Turkish Market

Since the weather finally let up yesterday and the sun decided to show its face, we managed to spend the day outside and eventually made our way to the Turkish Market on Maybachufer. The market goes straight down a street right along the riverbank. It's open Tuesdays and Fridays, sometime around 2pm to 6pm thereabouts. 

There's a lot to buy for cheap at the market; fresh fruit and vegetables, just cooked Turkish food (and other food as well), cloth starting at 2 Euros per meter, jewelry, beads, thread, home supplies, batteries... the list goes on.

There was also a corner at the end of the street where this brilliant musician played on what looked like a self-made, self-invented pipe instrument. It was a one-man orchestra.

Kyle also decided to try the "Turkish Honig," strawberry flavored. It was extremely sweet and looked deceptively like some Asian candies we've had before.

All in all, a pretty nice way to spend one of our first sunny afternoons in a while.

Milk Tea and Me

High Tea

Sometime a few weeks ago (or was it last week? I can't remember, the days are all a blur), we took a trip over to Potsdamer Platz for a nice lunch of High Tea.

At the Ritz-Carlton. Yes, I was rather shocked too, and was afraid to see the bill in the aftermath. To relieve you of any distressed suspense, the total for each person came out to 10 Euros each. According to one of our friends, it would have been 14 had he friend not used his "points system," and goodness knows if I know what that means.

But that's all besides the point, because what I wanted to share was the delicious photographs I took of the meal, all of which I took great pleasure in photographing at close quarters. (Hooray, macro mode!)

I haven't blogged about food practically at all here, so I thought it was time for one :)

Tea with your sugar, miss?

Yes, please!

And a little appetizer, just to start off with; mozzarella and tomato should do the trick.

But we know what you came here for, and here it is my dears.

Voila, the first few floors of the tower.

I think this one merits a little closer inspection.

A few sweets, of course, are in order.

There's a little surprise in the center.

And, if you know me, you know I'm a sucker for fruit-tarts, both for their aesthetic and for their taste.

The beaker had a crunchy, chocolatey surprise at the bottom, once you passed the peach and the cream.

Zum Schluss, we have an interesting strawberry creme brulee.

I also wonder at the Asian theme of the tea area; the waitress was clad in a Chinese dress that matched the furniture.

No mad hatters here, unless you count us. :)

People Stories

A series of stories that I recall about people I have thus far encountered.

I was pointing down the street at something and looked back to talk to Rashida, when suddenly - slap! - a jolly elderly man gave me a high five. It took me a few seconds to put together the slap on my palm with his broad grin before I burst out laughing.

Do you recall that game, "Who Stole the Cookie From the Cookie Jar?" A giant group of little children stood at the other end of the U-Bahn playing that very game - in German. It was with the same tempo, the same giggles, the happy lilts in their voices to cheerily play such a repetitive game, except that in German, it doesn't rhyme.

The first week I was here, I was waiting quietly on the U-Bahn for my stop to come by. Two young men dressed in suits and ties came on board and sat across from me, and I ignored them as city folk do until one of them leaned forward and began speaking to me in German. It was definitely American German, I thought, but not bad. In fact, I was relieved to hear the accent, and was curious. He was asking me if I knew of this book, something to which I replied no, I didn't, and he continued that it was like the Bible, only a different one. I decided it was time to end with the German and said my German wasn't so good, and immediately they gladly switched to English. They were from Ohio, Mormons on a missionary trip. I love how some of the first people I talk to in Berlin are from America.

Something I don't enjoy as much is the amount of attention I get for being Asian. I think most people find it normal to see Asians walking around Berlin, a fairly international city, but then there are those who seem to make it their duty to assure you that yes - you are Asian. A typical thing I get is something with "Ni hao" or "Chin yong wong," most often some sort of gibberish that isn't even any form of Asian that I know.

The better part of the Asian deal is when people ask me where I am from, and are completely shocked and taken aback when I reply that I am from California. They seem so fascinated by that fact, which is of course to me absurd - there are plenty of Asians where I come from. Still, I suppose most of the Asians here either grew up here or came from Asia, rather than the roundabout trip I made from the US.

The story gets better when you're not in Berlin, and you have to explain that you came from Berlin, but not really, you came from California, but of course my face isn't your typical American face you see in Hollywood, so yes, my parents were from China.

And because this post has gone on for long enough without a photo or two, a few more highlights will have to do.

Ever seen a walking hot dog factory?

Or perhaps kids playing Yugioh on the U-Bahn in Berlin? (This one's for you, Cisco!)

And how about a beautiful series of couches, coffee tables, and even a cafe - all within a bookstore? (Unfortunately I felt awkward taking photos of the cafe area and the more ostentatious couches, but here's a little to get a glimpse:)

Bis bald, my friends.

I've got to stop with the sugar

But honestly, how can you help yourself when you find yourself facing so many things you'd never seen before?

That's just me.

Just a Thought

I think I'll start to lose a little identity in this world. Maybe "confuse" is a better word than "lose."

I'm still in Berlin, and I am already thinking about Kyoto, to which I applied for next spring. Now that I've been accepted, what to do...?

Living in different places, loving all of them but at the same time feeling a sense of not belonging there because real home feels like somewhere else... It's a little confusing sometimes to consider. I wonder where I will be living in the future.

...

