Berlin, 10:17 pm
Last night in Berlin, and I feel like I've barely had the chance to get to know this city. Well, obviously, since it's pretty big. And there really isn't one single downtown area, so I feel like there are a million things I haven't seen. I could probably come back here for the same amount of time again and avoid everything I've seen so far and still have plenty to do. Of course, that could be true of any big city; I don't know cause I haven't been in many. But I think Berlin especially. Right now I'm in a different Interent cafe (they're everywhere) and it's in a Dunkin' Donuts. Real German culture, right here. Actually I think English-speaking people are drawn to the familiar pink and orange sign, cause I've heard more English here than German.
I can't even begin to talk about Berlin...there's so much here, so many impressions that I'm going to need to write down soon. I know I'm taking it for granted that I'll remember the little things. You know what I miss though, is big cups of coffee and cappuccino, etc. Every time you order something like that here, it comes in a little cup and lasts about 4 sips. Of course, there also aren't so many fat people here...
Last night was a blast. Professor Carvill's nephew Knut (what a terrific, utterly German name) and his friend Martin took us out to see the Berlin nightlife from a Berliner's perspective. And it was genuine Berliner perspective, cause we went to clubs that no tourist could find if they were trying. Through alley and up staircases and it looks like there's nothing there until you're in the room, and it's full of people and conversational furniture, and they're playing really interesting music. (It's kind of disappointing how many stores and restaurants here play American top 40.) We went to a place called Erdbeer ("strawberry") where the specialty is, of course, strawberry smoothies, and the decor was entirely red--walls, chairs, lights, everything.
Tomorrow we get on the train to Wittenberg, where we'll be with another host family. I've gotten an email from my host sister who is 17. So far I've had a host family with no kids, one with young kids, and now one with older kids, so I think that turned out nicely. I'm looking forward to staying with a family again because I'll have to practice my German. I don't have to speak it nearly as much here in Berlin cause I'm mostly with the American group.
Thanks everybody for your emails--South Dakota and Calvin seem far away, and I feel like nothing should be happening while I'm not there. So don't have any fun or anything...but yeah, thanks for the updates. I promise I'll answer all the questions you want when I get back since I never have enough time now. Umm, some random stuff...it's been rainy here. They don't get much snow, but we had some in Husum and the first couple days in Berlin, so I think we bring the weather with us. Oh, remind me to tell you about the Italian pizzeria. I'm getting better at typing on a German keyboard. There's a giant green-frosted donut on the window...do they really make green donuts? And everybody here (the women, I mean) wears boots with stilletto heels and pointy toes, and I feel very clunky in my Docs. I bought some cool European pants. I love the stores here. And we went to a flea market today. Okay, that's it for now, cause I think my time is running out...love you all!!
Berlin, 10:15 pm
Well, at long last I'm in a European Internet cafe. It's not so much a cafe as just a place with a bunch of computers. But anyway...only two days so far in Berlin and I could write forever. We've seen the House of the Wannseekonferenz, where high-up members of the German government met to decide the "final solution" to the Jewish "problem". We went to the Berlin Philharmonic, which was incredible. Today we saw Checkpoint Charlie, and I went to Potsdamer Platz with a few people in our group and we saw where the Berlin Wall used to be and a piece of it still standing. This afternoon we were led through what used to be a Stasi interrogation prison in the former East Berlin, and our tour guide was once a prisoner there. It was unbelievable, really. His cell couldn't even have been 6 feet across. I liked him a lot.
I really can't do justice to any of this stuff right now since I don't have a lot of time, but hopefully I'll be able to come back here soon--it's not far from our youth hostel. I have to answer all you guys' questions, which I promise I will do in due time. But for now--love you all lots and lots!!!! Tschuss!
Husum, 5:40 pm
Blast, I just wrote a bunch of stuff and then something happened and it all disappeared....
Tonight is our last night in Husum. We're doing a talent show for the host families, which should be interesting. (The Calvin students always do.) I have to say I won't be sorry to leave tomorrow morning. This is partly because we're going to Berlin next and I'm really looking forward to it, and partly because Husum hasn't been especially great to me. The host families are a big part of the experience, obviously, and of course no one can beat Frau Rosemann in Hoogstede, but I really haven't been able to connect with this family. I haven't been able to understand them as well; why, I don't know because I can understand the other families and the tour guides here fine. By now I'm getting most of what they say, but their assumption is that I understand very little, so they're rather condescending. Yannik doesn't hesitate to roll his eyes when I don't get it, but of course the parents are too polite to; they just talk over us. I don't feel as welcome here as I did in Hoogstede. The Germans here when they get in big groups tend to ignore the Americans. The result is that my German hasn't improved much here.
The town of Husum itself is rather average. The harbor is neat, and they're directly on the North Sea. Yesterday my family took me to a museum and I saw all kinds of sea creatures that live in it. But other than that, it's not nearly as beautiful as Lübeck or impressive as Hamburg or cozy as Hoogstede. Before it begins to sound like I hate it here, however, I have to say that here I feel that I'm getting a look at everyday German life. I'm in a town similar to my hometown, and staying with a family very similar to mine, and the parents here talk to their kids about the same things American parents do. Pretty much every night we go to the cafes, which I really like here, cause the atmosphere is great. Our group of Americans is turning out to be a pretty great group too.
The high point of the last few days has been the day trip we took to Schleswig, about 20 minutes away by train. We saw a kind of museum there about the
Moorleichen--"bog corpses". There are bogs around here where they've found all kinds of stuff (including people) preserved by the chemicals in them, from the Iron Age, so they're hundreds of years old. The best part of Schleswig though was the cathedral (the
Dom, they call the biggest churches) we saw. It was more beautiful by far than any of the churches we've seen yet--incredibly decorated, carved, chiseled, painted. There were dozens of arches in the ceiling and all kinds of centuries-old statues and pictures. The altar was unbelievable. This kind of altar is a great wooden carved structure, like a kind of cabinet that opens and closes, and I think they're usually Communion altars. This one was about 16 meters high from the ground up, and there are over 400 carved figures in it, in a dozen or so scenes from the Bible. The intricate detail was overwhelming, and the thing is absolutely beautiful in its symbolism. I really liked the pastor who led us through the Dom. He even took us up into the tower, up this unending spiral stone staircase with frighteningly narrow steps. We could see a long way out the windows up there. Then we went to the
Dachboden. I don't know it in English, but it's basically inside the roof, and we saw all the arches in the ceiling of the church from the other side, great mounds of stone rising on either side of the wooden planks we stood on. The stones were rough and grey on this side, while on the other side, they're all white and beautifully covered with paintings and murals. All of these paintings, which line the sides of the arches and compose giant scenes in the peaks, were covered during the Renaissance with white paint. (We've seen this in other churches too.) During the bombing in World War II, the heat made the paint crack and the colors showed through, and then renovators restored all the medieval paintings. There were more in the Schleswig Dom than anywhere else. It was absolutely incredible. Walking to the train station from the Dom, I saw an apartment with a "For Rent" sign, and I thought, what if I just stayed here? Hehe, don't worry, I'm coming back to the States. But I'm definitely coming back here sometime too, and bringing all of you with me so I can show you everything I've seen.
Let me see, what have I not talked about...I'm becoming used to the differences, so they don't stick out to me and I forget to tell you about them. They always drink mineral water here, and if you want ice in a drink you have to ask for it. The food has been great, especially in the host families. Familie Iwers bought peanut butter for me the other day, and all the boys had to try it. They found it very sticky, and were astonished at the amount of fat in it. When I get back to America I'll miss all the different kinds of bread.
All right, must go now...probably next I'll write from an Internet cafe in Berlin.
