Berlin, Day 6

Well, today was kinda different. It looked like it was going to rain, and then it got REALLY hot, then cold and windy, then hot, and not just humid.... I don't get Berlin weather... but that's ok... we had an awesome full day here in Berlin... here's what happened...

First off we went on another tour with Uncle Dave's personal drive, Mike. He's awesome. He took us to teh East Side Gallery of the Berlin Wall... which is the longest stretch of remaining wall, and has become a huge area for street art...

This is mom and Dave at the East Side Gallery....

I'm not sure why they chose to take a picture in front of this one... i don't get it.... at all... oh well, it's German... maybe I'm not supposed to get it... haha...
This was my favorite... it reminded me of Salvador Dahli.... but cooler...
This is us on the West Side of the East Side Gallery... this is a famous bridge, I honestly forgot the name of it, but it wasn't used during the Cold War... cuz it divided East and West Germany...
Uncle Dave and I at my favorite part of the East Side Gallery... just a cool cartoon of a scary real life experience... when a man tried to escape to West Berlin...

Here is a cool video from the wall... enjoy!!!
This is the 02 World Arena... Britney Spears is playing here on July 28th... She asked me to be the opening act... but then Cher got jealous of me switching shows... and then I remembered I committed to EFY...so I had to hold true to the old White and Blue... BYU!!!!

Then, we went to the Russian Memorial in East Berlin... a memorial the Russian's built... to themselves... and the soldier that died in the Battle of Berlin... this memorial was HUGE!!!!
The big things in the background remind me of a Soviet Pride Rock... kinda of...
There were like a bajillion stairs up to this monument... such a workout!! haha.. this is a Russian soldier stamping out the Swatstika... this guy is HUGE!!! I was rejoicing, per Mike's request, in the fact that I made it all the way up!!! VICTORY!!!!

After that we went and did a walking tour of the Soviet cites in East Berlin, and cites in the Cold War. I learned that at the height of the Cold War, there was one KGB agent for every 64 people... how crazy is that? That's basically one KGB agent for every 20 families... We visited some escape routes, and some checkpoints, and it was all so cool. It was kinda scary because they told us Putin was raised in the KGB agency, and that it probably still runs today, secretly. Anyway we got to see a portion of the 'death strip' that was still in tact...


This is a difficult picture to take, as we could only see the death strip through a crack in cement... and this is a walkway that guards would walk down, guarding the wall. Basically if you got past the first wall, you were dead.... and then there were like 85 back up plans on how to kill you... haha... seriously.... it was certain death....

But... I DID learn that over 20% of Berlin Wall Escapes were the actual boarder guards!!! Who would have guessed that the guards were the ones who were wanting to escape!!!

Anyway, there is a family line to get on facebook.... what's up with that? Anyway, tomorrow we grab some souviners, and then fly to LONDON!!! AAAHHHH!!! SO EXCITED!!! Talk to you tomorrow... live from the United Kingdom!!!

Love, James

Berlin, Day 5

Well, today was an awesome Sunday. We got up, and left around 8:30 am, for church. There are a total of 7 different wards in Berlin, and they are all German speaking, except one of them is dual German and English, which is the one that Uncle Dave goes to, the Dahlem ward. So we drove over, and found this totally AWESOME church building. It is really old, but it looks soooo cool!! It is like 4 stories in total, and in the center of the church, there is a GLASS ELEVATOR!!!

First we went to Elder's Quorum, which was interesting, because it was in German... in the Engilsh ward... So after Mitchell and I walk in, the Elder's Quorum President asks, 'So how is your German?', and I reply, 'Non-existent'... haha... He was so nice, and translated the entire lesson into English for us. I was really sleepy, but felt like I NEEDED to be VERY alert, since the guy had put the effort into preparing the lesson, AND this other guy put in the effort to translate into English for me to understand. I was very appreciative, it was an awesome lesson on Faith.

We then went to Sunday school, and luckily for that there are 2 Gospel Doctrine classes, one in German, and one in English. The English class was awesome, with mostly Americans, who were living in Germany just for a few months or a few years. We talked about personal apostasy, and about how not to fall away from the church. It was a really awesome lesson about nto being offended, and doing what is right now matter what people do or say to you.

Then, we went to Sacrament Meeting, which was in German, but they had headphones for the English speakers (like they do for the Mandarin speakers in the ward back home). It as kinda weird wearing the headphones, but I'm glad I now know what half of my ward back home feels like during Sacrament Meeting. Very interesting... and eye opening... We had a great talk about Courage, and another one on building strong families, but the last one was sort of interesting, it was about inter-denomination relations, but this guy was an American who kept making generalizations aboiut the German people, of which he wasn't even a part of... so it was kind of weird.

It was really cool to go to a church outside of the United States, and to see how it is different, but is actually very much the same. I talked to the Elders, one was from Rexburg, the other from Orem, and had graduated from Mountain View High School, and gone to BYU. The one from Orem was brand new, and the one from Rexburg was training him, and then he went home later this summer, to start school in the fall. It was interesting, they said they hardly ever tract in Berlin, but simply go and talk to everybody they ever see.. Funny how the most ineffective thing to do in my mission was the most effective here... the work is the same everywhere, just done differently....

Here is a picture of their totally awesome church.....
IT was just COOL!!! Maybe I can go to church in one like this... but for now the Scott Creek Castle... i mean Chapel.. will do...

Then after church we headed to an Allied Musuem, which had part of the original Berlin spy tunnell, from the Cold War, and had a huge exposition on the Berlin Airlift. They said at the height of the airlift, there were planes flying into Berlin every 62 seconds... can you believe that? That's just amazing. Thousands of tons of goods were flown here, it was quite the logistical nightmare. Here's a picture of Dave and us at the Museum...


I'm sure the airplane behind us if of significant importance, but I couldn't find a nice little sign to explain it to me... it will remain a mystery forever... dangit!!

Then we came home, we all took naps because we were totally exhausted, and then we voted to stay in, cook a nice dinner, and we watched 2 movies, Mobsters and Mormons, which I didn't like, and Suits on the Loose, which I LOVED!!! Anyway, they're both mormon movies, but the latter is defintely worth seeing. Meanwhiel, Uncle Dave had to make a slimfast shake....

Don't you want a shake just like this one? It is soooo delicious!

Anyway, things are awesome, tomorrow holds much to see and visit, so I am going to be early. I love going to church, no matter WHAT country I'm in, it's awesome to be with other saints... I am grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ.

See you tomorrow,
Love,
James

Berlin, Day 4

Hello again, hope your Saturday is totally wonderful, mine has!! We woke up this morning, and then headed off to visit the central Mercedez-Benz dealership here in Downtown Berlin. Now, the funny thing today was it is Christopher Plaats day, which is a Gay Pride Day in Berlin, and there was a HUGE festival downtown and a huge parade, and it really threw everything off. It's funny, just when you think you've escaped it in San Francisco, there it is again...

Well we went to Berlin's dealer for Mercedez-Benz here and it was absolutely amazing.... take a look at this...
Ok... so this is a convertible... on a ROTATING ISLAND!!! INSIDE THE CAR DEALERSHIP!!! I'm not sure they have THIS at the Fremont Auto Mall.. but then again, I haven't been there for a few years...
This is one of the balconies in the dealership... yes... BALCONY!!! Behind me is one of the 2 climbing walls, and illuminated waterfall...hahaha.... it was unreal.... oh yea... surrounded by palm treas and jungle ferns....
This was the video game section, where you get in an actual race car, to play a race car game... haha.. it was totally awesome, but really hard to drive... Mom tried, but wasn't very good...
So... I think this was the Mercedez S 65... but I honestly don't remember... but I DO remember the price... it was over 165,00 US Dollars... I could buy a HOUSE for that much.... funny thing is... a car this expensive still can get crashed into as easily as my '92 Cherokee... from Craig's List... haha...
This is the view from the 4th floor balcony... ya... I couldn't believe what I was seeing either....

This is a video from the Mercedes-Benz dealership with Uncle Dave... totally awesome....
This is me overflowing with excitement to go on the 3rd Reich Walking Tour, which started right at the Brandenburg Gate... I learned so much, I finally feel very prepared for my WWII Test in Sophomore World History.. haha... only like 5 years too late...
This is the center of Germany's Parliament... I won't type you the name, since I can't spell it. But what I learned about this place, was it's basically the site that Hitler rose to power, and became the Fuhrer... They said that Hitler never officially broke any government rules in his rise to power. He bended them a lot, and used loopholes to his advantage, but he played the game by the rules, which is scary. This building was burned by the NAZI's who blamed it on the Communists, which was a huge catalyst in thrusting Hitler to the top of the German Government... you may have remembered this picture from when the Soviet's Captured Berlin at the end of the war, it's taken at the top of this building....
Anyway, It was really cool to learn all of the History that went with WWII, and to be able to see it in person was just totally cool...
This is mom and I after our 4 hour walking tour of 3rd Reich sites, at Alexanderplatz, a huge square originally in East Berlin, next to the famous TV Tower... There were tons of goths here... it was like their meetingplace or something weird like that... Mom doesn't LOOK happy, but she is... haha....

After our tour, we headed back to Dave's apartment, and picked up Mitchell, who was feeling a little bit under the weather, and went to Uncle Dave's office, in the Diamler Financial Services Building. His office is on the 19th of 20 floors, and has an AMAZING view... it is so cool.... and the best part... ENDLESS DIET COKE (Yay for mom and Cameron.... hahaha)
This is me pretending to be Dave, in his office, looking out at Berlin, contemplating how to solve the financial problems of the world....haha... Is it evident why I will never be a CFO?

Ok, so on top of all that fun, today I found my favorite German food... ok well, honestly, it's not even German, it's Turkish, but THAT'S OK!! Berlin is full with TONS of Turkish people... so it's totally legit... haha.. it's called a Doner Kebab, and it is a sandwich made with lamb meat... let me introduce you to this....
This is the guy that serves it to you. First there is this huge chunk of lamb, that's already been cut, and put back on a skewer, and then he shaves off some for your sandwich. Then he gives you this amazing sauce on your toasted bread, throws some fixings on it, and BOOM! you get...
This actually doesn't even do the sandwich justice at all, but it is basically my favorite thing ever, I could eat it until I die... haha.. once a week that is... i NEED variety in my day-to-day life....

Anyway, things are going amazing, I have learned a ton, and am not getting so nervous talking to people. I've learned a few German phrases, and it helps that basically everbody understands English, even if they dont' speak it. Tomorrow we are headed to the only English ward in Berlin, and that should be qutie the experience... haha.. I'm actually most anxious to talk to the missionaries... I wonder why...

Well, I Love you all, good bye from Berlin!!

Love, James

Berlin, Day 3

Today was a life-changing day for me. As I return home, I feel a very sombre mood, and just a heavy weight. Today we went to Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp which is about a forty-five minute train ride outside of Berlin. In this post, I really want to share some of the things I learned and saw today, to help show some of the perspective I've gained in my visit.

Me at NEW gate of Sachsenhausen

Sachsenhausen was an internment camp, and was used by the NAZI's in the later 1930's, and then later became a work camp, and then a death camp. It was taken over by the Soviet Army in April 1945, and then it was turne into a Soviet Special Camp from 1945-1950. It's interesting to note that the very army that liberated the camp, then turned around and used it for their own purposes, kind of twisted isn't it?

Some things I learned today (from our tour guide who is writing a book on Sachsenhausen)
1) Hitler was responsible for about 20 million death, Stalin is responsible for over 50 million
2) Not only Jews were in these camps, but homosexuals, Jehovah's witnesses, political opponents, spies, gypsies, and mentally and physically handicapped among others....
3) Hitler never once visited a camp, he left that to his cronies...
4) Dying was a priveledge in these camps
5) So many people still deny that these things happen.... (which is illegal to vocalize in Germany)

Here are some pictures...
This is a picture of the camp's officer's quarters. It is still intact, but in very bad condition, nobody is allowed close to it at all. Here the officers would party and do whatever they pleased. They would round up the 'passive' prisoners, and make them the butlers and servants. The cruelest way to starve is to have to serve food as you do. They would make the prisoners the object of their entertainment here....
Here is the main gate to Sachsenhausen.... and here is a video at the gate....

