By the time I was ready for the Gala, I walked towards the Rotes Rathaus. There had been a terrible accident the night before, in which a crane toppled over and damaged four or five cars - this was next door to the hotel. I stopped by, fascinated by the work men were doing to get the crane off the cars and clean up the mess. I wasn't the only one, there were many along with me. However, I did feel silly being one of the few in a fancy dress! Soon I caught up with two Deaf Japanese, and we three arrived at the Rotes Rathaus, a huge 1869 red-brick architecture. This building had a very interesting history: from 1869 to 1948, it was for the Berlin City Government. In 1948 it was used for the East Berlin government, and after the reunification of Germany in 1991, it went back to its original use: the Berlin City Government.

There were two guards outside the front, massive doors.  They allowed us to enter, and oh my.....its grand splendor hits you like a fan. There was a huge staircase right in the center leading up to where the Gala was being held - gold paint everywhere, paintings, statues - almost like the Versailles splendor, but less bright. We walked up, our eyes absorbing the splendor in.  There were more of us there already, where they had the bar and the buffet table. The main hall where the Gala was being held wasn't ready yet, and in about 10 minutes we were allowed in. Such a fascinating room of the past: beautiful rust colored walls with off cream borders, along with touches of gold. On one wall, there was a huge painting - beautiful painting of soliders, probably early 19th century.

Many of us looked for our names, and I sat at a table at the very end of room. I realized I wouldn't be able to see the speakers or the magician show very clearly, but I was fortunate to meet some very interesting people at the table. I knew this Deaf Iranian from Canada, Ali Behmanesh, who is involved with the Deaf History International group and had seen him all week with another fellow. Well, much to my shock, it turned out we all had assumed that this fellow hanging out with Ali was also Iranian like Ali. Ooops, we were wrong! This very nice fellow was actually from Saudi Arabia!!!

Mark Zaurov came on stage and gave a short speech - he did mention the importance of the painting, but I did not have pen and paper handy! Shoot! He also thanked everybody and wanted us to enjoy our meal....so, we had our dinner. Meanwhile, there was an incredible magic show going on - unfortunately I could not see clearly enough. Uzi Bazgalo went on stage to say thank you to Zaurov for his work with Deaf Jews on the behalf of the Deaf survivors, and handed Zaurov an original Uzi Bazgalo painting. One could see that Zaurov was touched.

Meanwhile, I truly enjoyed my evening with thanks to the Saudi Arabian fellow. We discussed a great many things: culture differences, religious differences, college life and all that. I learned much more about his culture - Saudi Arabia, and even his religion - Islam. Fascinating! Also, I realized how important it was to learn the culture and ways of another: when he mentioned how much he wanted a cup of hot tea, I could see in his face that he was serious. His culture did not allow for the wine and beer being served freely at the Gala, and I realized that next time there was a conference; we need to respect others' cultures by adding one or two more items if their culture doesn't allow for them to have certain items. We encouraged him to think about having a DHI conference in Saudi Arabia, because we do need to include more Deaf people of color. He smiled big. That was great to see.

Thus ended the DHI conference week, on a very high mark! I was truly happy that this conference ended with an almost-magical like evening, that lasted into the wee hours of the morning.