Happy Birthday Mozart

Yesterday was Mozart's Birthday (January 27, 1756).
Listen to his famous "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik":



Although technically born in Austria, Mozrart considered himself German. Needless to say, Germans proudly love him. Since my time here in Berlin, I've been lucky to see two of his Operas: "Cosi Fan Tutte" and "Requiem". Both were modern adaptations regarding the interpretations, acting and visual performances, but the music, played by full orchestras, was original.

Cosi Fan Tutte is an Italian opera and is light-hearted and funny. I saw it at eWerk, a former power plant turned legendary nightclub. Christopher Hagel, the conductor and director of this piece I saw, is known for presenting wild operatic works in unconventional places: circus tents, houses of worship, subway stations and museums. He brought Mozart to eWerk with Cosi Fan Tutte: Sex, Lies & TV, a modern adaptation of Mozart's opera of infidelity. It portrayed today's eternal game of love, sex and money, sarcastically played out under the influence of the internet and television. It was really good. I laughed a lot, even though I didn't understand a word of what they were saying!

Requiem is Mozart's last work, which he never completed. It's about death and eternal salvation. I saw this one at the Komische Oper, an opera house in Berlin. Sebastian Baumgarten's interpretation combines the music of Mozart's Requiem with the text of "In the Snakepit. Six lifelines." by Armin Petras and Kan Kauenhowen, based on conversations with terminal patients in Berlin led by Kauenhowen himself. The result was a very interesting piece that examines the role of death and its many faces in contemporary Western society. I really really loved this one, even though it was so dark and disgusting. Here is the Lacrimosa from this opera. The tune still haunts me to this moment... I love it:



So yeah. Mozart was pretty cool. I'm going to look for Le Nocce di Figaro next...

The Music Man and the Friendly Dog

Ok. So it's been a long time since my last post. We've been busy with our new apartment, settling in and putting together furniture and all that stuff. It's been fun, but we still have lots to do.

So, here are some things I'd like to share:

The Music Man
On my walk to the train to go to work, I've seen the Music Man twice. The first time I saw him I was heart-warmed. He is this older, jolly looking man playing a music box on the corner of the street. I don't think he was even playing for money. He was just playing. So he's turning this handle and musical notes are floating through the air, you could practically see them! He was so cute. The second time I saw him, I was ready and snapped a picture =)






The Friendly Dog
I got to work early one day and decided to sit at a cafe and have a coffee outside. So I go in and order my stuff - ein latte macchiato bitte. I go out and sit at the table and a golden retriever is tied to the chair of that table, waiting for his owner, who is nowhere to be seen. So I sit. He looks at me. I look at him. He stands up and takes a couple of steps toward me and sniffs about. He drooled a bit on my jacket, but he was nice. Then he sat beside me and just kept me company you know. People walking by smiled at me and some even voiced greetings - "Guten tag" or "Hallo" ... I realized that these people would have paid no attention to me otherwise. It was all because of this dog! Eventually his owner came out of a nearby store. They did some tricks for me and then were on their way.

Our New Apartment!

In just over a week from now, Pauli and I will be moving into our new apartment. It's in Belin Mitte on Kleine Alexanderstrasse. It's on the first floor (one above the ground) of a relatively new building. The building is ten years old, well fabricated and well taken care of. There is a 24 hour doorman service and the courtyard is very sweet. Although the street itself is not very exciting and lacks some of that European charm, as the building is directly across from the Belin Newspaper, the street is very clean, quiet and safe, plus we have a really great view of the TV tower if you poke your head out of the bedroom window. But the very exciting and beautiful Hackescher Markt is just around the corner. Tons of cafes, restaurants, boutiques and nightlife spots awaiting our discovery! Yay! Relative to the city, we are in a great spot, close to everything exciting.

The apartment itself is great. The layout is perfect. It's a two bedroom place, with a semi open kitchen, two full bathrooms and a little balcony overlooking the courtyard. The finish-ings of the apartment are more than acceptable. A tiled entrance and kitchen, newly carpeted bedrooms and hardwood floors in the living area. We have storage space in the basement and a bike room for our bikes in the garage.

Pauli and I have just ordered a bunch of furniture, appliances and accessories for this place, since we came here with nothing. We have spent a lot of money and more expenses are to come, but the excitement of it all makes it worthwhile. Everything we've chosen is because we liked it and we want it. I can't wait to see this all come together. It's definitely a really fun project.

Oh yes! And pets are allowed! I think Jack will love his new home. I also can't wait for his arrival because I miss him so much, everyday =)

So here are some pictures of the place. Of course it's empty and the lighting in this place sucks, so we still have to think about planning the lighting scheme. And the carpets are being pulled out and will be a light gray color as opposed to this blue.

