Ukraine AufrufSummer camp for Children 2017
Report of the first week
Sunday, 02/07/17:
We finally arrived in Hamburg on Sunday at 21:30 pm at the airport. Over there, Isabelle, who accompanies us for the entire stay in Germany, and the bus driver picked us up. After arriving at the hostel called Jugendherberge Bad Oldesloe we were warmly welcomed with pizza and some lovely words by Jule, one of the board members of aubiko e. V. Even though we have already tried a lot of food at the airport in Frankfurt, we were really hungry and thankful for the late night dinner. Afterwards we went to our rooms and finally get some rest and planned to unpack our suitcases the next day, due to our long and exciting journey.
Monday, 03/07.2017:
The following day started with gorgeous weather and our first German breakfast. We have never seen so many different kinds of bread and we only dared to taste the white one, which contains a lot of wheat. While Jule introduced the German culture and important values, we had the opportunity to learn more about the bread. Furthermore, we got an insight into the rules and venues of the Jugendherberge Bad Oldesloe. The first impression was amazing, because the hostel is located close to a beautiful river surrounded by a stunning green environment. Our first question to Jule and Isabelle was whether there are crocodiles living in the river, because the river looked so wild and attractive for animals. After visiting all the facilities of the hostel, we started our first lesson of German with our teacher called Gosia. Everybody presented their name, their family and their hobbies in German in order to get to know each other and to classify our German level. Gosia took a lot of time for every single one, so we had a smooth start and could get used to talking in German during our lessons. Then we had our first German lunch, which was pasta with different kinds of sauces. We enjoyed it a lot! With great energy, we started our first trip and walked to the station of Bad Oldesloe to go to the central station of Hamburg. Then we took the metro called S-Bahn for one station to the Jungfernstieg. It has been an eagerly awaited wish of us to go by a German train and so we took a lot of photos and enjoyed the journey. There Rike, who is the other board member of aubiko e.V. and organized the entire program, awaited us and showed us the amazing and shiny river of Hamburg called Alster with a fountain in the middle and the town hall, as well. Sometimes she tested our knowledge about Hamburg, which was really fun and varied. After the brief guided tour, we had one hour in the city Centre of Hamburg and the central station was defined as the meeting point. It was an incredible feeling to move freely in such a big city in Germany and to buy the first German memories, ice cream and Haribos, which are the most famous jelly bears made in Germany. Then we returned to our hostel by train and had dinner. It was unusual for us, that the meal was mostly composed of bread again. In the first evening, we did not do too much, because we were so tired and took only a little look around to the wonderful places of the hostel.
Tuesday, 04/07/2017:
During breakfast, some of us tasted another kind of bread than white bread, but it was not easy to get used to. On this day, the lessons in the morning by Gosia was a preparation for the afternoon program, which was a visit of the fascinating musical the lion king located opposite the Landungsbrücken. We studied the history and protagonists of the story to follow the plot easier. We arrived at the sunny Landungsbrücken by taking the metro and the S-Bahn. From the Landungsbrücken we have already seen the venue of the musical with a big yellow lion head in the middle. The view was spectacular and we took so many photos of the port and the lion king.
Wednesday, 05/07/2017:
The task in the morning class was to express our feelings in German. For instance, we talked to Gosia about our feelings we had during the musical the lion king. All answers were very positive because it was incredible, funny and a big adventure in another world. The protagonists sang some songs we have known from Colombia and so it was possible to understand many parts of the musical. Then we ate a typical German lunch (mashed potatoes, carrots mixed with peas, meatballs and for the dessert red fruit jelly with vanilla sauce) at the hostel. Most of us especially liked the potatoes and the meatballs because the carrots mixed with peas were served without sauce. After lunch, we went to the Landungsbrücken with Isabelle again in order to visit the Elbtunnel, which connects the districts Landungsbrücken and St. Pauli with the Elb-island Steinwerder. There we met Annika. She works for Aubiko and we walked through the tunnel with her. The feeling while walking under water was strange on the one hand and on the other hand extremely exciting, as well. At the other side of the Elbe, Annika gave us some facts about the tunnel and lead us to a viewing point. There we took some pictures, ate ice cream and observed the people walking at the Landungsbrücken. After our train arrived in Bad Oldesloe, we went for a walk through the centres of our temporary home Bad Oldesloe, bought some necessary things like shampoo on the way and spent the rest of the day at the facilities surrounding the hostel. We played football and other games since at least half of us skyped with their family. It was exciting to see our family and we felt calmed after the conversation and were satisfied seeing and talking to them.
Thursday, 06/07/2017:
It was a special day because we did not attend German lessons at the hostel with Gosia because we visited a German school called Marion Dönhoff Gymnasium, which is situated in a district called Blankenese. We met a friendly teacher from the school accompanied by six of her students at the S- Bahn station and they gave us an insight into the most beautiful places of Blankenese. The German students have taken Spanish lessons at their school and so they prepared the city tour in Spanish. Afterwards we presented some facts in German about the Colombian culture, the values and the nature. It was a great exchange, because it was a challenge for both sides and in the end, we learned a lot and recognized that there always is a way to communicate. After the guided tour, we visited the school and were divided into three classes. In class we got to know the other students and the school, too. We noticed that the serried building and the clothes of the students were the biggest differences compared to our school. The procedure in class still was the same and we felt very integrated and welcome and planned to stay in contact in the future. After the the school bell rang, we relaxed in the school garden and ate the lunch, that we prepared in the morning during breakfast. The lunch for excursions always consists of bread, an apple, a bar of chocolate and a drink. In addition, Isabelle bought us some sweet cinnamon rolls, which are really famous for Hamburg and so delicious. We arrived in Bad Oldesloe three hours before the beginning of the dinner. From the station we went towards the city Centre and arranged a meeting point implying the possibility to go back to the hostel or to stay at the city Centre. Therfore, we all could do what we liked to do and additionally we learned to organize our time and to orient by ourselves.
Friday, 07/07/17:
The issue of the German lesson was to write a short profile about us for the German students. We would like to receive more information about the students and to stay in contact. Then we listened to the song of Hamburg, which is called Hamburg meine Perle. It was funny and great to perform a German song, too. In the evening, we travelled towards the north of Hamburg for the first time in order to visit the famous bat cave of Bad Segeberg. While the sun was shining, we had to climb a little mountain because the cave is located on a mountain called Kalkberg. A very friendly and enthusiastic man guided us through the cave and told us interesting facts regarding the life of the bats. The air was very cold, but revitalizing and a nice difference in temperature, too. During the guided tour we all were extremely attentive and observed that we understood a lot of the speech. Our supervisors were proud about the progress in German.
Saturday, 08/07/17:
During the weekends, there are no classes in the morning, but we woke up very early at 7 pm because we had to have breakfast, prepare our meal for the evening and take the train to Lübeck. When we arrived, Christian from aubiko picked us up at the metro station. He surprised us with a rally through Lübeck. The challenge was to follow the maps of Lübeck fast and to fill up the worksheet, which we received by Christian. Christian would explain the history behind them, if we found the sights. On this day, we were very lucky with the weather once again, because the sun was shining all day and we could experience the brilliance of the Holsten Gate of Lübeck and other places. The tour was finished at the Lübecker hospital which looks like a church. After completing the mission, we had time to go the most famous shop of Lübeck, where the Niederecker marzipan is sold. In the evening at the hostel we expected a second surprise: Isabelle gave a party in a room of the hostel. It was so much fun and we all enjoyed singing, dancing and trying new food and drinks. We all liked the German sparkling wine for children with different flavours called “Rubby Bubble”, and chips in the form of a bear, which are called “Pombären”. It was a great ending of our first week in Germany filled with so many impressions, experiences, fun, challenges, solutions, sun and smiles.
Report of the second week
Sunday, 09/07/2017:
On Sunday, the sun softly woke us up. The nice weather was just right for our day at the beach of Travemünde at the Baltic Sea. We grabbed our beach bags, sunglasses and water pistols and made our way to the train to Lübeck. When we arrived at the station in Travemünde, we just had to walk around the corner to already catch a glimpse of the sparkling water. The way along the beach promenade passed quickly without noticing because we could not wait to jump into the sea. As soon as we arrived at the beach, we started to undress and the bravest amongst us ran into the cold water. The day before, we bought water pistols in Lübeck so we could start a water battle. Furthermore, we buried ourselves in the sand, played football and simply enjoyed the beautiful day in the sun. When we returned to the hostel, everyone was very tired from playing in the sun. That is why we finished the day reading or playing chess.
