Abia am implinit o luna de cand sunt in Berlin si descopar aproape zilnic lucruri noi. Lucruri care imi plac. Prietena mea, mutata de 5 ani aici, imi spune ca asta e darul acestui oras – de a se reinventa.

Nu stiu voi de cat timp locuiti aici si ce anume v-a incantat pana acum, dar pe mine anticariatul ambulant din fata Universitatii Humbold ma fascineaza ori de cate ori trec pe acolo. Pur si simplu nu pot trece indiferenta fara sa-mi bag nasul in cutiile alea de carton, adevarate comori cu povesti. Miroase a carti, a albume de arta, a discuri vechi. Nu din astea noi, in culori stridente cu titluri argintii. Nu! Miroase a coperta usor decolorata sau cartonata, dupa caz. Nu-mi pot refuza impulsul de a arunca macar o privire.

Asa imi spun, doar o privire. Care apoi ocheste cateva titluri cunoscute, apoi aluneca pe cotoarele unor alte carti, pe numele altor autori, pana cand, nereusind sa rezist curiozitatii, incep sa dau paginile una cate una. Intai un Nietzsche, apoi un Edgar Allan Poe. Apoi un Orhan Pamuk. Cateva carti despre istoria Berlinului, un Phillip Roth, un album despre Picasso si unul cu arta in perioada renasterii. O carte de retete tailandeze si Micul Print. Nu ma pot abtine. Sunt prea multe si prea bune. Sunt carti care au facut istorie si care se vand in fata la Humbold ca rosiile la supermarket – doua la 3 euro.

Din cartile scrise in engleza citesc cate un paragraf. Din cele scrise in germana, insa, inteleg doar cateva cuvinte, dar visez sa ajung sa citesc Herta Muller si Elfriede Jelinek in limba care le-a consacrat.

Prietena mea imi traduce un aliniat dintr-o carte. Auzind, vanzatorul incepe sa-l injure pe Berlusconi, un fascist! “Nu, nu suntem italience, vorbim limba romana”, radem noi. Vanzatorul, un personaj pitoresc cu plete si o caciula de blana pe cap, se mai tempereaza, ba chiar il umfla rasul. Noi luam alte carti la rasfoit. La fel si ceilalti din jurul nostru, atrasi magnetic de muntele de hartie imprimata cu povesti .

Rar pot pleca fara sa cumper ceva. Pentru ca e prea frumos. Si, daca mai e si o zi insorita, in care frigul nu da ghes, cutiile de carton parca ma prind de haina si ma tin acolo.

The first week at Deutsch Akademie is finished. Not just anyhow, but with pantomime! This was one of the Friday exercises that made us all laugh.

I had to be a doctor and a hairdresser. For a second, the colleague next to me was really confused noticing I started touching his hair. Tomoko, my Japanese colleague was a dentist, Alexandra from Macedonia was a supermarket and Piotr from Poland was…the television tower from Alexanderplatz!

We’ve played more games and played tricks to each other, while leaning new words and repeating grammar in the same time.  During those games, I suddenly realized something funny – we are so different, but, somehow, so similar.

No matter where we come from (Spain, Italy, Ukraine, Poland, Macedonia, Romania, Korea, Japan) no matter some are engineers and some bartenders, some like modern dance, some football or chocolate croissants, life brought us all in Berlin and, at this point, for all of us learning German is a priority. We were all listening to the same Marlene Dietrich song, took the same notes from the blackboard and prepared the same homework. I left my thoughts behind and joined the game again, because my colleague was acting out something new.

This colorful mix of people around makes learning German so entertaining! Because yes, entertaining it’s exactly how the whole first week was. Looking forward for the second!

Don’t know how many of you come from ex-communist countries and, even if you do, don’t know if you were not too young to remember how it was.

But, if you’re interested in this subject and in good literature I warmly recommend you a great German author born in Romania (just like me, but a billion times more talented) and awarded with the 2009 Nobel Prize for Literature – Herta Müller.

Her books picture the atmosphere of those times, focusing on everyday life. The stories are mostly narrated from the viewpoint of the German minority in Romania. Whether the action happens in a small provincial town (Even back then, the fox was the hunter) or in a concentration camp (Everything I own I carry with me), she presents those everyday little things able to drive you crazy. Because it’s not the shocking events that shock, but the incredible nothingness present everywhere.

The novels have no intense action, but every chapter adds one more piece to the final puzzle of the grey communist feeling. Because, if I would have to give a color to her stories, that would definitely be gray – not the happy bright white, nor the black of terror – just a grey floating heavily in the air. The air that her characters breath until they become grey too.

Indeed, her novels are a bit depressive, but only because, as she said in an interview, she wrote what she saw. And, considering the fact she received death threats for refusing to become an informant for the Securitate (President Nicolae Ceausescu’s department of state security) and her mother was deported to the Soviet Gulag for forced labor, she has good reasons to picture those times in grey.

Don’t know if I made you curious about her novels, but you should try. They are definitely not Sunday books.

Nu stiu altii cum sunt, dar eu, cand ma gandesc la locul nasterii mele, care, ca sa evitam confuziile, nu e Humulesti, imi amintesc ca, deseori, desi era frig de-ti ingheta inima in piept, era totusi soare. Si numai la gandul ca e soare, frigul devenea patetic.

Nu intentionez sa scriu un post inutil despre vreme si nici o cariera de meteorolog nu vreau, dar nu inteleg…cum se descurca oamenii din Berlin saptamani in sir fara soare pe cer? Fara lumina? Doar cu ploaie marunta “made in reumatism” si cu un cer de culoarea gulerului murdar.

Da, stiu ca soarele e undeva acolo in spatiu si ca ne vegheaza de dincolo de nori, dar mie, personal, daca nu mi se arata clar, pe fata, mi se infunda toate corabiile. Iata de ce, de cateva zile, corabiile mele sunt sub un strat adanc de mal si nu reusesc sa fac nimic constructiv.

Ba ieri, culmea penibilului, conducandu-mi o prietena la aeroport, tresar pret de o secunda vazand o raza de lumina proiectata pe fereastra trenului. Dintr-o data durerea de cap ma lasa si inceput sa rad in sinea mea de gandurile negre si pacatoase care-mi invadau capul.

Si, ca momentul penibil sa fie desavarsit, constat in milisecunda urmatoare, ca asa zisa raza de soare nu era altceva decat lumina neonului din interiorul trenului, reflectata pe geam.  Inutil sa mentionez ca durerea de cap a revenit si nu m-a lasat pana la Pankow, desi raza m-a condus constiincios tot drumul, neabatandu-se niciun milimetru.

Ei, in astfel de momente abia astept sa vina seara. Macar atunci nu e soare pentru ca asa e in firea lucrurilor. Si, desi la inceput imi parea cumva rau ca fac modulul de seara la Deutsch Akademie, acum mi se pare super pentru ca zau daca nu seara e cea mai fresh parte a zilei!

Hi everybody!

My name is Luisa, I’m from Romania and I came to Berlin three weeks ago. Even after three weeks everything is still new to me. I have no idea where this city starts and where it ends.  I met new people, went to parties, saw movies, cooked with friends.  Probably you already know the three golden questions that connect foreigners in here – “what’s your name?”, “where do you come from?”…”do you speak German?”.

I don’t speak German, but I will. This was my most common answer. So common and so simple that I’ve never imagined I would have to explain myself. I wasn’t expecting to be asked why. Why do I want to learn it.

And this is how I met Tom – a funny Irish that has been living in Berlin for almost 4 years.  He teaches English and doesn’t really care that “Guten Tag”, “Danke sehr”, “Speisekarte” , “U-Bahn” and “Geld” are not the only German words in the dictionary. “Why should I? Everybody speaks English!”.

And this is how I met Lisa, from Italy. She doesn’t feel like learning German either. “As long as they understand “pasta” and “pizza”, I’m fine” says Lisa with a smile.

And this is how I met Francois, a web designer. And more.  And eventually, after three weeks, I realized I only heard German for one evening.  In Germany!

I personally think it’s wonderful to speak the language of the country you live in. To make jokes or even have a fight in that language!

To all of you who dare to add “der, die, das” as a friend, congrats and viel Glück!

This is my last posting on the Deutsch Akademie blog. Unfortunately, February was my last month of German classes. I might still return in May but in case I don’t I would like to take advantage of this opportunity to thank everyone who has been reading my blog and, most importantly, commenting and leaving advices or recommendations.

I have really enjoyed my time in Deutsch Akademie studying German, meeting new people from all over the world and working with excellent teachers. I’ve also enjoyed every day of my life in Berlin. It has quickly become one of my favorite cities which I will undoubtedly return to.

I recommend Deutsch Akademie to those who are looking for a place to start making first steps in learning German. There are many advantages here: reasonable price, diverse group, no more than 9-10 students in one group, teachers speak ONLY German, flexible schedule.

Aufwiedersehen!!!

Today we were all very active in the classroom. Perhaps, it had to do with nice and sunny weather or, perhaps, we are finishing another level in a few days and that is something we are all looking forward to. Our new topic was „Shopping“ and even though many of have mastered the vocabulary of shopping and we don’t have a problem buying a kg of apples or a shampoo, there is still a lot to learn.

We were assigned to do a dialogue where one student was the seller and the other one buyer. One of us was supposed to use good manners and polite language whereas the other one was supposed to be rude and discontent. It actually went very well and was funny. All my classmates acted out well and took their role seriously.

Dialogue is an excellent way of practicing speaking skills. It puts you in different situations where you need to use and seek for all the vocabulary that still in your subconscious. It really persuades you to bring it all to the conscious level.

I had a lot of fun during my class today.

I can’t express myself well enough how much the sun makes me happy. I am started to hope that spring is finally in Berlin. The sun inspires me so much that I just want to stay outside, walk aimlessly in the streets, go running or just sit on a bench and let some Vitamin D penetrate through my skin.

Despite the fact that I had bought a round trip ticket for U-bahn this morning I decided to walk home, from Wittenbergplatz to Gneisenaustrasse (Kreuzberg). I took the sunny side of the street and walked for a little more than an hour. It was so enjoyable. I have also realized that there are so many nice neighborhoods in Berlin that are totally undiscovered by me. It’s a very common practice to just walk on main streets and go to main sight seeings. And since U-bahn is so convenient that one doesn’t think twice before getting on a train.  A nice walk on a sunny day is the best way to exercise and discover a new city. I truly hope the sun came to stay with us and that there won’t be any more -8C days ahead of us.

I love German food even though it’s really heavy. Recently I’ve discovered for myself the Bauern Fruhstuck (Farmers‘ Breakfast). However, I decided to make it for dinner since it seemed like a lot to eat for breakfast. Very easy to make:

Cook (boil) a few potatoes, peel and cut them

Clean some onions and chop them

Wash/clean some parsley and cut them as well

Fry the onions in the pan with some butter/oil

Add the potatoes and fry them until goldbrown

Scramble 2 eggs and add sour cream to it

Mix it with the potatoes and onions in the pan

Add parsley, salt and pepper

you may also add some ham, if you like

Really delicious. Enjoy!