Day 11 & Thank you

Thursday was our last day in Tel Aviv and the day when we had to go home. Most of us met up at the school at the usual time and stored our suitcases in the editing room so we could explore Tel Aviv one last time before we headed to the airport. We started our day with getting coffee and a little breakfast at our favorite coffee shop. We just sat there and enjoyed our breakfast and the beautiful weather for a while. After that all of us went to this place called "Sarona" which offers a lot of places where you can get food. Some of us went to "Anita" which is a place where you can get ice cream and frozen yoghurt, others bought candy or just hung out until we met up again. While we were in there it started storming and raining so hard, it was unusual for us to see because we don't get these kind of storms in Germany very often. At noon, we met up at the school with the Israeli students from the project to say goodbye and hug everyone before we took a bus to the airport at 12:30. Because of the storm we didn't leave until 5 pm and we were supposed to leave at 3:55 pm. Our first flight was from Tel Aviv, Israel to Zurich, Switzerland. In Zurich we had to get on another flight to Cologne, Because of the delay we almost missed our second flight but because we were that big of a group, they decided to wait for us so we got on the plane 40 minutes later but we finally arrived in Cologne at 10 pm. We all left Israel with so many great memories and an amazing time to look back on.

I think I'm speaking for each and everyone that participated in the project when I say that we all had an amazing time in Tel Aviv. We made so many memories and we grew together so much, that we became one big family. So we want to thank everyone who helped us make all of this possible. Thank you to all of the parents that agreed on hosting someone from a different country, that supported us and that were there to help us with the whole situation. Thank you to all of the teachers that supported us and helped us find our way around Tel Aviv and worked with us on the project. Thank you to our school, that we got so many days off to spend time in Israel and for the huge amount of support that they showed us. Thank you to all of the Israeli students, that made our time there absolutely amazing and definitely one to remember.

Day 10

Since our flight was cancelled, we had one more day to spend in Tel Aviv. We used it for working on our stuff for school because we were missing even one more day and things like the college report of the eleventh graders or other essays and learning for tests had to be done. We also had to finish the program for the project where everybody had to write something about one of the contributions. Everybody worked until around 1 pm and then we were allowed to leave the school and do something in Tel Aviv before we had to meet up with our exchange partners again. We split up into many small groups so everbody could do what they wanted to. Some stayed at the school, others went to get food or to the Carmel Market near the beach to look around and even buy some stuff. The night everbody spend differently, mostly with the host families and we all were home early to pack up our suitcases.
 

Carmel market

Day 9

Tuesday was supposed to be our last full day in Israel, but on late Monday night we got the news that our flight got cancelled, so we would leave on Thursday afternoon and not how it was planned on Wednesday morning. 

The bus picked us up at the school again and we drove to Yad Vashem, the memorial museum for the Holocaust near Jerusalem. We were excited how the day would go because none of us really knew what to expect from the day and what we will see. Our guide was a really nice woman from Switzerland who talked German with us. 

The building in front of the main museum

We didn't start the museum tour in the inside how we all expected, she started with us on the outside and we talked about the structure of the building and what the architect thought when he planned it. The building was long and a triangle from the side and had a glass top at the tip og the triangle. Amongst others the structure of the building was a symbole for the three groups that were needed for the Holocaust to happen, the ones who did it, the ones who watched it and the ones who suffered. It also looked like half a Star of David which should represent that almost half of the Jews in the world were killed during the Holocaust. The glass roof was a symbole for the hope that many people still had during WW2 and for the light that was to come at the end of everything. 

The triangle shaped museum

Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside, but it was a very instersting tour where we learned many things we didn't know about the Holocaust yet and we noticed that there were many personal stories about the people in the Holocaust. The guide told us that in Yad Vashem it's mostly about remembering the individuals the people were and not just about telling what happened. All of us were stunned by the hall that we got to see in the end, where the museum kept the memorial documents of millions of people who died in the Holocaust, but they're not nearly done with documenting all the people and with the time it becomes harder and harder to still find information about those who are still missing.

The view from outside of the museum

After the tour we had a little break and then we got to meet a very interesting and really friendly person. Hannah Pick-Goslar, the woman who entered the room and began to tell us her story, was one of Anne Frank's best friends and she had kown her since they were little children. She lived with her family in the house next to Anne and until the Franks started to hide, they went to a school together and saw each other every day. In June 1943, she and her family were deported to Bergen-Belsen, where she stayed until the end of the war in 1945. Shortly before the war ended, she met Anne, of who she thought was living in Switzerland, in Bergen-Belsen. They were separated through a fence and couldn't see each other, but they could talk. Mrs. Goslar told us that she met Anne three times in Bergen-Belsen at the fence. The first time they just talked and the other two times she gave Anne some of her food. When she went to see her a fourth time, nobody came to the fence and later she got to know that Anne had died, just a few days after her older sister. Mrs. Pick-Goslar and her younger sister were able to go back to Amsterdam after the war ended, where they received help from Anne Frank's father, the only one of the Franks family who survived. Today she lives in Jerusalem and tells her story to groups like ours. We were listening to her quietly for almost two hours and after she had ended we were all fascinated by the way she had told us her story and how it made us think about what had happened.

Our group with Hannah Pick

To do something easier to digest afterwards, we drove to a place where we had a really great view over Jerusalem and where we could take pictures of the sunset. Our bus driver was really nice and polite and went to get Falafel and Shawama for us, so we had dinner with a view over Jerusalem. 

Julia riding a camel

Jerusalem

Sunset over Jerusalem

Day 8

On Monday we had our first longer trip outside of Tel Aviv. We rented a bus and drove up north to the Caesarea National Park where we met Zohar, an old friend of Mr. Wesche who gave us a little tour around the park.

In Caesarea

Caesarea used to be a city that was first founded and built by Herodes in 22 BC. Today, only really few original things can be visited because the city was often destroyed and rebuilt. One of the things that are restored is the big theater outside. 

The theater

 After we had watched a movie about the history of Caesarea we walked a little bit at the beach, took pictures and found some old parts of the houses like stones from the floor and even pot handles.

Lunch break at the beach

We went back to the bus where Zohar gave us some oranges she had picked for us herself and then we said goodbye and drove to the Sea of Galilee where we visited the place where Jesus is said to have shared five breads and two fishes with thousands of people and got everyone full. 

Sea of Galilee

We went down to the sea and even though is was a really nice and warm day it was too cold to swim and it's a very spiritual place and so we didn't go in the water. 

But anyways it was really nice to enjoy the view and see the old buildings and gardens. Lastly, we drove up to another place where you had a great view over the sea and where it was very quiet and you could enjoy the great nature.

Great view on the Sea of Galilee

 After that we got back on the bus and had a 2 1/2 hours drive back to Tel Aviv. For all of us it had been a very nice and exciting day because we had gotten to see a lot of the nature in Israel and for some of us it even was like visiting places that you know many stories of but have never really seen the place before. To conclude the day, most of us went to Jaffa that night and hung out at the same place where we were last week.

Sunset on our way back

TEL AVIV 2016

                      

Day 7

Sunday, it had already been a week since we had arrived in Israel (!), our exchange partners had to go to school like every other week day and we went on a trip to Jaffa. Jaffa is a very old town that is over four thousand years old and is right next to Tel Aviv so it was easy for us to walk there.

View on Tel Aviv

We made a short stop at the beach and talked about our day off and Mrs. Teschner and Mrs. Menke gave us a task to do in Jaffa.

In groups of five or six people we had to take a photo which represents a word given to us like 'Integration'. The best group would win a prize and was to be announced on Monday. Until 4 pm we were able to explore Jaffa by ourselves and we got to see the sea, the skyline of Tel Aviv and other great places. We also went to the flea market and the little shops around where you could buy many little things and a lot of food.

A view of Tel Aviv from Jaffa

That's us!:)

In Jaffa

After we had met up at the school again, we were invited together with the Israelis to the German Goethe Institut in Tel Aviv. There was a woman who talked to us about the current refugee project of the institut where they ask intellectuals from over 40 countries the same questions about refugees and on the website the results will be shown soon. After the presentation was over, we had a little feedback round where we talked to the teachers about what we think about the project and pros and cons of our week. Overall we were really happy how the exchange turned out to be and all of us have had a lot of fun. 

After the feedback, our evening program without the teachers started and first we all went to the mall to do a little shopping and eat something. After that, we took the public bus and went to a karaoke bar in Tel Aviv. We had rented a room with a karaoke machine just for us for 1 1/2 hours and we had a lot of fun. We played and sang songs like Halo by Beyonce, Hit me baby one more time by Britney Spears and Sorry by Justin Bieber and many many more. After we were done at the karaoke bar it was already pretty late and most of us went home to get a little sleep.

Day 5 ( +6 )

Friday was the day of the big presentation but before we started to prepare at the school for the show, we went to the Independence Hall in Tel Aviv.



On our way to the Independence Hall

We were told that this was the building where the independence of Israel was declared in May 1948 and we got to learn a lot about the history of Tel Aviv and Israel.


In the Hall of Independence

Our guide showed us pictures of Tel Aviv around 100 years ago and there was practically nothing but desert. 66 families started to build houses in the city and they decided what property goes to which family randomly with seashells.


The lottery of the properties

In the actual hall, where the independence was declared, there was a picture of Theodor Herzl, the man who wrote the book Altneuland in which he describes his visions of a Jewish city and which Tel Avivs name and general idea is based on. Though Herzl died a few years before Israel was founded, he takes a very important role in the history of Tel Aviv.

The Indpendence Hall with a picture of Herzl

We also got to hear a voice audio of the actual Declaration of Independence announced by Ben Gurion and when the National Anthem was played, we all had to stand up for it.

Our guide

After that, we went back to school and got ready for the presentation. The musicians were preparing their instruments on stage, while the film students still had to do the last edits of their videos or were just hanging out. The presentation included most of what we had done and presented in Germany, but also things we had prepared over the days in Israel. Some of the new contributions were a music video for the song 'Englishman in New York', a video about about homesickness, a funny video about 'How to see that someone is a foreigner in Israel', and some new songs for example 'To the little Radio' written by Bertold Brecht.

The musicians

Many People came to see the presentation, amongst others the parents and friends of the Israeli students, students from the Ironi Alef Dance Department and even Mrs. Kölsch, a German teacher from Overath who moved to Israel this summer, was able to come out to support the project. The show was a real success and everybody enjoyed seeing what we had worked on in the past months. After we were done with the presentation, everybody had a little time on their own, before everybody met up at the School and drove to one of the Israeli students house to have a Shabbat dinner. Everbody brought something to eat, mostly it was something typically Israeli or international food and we had music and some of us were dancing. Afterwards we went back to Tel Aviv with the bus to another students house who had Penthouse and access to the rooftop where we had the second part of the party without the teachers. The view from up there over the city was just amazing and everybody had a very good time.

Dancing with some obstacles

Grape Juice shots

Yitzchaki praising the food because of Shabbat

On Saturday was our day off, because this is the only day in the week where the Israelis don't have to go to school, because it is Shabbat and the stores are closed. We all did something different over the day and just met up in the evening. So here we have some photo impressions of the Saturday we spend with our exchange partners:







Saturday evening

Friday night on the rooftop

More pictures will follow

Day 4

Our presentation of the projects is on Friday, so Thursday was the last day for us to shoot the films and it was our 'work day'. 

But first, our every day coffee break

While most of us went to the Tel Aviv Museum of Modern Art in the morning, some stayed at school and started working on the projects so we could get them done. Everybody who went to the museum played 'Ich packe meinen Koffer' with artists in front of the museum while waiting for the entrance and they got a task from Mrs. Menke, that by the time they were leaving the museum, they had to know two more artists and they should decide which of the art pieces they like best and which one they would want to take home if they could. 

Playing 'Ich packe meinen Koffer'

The architecture of the building itself was very intersting and in the the museum they had, besides many interesting art objects, an exhibition about the Bauhaus style of which we had heard about from the drama teacher two days before.

In the afternoon all of us were really busy with shooting, editing the films or rehearsing the music pieces. 

In the evening we were invited to the presentation of the Dance Department who was on an exchange with a Polish school and we were really excited to see what the different Art departments developed on their trip. They had different styles of dancing, mostly it was modern dance, contemporary and ballet and all of us thought that they danced really, really well and were very impressed by the choerographys with so many dancers.

This night we all went home early, to get enough sleep and be ready and awake for the important upcoming day.