Stockholm

I went to Stockholm with Meaghan, a friend from Toronto, last weekend.
It was awesome. I forced our agenda to mostly consist of shopping.
No wonder the Swedes are so stylish; they can afford to be! The stores there are much, much more affordable than normally-affordable Berlin.
And we ate at a place called The Muffin Bakery every morning.
And I spent a lot of money on clothes, but they are awesome, so it's all good.

My Cake

Forgot to post this yesterday:

Today I biked to class, spent an inordinate amount of time with a classmate trying to find a place to copy our reading, went to Dolores (fast Mexican) with Jenn, then sat outside at an imbiss with her.

I Spoke Too Soon

Spring? What was I thinking? As my flatmate Kathrin put it, "The Berlin weather in April is very unstable." A girl can't help getting excited about potential flip flop weather, but I jumped the gun. We are back at 40 degrees-- lovely.

Meanwhile, Humboldt is driving me nuts. This is what happened this week, our first week of second term:
3 classes were cancelled.
3 classes just decided to start next week.
The new Spanish class designated for people on the waitlist filled up while I was in another class.
I actually only had 2 classes. TWO!
I like the response my English friends have to this: "It's a joke, mate." No kidding. I try really, really hard to not impose my standards or North American standards in foreign situations, but it actually boggles my mind that my degree from Toronto will hold the same weight internationally as a degree from Humboldt. Yes, I know how elitist that sounds. But the workloads are just completely incomparable.
HU is showing a tiny bit of promise, though. They have a Central Asia Studies department, and I am taking two classes there this term, From Folk-Islam (it works better in German) to Radical Movement: Islam in Central Asia, and Critical Reading on Central Asia (in English). I hope they will keep me engaged.

Not much else is happening here, since we are all trying to figure out our schedules. I have been missing friends lately, so it'll be great to see my friend Meaghan, who is studying in Paris right now, in a little over a week. And I am so excited to go to Stockholm! If anyone wants to do a little online preview of the shopping I will be doing, go to .

Meanwhile, I hope everybody appreciates how great we have it these days. I hear about the food shortages all the time on NPR and BBCWorld, and it makes me very grateful to be where I am. It sounds cliche, but it's so true. Also, as many criticize the use of biofuel, which certainly deserves the criticism, I want people to think about the repercussions of eating meat. As much grain goes towards biofuel, similar amounts go toward feeding livestock. Cutting down meat consumption can help free up grain for those who need it.

It's Spring!

I. LOVE. Spring. We have had some gorgeous days lately, and I've tried to spend as much time on my bike (which Steph named Sven) as possible. I even wore my new Birks today. Life is good and full of sweet Spanish strawberries. And tomatoes.

Last week, my Gran and Aunt Steph were here to visit, and they, unfortunately, got to experience some of the nastiest weather I've seen here. Although that put a damper on their visit, we still saw a lot, including Potsdam, and ate a lot of great food. I have only had one bad eating experience here, and that was at a Mexican restaurant, which you can't expect to be good in Berlin. So I have a theory that basically any place here will turn out a good meal. I just have yet to be disappointed. I also think that no one in Berlin has a clothes dryer, dishwasher, or microwave.

I've still been having a great time cooking. I baked a vegan coconut cake last night that, though it didn't rise, somehow ended up tasting a lot like my mom's coconut icebox cake. I still don't understand how that happened. I managed to make my faux-buttercream icing without a mixer, too, and it still turned out almost perfect.
Then today I made a huge curry. Note the professional-looking tofu:



Also, there are new pictures on my Flickr that Steph took.

"Best of the Wurst"

Here is a link to "Best of the Wurst," a short film made by a woman from LA who fell in love with currywurst, the typical Berlin street food. It's fun to watch and shows Berlin off well. When they go to Konnopke's, pay attention! That's my kiez. I walk past Konnopke's almost every day.

For some reason the link is not showing up, so you will have to cut and paste.
http://www.spike.com/video/best-of-wurst/2677478

After two gorgeously wonderful spring days, we are back to chilly and humid. Well, actually, it's not that bad, but I miss our preview of spring! It was sunny, the air smelled like spring, and I was able to bike around in a t-shirt. It was so nice that I didn't mind that I got out of bed to bike to Humboldt just to find out that my trip was for naught, because the lady I needed to speak with decided to not work that day.

