Berlin - Day 2

So I grabbed a few hours of sleep Friday night and was back at it again on Saturday.  The first thing I did was swallow my pride and buy a scarf.  Everyone wears a scarf here in Germany (even the straight ones), and I can now see why.  I probably looked incredibly American trying to hide my face behind a fully zipped up jackets anyways.  Found a turkish shop on the way to the museum and bought the first one I saw.  I then preceeded to look even more American than before when I spent the rest of the day trying to figure out how to wear it, which ended up around my neck like a slipknot cutting off my circulation.  I was at the point where I would sacrifice oxygen for warmth though. 

The first item worth noting that I ran across was the new Jewish Synagogue.  A few times in Berlin I would be just walking to the next main attraction when I would randomly stumble across something interesting.  There is just that much cool stuff packed in to one area. This bad boy was once the biggest synagogue in Europe until it was mostly destroyed by Nazi's, and then later on by American bombs.  They fixed up what they could and it is still quite impressive.



 I headed on to probably one of the nicest areas of the trip.  The river seperates a large park from where the museum center and the Berliner Dom sit.  Nice bridges cross over the river and people play violins and saxophones for tips.  Which brings me to another great part about Berlin.  The only person I had ask me for money the entire weekend was a little girl who was asking for donations for something to benefit with deaf speaking, which I was happy to pitch in for.  She had a paper with signatures and all and gave me a big hug before she walked off.  I can't remember the last time I have been in a city without being asked for money, so Berlin was a pleasent surprise.  Also worthy of a tip was the guy playing Celine Dion's song from Titanic on a flute... video to come at a later date.

The museum center was surrounded by hallways made of tall pillars and a courtyard filled with random statues.  Of the 4 museums in the area, the Pergamon was the only one that I really cared about going to.  Let's just say that I am not in to abstract art. 

This was the only attraction that cost any money the entire weekend and for 15 euros, it was worth every penny.  Even it was 45 euros I would have paid.  The Pergamon altar was a giant frieze build in the 2nd century b.c. in the city of Pergamon, just across the Aegean Sea from Greece.  The sculptures display a scene of a collosal battle between the Gods and the Giants.  German's resurrected this altar in the 80's with the intent of putting it in a Berlin museum but later realized that the museum wasnt big enough.  They had to build a bigger one to contain all of the awesomeness that was coming from Turkey.  The sculptures depicts snakes killing men and Gods putting lions in chokeholds.  Some of the more famous gods are showing domination giants.  As you walk up the steps to the altar, the battle scene follows along side of you to portray the giants trying to reach Mount Olympus, but never quite reach the top.  They museum gives you audio headphones that do a wonderful job of desribing each exhibit.  They go in to great detail about each of the battles, involving Zeus, Athena etc...  Greek mythology isn't my strongpoint, but the fact that someone could not only sculpt a fight scene that makes the directors of 300 jealous, but they did so in 200 B.C, and it is still in good enough shape to piece together and be presentable.



Zeus domination with a lightning bolt

 Athena picking up giants with one hand

After I was done gawking over the alter I went in to the next room and saw the Ishtar gate.  There's not many things that stop me in my tracks and leave me speechless (other than Marissa),  But this thing truly did.  As soon as I walked through the path I just looked straight up and froze.  I really don't even want to post a picture of it, because no camera can do it justice.  The gate of Ishtar was the 8th gate to the inner city of Babylon, dedicated to the goddess Ishtar.  Sadly, this wasn't even the biggest one, but just one that they could excivate.  After realizing that people were trying to get through the doorway that I was still standing in, I moved along to the rest of museum, which had some neat things, but nothing that could live up to the first two exhibits.

It wasn't a long walk from the museum over to the Berliner Dom.  I'm not going to lie, my expectation of the Dom weren't very high, but I had no idea that the building was going to be this gargantuin and this detailed.  They began construction on this building in the 14-1500's and it has been added on and renovated ever since.  Nothing more to say other than this building is awesome.  Behind it is the Soviet radio tower.  They wanted to remind everyone of Sputnik apparently.

