Herbst in Deutschland

Welcome back to my blog. In this very special double feature, you can see Germany when fall was in full bloom as well as well as an "Augenblick" back to my birthday.

23. Oktober 2009 was a significant day for me. 23 years ago on that date, I was born.

What made it exciting was that it was my golden birthday. Surprisingly, not many people in the IES program nor people here in Germany know what a golden birthday is. I had to explain that on the 23rd was my 23rd birthday, therefore it was golden.

My Vermeterin and roommate (from Minnesota!) baked me a chocolate cake complete with candles and a frosting "23" on the top. It was very nice and unexpected. They lit the candles and came into my room and sang Happy Birthday. Pictured are meine Vermeterin Katja and former roommate Amanda.

I ended up having a more "low-key" night. Rather than going to the bar or a club and drinking and dancing and inviting the possibility of drinking too much and not having fun, I met with a small group of friends in Kreuzberg. We bought some cheap beer and wine along with some snacks at the Kaizer's (a big grocery store chain in Berlin) just outside the U Bahnhof. We then proceeded to go to my friend Saundra's apartment. We all just hung out, sang, danced, and laughed a lot. At one point we made another alcohol run to Kaizer's where I danced in the aisles and took some pictures. Here are some good ones from those moments:

The birthday was fun. I even coined a new term: "Arschtisch". Someone asked what the word for toilet paper would be auf deutsch. Without thinking I said Arschtisch when I meant to say Arschpapier. Instead of saying "ass paper" I said "ass table", neither of which are correct. It was a good time.

The very next day, I went outside with the sole purpose of taking many pictures of the German Herbst. I really like the Fall in Minnesota, but the last few years have been lame.I was interested in seeing if there was much of a difference. I found that the weather is very similar, but the colors here are much more bright and..well...colorful. I walked to a park that is not much more than 5 blocks from the apartment where I am living. It is a beautiful park, and I got several good pictures. Take a look:

20 Year Mauerfall Anniversary

The picture above was taken when the border was reopened. Behind the wall you can see one of Berlin's most famous sights, Brandenburger Tor.

It's been a couple weeks since I've updated my blog, and for that I apologize. Also, I stupidly forgot my camera for this event, so any pictures/videos I upload are not mine. I found them on the internet.

November 9th was an important day for Berlin, which celebrated 20 years of reunification. On the date of November 9th, 1989 the border was finally reopened and the wall was torn down. It took until well into 1990 to completely tear the wall down (except for the parts of the wall that were left standing as a reminder of history).

On November 9th, 2009 thousands of people from all over the world stood before the Brandenburger Tor to take part in the Mauerfall (which literally means wall fall) celebration. I was lucky enough to be standing quite close to the front, so I didn't miss much. It was a miserable night because it was cold, rainy, and I had no umbrella. But nonetheless, everyone's spirits were high.

Here are some pictures that demonstrate the closing and reopening of the border:

As you can see here, the wall was being constructed. This would have been around August 1961.

Slowly, piece by piece and blow by blow, the wall came down. East and West German people were allowed to see their families again.

Die Grenze war nicht mehr geschlossen.

Emotions ran high on November 9th 2009. It was a very neat experience. I feel so blessed to have been able to be a part of that celebration.

The night started with a performance from the Berlin Orchestra. And shortly thereafter, we listened to speeches from many important people including: the Russian president, The British Prime Minister, the French president, Hilary Clinton (in place of Obama), and Angela Merkel (the German Chancellor). Bon Jovi then played in front of the Brandenburger Tor, which was cool to see. But I think my favorite part of the night were the dominoes (pictured above). As a symbol for the wall falling, artists and children designed and constructed life size dominoes that were placed where the wall used to be. At the signal, the dominoes were pushed over and the wall was symbolically torn down. It was quite an experience.

To watch a documentary on the closing of the border, copy and paste the first link into the browser. To watch a documentary on the reopening, copy and paste the second link. But I am warning you, they are both intense and highly emotional. Each one is about 10 minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nch5MbnvTqY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM2qq5J5A1s&feature=related

To watch a short video of the dominoes falling, copy and paste this link into your browser:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HG97uKKdwyY&feature=related