The Liquidrom is located in Kreuzberg.  When the sounds and people of Berlin get a bit too much (although I never find that – even though it’s such a big city, I always find the city’s vibe to be the opposite of hectic), you can get away to this spa/sauna sanctuary.  It’s famous for its warm, salt-water pool lit with laser lights where you can float around to various kinds of music.  During most evenings, they have live DJs who spin either techno, minimal, or as we heard last night, minimalistic jazz.  The cool thing is as you dip your head underwater, the music follows and the floating sensation with the music and lights is quite harmonizing.  There are also two saunas, steam, Himalayan salt room and an outdoor hot tub. Don’t forget that in Germany, the sauna areas are designated as “no textile areas” – so get comfortable with your body (and with everybody else’s) and get naked.  We went there around 9pm and stayed till about 11pm – 2 hours costs around 20 Euros per person.  Day passes cost around 30 Euros per person but the place is open from about 10am – 1am.  (Liquidrom, Möckernstraße 10, 10963 (S-Bahn Anhalter Bahnhof, U-Bahn Mockernbrucke)

After relaxing at the Sauna, we hit the livelier part of Kreuzberg at Gorlitzer Bahnof.  We tried to find a place that was still serving food at that late hour.  Our luck came through when we found Baraka, a lovely Moroccan/Egyptian restaurant near Lausitzer Platz.  After a delicious and very affordable meal (although they don’t serve alcohol), we bundled up again and walked over to Soju Bar.

Soju Bar reminded me of La Esquina in New York, where you had to go through a “fake store front” to the actual bar. The way in is though the fast food looking joint called Angry Chicken.  Down the stairs and you are in a cool, small bar made to look bigger with tactically placed mirrors and street signs to make you feel like you are in Tokyo/Seoul/Hong Kong. (SOJU Bar, Skalitzer Strasse 36, Berlin – 10999)

We called it a night around 3 a.m. and the best was taking the tram back home.  At around 3:15 am, the tram was just as packed as it was at 2:00 pm in the afternoon, full of young people but not idiots, no morons, no one puking in a corner – just people smiling, chatting and coming home after a good, cold wintery night out in Berlin.

We are currently learning about German history, including its legal and political structure.  I find the topic very interesting actually, but I could tell this was going to be a tough time with my classmates – well, I guess only with the Russian.  Every 5 minutes, he interrupts the teacher with “In Russia, we do blah blah..” and “In Russia, blah blah”.  Okay, of course I’m interested in also learning about how things operate in Russia – but not now – not when we are supposed to be learning about Germany and we are supposed to cover quite a lot of material (a high school history class) in about 11 days!

Soon enough we started talking about personal freedoms and we started discussing the NPD, the Neo-Nazi Party here in Germany.  It’s actually pretty astonishing that it still hasn’t been banned (there has already been a couple unsuccessful attempts to ban the NPD and another one is just awaiting the Constitutional Court’s decision). For the first time, the entire class seemed to be on the same page re the Neo-Nazi Party and certain class members shared some very moving stories about their own personal encounters with Neo-Nazis in Berlin and around. 

Still talking about personal freedoms, one student asked about the Gay Parade in Berlin and how that was permissible considering the costumes people were wearing.  I mean, how could children see those kinds of things?  I held back from rolling my eyes. 

All of a sudden the Russian got very excited and he said “Nazis are better than gay people.” – I couldn’t believe my ears.  Say what?? ARE YOU SERIOUS?  I mean, most of us roll our eyes at his comments anyway and we just let them slide – but not something like this.  I asked him what he said and he was hesitant to repeat it – he sort of danced around the subject but then blurted out that he had two sons and was against “it”.  I told him he was speaking such stupid nonsense that I didn’t even know where to begin.  Welcome to Germany and welcome to the wonderful laws that exist in this country where everyone’s freedom is protected, thank goodness, from people like you. 

How do you knock sense into someone this late in the game? He’s around 50 years old already and so stubborn.  Is it my job to educate him?  Is it my job to inform him that homosexuality isn’t a choice?  Is it my role to explain this all to him in a language that I don’t speak fluently yet? I know people have some messed up opinions sometimes, but either they keep them to themselves (which has its own issues) or they learn to adapt to the new culture and laws of the country they are living in.  (Homosexuality is still “illegal” in Russia)  I got so frustrated, it took me over 30 minutes to calm back down again, while the teacher just calmly kept on going with discussing maternity laws and pension benefits.  I really wonder how she keeps her cool sometimes. 

Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Case in Point: The Other Afghan

I still don’t know too much about him as he arrived in our class mid-way through September.  He kind of looked like a hipster/skater dude with the VANS sneakers and wild, ruly hair so I was a bit surprised when he said “Ich komme aus Afghanistan”.  I was so excited – I nearly clapped my hands with joy! We were getting out numbered with Iranians in the class so another Afghan was truly welcome!

During break-times, I have gotten to know him a little better – and I’ve grown to admire him – from being pushed around in Iran, to being jailed in Afghanistan to having his parents arrested (last week!) – it’s a life that I do not wish to know but need to be exposed to in order to be reminded of how much we should appreciate what we have and the freedoms we enjoy.

I started to get to know him during our class breaks (when the Russian was busy fighting with everyone over the amount of fresh air that we needed to circulate in the room).

Our first conversation ended up with him telling me that he grew up for a majority of his childhood in Iran, where he was constantly stigmatized and discriminated against.  He said that Afghans were treated very badly by Iranians.  He wanted to go to school badly but the Iranians forbid Afghans from attending school.  Break-time was over and we were back at the German books, me with a very strange feeling in my stomach.

The second time we got a chance to talk, I asked him about Afghanistan and what it was like to live there.  I was excited to hear about “my” country from someone who had been there not long ago (and not on military duty).  He shook his head and said it was a disaster.  He was from Herat, which is supposed to be one of the cities not as badly affected by the internal violence.  He said it was like a wild west, where any idiot with a gun could do whatever they wanted.  There was no law, order or peace.  He said people lived in fear.  There were gansters everywhere who did whatever they wanted, stole land from people, stole women, sold drugs and none of the international troops stationed there had made the situation better.  He told me he was in prison for 8 months, the first of those months he was beaten and tortured and kept in solitary confinement until his wounds were healed enough for him to be released in the general prison population.   He never knew why he got arrested.  He laughed it off and I could see in his eyes the barrier he had set up for himself in his mind – to never let his thoughts dwell on that period for long.

We talked again last week and this time he was excited and happy – his parents, who were still in Iran, finally made it to Greece and they were going to try to make the boat trip across to Italy.  This was all illegal of course.  They were trying to escape to come join him in Germany and have a better life.  Of course, I always hear about the illegal immigrants coming over on boats, etc. but I had never really met anyone who had done it or had family in that situation.  He said that he would know in 4 days if they would make it.  As we headed into the weekend, I kept thinking about him and his parents and hoping they would make it into Italy…as illegal as it may be.

When we talked last, during a break from learning the Akkusative and Dative prepositions for verbs in German,  he was sad.  I was scared to ask why.  His parents had been caught on the boat and they had been arrested by Greek police.  He had no idea which prison they were in and no way of reaching them.  To add to the problems, they were in their 70s and they didn’t speak English, much less Greek.  I couldn’t imagine what he must have been going through.  I could only mumble all my offers of help, in whatever way I could before the bell rang again and we were back to learning German.

On one of the first days of class, as soon as she found out I was Canadian, she immediately asked if I knew how to speak French.  I laughed and told her in my broken French “Oui, juste un petite peu” (which really is just a little bit because I’ve forgotten nearly all my French) – but this “petite peu” somehow translated to “I speak French fluently” to the Cameroon girl because from that moment on, she spoke to me pretty much only in French and kept asking me to translate from German to French!  Geezuz!

During class, we work on certain tasks where we are supposed to talk to each other in German and just practice speaking.  No matter how nice she is, I hate working with the Cameroon girl.  She won’t speak to me in German and she’ll go off tangent and start speaking in French to me and get mad at me for not speaking to her back in French.  Sure I can understand a little bit, but it confuses the hell out of me and it’s so basic that it’s better to speak in German.  No matter how many times I ask her to please speak in German, she always pouts and says that I speak all the other languages with my other classmates but I refuse to speak French to her.  How many times do I have to tell her it’s because I DON’T SPEAK FRENCH!

The last time we worked together, instead of doing the assignment we were supposed to do she proceeded to tell me that she was quite pissed off that the Afghan guy was sitting in her spot.  She had to sit next to me near the back of the class when she usually sits in the front.  She went on and on about this, how she told him that’s her spot, that she needs that spot because she has bad eyes and how he keeps sitting there and she hates it and wonders why no one else sits in other people’s spots.  And this is coming from someone who comes to class late all the time and sometimes brings her 4 year old daughter with her to cIass so we can all babysit her together (that’s a whole other story).  I  kept telling her to just get to class on time and maybe she could get her spot – but there also really is no “fixed” spots.  We aren’t in Grade 1 for goodness sakes! She just kept rolling her eyes and saying “But it’s my spot!”.  Like what am I supposed to say or do?  And why am I wasting my German learning time where I am supposed to be practicing our German vocabulary on this stuff?  Argggh!

