KEIN PARKPLATZ

Saw this leaving my street walking to the station this morning. No parking here plz. Danke.

IKEA

Got the keys to my apartment ~ yes! So the next step was IKEA. Five hours of shuffling through model bedrooms and living rooms, and I'd more or less decided what I wanted.

Problem #1 ~ I only have two hands, and there's no way I could haul a 30kg desk onto the U-Bahn, nor a mattress.

Solution #1 ~ Decided to get all the heavy stuff delivered. Sweet

Problem #2 ~ The label on the buzzer to my apartment doesn't have my name on it yet.

Solution #2 ~ In some very poor German I tried to tell them this and give them the name that IS on the buzzer (unlike the rest of Germany, IKEA delivery staff don't seem to speak English). So, fingers crossed they got the message.

Problem #3 ~ When organising the delivery, I could not leave a mobile number as requested, as Germany also found it too strange that I might want a nano SIM card for a prepaid phone. So a long process of sending SIMs back and forth to the phone provider is still taking place. Leaving no contact number of course meant that if I had not successfully explained the door buzzer situation, they would have no way of contacting me to tell me this. Oops.

Solution #3 ~ Sitting in my unfurnished apartment, waiting for my delivery that would arrive "zwischen 5-9pm". 

After this long day of IKEA-ing, all I wanted was a good feed (why didn't I get IKEA meatballs???!) and much-needed sleep. But I did not want to leave to get something to eat in case I missed them. Did not want to nap in case I missed them. By 8:30 I was beginning to worry a little that my things just weren't going to arrive. Also, that I would have no idea how to go about tracking them down.

Thankfully, at 8:50 the buzzer rang and two burly Germans with even less English than the IKEA men carried my things up three flights of stairs to my great, great relief. Some signed papers and exchanged "danke"s and "bitte"s later, and I was fast asleep on my new mattress.

After this weekend, lessons learned:

1 ~ GET A SIM CARD, ASAP

2 ~ Get better at German, ASAP

(But, at the end of the day, I did receive all my stuff, language barrier and all. Now I'm a few steps closer to settling in. I'm going to call that one a win.)

SPRACHTEST

Registration day / language placement test for the German intensive course I'll be doing for the next month at Humboldt Universität. The information all given in deutsch & a challenging test (have not done German since uni finished 4 months ago), followed by a walk back to my temporary home in Rosenthaler Platz, in the Mitte district.
The walk home featured ~ beautiful view of the city sky waking up behind the Berliner Dom / TV-Tower / Spree River.

Stumbled upon two men fixing some cobblestones. Interesting stuff.

STRANGE GERMANY ~ PART I

German Fanta is yellow? No, it is meant to be orange. Why am I drinking Fanta? Still not sure.

BERLIN STREET ART

Back in Berlin, and with a few days free before starting uni, I went along to a free walking tour that visits some of Berlin's street art. It is everywhere ~ walls, benches, train stations, abandoned buildings.. in short, anywhere and everywhere a paintbrush or spray can can reach. Most of the street art covering Berlin is illegally made, however a handful of them (the larger ones, usually) are commissioned - sometimes during street art festivals, or other art events that take place here in the city.

It was interesting to identify certain pieces with an artist. The astronaut below was done by Victor Ash, from a cherry picker. He divided the piece up into a grid and holding the square in his hand, used a spray can to paint the small section onto the wall, etc. Gives the effect of a stencil, but is actually hand painted. Impressive.

El Bocho and his "Little Lucy" series, all over Berlin, feature a cartoon girl killing her cat in miriad different ways. Eg ~ boiling it in soup, attaching it to a döner kebab spit, hanging it, etc. Sounds grim, but they are quite endearing/entertaining.

Yes, there is one token Banksy rat in Berlin. But apparently no others. Berlin is not the city to find Banksy, so it would seem...

^^

Street artist Blu: political street art "Brothers" unmasking each other / unmasking East & West Berlin (the E and W finger signs)

^^

This piece was painted by one man, standing on the ground the entire time with an extending paint brush. How did he manage to keep the lines so precise? I have no idea. Wow.

^^
Two of El Bocho's "Little Lucy" pieces.
1~ Drowning her cat / 2~ Döner kebab cat

KARNEVAL

Jana & I flew from Berlin to Bonn just in time for the start of Karneval - the annual week of festivities in Köln/Bonn to chase away Winter with bright costumes, German songs, happy spirits and a lot of Kölsch beer. Our costumes included princesses, peacocks, cats, Black Swan's and Little Red Riding Hood's, all with 10x more glitter than necessary.

After singing the same 10 songs for 5 days, I feel like I have prepared myself for studying in German. I also don't ever want to hear those songs again. Please.

Favourite Karneval drink: Klopfer. Little shots in different colours and flavours in tiny bottles.
1) Klopf two bottles together
2) Put the bottle cap on your nose
3) Shot

Viva Colonia!

MAUERPARK FLOHMARKT

Sunday afternoon spent at the Mauerpark Fleamarkets. Hundreds of stalls selling everything under the sun ~ art prints, maps, bikes, homemade honey, cutlery, and the berliner Jutebeutel (celeco bags). I bought one with zürück bleiben bitte printed across the from - words familiar to anyone who travels on the U-Bahn.

After browsing the stalls, we sat up on the hill listening to buskers and sipping on beer in the afternoon sun. I think I can definitely get used to this.

Tschüss

WOHNUNGSSUCHE

Bye-bye Budapest, hallo Berlin. After two weeks of traipsing around Europe, it was time to start organising Berlin.

First challenge: finding an apartment. Jana and I spent four days visiting apartments in a few of Berlin's districts. Some good, some average, some small, some expensive. A real mixed bag. Good news ~ we managed to find one that will be my home for the next 12 months, at least. As of next week, home is a shared apartment right off Bergmannstraße in Kreuzberg.
One very happy/excited Steph.

Second challenge: getting used to the U-Bahn. The map may seem confusing, but given half a day and the criss-crossing U- and S-Bahn's were a mystery no more. Pronouncing half the station names, on the other hand... Möckernbrücke, Schlesisches Tor and Gneisenaustraße, to name a few.

Wilkommen bei Deutschland!