Ich habe eine Frage

Ich habe eine Frage = I have a question

It's strange to think that Jack and I have nearly reached the halfway point of our time in Berlin. On one hand, it seems like so long ago that we were living in DC; on the other, it feels like we just got here. The point of my blog (if there is one), is two fold. One, to document my experience here in Berlin so that when I am old and grey, I can read this and remember my time here. Two, to relay what's going on with all of you fine people. Hopefully, I am giving you some insight as to how people live in Berlin and what our experiences are like. However, I cannot blog about every single thing, and I know that many of you have questions about Germany, life here, etc... This is where you come in. I am asking you to send me your questions or what you would like to know more about. Whatever you want to know, ask me! I will post all of your questions and their answers in future blog posts.

I think I fixed the comment section of this blog. Feel free to write questions in the comment section, or email me srgarratt73@gmail.com. Facebook works too!

Looking forward to your questions and wonderings!

A Cold Weekend in Dresden

Altstadt

Altstadt - Old City (old sights)
Neustadt= New City (new, trendy, more modern)

Jack and I took a long weekend trip to Dresden.  Dresden is quite an interesting city. Sadly, it was almost completely leveled in an aerial bombing back in 1945, but it still tries to keep some of its historic look. Jack and I were surprised, however, that almost no where in the city itself are there plaques or signs to commemorate their history. In Berlin, signs are everywhere of its history, but in Dresden, unless you visit their museum, there is no evidence of what happened to the city.
That being said, even though it was freezing cold, Dresden is a gorgeous city that we enjoyed seeing. Here's what we did:

Thursday: 15°F, snowing, grey skies 

• Took the train into Dresden
• Walked around Altstadt, bought tickets in the nose-bleed section to tonight's opera (Barber of Seville)
• Sat and ordered coffee in a coffee shop
• Jack felt sick --> went back to Hostel (Will he make it to the opera?)
• Jack getting sick and napped, Sarah went to Apotheke to get medicine (Should we return the tickets?)
• Almost opera time. Jack decided that he felt well enough to go
• Quickly ate dinner at Nordsee (a Panera-styled cafe, only with fish)
• Saw opera; left at intermission



A night at the Opera

Friday: 10°F, snowing, grey skies; Happy Birthday, Bro!

Altstadt

• Walked into Frauenkirche (church that was bombed, leveled, and rebuilt in 1945).
• Went across bridge to Neustadt
• Strolled along the river bank
• Got lost around Neustadt
• Went to the creepy Hygiene Museum (which was a museum dedicated to creeping you out with all kinds of health issues; diseases, viruses, private parts, oh my!)
• Discovered through a heat camera that Sarah literally has little heat going through her body. Jack's body was oranges and reds, Sarah's was purples and blues with one or two splotches of orange
• Went to the Hostel bar to have a drink in honor of my Bro's birthday. Had a glass of amazing Merlot
• Ate dinner at a cute restaurant near the Frauenkirche. I ordered delicious Fischtopf (Fish stew), but ate it too quickly to take a picture. Jack had some yummy crepes.

Saturday: 7°F, grey skies, lots of ice, some wind

• Toured the Green Vault, a museum dedicated to treasures, jewelry, and pretty things

  

  Preparing for the Cold

• Walked across the river to Neustadt
• Discovered the Kunsthofpassage, a little courtyard nook with interesting architecture, quaint restaurants, and crafty stores
• Lunched at Lila Soße, a restaurant that displays all of their meals in jars (see "Food Porn")
• Froze while walking to a famous Dairy Market (Molkerei). 
• Coffee and Quarktorte (Quark cake, like a light cheesecake) at Pfunds Molkerei (see "Food Porn")
• Froze on walk back to Hostel, but had some interesting conversations about zoos, what color shutters we want on our future house, and wondering why it was so freakin' cold
• Happy Hour at our hostel again. That Merlot was wonderful
• Ate dinner at the same restaurant. The Fischtopf was that delicious.



Kunsthofpassage

• Wordament (online boggle) tournament in the hostel. Jack put in a good effort, but he got his butt kicked.

Sunday: 10°F, sunny, and blue skies

• Once again, walked along the Neustadt river bank to get a nice picture of Altstadt
• Jack put his hand in the Elbe River; apparently, the Elbe River was the line that separated states with serfdom and those without back in the 1400s. He was happy.
• Walked back to hostel to thaw and wait the awkward time we had before our train left.
• Walked to the Dresden Hauptbahnhof (main train station) to grab lunch and go back to Berlin.
• Ordered Subway. Shocked to learn that they only had Honey mustard and no other mustards. This is Germany! Subway should have more mustards to offer!
• Had a cabin all to ourself on the train ride home where we stretched out and enjoyed the German countryside.
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  
  

Our first real day of white stuff of the year

The Ring

Exploring a new city is like a puzzle to me. I gradually collect more and more pieces, slowly figuring out how the whole puzzle connects. Berlin for me is still a very unfinished puzzle, but today, many pieces were both collected and connected.

