Postcards

lots of people

a man selling bread

tables and chairs

a plastic banner announcing what we were seeing

a restaurant to the left

birds everywhere

a dry, sun beaten ground

This to me was like walking into Greece and feeling the heat of the greek sun and the birds of the sea singing songs you didn't want to end. While in reality it was pigeons I begged to leave and a sun I shied away from when possible. But that image in my mind didn't leave. I saw people protesting in togas and officials looking grim as they stood high on the pillars in my mind. I saw a meticulously dressed queen smile at the bystanders knowing she was the only peace that they would ever truly understand. This is what I saw, when I saw this monument.

Warm sweet smell in the air

crowed with people

mean security guards

benches and trash cans everywhere

much larger then the photo

This, similar to the painting in the Jewish museum is an awe-provoking sight to see. The magnificence of each individually carved body and face is something unlike I have ever come across in real life. You see pictures of statues and painting and are shocked, but until you stand before them in the shadow of their grandness do you ever really get to step inside the mind of the artist that created them. Each muscle is separated perfectly so that you can almost imagine then working together to create movement. Each chisel in the face allows you to see the smile that isn't even there. I sat on the steps for a moment to take it all in and decided that it was impossible to take all in. I choose pieces to never forget and others to admire and move along, there was simply to much perfection and beauty in what my eyes were seeing.

I want to cry

hundreds of languages kiss my ears

lots of people

bright sun

a pretty sadness all around

lots of "false" shrubbery

I stood in this exact spot at the concentration camp and before I even entered my eyes stung with halted tears. All of the languages being spoken but not understood by all must have been similar to the beginning confusion for the people arriving. The jews couldn't speak Hebrew, maybe the polish prisoners didn't speak German, and maybe the other unfortunate people to find themselves in this cemented hell couldn't understand any of it. Big windows in the cream colored cement give it brightness but such a fake happiness did it actually hold for those about to enter into "work."

Cold draft coming from above my head

photo flashes coming from my right side

silent attempts at walking all around

hungry

nervous

I am a Christian, and I am very proud for the beliefs that I hold in my faith. this photo hanging on the wall of the Jewish museum really stuck me and nearly pulled me in with its presence. I am not used to nudity, but the photo is so real, so emotional and truly perfect that I barely notice the lack of clothing. The child's leg seems to connect oddly to the mothers thigh, on purpose? I have no idea. The mother is so consumed in her love of this child that she holds, I wonder about the Father. His back faces us, is he worried, overwhelmed. The Jewish painter of this piece must have had a connection to the birth of "a child" to so fully develop these ideas in a painting.

very warm

thirsty

hundreds of people

cameras going off

loud talking all around

This was one of those moments in time that you literally freeze and stare. I stood staring up at this reflective mound of glass and wondered how this even came to be. How was it built? Why was it built? The questions flooded my mind but I was quickly brought back to reality when the noise of the crowds grew around me because of the central space I was blocking. That moment stuck with me, it made me reflect on my own image, the images around me and the position I was in. I was standing in the government building in Berlin, Germany! I am completely humbled by how fortunate I am to be here.