Back to Baltic

A couple weekends ago, I finally made it to the German coast again, for the first time in several years. Are you thinking "German coast? That doesn't sound very appealing"? If so, you're wrong! The Baltic Sea was one of the great things East Germany had going for it, and it's still a popular place to vacation.

So if you want to see sun, sand and sea (wintertime version, obviously), along with some strange buildings and a few amusing signs, check out the photo album:

BINZ!

Enter the Trombone Choir

An American friend of mine recently mentioned something about her choir, and I assumed singing, but when I asked her about it, it turns out she plays in a trombone choir.

Now, I just looked up "trombone choir" (which is not only trombones, but apparently more like a brass band with a trombone focus) and it turns out they exist in the U.S. too. But they're really big in Germany. And, for whatever reason, they're strongly associated with churches, specifically Protestant churches.

So my American friend, who says she was thrilled to get to Germany and find so many kindred spirits after years of being the only trombonist around, spends many of her Sundays playing at different Protestant services around Berlin (she's not even religious herself) and then hanging out and drinking mulled wine with the congregations afterward.

"I think of you as such a Germanophile," she said to me. "I can't believe you didn't know about this!"

Thanksgiving Addendum

It's certainly not my thing to plug companies and corporations of any sort, but I just have to say – Skype is amazing. The difference between talking to someone who's far away and talking to and seeing someone who's far away is beyond description.

My parents are at my aunt's house for Thanksgiving dinner as we speak, and as usual I'm in Berlin and missing out, but this year we made a point of getting on Skype when everyone was there. I got to see my aunt and uncle, and all three of my cousins in the frame at the same time, and my cousin's husband with the new puppy, and their baby! They even put the computer down inside the playpen, so I could see how he's already taking his first steps.

It really felt almost like being there. When we signed off, my aunt said, "Thanks for coming over!" and I said, "Thanks for having me!"

Bagels (or Not) in Berlin

While we're on the topic of food:

Bagels.

I come from a town that happens to make really good ones, and when I first went abroad, that was one of the few things I begged my parents to bring me when the visited: bagels from Ithaca. I know for a fact that other friends did the same during their own high school exchange years.

Over time, though, I've gotten more relaxed about it. Once a year, when I'm in the U.S., I eat as many bagels as I can (ditto for burritos), but the rest of the time, I don't worry much about trying to hunt down an authentic one (of either bagels or burritos – though if anyone did want to give me a tip about where to find authentic bagels in Berlin, I wouldn't say no).

Occasionally, though, I'm passing by one of those places that sells bagels, or what passes for them, and I can't help it. I duck in and get myself a bagel, or perhaps "bagel," with cream cheese.

This most recent time, I very clearly ordered a bagel with cream cheese, but when I opened it up, I was fascinated to find the woman had added...mustard. My cream cheese bagel was quite clearly spread with cream cheese and mustard.

I ate it anyway, and I suppose it wasn't too bad for such a weird combination. But I'm still wondering... What part of "bagel with cream cheese" said "mustard" to her?

Thanksgiving in Berlin

This is how small Berlin can be sometimes:

Today, when I called the editor I regularly freelance for, he asked if I was doing anything for Thanksgiving. Not until the weekend, I said. (Two friends of mine, one American and one German, got fired up about the idea of co-hosting, but of course in a country where the holiday you're celebrating isn't a public holiday, Thursday isn't a particularly convenient day to cook all day.)

What about you? I asked. Oh, just going to a restaurant in Neukölln, he said. (One of Berlin's many urban districts.)

A restaurant in Neukölln? I asked. That wouldn't be Feast, would it?

But of course it was. It's a catering company and private dining room run by an American woman who's a fabulous cook; she hosts various events, but is especially known for her Thanksgiving extravaganza, and the same friend I'm going to for Thanksgiving this weekend had originally thought about going there instead.

It's not even much of a coincidence, really. The friend and the editor and I all move in vaguely the same crowd of journalist-ish expats, and probably all first heard about Feast from the same person. But there's something nice about knowing these webs of interconnections can grow even within a city.

Happy Thanksgiving, all you Americans abroad, and not abroad!

Hamlet as Facebook News Feed

Ha, I do have a weakness for these things: Hamlet summarized as a Facebook news feed.

More Things to Love about Berlin

I disappeared, I know, I know! Sorry! Just so extremely busy, between all the work things and all the fun things. Here's a very small update, with more coming in the future...

As if I didn't already have enough examples of how this city is great:

Today unfolded as one of those perfect, relaxed and spontaneous weekend days. First I finished up some work, then collected my friend Carolyn, who's visiting from Zurich, and took her along to my friend Anton's gathering, where we first wandered around the grounds of one of Berlin's many random palaces (foreign visitors were suitably impressed), then repaired to Anton's for hearty soup and the season's first Glühwein (mulled wine).

Some more of my friends showed up there in the course of the afternoon, so Carolyn and I brought them along when we went to meet up with another friend, Patricia, who'd suggested we all come along to a swing dance party someone had told her about.

The party was down a side street, into the third back courtyard of a building and up three flights of stairs, the way marked with strategically placed candles. The space itself seemed to be some sort of workshop, with tools hanging from the ceiling and wood stacked in the corners.

First, a bubbly Swedish(?) woman gave us early arrivals a beginner's lesson in Charleston, then the band showed up and explained that they'd only just formed, hadn't ever all played together at once and in some cases had only just had the sheet music pressed into their hands today, but they'd figured, why rehearse in some practice room somewhere, when they could invite friends over and play for them instead?

The band was great, the energy was high, lots of people danced, and all my German friends who had never done swing dance before (did that whole American swing craze 10 or 15 years ago not reach Europe?) were completely taken by it, going so far as to swear they were going to drop everything else and start swing lessons.

The whole thing was free, with an honor system for dropping some money in a bowl if you took a beer, and most people brought along something to add to the huge dish-to-pass buffet. At one point I was standing by the buffet table, in this strange industrial space with tools hanging off the walls, eating a muffin and gazing out the window at the lights of the city, and found myself thinking, This is why Berlin is so cool.