After babysitting almost every day and evening this week, I felt the need to get out and do something with Jack. What can I say? I hadn't seen him much this week, and missed the guy. However, while we wanted to do something, it was (and still is), freakin' cold. The air and wind was raw and cold, the sky was grey, and it was not pleasant to be out in. That's when Jack had the brilliant idea of riding The Ring line of the S-bahn (metro). 

The Ring is a line that goes around all of Berlin's main, Zone A area. It takes about an hour (perhaps a little more) to go around. It goes to the east, west, north, and south, and lets you see different perspectives and new sections of the city. We saw lots of graffiti, factories, and large Home Depot-like stores. We saw the backs of nice apartment buildings. We saw the side of Treptow Park and another entrance to Templehof Park. On a clear day, you can see the Fernsehturm Tor, but it was covered in fog and the greyness of the day. I tried taking pictures, but with the fast moving train and the reflections from the window, it was hard. This Guy has some pretty good pictures, if you want to see more of what we saw.

Somewhere in Charlottenburg

Somewhere in the West 

This one's cute!

Freaky billboard. Does she freak you out too?

Templehof. You can see people flying their kites!

Give me a High Five #4: Letzte Woche

letzte - last
Woche - week

I've been racking my brain for the last few days, trying to think about what to write for my next blog post. Many people (ok, really just meine Mutti), will often comment when I have not blogged in a while. Some weeks, there is a lot to write about. Others, like this past week, there is very little. Call this a cop-out if you want, but this post will be a list of 5 things that I did this week. There is no particular order to the list, nor is this everything that we did... just whatever pops into my head first!

1. I made biscotti for the first time. For my first ever biscotti experience, I made a basic (but delicious!) Polenta Biscotti. Can't wait to try some other recipes!

2. Jack and I spent our Saturday with friends, playing the expansion version of Carcassonne. For once, I won! Our friends made some yummy chili for lunch, followed by a fresh fruit salad. We then went to Dussmann's, where I bought the 5th Game of Thrones (Dance With Dragons) book. After, we went to the cafe on the bottom floor of Dussmann's, enjoying tea, coffee, or beer.

3. I babysat...a lot.

4. Had my last evening German class. I really enjoyed the people that were in my class, but with the babysitting that I am doing, it is too hard to keep up with the evening classes. Once Jack and I get back from Dresden, I am planning on enrolling in the intensive morning classes; 5 days a week, 3 hours of German. That's a lot of Deutsch.

5. For Christmas, Jack and I received "Big Boggle" (Thanks, Sandy!). Boggle is one of my all time favorite games, mainly because it's one of the few games that I actually win. Jack and I have been playing Big Boggle on a nightly basis right after dinner. While he has won a round or two, he is getting destroyed in the others. Oops :)

Bonus:
I'm adding a #6 because this happened 2 weeks ago, so technically it doesn't count. I added another page to my blog all about the weather. I'm keeping track of how many Awesome, Medium, and Absolutely Sucky days we have, in case you're interested. Also, if you look to the right -->
I created an "Updates" section that says when each page has been updated.

Are we immune?

scharf = spicy

Jack and I love eating different ethnic foods. Back in the US, it was not uncommon for us to eat Mexican, Indian, Greek, and Asian in the same week. I love experimenting with food and cooking with a wealth of ingredients.

One thing that I love to cook with is spice, and when I say spice, I mean the hot and spicy kind. This means chilies from all levels on the Scoville Scale, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, Hot Sauce, Siracha sauce...you name it, I've used it or have an intension to do so. I say that I have an intension to do so, because there is no way that I can experiment with spicy flavors in Deutschland.

I don't quite understand why there is a word for "spicy" in german, because none of their foods are. In fact, today I was grocery shopping at the turkish grocery store, where I found a bunch of chilies labeled "SCHARF!!!", written in large, capital, red, underlined, and highlighted letters. The sign even had fire drawn around it. "Score!" I thought to myself, and I loaded up on the chilies. I brought them to the man who weighs the produce, and he seemed worried.

Turkish Grocer: "Sie kochen mit scarfer Paprika? Und essen Sie sie?" 

(You cook with these chilies? And you eat them?") 

Me: "Ja!" I said proudly. "Ich bin stark! Es ist kein problem!"  

(Yes! I am strong! It's not a problem!)

