Meeting with the Education Ministry & a Side quest to Bruhl
Today's plan was for us to head to Düsseldorf to meet with representatives of the Education Ministry of North Rhine-Westphalia (the state in which Bonn is located). Unfortunately, due to
concerns bout Covid (three members of our group tested positive), it was decided to do a virtual visit instead.
The topic of the morning was to talk about current cutting edge issue that the state education ministry is facing, specifically violence and abuse in schools and providing education for the influx of Ukrainian refugees. Martin Oppermann, whose focus at the ministry is "educational psychology, crisis management in schools, prevention, health" discussed concerns about physical and psychological violence in schools. Hanging over his presentation was the cloud of recent school shotting in the U.S., but he also discussed laws against sexual abuse and harassment and concerns about media usage in schools. One interesting fact that stood out to me is that teachers are required to report Nazi symbols, anti-Semitism, and images of sexual abuse to police. Then we heard from John Kessel, a teacher on special assignment at the Ministry. His focus is on helping schools deal with refugee education. They are expecting as many as 40,000 Ukrainian students to enter the education system in coming months.
Since we were unable to travel and spend time sightseeing in Düssseldorf, a group of us jumped on the train to explore the nearby city of Brühl. When we left the station we headed straight for the nearby castle, Schloss Augustusburg. In fact, we were just behind a bride an groom who were taking photos on the grounds.
Schloss Augustusberg, the nearby Falkenlust Palace, and the surrounding garden are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You can click here to learn more about them at the UNUESCO wesbite.
We wandered the grounds for a while then wound our way through the center of Brühl to the market plaza (the "markt" in German). We had a filling lunch – I ordered the putenschnitzel (turkey schnitzel) – then three of us went to the Max Ernst Museum Brühl.
I was immediately drawn to "Capricorn" (see above) and Ernst's whimsical bronzes. It was also interesting to see pieces from all throughout his career and get a sense of the ways that he evolved and how he returned to different themes and motifs.
Clockwise from bottom left: "Oedipus II" (1934); "The King Playing with the Queen" (1944); "The Idiot" (1961); and the photomontage "Surrealistic Chess Game" by Man Ray (1934) with Ernst (top row, second from the left) and a slew of famous artists of the day, including Picasso, Magritte, and Miro.
We had been dodging the rain all day long, and when it was time to leave the museum it was pouring. On the walk back to the train station, I got thoroughly soaked. For a Californian who rarely sees rain, it was a blast.
For dinner we met up with the rest of the Fulbright group at a small restaurant located in the Botanische Gärten der Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, also known as the Bonn Botantical Garden which is next to the University of Bonn. It was a delicious meal and as we left to head back to the hotel we were greeted by a rainbow. Nice touch!
Comments