Kunstkeller

I have recently had a message from a friend with whom I was very close in Datteln. Danny, Birte and I did pretty much everything together. We were all part of a group of students who did the sets for the musicals we performed at high school. I remember long hours spent in the "Kunstkeller", the basement of the school in which we had art classes and which we used to create the sets and requisites. I loved that room. Our teacher would entrust us the keys to the room so we could basically meet there whenever we wanted. There was an old old radio that sometimes worked, sometimes didn't. There were huge old wooden tables caked with colors and scratched by the hands of hundreds of students. There were paintings, figures, masks, and other pieces of art everywhere, hanging from the walls, tied with strings to the pipes, attached to the windows. We used to have a can of instant coffee or tea stored away somewhere and with a bit of hot water shared many cups talking and laughing. That was our little world and I loved the creativity and productivity of it. Later water entered the room and they closed it, redid the walls, and closed it again when the water entered once more. I don't know if they use it now or don't but my favorite memories of my years at high school are all tied to that room. Sometimes I still hear from my teacher who was part of the group and now I have heard from my friend Birte, which was quite a nice surprise.