Now, that I have cleared my C-1 exams with Gut (86%) and am back on home-turf, my blog needs to be closed too. Sure, there are updates I haven't made and the biggest learning is 'Write your thoughts the very same day!'
BER
LIN What I’ll miss about you.
The warning when the S-Bahn closes
The Confusion between Ernst Reuter and Wittenberg Platz
The Hbf< spent some 4 days there! :D
Karstadt and picking up a 0.79 Mueller Milk
Reaching class late almost daily!
0,80 cents of Hot Chocolate from the Canteen daily
Papaya rice, Jennys Eis’Subway!
Sitting at the kitchen reading and studying
Developing quick methods of cooking, dal rice together for example
The Russian store
Ketaki, Kavita and times spent with them
Alle liebe Raymond, wir auch
The TV
The thermal-sensitive night-lamp by my bed
The views and the hues of the sky here, red, orange, blue, black. Sunny, cold, dreary, cloudy
GEWITTE (Storms)
Cyclists
The pure air
The Kultur Buro trips
The Post-office cutie
ZOO garten, the garden and the station
Just Walking about, being myself and having the time of my life!
Love,
Anya
Monday, October 12, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
Thursday, August 29, 2009
Today was the hottest day in Germany this year, 34 degrees and very very hot! Today in class, we did the HV- and I didn’t do too well. The HV is a total gamble, you either get them all right or most of them wrong! I got a 15 on 25, SCHLECHT!
Post class, we did lunch at Papaya, Kavita, Ketaki, Deepak UND ICH. I had the Burnt rice, without egg, since a lot of egg on a hot day may not help. There is this yummy GEMISCHTES SALAT (Mixed salad) that is basically the usual suspects among the veggies, peanuts and a liberal dose of lemon juice. Absolutely divine and a great refresher. This is a Kavita discovery and must say EINE GUTE ERFINDUNG! They have this afternoon meal option, which is a reduced rate, qty also I guess, but more than enough for one.
Post that, I settled down to study some for the exam next week. Also finished the re-read of NICHT ALLE WAREN MOERDER, wanted to jot down interesting parts of the book. Post that, there was a VORTRAG by Antonio Hilbers, the last one before class ends next week (SCHADE).
The topic was Germany post 1989. He started off with a background on the reasons behind the events that unfolded and changed world-history on 9th November 1989 (the day the wall fell). ‘The day the wall fell’ is not really true, which I didn’t know. More on this later.
The reasons behind the MAUER-FALL and the great revolution in Germany, including the unification:
1986: Mikael Gorbachov heads the USSR. With him a new thought of reforms and freedom arrive on the world-stage. His induction into the centre-stage brings on sweeping changes, key among them in Poland and Hungary (shift in the political system from SOZIALIST to DEMOKRATIC). The press had a term for this, until 1985 the political doctrine in the USSR was termed the ‘BRESHNEV DOKTRIN’ (Breshnev, being the predecessor to Gorby). 1985 the term was replaced by ‘SINATRA DOKTRIN’; the inspiration being Frank Sinatra’s single ‘I did it my way’. To imply the changes playing about in Western Europe. The then DDR and BDR populations (DAS VOLK) reacted very positively to these changes. However, the then REGIERUN (SED) did not. They actually started distancing themselves from Russia and Gorby, basically anything that remotely had a sense of freedom wasn’t acceptable to the then-regime. They tried to make DDR into an INSEL DES ORTHODOXEN DENKENS (An island of orthodox thoughts).
The main point was that that then-DDR_regime had the fear that, if DDR were to go the Polen way, then it would also bring into question the very existence of the DDR_REGIERUNG. It would not make sense to have 2 divided German nations, following the same political system of KAPITALISMUS. The DEUTSCHE EINGHEIT (German unification) was a reality that they hoped would always remain a dream for the then DDR-citizens. Also, since the economic situation in DDR was rather chaotic, a large majority of the citizens were beginning to migrate to West-Germany, rather leave East Germany. It would not take much to escalate these feelings into a revolution and the REGIERUNG wanted to avoid juts that. Did they? Read on.
May 1989: Ungarn, Hungary and Austria
The borders between these 2 countries vanished, another of those sweeping changes that were rapidly spreading across Western Europe, spear-headed by a new face representing the USSR. This breakdown of the border led to an unimaginable 220000 people from DDR who crossed over to West-Germany. It’s called DIE GROESSE MASSENFLUCHT since 1949, when people tried to cross over before the wall came up. The REGIERUNG reacted strongly and negatively.
If you’d refer to the map of Europe, Warsaw, Poland is got the right of Berlin, Prague to the bottom and Hungary and Austria at the very bottom. People tried to cross over to Warsaw and Prague, since the West DL (Germany, DEUTSCHLAND) BOTSCHAFT (Embassy) existed there and they could get permission to enter the West via this route. There was this picture that Dr. Hilbers showed us, representing some 3000 people outside the embassy in Prague, who camped there for 3 weeks and finally got the ERLAUBNIS to travel to West Germany.
One needs to understand that the basic cry of the citizens of DDR was ‘please give us the freedom to travel wherever we want, whenever we want. They were starting to suffocate under the then DDR-regime’. This inner desire to leave or, rather step out of the 4 walls of DDR was combined with internal strife in the political system of DDR. The opposition to the SDE was getting stronger by the day. These were also the times where one could speak her mind only in the church. Leipzig is the place where initial demonstrations against the regime started, in small numbers of a 100 at the Leipzig Ring. Crowds would gather every Monday since May 1989 to protest against the current way of life.
Slowly the word spread, and people gathered their courage to come out and demonstrate in the open.
7.10.1989: This day is of special significance since it was the day that DDR came into existence 40 years back, on 7.10.1949. On this day, Mikhail Gorbachov and several world leaders came to Berlin. The crowds were aplenty, and cries of ‘Gorby Gorby’ rent the air. The then DDR-CHANCELLOR Ehersch Honicker was extremely nervous about this and this was a sign of the times to come.
9.10.1989: Leipzig 70000 people gathered to demonstrate, despite the Police virtually isolating the city, so that no one could enter.
This demonstration spread like wild fire, and similar gatherings were held at Erfurt, Dresden, etc. There is also a reference made to the TIANEMMEN SQUARE demonstrations, where the Chinese police brutally used violence against students, who were protesting quietly. This violent way of suppression was thankfully not used as much during these demonstrations in Germany.
18.10.1989: the party was taken over by 3 new faces, and Ehersch Honicker‘s day in the sun were over. Krenz, was now the new man of the SED and undertook the job of bringing reforms. He started with the one, that would allow Germans to travel from east to west, albeit with a visa and with proper Governmental permissions.
End Okt 1989: A wave of 300000 people gather in Leipzig and it’s imminent that something is bound to happen anytime soon; in this case, 9th November 1989.
