It’s been a week and I’ve been in find an apartment mode. It has not been easy. For some reason, I thought with all the work Phil put in, it would be easy. (Phil, my friend from Germany, contacted probably 50 people about me living in their apartment. I would say 20 got back to him, and only 10 were worth visiting.) So on Friday we visited 2, and on Saturday, we visited 8. Literally ALL DAY. At each one, I had to explain in German who I was, why I was here, and if I was more interested in the WG (German word for apartment), a little bit more about myself. Most of the people said they could speak English, but I said I understood a little bit of German, so we spoke German. I understood most of what they said, but when I didn’t, Phil would clarify. Here are the short synopsis of the WGs. See if you can pick which ones I might be able to live in:
1.5 younger (20-25) Germans live together. They like to cook and do things together at night (on Friday they were going to watch fireworks on top of a hill).
2.A woman in her late 20s with a dog. She has a job and would be willing to sit down and speak German with me when I like.
3.A girl from Iran who was maybe 26-30. She spoke ok German. You had to walk through her bedroom to get to the bathroom.
4.A 23 year old guy and another girl who were also studying in Berlin. He said he loved soccer and would take me to a game. 10 minutes from the bars.
5.A 30 year old studying German literature who had been working on his degree for 8.5 years. He had long hair.
6.A German lady (35-45) who taught Theater. Enough said.
7.An older German lady who likes to ride bikes and a younger 26 year old guy studying biochemistry. She said she would clean up after me and do my dishes. And she would clean my room.
8.A 21 year old hairdresser. 4 or 5 different people came to the apartment while I was there to hang out. The room was super cutely decorated. A lot better than my room at home.
I had to almost interview for the rooms that were in high demand (2 of the above). In one, they even had other people interested in the room there at the same time! And I had to try to explain in German why I wanted the room. Half the time I could hardly get a word in… but Phil said I did excellent. I’ll find out in the next few days if I was “picked”.
Some of the random "art" in Berlin:
So enough about that! Phil took me around to some of his favorite spots in Berlin that we didn’t see two years ago. The more I’m here, the more I see, and the more I think this city is absolutely amazing. It is so artsy, and so full of life. I’m starting to believe that anything goes.
After the apartment hunting, Phil knew of this good sushi place, so we went. I was kinda weirded out by sushi in Germany but Phil said it was excellent. And he was right!!! Maybe it was the fact that some of the sushi was fried. Mmmmm. There is so much good food here. I’ve had excellent currywurst, Thai food, sushi, and even found a taco truck yesterday!
Then he took me to this Shakespeare wood theater. It has now become my favorite place in Berlin. Outside of the theater, there was a dance floor right next to the river. Across the river was Museum Island. Old people and young people, women with men, men with men, women with women. Some were excellent dancers, others stunk. But they floated around the dance floor, it looked so elegant! The lights reflected off the river onto the museum across the way. So cool!
On Sunday, we were done apartment hunting and Phil took me to the Templehoff Flughafen where the Berlin Airlift took place (you know, the thing where the Russians shut off West Berlin and they had to fly in supplies). The airport is empty, only used for Berlin fashion week and sometimes to film movies. But the field is open and the runways are still there (they are too short to be used nowadays). Tons of Germans were there flying kites (some were also on a skateboard… kitesurfing but on asphalt), walking, bbqing, playing games. It was awesome. I am so thankful for all Phil did for me with the apartments and also for showing me so many cool places.
After that, Josh and I headed to a city beach to meet up with some friends. We didn’t know to wear bathing suits, so we left pretty quickly after we got there because everyone else was wearing suits. We then went to Mauerpark, a big swap meet that takes place every Sunday. It was neat, but my favorite thing was the karaoke going on the stone stadium. Thousands of people watched random people from around the world do their best at singing. Even though no one was amazing, everyone cheered them on. Everyone just having fun and enjoying themselves on a beautiful Sunday. Think American Idol; and everyone knows how much I like that.
Other things I’ve seen:
•The Gedachtnis Kirche: destroyed in WWII, left partially intact. It is currently under reconstruction, but the inside of the new part was beautiful.
•Berlin at night. I went exploring with Josh and every time I see the coolest things!
Off to go eat something. It’s raining today but I haven’t left the hostel yet and the day is still young! Miss you all at home!!!
