt University to meet back up with Manuella and Manka. During our classtime we discussed our experiences so far in Berlin and then talked in our groups about our research projects and how we thought we would actually be conducting them now that we are here in Berlin and have a better idea of what resources are available to us.

Once class was over, a group of us went to explore Alexanderplatz, which is a large shopping square in Berlin. We spent some time parusing a mall, which really didn't feel much different from malls in Washington, except of course for that everyone was speaking German and not English. Once everyone had gotten what they needed, we headed back to the hostel. I was back at the hostel for approximately an hour before i left again, but this time to go see the Ballhaus Naunynstrasse performance called "One Day I Went to *IDL". The Ballhaus Naunynstrasse is a group of young refugee actors and actresses who perform theater acts about the way they are treated by German officials and German citizens. The performance was half in German, so i wasn't able to understand all of the acts, but i was able to get the general feeling for each story that the actors were telling. The performances included storytelling, some traditional acting, rap, and the transition between each act was done through video clips and music. From this experience I am looking forward to seeing more theater and researching some of the demonstrations that the actors referenced in their stories.

Once I had returned from the hostel after the performance it was time to call it a night and get some sleep so I could start again the next day.