Museums, Fish, and Food

Seems like it's been a very long weekend even though it's now almost Tuesday in Berlin. Most definitely a good one though.

On Sunday, James and his sister came over to my place after their trip from Leipzig. We then all met up with Elena and some of the students in her group to go visit the Pergamon Museum. It was my third time there, but I love it every time. Plus, I got to flash my European student ID card this time. Totally legit.

Naturally, the largest exhibit is the Pergamon Altar. We spent a few minutes just sitting on the steps too. Always fun to people watch.

There also happened to be a special exhibit on the Caucasus region, and it was called the Silver Horse.

The Silver Horse was actually this silver plate. Pretty neat.

From there, we went to check out some of the main pieces in the museum. The Gate of Miletus is one of my three favorite parts of the Pergamon.

And, on the other side, the Gate of Ishtar is another of my three favorite pieces. Simply fabulous.

I explored some of the side parts for the first time ever as well. Normally, I just see the main stuff. There was this model of an old temple. Pretty neat.

We headed to a pizza place down the street, where sadly Elena had to leave us to head back to Marburg. Bummer, since she just missed the pizza. I had one with salmon and a type of sour cream on it. So good!

We decided to walk around after that since James's sister hadn't really seen much of Berlin before. We walked near my university, and I actually saw the facade of one of the main buildings for the first time ever. In the four years I've been to Berlin, it's always been covered by scaffolding.

From there, we walked toward the Brandenburg Gate. On our way, we stopped by surrounding sites. The sun was setting over the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, so I snapped a photo while I still could. It gets dark by 4 PM or so these days.

There was also actually still a bit of snow on the ground as you can see from the Topography of Terrors exhibit. That exhibit is much different now from what it used to be.

We ended our night at the East Side Gallery and then the Ostbahnhof, where I actually bought new shoes and boots. I just need new gloves to complete my winter wardrobe. I hear H&M has 3€ gloves.

Today, James's sister left early, and then James and I met up with Brandon for lunch at a Japanese restaurant by the university. Nice to have a little Marburg reunion. James caught his train after that, and Brandon asked if I wanted to join him in his class today since his lab partner was absent.

Although I said sure, I never took any lab science classes in college, and my last biology class was AP Bio during my junior year in high school. Still, watching fish swim around and keeping data was more fun than my bio classes.

There were three pairs, including me and Brandon, in the room. Each set of lab partners had a group of four fish (roaches, I think they're called) to work with. They were being tested to identify their personality traits (yes, apparently, fish have personality traits).

I don't really feel like explaining the whole thing, but basically we watched each fish swim around for ten minutes and kept track of which block of the tank they were in every ten seconds. Check it out. I even did some math today.

Well, after the class, we decided spontaneously to cook dinner at Brandon's. Actually, he cooked since I helped with his class. Haha. I also did some work since I have to prep for some school visits this week. He made Thai Sweet Chili Chicken with rice and veggies though. We all seem to be getting on this recipe a lot (thanks, Rachel!).

I finally made it home around 10 PM, and tomorrow I have to wake up at 6:30 AM to go to a school. I will be helping out with two English classes (one 7th grade class; the other is an 8th grade class). Apparently, the students are studying American holidays, so they will be describing them to me in German, and I will be answering and providing feedback in English. Should be fun.

On Wednesday, I visit another school and am scheduled to give a brief talk on conservatism in the US. Pointers anyone? Should be interesting. I will return to the same school on Thursday and have a chance to sit down with a group of students. Looking forward to it. At the end of the week, I'll be hitting the road again as I'm spending the weekend in southern Germany. More on that later.

Time for bed. Toodles.

Sam

Thanksgiving Week Part 3

Well, I suppose with the third Thanksgiving dinner this week, my Thanksgiving week in Germany has finally come to a close. It was most definitely a great way to close it out. Today, I spent almost the entire afternoon at my buddy Matt's house.

Again, like at James', there were a handful of Americans and a bunch of non-Americans (I say non-Americans since there were more than just Germans there). Nevertheless, we had a true Thanksgiving dinner, and the non-Americans learned all about the great holiday.

Matt also had a 15 lb. turkey, and it was absolutely excellent.

Michelle helped him mash the potatoes. Clearly, she had fun doing it.

I think stuffing may be my new favorite part of Thanksgiving food. Really stellar.

Before we cut the turkey, we took some obligatory fun photos.

Eating began around 2:30 PM, and Michelle looked very excited, even though this was her fourth Thanksgiving meal this week (and had a fifth one later in the day).

Matt also made his largest cornbread ever, and with a nice dab of honey, it was heavenly.

We all had at least second helpings of the delicious food, and then we moved on to dessert—a pumpkin pie and an apple pie with whipped cream.

Today was truly very similar to a regular Thanksgiving as we sat around, drank wine, and chatted about everything the whole afternoon. Matt even told the history of Thanksgiving in German, which was quite impressive.

