At least once a day, somewhere close to my apartment, there is a man that screams in (what sounds like) agony several times. I have no idea what to do about this, but it disturbs me every time. I’ve talked to other people that live in my building and no one can hear it but me (and the people who are in my apartment at the time of the screaming. I have received confirmation, I am not imagining it).
On another note, midterms are this week and it’s been a little weird/difficult trying to remember how to effectively do work. At least I didn’t go to Amsterdam this weekend, which seemed to be the brilliant idea of several people on my program. So, instead of studying I’ve been cooking (or more accurately watching a friend cook) orange chicken and having lengthy conversations about tea infused chocolate, homemade truffles, berry picking, Surrealism, and the very realistic prediction that we’re all going to go home obese. But alas, I can do nothing about Gunter, the friendly German kiosk owner, practically forcing me to buy chocolate croissants from him way too often. Also, I am very passively working off the tremendous amount of food my parents insisted on feeding me on their wonderful visit here. Good thing I ate all the leftovers so they wouldn’t be around to tempt me anymore.
Getting caffeinated with Mutter und Vater at KaDeWe
Yummy pizza in Mitte-- I obviously dressed to hide the expected sauce stains
Exploring the very weird world of German sushi
On a less food related note, I went to the Jüdisches Museum this week, partly because I had to write a paper on its architecture that was due the next day but mostly because I’ve been meaning to go there since I arrived. The architecture actually turned out to be my favorite part of the museum, and I don’t mean that in the same way I meant it about the Neues Museum. In this museum, the architecture was actually a really effective part of the exhibit, and explanations from the architect Daniel Liebskind are placed around the museum to ensure that some message is getting across, though it was repeatedly stated that the structures were open to a variety of interpretations. It really inspired some powerful feelings, though they were kind of unclear to identify.
Jüdisches Museum
An excerpt from my essay:
One component of the layout of the museum that strike me as both unique and meaningful are the empty spaces that Daniel Liebskind incorporated into the structure. In a museum with such great depth and gravity, it’s important for one to have sporadic moments to reflect upon the information that they have just seen, and being surrounded by tall walls solemnly decorated with the absence of information promotes the digestion of everything the museum is trying to impart.
And from another part of my essay…
The sizeable area dedicated to a minority specifically persecuted in Germany’s past is also very important to me. This structure is not a small, insignificant looking building tucked away in a hardly visible location. It is a grand, noticeable structure that is impossible to ignore. Just looking at the shiny zinc exterior inspires a feeling of significance, and demonstrates the fact that Germany is no longer a country of maltreatment and discrimination of the Jews. The stairs leading into a wall invoke the same message, that the Jüdisches Museum is unfinished, and that just because the exhibition has ended does not mean that the Jewish people are solely a part of history, but rather will have a future in Germany. Seeing the impressive effort that has been dedicated to building a Jewish museum in Germany signifies the accepting and cosmopolitan city that Berlin has become over the past decades.
Also this week my German teacher invited my class to join her and some of her friends to go on a Kneipentour! We also learned the word Kneipentour.
