Excursion to the Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum

Since the beginning of the new school year we – 18 students of the 8th grade – have been part of the English history course given by Mrs. Ortmyr. Our first topic in this course was the life of Native American People, who call themselves 1st Nation nowadays. We started with small presentationsand various materal which gave us detailed information about different tribes, their way of life etc. To provide a deeper insight into the life of the Native American people, Mrs. Ortmyr and Mr. Branmann organized an excursion to Cologne to visit the Rautenstrach-Joest-Museum. On Tuesday, October 8th, we took the train from Neuss to Cologne. The entrance hall of the museum was breathtaking. Then we started our English guided tour through the museum. We saw a lot of items which Wilhem Joest had brought back from his journey to America. Among the exhibits were beautifully decorated moccasins, a small replica canoe, a horse saddle, bows and arrows. Most of the work had been done by women and we were allowed to touch buffalo fur, buffalo bones andglass beads. The real highlight was the original tipi. What a wonderful feeling to sit inside and have an impression what life was like those days.We sat together in this tend and asked a lot of questions which our tour guide answered. After that we discovered the whole museum on our own.It was a very great expeience for us all.

Joanna Z. Mirja M. 8 Ge/E

Photos: Kl. Branman