I saw a few more things that afternoon, including Humboldt University, where Einstein studied, and then headed back to the hostel.  Everyone was still lyingrecovering from the night before, so I showered and went out for dinner on my own.  Leaving dinner and walking back towards the main street my hostel was located, I noticed a girl in extremely high heels following me.  When she asked what I was doing tonight and if I wanted an "All inclusive massage" I jetted in to the nearest bar I could find.  I wonder how long it took her to come up with the phrase "all inclusive massage", thats a pretty good one. 

In the bar, I got to talking with a couple of guys from Stockholm about anything and everthing.  They were there on a friends b-day and had some pretty interesting stories.  They were headed to the casino under the Soviet radio tower so I tagged along.  We didnt do much gamblin, just shot the bull around and told some pretty funny stories about their friend, which sounds eerily similar to my friends.  They do something for each persons birthday that each person has to partake in.  They got one guy a brazilian wax for his birthday, and made him do it.  Dressed one guy as woody from toy story and made him go to the bars on a wooden broomstick horse, and bought one friend a tortoise that lives over 40-50 years.  They make Sweden sound like an awesome place and I can catch a flight to Stockholm for 15 euros (22 dollars).  We will probably go once Marissa gets here.  I am ready for her to get here so we can start seeing some sights together  Anyways, I brought the snow back with me from Berlin, as it was probably snowing harder here when I returned, than it was in Berlin.  I will leave you with some of my favorite pictures from the weekend.  Peace!





Humboldt Univeristy

This is a BierBike... I saw a few of these in the city.  Everyone pedals, one guy steers and a bar tender serves drinks.

Berlin - Day 1

Get comfortable, this one is going to take a while... There is much to discuss.

With 3 days left before I start work, you know that thing that I was brought here to do, I decided to go ahead and hit up Berlin.  When I intially heard that I was being conisdered for the job here, this was the trip I was looking forward to the most, but I didn't know that I would be going here within the first 5 days.  Also, I was anxious to get to put my new Nikon d3200 camera that my dad got me for Christmas to use.  Thanks dad.

I woke up at 2a.m. Friday morning and couldnt go back to sleep.  Played some playstation with Sam and JC back in the motherland.  It's a good way to catch up with my friends back home.  I packed up a bag and headed for the train station in Hannover.  Since this was my first time on the train, I wanted to limit my stops, so I chose to leave from Hannover instead of Celle.  This also meant that I got my first experience on the autobahn.  Wind turbines dominate the terrain in between Celle and Hannover, as well as elevated deer blinds at the edge of every field.  The combination reminds me of West Texas, except for the green fields.  There was a ton of deer in the fields, but all too far to really compare them to deer in Texas.

I will skip the part where I don’t know what on earth I am doing at the train station.  However, I made it on a train that was headed east, so I figure that was a good start.  90 minutes later, I was at the Hauptbanhof station in Berlin.  My first experience on the train was awesome.  They are way smoother and spacious than planes, and quite simple once you learn the system.  Like everything here, you learn everything by trial and error.

The feeling you get as the train is pulling in to Berlin is similar to the one you get when you pull up on the Vegas strip at night.  That is if your interest in history is up to par with your interest in partying and spending money. The victory column can be seen pretty much the whole way in.  This was a tower built after Prussia defeated France in 1880.  The coolest part about this tower is that the statue of Victoria on top is made of French cannons that were melted down to make the statue.  I’m not sure if there is anything more bold than not only defeating the enemy, but to melt their cannons down to molten metal and then shaping it as your own statue to show off.  Hitler had the tower moved to the center of the city for higher visibility, which is why you can see it immediately when arriving in the city…. He would.

