Sometimes, I just don't understand some of the things in this here land I find myself living in.
All around the city spray painted on the ground in uniform fashion is the phrase, "Das ist doch kein Wetter!" (translation: That's no kind of weather!) I've asked several people about this strange phenomenon and the answer I've collected is not extremely remarkable, but still kind of follows a strange line of thought when you think it all the way through. Apparently the previous winter here was extremely harsh and colder than normal for Berlin. So, a bunch of students from some university here made a template, and marked the whole city with their phrase. I'm not sure what they were expecting. They were obviously protesting the weather, but protesting to whom? Did they expect the government to fix it? Did they think their simple message would unite the people to fight back against evil mother nature? I don't really get it.
The other day a couple of friends of mine and I were eating at a local bar for lunch. I went downstairs to use the restroom and on the way back up I saw some free postcards on the wall. Most of them were pretty amusing. One of them had a football field and a football and then "Vuvuwas?" in big letters across it. Vuvuzalas are actually a pretty common subject for jokes here. The Berlin Philharmonica pulled out some Vuvuzalas at the end of their concert and played a short buzz on them, and it got a good laugh out of the audience. Another had a bunch of pictures of people sticking their tongues out and the web address zeigzunge.de on it. I checked out the webpage and I don't know what to make of it. You must be 18 or older to enter it, and I don't really want to go to a shady website like that in the first place, much less using my host family's internet. You can check it out if you want, and let me know what's up. There was another one with some music artist named "Drake" in an Obama-esque pose, with the phrase "Thank me later" on it. All of these I could kind of understand. But then there was my favorite postcard because it seems like something I would create if I worked for a postcard making company. I'm not going to describe it, just take a look for yourself:
I just wish I had a friend named Edgar.
Last night I went with my host family to my host mother's mother's house to watch some football and almost more importantly (definitely more important after Germany triumphed) to play a Settlers of Catan tournament. Here might be a good point to note that every time Germany scores a goal massive amounts of cheering can be heard, as well as a good portion of fireworks. So, if you didn't want to watch the game (which is practically impossible--every television in Berlin is usually playing Germany's games, and usually all the other WM games too) you could just walk around and wait for the cacophony. Wednesday, the whole city is going to be on edge as we play the best football team in the world. I can't wait.
The Settlers of Catan was also a huge success. I really enjoyed it, because I already know how to play the game rather intimately, and so I just needed to learn the German words for brick (Lehm or Ziegel), sheep (Schaff), wood (Holz), ore (Erz), and wheat (Korn) and I was basically set. It was also good practice for my speaking because games like Settlers are inherently very interactive, and in order to be successful, one must not only speak with everybody, but one must be able to persuade, bargain, and diplomacize (not an actual word, but a very useful one, since it expresses exactly what I mean). I managed to win my first round and came in second in two later games. Also, I'm envious of their massive library of various versions of Settlers of Catan.
People around here really use their city. All the streets are extremely wide, as are the sidewalks. What this means is that traffic is not really an issue in the least (especially since the public transport system is so good, and because this is such a foot/bicycle city. Maybe we would be more enticed to bike in the city if we had lanes on the street and/or sidewalk designated for us, bicycle racks everywhere, the ability to comfortably bring our bikes onto public transport, and drivers who are patient with cyclists (I would even go so far to say that bicycles have the right of way before automobiles). Not that I'm jealous or anything). It also means that basically all of the restaurants and bars here have beautiful outside seating that encourages a social, interactive community. The number of public parks, and their size, is constantly astounding. And what's more is that people really use their public parks. They are common sites every night, and on weekend's especially, for people to go hang out with friends, run around, play games, listen to live music (because people bring their jams everywhere with them, that means live music, loudspeakers, and personal music systems (it's not uncommon to see 5 or 6 people softly singing to themselves on the train)) and generally enjoy the world around them, instead of remaining in their houses or inside some other building. Also, the general organic nature and healthiness of the average meal here is terrific. Everybody seems to have personal gardens in their back yards if they have them, or if they don't have a yard, like my host family, they still maximize what they can do. In their house every window has either wonderfully smelling and looking flowers (don't need no air fresheners!) or they have plants that can be used as herbs, or seasoning, or actual food (think lots of tomatoes and berries). I've eaten nearly whole meals that come from our balcony, tomatoes, berries, and other foods and herbs that I can't identify. Processed food, like what is so common in America, is almost entirely eschewed. Rather fresh bread, cheese, fruits, vegetables are the menu of the day everyday. The only thing I don't get is the preference here for carbonated water over normal water. Oh, and also I find it an oddity that there are no water fountains whatsoever in Germany. Germans actually typically dislike tap water intensely, and still water (ohne Kohlensaeure, without carbonation) is typically as expensive or more so than beer. So, I rely on my trusty nalgene often instead of ordering drinks. Makes my meals cheaper that way too!
Here are a couple more interesting graffitis that I've seen around Berlin:
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