I have been doing a lot of cooking lately. I bought a cookbook, Vegan With a Vengeance, while I was in Pittsburgh, and it has done great things for my kitchen skills. Mostly, I always ate curry or pasta (not too shabby if you compare it with Kraft Dinner), but now I am branching out! I dunno, I have time to kill because we are still on break, so I have plenty of time to marinate seitan and bake casserole.

Rosenthaler Platz, a large intersection just south of where I live, is currently covered in these huge Converse ads:



I read that they are controversial because they are referencing dead people, but I think the bottom line is that Rosenthaler Platz looks really cool. And M.I.A. is in them. And also, Converse lost lots of cool credibility once it was bought by Nike, so the detractors can just see it as part of a downhill slide.

The Bike Saga

For those of you who were following it, my darling little Rad is back!!!!!
I had left it in the courtyard of my old apartment building and some twisted, bitter, horrible, mean-spirited person had put a lock on it. I was crushed when I found this out, as it was sunny and I wanted to ride my bike into town. But when I went to tape a note (Could you please remove your lock? Thank you. Friendly greetings.) to it tonight, the lock was gone! Yay!

I now have a bike to ride when my subway pass expires soon since I haven't received my new one yet... sometimes Germany can be very frustrating.

Obama! Obama!

I just watched this, remembering that I had heard about it a while ago. And, rather unexpectedly, it made me cry. In today's global political system, all we have for our presidential election is hope. There's not much more we can go on anymore. George Bush has made an absolute mess of things, and our international reputation has been tarnished as the domestic situation continues to slide downhill. Change is what we must strive for. At school, all we are taught is doom and gloom-- with plenty of theory to back it up, that is. With all this in mind, all I can do is hold on to hope.

Berlin, Berlin, Berlin, BERLIN! I am so happy to be back, but everything is closed for the longest religious weekend ever. All right, of course that is not the case, but here in Germany, religious days are a lot more noticeable than they are in North America. Not thinking, I even looked for a “Easter Weekend Hours” sign at the grocery store, quickly realizing how silly of me that was. I think we’re at a hit-or-miss point until Tuesday (most unfortunately). Thankfully, I can count on falafel joints in Turkish-berg to be open!

The US & England

I have spent the past four weeks away from Berlin! At times, I thought I wasn't going to make it. Surely a foreboding sign for my life, post-July '08 (when I must leave Berlin to finish my degree). On February 20, I went home to Pittsburgh, and three weeks later, I went to England to visit London, Birmingham, and Brighton. While I had a good time, I'd like to be honest: I don't have a ton to say. Of course, I could detail every meal I ate and sidewalk I walked, but that would get old. In terms of highlights, the trip left me a little underwhelmed. That mostly applies to England, though.

Home was familiar and odd at the same time. I would say I definitely experienced more reverse-culture shock than I experienced initial culture shock here in Berlin. I'm not trying to be dramatic. I have been in a car about 3 times since I came to Berlin (not including harrowing rides in Istanbul and Bratislava). Berlin contains very few huge chain stores, and I live too central to come in contact with the ones that do exist. I'm used to quiet, as the Germans are under-expressive in public. There is tons to do here. I live completely with friends; they are my family when I need moral support. So, there you have my first impressions of being back in the States. That said, it was wonderful to see my family, my gran, and my twin, Kat. I was able to go snowboarding twice!, and I didn't have to cook for myself at all. (quick shoutout: Mu, someone was complaining recently about how hard it is to cook a meal when you have both vegetarians and omnivores present. I said, that's funny, my mom does it really well all the time. You are SO good at it! Thanks again for keeping my belly happy.)

I was really excited when I arrived in London, so after checking in to my hostel and consulting a map, I headed off to Oxford Street, the high street to beat all others. I was happy to be walking around and soaking up London, and soon enough I came upon Topshop! Topshop is truly a mecca. It is huge, and fully of quality, fashionable things. It is also full of expensive things. After walking around the whole store and passing by the bags multiple times, I left with only a few eyeshadows. (Barry M Dazzle Dust is the best stuff ever. Ever. I love Barry.) Then I hopped on the Tube, which is ridiculously expensive like the rest of the city, and went to a stop near the Tate Modern. When I got out of the Tube, it was cold and raining, so I went back to my hostel and napped. Unfortunately, that sort of was the tone for the rest of my trip. It was the coldest weather they’d had all winter (I promise, that’s what everyone told me), and it was expensive, and I had twisted my ankle in Pittsburgh and then snowboarded on it so it hurt.

I’m sorry to be such a grump. And I feel like I should be able to be more creative, more innovative, to the point where I would never utter these words, but: I think London (and the rest of England) is more fun the more money you have. After a day and a half in London, I went to Birmingham, where I spent time with my friend Jenn. Then I was back in London for another 1.5 days, then I went to Brighton for three nights. Brighton is really, really cute. I had fish and... onion rings. I never turn down onion rings.

A Little Change

I've decided to open the range of what I put on my blog. The reason for this is I was a little tired of simply regurgitating emails I wrote to family and friends about my travels. Don't worry, I will continue to write about my trips. But I have been wanting to write a little more and to put my ideas, whether they're about global warming or my new shoes, out there. Writing is a great form of expression, and I've always thought that it's probably the best one for me.

5 Months In

All right, people, I'm sorry I haven't updated this in a while. Now, after a few complaints, I bring you my rundown of my Berlin experience so far: what's hot, what's not, and how to cope with gray skies day after day, especially when you have only four hours of daylight.

HOT
1. The general mood of Berlin is unbeatable. This city is so relaxed, devoid of pretention, and couldn't really care less about you. That sort of ties into disadvantages about Berlin (i.e., anyone you interact with couldn't care less). But I didn't go through an adjustment period. There was no culture shock. When I first got here, I kept waiting for it to hit me. And it never did, and most of my friends voiced the same experience. Far from welcoming you with open arms, Berlin just gives you a little stare, and then goes about its business. However, that makes it very easy to fit in.
2. The price of falafel. Yes, I know this is my favorite topic. But, hey, it's my favorite topic! I'm still a big fan of lil' ol' Lale and their 1,50€ falafel with spices sauce and spicy sauce (that's how it translates, I promise).
3. The public transportation (the BVG). It's phenomenal. Where else do you find a transport system that tells you when the next train is arriving (and it's accurate)? You can get anywhere using the BVG, and it's cheap, and easy. Berlin is a big city, and the BVG lets you see all of it.
4. The rent. When I move in a little over a month, I will be paying 280€, and living in a highly desirable location, right in the heart of Prenzlauerberg. In contrast, I will have to pay $600 (440€ish) to live in Toronto next year, and the flats here are much, much nicer.
5. The diversity of the nightlife (and general social life). When the fateful day comes and I leave Berlin, I will dearly miss the range of activities to choose from. I have been to a Johnny Cash night that was attended by everyone from middle-aged Americans to Danish hipsters, a house party with a neon-dress code, two parts in a once-a-month rap history series, and a reading of pieces that Berlin writers had written about Mitte, the midtown-Manhattan-like neighborhood.
6. Bakeries, everywhere.

NOT
1. People aren't polite (but that's Germany as a whole).
2. People will, and do, stare (also all of Germany).
3. There's not much good shopping to be done.
4. We see the sun so seldomly that, in my humble opinion, sunny days should be declared impromptu national holidays.

That's about it, really, which segues nicely into my bonus section,
HOW TO COPE WITH THE LACK OF SUNSHINE/DAYLIGHT
Accept it, don't try to fight it, and don't expect other Europeans to commiserate. They are used to it. Embrace the day when you first realize that it's 4:30 and it's not pitch black yet. Try not to sleep in until 3pm, because then you will have missed all of the day's light. Enjoy everything else that Berlin has to offer, and try to forget about the fact that you haven't seen the sun for two weeks.

"Ešte! Papaj!"

These words have been my Christmas. They mean "more" and "eat," respectively. Basically, I am discovering what it´s like to be an only grandchild. Mamama, who is essentially my Slovak grandma, has been putting plates of food, especially desserts, in front of me continuously for the past two days. I am well on my way to gaining approximately 21 pounds.

I am spending Christmas in Slovakia with relatives, my cousin´s family. I was in Bratislava from 21 to 24 December, and since then I have been in Levice, which is southeast of Bratislava, about 40 minutes from the Hungarian border.
The past two days have gone really well, though, considering our only language connection, Juri, who I am staying with in Bratislava, has been visiting friends in Levice. Through a mix of very broken Slovak, German, and English, the grandparents and I have been able to communicate quite well.