The setting is Berlin, 9.11.1989. At a press conference intended to announce to the western world that DDR citizens now have the right to move freely, an Italian journalist questions the regime, about the date from when this would be effective. This was obviously not yet decided, but the answer came out as ‘ as far as I can see, it’s effective immediately’. With these words, history was made, the radio, the TV, the papers had only 1 headline ‘ the Berlin wall has fallen’! A nice journalistic ring to it, but with great implications. Within hours, thousands had gathered at various borders of the Berlin wall, and they told the wall-guards that they need to cross over. The guards had no clue, and with 20000 odd citizens, all clamoring to cross over, the wall was first opened. The Brandenbuger Tur also had a wall, dividing the city, and people started breaking the wall, inch by inch.
The Berlin wall had finally fallen!
He then spoke about the events after the wall, Helmut Kohl, Chancellor West Germany wanted to grab this opportunity and drafted a 10-point plan for German unification. The cries of ‘WIR SIND DIE VOLK’ during the DDR-regime changed to ‘;WIR SIND DAS VOLK’.
There was this question as to why was the question of German unification also needing an answer, so soon after the fall of the Berlin wall. Of course, the obvious answer was to capitalize on the popular sentiment, that wanted a unification and the other was that Kohl knew that this would be possible only with buy-in from Russia and although Gorby was hugely popular in AUSLAND< he had enemies in his home and God-forbid, if anything amiss were to happen, the dream of a German-unification would remain just that. He wanted to use this once-in-history opportunity, DIE EINMALIGE HISTORISCHE CHANCE NUTZEN.
Finally on 3 .10. 1990 Germany became one nation, The Federal Republic of Germany, under the leadership of Helmut Kohl. There were other factors too, like Polen, Israel, the Czech Republic who were skeptical and worried about this new country, based on events in the past; is this the FOURTH REICH? Questioned some. Also, there was the question of which should be the capital city, Berlin or Bonn. Logic said Berlin since it was a law. But after much deliberation in the Parliament, Berlin regained its status as capital.
Also, this was a political unification but the community, the people of the former DDR, had several issues to face, the huge ARBEITSLOESIGKEIT (approx 20%), the fear and insecurity with the new way of life. Yes, this was a change they wanted but didn’t completely realize the cons with the pros. It has taken a while for the former DDR, to project its own identity and integrate with the rest of the country. The costs of this unification are still being borne by all in Germany.
However, 70% of former DDR citizens, when recently questioned ha this to say ‘ despite everything, the unification was well worth it’. To cite an example, the homes in the then DDR in 1990 were some 40 years behind in terms of modernity compared to the West.
Yes, the wall broke on 9th November 1989, but so did the barriers between 2 nations and millions of people. ENDLICH, SIND WIR WIRKLICH EIN VOLK!
Post the Vortrag, I bumped into Ketaki and Kavita and we all had dinner at Subway, basically redeemed our coupons, long overdue and totally worth it! I paid 1,99 and got a 6-inch sub free. Deepak got a 6-inch free with another 6-inch Sub. And so did K and K. I also saw this Indian family walking about, who saw, stared , turned around a couple of times but refused to smile back. Why is it that we Indians many a time, refuse to acknowledge another Indian when abroad? Weird!
Post dinner, Deepak went home to prepare for his VORTRAG tomorrow. The 3 of us sat on the WD Strasse (WILMERDORFER STRASSE) and chatted and chatted for a long time, it was a Fab time. We spoke on corruption, Bombay, travel, tourism, the world :D and a lot of topics under the sun. We also mentally hopped over to Polen for the weekend. We badly needed to go the loo, so walked to the public one just around the corner. Guess what, its shut from 21.00 to 6.00. Makes sense? Not to me. There was also this instruction outside which was hilarious, to say the least. The maximum time allowed inside is 20 minutes, post which, the door would automatically open! Is it to prevent drug-taking, a mad passionate love affair or to not inconvenience others??? I really don’t know. Do let me know, if you have any ideas on this one.
We then walked to Mc-Donalds, open till 3 a.m. and downed 2 large fries and a coffee and continued talking and talking and talking. There is a plan to do a night out tomorrow, so I should go to sleep now.
I can’t believe I have less than a week to go in Berlin, will SO miss it!
Sleep well,
Anya
Post class, we did lunch at Papaya, Kavita, Ketaki, Deepak UND ICH. I had the Burnt rice, without egg, since a lot of egg on a hot day may not help. There is this yummy GEMISCHTES SALAT (Mixed salad) that is basically the usual suspects among the veggies, peanuts and a liberal dose of lemon juice. Absolutely divine and a great refresher. This is a Kavita discovery and must say EINE GUTE ERFINDUNG! They have this afternoon meal option, which is a reduced rate, qty also I guess, but more than enough for one.
Post that, I settled down to study some for the exam next week. Also finished the re-read of NICHT ALLE WAREN MOERDER, wanted to jot down interesting parts of the book. Post that, there was a VORTRAG by Antonio Hilbers, the last one before class ends next week (SCHADE).
The topic was Germany post 1989. He started off with a background on the reasons behind the events that unfolded and changed world-history on 9th November 1989 (the day the wall fell). ‘The day the wall fell’ is not really true, which I didn’t know. More on this later.
The reasons behind the MAUER-FALL and the great revolution in Germany, including the unification:
1986: Mikael Gorbachov heads the USSR. With him a new thought of reforms and freedom arrive on the world-stage. His induction into the centre-stage brings on sweeping changes, key among them in Poland and Hungary (shift in the political system from SOZIALIST to DEMOKRATIC). The press had a term for this, until 1985 the political doctrine in the USSR was termed the ‘BRESHNEV DOKTRIN’ (Breshnev, being the predecessor to Gorby). 1985 the term was replaced by ‘SINATRA DOKTRIN’; the inspiration being Frank Sinatra’s single ‘I did it my way’. To imply the changes playing about in Western Europe. The then DDR and BDR populations (DAS VOLK) reacted very positively to these changes. However, the then REGIERUN (SED) did not. They actually started distancing themselves from Russia and Gorby, basically anything that remotely had a sense of freedom wasn’t acceptable to the then-regime. They tried to make DDR into an INSEL DES ORTHODOXEN DENKENS (An island of orthodox thoughts).
The main point was that that then-DDR_regime had the fear that, if DDR were to go the Polen way, then it would also bring into question the very existence of the DDR_REGIERUNG. It would not make sense to have 2 divided German nations, following the same political system of KAPITALISMUS. The DEUTSCHE EINGHEIT (German unification) was a reality that they hoped would always remain a dream for the then DDR-citizens. Also, since the economic situation in DDR was rather chaotic, a large majority of the citizens were beginning to migrate to West-Germany, rather leave East Germany. It would not take much to escalate these feelings into a revolution and the REGIERUNG wanted to avoid juts that. Did they? Read on.
May 1989: Ungarn, Hungary and Austria
The borders between these 2 countries vanished, another of those sweeping changes that were rapidly spreading across Western Europe, spear-headed by a new face representing the USSR. This breakdown of the border led to an unimaginable 220000 people from DDR who crossed over to West-Germany. It’s called DIE GROESSE MASSENFLUCHT since 1949, when people tried to cross over before the wall came up. The REGIERUNG reacted strongly and negatively.
