Auf Wiefersehen Berlin! Bonjour Paris!

We left our German host's house at 5 am to head to our two separate airports. Since the sun had already been up an hour, it wasn't as bad as it could have been if it were still dark. AlphaPoppa made sure The boys and I got on our correct train, gave the boys a pep talk about behaving themselves and listening to/ helping mommy. We had a group hug and gave each other a million kisses and off we went.

The Easy Jet Airline check in was super easy and while waiting to board the plane I met a great young Canadian couple who had graduated from high school and then spend 4 months backpacking across Europe. Paris was their last stop and they loved every minute of their traveling experience. They begged me to continue encouraging my students and others to travel. They now feel that they have a priceless education and want to share that feeling with everyone.

The boys and I arrived in Paris at about 10:30 am. Our first order if business was to buy a sim card for my unlocked cell phone. Then I needed to figure out how to get me and the two boys and our two bags to the apartment I was renting for one night from the airbnb.com website. We just needed this apartment for one night until we met up with the owner of Grant's school and the students with whom she'd been traveling. The apartment for us all would be available the following day. After getting my sim card I was instructed to buy tickets for the OrlyBus, get on it at platform 4, and get off at the last stop. That last stop would be the metro station them I was to get on the 6 train and get off at the Picpus train station. The apartment would be walking distance from there. I did as I was instructed, many kind people helped me lift and lug bags along the way.

Once again buying a metro tickets was like a visit to Pluto but people were helpful and nderstanding. I successfully arrived at my station and a woman stopped me on the platform to ask (in Spanish) if I needed help carrying up a bag. I accepted her offer. Another golden rule in travel is that is a sane/safe looking person offers you help (or a gift) graciously accept that offer or gift. I will explain why later. As she helped me, she asked where I was from and mentioned she heard me speaking Spanish. She herself was from Spain but she'd been living in Paris for some years. Like me she only speaks To her two sons in Spanish. So since I had a new friend I showed her the address where I needed to be and she pointed me in the right direction. Another angel placed in our traveling path.

The apartment owner met us at the apartment got us settled in and asked me to leave the key under the door mat when I left in the morning.  The apartment was one extremely small room on the sixth floor! Zane and I thought we'd have heart attacks by the third level of of our new tiny spiral staircase! If you are not familiar with these European staircases please google them or something because my words cannot accurately describe!

We were hungry and exhausted. By now it was after 2pm. Some of the nearby cafes were mind-blowingly expensive but I finally found a cheaper spot and got myself some pasta and the boys French fries and burger patties. Dude was so hungry and tired that his head almost fell in his plate when he finished his fries.

I then rushed us to a grocery store to buy juice, water, milk, and pan au chocolate. After almost meeting our death on the staircase we got in bed and slept!! After a 2 hour nap I woke up my homies and we decided to walk and explore. We walked for about an hour looking around and buying fruit from street vendors. As we finished our last orange wedge. We looked up and saw the owner of Zane's school running down the street with her arms wide open. She and the three kids had been waiting for us in front of our apartment and it was a complete love fest for the kids to all be with their friends in France!

We walked over to a nearby park and let the kids play quietly. They then joined in a game of Patonk with some adults who were willing to teach them the game.  After that we found cheap chinese food. All of the kids spoke to the restaurant owners in chinese and won their hearts. We later returned to my small new crib. We talked for hours and the kids played happily for hours. Once we realized how late it was we decided to just all sleep at my place then to head to the school apartment in the morning.

Random thoughts I had in Germany

- OK, so people in Germany just ride the train in complete silence.

- Aldi is a German grocery store?!

- Don't forget to put the money on the counter, not in the cashier's hand. Put the money on the counter, on the counter, on the counter...

- Dope! You idiot! You put the money in her hand! Now see the dirty looks she's giving you. Awh man!

- OK, so people just shop in Aldi in complete silence.

- I really hope that people don't understand Zane singing,"Curry Wurst is the best, but when it comes out your butt Curry Wurst is the worst!"

- Huh?

- My children are the loudest people in Germany.

- Whoa! Here Taxis are Mercedes and bulldozers are Volvo.

- OK, no more sausage for me.

- Boy, I sure hope I put that garbage in the right can. (there are 5 recycling bins on every corner).

- Is summer really this cold in Germany?!

- Where is the turnstile to get on the train?

- Am I the shortest woman in this country? Geez Germans are tall?

- Berlin is unbelievably peaceful.

- Google maps is equally accurate here in Berlin as back home.

- People are actually reading my blog. Woo-hoo!!

- I'm so happy that I live in the age of Skype, FaceBook, cellphones, and wifi.

- What's going on in this time zone? The sun rises at 4am and sets at 10pm.

- People really think this is the hood?! I need to take them to the US for the shock of their lives.

- Hey, I actually know where we are! Berlin is easy to get around.

- You've just given me the temperature in Celsius, now what's that in Fahrenheit? I really gotta learn the metric system.

Danke Deutscheland!

Today is our last full day in Berlin, Germany. The weather was so perfect today that is worked out perfectly that we chose to go to Potsdam. Potsdam is a small town outside of Berlin famous for its palaces and gardens. It took us an hour and fifteen minute to get there by metro train then about a 15 minute bus ride to arrive to the first palace. The architecture, statues, and rolling gardena did not disappoint. We walked for hours, took, pictures, ate ice cream, sat down to people watch. We joked at teased each other, had photo competitions, and finished up the chinese food we'd bought on the way there.

At the end of the day poor Dude's legs had reached their limit and we headed back home. At the Potsdam train station I picked up a couple of things for our host as a way to say thank you for his kindness and generosity. I found a bottle of beer with his name on it, ginger tea (to help settle his delicate stomach) and a small jar of strawberry jam for his sweet mom. I hope they like their gifts but most importantly I hope they understand how much we appreciate them.

Tomorrow AlphaPoppa heads back to the states and me and the boys will head to Paris to meet up with Zane's school group. We both have early morning flights at different airports so we will try to rest early tonight. Our time here in Berlin has been wonderful and unforgettable, but the adventure must continue! Off we go to Paris, we look forward to the wonders that await us there.

 

 

 

The ghetto. Great grandma.

Poor Zane woke up at 3am this morning. There was no getting him back to sleep. He played with his iPad, toys, fingers, flipped, flopped, but never got back to sleep. The rest of us were exhausted and only stirred to tell Zane to keep the noise down when he started to get too loud. We finally got up at 9, showered, ate cereal, and headed out for another tour with our host.
Here the government helps the poor in ways that are just shocking for Americans to comprehend. Our host says he pays 45% in income tax and is happy about that. He is happy that because of the high taxes he pays that everyone can live with dignity, be healthy, educated, and also not rob him as a result of a big income gap. His rationale is that he has more than he needs, anything more would increase his carbon footprint and he does not want to do that. To him there is no better investment than creating a safe, clean, healthy society.

Here there is a deep deep sense of peace and safety. There is a conscious movement here to take care of the earth and each other. Today's tours included many green areas that he and many other Berliners enjoy. Many people ride their bikes to the lakes and paths for family hikes. People also purchase green gardens for about $300 a year. Each garden had a small cabin for over night stays and they must have a certain percentage of vegetables, flowers, ornaments, etc.

Our tour also included a view of government housing areas. Our host says that area is the cheapest place to live in Berlin because it is unattractive. To us these looked like some of the expensive condos in midtown Atlanta. I asked our host if it was safe there he said, absolutely! Last night I tried to explain to Marcos and our host what a "bad neighborhood" is; these guys seemed to have no frame of reference for what I was talking about. They'd asked me about US government housing and I tried to explain that we have it, there are long waiting list, and mostly in bad neighborhoods. "What is that they asked? A bad neighborhood...?"
"Yea, ya know, drug dealers and prostitutes outside of your house. Maybe people shooting guns at nights..."
"Wait prostitution is STILL illegal in the US, and guns continue to be legal?!"
I could see them trying to visualize this new and foreign concept of a bad neighborhood.
During my tour of the poorest parts if Berlin it became my turn to be perplexed. There was nothing that stood out to me as under privileged or desperate. Everything was well taken care of and once again felt safe.

While there we stopped at a park for the kids to run and jump. While there we caught the attention of a group of 12 and 13 years who heard us speaking English.

