Senefelderplatz - on the corner of where live :)


Jakob and I at the tram station today waiting to head home.. After finding out all the things in the world that begin with 'B' and that the sound 'buh' has the name Beee. and after I made a bet that he couldn't run 10 times around the playground really fast :) he he.

Right near Jakob's school is the site of a church that was behind the wall (east Berlin). It was a stunning church that was left all the way up to 1984 when the DDR decided it was time to destroy it too.. This is a statue on the site where the church once stood.


Jakob in front of the remains of the church

In other news - I am involved in research projects now at the FU-Berlin which is going to be exciting, I start Turkish classes on Thursday night, work is going really well, weather is colder, am happy...

Since when?????

I am officially at home in East Berlin.

Something has changed since I used to live here and enjoy my forays into the gentrified Zoologischer Garten/Friedrichstrasse areas of Berlin dressing to fit in, snubbing the tourists and their maps... then today happens.. A beautiful sunny day where I go and hang out at the Teutob.platz park where there are more hippies than the whole of Berkeley can offer, and feel that I fit in perfectly considering the state of my clothes, the unbrushedness of my hair, we won't even get into my legs ;) I felt more at home here with the man sitting in the middle of the park shouting that "Deutschland has come to this! THIS! yes this! this is Deutschland now. Oh Deutschland!" with the kids being told to be nice to the grass because it has feelings too, with the man near me on the (oh so sensitive) grass laughing out loud about once every 5 mins (still not quite sure what at), than I did later when, needing to do shopping at the only supermarket that stays open on Sunday, I braved Friedrichstrasse. Feeling rather free, I didn't go home but wandered into the gentrification sunburnt and hippy-influenced. I realised I was getting those looks! the - hmm-student-east-berliner looks. I realised that me and my unkempt hair were happier walking through Alexanderplatz. where there was a line of 5 men standing urinating in a happy line into the park, than through Friedrichstrasse where each little cashmere sweater is tied sweetly around the necks of the tourists out to see "Berlin".
and I wonder when it happened.
Maybe I should have realised when I got to 1.5 weeks here and had only left my immediate area once.. and without actually wanting to at all! I love where I live and all that goes on here. I am slowly finding the best bakeries, the best markets, the best fruit stores.. and I am fast becoming a happy east berliner hippy ;)

I predict a riot

So what makes Berliners stay up till midnight, fight police and each other, break down doors, push over riot fences etc?? The anniversary of the wall falling perhaps? some big demonstration? no no... it was the opening of Alexa Berlin's biggest shopping centre.

I went there yesterday with my friend Katja. Aside from being the ugliest salmon pink monstrosity you have ever laid eyes on, it was indeed something as completely un-european as they come. Exploring it with Katja who is 6.5 months pregnant was fun though- we unfortunately had to keep stopping for icecream or pizza :)

Yesterday afternoon I also spent a while wandering Kastanienallee which is a very cool part of the city. On the way there I passed a bunch of people who had taken their sofas and chairs into the middle of the street because that was where the sun was and their balcony didn't get any that late in the afternoon, as well as passing a market where you swapped something you could do (ie painting toenails, cutting hair) for something you wanted (ie. a piece of cake (???!!)) it was all very interesting :) and just goes to show I live in a cool part of town!

ah Berlin!

I know I am back in Berlin when, at 11.30am as I am walking towards Alexanderplatz from my apartment, 2 boys stumble out of a bar and straight into me with shotglasses full of Jägermeister and say "take one for the team young Frau. Here! Jägermeister is good!!"
me - "it's a little early isn't it??"
them-"that all depends.. for me it is getting a little late. this will be our last drink before we go to bed.. come on! join in!"

I left them to their Jägermeistering but felt that I was at home again :)

Yesterday Ferdinand's TV channel went to air in Poland (sorry I can only find articles about it in Polish). The whole family was up at 5.30 to go to his office and celebrate with a big breakfast. It was fun but I was exhausted. Later the kids and I went to the Köllowitzspielplatz in the middle of this really cool area of cafes and markets and things. I was astounded by how many english speaking nannies (all male!!!) and kids there were and by how well behaved they all were - turns out they were all jewish kids and there is a big synagogue right round the corner (found out after talking to one of the nannies after Jakob decided he wanted to throw sand in all the other kid's eyes.... sigh!). Afterwards the kids wanted to go to their favorite "spielplatz" (playground) - the wasserturmspielplatz. I have been there with them before and it really is the rich kids playground (ie none of the deadly (literally) play equipment you'll find in Neukölln) -there was a big sign up in front of the entrance though about the wasserturm and it turns out it was a small concentration camp.. and that there were lots of people killed there. Never ceases to amaze me how crazily close the history here is and how strangely it all fits into the present.