If you’d refer to the map of Europe, Warsaw, Poland is got the right of Berlin, Prague to the bottom and Hungary and Austria at the very bottom. People tried to cross over to Warsaw and Prague, since the West DL (Germany, DEUTSCHLAND) BOTSCHAFT (Embassy) existed there and they could get permission to enter the West via this route. There was this picture that Dr. Hilbers showed us, representing some 3000 people outside the embassy in Prague, who camped there for 3 weeks and finally got the ERLAUBNIS to travel to West Germany.
One needs to understand that the basic cry of the citizens of DDR was ‘please give us the freedom to travel wherever we want, whenever we want. They were starting to suffocate under the then DDR-regime’. This inner desire to leave or, rather step out of the 4 walls of DDR was combined with internal strife in the political system of DDR. The opposition to the SDE was getting stronger by the day. These were also the times where one could speak her mind only in the church. Leipzig is the place where initial demonstrations against the regime started, in small numbers of a 100 at the Leipzig Ring. Crowds would gather every Monday since May 1989 to protest against the current way of life.
Slowly the word spread, and people gathered their courage to come out and demonstrate in the open.
7.10.1989: This day is of special significance since it was the day that DDR came into existence 40 years back, on 7.10.1949. On this day, Mikhail Gorbachov and several world leaders came to Berlin. The crowds were aplenty, and cries of ‘Gorby Gorby’ rent the air. The then DDR-CHANCELLOR Ehersch Honicker was extremely nervous about this and this was a sign of the times to come.
9.10.1989: Leipzig 70000 people gathered to demonstrate, despite the Police virtually isolating the city, so that no one could enter.
This demonstration spread like wild fire, and similar gatherings were held at Erfurt, Dresden, etc. There is also a reference made to the TIANEMMEN SQUARE demonstrations, where the Chinese police brutally used violence against students, who were protesting quietly. This violent way of suppression was thankfully not used as much during these demonstrations in Germany.
18.10.1989: the party was taken over by 3 new faces, and Ehersch Honicker‘s day in the sun were over. Krenz, was now the new man of the SED and undertook the job of bringing reforms. He started with the one, that would allow Germans to travel from east to west, albeit with a visa and with proper Governmental permissions.
End Okt 1989: A wave of 300000 people gather in Leipzig and it’s imminent that something is bound to happen anytime soon; in this case, 9th November 1989.
The setting is Berlin, 9.11.1989. At a press conference intended to announce to the western world that DDR citizens now have the right to move freely, an Italian journalist questions the regime, about the date from when this would be effective. This was obviously not yet decided, but the answer came out as ‘ as far as I can see, it’s effective immediately’. With these words, history was made, the radio, the TV, the papers had only 1 headline ‘ the Berlin wall has fallen’! A nice journalistic ring to it, but with great implications. Within hours, thousands had gathered at various borders of the Berlin wall, and they told the wall-guards that they need to cross over. The guards had no clue, and with 20000 odd citizens, all clamoring to cross over, the wall was first opened. The Brandenbuger Tur also had a wall, dividing the city, and people started breaking the wall, inch by inch.
The Berlin wall had finally fallen!
He then spoke about the events after the wall, Helmut Kohl, Chancellor West Germany wanted to grab this opportunity and drafted a 10-point plan for German unification. The cries of ‘WIR SIND DIE VOLK’ during the DDR-regime changed to ‘;WIR SIND DAS VOLK’.
There was this question as to why was the question of German unification also needing an answer, so soon after the fall of the Berlin wall. Of course, the obvious answer was to capitalize on the popular sentiment, that wanted a unification and the other was that Kohl knew that this would be possible only with buy-in from Russia and although Gorby was hugely popular in AUSLAND< he had enemies in his home and God-forbid, if anything amiss were to happen, the dream of a German-unification would remain just that. He wanted to use this once-in-history opportunity, DIE EINMALIGE HISTORISCHE CHANCE NUTZEN.
Finally on 3 .10. 1990 Germany became one nation, The Federal Republic of Germany, under the leadership of Helmut Kohl. There were other factors too, like Polen, Israel, the Czech Republic who were skeptical and worried about this new country, based on events in the past; is this the FOURTH REICH? Questioned some. Also, there was the question of which should be the capital city, Berlin or Bonn. Logic said Berlin since it was a law. But after much deliberation in the Parliament, Berlin regained its status as capital.
Also, this was a political unification but the community, the people of the former DDR, had several issues to face, the huge ARBEITSLOESIGKEIT (approx 20%), the fear and insecurity with the new way of life. Yes, this was a change they wanted but didn’t completely realize the cons with the pros. It has taken a while for the former DDR, to project its own identity and integrate with the rest of the country. The costs of this unification are still being borne by all in Germany.
However, 70% of former DDR citizens, when recently questioned ha this to say ‘ despite everything, the unification was well worth it’. To cite an example, the homes in the then DDR in 1990 were some 40 years behind in terms of modernity compared to the West.
Yes, the wall broke on 9th November 1989, but so did the barriers between 2 nations and millions of people. ENDLICH, SIND WIR WIRKLICH EIN VOLK!
Post the Vortrag, I bumped into Ketaki and Kavita and we all had dinner at Subway, basically redeemed our coupons, long overdue and totally worth it! I paid 1,99 and got a 6-inch sub free. Deepak got a 6-inch free with another 6-inch Sub. And so did K and K. I also saw this Indian family walking about, who saw, stared , turned around a couple of times but refused to smile back. Why is it that we Indians many a time, refuse to acknowledge another Indian when abroad? Weird!
Post dinner, Deepak went home to prepare for his VORTRAG tomorrow. The 3 of us sat on the WD Strasse (WILMERDORFER STRASSE) and chatted and chatted for a long time, it was a Fab time. We spoke on corruption, Bombay, travel, tourism, the world :D and a lot of topics under the sun. We also mentally hopped over to Polen for the weekend. We badly needed to go the loo, so walked to the public one just around the corner. Guess what, its shut from 21.00 to 6.00. Makes sense? Not to me. There was also this instruction outside which was hilarious, to say the least. The maximum time allowed inside is 20 minutes, post which, the door would automatically open! Is it to prevent drug-taking, a mad passionate love affair or to not inconvenience others??? I really don’t know. Do let me know, if you have any ideas on this one.
We then walked to Mc-Donalds, open till 3 a.m. and downed 2 large fries and a coffee and continued talking and talking and talking. There is a plan to do a night out tomorrow, so I should go to sleep now.
I can’t believe I have less than a week to go in Berlin, will SO miss it!
