Hmmm, yes, lots of aggravation...

Alright, no pictures today because I just wanted to let out a bit of frustration. Don't worry, nothing bad happened...unless you call RACISM bad. ARRRGH.

So today in class a bit of an argument broke about concerning the Turks living in Berlin. Alright, a brief history background. Berlin has the largest population of Turks outside of Istanbul. This is for a number of reasons. Not too long ago (I think right before the Cold War ended?) Germany opened up it's boarders for lots of "short term" work to foreigners. This was meant to be just a year or so of foreign workers to get a lot rebuilt in Germany, especially Berlin, for cheap. A lot of Turks jumped at this opportunity because the US had banned...uh, something dealing with opium in Turkey. Opium was Turkey's, like, number one source of income and when the US did whatever ban or whatever it was, Turkey lost it's largest money supply. So many Turks decided to go make a bunch of money working in Germany and then come back with all this money and start their own stuffs in Turkey. So for the most part, they didn't bother learning German during their stay. If they were planning on going back to Turkey and never returning in a few years, why bother learning German? Well, the problem begins right there, because most of them never returned to Turkey.

SO, Germany (and in particular, Berlin) had a HUGE population of Turks who couldn't speak German and who lived in the poor areas of the cities. Naturally, this is breeding ground for crime and racism. The next generation of Turks were then, naturally, German citizens, but they knew little German and just as little Turkish, or were not very good at speaking either (only Turkish in the home and only German in the schools...if they went to school). So this generation was stuck in the middle - am I a Turk or am I a German? What makes it even more difficult for them, is that German doesn't recognize more than one citizenship; so when they turn 18, they have to decide whether or not they want to have Turkish or German citizenship. Yea, that's a severely difficult decision to make.

The NEXT generation (the current one...about my age...maybe a bit older) is just as divided. Many of them think it's terrible that their parents/grandparents are living in Germany but don't know the language. Others blame Germany entirely for the situation and are the cause of many crimes and say very crude things to "obvious-looking" Germans (a.k.a. "arien") and also to women. Many Germans are also split: Some completely blame the Turks for all the crime; others are aggravated only when they see or experience something from these criminal Turkish youths; other realize that blame is found on both sides and think it's all really sad.

Ok, that's current day. Now for the aggravation for the day. In class we read this story written by a Turk, where the main character is a Turkish boy who is super happy and is walking on clouds because he's fallen in love and no one can bring him down. He has found love in young German lady. And the best part is that her parents absolutely love him and his parents love her, and the two families get along really well together. They often eat dinner with each other and the evenings are filled with love and fun. Then he wakes up. He's actually on the phone, waiting for his girlfriend to answer. Instead, her dad answers and tells him to leave the family alone and to never see the daughter again, because he's Turkish and he doesn't want his daughter with a Turk. The End. Yes, quite sad. *sigh* Well, a discussion broke out at my table...started by the slightly young American man. His family is quite German...in fact he has a severely arien look about him: white, very blond hair, blue eyes. Whatever, but it makes him look very GERMAN...which he is. He has a lot of family in Germany and has visited Germany many times.

Well, it started out with the whole, yes, this is a very difficult topic in Germany for the various reasons I've listed above. Then this boy proceeds to discuss who much he hates the young Turkish riffraff he sees in the streets all the time and who shout obscene things at him just because he looks very arien. A few times this happened with his friends and girlfriend. Ok, yes, that sucks. But then he went on to make all kinds of generalizations and how the Turks have to be blamed for all the horrible things that happen in Berlin and they deserve every bit of misfortune they receive because they refuse to "respect" Germans.

AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!! This was the noise I made in my head when I heard this. The young Canadian woman sitting next to me proceeded to disagree with him. "You can't make generalizations like that. I know plenty of Turks and they don't feel that way at all. They think it's a shame that so many Turks cause so many problems. But you also have to realize that it's not just the Turks who are causing the problems, it's also from the Germans (ex. NEO NAZIS!)." He interrupts her with this whole shpeel about how she thinks she knows everything but really she has no idea, NO IDEA, what it's like; he has family and friends here, he has CONNECTIONS, and he's been in Berlin and experience many things before, and he KNOWS for a FACT that it's the Turks, it's the Turks, it's the Turks. Well, this was a terrible idea, because then she says, "Uh, no, I've been mistaken for a Turkish WOMAN quite often, and I don't wear a head scarf or dressed 'modestly', so I am VERY aware of the terrible experiences that can occur from some of the Turkish youth. AND I'm also a reporter and one of the things I'm researching here is, in fact, this very relationship." And he completely ignored her and kept going off about how "he has connections!" and our teacher was like, "Travis, honey, she's just giving you another perspective! There are tons of perspectives!" But he wouldn't even listen to her!

And of course, the older Egyptian man is also sitting at this table and he was very very very good about just sitting there and remaining calm. Once or twice he tried to calm the Travis down, but he wouldn't have it. Sara (the Canadian) was very good about keeping her cool and not shouting. I would have lunged across the table and strangled the boy. The poor French girl at our table just sat there and watched the whole thing and didn't know what to do. I tried to butt in a few times to calm Travis down or try to explain to him what Sara was trying to say. Oh my God, I was so upset because I had never experienced such a terrible fight and I was so angry about his refusal to listen to what anyone else had to say (not to mention his actual opinion) that I was just shaking. I was shaking so bad. And when our teacher finally got him to stop talking so she could dismiss the call, I was still shaking and walked as fast as I could out of the room and onto the street to wait for the afternoon tour. One of the other guys in the class saw me outside and was like, "uh...what happened? Are you ok, you're shaking..." Omg, it was horrible. *sigh*

But as soon as our afternoon tour started I felt much better because our tour guide was the awesome Mattias Rau again, and I love listening to him speak. It was also in Friendrichshain, which is the city district I live in, so I only had to walk 5 minutes back to my apartment. It was also a beautiful afternoon with a little bit of a warm rain in the beginning of the tour, and ended with a very nice warm breeze from the west that reminded me of being at the beach...which is where I wish I could be right now. At the beach with my family on vacation.

But I am not looking forward to class tomorrow because we have to go back to our topic and do a talk show on the topic. I think I'm going to suggest that Travis be the Turk. Maybe that'll teach him a bit of perspective. *SMACK*

Photos and Such...

Wow, I keep thinking that the website's going to be in Hebrew and putting my mouse on the left side of the website to sign into my account. Then I realize it's in German and I have to move to the right side. haha. Anyways.

Last night I went to an open air movie theatre in Kreuzberg with Angelika to see "There Will Be Blood." Oh my God, it was amazing. Angelika didn't like it too much, I don't think. Daniel Day-Lewis' character has to deal with Paul Dano's character, who is a preacher for one of those evangelical healing churches. And in one scene where he "heals" an old woman of the arthritis in her hands, things get all crazy, as they usually do when your preacher heals a person. haha. But everyone started laughing and I was laughing and Angelika said, "I think he's going a little crazy?" And I said, "Uh sort of, this is actually a real thing that happens in some churches in the States...but most people think they're crazy." And the look of shock she gave me was so funny.

But Stuart was right, Daniel Day-Lewis' voice really does it for the film. It makes him appear trustworthy when he's really a very sly and tricky man. Yes, some parts were a bit gruesome and yes, it was a bit long; but it was an amazing film. Even a bit funny at parts...in a twisted and slightly sick kind of way. But I LOVED Paul Dano in it! The only other movie I've seen with him was "Little Miss Sunshine", which should also be seen by everyone! haha.

Today the only thing planned for the Culture Program was Sachenhausen, the concentration camp that I've already seen and don't really want to see again. If I get bored I'll give Mireia or Angelika a call, but I think I'm just gonna chill, do my homework, sit in the park. I haven't drawn in a long time and made a drawing in the train down to Kat's and I've nearly forgotten how much I thoroughly enjoy it. So I'm gonna go to the park and draw, I think. I wish I had my guitar, too. I want to play soooo bad. :( But anyways...what can ya doo?

