Yesterday was the last day of class. I actually don't remember the morning... that's how long the day felt! I think I must have woken up and taken the train... Oh wait! I woke up at 6:00, because I had to prepare for our final presentations !!! I got to campus at around 8:30 and sat in the cafeteria and worked on it. We have 2 cafeterias: the "Mensa" where they serve lunch, etc and the "cafeteria" where they serve coffee, cakes, little sandwiches, and breakfast stuff. At 10, we went first and presented our powerpoint about Barbara, a movie we watched about East Germany. I highly recommend it! It isn't toooo heavy, and it gives a bit of history as well. After us went the other groups and we had great discussions about what it meant to be in the DDR (east Germany). We also had a deep discussion on how some still to this day believe that they were happier in this communist part of the world. Why? I in a way think that it is the same as Oma writing down all these positive memories of Berlin. I can't imagine writing anything positive after having to flee from my home and losing most of my family and friends. But I guess with time, one is able to remember the good too.... Hard to imagine.
During our lunch break, our group ate together as usual and then a couple of us headed to "Netto," a little supermarket near by where we bought a few sweet things to eat with the class. We were each supposed to bring something typical of our country, so I bought M&Ms! Hahaha! In class, Christin had pushed all the tables together and made a large table.
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| Our goodies! |
We sat and read our "Tagebuch" out loud. This "Tagebuch" is a sort of diary. Each of us had one day to write about and then she compiled all of it together and made it into a book. We also have some recipes from around the world! After finishing all the entries, which turned out to be pretty funny, we each got our copy signed by the others.
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| A bit blurry, but this is our group. All giving thumbs up for the poor Brazilian guy that cut his thumb cooking |
We had barely begun when the other class joined us and we were given feedback forms for the class. After quickly finishing those, we were given our certificates and our grades! I got my first 1,3. The grades go from 1 - 5 with 1 being the highest! I didn't know if this was good, but we were quickly informed that the only person that got a 1 was the native speaker. Bahahahaha, I'll stick with my 1.3!!! Proudest moment of the day: When Christin gave me my certificate, she looked at me and all she said, "Please believe me when I tell you that your German really is good." I really couldn't stop thinking, "man have I fooled you!" I will admit that I feel less helpless than I did my first day, BUT I still can't express everything I'm thinking so I found it incredibly humorous to have her constantly assuming that I understood/spoke more than everyone else... Very very funny! It was kinda sad saying goodbye to everyone... I know that I can see them again if/when I want to, but we won't all be in the same place at once again for a while! We really had a blast together.... so much so that Christin even teared up saying goodbye to our group. She also told us that we were a very special group and we needed to hang on to our bond, which I'm sure we will.
The trip back to Berlin was very quick, because I took a regional train. This was my last trip back to Berlin with Mette (the very nice Danish girl). We talked the whole way, in German, and split ways a block from my house, since she lives very close to here. We are planning on meeting soon and going to a museum, movie, or concert. (that goes for everyone in the group!) I quickly went to my apartment and left my heavy backpack, but I rushed back out and met Colby at a coffee shop. Yesterday was a very important day. Yesterday was Oma's birthday. Yesterday she would have turned 89 years old, and for the first time I got to spend her birthday in the place where she was born. It was sort of a magical realization, so after meeting up with Colby we walked to the place where she was born. The place where a little past midnight on March 28, Margot Pelzel was born. It really was magical!
Video of the church on the corner of where Oma lived her last years in Berlin. The bells were ringing as we made our way to the place where she was actually born. I thought it was pretty special.
Video of the corner where Oma was born. I'm still not sure if this yellow building is the building, or if the building stood next to it and was demolished to build the awesome kid's hands on museum that stands there now
After a moment of reflection in the cold Berlin air, I accompanied Colby to visit an apartment he is thinking about renting. He ran into some trouble with the room he is currently renting, so he has been desperately trying to find a new one. Thing is how that works:
- one searches for room on this online website
- one sends emails
- one gets no replies
- one sends more emails
- one gets some replies with dates to view the place
- one goes to the viewing parties or appointment
- one must have an interviewish visit party, where you can see the place, but you also have to sell yourself to the potential roommates
Once back in Prenzlauer berg, we decided to eat dinner at a place called Frida Kahlo. It was delicious Mexican food, but classy Mexican food... That sounds wrong, lets just say a classier restaurant than the Mexican restaurants one would see back home. I had some delicious Nachos, which were soooo good!!! I was soooo exhausted once I got home that I quickly fell asleep.
