Berlin: The Best and the Wurst (Brat, that is)

I just got back from one of the most amazing trips of my life. Berlin is unlike any other city I have ever seen, and although it is the capital, it lacks the generic, kitschy feel of many European centers. Berlin is so unique, from the art scene to the food to history to architecture. Although I have spent the last 5 days in temperatures close to 10 degrees, the fresh snow and icicles hanging from the buildings only added to the magical feeling of Germany in the winter.
We arrived easily and on-time to Berlin Thursday evening after a layover in Düsseldorf. We landed on an icy runway covered with newly fallen snow, and walked on the tarmac into the warmth of the airport. The flight over was gorgeous as we crossed over the Pyrenees. Here are a few shots from the flight from Barcelona to the first airport:

Heavenly

Plane ride filled with ski fantasies

From there, we spent some time wandering back and forth searching for the train that would take us into the city center. After a bit, we found our train, and took the half hour ride to Friedrichstraße station, and then the U-bahn to Naturkundemueseum where our hostel, Mittes Backpacker, was located.

Response to my: 1, 2, 3...Work it!

The reception area and bar with Alyssa, Tamar, and Joanna

We were instantly greeted by the cozy reception area, loaded with a full kitchen, bar, lounge area with a t.v. and Christmas tree, and a crazy guy who worked there named Oscar. Now, I won't go into too much detail about this dude, but he was a 45 year old man born in Argentina, raised in Germany who I am pretty sure was drunk 24/7 off of the conveniently located mini bar next to his desk, and had the mouth of a sailor. He was extremely arrogant and difficult but HILARIOUS. One of the girls I traveled with, Tamar, was robbed at the hostel while she was showering and had left her money belt on the inside hanger, full of her passport, residency card, 300 euro, and keys. In this situation Oscar was so helpful in trying to do everything he could to help her, including giving her an extra night for free at the hostel while she tried to sort things out at the American consulate the next day. We called him Uncle Oscy, and almost every time we entered the reception area to cook something or get a drink at the bar, we were greeted by: "YOU BASTARDS! HOW THE HELL ARE YOU?" with arms outstretched and a big, drunken smile. He definitely made our visit that much more memorable :)
So the first night, we settled into our 9-bed hostel (we had 6 of the beds, the last two nights there was a girl from Finland and two girls from Spain) which was one of many themed rooms--pretty much the reason I chose this hostel. We didn't get one of the coolest themes, ours was "Mad Men" or something like that, just painted green with lots of depressing poetry quotes in a bunch of different languages. But, we did get to see other rooms which were painted and decorated awesomely--like for instance there was a 4 elements room, a Garden of Eden room, and an Indian room.
That night we walked around the neighborhood (Mitte) which was really close to Friedrichstraße where there are tons of shops and restaurants, but right by our hostel there weren't many options for dinner at 11:30pm, so we found a yummy Indian restaurant which let us stay until a bit after midnight. We went back to bed afterwards, and woke up bright and early to hit up those highly-anticipated Christmas markets!!
I couldn't have imagined a more picture-perfect setting for the markets. There were dozens across the city, of all different sizes, prices, and customers. We went to a range of them, actually every single one that we could find, and several more than once. There was one right near Humboldt University that was quite typical, with stands of ornaments, handcrafts, candies, Glühwein (hot mulled wine), Bratwurst, brezels, and heiße schokolade (hot chocolate--the first translation I made sure to know before arriving). Each stand was beautifully decorated with lights, wreaths, and globe ornaments which were covered in dripping icicles. Although we all had on leggings and tights beneath our jeans, 2 or 3 pairs of socks under fur-lined winter boots, hats, multiple pairs of gloves, wool scarves and 10 layers under giant snow jackets, the cold was hard to keep out and an immediate solution was necessary. Queue: buttery, delicious, fatty treats. Honestly that was the best way to stay warm. Every now and then we took a stop at a bratwurst vendor, or a stand with warm candied almonds covered in every possible sugar/butter related topping you can image, or a booth with warm brezels. The food was yummy, and cheap too. Our three meals each day came from vendors, and so with that we had the most typical and delicious of German food. Here are some pictures from this particular market:

Cozy looking stop, so...

First tastes of Glühwein! I must have been in Spain for too long because the first thing I thought of was "Hot Sangria!"

Bratwürst stands everywhere you look!

