From January to March 2016, we had a project with our Sister Chapter in New Jersey, USA. In order to encourage cultural exchange, we thought that it would be a wonderful idea to send German sweets to our Sister Chapter and to receive American sweets in return. After tasting them, we discovered that there are several differences between the sweets but I think it was an exciting experiment for all of us!
After having such a success in selling our self-made Christmas cards, some of our members met on 23rd March 2016 to purchase the articles that are needed in the refugee camps. We bought drugstore items like diapers and wipes for small children, but also sport items like balls, table tennis bats and skipping ropes. After our shopping tour, we went straight to a refugee camp in the Storkower Street. We hope that we could bring joy to those who are in need with our little contribution.
Inspired by the idea of the PTPI The Dolphins Varna, Berlin Student Chapter also decided to make Christmas cards. Since it is our first Christmas-cards-projects ever, our goal was to achieve approximately 50 Christmas cards which we eventually accomplished. With those cards we intend to do fundraising in order to purchase necessary items for refugees in need in Berlin.
With the help of the former president of the Dolphins, Tanya Ivanova, we organized two sessions in which we first prepared and then decorated the cards. Besides making the cards, we had the chance to meet and to chat about our school life and our plans for Christmas.
Thereupon, we sold the cards at the Christmas concert at school and with the help of PTPI Community Chapter Berlin, we could raise even more money for our project. Astonishingly, we were more successful than we imagined. The next step would be finding out what donated items are actually lacking with the aid the website http://fluechtlingshilfe.berlin and to acquire them. Stay tuned for more!
This gallery contains 13 photos.
Since last year a few of us were able to visit Interlaken in Switzerland we extended an invitation to our new Swiss connection to visit us in Berlin. This July we had the opportunity to welcome five great guys from Switzerland. We prepared some activities and sight seeing tours in Berlin to combine typical tourist attractions and also having spent time together by showing them our neighborhood. For sure we visited the Brandenburger Gate, Potsdamer Platz, the East Side Gallery and much more. But all of us really enjoyed it to have a picnic or relaxing afternoon and talk with each other about everything that comes on our minds. We didn’t really know each other before, nevertheless it was a great atmosphere right from the beginning. That’s why they are not the only one who enjoyed the journey, we are the ones that are proud to get to know those kind, open-hearted and cheerful people and love to call them our Swiss friends.
We asked them to give us a short feedback. There we have two ‘short’ ones 🙂
Seraina
Our four Day trip to Berlin started at Interlaken West in the early morning hours. We drove to Basel and than flew to Berlin. Where our lovely tour guides were waiting for us. They welcoming was very warm and we got on well with them really fast.
A highlight for me was the picknick the park on the first night and the East Side Gallery was very Impressing for me. Not to forget “Schrippen” are awesome.
The trip was perfectly organised and saying goodbye to my new german friends was really hard for me. I hope to see them again ( maybe in Switzerland 😉👍)
Thanks for all your work and patient with the swiss-cheeses 🙈 we had a unbelievable good time with you.
#schrippenforever👏💪
Anna
Day #1: Although it was a hard day because of the long journey soon I felt comfortable due to the pleasant welcome by our hosts (John, Antonia and Ulrike). Highlight no. 1 was the cosy and tasty picnic at the Lustgarten.
Day #2: The personal tour at the German Bundestag (thanks to personal connections by Antonia) was definitely highlight no. 2 for me.
It was exciting, humorous and informative at once. I enjoyed it!
Day #3: It was great to have some free time to spent on personal interests. The Jewish museum – very impressive and touching (highlight no. 3)
Day #4: culinary highlight: strudel with vanilla sauce, huge ice cream bowl (awesome :-)!) and a packed lunch with “Knupserflocken”.
Very delicious!
To sum up: It was a really great journey to Berlin including a warm host (city tours, information about the city and its history, guidance with the public transport, best culinary sustenance etc.) and well-rounded varied program. The were no wishes left. Rating: 10 of 10 points 😉
Antonia Wieschollek
We all know that kind of day when you are just in a bad mood, everything is just exhausting and nothing works how you imagined it. But in those days in particular, tiny things can make you happy again that you usually would not pay any attention to. In order to bring joy to citizens in our city, we created flyers which we stuck on light posts in our whole city. The special thing is that those flyers had small detachable stripes with words like love, patience or happiness.
At first we were unsure wether people would notice the flyers or not. But after seeing the first young girls taking the stripes, men discussing about the posters and people even taking selfies with the flyers, we were so glad and satisfied that it worked out and that we could make some people forget about their stressful day.
Kieu Anh D.
It is not that hard to make an impact. Even if it is not that much – actions speak louder than words and for a smile it is worth it to share in wealth.
We have to see many people homeless in our hometown. We know that we as a part of PTPI can’t help everyone, but we are able to bring joy for a moment to those people of our society.
Therefore, we decided as last year to prepare packet lunch and give them to those in need. From our experience we knew where help is needed and found quickly people on the streets. Each of them was really grateful and gave us a smile.
For our group it was also beneficial as we had the chance to talk with each other and enjoy this activity in our group, thus the sunny weather.
Vice-President, Antonia Wieschollek
On March, 21st we participated in a project which is called “Serve the city”, an organization where volunteers can help other people and just make the world a better place. Through this project we had the opportunity to pass the time playing bingo with old people. I personally enjoyed the day and made a lot of new experiences, I learned for example that every single minute you spend with the old people is worth it and they are more than thankful to you.
Nirvana, member of our chapter
I really enjoy watching theater but I have never made up my mind about using theatric methods in order to deal with social issues. On February 28th , our Berlin Student Chapter met the participants of the Theater Training 2014 who held a workshop about the topic “Racism”. Firstly, we played some games in order to warm up and get to know each other, which were very amusing.
Thereafter, we elaborated the term “racism” and talked about situations in real life, where we were facing this issue. That was especially inspiring since everybody had experienced incidents which gave us a totally new point of view. From the stories we heard, we chose one to reenact and to find ways to deal with racism when it occurs. This part of the workshop was quite exciting as we discovered our subconscious mind and tried to reveal unconscious processes.
In my opinion, this workshop was a great opportunity for us to exchange our experiences and to gain more knowledge about the topic racism which is a contemporary challenge in our society. We had a funny afternoon with much laughter. A special thank you goes to our trainers and Verena, who made this workshop possible
On Saturday, December 21 2014 we held our pre-Christmas celebration. We came together to wrap some presents, which had been donated and bought for 0-18 year-old people, who are currently living in a refugee camp. We also reviewed our trip to Interlaken by looking at pictures that were had taken. Since it was an evening event, we all had dinner together: pasta. We had a great time playing games, eating, and doing good things for people less fortunate than us.
On Monday, December 22, we went to the refugee camp to hand out the presents to children and teenagers who were available at that time. We felt glad to know we were part of giving them a nice time for Christmas.
Lea Dieck, member of our chapter
PTPI Student Chapter Berlin 