My background: I’m Canadian, ethnically Afghan and a lawyer in Canada.  I have two university degrees and have lived in a few different countries.  I speak English, Farsi, Spanish, a bit of French and now German. Generally, we Canadians are polite, non-confrontational and respectful of others’ opinions and personal space.

My classmates’ background:

• Number of students: 18
• Ages 24 – 65
• Countries represented: Cameroon, Afghanistan, Philippines, Iran, Bangladesh, Sweden, Iraq, China, Russia, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Chile, France, United Arab Emirates
• Professions represented: Tailor, Waitress, Housewife (6), Mechanic, Salesperson, Student, Consultant, IT

Something new happens every day so I will just start writing about the interesting ones on here as they happen so you can have a taste of what I go through every day!  Some incidents are funny, some are astonishing, some are racist, some are just silly…but this is real life…

This is a course that is pretty much required for anyone wanting to live permanently in Germany (except for certain citizens – Canadians, Americans, Australians, etc.)  I’m taking it because I want to learn German and the German government subsidizes half of the cost so it is really affordable. Most of the rest of my class though is not paying for the course; most are on on welfare so the course is paid for by welfare.  They are required to attend school every day in order to legally be able to stay in Germany.

Incident 1: The Russian and his Windows

Every day, we have two breaks during our class.  These are short 10 minute breaks for us to get a coffee, have a bathroom break or go smoke (as most people in Germany still do).  As I was coming back to the classroom during one of these breaks, I noticed that both windows in the class (large windows) were open even though it was freezing outside (remember we are in Berlin).  I noticed the Iranian girl and the Cameroon girl were shivering so I asked them if they would like me to close the windows.  They said, “Yes, please!” so I went to shut the windows, when suddenly the Russian (a man around 50 years) yelled at me not to shut them and that the room was really stuffy.  He yelled that we needed to air out the room and how important that was for our health.  I looked at the shivering girls and noticed the Chilean, the Kosovo woman and the other Russian woman were also cold.  I told the Russian man calmly that the girls were cold and that I was going to close the window.  I also mentioned that if he needed some more fresh air that he could go downstairs and go outside.  The Cameroon girl took my comment as a lead to start criticizing the Russian for opening the windows in the first place.  The Russian started yelling back at her that if she didn’t like the cold that she should go back to Africa where it was hot.  I just went back to my seat and wondered why the heck this was such a big deal.  Normally people ask others if they don’t mind if the windows are opened.  How could the Russian be so blind and ignore that half the people in the room were freezing?  He proceeded to play a French song loud on his phone’s speakers in the class while others were trying to have conversations. *sigh*  This was “break” time.

Potsdam is a historically rich city – from the Prussian Kings who lived here to its significance in hosting Churchill, Stalin and Trumen during the Potsdam Conference post World War II.  Not only that but I had heard a lot about Potsdam – that it was this beautiful, quaint little town (although it is the capital city of the state of Brandenburg) but I was waiting for the perfect day to check it out.  Although the weather in the summer is perfect for a trip to Potsdam, sometimes there are so many tourists that it makes it really uncomfortable to see the sights.  But this October day was perfect.

To get there:  we hopped on the S7 train from Hackesher Markt and that took us straight to Potsdam, although we were on it for about 45 mins.  We took our bikes with us so that we would be able to get around quickly in the city.  Although Potsdam is small, you can’t really explore it by foot.  Bikes are a great option.

Our first stop was one of the famous “quarters” in Potsdam: the Dutch quarter. This is about a 4-block area that was built in 1734 to be used by Dutch craftmen who settled here.  It was pretty crazy that the whole Dutch architecture was transported to Potsdam.  Yes, it is quite touristy here but it was just super neat to see.

