4 years in Berlin

I did not know too much about the place I was landing

Four years ago, I was landing in a city I hardly knew, excited to start a new chapter in my life. Beyond the stereotype of 'starting a new chapter...' it was how things went on in the past 208 weeks. Except the time when I was a kid, it is the first time in my adult life when I continuously live for so much time in the same place, without changing the address and the town and the country.

Maybe the key of my latest success is that I did not arrive here with any expectations, but to have a nice and real life. With enough work for having free time for me and my family, and enjoying a certain financial stability, but without having the feeling that I do not have any pleasure to spend them, because sick of too much work.

Overall, it was an amazing time of my life. Building up the future I always wanted to have, enjoying the freedom of being so anonymous that no one will care too much what I am doing, discovering each day a new dimension of my spirituality. Living the simple life that I always tried to run away of because considered it is too simple to be authentic. 

I am convinced that sooner or later another city will call me for longer, for ever or for a short time. I do have some thoughts about it, but contrary to the big hurry that I had to move in Berlin, this time I will graciously move with patience and calculating the necessity of every step I take. It is spring again in the city and I couldn't care less about philosophical questions and abstract answers. I enjoy the life and try to put my excitement into simple words.

What Berlin helped me to do

The last four years I've done an amazing amount of things that I did not expect to do, even though I always wanted to. It was always my career and academic life that were put on the first place, with nothing left for a real life experience. This time, I decided to change the spin and to get more in touch with my real self, not the one that the others expected to show off.

I fully enjoyed getting to know more about:

Something that I discovered days ago in an area where I go weekly

- Cooking! I took a couple of classes - in African and Persian cuisine - plus the daily discoveries of foods and recipes. I am sorry I could not record my first encounter with an avocado and the desperate moment when I was not able to understand exactly the YouTube video about how to cut a pineapple. I started as the nightmare of any chef and ended up not only trying the most sophisticated recipes and baking bread every 2-3 days, but also trying to help other people find their cooking self. 

- Photography! With the help of my late Nikon, I took over 10,000 pictures, some of them published, some of them kept for later. I carried it with me everywhere and I tried to learn each and every day, despite the fact that my entire life all I knew was to play with words. The images opened new perceptions and perspectives on life, travel and journeys. I did buy another camera till the health of the master will be recovered with a proper financial investment, and I will continue to learn how to use my eyes. More to come in the next days, weeks and months.

- Chinese painting! Even though I did not practice too much in the last year and a half, the time spent for developing my painting skills was extremely valuable for someone that always dreamed to spend time in China, and even write a book about it. This childhood dream is still on hold, but the painting classes brought me closer to a different way to communicate images and my own feelings.

- Networking! I came here without knowing more than 5 people and I end up with a lot of new acquaintances and friends, and with an extremely lively social life. As my interests changed, many of those friendships went through different stages, but at least I know that when I really want to go out and to do certain activities, I have a broader choice of company.

- Life! I used to have a corporate, exhausting and bureaucratic life! I used to wait for hours doing nothing till I was receiving an answer for a project from a boss or another. I used to travel each day in a different town, without realizing clearly which country I am, as all I was able to do was to answer phone calls and prepare presentations. I used to work non-stop and do things I did not believe in it and socialize because it was a professional duty to do so. Those times are happily gone for ever. I am able to organize my time in the most efficient way, with time for family, writing for pleasure and reading for satisfying my curiosity. My main duty is to be sure that at the end of the day I gain a new sparkle of knowledge and I did good deeds. I don't fight with and against people for pitches and I don't really care how important they are, even they are evil. 

What I still need to do:

- I intensively went out around the city, but there are still a couple of areas that I don't know. I will try to explore them in the next weeks, but I still cannot believe how it is possible to not cover 100% of the city despite such an intensive social life and professional curiosity to write and photograph the city?

- My trips outside Berlin were limited and I have an approximate knowledge of the rest of the country. I have a long list of priorities, but I prefer to use the time and financial resources for trips abroad, a strategy that is not extremely smart, after all.

Life can be exhausting sometimes...

- Learning German was the biggest unexpected challenge. I arrived here with a good knowledge that I lost while trying to improve my English and other non-German languages. The result is that I speak quite slowly and I write as someone with a problematic IQ. The good news is that I love to read in German and I have more books that I am interested to read in the next weeks. Probably, it will help me to upgrade my status. This will help me automatically to have more authentic dialogue with the local people, as most of the time I socialize and interact with other fellow expats. 

