Days of work and Xmas markets

This is how I spend these days: First working at ver.di, trying to improve the history website ;) Then back home to Emil the cat to feed him (took me ages to discover he likes minced meat best to hide his medicine in - and turkey), and then back to Berlin center and one of the more than sixty (60!) Xmas markets.
Yesterday it was the one around Gedächtniskirche, where I saw the tree being decorated a few days ago. It's lovely, with people strolling around the cabins, drinking mulled wine, buying presents for their friends. They have all kind of handicraft, and traditional Xmas cakes and cookies from all over Germany.
Today I'll try Potsdamer Platz, and tomorrow most probably the very best, well, at least the poshest: Gendarmenmarkt.
To have a glimpse into all the Xmas markets (not only Berlin, but all over Germany), click here!

Xmas in Finland

Sunday it took me only 45 minutes to get to a finnish Xmas market. No flights needed; I walked it. The finnish congregation had organized a lovely bazar in the Finland center in Kreuzberg, with delicacies I had missed so much lately, and even traditional finnish Xmas dishes. I had to have it, all of it, the ham and the liver pie and the carot pie, and the herring salad. And to top it all, the joulutortut with freshly made glögi - mulled wine. :)
I was pondering whether I should buy a handwoven carpet, or some decorations, or a mumin calendar, but only took some Paulig Juhla mokka, Fazer rye bread, and Auran sinappi (mustard). And some homemade pulla. I enjoyed talking with nice people, all in a xmassy mood, had a great time, and should go there more often. Definitely. Maybe even learn the language there?
Afterwards I went to the Baden-Württemberg wine tasting at Tempelhof airport. It was for free, and it was a lot. I chose a few wines I had never drunk before, like pinot blanc de noir, and lemberger weißherbst. Not too much, though, the glögi had been quite enough already. ;)

We are soooooo funny!

Worldwide studies about laughter and jokes show that Germans laugh most. Incredible! But have a look and a laugh for yourself (especially when from Germany) here.
And check the Quirkology site by the same scientist as well! Pretty surprising experiments showing a lot about your personality. I did a few tests myself. There's a test running right now on people and pets. Join in!

Eat more chocolate and save the planet!

Chocolate is a wonderful thing, but how can it help combat global climate change? Cocoa trees — the source of chocolate — grow well in rainforests, and rainforests store carbon. So researchers are working to help preserve the forest and to grow more chocolate. Check here.
And I'm helping by eating lots of chocolate, so they need more cocoa, and grow more cocoa trees. ;)

Once upon a time

Not long ago, less than 200 years, when there was no photography yet, it was hard to imagine what had happened around the world. There were of course newspapers writing about it. But without pictures or paintings!
So early in 19th century, when lithography had been invented, smart printers in Neuruppin decided to use this new method which allowed easy and cheap printing, to have drawings of historical events and interesting topics printed, coloured by women and children working at home (for very low salaries), and sent to shops all over Europe where they were sold for 3 Pfennig the piece. Not much, but a servant or a farmer's maid had to work a day or more to buy one.
So they were very proud to have one or two of these prints in the family, and were envied by the neighbours.
The publishers made a fortune, and Neuruppin became famous throughout Europe. Unfortunately they were well known also for their poor knowledge of foreign languages. Even today in Denmark very poor danish is called "ruppinsk". ;)
But have a look for yourself and admire the often marvellously drawn, printed, and coloured pieces here!
How comes I know about all this? I went to an exhibition at Mediengalerie in the printers' house at Dudenstraße last night. And they told me!

Santa Claus at work

Lunchtime at ver.di means everybody is going down to the cafe to enjoy a good meal, either traditional, vegetarian or healthy.
Now this week we had special treats like goose, potato dumblings, and cabbage, and a very special person to give them to us: Santa Claus came to work here, and the lucky ones even got some sweets since we had been working so hard. ;)

Xmas market at ver.di!

