So now, the hard part...how do you say goodbye after such an amazing experience? We started the process Saturday at the BBQ. It was a very nice gathering, and every family expressed to me, personally, how much they love our travelers. It's not hard to understand why. Enjoy the video of presenting the yearbooks and we'll see you Arizonans soon...

So, we are coming down to the end of our trip and this weekend involves last minute shopping and touring, and even though many students dread it, the saying goodbye. We start this process tonight, with a BBQ on the river. Our travelers will present the 2010 yearbook (the year their hosts traveled to the US) to their host students, which I will try to capture on video and post on Sunday. Tomorrow is the last day with their families, and we will be meeting at the airport on Monday morning at 5.30am, Frankfurt time. After a long day of travel, we arrive in Phoenix at 6pm Monday evening and head back up the hill.

On our way back to Frankfurt

Tacheles: on its way out?

This place of art was originally a Jewish department store in 1908. I was very expensive to build. During the war, when the Jews were moved out, it served as a Nazi prison. After that it was taken over by artists, and when I say taken over I mean by artist squatters, and given the name Tacheles, which is a Yiddish word for "straight talk". The building has now been bought by a corporation, which is intent on forcing the artists out and turning it into a hotel. The most common question our travelers asked is "Don't we have enough hotels?"

On our last day in Berlin we took a street art tour. Berlin has a history of political and social revolution, and it certainly shows in what we saw. For us, it really clarified the difference between graffiti (which says 'I was here') and street art (clever, witty political statements). We probably took about 300 pictures that day, so come to Expo to see more...

more Berlin...

On the left in this photo is Leen, or British guide, who is one of the best story tellers I have ever hear. The kids wanted to bring all of our guides back with us. Dennis is on the other side of Jesse and Jan is the one with his feet sticking out in the road.

More in Berlin, including out Dutch guides and the DDR musuem

Dennis and Jan are in this first photo. We thank Schoolclash for all their hard work and our terrific experience!

Walking tour of the city

Train to Belrin and Hostel Alcatraz

Hallo from tired and fabulous travelers

Gutenabend from Berlin! Today was facsinating. We went to Sachenhausen, which was one of the first concentration camps and the model of the ideal death camp. It was a very heavy morning, and our group was impressively appropriately somber. While we were surrounded by other groups who at times seemed unaffected by our surroundings, every Northpointer felt it very deeply and personally. After leaving the camp, and when we could breathe again, we processed both our feelings and reactions in conversation, üparticularly grateful for the opportunites and freedoms we have. We lunched at Potsdamer Platz (my group devoured Asain fusion, YUM!) and spent the afternoon at the Jewish History Museum with a guide, and then to Turkish food for dinner. The group that we booked with Schoolclash has been fabulous and while we can't take Dennis, Leen and Jan with us, we are quite bonded to them. I HIGHLY recommend them to any school group traveling to Berlin, and will definitely use them for my Germany trip in 2013. Amazing people, and their organization has a very similar philosophy to NELA. They have been consistently impressed with the level of depth and care in our students, and I have to admit, I am proud of how this group has been representing our school, our state, and our country. Fabulous! Tomorrow, we go to see some more funky art in the morningand return to Frankfurt in the evening.

If you've been feelin a lack of images, it's because the hostel (Hostel Alcatraz, another great success!) are too slow for us to want to upload pics on...be patient and I'll post some soon!

Much love to all of our readers.

A word from Charlotte super late at night in Berlin

So, today was so interesting and I don't think I have learned more then I did today. It took so long to process it all but I did take it in. SchoolClash is really great. Our tour guides our amazing and know where to go. They knew the right places to travel today. We went to this super awesome museum that was so interactive. It was about DDR. There was one section that sort of moved mer, even though it was in German. It was an interrigation room for the prisoners. You would put your elbows on the table in a certain spot and cover your ears with your hands. Then you would hear the interrigator voice talking normally over a speaker. All of the sudden you would feel a vibration and if you listened close enough if was the prisoner talking. It was so close to you, that I felt like I was the one being asked questions. Another thing we saw today was this building filled with layers of graffitti. But in a good way. In America if you see graffitti the first thing I think of is gangs. But here it was done in artistic way. (Yes it is the same place Lilly Billy talked about) But I would also like to mention that the building is trying to be torn down and turned in to some fancy mall or hotel. Some of the people in the building were actually bribed out for 1 million euro. I find that really fasinating. All of the art and donations and petitions there are all in support of these artist. Today was really great, but a lot of walking. Time for me to go to bed. Guten Nacht!!!!!!

