A Shot at Life

Hi, friends. I don't know about you, but I'm coming off an exhausting weekend. This morning the fatigue hit me like a truck, and with it the astounding realization that I took not one photo all weekend. Ok, I took two photos, but that may as well be no photos for me. One was of an election advertisement and the other of a band playing at the flea market. And look at everything I did! Drinks and live music, yoga, Turkish market, cafe, errands, clean, cook dinner with friends, bar, other bar for dancing, flea market, eat everything in said flea market, cafe, cheese market, consume a huge plate of cheese and two glasses of wine in said cheese market, bar for another glass of wine, karaoke, late-night Turkish snack at Alexanderplatz. That's 2 musical performances, 3 markets, and 7 neighborhoods in one weekend. I won't even attempt to count the number of glasses of wine. Maybe this is really living- being so caught up in the moments you're experiencing that taking photos of the moments doesn't even cross your mind. I can be down with that from time to time. But since I can't regale you with shots of my fun-filled weekend, I'll throw in some recent gems that got lost in the shuffle. A weekend without pictures is one thing, a photo-less blog post quite another.

Homemade bread at a colleague's house in Israel

Bathroom wall wisdom

Trendspotting on the U-Bahn

"Bowling Abend" with colleagues

Not our living room: Kiki Sol, our new favorite spot in Wedding

Jerusalem: Smoked salmon foccacia for... one?

Cash, Semi-Tourists, and Creepy Dolls

I often feel I am stuck somewhere in between resident and tourist in Berlin. Although I've been here almost a year, and know the city reasonably well, I can't seem to take a walk without snapping a dozen pics of random things like cute cappuccinos, interesting street art, or weirdly placed shoes at metro stops. Not to mention normal tourist things like monuments and parks. It could just be that Berlin is super interesting, or that I am slightly obsessed with taking pictures, but I think it's partly because I don't totally feel integrated and Berlin still fascinates and surprises me sometimes. It's a nice feeling, really, to walk to work or a friend's house and be surprised by something you see. Sometimes all I have to do is take a slightly different route to get where I'm going, and it's like an entirely new section of the city is opened up to me. Sometimes it's just going somewhere that I've thought about going to for months and just haven't gotten my act together to visit- like the district of Wedding, where a good friend just moved. And sometimes, it's being open to going to a place that's totally standard for a friend and totally new for me. Somewhere like a Balkan flea market in the depths of Neukoelln where a semi-famous artist has filmed a music video:

So last Sunday, I happily accompanied my friend Sophie to this gritty, packed, and not at all touristy (or German) market. A nice departure from the usual Mauer Park trip on Sundays which is full of tourists and hipsters. As I rifled through the one euro sweater bins, underwear with weird English phrases on them, bottles of Head and Shoulders, and boxes of mismatched plates and silverware, I tried to blend in and bargain like a local. But the tourist in me couldn't stop whipping out the camera as each creepy doll, cute parent/child scene, and delightfully intercultural moment graced my eyes.

I even got my beloved Goezleme! Not the crispy, greasy version from the Turkish Market, but a softer, creamier version that was, dare I say it, just as good.

 

Market without a name: U7/Grenzallee by Obi Markt at Grenzallee/Naumburger Strasse 33

Four Seasons of the Maybachufer

November 2011

February 2012

May 2012

September 2012

I've been waiting eagerly to post this number of one of my favorite spots in town. Now that I just passed the 10 month mark in Berlin, and it has very much started to feel like the onset of fall, it was finally time. Anyone who's visited me in Berlin (and was around on a Tuesday or Friday) knows this spot, too. It's home to - what else - the bi-weekly Turkish market and my favorite Goezleme. Let's just say I left work a little early yesterday to take my Dad who's in town, and snapped my final shot.

two 4 three

Last Saturday morning I had big hopes of exploring the Winterfeldtplatz Market in a district called Schöneberg before heading to a work meeting that afternoon. Winterfeldtplatz is no Turkish market, in that it's way more organized, clean, and fancy. In other words, not half as much fun, but still cute and a good market fix for this now-working gal who can no longer spend her Tuesday and Friday afternoons stuffing Gözleme into her face and lazing over cappuccinos.

As soon as I exited the train and eagerly rounded the corner to the escalator, I could hear the heavy rain splattering up above. Equal parts patting myself on the back for bringing an umbrella and cursing myself for getting out of bed early to go to a market in the rain, I decided to make the best of it and find a cute café to enjoy a light breakfast. Light because, well, I had already eaten breakfast an hour earlier.

A corner café called Winterfeldt (sensing a pattern here?) that doubles as a Chocolatier caught my eye. I ducked in and treated myself to a cappuccino and croissant. It wasn't the best croissant of my life, but it did the trick, and so did the ambiance. And the delicious house-made chocolate covered almond that sat delicately on the coffee spoon. When the cashier rang up the total as 3 euros ($3.80), I remember thinking, "man, that's cheap." The thing is it's not really, not for Berlin standards, but it is for me when you consider a comparable order in a comparable cafe in DC would probably cost $5 or $6. Not to mention there are basically no independent cafés I know of in DC that are as cute.

Later that evening, I met Kelly to go to a dub-step concert (more on that later) and we were scouring the back streets of Neukölln for a quick pre-show dinner. We found ourselves in a neighborhood without many options, but spotted an adorable café-slash-ice cream dealer with live music that was offering a vegetarian buffet. Now let me be specific on what I mean by buffet. There were indeed a variety of dishes available for everyone to choose from, and yes, you could take as much and go back as often as you wanted. But the dishes were small and the options limited for American standards. I remember a caprese salad, tabbouleh, some other salads, hummus, soup, bread, rice pudding... plenty for a quick dinner and we only went back once, for dessert. It was all the buffet I needed. And all for... you got it... 3 euros.

Warming the House with Brunch and Glühwein

Shortly before heading back to DC for Christmas, I had some Berlin friends over to the apartment for the first time for a makeshift housewarming party. I hosted a brunch, partly because I think brunch is an easy meal to host and partly because I don't know if I'm ready to risk an evening party in my building where the mean age is 72 and the mean bedtime 8pm.

There were 6 of us in total and we spent a couple hours lounging around, sipping mimosas, and eating entirely too much food since I had decided to cook for an army. Among other things, I made some Algerian felfel and for the next 4 days was hit with the smell of roasted peppers and garlic when I entered the apartment.

After brunch, 3 of us decided to check out the Schloss Charlottenburg Weihnachtsmarkt which is supposed to be one of the nicest in the city. We were not disappointed! The market was beautiful, the lights sparkling, the Glühwein flavors varied. My pictures are unfortunately not of the highest quality because my camera was broken and I had to use my iPad. Which, by the way, is pretty awkward. Whipping out an iPad for a casual picture is not discrete. Still I love my iPad so much, thankyoumomdadjuliazachalexdaniel!

Brunch:

Schloss Charlottenburg Market:

Anna, Kelly, and I enjoying Glühwein of the Bratapfel (baked apple) and Himbeer (raspberry) varieties: