Today we went to some of Berlin’s famous flea markets.

There are flea markets of all sizes all over Berlin, but today we went to one of the most famous in Mauerpark, Prenzlauer Berg. It is held every Sunday and it was huge! There are endless rows of stalls selling everything from shoes and clothes, to records, art and second hand furniture. There is a great array of food from all over the world and next to the market is a big park with great street musicians and some very cool graffiti on the walls.

However, it was really big and really busy and I found it a bit too overwhelming to actually buy anything or enjoy myself. So we went to a smaller market nearby and for me it what much better. It is held on Sundays at Arkonaplatz, and is much more chilled out – and still has some great stalls!

The Flea market at Arkonaplatz. Smaller than the bustling Mauerpark, but in my opinion nicer.

Some of the street art at the Mauerpark in Prenzlauer Berg

You can get to Mauerpark on the tram along Eberswalder road, or you can get the U2 to Eberswalder Straße. The same tram so will take you to the Arkonaplatz market – Although it is a little harder to find.

First day in fears of immersion German course

Let’s face it – immersion language courses can be terrifying. The idea of ​​going somewhere new, where you do not know anyone, and theywill only speak a language you do not know, is pretty nerve wracking! I was a bit nervous before starting my German Academy class, but I found once I got in there everything was fine. Here are some ideas to help you get over Those initial fears:

• Firstly, you need to come to terms with the factthat you will make mistakes. For most of us, this is the worst! But, in class You Will Find That the teacher is super helpful and wants to put you back on the right track, and everyone else in the class is in the same boat. You will all make mistakes, you will all laugh about it, and you will all learn from it and get it right the next time!
• Do not think it will be like speaking to people in the street. Your teacher is here to help and want to speak slowly and with lots of Explanations and sign language. It can be overwhelming to someone who only speaks German speaking when you do not speak any, but remember, the class is designed for you to learn.
• The testing at German Academy is very thorough before you start, so you want to be put in a class That is the right lever for you. Do not worry, theywill not put you in a super advanced course When you have only been studying German a short time.
• Practice makes perfect! If you already know a bit of German, you can use tools :::: such as the Online German Course to practice a bit before you go. If you are completely Call Call Call Call New You can always look up a few greeting phrases. Once you start talking it is easier to keep going!

I hope that helps. Remember: Your teacher will help you, your classmates will be in the same position as you, and once you let go of your fears You Will Find yourself having fun!

Today is the last day of my class for the month of August in DeutschAkademie. In the beginning of the class we learnt about weathers. It is interesting to know new vocabularies on weather since around this time in Berlin the weather is changing dramatically from very hot to quite cold in mere few days. So I did manage to tell to my friend how I feel whenever it is cold and windy in German. Later on in class we were taught about some useful conversation that we could make while doing some groceries shopping in the market. Meanwhile before, I already know on how to ask how much is the price? Now I even know how to ask if I could try some of the food. That is indeed very useful when you are hungry in market ;-) We were made into partner of 2 people and were given the task of going around the market just next to DeutschAkademie and try to practice what we were taught in class. Eventhough I didn’t buy anything since I didn’t find anything interesting, some of my friends bought 2 pieces of carrots and 3 roses to be given as a present for my girl classmates. We ended our last class by sitting in the café just next to the market and discussed our experiences in the market. Such a good end after a month of class but it is quite hard to say good bye as well. A lot of my classmates are going back to their countries and after exchanging our contacts, we gave each other a final hugs and off we go to our own way. I hope to be able to see them again one day and this time speak fluent German with them. That is what I hope and I wish it will become true.

One area I found really amazing to go for nightlife in Berlin is in Kreuzberg. It is situated in the south of Mitte and one of the most interesting districts out of all 12 districts in Berlin. Historically and true to now it is synonymous to being to being one of the poorest areas in Berlin and known for its large population of immigrants. Nevertheless, now Kreuzberg has become one of the most trendiest place in Berlin where a lot of clubs, bars and restaurants are located.

I went to a bar called Café Luzia with 3 other friends from DeutschAkademie. Very funny since when I was there I didn’t see anyone drinking coffee but yet it is called a Café and it is very popular. It was quite a struggle for us to find a place to sit when we first came in. Too bad, the only sits available was in the smoking section. Wile we were there, we talked about our experience in class and even discussed about German grammars. While it might sounds boring, but actually it was not. We had a terrific time together. I hope to do this again every week ;-)

One amazing place to visit when in Berlin is a place about 1 hour train ride from Berlin city center called Potsdam. Don’t get confuse with Potzdamer Platz which is in the city center! While it is connected under the same S-Bahn line from Berlin, I just got to know later that it is in fact another city! Not a small one either, it is a capital of German Federal State of Bradenburg. It used to be a residence of Prussian King until 1918 and now it is the largest world heritage site in Germany.

Among interesting places to see in Potsdam are the Potsdam City Palace, St. Nicholas Church, the Old town hall, Glienicke Bridge and many others. But one of my favorite among all is the Dutch quarters where there are rows of nice small shops, cafes and restaurant. I went to one of the small café and they have a small nice garden where I can sit and enjoy my tea. To my surprise, the café is actually also the owner’s residence and they live upstairs. That has to be a dream job. To wake up in a nice quarters and work downstairs of your own house everyday ;-)

Since I studied medicine before coming to Berlin, I am most familiar with organs and body parts. So out of all topics we learnt in class, there was one topic really excites me the most; the body parts! We spent about 2 days learning about this topic and not only we learnt about body parts, we did learn some basic about medicine too such as how to say “I’m sick”, “I have pain or headache”, and et cetera. While that is very important for everyone since we all can fall sick and need to go to doctor or pharmacies to convey our problem, for me it is more important since if I decided to stay in Germany for my practice those would be my daily jargon in my daily life. One activity in class we had was to make a circle and one person had to say quickly a body part and the rest had to show which one was it. Sounds easy, but to think in German made it a bit confusing and slow sometimes J

In DeutschAkademie, since we are in a small group in a class we could make quite a lot of activities together. One activity which I found most amusing was ‘The-Name-Game’. While it is quite popular in a lot of countries and it is already hard to play in my native language or in English, this time it was many times harder since we had to play it in German. I’m quite happy to say that I was the second one who guessed it correctly! ;-)

One thing about Germany that I find quite foreign still is a lot of shops are closed on Sunday including supermarket but there are some exception though. Since I’m living in a flat without refrigerator, I can’t keep wet food like meats at home hence the routine of going to eat out every Sunday. While I do go eat out on normal day too, Sunday is almost obligatory. Near my place where I stay in Turmstrasse, I’m lucky enough to have one Indonesian restaurant called Nusantara just about 500m away. Since I’m from Malaysia, we share quite a lot of similar food and taste with Indonesia. The food is amazing and surprisingly for an exotic restaurant, the price will not make a hole in my pocket too. Whenever I feel a bit homesick and crave for Malaysian food, I would go there and pamper my appetite with those delicious delicacies and drinks.

Another routine that I do almost every week is to go out to drink coffee but mostly tea with friends and sometimes alone. I’m a tea addict and I love to go to random places just to drink tea and feel the atmosphere. One tea house which I really find amusing is called Tadshikische Teestube. It is a tea house with central Asian and Russian fusion concept with alluring interior and welcoming atmosphere. It is very popular and I heard that usually it needs reservation in advance.

In German language there are 4 cases which are nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive. It has also 3 genders; masculine, feminine and neuter. Since articles (der, die, das) are very important in german language, it is very important to have a good grasp of all 4 cases above while knowing in which gender the noun is. Since learning in DeutschAkademie, I am using a textbook by….and from there in every topic we learnt, the vocabularies of new words related to the topic are marked with different colors (blue=masculine, red=feminine, green=neuter, and yellow=plural) signifying theirs genders. Then the teacher taught us basics of all 4 cases thus making it quite effective learning experience to incorporate the gender and cases to come out with the correct article for every noun. At the same time we learnt a lot of verbs too and so far I can say that my understanding of German language is getting better day by day. I hope after few more months, I can have fluent conversation with local German people ;-)