Wildflowers

This weekend I found this amazing florist arranging bouquets of wildflowers along the side of the road. I was visiting a friend in the outskirts of Berlin and happened to walk the wrong way on the s- bahn. I fell in love with his aesthetic and asked him to make me a little bouquet for my friend. So pretty!

The Big Chase

Diego give Jamil the Saluki a run for his money. They ran 3 times around Mon Bijou park jumping over people and using the entire park are their track. It was hilarious. If you look closely you can see me with my blue bag. This video was shot with a camera phone.

I will try and stop posting so much about Diego. How dull!

Separated by Emusifiers

What's the point of a blog?

Seriously. I should've written this earlier. What's the point of my blog?

Peter R. put it well, it's a 'diary' or maybe in grown-up terms (meaning it's no longer pink with a little gold lock and key on a purple ribbon), it's a journal.

Yeah, that's what it is. A journal of my time and experiences in Berlin (and all of the other places I will be visiting). And since I think alot, and imagine a lot, and eat a lot wherever I am, I'll stick that in too since that's part of my time here in Berlin. I also tend to travel a lot, both for work and for pleasure, so I'll include that too. I think it is more about a TIME than a place, really. Know what I mean?

When I think about a foreigner's impression of a new country, I can't help but be a bit annoyed at the trite observations I've heard (and possibly said) before:

'They drive on the wrong side of the street there!'

'ooh I just love their cute accents. It makes them all seem so hot!'

'Did you know they EAT dogs there?!'

'Everyone has a gun in New York City'

You get the picture. I am going to try to keep the stupid, obvious stuff to a minimum, and try and write about the stuff that I didn't know and that I don't think my friends or family might know or have experienced or observed. Sure, the exchange student who spent their Junior year in Munich might think 'no duh,' please remember that the first time I came to Germany was in 2001, and that I have never studied German culture or language. So I'm a virgin. A German virgin.

Speaking of virgins, I probably won't discuss sex here. Or drugs. Maybe other people having sex and doing drugs (separately, or at the same time, or together with each other). But I won't talk about my own love life or the amazing ____ (insert drug/drink/23 year old's name here) I had last night. That's not for your consumption, dear reader.

Some people use Jesus as a guide (WWJD?) for how to conduct their lives. Here, that's irrelevant. I don't think Jesus would've moved to Berlin in his 30's. He probably would've been married to his high school sweetheart with 2 kids already. And I don't think he would tell me what he'd do in the first place. He'd probably say 'you're Jewish? You don't LOOK Jewish!' and get distracted and off the subject and then I'd never find out what he would do in my situation anyway.

I remember reading David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day and finding it kind of annoying. I loved all of his other books, but this one, about his experiences in France with his boyfriend bugged me. His observations of the French and learning French just didn't strike me as cute, or new or funny. I had lived in Paris for awhile, and had a wonderful relationship with a Parisian for several years, and fancied myself a Francophile. I had learned to speak French really well and had made French friends. I just found the book, comment dit-on? trite. So that's the filter I am going to use. If it seems too David Sedaris circa MTPOD, I will not publish it. Please keep me to this.

So that's the gist of it. That's my reason for blogging. Sometime soon I'll think of a mission statement, a goal, an RTB, a benefit, a role, and a target group for this thing.

My Dog, the ball Addict

el Diablo has taken to bringing his most beloved tennis ball into my bed with the hopes that I might throw it.

Fat chance fluffball.

Rosenstraße

My agency is in Mitte, on Rosenstrasse a street with a notable Jewish history. This is the street where over 6,000 women (not Jewish) protested the deportation of their Jewish husbands to the concentration camps of eastern Europe.

Before, Jews married to non Jews had been exempted from the death camps. But in 1943, the Gestapo conducted what it called 'The Final Roundup' and drove through the streets picking up anyone Jewish, or who even looked Jewish, and brought them to Rosenstrasse 2-4.

Over the course of the week, 6,000 woman came to Rosenstrasse to protest outside of the pre-deportation collection center, crying 'give us our husbands back!'

Avoiding a violent clash with the women, Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi Propaganda leader who was also the Nazi Party leader, ordered the release of the Jews with German spouses. Nearly 2,000 Jewish men were freed and were able to escape permanent deportation.

Apparently, Goebbels released the Jews to avoid attention and protest from the rest of the world. The Gestapo did not arrest the protesting spouses in order to avoid the risk of further unrest from the wives' German relatives.

Today Rosenstrasse 2-4 is the site of the Alexander Plaza Hotel. The original building and the magnificent Alte Synagogue on adjoining Heidereutergasse both were destroyed by bombs towards the end of the war.

The Hotel has many photos and information documenting the protest in their reception entrance. There is also a park next door, 2 information kiosks, and many photographs recognizing the heroic protest of these women.

Oddly, I was in the park, throwing a ball to Diego the other day and talking with a colleague who I believe has an amazing critical mind and head for strategy. When some German students came by and asked us (him) what the memorial was for, I could understand (his German) and see that he was struggling with the history; he gave them the wrong info saying that 'there was some sort of battle here or something.' I explained the real story in English and pointed them to the kiosks on either side of the street with the historical facts.

