Adventures / Abenteuer, Berlinale, & Kiezbingo

Last Friday night, all of us Hampshire kids decided that we were going to meet at Jed's apartment and cook dinner together. We made spaghetti (gluten free spaghetti for me, though) with tomato sauce and brussel sprouts, salad, and got some wine and beer to enjoy with it. Afterward, we all hung out and walked around Jed's neighborhood in Mitte a bit. We saw this awesome old squat that's famous for giving the police a hard time when they were trying to kick the squatters out - the fight included molotov cocktails, even - and is now a symbol of the squatter movement disappearing in Berlin.

Old squat in Mitte - "Wir Bleiben Alle" / "We're All Staying"

Saturday, Daniel got us tickets to a Berlinale (Europe's largest biannual film festival that just happens to be going on while we're here!) screening of Chris Eyre's movie Skins, based on the novel of the same name by Adrian C. Louis. The story is about a Native American reservation (meant to parallel the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation) in South Dakota, near the Nebraska boarder. I'd never heard of the film, and didn't know what to expect but ended up liking it over all.

Before we went to the movie, Daniel gave us a little tour of the former center of West Berlin, which included looking at a lot of really ritzy (or "chicky-mickey" in German) and expensive shops, an old bombed out church that was being renovated (but kept with parts of its towers missing), and other such places. We stopped and got currywurst on the street before going to the film, but it wasn't so great, which was disappointing since it was the first currywurst I had in Berlin. Something with the curry ketchup was funky. I wasn't a fan, and neither was Daniel.

Haus Der Berliner, where our Berlinale screening was.

After the film screening, we all walked around with Daniel from cafe to bar, bar to cafe, until we found a place to all sit and get something to eat and drink. Daniel lived here in the 80's and knows his way around pretty well. He was trying to take us to his old favorite hangouts, but they were all too full for all of us to sit down. We ended up at a cafe that he used to go to, though, and had a great meal and some beer (wine for me, though). At this point, I was exhausted and headed home straight afterward. (Daniel got us more Berlinale tickets for this Friday night. We're going to see Lovelace at the main theater in Potzdamer Platz!)

Sunday I hung in and napped a bit - I'm not used to these late nights here! - and then met up with Gina for dinner at a great Doyum restaurant at Kottbusser Tor. We had a fantastic dinner, and then I went home on the early side and went to bed. Here's a photo of Gina earlier in the week cooking dinner at my place, though. We were Americans attempting to cook Pad Thai in Germany, which we thought was pretty funny.

Gina cooking American Pad Thai in Germany

Me with the Kreuzberg punk statue after dinner.

Gina with the Kreuzberg punk statue after dinner.

Wednesday, we went on a tour of Kreuzberg with Robert, which I've already mentioned in detail in my last blog, and then on Friday we all met Daniel after Sprachenschule and went to a few museums to see some exhibits.

All on the double-decker bus heading to the museum.
(Jed and Jake)

Photography wasn't allowed inside, but I do have a photo of one sculpture that we saw together that day.

"For the victims of war and violence/tyranny" 

The first exhibit we went to see was a collection of art from all over Europe, I don't really remember what the exact theme of it or reason for it was, but it had a lot of neat pieces in it. It was nice having Daniel with us because he's not only an amazing artist himself (see here) but he also knows a lot about all different types of art. He was always on hand providing explanations and back stories to pieces, which was great! My favorite piece there was by an artist named Roman Opalka who started with a completely black canvas when he was young and begun, with white paint, to paint numbers 0 through infinity in order on the canvas. When he would finish with a canvas, he would get one that was 1% lighter than the last and start where he left off with his numbers on the last canvas. As he finished each canvas, he would take a photo of himself and keep the two together. He eventually did enough canvases to get all the way to the purest white and spent the last years of his life painting numbers, white on white. As his canvases grew greyer and then whiter, so did he, as was shown in his self portrait photographs. According to Daniel, he died in front of one of his paintings, making the last number he reached 88,000,000, which he liked because it symbolized the infinity sign turned sideways. Here is a photo of one of Opalka's canvases and some of his self portraits:

One of Roman Opalka's earlier canvases
(You can tell because it's still quite dark)

Roman Opalka's self portrait series

 This past Tuesday evening, my Mitbewohnerin, Christine, invited me to something called "Kiezbingo" at SO36 (the famous David Bowie/Iggy Pop place). I didn't know much going into it other than the fact that it was put on and run by drag queens, which sounded awesome. Jed and Kate ended up coming too, and we had a great time. They read the bingo numbers so fast! It was excellent practice with German numbers! Apparently, all of the proceeds of the night go to support local Kreuzberg charities, and all of the bingo prizes are donated by local Kreuzberg businesses. It was packed, and so much fun! It's the second Tuesday of every month and I'll definitely be going back.

(L to R) Christine, Me, Kate
At Kiezbingo, SO36

Kiezbingo, SO36
Sorry for the blurry phone photo.

My SO36 stamp - I've actually been to something there now! Woo!

Kate and Jed at Kiezbingo, SO36

After Kiezbingo, Christine went home because she had to go to work early the next morning, but Jed, Kate, and I met up with Nigel and we went to a bar near my house called "Zum Elefanten". It was fun. I had some awesome glühwein and we wanted to play billiards but got too nervous to ask the Germans who were dominating the table.

Zum Elefanten
(L to R) Jed, Nigel, Kate

Mmm... Glühwein.

I think that's all caught up for now! This is getting to be a whirlwind! There's so much going on and so little time to blog about it! I'm going to try my absolute best to write a new one every few days, though. Thanks for reading, and I can't wait to share more of my Berlin experience with you all!

FYI, I ended up getting much better currywurst a few days ago. And some Mezzo Mix, which is the best.

Good currywurst, and Mezzo Mix.

 Glad to hear that all of you New Englanders survived the snow - I'll admit, I miss it a little bit. Stay warm and take good care of each other!

Ciao!

Kreuzberg / X-Berg

Okay, so here's the long-awaited Kreuzberg blog. I apologize for not posting this a few days ago, I'm still exhausted and think it'll take me another week to fully get over my jetlag and used to the time change.

As I mentioned before, I'm living in Kreuzberg on Oranienstraße, which is arguably the most happening street in Kreuzberg. From what I can tell and have heard, my neighborhood is the "hippest" in Berlin and is thriving with independent businesses, incomparable nightlife, and great artists. Last week, Robert (who has lived in Berlin all of his life, including for some time in Kreuzberg) gave us a tour of Kreuzberg, and I thought I'd pass some of that experience along to help you all get more acquainted with my neighborhood.

When the Berlin wall was still standing, and was only a few blocks - in three different directions - from where I live now, Kreuzberg was the underground center of West Berlin. What I mean by "in three directions" is this: when the Berlin wall was built (in1961) it arbitrarily split the city in half in a way that made no sense at all in relation to how Berlin functioned as a whole. Tight-knit communities and neighborhoods (that would have been strategically kept together had someone with any knowledge of the city been in charge) were cut down the middle and disrupted basically overnight. Therefore, the Berlin wall did not even come close to being built in a straight line. Because of its jagged path, Kreuzberg just happened to be surrounded by the wall on three of its four sides, creating and thriving in its own little cove, with East Berlin so close that if you spun around with your eyes closed and threw a rock, it would most likely hit an East Berliner square in the forehead.

Throughout the 1970's and 1980's, Kreuzberg was known to be the center of the "alternative movement"and the Berlin squatters movement. It was especially cultivated as the center of Berlin's punk rock scene throughout the 80's. Kreuzberg was flooded with punk rock politics, music, and ways of life, and big names such as David Bowie and Iggy Pop visited places like Kreuzberg's still famous punk club, SO36, which stands for "Süd Ost 36"(this is important, I'll come back to it). Even though now Kreuzberg is still hip, punk, and full of night life (the largest punk rock label/center called "Core-Tex Records" is right downstairs from me) it is now widely known for being the home to many Turkish- and Kurdish- Germans. Many of these families moved to Germany because of Germany's deal with Turkey that involved them being sent guest workers to help rebuild the city after the war. There's a whole interesting history behind that, including immigration policy and the process to gain citizenship in Germany, but I won't go into that for now. For now, we'll talk about Kreuzberg.