First try...much better than I thought and amazing break from the cold

Then we continued on to the next market, which was very nearby, in between the two main churches and the concert hall. This market had a 1 euro entry charge and was quite a bit more posh. It was so crowded with people of all ages laughing, toasting their glühwein, and shopping for their loved ones, you couldn't help but feel warmed to the core in the middle of an icy December evening.
Here, we stopped at a tempting little booth with an outdoor wooden oven cooking a bread/pizza thing that smelled like heaven and as I passed by a huddle of old ladies holding on tightly to their steaming dinners I couldn't help but pop into the line. It was a piece of hand-made bread with melted raclette cheese, pieces of ham and sprinkled chives. It completely scalded the roof of my mouth but warmed and filled me up!

Some of the other markets were more geared towards children, and went heavy on the amusement park theme. There were some markets that were more like the California State Fair with a few schnitzel stops here and there. Although we walked at a much quicker pace through these types, a few friends and I couldn't resist when we saw a giant hill of snow in the middle of the market that you could inter-tube down. Four of us paid 1 euro each and lugged our inter-tubed up to the  top, then all held hands and screamed all the way down to the bottom! Here are some photos from that market:

Here are a few other pictures from walking around all day:

Ice clumps floating in the river, brrr!

The next day we included what was most important in any trip to Berlin: a historical tour of the city. What I know about the city I know from history books, and not much else. My impression of Berlin as a whole was not very developed, but as a center for WWII, it was quite clear. Our free walking tour began at the Brandenburg Tor.

Christmas decoration in front of Brandenburger Tor

Our guide was a young man named Paulo and he took us throughout many of the main historical sights of Berlin in just under 4 hours. Immediately once the tour had begun and we walked under the gate to the other side of the street for a better view of the Reichstag, he informed us that we had just made the cross from East Berlin into the West, which, as recently as 21 years ago would have been nearly impossible.

From there we walked to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe. This memorial was designed by architect Peter Eisenman and consists of 2,711 concrete blocks, one for each page of the Talmud (an important text in Judaism pertaining to Jewish laws, ethics and philosophies). As the designer intended, there are no signs nor descriptions around the sight with numbers, figures or explanations. Eisenman did so in order to provoke a personal response from each visitor, so that the passerby can't simply walk through the memorial, read a slab with dates and figures and then "check it off" the list. Instead, you are prompted to form your own thoughts and ideas about what the memoiral represents to you. Some say the slabs represent a cemetary, others believe they resemble guards, others see the opposite: lines of prisoners, others (and this is the one I most identified with) believe that by the way the memorial is designed--appearing level from the street, but as soon as you enter the endless rows you find the blocks grow higher and higher very quickly to the point where you feel engulfed, overwhelmed, and somewhat lost, represent the drastic changes in history of Germany and how events quickly escalate without warning, leading to such a horrific end that seemed to progress at an unimaginable speed. As I walked through the memorial, I was separated from my group and felt the stark cold of being surrounded by a maze of concrete. I slowly paced past block after block and the feeling of grief and anger and fear became overwhelming, because finally the dark history of this city was staring me in the face, surrounding me, and had become real and tangible. In the background I heard the voices of children playing a game of tag throughout the maze, and giggling and laughing. It was a strange juxtaposition that both confused me and brought such a strong emotional response. Here is the memorial:

The next stop of the tour was what is now nothing more than a parking lot. However, where we stood was above the bunkers where Adolf Hitler and his wife Eva Braun committed suicide in 1945. Now, the area looks like any average car park, with apartment buildings surrounding. This was where the tour took us:

Then we saw the last remaining Nazi building in Berlin, which was once the Ministry or Aviation and now is the city tax office, so like our tour guide said, still the most hated building in Berlin. After this we walked to a stretch of the Berlin Wall, the second longest to still stand. Here is a photo:

On this part of the tour, we learned about all of the reasons that led the the construction of the wall, and what that meant to Europe for the time it stood, and now how the city has continued on. From here we went to Checkpoint Charlie, which isn't much of anything now and is really just a tourist trap, so we didn't spend more than a brief second there.
Next, we walked through Bebelplatz  Square where Humboldt University stands. The University in which famous students such as Albert Einstein, Karl Marx and the Grimm brothers attended. Here was also the location of a massive book burning in 1933 of about 20,000 titles all which had been named "un-German". Now, in the center of the square is a glass window into an underground bookshelf, stark white and completely empty with the quote by Heinrich Heine: "Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings". This quote was from nearly a century before the book burnings took place, where his books, along with the others, were thrown into the fire.
The last stop on the tour was to the Nueu Wache, the Museum to the Victims of War and Tyranny. Here is one building in which the only thing that stands is a statue entitled: "Mother with her Dead Son". Above it is an oculus which exposes the piece to the elements, in this case, falling snow that delicately and powerfully covered the sculpted bodies with a sheet of white, making this memorial all the more chilling.

