A Berlin bahn metaphor

I'm one of those people who loves to celebrate "sorta" holidays, and last week had three! Did you miss them? They would be pi day (3/14), the Ides of March (3/15) and of course St. Patrick's Day (3/17). Unfortunately I neither had pie nor did any math on pi day...but to balance things out I did not meet the same fate as Caesar the next day. And then there was St. Patty's. It's not much at all celebrated by actual Germans: I was the only one wearing green in my office but decided it would be a tad bit unprofessional to go around pinchin'. But like every big city, Berlin has its share of Irish pubs and we went to a great one. I paid homage to my "O'Shee" middle name and hopped along to a live Irish band while drinking cider and Guinness in a large top hat.

Last weekend was again delightfully busy. I hosted my German friend Chiara for the weekend, and highlights included going to a large Roman-style indoor swimming pool, eating at a Canadian pizza place with delicious sweet potato pizza and spicy maple syrup, traipsing through the main sights of Berlin at night, and again visiting the inevitably crowded Mauer Park flea market. I have big plans to show up at 7:30am one weekend to buy all my souvenirs...and so I can actually walk through the place. Another happening thing in Mauer Park: on Sundays hundreds (or thousands?) of people show up to watch karaoke at the park's amphitheater. I'm thinking it might be time to warm up the vocal cords and sing "You're So Vain."

One thing that has become very evident to me about Berlin is how much of a place in progress it is. I imagine if I would come back in 10 years (and I will!), this city may be drastically different. Still only 20 years from the fall of the wall, Berlin is wavering between two identities: the largest and capital city of the most powerful country in the European Union and an alternative haven where street art reigns, unemployment is 17%, and cost of living is still pretty darn cheap. It will be interesting to see which identity, if either, more defines Berlin in the future. For now, though, I'm living in the in between and loving it.

It's a bit of a funny metaphor to make, but this divide can be witnessed on the two main forms of transportation here: the S-Bahn and the U-Bahn. (S-Bahn stands for schnellerbahn or  the "faster train" that runs mainly above ground and U-Bahn stands for untergrundbahn or "underground train"). I take the S-bahn to and from work every morning, and it's a bit more of a distinguished experience. My fellow riders usually look very put together if not outright professional, the train is clean and quiet, and the most interesting thing that happens is maybe a saxophone performance. Then there's the U-Bahn. The trains and stations are dirtier, people talk loudly and animatedly, and there are a whole lotta interesting people and curiosities to watch. One of my favorite parts about going out here is taking the U-Bahn back to my station later in the night. Last weekend I witnessed a girl carrying around a huge stuffed platypus and waving it around in people's faces.

The people who make up this city are quite interesting...many of the people I have met are just here, for only the reason of wanting to be, without a job or school. So many have told me they came to Berlin to find themselves, or just to party, or to find themselves while partying. I'm happy to have my not-so-gainful employment, but I also like the idea of finding myself more in a place like this. Unfortunately, though, I don't think better German speaking ability will be one of the things I will find: The incredible amount of English spoken in Berlin means I have gone entire weekends without hearing much German at all on both the S-Bahn and the U-Bahn :/

Compartmentalizing Berlin

Like the bears that are their city's symbol, Berliners crawled out of hibernation this weekend and into the streets. Excluding the ridiculousness of Oktoberfest and Karneval, I've never seen so many Germans in one confined place as I saw in Mauer Park on Sunday. This city is alive!

The weekend for me was all about embracing the tease of spring. On Saturday I spent the afternoon lolling around Kreuzberg, weaving in and out of interesting stores. Kreuzberg is a neighborhood in the south of Berlin that has a delightfully grungy feel that screams "Berlin!" (Another expression I've started thinking about using, if not actually doing so, is "that's so DDR!"...but I'm not sure if that's PC just yet?) Anyways, Kreuzberg is the go-to hipster locale in this city, although non-hipster identifiers like myself still feel welcome. There are lots of ethnic eateries shoulder to shoulder along the streets, small boutiques showcasing Berlin designers, and tons of book stores. That afternoon I also catered to my obsession with Taiwanese beverages and had an amazing coconut milk tea. It's been too long since I had at least one a day in Taipei.