Monday, 10/07/2017:
On Monday Morning, we talked about the weather in Germany during summer. Our first word that we learned was “wechselhaft” that implies that the weather is ever changing. When we went to the Miniaturwunderland in the afternoon, we could easily notice the meaning of the word; while yesterday it was warm and the sun was shining, today the sky was grey and it was rainy. When we arrived in the Minaturwunderland, we were enthusiastic from the first second. We could see different countries and cities in miniature, which was extremely impressive. During our talk in the evening, we noticed that each one of us could remember different details of the shown miniature places.
Tuesday, 11/07/2017:
On this day the class of the morning was postponed to the afternoon because we went canoeing just next to our hostel. We were lucky, it stopped raining for a while, and after a short briefing, we could start. Our supervisors and us distributed over four canoes. All of us had a lot of fun and nobody of us sank even though it was our first time on the water. Overall, it was a great experience for the group and we were singing and cheering the whole time. After lunch – we had chicken, vegetables and potato croquettes – we had our German lesson and sang the song “Hamburg meine Perle” again. Another aspect was to learn how to do route descriptions. Afterwards we got to know more about our temporary home Bad Oldesloe. All of us tried to be extremely attentive since it is very important to us to know Bad Oldesloe and to be able to ask for the way. Then we had dinner and skyped with our parents. We told them about our latest experiences. It was a pleasant and relaxing close of the evening.
Wednesday, 12/07/2017:
In our German lesson, we talked about “German forests and animals” because in the afternoon we did a tour through the forest near our hostel. Then we had mashed potatoes, meatballs and salad for lunch before the tour started together with Katalin from aubiko. Unfortunately, the weather was still “wechselhaft” and we had to bring raincoats. However, we were able to shoot some funny pictures because of that. Katalin guided us through the forest and we enjoyed crossing the footbridge in the moor and to finally see all the plants, animals and trees in reality. On the way back home, we walked alone in order to revise our newly learned vocabulary regarding route descriptions. All of us found the way to the hostel without any problems and our supervisors were extremely proud. After the long walk, we were hungry and were surprised by our favourite meal: potato gratin. Afterwards some of us skyped and we got back our freshly washed laundry. Then we talked about the day and other things that were on our minds.
Thursday, 13/07/2017:
In our German lesson Gosia gave us an introduction into the German romantic concept of native Americans and Cowboys. This was interesting and some kind of variety compared to the topics we discussed in our previous lessons. After a delicious lunch, we went to see the Karl May festival. Our eyes were sparkling throughout the show and could not hide our excitement. The new vocabulary and knowledge from our class was extremely helpful and once again, we gained new experiences and memories, which we will never forget.
Friday, 14/07/2017:
In the morning, we prepared our quiz for the “Hafencity” in Hamburg. Furthermore, we already learned a lot about the Elbphilharmonie. It is the new symbol for Hamburg and was quite expensive to build. At our previous excursions we have already seen the “Elphi” several times and there are a lot of pictures of it on our cameras.
In the afternoon, we took the train to the city centre and the harbour. Finally we had the chance to go to the architectural masterpiece from a closer distance. Rike showed us everything and we were very impressed by its beauty. We were fascinated and happy to get to know more about it.
We showed interest during the presentation of Rike about the flood control measures as well. In the history of Hamburg, the city has been covered by the flood many times. Consequently, we were very impressed to hear what the city is doing in order to protect the city. The stories made us make up stories in our heads and so we imagined how giant waves cover the city without destroying anything. Some of us even made plans to return to Hamburg and study at the University to learn more about the little miracle.
Saturday, 15/07/2017:
During our time in Hamburg, we never got bored. This Saturday was also packed with plans. We made our way to the not far away and beautiful city Lüneburg. After a short ride, we arrived in the hanseatic city. This time, Katalin from aubiko accompanied us once again and prepared something for us. With the help of a little quiz, we explored the city by ourselves and could test our German skills at the same time. We took any pictures and could see a major difference between German and Columbian citys and their buildings. Back in the hostel, we had dinner and started packing our bags for the trip to the North Sea, which was planned for the following two days.
Sunday, 16/07/2017:
After breakfast in Bad Oldesloe, Bert and Annika came to pick us up and go to the “Nordstand” by bus. We were looking forward to seeing the sea again and the predicted rain could not stop us from being excited. In the bus, the time went by very quickly because we kept singing our favourite songs. As soon as we left the bus, the rain stopped and the guide was already waiting for us. After some minutes, we found ourselves barefoot in the tidelands. We could only hardly believe that in some ours this mud would be flooded by water. The mud became deeper and we started getting to know a lot of animals, sea shells and other inhabitants of the tidelands. It was interesting and the guide could answer all of our questions. We took a lot of photos and were quite relieved when we entered the bus, since the North Sea is extremely stormy. The bus driver took us directly to the hostel. Before we went to our rooms, Bert gave us a short recap about the tidelands. Afterwards we went downtown to eat some tasty fries at the harbour of Husum. Since the rains stopped for good, we could spend the evening at the playground of the hostel.
Monday, 17/07/2017:
The next day in Husum started with sunshine and blue sky. After breakfast, we went to the city centre again. Before we left, Bert and Annika explained a little quiz to us. Our task was to ask the inhabitants of Husum about typical fact about their city. Thus, we could practice our language skills and got to know a lot about the pretty city at the North Sea. Afterwards, we had three hours of free time. We spent it with shopping, relaxing and eating ice cream. In the afternoon, we took the fast white train, the IC, back to Hamburg. Isabelle was already waiting for us at the station and since we missed her a lot, we had to cuddle her first before we went back to Bas Oldesloe.
Report of the third week
Tuesday, 18/07/2017:
On this Tuesday, we had an early and sunny start in the day because we did some exercises in the morning. When we were woken up at 5:45 we were still half-asleep but when we started running we were broad awake. German, our sports teacher in Colombia, lead our group and during our run, we did some additional activities. After our sports session, we went to take a shower and had a well-deserved breakfast. Afterwards, we had our German lesson and we talked about German food, especially vegetables. We even had a surprising guest at the end of our class. A journalist was there, asked us about our stay in Bad Oldesloe, and took pictures. This was extremely exciting! After lunch, we went to the Zoo Tierpark Hagenbeck. We were extraordinarily excited because we were just about to see a polar bear for the first time in our lives. Moreover, we were impressed to see the beautiful lion at the end of our visit. When we got back to the hostel, we skyped with our parents. Once again, we had a lot of stories to tell.
Wednesday, 19/07/2017:
On this day, it was the warmest day of our stay so far. In the morning, another journalist of an even bigger newspaper came to see us. We really enjoyed it and our teachers told us that we behaved really well and agreed that the article will be super nice. In the afternoon, we visited the St. Michaelis Church in Hamburg, which is one of the symbols of the city. Afterwards we went up on the tower of the building and we had an amazing view over Hamburg. Then we went to the Mönckebergstraße together and ate ice cream. In the evening, some of us skyped and some of us played with Isabelle.
Thursday, 20/07/2017:
In the morning, we had the chance to be part of the parade of the students before the summer holidays. We were very happy and thankful that we could see all the students and their colourful costumes. In our daily German class, we learned the words for the different body parts. Once again, we noticed that our communication with Gosia improves day by day. She is a great teacher for us! After lunch, we went to the Millerntor Stadium. The famous and traditional football club FC St. Pauli has their practice and matches there. Back in Bad Oldesloe, we ate the first Kebab of our lives. It is a Turkish speciality and consists of pita bread filled with vegetables, meat and a delicious sauce. Even though it is from Turkey, it has become one of the favourite snacks of the Germans and we could totally understand why – it is super tasty!
Friday, 21/07/2017:
After our class, we went to Hamburg in order to visit the International Maritime Museum. Katalin picked us up at the station and took us to the Hafen City. We had enough time to look at the nine floors of the museum. We were able to learn a lot about the history of seafaring, marine research, compasses, navigation, uniforms, ships, and we could even see a passenger ship from the inside. Afterwards, we had so free time and walked around in the Hafen City. We ate Crêpes that we bought at a festival that took place during that time. Then we went back to Bad Odesloe. When we arrived there, Bert was waiting for us and we had a BBQ together. We love sausages and potato salad!
Saturday, 22/07/2017:
On this day, we had our last breakfast in the hostel in Bad Oldesloe because we went to Berlin by bus in the morning. Everybody was excited to see the capital of Germany. The ride took four hours and passed extremely fast because we played many games. We started a singing contest and the boys won. After our arrival, we were extremely hungry and we were welcomed in the hostel with spaghetti and ice cream. Our hostel was situated right in the centre of Berlin and we could observe a colourful and happy parade from our temporary home. In the afternoon, we went to our rooms and unpacked some of our things for the following days. Later, we did a nice evening walk across the Kurfürstendamm to the Gedächtniskirche before we went to bed very tired but very happy.
