A totally American weekend, po-boy included

With a great weekend behind me and a high of 48 degrees today (!), I can feel myself slipping deeper into a love affair with this city. Berlin is still awesome while frigid, but on days where I do not have to use my morning commute to defrost the tips of my ears I can enjoy it even more. Working in a villa on a lake isn't so bad either on days like this...

I'm still on a post-food high. I had the pleasure of welcoming three good friends from the program this weekend, and we made it our mission to check out some dining hot spots with rave reviews on authenticity. I never thought the day would come, but I had amazing Mexican food in Germany! The locale: Maria Bonita, a tiny sit-at-the-counter place that reminded me much of somewhere I went last spring in Hermosa Beach. It is owned and operated by an ex-pat Texan, who chatted us up while serving us delicious margaritas, tacos with homemade corn tortillas, fresh guacamole and salsa with actual spice. We were all euphoric and a bit in disbelief. 

On Sunday we had another great success, and one for me that was close to home. Having read about New Orleans Haus (but a bit wary because of other botched experiences with "authentic" Louisiana cuisine), we walked through the lovely sunny streets of Kreuzberg to find the location along Görlitzer Park. Walking into the small restaurant was like entering a place in the French Quarter...bare wood tables with elegant chairs, a ceiling fan turning softly, hot sauce bottles on prominent display, the guy in the kitchen wearing an Abita Beer shirt. I never thought I would have a fried shrimp po-boy in Germany (my last meal before leaving my home state...remember, Katherine?) and this place rocked this southern girl's world. It was opened recently by a real Louisianan, and all the dishes my friends had (gumbo, jambalaya, crawfish etoufee, macaroni pie) tasted just like home. The owner has even contracted a German butcher to make andouille sausage for him and imports the seafood from the Gulf. Now that's legit.

Such places are why Berlin is awesome. But I realize this isn't a food blog, so now moving on to some things that don't involve eating: on Saturday my friend Chrissy and I went to an awesome costume store (with a line to get in, whoa!) to buy some things for Karneval next weekend. An hour later I emerged with a black flapper dress, hot pink leggings, a cat mask, and a bunny mask complete with buck teeth. Should be a great time...I'll be visiting Chrissy in Mainz to celebrate German Fastnacht (or Karneval, or Fasching...from my understanding a huge celebration before Lent similar to Mardi Gras that's named differently in each region in Germany). I look forward to donning my costume pieces in whatever combination for what should be some awesome street parades and parties. Time to see how what these Germans do stands up to what my home state is known for.

The weekend also included a fun party thrown by a friend from Taiwan and then a birthday celebration for a friend in the program. I provided the birthday cheesecake with bananas foster...I've become quite the baker here now that I have a richtig kitchen, even though the conversions are a bit difficult for math-challenged me. If only I could go back in time and bring a measuring cup instead of all those seldom-used tank tops! Hindsight is 20/20, and I was a fool.

I'm relishing living in a place now where visitors are happy to come...Berlin is definitely a destination, and I have plenty of floor space in my wohnung. I love seeing my good friends from Bremen, laughing a helluva lot, and being able to talk about the joys and challenges of living here. My friend Brent put it well when he says he feels "one dimensional" in German. So having a weekend with some Amerikaners and feeling totally 3D is quite nice.

Some musings on this nomadic life

I'm now over the halfway point in the CBYX program, with under five months to go living in Berlin. When this experience is through, I'll have spent about 19 months of my 22 years living abroad. And things are looking now as though I'll be off to another faraway land for next year (sorry, mom and dad). Someplace warm!

When I was younger I romanticized the idea of life in a foreign country...maybe because I felt so confined by my southern town I pictured myself working for the State Department or something similar where my existence would be permanently nomadic. I've obviously got the wanderlusting gene, and I've catered to it in the past few years. It's given me alot of perspective on this big world, and it's also just been fun.

No regrets. And I'm excited to go somewhere even more different next year and throw myself totally into that experience. But when Germans ask me "Do you see yourself coming back and working here?" I often have to stop myself from yelling something akin to "Hell nah!" in lieu of a more polite and vague answer. But confession: my honest answer is No. I like living in Germany, I like learning German, and I even like making a fool of myself sometimes trying to do those two things. But I know I want to live in the United States long-term. Hopefully my future will include lots of traveling, but I want a home base with an American zip code.

Not only has going abroad showed me so much about what this world has to offer and how other people live, but it has also made me appreciate so much more the US and life there. Cliché, much? I want to live in the place where I completely understand the language and the random cultural references, and where I am completely understood. I want to be where my Seinfeld lines will be appreciated, where I can take part in the holidays and traditions I grew up with (even random stuff like Groundhog Day), where buying lots of groceries and driving home is the norm, etc. etc.  Of course the US has got its issues (who or where doesn't?) but they are issues I know well. Insert the most famous line from The Wizard of Oz here.

For now, though, I like this being young and mobile thing.

Another obligatory weather.com screenshot and the week that was

I think this upcoming week may be the coldest yet of my time in Germany so far...wunderwar! Thirteen degrees?! (Also, some excellent advertisement optimization by Westin Hotels haha). But I realize I gripe about the cold way too much, so here are some positives:

1. I'm building character...or so says that saying that enduring cold weather builds character. My boss (who is German) disagrees, though. She says growing up somewhere warm and sunny leads you to be more vibrant and open to life's experiences. Interesting.

2. Enduring cold weather with others promotes solidarity...the same way waiting in a really long line at a grocery store with an extremely slow checker-outer (?) does...had that experience yesterday at Real. Having something basic and common to commiserate about can be an ingredient in social cohesion and maybe even the forming of a friendship.

3. The cold helps me to run faster when I go out for a run because I want to get back into the warmth as quickly as possible.

4. Always looking like a marshmallow is sexy?

OK so I'm grasping at straws here. For now I will continue to rock the down but dream of sun...an unsarcastic positive of this is that I now really appreciate more the quality of life that good weather provides. I've definitely been spoiled.

My commutes have gotten alot better now that I have a wealth of great books for my Kindle. I'm spending 45 minutes each morning and evening with Mitch Albom and Jon Krakauer and enjoying it immensely :) Germans always stare at the Kindle, though. Germans stare at everything.

This week I checked out a cool East Berlin pizza hall with some friends, went to a traditional market with some great food stands (will definitely be going back), and last night hosted a pretty successful cats-style wine pawty. There might not be Two Buck Chuck here in Germany, but some super cheap bottles of Riesling and Shiraz allowed the event to translate well over the Atlantic. Also, I highly recommend this brownie recipe...what would I do without the New York Times? With no Betty Crocker to turn to, I might just be a pretty good baker when this year is done :)

Happy Valentinstag!

A very happy Valentine's Day to all my loves around the world!

 The requisite weenie dog valentine...makes me smile :) Unfortunately Valentinstag is not so popular here in Germany, but I brought a little love to my office in the form of some Betty Crocker chocolate chip cookies. I've been saving the mix (shipped from good ole America) for the right occasion, and they have been well-received. Cookies here are hard as rocks, a co-worker informed me. Germans school us in other baked goods, though. I will definitely miss bakeries with amazing fresh bread and pastries on every corner. And still to come on the baking front: some delicious-sounding coconut brownies from a NYT recipe. 

This past weekend I again made the pilgrimage to Dolores, the might-as-well-be Chipotle, followed by a Mexican restaurant with some pretty legit Piña Coladas. I figure that even though outside is as far from tropical as one can get, simulating it with food and beverages is the next best thing. 

A tale of failing miserably as cultural ambassador: At said Mexican restaurant, I stood up to leave and bam! there went my head knocking into the huge metal Aztec mask above me. The mask became unattached on one side and teetered precariously as everyone in our part of the restaurant stared, cheered, and clapped.Cheeks burning I attempted to gracefully exit, a moot point then. Hilarity. 

The weekend also included a night of macaroni and cheese making followed by some fun ausgehen with friends. Macaroni and cheese just doesn't taste the same without cheddar (it's pretty hard to find and expensive here), but it'll do pig, it'll do. I also did something cultural on Sunday and checked out The Kennedys Museum. It's a fairly small exhibit right on Pariser Platz near the Brandenburg Gate, and very well done with lots of beautiful photos of the Kennedy family at various stages. The Germans really embraced JFK during his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" visit...one thing that sticks out to me from the museum is the Jackie Kennedy quote in which she said her husband's most famous words were not in his own language.

Have a lovely love day everyone!

Just a little bit of Mr. Sun

After another week in Berlin I'm doing much better finding my way around. With an area of 344 square miles (thank you, Wikipedia!) doing so can be quite overwhelming. My commute to work every morning is about one hour door to door, with 45 of those minutes spent on the S-Bahn.  I've attempted with resolve to productively sleep during that time (Wannsee, where the American Academy is located,  is the last station on the line -  a sleeping me would be kicked off the train rather than missing my stop!) but that failing I've turned to reading an Agatha Christie novel and some Brothers Grimm stories on my Kindle. I'm also actively soliciting more book or hobbies-that-would-fit-on-an-S-bahn-seat suggestions!

The weird continues...after working late one night this week for a film screening I was almost chased by a drunken man and then just missed stepping on a plastic hand in the street...which I thought at the time was real, of course. What is it with random hands and this city?

Mr. Sun decided to show his glowing face for precisely five hours this week and it was glorious. Most of that time I was unfortunately sitting at my desk, but even just the taste of spring has made me oh-so-excited for the warm months ahead. I've just returned from our weekly buffet lunch with the fellows here (amazing) and a very nice wife of one of the fellows from Stanford (a fellow sorta Californian, yay!) said her attitude is that she wasn't even expecting sun at all this week, so what we did have was great. I need to adopt that attitude. Sigh. I've heard Berlin in summer is glorious and I've just about had it with my down coat - I sure hope that groundhog is right with his early spring prediction.

Last Saturday I checked out the Deutsches Historiches Museum, which currently has a temporary and somewhat controversial exhibit on Hitler and the populist society that supported him. It was incredibly packed on that Saturday afternoon. The New York times did a story on the exhibition back in October...it's the first of its kind in Berlin with tons of Nazi paraphernalia and items like Hitler's gradeschool pictures. I found it to be interesting and also a bit chilling. And I was in lots of company - the small exhibit was incredibly packed that afternoon.

The weekend's activities also included a couple fun nights out with friends, including a trip to a great Thai restaurant (green curry and Thai ice tea - heck yes!) and a "pay what you want" wine place. You go and drink all the wine and order all the food you want, and then at the end of the night decide what you want to pay for everything - an interesting economics (and moral) experiment - and also great fun.

I always laugh a bit here when I meet Germans and they ask with a look of bewilderment: "Why are you learning German!?" It seems that alot of Germans (and especially Berliners...who are especially good at English) can't understand why we Amerikaners would want to embark on learning their "ugly" and "not useful" language (the quotes are there because those are things I've heard from Germans). It's too easy here to just speak English...I'm afraid of my German going down the tubes, especially since much of my work is now in English. I put a very short posting on a local university's sprachenzentrum website last week seeking a German speaking partner and now have about 30 responses...what the heck?! I didn't realize what a commodity my English als Muttersprache would be. So now I'm completely overwhelmed - should I interview these people?!

Live reindeer, a burrito, and a huge hand

I've been in Berlin for about a week now, and this city is rocking this former Erfurt resident's world. I think I'm sometimes in denial about how much I love huge cities - so many interesting and diverse people, so much great food, so many things to do - but this city doesn't even need to grow on me the way Los Angeles did. For the next six months I know I will be happy to be overwhelmed with all that Berlin has to offer.

Some observations about my new home:

- The tap water here is wayy worse than that of Erfurt. I'm a bit of a tap water snob because Baton Rouge has apparently the second best tap water in the country? The water here reminds me of Los Angeles water, and that's not a good thing. Now I understand better why Germans judge the heck out of people who order tap water. I guzzle water so I'ma need to invest in a Brita.

- It's really cold. Berlin is always one of the coldest cities in Germany at any given time, and especially so on the outskirts where I'm working. I've given way too many "oh my gosh it's cold" gasps in the past week and a half. Tomorrow's Groundhog Day, though, so maybe Punxsutawney Phil will prophecy us an early spring.


- It's so nice to finally be able to see movies in English again. Berlin has a huge movie theater that mostly shows movies in their original form - aka all in American English. Black Swan, anyone?


- I really need to start liking electro music. ASAP.


- So far in the past week I've had many-a-serving of falafel, delicious Vietnamese food, a burrito that seriously may as well have come from Chipotle, and what is claimed to be Berlin's best curry wurst. This city has everything, and I'm so excited to attempt to try it all...and then start training for another half marathon haha. 


- The people here are just...interesting. I love even seeing what people are doing on the metro: drawing intricate sketches, playing the accordion, rapping auf Deutsch. And I came home the other day to find my roommate (a theater student) making a HUGE hand just to have for herself.  I'm definitely embracing  the randomness.


- And, lastly, this is an example of some art in Berlin:

Last week I went to see this exhibit at the Hamburger Bahnhof, featuring twelve reindeer, twenty-four canaries, eight mice and two flies. Check out the concept at the link. Very, very interesting...and hey, I got to see some live reindeer!


I started my internship today, and while I'm really excited about it I'm going to attempt to be professional and keep the blogging to a minimum. I think I'm in for a very interesting five months, with lots of opportunities to get my brain working and to meet some very intelligent people. Yay for employment! It's been awhile.


P.S. This was also on display at the Hamburger Bahnhof: