Another week in Berlin…6/18/09

Another week in Berlin…

The days keep flying by as I knew they would. Before I know it, I will be back on a plane to the US and my entire time here will feel like a story. I will have photos and this blog, but I am certain I will not be able to fully believe the grasp the impact of my experience here until I am home. I sit on the Sbahn everyday with my ipod, sometimes playing music, but most of the time on “pause” so I can listen in on other peoples conversations just for my own self achievement. A little creepy, yes I know, but the more I listen the more I am able to start feeling like a part of the culture and not just some outsider. They speak so fast but I feel a small sense of accomplishment when the conversation ends and I have the understood the gist of what they were saying.

There are also times where I can almost imagine that I am in a city in the US. They have very similar things to us but then I will walk around a corner and see a building that has Germany written all over it and I am reminded that there are few places in the world with history like this. I love seeing the buildings covered in old stucco and some with hay roofs. These aren’t as common here in Berlin as they are in Bavaria but you can find them nonetheless. Or the buildings so covered in vines you can almost hardly tell that they are clinging to the walls of a house.

And then there are the bakeries. I know I have already talked about them but they are a part of my daily routine. I started running today because if I continue to enjoy my coffee and croissant every morning, I may need a lift to get me into the plane. But the cafés here are social. People come sometimes on the go but usually to sit a chat with their family or friends. It is common for a person to stay for hours in a café. We’ve done it. They have amazing cakes and other masterpieces and their bread is unbelievable. There is a small stand by my school that we go to during out breaks and eat a sandwich with wurst, cheese, tomatoes, and some delicious dressing for a euro! The man that owns the shop loves us and gives us free chocolate sometimes. The coffee is also phenomenal though much smaller than ours…like everything else.

Speaking of chocolate, I am in the homeland of my favorite chocolate, Milka. Instead of Hersheys covering every shelf next to the register, beautiful little packages of all kinds of Milka are stacked perfectly and forcing me to buy them. But I don’t mind. The other night I was in my apartment and had a craving for it. So, it was almost 12:00pm but I decided what the hell? I’m in Germany where Milka is bred so go get some. Now, you might think that Berlin, being a city and all, would have shops open almost all hours of the night. Negative. NY is the only city apparently that doesn’t sleep. Berliners definitely sleep. I walked for forever but finally found an organic store that was open and bright purple Milka packages were shining next the register. MMM.

Anywho, this past week/weekend, we continued to explore around Berlin. We visited the Reichstag (the German Parliament building) and it was really interesting. There, of course, is a lot of history as well. It was once partially burned and there are still writing on the walls left by the Soviets. We took a ton of photos…Ill post some here.

Me and Berlin

Me again and Berlin

We also almost got pick-pocketed. Not really, but there are these women that will work together to take your money. You wouldn’t even know they were together but they come up to you with a card that has some writing on it and ask if you speak English. Then the other woman tries to take something out of your purse while you are distracted. They are usually Turkish women but we noticed one trying to do it to Anna and one tried it on me a few days earlier. We followed them for a while to see if they actually did it to anybody and I think they noticed us following. Oh well. No one got pick pocketed though.

I also went to a German High School play this week. Very interesting…I didn’t quite understand all of it but I got the idea. It was cute and cool to see a school play in another country. During intermission, they had snacks except not quite the same snacks that we do. They had wine, sandwiches and waffles with nutella or applesaft (kind of similar to applesauce but a little different).

Cast of the German play:

The next day, we woke up and went to the Berlin zoo! I can’t remember the last time I went to a zoo. Maybe Washington DC, 6^th grade. Anyways we had a ton of fun wandering around looking at all the crazy different animals. Their zoo was cool because most of the animals you could get really close to. They hardly had barriers around them. You could step over them if you really wanted they were so low. The monkeys and tigers and stuff were behind glass but everything else was reachable. After our tour around the zoo we went back to the biergarten we love and got some more pizza and beer.

Seal

Goat I think?

Kathleen and I at the zoo. Anna yelled at me immediately after and said quote "Um, can you like smile please?" Haha sooo that is why there is a second

Just Chillin

I spent an afternoon with Kathleen, Anna, and my family. My Host mother made this ridiculously phenomenal cake and invited them over for coffee and other snacks (I’m telling you to expect the enlarged size of me that I will be the next time you see me. You’ve been warned). We went out around where I live and saw the Berlin Wall although I have already seen it. We took a bunch of pictures and stood with one foot on the East side and one on the West…how touristy. Then we hung out in a park near the wall for a little. Charlotte was on her Uni-cycle, naturally.

Us climbing the wall. Ignore the fact that we are on the West side pretending to climb over to the east...

Anna standing where the wall was and us on the East and West.

Charlotte

Charlotte and her Mom

So thennnn for school on Wednesday, we got to go on an excursion. Our teacher took us to two different markets in Berlin. We were split into groups and had to fill our the prices of different things and interview 6 people about why they like the markets and why they come there and so on. The first market we went to was AMAZING. We were across the street and could hardly see the market and could still smell the fresh fruit. It was a primarily Turkish market and they had so much stuff. Everyone was interested in what we were doing and stopped to talk to us. One of the sellers filled out most of the answers on our paper for us too which was awesome and then gave us free huge slices of a fresh watermelon. Everyone was really curious about us and gave us free things. It was pretty amazing. We tried some Turkish sweets and bread which were really good. They had huge stands with fish that looked amazing and meat. All of it was off the boat fresh and so cheap! We got a pound of cherries for 1 euro. I loved it and I will definitely go back. The second market had a lot of amazing food things too but it wasn’t as good. The Turkish were more friendly, loud, and just happy to be where they were. The first one was more social and I felt like I got more of a culture experience out of it. At the end of the day we all sat at a café and discussed the two markets. We got an Eerdbernbowl which was a large glass of wine with strawberries in it. Sehr sehr lecker. Really really tasty.

The Market had Bagels even bigger than ours:

I dont know what it is but it's a monster

Tomorrow I have to go to Charlotte’s school and present about America to her class. Kathleen is coming too which will help so I don’t get lost. Another friend of theirs is a teacher and wants me to come to her class of eighth graders too. I think its kind of interesting because we used to have Germans come to my class too. So the roles have switched. It should be fun hopefully but Ill let you know how it goes. And this weekend…I am going to HAMBURG! Im excited to travel elsewhere. Not that there isn’t a million things to do in Berlin but it will be nice to get out for a weekend. My family always wants me home with them which is the point of me living with them but I am excited to get out and explore. I’ve been getting to know kids from my class a lot better so I am excited to spend some more time with them.

Well, that is all for now. These things just keep getting longer and longer…sorry! Ill try to update more if I can and I’m putting up a few more pictures by request of an avid reader, Courtney Jent.

Bis Dann!

Oh yeah and my family took Kathleen and I out to dinner last night. We had Vietnamese place...also so goood. Its very similar to the Taste to Thai.