Sleep well,
Anya
Freitag, den 14. August 2009
I have finally settled down to update myself and you with my doings these past 3 weeks. This will tend to go back and forth, since my memory could do with a refresher course :D
So, what did I do today? Well, nothing much. I somehow managed to reach class at a tolerable 8.40. Today we continued with the practice tests for the upcoming examinations the week after next, HV (HOERVERSTEHEN, listening-and-comprehending) and a host of Noun-Verb-combinations. For e.g. the water is running, to close a deal, to whip up a storm. The point being, the verbs, on their own, have a separate meaning in the dictionary, but when combined with certain nouns, they could mean different. Also, these nouns need to be used only with these verbs in order to mean what they need to mean in a given context. You cannot say, to end a deal, need to say ‘close a deal’. You get the idea.
Then, we had lunch at this new discovery, it’s an Italian place, called ‘’ and serves pizzas and pastas. Ya, what else! I split a Pasta Riggatoni Arrabiatta with Kavita, Riggatoni is basically a variation on the Penne Arrabiata, and yes, it’s very vegetarian. Its basilicum, tomate and garlic-y and is served with bread. The menu on the wall said it costs euro 4,40, the Senor at the counter charged me 4,90. I asked him why, he said that he was mistaken and that 4,90 is the rate for Spaghetti Riggatoni. But as far as I could read, there is no Spaghetti Riggatoni on the menu. So, here’s what I think, he tried to fleece me and thought I wouldn’t react, either coz, I didn’t know what it cost, or coz I don’t speak Deutsch/ Italiano or coz I would hesitate. He doesn’t know me much :D
This brings me my favorite topic of how integrity plays a huge role in determining the future of a country. I am of the opinion that countries like India, Italy, Turkey, and certain others may have a lot to offer to the world, but lag behind in integrity. I name these 3 countries right now, coz only stores belonging to these 3 have tried to fleece me of a few cents or Euros till now.
There’s this Nazar market, very Turkish and has a lot to offer. I had been there to buy a can of milk, costing 1,19. I give the cashier 2, she gives me a cent back. I ask her, how much the milk costs, 1,19 or 1,99. She has this intelligent-thieving look on her face and answers with a poker-face: 1,19 and gives me the 89 cents back.
Then, there’s this other place, called Sona Traders. If you’re Indian, you’d have guessed this is an Indian store. It’s actually a wholesale-cum-retail store and my 1st visit was to purchase spices, etc. for my birthday party ( I like saying that, reminds me of uncomplicated times, when birthday parties were meant for your school-friends and you had cake, Samoa, Monjinis wafers and ice-cream :D). Anyways, I had bought some masalas, moong dal from there. When I reached home, I noticed that the MDH-Kashmiri Chilli powder was way past its expiry date, actually a year older (Best before July 2008). I kept it aside and decided to return it to the store. Finally, after 2 weeks, I made the trip yesterday. I told the cashier about it, and he calmly acts surprised and tells me to take another one. I told him, that I’d take a look around and see if I find something I need. I only wanted to check whether the other the MDH-Kashmiri Chilli powders were current or not. Of course, they weren’t! I walked back and told him to please return my 99 cents. He gave me a euro instead and didn’t take back the 1 cent. I am glad there weren’t any Germans in-store at that point, I’d have been a tad embarrassed. A similar thing happened at the ‘Maharaja store’ in Stuttgart. I have been dying to have a Maggi (wasn’t able to get any, due to weight considerations), and can imagine myself having piping-hot Maggi on a day when its 17 degrees at the park, reading a book and listening to 95.8 FM-Radio Eins. Maggi, with a base of oil, jeera, onions, Maggi Magic Masala and Maggi! Oh Yumm! Btw, is it Maggi Magic Masala or just Maggi Masala? Whatever, it’s the former in my world. Anyways, to get back to the point, the store had some 8 packs of 4 each. I was so excited, then the incident at Sona Traders 2 weeks back occurred to me. So, I checked the date, and guess what, SO déjà vu! The Best before was 9 months from date of manufacture, which was again, July 2008! I take the pack to the counter and ask him about it, he tells me ‘Madam, yeh abhi tak kharrab nahin hua hai, kya karein, maal hi nahin aata hai ’ (Madam, it’s not yet spoilt . What can I do, the delivery from Nestle hasn’t come in a while!) Ok, I say and am hopping mad. What do these Indian stores abroad think ya? That, unsuspecting Indians will blindly pick up stuff, just coz its Indian??? I am sure I may have made this blunder before, and thank God that I have realized this happens too, and only in India!
Anyways.post the pasta, which was pretty good, I trooped back to the Insitut for ‘MUENDLICHE VORBEREITUNG’, Oral-examination preparation. It was a good and much-needed activity. There are basically 3 parts to the exam, introduction, a REFERRAT (a small presentation) and a ROLLEN-SPIEL (play-acting of a discussion on a topic). These 3 parts are pretty routine, what is not, is that there will always be 2 candidates together in the examination and the 3rd TEIL (part) will be a discussion between the 2, with the examiner (s) on-and-off interrupting. 15 minutes on the hot-seat! Fingers crossed for it. Anyways, post that, I paid a visit to the library, and met Klaus, the librarian. He’s like St. Nikolaus, old and bearded and with eyes that twinkle I had to return the book ‘Nicht alle waren Moerder’. There is also this book ‘KROKODILEN IN NACKEN’. Crocodile by the nails, it’s another story of survival and courage by a STAASI-JAIL survivor. More on this in the entry from yesterday. Our library has a very good collection of books and I am going to make notes on the collection, so that I could buy them some day. Right now, baggage considerations and some cost-considerations don’t permit me.
Post that, I went to the Internet Room, and spent more than 2 hours there. And then, a visit to Potsdamer Platz and the rip-off library to return the books. This time, I guessed that there wouldn’t be a person to accept the books, so it would be OK to reach late. And there was only a conveyor belt, on which one needs to place the books that are to be returned. The rest of the action takes place behind-the-scenes, so to say. Then, I wanted to watch ‘Love aaj kal’ so went to Cinemaxx, where they place Hindi movies. But there wasn’t any show, so I took the 200 bus back home. I love this combined and well-integrated public-transport system, the S-Bahn, U-Bahn, Trams and Metro Buses are so well-linked, one can use the same ticket all across and seamlessly move about. We have something similar, for example, 402 bus from my place to Mulund station, leads to the train-station, but then, again, a long way to go.
On the menu, today, was cabbage sabji, yes, I have been eating cabbage every single week, sometimes twice, coz, the cabbages here are huge ya, and takes time to complete one.
Am sleepy and how! So, am going to crash now and will catch you later.
Bis bald,
Anya
So, what did I do today? Well, nothing much. I somehow managed to reach class at a tolerable 8.40. Today we continued with the practice tests for the upcoming examinations the week after next, HV (HOERVERSTEHEN, listening-and-comprehending) and a host of Noun-Verb-combinations. For e.g. the water is running, to close a deal, to whip up a storm. The point being, the verbs, on their own, have a separate meaning in the dictionary, but when combined with certain nouns, they could mean different. Also, these nouns need to be used only with these verbs in order to mean what they need to mean in a given context. You cannot say, to end a deal, need to say ‘close a deal’. You get the idea.
