Our extremely exciting and long-awaited trip to Germany has finally begun!! Today at 5pm all members of our team met at the Cape Town International Airport to prepare for our departure from South Africa. For many of the members of the team this will be their first trip outside of Cape Town, not to mention their first trip out of the country. The excitement was evident as the boys and girls said by to the congregation of family members and friends that had gathered at the airport to wish the team good luck and safe travels. After safely and successfully shuttling everyone through the security check point the team is ready for their plane ride and the beginning of what promises to be an unforgettable adventure. 
 
All the anticipation and preparations have finally come to an end and the journey has begun!! 

After a long but exciting 24 hour journey from Cape Town via Johannesburg and Amsterdam, we have finally landed at our final destination: Berlin! All of us arrived safely, besides one bag that got lost along the way, but will follow with the next flight from Johannesburg today. After a short introduction session last night where we met all the other teams from Israel/Palestine, Bosnia/Herzegovina, India and Brasil we enjoyed our first German dinner at "Hofperle" in Berlin. The last delegation, our fellow Africans from Cameroon, will only join us today, as they were delayed due to visa issues.

On the schedule for today: Integration activities with the whole group and a visit to the German Federal Foreign Office, who funds the International PASCH Festival in Berlin. More information on our first exciting day in Germany will follow shortly! Berlin here we are :)

After our first night in Germany, which was very peaceful, we went to the field for some integration workshops, which was aimed at getting to know each other. Then in the afternoon we met with the Cameroonian team, which arrived a day later then all the other teams and went to a reception at the  German Federal Foreign Office. They gave us a warm welcome. At dinner time all the countries did their cultural performances and it was awesome! We sang the South African National anthem, performed the Tswarelo dance, the gumboot dance, the Kilo and sang the Shosholoza song to close the performance.

Today we went to Berlin’s former airport Tegelhof to do some workshops on Fair Play, preparing ourselves for the Fair Play Football tournament tomorrow. We met some youth from Berlin. We really enjoyed mingling with some of the locals. Not forgetting the bag that was lost, we finally found it!! After dinner we are going to an arts & culture festival, which is around the corner from our Hostel in Berlin Kreuzberg. Please also check out our first photo album on our Germany Trip on the AMANDLA EduFootball Facebook page: AMANDLA EduFootball...

What an awesome day! Today we were at the fair play tournament playing games with the multi-cultural teams. We played as fair as possible although my team drew most of the games. It was tough but the main aim was to have fun and play fair which we did. At the end there were NO losers, we were all winners and received the most important prizes which are the photos of the teams that we were playing with... some good memories. I'm very greatful to the German Federal Foreign Office, streetfootballworld and Play-ya for putting up this day for us. BIG-UP!

This morning we took a boat ride along the river Spree which flows through Berlin. From the boat we were able to see all kinds of different sights, some of the buildings that we would see again later on during the day. After the boat ride we walked along the Spree to the ‘Reichstag’, the building that houses the German parliament. Our guide gave us a tour through this historical building and taught us about German history, such as the Holocaust. In the parliament building we saw different places such as Angela Merkel’s office (as the chancellor the head of state in Germany) and the writings from Soviet soldiers along the old walls of the buildings from when they conquered the building during the Second World War. One of the soldiers left a love message for his wife and wrote ‘My dreams have come true’ as he knew from this moment that he was going to return home.

In the afternoon we finally started our long anticipated way to the Olympia stadium where we watched the opening match of the Woman’s FIFA World Cup, Germany against Canada. That was great! We were dancing throughout the whole match and took lots of pictures. Germany won the match 2-1. After the match we all took pictures with the German players and also got some autographs mainly from the player with the number 11 Alexandra Popp. In total 73.636 people attended the opening match at the stadium – what an experience to celebrate with so many people at the same time.

Our journey to Berlin has been very beautiful from the day we arrived until today. On Monday, 27 June we got up pretty early as usual to have our breakfast at 7am before leaving the youth hostel for some sightseeing. The morning was dedicated to explore the city of Berlin by foot and to learn about its history. Our tour guide took us to places such as the famous Brandenburg Gate (Brandenburger Tor), a Jewish Memorial site, and the French church. It was also very exciting to see parts of the Berlin Wall that once separated East and West Germany. And most importantly, throughout the tour our guide gave us an introduction into German history, explaining extensively about the Second World War and the rule of Nazi Germany, as well as the separation of the country after the Second World War and lastly the reunification of Germany on 3 October 1990.

After lunch we had some free time, which some of the South Africans and Cameroonians decided to spend in the zoo. Most of us found the Orang-Utans most exciting, as they were very playful and funny.

Today in the morning we went to a Museum called ‘The History of Berlin’ to learn more about Germany in general but more specific about Berlin’s history. We started our tour with a visit to the atomic underground bunker, which can still be used today in case of an atomic threat. It can accommodate more than 4000 people in a really small space. Our tour guide showed us the whole bunker, including the kitchen, the water filters, the bunk beds, the room for the sick people and the bathrooms. Each gender had two bathrooms in the bunker, which at least 800 people per day had to use. After our tour through the bunker we went inside the museum to see the pictures and the written information.