The next day we went to the East Side Gallery: the longest stretch of the Berlin Wall which still stands and is covered in over 100 paintings by artists from all over the world. It was painted on the East Side of the Wall in 1990 and was just recently restored in the past couple of years after it had been badly vandalized and destroyed by erosion. Here are some of my favorite pieces:

One of the most recognizable pieces: kissing Communist leaders Leonid Brezhnev and Erich Honecker  

A break in the wall showed the freezing river and rundown buildings on the other side

Later that day we went to the Tiergarten, a huge urban park in the center of Mitte, and right next to the Reichstag. I have seen breathtaking photos of the park, and we had grand plans to explore it. However, there is a powerful bit of information that we found out quite quickly on our walk. When we were well into the the Tiergarten Joanna anxiously asked when we were going to get there. That's when we came to the solid conclusion: Everything looks basically the same when it is under 3 feet of snow. From there, we headed to the more recognizable sites that Berlin had to offer.

We also had plans to go inside the Reichstag, the house of parliament in Germany.

But, as a response to the recent terrorist threats aimed at the city, all of the main government buildings were closed off to the public, and guarded by soldiers with AK-47 strapped to their chests. We found this to be a familiar sight: the train stations, metro stops, airport terminals, etc. Recently a bomb headed to Chicago was mailed through the Berlin airport, and just yesterday, a few hours after we departed from Schönefeld, there was a bomb threat that caused the evacuation of a plane headed to Moscow. It is a horrible thing when we are driven by fear, and constantly made to feel uneasy and suspicious. I refuse to take part in this, but it isn't so easy to ignore when traveling, and we definitely noticed it everywhere we went. We found the same in Paris two weeks ago when we walked to the Eiffel Tower and to go to the bathroom passed 5-10 armed guards standing at the door! It's quite scary to the regular citizens and tourists, and certainly created a tense and fearful experience at times.
Well enough of that talk. That night we went to our last Christmas Market at enjoyed a lovely Bratwürst while listening to a performance of English Christmas carols sung in very heavy German accents.

This was at 4pm! It got dark so early!

Then we walked home through a beautiful snow fall and admired all of the Christmas lights. Later, our whole group rejoined and we went out for a festive, traditional German dinner.

Falling snow on Friedrichstraße

Now that I am home in 70 degree Barcelona and can feel my feet again, I am left thinking about all of the fantastic things I have seen and how much I learned in 4 short days. I really love Berlin, it is a beautiful city, and although it has seen a vicious and disturbing past, the history is displayed throughout the city to remind and teach people, and to do anything but cover it up.
The people that we meant were some of the friendliest, and the food, some of the most delicious. Being in Germany right before Christmas is the best way to feel connected with the actual holiday and eliminate the Hallmark crap that seems to overbear the core traditions of this season.

Alyssa and I warming up with some heiße schokolade

We were surrounded by families, friends, and strangers all happy to share a space heater over a cup of mulled wine, and I have never felt more Christmas spirit or eagerness to spend this time with the ones I love. I will be home in 10 short days and I can't wait to see you all.
Love, Meghan

