July... was a blur. Parents, badeschiff, and starting at Humboldt

July was a blur. I have to recount my adventures with a calendar.  Since returning from Greece, we've essentially been in Berlin for 4 weeks. 

A few days after returning from Santorini (and the day after my last post) my parents arrived in Berlin.  Their plane from JFK was an hour EARLY!  Who knew planes could be early - I've only ever been late or on time! I woke up about 30 minutes before it landed - but the parents stayed put at the gate so I could find them.  I dragged them around some of the main city sights the first day (well mostly dragged Mom since Dad is used to dealing with America/Europe jet lag) which mom now remembers as a dream.  It was good for them to see Berlin with some sun, because it proceeded to rain for the next 3 days.  

Stop 1 was the Globetrotter store so Dad could buy a raincoat - and we finally found the "cold room" (EISKALT) in which to test cold weather gear.  We played with the thermal imaging camera and mom tested out the sleeping bag pads:

Mom testing out the sleeping bag pads in the cold EISKALT room at Globetrotter

Mom and Dad in the Berlin Rain

 We essentially moved more of our activities and sightseeing inside, spending more time at museums and beergardens than anywhere else, especially during the periods of heavy rain - and making use of our raincoats during the mostly drizzle style rain. Since we had been in Berlin about 5 weeks by this time, our navigational and event planning skills were much better than my haphazard tour for Jason and Sara.  We finally learned about the kleingruppe ticket - 15 euros for up to 5 people all day.  Those make a lot of sense for our purposes and then even worked for the evenings when Brian was done with work.  Unfortunately, the Philiharmonic orchestra that mom and dad had planned to see (and I had bought tickets for them a few weeks back) was at the Waldbune, which is outside.  They went and sat in the rain for an hour or so, until the show was finally cancelled and rescheduled for August 26th (boooo... thanks to issues with my visa card, I only just got refunded a few days ago)

We all got to see a bunch of museums - mom and dad each bought a museumpass for Sat-Sun-Mon and went to the Musical instruments Museum, the Jewish History Museum, and the Pergamon Museum.  Dad and I also went to the German Technical Museum (trains, boats, planes) and mom went to the Gemaldegalerie (18th century paintings). 

Dad at the Jewish Museum imitating Scotty "Computer?!"

Meter bier at the Lindenbrau

When the weather did clear up on Tuesday and Wednesday, and we went to the Reichstag building dome for the tour there (though without Brian since we've done it before).   This was one of the things we messed up for Jason and Sara, apparently just recently they started requiring you to sign up online at least 3 days ahead of time for a specific appointment, instead of randomly showing up at the door and waiting in line. 

Me and Dad with our audio guides on the spiral dome walk

 Wednesday, Brian took a day off and we spent the day wandering around Potsdam on bikes.  Brian was navigator and tour guide as he had printed off wikipedia articles about the castles and bridges.  It was really nice for me to let someone else do the navigation and planning - Brian has said that Sansoucci Palace is his favorite place in the Berlin area and loves showing people around in particular.  We did a bike route that was longer than we had done before, including around Park Babelsberg on the east side of Potsdam.  The photo below is almost at the end of the day - after passing some nude sunbathers in a park - well, more memorably, one nude male sunbather in particular who resolutely stood facing the bike trail with his hands on his hips, staring into the distance, obviously contemplating something other than embarrassment.

Brian led us around Potsdam on bikes with his printed Wikipedia articles

Since my parents left on July 8th, we've figured out some more things to do that are touristy that we wanted to do with our guests, including an evening boat tour.  We tried to manage a trip to Norway but decided against being broke - and also realized that especially when my class started July 18th we'd have limited time to do everything we still wanted to do in Berlin before having to come back home August 13. 

My "not afraid of swimming" friend Alena came to visit a week or so later and she and I went to the Badeschiff, which is a pool in a converted barge that is on the River Spree and adjacent to a beach bar.  The concept in itself is cool enough to be included in world lists of interesting pools, but, upon our arrival, a bit full of itself with some stupid rules.  First of all... no cameras.  I really can't claim to know much German at all, but I did respond appropriately to "Kein camera" from the guy who also took my water bottle with a "VAS????" and Alena also gave the guy a dirty look and said I heard correctly.  Its not a topless or nude place either. We stole some photos anyways and climbed aboard an adjacent boat/restaurant for a good overview of the pool area. 

