Killah in Germany

Straight Chillin in Berlin

Here are more pics of what I have been up to in the last week or so. I didn't intend on this being a photo blog, but I think it actually goes over better, considering that most people probably don't wanna read about my "feelings" or whatever, and probably are ready for me to get on with it and just show some freakin' photos already. Which, it must be said, I wholeheartedly agree with! Because once I'm done with captioning all the photos and filling in the missing bits with text snippets, I don't feel like doing a lot of introspection. I mostly feel like drinking a bier.

It's not St. Patrick's Day, but you can drink a green Waldmeister-flavored Berliner Weisse... if the weather's hot enough.

So, to recap, I've been in Berlin for a week and a half now. I've been doing my best to settle in and make this place my (temporary, maybe) home. This has required some amount of getting over myself in the sense that I don't like speaking in German to Germans I don't already know. It's weird, it's a whole thing. Basically I'm afraid I'll say something incorrectly or imperfectly, and then they'll know I'm a foreigner, and to that end a STUPID foreigner because I said something that sounded stupid. Which is easy to do, because the grammatical structure of the German language is complicated enough that you can mess up every time you come to a noun if you don't know the gender of the noun! And that is the very beginning of my linguistic worries! Because once I mess up, my self-editor kicks in in my head, and says, "Idiot! You said that very incorrectly!" and all of a sudden I'm concentrating on how I should have said what I just said instead of concentrating on what I'm actually saying, which causes me to make another mistake, and then I start to freeze up altogether and turn an embarrassing shade of red. It is the complete opposite when I talk to foreigners: I usually am, at the very least, on the same level of capability as them in German, and all of this nonsense goes away. So, my three tricks to getting over this anxiety:
1. Remind myself I am just fine at German. (After all these years of learning/studying the language, I should very well hope so.) The main thing is that we can at least communicate, and I can adequately get my point across.
2. Pretend I am speaking English, which makes it less about proving myself, somehow. Since I am past the point where I translate things back into English in my head, this works. Similarly: pretend the German is not a native German speaker.
3. Ask myself, "What is the worst that can happen if this exchange does not go perfectly?" If the answer is better than "You will end up shot or in jail, or both," then I figure things are gonna be A-OK.

Another thing I'm getting better at is not being lazy. It's basically because here I have so much time to do things that I'm not stressed out by the prospect of starting new projects and seeing them to completion. There is no busy schedule to work around. This is basically vacation, and I'm adjusting to it, and it's getting progressively more awesome. The laziness isn't about not getting out of bed, or not tidying up - it's about that impulse to not do something just because it sounds like too much work, when really it isn't. I'd compare it to opening a new webpage in Firefox: I almost always look for an old tab that I no longer need and use that to find the webpage I want, instead of just opening a new tab. Why do I do that?? It's not like opening a new tab is any more or less difficult! Gah!

Anyway, I said I wasn't going to write about my feelings, and then I wrote about my feelings. Whatever, you can always just skip to the photos if you get bored with reading. Starting where we left off the last time, here are some pics from Berlin. The first 3 are from the path along the canal, which stretches east-west throughout the city. It has become my jogging route until I find a gym that will give me a good price for a 2-month stay. Man, I really hate jogging. But without the Seattle hills to bike up, my leg muscles are turning to mush and I can already sense I've gained weight. No good, man, no good. Either Berlin needs to grow a few hills, or I need to buy a fixed-gear.

Sunset over the trees, tourist boat in sight

My jogging path along the canal

Sunset over the canal

Oh, dude, it's like German Gasworks.

On Easter Sunday, I set out on my bike to meet up with Jessica and her family. I didn't know where they would be or what they would be doing, so I simply headed out, cell phone in hand, thinking I would go towards their neighborhood and call them en route. Strangely enough, they just happened to be biking down the same street as me in the opposite direction! So we joined forces and biked to a cafe to enjoy the sunshine and some food.

