Is anyone still blogging these days?

Back in Berlin and wondering if we've moved on in terms of communication?

Probably...

Finally!

Well, with T -8 days to go we finally got ourselves some real Berliner Kultur.  In the form of Staatsoper Fuer Alle, an outdoor concert.  By the Berlin Staatskapelle. With Daniel Barenboim conducting.  Yeah, no biggie.

The pictures aren't so great, but it was far less chaotic than we expected.  It's a beautiful day, nearly perfect weather.  Unter den Linden, the main boulevard in Berlin, was closed off and we heard to expect 30,000-300,000 people (I assumed one of those must be a typo, but I couldn't figure out which one...).  We couldn't see the orchestra, but we could see the screen and we could hear perfectly, which is what really matters.  Besides the Bribing of the Children.  It didn't really take much, and at the end M even admitted to liking it "... kind of."

Tracy and family joined us

 The day ended decidedly more low-brow, with a last trip to the Flohmarkt am Mauerpark to pick up souvenirs and then more visiting with Tracy, Stefan, their boys and some of their friends at at the perfect combination-- a biergarten/spielplatz.  Himmel fuer Alle.

Wanderwochen

Oh, dear.  At some point I'll catch you up on our vacations and visitors, but right now you'll just have to be content with skipping to the present.
 

Spring has sprung in Berlin!  Dafna (Wisconsin-born and -bred) will tell you that it was never winter since it didn't snow, but she's wrong-- there was about 3 cm of snow one afternoon and it dipped down into the teens (Fahrenheit) for a couple of days.  Those of you who survived the Polar Vortex are not going to be happy with us, but the early spring and lack of winter has brought on terrible early allergies.  I'll stop my complaining now.

So, the spring weather and the bittersweet realization that we're leaving soon has given us the added incentive to explore more (also, eat more bread, because I love Madison and everything that it has to offer, but this depresses me).  I'm pushing myself to investigate a new part of Berlin weekly.  Here's 2 for your virtual sightseeing delight:

Pfaueninsel

This was a Familientagesausflug (yes, that's one word in German-- family day trip) last Sunday, a warm, sunny day.  Though it's not that far away, the travel took some planning-- train to bus to ferry-- but was well worth it.  Also, the fact that we needed to wait (an unheard of on Berlin public transport) 21 minutes for the only bus to the ferry stop allowed for some quality time with (one of) our favorite Chancellors, Otto von Bismarck and some lovely views across the Wannsee.

 
















We survived the 3 minute ferry ride to the island with no incidents and took off to explore.  Sure enough, around the corner was the first eponymous bird.  Okay, it was really cool to wander a nice sized island among 30 free-range peacocks (another 20 or so are kept caged for breeding purposes).  There are also goats (surrounded by a poorly-marked electrified fence, Dafna found out) and later in the spring, water buffaloes.  Both species are used as grass-management.  There's a castle (of course, any neighborhood in Germany worth its salt has a castle) and several out-buildings.  I liked the Jagdschloss and it's retro wood-paneling; Micah preferred to lounge at the Luisentempel and remember our neighbor and the model for German frauen, Queen Luise.

 

Hunting blind

 

 

Micah paying homage to Luise

And, the peacocks:

Where are the peacocks?

Breeding peacocks (not at the moment!)

Castle in the background

 

D being Queen

Bavarian Quarter

In my quest to walk 10,000 steps a day (Madison friends you're going to make me keep this up, right?) I've been exploring different neighborhoods and areas of Berlin.  Schoeneberg had been on my list for awhile but quickly moved up when I learned about the Places of Remembrance Project.  As you can imagine, being in Berlin (and probably all of Germany) makes you think a lot, because you know, Rick Steeves keeps telling me that Berlin has a multi-layered tragic history.  There are many, many memorials to many, many groups of people, but almost every neighborhood has a memorial to the Jews who were murdered in the Shoah.  I found this one to be particularly interesting.  My pictures aren't so great, but throughout this area there are about 80 signs attached to lampposts announcing what Jews were and were not allowed to do starting in 1933 or so.  It documents just how detailed and petty and threatening the Nazis were, even at the beginning of their reign.

 
The pictures are kind of cute, with bright colors and approachable art, which I think was probably well thought out; it makes people ask questions-- "Why is there a picture of a pacifier by your apartment?"  Wandering through the neighborhood I also saw 4 maps showing all of the signs, so the artists and the neighborhood government clearly want people to find them, notice them and ask questions.

Look familiar?

 

 

 

 

How about now?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Rathaus in Schoeneberg is where JFK gave his famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech, but is also the home to an enormous exhibit entitled "We Were Neighbors".  The pictures on the websites are much better than anything I took (see also the project that the local elementary school-- and this is not a Jewish area anymore-- undertook to remember the Jews and the synagogue that once stood at the site of their school), but the details were amazing, and again, the ease of access (a roped off area off the lobby of the rathaus, no need to go through security, 2 docents to help, etc) made me think that they really want to own the history of the immediate area, if not the city and the country as a whole.

Biographies from the "We Were Neighbors" memorial.  Along the sides are index cards with every one of the 6000 people deported from Schoeneberg named.

A Vote

Okay, I've realized that getting the pictures on the blog is a pain in the ass and what is likely holding me back from writing more often.  So, tell me, would you rather read more more often but have fewer pictures or should I keep with my current not-very-often rate of blogging be continue to include lots of pictures.  Or you can tell me that you don't really have the time or interest to put time into thinking about this.  Either way...

Winter Holidays

Oh my.  I never posted this.  Here you go.  Pictures will have to come later...

Right.  Because the 2 weeks off of school just over a month ago was Christmas Break.  What's another week off school?

This time we traveled down to Garmisch-Partenkirchen to visit our friends the Desais for a few days until their girls were done with school for the week (this being Germany, each state has a different vacation week so things don't get too crowded).  We visited Innsbruck, Austria, where it was cool and windy and the kids were whiny.  Ankur, a meteorologist and expert on climate change, was explaining the Foehn winds to us, claiming that the kids may be victims of it.  This led to one of the taglines of the weekend: "It's the Foooeeehn".

Thursday afternoon found us hiking the mountain behind Emily and Ankur's house in beautiful, sunny, bright, cool-but-not-cold weather.  Remember our last trip to GaPa in early October-- the Alpine snow day?  We got winter in October and fall in February.  Hiking builds up quite an appetite and luckily we hiked right up to a mountain "hutte" run by one of the girls' classmate's family.  Beers, sodas, juice and hot chocolate consumed (outside!) before the walk back down.  At the house, appetite heightened again, we presented a typical German dinner-- wurstchen, bretzln und bier.  Emily and I made a pilgrimage to Dannel Feinkost in Munich, the only purveyor of kosher bratwurst (and other kinds of wurst) in all of Germany.  It's a small shop, filled to the brim with meat.  Basically, heaven.  We quickly picked wiener wurst (tasted like hot dogs; good hot dogs, but hot dogs nonetheless), curry wurst (yum...), weiss wurst (because it's Nils' favorite), pistachio-studded salami (really interesting and really good) and some tangy dried kubanos.  Mark and the kids picked up pretzels at the farmers' market and everyone went to bed glücklich und voller.  

We all headed to Bamberg for a weekend trip, but not before Ankur and the Copelovitches rented an Audi A5 and hit the Autobahn.  Ankur handled the car and the 5 year old in the back yelling "Faster!  FASTER!" very well.  I like to drive fast, but the Autobahn seemed (from the middle of the backseat) to be a whole different world-- the cars were driving at tremendously different speeds-- some may be going 65 mph and some 120 mph.

Having the A5 inspired us to stop at the Audi Factory in Ingolstadt for a tour.  We expected to be rushed through the factory on a catwalk, far from the action.  We were surprised and pleased with a 2 hour tour on the factory floor, seeing the robots at work close up and, as the car frames started turning into actual vehicles, people working on an 88 second clock-cycle to complete the cars.  Every Audi is custom made (we were watching A3s being constructed) and a few people on our tour were there to pick up their new cars.  Off the assembly line. I'm not a huge car lover, but it was pretty cool.

Bamberg was a lovely town, a UNESCO World Heritage site that was left alone during the war.  It was a nice, relaxed weekend with good friends, just what we needed to rejuvenate (from what, I'm not sure, but that's what it felt like...) and drink beer, Bamberg's specialty. 

In other news, we're building a model of our synagogue for Micah's social studies project.  Each student picked a Berlin landmark and is writing a report and creating a model.  Micah was very excited that when it was his turn to pick the Neue Synagoge was still available.  It has domes and windows, arches, glass, stone...  Seriously, kid, the Brandenburg Gate has 6 pillars and some horses on top...  The Reichstag is a cube...Anyway, building commences this evening and I think the process will be a lot like a synagogue building committee-- lots of people with lots of ideas arguing to be heard and a tantrum at every opportunity.  Can I get an "Amen!" Beth Israel Center?

And finally, a saint we skip-- Valentine's Day!  Hooray, I didn't have to make valentines!  Nor did I have to feel guilty throwing away all the valentines other kids made and my kids received!  I'm in love!

By the Numbers

In honor of our half-way point (look for Copelovitches back in the States-- in 2 batches-- in mid-June!), here's some of our life by the numbers:

Winter break:
1 Waterbed

What an experience!

2 Peking-ish ducks (one for the birth, one for the bris...)

Tasted better than it looked

4 Lawyers (visitors, all of them)
2 Big sighs of relief (1 when Advent/Christmas season was over and 1 when we came out (physically) unscathed by Berlin's crazy independent fireworks on New Year's Eve)
Numerous visits to Christmasmarkets

School(ish):
2 Play dates for Micah (!)
0 Emails from 4th grade teacher (!)
6.5 Days off of school in January alone (and a week-long vacation the first week of February...)

General:
2470 Lifetime basketball points (Micah, as of 7:55am today)
3 Inches of snow ("Finally!" says our Wisco girl)
5 Museum visits (to 3 museums)
5 Political Scientists dined with (not counting Mark)
1 case of strep throat (so 1 more trip to doctor)
240 ml=1 Cup=230 grams (I'm getting better at my cooking conversions.  Now, wouldn't it be easier if liquid ingredients came in jars of 240 ml and not 250?)

I can still fool Dafna into thinking that the free, short versions of the Nutcracker Suite that I take her to is the "real thing".  This one was at the Gendarmenmarkt Christmas market. 

D with one of her many candied apples at one of our many Weinachtsmarkt visits.

Jewish Museum

Peddler Dafna

I know it's a final Mem, but a cute picture anyway!

D learning in the Jewish schoolhouse.

Only 1 visit to Ritter Sport.  Can you believe it?

Post-"Frozen" thirstiness

Typical attitude lately.  Notice I didn't count the number of timeouts?  It's bordering on a permanent situation.

Basketball in Berlin!

By Micah 

(Annotated by Mommy)

Last night (it was Saturday.  As we all know, Mommy is delinquent in blogging), we went to a basketball game last night at the O2 World arena.  ALBA Berlin was playing Trier.  ALBA is the professional team in Berlin.  We got signs at our seats.  One side said “YEAH” and the other side said “BUUUH”!    

Mark and I decided we would answer all questions-from-children with these signs.  That didn't go over so well.

The signs folded up like fans to make noisemakers (insanely loud ones, if you ask me).  The ALBA mascot is an albatross (but Dafna insisted it was a duck).

If it looks like a duck...

The team colors are gold and blue.  Their uniforms looked like the Golden State Warriors.  Trier’s uniforms were green and white.  I wore my Kevin Garnett Celtics jersey, which is also green and white.  But I was still rooting for ALBA.

ALBA Berlin won the game, 87-72.  The leading scorer was Levon Kendall.  ALBA also had a player from Israel named Bar Timor.  Trevon Hughes, who used to play for Wisconsin, played guard for Trier.  He had a good game, even though ALBA won.

Former Badger

(Halftime was hilarious.  An over-emotional accordion player-- the winner of Lithuania's Got Talent! Check him out: I mean, Jan Hagedorn can you do this?  Oh, and of course, dancers dancing to bad hits of the '80's.)

We ate French fries and pretzels at the game.  We got to stay up pretty late.  Today (Sunday) I am tired.   I stayed in my bed almost all morning until lunchtime. (Kind of, first he got up, did computer, ate breakfast and played for awhile.  Then he took a nap.  Then he ate lunch).

I really liked the game.  Daddy and I are going to go back to another game soon.

We all had fun.  The blur is the sign/noisemaker.  Making noise.

Blog once a month and call me in the morning

So, we seem to be hitting a once-a-month blogging pace here.  Since we've last spoken we've:

• Visited Dublin (and added a couple of Saints to our list; some sinners too)

Most definitely NOT a saint this trip...

Outside the jail at Dublin Castle.  The walls are 15 feet thick.  But someone managed to escape through the toilet.  Endless fun if you're a 9 year old boy.

Labyrinths are calming, right?

Dublin Castle

The Pilgrimage

D checking the barley.  Then asked if we could grow hops when we get home.

Writing the recipe.  Seriously. 

Barley roast, hops add, yeast add, ferment, water mix, boil

It really did taste different

The horse-drawn carriage ride back was for their patience at the factory.  And the fact that we made them walk 2 miles to get there...

She liked it.

• Welcomed Aunt 'Chelle.  Which means another trip to Ritter Sport!  I made the best one yet-- dark chocolate, gingerbread pieces and lemon.

We really enjoyed having my sister here with us for the week.  We showed her all of the important sites-- cafes, KaDeWe, M and D's school...  Nightlife?  What nightlife?  Wurst?  What wurst?  But seriously, we really appreciated Michelle giving up her Thanksgiving and trekking all the way here to visit, introducing our children to MadLibs, flat ironing D's hair, sous chef-ing and cleaning in the kitchen.  All that and she's fun to be with, too!

• Gave Thanks in a slightly unorthodox way (though Al Johnson would be proud).

There's no (kosher) turkey in Berlin and it is hard to find cranberries, not to mention a pareve pie crust or pecans.  So we bought the biggest chicken we could find, lingonberries, made mushroom stuffing and a phyllo dough berry turnover and called it a night.  Both Dafna's and Micah's classes had Thankgiving feasts earlier in the week.  I volunteered at Dafna's class feast and had a lovely time.  The class walked to a classmate's house where they found warmth, the smell of turkey, a beautifully set table full with traditional Thanksgiving food and parents waiting to serve them (well, they may have that all the time).  It was fun and exciting to introduce turkey to a bunch of German kids (though it was an American one who asked for a piece with "peel, please").

Walking in to Mikey's house for the Thanksgiving class feast

Singing about Thanksgiving in German accents

• Had Hanukkah looking for light in these dark, dark, dark Berlin afternoons

Seriously, you think Boston is dark?  The sun rises after 8am and sets before 4pm.  And that's only when the clouds aren't covering it.  Don't worry, Dr. Miriam, We've got plenty of vitamin D on hand.  We enjoyed celebrating the first few nights of Hanukkah with Aunt Chelle and went to a couple of parties later in the week.  I was volunteered to present Hanukkah to Micah's class on the 8th day.  Yes, that sound you heard was my mother spinning in her grave.  It was fine; I downplayed the holiday, the gifts and the comparisons to Christmas and taught the kids to gamble.  Everyone wins!

• Gotten our Christmas on:

This is a very Christmas-centered society.  Like shockingly so, coming from the US.  So now, with children in public school, D brought home an Advent calendar (exactly the same project I did as an omer counter with my preschool class...), a St. Nikolaus boot (filled with a Santa chocolate and Hanukkah stickers, lovely idea, but something got lost there) and has made an Advent wreath (our family's first!) and various other Christmas projects already.  All this has led to D telling us that she knows "...Everything about Jesus.  I'm the Jesus expert in our family" which may be true.

We're looking at this as an opportunity to teach our children about different cultures, religions and expressions of religion (with a fair amount of private stress about how much Christianity they are experiencing as the norm).  I'm all for Christmas, and some of you know that I half-joked about getting one of those "Keep the Christ in Christmas" signs for our lawn in Madison (what?  I believe that!), but if you think that there is too much Christmas in public school in the USA, this is in a whole different realm.  But, on the flip side, we're contemplating inviting the Krampus to visit.  Dafna may benefit.

 We've also visited quite a few Christmas markets here in Berlin.  Supposedly the best one is here at our neighborhood castle, so we took Michelle and the kids there on the Friday after Thanksgiving.  It was nice-- warm gluhwein, and treats for everyone, snow fairies, caroling and fake snow-- a regular commercial Winter Wonderland.  With alcohol.

D and the Snow Fairies

Pig roast at the Christmas Market!

On Wednesday, Micah played in the Berlin Grundschulliga basketball tournament.  I got the early shift and Markwent later.  As far as I could tell, the tournament meant that Micah skipped the day of school, had full access to the buffet set up for the players, finished a bottle of Powerade before he got any playing time, and stayed far, far away from the ball.  When I left his coach seemed to be setting him up to spend the next 5 hours as scorekeeper/manager.  She's a wise woman.

Number 5-- actually watching the game

Put me in Coach!

He's in!

And, there you go.