Berlin

Sunday August 8 at 5:40 a.m. we headed out in a taxi to Europa Bus Centre to catch the 6:00 bus to Dublin. Only being stopped once by border patrol who walked through the bus and didn’t even glance at the identification we presented long enough to see if it was actually us in the picture, we arrived at the airport for our flight to Berlin, Germany. With boarding passes in hand and no checked luggage we flew through security before sitting down are realizing we probably should have taken the 7 a.m. bus. Ahh well, at least we made the flight and had time to meet up with other BVSers in the airport who were on the same flight. After a smooth flight, we followed VERY detailed instructions from the Berlin airport to our retreat centre using the intricate public transportation system in Berlin. Upon arrival and settling in, we had dinner and a welcoming session.

Monday began with a meditation on being changed as Jesus and his disciples were changed during ministry by Matt, who works in a L’Arche in Dublin. Then we had a update on what is happening in BVS in the last year from Kristin before lunch. After lunch we had free time to enjoy row boats, volleyball, naps and SUN around the retreat centre. After free time we had a project reporting time from the projects in Northern Ireland. Six of the ten BVSers are stationed in Northern Ireland doing projects ranging from working with children to gardening to assessing the integration of communities! Then it was dinner before the rest of the projects reported. The other four BVSers are located in Ireland, Bosnia, Germany, and Hungary.

Tuesday began with a meditation focusing on the song “One Voice” by Katie who is stationed in Northern Ireland. Look up the song it is really good. Then we began watching movies on various topics as sources of discussion. The first set of documentaries was on the situation in Bosnia including Everyday Life of Roma and Two Schools Under One Roof. We learned a lot about what has been happening there in the last number of years and continues to affect the people today. It was really interesting to learn that there are schools using the same building but segregated into Croatian and Bosnian, so the students do not interact. After this we had lunch and free time, before continuing with another film on Chinese immigrants in Bosnia called Patria Mia. It had an interesting upbeat interpretation of immigrants’ situation and although I am sure that some immigrants are as happy as the stories presented, it seemed a bit unrealistic. After dinner we watched yet another film called Pray the Devil Back to Hell. This was a powerful documentary about a women’s peace movement during the Liberian Civil War and consequently the group that helped to bring to power the first female head of state.

On Wednesday, Jill who is placed in a project in Hungary provided us with a combination of Taize and Lectio Divina meditation. Afterwards, we headed to a project where BVSers have been placed in the past. The project is called Action Reconciliation. It originally worked with concentration camp survivors but has broadened its aims to include many marginalized persons and provides many volunteer opportunities. Afterwards, we headed out to lunch on the town at an Indian restaurant before going back to watch another film called Belfast Girls. We had already seen the film in Geneva during our orientation, but it was interesting to see the locations that looked familiar and how much easier the accent was to understand than a few months ago! The film looks at the separate lives of a Protestant and a Catholic girl and the views the hold of the opposite community. After supper, we had our continued dose of films, as we watch Ordinary Radicals, a film about Shane Claiborne’s first book tour. It focused on various organizations along the way that were living in a way that were in line with the radical ways of Jesus.

On Thursday we finally got to go into Berlin!! We decided along with a few other BVSers to spend the day doing a free walking tour. This way we got to see a lot of the city and hear about the intense history that happened in Berlin. After a ferry and U-bahn ride into city centre we began a 3-hour walking tour that included seeing the Pariser Platz, Brandenburg Gate, The Reichstag (the government building), The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, the site of Hitler’s former bunker, The 17^th of June Memorial, a part of the Berlin Wall, the former SS Headquarters, Checkpoint Charlie, Gendarmenmarkt, Bebelplatz (sight of book burning), the Book Burning Memorial, The Old Royal Boulevard, Neue Wache (memorial to all victims of war and tyranny), the TV Tower (when the sun shines on it, a cross appears), and Museum Island. After the long walk, we were lazy and slowly walked back along Unter der Linden looking in shops, eating sausages and icecream as well as sitting to rest up! After we got back and had dinner, we looked at pictures that Kristin (the BVS coordinator) had taken in the past year on various project visits and when people had orientation in Geneva.