The Turkish grocer raised his eyebrows, shook his head as if saying "Good luck," and gave them back to me.

Naturally, Jack, seeing the chilies, got very excited and wanted to cook them in his lentil recipe right away. Jack has his lentil recipe down to a science, and when there is a heat added to the mix, it is one of my favorite meals. He carefully chopped up the chilies, put them into a mix of spices, onions, ginger, garlic, and oil. He boiled the lentils along with some rice. Finally, the cooking was finished, and Jack sat down with his lentil lunch (I already ate, or else I would have had some too!) He took a bite. Then a second. Then a third. "Is it spicy?" I asked. He felt his forehead (Jack's indicator for spicy food. If a food is spicy, his head sweats...don't ask), and it was "dewey", or "glistening." He tried taking more bites. "I dunno," he said. "I mean, there's a zing, but it's not spicy."

WTF? Are we just immune to all of the spice here? Or did we abuse spicy foods so much back home that we have no more taste buds? Either way, we have yet to find the heat that is so easily found in the US. Perhaps we are not looking in the right places? Deutschland, where are you hiding all of your spicy food?

That. Was. Awesome!!!

Silvester = New Year's Eve

People brag about New Year's Eve in NYC, Sydney, and Edinburgh. The fireworks are great, timed with live music from whatever band or singer is popular at the time. People sing Auld Lang Syne without knowing any of the words. Champagne corks pop everywhere to toast to the new year. People kiss their loved ones on camera. It's all amazing and festive and wonderful because it's televised. People everywhere watch Times Square or the Sydney Harbor's fireworks because of their grand production. Well, my friends, these major cities may have great televised programs to watch for New Year's Eve, but Berlin's Silvester far outranks anything that I have ever seen. Why? Because there no rules, no fire codes, and no one getting in one's way of having a good time.

Jack and I spent our Silvester with our "family away from home," a couple that we met from the US who we have spent the holidays with. Since their apartment is a nice 20-30ish minute walk, Jack and I decided to walk. However, we did not realize that you have to walk through a war zone to get anywhere outside. You see, Germany does not seem to have any kind of firework regulations whatsoever. You can get the big ones that you see on TV, or small little poppers. And, you can set them off anywhere at any time. They would set them off right in front of you on the sidewalks, shooting them in every which way from their balconies, or right in the middle of the roads. The booms and bangs and flashing lights made one think that they were in a war, which, being in Berlin, is somewhat creepy.

We safely made it to our friend's home, where we each made something for dinner. I made a yummy Curried Squash Quinoa Soup, and our friends made an amazing middle eastern spread. All the while, fireworks were going off, not all at once, but enough for our eyebrows to rise and laugh in shock. After some beer, wine, and champagne, the clock read 11:58, and we put on our coats and went onto the balcony. That's when all hell broke loose.

Think of the finale of any firework show, but keep it going for 45 minutes. People were setting off fireworks like crazy, and they were right in our faces. There were times that we felt the need to duck because they were right over our heads! Not just dinky fireworks...I'm talking the ones that shoot high in the sky and when it goes off, is the big colorful ones that you see on TV. There were sparklers, noise makers, rockets, among many others. It. Was. Awesome! How cars were still driving, I have no idea.
This is a video that we found on youtube from 2012 to give you a sense of the chaos:

After about 45 minutes, it started to die down, and we went inside. A German tradition for the new year is to buy "jelly" filled doughnuts. Each person gets a doughnut, but the kicker is, is that one is filled with mustard. The person who gets the one filled with mustard supposedly has good luck for the year. Our friends bought some of these doughnuts, though the mustard ones were sold out. We had to find the Whisky filled one. After mixing them all up, we each grabbed one. It took us a while to figure out which one was whisky filled, but it turns out that it was mine! Good luck to me :)

Debris: New Year's Day

Debris: New Year's Day

Jack and I then braved the walk back to our apartment. Debris was everywhere. Using Jack's words, "Berlin shat on itself!" It was 2:30ish AM and people were still setting off their fireworks. Confetti, fireworks casings, glass, bottles, and champagne corks covered the roads. We arrived home with our ears ringing.

One last German tradition that Jack and I took part in and hope to bring back with us to the US is watching a video called "Dinner for One. This is a video that supposedly, every German knows and can quote verbatim. It's an English video about an old, wealthy, senile, woman, who has outlived all of her friends. Every year, on her birthday, she has a get-together with her "friends". Her butler, kind as he is, impersonates all of this woman's friends in this comedy routine. If you have some time today, I suggest watching it!

From Jack and myself, we hope that you all had a safe Silvester, and have a Happy 2014!!!!!!!!!!