Daddy Ralf and Vivienne at Salon Schmück

She definitely wants down.

"Look what I found!"

This is Vivienne showing you something: palm up, hooting noise. Adorable!

"Gonna go water some plants, BRB". Direct quote

Another "Baby, Bike, Berlin" video:


We spent the rest of the afternoon at Görlitzer Park, watching Vivi play in the sand and relaxing in the sunshine. Then we went back to the apartment where they were staying and made a veggie/polenta dinner of deliciousness. By the time we were done, it was dark and time for me to say my farewell to the trio, as they left the next day for home. Hope you guys enjoyed your stay in Berlin!!

More solo exploration of the city:

For all you Munich lovers. Either a Berliner posted this ironically, or somebody from Munich totally tagged Berlin.

This bridge is usually taken over by people on a nice warm night. Take that, cars!

I really love this canal, apparently!

Buildings along the canal

My friend Albi from Regensburg arrived on Tuesday last week and helped me to orient myself and meet some folks, as he lived in Berlin for 3.5 years before moving away last autumn.Of course the first night we wanted to go do something with his friends, we were treated to a giant thunderstorm.

Waiting out the rain, causing us to be fashionably late to the meetup point.

This is a bar on Kottbusser Tor. The squirrel made me think of the Dray.

These stickers are all around my neighborhood.

We went to a Trader Joe's-themed bar, OH NOES

Chi and Christian at the (not seriously) Trader Joe's-themed bar

Albi and I. The place was called Tiki Heart.

Under the U1. "U" stands for underground, so I think this makes me ultra-super-meta, somehow.

A concert I will not be attending on May 14.

On Thursday, Albi and I got our cameras out and went to the middle of the city. Honestly, I haven't done much traveling in Berlin, since I have seen most, if not all, of the big tourist attractions during my previous 8 visits here. But we spontaneously decided to take bus route 100, which is a normal city bus but is famous for passing all the major tourist hotspots in Berlin. We hopped off on the Museumsinsel (museum island), where there are 5 museums, all on one island. I recently found out that each Thursday, state-run museums have extended hours and are free starting 4 hours prior to close. So this has become my Thursday assignment! (We didn't go on this day because the weather was too nice to justify it.)

Berliner Dom to the left, Fernsehturm on the right

If someone knows how to photoshop that head out, this would be a perfect shot.

Pergamonmuseum

Real people with fake people statues

I thought it was creepy! Or creepy enough to creepily photograph.

Meta. again.

The sign says to not leave your bikes in this area. I took this photo after I watched a mother tell her kids to put their bikes right there. Apparently, the ability to *not* read signs is universal.

Sunset over the Spree, looking west from the Oberbaumbrücke

Medusa faces in Friedrichshain

So it's possible I might have a job. It's too soon to tell. Basically the girl whose room I am renting for the next two months offered me her job while she is away. She works at a kid's second-hand clothing and toy store, run by her mother. On Saturday I went to check out the shop, which is on the other side of town in Charlottenburg. It is called "Frechdachs", which is a hard word to say in German if you are a native English speaker, and equally hard to understand when someone tells you about it over the phone. Anyway, I went and sat for a few hours with the girl whose apartment I am renting, and whose job I might get, and she showed me the shop and we talked about children's clothing sizes and coffee and how weird it is that I am basically stepping in as her replacement while she is away in Spain.

Translates to "Cheeky Monkey" or "Rascal". I did not know that until about 2 minutes ago. Thanks, Google!

Biking home, I passed the Technical University of Berlin, which is where Albi studied. I also stopped at Mehringdamm which is the site of both Berlin's best Döner Kebap and Currywurst. Hard choice, but I went for the Kebap, and boy, was it worth the 20-minute wait in line. If you come to Berlin, do not miss the chance to eat at Mustafa's Gemüse Kebap. Side note: You would think 4pm would be a completely reasonable off-time to go visit a restaurant, even a very popular one, but several factors contributed to a long wait: 1. Saturday. 2. only 2 people manning the small street booth. 3. so many people stay up late here on weekends that 4pm is a perfectly reasonable lunch time.

