4:30am...again.

What is it? Wednesday now? No...Thursday, I guess.

Tuesday R and I explored what is called 'Unter den Linden', Berlin's main boulevard, which was originally a path between the Berlin Staatschloss (City Castle) and the Tiergarten (Tiere is German for animal), now a giant park that was originally the royal hunting grounds. Under Friedrich Wilhelm in the 17th c. the Linden (Lime) trees were planted and over the next few centuries a foray of classical buildings completed the street. ("How do lime trees survive here?" we wonder.)

Initially, I was going in search of a library. I have this great idea that I am going to be able to spend a lot of time at the library; reading children's books to help me learn German, copying recipes from German cookbooks, and generally browsing unfamiliar materials. But, I had to figure out where this library was. Looking over a city map I found two Staatsbiblioteks. The first on Unter den Linden, a nice walk from our apartment over 'Museum Island', a literal island between two arms of the river Spree. The museums sit on the tip of the island's penisula with the Berliner Dom, or cathedral. The main bridge going to the island was lines with one of the many Weihnachtmarkts (Christmas Markets) which have started poping up all over the city. They all have the same faux-log cabin facades and house a seemingly interchangable chain of handmade products for sale; from roasted peanuts and cotton candy to precisely cut wood ornaments and wool gloves. Once at the library I located an informational pamplet which explained that non-EU citizens had to have at least a 3 month permit to gain a library card...but it was all worth a trip through its neo-classical courtyard.

We stepped across the street to check out the Jeff Wall exhibition at the Deutsche Guggenheim (sponsored by our bank!) but discovered that it was free on Mondays and decided to come back then.

Now, with time on our hands, we decided to keep walking towards Potsdamer Platz where the other branch of the library and other cultural buildings were located.


There was a small motivation to see if the either one of these buildings was the one seen in the great German movie, Wings of Desire, but that turned out to not be the case.

We did hang out a bit in the Neue Nationalgalerie designed by Mies van der Rohe, which is a gigantic open glass cube with most of the exhibiting space underground. We then returned to Potsdamer Platz for Weihnachtmarkts sweets and coffee. One of the huge attractions at the this location, besides the blarring pop Christmas music (mostly English language soft rock and dance remixes) was a fake hill people could pay to sled down, complete with real snow! Luckily, some friction pads and an attendant is at the bottom to catch them.

I really should be taking more pictures...

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Well, I am glad to finally have this blog up and running. R and I are sitting back at St. Oberholz after a day of gallery going with SS. My fav today was the Peter K. Koch show at Kuckei+Kuckei. Strangely, this was the same artist who was showing in this space 2 years ago when we were here. It was one of my favorites then too. I like this new show, but I don't think the work would have been as interesting if I didn't know about the paintings we saw there in the past.


gallery view, Koch at Kuckei+Kuckei

from Nov. 28th, 2007: St. Oberholz, the patron saint of internet junkies

I feel like a junkie in denial who just main-lined their favorite drug.

Maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but I keep having the satisfying mental images of being hooked up to an I.V. straight to the vein. We still had not figured out the internet situation at the apartment and for some reason it seemed we couldn't move on without spending some hours meandering online, with or without purpose. Between our month in MO, and a week here, we hadn't really been able to browse at leisure for a long time. Sure we got a quick fix here and there at the corner internet cafe but what about endless wondering with no clear direction?

We decided today was the day to head down a few more blocks to a for-real internet cafe called St. Oberholz, which we had heard great things about. The cafe was good, sure, but mainly I did not realize how much I missed being online, with a world of information at your finger tips. I now have to admit I am in need of the digital.



But, I did! get a lot done; financial figuring, researched trains, planes, thrift store and art store locations...and even finally set up this blog. While emailing I chatted with SS and we set up plans for tomorrow. I chatted with someone in San Fran and R someone in Baltimore. This is the future! and it is so easy...

...on second thought...maybe I just really got into the internet because it was easy, yes, but also because it was a breath of familiarity...

from Nov. 27th, 2007: "Today was a good day..."

Lazy Sunday. Housecleaning.

Yesterday (Monday) we got up and headed back to the Rathaus to fill out our Anmeldung forms. This time we got numbers with which we waited for a specific desk and then a woman helped us, who even had an English translated form. We now know that our first experience there was quite unusual and this time it was way easier. Now we have successfully registered. I kept looking at the form and thinking, "My first German stamp.", because I figure there will be many to come.

After leaving the office we walked back by a Deutsche Bank we had been eyeing to go talk about opening an account with. After R looked up a few words we approached the counter and asked to open and account. She directed us to a small room where she had us wait for a banking assistant who spoke English! Because our bank person was so wonderfully bilingual we had no trouble opening the accounts we needed and getting the info to have our US funds transfered. I mean, to the point where she filled out all the forms for us and went over them and we just had to sign off.

