The good stuff just continues. Last night, I went out to dinner with my friend, Kathleen, whom I met in 2008 through HIA. She has always been so great about showing me new and cool things in Berlin, and last night was no exception.
A few months back, the New York Times had a short feature on this mobile garden in Berlin. Although I'd never visited it (until last night), I knew where it was since it wasn't terribly far from my old apartment. You can buy all sorts of fresh vegetables and herbs there. Pretty neat.
In the middle of the garden space though, there's also a little eatery, where you can choose one of the two daily specials. Yesterday, there was risotto with lime, zucchini, tomatoes, and a fried flower stuffed with cheese. So good! The flower part reminded me of something Taso's cousin made for us in Vitalo, Greece. Delicious.
After dinner, Kathleen and I took a stroll through Kreuzberg. There was this one building that just looked really cool, so I took a picture.
You could also see tons of people on the grass along the canal. It was fairly comfortable outside too. It's actually quite near where Tamar and I had English lessons the other day.
We met up with Kathleen's boyfriend for a beer and Pflamkuchen (a flat pizza like dish). 'Twas fun. I'm so glad to have gotten to hang out with them, since I likely won't see them again for a while.
This morning, I headed over to my buddy Rob's house in Schöneberg. We planned to hang out for a few hours, since I won't see him for a while either, although luckily, he's coming to Seattle in a few weeks for a trip. By the way, if anyone knows of a van, truck, or car for sale (under $1,000), please let me know. We're trying to find him a car for his three week trip—all it has to do is actually run.
We spent a few hours chilling at his house, where he showed me some pictures of his hair when he was younger. He had these awesome dreadlocks at some point, and other times he had Joey Harrington-like hair. Anyway, his hair now is long and can be worn in a ponytail, but with his beard, it looks cool. I've told him I'm trying to get his beard's status before...hmm, not working so well. Haha.
After chilling at his place, we headed to a park where I used to live for a walk. I never realized how big the Hasenheide is. It's huge!
There are even these little creatures there!
Too bad there weren't any beavers...I was kind of hoping to see a beaver.
I was starving though, so we went to a great falafel place. Ok, so I used to think the falafel place across from my old apartment was good (it was just cheap), but this place was completely a whole new level. I have found my new favorite falafel place in Berlin.
The intersection where it's at isn't far from two of my Fulbright partner schools actually, so I passed it many times this year without knowing about it. The fact is though: there are so many good döner, schawarma, and falafel places in Berlin that you can't really go wrong with where you end up going.
In the evening, I went over to friend Stefan's house for dinner. He invited me over because he said since I cooked for him (and Brandon and Ariel and Joan) back in March on St. Patty's Day it was his turn to cook. Of course, I said, "Sure!" He made this amazing lasagna. The bolognese-type sauce he made included some chicken liver and some other meat, but I didn't even taste it despite not liking liver.
He also made a salad with some chicken liver, and I could only try one or two pieces. I'm really not a fan of liver at all...
The finished lasagna was sooooo good. I ate nearly half of this...haha. Stefan, Stefan's roommate, and Stefan's roommate's girlfriend finished the rest. I'm such a pig!
Again, trying my creative food shots inspired by my friend Priya's food blog. :)
After dinner, we went to the absinthe bar with our friends from the UW. It was Wednesday night, so shots were only 2,50€ each. This bar is really touristy, but it's just one of those things people try in Berlin. I think everyone enjoyed themselves.
I never got to buy a drink for Temneet on her 21st birthday, so I helped chip in for her Hurricane drink, which we then shared. Haha. At least it was a good drink. I will bring her a special beer this weekend.
After drinks, we actually went to the döner place around the corner 'cause some of them were hungry. Even though I was stuffed from lasagna, I also had a sudden urge for munchies too, so I got a Turkish pizza. I couldn't finish it...that's a first. All in all, everyone had lots of fun.
We were going to go elsewhere after strolling through the Kulturbrauerei, but we ended up finding a park, where we promptly went swinging on the kid's playground. I also found a random ball in the sand in the playground, so we tossed it around in the dark before playing on the slides as well.
Finally, it was time to get home as the sun was due to come up in two hours or so. I ended up taking a taxi, because I really didn't want to wait for the tram and walk, which all combined would've taken another hour. The taxi driver was really nice, even though the ride was more than I would've liked to pay. He told me he is originally from Stuttgart, and we had a nice conversation.
Apparently, according to him, I speak "super Deutsch". Haha. He thought I'd only learned it since arriving a year ago, but upon hearing that I've studied it for three years on top of my year here in Berlin, he was like, "Yeah, but still...it's super." How nice of him.
Tomorrow, the packing officially begins. I have to clean up my room and stuff everything into my lone suitcase. Not sure how it's all going to work. Shipping boxes is way too expensive, so I may stuff lighter stuff into my duffel bag too and just carry that on the plane. We shall see.
Toodles,
Sam
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