Berlin: the Twin Cities

I have now finished a week in Berlin, and we move inexorably towards finishing our time in Germany. On the 19th of October we will leave Berlin and head toward Jena, a significant town far in East Germany. There we will stay for a few days learning what we can about the East German culture and “Oster-gie,” nostalgia for the former DDR that exists in various degrees. After Jena, Aaron and I will depart on our journey towards and around Scotland. Berlin is really a large, busy city, hosting approximately 3.5 million residents. The public transportation system is wonderful, though, and when combined with Wien and even the transport system in comparably tiny Marburg, it makes one wonder what the United States does with all its money. I guess we don’t pay 40% taxes, though; I also guess we’re spending enormous amounts on our military. Speaking of money, I never thought I’d have to worry about banks loaning money to people in the States, but as the dollar moves relentlessly towards only two-thirds of the euro…I wish that several years ago I had purchased a few thousand euros when they were only half a dollar each. Here in Berlin the food is thankfully cheap enough that our dollar-funded program can continue to eat. I live in a large, East German apartment complex with a woman who has lived in East Berlin since 1949. In the morning I take a “rinse-soap-rinse” shower to conserve water and then eat toast with Nutella spread, tea, and fruit; by 0900 I am at our language institute after a short bus ride and walk and then I have class where we focus on speaking and language utilization. In the afternoons we eat – mostly Falafel sandwiches, my new favorite - and explore Berlin. I admit that here in Berlin I have allowed myself to become a Coca Cola and chocolate junkie, but we all have our vices. When I get back to the apartment after dinner and another bus ride, my host is usually in bed and I stay up until about 2300 working on homework, reading, or working on my novel. This last Saturday we spent a few hours in Dresden, and the architecture there is really impressive; a lot of it, of course, is relatively recent thanks to the US’s firebombing of the city during World War II. Overall I find Berlin a very different – certainly much more multi-cultural – experience than the others I have had, but it has also made me realize the extensive differences that exist between small-town living and city life. I do, however, feel safer in Berlin than in Muncie, or in Marburg; a very similar feeling to the one I had in Wien. I also found out a few days ago that Aaron and I will be living with the same family while we stay in Wien, which is great for me (hopefully he feels similarly). This Wednesday is both my birthday and a national holiday, marking the passing of my 20th year out-of-womb as well as celebrating the reunification of Germany after the Wall fell. There is a large free concert at the Brandenburger Tor, where I am sure almost every single Berliner will hear the Fantastischen Vier and other bands play all day long. I am particularly interested to see how Germans of the former DDR celebrate – or don’t – the reunification.

Schulsystem in Amerika

The following is an essay I wrote for my class about my high school, the Indiana Academy. Today was the last day for our class here in Marburg, and I think I did pretty well on the final test. In some ways it is sad to be moving on; in other ways it is a relief. The essay is first in the original, corrected German, and following it is given in translated English. _____________________________________________________ Schulsystem in Amerika/ High Schools für ausgezeichnete StudentInnen/ Ian Cross, 19.09.07/ In Amerika gibt es ein einfaches Schulsystem. Erst gehen die Kinder zur Vorschule (,,Pre-School"); das nächste ist der Kindergarten; dann die Grundschule, die Mittelschule, und endlich die ,,High School." Viele Leute gehen noch zur Universität. Unser System ist nicht so gut. Zum Beispiel gibt es ein großes Problem für ausgezeichnete StudentInnen, denn die normalen Schulen sind nicht genug. In meiner elften Klasse habe ich zu einer besonderen Schule nur für supere StudentInnen gewechselt. Es war sehr gut für mich, weil ich endlich lernen konnte. In Amerika gibt es nur ein paar ähnliche Schulen. Ich habe dort gewohnt; es war wie ein Studentwohnheim. Natürlich gab es viele Regeln wegen der Eltern. Zum Beispiel können Männer nicht auf die Frauenetagen gehen. Auch das Essen war schrecklich und ungesund, aber das Lernen war toll und wichtig. Wegen meiner Schule bin ich, wer ich bin./ _____________________________________________________ Schoolsystem in America/ High Schools for Exceptional Students/ Ian Cross, 9-19-07/ In America there is a simple school system. First children go to pre-school; next is Kindergarten; then Elementary School, Middle School, and finally High School. Many people then go to College. Our system is not so good. For example, there is a large problem for exceptional students, because the normal schools are not enough. In my junior year, I transfered to a special school for talented students. It was very healthy for me, because I could finally learn. In America there are only a few similar schools. I lived there; it was the same as a college dormitory. Naturally there were many rules because of parents. For example, boys could not go on the girls' floors. Also the food was terrible and unhealthy, but the learning was great and important. Because of my school, I am who I am.