There are also some negative parts about the city:

- Drinking and smoking are so widespread! As someone who decided to give up smoking after 20 times of really enjoying this bad habit, I feel annoyed by the lack of control of people, especially women, keen to spend every time outdoor by smoking. As for the drinking, allowing people to wave their bottles in public spaces has as direct consequence, the violent and aggressive behaviours encountered in certain areas of the city, during the week-end or after 3-4 o'clock. 

- A vague rejection of unsuccessful foreigners, especially expressed by people from the 'countryside'. The good point is that if you are really good and outperforming, you are appreciated, especially if you try to speak German.

- Laziness, aka reliance on social services. I know people that did not work for years and are happy with that. They complain about burnout and hard life, and the pressures of the economic crisis and lack of jobs - the latter is quite true - but when it comes to giving them the opportunity to work, nothing is good enough for their standards, except the pleasure of receiving the Hartz IV welcomed support. I still did not solve the riddle of the miraculous economic stability of a country where working is not on the daily menu of many brave citizens. 

Love the city, not the weather!

- Proletarian way of dressing. I live in an area where I can see elegant people wearing nice bags matching stylish shoes and a good looking make-up. But in most cases, the lack of fine style is disturbing for the eyes and each time I try to explain how I used to spend at least one hour the week at the hairdresser I am faced with an outrageous look. 

- Last but not least, the champion of all evils is the horrible, horrible, horrible weather. 

What's next? More nice posts and inspiration, maybe some serious travel booklet that waits to be written for at least one year and a half, more photography and a lot of happiness, wherever I am!

Spring!

I wanted to let the whole world know that finally the most amazing time of the year is here: (finally) spring in Berlin. When I was walking today for a couple of hours under the hot sun, I could not believe that almost two weeks ago it was so rainy and snowy that I nearly missed the celebration of my 4 years since the relocation in Berlin. 

The sunny weather entered our grey lives on Sunday, but was not sure that it will be for good, so as a cautious journalist that I am, I wanted to wait another 24 minutes and a picture with flowers for giving such an impressive statement: Spring is here! 

It is all I can say right now, but soon I will be back with more posts and some 'anniversary' writing after four years of easy and sweet but not extremely sunny life in Berlin!

See you soon!

How you can eat the world and have it too

Social media is a wonderful tool to find out great ideas and opportunities, especially when it comes to the world of travel. It is how I discovered eat-the-world, a company based in Germany organizing various culinary tours in (for the moment): Berlin, Dresden, Cologne, Hamburg, Leipzig, Munich and Muenster. If you visit one of those cities in Germany, don't hesitate to make a reservation for a different experience.

Elke Freimuth, the founder of the company, explains more about the idea and the future plans in the following interview.

Snapshots of Berlin. Photo credit: eat-the-world

 

Preserving and highlighting the food, culture and people of the city

 

What is the idea of your company? What can expect a tourist to experience when booking a tour?

The idea of eat-the-world is really simple: to get to know a place through its food and people. We want to show what life is like in a given district, so we show tourists the different cultures and foods found in these places. I was always curious about the food and the local way of life during my travels, but it was my stay in New York that really inspired me. While I was there, I noticed that small, family-run businesses were suffering because the large chains were taking over. In a way, these chains were driving the culture away. With this in mind, I came back to Berlin and started eat-the-world. It was my way to preserve and highlight the food, culture and people of the city, while helping out small businesses.

We are very selective with our local guides, so tourists can expect a real insider to guide them around any district. Our guides have usually lived in their district for several years so they really know what they're talking about. They're very informative: they have stories to tell, local spots to recommend, and notes about architecture and history to share. Of course, there's the food. We take tourists to seven shops and restaurants that may not necessarily appear in guidebooks, but are true to what the locals eat and where the locals go. They get a sample from each shop, be it a Turkish pastry, an Italian gelato or a Berliner currywurst. 

"We only work with passionate foodies"

 

How did you make the selection of the German towns included in the project? What are their main culinary profile? 

We only work with passionate foodies who are very knowledgeable about their cities. The same goes with our process of picking restaurant and shop partners. We select our partners very carefully. Our goal is to highlight the small, family-run shops that offer high quality food, which locals appreciate, and our participants too.

Do you plan to expand the project further, by including other German towns?

Definitely. Soon we'll offer tours in other German cities.

What are your plans for the next six months?

Beginning in April, we're launching separate English-only tours in five of the seven German cities. We'd like to have this option in all of our cities in the near future.

What kind of tourists are enjoying your tours?

We get a good mix of tourists and locals. A good percentage of our customers is German-speaking, but the percentage of international tourists is also growing, hence we decided to offer separate English-only and German-only tours. The good thing about eat-the-world tours is that it's really ideal for everyone. Food always brings everyone together.

 

"My shop has to be part of your food tours!"

What was the most pleasant experience you had lately that made you happy to launch such a project?

We are always very happy to see that there are a lot of people doing excellent, handcrafted food products. What they are doing every day is outstanding: delicious food, handmade. So recently, an owner of a candy shop (who sells handmade candies) called us because he heard about eat-the-world and he said, "My shop has to be part of your food tours! I do exactly what your philosophy expresses." He was very excited and insisted that we check out his products. Now, he's one of our partners ;-)

Berlin guide for special tourists

It is always pleasant to feel at home and for almost four years, Berlin was nice enough to be my home. One of the reasons I am not getting bored by the city - although not always happy with the average offer in terms of money and professional opportunities - is that you can always have something new to do.  If enough time and serious advertising, I can probably update this  blog more than three times the day.

When I moved here, I bough a big Lonely Planet guide that I still use it from time to time when I have doubts about different subway stations. Otherwise, I tried to read as many books as possible about the history of the city and of Germany in general, and to go out as often as possible. I dare to say that I know a lot about my newest home city because I paid a lot of attention to the details of the eccentric Berliners, their way of talking and drinking in public and many other things that you will not see in other cities in the world. 

The great merit of Oxygen Books' guide of Berlin is to cover perfectly all the issues, problems, surprises, dangers, wonders and historical memories of the city. In only 229 pages of texts - I must recognize that many authors were completely unknown to me - I went from an end to another of the centuries, from Prenzlauer Berg to Zoo and back at a party in Berghain. The geography of the place is populated with various characters and personalities: journalists, David Bowie and other rock stars, Stasi informers and other spies, historians and historical characters. Many of those I had the curiosity to meet in real life, many of them I am happy I did not have the chance to do it. Take, for instance, this simple description of Dan, 29yo, American, from Ian Walker, Zoo Station: 'Dan had come to Berlin on a holiday four years ago and never gone home. He was working as a window cleaner and still hoping to become a pop-star'. Dan is one of the many people living in Berlin, waiting for the big leap to celebrity and fame. 

Paul Verhaegen's description from Omega Minor is what this city is all about: 'The city, quiet and buzzing, beautiful and ugly, is always an alembic close to boiling point'. It may be said about many cities, but Berlin is always boiling, beyond what we usually call 'normal' parameters. Oh, normal, it is another word that does not fit anything going on in this city: '(...) people who stuck out, who would be labelled as crazy, who were the eternal talk of their small town elsewhere love to move to this city' (Jakob Hein). This is exactly how Berlin is. 

The paradox of the city is that while changing permanently, it keeps the track of the same coordinates. Poverty and hunger and the big number of people relying on social services is a reality of the daily life of many people living here. The same when it comes to the a certain aggressiveness, well described in Doeblin's Alexanderplatz.  And another testimony of the true colours of my neighbours  'Berliners have always been famous for their irrepressible disrespect and hedonism maintained through all oppressions and apparent even when I first came to find a city half in ruin'. (Jan Morris) 

The guide may look a bit chaotic, but you need a lot of pieces and testimonies before you realize what you are into it when living here. I appreciated the natural way of describing the life from the two halves of the city in the time of the Wall. Most probably it was hard but not as deeply dramatic. With a bit of humour and a strong hammer, any wall, including the Berlin Wall, can be destroyed. In a way, I was a bit more curious to find out more about the secret life of the citizens of East Berlin, but most probably this is the due to my old time communist memories, when the GDR was for us the best place on earth compared with other countries from the 'Bloc'. One of the mst powerful images by far is that of Rostropovich playing cello in the front of the Wall at the Axel-Springer building. 

