Fast Food

is crap here.

For starters, a meal costs equivalent of about ten aussie dollars.

and the best part of the meal, the fries, are barely salted, taste like shit, and you have to pay extra for tomato sauce if you want it!

People here seem to be fascinated with kebabs and late night pizza stands.

give me a break. I just want some old fashion artery clogging fast food. accommodate, dammit!

and no Oportos is definitely an abomination.

Snowboarding

Between xmas and new years, i was in Sankt Anton (stanton to the locals), where i learned to snowboard. It was an amazing experience. I never skiid, surfed, or skateboarded before, so i had no idea how i would go. I was able to actually balance quite naturally, so it was just a case of learning the manouvres. After a lesson, and some careful patience from my friends who was there, i really got into it. Besides the unbelievable conditions that we had (apparently i am now too snobby to deal with the snow we get in australia...), it was amazing also for the views, and having friends there to be able to share it with. It was a killer on the body....i think even if you're a pro, 6 days straight is a toughie.

When i was in Vienna, i took a day to goto Stuhlek ski runs, near Semmering, south of Vienna. Although i was by myself, i had a great day - had the ipod with me, which was pretty EXTREME to board down listening to some raging punk or metal. But anyways, it was a good time to practice some skills on my own time, and at my own pace, and put together some of the things i had learnt just 3 weeks earlier. I also had some more amazing views (photo here is from Stuhlek).

In one week i'm going to Switzerland to go boarding again. It will be interesting to see how it goes, after 2 months without. Hopefully there is enough snow, as its fairly warm here at the moment!

Expensive habit, and a problem i live in Australia....but what are ya gonna do??

Handling the cold

I definitely appear to handle the cold better than Germans.

Mostly, my key is double socks, a scarf, and gloves or hands in pockets.

The rest just sorts its self out.

Not to say that the Germans don't know about these things, but ontop of this, they appear to be wearing 20 other layers, where i just have a couple tshirts and a jacket.

And the other weird thing is, they don't de-robe when they get into an oven of a shop. They still keep bundled up. Do they not sweat? Have they not glands?

Physical exercise too. At the gym, i'm down to normal singlet & shorts (and so are a lot of others). But i have seen someone working out in a full tracksuit, with the hood up. Rocky?

Maybe because i come from a warm country, i am naturally a warmer person. Who knows.

20 Jahrestag der Fall die Mauer

By total coincidence, i was here during the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall (09.11). This gave to many celebrations in Berlin, as its obviously an important event for not only people in Berlin, but people all over Germany.

On Sunday the 8th, I took a trip to Potsdam to join a tour group taking a walk along the river, which is where the wall ran, in that area. It was a nice walk, and there was an informative stop with a video at one point. We walked until the Glienicker Brücke (Bridge), which went across the wall when it was up. Its well known for being the spot where exchanges of spies took place.

On Monday the 9th, after class I went to Mauer Park, where there was a performance called "Berlin wall of sound", which involved approx 200 guitarists/basists, who lined up along a path through where no-mans land was, and performed in unison a pre-arranged song prepared for the occasion. It was impressive to see...and when i jumped on my bike and rode to the other end of the park, i could really hear the full effect. It was an arrangement, which means there were four different parts, not just everyone playing the same thing.

In the afternoon, i made my way to Bornholmer Straße, which is just around the corner from where i live. It was here that the first border crossing was opened up, 20 years ago.

The afternoon was delivering some speeches from important Deutsche people, eg Angela Merkel (the chancellor here). I actually missed it all, and arrived as they were packing up. But this was probably better, as a) i wouldn't have understood much of it anyways, and b) no-one was there to get in my way. I got some good photos however.

At night, a few of us made our way towards the middle of town. Our aim was to get to the Brandenburg Gate - unfortunately, and not surprisingly, about a million other people

had the same idea. The station was closed, and our train went straight past it, and instead we

disembarked at Alexander Platz. There were some big screens here, and a whole bunch of people, braving the cold and rain. It was also where a big line of plastic dominos throughout the city ended, that were being knocked over in a ceremonious fashion.

Alexander Platz was good - i guess one downer was that we couldn't really see the fireworks.

And a massive downer was Bon Jovi miming some crap song. I guess how this represented the importance of the day was that the wall was a shit time, and so was Bon Jovi's performa

nce.

The day was finished off with a couple of beers at a traditional East Berlin pub, close to where i live.

For full album of photos, see:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=174952&id=748046284&l=8454612158

Komparativs

As i go through day to day life, there are certain things i see that i think "why don't they do that in Australia?". But, there are also some "thank god they don't do that in Australia" moments. Granted, these are only initial impressions, and only based on Berlin....but here are some:

Great things about Deutschland

Public Transport. This goes without saying. Everyone knows its better here. Everyone knows its shit in Australia. I can't see the point of getting a car here. Everywhere you are, you are no more than what seems like 100m from either an U-Bahn or S-bahn train, a bus, or a tram.

That being said, I live in a suburb a little like Paddington I guess you could say, so I don't know what its like further out in the burbs.

Beer. It tastes better. Its cheaper than water. Its sold everywhere. You can drink on the street/transport. However, I do believe there are problems with alcoholism in Deutschland. But that doesn't really affect me. So its a positive!

Bike Lanes. Of course, it helps that Berlin is an entirely flat city compared to Sydneys hills. So everyone uses bikes. But the best thing i've noticed, is that majority of roads have a bike lane on it, or a bike lane on the adjacent sidewalk. And driver education is all about being aware about bikes. So you feel safe riding in traffic, knowing that people are aware of you and won't hit you.

Shops open. Every night of the week, all shops (eg clothes) are open til about 8pm. Allowing one who works (everyone...) to do shopping after hours, and not be forced to amass with hoardes on the weekend. Supermarkets are open til around midnight each night too.

Bread. Its just so awesome here. And such a wide variety. And i'm saying this, living at the moment in a city thats not well known for bread. Can't wait til i get to the south.

Not so great things about Deutschland

Dog shit. Dogs are allowed everywhere here (shops, trains etc). This i like. What its led to is dog shit everywhere. Yes, people are supposed to clean it up. But they don't. This results in dog shit on bike tyre. Not happy.

Cash registers. At supermarkets. All the supermarkets are like Aldi in Australia; bring your own bag. This i like. What i don't like is basically zero space past the cash register where your scanned items go. And you are left stuffing your bags after paying, while the cashier is throwing the next customers goods in and amongst yours.

Nakedness. At the gym. Simple - wear a freakin towel!

Personal space. A hard one to describe. Maybe Sydney is a faster moving city. But i don't like to dawdle. German people do. In shopping centres (my most hated places - Sydney & Germany). People seem to walk so slow, and get in your way. People block off escalators so you can't get past. People seem to decide that the best place for them to stop & make their life decisions are at the bottom/top of an escalator, regardless of people piling up behind them. At the markets, people get really close to you, get in your way, and just seem so oblivious.

Weather. Goes without saying. I'm quite happy in the cold. But the worst is yet to come. Give me a beach anyday. It is actually really nice when the sun is out, and its a clear sky, regardless of it being 5º. But its crap when its raining.

Recycling. I'm a little undecided about this one. Here, each bottle has a "pfand" included in its price (like 7c). So to get it back, you have to return the bottle to a return point. This is annoying. I guess it encourages recycling, but i feel that we recycle pretty good in Australia. I guess here it gives something for the homeless to collect. And you don't feel so bad leaving a bottle in the street as a result.

Annoyance - twice i've been at a club, and you get a plastic chip for your glass, which is redeemable for €1- when you return it at the end of the night. Laziness!!

Smoking. Hard to believe an ex-smoker would say this. But even when i smoked, i tried to respect others air. Here, so many people smoke. And everywhere. The no-smoking-in-bars law is i think in place, but not enforced. So you smell.

Weathering the Weather

Given that i'm a warm person anyways (usually a tshirt out in winter, when others have jackets on), its no surprise that i'm dealing with the weather pretty good so far.

There was a week about 2 weeks ago that the average was about 5º, with night time supposedly getting down to near 0º (it was actually forecast to snow that week...but it didn't). I've been enjoying it so far to be honest. Compared to for example Walter & Dan, i'll see them put two tshirts on, a hoodie, then a warm jacket + scarf, where i'll have maybe a t-shirt, warm jacket & scarf. Definitely the scarf & beanie are an essential, & i find that these two items do all the warming work for me.

This all being said, i'm quite confident i'm in for a rude shock when winter actually hits.

Currently, i'm in the market for some ski gear, for usage on the slopes in St Anton am Arlberg for new years eve.... so will pick up some warmer clothes in due course.

My ride to school

Each day, when i ride to school, i ride right along a path through no-mans-land where the wall used to stand.

I ride through Mauer Park (Wall Park).

Here is a quick visual that shows where the wall used to run.

There are fleamarkets there every Sunday. Last Sunday they saved my life - because it is here I purchased my gloves, scarf, and some warm socks!

See my ride here

Berlin Street Art

There is a massive contingency of spraypaint graffiti here in Berlin.

Not just the crappy tags you see on a rickety shitty rail train in Sydney - but decent, abstract art. Reminds me of the art that the Gorillaz music uses.

Goes back to the liberation of the place, when the wall came down & all that.

Especially found in the area where i live (Prenzlauer Berg), and more widely in all of East Berlin.

Here's an extract from a webpage that articulates it a little better.

The roots of graffiti culture can be traced back to West Berlin in the early 1980s, when the

American-occupied sector was the reluctant melting pot of anarchist punks, Turkish immigrants and West

German draft resisters. Kreuzberg, a neighborhood surrounded on three sides by the Berlin Wall, blossomed

particularly well, with miles of wall space and little police scrutiny.

The first so-called writers were heavily influenced by the New York City scene. Works about the time, like the

1983 film “Style Wars” by Tony Silver and Henry Chalfant, and the 1984 book “Subway Art” by Mr. Chalfant

and Martha Cooper, enjoyed a cult following.

But while the west face of the Berlin Wall was blanketed with graffiti, the east face was orderly and gray. The

notorious Stasi police kept graffiti under wraps, and writers in East Berlin risked imprisonment or worse if

they were caught red-handed with spray cans — assuming they could even get their hands on paint.

All that changed, of course, with the fall of the wall in 1989, which opened up vast new blank walls virtually

overnight. Artists, musicians and young people flooded East Berlin, heralding a shift in the youth culture

from west to east. The pockmarked walls of Mitte, Friedrichshain and other gray neighborhoods were soon

carpeted in colorful squiggles.

Graffiti may be vandalism, but it is also celebrated as street art and even regarded as an integral component

of Berliner Strassenkultur.

I'll aim to take photos of some stuff when i'm out and about.

you can keep tabs on it here