Saturday, April 18, 2009

Show &Tell: My Favourite Picture of Me

Do you have a favourite picture of yourself? Maybe a picture with a beloved family member, or one where you look especially good? My favourite picture of myself is almost 20 years old. Actually, now that I think about it, it's from 19 years ago this month. It serves as my mental image of myself. (That sounds only slightly pathetic.)

In the picture I'm only 15 years old. I have horribly frizzy permed hair and my glasses are huge enough to rival Sally Jesse Raphael (anyone remember her?). I'm wearing an acid wash denim jacket covered in New Kids on the Block graffiti. And it's really not the best quality picture either, sort of grainy and not really in focus.

That's what's wrong with it.

What's right with it? My smile. I remember I was laughing my ass off (and it was a significantly smaller ass than I have now). I don't have any other pictures of me where I look so... happy. Don't get me wrong, I love my wedding pics, but they fall into the romantic category. This one gets the prize for pure joy.

Here's the story: When I was 15 years old I was privileged enough to participate in a foreign exchange program. I had always wanted to go to Germany, to see my grandmother's homeland. When I was in grade 9 I began to take German in school, and through my teacher I found out about the program. My exchange partner came to Canada in August and left in November. I went to Germany in April and came home in July. Let me tell you, traveling that far from home, for that long, when you're only 15 is a very daunting experience.

This particular school year was the 1989-90 school year. Pop quiz... what major world event happened in October of 1989? That's right kids... the Berlin Wall opened. It was the beginning of the end of the cold war.

As I said, I arrived in Germany (still West Germany at that point) in mid-April, and got settled in with my host family. About a week after, all the Canadian exchange students got to travel to Berlin for a week. One of the first sites we visited during our time in that beautiful city was the Wall and Checkpoint Charlie (the Allied border crossing into East Berlin).

That day was a roller coaster of emotions, even for a 15 year old. Standing in what they called the 'Dead Zone', the narrow strip of ground between the East and West sides of the city, it was the first time I had ever truly been humbled by history.

Along the Wall were several panhandlers/entrepreneurs out to make a little cash. For a small fee you could borrow their hammer and chisel to try to chip off your own piece of the Wall. That's where the above picture came from. I was trying with all my might to chip off even a tiny piece on my own, but it just wasn't happening. In the end, I ended up buying one of my most cherished keepsakes from one of those entrepreneurs... my own piece of history.

Now don't forget to stop by Mel's place and check out what the rest of the class is showing this week!

22 comments :

  1. Wow...what a truly amazing experience that must have been. I can honestly say I never expected to see that fall in my life...but I Am so very glad I got to see it happen.

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  2. How exciting to have been there at that time!

    I visited the wall about 8 years after you were there, and it was very moving.

    You look lovely then and now.

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  3. that is a really cool story! thanks.

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  4. Thanks for sharing. That is a great story!

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  5. Fantastic Post...You have such a priceless possession and such a great memorable experience...Wow!

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  6. You're very funny. That is a great picture and story. All of our asses were smaller then. I love the explanation of your outfit. It sounds like you were really cool. (not that you aren't now!)

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  7. Love the pic! and LOOOOOOOVE the story behind it even more! What an awesome opportunity. I was high school went it fell, and I'm not sure I really realized the significance of that happening until I was a bit older.

    I soooo want to go to Germany some day!

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  8. you are right, a real, genuine, honest-to-goodness smile can make all the difference in a photo and you are glowing. i love your story too, so special to be a part of history!

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  9. What an amazing experience and a FAB show and tell!!!

    Oui - hubby and I really want to travel the world...someday!

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  10. What an incredible story! To be there right at the time of the fall.. It is a moment to cherish!

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  11. Not only do I remember the acid wash, the Sally Jesse, the frizzy hair and NKTB, I was right there with you, sister!

    Lord, looking at the pic of you at 15 I feel certain we're somehow related. Long lost cousins, perhaps? (My people are originally from Derbyshire).

    And, there's the whole fertility-challenged connection....

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  12. What a cool story! 1989-90 was also my freshman year of high school. You brought back a memory of my Show Choir---we sang a song called, "Tear them Down." "To the tyrants of the world, we sound our battle cry, your time is short, you cannot win no matter how you try...tear them down, one by one, all the walls that divide us. We won't quit til the work is done and love and peace unite us." We began the song with a short speech about President Regan saying, "Tear Down that Wall."

    Sorry for the long comment, but thanks for the trip down memory lane! :)

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  13. Oh wow! I think each of us, no matter your age, has lived through some truly world shattering events. Events, that when we look back in history, will have shaped the future in a profound way.

    Thanks for sharing your shared moment. It must have been a truly amazing experience and I'm glad you got your momento one way or another.

    I also love your photo. I some like that I absolutely love.

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  14. That is a very cool show and tell! It starts out being about you in an introspective, personal sort of way, and ends up being about a momentous, historical event... that you were connected to! Very cool.

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  15. Wow! What a truely awsome experience to have had. We share the same freshman year too! So I remember all of your references. You do look very happy in the picture, I pray you will feel the same way again soon.

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  16. I went to Berlin more than a decade after you did, but oh, to see it in the midst of the changes, when the wall was still there and everyone was figuring out what to do next... amazing.

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  17. Wow, that was really cool. What a wonderful experience to look back on!

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  18. How amazing! Something you'll never forget.

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  19. Thanks for sharing that with us. My SO is part German and wants to go back again one day. :-)

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  20. How cool! I can still remember where I was when I heard the news about the wall. What an amazing experience to be right there so soon after.

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  21. Very cool souvenir and great picture of you enjoying the moment!

    ICLW

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