It was a chilling entrance, to an even darker place....
Here is the back side to the main entrance. The red balcony was not enclosed when teh camp was in use. It was from this balcony that they would control the entire camp. The camp was built in the shape of a triangle, and from this vantage point they were able to control the entire camp. The clock on top is painted to read 11:07, the time when the Soviet Army liberated the camp.
This is the section between the roll call area (directly in front of the entrance), and the wall. It was called a nuetral zone, if you went into this zone, you would be shot. At first they would shoot you to kill you, but then people started to run to teh electric fence to kill themselves, and escape the peril of the death camp. The guards soon figured this out, and would shoot you only to immobilize you, and wouldn't grant you the opportunity to die.... you then would be punished for your rebellious actions, and tortured further.
These are the actual bunks that prisoners slept in. The prisoners would build these barracks, and then sleep in them. In Sachsenhausen's hayday, if that's what you even call it, they were very overcrowded, and there would usually be 3 people on each bunk, and many people on the floor as well. They were only permitted to use the bathroom once in teh morning, and once at night, so many people had accidents in their bad, multiple times a week... you can only imagine...
This is a bathroom that they would only have used 2 times a day...
These are posts that they would hang people from, but not from their necks. They would tie your hands behind your back, and then hang your hands on the pole. Your arms would eventually break, and they could tell how long you had been hanging, by the position of your body.
These were drawings by a famous cartoonist who was imprisoned, and forced to work in teh kitchen. His job was to peel potatoes, for 14 hours a day. He and one other lady did this every day, and he eventually bribed the guards to give him paint, and created this drawing, where the potatoes were washing themselves. It was very cool to see something so lighthearted in such a dark place, even in the darkest of all hours, they were able to find something to laugh and dream about.
These are the ovens in the crematorium. This was not a mass crematorium, such as Aushwitz, but it did cremated thousands of people. Between here and the medical labs, I'm not sure I've been to a place on this earth that is any darker.

The experience was one of a lifetime. It was amazing, moving, and overall very depressing. I felt so different when I was there. I felt heavy, as if I couldn't breathe normal, and felt like i had a huge burden surrounding my body. As I toured the camp the silent screams of those who are gone were louder than any sound I've ever heard in my life. The events here cannot be forgotten, and those who perished must be remembered. I am ever so grateful for what I have been blessed with, and grateful for those who have gone before me. May we never forget....

More light-hearted fun to come tomorrow. Love, James

Berlin Day 2!!!!

Wow, I seriously can't believe it's only day 2, we've been so busy, doing so many awesome things that I can hardly believe how fast the days go!! Last night, was a good night, except when Mitchell couldn't sleep so decided to work out at 4am, which woke our whole apartment up, and probably the apartment below us.... it turns out when you run on hardwood in an apartment building, the thuds wake people up.. shocker!

Well, today was busy busy busy, first we went to the town of Potsdam, a city right outside Berlin which housed the Royalty, until 1918, and then was occupied by Russians for most of the 20th Century. The main castle is Sans Soucci, the castle for Frederick the Great. It's Beautiful...
My backyard looked like this once.... until the lawn mower broke....
Anybody want to climb some stairs... it'll be qutie the work out.... they were made extra wide because in the 18th century, the lady's skirts were huge... like in the King and I....
I don't know if you know this... but I LOVE TRELLIS!!! HAHAHAHA!! Thanks Irvington...
I was trying to re-create 16 going on 17, but it didn't really work out.... it turns out the benches have to be closer together.... but i DID love the gardens here... We even got to see the swimming pool too!!!

After we saw the amazing home, and garden of Frederick the Great, we headed to town, had lunch with Uncle Dave, and then we went to a whirlwind tour of Museum Island, and went to the internationally recognized museum, the Pergamon Museum. It was SOO Cool, they have reconstructed the original gate to the city of Babylon... it was AMAZING....
This gate was GINORMOUS, as if facing the Babylonian empire wasn't enough, the sheer size of the gate makes it worse!!
Julius Ceasar is trying to choose a new ruler... CHOOSE ME!!!!!
This is the reconstructed original Pergamon, it is simply amazing, that after over 2000 years, so much of it is still in tact!! This is just me, hanging with my homies.... the Gods of Greece... haha..
This is another original from the Roman empire, from about the time of Christ... I was amazed that it was still in that good of condition, it is a miracle!! All I can say for this picture is....'Don't Cry for Me.... Roman Empire!!!!'
This is another gate to a Roman city, that was buit about 125 BC. It is HUGE!!!! Look how big the people are and how big the gate is!!! Some of it was damaged during air rades in WWII, but most of it is still in really good condition, for being over 2000 years old!!!

We then came home, walked around a few other cites in Berlin, with pictures on Mom's camera, but today was awesome. There is so much to see, tomorrow we are going to an actual concentration camp, which should be a life-changing event, and I'm eager to see it for myself, so I can bear witness that it did indeed happen. Anyway, see you tomorrow!!!