The Nanny Diaries

Today I officially started work although I have been playing with the kids since I got here. And I officially had my first big mix up J I had been to Jakob’s school the first day I arrived (rather jetlagged and out of sorts) so I knew what the building looked like but that was it. I was given hurried instructions this morning about a way to get there but was given the wrong house number (they are thinking of buying a house in the same street but there is a big difference between 36 and 178… especially when you are walking… and they are on the same side of the street) So I ran most of the way back up the street (past some amazing looking parks, churches and the berlin wall memorial centre which will all have to be visited at some stage!) and arrived to find a rather dejected Jakob rolling on the floor convinced no one was ever coming…oops… he got me back though. He insisted on bringing his bike with us. Awesome idea! It is a police bike and has this wonderful flag that is almost sideways and constantly runs into people, trees, animals, me… another great thing about taking the bike with us was getting the bike (and damn flag) into the tram… then up the three flights of stairs to the U-bahn (yeah contradiction having to go UP to get to the Underground rail J) then almost have to bash a mum with a pram out of the way to get me, bike and grinning Jakob into the train. We got home safely though and I was then allowed to read Thomas the Tank Engine.. over and over and over he he.
There seems to be a whole culture of nannying here and I keep getting these smiles from girls about my age who I am sure are in this with me as they drag along kids they really can’t be old enough to have had.

Thanks to Bec and Joe I now have GORGEOUS flowers in my apartment and they make me so happy. You can smell them through the whole apartment and the world’s happiest flower delivery guy came to give them to me. I heard the doorbell ring, and he was jumping up and down with excitement that someone was getting flowers. He couldn’t stop grinning and was offering to fill the vase with water for me and to show me how to care for them properly. He said happy birthday – then I told him it wasn’t.. so he just kept repeating “Viel glück.. viel glück und alles Gute. Alles Gute und viel Glück“ I must now be the luckiest, most well wished person in the whole of Berlin. It has kept a smile on my face all day.

In sadder news, my beautiful new ipod (yes be semi-jealous.. ), though not a week old, has gone the way of its forefathers. It froze all day and then somehow ran its battery flat in 2 hours (great for a 40 hour battery life!) so… maybe hold out on buying them – fingers crossed he realises that it’s either get better or I ship him back off to America to be swapped!

The flight

It was a sad morning leaving Berkeley and I wasn’t so sure I wanted to be getting on any plane.. and the plane seemed to feel the same way about letting me on board. There were technical problems and they cancelled my flight. I knew from when I had done the bookings that this was the last flight I could take which would still get me there in time to check in. Part of me wondered if I would have to stay (he he) but the wonderful Southwest-ers found me a different flight and I was packed off to LA. LA was one big line… everywhere you looked. I checked in and then, using the cunning that Shane and I had discovered on our flight from the US back to Berlin two Christmases ago, I left the check in line with my bag nicely weighing in under 20 kg’s and then proceeded to repack the whole thing in the middle of the walkway so that all the heavy stuff from my carry on was in my suitcase after all – they don’t weigh it again and I didn’t have to bother with all that tricky heavy business!

LTU is cheap for a reason (to all of you who I had convinced to buy tickets!) There are no movies (they do have cartoons) you can purchase headphones (for 2 euro – much better off saving for a beer once you get to Germany) and the food leaves a great deal to be desired (thank goodness I went last minute oreo and butterfinger shopping before I left ;)) but seats are comfie and it got me here in one piece –so I am all for it!

Berkeley

The beautiful people at Shane and Joe's labor day weekend BBQ.... fun times huh Brandon?? that is ... can you actually remember being there? :)


Me in Capitola.. mm margaritas and mexican food - SUCH a good night!!!




Scott and I on our last night in Berkeley...

first day.. relearning my Berlin

It seems in the two months I was away, my city has changed - alot!

The weather has turned and I am now required to wear three layers to go outdoors, the sky is an angry grey and the leaves don't have long left on their branches.
My kids have grown up and have developed entirely new characters. Jakob started school and is now a 'big boy' and my little paulina is speaking so much more but is feeling a little left out and wants to start school too.. wait until she becomes the middle child in a few days!

Berlin is on alert... (but isn't the whole world??) A change is that on all the boards at the U-bahn stations, there is a constant alert warning everyone to look out for suspicious packages, to not let a single owner-less bag go unannounced. There are new 'anti-terror' numbers to call and new ways to make us all the more scared...

So on my first day back, hunting for a kettle and a pillow, I head back to my old stomping ground of Kreuzberg. I am currently reading a really interesting book.. and was happily reading it in the train on the way there until I realised people were looking at the cover... I guess I really should have considered it a little better before I held up a book with the word "ARABS and MUSLIMS" in big red letters on the cover :) I will surely get used to being here again soon!

I am happy in my apartment, am happy back with my family, am happy back in this insane city.

and sigh....

I am back in Berlin as of a few hours ago. I will post more as soon as I have my internet connection up and working at home.

flights were flights. Jetlag is the same no matter which continent you are on...

My time in Berkeley was beautiful and has me wanting to be back there.

Hope you're all well