Yesterday was a the 25. anniversary of the fall of wall.This day left in my mind unforgettable feelings.
In the morning we were looking for different memorable places in Berlin in a small groups.With my group I was at the Checkpoint Charlie and in the German central museum.
I have lots of feelings because of those places and,of course,they are good.
After researching city we met together with others groups and went to cultural events.And it’s also was very interesting and unusual for me
There were a thousands of people,there was a huge crowd,but because of that I got feeling that it’s really a big holiday and day in the history if German.
We have been near the center,when ballons were going in the sky and it was unbelievable to stay there,to be part of history

Today was really full of interesting opinions and different kinds of views.Mostly we were talking about rememberence of the cold war era in our country.In the morning we were divided in small groups to present our „homework“ like pictures,songs and etc.It was very useful and cognitive.Firstly,because we were only 4-6 people in group and everyone was able to speak not being confused of a time,so no one was in a hurry or interrupted.
The second part of day were focused on story-telling cafe,what was a new thing to me.It was strangely sometimes during conversion that everyone was silent,but on the other hand it was good because every member in group had time to think about  topic,which were discussed.

The second full day of the training was story telling day. In AM we showed ant told stories about them which were taken during the cold war era. Afterwards we used a method of biographical work called story telling cafe. It was a bit confusing as we were not able to ask or interrupted. It sometimes showed like we really wanted to argue but protected ourselves from it. Together we made an implication that this method is useful in unofficial education.

B, C: I found it is very important to deconstruct the discourses of both museums and tour guides, because of the different agendas of the hegemonic cultural and political discourse. There are many layers of meaning stashed on top of each other, like many filters superimposed on the original meaning: the official story of the current regime, the agenda of the museum and its goals, the interpretation and subjective outlook of the tourguide and the public’s own subjective reception. As a pedagogical method, I find it very important to have a critical discussion after all ready-made inputs, especially when they come from the ruling  ideology.

The training started. The group seems to be really diverse, which is a promise for the days to come.

We went to the Hohenschonhausen, the former hidden Stasi prison in Berlin. It was kind of a mixed feeling experience, both shocking (realizing again the cruelty of humans against humans) and a bit lacking (since I need the time and solitude to really feel and reflect on what I’m experiencing), but definetelly an overall emotional one.

A very emotionally exhausting first day ended in good exchange of opinions, leaving me looking forward for what’s going to happen next.

I can divide today in two part: theoretical and practical.
1)The first hours of our hours were  about  history of Berlin as a separated city and it was very good to repeat and to get to know more with aspects of life during the cold war period

2)And the second one is practical
It was my first time visiting the prison and ,being surprised by myself,I’m not horrified a lot.This prison seems to me like other ordinar prison without ability to see other world(because of windows).In my mind, we have something like that in Russia nowadays(but with good windows and toilets),but I’m not sure,of course.Despite that I was wondering by „relaxing  room“ and the toilet in the center of cell….It is awful.

All in all I’am very satisfied with my day,because I don’t think that I would be able to get those knowledges and expereince in some other place

So thank you a lot : )