Kategorie: Palästina Blog

On our last full day here, we got to go to Munich again in the morning. Right after breakfast, we all had the chance to do the things we couldn’t do yesterday or to buy the shops empty we couldn’t buy empty yesterday. Some of us used the time go the BMW world and have a look at fantastic cars of the last decades made by BMW. Others took the time again to relax, enjoy a coffee or buy a last present for their secret friend, a game we played for the last days where everyone gets a name and is supposed to be nice to his new „secret friend“, make them a present or something similar. After successfully collecting everyone from the group (no one got left behind, though even leaders can get lost and be late sometimes) we went back to Gauting to prepare everything for the last evening and the service we wanted to have together.

So in the evening we had our own service that was created by everyone together in small groups. Songs were sung, thoughts shared and prayers prayed together.

Afterwards we had a great, tasty dinner together that was also prepared by some of the group. Then we sang karaoke and danced into the darkness of our last night together.

On our second last day, we went to Munich again. After some inspiring group work in the morning and lunch we took the train to the city. We parted into small groups to do whatever we had in favour. Some went to see the Allianz Arena, to have a tour inside and buy merchandise of the FC Bayern München. Others tried to buy clothes from every store that exists around the Marienplatz (they really gave their best) while others enjoyed the time relaxing in cafes or on the streets. After dinner at Munich‘s best Falafel & Shawarma Shop we headed to the Olympic park, where there were rollercoasters and other rides, haunted houses, lots of food trucks and other attractions. Everyone had free time and could do what they liked best there. Even though it started to rain, the group really had much fun together. Before leaving we used the loud music played by a barbecue shop to dance wildly in the rain. On the way to the train we played one of our favourite games, what probably confused everyone else around. We made it home with the train and some of the Palestinians even got to learn the most important things to say in the Bavarian language.

Today was the second day of our art project. To get some photos for our exhibition, we split into groups and went to Gauting. The goal was to take some pictures or videos to set the scene for our artworks.

First we went to the train station and met some local people who were interested in our artworks. They asked a couple of questions and we had a short chat with them. It was really nice and a little bit unexpected to get in touch with people through this.

Afterwards we went to a playground and took some of our favourite pictures.

We were always looking for new ways to highlight another aspect of the artworks. Most of us had never done something like this before. It was fascinating to look at everyday settings from this unusual perspective. A lot of ideas were put into action right away. On our way back we stopped almost every 50 meters for some more pictures. Because of this we were a few minutes late. It seems that creativity and punctuality don’t work together that well.

After some spare time we started to prepare the exhibition. We had to make a decision on which pictures we wanted to use. For some of us that was really hard ?

The exhibition itself was a really nice event. We had some snacks and got to know more about each others artworks.

All in all the „Sign it out loud“ exhibtion was a big success!

On Monday we welcomed a guest that some of us knew from the past of the youth exchange. Anna-Lena, who had been a part of the leading team in the past years, arrived for an art project with us. The very political project started with the visit of a member of the „Fridays For Future“ – movement in Munich, who talked about climate change and the origins of this movement and answered all our questions about global warming and the activism against the destruction of the environment.
In the afternoon we asked ourselves the question:
„What do we stand up for?“
The answers were very different and everybody shared their own personal believe. Many of us mentioned climate-related topics but there were also people who wanted to stand up for gender and race equality, LGBTQ+ rights, unemployment, unrealistic beauty standards, oppression, …

Based on our interests we formed groups for our art project afterwards. Luckily Anna-Lena brought a ton of colours brushes, so we could start our art project with drawing signs and other artworks that represent what we stand up for. We also used the beautiful weather to paint our artworks outside. Every group on their own, every one in his unique style. Most of the groups were almost late for dinner because they were too busy drawing and painting. After dinner we went to the river close to our hostel, to have a bonfire. We grilled stick-bread and marshmallows and sang songs around the fire. The dayclosing was even more calming with the sounds of the river and the fire. The day ended after we walked back home and everyone fell into their beds after a long day of new experiences.

Lisa & Hanna

Oh, hey there, person reading this, it‘s us again! We‘re back again from our family stay and we‘re ready to share everything with you! So we went to church with our host families on Sunday morning to attend the service. After lunch we all came to Bad Tölz, the capital of the deanery, to meet the deacon and other people from the church and the Lutheran youth to introduce our group and the youth meeting to them and also the parents. We also shared the experiences in the families while having coffee and cake. Many of the Germans wore traditional clothing for the meeting, „Dirndl“ for the girls and „Lederhosn“ from the men. We took many pictures that day.

Then we finally got back to Gauting to enjoy a free evening with playing cards, pizza, Ping pong and many, many stories.

We also revealed the secret friends game and decided to start a new game.

Leonie & Nagham

This morning we started a little bit earlier than the other days. After breakfast we went to the train station and took the train to munich. In munich we went on the train to Dachau and took the bus to the concentration camp memorial site. When we arrived we met Maria Stettner who is a member of the lutheran church in bavaria. She works in the oecumenical department and is responsible for our partnership. She joined us to see how our partnership looks like.

We split our group in two and had a guided tour through the memorial site. We visited the museum, heard and read about the people who where imprisioned in the concentration camp. One of the groups went to the baracks, where the people were sleeping and having their showers and the bathroom. Then we went to the crematory where some inmates were executed and where the dead people were burned.

After the crematory, we went to the lutheran church of reconciliation in the concentration camp memorial site where we took part in the weekly Coventry prayer. At the service one of our palestinian and one of our german group members lit candles for two persons who survived the concentration camp. Both of the survivers are still allive. One of them is living in Palestine and the other one in Bad Tölz, Germany.

After the church we had a break and some of us, who did not see the baracks yet, went there. They also went to the bunker, where they had single cells for the inmates who did something wrong and were punished.

When we finished the break we all sat together in a circle to meet Ernst Grube. He is a 86 year old jewish man who was a kid, when his aunts and their families were deported to a extermination camp and killed by the Nazis. Ernst Grube and his family didn´t get deported because just his mother was jewish and his father was not.

In our conversation, Ernst Grube told us about his life and his experiences. We also had the possibility to ask him questions.

After this very interesting conversation we took a picture with Ernst Grube, said goodbye to everyone and went back to our house.

We had dinner and after a little bit of free time we did a reflection about our visit at the concentraion camp memorial site in three groups.

After another break we had a day closing by Volker and Sally where we prayed and sang songs.

The trip to the memorial site was very interesting but also very exhausting and emotional.

Sophie & Mariana

Our day started off as usual. A delicious breakfast from 8 to 9am. We gathered at 9:30am, Volker gave us an overview about the Dachau concentration camp, which we will be attending tomorrow. Afterwards we took a walk to see a really interesting sculpture about the death march of the imprisoned people. Until lunch we enjoyed our free time. Until 2pm, Sally prepared a spectacular arabic food for us (makloubeh). With more free time some of us rested, meanwhile others ate icecream.

At 3pm, we wandered a little further than before (which some of us took as a possibility again to take as much photos from the surrounding and our people as the phone batteries could give) and reached the river. There the group spent time playing sports, laying in the sun, having a deep discussion, or swimming in the river. We all certainly enjoyed our time there. The group came back in time for dinner eating lasagna. At 8pm we started another group discussion with the Palestinians and Germans on their own. After an hour full of conversating we all joined in together and shared our thoughts. Finally Sama and Julian presented a slideshow about Martin Luther King Junior. Everybody lit up candles in memory of love during hateful times.

We are looking forward to expand our knowledge tomorrow.

Simon and Lutfi