Sunday, 23/07/2017:
After our first night in Berlin, we were woken up by the sunlight. After our breakfast, we went to the Berlin Wall. It was very colourful and we could see many graffiti and paintings on it. For lunch, we had potatoes with curd. We ate this meal for the first time. In the afternoon, we went to the Brandenburger Tor. Bert told us many new and interesting facts and we could learn a lot. The highlight of the day was a boats tour on the River Spree and our favourite German meal: Currywurst and French fries.
Report of the fourth week
Monday, 24/07/2017:
On this Monday, it was the Birthday of Isabelle and we surprised her with a breakfast and a birthday serenade. In our first class in Berlin, we were asked what we already know about the city. Afterwards, Gosia gave us more information about Berlin in general and the different parts of the city as well as the sightseeing sites. We spent the afternoon at the Alexanderplatz. After we took some pictures, we had more than four hours to explore the area by ourselves. We went shopping and ate ice cream and were extremely proud that we were so independent. In the evening, we surprised Isabelle with a self-made Donut cake and postcards. It was a very nice and cosy end of the day.
Tuesday, 25/07/2017:
On this day, we had many plans. In the morning, we did not have our German class because we had an appointment at the Reichstag. It was very impressive and we went to the glazed dome of the building as well. Afterwards, we went to the Jewish monument and Bert explained to us the sad background of it. After lunch in the hostel, we went to the Naturkunde museum. We visited the scientific expositions and learned a lot. Then we went to the Gedächtniskirche again because we wanted to light a candle. In the evening, we had a German meal with bread and different toppings.
Wednesday, 26/07/2017:
After an adventurous Tuesday, our Wednesday started with a German lesson. In the afternoon, we could choose whether we would like to stay in the hostel in order to revise German or if we would like to go to the Alexanderplatz with Isabelle to buy some gifts. In the second unit of our German lesson, we learned different activities in German and represented them in mime in order to remember them easier. In the evening, we skyped and revised the words and contents for the test. We noticed that we know many words and just have some difficulties for rather complicated words such as “Johannisbeere”, which means currant. Overall, our lexicon has improved especially in the fields of food, body parts and general questions.
Thursday, 27/07/2017:
The week was almost over, which means that it was the second last German lesson with Gosia. We got the results for our examination and we were extremely happy and relieved that all of us passed. Together with Gosia, we prepared our trip to Potsdam and collected our knowledge regarding the history of Potsdam. We talked about the castles that looked even more beautiful in reality. We were very impressed by the “Neues Palais” of Frederick II that we discover with the support of Audio-guides. It has giant rooms with beautiful walls, decorated with shells and silk and we almost felt like we took a time machine to the baroque period. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos in the castle but we took some from the outside and bought souvenirs in the castle shop. Then we went further to the famous castle “Sanssouci”. Bert told us a lot about it and we were fascinated by the fountains. Afterwards we went to the old town of Potsdam and had a great time walking through the tiny and adorable streets while eating ice cream. It was a beautiful day but we were so sad when we had to say goodbye to Isabelle. We had a great time with her and will miss her a lot. Thus, we were happy that Katalin would join us for the rest of our stay.
Friday, 28/07/2017:
Unbelievable, how fast the time went by in Germany! This Friday was our last day here and in our last German lesson we learned a very funny tongue twister. After lunch, baked fish with French fries, we packed our bags and prepared a snack pack. Then we finally got our certificates for our examination and were really proud. German, Gosia and Roci got a little present from aubiko as well. Of course, we took some pictures to remember this moment forever. After our little ceremony, we played some games with Katalin. For instance, we had to cover each other in toilet paper so that some of us looked like a mummy. It was not that easy but we had so much fun! Afterwards, we played balloon dance and musical chairs. We heard Columbian music and showed Katalin how to dance salsa. Then we had a delicious BBQ on the rooftop of the hostel before it was time to say goodbye. We were sad that our time in Germany was already over. On the other hand, we were happy and looking forward to seeing our families again.
Saturday, 29/07/2017:
Today was the day of our departure. We stood up very early at 3 o’ clock and took the bus to the airport in Hamburg. On the bus ride, some of us were sleeping and when we arrived we had to say goodbye for good. We said goodbye to Gosia and Katalin and looked back on a nice programme with aubiko. We are so happy that we were able to get to know a part of Germany and we hope that we will return in the future.