Today we went into Hungary, to a small town called Esztergom, to see a big church. It was very pretty, and the museum part contained a lot of cool, old, gold-plated relics. Then we went to a pool, not really sure if it had mineral spring water or not. But it had a hot tub of sorts outside, so that was fun, to just sit out there with all the oldie Slovaks and Hungarians and look up at the completely white-gray sky and think about how my life is interesting. And how I ended up in a ghetto pool near the Hungarian border where I would be hard-pressed to find anybody who could speak a word of english.

Tomorrow is back to Bratislava, where I will hit the post-xmas sales in one of the biggest malls I have ever been in, then onto Vienna, where I can finally realize my Christmas break dream of sitting in a cafe reading, though I may have finished all three of my books by then.

Veselé Vianoce!

Istanbul III

On Saturday, we had a late, laid-back breakfast at a nearby cafe with one of Kate´s housemates, Sahzene. Then, the three of us got on a bus, a rather lurchy experience, and went along the Bosporous, up past the first-ring suburbs, to the Sabanci gallery. They had a huge exhibit on Abitin Dino, a Turkish artist active during the 50s and 60s. It was a relaxed afternoon. It was also the first time I had seen the sun in probably about two weeks. And, just for the record, I have not seen it since.

On the bus back, Kate called a friend, Julie, to see what she was up to. Kate told me that she was at her friend Mike´s, which was decorated with lots of Uzbek stuff, and that I would like it. So we grabbed a sandwich and headed over to Sultanahmet. That was when my one not-so-wonderful taxi experience happened. I wasn´t nervous for my life at all, but it was so lurchy it made me wish I didn´t have a full stomach. Like most drivers in Istanbul, he would gun it, then two seconds later, stomp on the breaks to avoid hitting a person or a cat.

It ended up that Mike´s place was a hotel. And that Mike is a 65 year old guy who co-owns the hotel and deals in antiques/rugs/other Central Asian collectibles. We had an enjoyable evening drinking wine in what Mike calls his "museum." Kate saying that I would like Mike´s place was more than a bit of an understatement. It is a medium-sized room covered in things he collects. There are tassels and laterns all over the ceiling, rugs on the floor, walls, and in big stacks, and a few racks of clothing, etc. etc. It was awesome! I decided that until Uzbekistan is safe enough for me to visit, this room would have to stand in. With its semi-dim lighting and the wonderfully bring Central Asian colors, it could just as well be the real thing.

On Sunday, we took up Mike´s offer to go to an antiques market in Uskudar, on the Asian side. We had breakfast at the hotel, then hopped on a ferry with some other Americans: Katherine, Gretchen, and Ethan. The wares were in a space that was configured like a small mall, with tiny stores selling only antiques. It was really cool; we saw some beautiful items. The winners were a big set of wooden doors from the "far East," elaborately engraved and painted turquoise. They were 3000 USD. After poking around the market, Mike, Kate, and I bought vintage sunglasses. Mike bought 11 pairs! Almost all of them were 20 YTL, really cheap. I came away with 2 pairs of RayBan wayfarers... now if only there was some sun to necessitate sunglasses.

After a huge, delicious meal at Kanaat, which Mike thinks is one of the best restaurants in Turkey, we went back to the hotel. Kate and I had intended on going to see the Suleymaniye mosque, but we were sidetracked by wine and good company. I also got to see quite a few of Mike´s rugs, as a few customers came by while we were hanging out. Plus, missing the mosque is a great excuse to go back!
Sorry I didn´t add any photos, I am not on my own computer right now.

Istanbul II

Looking back on my days in Istanbul from Sunday the 9th:
My head has been spinning nearly non-stop during this trip. Istanbul is so wonderful! One little thing, though: on Thursday, I was frustrated because I kept getting approached by guides. As I learned, though, that only happens around the touristy areas. When I went to Topkapı Palace on Friday, everything was fine.