Winter Cheer

God I love this weather. This morning I woke up before my alarm clock, so I got up, put on my new winter marshmallow jacket, and left for class a half hour early simply to wander the streets on this cold, dark Tuesday. All bundled up, with not much more than my forehead visible above my giant jacket that engulfs me, I slowly meandered around the neighborhood, glimpsing into shop windows that had not yet opened, and catching whiffs of the sweet smells wafting from the bakery air vents onto the street. After class, around 11am, I wandered back out, and after buying some new headphones for just 2 euro I passed by a sweet, warm and welcoming cafe a few blocks down from my apartment. I felt my pocket and counted out my change: 1 euro 83 cents. Just enough. Still with all of my school materials, I sat down, ordered a cafe Americano and a baguette, and sat reading my Anthropology book La Semejanza del Mundo while listening to Simon and Garfunkel with my newly purchased headphones.
My apartment has no heating, so each room has individual space heaters, except for mine. So, the girls who own the apartment told me to go out and buy one and take it off of the rent. I was so excited by this news! Its only November and I have been wearing boots and mittens inside for the past 3 weeks or so. Yesterday I went out and bought one, and now my room is so warm and cozy, there is nothing more I need.
Last night was "El Clasico" the twice-a-year futbol game between the biggest rival teams: FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Well last night Barça destroyed their opposition! 5-0!! Several of my friends went to a popular sports bar down by the Barcelonetta beach to watch the game with the crazy fans, but unfortunately I had a presentation in my Anthropology class, and had to miss out. Well, incase I wasn't sure how the game had ended up, it was obvious once class got out the entire city was celebrating! There were fireworks, cheering, singing, honking and chanting. That is one of the things that goes along with living on the main street in the center of the city, with a balcony directly facing all the action. Horns honked until 2 or 3 in the morning, fans marched the streets chanting Barça, Barça, Barça!!!! And random passerby's felt the need to ring my buildings doorbell repeatedly, for what I don't know. Anyways I was sad I hadn't been out celebrating with the rest of Barcelona, but my presentation was the biggest project of the semester and my first priority.
So about my presentation! I was really nervous, because I had to chose a topic relating to both Urban Anthro, and Anthro of Gender, and then form a 45 minute PowerPoint presentation to present in front of the entire class of Catalan students. My topic was female immigrants who come to Barcelona looking for work, what jobs are generally available to them, and how there exists a hierarchy among incoming workers based on the country that they come from, and the prejudice that Spain holds towards specific ethnic groups as a result of the relatively short history of immigration, and how these stereotypical ideas pigeon-hole them into very limited work opportunities (breathe.) Last night I presented, and although there were some bumps, like when I would trip on my words or get twisted in a confusing mess of verb tenses, I would say that it was a successful presentation, and my classmates made me feel at ease. At the end they applauded, and the professor and a few of the older students gave me very encouraging comments. I walked away feeling confident with my work, and proud that I had overcome the first hurdle of speaking for 45 minutes in Spanish to a class-full of native speakers.
Since I haven't posted in a while, I have some catching up to do.
Two Wednesdays ago, when I had my regular meeting with the Catalan girls for our Language Exchange, we decided to have a dinner party! They all met at my house at 7pm, with their edible contribution of traditional Catalan in tow. Mireia brought ingredients to make pa amb tomaquet (bread with tomato--you literally cit up a baguette, rub a slice of tomato on it to get it nice and soggy, they add some olive oil and a pinch of salt--the easiest and most common tapa here in Barcelona) and Crema Catalana (Catalunya's version of creme brulee--much better in my opinion). Carla brought traditional Catalan wine and several versions of Catalan sausage and cured ham. And Desiree brought queso fresco--a white, wet cheese resembling mozerella di buffalo, but slightly different. And I--well, I made a green salad, and put out a bowl of oranges. (It was the day before Paris and I had no extra money, time to cook something fancier, nor did I want any leftovers) Anyways we had a fantastic time! They literally stayed until a quarter to midnight, the time just flew by. We talked about everything from the California stereotype, to public education and healthcare in America, to Catalunya independence and the upcoming presidential candidates. It was so great to get an inside look on a culture that often creates such strong boundaries with the foreigner on the basis of their unique struggle for cultural recognition and preservation that seems to constantly encounter new opposition. This weekly intercambio has deeply enriched my experience here, and has converted me into an informed resident and removed my label as a   temporary visitor.
Here are some pictures from our evening:

All of our lovely contributions: I know what you're thinking, that salad DOES look ravishing!

Pa amb tomaquet--because the Catalans know how to make soggy bread into a national dish

Carla opening up our traditional Catalan wine

Buen provecho!

Next on the list of catch-up: Thanksgiving!
I really missed you all on Thanksgiving. It is tough to be away from the ones you love on such a family-centric day. But, I was happily in the company of my Barcelona family, the great friends that I have made on my stay here. Our program hosted a fancy Thanksgiving dinner at the Hotel Espanya right off of La Rambla (according to my history professor--the 2nd oldest hotel in Barcelona). Everyone dressed up so nicely, girls curled their hair, guys wore suits, I wore--a long sleeve shirt under a sundress--I guess we didn't all come prepared. The tables were set up beautifully. Three long tables with white table-clothes and MULTIPLE items of silverware! It was so exciting to be in such a shwanky spot. They immediately started filling up the wine glasses with our pick or red or white, and all of the students very quickly began to loosen up and get louder and louder and LOUDER. But it was so much fun all sitting together and chatting while we curiously poked at our deep-fried entree, not resembling anything Mom makes...
The turkey was delicious, the sweet potatoes sweet. All in all it was a very nice Thanksgiving. Although I don't think Spain has got a good handle on the concept yet. Thanksgiving dinner, starting at 9pm. The first course at 10:30pm. The turkey around 11pm. Um hello?? How are you supposed to eat a feast fit for a king and then not have the chance to digest before immediately hitting the sack? It's fair to say every one of us was in a food coma, and it wasn't until the middle of the next day that we could even begin to fathom the idea of another meal.

Thanksgiving feastin'

Claire, Tamar and I waiting patiently for our 10pm Thanksgiving dinner

I want all of you, my loyal readers, to know how grateful I am for you. I am grateful for my incredible family and their love and support--I can feel it stronger than ever from 6,000 miles away. Mom and Dad--I wouldn't be here living this incredible life right now if it wasn't for you both, and I am forever grateful for this opportunity, it means the world to me. And I am so grateful for all of my friends--old and new, who have made every moment ten times more enjoyable. I love you all, and a Happy belated Thanksgiving!
After that past Thursday, I was beginning to get in over my head with school work, so the next few days were exclusively dedicated to getting caught up. And, now I am feeling much more relieved as I have one presentation behind me, and almost all of my reading completed. However, everyone needs a study break, and that's exactly what we had on Saturday when Alyssa, Joanna, and Rachel came over for a cooking day. You see, pumpkin is quite the crucial ingredient in autumn cooking, as I am sure all of you will agree, but Spain doesn't seem to have come to their senses in this matter. What I mean is--there is no dang pumpkin in a can!! No where! What do they think, pumpkins just grow up from the ground? No! They come in lovely, pre-mashed form sitting on the grocery shelf ready to be put directly into my pre-made pie-crust, duh! Well, Alyssa, on her walk home from school, had discovered a delightful little store called "A Taste of Home" which had thankfully jumped on the canned-pumpkin bandwagon, so she bought a couple cans, and we all had an afternoon of cooking pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread. Okay, so we had the pumpkin, but almost everything else we had to improvise for. No ready-made crusts at the store, and no graham crackers. Alyssa and I looked around the grocery store and after narrowing down the candidates for our crust to corn-flake cereal or croutons, we chose croutons, and headed back to my apartment. I would like to say that this turned out to be a pleasant surprise of gustatory delight--but no. It tasted just like you would expect a box full of soggy croutons to taste like. Oh, plus the little kicker--they were sour dough. So, once the pie was out of the oven and we cautiously raised our fork-fulls to our mouths, the result was: the most I can say is that we didn't get sick, and that's enough for me.  Here is a picture of our creation: (hey, at least it's orange, right?)

Please ignore the floating weenies...

The pumpkin pie was another story, but with unfortunately the same ending. Everything seemed to be going alright, and at each step I kept saying "The batter looks just like Mom's!", then, "The batter TASTES just like Mom's!" then, once it came out of the over "Oh my gosh, it even LOOKS like Mom's!"....then came the tastes test. It was steaming hot and looked like it belonged in a bakery window (out of mouths reach I mean...) but once I cut it open my proud smile and anxious excitement came to a screeching halt. It looked like a raw pumpkin inside. So I took a bite, and we all exchanged critique: starting from "Tastes quite eggy", "Needs a bit more sugar" and by the third bite it had evolved to "Tastes like crap!" and "Where is the garbage again?" So, our pumpkin cooking wasn't so successful, but at least we had fun!

Scrumdiddlyuptious!

That's okay, I don't need any help in the kitchen...
:)

This weekend, well Thursday morning, I am heading out to Berlin with 6 friends to visit the dozens of Christmas markets that cover the city this time of year. We plan to visit the main sites, see the Berlin Wall, East Side Museum, Check-point Charlie, etc., and try some yummy German food while doing our best to escape, or at least ignore the 20 degree weather and chilling snow. I can't wait :)