Badeschiff photo from deck looking at the west end of the Olympic sized pool

Badeschiff pool and deck area (east end is in the foreground)

 I still have yet to take Brian, who I'm sure would have liked it.  Even though we now have a list of Berlin stuff to do before we leave, part of the problem of completing said items is due to the fact that we are having a mini ice age in July.  I remember being told last year that there was a heat wave of massive proportions (aka Charlotte weather in Berlin) at this time last year, but instead, July 2011 has been 65, windy, and rainy.  I've been reading enough facebook to know that USA weather remains hot and humid in a variety of locations; meanwhile, I'm wishing I had brought more pants, long sleeves, and maybe some waterproof boots.  Not that I'm complaining - I can't imagine 95 degrees in a country void of air conditioning.  I consider myself lucky that I'm not sweating sitting here writing this! 

So - our list of things to do: Pergamon museum (check), find some mexican food (very rare in Berlin, but thanks to the Maria chain of 3 restaurants, check), East Berlin's Treptower park (check), East Side gallery, Berlin nightlife (check - we went with Max from PV two nights last weekend), Neues museum(not check, were going to go last weekend, but the drinking got to us), Stradband Wannsee (has been too cold for the beach), Wasserski Grossbereen (same), the AquaDom on Museum island (check - and waaaaay cool, but my scanner doesn't work to scan the postcard), and trip to Munich (which we go to tomorrow evening). 

Its now the second week of summer university classes at Humboldt University.  I'm in the Green in the City class, which focuses on urban agriculture and city greening.  We have been to the kleingartens(allotment gardens) and the roof gardens(the "extensive" style is pretty common here in Berlin since any new building 4+ floors is REQUIRED to have a green roof).  Its very international since my class of 17 people are from many countries including Malaysia, Colombia, Mexico, Belgium, Germany, Brazil, Canada and 7 very different USA locations - NC, WV, MI, IA, AR, CA, and WA.  In the entire summer session there are 86 students from 36 countries.  I've also met people from Puerto Rico, England, Russia, and Korea (this girl was impressed that I can count to 10 in Korean, thanks to my TaeKwonDo brother).  I've actually have quite a lot of fun talking with the Brits, since they use language like "dodgy" and "canteen" and can't comprehend how we survive with the continental USA having more than one time zone.

my Land in the City class at Humboldt University visited a green roof

I've also been told on multiple occasions that many non-American people think that the USA is all like New York City - and are surprised when I tell them that even in big American cities, public transit really only exists in a functional capacity (especially for tourists) in NYC, Chicago, Washington DC, and San Francisco.  I think the actual size of America is glossed over by many people - many think that we choose to take cars over public transit not knowing that for us the public transit doesn't really compare or often times doesn't exist to the infrastructure that exists in other places - especially in Germany.  One of the girls from Malaysia said their transit is more like the U.S. - she generally drives everywhere since the busses or trains are slow or do not go where she needs to go. 

I really like working and simply interacting with people who are from such diverse backgrounds - its refreshing to get new perspectives from people from different locations - and often about the simplest things.  I feel like I have a little connection with many people in the class- with Mey from Malaysia about how it sucks to drive everywhere, with Reginald from Brussels about our diving trip to Nemo33 (the deepest swimming pool in the world, in Brussels), with Amy from California about what its like to live in San Fran, with Ana Carolina and Marco about scuba diving in Brazil, and of course, with Mike from Detroit about how much Detroit sucks. 

I'm impressed with this group of young people and their courage to spend a month away from their own familiar lives. Its easy to get caught up in your own little corner of the world, forgetting that there are so many different ways that people live on this planet.  And while it's possible to study life in other countries from news articles and photographs, its quite another to put yourself somewhere new.  I saw a t-shirt at the Humboldt University bookstore with this quote on it (written by Alexander von Humboldt, one of the founders of the University): "Die gefährlichste Weltanschauung ist die weltanschauung derjenigen, die die Welt nicht angeschaut haben", which essentially means "The most dangerous view of the world is the view of those who have not viewed the world".  And to this end... every international experience I've had has been different in ways I couldn't anticipate - which is probably why traveling can be so addicting.



So, my friends, if you ever feel like your life is monotonous, upend your life for a week or more by going somewhere where your way of life is the minority - it will change you forever!