Sanssouci--Ohne Sorge--No Worries--Hakuna Matata!

I can’t believe I only have one more week left in Berlin! How can that even be possible? There’s still so much that I want to do, and I don’t want to accept the fact that I can’t do it all. So this week, we crossed a few things off our list.

We went to Berlin’s Aquarium! I really enjoy aquariums and sea life. It was really fun to see the names of sea creatures in German. One fish was called “Zitronenkugelfisch” which literally means lemon ball fish. It was a pretty accurate description and therefore an appropriate name.

I found lots of Disney characters.

Dory:

Nemo’s home (not a character, but still, I found it):

Pascal:

There were also bags of fish:

Sea life is so beautiful!

For class one day this week, we went to the Käthe Kollwitz museum. It’s been another one of my favorites so far. She experienced so much pain and war in her life, and that’s very clearly reflected in her art. But one of my favorites was a plaque that’s on her gravestone. In English, it’s called “Rest in peace in His arms.” I got such an overwhelming feeling of peace when I looked at it. Katelyn shared a scripture that this piece of art encompasses. It’s Enos 1:27: “And I soon go to the place of my rest, which is with my Redeemer; for I know that in him I shall rest. And I rejoice in the day when my mortal shall put on immortality, and shall stand before him; then shall I see his face with pleasure, and he will say unto me: Come unto me, ye blessed, there is a place prepared for you in the mansions of my Father. Amen.” I feel it captures this scripture perfectly.

After that museum, we needed to lift up our spirits a bit, so Jenna, Andy (the elder), Henry, and I found a second hand clothing shop and browsed that. Henry looks really German here, don’t you think?

Also, we see signs for “Bikini Berlin” everywhere. And the signs say, “Lebe anders (live differently). Coming soon.” We’re thinking that a new law might be passed, requiring every Berliner to wear a bikini. Always.

We went to a YSA Stake dance, planned by Jan (pronounced like “yawn” for you non-German speakers). :) It was lots of fun! I was Pocahontas, but I never found my John Smith…hmmm. Later that night, we went up the Fernsehturm! We wanted to go up and see the sun set, but we ended up going later and then having to wait, so we saw it on the ground instead of hundreds of meters up off the ground. It was a gorgeous night outside! 

We spent the majority of Saturday in Potsdam, and it was also a very beautiful day! The sky was gorgeous. We saw some fake ruins (because that was the thing to do back in the day) as well as Sanssouci and the palace gardens: 

 

We stumbled upon Nikolaikirche (there are quite a few Nikolaikirchen), and it is gorgeous! Yes, it’s a Schinkel. We can just tell now, thanks to our Art and Architecture class. :)

Also, we ran into some movie stars:

We had an audio tour of the inside of the Sanssouci palace. It was pretty neat! And a 30-minute audio tour is the way to go. There’s a famous painting (of one of the Fredericks I believe) that pop-artist Andy Warhol did a duplicate of: 

I don’t know, but I feel some sort of weird connection to Andy Warhol. Maybe it’s because he was born in Pennsylvania and we learned a lot about him in elementary school art classes and did Campbell soup paintings and such. I assumed that everyone knew about him, but a lot of people don’t. Maybe that’s it? haha

The last time I was in Germany on a study abroad was in Kiel in 2008—4 summers ago. And the Euro Cup was happening then (when Germany lost to Spain), and since it happens every 4 years, I’m here in Germany AGAIN during the Euro Cup!

On Saturday night, Andy (the younger), Jordan, Katelyn, and I went and watched the game! It’s the closest we’ll get to actually going to a Fußball game while we’re here. It’s about a mile-long stretch from Brandenburger Tor to the Siegesäule, and along the street there are large TV screens set up and tons and tons of people go and stand and watch the game! 

This is our "Frau, du bist verrueckt!" face:

 Germany beat Portugal, 1-0!!