Because these Turkish- and Kurdish- Germans make their homes and livelihoods in my area, there are lots of amazing small restaurants around. I've been eating like royalty. Falafel, döner, doyum, kebabs - you name it, the best of it is here. This is also not relevant to the history of Kreuzberg. I need to stop changing the subject.

Back to my mention of Süd Ost 36. Kreuzberg is divided into two parts: SO36 (Süd Ost 36/South East 36) and SW61 (Süd West 61/South West 61). I live in the SO36 area. SO36 is more of the grungy-hip area, while SW61 is more ritzy-hip. Apparently, people who live in Kreuzberg feel a strong connection and pride to whichever of these two zones they live in. There are stickers and t-shirts around my street that I see all the time that say "Kreuzberg 36" and other things like that. My personal favorite stickers in my area have also been these ones, I think they're really funny:

"Berlin liebt dich nicht" aka get out tourists.

I don't even really live in Kreuzberg 36, but I already feel an affinity towards it. I love my neighborhood, and every day I develop a stronger sense of belonging there. I'm proud of it, and am constantly thinking about how much I want to share it with my family and friends back home. I guess I'll just have to spend the rest of my life going on trips with people back to Kreuzberg so that I can show them the best falafel place, the lone punk statue in all of Berlin (and all of Germany?), and take them to SO36.

Here are some photos from all around Kreuzberg. I'll do my best to caption them and explain them so that they make some sense...

The neighborhood next to Kreuzberg (61) is called Neuköln. According to Robert, it's much better to be from Kreuzberg than Neuköln, but I don't exactly know why...? Anyway, Kottbusser Damm is the main street that divides Neuköln from Kreuzberg SW61. This is a shot of the Neuköln side of the street from the Kreuzberg side.

The Neuköln side of Kottbusser Damm (the street that my Sprachen Schule is on). 

Kreuzberg 61 is known for being a bit fancier than 36. According to Robert, a lot of university professors live there and the buildings are, for the most part, what they were before the war. There are some places that you can tell have been bombed out and were rebuilt in either the 70's or the 80's, though.

Kreuzberg SW61

Kreuzberg SW61
There are missing buildings that were bombed out during the war.
This one happened to have been turned into a little park.

Kreuzberg 61

Kreuzberg 61
You can tell that whatever was here was also bombed out during the war.
It looks like it was rebuilt in probably the 70's.

Kreuzberg 61
Apartments right on the canal.
All of these buildings are pretty much original.
You can see how ornate they are compared to the ones that have been rebuilt
(as well as the ones that are in Kreuzberg 36).

Kreuzberg 36 across the canal from Kreuzberg 61

 Once you walk over the canal, you can immediately feel the difference between the neighborhoods of Kreuzberg SW61 and Kreuzberg SO36. You leave the ornate facades for a more hand-painted, grungy kind of look.

Crossing the bridge from 61 to 36.

Kreuzberg 36
Hand painted buildings.
"It's so Kreuzberg 36."

Kreuzberg 36
According to Robert, all of the old punks from the 80's now own natural food stores
and restaurants like this one. This punk beet outside is kind of awesome.

Kreuzberg 36
The kpd/rz is an old political party from the late 1980's that was founded in Kreuzberg.
They no longer exist, but this was once their headquarters. The building and office remains untouched.

Kreuzberg 36
The only punk statue in Berlin (and maybe all of Germany?)
This is a good idea of exactly what the culture was like there during the 80's.