In honor of the holiday, someone brought along the game, Carcassone, but the Mayflower edition. I've never played it personally, but given the theme, I do like it.

Later in the evening, I left the party and headed for a Christmas market in Prenzlauer Berg, where my friend, Elena, and a whole bunch of Erasmus students from Marburg were spending part of their weekend in Berlin. The Christmas market offered not only good food and drink, but also fun(ny) attractions such as this double coat thingy.

Surprisingly, after the hour-long commute, I was hungry again. So I got a cheeseburger. Deeeeeeeeelicious. I had one of these last summer too, and I had been thinking about it every time I visited the neighborhood.

It was freezing outside though, and there was actually a bit of snow all around. Then there was also this weird "angel" dude on sticks. He was swooping around like he was drunk or something...or trying to fly. Either way, scary.

After a while, we decided to head to a bar. We went down Kastanianallee, but I was disappointed to see so few bar options. I had always remembered it to be more lively than I found it tonight. In the end, we went to an Indian restaurant, where I had an Indian beer (interesting, not my favorite) and some garlic naan. Reminded me of Seattle.

Tomorrow, I'll probably be spending the day with James, his sister, and Elena. A visit to the Pergamon Museum is quite likely, and I must say I'm quite excited. It's the middle of the night now, so I should go to sleep. But, as usual, I'm starving again. Haha. Oh well.

Until next time,

Sam

Thanksgiving Week Part 2

For the past 22 years (I think), I have spent my Thanksgiving holiday with my family, eating turkey and other yummy food. Well, since I'm in Germany this year, I couldn't exactly celebrate with them in person. So while I sent my Thanksgiving wishes to my family, I celebrated it with some friends.

I headed two hours southwest from Berlin to Leipzig, where I spent a day with my buddy, James, and friends and siblings. James had a very organized list/schedule for the day, so we stayed on task for the entire evening.

Although he had never cooked a turkey before, he did a brilliant job with the 15 lb. beast.

With his brother visiting from the US and his sister visiting from Denmark, we celebrated together with a large group of his German friends. It was a joyous and fun-filled evening. Sadly, we forgot to take a picture of all the food once it was prepared...I guess we were just too hungry. But at least the table looked great.

In the end, we had plenty of leftovers. James will be eating well for at least the next week.

As with the tradition at our house, we added an Asian touch to this Thanksgiving feast, when James asked me to make something Asian. So for the fourth time in the past two weeks, I made Thai Sweet Chili Chicken, 'cause it's that good and it's that easy. However, quadrupling the ingredients meant I was prepping and chopping for a good 90 minutes. My shoulder is still hurting...

The end result though was a spectacular meal, and we had a grand old time.

This morning, we slept in, had delicious omelets (courtesy of James), and then headed out into the Leipzig cold to check out the city. It had snowed last night, so everything had a thin layer of white cold stuff over it. We checked out the university, where we went into the Mensa and marveled at the underground bike parking garage. How awesome is that?

Then we checked out the Nikolaikirche, which has a large place in Leipzig's history because of its role in former East Germany. James can probably tell you more about it...or you could Wikipedia it. :) I do love visiting churches in Europe though. They seem so much grander, especially the inside.

One of our next stops was Auerbachs Keller (Auerbach's Cellar), which is famous because it appears in Goethe's Faust. In fact, you can see signs of it everywhere around it. Such as the statues. I'm such a kid in a candy shop when I see stuff like that.

After that, we wandered into a Christmas market. Now, there are Christmas markets all over Germany, and there are more being set up every day as Christmas gets closer. I took this picture, but clearly the people I got in it were not happy about it. Oops.

Traditional food and drinks at a Christmas market: Glühwein (which is a sweet red wine you drink warm) and, of course, sausages. Although I'm posing with James' Glühwein, I did eat that delicious Krakauer (which is actually Polish, ironically).

I also saw this little mailbox, which brought a nice laugh. It says "Mail for Santa Claus."

After the Christmas market, we headed to the Thomaskirche, which is actually right next to where Johann Sebastian Bach grew up. He definitely had many of his masterpieces played at this church.

In fact, we walked in on a boys' choir preparing for a concert or something. I did not realize it was a boys' choir until James mentioned it. Haha. We sat on some steps and listened for a few minutes until James casually mentioned that Bach was buried right behind me. I don't think I've been that excited to see a grave before, but I took a picture. It struck me as kind of funny that they conduct religious services with Bach's grave in the front of the church.

Our final stops brought us by the new city hall, which isn't actually new (it's just newer than the old city hall). Across the street further away was the majestic-looking courthouse. It reminds me of the city hall in Hamburg, which is one of my favorite buildings in Germany. Must be the color of the roof.

Anyway, all in all, I had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and I'm now prepping for a third Thanksgiving meal tomorrow with a friend from Seattle who lives down the street from me. We may even get in a few games of American football or baseball. :) Pictures from Part Three tomorrow.

