Frohes Neues Jahre!

It's 2012 and we are all still here.  Maybe they just ran out of space on that Mayan calendar, or maybe we have managed, as a species, to shift our own destiny.  Whatever the reason for the delay of armageddon, Hallo and happy new year!  We made it!
Last night there were many hundreds (if not thousands) of parties in Berlin.  The streets sounded like a war zone, full of gunshots and explosions that shook the windows of my room and later Robert's apartment.  Of course, there is no war going on here, but boy do these Berliner's love their fireworks! 
It was a quiet day yesterday despite the racquet outside.  The morning found a simple Früstück around 1 pm (late for breakfast, I know) and then me teaching Robert basic swing dancing in the kitchen.  Daniel came over at 3 and we had a brief meeting about the workshop we are teaching next Saturday.  I am a little nervous that we will have to cancel due to low enrollment.  Still, we have almost a week.  We need to have 7 more people sign up in order not to cancel.
I tried to go buy coffee beans for my house only to find that Nadia und Kosta, the cafe near Nöldnerplatz, was closed for the holiday.  If you live in Berlin or are just visiting and want a nice, quiet out of the way cafe with free WLAN, Nadia und Kosta is wonderful,  They have a comfortable and relaxed setting and the coffee is excellent.  So I tried the Netto Supermarkt, which was closed at 5 pm due to it being Silvestr (New Year's Eve.)  Hmph!
Daniel took off to go work the coat check at a party and I ambled around this place that has been my home for the past two months.  I'm moving to Kruezberg tomorrow, into an arrangement I am really hoping works out.  In exchange for my own room and bathroom with shared living room I will give 15 hours of childcare services a week.  The family lives upstairs in a separate flat.  I have my own buzzer and entrance .  In fact, the two flats are physically connected to each other.  My flat comes with a portable 2-burner electric stove and a small fridge as well, so I can make small meals and coffee.  I am hoping to find a WG  (a community living space, like a flat with roommates) without too many rules or roommates by April.  Three months of work exchange instead of rent will be very nice, and maybe I will want to stay even longer!  Who knows?
I got to Robert's around 7:30 that evening and brought a few bottles of wine.  It was unclear as to whether there would be several people there or only Robert and I.  Sam (my friend form the States who is leaving on the 3rd) came over around 8:30, at which point he and I practiced our German.  Note, it is only around 9:30 and we are all quite sober.  It's just more fun to play drunk. 

Thankfully, Robert is as much of a partypooper as I am.  Excuse me for being a grown up, but I just see no reason to go out and get ridiculously wasted and dance until 5 am just because it's New Year's Eve.  Sometimes, I enjoy staying up until dawn, but I don't see why I should be obligated to just because of some stupid Holiday.
Sam went to watch the fireworks at the Reichstag, which was supposedly the largest gathering of people in the world.  Robert and I sat on the couch and watched "Bitter Moon," a 1992 film by Roman Polanski.  A good movie, but not exactly of the feel good variety. It reminded me of Last Tango in Paris, but even more macabre.
At midnight, we have to stop the movie because outside it sounds like world war III and we can't hear a thing.  Ollie, Robert's roommate, barges into the room and we all clink glasses and say "Proust!"  And that was that.  2012.  Woo.
It rained last night, or at least in between the time I went to bed around 2 and when I woke up around 12:30.  On my way to the U-7, I passed a small bit of nature on Reuterstraße.  Even in a big city such as this, Mother Earth prevails, and I love that.
As for resolutions, mine are simple:
1) Sprechen Duetsch mehr.
2) Have at least one official freelance job in Germany so I can open a bank account
3) Get to a level of German where I can read an adolescent book, such as "Pippi Langstrumfen."
4) Write more, and with more care.
5) Make one good, new, polished performance, even if it is short.

It seems that I can finally focus on German!  And if I can become more fluent, this will surely lead to money!
Happy New Year!

Mushrooms for the New Year.  Is it just me, or are they wickedly suggestive?

USA vs. Deutschland: Practical and Cultural Differences

Silver Future, Neukölln, Monday Night

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's Monday evening, just after 7, and I'm sitting in Silver Future, my favorite queer cafe in Berlin, sipping a mixbier (light beer with lemon and sugar) slowly, trying to kill time until I go to the Sandmann around 9 pm to meet Annette and Sara, two of the artists I ocassionally model for.  I've got some studying to do for my German class and a hat to finish, but I thought I'd make another list first.  This one is:

Practical and Cultural Differences: How Berlin is Different than the San Francisco Bay Area

 

1. Alcohol is not taboo in Germany.  You can go into a Spätkauf (convenience store), but a beer, open it in the store and walk down the street drinking it.  You can also ride the Bahn with an open container. No one cares.  Surprisingly, things don't get too out of hand.  Folks are, for the most part, responsible with their drinking in public (comparatively.)  I think I could live here for 20 years and the thrill of walking down the street with a completely visible open container of alcohol would never wear off.

2. Dogs may ride public transit unmuzzled.  People are expected to take responsibility for their animal companions in public.  Can you imagine?

3. Police, Ambulance, and Fire Engine Sirens sound different

 German Siren  

American Siren

4. You don't get free plastic bags at the Supermarket. You are expected to bring your own bags to the grocery store.  If you forgot, you can buy a plastic bag for a few Euro cents.  The exception to this is the many Turkish groceries around.  They will put your things in plastic bags for free.

5. You have to request ice in your beverage. That's right! Whether it's water, OJ, or Cola, you must specifically request that you want ice or you don't get any!  The exception may be McDonald's, but I haven't been to a McDonald's in Deutschland, so I don't know.

