We’ve laughed, we’ve watched movies, we’ve met new people, we’ve spoke German. We made exercises, we had homework, we played games. We added new friends on Facebook, we drank coffees, we listened to music and to short fiction stories. We spent Easter, we ate chocolate. We’ve played different roles and spoke with different accents.

But as all good things come to an end, it’s time for my Deutsch Akademie class to end as well. For the second timeJ Today, as B2.1 ends, I have to admit it wasn’t bad at all. Not only that my German has improved, not only that I have more courage to speak – with mistakes, but still… – not only that I know more about Germany and German personalities, but I met really nice people and made really good friends I hope to stay in touch with. People from Japan, Macedonia, Spain, Italy, Denmark and so on. And to me, this is absolutely priceless.

Right now I am taking a break. For a month or two. And then, I’m planning to be back for B2.2.  Hopefully, for a new class filled with joy and good time. I wish you all the best with your study and, if ever interested in more info or just to chat a bit in German, send me an e-mail at luisa_leizeriuc@yahoo.com.

For now…that’s all folks!

Since I moved to Berlin, everyone looks at me with a sort of unspoken sympathy when I tell them I live in Pankow. “Ooo…so far”, ”how can you make it”, “that’s the end of the world” etc etc.

Yes, I know it takes me one hour to get to Deutsch Akademie and sometimes, when I wait for the bus at 5am, I don’t have really orthodox thoughts about this neighborhood, but, on the other hand, let me tell you my dears, that Pankow is a piece of paradise.  What makes it so special? It’s quiet, green totally awesome park!

Right next to me, only two minutes by foot, lays this beautiful piece of forest, crossed by a little river where wild ducks and herons paddle. Small red squirrels run from tree to tree, fooling around. People go biking or jogging, or simply walking with kids or friends. There’s no one to say “one two three four, one two three four” when I run, no one to ruin my Zen. Now, that the spring is here, the flowers are like home and their perfume spreads and covers the park each evening like a gauze. Drops of violet and yellow flowers break the green and blue “monotony”.

Some are reading on the blankets or in improvised hammocks. Others play badminton. Everyone enjoys the sunny pleasant atmosphere.

But, here, in Pankow, the nature goes hand in hand with history. Only 300 hundred meters from the park, rises up the 17^th century Schönhausen Palace, where Frederick I’s coronation as King of Prussia took place. Since 2009, after a serious restoration, the palace is open for public visits and I am sooo looking forward to visit it and find out more.

So, even if it’s a bit far from the city center, a simple walk in this area makes me feel totally refreshed. But I think everyone has a place of its own, where he/she can feel better. If so…then what’s yours?

Just in case it’s Friday, it’s a beautiful sunny day and you’re hungry, I have the perfect suggestion for you – go enjoy some really delicious Thai food and a cold drink in Preußenpark (Fahrbellinerstrasse U-bahn station).

What at first seemed to be just a small initiative, now it’s a well known prosper little business. Every Friday Thai people beat up the quiet park from Charlottenburg, in order to share the fresh home cooking specialties with you. For just a few euro, one can enjoy different types of roasted meet and stake next to delicious rise and a fresh salad. Fish is also present in different shapes and combinations, for every taste. Whether cooked with vegetables or simply grilled, he is always deliciously silent:)

Vegetarians have a wide range of yummy food to try too – from soups to spring rolls, salads and all sort of other unnamed goodies.  And, as it’s Friday afternoon and you really want to enjoy every moment of it, I suggest you take some fried bananas as desert or maybe some special cake with coconut milk and simply lay on the grass in the sun. Don’t worry if it’s too hot and you’re getting thirsty. The Thai middle-aged ladies that seem to run the business can hardly wait to refresh your afternoon with some cool drinks. And, just in case you’re interested in some cool drinks with alcohol, trust me, they are really generous on that!:)

All around, people are laying on the blankets and enjoy the fresh food and the fresh air. Everything is cooked right under your nose so it smells absolutely inviting.

My friend has told me the Preußenpark is also full with rabbits. Totally used to people, they don’t seem to get scared and run away.It’s true, I saw some carrots thrown away now and there, but there was no living rabbit this Friday. Maybe only cooked:)

I saw an ad in the U-Bahn the other day. Two people were jumping together out of a plane. A short but fascinating feeling, I have experienced 3 years ago. Cross my heart, tandem jumping is a must for any adrenaline lover!

I’ve jumped near Bucharest.  It was a lovely day with a clear sky. The people around me were pretty nervous, but also enthusiastic, preparing to see the Earth from above, to float freely in the sky. The instructors we jumped with were really experienced (more than 5000 jumps each) and tried to release the tension by making silly jokes. For example, they advised one guy to jump first, assuring him that, at some point during his jump, they will catch him and bring him back alive on the ground. The guy seemed suspicious. “Are you sure you’ll catch me?” And all people burst into laughter.

The plane was heading up. And up. And up. Until the colored squares of the field were just like painted eggs on the Easter table. It was like a map, not like a real landscape.

We headed towards the open door of the plane and….1, 2, 3! We were in the aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaair heading Earth with almost 200km/h! Our faces were like crepe paper. The stomach was somewhere closer to my neck and the heart was pumping like crazy! It was an unbelievable feeling of freedom! You could roll up in the air, fall with your head down, everything! With every second, the map was turning into a landscape again.

After almost one minute of free falling, somewhere around 1400m, the parachute was released. The speed became slower and the crazy falling turned into a pleasant floating. It took us 3 minutes at most to get back on the ground. My knees were like chewing gum! But the entire feeling was so great, I could almost feel it again while watching that print in the U-bahn.

Did you every experience this? How did it feel like? Because now, that I know we can do tandem jumps in Berlin, I would really love to try this again. If interested, here’s you could find more information – www.funjump.de.

There’s nothing better but a place full of life. And when I mean life, I mean any type of creature that may, at some point, be in a specific place. In our case, in Berlin.

A short walk through the city reveals the fact that here, the people are never alone.  No matter how it sounds, here, the locals leave in peace with rats, for example. Ratatouille would be proud to know, that his far away cousins are so welcome in here.

No matter how big they are, they are good neighbors, so Berliners seem to love it. Eccentric tastes, if you ask me.

But that’s not everything. Some other people decided their best neighbors are the snakes. No matter how big and dangerous they seem, they are protective and nice. And no, they are not trying to convince no one to taste the apple:)

And the Jungle Book doesn’t stop here.  The bear could not miss from a city whose main symbol is a bear. You can meet in many places and, as long as you want to play and fool around, he’s always ready for a good laugh.

Some fish are fun too. They don’t speak too much, but they are friendly and welcoming. Say hello to Nemo’s uncle!

By the way…I forgot to ask, did he find it?

To me, this city never sleeps. Still, there are some creatures – the rooster for example – that take a nap from time to time, even in the middle of the street.

But the rooster situation is understandable. I don’t think I could wake up at 6 every day just to sing a silly song and pretend I have something important to do.

Last, but not least, we should always be ready for the elephant attack! The artists from Blue and Joy are just preparing a memorable elephant parade. Here’s a sample!

Who said you need to visit an exotic space to have all these inhabitants in the same place? Who said the fish needs water to live or the bear cannot adapt to the city life? It’s all a lie. It just needs a bit of imagination. And Berlin has plenty!

If the wall of Berlin could talk, it would probably tell us more interesting stories than we could imagine and it would share with us some forgotten secrets of this incredible city. And probably, one chapter of its book would be about Devil’s mountain or, as the Germans call it, Teufelsberg.

What now is just an abandoned place marked by graffiti and inhabited by squatters, after the Second World War used to be one of the largest listening stations built by NSA (National Security Agency), to survey the radio emissions emanating from eastern Germany, the GDR, and part of Poland. The base has been closed for years and now Teufelsberg is just an attraction for photographers, film makers or common people coming to enjoy its special acoustic.

In here, on the top of the 115m tower, the sound is more than a sound. Every whisper is a small revolution. Your tiny voice is ten times stronger in the ball built upstairs and a clap of hands sounds like a clash of the titans. The wind brings its own contribution and makes the tower seem to be inhabited by monsters.

“We don’t want just a piece of cake, we want the whole bakery” states a graffiti line written on the wall. If this line would apply for sounds, here it’s totally true.

But it’s not only the sounds that make this place special. It is the entire appearance, its entire underground atmosphere. Plus, the beautiful view from above.

You could stay an entire day and not get bored, while the forest and the lakes you see from up there combined with the strange sounds, make Teufelsberg look like taken out of a happy-end ghost story.

I really recommend you go see this place. It’s quite far, but not really in the Land of Far Far Away. You just need to take the S-Bahn (and a camera:)) until Heerstrasse, and then walk for another 20 minutes near the forest. With a bike, it’s even easier. So… no excuses allowed!:)

I have to tell you something about me. I’ve always loved adrenaline sports. I jumped with a tandem parachute, I did bungee-jumping, I even started a paraglide class few years ago. There are not many things to scare me and most people consider me quite brave.

Buuuuuuut…and here’s a looong buuuut, I must recognize I am afraid of one thing like hell – no, not that I can get abducted by aliens, nor by a natural catastrophe – I am afraid… to ride a bike in the city. That’s it, I said it! It’s ok if you just burst into laughter. All my friends do. They call me chicken and so on.

But really, if I’m riding a bike on the street and I hear a car coming from behind or I see some other bus coming from the other side, I’m simply freezing. For their safety, I don’t recommend kids to get out of the house when I’m riding a bike. Because, out of nowhere, they may get hit by something similar to a lady.

You cannot imagine how I look at all those 5 year old children that ride bikes next to their parents and seem to have no problem with it. Sounds sick, but yes, I envy the 5 year olds!

And, here, in Berlin, everything seems so easy when you have a bike around. You can travel everywhere, without any extra costs. It’s true, maybe the roads are not so bike-friendly as in Copenhagen (that’s what my Danish colleague said) but definitely this doesn’t seem to be a major problem for the bikers.

And, just to show them my appreciation – because they are totally my heroes  – I want to share a tip with them. So, just in case you didn’t know, in May you have the chance to check and repair your bike for free! Here, in Berlin! The Frühlings Check takes place in three different Saturdays and three different locations between 10-17 hours:

– 07th May: Alice-Salomon-Platz (Marzahn/Hellersdorf)
– 14th May: Henriettenplatz / Kurfürstendamm 116  (Charlottenburg/Wilmersdorf)
–  21th May: Kastanienallee / Nähe Schönhauser Allee (Pankow)

So, if your bike has a problem, May is the month to solve it! And, who knows? Maybe meanwhile I’ll get over this anxiety and we’ll meet in there!

Dear Ursula Sladek,

First of all, congratulations for the Golden Prize you received in San Francisco this Monday! That’s really something! But more than just the award, I want to congratulate you for your initiative and for fighting to do the things your way, for believing in your cause.

I wish I could tell you my name, but I don’t have one. Still, you can call me Greeny. I’m a tree from the Black Forest and I live really close to you.  Some say I’m a survivor, because every Christmas, someone looks at me with big interested eyes. But, thanks to the Tree’s God, they realize just in time that I’m not a fir. And, that adding a shiny star on top of me won’t help:)

I write you because I’m a mother too. During my last 30 years I took care of my tiny tree babies all around. I tried to protect them from heavy rain and thunder, from drought or powerful wind. You know how moms are.  There’s only one thing I can never be sure of – the power of man.

In 1986, when the Chernobyl tragedy has happened, I was just a kid. But mom told me what the nuclear power is all about and how it can affect us all.  We were really wondering if someone will ever take this initiative to start a renewable energy company here, in Germany. The wind, the sun, the rivers, they all said they’d be glad to help. They just needed someone to believe in their power. Someone to take the first step.

I can hardly describe how happy we all were when we heard about you and your company – the first renewable energy company in Germany – built not by a corporation, but 100% by your personal initiative and your ability to get the civil society involved. I know you worked a lot for this project, because 20 years may be just a little for the life of a tree, but for a man…it’s pretty much. But, now, that you look around and see almost 100.000 clients using your renewable energy, I bet it feels good! All I can hope both for you and for me is that you will manage to get to 1 million clients until 2015, as you wish.

I don’t want to get you bored anymore with my appreciation. Just wanted to add that, if you’ll ever get around, in a trip with your kids, I’d more than happy to offer you shadow and fresh air!

Best green regards,

Greeny.

What do you think about growing old? I have to admit I can hardly think of me being old without a motorbike and five tattoos on each shoulder. I think I’ll be a hardcore granny walking in dangerous neighbourhoods next to my 2 Pit bulls and a Rottweiler.

Sometimes, though, I am quite afraid of being 70 and helpless. If you have these kind of moments too, than I warmly recommend you one of Virginia’s Monologues performed in the English Theater Berlin (Fidicinistrasse 40) called “Why growing old is great?”.

I’ve seen it last Friday and I have to tell you it was amazing. These monologues written and performed by Virginia Ironside, a 67 year old British journalist, in the small and cozy theater room, made all people choke with laughter.

She told us how she felt when the first pregnant woman offered her place in the bus, she made us familiar with the craft concept (can’t remember a f***ing thing) and presented a typical New Year’s Eve party for 60+. She encouraged old people to take advantage of the public credibility and become drug dealers or, if this is too daring, at least to abuse the special senior prices for a wide variety of services – from museum entrances to free travels. Problems with men seem to be totally solved too once you’re 60+, because you’re too busy taking care of your grandchildren defined as “the reward you get for not killing your own children”.

Victoria’s ability to improvise and involve the viewers in her story made an hour and a half pass in a minute. You could hardly say there was only one person on the stage.

I loved this play from its very beginning to the end. That’s why I’m curious to see more next Saturday, when the “Long night of Opera and Theater” will take place. For more info, check this website http://www.etberlin.de/content/blogcategory/1/32/

Now, not only that the English Theater offers the possibility to see a good play while having a Coke or a beer, but, if interested in doing some volunteer work for them, you can see these plays for free. So think about it! Before getting too old:)