Punk statue close-up

Kottbusser Tor is the most main square that is close to where I live. The Kottbusser Tor U-Bahn stop is there, as well as my grocery store, some cafe's, a lot of little shops, many restaurants, etc.

Kottbusser Tor U-Bahn Station (U1)

Kottbusser Tor U-Bahn (U1) Station

Kreuzberg 36
A little square that's more my part of the neighborhood.

Kreuzberg 36
"Kreuzburger" burger joint and "SO36" - the famous punk club on Oranienstraße.

Kreuzberg 36
Square near my apartment.

On the 1st of May, 1987, there was a big, famous riot in Kreuzberg. Here's some info about it if you want to read more. There used to be a big grocery store across the street from my apartment that was where the main breaking-of-windows and robbery went down that year. From what I understand, this was due to raising rent in the area and frustrations had been building for a long time. Apparently, it is said that the younger people in Kreuzberg broke into this store and stole bread, which they then went out into the streets and handed out to older Turkish women, as a symbol of equality and sharing what rightfully belonged to all of them. The rioting got so bad that night that the Berlin police had to withdraw from Kreuzberg, leaving the neighborhood unattended and in riots all night. Since then, there is a demonstration every year in the square on Oranienstraße (where I live) on May 1st, commemorating these riots and what they stood for. Deciding what to do with the now burned-down famous old grocery store was a touchy subject for many years. If they rebuilt it, it would be a symbol of "trying to forget" or "covering up" the Kreuzberg riots. There were fears that whatever was put up there would again be torn down. Eventually, just a few years ago, a brand new mosque was built there - a new place for Kreuzberg's practicers of Islam that has had absolutely no problems whatsoever.

Kreuzberg 36
Mosque across the street from my apartment.
(Gölitzer Bahnhof U-Bahn (U1) stop in front)

Kreuzberg 36
An old church in that was basically right at the Berlin Wall when it still stood.

Kreuzberg 36
An old hospital that was right where the Berlin Wall was.
It had to be shut down because not enough patients were going to it anymore,
since it was blocked off by the wall.

Right downstairs from me is a punk rock record shop/record company called "Core-Tex Records". Robert says that Core Tex is THE place in Kreuzberg to go for the local music scene. They have a lot of goofy punk t-shirts in the window and I've yet to go in, but I think I'll buy an "Ick liebe Berlin" t-shirt before I leave (part of the famous Berliner dialect here is that instead of "ich" they say "ick").

Kreuzberg 36
Front of Core-Tex Records

Poster in the window of Core-Tex Records.
I just thought it was funny.

Alright, so that's a little bit of Kreuzberg. Now maybe you'll have a better idea of what my general area of Berlin is like. I've been writing this same blog over the course of almost a week now because I've just been so busy and tired that I haven't gotten an opportunity to properly sit down and finish it. I apologize. There are a lot of things that have happened in the past week that I'll try to fit into the next blog that I write... And I'm starting that one right now!

Also, Happy Valentine's Day!

In proper Berliner dialect (which also switches dative and accusative tenses), "Ick liebe dir!"

Wandering About / Herumziehend

Berlin seems to big and so small at the same time. I've been here for five days now and am starting to get a little bit more oriented, but learning this city is difficult. By learning I don't necessarily mean knowing which streets go where and which subway stops to get off at; I mean understanding how diverse Berlin is and beginning to understand how and why it functions. I will explain this later.

Until yesterday, I'd spent most of my time near my apartment in Kreuzberg (except for the night I went out to dinner with everyone in Mitte). It's not that I didn't want to explore, it was more that everything I could want or need is literally no further than within a three or four block radius. Oranienstraße is known for having lots of independent businesses, great restaurants, amazing cafes, and fantastic night life - what more could I need? I'm so close to Kottbusser Tor (which I've learned is referred to as "Kotti" by locals) and Gölitzer Bahnhof (called "Göli" by locals) that I have easy access to the U-Bahn (subway system), grocery stores, house ware stores, drug stores, everything! Even our Hampshire studio space is on my street, only a block down, and our language school is within walking distance for me.

