Was one very interesting event which brought one very positive and vibrating atmosphere in Berlin. It was organized in the last week of May. Festival took 4 days in overcrowded streets of Kreuzberg, when almost all quarter was blocked!! The main street for column of dancers from all world was Gneisenaustrasse.
On the top of one troupe was a boy with a board with the name of the country, and behind him was a music box and girls in traditional costumes who were dancing.
Everywhere apart were stands with drinks, beers, cocktails, loud music and other people were also dancing. It was one spring-summer atmosphere which mixed Brazilian carnival mood and positive mood of crowds of people from summer Ibiza’s parties, and all that in the middle of capital city of Germany!!
In one square were stands with a lot of exotic food from all over the world, so we had opportunity to taste dried coco- chips, to drink from coconuts with a pipe, to eat African’s specialties and a lot of others tasty dishes.
Karneval der Kulturen
Trabi
Trabi Or Trabant was one of the most popular cars in Eastern Germany and in other communist countries. His name means Satellite and was inspired by Soviet space ship Sputnik. Today, this car is trendy and one of the symbols of Berlin. We can frequently see it rolling on the streets, in Berlin Mitte.
First model – Trabant 500- was made in 1957, model Trabant 601 has been modified as a limousine. The last model that was built is Trabant 1.1, was popular in 1990-1991.
Times magazine 2008 rated it between 50 the worst cars ever made. One of the reason for such a bad rating is the pollution he produces which is about 10 times more than the eco- limits today. This sweetie is made from organic materials: cotton and soft plastic, and the funny thing about it is we can see a pig eating Trabi in one of the Emir Kusturica’s film.
But, anyway people in Berlin like it so much, so you can easily book it, and make one city tour and be prepared it is not so cheep!
Zoo in Berlin
One thing that you should definitely visit in Berlin is Zoo. He is ranged among top 10 zoos in the world. The most famous zoos in the world are located in Toronto, Singapore, San Diego. The biggest in Europe is Berlin’s and after comes Vienna’s Schonbrunner and French Beauval Zoo. Today in Berlin zoo lives about 17 727 animals (1571 sorts) and 7.629 animals (865 sorts) in Tierpark.
Berlin Zoo is located near the west side of Tiergarten, the biggest and the most famous park in Berlin, close to Zoologischegarten U-bahn station.
First grand opening was in 1844, and during the Second World War, Zoo was completely destroyed, just 91 animals survived… After that is reconstructed and today it is one of the most beautiful attractions in town.
This place is also famous his endangered species: Giant Panda Bao Bao who firstly came in East part of Berlin in 1980 as a 2 years old gift from Chinese government. You can see him rolling down on the ground on his back and eating bamboo. This amazing scene you can see just in 3 zoo in Europe, and in few more in the world.
During the last years, in Zoo were born after 30 years the first polar bears, and this was a big attraction! His name was Knut, he was like a toy, completely white with his eyes like small buttons, but he was sick, and he died when he was 5 years old.
There’s also too many others animals: gorila, anteater, rhino, also red-legged seriema (bird) king vulture, grey wolf, tayra and lot of others.
European NY
Hello my dear new friends and welcome to Berlin! I hope that you are having a good time here, that everything is going well!! I hope that you have already done your first city tour and that you like the city!! If not, I’m giving you advice to look in any Starbucks for a free city map.This map is actually advertizing free city tour, so all info regarding the tour you can find on this map.I took this tour and guide was awesome so I can really recommended it.
As you can see, Berlin is city full of different vibrations- old Western and Eastern, and today city of freedom, city of hipsters, city where the fashion is out of rules and orders!! I was shocked with too many people with dirty clothes and hair like there’s no bathrooms and hairdressers, drinking beer on the streets and U-bahns, and walking with the street’s dogs I was like: ‘’Mama mia, save me’’!!
Later on, actually after 6 months living here, I feel better now, but I still repeat the sentence: ‘’… and all this cultural schock that can attack you when you go down in the Berlin’s subway…. ‘’ Actually, the last photo I saw on facebook was a 50 years old naked guy with a beer in his hand, seating in the u-bahn so relaxed like he was just going home after working day. This was very bizarre.