Finding Time in Marburg

Today is one of the last days in Marburg; on Sunday, Aaron, Miranda, Willy, Marin and I will take a seven-and-a-half hour train ride to Berlin. While that is a lot of time, I expect it to still be a pretty good time, even if we have to change trains four times. The most important thing is that it only cost us seven euros each. I think I am really going to miss Marburg, and after my experience in Frankfurt this weekend I am a little anxious about a city as large as Berlin. Overall I did enjoy my experience in Frankfurt; shopping in flee markets, eating Falafelsandwiches, seeing a modern German city, spending time with friends. But it was also a stark (stark, by the way, is a word that comes from German) reminder of certain aspects of the human condition: sewers, litter, and the disposessed poor. Homeless men performed on the streets by rolling across carpets covered in broken glass, everywhere we went the smell of sewage followed us malignantly, and a bird pooped in Willy's drink during lunch. Perhaps the city was busier than normal because it was hosting the world's largest autoshow, and because of the Frankfurt-Hamburg fußball game. On the train back to Marburg, the train was so full that we had to stand in the aisles and inbetween seats, which eventually became rather fun as we had thumb war contests and "momentum surfing" as people dripped off the train at every little stop. Our language course teacher had a meeting in another town, so we do not have class today but instead make up the lost time by starting earlier and going longer on the other days this week. I am going to go to the Post Office before long to try tos hip some clothes and books home. According the deutschepost.de website, I will be spending anywhere from 15 USD to 65 USD, hopefully on the lower side of that. That is actually a little less than I expected, so let's hope it all goes well. I really don't know how I am going to be able to go back to America; reverse culture shock will make me an anxious wreck I am certain. There are cultural norms here I have adapted to that I don't know if I'll want to give up in America's superconsumer culture. Aaron and I filled out our Spring Housing forms on Friday, and we both requested to live in German House, hoping (I think) to find a more gentle re-immersion in American culture. I'll also have to see about taking further German courses. I'd like to keep up with the language, but at the same time I don't plan on being a German Studies major and I need to focus on History and Economics courses. Hopefully I will have access to the Internet in Berlin, too, and will be able to keep this blog updated.

Marburg in Autumn

So, my neighbor/renter Matthias' friend Niehls has an iBook, and he visited yesterday and made the wireless internet here magically work on my own computer. As far as I can tell, it is stable and relatively high speed, and I should have simple, consistent access to it (although I don't want to revert to the way I was at home and become a junkie again). Things are going pretty well here. I find myself spending the most time taking care of the mundane sort of chores that just, plainly, take more time and effort here (most notable washing things). Speaking of laundry, on day three or so here Aaron had a pen explode in his pocket while sitting on my couch, and so I have labored for a long time trying to get the ink out of the cover - a white blanket. I've tried all sorts of chemicals, talked to all sorts of store staffers and acquaintances, and if I was in America I would just use bleach (I can't find liquid bleach here). Right now I am washing it for the last time in the washing machine: if I can't see significant improvement after this wash, I'll have to figure something else out. Slowly, we are all adjusting to the eating habits of Germans: for example, only one small drink during the meal, effectively. Apparently, it is exceptionally rude here to leave one hand under the table/out of sight while eating, and changing hands with your silverware isn't that acceptable either. My Stammlokal is a place called Cafe Paprica, where the KellnerInnen recognize me and now offer to bring Leitungswasser before anything else. Lots of the food places here are subsidized by the government so they will be affordable to students. Coming to Germany has definitely made me realize the extent to which English is the Langua Franca of the world today. I might end up doing my Ethnographic project on this topic, although I am also interested in smoking (it is an entirely different experience than statesside - even young Middle Schoolers smoke packs a day). My money is holding up pretty well. I started the program with $1000, or about 730 EURO; I get approximately 450 EURO for food from the program every month, and so I am hovering a little above 600 EURO at the end of every week. But of course I'm using money to pay for other things - chocolate, for example, or various cleaners to attack the Ink. Aaron and I hope to go to Scotland, maybe by train, for our free week of travel. We are still planning out when we can go, how long it'll take, and so on. We're actually thinking about taking a train to Wien then flying to Edinburgh then staying in Dundee or Glasgow. Today Matthias is having a birthday party in a few hours, and there is a Scottish folk singer I plan on seeing tonight around 20:00 within a half-hour walk from my place (Er kommt aus Schottland; die Liede kommen aus der Ostküste des Schottland).

Muede Marburg

Here in Marburg I have so far been unable to find consistent, easy, and cheap internet access, and thus my writing has concordantly fallen to a stand still. On top of that, the more German I use everyday the harder it is to form coherent, worthy sentences in English to write here. Marburg is a bigger city than I think any of us expected; still, it is nice in many ways. Lots of walking every day, eating out for every meal (not always a good thing, of course), et cetera. This is of course been marred by the culture shock I have already experience (for example, the exceptionally different bathroom habits of men in Germany). I hope to soon have some kind of more consistent Internet access, but until then, adieu.