Time to say goodbye

One week after our return to Germany, we are still a bit enchanted. It was a great time for us and we really enjoyed every second. We want to thank our pupils as well as the pupils and teachers of Ironi Alef! They all did a great job! We are looking forward to the next exchange!

We want to show “Die Suche” in Overath as soon as possible, but we still need to do the final cut.

Thank you all for following us on this blog.

Martina Kölsch, David Maas and Susanne Teschner

(A video made by the Israeli pupils)

Besondere Momente (heute mal auf Deutsch)

Max: Das Handeln und Feilschen auf dem Basar hat Spaß gemacht, weil ich meine – wie Herr Wesche sagt – besondere kaufmännische Ader ausleben konnte. Ich habe für mich selbst nichts gekauft, war aber gerne der Verhandlungsführer für die anderen. Gekauft wurden: zahlreiche Tücher, Wunderlampen, Gewürze aller Art, Rosenkränze, Kippas, Postkarten, orientalische Haarschleifen, Keramikgeschirr und eine Uhr. Mal sehen, was der Basar uns morgen früh noch so bieten kann.

Colin: Für mich war ein besonderer Moment, als wir aus dem Museum in Yad Vashem herauskamen und auf die Weite der Hügellandschaft um Jerusalem schauten. Die Sonne ging gerade unter, und ich hatte das Gefühl, aus einem düsteren Ort voller erschütternder Eindrücke und Bilder hinauszutreten und nach vorne schauen zu können: Das Leben geht weiter.

Moritz: Heute waren wir auf dem Tempelberg und haben den Felsendom und die AL Aqsa Moschee besichtigt. Wir mussten zwar lange anstehen, aber es hat sich gelohnt, denn die Atmosphäre war atemberaubend. Die goldene Kuppel des Felsendoms glänzte in der Sonne. Ich musste mir ein Tuch umbinden, da meine Shorts zu kurz waren, und deshalb lief ich im Rock über den heiligen Bezirk. Ich finde, es sah ziemlich cool aus.

Felix: Maren und ich wurden heute über den Tisch gezogen, weil wir einen Schal als Geschenk gekauft haben und uns von dem seriösen Erscheinungsbild eines gewieften Händlers haben täuschen lassen. Er hatte uns glaubhaft versichert, der Schal sei von Nonnen gestrickt worden und 80 Prozent des Erlöses ginge wieder zurück ans Kloster. Hinterher entdeckten wir einen identischen Schal in einem anderen Laden und erkannten, dass wir mehr als das Dreifache des Preises gezahlt hatten. Wir fühlten uns ziemlich veräppelt.

Leo und Tim Honscha: Der Aufstieg auf den Ölberg war ganz schön anstrengend. Als wir endlich oben ankamen, erwartete uns eine spektakuläre Aussicht auf das Kidrontal und den Felsendom sowie 1. ein Kamel, 2. ein „Jesustaxi“ (ein Esel) und 3. ein küssender Beduine, der Besitzer des „Jesustaxis“. Nachdem ich, der Samariter Tim, mein buchstäblich letztes Geld dem Beduinen gespendet hatte, erhielt ich einen feuchtfröhlichen, eseligen Kuss des Beduinen auf die Stirn als Segen.

Goodbye Tel Aviv - Hello Jerusalem

After a really emotional goodbye in Tel Aviv we arrived in Jerusalem this afternoon. 

Mr. Wesche welcomed us at the Damaskus Gate and guided us to the Austrian Hospice, our home for the next two days. After he explained us the history of the State of Israel on the roof top of the Hospice, we went on a trip through the old town, with its narrow streets and its bazaar to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the place were the grave of Jesus was supposed to be.

While we were strolling through the the historic streets, with its small shops, shouting merchants and its exotic smells we could hear the muezzins of several mosques calling the muslims for praying. That was really impressive!

After sunset, we went to the Western Wall where the Jews go for praying. All the boys had to put on a kippa and Mr. Wesche explained us the conflict between the Jewish and the Muslims, which becomes visible in this city.

Tomorrow we go to Yad Vashem, the important Holocaust Memorial.  

Shabbat Shalom!

It´s late Friday afternoon, slowly it´s getting dark and the busy, noisy city of Tel Aviv is preparing for Shabbat. The buses stop going, mostly all of the shops and many restaurants are closing and at home the Halah bread lies on the kitchen table…

In the morning, our pupils still rushed through the streets: “Schnitzeljagd” – the Israelis liked this word a lot and started laughing, when they heard it, thinking of a hunt for a huge “Schnitzel”. On their photo rally the pupils went to several interesting spots in Tel Aviv: They started at the Independence Hall, went to the Cinema Hotel at Dizengoff Square (a beautiful Bauhaus building, in former times a cinema), they saw the place where Yitzhak Rabin was shot in 1995, strolled over the Carmel Market and ended the tour at the small photo shop of Ben Weissenstein and his grandmother. Her husband, Rudi Weissenstein, took the famous picture of David Ben-Gurion declaring the Independence of Israel in 1948. The story of Ben, his grandma and their old, wonderful shop is told in the documentary “Life in stills” by Tamar Tal. We watched that film all together in Overath, preparing our own documentary. 

This is us at Pri-Or Photo House

And last but not least each group produced a small photo story, in which the pupils had to add three very typical things here in Tel Aviv: the Rothshild Boulevard, a café and a cat. So today, the winning team proudly presents its photo story on our blog:

"Die Suche" - "החיפוש"

Yesterday, we had the presentation of our documentary „Die Suche“ (The Search) combined with some live music acts on stage. It was a wonderful show and great fun! A lot of people saw it so the auditorium of Ironi Alef was quite full. After the official programme all students of the exchange went on stage, together with the teachers, and sang “99 Luftballons” by NENA while throwing 99 balloons into the audience.

It was a special and unique atmosphere and definitely one of those moments you will never forget! Pictures can't express our emotions and feelings of that evening and therefore we don't want to publish any photos on this blog. But don't be disappointed, we plan to show “Die Suche” in Overath soon.

It's showtime!!!

Today we had our final rehearsal. In a few hours the show will begin and we are all very excited! Even Mr. Wesche, the headmaster of our school, will be here to see our performance!

Here are some pictures of the musicians during the rehearsal.

And here is another short clip, which gives you an insight into the music acts of our rehearsal today! Enjoy it!