Despite having breathed in enough second hand smoke to cause lung cancer, having Bier splashed on me occasionally, brushing up against lots of people that I did not particularly want to brush up against, and learning some not-so-pleasant words, it was a lot of fun! Especially when Germany scored—everyone went crazy! And there was a bunch of confetti thrown up in the air at the end of the game. It was really fun to see Germans so united and happy and just loving their country.

Last night, we had a fireside, and the speaker was a church member who lived in East Berlin with his wife (and 5 kids) under Communist rule for 40 years. He told us about daily life in East Berlin, about the church and its members during that time, and the day that the wall came down. It was extremely interesting to listen to a first-hand account. It still blows my mind that this didn’t happen that long ago—just 2 years before I was born, the Berlin Wall fell. He told us that he came home from work one day and turned on the news, and he saw the paper being read, saying that East Berliners were permitted to travel outside of East Berlin, but he dismissed it and thought that it would take months and months to apply and be approved. The next day, he was in the grocery store, and he heard a customer talking about how she had been at Kurfürstendamm (which is in West Berlin) that morning, and he couldn’t believe it! He also said that the thing he was most excited to purchase when the wall fell was bananas. It was really neat to hear about how life was in East Berlin from someone who experienced it himself!

We had this little gathering right by some remains of the wall at a park near Nordbahnhof. He showed us a picture on the back of the June 1991 Ensign, and there is a man shaking hands with another man through a crack in the Berlin wall—and the hand poking through the crack from East Berlin is his! It was just amazing to hear his experiences.

After the fireside, we enjoyed the beautiful weather and explored the nearby area and took some “urban” pictures (whatever that means, right)? :)

 

I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that I’m leaving Berlin in ONE WEEK! I’m really excited to go to London and Vienna, but I don’t want to leave Berlin!

Stumbling upon Adventure

It’s sad to think that I only have two more weeks left in Berlin! There’s still so much that I want to do—2 months isn’t nearly enough time. That sounds crazy, but it’s true.

So this weekend, I went TO the Opera (I’ve started mixing up my prepositions and say things like, “I’m going in the Opera” or “We hope to stay by one of her friends when we’re in London,” etc). I saw Die Hochzeit des Figaro—The Marriage of Figaro. It was really enjoyable! The characters were cast well, they were engaging and hilarious, and the music was wonderful! After seeing and listening to the pit orchestra play, I really missed playing the violin in BYU’s orchestra.

I’ve decided that my favorite days here have been the ones where we wander around and end up stumbling upon something neat—because that’s what always happens. We had planned to go to some magic/psychology show (we were supposedly given free tickets), but that ended up being a bust, and we looked across the way, and there was this brightly painted wall. Lo and behold, it was the East Side Gallery! After the Berlin Wall fell, artists painted thought-provoking pictures and sayings on the East Side of the wall (it was blank because the DDR wouldn’t let anyone “deface” the “anti-fascism protection rampart” and would regularly white-wash it). It was really neat to walk along the wall. 

There were some local Germans doing a photo scavenger hunt, and Orfeas and Andy ended up being in one of their pictures: 

We ended up walking around all night and stumbled across this really cool looking bridge:

Sometimes, bridges play rock, paper, scissors.

Here are some other pictures from our little walking adventure:

I have no idea what this is, but needless to say, we climbed all over it.

Walking around Unter den Linden.

 Looking thoughtful AND urban.

The river was gorgeous at night!

Oh, we also ended up at the Brandenburger Tor yet again. I love going there—it was one of the first places I went to, so it feels kind of like a home. :)

We took a “fun ride” around the square in front of the Brandenburger Tor—it was a crazy ride, as my ridiculous hair is proof of that!