Greetings from Berlin, Germany - Day 1

Well, we finally made it... and what the trip it was!! We left at 7 pm on Monday from San Francisco International Airport, and had a 10 hour flight straight to Frankfurt Germany. It was a nice flight I was able to watch 2 movies, Coraline and the Uninvited. They were both stupid, but they helped me pass the time. I particularly hated teh second because I spent the whole movie hating a certain character, and then in the last 90 seconds, the tables turned, and I found out she was the good guy, and the main character (who I was mentally defending the entire movie) was the villian. RETARDED!! I dont' even know if that made sense... whatever.... We were fed wonderful airplane food, that was who knows how old, and then made it to FRANKFURT!! The landing was rough, which scared me, but not too bad.... Then comes the fun part...

We travel through the maze, which they erroneously call 'The Frankfurt International Airport' , and finally found our gate after passing through customs, and settle down. Our plane departed at 4:25, and at 4:15 when they still weren't boarding, I decided to brave the counter, and try out my german (of which i know.... nothing). I was able to woo the 40-something year old women into speaking English (I got skills... ya!), and was able to find out that our plane was CANCELLED!! AAHHH!!! So, I got us transferred to a different plane, that was leaving for Berlin only 4 hours later, so that wasn't too bad. Luckily they gave us a 10 euro voucher for dinner, and we were able to get some nice expensive airport food for free! YAY!!

We landed in Berlin, got a quick tour of the the area, but Uncle David's personal driver/body guard in their nice little Mercedez S-Class... wow... we got a nice tour, grabbed some grub and hit the sack!!

We woke up the next morning... SO TIRED!! Jet lag caught up with us....and I coudl barely keep my eyes open. It turns out when you fast forward 9 hours ahead of your time zone, it kinda throws you off... a LOT!! We then Mike piked us up... (ok... can I tell you.... I LOVE HAVING A DRIVER!!! I will basiaclly never have one again in my entirel ife....so I'm soaking up

the joy and luxury right now...) we heade and did a drivign tour. We saw tons of things.... our first stop was...



The Olympic Stadium - It was built for the 1936 Olympics, were Hitler was the 'Supreme' Guest... it was very cool....

This is an inside view of the stadium... it was HUGE....
We got to go inside, and all around.... we even got to see the pools....I wanted to go swimming in them so bad... they looked so fun... and they had some REALLY high hi dives too...
After we pulled ourselves away from the pools we got to go around to teh other side, and see the olympic torch. This stadium is HUGE and hosted the final 2006 World Cup Game, Germany VS Spain... which was huge.... this stadium is for serious sports people.... people who play.....

VARSITY!!!!! (shout out for Brittney... hahahah)

After we went to the Olympic Stadium we found that they were having a TAXI STRIKE... RIGHT outside the Stadium. Evidently the Airport is now charging teh taxi's to wait for people, so all 600 taxi drivers parked their taxis today, and then had a huge taxi parade in protest, and we got to witness it....

Then we headed to visit Dave, and go to lunch, which was great, and then Mike took us to a Walking Tour, which was a great 4 hour tour of Berlin, and all the big spots to see... My favorite was the Brandenburg Gate
The Hotel Adlon (where Michael Jackson danged his newborn son a few years back, and sections fothe Berlin Wall with Checkpoint Charlie), and then we headed to the Holocaust Memorial, which was really cool. It's hard to explain but, it was a memorial you experience rather than look at, and it was really cool...
We then headed to the second largest standing portion of the Berlin Wall....
Then we headed to the infamous 'Checkpoint Charlie' which divided East and West Berlin during the Cold War...
Then we headed to Humboldt University, which has had students and teachers such as Albert Einstein and Karl Marx, just to name a few....
And those are the real highlights from today.... WHOA!!! I sure hope your day was as productive!! Haha... hopefully... this was awesome. I LOVE BERLIN!! It's a little wierd with so many people speaking German, i'm not gonna lie. But, it is a really fun city, with SO MUCH HISTORY!! This city has been burned to teh ground like 6 times, captured and recaptured, had multiple rebellions, and since the reunification in the early 1990's, Berlin has been bankrupted 3 times... this city has quite the history!!! I miss you tons, and can't wait to let you know what tomorrow brings.... meanwhile, enjoy my view as I log out tonight....
Love, James