Monday and Tuesday I was not in my office, but learning how to use the new windows programs they gave us in a school close to former Checkpoint Charly.
So it was quite a surprise to me to find there was a xmas market in our entrance hall at ver.di. They sell lovely decorations made by disabled people at "Mosaik".
I had to buy a wreath decorated with red ribbons which looks great on my office wall. Maybe I should bring some candles from home and make working in dark November and December evenings cosier. Maybe a few cookies as well?

Turkey in Schöneberg

Lots of my neighbours are from Turkey, in my street more than half of them. Almost all the bakeries and fruit shops are owned by turkish people, and quite a few stores selling wedding dresses, lamps, you name it, they got it. Not to forget the restaurants and döner places selling delicious dishes to reasonable prices.
Kreuzberg and Neukölln are known around the world as famous places for turkish people to live in Berlin, you almost feel like being in Istanbul when you walk around there, with all the signs in turkish, not in german. But Schöneberg is catching up fast. Have a look at the sign I saw in front of a new restaurant at Akazienstraße!
I didn't know before the turkish word for potato was almost the same as in suebian: "krombirre", "grundbirne" = earth pear! In northern Germany we call it Erdapfel = earth apple. And it seems to be a favourite dish in Turkey sold at special shops, like Otantik Kumpir. You live and learn...
What I did on sunday? Meet Heike and Andreas from Stuttgart at the main station, sitting in the bavarian restaurant, chatting the hours away. And I met Fernande from Finland (Hämeenlinna - I was there in July 2006) in Spandau. We surfed Berlin a bit later, had great food in my favourite indian restaurant "Rani", and some mulled wine at "Leuchtturm". She's from Düsseldorf, like me. It's a small world!

Berlin is getting ready for Xmas

A short trip downtown to Berlin west city center to do some weekendshopping - and I was surprised to see the Xmas tree is already up at Gedächtniskirche. It was decorated when I passed by.
Everybody is used to Xmas cookies sold as soon as we're back from summer holidays. But Xmas markets used to open around four weeks before Xmas. In Berlin, they are built up already. Well, I wouldnt be astonished to find Easter eggs as soon as the Berlin Xmas market at Gedächtniskirche closes down - in January 2008.

After a week of work

It's nice to start the weekend with a candle light dinner. I had it in the pub "Leuchtturm" across the street, and decided for soul food - maultaschen soup, a suebian dish - to remind me of Stuttgart, my first home. It was lovely, indeed, and made me forget about the problems I had this week.
I had caught a virus and felt really bad for a day or so, like almost everybody around. Emil, my huge, but sweet and shy tomcat, had had a heart attack, and has to take his medicine regularly now. After a few tries how to feed it best, I found his favourite food is ham, and hide the globuli in a few bites which he gulps down with pleasure.
He should live on with this treatment for quite some years, the vet told me. Cross your fingers he will. He's less shy now than he used to be, and even starts to be curious and play. :)
And now: Off to some work in the house, and then on to Berlin shopping life. I'll try to meet a few friends as well. Heike and Andreas are coming from Stuttgart! Great!!

Make it cheap, cheap, cheap!

Dä Hoppeditz is wedder da! Helau!

We made it! We woke him up! At 11:11 h am. Well, the carneval fans in Düsseldorf did. In Berlin, the day was slightly different. I tried to have as much tradition from my hometown as I could get in Prussia. Which meant: Cologne style, not Düsseldorf. Well. Ok. We can manage.
On my way to carneval at Gaffel-Haus, where they would show the carneval party at Heumarkt in Cologne, snowflakes covered me from head to toe. I might have done a snowman as disguise. ;)
Instead, I had put on my Düsseldorf-t-shirt and decorated my curly hair with an easter wreath. Nothing much, but daring in a pub where almost everybody was from Cologne. When they saw me, the DJs changed the music from Cologne carneval songs (which everybody knows by heart and sings with all the feeling he can put into them) to "Altbier macht blöd" (you'll become stupid by drinking Düsseldorf beer). Sigh.
Anyway, my collegue Doris and I had lots of fun, and if you happened to watch tv last night, Pro 7, you might have seen us. Singing and dancing and laughing.
More news on carneval this year? Have a look here. Listen to the music and sing along! Alaaf!

