FHXB Museum: Having an Argument in a Foreign Language

Working in the museum has certainly changed my ideas about working in a small museum. First of all, it is difficult and the number of things and people that have to be organized is incredibly difficult. For the amount of work that she does, Sophie spends several hours over how much she should to make sure events go well. However, since most of the people here are not necessarily employed by the museum, people are reluctant to help out in other museum events not directly pertaining to the museum. This unfortunately can cause catastrophes to occur when poor planning meets poor organizing. Hence, why planning for the Iftar event has been so important. Even though I was tasked with just finding soup containers, I have also had to figure out the costs for some of the items and figuring out how to make sure all the food stays warm through the night.

However, the most surprising thing I learned this week was that my German and my ability to have discussions about exhibits could actually be useful. Being in a room full of native Kreuzbergers, I was nervous to discuss my suggestions to the exhibits as an outsider to both the museum and the area. Certain parts of the museum simply do not make sense and certain organizational elements needed to be improved. When my five page list of suggestions was being read, I was nervous that my ideas were completely off base. Fortunately, I was able to discuss my points and show everyone at the museum why I came up with the issues that I did. For example, I discussed that drawers in every column needed to have some sort of unifying story so that they made sense. One of the museum employees protested that we could not add large paragraphs because it would distract people from reading. However, I had not meant that at all and I was simply asking for connecting sentences that could clarify what happened between one drawer (one time period) and another. In essence, I had almost an argument with Ellen (the employee) but my ideas were listened too and some of my advice taken into consideration.

Overall, I think that people liked the fact that I brought new ideas to the table and that in spite of the fact that I was only here for two weeks, I was able to size up an exhibit and contribute ideas and suggestions in a positive way for people at the museum. I did not expect that I could be that persuasive nor that I would be able to provide any real positive benefit but I did and I am happy about it.

Iftar is next week on July 3rd. Next week is going to be really exciting!!