As soon as I stepped off of the train I realized 2 things.  It’s freezing, and I should have wore boots.  The first patch of cement I stepped on was covered in ice.  No, I did not fall.  Sorry to disappoint you.  The first bridge I crossed had a guy whose job was to walk back and forth and throw gravel over the bridge.  Maybe 250 meters from the train station was the Reichstag.  This is Germany parliament building, which I thought was incredible, but little did I know it wasn’t as impressive as the rest of the things I would see.  I stood in a snow covered field for 10 minutes trying to figure out how to get my tripod set up with numb fingers.  Got it set up, took some pictures, and went for some café at the shop next door to map out the rest of my day.

This guy saving me from breaking a tailbone

The Reichstag

I then headed to the Tiergarten, which is Berlin’s central park, without the stabbings.  It is supposed to be a really neat place in the summer, but it was covered in snow and too cold to explore the whole place in mid January, so I swung by the outskirts and saw a few statues and moved on.  The one worth noting is a the statue of Beethoven, Motzart, and Haydn.  What made this statue worth speaking of was the bullet holes that were created during the infamous Battle of Berlin. 

From there I moved to the Brandenberg gate.  This was built in the 18^th century as a symbol of military victory, but became the gateway to East and West Berlin once the city was divided.  I later returned for pictures of this at night, which is a much prettier setting, especially if there were not Kurd protest in the way.

After stopping to buy gloves, I went to the Memorial of the Murdered Jews of Europe Museum.  Aboveground, hundreds of stones represent those who were killed, but belowground is where the real museum lies.  The entire memorial was pretty somber, but nothing compared to the postcard room.  Multiple letters that were written from concentration camps to family members outside the camps were displayed.  I didn’t take any pictures in this room, just because I didn’t feel it was appropriate.  Some things are just better to be experienced in person.  Another room that was pretty unbelievable was the biography room.  The audio played a short 30 second bio of each of the Jews that were killed during WWII.  Only about half of the Jews could be traced, but for all the ones who have, they have a story for each.  This must have taken an enormous amount of time to compile this information about each one.  If you were to listen to each biography it would take you 6 years, 7 months, and 27 days.

Jewish Memorial - above ground

On my way to the Topography of Terror, I came across a painted piece of the Berlin wall.  It was right next to a parking lot which sits above where Hitler’s bunker once stood.  The bunker was demolished after the war and is not a spot that they attract tourists too.  Just a small sign stand explaining the bunker.

Hitler's bunker under the parking lot behind

The Topography of Terror is basically where all the evil in Berlin was headquarted:  The national central headquarters for the secret state police (Gestapo), the Reich SS Leadership, the Security Service of the SS, and the Reich Security Main office.  This is a very detailed museum describing the rise and fall of the SS.  Like standing above Hitler’s bunker, you get a very ominous feeling being in the exact place where so many evil people were and some of the most inhumane decisions in the history of the world were made.  Many of Hitler’s letters and commands are displayed in the museum.  You can even see handwritten and typed discussion about ridding the jews in the city.  It is creepy. 

Wierd to think the Nazi flags used to hang from these Iron Flagpoles

Also, in front of the museum is a long stretch of the Berlin wall.  This was the one things that I wanted to see the most.  I can think of a lot of things that have the ability to symbolize ideas or history but none quite like this.  The wall did so much more than separate the Soviet side from the Allied side of Berlin.  Communism and Democracy are very much ideas.  They aren’t really tangible things that you can go touch.  They are theories.  But this might be the only place in the world where a line was drawn in the sand and they said, this side is communist and this side is not.  You see where communism once stood and jump across to where democracy ruled.  The wall itself represents which of the ideas is preferred.  If communism was so great, why must the concrete wall be built, machine gun turrets, tanks, and guards be in place on one side of the wall and not the other?

I saw a few more buildings, took a few more pictures and the sun had gone down around 4, so I decided that I needed to go find a place to stay.  I went to a hostel on the North side of Mitte, which is the most historical district of Berlin.  I paid 13 euros per night ( about 18 USD) for a bed in a room of 8.  The room had 4 bunk beds and lockable lockers inside.  When I arrived there was a student from Virginia who was studying in France, and Ross, a 22 year old from Ukraine who was studying in Poland.  I enjoyed the hostel.  It made me feel like I had college roomates again.  David went to the opera that night and Ross and I went to go grab some food and some Berlin beer.