All of a sudden it was winter!

November 11th is supposed to be the time to wake up winter. At 11:11 h precise. He seems to have been a bit early this year.
Saturday afternoon, at 14:45 h, I saw the first snowflakes in Kreuzberg. Half an hour later, when I stepped out of the bus at home, the snow was falling fast, the world had turned white. Later I read Germany hadn't had such an early and heavy snowfall since fifty years.

Old traditions

Today it's the day of St. Martin. A very special day in Germany once, when contracts ended and new started, and taxes had to be paid.
It was a day to have a special meal, as well, if you could afford it: goose, potatoe dumblings, and cabbage or brussel sprouts. They still serve this dinner in restaurants all over Germany today. And it still is very expensive.
But mostly, it was a day for the children to celebrate. When I was about six, I joined the fun for the first time. All the kids of the school and congregation met early in the evening as soon as the sun had set, and had a parade through the town center with self made paper lanterns (only poor families had pumpkins), singing traditional songs. Sometimes a man would ride a horse in front of the parade, he represented St. Martin, giving away half his coat to the poor freezing beggar.
Later we went home in small groups, stopping at all the houses, ringing the bells, singing songs that were only sung with this asking for gifts (called "Grippschen"), and were offered apples and nuts by the neighbours. At home, a plate filled with more sweets and fruit was set up for each child, and we all got a special cake that was only made and given on this day, similiar to a gingerbreadman: weckmann.
More on these traditions, still alive in Rhenania, f. e. Düsseldorf and Cologne, you' ll find here.
And the very next day, November 11th, it's time to wake up Hoppeditz, the fool and winter man, and start the carneval season.
Prussia is not the place for this tradition, originally, it started in Düsseldorf, and is celebrated all over Rhenania now. With all the people from Rhenania moving to Berlin when it became the new german capital and the government went there from Bonn, the traditions were taken over as well. I'm from Düsseldorf, but since I'm living in Berlin now, I'll help doing it here.
So tomorrow, at 11:11 am we'll start singing, dancing, drinking, having fun in the middle of Berlin. I love carneval!

Here comes the sun

A weak winter sun, but all the same!
This is Berlin, seen from my office at ver.di. Quite a view! I always enjoy it when looking up from my desk filled with work.
After a weekend of grey skies, falling temperatures, and Berlin people taking over to iceskating and sledgeriding at Potsdamer Platz winter wonder land, it is all I can wish for.
No arts and events for me then: I fell asleep Saturday late afternoon and woke up again Sunday morning, still rather tired. But it looks like now my cold is almost gone. Nice!

Evenings of songs and arts

Yesterday evening at ver.di, we celebrated 25 years of trade union choir "IG Peng". Their songs on historic fights during those years reminded me of the work I had done in the 80s, supporting fighting for a better life with singing and cultural programs in Stuttgart, in my trade unions IG Druck und Papier and IG Medien as well as with the friends of the nature, "Naturfreunde". I should do it again...
Tonight I'm invited to enjoy arts in the "Nacht und Nebel" exhibitions and performances in Neukölln. I'll be there for sure, and I'm looking forward to meeting artists again whose paintings I had bought a few years ago.
I will not be able to stay until the very late end though, because tomorrow morning there's a ceremony at the memorial center of concentration camp Sachsenhausen to which I'm invited because of my work in the ver.di archive.
Looks like a busy weekend. :)

Days of the dead

The last day in October and the first days in November are the days of the dead in Europe, since more than two thousand years. The traditions have changed over the centuries, and even during the last years. What used to be silent days, families visiting the graves of their ancestors, bringing flowers and candles that burn for days and nights, and praying for their loved ones, changed into party time at Halloween.
Even in Berlin children were given sweets in the shops yesterday ("trick or treat?"), a custom that used to be done in Germany around November 10th when I was a kid, on "Martinstag". Those were the days, and the old customs vanish.
Today, I thought of my dear tomcat Gustav, who died on October 18th, and was cremated last Monday. His ashes were brought in the evening. In a plastic box! Times have changed for sure.