Lugano und Milano

Two weekends ago (I'm really bad at updating this, yikes) I traveled to Lugano and Milan with Libby and Roxana. Lugano was positively gorgeous.




We got to stay with Libby's good friend Shelby, who goes to Franklin College in Lugano. It's the most beautiful place and she is SO lucky to live there. It's a four year American university in Lugano, and they get to go on traveling classes every semester. I wish I had known about something like this when I had been applying to colleges! Shelby showed us around Lugano for a bit, and then took us to the Irish pub below her apartment on Saturday night. We went back again on Monday and I got a free drink because I'm Irish. Thanks Dad!

On Sunday Shelby took us out to a traditional Swiss dinner: Raclette and Fondue. yummmmmmmm

Dinner.

Raclette in it's oven


Scraping the Raclette off the big block onto my plate. A serious job.


the Fondue.

On Tuesday we headed back to Milan for the day. The first thing we saw when we went to the city center was, of course, the Duomo.

Libby and I in front of the Duomo

More of the Duomo

After seeing the Duomo, we walked around a bit and found some gelato.

I got Hazlenut, Straciatella, and Vanilla. OH. MY. GOD. My first taste of Italian gelato was FANTASTIC.

I was a happy camper.

We spent the rest of the day walking around Milan, and eating some Italian food. Here was my dinner:

That wine was REALLY bad.

Next up: Dresden!

German Word of the Day

Hefe.

Yeast.

As in:
Haben sie Hefe? Ich mache Brot.



Thanks, Kaiser's

Veganz, Wir lieben Leben- alleine

Last week I decided that I needed to stock up on some fake meat products (when does anyone ever NOT need fake meat is really the question), and head out to a Vegan grocery store in Prenzlauer Berg. I had heard of this place from a very nice Australian man who works at the Vegan hamburger stand at the Mauerpark flea market on Sundays. I had been meaning to check it out for a while, and figured that our "alone activity" would be a perfect opportunity to do so. I had never been to Schönhauser Allee before. I wanted to get ingredients to make bran muffins, and the recipe called for protein powder and flaxseed, so I figured the Vegan grocery store would be the best place to find these things.

Riding on the U-Bahn alone is no new experience to me. I do it almost every day, seeing as I really prefer to do a lot of things (such as grocery shopping, seeing films, and going to museums) alone. I always notice something different every time I do it, though. This time there was a woman with a dog in a bag on her lap. I had never seen this in Berlin before, I suppose I had assumed it was an "American" thing. I also saw a girl with bright purple dyed hair, and I almost asked her where she bought her hair dye since I've been having trouble finding purple dye for myself. But I think I'm still a bit to shy to ask strangers where they buy their hair dye. I also don't know how to say hair dye in German.

Once I got to Schönhauser Allee, I wandered around for a bit before finding the street that the grocery store was on. I noticed that this particular neighborhood is very "bio" friendly--bio markts, bio fruit and vegetable stands, and even a bio currywurst stand. I will have to go back there and sample their vegeterian brats sometime.


I found the grocery store, and got so caught up in all of the fun fake meats there that I totally forgot to take a picture of the store at all. They also didn't have any flaxseed or protein powder, which was kind of frustrating. I asked the woman at the store (in German!! I'm using it) whether or not she knew where I could get them, and she directed me to a Bio Markt at the Schönhauser Allee U Bahn station. On my way there I found a puppet theater:


After going to three different "Bio" places in the U Bahn station and not finding either protein powder or flaxseed, I decided to head home and enjoy my various fake meats:



This activity was really nothing new for me. I quite enjoy exploring the city by myself, and do it quite often. I feel like seeing things by myself is healthy and a better way to experience the city, because I'm not on someone else's time schedule or demands or wants or needs. Berlin by myself had become a Berlin I know and am beginning to feel a small affection for.

Being Jewish abroad: Steps I've taken to reclaim my Jewish identity in Germany

I'll be honest: before I came to Germany, I was not being a very good member of the Jewish community in the US. The last time I had gone to temple was probably when I went to Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur services last YEAR (possibly a Bar or Bat Mitzvah in between but honestly I don't recall), and I really hadn't connected with anyone Jewish in Seattle. I had started to be involved with Hillel at PSU, but not on a regular basis. My college life in the US had become so self-involved and based on work/friends/partying, and all of my friends in Seattle were so anti-religion, that I never really thought about going to temple.

Being Jewish had always been a part of my life. My Chinese friends, who had never met anyone Jewish before to their knowledge, asked me a lot of questions about Judaism that I was more than happy to ask. Same thing with a couple of the Norwegians that I became friends with in Munich. I'm always happy to answer questions about Judaism because I feel as though I have a wealth of knowledge on the subject. I was most definitely raised Jewish, we lit the Shabbat candles in my home and went to temple frequently when I was growing up. I was Bat Mitzvahed and I can still read Hebrew and still remember all of the prayers.

So I'm always asking myself whether or not I am a GOOD Jew. I don't go to temple every week. I have a nose piercing, and I'd like to get a tattoo someday (sorry Mom). I don't keep kosher, I am not incredibly involved in Hillel on campus at UW... but honestly, Judaism is one of my strongest identifiers. I feel as though by informing others about Judaism when they are curious along with the fact that I still do, and always will, identify as a Jew makes me a good Jew. Because honestly, who is to say what a good Jew is? I think it's really self-determinable, and important to sort of do a self examination on things such as that.

