My First Week in Berlin!

So you might be wondering why my blog is called "Amira is a jelly donut."  Well, as some of you know, the story goes that in JFK's speach in in West Berlin in 1963, showing his support of the US to West Berlin, he stated "Ich bein ein Berliner."  He was trying to say, "I am a citizen of Berlin (ich bin berliner- with out the "ein"); however, what he really said was, "I am a jelly doughnut" because in fact a berliner is a type of jelly doughnut made in Berlin!

Now, for my experiences so far:

I arrived on Tuesday and my host family which I found through the Massorti Jewish community of Berlin, The Dreyblatt's (Arnold, Petra, and their 7-year-old son Noah Lior) picked me up from the airport!  The are so gracious and hospitable and their son Noah, is really adorable.  They really have been treating me like their daughter and are extremely considerate.  They live in East Berlin in a neighborhood called Prenzlauerberg, a hip and young place with lots of little stores, coffee shops and restaurants. It is only 10 minutes on the tram to Mitte (the center of the city)! The Dreyblatt's live in a nice apartment and Arnold, an artist has a beautiful studio loft next door, which is where I live! It's really nice that I have my own place in a really cool loft! The only small issue is that the shower is in their apartment! So everytime I want to take a shower I have to unlock 3 doors and go outside into their apartment to take a shower! Sometimes its a little chilly, but its an experience!

The students on my program are really nice and everyone gets a long really well so far, and there are only 32 students, and only 7 of them are male....enough said. The staff are also really nice and are very helpful in helping is acclimate into Berlin society.

On the second night, Wednesday, a bunch of us went out to a student bar which was really a nice chill atmosphere! What was intersting to expereince later when we were walking outside, were the tens of prostitues that loitering on the streets! I at first did not realize who they were, and was quiet confused why women with ridicously high boots, with a brazeere, a vest, and a fanny pack, were all over the streets! Every time a man passed they would talk to them for a couple of minutes, and then the men would walk away...And it turns out that in Germany prostitution is legal. It's considered a profession! Another thing that I noticed is that Germany has a open bottle policy. Therefore, you see people at all times of the day, in the trains, trams on the street, people of all ages and classes just drinking beer walking as if it was water! 

There has been a lot of German manners and etiquette that is very different than American mannerisms and etiquette. Such as, Germans are sticklers for following the rules.  If their is a red light they will never cross the street! As a New Yorker, this has been hard for me to watch and follow! The first few days I said to myself, I am going to try to act like the Germans and follow the rules, but it was WAY to hard for me, so now I just jay walk and people stare. No big deal. Apparently though it's an absolute
no no to jay walk if on either sides of the street is a child. It is known that the mother will yell at you if you jay walk because you are setting a bad example for your child. Also, if you ask a person "hey, what's up," or "hi, how are you," they really think us Americans are asking them how they are, and are genuinley interesting in their well being and do not understand that it is just a phrase or greeting. As a result, they tend to go on these long monologues about how they are and their day! It's nice but often get a little long! I found this hilarious and does not affect me at all, but men in private homes when going to the bathroom to pee must sit down. They can't stand up because Germans don't like when men spray their pee! Also, on public transportation (which happens to be absolutely amazing, quick, and efficient) people either do not talk at all, or whisper! You can spot an American far away if their talking in a normal voice!

On Thursday night my friend's Germany friend took me and a couple of my friends to Ostkreuz, a neighborhood in East Berlin to a special bar called Wilden Renate. This bar had a labyrinth inside! It is quite hard to expain but basically at the back of the bar there is a haunted labyrinth and you pay 10 Euros (kinda a lot but totally worth it!) to be taken by actors into this labyrinth and they leave you their to find your way out. It was such an unique experience! It was quite scary actually! There was scary music and all these weird and dead looking things all over! It was kind of like Alice in Wonderland. It is very hard to explain so you must just go!!! Although I did not take any pictures inside the maze I took a picture of the bar!

Friday night for services I went with a friend from my program, Jake, to Oranienburger Synagogue or the New or Neue Synagogue in Mitte, a Massorti/Conservative shul. Arnold and Noah joined us as well! I met Gesa Edenberg, the Rabbi and Avital, the cantor. There also happened to be a group of JTS (Jewish Theological Seminary) rabbincal students visiting Germany for a special trip.  As usual, I recognized one of the guys on the program and realized I had met him before and had a mutual friend. Surprise, it's a small world! The service was really nice and pretty similar to what I am used to, however the community member are very different! There are a lot of converts and mixed marriage couples. Gesa, the Rabbi, herself is a convert. Additionally, although Oranienburger Synagogue is an extremely beutiful, ornate, and monumental synogogue, almost taking up a whole block and can be seen from far away, the community is so small that they only use a small room there for services. To give a little background to the synagogue, It was erected in 1866 and was the largest synagogue in Europe holding 3,200 thousand seats and a was reform congregation. However, during kristalnacht, it was partly destroyed and only in the 1980s did the East Berlin government do a huge renovation to restore the synagoge to its orginal luster. In the early 1990s Gesa faught to have a massorti service in the synagogue.

That is it for now! I will write more soon!

Amira