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving too!

Sam

Thanksgiving Week Part 1

Tonight, the Fulbrighters in Berlin had a Thanksgiving potluck co-hosted by the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy. In all, there were about 50 people there. I knew at least six of the Fulbrighters and, of course, the Fulbright Commission folks who were on hand. Although I didn't meet a ton of new people, it was nice to mingle a bit.

I ended up bringing Thai Sweet Chili Chicken, which may becoming my new favorite dish to cook. It's incredibly easy, and this time I doubled the portions. Still not enough for the potluck, but whatever, they had turkey for us. Not a huge traditional turkey, but rather turkey legs (or drumsticks or whatever the heck you call them). A bit tough, but good. I couldn't wait to get home and floss though. Haha.

On my one-hour bus ride to our meeting place, I got to see parts of Berlin that I have only explored briefly. Actually, I've really explored very little of what would formerly be called West Berlin. I live on the other side of town, so it makes little sense for me to go west often. Plus, it's much more expensive there. There were bright lights and seemingly endless shopping options there. It's no wonder that particular street is called the Champs Elysée of Berlin. But the area around it looked quite nice. Here are some pictures from my night:

I also woke up way earlier than usual today. Early meaning 6:45 AM. I was supposed to arrive at the school I was visiting today at 8:15 AM, and since the commute is usually about an hour long, I had to make sure to plan enough time for unexpected circumstances. I'm becoming so German...

The school visit itself was fun. I spent two class periods speaking with students in English and German. They were in English class after all, so I was supposed to play a little board game with them in pairs and practice English. Most of the students I worked with (7th and 8th grade) were quite good at English already.

This week is quickly becoming a very busy one though. Tomorrow I have a few meetings and then more work to do on my project. After a few stumbling blocks, I've got a large pile of things to do for my project. Even with the uncertainty around all the bureaucratic red tape, I have to say I'm more optimistic about it now than I was last week.

Now, I just have to get through all the remaining emails in my inbox...oy vey. Happy Thanksgiving! More food pictures and stories later this week.

Toodles,

Sam

Food Pictures are the Best

I was about to start blogging when I couldn't think of a good title for this post. I suppose that's what happens when you have nothing extraordinary to report. The only interesting thing may be the pictures of food I've had in the past week.

Before I post the pictures though, I do want to share a quick update on my school visits. So far, still working (slowly) on getting permission, contact in schools, etc. I've been spending more time simply just writing, and it's heavenly. I'd rather just stay at home and write my thoughts. But I would also like more stories to write out, so I do really need to get into more schools.

The one school I have been fortunate to spend time at though has been great in working me into their schedule and class plans. For example, I sat in on an English class last week. As soon as I walked in, I was invited by three of the young boys to sit at their table, which I did. The next hour and a half we worked together on writing a dialogue on how to order food. It was pretty awesome. They ordered pizza, döners, and lasagna, which all cost ridiculous prices. Fun exercise, and I even got to do the example role play with the teacher.

If there's one thing I've learned from my short time in classes, it's this: I do not want to be a teacher. Period. As much as I love learning and sharing with others, I can't do it on a daily basis the way these teachers can. Honestly, I think teaching is one of the hardest jobs out there. I have much respect and admiration for anyone who ventures into the teaching world and succeeds.

This week, I will continue with visits—three classes actually. If I understood correctly, all of them will be English classes. Should be fun.

I just realized I actually had more interesting stuff this weekend. I spent most of Saturday afternoon at the HIA office with a small team of Senior Fellows. We read about 60 applications for a seminar later this year. We could only choose a small handful, so we broke out in teams and read every application. After four hours, we were successful. Overall, it was a good experience, and I got to see some wonderful people I hadn't seen in a few years.

Then after that, I headed out to Kreuzberg to meet another Senior Fellow, actually. Although he now lives in the US, he came back to visit Berlin since he did his masters here, and he invited me and some other friends to go to dinner. I had wiener schnitzel. Yum. It was a good evening though, and I have to say it's pretty neat to have a network of friends here already.

Speaking of HIA, I actually saw my old research buddy this weekend too. We met up with another Senior Fellow and went to a café. Seems like the theme of this weekend was HIA reunions.

Other than that, I spent some time cooking and getting ready for this week (Thanksgiving plans with Fulbright and friends). I had dinner with a fellow Fulbrighter from Marburg, and we had a great dinner and chat in English and German. Very fun indeed. I also tried making Thai Sweet Chili Chicken again, which is pictured below (with some veggies and rice I cooked up). The rest of the pictures are from dinner tonight at Michelle's place. She made some really awesome Turkish food, which was quite similar to food I had in Greece. All of it was delicious, and we had plenty of fun.

So there you have it. The latest update. This week, I have plenty more work to do since I'm effectively going to be on break from the beginning of December until the middle of January with all my travel plans. Should be fun.

Toodles,

Sam