There is a documentary called Rosenstrasse: Resistance of the Heart which captures this important protest.

It is pretty amazing to come to work here everyday on this street.

Call me Carmen

German names are great. I am sure I pronounce them terribly, but I am a big fan. And they're not snarky, clever names like Apple, Rumer, and Pilot Inspektor. Here are a few of my favorite names of some of the people I work with, and have met around town. Feel free to add your own:

- Manuela Bosch (I love that combo of Spanish and German. How unexpected! It's like Diego Greenberg, so cute!)
- Falk (it just strikes me as different)
- Otto (it's the same forwards and back)
- Kai (that's a guy's name. and he's handsome too.)
- Maike, Heike, Leike (I just like the 'kuh' sound at the end)
- Ingo (he sounds like a fun guy, right?)

And as a side note, people in Germany seem to all have different names. Sure there are a couple of Marcuses, Susannes, and Stefans, but it is not at all like Russia where EVERYONE is named the same thing, only their nicknames might be different to distinguish them from each other:

Natasha (call her Nata for short), Elena (Lena), Ekatarina (hello Katya!), Yuri (nicknamed Yura), Vladimir (what kind of macho nickname is Vlodia?), Anastasia (Nastya anyone?), Dmitri (Mitya), Tatyana (Privet Tanja!).

I really think those are the only names in the Russian language.

Dogtown

Just as Virginia is for lovers, Berlin is for dogs.

Diego the Labradoodle has come to Berlin with me and is making his mark. Sure he pees on trees and bushes and marks things that way, but he also is warming the hearts of Germans all over the city.

Diego comes to work every day with me, much like in the US. But now, instead of sitting in the back of my 'carpool-chic' station wagon, he leads the way-- off leash-- to work.

Sometimes we walk, and sometimes I ride my bike. And Diego, a reformed leash-puller, trots down the street, stopping when I yell his name at intersections, and sitting once he reaches the street. Good boy!

He's new at this off-leash thing though, and he's had some run ins to which I will confess here:

- barked at Japanese couple canoodling in Mon Bijou park after dark. I was riding my bike, and he ran ahead of me and barked at them and scared the shit out of those two. 残念!

- on a sunny post-work walk through Mon Bijou again, he ran up to some homeless guys who were making a meal of a sausage and some booze, and promptly sat in front of them until they generously gave him a chunk...ok 2... of sausage. danke!

- going up the elevator at work, the doors opened at the 3rd floor (4th floor for you Americans out there) and he barked, I mean really barked, at the cleaning woman in her hijab. Diego, as I've learned, is afraid of people wearing hoods, and this poor woman's head scarf flicked that horrible switch. Entschuldigung!

I do hope my list does not get any longer. Of course, when he misbehaves, or looks like he is going to misbehave, I put him back on the leash and make his Sit and Down a couple of times.

ok, so bad behavior aside, as I mentioned, Berlin is a dog's paradise.

Today I will tell you about our favorite Mon Bijou park. Mon Bijou is along the Spree, and conveniently located on our route to/from work. So everday, we pass through the park. I've made a number of friends there: Dwight and Yago, Claudia and Jamil, Ian and Fritz, Mel and I can't remember his dog's name, among others. Some of the people speak English, and some I just smile at. (in the photo, Diego is playing with Sloanie, Jamil, Bonbon and Hara.)

There are a couple of question people always ask:

1) girl or boy: most people in Germany don't 'fix' their dogs, so there are often the 'balls' issues and dominance.

2) is he castrated? yes, he was neutered, and he is proud of it. related to question #1

3) how old is he? I'm not sure why they ask this. Just to make small talk I think. And it works, I chat back.

4) and the ubiquitous 'what is he?' Mostly they think he is a funny looking poodle, but then they find out he has a dumb name like 'Labradoodle' and the laughs start. He is really playful and runs super fast, so he is making quite an impression with the dog owners. I hear them saying, 'oh this is the dog I was telling you about.' And friends of people I work with always say 'so THIS is Diego.' I rarely hear 'oh so this is that great American girl you told me about.' (Perhaps they whisper it in complicated German so I don't understand.)

So the dogs aren't fixed, and so there are exciting dominance issues, girl dogs in heat, and fun stuff like that. Did I mention that having a dog off leash in a park is illegal? More later, I'm off to the dog park, I mean the park.

herzliches Willkommen!

I moved to Berlin on June 11, 2007, or should I say 11 Juni 2007. And if you think that I speak German, ha! I've got you fooled. I don't speak a lick of Deutsch-- although I truly plan to.

Right now however, the prospect of learning the language is seriously overwhelming; first I've got to get through the baby steps of moving to a new country: get my visas (check), find an apartment (check), settle into working at a German agency (kind of check), figure out where to get my groceries, get a bank account, set up a blog (check, check, check)...

But there are a myriad of things I still haven't accomplished here, and you dear reader are invited to come along with me on the journey into my new life in Berlin.

A warm welcome to you!