Saturday evening a friend from the program had some of us over for a good ole' barbecue at his apartment's rooftop deck. It was just not cold enough to sit outside with our eats...bratwurst and burgers for everyone else and grilled sweet potatoes for me. Like a typical southerner I love me some sweet potatoes, so I didn't feel as though I was missing out (too much). I'm really looking forward to spending lots of time outside in the coming months...and hopefully losing some of this perpetual paleness. I tried out some German self tanner lotion this weekend, and now exactly half of my body has a fake sunkissed glow :/

Sunday my friend Tara and I strolled around Prenzlauerberg. I've decided the best way to get to know Berlin is through a compartmentalization strategy, one neighborhood at a time.  Prenzlauerberg is the next stop over from Wedding, where I live, with lots of cute cafes and shops and now...gasp...outdoor seating! We strolled until we stumbled into Mauer Park, which apparently is the place to be Sundays. We pushed our way through crowds at the flea market to check out the wares and then had a shotgun picnic on a rock. I find it comical that 60 degrees and gray skies would be regarded as crummy weather in Los Angeles, but here it is bliss. Perspective.

My cultural Berlin Sunday wasn't over...another friend here won a couple spots on the guest list to a literary reading and discussion at SoHo house, a swanky members-only club. The author was Claire Messud, who I had never heard of until yesterday, but the reading convinced me that she's worth reading - and so did my friends at the New York Times :) Fabulously our winnings included a copy of her book The Emperor's Children (y'all know how I love the free stuff!) so I will be starting that soon.

Later we met up with another friend for a beer happy hour at a hostel followed by a screening of a documentary called Jakarta-Berlin. The premise is a guy's land-only journey from Jakarta, Indonesia to Berlin. I love anything Southeast Asia, so I enjoyed the film (and especially its culinary aspects), although we only made it to Kazakhstan.

It's pi day today, and I recommend celebrating with some math and some pie...I have some good memories from my high school math club experience of this day :)  And that also means that I  have exactly four months left on this program. Really?

A bunny with a facebook and other stories from FASTNACHT

 I have spent these past few days mostly resting from the debauchery that was my time at Fastnacht...the Louisianans and the Germans should meet up some time, I think they would throw a pretty great party together. I don't know if the world could handle that, though.

I left Berlin last Friday after work to catch a quick flight to Frankfurt and a brief train to Mainz to meet up with Chrissy and start the celebratin' (or festin' as would be more appropriate to say here, but Germans don't get the southern twang anyways). I knew it would be a good weekend when I plopped down right across from a weenie dog on the Sbahn to the airport :)

Friday night we met with some of Chrissy's work friends and headed to a party. I quickly donned my first Fastnacht look, that of a flapper girl with fishnet tights and a feather on my head. Probably my favorite thing about Fastnacht is that everyone is dressed up in outlandish costumes, every day, all the time. After 18 years of clamoring for shiny Mardi Gras beads to add festival pizazz to my plain clothes, wearing costumes made it feel more like a week-long Halloween than anything else. That night we encountered Scottish folk in kilts, the cast of Sesame Street, and what sticks out most in my mind: a huge scary bunny, who has a facebook page. At Fastnacht there is always something curious to look at.

The next day was focused on one thing, and one thing only: Americaaaaa. Chrissy can get herself and friends onto the American Military Base in Wiesbaden, complete with a food court of everything gross and wonderful about the US: Taco Bell and Popeye's. We nommed endlessly for hours. Free drink refills! Incredibly slow counter service! Delicious yet suspicious "Mexican" food! Red beans and rice and a biscuit! They import everything on that base from the US, huge SUVs in the parking lot included. For that brief sojourn I may as well have been back in America, and technically was, I think?