 

It’s been rather cloudy, overcast, and kind of rainy the past few days, and it will be again this week. I like this kind of weather, but not all the time. This better mean that when I go to London in a few weeks, that I should have incredibly nice weather, right? So after our course finishes up in Berlin at the Goethe Institute, we have about 5-6 days to travel before we go to Vienna. Katelyn, Kristen, and I have booked our flights to London, so it’s official! England, here we come! I love German, but I won’t deny that I’m a little excited for a short hiatus where I’ll get to understand everything that’s going on again, haha :)

Learning a new language is hard work, but it also is really funny. One girl told her host family that she was going to go see a sacrifice (Opfer) instead of an opera (Oper) and another student told his host family that he was going to go running naked (nackt) instead of at night (Nacht). It makes for great stories :)

I and 5 other students were responsible for making dinner for our whole group yesterday. We had an Italian recipe and had to German-ify it, so that was a fun adventure. Thankfully, it turned out really well—especially our strawberry shortcake for dessert. And now, our group can relax and enjoy the other weeks when other students are responsible for cooking! 

Oh, life, you are so good to me. Except when we miss the U-Bahn by 3 seconds and have to wait 12 minutes for the next train because it's a weekend. Becca's face captures it all:

The sign then proceeded to say that our train was delayed. But no worries, they tacked on a "Bitte Geduld," (Please have patience) so that makes it all better, right? :)

Caspar David Friedrich, Monet, Renoir, and Cactus Butt

This post is going to be a lot more writing than pictures, so buckle up!

We went to the Alte Nationalgalerie on Tuesday, and it has been my favorite gallery/museum thus far. There is an entire room filled with Caspar David Friedrich paintings. I pretty much just died right then and there. I had been telling my classmates about how much I detested our textbook because the author glazed over the Romantic period and didn’t even mention Caspar David Friedrich expect to quote him once. And then there were about 20 pages on Impressionism. (I do enjoy impressionism, but I was furious that there was nothing on Friedrich). Walking into the Friedrich room, I could seriously hear everyone’s breath being taken away. Classmates were telling me how right I was about Friedrich. (And now he has some more fans—you’re welcome, Friedrich)! His paintings are just magnificent. There might have been tears.

There was also a room with paintings by Karl Friedrich Schinkel—a famous German/Prussian architect who has designed many gorgeous buildings in Berlin. Who knew he was also a painter?! His paintings were also breathtaking. Some people just have all the talent. Not fair.

There were a lot of paintings by Monet, Manet, Renoir, and Degas. Kristen and I took a picture with a Monet just for that reason—because it was a Monet. (Also, we did like his paintings). Now I can cross “Be in the same room as a Monet” off of my bucket list. 

I think my favorite Impressionist artist is Renoir. I found myself drawn to certain paintings where I would just stare and think. Then, I would look at the title and the artist, and it was always a Renoir. 

 

We went back to the Friedrich room before we left, and there was a guard there who saw us looking at a painting and discussing it. He came over and said, “Come closer, come closer!” He then proceeded to tell us about the painting we were looking at—Griefswalder Hafen—and asked us questions about what we thought. All in German, too! At one point, he said, “Did you all understand that?” To which we replied yes, and he said, “Freut mich!” (Basically, that makes me happy/excited/pleased). That was a great moment.

So we learned really cool things about that painting! So normally in Friedrich’s paintings, you only see the back of people (if there are people) because Friedrich wanted you to be able to picture yourself/place yourself in that person’s shoes and feel what that person was feeling. He was teaching us how to observe nature. But in Griefswalder Hafen, there are some Fishermen in the foreground, and you can see their faces—not Friedrich’s style at all. It’s presumed that the foreground was painted on after the painting was finished, and there are two really interesting theories. The first is that when Friedrich put this painting on display, he received a lot of criticism. People said that it was lacking something. So Friedrich, out of frustration, painted the foreground with fishermen and boats and such and then shoved it in the corner of his studio because it became his least favorite painting. The other theory is that Friedrich didn’t even paint it himself. The fishermen in the painting aren’t wearing traditional German fishing hats or jackets—they’re Italian. Plus, the faces of the fishermen are visible. I think the second is pretty feasible. The first one (also feasible I guess) just further proves my thoughts about geniuses. They were always misunderstood. The public never appreciated their works until much later. And in order to be a genius, I think one has to be crazy to an extent. Like actually mentally unstable and socially incompetent (to a degree) and that’s what makes someone a genius. Like Monet, for example. He would paint canvas after canvas of the same scene, but the lighting would be different. He would stand outside in ridiculous conditions in order to capture the impression/feeling he wanted to. One time, he was outside during a storm on the beach, painting, and he was swept away by a wave! Geniuses really have a bit (or a lot) of instability and craziness in them.

