A bit of tourism and a piece of home

First of all, yesterday after school I experienced the Berlin TV tower (Fernsehturm). It was awesome! It is 368m (1207 ft) tall, and the place with the panoramic view is at 203m (666 ft). Yesterday, the sky was blue and the weather was nice, bordering on hot, so there were a lot of people there. It was about an hour and a half wait, but I had a book with me so all was good. There are two elevators to take people up and a staircase with over 800 steps that every sane person would avoid. The elevators take 45 seconds to travel the 666 ft. My ears were popping going up and down. Once you go up to the top, you stay as long as you want. I stayed for about an hour. There is also a restaurant at 206m. I bet it's expensive... The main thing that I learned from this visit: Berlin is big. Really big. Here are some pictures.

It was really a spectacular view of the city. And here is a short video of the traffic:

Thing number two: it seems that I am falling into some of the habits I've practiced at home on a few occasions. I've just made a few mistakes... Here's the run down from the past few mornings as well as this morning. Sunday night: I got in bed, turned off all the lights and laid there for a few minutes, and thankfully remembered that I needed to set my alarm clock. So, I set it for 8 because I have class at 10 on Mondays. Monday morning, I wake up at 8:15, thinking "what? Why didn't my alarm go off?" I looked at it with my early morning, clouded consciousness and realized I set it for 8:00pm. If only we operated on a 24 hour clock like the Germans, these things wouldn't happen.... I'm glad I just happened to wake up at the time I needed to. I made it to school early as usual.

Monday night: "Okay, I'm going to get it right this time." I set it for 8:00 AM. Tuesday morning: "Oh, yay! It's not raining today! Today will be a great day. I'm going to get up right away so I can take all the time I want getting to school." Wrong. Why? Because today is Tuesday. Class starts at 9 on Tuesday and every other day of the week. I realized this after I left the apartment. I looked at my watch, saw that it was 9 and proceeded to book it. I made it to my classroom around 9:40. That gave me another 50 minutes in my first class which isn't too bad. The teacher, Stefan, was teaching reflexive pronouns (himself, myself, ourselves, etc) which Frau Rinker taught in 202 last semester. It was easy to catch on.

Tuesday night: Toni is back from her summer trip with her friends, yay! And I think, "I've got it this time!" 7:00 am. "I can't mess this up tomorrow." But I did, somehow. I'm not exactly sure why the alarm didn't go off, but I think I must have turned it off when I grabbed the clock to see what time it was when I woke up early this morning, around 5. This resulted in my not waking up until around 10:00. I could have gotten up and gotten ready and made it to the second half of my second class, but apparently some decision of the fates wanted me to not have perfect attendance here.

This afternoon, Toni will take me to see a few places as a farewell tour. After today, there are only two more class days. My flight leaves Saturday at 11:20. I am really looking forward to being back home, although I have enjoyed my time here. I think my German has improved and that I know more about German culture, but these are the sort of remarks one makes in a closing blog... This is not the last.

Because we are nearing the end, your German must be much better. I believe it is time for a more difficult word. The TV tower, the Brandonburger Tor, the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie and so on are all the popular sights in Berlin. The word for these things in German is Sehenswürdigkeiten. Break it down! Sehens- würdig- keiten. Or even more! Se- hens- wür- dig- kei- ten. Good luck!

The Last Weekend

Today is my last Sunday in Berlin. Next Saturday morning, I will be leaving on a jet plane back to the the world of driving cars and unbearable summer heat, but I still have one week left to enjoy my time here, and I fully intend to.

Friday and Saturday, I went on excursions with the school. Friday was a walk around Schoeneberg, a very beautiful district of Berlin. Many Jewish people lived here during WW2. There are signs posted up on many of the street poles giving information about what it was like to be a Jew during the war. Some of them described general rules the Jews had to follow such as they weren't allowed to be out after dark and they always had to wear a star marking them as a Jew, and some of them described more detailed, individual stories. For example, one of the signs told about a man who was keeping a small bird in his apartment as a pet, because he really loved it. It wasn't allowed. One day, he went out and later on a Nazi was sent to his house to tell the man's wife that if she wanted his ashes, she could pay five marks for them at the crematorium. Very sad.... Here are a few pictures from the walk:

"Jews are only allowed to shop for food from 4-5 in the afternoon." (July 4, 1940)

the Schoeneberg City Hall

On Saturday, I went with the school to Berlin-Hohenschönhausen, which used to be an old Stasi prison. The prison changed hands many times, but it ended up with the East German Ministry of State Security in 1951 and was used until 1989 (when the Wall fell and the city was reunited). It was mainly used to keep prisoners who opposed anything that was East Germany. Many outspoken political figures were kept here.

Unfortunately, the tour was (of course) given in German, fast German at that, even though most of the students that went were not that advanced. Most of us couldn't understand, but our guide from school insisted that the tour guide at the prison give it in German. Oh well. It was also cold and raining and my converse were soaked and my socks were wet and I didn't have an umbrella. A kind soul I met from America offered to share his umbrella. I don't think the experience was worth it, though. If only I could have understood... Anyway, here are a couple pictures:

So, those were my two excursions this weekend. Today it was raining and cold again, so I stayed inside. I took some time to plan some places to go for my last week. The school posted their activities for this next week on their website, and it looks like there isn't anything I am really interested in. So instead, I will plan my own sightseeing adventures.

Here are a couple pictures of some good food I've eaten this past week:

A salami pizza. The guy made the crust from scratch after I ordered it, and I ate the whole thing. :)

Berlin's famous Curry Wurst. It is popular for a reason. 

I am looking forward to exploring on my own this next week. I will write about it soon. I am also looking forward to returning to sweet home Alabama.

So, because the weather has been so crazy during my time here, that will be the word of this post. It is das Wetter. Again, 'w's in German are pronounced as 'v's so it is pronounced "vet-ter." Tschuss!