The most representative places where you can see this unique spirit of modern Berlin are around U-bahn Warsauerstrasse, Squats all painted in graffiti, with strange people with heavily pierced on their bodies or people with three different haircoulours wearing two different shoes!
There’s some people who don’t like them at all, and there’s no hope that they will change their opinion
My advices
As a professor of French and Latin and also student auf Deutcsh, I have already developed some methods of learning one language, so I can give you some advices:
The most important is to learn and practice by yourself, on the first place this means to take a look on your notes few hours every day after class and to do homework. Good grammar base is important for speak language properly, so when you finish your homework, go online and find free grammar exercises, and be in a rush for a higher score.
Also you need to be motivated, to find the text in German that you are interested in: articles, books and newspapers, and even if you don’t understand it’s important just to try. Internet is a gold treasure for learning foreign languages.
Good idea is to make your own vocabulary, take a look around you, find the first theme and then write all the words coming to your mind in that moment- for example let’s take food as a theme, and start writing all associating words: drinks, fruits… continue with the recepies- cooking, baking, than in the restaurant- how to order, menu… Also you need to know that the best method of learning words is by repeating, so after writing, you cover your list and try to repeat.
Finally, most important is to be free in conversation, not to get scared that you will be wrong, it’s better to say even if that is wrong than not to say and not to practice.
Welcome to DeutschAkademie!!
Hello! My name is Ana and I’m your new blogger. I speak 5 languages and I’ve started to learn German this year. I’ve finished at the Faculty of Philology so I would like to share my experience with you. I have passed through a lot of language schools and seen different methods of teaching and different profiles of students, so I think that I can tell you that we all have chosen a good one.
Firstly, Deutschakademie has a good price 205e for 4 weeks intensive course. Location is also good.
DeutschAkademie has a reputation of school attracting usually motivated students. Studyng with these young people is always interesting, nevertheless the atmosphere is balanced between work and relaxation.
The professor is well organized and serious when we are working but doesn’t have the profile of one of those who the students are afraid of, so this is an ideal mix of quiet relaxed atmosphere and hard work. She gives good explanations, so we are making a good gramatic base with lots of examples, and that’s really important to speak a language properly. The books that we use are a good choice, and the vocabulary that we are passing is according with languages standards for one level.
Verben mit festen Präpositionen (5)
In Deutsch gibt es Verben mit festen Präpositionen. Die Bedeutung von Verben kommt auf der Präpositionen mit Verben an. Es ist nicht leicht für Ausländer, Verben mit festen Präpositionen zu begreifen exakt. Obwohl Grammtik nicht besonders nicht schwer ist, ist es nicht leicht zu merken. Mein Lehrer hat Kursteilnehmer für Kursteilnehmer Blätter gegeben, die Verben mit festen Präpositionen geschrieben werdet: die Position des Verben im Satz, Präpositionen mit Verben, usw. Es ist leichter zu verstehen nachdem ich Blätter sehe. Ich glaube, es dauert zwar lang Zeit, um Verben mit festen Präpositionen sich zu merken. Aber ich habe nicht mehr Angst vor der Präpositionen.
Berlin Flöhmarkte
Flea markets in Berlin are a cultural phenomenon. Every week you can find a huge range of markets and flea markets (Flohmärkte) scattered around the city. Many of these flea markets provide entertainment and shopping opportunities on Sundays, when the rest of the city is closed.
At each of these flea markets one can find an often mind-boggling range of product, from high quality, original clothes and designs jewellery, to useless and obscure junk. You can buy raw materials; thread, beads, wood, tools, or you could pick up some old furniture, well used relics, and kitsch antiques. Often the stall holders at the Flea markets are regulars; they trade at the same market in (sometimes) the same space. However there is always a rotation of new stalls, often held by people who are selling a range of old clothes of original artwork.
The largest Flea Market in Berlin as at Mauerpark, on the edge of Prenzlauerberg. The park itself sits on what was once a part of the no-man’s land within the Berlin wall, hence the name (die Mauer means the wall) and right next to the Max-Schmeling-Halle and Freidrich-Ludwig-Jahn Sportpark. Every Sunday the market begins sometime around nine O’clock in the morning and continues until around six in the evening, depending on the weather. The Flea Market itself is very extensive, it contains two large garden bars, and numerous food and drink stalls in addition to the hundreds of stalls trading in a huge range of items, some useful, like bicycles and bike parts, and some useless.
Many of the items at Mauerpark are not as cheap as you might hope at a Flea Market, however there are definitely good deals to be had, especially if you arrive early in the morning before others have taken advantage of them, or late in the day when stallholders attempt to move their remaining products. The market is always busy, rain, shine or snow, and in the summer months it can often be a challenge to navigate. Visitors to the market are often tourists, and English is spoken widely, but it is not wholly aimed at the tourist market and locals certainly do frequent.
Aside from the Flea Market itself, the remainder of Maurpark is always packed full of a huge range of people relaxing, grilling, playing sports and music, busking, drinking and smoking. About halfway along the park, set into the large earth bank which leads up to the wall of the sportpark, below the giant swing sets, is an auditorium-like area of tiered concrete steps circling a circular stage, the Bearpit. This stage is the home of the famous Bearpit Karaoke im Maeurpark.
Established in 2009 by an Irishman called Joe with a portable Karaoke setup, the Karaoke has become an institution. Written about in various media outlets, including the Lonely Planet guide, it regularly draws crowds of thousands of people to watch the talent and the spectacles. Recently, as a result of gentrification of the Kiez, complaints of noise pollution have warranted a permit for the performances, meaning that the Karaoke is now a sporadic occurrence (check out the Facebook page if you want to check when it will be on).
Far from the only Flea Market in Berlin, Mauerpark is in good company with similar events taking place at Boxenhager Platz, in Schönebad, Hallesches tour and in Friedrichshain at RAW-tempel, and more. SO36, the infamous punk venue in X-berg (Kreuzberg) occasionally holds a Night Flea Market (Nachtflohmarkt) on Wednesday evenings. Although a lot smaller this is definitely worth a visit, if only to enjoy the company of the eclectic vendors and regulars!
Cassiopeia at RAW-Tempel
A night out in Berlin will never disappoint. Around every corner there always waits something amazing and friendly.
Last night I went to a Drum and Bass gig with a co-worker to commemorate his last day at work (he plans to move on from Berlin, I think he’ll be back) in Friedrichshain. I know, in Berlin you listen to Techno, but Drum and Bass and Dubstep make up the soundtrack to my University years so I never turn down an invitation to reminisce.
The gig was amazing, well worth being a couple of hours late to work the next day. The headliners were a duo by the name of The Bulldogs. Based in Berlin they utilised a couple of turntables, live drums, and balaclavas. The venue was Cassiopeia, a club and bar in RAW Tempel on Revaler Straße (U Warschauerstraße), where you can find good music, fun people, a skate ramp in the large garden bar, and extensive climbing walls.
RAW Temple is an amazing location, typical of Berlin. It was once a railway depot and construction area (RAW stands for Reichsbahnausbesserungswerk), the „Königlich Preußischen Hauptwerkstatt“, hence, it is large. Established in 1867, it was decommissioned in the early 1990s and since 1999 over 6000 m² has been utilised in various ways by the community group RAW-tempel eV.
Nowadays you can find a number of bars, clubs and cafes in the space with a flea market operating every Sunday. During the day the entire area is a gallery of great graffiti and by night a lively and relaxed space where you can dance to any music you want and drink cheaply in good company all night, and morning, long. Highlights are the infamous Suicide Circus, for solid techno, and Cassiopeia for DnB, Dubstep, and live music.
die Geschäfte in Deutschland (4)
Sonntags sind die meiste Geschäfte außer Restaurants und Cafés in Deutschland nicht geöffnet. Das ist kontrastiv im Vergleich zu meinem Land. Die meiste Geschäfte sind am Wochenende bei uns geöffnet, weil die Koreaner zum Einkaufen am Sonntag in die Stadt gehen. Die Stadt des Wochenende sind komplexer als Arbeitstag. Deswegen habe ich mich gefühlt, Leben von Berlin Sonntags zu sehr langweilen. Was tun the Leute denn Sonntag? Nach einer Weile habe ich mir darüber klargemacht. Wenn das Wetter gut ist, gehen die Leute aus und spazieren gehen. Sie bringen gemütlich mit ihren Familie oder Freunden zu. Die Geschäfte brauchen die Pause. Wie zur Vorbereitung auf der neuen Woche.