I apologize for the delay in postings. We have been incredibly busy! This entire weekend, from Thursday of last week through today, we have been working with Polish students and German students on audio-walking tour projects of various touristic locations around Potsdam. We were given the recording equipment and it was our duty to record various sounds of that area, write and record a script describing the history and importance of the area, put everything into garage band and create the tour in English, German, and Polish.
The group that I was fortunate enough to be a part of made an audio tour for the Alte Bahnhof at Pirschheide Station. Here is the script for our project attributed to writer Mylii Pukeman:
From the platform of the Pirschheide Rail Station, the solemn stillness provides a setting ideal for contemplation. An old, rusted can of spray paint lies forgotten at the bottom of a stairway that leads no where. Stripped bare of life and animation, the station sits peacefully, with boarded up windows and empty tunnels. A letter missing from the sign on the main building signifies the beginning of an erosion process. On every surface area, rainbows of Graffitti illustrate how this station, once a structure of function, will slowly deteriorate and fade into history. In the distance, an ederly woman sits quietly on a bench with her hands folded in her lap. It is clear this location holds a certain significance for her. Every stairway is walled shut, and now serves as a reminder of a time marked by division.
In 1958, the station opened as the southern Potsdam rail station. With the division of east and west Berlin, it became the most important station in the outer Berlin area. When the wall was constructed in 1961, the intercity subway and street rail-lines were severed. East Germans were not permitted to travel to west Berlin. In this railstation, the solution to the problem of having to navigate around west Berlin was to seal off access to those rail lines. In order to get into east Berlin, the workers from the Potsdam area could only travel around the outside of the city. Travel was restricted in this way for many years. After the wall fell in 1989, east and west Germany began a process of reunification. The opening of long-standing borders made the need for such circuitous routes unnecessary. Over the following decade the Pirschheide station became increasingly obsolete. Though the rail line is still in use, the station closed permanently in 1999.
Now one of only a few remnants of a past era, the station functions merely as a symbol. The walled in stairwells once served a purpose of seperation - an impenetrable division of people from one another. To visit the station today is to get a sense for that division. Those same stairwells now represent not only the wall that once existed between east and west, but also the wall that exists today between the past and the present. Locations like the Pirschheide Rail Station belong to those on both sides, who in their quest for understanding wish to break through.
I did the English recording of the tour and also sang the Schubert "Ave Maria" that floats lightly in the background throughout the recording. When it is released to us, I will be sure to send it out!
Today is the last day that we will work with the Polish and German students. It has been such an interesting experience. The common language we share with both the Polish and German students is prolifically German. Many of both sets of students speak some English though and there are a handful that are learning English for their college degree. At first, we all were incredibly frustrated and angry with our leaders who had given us tasks, such as cooking for the entire 42 person group, and completing this audio project, without seemingly any direction or organization. Going to the store in our 7 person groups of Polish, German, and English students and attempting to buy groceries and then attempting to cook for everyone-we found ourselves speaking broken English and German to get things done. It was altogether a wonderful experience.
Today's agenda consists of finishing up work with the audio tour and a final barbeque and then returning to the house and catching up on work before our busy next two weekends. Have a beautiful day and more information to come!
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