Then, we had lunch at this new discovery, it’s an Italian place, called ‘’ and serves pizzas and pastas. Ya, what else! I split a Pasta Riggatoni Arrabiatta with Kavita, Riggatoni is basically a variation on the Penne Arrabiata, and yes, it’s very vegetarian. Its basilicum, tomate and garlic-y and is served with bread. The menu on the wall said it costs euro 4,40, the Senor at the counter charged me 4,90. I asked him why, he said that he was mistaken and that 4,90 is the rate for Spaghetti Riggatoni. But as far as I could read, there is no Spaghetti Riggatoni on the menu. So, here’s what I think, he tried to fleece me and thought I wouldn’t react, either coz, I didn’t know what it cost, or coz I don’t speak Deutsch/ Italiano or coz I would hesitate. He doesn’t know me much :D
This brings me my favorite topic of how integrity plays a huge role in determining the future of a country. I am of the opinion that countries like India, Italy, Turkey, and certain others may have a lot to offer to the world, but lag behind in integrity. I name these 3 countries right now, coz only stores belonging to these 3 have tried to fleece me of a few cents or Euros till now.
There’s this Nazar market, very Turkish and has a lot to offer. I had been there to buy a can of milk, costing 1,19. I give the cashier 2, she gives me a cent back. I ask her, how much the milk costs, 1,19 or 1,99. She has this intelligent-thieving look on her face and answers with a poker-face: 1,19 and gives me the 89 cents back.
Then, there’s this other place, called Sona Traders. If you’re Indian, you’d have guessed this is an Indian store. It’s actually a wholesale-cum-retail store and my 1st visit was to purchase spices, etc. for my birthday party ( I like saying that, reminds me of uncomplicated times, when birthday parties were meant for your school-friends and you had cake, Samoa, Monjinis wafers and ice-cream :D). Anyways, I had bought some masalas, moong dal from there. When I reached home, I noticed that the MDH-Kashmiri Chilli powder was way past its expiry date, actually a year older (Best before July 2008). I kept it aside and decided to return it to the store. Finally, after 2 weeks, I made the trip yesterday. I told the cashier about it, and he calmly acts surprised and tells me to take another one. I told him, that I’d take a look around and see if I find something I need. I only wanted to check whether the other the MDH-Kashmiri Chilli powders were current or not. Of course, they weren’t! I walked back and told him to please return my 99 cents. He gave me a euro instead and didn’t take back the 1 cent. I am glad there weren’t any Germans in-store at that point, I’d have been a tad embarrassed. A similar thing happened at the ‘Maharaja store’ in Stuttgart. I have been dying to have a Maggi (wasn’t able to get any, due to weight considerations), and can imagine myself having piping-hot Maggi on a day when its 17 degrees at the park, reading a book and listening to 95.8 FM-Radio Eins. Maggi, with a base of oil, jeera, onions, Maggi Magic Masala and Maggi! Oh Yumm! Btw, is it Maggi Magic Masala or just Maggi Masala? Whatever, it’s the former in my world. Anyways, to get back to the point, the store had some 8 packs of 4 each. I was so excited, then the incident at Sona Traders 2 weeks back occurred to me. So, I checked the date, and guess what, SO déjà vu! The Best before was 9 months from date of manufacture, which was again, July 2008! I take the pack to the counter and ask him about it, he tells me ‘Madam, yeh abhi tak kharrab nahin hua hai, kya karein, maal hi nahin aata hai ’ (Madam, it’s not yet spoilt . What can I do, the delivery from Nestle hasn’t come in a while!) Ok, I say and am hopping mad. What do these Indian stores abroad think ya? That, unsuspecting Indians will blindly pick up stuff, just coz its Indian??? I am sure I may have made this blunder before, and thank God that I have realized this happens too, and only in India!
Anyways.post the pasta, which was pretty good, I trooped back to the Insitut for ‘MUENDLICHE VORBEREITUNG’, Oral-examination preparation. It was a good and much-needed activity. There are basically 3 parts to the exam, introduction, a REFERRAT (a small presentation) and a ROLLEN-SPIEL (play-acting of a discussion on a topic). These 3 parts are pretty routine, what is not, is that there will always be 2 candidates together in the examination and the 3rd TEIL (part) will be a discussion between the 2, with the examiner (s) on-and-off interrupting. 15 minutes on the hot-seat! Fingers crossed for it. Anyways, post that, I paid a visit to the library, and met Klaus, the librarian. He’s like St. Nikolaus, old and bearded and with eyes that twinkle I had to return the book ‘Nicht alle waren Moerder’. There is also this book ‘KROKODILEN IN NACKEN’. Crocodile by the nails, it’s another story of survival and courage by a STAASI-JAIL survivor. More on this in the entry from yesterday. Our library has a very good collection of books and I am going to make notes on the collection, so that I could buy them some day. Right now, baggage considerations and some cost-considerations don’t permit me.
Post that, I went to the Internet Room, and spent more than 2 hours there. And then, a visit to Potsdamer Platz and the rip-off library to return the books. This time, I guessed that there wouldn’t be a person to accept the books, so it would be OK to reach late. And there was only a conveyor belt, on which one needs to place the books that are to be returned. The rest of the action takes place behind-the-scenes, so to say. Then, I wanted to watch ‘Love aaj kal’ so went to Cinemaxx, where they place Hindi movies. But there wasn’t any show, so I took the 200 bus back home. I love this combined and well-integrated public-transport system, the S-Bahn, U-Bahn, Trams and Metro Buses are so well-linked, one can use the same ticket all across and seamlessly move about. We have something similar, for example, 402 bus from my place to Mulund station, leads to the train-station, but then, again, a long way to go.
On the menu, today, was cabbage sabji, yes, I have been eating cabbage every single week, sometimes twice, coz, the cabbages here are huge ya, and takes time to complete one.
Am sleepy and how! So, am going to crash now and will catch you later.
Bis bald,
Anya
Donnerstag, den 6. August 2009
I have just had a hearty meal of baingan sabji, bread, rice and dal. Just watched a saccharine-sweet, romantic movie (video-film):; am a sucker for romance, and the movie was pretty good. This pianist-babe and this cook-dude who are thrown together by chance (she stays in the hotel where he is cook). She is already engaged, but ends up falling for him. He has just had his heart trampled over by his ex- who has invited him for her marriage to some other guy. She agrees to pose as his girlfriend for the day, and guess what, of course, they fall in love. If u didn’t guess this, u haven’t been watching many Hindi movies of late :D
She realizes she cannot break his (read engaged man’s) heart, so she breaks the cook’s instead and returns home. She has a concert for which she is not doing as well as she shud (coz u see, her true love is no longer around,) so enter Mom, she gets the cook for the concert. She sees him, and gives a great performance, at the end of which she hugs the engaged man (he is the conductor of the orchestra). Cook doesn’t like this obviously, I mean, “I didn’t travel all the way here, to see u kiss and hug another guy!!!” so, he walks out again (yes, again, coz that’s his thing, he walks out of the restaurant a couple of times, out of her life and now out of the concert-hall). Unaware that he’s gone, she goes back stage and breaks the engaged guys’ heart, he seemingly is OK with it. And returns on stage to not see him anywhere. So she goes a running out and calls out ‘Sebastian’….thankfully the concert hall was huge and has a grand entrance, so he’s still around making his way out. He hears his name, turns around, stops…. They both run towards each other, and ooooh, the violins are-a-playing, the stars-are-a-shining, and love is in the air, truly! The-End.
She realizes she cannot break his (read engaged man’s) heart, so she breaks the cook’s instead and returns home. She has a concert for which she is not doing as well as she shud (coz u see, her true love is no longer around,) so enter Mom, she gets the cook for the concert. She sees him, and gives a great performance, at the end of which she hugs the engaged man (he is the conductor of the orchestra). Cook doesn’t like this obviously, I mean, “I didn’t travel all the way here, to see u kiss and hug another guy!!!” so, he walks out again (yes, again, coz that’s his thing, he walks out of the restaurant a couple of times, out of her life and now out of the concert-hall). Unaware that he’s gone, she goes back stage and breaks the engaged guys’ heart, he seemingly is OK with it. And returns on stage to not see him anywhere. So she goes a running out and calls out ‘Sebastian’….thankfully the concert hall was huge and has a grand entrance, so he’s still around making his way out. He hears his name, turns around, stops…. They both run towards each other, and ooooh, the violins are-a-playing, the stars-are-a-shining, and love is in the air, truly! The-End.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Mittwoch: den 29. Juli, 2009: 22:32 Uhr
It’s getting closer to 12 a.m. and I am extremely sleepy. But there is no way that I can sleep tonight, without first penning down these thoughts in my head. Ok, so heres a real quick update:
Today was DAS SOMMERFEST (The Summer fest), a party organized by the KULTUR BURO for all us students, teachers and staff. We, the class C-1 had organized a small THEATER-STUECK (skit) for the same. Original idea was by yours’ truly, inspired by the ‘Mind your lanague’ series. Post idea-gathering, I managed to create a readable script, but had to brutally edit the same L since it was getting to sound a bit tedious. Finally, around 4 versions and multiple role-changes later, at 18:20 hours, the final draft was ready. We were scheduled for 20:00 hours J
To say that I was apprehensive is an understatement. But once on stage, things moved very smoothly. Thanks to the support from Ketaki, Kavita, Deepak, Bora, Frau Maetzing (all of whom were cheering madly) and the amazing team-work from those of us on-stage, our skit was HIT ! Yay! Our teacher was so impressed and kept saying that it was very very well organized, (I am a happy girl). She also belw a couple of whistles towards the end. Nice!
I was initially a tad skeptical about the whole thing, since not everyone from class participated, not even as an audience initially. But finally, Alina, Dmitry, Molly, Luda, Oriol and I mamaegd to split roles amomg us and put on a rather-excellent show. Efraim would have participated but he’s rather busy and stressed out with his doctorate-work. Fabian, Gulce, Julia and Genaro didn’t want to participate. Genaro, actually rehearsed with us a couple of times and then, didt trun up for class. So, we subsititured Eric in his place (Eric and Helen are 2 new students from week4!) who are journalists with SPIEGEL- Online and are here for around 3 weeks, I think. But then Eric couldn’t reachc back from work on time, so we subistiured Oriol for his role (Oriol, was in facrt, thr original choice for the role, BTW). Alina and Oriol switched roles and she became the speaker (Sutradar, in Hindi).
Luda, Dmitry and Larissa (his wife) were absolute sweethearts, and among the 4 of us, we managed to firm up my original script. D and L are a real sweet couple (married actually) and I would like to write quite a bit on them, but some other time. They have a 2-year old son as well, they are as cute and so-in-love that it is sure to make anyone go ‘Awwwwwwwww’J
Anyways, will paste the script here later, with a translated-transctipr later tomorrow.
We had a piano recital by 2 students; Japanese and Korean, a dance-performance from Enrique and Carrie (I think) a song-recital by B2-1 and another skit by a different class (Who didn’t use the microphones!!!). Thank God, we did, we had asked for it beforehand. Then we all danced quite a bit, mostly to Spanish music, which is TOLL!!!
The entire event was a hit, and the Goethe Institut has done agreat job in organizing it. What I liked the best was the timing with which everything was organized, to the tee. Immediately at 9.40, the event came to a close, and the team went about cleaning up the place; even the papers lying about in the garden. This dignity of labour is what I admire the most here and the pride with which one goes about her work.
In other news, I somehow managed to whip up a masala-rice tonight (was stricylt OK) but needed to eat at home, since was feeling a bit under the weather (physically) but mentally am high on life, and how! :D
Today, back in class, a lot of people came up to me and called me Marlene Mueller, that was my name in the skit. and said that it was a good play, etc.- etc. I likes :)
bis bald,
Anya
Today was DAS SOMMERFEST (The Summer fest), a party organized by the KULTUR BURO for all us students, teachers and staff. We, the class C-1 had organized a small THEATER-STUECK (skit) for the same. Original idea was by yours’ truly, inspired by the ‘Mind your lanague’ series. Post idea-gathering, I managed to create a readable script, but had to brutally edit the same L since it was getting to sound a bit tedious. Finally, around 4 versions and multiple role-changes later, at 18:20 hours, the final draft was ready. We were scheduled for 20:00 hours J
To say that I was apprehensive is an understatement. But once on stage, things moved very smoothly. Thanks to the support from Ketaki, Kavita, Deepak, Bora, Frau Maetzing (all of whom were cheering madly) and the amazing team-work from those of us on-stage, our skit was HIT ! Yay! Our teacher was so impressed and kept saying that it was very very well organized, (I am a happy girl). She also belw a couple of whistles towards the end. Nice!
I was initially a tad skeptical about the whole thing, since not everyone from class participated, not even as an audience initially. But finally, Alina, Dmitry, Molly, Luda, Oriol and I mamaegd to split roles amomg us and put on a rather-excellent show. Efraim would have participated but he’s rather busy and stressed out with his doctorate-work. Fabian, Gulce, Julia and Genaro didn’t want to participate. Genaro, actually rehearsed with us a couple of times and then, didt trun up for class. So, we subsititured Eric in his place (Eric and Helen are 2 new students from week4!) who are journalists with SPIEGEL- Online and are here for around 3 weeks, I think. But then Eric couldn’t reachc back from work on time, so we subistiured Oriol for his role (Oriol, was in facrt, thr original choice for the role, BTW). Alina and Oriol switched roles and she became the speaker (Sutradar, in Hindi).
Luda, Dmitry and Larissa (his wife) were absolute sweethearts, and among the 4 of us, we managed to firm up my original script. D and L are a real sweet couple (married actually) and I would like to write quite a bit on them, but some other time. They have a 2-year old son as well, they are as cute and so-in-love that it is sure to make anyone go ‘Awwwwwwwww’J
Anyways, will paste the script here later, with a translated-transctipr later tomorrow.