First, I think I'd like to upload some pictures of Berlin! My time here is already half over and I haven't put up pictures yet! I'll make sure I finish all this BEFORE I get home because I definitely won't have time once I get home. haha.

Ok, I begin with just a couple pictures of the Bier Fest and then move on to the first tour I went on in Berlin called "Spuren des Nationalsozialismus": Tracing the National Socialists, a.k.a. Nazis. It was very interesting and our tour guide was very good. I was proud of myself because I could understand nearly everything he said! Yay!!! It was a brief tour around some buildings, memorials in Berlin relating to the Nazi Party.

Yea, here are the people I'm spending my time with. Left to right: Angelika (Athens, Greece), Mireia (Barcelona, Spain), Erik (Vermont), Luiz (Brazil), Anne (France), and Rafael (Brazil). This now makes 3 Brazilians that I know. haha. Dang.

Really the Bier Fest just seemed like a carnival...only without rides and games and lots of beer. Um, ok so nothing like a carnival, but the stands all looked exactly the same.

Ok, now begins the tour! Here is Brandenburger Tor and Pariser Platz. The famous Unter den Linden "Under the Linden (trees)" street leads right up to it. This was a part of the Berlin Wall and is the only remaining city gate of Berlin. It was built a long long long time ago....1700's? and is one of Berlin's most famous symbols. Hitler wanted to make a new one like 5 times the size, much larger than the Arc de Triumph in Paris, of course! Everything Hitler wanted to do had to be bigger, stronger, and better than the French. Always.

Yea! It's the American Embassy! I realized that day that I had never bothered to figure out where that was. I'm glad nothing happened that I needed to go there for any reason. But now I know exactly where it is: Unter den Linden UBahn Station, Brandenburger Tor. It's to the left of the Tor and was just opened about two years ago. The French one is on the other side. haha, I found this comical.

On the other side of the embassy and Art Institut is one of the more controversial and talked about memorials for the Holocaust. A few years ago there was a contest design for a memorial for the Jewish people of the Holocaust. There were over 1500 applications. An American's design won and here it is. It is very abstract and no one really knows what to think or how to feel about it. I don't know exactly how many blocks there are, but one can easily get lost in them. They are all exactly the same length and width and spaced exactly the same distance apart from each other, but no two are exactly the same in height or level. I don't really understand what the architect was trying to get at...and I didn't really understand that part when the tour guide was talking, either...

But he said he didn't want it to be sad or anything. At first people became mad when they saw other people playing in the memorial, sitting in it, doing all kinds of normal daily activities; but the architect said to let them do that. The point is to remember but move on and go about the daily routine of life. Here is a boy who was running and jumping on the blocks. hahaha.

The tour guide asked us what we thought they looked like or reminded us of.

I thought they looked much like the tombs in Jerusalem Jewish Cemetery...

Someone else said it felt like walking through a corn field...

And yet another person said they looked like a city...

But they're not really supposed to look or be like anything. They're just there. That's why it's a bit controversial. Um...the shadow is me.

Oh, there I am with Mireia.

But it was super cool to walk through it. When we all met on the other side, the tour guide commented on how clean and free of graffiti it was (Berlin is covered in graffiti, so to me, this is a great feat). To keep Neo-Nazis from writing horrible horrible things on the memorial, the entire thing is painted with a kind of "anti-graffiti" paint! I thought that was nifty and that they need to do that with a bit more of the city. Wait, no...it really adds character to the city, I think. Most of the graffiti is really very good. haha.

haha, oh man, I bet you'll never guess why it was so important that I take a picture of this parking lot. Ok, it actually used to be something and was used during the worst time in Germany's history, and now the Germans have decided to completely erase it from all memory. HERE is where Hitler's Bunker was. It has been since demolished, covered over, and made into a parking lot. I think the tour guide said that they've left some it underground, but no one can access it...unless there's some really good reason. And no one ever ever ever ever mentioned anything about this or gave out public or tourist information about it until 4 years ago when they decided to put up a touristy sign across the street discussing as little as possible about Hitler's bunker and that it now completely gone. And why did they wait so long and only just recently put it up? Because Germany hosted the UEFA World Cup four years ago and they didn't want a lot of hype about how they're ignoring everything that happened during WWII. haha. Yes...

One of the government houses! This is where the Bundeskanzelerin works. haha. Erm, that's the German Prime Minister...ress. Because she's a woman. Hitler's original idea for this building was to make it super super super super super super super large. Yep. The entire length of the street and his enormous office was to be at one end. Most everyone would be able to enter from the middle of the building (about where the entrance is now) but he actually planned the building with this EXACT idea in mind: Many other foreign leader (*cough*Mousilini*cough*) could only enter from the other side of the building (I believe it would sit on Wilhelm Street) and walk over 3 city blocks to get to Hitler's office, which would be the largest room in the entire building. Wow, that man had the largest ego problem in the world, I swear.

Hey, it's Nazi architecture! One of the only still-in-use Nazi buildings in all of Germany! See it's large windows which make it appear EVEN BIGGER. Again, Hitler's ideas of Germany: bigger and better than everything and everyone else. Ok, I don't remember all of its uses after the war, but now it's the treasury or something like that...

LOOK IT'S GREEN PEACE MAKING A PROTEST OUTSIDE BERLIN'S TREASURY! hahahahahaha. The large sign is a picture of Josef Ackermanm for the Deutsche Bank (national bank), and he's saying, "Thank you, Germany! euro50,000 subsidy for my fat Daimler!" And underneath something to the effect of "No tax payers' moneys for Climate Pigs!" hahaha, yea.

AND TRABIS!!!! Oh man, the only car to come out of the DDR (Deutsche Demokratic Republik). They're famous, I think, for the creative ways they were used to smuggle people past the Wall at Checkpoint Charlie. This picture's for you Eric, my dear brother. :]

And a part of the Berlin Wall. In this area was a bunch of stuff about the Nazi's terror control and buildings housing the secret police and yadda yadda yadda. I was a bit hungry and tired by this time, so I don't really remember. haha. But there was a TON of information along the wall about this plaza from when it was first built (like the 1800's), through it's use by the Weinmar Republik, then through Hitler's campaigns, then through Soviet Control, and then modern day! I tried to do it but just couldn't too too much info.

Ok, that's all for now. I'm gonna shower and head out on this rather dreary looking day for some artsiness. More photos to come!

Yay! Gezer Info!

Aha, Steve Ortiz sent out an email to all the volunteers and staff from this summer with our 2008 press release. He said we could feel free to share it, so here it is!!! I figure if anyone could give Tel Gezer its proper introduction and explanation, it's Steve Ortiz:

"Jerusalem—This summer a joint Israeli-American expedition conducted its third excavation season at Tel Gezer. In spite of skyrocketing fuel prices and a weak dollar, over 65 students and staff from the United States, Denmark, Canada, Korea, Palestinian Territories, and Israel participated in the excavations which took place from June 23rd-July 25th.

"Gezer is situated in the middle of the country, guarding the ancient coastal highway and the pass branching off of it up to Jerusalem. Gezer is mentioned in several historical and biblical sources. 1 Kings 9:15 states that Solomon rebuilt the cities of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer, implying that Solomon was active in placing fortified cities in key regions throughout his kingdom. In addition, the following verse mentions that an unnamed pharaoh of Egypt conquered Gezer and gave it to Solomon as part of a dowry in the marriage of pharaoh’s daughter to Solomon. Gezer is also mentioned in several New Kingdom documents of ancient Egypt and in Neo-Assyrian texts. Since the ancient city sits in a strategic location, it was always a target for ancient armies marching through the land.

"The excavations, directed by Steven Ortiz of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Samuel Wolff of the Israel Antiquities Authority, continued to expose portions of a massive fortification system and a major destruction of a pillared building in the 8th century BCE, both of which were investigated in previous seasons. Remains of a fierce destruction were found throughout the area of the pillared building. Collapsed burnt mudbrick to heights of a meter and a half were removed, revealing as we descended several storage jars, cooking pots, bowls and kraters—all common domestic ceramic types. The likely culprit of this destruction is Tiglath Pilaser III who records his conquest of Garzu (ancient Gezer) in his palace at Nimrud, located in modern-day Iraq. Gezer was one in a series of cities conquered during a military campaign led by this Assyrian monarch. It was during this series of campaigns by Assyria that the northern kingdom of Israel collapsed.

"Additional pillared buildings in a domestic quarter and a public-administrative district of the 8th century BCE city were exposed to the east of the destroyed pillared building. The foundations of three large buildings were outlined, averaging about 12 meters by 12 meters each in size. Unfortunately they were in poor condition, having been robbed and exposed in earlier excavations.

"The biggest surprise of the season occurred while excavating a small probe that was stratigraphically situated below the city wall dating to the time of King Solomon (or slightly later). There, an American student uncovered a massive pillar base nearly one-meter in diameter. Pottery from this probe dates the pillar base to the Late Bronze Age, around 1300 BC. The project’s strategy has changed with the realization that just beneath the Solomonic city-wall, not far from the edge of the tell, lies a large monumental pillared structure that must be part of an Egyptian or Canaanite palace or temple.

"One of the goals of the project is to investigate the history of the ancient city as it transitioned from a Canaanite city to an Israelite city. Gezer sits on a natural border and is a key site to provide data for the relationship between the coast and the hill country. The newly discovered pillar base provides evidence that there was a dramatic change in the city plan during the 10th century BCE from the earlier city that was destroyed.

"In addition to its primary sponsors, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and the Israel Antiquities Authority, the project is supported by several consortium member institutions: Lancaster Bible College, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Marian Eakins Archaeological Museum, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and Lycoming College. An enthusiastic rapport also developed between the project members and the National Nature and Parks Authority and the local residents of Kibbutz Gezer, Karmei Yosef, and the Tel Gezer Regional Council.

"The Tel Gezer Excavation Project is a long term project that will investigate the growth and development of the ancient city of Gezer. Students participate in an intensive program of archaeological fieldwork with evening lectures and a study course where they travel throughout the various regions of Israel. The project is open to all students and adult volunteers. Information can be obtained from the project Web site: www.gezerproject.org.

Oh man, and you have to check out the pictures from the website!!! The picture of the super large jar near the bottom of the list WAS IN MY SQUARE. Oh man, that was so awesome....

Besser....

Just want to let everyone know that I'm feeling much better today; just had a bout of PMS. ha. But I also got to talk to my momma and poppa last night, and that made me feel instantly better.

This morning I was going to go on a tour of Kuerfurstendamm, the most expensive area of Berlin with the most expensive department store in all of Berlin (and maybe all of Europe? But that would probably be in Paris...): das KaDeWe (Kaufhaus des Westens)! When I got to the meeting point, however, I didn't know any of the people and they were all already friends from another class, and I didn't want to feel kinda left out. So instead I took an exploration trip through Berlin Mitte and the Museums Insel, just meditating on the beautiful day and looking at all the market stands set up in the streets. I ate a waffle with amazing chocolate ice cream and chocolate syrup and an ice coffee for lunch at this hip looking cafe. haha. I really liked its colors. I'm gonna remember them and paint one of my rooms in my future house like it...haha.

I walked around for about 3 hours, came back to the apartment, took a nap, and now I'm going out to buy a few things to make dinner. Then I'm going to see "There Will Be Blood" at this open air theatre in Kreuzberg with the cute Greek girl, Angelika. I was a little upset because I thought the movie was going to be dubbed in German and I hate watching dubbed films. I much prefer to watch them in their original language with subtitles because you can enjoy the language with the film. BUT, according to the website, the movie is IN ENGLISH with DEUTSCH UNTERTITELN! This makes me happy. One: I can watch the movie in its original format; two: it's IN ENGLISH. Alright! haha. I've heard only amazing things about this movie, so I'm pretty excited to watch it. And it's my first film this summer. Wait...no, I saw "The Last Boleyn Girl" with Kat, Denise, and Melissa. Ok, my second film this summer. Man, I need to go to the movies more often...I still haven't seen the new Indiana Jones! What kind of archaeologist am I, seriously? Or the Batman movie! That hurts me the most...