Brandenburg Gate

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

The Reichstag (German government building)

Berlin Wall

Matt enjoying his German sausage

Friday, the two of us did the meditation on seeing God in the world around us in daily life. Afterwards, we watched the film, The Lives of Others, which looks at the Stasi monitored and threatened the lives of artists (and others) during the 1980s in Germany. After lunch we had free time before our time of evaluation. Lucy spent the evening in bed with a migraine. Micah spent the evening at a BBQ with the other BVSers. He spent the evening grilling, and playing games.

BBQ

Saturday, Pam who is in Northern Ireland led us in a devotion about soaring on wings of eagles. After, we cleaned up and prepared to depart. Some were heading back to their projects, but the two of us were staying on for a few days to see more of Berlin. So after everyone departed, we headed into city centre to see a church with Kendra and Katie, because Kendra loves this church. After, the two of us headed off to check into our hostel since Lucy still wasn’t feeling the greatest and needed a nap! After the nap, we walked around a bit and bought Kniffel (German Yatzee) to keep us entertained in our eventful evenings!

Church that was bombed during WWII

New sanctuary/memorial of bombed church

On Sunday, we met Katie and Kristin for breakfast and then walked with them to see the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall which has been decorated by artists in different styles. After seeing the wall, the two of us headed into the city centre to see The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe again as well as visit the museum below which gives a lot of background and stories from people’s diaries throughout the war. After the memorial we tried to find The Memorial to Murdered Disables People but the map we were given did not lead us to a memorial. So, we had an ice cream to relax a bit, before heading to the Topography of Terror Museum. It is located on the old SS headquarters and allows visitors to see the ruins of the old buildings. After our second museum of the day, we were ready for dinner at a delicious Thai restaurant, where our waitress didn’t realize we didn’t speak German (luckily the waiter did!)

Berlin Wall

Berlin Wall

Monday we woke up early to head to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp about 35 km outside Berlin. It was established in 1936 and housed the headquarters of all concentration camps. It was used primarily for political prisoners and about 100,000 prisoners were murdered at Sachsenhausen during the war. In the camp we were able to see original and reconstructed buildings on the grounds. It was eerie to walk to grounds where such horrific acts had taken place. It seemed so unimaginable that the town of Oranienburg was right next door, and so much hatred and death occurred within the walls while “normal life” continued outside. To think that prisoners walked from the train station to the camp through the town shows how easy it is for humans to turn a blind eye to suffering. Post-WWII, 1945-1950, it was used by the Soviets as a “special camp” to detain political prisoners. During this time at least 12,000 additional people had died in the special camp. After the concentration camp we had a bit of a change of pace. We went to the site of the 1936 Berlin Summer Olympics. Although we didn’t go into the stadium it was fun to see the stadium. Afterwards we went back into city centre. We were introduced to a chocolate shop on our walking tour and returned there. They made HUGE creations out of chocolate! It was quite an experience just to be in the shop, even if the man behind the counter was appalled that Lucy didn’t like chocolate. Then it was dinner time. We had some fake Mexican—really fake. Then it was back to relax.

Entrance to the camp

Execution trench with crematory

Part of "Station Z" where people were gassed and remains were disposed of.

Olympic Stadium

The Reichstag out of chocolate

Bombed church and memorial

Tuesday, we used to morning to pack up our super stinky clothes and walk around Berlin a bit before heading to the airport to fly out. The weirdest part of the morning was returning to our room from breakfast and looking out our window to see sheep, horses and goats. We were situated in the middle of Berlin! Not what we expected to see! At the airport in Berlin we had the treat of having lunch at Cindy’s Diner. It must be known that the food served at the diner doesn’t compare to that served back in Hesston. We got back to Belfast at 7:30 after plane and bus trips and enjoyed an evening hanging out in the Ember meeting Cami’s sisters!

Cindy's Diner!

We are so thankful for all the safe travel that we have had in the past month, but are also so thankful to be back and settling into Belfast again. It feels good to be home. Berlin was an awesome city with so much history to experience. It is so different to actually see where history happened than just to read about it!!