6. You cannot buy baking soda in the grocery store.  You can buy Back Pulver, which is a combination of Baking Soda, Baking Powder, and maybe some salt or sugar.  But pure Baking Soda, called NatriumHydrogenCarbonat, you must buy in an Apotheke (pharmacy.)  And it ain't cheap!  It's sold for health problems and also cleaning.  Lately, it's really helped me with stress-related stomach issues.

7. One is not expected to smile all the time.  I have heard that many people find this disconcerting, but I love it.  People don't expect you to be happy all the time and they don't smile at you if they don't totally mean it.  I love this.

8. You can get cash back for your beer and soda bottles at the grocery store.  You can collect all your glass beer and soda bottles and take them to the supermarket, put them in a little machine, and get a reciept that you take to the cashier and then you get money!

9. The majority of smokers use rolling tobacco, not pre-rolled cigarettes. The smoking culture here is very interesting. Some people have fancy little kits of rolling tobacco, papers and matches or a lighter that they tote around with them.  Folks will ask each other for a cigarette and then they have to sit there and roll it.  Conversations start.  It creates more sharing, I think.  You have to think about how much tobacco you need to get through the day, week, etc instead of just looking at the number of cigarettes you have and then deciding to share or not share.

10. You can get better food for less money.  I love the visible drinking without societal shame.  I love not feeling a societal pressure to look happy when I'm not, but possibly my absolute most favorite thing about day-to-day life in Berlin is that food is CHEAP!  Fast food, like McDonald's and Burger King are actually relatively expensive, but when you can go to the grocery and a few days worth of food for 7€ or less, that's a good feeling.  Meat and fish can be expensive, but vegetables, cheese and eggs are relatively cheap.

and finally,

 

11. (This list goes to 11.)  Fresh bread is easy to get, and just as cheap, if not cheaper, than packaged bread!  At Lidl, which is an inexpensive chain grocery in Deutschland, the actually make the bread there (I think) and you can get it while it's still warm.  And it is CHEAP! A little roll (called a schrippe) is 0,15€. A loaf of fresh bread with sunflower seeds all over it is just over 2€.  Incredible!  Mmm, bread!

I did not take this picture.  I ripped it off of some webpage.  I keep forgetting to take my camera to the grocery store.  But soon, I promise.  Americans, prepare to be amazed.

If you think my observations are inaccurate or want to add your own observations, I would love to have your thoughts in the comments

Fact or Fiction: Six American Stereotypes about Germans

TV Tower with Menacing Clouds

I've been in Berlin awhile and have decided to stay.  Life has normalized itself and I have switched modes, from a traveling troubadour to a struggling artist and language student.  Though I still can't understand a lot of what is being said, my Deutsch is generally good enough to get around (get directions to a place, find what I need at a store, ask how much something costs, etc.)  I have begun to ask people working in cafes and bakeries to speak to me in German instead of English.  (Berlin is very accommodating to the English speaking world.  This is a good or a not-so-good thing, depending on your perspective, but I'm not going to get into that now.)
I really enjoy making lists, so I thought I would make a few!  The following is a list of stereotypes that Americans have about Germans and whether they are (in my experience) Fact or Fiction.  Coming soon, cultural differences you wouldn't think about if you weren't here

And now:
American Stereotypes about Germans, Fact and Fiction

1. The trains run on time
Fiction. While the Bahn system is quite reliable in Berlin, it is quite often that the S and U Bahn will be a few minutes late.  Also the buses, while more reliable than the SF MUNI, seem to show up when they want to.  It is always around the time they are scheduled, but they may be a few minutes early or late.  The night bus, which runs all night during the weekdays after the trains shut down, really tends to have a schedule of it's own that has not so much to do with any printed information.

2. The German language is harsh sounding and ugly.

Fiction. While the German language has many sharp consonants and uses a few sounds we don't use in the English language, I actually find the Deutsch language gentle.  Of course any language is going to sound harsh when it is spoken like this:

 

4. Germans are always on time

Fiction. Oh, the falseness of this.  Again, I can only speak of Berlin, but in my experience, the German people in this city have only a slightly more rigid idea of what it means to be on tme than they do in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Then again, I don't know anyone with a 9 to 5 office job here, so I may be wrong.  But to my foreign sensibilities Berlin seems a very relaxed place.

5. Germans have no sense of humor

Fiction. This is a very common stereotype that is simply not true.  Not one little bit.  The German sense of humor, much like the British sense of humor, is dry and somewhat satirical  Then again, a lot of downright silly.  I know a lot of Germans who have a terrific sense of humor.  This country has a long history of clowning and comedy.  One of the great German comedians, Loriot, recently died, but here is a sample of his work:

 

6. Germans are rude and unfriendly.

Fiction. German culture is direct.  Many Americans may mistake this directness for rudeness; however this is simply not the case.  Rudeness, to me, implies a sort of judgement, while directness is simply the easiest way to say what you want to day.  An example of this would be this morning when I brought my friend his laptop.  He was in his bedroom and the computer was on the kitchen table, resting on a piece of bubble wrap.  I neglected to bring him the bubble wrap as well.  While one of my American friends might have said, "Can you get the bubble wrap as well?  It keeps the computer from overheating because the fan is on the bottom of the machine," Robert said, "Oh, no.  This is wrong.  I need the bubble wrap also because otherwise the computer gets too hot." And he pointed to the vent on the bottom of the electronic device.  

A month and a half ago, I would have felt scolded.  (I am occasionally still overly sensitive to this cultural abruptness, but I like it.)  But my friend was not judging me, he was just explaining my error and why the padding was necessary.

Traveling really forces one to look at their stereotypes in a critical manner. I suggest it to everyone.