Then we continued our bike ride and came across the craziest thing.  All of sudden the landscape became flat and all these wooden farm-house types of buildings surrounded us.  There weren’t that many of them but it felt like we had just been transported again – this time…to Russia!  Yes, we were in the Russian colony.  This colony of 13 wooden houses were built in 1826 as a special request of the Prussian King, Friedrich Wilhelm III to house Russian immigrant singers.  Totally nuts.  We continued along the road on the way to a beer garden on the lake when we stumbled upon an old Stasi prison.  There are so many interesting reminders of Germany’s turbulent past everywhere – and sometimes they exist right alongside Germany’s more rich and beautiful past.  Here in this stunning, picturesque UNESCO town, there’s a Stasi prison used during DDR times to quell any anti-government citizens, Germans or Sovients.  They were kept here, tortured, interrogated, convicted or sent off to Soviet labour camps.  It was really eerie.    A picture of the cell block is below plus a picture of one of the punishment cells.

After that heavy stop, we continued along to Cecilenhof beer garden, enjoyed lunch overlooking one of the many lakes Potsdam hosts.

I love how close Potsdam is to the craziness of Berlin.  It’s nice to know you can get out of the city in a 40 minute train ride and be surrounded by truly idyllic surroundings.  But again, Potsdam also has its own craziness – even while we were there the Gardens and the castles were still packed with tourists.  I would recommend checking out Potsdam during the week if possible.  And, really, don’t forget your bike.  It made the sightseeing so much more enjoyable!

Day Trips from Berlin: Potsdam

**Just a note that this is the newer Staatsbibliothek on Potsdamer Strasse – not the one on Unten den Linden.

As soon as I arrived at the Staatsbibliothek I knew there was something different about this particular library.  There was a security checkpoint, a large glass barrier, lockers, a coat check and a beautifully designed building.  Hmmm…you know you’re in Germany!  The cost of entering this highly protected chamber of books – 25 Euros per year or 10 Euros per month – no discounts or reductions.  It turned out that there were a couple of architects who were just about to go on a tour of the building so I joined in – at least that way, I could take a look at what I would be paying for.

The library was designed by Hans Scharoun and Edgar Wisniewski (thanks to the architects on the tour). It’s an incredibly open building with few doors or closed spaces, but many levels and a lot of natural light.  In the photo before the jump, those circles in the main room on the ceiling are actually skylights all along the ceiling to let in as much natural light as possible.

Then the librarian showed us the coolest thing – one of Beethoven’s original symphonies and an excerpt from one of Goethe’s original texts – stored in a glass cabinet in the library.  HOLY CRAP.  I was sold right then.

I bought my yearly membership for 25 Euros.  I got my library card, the standard information pamphlets and a clear plastic bag and that was it.  I had no idea what to do next.  I saw there were lockers and a coat rack but had no idea as to what exactly I was allowed to bring in and what I was supposed to do with the clear plastic bag? Ugh – the annoying things about being in a different country!

Putting on a nice smile and a sympathetic face, I asked the friendly Berliner library worker standing behind the coat rack in my best German – “Uhhm excuse me what are the lockers for?” – of course, I used the wrong word for lockers and the Berliner’s face turned to stone and just stared at me stating “Schliessfach!” – “okay thanks, now I know the word for “locker” in German – uhm how do I used them?”.  Another angry stare and then, “EIN Euro!”. The Canadian in me can’t let up, “okay, thanks so much for your help.  I really appreciate it! Have a great day!“  And I just got a cold angry stare in return….oh well, that’s a Berliner for you!

So to save you the trouble of figuring this out, apparently, you go to the lockers, drop in your 1 Euro, lock everything up (your coat, purse, backpack, etc.) and only take in the things you want to work on (books, notebooks, papers, laptop – no cover) in the plastic bag.  The library is massive and there are plenty of worktables and desks.  The best thing is that there is no talking – none is tolerated.  It’s really a great place to concentrate and do your work.  No eating, no drinking, no phones, no sounds at all…except for the odd krinkle of a plastic bag. 

Beautiful Beach of Sellin on Rugen Island

We were looking for a quick and easy getaway from Berlin – to get a bit of sun and sand (assuming the sun would cooperate).  I was skeptical about going up north.  I really couldn’t imagine Germany having beautiful beaches – I mean, if Germany had its own beautiful beaches then why are the Germans always flocking to Mallorca and Malaga in Spain?  We decided to give it a try anyway- the weather has been unpredictable this summer so in case the beach didn’t work out, at least there were a few beautiful towns with medieval architecture nearby.

We decided to try Rugen Island although we had also heard great things about Usedom Island.  There are a few towns/beaches to choose from on Rugen – the main 3 being: Gohren, Sellin and the most well-known, Binz.  We opted for Sellin as it seemed to be a bit quieter than Binz but still with a beautiful beach.  Although it was super last minute and the peak of the tourist season in Germany (school is out for the kiddies and everyone is taking their summer vacation), we had no problem finding an affordable room at Villa Subklew just steps from the water.