A sign that indicates impending deliciousness.

Biking to the park with a döner in my basket. Please do not interpret that as innuendo.

Giant white hand, giant amazing sandwich.

Can't bike home without stumbling upon a large ornate church. Good ol' Germany pulls through again.

On Saturday night, Albi's friends threw a BBQ near their dorm. The German word for BBQ is "Grillparty", and the verb is "grillen", as in: "We're going grillin." I have to say, I really like this way of saying it, as it is much more precise (not every BBQ involves actual BBQ-ing, you know), and it sets itself into English well. I also was proud of my choices for grillables: I brought Hallumi cheese, pineapple slices, tomatoes, and rolls. These made amazing little sandwiches that tasted not unlike Hawaiian pizza.

On the way to the Grillparty, looking at the sunset and the Siegessäule, one of my fav landmarks because I like saying it aloud.

Meat Grillparty

The one guy with the long metal stick kept coming over to the vegetarian grill and stealing vegetables

BBQ directly on the Spree River

Guitar playing by candlelight

The wind continued to blow these out, but we wouldn't take the hint.

Attentive audience, listening to this guy play guitar:

Then we went across town to check out a bar in Friedrichshain called Geronimo.

Albi on the U-bahn

Proof that German hipsters exist! They are all over Berlin! Check out that hat and those glasses, and that SWEATER!

OK, so next we have May Day, also known as International Labourer's Day. This day is celebrated in Berlin with a streetfair by day that involves music and beer and lots of crowds. It is then followed after dark by a demonstration that involves riot police and hoards of punks and bottle-throwing. Let's start with the daytime festivities.

Listening to German hiphop. Notice the old lady who is also captive to the dazzling display of lyrical genius.

More people looking out more windows!

A sample of the aforementioned dazzling display. I wish I could not make fun of this but I simply cannot help myself:

Just straight chillin.

Sunshine was important on this day. The minute you stepped into the shade, it was COLD.

"Another world is possible."

A kid-friendly event... by day.

Rusty bike! I have a hard time believing this kid could even ride such a POS. I saw him twice and he was walking it both times, but that could have been due to the crowds.

Ian displays some of the chicken he bought.

This guy was pushing around his kid in a stroller and drinking beer.

More looking out from windows. I can't tell if these people are angry about the raucous festival happening below, or they just like to watch it.

Us just hanging out, watching people run around

We guessed she was American. We were right.

Ian and Ebe are also from Seattle! BOOM!

Albi getting sleepy

On our way to the demo

Once night fell, the demonstration began. I'd never actually seen riot police in person, and it was scary to watch them march through the crowd. I heard a few bottles break, and got nervous a few times when the crowd would start to scatter in response to an offense, but it was pretty low-key overall. Good for my first time out at a demonstration, as I am not interested in getting arrested (which happens every year on this day, as I've been told). We left pretty quick, and read in the news the next morning that nothing big had happened. In previous years, cars have been overturned/burned, but not this time.

Can I get arrested for taking pictures?

I don't think I'm allowed to be doing this.

Well, that's all for now. I just moved to my new place today, which consisted of two 10-minute trips on a bicycle. If only all my moves were this easy! Course, it's only made possible by the fact that I am continually borrowing other people's furniture. All I have is a backpack full of clothing and a laptop, along with my violin. I'll make sure to take pics of my new room and upload those in the next post.

I hope you all are well, and would enjoy hearing from you in any myriad of ways (Facebook, Gmail, message in a bottle...), or you can leave comments here. OH! Or you can send me mail here:

Kyla Linnenkohl
Taborstr. 7
10997 Berlin
Germany

If you message me with your address, I will send you a postcard. Love to you all!

posted by Kyla @ 18:19