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Archive for May, 2009

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Is Graffiti Art?

Monday, May 11th, 2009

by a non-draw-er
Berlin, Germany

In this arty bohemian city, where there are more galleries and design shops mingling with cafes concentrated in one spot than we’ve seen in any single place before, creating a relaxed beautiful atmosphere, walls are plastered thickly with posters advertising concerts, theatre productions and exhibitions.

Graffiti covers any space that obviously once was considered to be a blank canvas.

What do you think?

 

Posted in craft, postcard: Germany, recreation | 4 Comments »

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall

Sunday, May 10th, 2009

by Rach, the ponderer
Berlin, Germany

We need to recite a few more nursery rhymes as we travel; Tgirl5, who was thoroughly familiar with the traditional version of Baa Baa Black Sheep at home, has obviously forgotten the words and now with poetic license and great flourish sings, “One for the little boy who lives down the drain.”

As for Humpty…….

It’s hard to imagine living in political bondage across the street from someone with freedom. West Berlin on one side, East Berlin on the other. And then one day the cold hard fact is made more explicit – up goes a wall. Just a wire fence actually, but it won’t be long before it is replaced by a cold hard concrete wall, an impenetrable concrete wall.

It seems strange. The wall actually surrounds the West, the free zone. Rather than being a wall to keep people in, it is expressly to keep people out – those East Germans, to be precise. But still, it imprisons inhabitants – although they do have the airport to escape from (if they have enough money). But as they have freedom, perhaps they do not wish to escape. It’s the East Germans, anyway, who were escaping. But the wall put an end to that. And those who tried were shot. Simple.

Nowadays you can follow the course of the wall for its entire 160km right through and around the city. Stones set into roads and footpaths mark the entire route in longlasting commemoration (just like the plaques you’ll see in front of some buildings, giving the names of Jews who were arrested at these addresses and who subsequently perished in concentration camps). A few sections of the wall remain, bearing witness to the events of the past, to ideologies, to a revolution won.

We climbed the observation tower, each new level reached, allowing a wider and wider view over No Man’s Land, across the wall to the other side. Did those who tried to escape realise exactly what the guards could see? How desperate were they? How frustrated at having their windows and doors boarded up, at having their lives watched in constant surveillance, at suffering events completely outside their control?

It’s twenty years since the wall came down. New commemorations are underway. In Alexander Platz a massive exhibition of posterboards displaying photos captioned in deutsch and English, with some television screens and glass-cased realia like suitcases and a teddy bear used to smuggle thousands of deutschmark  out of the East, relays the story of the wall. As you read and look at the photos, a loud chanting erupts and goosebumps appear on your arms. You can hear the passion, the fervour, the intent, even if you cannot understand the words. You look round for the source. Loud speakers high above you; it might just be a recording, but it is quite unnerving. There you are looking at photos taken right where you are standing, the tower in the photo just to your right, the building beside it, still there today. Gone are the queues of people, gone are the demonstrating hordes, but you can easily imagine what it was like. Especially with the revolutionary rabble broadcast down from above.

 

Our wall sightings and exhibition wanderings take place over a few days. We walk by, we look, we ponder and it strikes me that what is history here, is current events in other parts of the world. We have seen (and been surprised by the sheer number of) surveillance cameras in public spaces in China. We have noticed the complete absence of outward observance of any religion other than saffron-robed monks in Laos. We have talked with Cambodians afraid, but willing to fight the system they were born into. And we have not even come close to the truly persecuted.

Freedom is not yet universal.

Posted in children, God, history, justice, postcard: Germany, quote | 1 Comment »

market rates

Saturday, May 9th, 2009
by the main shopper Berlin, Germany A far cry from the watch-where-you-step wet markets and touristy colourful night markets of Asia, are the markets of Berlin. We sampled our second today, will be returning to the first again tomorrow, yet another on ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in craft, food, money, numbers, postcard: Germany | 2 Comments »

project intentional community

Friday, May 8th, 2009
by a community-minded spirit Berlin, Germany We have stayed in a few intentional communities (and more are coming up in the future) – everything from a group of friends living together “half family half commune” to the website-toting mission-statemented Permanent ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in food, housing, justice, learning, money, postcard: Estonia, postcard: Germany, postcard: Mongolia | 1 Comment »

happy mothers’ day

Thursday, May 7th, 2009
by a daughter Berlin, Germany The tulips are blooming in the streets, but the ones in the flower shop across from where we are staying looked a little closed up. So how about a pink posy?

[Continue reading this entry]

Posted in postcard: Germany, tradition | 2 Comments »

Er ist angemeldet

Thursday, May 7th, 2009
by a relieved Rach Berlin, Germany YIPPEE!

That's right - Rob is registered in Deutschland. He can live here forever. The rest of us can only stay three months, but that is immaterial right now. More ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in children, health, postcard: Germany, transport | 11 Comments »

yawn

Wednesday, May 6th, 2009
by Rach Berlin, Germany more of the same ol’ same ol’ For a start, Berlin is just like Auckland – showers interspersed with heavy downpours. Grey clouds all day. We’d forgotten about rain (and how nice it was to do so!) We ate black ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in book, children, food, grandpa's stories, history, learning, parenting, postcard: Germany, recreation, transport | 3 Comments »

booklovers

Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
by the mama-book-lover Berlin, Germany We haven’t had much literature and so now we are feasting. Grandpa is reading a book he had been waiting to find at the library in NZ for months. Jgirl14 and Jboy13 have spent two days negotiating time ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in book, children, learning, postcard: Germany, recreation | 1 Comment »

the b word

Monday, May 4th, 2009

by sick Mama
Berlin, Germany

Now would be an Officially Bad Time to be blogging.
The kids are OK – so it’s not them. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in health, learning, postcard: Germany, price, transport | 6 Comments »

berlin beginnings

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

by Mama
Berlin, Germany

We arrive at 7 on a Sunday morning.
Everything is closed and will remain so all day, apart from the flea market we zip off to ... [Continue reading this entry]

Posted in children, health, housing, parenting, postcard: Germany, recreation, weather | 2 Comments »

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