After a 2 1/2 hour drive – a bridge conveniently connects the mainland to Rugen Island – we were in Sellin.  What a quaint, cozy seaside town!  Although clearly a family destination, the beach was beautiful and the little town and restaurants charming.  We especially loved the fish stands with their “Fisch Brotchen” – little fish sandwiches of all different kinds, smoked salmon, mackerel, etc.  Lunch was affordable for a “tourist” town – a beer and a fish sandwich cost about 6 Euros!

The beach has these little huts – cabins that you can reserve per day (around 6 Euros) or per week.  I just love how organized the Germans are!  But remember, if you want to get one of these for the day, you better get there as soon as they open up shop otherwise you may be out of luck!

Basket Cabins on Sellin Beach

The next day we headed to Binz – only about a 10 minute drive from Sellin.  Definitely way more developed and way more people.    Although we didn’t have a place booked, it only took 15 mins or so of inquiring to find an available room, even during peak season.  Prices were a bit higher and Binz had less of the quaint, seaside town feel to it.

Binz

After having another lucky sunny day at the beach in Binz…and surviving all the kids running around – we took a little detour on our way home to check out the remnants of an eerie Third Reich Building in Prora (about a 10 minute drive from Binz).

Prora

The concrete, eerie housing blocks stretch out along a beautiful beach, providing quite the contrast.  The Prora Resort was built by the Nazis around 1936-1939 and was meant to be a holiday resort for the average working family.  The intended capacity was 20,000 people and each room had a view of the sea, making the entire building over 4 kilometers long!  It was never finished due to the start of the war.  More recently, it has been used for some random purposes – housing soldiers, housing refugees, etc. but it just sort of sits there crumbling away.  Recently one of the housing blocks was made into a youth hostel but the rest of the buildings are abandoned.

I think you used to be able to wander inside the buildings before but they’ve now boarded everything up.  Sort of a dilemma as to what you can do with these buildings – tear them down and deal with cleaning up all that concrete? Or leave them there as an eyesore on an otherwise beautiful beach?  Or renovate them into a cool, new hotel but renovating an old Nazi building is also a bit of a touchy subject…guess we’ll just have to stay tuned.

Either way, with that we hopped into the car and were back in the heart of Berlin in 2 1/2 hours! Love how close interesting things are in Europe!

A typical office during Stasi time – preserved pretty much exactly in the same condition as it was used in.

For a Saturday afternoon in July, the museum was fairly quiet – adding to the building’s eerie atmosphere.  I only imagined how many people used to work here – snooping through the immense volume of data and information the surveillance officers would bring in.  Everyone was a spy in the time of the DDR.  At the time of the regime’s collapse, the Stasi employed approx 102,000 employees, but then there were also the unofficial Stasi informers (or just regular, every day spies) which in total were around 500,000 (although no one really knows the real number).  This was around 1 informer per 6.5 citizens!  Imagine, it was pretty reasonable to guess that you had a Stasi informer in your group of friends!

The best was taking a peek at the offices of Erich Mielke, former head of the Stasi from 1957-1989.  For the head of the secret service of a socialist state that promoted equality among all citizens, his office sure did look lush.

Office of Erich Mielke

Just like everything the Germans do, organization is key when it comes to spying.  In addition to setting up secret cameras and microphones pretty much everywhere (hotel rooms, apartments, bathrooms, along the street, etc.), they also kept track of suspicious persons’ scents.  There were rows and rows of shelves full of jars with a piece of cloth in them guarding that person’s scent.  When they wanted to track down the person, they used trained dogs to sniff out the suspect.  How did they collect the scent?  Maybe by inviting the suspect for an interview (pretending to be a journalist or whoever else they felt like) and placing a special cloth in the chair to “collect” the scent.  Or sometimes they would just break into people’s apartments and steal their underwear.

“Scent” Jars

Once the wall fell, the Stasi immediately tried to get rid of all the information they had collected on the population.  They tried to shred as many documents as they could but due to the sheer magnitude of paper, the machines collapsed and they had to resign to tearing the papers up by hand.  Now, over 20 years later, the German government is still trying to put together these torn up pieces of paper and provide each citizen who has put in a request a copy of what the Stasi had collected on them.

You have to wonder – would you really want to know?