One of the main wedding chapels in Berlin... check how small those people look!

I was told by everyone that the Berliners love to party.  Night clubs rule the area and go harder than anywhere in the world.  As much as I don’t care for any form of Techno music or dancing to it all, (in fact, the closest thing to techno that I enjoyed was when the Beastie Boys came out with "Intergallactic") experiencing the culture in other parts of the world is why I accepted this job in the first place.  I also wanted to experience life deep into east Berlin, where the Soviets once ruled.

I had read thein far east Berlin, the neighborhoods used to be pretty rough.  Even after the re-unification of Berlin, some areas stayed that way.  However, this is where the best of the clubs are.  They have what you call underground or unregistered clubs.  They are not registered in the city, and do not pay taxes, and I was told are mostly owned by the mafia.  Don’t worry, we were told by plenty of people it was safe.  As soon as we stepped off the intercity train, you could immediately see that it was rough around the edges.  The main contrast between the soviet side of Berlin and the Allied is the architecture.  East Berlin is dominated by concrete, and where there is concrete there is graffiti.  Walking around the area, you are surrounded by graffiti littered walls and blacked out windows.  Literally, not a single inch without spraypaint.  You can only hear a slight thud of bass coming through the wall, until someone opens a door, and you quickly understand what everyone is talking about.  Strobe lights, and loud music are inside of every building.  We hopped around checking out different places, each of the paths looking like the scene from beer fest where they try to find the competition.  We mostly settled in a couple of bars.  Ross was equally as interested in American culture as I was his, so we mostly talked about the differences and similarities in our lives and before you know it, it was 5:30 in the morning.  Another thing about the unregistered clubs is that they don’t close until the last person leaves, which is usually around 7a.m. 

Day1in Berlin:  Success.

Tomorrow I will post day 2.  Alot of good pictures from Saturday, including the Berlin Dom, Humboldt University, where Einstein studied, the Isthar Gate, and the Pergamon museum. 

Citizen of Celle

Today was a good day!

First off, I went to the "Rathaus", or city hall to obtain my work permit and citizenship.  Luckily, Cameron has enough pull at the office that this was pretty painless and already set up.  Something interesting though... when I was getting my temporary citizenship, they asked for a confession, or something similar.  I was then explained that in Germany whatever church you are associated with, part of the catholic church, part of your paycheck goes to the church.  I'm not sure if this applies for every denomination, but it is interesting to see that seperation of church does not exist here, or most countries for that matter.  Having never lived in another country, it sort of caught me off guard that one could be involved with the other.  It doesn't bother me, but it was a reminder that this was one of the things that our ancestors were escaping when they came to America.

From there, I went to the grocery store to get some more things.  I found the shopping carts, but they had some chain mechanism stringed through them that had what looked to be a lock on the end.  So I just grabbed some stuff with my hands and tried not dropping them.  I got some wierd looks when I was standing in the meat section staring at it for 5 solid minutes trying to figure out how you would cook some things, or even if they are already cooked.  I got what I think is similar to sandwhich meat.  I wasn't sure if it needed to be cooked, but I just ate it and decided my stomach would answer for me.  So far so good.  Also, I'm not too sure if this stuff I thought might be milk really is.  I will use the same approach to check.  The store was pretty crowded ( meaning the 1 line had about 5 people in it) and they were all waiting as I paid.  Quick tidbit of info for ya... there are no paper or plastic sacks in European grocery store... its byob.  So it took me about a solid minute for me to shovel this stuff up in my arms as someone in the back chuckles.  Real funny.  Let's laugh at the Amerikaner because he cant figure out how to get to shopping carts out of your Fort Knox.

List of items I wheelbarrowed out to the car.

I'm not sure how they get better looking bell peppers than us when Mexico is next door?

From there, I went to get a pre paid cell phone.  They were pretty helpful there.  I did feel a bit like a snob when they told me I could just put a pre paid sim card into the phone that I have.  When I told them I had the Iphone they responded with "the Iphone 3?" ... reluctantly, I told them Iphone5.  She stared at me for a minute and informed me that they dont have that yet.  I'm aware.

I went to the gym tonight later.  I got a membership last night.  The guy there is really friendly and because I didnt have enough euros in cash on me, he told me I could pay next time.  They use the trust system alot here, especially with timed parking.  It's nice to know that this still works in some places.  The gym is pretty similar to globogym in dodgeball.  Glass walls, sauna, fancy machines that are pretty much worthless.  Lots of froo froo stuff in there.  They have one squat rack, but from the looks of the place, I dont think I will have to wait for it much. 

I defeated the washer last night.  I also got the dryer set up in a record 1 minute which I was proud of.

My Arch Nemesis

Maytag 3000 Dryer

Notables for the day:
Bought a grocery sack
Going to buy a bike soon
Saw a German guy with a shitzu named Lucky.  I found this funny for some reason.
Germans don't have acne.  Think our diets only affect our fat? There is proof.
Watched up guy do about 500 bicep curls in an NO Xplode shirt.  Not sure they designed that preworkout for you to get pumped up to isolate one of the smallest muscles in your body.



Change of plans.  Instead of heading to Hamburg this weekend I am going to take the train to Berlin in the morning.  I figured since I have 3 days before I start work i might as well venture a bit farther.  I have been really looking forward to this trip.  Berlin has some awesome museums and I have always wanted to see the wall.  Packing my bags and mapping out my trip tonight and heading out in the morning. Sure hope the guy beside me on the train likes some Turnpike Troubadours.  I will update when I return.  Guten Nacht and Tschuss!

After a month of hectic preperation for the move, I am finally here.  December flew by while we were busy packing the house, selling my truck, moving, preparing for Germany, and traveling across Texas to partake in the 4 Christmases.  It actually never hit me that I would be leaving Marissa and the states' and going to be living 4,000 miles away until I was driving into the Houston airport.

Because it was an international flight, I arrived at the airport 3 hours early, and only took a total of 10 minutes to get bags checked and through security.  Funny how that works huh?  I finally got on the largest plane I have ever seen, with about 700 people speaking 20 different languages.  You haven't experienced diversity until you have flown into Europe.  Everyone speaks a different language, no one understands any of them.  Nine hours later, I arrived at the Frankfurt aiport where I had a 12 hour layover.  The only thing worth noting here is I had my first German beer and it was delicious.

I finally arrived in Hannover at 11p.m. to find out that my personal taxi had overslept.  Luckily I had gotten Euros before and asked my contact for the name to my hotel and got my own ride there.  I finally got to bed at midnight, which completed my 28 hour trip across the pond.

My HR contact came to pick me up the next morning after my hotel breakfast of deli meats and pastries.  They were all pretty good, but not as good as the coffee.  She immediately gave me the keys and we went to see some places and then to the facility.  My car is a VW Wagon, and is an automatic, which is rare in Germany.  Germans are very proud of their vehicles and say that if they do not have a manual, they do not feel as if they are really driving and dont have true control over their car.  They love driving, and love driving fast.  Anyways, after 10 minutes of us trying to get the car started we were on our way.  We eventually ended up out our facility where I was introduced to some co-workers and had a plant tour. 

The plant is extremely clean, which I expected.  When dealing with electrical components you must limit the amount of dust and pollutants.  Also, these small control modules are very important.  They are in charge of the life of a subsea field that can cost around 1 billion dollars.  I immediately noticed something else in the plant.  There were long hallways with many doors, each with 2-3 people in each office.  There is no cubicle mingling here.  They are very efficient and to the point.  This is why they are extremely good at what they do.

After the plant tour I was given my keys and was on my own.  I drove to my apartment, which is very nice, and unpacked my suitcase for the first time since we left OKC on December 21st.  After getting settled in, I drove back to city center to get some food.  Let me rephrase that.  I attempted to find my way back to the parking lot I was shown earlier that day.  And failed about 15 times.  I have a very good sense of direction, but it all goes out the window here.  The streets are complex, the road signs are every few feet and I cannot understand any of them.  I pulled over multiple times and pulled my map out to figure out where I was and again tried to find my parking lot.  I remembered earlier in the day that I had just crossed a river before the parking spot, so I then drove to every river crossing until I found the spot.  It was around 8 by now and so I decided to stop in the first place I found which was an Italian Restaraunt.

The restaraunt had about 4 table of people inside.  I was planning on sliding in their and just grabbing a seat without drawing too much attention to myself, but that plan changed with the door slammed behind and everyone in the place turned around to stare.   The servers was named Sylvia, who I assume is in her mid 40's and she acted as if she had known each person in the restaraunt for years.  She was dancing and joking with all of them.  Come to find out, she is the owner, and made some of the best Italian food I have ever had.  She didnt speak much English but we had a 15 minute conversation afterwards and were showing pictures of our dogs.  After hearing where I worked she reached up on the wall and pulled a picture down of my friend Chad, who was here before me.   I will be going back for more pasta soon.

Today I woke up and decided to go back to the city for the farmers market to get some food to cook. I was able to find the parking lot without any problems today, the sunlight helped.  Buying anything in a store without speaking German is hard, but purchasing from farmers who do not know any english is level expert.  There was alot of pointing at things, and putting up fingers to signal how much I wanted.  Also, there was a lot of leaving, flipping through the German dicitionary and coming back to ask for the product in the right language.  It took me over an hour to get about 5 things that I am still not even sure I can make a salad out of, but somehow, purchasing those 5 items seemed like a huge victory.  You would think that all vegetable and fruits are the same in this world but they're not.  I had never seen much of the produce before, however the vegetables that I did recognize were much bigger and more colorful.  Besides the potatoes.  I didn't see a potato the size of a baseball.  I'm anxious to see some french fries here.

Das Auto

I took my groceries back to the shaggin wagon and went to a coffee shop for breakfast.  I got a wierd looking muffin and a cafe.  The muffin was delicous and the coffee was too.  So far the German coffee has been impressive.  They dont try to do too much.  Just good ole fashion black coffee how it was meant to be... Not like starbucks.  I sat around for a bit observing the locals.  It is good to watch what they do and how they move about, buy and pay for things.  I try to adapt as much as possible.

I then returned to do more shopping.  I went to the drugstore and luckily I was able to find shampoo, soap, and essentials fairly easily.  They had brands like Axe, Adidas and Nivia which made it much easier.  I also heard the first English words of the day when they played TLC's "Dont go chasing waterfalls" and I admit that I sang along.  They actually play alot of music in English.  If you think you can escape Alicia Keys' this girl is on fire by moving to Germany, think again.

Walking back to the car, I ran in to Sylvia who was opening her restaraunt and she yelled at me from across the street making a gesture of why I dont have an umbrella, or atleast I think that is what she was asking. It has been drizzling rain here for 2 days, but its really just a mist, not worth an umbrella.  She motioned me across the street and went inside and grabbed an umbrella and would not leave without me taking it.  She said I can return it when I come back to eat, so I guess I really will be going back. 

I then returned home and spent 45 minutes trying to open the washing machine.  My landlord was sure to point out that she left me an instruction manual... which is completely in German.

A few things I have noticed so far:

Europeans like dressing their kids in matching adidas jumpsuits.

Alot of 70 and 80 year old men and women are still riding bicyles.  This is refreshing.

Bottled water is distinguished as Gas or No Gas?  Nein

Not knowing what any button on your car is frustrating.  Even more when your car has 400 buttons.
Not all Germans are as tall as Dirk, but almost.

All in all, the Germans have been very nice and helping, and I am loving it here.

Tomorrow I am picking up my work permit and plan to travel to Hamburg this weekend.