Amy & Adam's European Highlights

I captured these images while walking to and from class last week. Not surprisingly, Tübingen looks adorable with a light dusting of snow. I was particularly enamored with the bright yellow ginkgo leaves which amazingly hung on until after the first snowfall...

This is the staircase we must climb to get to and from town. Although I didn't do a good job capturing it's intensity in this photograph, Stefanie counted and there are 168 stairs.

Here is the rear of our apartment building as seen from the footpath:

Although it's Thanksgiving in America, today is just another Thursday in November here in Germany. We will celebrate the holiday here, however. On Saturday we went to Adam's professor's house that he's working under at the University. Although a German, he celebrates the holiday as he married an American women who incidentally also happens to be an excellent chef. Thus, we enjoyed a great meal complete with homemade pumpkin pie (not from a can). On Sunday, we will introduce the Thanksgiving meal to our friends Rose and Uli and their boys. We have planned a fairly traditional, yet elaborate menu and Rose managed to secure a turkey from her butcher. (Typically, turkeys are for Christmas here and I'm told it's difficult to procure them at other times). I'm looking forward to cooking in a real kitchen again!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!!

I am setting an alarm clock again, but I’m so anxious I’ve been waking up fifteen minutes before it goes off. A note about our alarm clock—it is the most high-tech, bizarre clock I’ve ever seen. It’s built to receive a radio signal from Frankfurt so it sets itself automatically. We have not found a way to set the time on the clock manually other than to remove the battery, insert it again, and see if the clock resets itself properly. We had some difficulties with it initially (perhaps there was a weak signal that day or it was obstructed). In any event, when it reads the correct time, it seems like a marvelous (even miraculous) invention. When it isn’t working properly, however, it’s tremendously frustrating and represents a device that is needlessly over-engineered.

On Monday, I started my Deutsch class at the Volksholkschule (VHS). The VHS is similar to a community college in America and offers all types of classes, although its language classes seem to be the most popular. My class is quite diverse: two students are from Kenya, one is from Iran, one is from Russia, one is from Hungary, one is from France, one from Italy and only one other is from the U.S. I would guess the age range is from around 22-50. I started in level 1.2 and feel like the only true beginner in the class. Many of the students already have years of German experience but feel rusty. The others all were in the 1.1 section with the same instructor for the past month and a half. The students are all quite sharp and experienced with learning languages. (I was told to expect anything of my fellow classmates in advance, including the possibility that many students will not have attended a university. Apparently, I got lucky with my class because the students are all quite smart and appear quite eager to learn).

My instructor, Linde, is endlessly upbeat and engaging. I’m thoroughly impressed with how hard she is working and how good she is at explaining things—all in simple German! Although I’m missing a lot of the vocabulary I have a few great moments in every class where I think to myself: Was that English or German? Wow, I understood that!

I really like being in a classroom (as opposed to learning on my own) and it’s nice to have a set schedule again. Class meets Monday-Friday from 8:30-12:00. Although I received some rides from Rose (who was teaching a class to women entering the workforce), her class ended today so I’ll be walking every day from now on. If I’m feeling particularly lazy or cold on a given day I can always take a bus but the walk is refreshing and takes me through town and into the French Quarter (named for the barracks built by the French who camped out here after WWII), which is a lovely part of town with its own character.

I’m thoroughly enjoying my experiences at the Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institute (DAI). I gave a presentation last Thursday on “studying in the U.S.” to a small audience of German university students who are thinking studying abroad. (As an aside, I should mention that the powerpoint presentation was created by an American student who volunteered in the DAI earlier this year. Thus, while my team was impressed with how well the presentation went, I assured them it was quite easy as someone else had built the presentation and I’m quite familiar with the material)! I feel as if I’m genuinely gaining valuable experiences working there. I’m enjoying interacting both with people coming in looking for guidance as well as the two German women in the DAI who run the program. They are extremely kind, creative, possess commendable work ethics and genuinely enjoy helping others. On Friday I am traveling with them to a nearby high school to attend a fair. If it’s appropriate, I will give the presentation again.

Winter has arrived. It’s quite chilly here and it seems to rain or snow or sleet almost every day. The ground temperature is still above freezing so we haven’t had any accumulation…yet. I don't mind the weather as much as I mind the fact that there aren’t many hours of daylight. It doesn’t get light until after seven and it begins to get dark at four. The good news is that come early December, the Christmas markets will arrive! With this time of year being so dark and dreary, the vibrant colors, lights, sweets, and alcohol that accompany Christmas celebrations here are certainly a way for some folks to cope. I think it must be much harder for folks here that don’t recognize or celebrate Christmas as I think it will be omnipresent. (Perhaps even more so than in the States)?