I can't wait to post pictures of it all furnished =)

The floor plan

The building from the courtyard

From the bedroom looking into the apartment

Bedroom

Guest bedroom with an exit to the balcony

Living room with exit to balcony

Kitchen

From living room looking into the apartment

My eyes enjoy...

This week, I took pictures of two sights I'd like to share.

This first picture is of an almost daily market that gets set up on the street near Handjerystrasse. I walk by it on my way to work and I always like it. I'm actually disappointed on the days its not there. I like it because it represents original trade. Merchants set up their tents in the morning displaying all their produce - foods, clothing, jewlery, crafts, trinkets ... And people are gathered all around examining these products and making deals, trading money for a product. The vendors yell out their daily specials as you walk by and the place is bustling and it always smells good. On this day the smell of marinated olives was very present. My favourite are the fresh fruit and vegetable stands.



This second picture is of this evenings' really great sunset. The picture is taken from Pauli's mom's roof top terrace. What a view!

Germany celebrates the fall of the Berlin Wall

"More than 100,000 people celebrated the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on Monday evening, as world leaders gathered in the German capital for emotional commemorations marking the spread of freedom across Europe. Chancellor Angela Merkel joined luminaries past and present to remember when communist East German finally opened the despised concrete barrier on November 9, 1989."

After I finished work on Monday night, I came home to eat and change. The tv was on and we could see live reports of the events at the Brandenburg Gate. There were speeches being given by politicians, concerts by various artists and even local people recounting their stories about their memories of that day. 1000 giant hand painted dominoes had been arranged along a 1.5km stretch of where the wall used to be. They were going to be toppled over during this ceremony and were meant to symbolize the fall of the wall and how Europe's communist regimes toppled one after another. Pauli and I made our way over there shortly after the first domino was pushed over.

The atmoshere when we got to Potsdamer Platz and walked over to the Brandenburg Gate was very festive and happy. People everywhere celebrating freedom. It was great. We drank Gluewine and enjoyed the scenery and celebrations. I ran into my friend Kristin (in the same surprising fashion that we met in Munich!!) and went out for some drinks with her and her friends at the Hackescher Markt.

It was a great night to be in Berlin. I'm so happy I got to experience it!

Some observations...

Since I've been in Berlin, I've noticed a few things I'd like to share. Things that are different from what I know and that surprised me.

1. EBK: stands for einbaukueche which means "installed kitchen". On our apartment search we've realized that we must look for apartments that have EBKs (about 50% have them) otherwise you gotta buy your own kitchen and install it. WTF!? I don't get it. This means that the person living there before took their kitchen with them when they left. Or it means that there are people out there looking for apartments to live in but they have their own kitchen packed up in their boxes. How weird is that?
2. unleashed dogs: Almost everyone in Berlin seems to have a dog. And they all walk obediently beside their owners or just up ahead - unleashed! The dogs wait to cross the street and they seem very aware of the fact that they are walking with their owner. Sometimes I try to get between them to see if I can confuse the dog so that it'll follow me instead. But it never works. The dogs here seem so smart =)
3. credit? : Seems like I live in a cash society now. Plastic is not the most convenient way to pay for things. And credit cards are very different from what I'm used to. A credit card here means that you get to buy things you can't afford but only for 30 days. What ever you put on your credit card during the month you must pay your balance in full when you get your statement! People don't know what a minimum payment is here! I guess it's good ... but it's still weird.

hhmmmmm......

New Hobby

Beginning a new chapter of your life in another country, I think, is a good opportunity to reflect on the things you like, the things you want and how those affect the person you are. So, I decided I wanted a hobby. I've never really had a hobby that I completely committed to. I think hobbies are important. It's something you do for fun, for yourself. I wanted a challenging and useful hobby, one that would encourage creativity and discipline. I picked sewing. My mother can sew and used to make her own clothes when she was a young lady. My grandmother was also an excellent seamstress and I often think about how she sat at her machine and worked. She made us little dresses, hats and house slippers. I recently found out that she also used to crochet bikinis and sold them to a store down the street from her home. Too cute. So because of some sentimentality and the fact that sewing is useful, creative and requires discipline, I decided to learn how to sew. Pauli's mom had an old portable sewing machine she was willing to lend me. I Googled "learn to sew", bought some fabric and materials and there you go. I've started sewing and finished my first project today - a pillow case! I think it's pretty good and I've discovered that I like to sew and envision this as my future hobby. Cool.