"Are you from England? Do you know 50 cent? Do you like Snoop Dog and Tupac? Is nigger a bad word? African-American is the correct word right? Why are you here, the US is much better than here?". Most of this was translated to us by our host, but the kids also took the opportunity to practice what they learn in their English class with us. I instantly fell in love with these kids and their curiosity reminded me of my students back home. We answered all of their questions to the best of our ability and bid them goodbye as their teacher led them back to school.

After our tour it was time for lunch with our host's mom and her boyfriend Siegfried. By this time Zane's eyes were about to pop out of his head, remember he's been up since 3am!! We arrived to her solar paneled home and were served the perfect German children's lunch; noodles and tomato sauce, carrots, fish sticks, chicken nuggets, and Brussel Sprouts. Our host sweetly fussed at his mom about serving kids food. She explained to him that she is a grandma and great-grandma, which means she was only interested in pleasing Zane and Dude.

Grandmothers are the same all over the world!

Lunch was great; good food and good company, what more could we ask for?! After lunch we returned home to let Zane take a nap and to put him out of his misery. We let him sleep 2 hours and woke him up to take the boys to the park, but it began to rain before we could get very far. We decided to stay in for the rest of the day and play Jenga, Legos, and other family games. For tomorrow we have our eyes set on Potsdam gardens and palaces. Hopefully we will all sleep through the night and finally get on European time.

Boat rides, Play grounds, and Berlin Bear.

Monday, June 4, 2012 &
Tuesday, June 5, 2012

When we got home last night we Skyped friends and family and updated them on our journey, flights, gloomy weather, bicycles everywhere (oh yea, yesterday was Berlin Bicycle Day), solar panels, etc. After we finished our calls we realized that we really like this place! The weather is much cooler than we expected but overall we are really enjoying so many new experiences and Berlin itself. This realization made us more excited for the following days' adventures.
On Tuesday we woke up extra late, still effected by jet-lag. We walked to the closest metro station and this time it didn't take 35 minutes to buy a metro pass, AlphaPoppa knocked out that task in about 3 minutes. We got off at the AlexanderPlatz train station and decided to get lunch. We ate at one of the train station's many restaurants. As we were eating our chinese food a woman approached our table speaking German and asking us for directions. I smiled and tried to explain to her that we do not speak German, "Nein deutche". It made me giggle that someone could think I'd be of any assistance on my second full day in Germany. The woman was furious that we would not help and she went off, in German! Now I don't know much German but I can tell when I'm being told off, this was one of those times. In the middle of going off she switched to English,"I do not know why you do not help me! You are black African just like me and you do not help me. You are not a European!", then she switched back to cursing us out in German and walked away. Uh, Ok, alrighty then!
After our lunch we were ready to see as much as possible. We decided on a boat tour. Until our arrival I had no idea that Berlin had so many river channels running through it. Our boat ride was spectacular! It cost 12 euro per adult and 7 euro for Zane. Most things for Dude are free since he's only 3 years old. The boat ride was an hour long and the tour guides gave a brief history of the landmarks we passed. The boat had a lower deck (that's where we were) that was set up as a restaurant. AlphaPoppa had a large beer and the boys were glued to the huge windows as we sailed through Berlin and passed through tunnels. After our boat ride we decided to just roam around. In doing so we came across a great playground. We let the boys loose and enjoyed watching them interact with German speaking children. They played for at least an hour.
Since we got to a late start, by the time we finished roaming around and buying snacks at a nearby grocery store it was nearly 8 pm! Since we've been here the sun sets around 10pm and is back up by 4am! When we got home we all jumped in our beds and slept like babies!

