The Wall- Berlin

Yesterday after resting for a while, I decided to go for a walk and for some food.  I was famished, so had a nice vegetarian pizza and a very cold drink, of course it was in th eout doors market near Europa centre in middle of Berlin.  Berlin is a huge city, and if you remember it had a wall to separate the east (which was part of the communism country and the west, which was part of the normal country) don't ask me anymore questions, but all I remember is that when the wall was removed there was rejoice in heaven, and everyone was dancing in the streets, as the families were united and people were able to commute easily in the neighborhood.  I visited Berlin twice before and in both times I didn't venture out to have a look at the remains of the wall or the check point Charlie??? that is what it was called before.  This time I decided that I must go and see. 

I started a witch hunt, as no one that I had met knew what the wall means?? I think the Germans need more English to be taught in their classrooms. I had the map which had two circles, one was the the hotel, and the other was the wall, so I showed it to the bus driver, he said he will let me know where to stop and then he asked me to walk in a certain direction.  Very nice place really, I need more time to have a look at the other stuff, one day I shall do that. So I came off the bus, and walked for longer than an hour, asked many people and everyone was telling me something different, until I met this woman who knew that I was an Arab, so she spoke to me in Arabic, bingo.  she said that she was born in Germany but she is of Palestinian origin, and she had seen the wall, she even was in the metro stations which passes in east Berlin at the time, but the train will not stop, according to her it was not nice at all.  She says that Berlin was huge and the wall was removed completely, some people took part of it and made it into art pieces and hung them on the walls of their shops and so on.  According to Salma (my treasure trove guide) she prefers Berlin now, and she loves it, amongst the German cities this is the best place to be in, as it is full of art, culture and fantastic shopping.  I believe her.

I reached the place and here are the pictures:

The last photos is at Check point Charlie, and of course to take a photo of that with the Soldier, you need to pay two euros.

Enjoy the photos. I think the Wall should have stayed as a monument so people will remember why it was built and how the whole world was separated in different parts.  This is happening to us too these days, however, we will over come these acts of separation, and I am working on it.

Art and Architecture Portfolios

I write a lot about Art, because I love it, I want to fill my walls with art pieces, it doesn't matter if it has a value or not, it just needs to be lovely to look at, and makes you go in it, and imagine that you are walking in those roads, or swimming in that water.  OK, I went to far, soon you will think that I am Mary Poppins!

In my job I get many students who want to study Art or Architecture, of course knowing our schools, we hardly teach fine art, especially once the students reach the high school level, that art class is taken over by extra Arabic, or extra math.  I will change that one day, wait and see.  Anyway, I ask the student to show me his or her work, so we prepare a portfolio together. Or just ask the student to bring a portfolio! mentioning the word "portfolio" to the student is enough to give them a heart attack, so I try to use anther word so he or she are not scared and push art out of the window.  That is why whenever I go to a university or a college I take lots of photographs for students' art or architecture portfolios, just to make my students feel easy about the task.  My latest visit to University of Plymouth, I did the same; the students have their own studios, which hosts their art pieces, and the architecture students also have their own walls to display their projects.  I admire their thinking and how they came up with those perspectives! I wish I can do the same, but hold on a second!! I am not an artist, daa.

Have a look at these art peices:

You must notice that art comes in many shapes and forms, you are not restricted with canvas and paint, so remember that.

Have a look at the Architecture projects, notice the perspectives too:

So, my kids, don't restrict your brain, let is guide you to make what your thoughts real, on paper, or on anything else.  Just do it.