Today started earlier than I thought... my plan: sleep in. Reality: woke up at 8:30 to a LOT of snow falling outside my window. NOOOOOOO!!! Today's plan: take all of my suitcases to Potsdam. NOOOOO!! That includes 2 suitcases and 1 bag. All the way to potsdam: 2 train stations, 2 trains, 10 minute walk! All not only THROUGH the snow on the ground, but also THROUGH the falling snow!!! Let me tell ya... pulling a 50 lb suitcase is already hard, there is no need to have to drag along a foot of snow with it!!! Ugh.. anyway. I waited for Colby to wake up and then started bringing down my bags.... One suitcase at a time! I had squished most everything in there this morning and was trying to avoid disturbing the masses. Once I had everything downstairs I waited for Colby and then headed to the U2 stop.
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| My suitcases ready for Colby to get here and help! |
Today is Good Friday, for all of those who didn't know... Which means that everything, but most of the restaurants, is closed. Soooo our initial plan to go to IKEA and buy all the necessary things for my room fell through. However we will be going tomorrow and I feel so much better now that I have moved all my big stuff to Potsdam. Also... the buses/trams/and trains caused a bit of a delay because they don't run as frequently... But we dealt with it and here was our day:
11:45 - start track with suitcases to train station
12:15 - get on U2 to Alex Platz
12:20 - try to maneuver with the huge bags around the huge train station at Alex Platz
12:33 - get on RE1 to Potsdam Park Sansoussi
1: 10 - arrive at Park Sansoussi and start our long walk through the snow
1:20- arrive at apt
2:00 - leave apt walking (without suitcases), since we RAN to catch a bus and missed it
2: 11 - check RE times at Park Sansoussi, no train till 2:47
2:27 - get on bus to South Bahnhof
2:50 - get to South Bahnhof and run to catch RE1 to Berlin
2:54 - get on RE1 --- same one we could have taken at 2:47 at Park Sansoussi
The train ride was pretty entertaining... Colby slept and I.... eaves dropped! I love it! There was a 20 something year old with his parent (clearly from Spain). It made me think of my mom, because after listening for 25 minutes, I realized that they had spent the whole time talking about food. Mom always says that it is so "american" to plan a trip and focus on places to eat, but these people.... The son apparently lives in Berlin and is a model... How do I know? Well... the mom was trying to write down what they had done this week while visiting and all they were doing was, "wait, where did we eat monday? where did we eat tuesday night?," "we ate there! remember? That was the night I didn't eat because I had the photo shoot the next day!" Apparently food as a main part of traveling is a universal syndrome. It was hilarious and entertained me all the way home.
Anyway, once we got back to Berlin and our beloved Prenzlauer Berg, we walked to Kreuzburger and had some delicious burgers and fries! Yummy! The Germans do burgers better, I think because everything on it tastes sooooo fresh! After stuffing our faces, we headed to my apartment, where I was grabbing my book so we could head to a cafe to drink coffee/tea and read.
When I entered the apartment my landlady quickly came out of the kitchen to greet me. She asked me if I wanted to eat with her and her son who is visiting! How sweet is that!!!!!! I felt horrible, because Colby was waiting on me downstairs and we had JUST eaten, but I had to say no thank you and explain. She then introduced me to her son, who is here visiting from Switzerland. She also said she felt sooo sorry for me today when she realized that I had taken my things to Potsdam in the snow. It kind of took me aback that she noticed things were gone (since they were gone from my room), but when I went in my room I realized she had come in to turn up the radiator to make sure I was warm. How sweet is she???? After a quick conversation I headed downstairs and Colby and I headed to a coffee place called the Glory Hole (which I mistakenly called the Wonder hole, my bad).
Sooo.. about 2 sentences into my book I discovered that the conversation going on at the table next to us was way more interesting. This time it wasn't in Spanish, it was in Germany. Ok, I really am not that big of a creep... but it started by me just trying to figure out if I could understand, and then... their conversation really got interesting. So this time it was two girls around 20 or 30. One of them was talking about a long distance relationship that had ended... Apparently it was a long relationship. Her mom had died and her dad has had 2 heart attacks. He was dating a Russian woman. Then her friend asks who he is living now with all this health problems. The other girl responds that it is too complicate... (oh gosh... I think to myself... I really hope I can understand what's coming because it sounds interesting). So apparently this Russian woman didn't have a permit to stay here, so he married her. But... she has 2 sons in Russia and a 76 year old mother. So the mom doesn't want to move and the kids have to finish high school and serve in the army. Then they can take a language placement test and move to Germany. But until then... she lives half of the year here and half there... I don't know where the conversation went after that, but I do know that I realized two things: 1. I clearly could understand 2. how creepy I was being. After that, we walked back to a little store that was open today and bought some Milka chocolate!!! Whoooooo! Now I am laying in bed!
Now that I have fully revealed my strangeness, I am signing off and going to watch some German tv.
Tomorrow will have to be exciting, because there will be nothing to do Sunday or Monday!! (everything will be closed).
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