prison linoleum, invisible dogs, mysterious table knives, and hanging miniature church boats ... sailing the seas of learning in Rostock

This weekend three other students and I joined our professor Todd for a trip to Rostock, which is 3 hours north of Berlin by the slow train. It's on the Ostsee, a body of water that lies mysteriously along the north of Germany, but about which the exact whereabouts in relation to Denmark, Sweden, Finland etc. remain rather foggy and unclear. It is part of former East Germany and Todd studied there as an exchange student in 1988, so he still has friends there.

Our crew consisted (from the right) Evelyn and Sam (spontaneously impersonating Charlie's Angels), and KC (conscientiously objecting to TV violence).

We stayed in the "Hansa Hostel," pretty much the best hostel ever. The owners are really nice, and it was very clean and hospitable. It was boat-themed, and our room was in the basement. The presence of our own sink and lockers made us feel like we were really on a boat, so we insisted on calling each other "sailor" the whole weekend.

First stop on Saturday morning was the former Stasi prison, now a museum, where the East German secret police held and interrogated people who they thought might be threatening the state.

We got a personal guided tour, starting with the holding cells ...

... not a pleasant place to spend the night.

Prisoners were required to sit upright on their stools or beds during the day and lie flat on their backs with their hands visible during the night.

Every once in a while they would let you out into an open-air cell in order to get some fresh air.

The strangest thing about it, I thought, was the "interior decoration." The floor was this very East-German-looking linoleum, with a, well, kitcheny design.

Even down in the basement isolation cell area, one wall was cheerily wallpapered with an autumn leaf print. I don't know when this was done - perhaps later when the area was just used for people doing forced labor rather than actual imprisonment. Still, a weird thing to see. (Todd's friend Anne is in the foreground, who played host to us while we were there.)

Next we visited St. Mary's church. That's a very high ceiling!

For lunch, we had bratwurst grilled on this fabulous hanging grill. The guy swings it around, I guess so that it cooks better? I don't know, but it tasted good.

In the square where we had lunch was this group of very odd sculptures (in the summer it's a fountain, but they turn the water off for the winter). A little Chagall, I thought, but with the requisite Very Large Feet and Hands of communist sculpture.

Then we met for coffee with a city politician who is a member of the Green party (left, with Todd) and talked about the problems Rostock and the East have experienced since reunification.

Then we went for a walk in the Altstadt, the oldest part of town, where apparently someone escaped his appointed waiting place. Or perhaps Rostock is just full of invisible dogs.

Then we strolled over to St. Peter's church, whose spire is pretty much just ridiculously tall.

And there are extremely steep circular stairs leading up the tower, which of course we had to climb.

The view from the top was magnificent. Below you can see that the Altstadt still has its midieval street plan and quaint old houses.

(This is me thinking, "There is no way I'm going down those stairs. I'm taking the elevator!")

Since Rostock is a port town, there are miniature ships hanging in all the churches. Also maybe because this is St. Peter's, who was a fisherman, who knows.

Here is sunset behind the district court - a beautiful neo-Gothic brick building ...

We got dinner at the "Braukeller," a cellar restaurant across the street from our hostel. The food was good, but what's with this knife? Have you ever seen such a thing? It's like a pie server! I don't know what it was - a regional tradition, perhaps. If anyone knows, please tell me. (Despite its strange appearance, it functioned just fine.)

Then we went out with Anne's babysitter, Wiebke, who took us to the student club. It was packed and everyone was dancing and having a good time.

We had arrived early, when it was still relatively empty. As we were leaving, we saw that a long line of people had developed, waiting to get in. Sam, KC and Evelyn posed sadly at the end of the line for a picture, then we merrily turned towards home, glad that we weren't the people waiting in the cold to get in.

Of course, no evening out is complete without a snack ...

Oh yes, even sailors like a Doener once in a while.

Back in Berlin this evening, we finished off our weekend of cultural activities by attending a dance performance. It was a great show ... here are KC and Brenda checking out the program afterwards while waiting to catch the U-Bahn home. A busy weekend, and a good one. Next weekend: Dresden!

pumpkins!

On Thursday afternoon, I went to my friends Nadja & Olli's house to carve Halloween pumpkins! They had never done it before and wanted me to "show" them how.

