This morning we woke up at 7 am and looked up what the weather would be like today so that we could decide what to wear. We discovered it would be 20 degrees Celsius, or around 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and that rain was not expected, although apparently the weather here can be pretty unpredictable. We packed our lunches, and I made a sandwich with sunflower seed bread and frischkäse, which is pretty similar to cream cheese, but it has less fat. Zeinab lives very close to the school, so we didn't have a very long walk to get there. When we arrived all of us Americans met to discuss how Germany was treating us thus far. After homeroom and a tour of the school and its surrounding area I met Zeinab for her geography class. During class they mostly discussed what their exam on Monday would entail. Apparently the exam will take 4 hours, and it is a pretty big deal. Next we ate lunch and went to Zeinab's next class, which, from what I understand, is all about learning to make a solid argument and present it effectively. Today they talked about improvements that could be made to Neukölln, which is the district of Berlin that we are in right now. The top 3 improvements that they discussed were "Neukölln investiert in Bildung" (investing more in education), "Neukölln fördert die Wirtschaft" (promoting economic improvement), and "Neukölln kämpft gegen Jugendarbeitslosigkeit" (fighting unemployment among young people). I think that this class was both interesting and beneficial, and it would be good to have one like it back home. Next we went to math, and then we left school to go to the Reichstag, or "the supreme constitutional organ of the Federal Republic of Germany," as the booklet I got says. The Reichstag has a glass dome on top and we were able to walk up to the very top of it while a listening guide pointed out various landmarks in Berlin that we could see as we ascended. The Reichstag is designed in a very environmentally friendly way: inside there are 360 mirrors that are angled downward and reflect natural light into the room where parliament meets so that they don't have to use electric lights.
After the Reichstag we returned home (via the subway) and started to get ready for the first of 3 weddings that we will attend while I am here. This wedding was very different from any wedding I have attended before. While all the weddings I have been to have been quiet and have had 100 people at the most, this wedding was very loud and exciting and had at least 250 people. Music played almost nonstop, and there wasn't a service the way there is at the weddings I've been to. Rather, the bride was walked in by her father and was surrounded by dancers wearing gold and white. She and the groom danced together amid these other dancers and miniature fireworks went off as food was being served to everyone else, who was seated at tables of about 8. The bride and groom then went up to sit at an elevated table and everyone ate rice, chicken, bread, salad, and fruit. After we ate, there was more dancing and music, and the celebration was still going strong when we left at 11:30.
Overall, being in Germany can be a little overwhelming at times, but the Germans are 1. very patient and understanding and 2. very good at English. I am glad that we get to have this experience because I think it is important to have exposure to other cultures in order to gain perspective.
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