That was two great things accomplished in one morning and really got me excited about being here. Not that I wasn't excited before but at first everything had seemed a bit daunting. Now that we had accomplished this two small steps toward major ones it all seemed a million times more manageable.

The rest of the day we spent around in our neighborhood and came home for dinner and doing the first laundry. After 'reading', and here by reading I mean picking out the 5 German words that I know and then looking up all the rest in the dictionary, managed to figure out almost all the options on the washing machine. The only thing I haven't figured out (which is true even in the US sometimes) is where to put the bleach.


manual for washing machine

There is an indication on the diagram but it looks like your bleach goes in a tiny little hole (#4) which doesn't make any sense. It is impractical (which Germans are not, right?) and really illogical. Does it go in the Vorwäche (prewash) area? Where the Fabric Softener?/delicates detergent?/or Weichspüler goes?

Speaking of the practicality of Germans, I feel like I am possibly starting to get a sense of the German mentality...the stereotype of which I guess is dealing with the function and preciseness of their products, and the supposed 'uptightness' of their personalities. From what little I have read and experienced it seems the desire for efficiency is not an end in itself but a means for having more time to think about other things. The sentence that keeps running through my mind, which I think summarizes it nicely, from a Lonely Planet book on Berlin says, "...when Berliners are not eating out, dinner will be something quick and easy (if the microwave did not exist, Berlin would have paid someone to invent it.)..." Basically, make it work well so I don't have to think about it...which gives me time to do more interesting things. Logical, yes, but again, not as an end to itself but a means to having more time to pursue individual interests and desires, which starts to speak to the more cheery part of the German culture...more time to do things Germans like to do...like go to the movies!...which I am getting ready to do right now.

(But...this is about Berlin which is suppose to be an atypical German city...?)

from Nov. 25th, 2007: Snow!

Well, I am 0-5 in terms of sleeping at night so here I am up at 4:30am. I got up and came in the front room to find it snowing! Big, glorious, wonderful, clean-white flakes of snow! This is the first time that I have seen snow in I-don't-remember-when. Last time I went to MO we got stuck in Salt Lake City for 3 days and saw snow on the ground then, but it probably has been at least 2 years since since I have seen it actually snow, and then it was probably not big fluffy flakes like these. I guess because of the city lights, even though it was night time, it really looked about that light out there.


4:30am, view from patio

Yesterday (I mean Friday), I did finally go to sleep sometime in the morning and R got me up about 1pm. We had a nice mixed American/German style breakfast of hearty toast, some swiss cheese, avocado, some procuitto-like ham, eggs, coffee, and yummy vanilla yogurt for 'breakfast dessert'.

We did some emailing, got food and cooked dinner and the like and went to meet up with a friend I had meet one evening in San Francisco. SS, a friend of a friend, was in SF briefly this past summer and was moving to Berlin in September. SS and her boyfriend B, first went to Copenhagen and hamburg but got to Berlin in Oct. or early Nov. We had an excellent time with SS and B, who had lived in Hamburg for 3 years before going back to the US for grad school in Baltimore (where they met perhaps?). We have a surprising amount in common, especially considering we are both trying to move here around the same time...

Mostly we hung out at their new apartment but later we dropped by a great small bar where we sat in the narrow back room that was covered with amazing 70's wallpaper with large abstract patterns (reminiscent of the former GDR perhaps) and comfy basement-like quality furniture.

Today (or yesterday more precisely), we wanted to do some exploring we started by walking to the Hackesher Markt we had read happens on Sundays. It was OK but the area was pretty bourgeois-y (designer clothing and shoe stores, etc.) and one goal for the day was to find a cheaper market than the Bio we have been going to so we turned around and walked in the other direction. Through investigating many different neighborhood maps that are readily available all around, R thought it might be good to explore a neighboring area called Prenzlauer Berg. We walked quite a long ways around this mostly residential area and saw the Plantarium and various interested examples of old architecture. On the way out we had found a cheaper grocery, just a couple of blocks in the opposite direction of the Bio, which we returned to after dark to start building up a more substantial arsenal of groceries...mayo, spices, and the like...plus frozen pizzas for dinner, which were awesome and cheap. €2,69 for 2!...one sufficient for each of us. They had mushrooms, proscuitto, some bacon-like meat, and spinach on them. Yum!

I also bought stuff to try out making my favorite SF Sparky's style brunch, hash browns (with carrots and onions) and eggs benedict, for tomorrow morning. I can't wait!

from Nov. 23rd, 2007 3am: ...everyday is an adventure.

Yesterday we tried to get our sleeping schedule on track by going to bed at a relatively decent hour, around 2:30am. Once again we woke up thinking that is must be morning when in fact it was 2pm! Well, that definitely shortened our day but we still did a lot.

First, breakfast and then off to an internet cafe to check up on some emails we hoped to hear replies to, including some info on how to connect to the internet in the apartment. Next we headed to what we believed was the correct office to file for Registration Certificate, which basically means that we file with the police who we are and where are living. All people living in Germany are required to do this within 7 days of establishing or changing addresses. This is also our first step in applying for a residency permit.