The thing is, they are such organized and responsible people that they had researched everything beforehand, picked out face designs and even read up on techniques. Olli especially proved to be quite the pumpkin carving talent ...

... and he is good-looking, as well!

Didn't they turn out great?? Not bad for beginners. ;)

We saved the seeds and roasted them in the oven. Yum yum. They made a great appetizer for ...

Nadja's pumpkin soup (her mom gets credit for the recipe)! It was amazing. Pumpkin, ham, apples and onions blended together to make the perfect mix of savory, tangy and pumpkiny! It was SO good.

Then Olli donned is card playing gear (actually he took off the sunglasses later because you don't need a poker face to play "Phase 10" or "Skat"). He tried very hard to teach me the complex and intricate German National Card Game (remember how I bought the cards?) but we ended up playing a version of Crazy Eights instead. To my credit, it's not easy to learn a card game that:
a) has all sorts of weird numbers and points, plus the cards are all mixed up with the 10 coming after the Queen and King
b) the person teaching you is speaking German, so not only are you confused about points, but there are strange, unfamiliar words for things like "spades"
c) the person teaching you is a card genius and decides that you also need to learn strategy along with all the confusing points, etc.
I wasn't bad at Crazy Eights, though.

Winnie, of course, was also on hand and tried to help teach me Skat by licking my face and being cute.

Yep, card playing is a tiring activity! In all, a wonderful evening with wonderful friends. I am so lucky they have adopted me!

a little more history

On Wednesday,

after dropping Mary Ellen off at the bus to the airport (thanks for visiting, Mary Ellen! It was lovely to have you!)

I met my classmates for a tour of Jewish Berlin with Ulf. (From the left: Sara, Kellan, Ieva, Kristin and Aaron, who isn't a classmate but we like him anyway ...)

Ulf showed us where the Jewish quarter was during the midieval and Renaissance periods --

and also showed us a graveyard whose stones were removed by Nazis during WWII and never replaced, since Jewish law forbids marking graves wrongly, even if it's by mistake.

We also looked at the "New Synagogue," built in the 1800s, then bombed in the war and recently restored.

On my way home I ran across some "stumble stones" - a type of monument that commemorates people who were deported to concentration camps by the Nazis. Each plate represents a person who lived at that address, and has their name, deportation and death dates ... I love this memorial and think it is really effective.

The Bode Museum, which houses the Byzantine collection and German sculpture, just opened last week. Every time I go by there is a line around the block - even in the pouring rain - to get in. I think this is ridiculous, as no amount of Byzantine art or German sculpture is worth waiting 3+ hours in the cold, especially when it means that once you're inside it'll be so crowded that you won't be able to look at the art! But people must love to line up for things. Here is the line in front of the museum a half hour before it opened - I was walking by on my way to school. Later that day I'm sure it reached all the way around the block. Enjoy your art, people!

just look at Nara's & Mary Ellen's fabulous European lives! (jealousy mandatory)

Yes, I have been doing my utmost to live a desperately spectacular European life this week.

Monday night I attended a play at the Berliner Ensemble, the former theater of Brecht, with some of my fellow students ...

From the left: Brenda, Zach, Sam, Kristen and Evelyn.

The next morning I met Mary Ellen at the train station (she was in Poland over the weekend, visiting another friend) and we went shopping in Prenzlauer Berg, then stopped for a tasty coffee and apple cake with whipped cream at a cafe on Kastanienallee.

Mmmmm.

My purchase: 2 sets of Skat cards at 50 cents each from the Oxfam thrift store. I think they look cool and I thought I might even learn to play it. I read on the internet that it's the national card game of Germany! The rules look complicated though, so that's all I know about it so far.

Tuesday evening was beautiful and warm, so we walked from Friedrichstrasse, which is downtown (here's a building that's part of my study area - looks cool at night, doesn't it?) ...

... to Kreuzberg, where we had dinner at my favorite restaurant - you should know it by now - Marques!

... and just to torture you, I shall give you a thorough rundown of what we had - starting with pumpkin soup,

with a side of bruschetta with lachs, caviar and creme fraiche ...

Then tapas: tortilla espanolia, figs wrapped with bacon, stuffed mushrooms ...

... and don't forget the flaming chorizo!!

We finished it off with creme catalan - aka creme brulee. A perfect end to the perfect dinner!! If you're not envious by now, you can't say we didn't try ....