How would Berlin will look like in 10 years from now? With such a high concentration of artists and authors and freelancers living here, there may be new literary works ready soon. Since the guide was published, in 2009, everything changed here, but the spirit is still the same. 

ITB 2013 - the last day

Honestly, I was a bit more than tired today, but I covered all I wanted and needed to cover in order to have a full image of the countries and companies participating at ITB Berlin 2013. I even had the chance to stumble upon some nice companies offering various IT and technology services tailored for the tourism industry. 

My plan for today was: Central America - amazing and full of life; some Golf countries - colourful, with a lot of Henna painting, and many airline companies offering virtual tours to the visitors. 

In the afternoon, the ambiance was quite relaxed, with not so many visitors and journalists around. Many Pavilions were already closed or about to close. All the PR companies were gone, some of the Spanish tour operators were probably afraid to go out by the sudden winter returning seriously to the city in the last 24 hours. I did not see anyone at Lebanon as well, the white chairs being used for temporary stops of exhausted visitors.

A couple of 'entrepreneurs' were trying to sell tickets in the U-Bahn/S-Bahn area, for 10 Euro, even though after 2pm, the price went to 8 Euro. I am not sure either if the tickets were available. Anyway, it was no reason to buy 'black' tickets when the maximum waiting time at the cashier was around 3 minutes! 

I made a tour of the food counters, and was unpleasantly surprised to see that an usual bowl of noodles, sold for around 3.50 Euro, was evaluated at the ITB for...10 Euro. The food was not looking as almost perfect samples of exquisite Asian cuisine. Better waiting two more hours and eating some fresh food at home! 

Dances and joy from Nicaragua

This time Israel had a big nice Pavilion.  Today, was a busy day

Adventure parks, German version

Egypt is trying to get more tourists, with various cultural offers

What happened in Thailand stays in Thailand

The henna experience

The optical illusion of the dunes of sand?

An exquisite art of filling the glasses, Andalusian way

Day 3 at ITB

Today was the last day for businesses and media at ITB Berlin. Less people than in the other days, maybe also because I was a bite late and my enthusiasm to run from a Pavilion to another decreased significantly.  

Most events I saw on the run today were somehow related to eating. In most cases, the spaces between pavilions is too small for a big number of guests. It is hard to socialize in peace with a glass of wine and a small sandwich without bothering those coming and going.

I visited the Asian section, with a look at the Indonesian Pavilion, where there were a lot of actions and prizes were given. I loved Thailand for the design and Japan - where regularly classes on Japan culture and civilization are held. Exhausted after so many hours and days of intensive walking and writing, I ordered a smoothie with banana, orange and kiwi and got the super powers to go back home. 

Tomorrow I am busy with my personal life, but I plan to return on Sunday, for more pictures and some fresh insights about how the general public is welcoming the tempting offers from the fair.

Till then, more pictures and the promise of new posts soon!

The feeling of spring at Japan Pavilion

The Indonesian boat is ready to conquer the German tourists

Events at the Indonesian Pavilion

The heart beating of Thailand

Attracted by the spices, I entered a small room where I discovered amazing things about the Indonesian art of massage and the amazing ingredients used

Hello from Papua!

Lufthansa at ITB

10 minutes before entering ITB, I entered the mood of the fair thanks to Lufthansa. From early in the morning till the program is over, the representatives of Lufthansa, strategically positioned near the closest S-Bahn station to the fair are distributing leaflets, bags and - in the first day - also some cold coffee to the participants and visitors. While visiting the side, I was also offered a lipgloss and some TicTac bombons. 

The main information distributed is the special offer of 49 Euro from Berlin to different destinations, an offer available for the summer at lufthansa.com/sommer. The offers booked via Lufthansa can offer various discounts within the Hilton network in Europe.

The welcome team of Lufthansa at work

Be a guest at Lufthansa. Honesty, I don't remember when I was the last time with Lufthansa...

I love the design of the Pavilion. 

The Lufthansa Pavilion looks very elegant, plane-style, where the visitor can experience the pleasure of being the guest of the company for an indeterminate duration of the flight. It is not a flight simulator, but a pleasant corner where you can see for a couple of minutes why it is important to fly Lufthansa. As far as I saw, there it is the only airline companies present at the ITB offering more than leaflets and a nice sweet or eventually a pen.