Ich bin ein Berliner

Monday and Tuesday were rough days - I was overwhelmed with things like insurance, my new phone contract, and paying for my gym membership (it's amazing how confusing these things are when it's all in another language). And on top of all of that, school was kicking my butt. In fact, on Tuesday I was convinced I needed to drop down a level...

Rest assured, everything is good now! My host family helped me work through the paperwork and finances, and Lutz even made a phone call to Egypt to talk to someone for clarification about my phone plan! And then on Wednesday I totally dominated in my German classes :) I feel a huge sense of relief. Whew!  Don't get me wrong - school is still quite difficult, but I'm not doing as bad as I thought.

My experience at school today was a bit different than normal. Usually the teachers lead us through exercises in our textbook while we take turns reading aloud, work with partners, and stumble through our speaking. Some times we sing songs or play games and move around...But today, in my second class, we spent the entire hour and a half focused on one German rap song. My teacher brought in his speakers, and first we practiced our listening/comprehension to see what we could pick out from the song. He then handed out the lyrics and we went through every single word of the song (there were many)! I learned "street German" for a change. In other words, I was introduced to slang terms and shorthand ways of saying common phrases.  It was actually very interesting.

The song is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yphwzD1XaBY
I don't understand the monkey masks, and the video doesn't really match the lyrics, but it's still Berlin :) The words illustrate a dramatic image of a "typical" early morning in Berlin. It got me thinking about the culture here that I have come to accept as "the norm".

**This is meant to describe Berlin, not Germany as a whole.

1) Everybody smokes. (exception: my host family)

2) Dogs can go everywhere. They are in restaurants, on the train, in the mall, and are often walking on the sidewalks near their owners without a leash.

3) Graffiti is on every building, every sign, every train station platform...everywhere.

4) People don't bother each other. I don't really know how best to put this...It's not common to talk to strangers here. You don't say "hi" if you make eye contact with someone on the streets, and it's silent on the train. People don't push or shove when it's crowded and they are trying to catch their next means of transportation. It makes sense. Everyone just follows their own agenda and doesn't get in the way of others' agendas. I like it. It's not that way back home. I always feel very safe. No "bad places" to avoid. No obnoxious people. There is nothing to be scared of.

5) When it comes to fashion - anything goes. It's refreshing that there is such an eclectic idea of "style" here. At home, most people are obsessed with fads/trends, and therefore everyone ends up looking nearly the same. I never really noticed it until I came here and saw that there are so many ways to dress yourself! I am honestly impressed with the variety of outfits I see each day.

6) No one wears sunglasses. I seriously feel like everybody is looking at me weird when I wear mine. It's bright, and my eyes hurt!

7) When you just want some water, you always have to make a choice: still or "with gas" (bubbles). Drinking sparkling water is so much more interesting than still water, so that's my default now.  There's no free water here. Oh, and there's no drinking fountains at the gym! NONE. You have to bring your own (you wouldn't imagine the enormously-sized bottles people carry around here) or you have buy it at the gym. That was a surprise.

8) Speaking of the gym and interesting fashion sense, I can't believe the things I see people wearing while they work out here. There are guys in cargo shorts, shorts that look like swim trunks, and some people wear just normal (non-athletic) shoes. It's hideous, but who am I to judge :) I guess it just gives me more flexibility when I am low on clean clothing choices!

9) Everything is closed on Sundays. No shopping on Sunday :(

Ok, I can't think of anything else really "cultural" right now. The street lights go from green to yellow to red and then back from red to yellow to green...that's different from home. The toilets have like no water in them (probably a good thing for sustainability of the environment). Most of the streets and sidewalks are cobblestone. Cars are small. Roads are small (besides the Autobahn). Oh - we go fast on the Autobahn! If I did my conversion correctly, we got up to 130 miles per hour on our way to/from Dresden. 

That's all I know right now. Here are the popular songs in Germany that I hear on a regular basis:

Of Monsters and Men -- "Little Talks"
Cro -- "Du"
Lykke Li -- "I Follow Rivers"

And here's a song that everyone seems to know...

"Schatzi schenk mir ein Foto" Think "Sweet Caroline" in USA. It's the song you hear at every event, and everyone sings along :)

Bis später!