Sunday we went to the home of a very nice German couple and enjoyed a delicious homemade traditional lunch before heading to a parade in a small community in Mainz. (Side note: the husband greeted us wearing a shirt that said "Eat. Sleep. Karaoke." My kind of people.) In Germany parades are called zugs, which means "trains." How's that for German literalness? Lots of marching bands, dancers, and small floats whizzed past, throwing out candy and, in large quantities, bags of sweet popcorn. I was a "scary" bunny with the aid of hot pink tights and a furry mask - the scary part came because the gross bunny teeth fit right over my own when I smiled. Creepy.

After the parade we returned to the city to take in the festivities in the main square, which quickly turned into a huge outdoor dance party. We danced to German favorites like this. (I highly recommend clicking on the link and learning the motions to the song. So fun).

Rosenmontag is the Fat Tuesday of Germany, the day when it all goes down. We awoke early to catch the big parade going through town and spent the day just doing whatever Mainzers do...which seems to be mostly just wandering through the streets. I was a Native American and met many more...and got to take pictures with Cookie Monster (om nom nom!) and some nuns. The next morning I joined Chrissy at the home of a German family with two excessively cute daughters and watched her march in another small parade before heading back to Berlin. Whew. That's three parades in three days, lots of Taco Bell, and endless celebrating. I'm still tired.

What's better: German Karneval or Mardi Gras in Louisiana? The program would instruct me to say that one is not better, not worse, just different. To be honest, though, I had a great time at Karneval but found myself longing for the Louisiana traditions I've come to love: floats on 18-wheeler truck beds, catching armfuls and neckfuls of colorful cheap beads, King Cake. I guess we like what we know.

In recent news, I've had my last curry wurst for at least 40 days. Wanting a bit of a challenge, I decided to give up meat for Lent this year. Where better to do so than a country whose diet is centered around it? Wish me luck.

Amidst some lovely weather this week, Berlin's transit workers went on strike. I wasn't much affected, apart from being utterly confused and 45 minutes late to work one day. There was craziness on the tracks, though. Germans yelling in German is not so soothing to the ears. Now on to the weekend...

Humming along on the S1 nach Wannsee

I always hope in the mornings that my favorite Berlin transit music duo will step on the S1 nach Wannsee and strike up the saxophone and guitar. So far they have graced us with excerpts from Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," The Beatles' "Let it Be" and Billy Joel's "Honesty." Some favorites. I'm no music critic, but it makes me happeh, and I can never help humming along. It's the little things.

Yesterday I got out of work a bit early and decided to check out a traditional Turkish bath, or "Hamam." (Germany has a large Turkish immigrant population, so such things are common, as well as lots of places serving döner and other Turkish foods). The Hamam came recommended from a website I like here, and really I just wanted a couple hours of total warm. Definitely a neat experience. It was located on the second floor of an unassuming building in Kreuzberg, down the hall from a karaoke place and a gym. But upon entering I found myself in an ornately decorated lobby space that led to two bathing chambers. Now of course I heard "bath" and thought of small pools like the ones in Hungary, but a Hamam is really heated steam rooms with raised stone ledges around faucets. You are given a small bowl to fill with water and wash yourself as you please and then lay on the heated stone. Men are verboten most of the week, so it was just the ladies. It's a nice concept...traditionally women go with family members or friends and bathe each other. I relaxed and warmed to my heart's content while hearing lots of Turkish chit chat around me. Apparently I need to get a lot more comfortable being naked around strangers, though...I blame the nuns for that one!

When friends from the US or here ask me about where I work in Berlin, I often jumble my words (in German or English!). Luckily, I spotted this NYT article in the lobby that does an excellent job of it. Even though the article is from 2003, things seem to be pretty much the same at the AAB, at least from my vantage point in the basement.

Oh what would I do without the NYT? Bring on that pay wall, cause I will definitely shell out the dough for an unlimited subscription.