Topkapı was amazing (ha, there's my word again)! I figured nothing could beat the Sultanahmet Mosque, but Topkapı might be able to. I got the audio guide, and while it wasn't outstanding, for 10 YTL (about 5€) for Topkapı and the harem, it was worth it. The architecture was pretty. In the old treasury (the whole thing is set up as a museum), they have various articles like turban pins and daggers with emerald-encrusted hilts. And the biggest diamond ever after the Hope diamond. It was seriously large, something like 60 carats. Well, I just made that number up, but I may be close. Also of note was the summer pavilion/ circumcision room. Very beautiful tiling inside-- I took an inordinate amount of pictures. Oh well, everybody else was, too. Then, of course, there was the harem. It was just stunning; it seemed to somehow strike me as it was intended to be low-key and elaborate at the same time. I know that sounds weird, but what I think I mean is that the gorgeous tiling everywhere that I was (and still am) so in love with was semi-commonplace at the time. If that makes any sense. Anyway, walls were tiled floor to ceiling, and then there were the ceilings. I will stop on Topkapı before I start repeating myself.


I then met Kate for lunch in Sultanahmet, and then we went to the Grand Bazaar. I don't care if only tourists go there, the Grand Bazaar was cool. I read that a lot less hustling happens there now than used to. It showed, but of course there were still plenty of men saying, "you want a scarf?" The first little shop we went into was the perfect experience. Kate was looking at some bracelets at a shop with plenty of Central Asian items, and the owner, Aziz, came out and invited us in for a tea. He was the sweetest guy-- I am serious, before anything else, he just looks nice. We had tea with him, his sister, and a German girl who was staying with them for a month. He and Kate chatted, and I pretended like I wasn't in awe of the entire situation. I found a necklace that I really liked, and Aziz said I could have it for 75 instead of 98 YTL (40/60€). I left it at first because it was the first place we went to, but later, I went back to grab it. I think it's really unique; I didn't see anything else that came close in the bazaar.


After that, Kate and I did more talking to people than buying things. It was great, the bazaar was not very crowded, and I started to sort of understand Kate's conversations! After finally finding some scarves we liked, we hit the trail. We ate dinner at a place up by the Galata Tower, called Enginar. Cool place with good food and an attractive waiter. We had some mezas, which are like Turkish tapas, and beer.

Istanbul I

Istanbul was wonderful! I have alternately described it as amazing, gorgeous, awesome, and beautiful. I think you may get the idea: I'm full of hard-to-articulate praise. I could talk, and write, I'm sure, about my Istanbul trip for as long as I was there, so I will try to do it semi-concise justice through a few blog posts. While I'm working on those, be sure to look at my pictures. Yes, I went a little crazy with pictures of tiles, but they were beautiful! The urge to whip out a camera at some of the tourist sites in Istanbul is often irresistible.

Here's something I wrote to my mom the day I arrived:
"Obviously i haven't really seen any of Istanbul, but it is full of character, I can tell, and the minarets are calling people to pray. The streets are all really narrow and everybody's honking. I think it will turn out to be like a Middle Eastern NYC.
I could burst I am so excited to be here."
That comment about NYC turned out to be a little off, but I think it gives a good idea of what my first impressions were like.

From Thursday:
Istanbul is beautiful and overflowing with character. It is the real deal-- grimy, with broken down sidewalks, beeping cars, unreliable trams, and guys just standing outside their shops on a rainy day out of boredom. I think it's a little like NYC, but without any polish. Seriously, even the touristy areas aren't obviously touristy (well, at least not in December). I got in yesterday, and after an almost two-hour trip, I arrived at my friend Kate's. It's really nice to see Kate-- who would've thought two years ago, when we were in Beginner's Turkish (at U of T), that we would be meeting up in Istanbul, with me in Berlin and Kate living here? We had a good, but non-Turkish dinner at a cafe, then went to a bar for a glass of sour cherry wine. Then we went to what Kate calls "her steps," which provide super view of the Bosphorous and the city.

Today I went to the Sultanahmet area, which includes the Sultanahmet (or "Blue") Mosque, Ayasofya (Haghia Sofia), and Topkapı Palace. I went to the Blue Mosque first. It was so amazing, the tiling in that place, that it's hard to believe it's real. And that it is as old as it is. I just stood there and stared at the ceiling for a few minutes at a time, and then moved to another place and did the same. It's incredible and so lush, especially in the colors (especially the blues). Ah, wonderful. I was bummed that I couldn't get good pictures due to it being big but not particularly well-lit. But it was gorgeous. I'd like to be able to go and take it all in whenever I wanted.