Since it's been so long since I've written, and I'm betting anyone who reads this is also a friend of mine on Facebook, I'll leave it up to you to look at my Vienna (no, Sim, not Vienna Teng) photographs on there and save the rest of this post for a long overdue series of photographs from the past few weeks.

 Ballet at the Staatsoper Berlin (BING sponsored event)

 Dunkin' Donuts... I find it slightly hilarious that the first time I have it is in Germany.

Iron Man 2 at the ridiculous Sony Center movie theater, complete with red curtain and ice cream selling.

Hohenschoenhausen, Berlin; former prison in the former East Germany.

 Beautiful red building on Alexanderplatz.

Leipzig, a city just south of Berlin; German class midterm fieldtrip. (Assignment: give a presentation of a locale in Leipzig, in German, to the class. Part one of the midterm.)

Late nights spent doing E40, whether it's section, lab, or homework. Love the professor, despise the late evenings when the U-Bahn closes.

The Jewish Museum, select architectural aspects and installation.

Graffiti. (Enough said.)

Indoor market hall, just a block from my apartment. Includes warm food, cheese, produce, meat, and even toys. Bought a mango. Just ate it before finishing this post.

 
Randomly finding fashion that I want to learn to make with my own sewing machine once I return to Cali.

Outdoor Turkish market, which I loved despite the dreary weather. It's been quite dismal with the rain and freezing cold in this Berlin springtime.

And, finally, completing a very impromptu cosplay duo with a friend in time for today's b.e.v.i.t.

I think a post on food needs to happen soon before those photos are too many to put in one post...

Updates; Bratislava and Vienna

Life here has been the kind of life where having time to sit by myself on the computer for longer periods of time is practically non-existent. Once I leave my apartment, there's no practical reason not to stay out - it just takes so long to come home, I end up exploring somewhere else or having dinner with some friends. By the time I return home, it's time to sleep so that I can make the one hour transport to school again.

Specifically, the past few days have been the Will Trip to Bratislava and Vienna. It was a tightly packed schedule for all four days, and because of the recent volcanic eruptions and subsequent shutdowns of all European airports, we instead took a nine-hour train ride direct to Bratislava, Slovakia.

 There's much I can say and nearly 1000 photographs as testament to my excitement, but I'd like to point out some highlights of the trip. We had a series of lectures over the course of four days, and it was very interesting to learn about Slovakia, which to be honest, has never really been high on my radar. Mixed in there was also a lot of information about the EU and later Austria.

My first impressions of Bratislava; it's beautiful! It has that charm of the old city dotted with buildings that recall the older Baroque and Rococo (as our tour guide kept happily telling us), the cobble-stone streets, and many clock towers, but there's also the new, modern buildings. The Danube runs through the center, splitting an "Old Bratislava" from "New Bratislava" where most of its citizens actually live.

I couldn't resist taking a photo of the kid :) It was so cute to see him curiously poking around the sculpture.

We later went up to the castle and parliament, and there was a spectacular view from there.

We also had the privilege of being allowed to visit the inside of the building, as well as sit ourselves in the room of raging debates - including in the seat of the president.

On the way back down from our high lookout point, there was just so much more to see.

By the way, if you look closely at this photograph of the castle, currently undergoing renovations, you can see two miscellaneous-looking windows hanging out on the side. According to our wonderful guide (who walked with the few of us who lagged behind the rest of the group, I suppose to make sure we didn't get lost), they simply built the new castle over on the old, and left vestiges of the old like these windows.

On the other side of the Danube, across the gorgeous bridge I kept taking photos of, lay a modern complex of shopping centers and more that we did not have the time to explore.

Also, this way of going up a floor mesmerized me. It's not an escalator with stairs... !

As for meals, we had some fun eating in this slide/escalator mall, as well as lunch at the top of a rotating TV tower. The view kept changing, and every hour we would return to our original position.

One dinner we visited the "Slovakia Pub," in which it took one hour for us to order, and another two for our food to arrive. I'd say most people were past sober by the time food came :) I think the best instruction I've ever received from someone is when Karen told us all, "You get 15 Euros on food, and please spend more of it on food than on beer."

It was wonderful to have Slovakian students sitting among us; I had a great chat with Theresa (I hope that's how you spell her name, though of course she pronounced it differently from how we would) about daily life, impressions of Americans, music, dancing, and on and on. I think it was extremely interesting to hear her say that she actually preferred the American accent over the British! That was probably the first time I'd ever heard so. I was also happy to hear that every time she saw a foreigner in Slovakia, including a group of "silly Americans" as I called us, she felt excited to know that there were people actually visiting Slovakia and knowing of its existence. I only felt a little sad that her impression of Slovakia was that not many people knew about the country.

At some point on Tuesday, I believe, we somehow ended up crossing a border into Hungary and visiting the old ruins of a castle. It was completely unexpected and unscheduled - but of course, our itinerary barely stayed according to schedule during the entire Sunday through Wednesday.

Returning to Bratislava, we had the rest of the evening to ourselves. At some point later in the night, perhaps around 10pm or so, four of us went out for a nighttime excursion to photograph the night, before we left the next morning for Austria. (Speaking of which, in a few of the previous landscape photographs, you can actually see Austria and on a good day, Vienna).

So, I leave with some last photos of Bratislava. I have so much more to share, but as it's already a long post, I'll leave Vienna for tomorrow. You'll just have to ask me more about Slovakia and Bratislava on your own...