My Studies - what Aaron 'does'...

'We all live in a BIG BLUE BOX! A BIG BLUE BOX! A BIG BLUE BOX!' (That is of course sung to the tune 'Yellow Submarine' ;)

This post is for those of you who are curious about what I actually do with my time. I spend part of my time (usually Tues, Wed, Thurs afternoons) here at the archives for the 'State' of Brandenburg (the state that surrounds Berlin) in Potsdam. Here is the Big Blue Box in the sun....

And then overcast.....

I've been studying here since about Feb/Mar 2008. I come here and ask to read East German government documents from the 1940's and 1950's about my post-WWII ethnic German refugees that I research...

And then I spend another part of my time doing interviews with the ethnic German refugees themselves.

Here are some of them! Most of this group were born in Bessarabia (today's Romania and Ukraine). Their ancestors were 'invited' by Tsar Alexander to settle there and they stayed in the area until Hitler 'called them home' to Germany in 1940. Their parents were given Polish farms where the Nazis had kicked out the Polish residents. They lived there for 4 years until the Soviets arrived - fled from them and ended up in East Germany and then continued to have quite a life. I tell ya, life is so strange and amazing and it's SO interesting to hear these people's stories! I really like 'my' refugees - they are very kind and very good people.

The rest of my study time is devoted to reading books, arranging interviews/making contacts, transcribing interviews, working on my notes and other things that help the research move along....

So there you go everybody - that is what I do! And now you know...

Hollandischer Viertel - A GAIN!

I know I've already covered the 'Dutch Quarter' in Potsdam on my blog, but here it is a-gain.

Instead of waiting at the train station for my bus to the archives (it only comes once every HOUR! Grr...) where I study, I decided I'd go grab a tram and hang out in other parts of Potsdam and then just grab my bus in the town itself.

This is the Dutch Quarter. Houses built for Dutch workers in the 1700's. I just like it - it's nice...





From the other end of the street....











My new friend! La Maison du Chocolat (come to think of it, what are the French doing in the Dutch Quarter?! ;) I heard about their hot chocolate and how it was 'more or less a melted bar of chocolate', so I had to try. I have to admit the first 2-3 gulps I wasn't sure I could take it - too strong! (For any of you who know my 'fondness', i.e. outright addiction, for chocolate, then you'd know that's saying a lot! ;)

But after 3-4 swigs I was 'getting into' the flavor and the intensity....

A few days later when I was waiting for my bus again, I went to La Maison du Chocolat and tried a piece of their 'Truffle Cake' - mmm.....I like my 'new friend'....




Say 'goodbye' to the Dutch Quarter everyone!