The Dong Xuan Center lives on the eastern outskirts of Berlin, just shy of the Germo-Vietnamese border. Three huge hangars house hundreds of vendors hawking every oddball item you never realized you needed, along with some excellent viet-food.  You will be immediately bowled over by the scope and scale of odd, seemingly useless stuff for sale. These products make you feel very close to the sweatshop–as if perhaps in order to cut costs, some vital voice of reason has been eliminated from the value chain, leaving the misguided factory bosses to churn out thousands of wildly inappropriate statuettes, insane toys and eccentric clothes. Between the fake flower stalls and nail salon supplier shops there are a couple of fine supermarkets with huge tanks of leaping carp that splash passers by. After having your mind blown, and perhaps picking up a musical-LED–birdcage-lighter, be sure to settle in at one of the Dong Xuan’s excellent restaurants for one of the best dishes in Berlin: Bún Thịt Nướng (marinated barbecued pork with rice noodles and vietnamese-style sweet and sour sauce).

Dong Xuan Center‎

I thought I’d share my review of Herr Lehmann, an entertaining German film I might never have discovered were it not for my classes at Deutsch Akademie.Der Film Herr Lehmann von Leander Haussmann öffnet ein Fenster zu der Welt Berlin Kreuzberg vor dem Mauerfall. Christian Ulmen spielt überzeugend den melancholischen bier-süchtigen Herr Lehmann der versucht die chaotischen, bunten Leute und Situationen seines Boheme-Lebens. Aber der echte Hauptschauspieler des Films ist die Stadt-selbst. Wir sehen viele gut entworfene Szenen der grauen Berliner Strassen wie es im Jahre 1989 war. Diese Strassen, wie Herr Lehmann-selbst, scheinen zwischen der alten und neuer Welt verloren, aber Veränderung bestimmt.

Going to the lost-and-found in Berlin is quite a trip. To begin with, the office is located in a corner of the now closed Tempelhof airport – a giant structure which once satisfied the Nazis’ desire for Monumentalism.  

At the front door, you are welcomed by this sign.  It says:

Due to the “new flu” we will refrain from shaking your hand!

Interesting – until now, I was not aware that shaking hands was customary in such a situation. Obviously, I’ve missed my chances here, but maybe I’ll try it the next time I go to the post office or bank.Once you pass through two heavy double doors you find yourself in a swimming pool-like hallway. Behind three different doors lie three different types of lost objects.Number 1:  General objects (including bags, clothes, glasses and instruments) and special objectsNumber 2:  Keys and vehicles (including bikes, scooters, boats and strollers)

Number 3:  Valuables and electronic equipment

After you have figured out behind which of the three counters you might find your lost object please ring the bell one time, one time only, and someone will crawl from the depths of lost articles eager to help you find your valuable. Pah! They have had it with people losing their things.  So don’t bother showing up unless you have exactly what it is they require as evidence that the thing you are trying to pick up actually belongs to you. Anything that you would consider evidence enough will not be accepted.

Most likely, you will return home empty handed, but one Berlin experience richer.

I’ve always understood granola to be a more or less healthy type of breakfast cereal rather than a brand. “Choc-Blop”, by contrast, is like a generic term of derogation my parents might have improvised in the supermarket aisle. As in, “I’m not buying you any ‘Tootie Frooties’, or ‘Choc-Bloppers’, or ‘Count Flatula’. That stuff is junk.”Anyways, if I was a child of today you can bet I’d be referencing that Granola logo and imaginary quality award (Choc-Blop wins every year). Then I’d show my mom that the box is written in German on one side and Italian on the other, and explain that it’s really a question of cerebral enrichment.