We had a piano recital by 2 students; Japanese and Korean, a dance-performance from Enrique and Carrie (I think) a song-recital by B2-1 and another skit by a different class (Who didn’t use the microphones!!!). Thank God, we did, we had asked for it beforehand. Then we all danced quite a bit, mostly to Spanish music, which is TOLL!!!
The entire event was a hit, and the Goethe Institut has done agreat job in organizing it. What I liked the best was the timing with which everything was organized, to the tee. Immediately at 9.40, the event came to a close, and the team went about cleaning up the place; even the papers lying about in the garden. This dignity of labour is what I admire the most here and the pride with which one goes about her work.
In other news, I somehow managed to whip up a masala-rice tonight (was stricylt OK) but needed to eat at home, since was feeling a bit under the weather (physically) but mentally am high on life, and how! :D
Today, back in class, a lot of people came up to me and called me Marlene Mueller, that was my name in the skit. and said that it was a good play, etc.- etc. I likes :)
bis bald,
Anya
Friday, July 17, 2009
Freitag, den 17. Juli 2009
So, the INTERNATIONALE ESSEN TAG went off great. I was initially a bit hesitant about how the humble potato sabji would do, but guess what, it did great!
There were 7 cheeses from France, Switzerland, mexican rice from Mexico, chocolate cake from Poland, etc. The humble bhaji was displayed with the headline ,KARTOFFEL GEMUESE VON INDIEN, Bon Appetit!' Potato-sabjhi from India, Bon Appetit, along with our national flag.
Several people wanted the recipe, the dish was a hit, well, 1 coz it tasted good :D and 2, coz was a good option for those who opted for vegetarian. Surprisingly, there were several people who are now vegetarians by choice. It felt real good, especially since it was so last-minute. The recipe:
1. Pour oil in a vessl, add chopped garlic and red-chillies
2. Add chopped onions and wait till they turn translucent
3. Now, add the masala from home (dania, jeera, red chill pdr and some garam masala) and let the onions absorb the spice.
4. Add the chopped potatoes (in cubes) and some water so that the potatoes become tender.
5. When thepottatoes are tender enough. i.e can be cut with a knife, add salt as needed
Once u click on order, the order is assigned a number and u are givena time wehn u can pick the book from the PICKING-AREA. The PICKING-AREA is a room with shelves that are numbered 01-50, these symbolize the last 2 digits of ur library membership number. so, u go the shelf that bears ur number, and pick the books, then go the counter, and they issue it for u. the books lie on the shelves for a week, post which, they are sent back to the holding area(?).
There is also a service provided, where if person A has borrowed a book and Person B wants to order the same book during the lending-period of 1 month,. person B reserves the book for a sum of 1€, which means that Person A cannot renew the book, if she wants to when she returns it. But no one checks whether or not the person wanted to renew it, that to me is a rip-off, because if the book is present in the library just waiting for me to pick it up, why do i need to pay for it???
My other issue is that, there is no one room, where all the books that can be borrowed can be browsed through or even a link where all borrowable-books are displayd. So, u are basically expected to know what u need to borrow. Give me an old-fashioned library anyday, where i can browse through the books, read the burrbs, hold the books for a while, carry 10 books in my arms and then borrow them. The beauty lies in the browsing and not in the borrowing. Oh by the way, this whole membership cost me €10, i better pay regular visits there. maybe they have wi-fi, will take my laptop and use it in that case, but only if its free!
Ketaki ended up paying €1.90 for a newspaper, which we later realized is too expensive. Aren´t newspapers supposed to be for everyone and more cost-effective? We plan to frame it when we get back to Bombay and charge people for reading it, maybe we´ll be able to recover the €1.90 and also the €10.
Today, we (Class C1.1) went for lunch together to an Asian specialty restaurant called ,Papaya,... I had a burnt-rice with vegetables, that basiclly meant egg rice with veggies, was pretty good, i nullified the semi-blandness with the chilli-chutney provided :) and had the Spezi- which is Cola & fanta mixed, and is a German invention.
We discussed cuisines and lifestyles in Moscow, Mumbai, Germany, paris. incidentally the lone Parisian at the table wasnt a major fan of Paris, and said that life for him is actually stressful. to which i would agree a bit, among the capital-cities\main cities of the world where I´ve been to, Berlin comes across as a nice , calm city, where one can experience both a large city and have a quiet life, if one so wishes to. London, Paris, Rome, New York, Bombay; chaotic in comparison.
Interstingly there were 3 Russians on the table and when i told them that there is a lot of Russia in Goa, they were surprised. I remember seeing streets with all signages in Russian, german too on a trip to Goa and told them all about it. We now have at least 5 people wanting to make a trip to Goa, Bombay. i wish i could do this travel-bit full time and make a living out of it.
A few minutes back, it rained as it does in Bombay , without the sun and with a lot of force. its not normal weather for berlin this time of the year, and goes to show how much we have changed the forces of nature.
In other news, Kavita is planning to write on Bollywood as the theme for her REFERRAT (presentation). i think its a great idea, and have told her to incorporate our cryze for foreign locales and the roles that cities play in our movies. Kavita,s landlady has invited the 3 of us to her place tomorrow morning for breakfast. its at 9!!! so i need to wake up on time tomorrow. cant be late for breakfast! There are also several French students here, who I think are the cutest, well-behaved, friendly and very international, in the sense that they mingle with everyone, and are genuinely interested in knowing about other cultures. Pity they are all in the afternoon class.
There is a SPAZIER-GANG (walk) planned for Potsdamer-Platz, where we had incidentally gone yesterday in our quest for a dictionary. There are markings all over , where the Berlin wall stood. ther is so much history here, that sometimes, i think that it inhibts the people from totally being themselves, as if they still feel guilty for all that hapened so mnay years back.
I´d better get going, oh by the way, i paid a visit to the libray properly for the 1st time today, and spent 2 hours over some Grammar. I realize that I have a long way to go, and have miles to go before i sleep.
tc,
Tschuess,
Anya
There were 7 cheeses from France, Switzerland, mexican rice from Mexico, chocolate cake from Poland, etc. The humble bhaji was displayed with the headline ,KARTOFFEL GEMUESE VON INDIEN, Bon Appetit!' Potato-sabjhi from India, Bon Appetit, along with our national flag.
Several people wanted the recipe, the dish was a hit, well, 1 coz it tasted good :D and 2, coz was a good option for those who opted for vegetarian. Surprisingly, there were several people who are now vegetarians by choice. It felt real good, especially since it was so last-minute. The recipe:
1. Pour oil in a vessl, add chopped garlic and red-chillies
2. Add chopped onions and wait till they turn translucent
3. Now, add the masala from home (dania, jeera, red chill pdr and some garam masala) and let the onions absorb the spice.
4. Add the chopped potatoes (in cubes) and some water so that the potatoes become tender.
5. When thepottatoes are tender enough. i.e can be cut with a knife, add salt as needed
Serve with love and a lot of patriotic pride!