After having lunch we went to the Hasenheide park to play some football and relax in the sun. We played the Brazilian and the Bosnian/Serbian team. We won one game and lost the other, but it was really fun.  In the late afternoon we came back to the hostel and decided to stay in for the rest of the evening. Here we played board games against people from Germany, Brazil and Bosnia/Serbia, played table football and Nosipho spent the evening freeing William from his hairstyle. He now wears a big Afro. Tomorrow is another interesting day, I can't wait !!!!! *excited*

Last day in Berlin!!! What an awesome day we had today. Right after breakfast we set off to a beach park, a beach the 'German way'. It nearly includes all the things a South African beach has to offer, just one small little thing was missing: the ocean... All in all we enjoyed ourselves with volleyball, beach football and a high ropes course which lead us more than 10 meters high and we had to overcome different obstacles. I had never done anything like that before and even though I was pretty scared I gave it a try. Afterwards we tried some German 'Currywurst' for lunch and went shopping for some souvenirs so that we will never forget this great trip.

At 5pm all the delegations departed to the farewell party. Oh my God, what a wonderful evening to celebrate this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Everyone was enjoying themselves, dancing and saying the sad words of 'Goodbye' to Serbia-Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegowina and Israel/Palestine, which hopefully will be a 'See you later' one day. I personally will never forget this experience. I give my thanks to streetfootballworld for the warm welcome an the great programme in the last 9 days. Special thanks go to Minka, Imke and Halit for being such a wonderful bunch of hosts. I would also like to say thank you to the German Federal Office for making this trip possible and giving our South African kids such a great exposure and the possibility to widen their horizon. We loved every hour of this trip. Tomorrow morning we are setting off to our second stop in Germany, I can't wait to see what Stuttgart has to offer! For now Goodbye and Thank You Berlin, you are such a beautiful city!!! 

A wonderful time in Berlin has come to an end.  The many interesting activities ranging from teambuilding workshops, sightseeing tours and football games gave the youth from South Africa a great exposure and a good insight not only in the German culture and history but also in the many cultures that were present at the PASCH Festival 2011. Making friends from all over the globe and learning about different countries and cultures was one of the main aims of this trip. It was great to see how over the past week the six delegations became one big group of engaged, open-minded and tolerant youngsters, who will hopefully in the future have a positive impact in their respective communities in overcoming borders, bridging differences and celebrating togetherness. The closing party of our stay in Berlin can be taken as a great example!

To meet even more youth from even more countries, we set off for our 8 hour bus journey to Stuttgart yesterday. After a little get together in the evening we will in depth meet participants from Chile, Cambodia, Rwanda and Israel/Palestine in integration workshops today. We are very much looking forward to two more exciting days in Germany.

Today was our first day in Stuttgart and we got to do lots of different activities. The morning started with a really fun icebreaker to meet all the new kids. Throughout the afternoon we were split up in our new teams and we created a poster with our hands where we had to write down all the things that are important to be a successful football team. In the evening we went to the theatre where our host organisation ‘KickFair’ presented their project ‘With a ball through life’, that gives children all around the world a voice to talk about their problems in their countries. At the end of the evening we were surprised to see one girl of our group Nosipho ‘Soprano’ go up on stage in front of at least 200 people, where she spoke about the hand poster that her group created and the key points of a successful football team from her perspective. That was very nice! That’s all from my side friends and readers. See you later!

With the streetfootball tournament in Stuttgart yesterday, a wonderful trip to Germany has now come to an end and we are on our way back home to Cape Town. The kids report on their most exciting experience during their nearly two week long trip:

Akona: For me the most exciting thing on the trip to Germany was to visit the Brandenburg Gate and the Berlin wall. But at the same time the opening match of the Women’s FIFA Football World Cup (Germany vs. Canada) was also really amazing. Meeting one of the National players and getting autographs was pretty exciting. I also really enjoyed the boat trip on the Spree. It was nice and fun and we got to see lots of different places and buildings.

William: It was really nice in Berlin. Right at the beginning, on the second day I met a boy from Cameroon. His name is Michael. Over the past 10 days he became my best friend in the group. I will never forget him. That was my highlight of the trip.

Zikhona: The best day to me was the day we arrived at the airport in Berlin because of the warm welcome that we received. The evening on which we went bowling was also a lot of fun. We all tried bowling for the first time, it was so cool! I also enjoyed interacting with all the other youth. My favourite person was Julia, a kind and adorable person.

Thando: The most exciting thing for me was to see the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, but I also made some really good friends who I hope to visit in Brazil one day.

Mbasa: Our arrival in Germany was really exciting for me and my highlight of the trip was to see the Women’s opening match of the Football World Cup in the stadium, where Germany played against Canada.

Nosipho: The most exciting thing for me was going to the Bundestag, the German parliament and learning about German history and politics. They also showed us very interesting pictures of the Berlin wall that divided Berlin and other parts of the country in East and West Germany.

Pixie: I made many friends in Germany, which I liked a lot. Out of the activities I enjoyed the streetfootball tournament in Stuttgart the most. My team played very well.