I woke up this morning to the reminder that it has been 20 years since the Berlin Wall came down. It's a bit disturbing now to admit that I can remember things that happened twenty years ago. (I now officially feel OLD!)
Granted, twenty years ago I didn't really understand what was going on. My German teacher was reading us a story about a boy who woke up one morning and the wall had been erected in the night. He was caught on the other side of the wall from his family. That's the only part of the story that I remember.
The fall of the wall was all over the news. People were set up outside the BX (base exchange, for all you non-military types) selling T-shirts and pieces of the wall. Tiny little Trabi cars full of people appeared all over West Germany. I knew that this was a Big Deal, but I didn't know why. Suddenly, we went from living in West Germany to living in Germany. That was my childhood.
Twenty years. A lifetime ago.
4 comments:
don't forget david hasselhof. whose mind wasn't seared by that glowing electric bulb jacket he wore?
You were there!?! Amazing. I hope you bought a piece of the wall...
A jelly doguhnut?
Steph--Haha. I remember talking to my German neighbors (teenagers) and the only two American stars they knew were David Hasselfhof and Michael Jackson. :)
Jen--A friend of mine gave me a piece of the wall and I had it through high school and college. Then I lent it to someone for a presentation and forgot about it. Now I don't remember who. :(
Mom--Kennedy said, "Ich bin ein Berliner." You know the famous quote. He was trying to say that he was with them and one of them, but didn't know that Berliner is acutally a type of jelly doughnut. I'm sure that his listeners understood his intent, but it was still a famous gaffe. Love you.
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