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Saying goodbye at the airport! What a wonderful week it was! We cannot wait to reunite in Eilat!! 

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Last day: trip to the peacock island “Pfaueninsel” by bike or foot 

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Eilat-Berlin-Exchange

Interview with Shahar and Paul:

What was your most memoral experience?

Shahar: When Anton kissed a wasp and then Moti ate it.

Paul: To cook with everyone.

What is your favorite place in Berlin?

Shahar: I like every place.

Paul: My home.

Would you like come back to Berlin? Why?

Shahar: Yeah, because I love Berlin

Paul: ...

Why would you recommend the exchange?

Shahar: Because its a perfect way to meet new friends and to learn about life in another country.

Paul: Because it‘s a great chance to meet cool people.

What did you learn on your trip?

Shahar: I learn about life in another country.

Paul: A lot of Hebrew words.

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Eilat-Berlin-exchange

By Vanessa Solis. Interview with myself :) 

What did you like best about the exchange?

What liked best about the exchange was getting to know german people and their culture.

why would you recommend the exchange?

I would recommend the exchange because all the activities are very fun and you meet new people, its a cool experience.

What was your most memorable moment?

I think my most memorable moment was when it was my birthday and they surprised me with a cake.

What’s your favorite place in Berlin?

My favorite place in Berlin was the TV-tower because the view of Berlin was  beautiful from there.

Would you like to come back? Why?

Yes i would like to come back to Berlin because i  really enjoyed it , it was fun and interesting, i really like Berlin! 

What did you learn from the trip? Anything new?

I learned from the trip how to use the high ropes because I had never done it before .

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The Fun In Cultural Differences or How To Survive 27 Teenagers

(I didn‘t so there won‘t be any tips in here)

An exchange is the time for getting to know new people, having an excuse to skip school (hehe, I‘m kidding...obviously?), and shopping loads.

Or like...trying to survive the program and asking yourself why you wanted to be around 27 other teenagers (+ 4 grown ups) for a whole week.

Of course, most of the program was between mildly to extremely enjoyable (varying by need of movement, stress, and discussions), but for me both the cultural differences combined with social interaction (surprisingly) and the sightseeing were the most fun and interesting part.

As someone living in Berlin for my whole life, I should know the city pretty well, right? Right??

Wrong.

Because I live here, I, well...live here. But that‘s pretty much it. I mean sure, I‘ve been to the shopping malls, the museums, the food stores, and, sadly also the high ropes course (that stuff is scary), but the sightseeing stuff is generally just something tourists do. And we‘re not tourists, we live here!!

So seeing Berlin through the eyes of someone who hasn‘t been here before was fairly interesting.

For example on Sunday, during our time in the guest families, after spontaneously “having to” go riding, we (my exchange student Maya, my dad, his girlfriend, and I) visited the Latin American Streetfoodfestival in Kreuzberg and then (also spontaneously) went touring along the Spree.

I have walked past the Spree before, but I never really took the time to look at the Molecule Man and discussing it with my dad’s girlfriend or finding a broken and old boat, that Berlin and its people made their own in its special little way – by planting plants on it, spraying it with graffiti and more.

Seeing the big differences then started with Maya being very excited about driving on a train (they don’t have trains in Eilat!!), while staring out the window the whole time and being fascinated by the dark rushing by (you couldn’t really see anything tbh) and showed itself in many other forms.

On Friday she was amazed by pressing the button on a tram door. On Monday, me telling her we were almost there and her asking me what that meant, then laughing about my reply (ten minutes) because “almost there means two minutes in Eilat”.

Or the difference in temperature (though, to be fair, I noticed this during the last exchange already).

Maya was freezing in 24°C and asked me, why I wasn’t cold in my tank top. Laughing, I told her, that for me this was nice and pretty warm and I liked that it wasn’t that hot – when I told her, that the 35°C of the last weeks were already way too hot for me, it was her turn to laugh and explain, that 50°C+ was hot for her and 20°C to 30°C were winter wetter in Eilat.

Fascinating how much fun you can have with that, no?

The fun continued when we talked about what we’d do in Israel, which we’d visit in January.

Maya asked me if I wanted to visit the Red Sea but warned me, that it would probably be pretty boring, because we couldn’t go in.

But… I went in last year? Was my reply and she laughed and said, that it would be only 25°C and it would be waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too cold to swim.

My sister mentioned I went swimming in 12°C once and 25°C is a beach day for us.

As us Germans like to say ,,Mund zu, sonst kommen die Fliegen rein.” (“Close your mouth, before the flies get in.”) referring to Maya’s mouth opening in shock and letting out a silent “...what?”

I could probably find many more examples of funny cultural differences and stories, making this a literal book, and hopefully making an exchange attractive for someone to take part in, but sadly, time is running out and I don’t want to start “quatsching you voll”. Which is Denglish for talking to you for ages and ages about one topic until you just decide to die of boredom (or similar)(please don’t die).

All in all, the exchange is wonderful for learning about a new culture and learning new languages (sa babba and an uncomfortable try at being funny), meeting new people, doing fun activities with new people, getting to know the city you live in all over again, and trying to survive the program while questioning all your life choices. (I’m kidding.)(Mostly.)

This ad was not sponsored by the Lessing Gymnasium or the organisers of the exchange in any way, all opinions and stories shown are probably my own and I honestly recommend the excha- okay, I’ll stop trying to be funny now.

Y’allah bye :)

Yuna

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Our program for the upcoming days! We are excited for the arrival of our guests! 

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Mahnmal der Blockade von Leningrad im zweiten Weltkrieg

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Plan für die nächsten Tage

Folgendes Programm ist für die letzten Tage geplant: MONTAG 8:45 Treff im Gymnasium 9 Uhr Russischstunde 10 Uhr Busexkursion mit dem Schulleiter zum Pawlowsker Palast sowie dem Monument zu Ehren der Gefallenen bei der Leningradblockade. 16Uhr: Treffen mit den Gastschülern am Gymnasium, Exkursionsende DIENSTAG 9:00 Uhr Unterricht nach Plan des Gastschülers 10:00 Uhr Russischunterricht 10:40 Lunch 11:00 Exkursion zu Fuß durch die Stadt 14:00 Uhr Schiffsausflug 16:00 Uhr Ende MITTWOCH 6:15 Uhr Treffen am Flughafen Pulkovo 1 8:15 Uhr geht der Flug zurück