American Association of Teachers of German

Upon arrival in Berlin on Sunday morning, June 8, everyone met their host families and went to their homes to begin this great adventure. During the first week, in addition to language classes and visiting classes of host brothers and sisters, we toured Rathaus Schoeneberg and met its Mayor, Herr Hapel, visited the German Reichstag (Congress), attended a wonderful welcome party where all the host families gathered to wish us well, boarded city bus number 100 and had a quick tour of the inner city and had a very informative walking tour near Unter den Linden. We also had a very unusual behind the scenes tour of Die Deutsche Oper in preparation for seeing "Die Zauberflöte." This insight into German theater was the high point of our first week in town.

Naturally, the German and American kids all got to know one another very quickly and got together frequently in the evening. During the first full weekend there, we relaxed with our families and continued to explore the city. Most had caught up from Jet lag at this point and were getting good at navigating the fantastic transportation network around Berlin.

Our host, Ms. Christine Frendo, music and English teacher at the Luise Henriette Schule in Tempelhof expertly planned events for us and made our transition to German school life and life in Berlin very smooth and easy. Mr. Volker Goetz, English teacher conducted our German lessons with a great sense of humor and taught us all a great deal about the language and also about the culture of Germany 2008. He was born in East Germany and had many interesting stories about growing up there. Mr. Geoff Brace, our school’s other chaperone supported the group in excellent fashion. He stayed with Mr. and Mrs. Erwin Stahl (their school’s art teacher) and truly enjoyed their wonderful hospitality.

During the second week we toured the former concentration camp of Sachsenhausen, traveled to the beautiful city of Potsdam and to Sans Souci, took a memorable boat ride on the Wannsee and continued to absorb a great deal of German history and culture. We also visited the Checkpoint Charlie Museum, traveled by Tempelhof Airport which just celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift and finally attended an incredible performance of "Die Zauberflöte."

During our second weekend in Germany, Christine arranged for us to travel to Dresden in former East Germany. We had a great tour of the city by both bus and boat and stayed there overnight at a local youth hostel. It gave us a look at what life was like in the countryside, in a wine growing region and introduced us to the impressive cultural heritage this area offers.

Our last week consisted of continued daily language classes in addition to more excursions. We toured the Koeniglich Preussische Porzellan Manufactur company and saw first hand how these pieces are made. Next we attended a private showing of "Die Welle," a German variation of the American film "The Wave." We had a cooking lesson at the GASAG company and then were able to eat what we cooked. We also visited Hitler's Bunker which is no longer marked and is part of a condominium parking lot. This week we also participated in a sports day with our German partners and enjoyed playing badminton, squash, table tennis, Fussball and lawn tennis. Lots of fun! Perhaps the most memorable outing that week was a private tour of KDW (Kaufhaus des Westens.) We even were taken behind the scenes and toured the kitchen facilities! Wow…. the bakery goods were great. We finished up the week by attending a musical entitled "Linie Eins," a story about Berlin and its famous subway lines that was performed at the world famous Grips Theater.

We had a wonderful Abschiedsfest on Friday night at school. Parents, students and teachers had a delicious buffet meal and enjoyed a wonderful slide show about our time in Germany. We are so appreciative of everything our host families and teachers did for us! Vielen, vielen Dank!

On the plane ride back to Boston via Muenchen, we figured out that our group had visited six German cities during our visit! These include Frankfurt (airport), Berlin, Potsdam, Dresden, Leipzig and Muenchen (airport).

Interestingly several of our students will return to Europe soon. Gabby Bissell from GA will spend next year in Germany with School Year Abroad. Kerk Soursourian will spend next year in Great Britain with the English Speaking Union. And Adam Allington and buddy Connor McDonald will spend second semester next year in Berlin with their current host families to become fluent in the language. They will most likely be special students at Humboldt Universität in Germanistik.

Written by: chaperone John Seufert