We made our way over to the building we thought we needed to go to which is on Karl-Marx-Allee. The location did reveal a 'Rothaus', or Town Hall, and immediately inside to the left was the office we needed. At this point it was already 5:30pm and it closed at 6pm but we got the forms and were encouraged to hurry and fill them out. There was no way that we could fill out all the questions that quickly (as they were all in German) so we ended up leaving witht he forms to look over further and turn in later.

Our next stop was the IKEA-Templhof, a short ride to the south side of the city. We were starving by this point and ate dinner in the expansive cafe that this very large IKEA houses. It was very cafeteria-like, with a set number of entrees, but the food was rather good and reasonably priced. I had 'Kyckling', which was 'Hächen mit Gemüsepasta' or Chicken with Vegetable Pasta. The pasta had a slight curry flavor, which seems to be a spice of choice here.

As always, shopping through IKEA is an awe-filled experience. We spent quite a long time but had to hurry at the end to get at least the basic necessities, before they closed at 9pm, sheets and a comforter. Once at the checkout counter we were surprised to discover that they would not take my VISA debit card (we haven't established a bank account here yet) and had to put our pillows back and pay with what cash we had on us. But, there were still many things that we needed so we knew that we would be back.

Once home again we were quite exhausted so we basically just ate leftovers and went to bed. We thought mid-nightish was a perfectly good time to try and get back on our sleeping schedule...but we both woke up about 1:30am. Oh well.

I just went on the patio, and looking around the courtyard saw one light on. A guy, at least topless, came over and opened this window and then turned the light off. I swear he had two thin horns coming our of his head about 6 inches long. I could see his silhouette really well in front of the light so if they weren't suppose to be horns, they were something else that really looked like horns. (?)

Now-maybe I should study some German or read so that I can get a bit sleepy and go back to bed.

from Nov. 21st, 2007: ...and so it begins.

R and I arrived in Berlin yesterday about 10am local time. After gathering our bags we went to pick up our apartment keys and got a ride directly to the apartment. We were quite exhausted from traveling at this point but decided to walk around a bit, get some food, and shop for essentials. We recognized parts of the immediate area from when we visited here two years ago, namely a small park at the end of the block.


our street

We are very near Alexanderplatz and the GDR TV tower looms merrily overhead. For those of you who have been to Berlin, this iconic landmark will place our excellent central location.

By 6pm we just couldn't stay awake any longer and went to bed. Since we are 7 hours ahead of Missouri time, it was like we had stayed up most of the night until 11am the next morning only now it was 6pm.

I slept very heavily until abour 4:30am which I got up and decided to start it right with some yoga and a healthy breakfast of cereal and yogurt. We decided to buy some yogurt after discussions with friends and reading an article on the plane about the new wonder of probiotics. I usually do not like yogurt, but this yogurt...we bought at a local 'Bio' (pronounced like B.O.) or organic market...was really delicious! It was vanilla with little black specs which made me think that it was made with real vanilla beans.

After this breakfast, and a bit more sitting around, I decided to try and go back to bed for a few hours since it was only 6am. I fell asleep rather quickly and woke up a bit later after R, thinking it was late morning but it was 3:30pm! I had slept 9 more hours! I guess I needed the sleep...? I said when I went to Germany in the winter I wanted to embrace hibernating, but I didn't know it would quite be like that.

After getting up so late there wasn't much to be done today. We ate a lunch/dinner? at a corner restaurant, which had kabobs and pizza. There seems to be a lot of these mixed Mediterranean places around. Then we headed to an internet cafe but my computer wasn't charged and I couldn't plug it in so I didn't get much time in. Later we walked around Alexanderplatz to find an ATM.


our apartment

We had our first dinner in the new apartment this evening...a simple brown-rice-veggie-stirfry thing. The apartment is extremely simple and very modern-sleek. All the appliances are very small but sufficient for two.


our bathroom

There is a small washing machine in the bathroom by the toilet.


out kitchen

There is a very small dishwasher (about 18" wide) in the kitchen and the fridge looks like an extra wide cabinet (on the right) underneath the counter.

We spent the evening rearranging what furniture already existed in the front room; a large desk, a sofa/futon, and a small kitchen table with two chairs. We are ploanning a trip to IKEA tomorrow and needed to make a list of what we needed.

from Nov. 19th, 2007: Leaving the USA

R and I arrived at the St. Louis airport about 9am, the suggested 3 hours early for our noon flight.

St. Louis --> Cincinnati
Cincinnati --> NYC-JFK

Today is also our 8-year anniversary. I can't say that this was entirely planned, since the official date of our anniversary has always been a point of loving contention, but as of this trip we researched the 1999 calendar and agreed to make this the official date...so now we make this move with added unexpected significance.

This is really happening. (!!!)

NYC-JFK --> Berlin (Tegel) DE

...our new home.