Trails...

Trails of tears following the footsteps of the one who forgot.

The ones who don't understand.
Towers of hatred.
Towers of memories.
The soft hand of freedom and entrapment.
Sounds of screams still shatter my ears.
Not from them but from those.
I loose myself inside the thoughts of others.
Holding back tears of trails of others.
They play like nothing happened.
Making the cut of sorrow deeper and more painful than any before.
Seeing only darkness when you open your eyes.
My eyes become shattered....

--Alec Belli (inspired by our trip to the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin)

A note from Lilly Billy

Today was our first full day in Berlin. Its been so nice to be together as a group, and exchange stories about our times with our host families. Our wonderful tour guides took us to a few extremely interesting places, but one really stood out to me. Inside an old original 5 story building, local artists have put together seperate art exhibits of their very own work as well as others. The builing itself is a work of art, the inside walls and ceilings having been painted and drawn on in an ecclectic and weirdly appealing way. Every aritist has something different to bring to the table, from paintings and sculptures to jewelery and clothing, all of which are one of a kind pieces. The funkiness of the building and the altogether vibe of the gallery gave me a super fun and hip feeling that left me wanting more, and it really was hard for me to leave. I would love to come here again, and bring more people to see how absolutely amazing this place is.

A note for mom, from Alec

Translated from Alec's Spartan-ese, this means, "Thank you, Mom, for raising me so well, and for all that you do for me. I truly appreciate you!"

Happy 16th Alec!!

Alec's family (Karen, Deiter, Paul, Marie and in absentia, Max) threw him a birthday party. Great food and every American student came! I stayed for a short while and then left the party in the capable hands of his parents. Karen is a holistic therapist (mind, body and soul) and Kim, she wished you 'good vibrations". She loves your son! The cake was made by Grandma, who lives next door baked him a cake (she also baked one for his welcome).

Yoshi's perspective (Josh)

Josh's views:

GERMANY VS. AMERICA

Germany

The Good Things:

• In the 80s germany decided to grow its own food and not import genetically modified foods, making every thing here healthier, and much is organic
• It is an international city with much diversity
• Not much judgment at all
• When deciding to create a law they look 6 or 7 years ahead instead of 2 or 3
• When you ask for water they usualy bring carbonated instead of flat water
• The history is much deeper then America
• Everyone drives small cars

The Bad Things:

• They always like to be ontime and are never late
• The fastfood places here are like 2 stories high
• The PT can be confusing

America

The Good Things:

• Large diversity of people
• Many diffrent types of food
• American Football

The Bad Things:

• The Philosophy is 'Bigger the Better'
• Everyone competes with their neighbors
• Never take the time to walk slow and enjoy the scenery
• There is a lot more judgment
• Very small history
• Self-centered people
• 'Money is Everything'

Kati and Jesse in a 6th grade class

.American students spend time in English classes, being interviewed and helping students with the language. This is one class that Kati and Jesse led. It was described as a bit 'wild' and I can see why, but the German kiddos, in my humble opinion, were just excited.

Group Shots

We went to Taunus Therme, a spa with many kinds of pools, different temps and movements, many different ways to relax...this is the group after the spa day. I had a hard time just picking one...

Some random photos I ripped from Facebook

Some of the kids are finding it easier to post pics on Facebook than send them to me, so I ripped a few for your viewing pleasure. Host families are keeping them incredibly busy (too busy?) so they've had little time for reflection. Hopefully I can get each to post some thoughts while we are in Berlin.