Angelika Fahron

The Spanish Speakers is an Interest group of the BIWC, Berlin International Womens Club. We meet on a regular basis every month for many cultural and social activities, and in the summer we have our annual Garden Party…. Everyone contributes with a special home cooked dish, and usually we have a beautiful spread of ever so tasty Latin American food, so that our gathering is not only dedicated to all the lively chit chats in Spanish in the beautiful garden of one of our members, but also to enjoying all that delicious food…. Here are some photos of our last summer gathering.

When my granddaugther was in Berlin in the summer we went to a unique exhibition by the banks of the river Spree (that flows through Berlin) and opposite the new Berlin main railway terminal. It was a beautiful warm sunny day, ideal to admire the huge formations built exclusively from sand. According to the information available the material of these formations was merely pure sand, without other ingredients – a mystery how these huge figures maintained their shape over the weeks of display and in all weathers, for example in wind and rain!!! Anyway, we took our shoes off and walked around in the white warm sand specially filled up around the whole area, admiring the sculptures, such as some of those shown in the photos below. Hope you enjoy them as much as we did….

I am one of the first members of the Berlin International Womens Club (BIWC), and in November we celebrated our 15th birthday – an important event to have a big jubilee party. I want to share my below account of this evening with you and invite you to brouse through www.biwc.de.

Here comes my report which I wrote for our monthly Newsletter:

The BIWC is 15 years old, and we celebrated with a great Birthday Party at “H.H. Müller”. This is a smart new restaurant by the Landwehrkanal, right in the middle of a former traditional working class district, Kreuzberg.. The building complex was once a power station supplying the many small industry workshops in the back yards of the long rows of blocks of flats that line the crowded streets in the area, and it has now been converted into modern offices and ateliers – and into this smart, spacious restaurant, where the former big machine room was just the right venue for our purposes.
The great party started in the basement cocktail lounge. The big room gradually filled up with the more than 200 members and their partners and guests. It was a big turnout! This was an exciting occasion to see old faces again and to meet new ones, to enjoy the many encounters and to talk and communicate no end! There was this constant high level murmur of voices and lively chitchat – and that in many languages!!! The piano player did his best, but he had no chance at all to make himself heard!!!
The time passed much too quickly, and soon we were ushered up to the big festively decorated dining hall for the official part of the evening, which was opened by Pat with her welcoming speech. She read to us a message from the Mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, in which he congratulated the BIWC for its achievements in the integration of foreign newcomers to Berlin and praised our unique institution which is forming an increasingly important part in the Berlin international life.
The programme carried on with Patricia Holtzmann´s delightful performance – what a treat! She is a gifted professional opera singer, and with her beautiful, expressive voice and temperament she sang for us her stirring “Unexpected Song” and then “Maybe This Time” from Cabaret, and to top it: “NewYork, New York”.
During the course of the evening we had the pleasure of listening to Debra Engler. She is the founder of the club together with Sharon Müller who has since left Berlin. Debra talked to us about the early days and the concept they had worked out for the new club. They had investigated the local scene and came to the conclusion that what Berlin did not have was an international club where women of all cultures and nations could find each other and meet, i.e. those living here as well as the increasing number of women (and their families) coming to Berlin for only a limited time, and who needed nothing more than to lead a normal integrated life in their new surroundings – socially and culturally. This concept created a stable basis for its development and it still provides an ever changing and increasing treasure of talents and abilities which can be shared among all of us. And it also has the benefit that we are getting older together – as we have already practiced the last 15 years with great success!!!
We saw two fascinating performances of Franzls Musical Revue Dance Group. This is a dance group where also BIWC members take part. First they presented the show girl number according to Robby Williams “Ain´t That a Kick in the Head”, and later the Russian “Kalinka”, both done with great skill and temperament, and both according to Franzls own choreography.
To continue reporting on the evening, we had a delicious three-course dinner with all the trimmings, and the catering was excellent. In between we were looking at the big screen on one far end of the hall and the fascinating show of photos of past club events, which went by much too quickly to see all the details. At the same time we were busily buying tickets for the tombola, since the prizes sounded ever so attractive, and anyway, the proceeds are for a good purpose: the “Björn Schultz Stiftung”. It will be interesting to know the amount of funds which could be raised that evening. At last the prizes were drawn, it was all very exciting, and there were many thrilled outcries of surprise by those who won.
I had to leave after the tombola draw, but I know that the party carried on until 2 o´clock, so the announced midnight soup must have had its grateful consumers. I am sure everybody had a great time all along, and I would like to thank the organisers, Sarah Pihl and her team, as well as the many other volunteers behind the scenes for all their work and effort. They made this enchanting evening possible and so enjoyable.
15 years already make a history, and in this time the club has become an important part in the international community in Berlin – with colourful and enthusiastic women of all ages and of more than 50 countries. We are a turntable of nations and languages, of professions, cultures and ways of life, and are just the right place for the new generation of “globalising nomads”, those women who are at home in many parts of the world – and in Berlin.
Well done, BIWC! Let us prepare for the next five and ten years of inspiring and enriching club life! I look forward to our next big Birthday Party! Perhaps when we are 18 and become of age??????