Yesterday, after Sprachschule, I was planning on finding a book store where I could find an English dictionary and then heading home to have a low-key night in with some good homemade dinner and my Hausaufgaben (homework). When I left my class, though, I met up with some of the other Hampshire students - Jake, Jed, Nigel, and Xiyao - and we decided to go to Mitte for some lunch. We ended up at a really great little Turkish restaurant where we all got falafel, tea, and sat and chatted for a while. (I actually ended up meeting a girl from Canada there who seemed really nice. She's in Berlin alone for a year and has only been here for a few weeks. I invited her to eat with us, but she had gotten her food to go and was bringing it home for her host family. We exchanged email addresses, though, and maybe we'll get in touch and get to hang at some point.)

After lunch, we walked around Mitte a little bit and stopped off at Nigel and Jake's apartments for different reasons, and Xiyao went back to his place for the evening. Nigel, Jake, Jed and I decided that we were going to go to Potsdamer Platz and find the entrance to the Tiergarten (translates literally to "Animal Garden", but is Berlin's major park in the middle of the city). After a few S-Bahn and U-Bahn rides, we were in Potsdamer Plats (where we witnessed people setting up for Berlinale, which is the largest biannual film festival in Europe and begins tonight - link here - Daniel is trying to get us tickets to something for this weekend). We soon found the Tiergarten and headed inside. It was cold, but the park was nice. There are a lot of sculptures and monuments to see there. I'm looking forward to when the weather gets better and I can really walk around it and see everything in bloom.

We walked through the park for quite a while, and just as dusk was settling in we turned onto a path and saw the Siegessäule (Berlin Victory Column) straight ahead of us (if you feel like you've seen it in Wings of Desire, you have). I'd passed it in the car with Daniel on my first day, but now it was right in front of me and I couldn't wait to get closer and snag a better look. We saw it, but it was getting dark and was pretty cold and soggy outside. I decided that on a nicer day, I'd come back and get my touristy pictures of it (including myself in front of it).

The Victory Column from afar with Jake, Jed, and Nigel

The Victory Column from a little closer...

The Victory Column from much closer

I really want to see all that Berlin has to offer, but I also want to do it when I can really enjoy it and am not freezing my "Arsch" off. I've got some time here, I can afford to do that - but it also totally doesn't mean that I don't want to see it all. In fact, I made the poor guys trapse through the cold, wet park one more time so that we could go see the Brandenburger Tor (Brandenburg Gate) because they'd all seen it and I hadn't yet. By then it was getting pretty dark, though, and my toes were frozen. I took a couple of shots just on my phone, but will certainly be back on a warmer, sunnier day to get my fancy touristy shots and really take it in.

The Brandenburg Gate's back side (upon exiting the Tiergarten) 

The front side of the Brandenburg Gate

Now that it was really dark, I was pretty ready to go home and do my homework in the warmth of my room, but we were so close to Peter Eisenman's Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe (which is so fascinating - google it and check it out if you're interested) that I had to see it for a second, even if it was so dark that I couldn't really see it at all. I will also go back to this in warmer daylight.

A very dark view out of the center of The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Other things I want to do are go on a tour of the Reichstag (which I looked into and they are booked all the way through March already, so I made a reservation for then), check out Checkpoint Charlie, see Hanz Haacke's Denkzeichen für Rosa Luxemburg, the Volksbühne Theater, the list goes on. For now though, I'm happy having days like this one where we just went out and explored. It's fun running into things unexpectedly and learning about the city bit by bit, Überraschung by Überraschung.

Today, Robert took us on a great tour of Kreuzberg, but I don't want to tell you about that without any photos. I'm going to retrace some of our steps tomorrow so that I can get further in depth about where I'm living, the history here, and (as I mentioned before) how and why it functions.

For now, Gina and her Mitbewohnerin (apartment-mate) Kate are coming here so that I can cook them dinner. I also have homework to do - with the help of my new English/German dictionary! It was on the top shelf - literally 10 ft. up - at the bookstore down the street so I had to go to the desk and say "Tut mir leid, aber ich bin zu kurz. Ich möchte ein Wörterbuch, das auf dem höchsten Rahmen ist. Können Sie bitte mir helfen?" The tall German dude gladly got it down for me and was very nice. He helped me practice my German for a few minutes as we had a conversation about the strangely shaped lightbulb that my housemate had sent me out to find.

Anyway, I'll write tomorrow about Kreuzberg and include photos.

Alles gute.

(R to L) Jake, Jed, and Nigel in Tiergarten
with the Victory Column behind them

First Few Days / Ersten Tagen

I apologize for there not being many pictures of interest in this blog, I've been jet lagged and didn't have my power converter (because it was in my lost luggage) to charge my camera. I'll find some photos online though, so that you can get a better idea of what I've been up to.

I should mention though that my luggage did finally come yesterday morning! Yay!

This past Saturday night, I met Daniel and all of our little Hampshire group (there are six of us altogether) at the Prater Gasthaus in Mitte (here's a link to their website) for some dinner. I took my first U-Bahn ride and got lost briefly, but then found where I was supposed to go. Daniel took us out for some real, authentic, traditional German food - and it was delicious! I got Sauerbraten mit Buttermöhren und Quetschkartoffeln (Beef stewed in vinegar and spices with buttered carrots and mashed potatoes), and the chef even made everything without gluten so that I could eat it. Other people at our table got fish, duck, a ham hock, wienerschnitzel - it all looked fantastic. But of course, what would a traditional German meal be without beer? Unfortunately, I couldn't have any because it contains gluten, but I had some white wine instead. We sat and chatted for a few hours, and it was nice to hear about everyone's living situations and how much we'd all explored the city so far.

The Prater Gasthaus (image from friendlyrentals.com)

After dinner, Daniel went home and the six of us decided that we'd explore the area a little bit. We ended up at a bar called the Coco Lounge, which was a tiki bar that actually had a few inches of sand on the floor. We all sat at the bar and ordered drinks in German and then chatted for a while.

After we were finished, I headed home on the U-Bahn and couldn't help but notice the fact that everyone was drinking open beers on the train. According to Robert (our Berlin program director) this was made illegal in Berlin about a year or two ago, but everyone still does it. They didn't seem to be getting in trouble for it either. I've also seen people walking around with open drinks on the street, and even restaurants advertising cocktails-to-go, which seems so strange coming from the US where that's illegal. According to Robert, that happens a lot more in the summer because it's nicer out and people like to spend less money on beers, so they buy them and then barbecue in the parks and hang out with their friends. I thought that was pretty neat and can't wait for it to get a little bit nicer out so that I can walk around more and enjoy the parks too!

Sunday afternoon we met at our designated Hampshire studio space, which is right down Oranienstraße from me. Robert and Daniel treated us all to wonderful, strong, creamy, Turkish coffee across the street and then we made our way up all of the stairs to our studio space. It's on the top floor of the hinterhaus, and an old brick building that has a screw/bolt factory on the first floor. Several artists have studios in that building, and our space is pretty big.  Once there, we all sat down and talked about the logistics of our program and trip. We'll meet in our studio space every Wednesday afternoon, and will be treated to a cultural event every Friday or Saturday night while we're here. This includes museums, concerts, film screenings, lectures, etc. Robert is also a part-time tour guide in Berlin so he is going to take us around the city and give us insider tours everywhere, which should be pretty neat!

After our meeting that evening, Gina met me at my apartment and we took the U-Bahn to a part of the city I'd never been to before, which is near her architecture studio. We went to an adorable little pizza place that had gluten free buckwheat pizza and had a wonderful dinner. Gina got homemade ravioli that looked fantastic and a Spezi (a soda that is basically a mix of coke and orange soda), and I got a gluten free arugula and parmesan pizza with a Spezi. On the way home, we stopped for some Haribo treats and wine. I found sour gummy Smurfs, which I bought just because I thought they were silly, but they ended up tasting fantastic too!

Gina over gluten free pizza and Spezi

Haribo sour gummy Smurfs!

Today was our first day of Sprachschule (language school) at BSI Berlin, and I was put into a the highest level intermediate class (the last class being completely 100% fluent). It was a little difficult at first, as my German was a little rusty, but it improved greatly over the three hours that I was in class, and will continue to once I start settling back into it. My class has four people from Spain, one from Australia, one from Turkey, two from the US (including myself), one from Poland, one from China, one from Korea, and probably more that I'm not thinking of. It's neat because the only language we all have in common is German, but we're communicating in it and it's a lot of fun! The teacher, Silvie, is also very nice and helpful. I got my text books today and am getting ready now to do my homework for the class, as well as catch up to where they are (as they've already been in classes for a month and us Hampshire kids arrived late).

BSI Sprachen Schule

After Sprachschule, we all went as a group to a great little Turkish restaurant near Kottbusser Tor (or "Kotti" as I've heard it be referred to by locals, but I don't know if I can pull that off quite yet...) that had fantastic food. There is great food in Kreuzberg, I'm so lucky to be living here. It's a lot of Turkish food, which is great for being gluten free. I've been eating a lot of falafel, great salads, kebabs, etc. I really want to have döner, but I looked it up and it seems like it will definitely have gluten in it. (If you don't know what döner is, it's a German-Turkish food that I believe was invented in Berlin. Someone told me that a place down the street from me is the restaurant that had the first döner in Berlin. It's a giant meat sphere (that because I had to look up what was in it, I'll explain to you as bits of lamb or chicken all ground up and held together with flour and spices - so basically a plywood of meats? Ew. Sorry.) that is held upright on a spinning dowel and carved for customers as it's ordered. It's most often served inside of a pita-like piece of bread with veggies and sauces.)

1001 Falafel - my new go-to falafel place in my neighborhood

A Döner street cart on Kottbusser Damm

An example of Döner (image from berlin.metblogs.com)

After that, we all went as a group in search of cell phones but were unsuccessful. Daniel and Robert had gone to get us month-long transportation passes, so we waited in a cafe in Kreuzberg for them to come meet us. I had a coffee that was fantastic - the coffee here is great. It's bitter, strong, and creamy. We eventually got our transportation passes and split ways - I went by myself back down Kottbusser Damm (where BSI is) to a store that someone told me had a lot of gluten free options. Luckily, they were right! The store had a whole corner of gluten free food, so I got some gluten free gnocchi, two loaves of gluten free bread, and some gluten free pasta (it was all cheaper than in the US, too - even taking the exchange rate into account!). When I was checking out, the cashier asked me if I had a "Brotkarte" and I said no. She gave me one, and here's how it works: every time you buy a loaf of gluten free bread there (it doesn't matter what kind) you get a sticker on your card. When your card is full (which means you've bought 11 loaves), you get the next two loaves for free! Which is AWESOME! I'm so happy there are good gluten free options here, I was very worried that it would be difficult to find that stuff.

Bridge overlooking the river on my way to Kottbusser Damm

After my gluten free purchases, I still needed a notebook, folder, pencil, and index cards for my school work/homework so I went to a store and got that. Then I still needed a pillow, pillowcase, and bath towel so I got those too. Then I headed home around dusk and now I'm in my room blogging and will soon be doing my Hausaufgabe (homework).

I think that's all I've done in the past few days. I'm still exhausted and a bit jet lagged. I've been having trouble falling asleep early (I've got myself being able to fall asleep at about 1am now, which is getting better) but once I'm asleep I'm out like a light! Hopefully after this week everything will start to feel normal time-wise.

I'm still loving Berlin and can't wait to experience more so that I can share it with you all!

Bis bald!

Awesome astronaut street art in my neighborhood