Investigating the basics

The first weekend was continued investigation of the basics. 

Food: We have figured out where to get basic grocery and paper products(paper towels, toilet paper, etc) and even have a natural foods store, Bio-Company, very close to our apartment where I can get soymilk, some amazing mango juice and apple juice, a dairy free dark chocolate nutella substitute, and high quality bratwurst. I also found a great grocery in the Karstadt store that sells baking stuff like baking soda(Natron) and baking powder(backpulver) that come in little packets, and with which I managed to make Zucchini bread this weekend.  We don’t actually have an oven in our apartment (just two burners on a range top), but Friedegund (our apartment is an extension of the landlady’s apartment) lets us borrow hers whenever we want. 

Soap/Shampoo/Laundry: The water here has been fine once we figured out the rules – the shower drain only requires plunging right before the shower so that the water will drain efficiently.  The water is excessively hard, and I had quite a hard time getting my hair clean until I bought my Aveda shampoo at the Berlin Aveda store.  It seems like the same stuff, just less viscous, and it does a much better job of getting my hair clean than the same brand I bought in Charlotte.  It seems that most soaps and detergents are more runny; possibly for this reason.  We have a separate water heater for the bathroom, and probably two for the kitchen; one for the sink, and I’m assuming there is another one for the washing machine.  Yes, the washing machine is in the kitchen – and we dry our clothes on a big rack – and those have been reliably dry after about 36-48 hours.  My REI and Prana brand clothing has been the best because it dries in about half that time. 

Movies: There is a large theater showing both German (voiceover) and regular English movies at the new Sony Center adjacent to the Potsdamer Platz transit station.  This building is new since the fall of the Berlin wall in 1990, and its location used to be part of the “death strip” along the border of East and West Berlin.  We saw the Pirates 4 movie, which, of course, had a confusing plot but was riddled with jokes and action – it was great!  German theaters have ASSIGNED seating just like US sporting events, concerts, or airline tickets – and you can pay €2 extra on an €8 ticket to get a better seat.  You can also order beer and wine at the concession stand.  There’s about a half an hour of previews and right before the movie starts, the curtains close and guys with ice cream (Eis) wander around.  There is an intermission – where they literally stop mid-sentence and have a 15 minute break. 

Local transportation: Two of Brian’s coworkers were kind enough to lend us each a bike for the summer, which makes shopping (and carrying a bunch of purchased items) a heck of a lot easier and faster.  We also have been riding bikes to restaurants that answer the transportation for those places that are in the weird zone between “its almost too close to take the S- or U- bahn but I’m not thrilled about walking”.  For example, it’s a little over a mile to a good pizza place (the 12 Apostles) where we had dinner on Sunday night, and the bikes and the active urban storefronts make that bike ride easy and entertaining.  We found a Greek restaurant, a Mexican restaurant, and a few other interesting storefronts along the way.

Regional Transportation: Our S-bahn stop is about a 5 minute walk and is on the main line to everywhere.  You can pay €2,30 (about $3 dollars) and travel anywhere in the AB section of Berlin metro or pay €3,00 (about $4.50) and go anywhere in ABC section – which is what we took to neighboring city of Potsdam on Sunday (one way is about 30 minutes).  Potsdam is known for its Sansoucci Castle(though not as impressive as those castles near Munich), the Schloss Cecilienhof, where the Potsdam Conference was negotiated by Truman, Stalin, and Churchill, for the terms of the Japanese surrender.  We did go there last year on the Potsdam bike tour (with Fat Tire bike tours), so this time of course, we went to the Kletterwald Potsdam instead – a high ropes/zipline adventurepark up in the trees.  We had been there before, but its such a good workout for the two hours you spend climbing though each obstacle – sometimes as much as 30 feet off the ground. 

 We got kind of detained on this one - there's a harder obstacle ahead and people were being really slow.  I sat on this saddle obstacle for about 10 minutes, while Brian pulled me back and forth.  Its about 30 feet in the air. 

 Brian just saw the first half of Gone With the Wind a month or so ago, and here he is pretending to be Scarlett waiting for Ashley to come back, "Just like a Spider!!" (to quote Mammy)

Internet: Ok, I know this “basic” is specific to our generation – but despite the fact that our apartment comes with slow and about 75% reliable DSL, Google maps has made my life so much easier.  I can figure out what stores might have what I need without getting lost, plan my grocery or errands running around where things are located relative to each other, check out what restaurants might be good, excellent, or horrible based on Google reviews; and this knowledge has made our transition to living here much simpler and much less hectic.  I have also used Google translate quite a lot to figure out what is written on the labels of the stuff I buy.   

Language: here is just a short list of the important phrases I use a lot.

Danke/bitte: thank you/your welcome or please

wasser ohne gas: water without gas (Europeans like carbonated water - gross!)

Zum mit nehemen: to take away (at a restaurant when you want a box)

Reichnung/Zahlen bitte: bill/pay please (you don't actually get it until you ask)

Genau: exactly/correct/agreement with something

Enschuldigen: excuse me (people do NOT notice that they are standing in the middle of anything)

Sprechen Sie Englisch:  Do you speak english? 

Morgen/Heute/Abend: morning/today/evening