Tags archives: germany

 

Amazing Bookshops Around the World: East of Eden (Berlin)

Now that I’m nearly pretty much done with my thesis and I can devote more time to blogging again, the amazing bookshops around the world section is back. I kid you not, I have about 25 bookshops to add to this section. Isn’t that amazing? If you’re a new reader and want to know more about this project have a look here.

(RIP)

This bookshop is sadly now closed.

Box Right TitleBox Right Description

East of Eden (Berlin, Germany)

East of Eden
Scheinerstr. 10
10247, Berlin
 

Last month I went to Berlin to visit a friend and she told me about this great little bookstore in 10, Schreinerstrasse called ‘East of Eden’. We went to see it during my stay there and I fell in love with it (and the city in general. IT RULES).

east of eden bookshop berlin

‘East of Eden’ is an independent second hand bookstore run by two guys from England who mostly stock English-language books, although they also have books in German and French. The bookstore has small rooms full of crowded bookshelves and some vintage couches, and the books are organized by genre. I went in looking for 20th century (American) fiction and I found some amazing books at a very good price! They were in pretty good condition and quite easy to find (well, the fact that they were in alphabetical order might have helped).

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Things I miss about Munich

It looks like this week is my “let’s get emotional” week. I can’t wait until it’s over and I can go back to being a cold-hearted bitch. Or at least pretending to be one. Today marks five years (!!!) since I moved to Munich. This means several things:

  • I am getting old.
  • I miss Munich terribly

The year I spent there was a very important one for me, and one of my happiest. I was lucky enough to meet some people who are now some of my best friends, to study in an educational system I loved and to sample an astonishing amount of beers. And because I’m all nostalgic about it, here is a list of things I miss about Munich.

München PanoramaClick to see the panorama in its full-sized glory

1. My friends: I wrote a lengthy post about this (together with a video) a year ago and there is nothing more I can say except that I miss them like crazy all the time and I can’t wait till we can all hang out again. I am extremely grateful to be part of such a mis-matched, international group of people who have nothing and everything in common at the same time. I find it amazing that I manage to see several of these people every year despite us all living in different countries and how every single time we meet it’s like we were never apart.

munichThe Crew, all grown up.

 

2. Beer: Obviously. Every time I think I haven’t drunk Augustiner for 2 years my heart sinks a little bit.

The first days of sunshine

 

3. The Englischer Garten: The Englischer Garten is a massive park in the centre of Munich, and it was a mere 10 minute walk from my house. Needless to say, a lot of time was spent there reading, drinking, having picnics and LOLz and trying to survive horrible hangovers.

Scan 43

 

4. The carelessness: The realisation that we’ll never be so careless again is crushing.

munich

 

 

5. Living in a nice, clean city where it is actually pleasant to walk around. Take note, Zaragoza.

Scan 44

munchnerfreiheit

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6. The amazing public transport system and how it is socially acceptable to drink in it.

munich

 

 

7. Seasons: Zaragoza seems to go from Summer to Winter in a split second, and both are equally unbearable. I miss the transition from one season to another, and the trees.

englischer

 

 

8. Living in such a privileged location. Being able to hop on a train and go to the Alps for the day.

The Alps

starnberg

 

9. Working as a tour guide: Because that was the best job ever. I got to show people a city I loved, tips were good and I got free beer at midday and drop in the occasional Hitler joke.

odeonsplatz

 

10. The LOLz. Oh, the LOLz.

munich

munich

munich

 

 

Notable mentions: German Christmas, Mango mojitos, very long German words, kafe kult.

 

 

 

Berlin 2009

 

Hamburg 2009

 

 

200 days of blogging

 

 

 

>A book and a movie

>

I started reading ‘A woman in Berlin’, the anonymously published diaries of a young woman’s life in Berlin during the last days of the second World War, at some point last year and didn’t finish it until the other night. I abandoned the book for a few months because it was just too much for me at the time. I was really enjoying it, but at the same time it was depressing me, so I was forced to leave it for a bit. The diaries were first published in Germany in 1954, and they went out of print until 2003, when they became a literary success. I am not surprised readers reacted badly to it 50 years ago, it is still hard to read for someone completely distanced from the action. The author, a well-educated woman who worked in publishing, coldly relates being raped when the Red Army entered Berlin, having sex with Russian officials for food and the uncertainty and loneliness of living once one is stripped of everything once had.

After reading this I felt like it was the right time to watch ‘Germany Year Zero’, a film by Roberto Rosselini that tells the story of Edmund, a 12-year old boy who has had to grow up too fast. Motherless, with an ill father and a brother hiding from the police, Edmund and his older sister struggle to survive in a completely destroyed city. The footage of post-war Berlin is really interesting to see, especially a scene where one of Hitler’s speeches can be heard as we look at what’s left of Berlin. It really is worth seeing, even if the version I downloaded had terrible audio quality with out of sync subtitles. Also good for German student, as the dialogues are quite easy to understand.

 

>Hallo, ich bin deine Menstruation.

 

>Deutschland über alles

>

Reading the English version of the German magazine Der Spiegel I found out that a Polish DJ known as DJ Tomekk has been kicked out of the German version of “I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here” because he was filmed making the Nazi salute and singing the ‘forbidden’ verse of the German anthem; “Deutschland, Deutschland über alles”. Of course, he claims it was just a joke.

As much as I love the irony in the fact that this man has a black girlfriend, I can’t help but to find his behaviour a little bit shocking. Everybody who knows me is familiar with the fact that I like Hitler jokes. Of course this by no means implies that I sympathise with National Socialism or any other right wing ideology for that matter, but I am aware that people who don’t know me could see this jokes as something far more serious.

I don’t think the matter should be taken lightly, but at the same time I believe joking about it is healthy, I am all for Hitler jokes shown on TV. However, I think these jokes should be kept in a context that wouldn’t give way to any misunderstandings. If having someone thinking I support Nazi ideals because of a stupid joke I made angers me to some extent, I can’t imagine doing it on national television, that’s just a bit stupid, especially on German TV. Surely some people will able to see the humour in it, but to assume anybody would is a terrible case of lack of social intelligence. I wonder what he was thinking. I suspect it was probably something along these lines:

“I’m abroad so I’m gonna try to be an obnoxious little twat by doing some illegal stuff, then I’ll get more media attention. First I’ll do the Nazi salute and then I’ll go rape some 5-year-olds.”

Thank-you DJ Tomakk for the laughs provided.

The original article in Der Spiegel.
A BBC article about the ‘forbidden’ verse.