Yesterday, 16th Juli, was a rip-off day. We visited the State-Library, where the entire library system is extremely complicated and not in accordance with a book-lover´s tastes. For example, all we wanted was to borrow a German-English dictionary, but guess what, dictionaries cannot be borrowed! they have to be read (?) in the reading-hall. There are computers all over the place, where one needs to type in the book(s) that one needs to borrow, basically search for them in the online-catalog, once you find the book u need, u click on ORder (BESTELLEN), if the ORder-link is not seen, that means the book cannot be borrowed and instead the room where the book can be found is given.
Once u click on order, the order is assigned a number and u are givena time wehn u can pick the book from the PICKING-AREA. The PICKING-AREA is a room with shelves that are numbered 01-50, these symbolize the last 2 digits of ur library membership number. so, u go the shelf that bears ur number, and pick the books, then go the counter, and they issue it for u. the books lie on the shelves for a week, post which, they are sent back to the holding area(?).
There is also a service provided, where if person A has borrowed a book and Person B wants to order the same book during the lending-period of 1 month,. person B reserves the book for a sum of 1€, which means that Person A cannot renew the book, if she wants to when she returns it. But no one checks whether or not the person wanted to renew it, that to me is a rip-off, because if the book is present in the library just waiting for me to pick it up, why do i need to pay for it???
My other issue is that, there is no one room, where all the books that can be borrowed can be browsed through or even a link where all borrowable-books are displayd. So, u are basically expected to know what u need to borrow. Give me an old-fashioned library anyday, where i can browse through the books, read the burrbs, hold the books for a while, carry 10 books in my arms and then borrow them. The beauty lies in the browsing and not in the borrowing. Oh by the way, this whole membership cost me €10, i better pay regular visits there. maybe they have wi-fi, will take my laptop and use it in that case, but only if its free!
Ketaki ended up paying €1.90 for a newspaper, which we later realized is too expensive. Aren´t newspapers supposed to be for everyone and more cost-effective? We plan to frame it when we get back to Bombay and charge people for reading it, maybe we´ll be able to recover the €1.90 and also the €10.
Today, we (Class C1.1) went for lunch together to an Asian specialty restaurant called ,Papaya,... I had a burnt-rice with vegetables, that basiclly meant egg rice with veggies, was pretty good, i nullified the semi-blandness with the chilli-chutney provided :) and had the Spezi- which is Cola & fanta mixed, and is a German invention.
We discussed cuisines and lifestyles in Moscow, Mumbai, Germany, paris. incidentally the lone Parisian at the table wasnt a major fan of Paris, and said that life for him is actually stressful. to which i would agree a bit, among the capital-cities\main cities of the world where I´ve been to, Berlin comes across as a nice , calm city, where one can experience both a large city and have a quiet life, if one so wishes to. London, Paris, Rome, New York, Bombay; chaotic in comparison.
Interstingly there were 3 Russians on the table and when i told them that there is a lot of Russia in Goa, they were surprised. I remember seeing streets with all signages in Russian, german too on a trip to Goa and told them all about it. We now have at least 5 people wanting to make a trip to Goa, Bombay. i wish i could do this travel-bit full time and make a living out of it.
A few minutes back, it rained as it does in Bombay , without the sun and with a lot of force. its not normal weather for berlin this time of the year, and goes to show how much we have changed the forces of nature.
In other news, Kavita is planning to write on Bollywood as the theme for her REFERRAT (presentation). i think its a great idea, and have told her to incorporate our cryze for foreign locales and the roles that cities play in our movies. Kavita,s landlady has invited the 3 of us to her place tomorrow morning for breakfast. its at 9!!! so i need to wake up on time tomorrow. cant be late for breakfast! There are also several French students here, who I think are the cutest, well-behaved, friendly and very international, in the sense that they mingle with everyone, and are genuinely interested in knowing about other cultures. Pity they are all in the afternoon class.
There is a SPAZIER-GANG (walk) planned for Potsdamer-Platz, where we had incidentally gone yesterday in our quest for a dictionary. There are markings all over , where the Berlin wall stood. ther is so much history here, that sometimes, i think that it inhibts the people from totally being themselves, as if they still feel guilty for all that hapened so mnay years back.
I´d better get going, oh by the way, i paid a visit to the libray properly for the 1st time today, and spent 2 hours over some Grammar. I realize that I have a long way to go, and have miles to go before i sleep.
tc,
Tschuess,
Anya
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Mittwoch: den 15. July 2009
Highlights of the day:
I somehow managed to prod myself awake, and prepare the potato-sabji for the INTERNATIONAL ESSEN TAG; fingers crossed that it goes down well in the evening. Hilda had a lot of questions about the various Indian cuisines, the food and drink that we have, whether we cook at home or eat out, the market for processed/ ready-to-eat, cook meals, etc. I gave gyaan on how a maid is a necessity back home and not a luxury as it is here, the fact that we eat out a lot and also eat home-food etc. etc.
I reached around 10 mins late for class; NEED to get the reaching-on-time bits in place and soon. Its barely a 10-minute walk from home-class, but wonder where the time goes :)
In class, we discussed German films; DAS LEBEN DER ANDEREN, GOODBYE LENIN, DER TOTMACHER, DIE WEISSE MASAI. We also heard the German version of 'The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plains'; Es grünt so grün wenn Spaniens Blüten... Good fun!
We also discussed proverbs from our languages, that have something to do with Time; ZEIT.
Eg: ZEIT IST GOLD/ GELD (Time is Gold, money)
ZEIT UND WELLE WARTEN AUF NIEMAND (Time and Tide wait for none).
There are more to be discussed tomorrow, and also homework on some more Grammar concepts :(
So, will get going, and keep you posted on how the INTERNATIONALE ESSEN-TAGE went.
Bis bald,
Tschuess,
Anya
I somehow managed to prod myself awake, and prepare the potato-sabji for the INTERNATIONAL ESSEN TAG; fingers crossed that it goes down well in the evening. Hilda had a lot of questions about the various Indian cuisines, the food and drink that we have, whether we cook at home or eat out, the market for processed/ ready-to-eat, cook meals, etc. I gave gyaan on how a maid is a necessity back home and not a luxury as it is here, the fact that we eat out a lot and also eat home-food etc. etc.
I reached around 10 mins late for class; NEED to get the reaching-on-time bits in place and soon. Its barely a 10-minute walk from home-class, but wonder where the time goes :)
In class, we discussed German films; DAS LEBEN DER ANDEREN, GOODBYE LENIN, DER TOTMACHER, DIE WEISSE MASAI. We also heard the German version of 'The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plains'; Es grünt so grün wenn Spaniens Blüten... Good fun!
We also discussed proverbs from our languages, that have something to do with Time; ZEIT.
Eg: ZEIT IST GOLD/ GELD (Time is Gold, money)
ZEIT UND WELLE WARTEN AUF NIEMAND (Time and Tide wait for none).
There are more to be discussed tomorrow, and also homework on some more Grammar concepts :(
So, will get going, and keep you posted on how the INTERNATIONALE ESSEN-TAGE went.
Bis bald,
Tschuess,
Anya
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