Tuesday morning we did much better as far as jet lag recovery. We were all up by 9:30 but we still didn't leave the house until 11. It very easy to get caught up in great conversations with our host. He's traveled or lived on 6 continents and he has stories and pictures that just suck you in, he's an extremely fascinating and intelligent man. For that day's exploration we decided on doing something a little different. Inspired by our boat tour we decided to see some of the sites up close, bought metro passes, and got off at the main metro station, Hauptbahnhof. We then walked over to the Reichstag which serves as the German Parliament building. It is enormous, breathe taking. At a nearby tourist shop I bought Deutschland soccer jerseys for me and Zane. They didn't have Dude's size so he got a mini berlin soccer ball. We then walked over to what I'm calling embassy square and then to Brandenburg Gate, another historic site from when the city has divided. We ate a German lunch from a local street vendor and I took pictures with as many Berlin Bear statues as I could find. We later stopped at a McDonald's to use the bathroom and were suckered into buying happy meals. As the boys finished up their food AlphaPoppa snuck over to a casino that he'd scoped out the day before. When we all met back up I finally found a shop that sold winter hats. Today's high was 58! Poor Zane said he was getting brain freeze.
On our walk home from the neighborhood metro station a beautiful lady rode up to us on her bicycle excitingly talking to us in German. She said our host's name several times so we immediately figured out that she was his daughter and the precious little girl in the bike's child seat must be his grand-daughter. We were so happy to meet her and laughed at how easily identifiable we were. Our host did fairly warn us that there were no black people in his area! When we arrived home we were also greeted by our host's son and his 73 year old mother. His son spoke perfect English; his mother, on the other hand, only spoke German and was infatuated with rubbing the boys heads and touching my hair. She was lovely and I didn't mind her curiosity at all! She invited us over for a German lunch the following day and left smiling from ear to ear. You know I'm looking forward to that lunch and spending time with her, right?! That night we also received another couch surfing house guest. Marcos is a social work student from Southern Germany that is in Berlin for a school project. My jet-lag started to kick in so to keep myself awake, and on German time, I stayed up talking to Marcos and our host. They took this time to expose me to German foods and drinks. I tried milk butter, I have no idea how describe the taste but I surely didn't like it! I did drink it all to avoid bring disrespectful. I also tried a German bread with different toppings, they were pretty good. We talked politics and culture a while, then I helped AlphaPoppa get the boys to bed and we all fell fast asleep.

Before I was free. An honest society.

Our first day in Berlin was a deeply moving one. Our host was kind enough to drive us to downtown Berlin and point out key historic sites. He started by showing us the remaining parts of the former Berlin wall, old Soviet buildings, and areas that were rebuilt after the American bombers destroyed just about everything as they stopped Hitler's bloody reign. During the time that Berlin and Germany were divided he lived on the eastern side of Berlin, which was the communist side. He explained to us that Germany itself was divided by a wall that stretched thousands of kilometers. Armed guards stood in towers every few hundred feet or so. On the eastern/ communist side of the wall laid the capital city Berlin which was also divided in two, by a wall. If you can visualize this west Berlin stood as an island in a sea of communist run territory. He talked about the amazing day that the wall came down. That day there was no violence, no fear, no killings. The soldiers that guarded the wall just left peacefully and the citizens themselves took down the wall that had divided them for decades with their own hands, piece by piece. He even made us laugh as he described how surprised the East Berliners were to see that there was a river on the other side of the wall! It was a total surprise to them! I remember seeing the video footage of The Berlin Wall coming down in 1989; I was twelve, at that time our host was 30. When he speaks to us about his life he refers to the first thirty years of his life as "Before I was free...".
Before he was free, he like many others, planned an escape to the other side of the wall. He was allowed to move to an apartment near the wall so he planned to dig a tunnel under the wall and even had a secret area to dump the dirt without getting caught. Before he was free he was not allowed to make any major life decisions without the government's permission. Before he was free much of his family lived on the other side of the wall and communication with them was forbidden. Before he was free he could not say the things he wanted to say, travel abroad (only with special permission he could go to other socialist countries), he was not allowed to own anything, or read a long list of forbidden books. Life was not all bad before he was free , however, he was able to begin a career as a radiologist and marry the woman who is now his ex-wife.
Hearing our host talk about his life is like sitting in the presence of a deeply peaceful part of a violent history. I've experienced this feeling talking to my 80 year old neighbors as they describe to me how they desegregated our neighborhood, schools, and marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Hearing these stories of oppression and separation make me even more determined to live a life that promotes unity, love, bravery, and compassion among the people on this planet. We are forever grateful for our Berlin host not only for sharing his home but for also sharing his life experiences in a way to teach the vitality of peace.
After our historical tour our host took us to the heart of Berlin and we all shared a meal of CurryWurst. Wurst is the German word for sausage. This meal is prepared as sliced sausage sprinkled with curry powder and covered in a tomato sauce. You could chose a side of bread or a side of pommes frites (French fries).
After our lunch, our host left us downtown and went on to run errands. We walked around, took pictures, and visited the Berlin TV Tower, the tallest building in Germany. After picking up take out for dinner we made our way to the metro train station, we knew which train to take but we had no idea how to buy our tickets or where to swipe them. It literally took us 35 minutes to figure it out and that is only because once again we talked to strangers. We were so confused we decided to step aside from the tickets machine and think. The couple who we let get in front of us were American and explained that they themselves had just figured out the machines the day before. You could buy a variety of tickets. Single fare, two hour unlimited, 10 stop fare, two day unlimited, 1 month pass or a one year pass. Our next question was after you buy the ticket and put on the validating stamp where do you swipe it? Well, in Germany it is trusted that you will do the right thing a pay fairly as everyone else does. Random ticket checks are performed, but not often. This is definitely not how things are done in Atlanta, or anywhere else in the US, that I've heard of. I tried very hard to think of anything at home that is somewhat based on a system of honesty. Can you think of anything? We boarded are train proud that we were getting around independently. Dude fell asleep on the ride home and This time Zane led the way on the walk from the train station. He was confident that he could find his way around in a foreign land and foreign language, He was right. Once we got home to our homestay, I also knew that we were right for taking all the risks to get here.

