Hey look mom! I'm on T.V!!

Meeting a friend for a beer and ice cream (I know that is a strange combo) we were interviewed for a German news program. "What is your opinion about the beach bar scene here? Do you have any plans to visit another beach bar?" Steffi answered, "Its really nice, because in the United States, where we are from, there isn't much opportunity to sit on the beach and enjoy a drink." Well, that's when I interjected, "On the coast one can do that, but we live so far north it makes it difficult." Then the camera was all on my and I had 15seconds of fame, which will probably be edited down to one sentence or less-- "Berlin is cool!" Anyway, it was fun.

Heute

Well, we are wrapping up this week. For the first time everyone showed up. A classmate said we should take a picture to commenorate this exceptional occurence. It was nice. Yesterday we had an excursion thoughtout the city and we really worked hard and had fun going through the city collecting pictures and information. My camera has technical problems and all the photos were deleted! Aaagh! Well, Elizabeth had taken back- up pictures. Gott sei dank! Thank God! I've planned on writing in German and I've began writing, but I need to re-edit. By the time I get to posting all my German thoughts it will be time to leave! Time slow down!!!! I can always make a memoir. Right now I don't have internet at home and it is always difficult to drive out here. So many pictures and texts. I just have to leave the blog alone for awhile and concentrate on preparing for the Exit exam. Boa Sorte!

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Every morning is the sun's light,

Guiding me till I meet the moonlight.

Clouds over my head are dark and gray,

Yet from this path I will not stray.

Swinging shadows dance on the floor,

Escaping the heat they want no more.

The East Wind breathes softly on my face,

Whispering secrets into space.

Like the web a spider has spun,

I'm stretching my arms to meet the sun.

Feeling the energy of the tree,

Allowing God to set me free.

Reflections of the Most High

While here in Berlin I've had time to focus on myself. No deadlines, papers, dog to walk, I've just got me. Solitary reflections can be lonely and uncomfortable. For ten days I lived alone in a second floor apartment in the former DDR. Quiet and peaceful I escaped to the innermost place. While there I experienced grief, sadness and anger. Catharsis. My man told me to go out and drink a beer after my days of isolation. A classmate and I went walking through the city and met many people, one of which was my brother Wika. I noticed him selling handmade jewelry and Mola crafts. He spoke to me in Spanish and told me he was from the Kuna people of Panama. We all sat together on the ground and he told me his mythology. Creation, evolution and culture was revealed to me by a man who called me Sister. "I don't think about nations or boundaries." He said, "When I come to Germany, I only think that I am seeing another side of Mother Earth. National boundaries are all in our head and is a sickness." He came to Germany to be with his son and feel the energy of the Earth. Among the Kuna, the man lives with the family of the wife (matrilocal) and believe that humankind is not the apex of creation, but rather connected to all things living and dead. He said, "We believe we come from the stars. And when we die, it is not the end, but the beginning." He was living in the moment with a stable sense of territory. This sense of stability in the world, being rooted, is something I desire. I'm trying to be grounded like him and realize that I am related to all beings and a reflection of the Most High.

Only photos

This was an exceptional day. I walked through a cold concrete maze made to look like a grave. Feeling so small against the massive leaning monument to all those who murdered during the Holocaust, I felt so insignificant. The ground was uneven and the walls leaned at 30% angles. At times I felt as if I would be swallowed whole. Grey slabs leaning in on me. I ran for the exit, but found myself trapped in that cold dead labyrinth that echoed the past. Who could ever deny this?"Ich kann gar nicht so viel essen, wie ich kotzen möchte!" I can not eat as much as I would like vomit! said Max Liebermann as Hitler triumphantly marched through the Brandenburg Gate. Collective madness and misery that infected an entire society like a terrible plague was finally dislodged from Western Europe. Hitler's nightmares have been destroyed. His lavish red marble decor now lines the Mohrenstrasse train station like rows of butchered meat. The walls ooze murder and shout injustice. Vergesst es nie, vergesst es nie! Never forget, never forget. Remember Rwanda? Don't forget Sudan. Vergesst es nie!