Ok, I'm hungry, so I'm going out to the store. But I didn't want to leave people hanging and thinking, OMG SHE'S UTTERLY DEPRESSED AND IN TROUBLE! Nope, just for one day. It's all good now. Thank you to my wonderful wonderful wonderful family for helping me out!

Financial Mistakes I Have Made This Summer...

This does not include the other mistakes I've made this summer. I don't want to completely depress myself. Just guilt myself into feeling like a horrible person for putting financial strain not only on myself, but also my family, who didn't have to do the things they've done for me in my last few weeks away but did anyway because they're amazing people. So, here is Alli criticizing herself:

1. Deciding to be away the entire summer with no chance for a job to make at least some cash.
2. Not applying for more study abroad scholarships for more money.
3. Trying to make too many detour trips (or making any at all).
4. Going out almost every night with the lovely people I met during Round 1 at Goethe Institut.
5. Going back-and-forth between Berlin and Bamberg one too many times.
6. Not investigating enough for train/plane tickets, which led to wasting money.
7. Buying cheap tickets = NO REFUND when you need to change your plans.
8. Not checking that my USDollar check completely covered my Goethe tuition IN THE BEGINNING of my courses.
9. Not saving the *at least* 70euro proficiency test for Goethe Institut ahead of time.
10. Spending too much already for Round 2 at Goethe Institut.
11. Thinking I could actually SAVE money while away.

Never again will I plan for a summer trip lasting more than 5 weeks.
Never again will I take out a loan for summer study travel.
Never again will I go one summer without a job.
Never again will I miss our family vacation.
Never again will I attempt to visit more than two countries/4 cities for an extended period of time.

In case you haven't noticed, despite the tremendous amount of memories, experiences, and friendships I've made this summer, I feel the absolute worst, lowest, dumbest I've felt this entire summer and it was bound to happen sooner or later. I hate money and I'm sick and tired of always needing needing needing money for everything. I just want this all to end and I want to be home, where I'm used to everything. Though I may be overreacting about all of this because I'm PMSing...

Today in class we discussed "Heimat"...home. It made me want to cry. "Was bedeutet Heimat für dich?" My family and closest friends. Wherever they are, that is my home: vacation, Lycoming; any country, city, building - only when I'm with them am I home. When I was in Israel with Heather, Lesley, Marcella, Kristina, I was home because I was with people I know and love. When I was in Bamberg with Kat and her family and then with Eric, I was home because I know them and love them. When I was in Madrid and Berlin with Stuart, I was home because I had my boyfriend, whom I love. I have fun with these people and I can talk with these people about whatever. When I am with them, I feel safe and relaxed and I can easily have fun, even if things aren't so great. And that is what I need right now. I can't completely open up to people whom I've only known 2 weeks.

I'll be happy next weekend when a few of my friends from Goethe Round 1 come around because we all became very close in a very short period of time and I know we'll have fun without spending any more money if I let them know I don't have enough to spend. And then it'll only be 5 days until I'm home.

I hate letting stupid money get to me like this. It wouldn't if I were home because I'd feel safe. I mean, Berlin is one of the safest cities in Europe, so I'm not worried. But I'm so far away. That's why I don't feel secure. This time in two weeks I'll be so close to being home (it's 2:15pm in PA right now) and once I transfer onto that transatlantic flight from London Heathrow airport, I'll feel tremendously better. Once the plane lands in Newark airport, I'll be so excited that I'm home. Once I get through customs and see my parents at the terminal exit, I'll be jumping for joy. Once the car pulls down our driveway and parks in front of the house, I'll be so relieved. Then I get 48 hours to enjoy my first home with my real family before going to my second home and being with one of my other families.

I've learned a lot about myself and a lot about life throughout this trip and I wouldn't trade it for anything, not even the money.