Talking to strangers

In my post from yesterday I said that I would elaborate on the important friend that Dude made on the plane. That new little friend was key to us finding our way to our host's home.

While waiting in line to board our plane from Brussels to Berlin Dude made a friend. First it started out as peek-a-boo, then a chase, finally a full blown attack on Dude ending with his new friend slapping him in the face twice. Dude's reaction was unexpected. If you know Dude like we know Dude you know that he is a lethally trained ninja in the art of spinjitzu! (only parents of ninjago obsessed children fully understand what I'm talking about). Instead of attacking his new friend he just laughed. "Daddy, the baby hit me in the face two times!" The baby's French speaking mother was apologetic, we were understanding. His mom was beautiful! In stillettos in a flowing dress, perfect tiny braids, smooth brown skin, and a permanent smile.
Once we collected our luggage in Berlin and exited the airport we realized we had no idea how to get to where we were going. I could see our French speaking friends greeting and hugging their eagerly waiting relatives and I had to take that chance to ask for help, so I did! Our friend was unable to help, but her sister knew exactly where we should go. In French she tells me,"We are going the same way, follow us!". So there we were bags and kids in tow following our new French/ German speaking friendly African friends. I was elated to have a guide to help us find our way.
You know what happens next right? Zane my voice of reason starts asking questions. "Mommy, do you know these people? Where are they taking us? Mommy, are you talking to STRANGERS!?!"
"No Zane, I don't know these people, they are taking us to our host, and yes I'm talking to strangers.".
"But mommy, it's bad to talk to strangers!"
"Not all the time. Sometimes it's good to talk to strangers if they are friendly"
"How do you who is a friendly stranger or a crazy stranger?"
"You just feel it..."
Ok people, I need help here. How do you explain breaking a rule to you kids? How can I explain my unacceptable behavior to my 8 year old?
Well our helpful strangers accompanied us on our bus ride and got off of our train 4 stops before us. Once we arrived at the Wuhletal train station we felt relieved. I pranced over to the first taxi I saw, showed him the address and he looked at me like I was crazy. A nearby bus driver gave me the same reaction. It took me about 10 minutes to connect to directions on google maps, we were an 8 minute walk from our destination. We began following the blue line that marked our path in my iPhone. As we walked through East Berlin we watched our dot move along the directions' line. We arrived at our host's doorstep. He eagerly awaited us with a smile. He converted his first floor into a little apartment for us. The dining room had 3 comfy looking mattresses on the floor and they looked like heaven to us all. We slept for two hours then walked to the nearby Aldi's market, bought enough food for sandwiches, then we returned to our homestay and slept for hours. Dude slept 15 hours and the rest of us 12. That was the most urgent night's sleep we'd ever had.