When I first decided to study abroad in Germany, my Mom was less than pleased. I think that for a lot of people in my parents and grandparent's generation it is still difficult to separate Germans from Nazis. I have always thought that as Jews we really need to be more tolerant of people who are trying to be more tolerant of others. Germans have come a long, long way since WWII. There are actually more Neo-Nazis in Idaho than there are in Berlin, and I definitely feel that with people's level of knowledge on Judaism here vs. at home. My German friends all know what Judaism is, and are familiar with the laws and practices. Whereas even a lot of my American friends don't know that no, I actually can't eat anything on Yom Kippur and no, I can't eat bread during Passover and yes, I am going to temple and still do believe in G-d.

Because of this, I've really felt the need to reclaim my Jewish identity whilst I've been in Berlin. A lot of the other people on the program have asked me multiple questions about being Jewish and Judaism and I don't mind answering at all. When one boy in the program told me that "Judaism IS a race" and I actually "don't know what I'm talking about" I was so offended that I couldn't even continue the argument. Another girl came over later and asked me if I was okay, and if I could please explain to her why I felt that Judaism wasn't a race. I was happy to do so.

Last Friday I went to services at the Neue Synagogue in Berlin. I was full of emotion the entire night. How could you not be, going into a place like this:





It was positively gorgeous. I remembered all of the prayers, and I felt great being in a place surrounded by other Jewish people, even if I didn't know them. I thanked the Rabbi afterwards, and intend to go back as soon as I have a Friday night or Saturday morning free again. This is the first of many steps to reclaiming my Jewish identity in Berlin. My thesis, as it stands, will include two components: a documentary-style film interviewing myself and others regarding their Jewish identity in Berlin, as well as a paper on the subject of reclaiming my own Jewish identity in Berlin and back in the US. The work will be in progress even at the end of the term now since it will involve being back in the US afterwards.

I also want to include a dance component in my films, since I have reclaimed my "dancer" identity while I've been here as well. I want to talk to a person at the Topography of Terrors and see if it'd be okay if I did a dance piece there. It would be an example of reclaiming that space for me and my identity as well as Jews everywhere. I do only have four weeks to get this all done though, which is tough, and I'll be traveling for a lot of it, but I feel like I can do it. phew.

Schweiz/Suisse/Svizzera

Right now I'm staying with a friend of a friend in Lugano, Switzerland. This city is absolutely beautiful, and even though it has been raining for the past couple of days we've gotten to see some of the most gorgeous parts. Tonight we ate Raclette for dinner and tomorrow we're going to pray it doesn't rain and then go walk around downtown and shop a bit more.

Tuesday we're headed to Milan to do a bit of shopping/exploring there, and then back to Berlin for a couple days. Just thought I'd give an update on my traveling, I'll do a proper post with pictures when I get back home (to Berlin) and can upload photos.

Tschuss!

blah

I'm missing Munich so much lately... I don't know why. I feel like I don't really fit in here, in Berlin. Maybe if my situation here was more similar to the one I had in Munich it'd be different. But here I'm stuck with the same (American) people day in and day out, speaking English, not going out because nobody invites me/nobody wants to, which obviously doesn't afford me the opportunity to meet new people or make other friends. It's been difficult.

I feel like in Munich everyone was SO open to being friends with ANYONE, because we all came there on our own, not knowing anyone before. I mean, even the few people who came with a couple friends were open to making new friends and including everyone, no matter who they were or where they were from or what they look like, etc etc. I feel like within this group there have been cliques established and it's too late to change them or change anyone's mind about what they want here/what they're doing here.

We're all so bogged down with being in a new(ish) place with these people who we have to see all the time, and I feel like the rest of the group isn't as open to meeting new people because they're so comfortable with where they are already. I don't know. I just want to make a group of Berliner friends, or have that month I spent in Munich last me the rest of my life. I am probably romanticizing it a little bit, and I definitely wasn't happy ALL of the time but really... I want to go back. Now.

The Old Country... home? Weekend in Warsaw

This weekend I took a train to Warsaw for two days with friends Libby and Roxana. I wanted to see where I come from, where my great grandparents walked around, and possibly find out a little bit more about my family.

Being in Warsaw is like being in two different cities. See:


Same place. The huge spatial differences only occur about a ten minutes walk from one another. It was really strange and interesting walking from the huge skyscrapers into the Old Town. It's so cheap for corporations to have satellite headquarters in Poland now that all of them have been snapping up any free available land and workers. There is construction everywhere in the city, and even more giant skyscrapers on the way.

It was really only whilst I was walking around Old Town that I felt I may have belonged there once, long ago. None of the buildings are taller than five stories, and they're all different colors with different ornate decorations on the windows and doorways. The Old Town Square is all paved in cobblestone, and there aren't any cars throughout the district. The restaurants are all tiny and cute (and cheap) and the people are all very nice.

Old Town at night

The only thing that was hard was the fact that I didn't speak Polish. Obviously I knew this would be somewhat of an issue, but I wasn't quite ready for what happened at the Milk Bar we went to. Milk Bars are kind of a Communist relic in Poland, old cafeterias with really cheap food. We went in, ordered, and gave our receipt to the ladies at the window. They kept yelling at us in Polish, which was... difficult. I had NO idea what they were saying, and wasn't getting any food. Luckily a nice older lady negotiated with them for us and we all eventually got the food that we ordered. I think.

I wasn't able to find anything about my family there this time, unfortunately. We did go to the Warsaw Uprising Museum, but there was very little there about the Jewish population during this time. My friend (he lives in Warsaw) told me that there would be a Jewish Museum opening next year and that I should come back and see it... I intend to.