Hey everybody, sorry that I haven't written in a while! The world cup is in full-swing and I have been busy with all the games. Germany has played three times already, 2 wins and a loss in the group, but they finished first in the group. Now it's on to England in the knock-out phase on Sunday! The first game I really watched was the USA against England, though, in a Biergarten in Schoeneberg/Kreuzberg. It was fun, but it seemed like all the non-Americans were cheering for England, maybe so they wouldn't have to play them in the knock-out round. The next day I watched the German game in a bar across from the Biergarten. Germany won 4-0 against Australia and the next day all of Berlin was in euphoria. Everyone was talking about what the Spanish or English press were saying about Germany's team and it seemed like we were already in the quarter finals. There was even an "Autokurs" were all the cars drive down Kurfuerstendamm and honk their horns. The next game was a disappointment for both the USA and Germany. The USA should have won, but only tied 2-2 because the ref didn't count a fair goal. Germany lost with only 10 men against Serbia's 11, even though Germany was the better team. Klose got a yellow-red, but Podolski missed some great chances, including a penalty kick. The next games were USA vs. Algeria and Germany vs. Ghana in the same day. Both had to win to advance. First was the US, the game wasn't shown in Germany, but I saw England vs. Slovakia. I knew the score of the US game though and just as the England game was over and I had given up hope, I heard "TOOOORRRR" and they switched to the US game. I was terrified that Algeria might have scored, but then I saw the whole US team celebrating. Afterwards, I went to watch the Germany-Ghana game with my roommates. We went to a kids' circus and watched in the tent, it was pretty cool. One of their friends is the coordinator of the circus. We grilled outside before and I ate half a steak, 3 Nuernberger Bratwursts and 2 Rostbratwuerstchen and the best tuna fish salad I've ever had. The game was tough, because Ghana played the same game as Serbia and jammed the middle of the defense. Germany had a tough time passing their way through, but eventually Mesut Oezil had a beautiful goal from just outside the penalty box. The Germans are excited to play England, which kind of surprises me, because the US would be easier, but I'm happy that the only scenario where they play each other is the final!
I also have been doing more sightseeing the past days and I saw the Museum Island, Alexanderplatz and Potsdam. I've seen Alexanderplatz before, but this time I went into the Fernsehturm and saw all of Berlin from the top! The Museum Island was awesome and I saw the Bode Museum, the Altes Museum, the Pergamum Museum and the Altes Nationalgalerie. The Altes Museum had a lot of Greek/Roman things, primarily vases, some of which I recognized from the Latin books from high school! The Bode Museum had a lot of art, the Pergamum Museum had a bunch of huge things from ancient times and was the most amazing muesum I've ever been in. There is the Ishtar Gate, the Pergamum Altar and a bunch of other huge things that look tiny in comparison and are therefore impossible to fully appreciate. The Altes Nationalgalerie had a lot of German art, but I couldn't see much of it, because I only had half an hour left. I was a little disappointed, but I'm happy I was able to see the Pergamum Museum before. Potsdam was really cool as well and I was able to see Schloss Sansoucci, which was kind of like the Versailles of the Prussian kings. It was pretty cool and Potsdam has a lot of other castles too, like Schloss Cecillienhof, where the Allies divided Europe after WW2. Unfortunately I don't have the time right now to upload pcitures, but I'll edit this tomorrow.
My dad is here this weekend and we plan on doing even more things. I took a Spree boat tour today and was able to see a lot of the city from the river. We will probably take a bus tour tomorrow and see the USA-Ghana game. I'm not sure what we'll do on Sunday, but we might watch the Germany-England game in Public Viewing, which has enough room for 500,000 people! It's in Tiergarten in front of the Siegessaeule, which is to commemorate the victory over France in the 7-years war.
Freitag, 25. Juni 2010
Montag, 7. Juni 2010
Arbeit, Fussball und Chemnitz!
Hallo! Wie geht's euch? Ich werde jetzt nur auf Deutsch schreiben! haha, just kidding! no more German, even though I would like to write in both English and German. Unfortunately it's hard enough to write in one language...
In case you are wondering why I am writing a blog in the first place, other than to brag about how cool I am, I will start now by explaining that. I have an internship in Berlin at the Institut fuer Europaeische Politik in Berlin and I have to write a 20 page paper to get credit for it, so I am writing this to record my best memories :) I will try to include pictures to keep things interesting, but, unfortunately, I don't have any pics for this post. I should probably talk about Germany now though...
I have now moved into my new apartment with two echte Berliners (yes, I realize that is in no way proper German). The neighborhood is awesome and I live right next to the Spree River and Tiergarten! It's pretty central in Berlin and I can go in pretty much any direction easily with the u-bahn or s-bahn. There are a lot of Turks around, so there is a doener kebab shop on every corner and there are some nice cafes and bars. There are also a lot of parks here, Tiergarten is one of the biggest parks in Berlin and there are also some smaller ones, as well as a nice walkway along the river.
I work about 15 minutes away from the apartment and the u-bahn is very reliable, I have never waited more than 3 minutes for the u-bahn on that line during the day (the trains are less regular during the night). I correct English reports for my job, which can get a little tedious at times. Institutes for European politics from every EU member country, as well as the member candidate countries send us reports and we compile them into a publication. I am the English editor... I am a little disappointed, cus correcting English for 8 hours a day doesn't help my German very much, but I do talk to my co-workers in German a lot. I also have to write an introduction to the topic of the Copenhagen climate conference and the European reactions to it. It's interesting to read European reactions to major issues and to see the differences between countries. I am getting a much better perspective on individual issues, like the name dispute between Greece and Macedonia, Iceland's bank bailout dispute with England and Holland, Belgium's language problems and the Union for the Mediterranean. Its also interesting to see the big differences in opinion over the Greek bailout. It's amazing to see how innocent Greece feels and how the rest of Europe only blames them for the problems, especially the northern countries. My coworkers are all very informed on politics, European and German, and its interesting listening to them talk about politics over lunch breaks, although I have trouble contributing to the conversation unless they ask how it compares to the USA. Germans are very informed about politics in general and their conversations are more in-depth. The main topics so far are, in order of importance: how Ballack's injury affects Germany's World Cup chances, the resignation of the Bundespraesident and possible successors, Lena's Eurovision contest victory and the Gulf oil spill.
I should include a little bit about Berlin, because I am supposed to write about the culture and city. Berlin is huge city (900 km2) with 3 million people. there are lots of different neighborhoods: Mitte (Middle), Tiergarten, Moabit, Wedding, Neukoelln, Kreuzberg, Friedichshain, Schoeneberg, Pranzlauer Berg and Charlottenburg to just name the most central ones. Wedding and Neukoelln are the worst neighborhoods in Berlin (Kevin-Prinz Boateng is from Wedding...) from what I've heard and I can't wait to see them, lol. They have huge immigrant populations and large unemployment. I've heard Berlin is unusual for Germany due to the high rate of immigrant unemployment. I'll return to immigration later though. Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain are the trendy parts of Berlin, but can be a little shady at times. I haven't seen much of them, but tomorrow I plan to go to Tempelhof, a huge airport that is now a park. It is three times the size of central park and still has all the empty airport buildings, so you can hang out in an empty hanger. I work in Schoeneberg and it's a pretty nice neighborhood with Ku'damm Strasse, the main shopping street. Mitte is pretty much the main tourist zone and Charlottenburg is known for its palace. Moabit is between Tiergarten and Wedding and as a kinda bad reputation. Prenzlauer Berg is known in Germany for its large population of young families. I haven't made it out there yet, but it is undergoing renovation after the Mauer fell. A lot of areas still need renovation, but Berlin does not have a lot of money. The average salary is loser than the rest of Germany, which is unusual because average salaries are generally much higher in capitals.
I went to Chemnitz over the weekend to go to an ELFK Jugendtreffen and see some old high school friends again. I was surprised to know quite a few people there, because they all went to MLS at some point. I had a good time and I played soccer for the first time in at least a year. I felt pretty bad, but my lack of stamina was the worst part. I did manage to score a goal though, I slid in to redirect a beautiful pass into the open goal. Unforutnately, Chemnitz doesn't have much to do, but there was a Schlossteich (castle pond), which was really nice, and statue of Karl Marx, which I didn't see. I did eat Burger King for the first time this summer though, I'm not sure if that's good or bad... The ELFK church was really nice and made out of stone. I sang in the Jugendchor and the acoustics were awesome. I also enjoyed spending the weekend with Germans, because it has been difficult to practice German and I barely spoke English at all.
I am starting to learn a little Berlin dialect and German slang. Hammer means awesome, Berlin ist der Hammer! Krass means "toll" or awesome in English, das is voll krass! And the last German slang I have learned is "chic". It means "super", like alles chic! and they pronounce it like chick in English. My favorite Berlin dialect transformation of a word so far is from "gut" to "yut". I will probably be using that wehn I get back to America.
In case you are wondering why I am writing a blog in the first place, other than to brag about how cool I am, I will start now by explaining that. I have an internship in Berlin at the Institut fuer Europaeische Politik in Berlin and I have to write a 20 page paper to get credit for it, so I am writing this to record my best memories :) I will try to include pictures to keep things interesting, but, unfortunately, I don't have any pics for this post. I should probably talk about Germany now though...
I have now moved into my new apartment with two echte Berliners (yes, I realize that is in no way proper German). The neighborhood is awesome and I live right next to the Spree River and Tiergarten! It's pretty central in Berlin and I can go in pretty much any direction easily with the u-bahn or s-bahn. There are a lot of Turks around, so there is a doener kebab shop on every corner and there are some nice cafes and bars. There are also a lot of parks here, Tiergarten is one of the biggest parks in Berlin and there are also some smaller ones, as well as a nice walkway along the river.
I work about 15 minutes away from the apartment and the u-bahn is very reliable, I have never waited more than 3 minutes for the u-bahn on that line during the day (the trains are less regular during the night). I correct English reports for my job, which can get a little tedious at times. Institutes for European politics from every EU member country, as well as the member candidate countries send us reports and we compile them into a publication. I am the English editor... I am a little disappointed, cus correcting English for 8 hours a day doesn't help my German very much, but I do talk to my co-workers in German a lot. I also have to write an introduction to the topic of the Copenhagen climate conference and the European reactions to it. It's interesting to read European reactions to major issues and to see the differences between countries. I am getting a much better perspective on individual issues, like the name dispute between Greece and Macedonia, Iceland's bank bailout dispute with England and Holland, Belgium's language problems and the Union for the Mediterranean. Its also interesting to see the big differences in opinion over the Greek bailout. It's amazing to see how innocent Greece feels and how the rest of Europe only blames them for the problems, especially the northern countries. My coworkers are all very informed on politics, European and German, and its interesting listening to them talk about politics over lunch breaks, although I have trouble contributing to the conversation unless they ask how it compares to the USA. Germans are very informed about politics in general and their conversations are more in-depth. The main topics so far are, in order of importance: how Ballack's injury affects Germany's World Cup chances, the resignation of the Bundespraesident and possible successors, Lena's Eurovision contest victory and the Gulf oil spill.
I should include a little bit about Berlin, because I am supposed to write about the culture and city. Berlin is huge city (900 km2) with 3 million people. there are lots of different neighborhoods: Mitte (Middle), Tiergarten, Moabit, Wedding, Neukoelln, Kreuzberg, Friedichshain, Schoeneberg, Pranzlauer Berg and Charlottenburg to just name the most central ones. Wedding and Neukoelln are the worst neighborhoods in Berlin (Kevin-Prinz Boateng is from Wedding...) from what I've heard and I can't wait to see them, lol. They have huge immigrant populations and large unemployment. I've heard Berlin is unusual for Germany due to the high rate of immigrant unemployment. I'll return to immigration later though. Kreuzberg and Friedrichshain are the trendy parts of Berlin, but can be a little shady at times. I haven't seen much of them, but tomorrow I plan to go to Tempelhof, a huge airport that is now a park. It is three times the size of central park and still has all the empty airport buildings, so you can hang out in an empty hanger. I work in Schoeneberg and it's a pretty nice neighborhood with Ku'damm Strasse, the main shopping street. Mitte is pretty much the main tourist zone and Charlottenburg is known for its palace. Moabit is between Tiergarten and Wedding and as a kinda bad reputation. Prenzlauer Berg is known in Germany for its large population of young families. I haven't made it out there yet, but it is undergoing renovation after the Mauer fell. A lot of areas still need renovation, but Berlin does not have a lot of money. The average salary is loser than the rest of Germany, which is unusual because average salaries are generally much higher in capitals.
I went to Chemnitz over the weekend to go to an ELFK Jugendtreffen and see some old high school friends again. I was surprised to know quite a few people there, because they all went to MLS at some point. I had a good time and I played soccer for the first time in at least a year. I felt pretty bad, but my lack of stamina was the worst part. I did manage to score a goal though, I slid in to redirect a beautiful pass into the open goal. Unforutnately, Chemnitz doesn't have much to do, but there was a Schlossteich (castle pond), which was really nice, and statue of Karl Marx, which I didn't see. I did eat Burger King for the first time this summer though, I'm not sure if that's good or bad... The ELFK church was really nice and made out of stone. I sang in the Jugendchor and the acoustics were awesome. I also enjoyed spending the weekend with Germans, because it has been difficult to practice German and I barely spoke English at all.
I am starting to learn a little Berlin dialect and German slang. Hammer means awesome, Berlin ist der Hammer! Krass means "toll" or awesome in English, das is voll krass! And the last German slang I have learned is "chic". It means "super", like alles chic! and they pronounce it like chick in English. My favorite Berlin dialect transformation of a word so far is from "gut" to "yut". I will probably be using that wehn I get back to America.
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