Then I went to Ayasofya. It's even bigger, and from the outside, it's more impressive, but the Sultanahmet mosque is more regal. The Ayasofya is now a museum, because it is not a working mosque anymore, and I thought it was pretty well done. It looks a little shabby inside, it's showing its age (originally built as a church between 532 and 537 AD). It also showed its age in the artwork, which is not as detailed. However, since it's a museum, there were lots of different things to see. Like tiles.

I also went to the Turkish and Islamic Art Museum. It was great, seemed to be very unassuming but ended up having a very large collection. The Korans were stunningly gorgeous. They were my favorite part (and one of my favorite things from the whole trip). The intricate designs around the words were amazing.

Alright, you are getting a taste of what my vocabulary has devolved to. More in the coming days.

Meteorological Blues II

Berlin these days seems to have hit a new gray note: just when you thought it couldn't get too much more dismal, you realize it's not nearly winter yet, and February and March are bound to be worse. First there was a big storm system up on the North Sea, which gave us a decent amount of rain and a drop in temperature (ooh- and our first snow). But the low temperatures have stuck around, and so has the drizzle and the intermittent snowflakes. And today it was dark before 5, to which I say, wow.

Just checked the weather, though, and it's supposed to be back up to 50 before long-- what is up with this weather?

I don't really have the blues, though, it's just a little hard to get up and go when it's 34 and drizzling!

I am enjoying my Civil Rights movement class. My friend Elisabeth, who's in the class with me, and I bought David Halberstam's The Children to supplement our education. My copy came today and I can't wait to dive into it. One last little bit: the other day, BBCWorld, which I listen to all the time on my radio, had an interview with someone in Erie, PA as part of a small story on an anonymous donor giving a lot of money to Erie charities. It was very funny to think that I have been to Erie many times, and yet, here I am, sitting in Berlin, listening to the same radio story that people in Capetown and Kuala Lampur are listening to.

Praha

Prague was beautiful! I was there from 1-5 November, and met up with my good friends, Olivia and Meaghan, from Toronto. As beautiful (and refreshingly typically European compared to Berlin) as Prague was, it was wonderful to see my friends again.

Olivia and I stayed in a hostel in the neighborhood of Zizkov. After initially being a little worried that the hostel would prove to be too far out of the city center, we soon learned that pretty much all of Prague is very walkable. The entire time, I used the subway probably four times, and two of those were because I had luggage. Olivia and I spent a lot of time walking from one place to another, taking in the impossibly narrow streets and the oh-so-pretty buildings. Olivia is convinced that Disneyland was modeled after Prague. We walked up to the top of the hill in the old city where the castle and main church are, but were too tired to be interested in paying more than the cost of dinner to go in. That's one thing I really liked about Prague-- it's so cheap! It manages to make Berlin look expensive, which is very hard to do. One night, five of us (Meaghan knew some other people in Prague from Paris) ate dinner for the equivalent of about 18€, including a beer or two per person. Speaking of which, beer is the cost of bottled water there. No joke.

One sight that I did see was the Jewish cemetary. Well, we peered in through a door (it is walled), and couldn't figure out if it is possible to actually go in. At any rate, it was sufficiently creepy, as it was Sunday, so the city was fairly empty, dark, and you knew some of those graves are super-old. It was cool. We also saw the astronomical clock (smaller than you think it's going to be) and peeked into St Jacob's Basilica, but couldn't figure out how to get in there, either.

During the train ride home, I realized how excited I was to be coming back to Berlin. It's nice to like your home base!
Next stops: Istanbul, Bratislava

Prague Photos

I have uploaded my pictures from Prague onto Flickr, and, if I remember correctly, there is a link to my Flickr on the right-hand side of this blog. There aren't too many, I know, but I thought for three out of four days that I was there that I had forgotten an outlet convertor. I finally found the outlet convertor on Sunday, but on that day my friends and I spent hours eating a late brunch, and when we left, it was almost dark. And then by the time we walked into Old Town, it was dark. Daylight Savings Time is killing me!- it was dark today by 5, and I mean completely, middle-of-the-night dark. So between the weakness of my battery and the weakness of the sun, I ended up with only a few pictures. I'm going to get some more off of Olivia, though, who became our official picture-taker when I thought my battery was going to die.