In our aforementioned textbook (which I dislike), I read about VanGough’s life. What a poor, poor soul. I think it’s so sad that he only sold one painting in his entire life. Like I said, artists were never appreciated in their own time. It’s always later. I wonder if this still happens today…

On Wednesday, I watched the Lion King in German, courtesy of YouTube (modern technology amazes me). I learned a lot of useful words, like Kaktuspo (cactus butt), Fleischfresser (carnivore; literally “meat eater”), and Spiegelbild (reflection; this one might actually be useful, no)?

One of my favorite parts is after Scar (interjection: I think Scar is just purely evil—one of the worst Disney villians) is king, and his little Hyena minions are complaining about how there’s not enough food or water, and one of them mumbles something about how it was better when Mufassa was king, and Scar says, “What did you say?!” And the hyena replies (in the English version) by saying, “ummm…Que Pasa?” In the German version, he says, “ummm…mit Wasser?” (with water?). I just absolutely love how that still worked out in German, making it sound like “Mufassa!”

Also, I quite enjoy “Be Prepared” (Seid Bereit) in German. It’s scarier and creepier in German, and it pleases me!

My class at the Goethe Institute is going well! I’m trying to participate more often and speak more frequently in class. How else will I improve my German, right? Today, I learned yet another useful (okay, that’s debatable) word: Rausschmeißer. “Raus” means out. And “schmeißen” means to throw or chuck. Put the two together, and you get: a bouncer! I cannot explain how much I love German. There are so many great words! Though this beautiful language does lack two crucial words (that I can think of): creepy and awkward. But it’s a two way street. There are words that we don’t have in English. Like “selbstverständlich.” It means something along the lines of self-explanatory/of course, but there’s no direct/perfect translation. Also, the word “schrecklich.” There’s no good word in English for that, either. Just think of Shrek. :)

Speaking of awesome words, I was talking with Brian on the phone yesterday, and I asked him if he had any requests for things I should bring back from Germany. The conversation proceeded as follows:

Brian: “Yes. I would like a caramel Milka bar.”

Katharina: “Which kind of caramel? More liquidy or hard like toffee?”

Brian: “I would like a non-Newtonian fluid caramel Milka chocolate bar.”

 Katharina: “Um…bless you!”

I’m amazed that Brian’s learning Chemistry in the 3^rd grade! I took AP Chemistry, and I didn’t even know what a non-Newtonian fluid was. But now I do. If you’re curious, you should join Brian’s 3^rd grade class. Maybe I should…haha

Today, we visited the Berliner Dom! Endlich! We’ve seen it basically every day, and today we finally went inside and climbed it. We happened to go in when a tour guide was giving a 30-minute history about the Dom (all in German). It was really neat! I understood almost everything. One of the Emperors (Friedrich Wilhelm the II I believe) put in his will that he wanted to be buried in the Dom’s crypt only when Germany was a monarchy. Needless to say, his body is not in that crypt…sorry to break it to you, Kaiser! 

Berliners think that the Berliner Dom is (and this is a direct quote from a German) “disgusting eye-sore.” I think that it’s gorgeous! Though I could never go to church service in such an ornate building. It looks more like a Catholic church, but it’s a functioning Protestant church. The tour guide told us that many people mistake it for a Catholic church, but it most certainly is not. We climbed the stairs to the top.

Things I’ve learned about Berlin #13:

So. Many. Stairs. Always. If my calves aren’t buff at the end of these three months, I’m going to be extremely disappointed! Haha :)

It’s a shame that it was a cloudy day, but it was still awesome. We took a lot of simply adorable pictures. I mean, seriously. How cute are we?! ;) 

Oh, and the view’s pretty cool, too ;)

Also, come to Germany. I’m giving you the green light:

I mean it. I’ll come hunt you down. Or Logan will: