In Berlin gibt es viele Kunstwerke. Egal ob es Graffiti an den Wänden der Gebäude, eine Gedenkstätte oder eine Statue ist: Die Straßen sind voll mit Kunst. Gestern habe ich im Wedding eine tolle Malerei gesehen. Die Farben sind stark und drücken ein gleichzeitiges Gefühl von Chaos und Harmonie aus.

Dieses Kunstwerk lässt einen überlegen, was die Verbindung zwischen Bewusstsein, mentaler Aktivität und der Körperlichkeit des Lebens ist. Ich bin der Meinung, dass das eine wichtige Beziehung ist. Wie viel denkt man über sich nach und warum? Und dazu: Wie oft betrachtet man die Tatsache, dass es möglich ist, überhaupt zu denken?

Der Kopf ist gespalten und die Augen sind ein Labyrinth, in dem man verloren geht. Die Farben der Haut sind schwarz und weiß und stehen im krassen Gegensatz zu denen, die hell sind. Was denkt ihr darüber? Was steckt hinter der Bedeutung, den Kopf zu spalten und die Haut zu kontrastieren?

Mehr als eine ästhetische Aussage fühle ich mich, dass es der Durchgang zur Seele und dem Bewusstheit darstellt, weil man ohne die Seele und das Bewusstsein nicht sein kann. Beide Dinge sind nur durch Verhalten erkennbar und es ist das, was dem Leben die Farben gibt. Die Haut ist überhaupt nicht das Wichtige.

Wir senden euch noch etwas verspätete, gruselige Halloween-Grüße von der DeutschAkademie in Berlin! Habt ihr euch verkleidet am Samstag? :)

Heute war ein schöner Tag. Ich habe meine Lehrerin Petra und die anderen Studenten kennengelernt. In unserem Kurs sind Studenten aus der Ukraine, Russland, Korea, Israel, England, Nord Amerika und Cuba und ich freue mich sehr darauf, mit allen zusammen zu lernen.

Obwohl ich bereits drei Kurse bei der Deutschakademie genommen habe, ist dies mein erstes Mal am Wittenbergplatz. Die Schule ist größer als die andere und die Lage ist für mich sehr interessant.

Heute war ein Flohmarkt gerade außerhalb der Schule. Scheinbar alle Arbeitenden haben eine Pause von ihren Jobs genommen, um draußen in der Sonne zu sitzen und zu essen. Die bekannte Currywurst, Bratwurst, Knolli (die ofenfrische Backkartoffel) und türkisches Essen sind serviert worden. Leider habe ich schon gegessen, deswegen habe ich nur einen frischen Orangensaft getrunken und das hat mir sehr gut geschmeckt und gefallen.

Also, morgen werde ich sehen, ob dieser Flohmarkt jeden Tag stattfindet  oder ob ich etwas anderes besonders erleben werde!

Learning German can be a bit tricky. There are some concepts That You Need To Understand – then from there you can build any sentence you like. HOWEVER, like in all languages, there are some things you did just have to learn.

German Academy knows this, and has some really handy posters featuring some of These Things! They are free in the reception area, and you can put them up at home to help you learn – Especially the irregular verbs.

Thanks for the free grammar posters!

German Academy grammar posters – Free!

Berlin nightlife

When I first moved here, I thought I would taste Berlin’s famous nightlife – clubs and bars. But When I got here I found the story was quite different. Berliners love to make the most of Their summer and spend evenings sitting in Their parks and canals, drinking did famous Berlin beer! The canals are a great place to sit with friends, and to meet some locals – Which is excellent for practicing your German! It got tot he point where a friend visited me and asked ‚wake me to a cool bar‘ and I had to tell her That I have not been to many Actually yet – it has been too nice just sitting outside! A French man once told me the best way to learn French is with wine – and now I think did the best way to learn German is with beer!

I’m afraid this post comes just as the weather is turning cold (Winter is coming) so there will not be so many dreamy evenings on the canal for me, but maybe now I will get to see more of the famous Berlin bars and clubs instead!

sunset over the Berlin canals

Goodbye A1.2!

It’s the end of the month, and so the end of the A1.2 class for me. This class has been the best! I know a month is not a very long time, but I really did feel I’ve made a connection with these guys, and I will be so sad not to see them every day in class! So It is sad to say goodbye to out excellent teacher Paloma, who has made class fun, interesting, and challenging, all the while putting up with my lame attempts at cross language humor!

While I’m sad to lose my class, we will No Doubt keep in contact – and I’m lucky enough to have two classmates going on to A2.1 with me. This class has been great not jut for learning German, but for meeting some wonderful new friends.

So I’ve started the next class!

Here is a picture of our new Deutsch Akademie textbook for level A2.1. These books are great. The have many exercises with clear explanations. The have concise grammar explanations, and tables at the back that cover everything we learn in the books for reference when you need a quick reminder! I plan to copy these out and stick them on the wall where I study, so I can get to know them better!

The books also come with a CD, so you can do listening exercises at home on your own!

Deutsch Akademie Textbook – modelled by Erin

Sweets in class at Deutsch Akademie!

Learning a new language is pretty hard, and sometimes your brain feels so full of new information it feels like it might leak out from your head. Thankfully the lovely people at Deutsch Akademie have prepared for this, and combat the inevitable information overload with the best weapon possible: sugar!

There are always sweets (or ‚lollies‘ as we say in Australia) on the table, and there is a surprisingly good coffee machine in the break area to keep you sharp and focused. There is also a vending machine for snacks, and figuring out how it all works is a good exercise in german conversation!

Sweets at Deutsch Akademie

Deutsch Akademie drinks!

Wednesday night was the Deutsch Akadamie drinks! People from both schools across all level met in a Beer Keller in Hackescher Markt and socialised and drank beer and most importantly for me – spoke German!

It was so much fun putting in to practice all that we had learnt over the last few weeks, and it was far less intimidating to talk to other students that it was to speak to fluent german strangers. I would definitely recommend it to anyone in the course – or anyone thinking of signing up. Being able to make yourself understood in another language – even with mistakes and poor grammar – was so exciting!

Sorry for the terrible pictures, My phone could not handle the lighting there!

Homework in the Tiergarten

Homework can be boring, and it sucks When Summer has gone and you do not want to waste any of the precious few sunny days left in the year! So today I Decided to compromise and take my homework to the park to DO. Much more fun that way!

The Tiergarten is in the Middle of Berlin, and it is massive. The canal runs through it, so there are ducks and boats to look at There are many tourist attractions there -. Including the Brandenburg Gate, Berlin’s Government and diplomatic district, The Berlin Zoo, and right in the middle is the Victory Column – the Victory Column ,

Definitely a good place to spend a sunny afternoon!

Homework is better in the sun! Hanging out at the Tiergarten

There are worse places to spend an afternoon – homework under a tree in the Tiergarten