We took a city bus from Tübingen on Friday afternoon and went to the Stuttgart Airport. As our flight was one of the last flights of the day (8:40 p.m.), the airport was delightfully empty. The flight to Berlin was a brisk 75 minutes and Chris (Adam's friend from grad school who is also conducing his dissertation research in Germany and currently living in Berlin), kindly met us at the airport.

Chris took us on a night walk through much of the former East Berlin and it was quite stimulating to be in a huge city again. Berlin couldn't feel much more different from Tübingen. We searched for a place to eat but at Midnight the only places still serving were Doner Kebaps. For those of you unfamiliar with The Doner, it's a standard fast-food item in Europe brought over from the Middle East. Its a wondrous combination of meat (typically either lamb or chicken), with various vegetables and sauces served in a thick pita (unlike any kind I've had in the States). The Doner is an incredible value at between 2-3 Euros, one is guaranteed a hearty and filling meal. We've done much speculation on why Doners aren't readily available in the States. In Germany, you'll see little Doner stores on every other street. Often, the other item being sold is pizza.

We stayed with Chris in the apartment he is subletting in the Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood. It's in the former East and probably the hippest neighborhood in the city. It's quiet, quaint and lovely. Chris likes to compare it to Park Slope in Brooklyn saying there's not a lack of "stroller mamas" here. We woke up late on Saturday, headed out to the neighborhood market (along with many other families with their strollers). Although I've been singing the praises of the Tübingen markets, Chris' market left me with tremendous market-envy. The market was difficult to navigate as vendors were sandwiched in facing one another leaving little room for shoppers (let alone for the stroller stand-offs), but the variety and quality of the goods sold was outstanding. Chris has fallen in love with pumpkin seed bread from an organic baker in town. He buys two lofts every week. From this baker I got a marzipan filled whole wheat croissant. This was my first ever marzipan croissant and it's now on my favorite food list. We also bought a cheese and herb spread to go with Chris' pumpkin bread which we sampled and it was of course, delicious.

Chris' neighborhood (with photo credit to Chris):

After the market, we walked around Potsdamer Platz which was a wasteland following WWII but after the fall of the Wall, it has been transformed into a gigantic entertainment complex. One of its most famous buildings is the Sony Center pictured below.

Following Potsdamer Platz, we went to the Gemäldegalerie, (13th - 18th century European paintings). Luckily, the museum handed out free audio guides so we could further appreciate the collection. The building is new and has a very open, airy floor plan but I wasn't overwhelmed by the collection. The place, however, which is always overwhelming (in a mostly good way) is Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe), the biggest department store on the Continent and the location where East Berliners flocked when the Wall came down. We spent our time on the food floor which includes a collection of canned and jarred food from all over the world in addition to some of the most beautiful looking freshly prepared food. For lunch, I got a cheese-filled croissant. It was filled with a mild, melted cheese and topped with a bit of hard and salty cheese. Man, it was incredible! I'd be hard pressed to select a favorite between the marzipan and the cheese croissant. Clearly, one is for breakfast and the other is for lunch.

In celebration of Chris' birthday, we went out to eat at a Swiss fondue restaurant. We were joined by Lauren (another graduate school friend in Germany for a return research trip), Chris' friend Ed, roommate Ute, and her friend. We shared two large pots of fondue and all agreed that the one with truffle oil was the winner. It was a perfectly balanced meal consisting of cheese, bread and beer. We arrived at the restaurant at 7 and didn't leave until 12. I'm constantly amazed at how differently European restaurants operate from American. It is such a wonderful contrast! As long as you are OK with not getting a servers' attention after you order and your food arrives, it is so refreshing to be able to sit and chat all night without a manager kicking you out. (Yes, this actually happened to us in Providence but that's another story).

On Sunday, we explored more of the city on foot and on public transit. This city is just too big to follow our typical pattern of walking everywhere. Highlights included walking along Unter Den Linden to the Brandenburg Gate, touring the Reichstag, Germany's Parliament building, and walking through the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

Brandenburg Gate:

The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe:

The Reichstag (the Dome is incredible)!:

On Monday we went to Berlin's new mall which is quite similar to a large mall you would find in America except for three noticeable differences: first, there is a nice grocery store in the basement, second, the color scheme was "off" (it's hard to describe but it was brown, purple, green and mustard yellow), third, there are trash bins throughout the mall with separate slots labeled in both German and English...Incredible!

Going through our photos of the trip, we're stuck by how difficult Berlin is to capture. As it's one of the most eclectic and architecturally incoherent cities with neo-classical buildings adjacent to some Nazi buildings which are adjacent to Communist concrete monstrosities which are adjacent to modern metallic buildings... it's a lot to absorb. That being said, it's a huge and lively city that's quite livable. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and can see why Chris positively adores living here.

Here's a sample of the wondrously varied aesthetic that comprises Berlin. Lastly, I end with the hotel advertisement in Potsdamer Platz of the baby with cork earplugs. (I find it quite disturbing).