@home for an interview and seeing a doctor

Except for a few shorter walks around Prenzlauer-Berg I didn’t see much of Berlin this time around. It was really nice to see J again though and I did get around to a little bit of shopping and trying Knödel for the first time.

Right now I’m back in Sweden. I landed yesterday and the goal is to leave again sometime during the weekend.

I met a doctor a couple of hours ago and ran a few tests I should be able to get the results of on Friday. He said that I probably won’t have any problems continuing my trip this weekend.

I also have an interview at a school I’ve applied to booked this Thursday. I knew when I left that I might have to make a short stop by Stockholm for this, but the timing is a bit amusing.

I noticed a slightly odd thing on my trip here. On the flight the crew presented the pilot with first and last name in Swedish, but only the last name in English. I can’t remember that happening before. They usually do the same thing in both languages. This was also the first time I’ve reacted on the pilots name being female. Do they expect people who doesn’t speak Swedish to have a greater problem with that than those who do?

In Berlin

I've been sick since Wednesday night. We had bought fish in a market and I suppose that was a bad idea... Well that or the raw beet juce, it's a bit hard to tell.
My plan had been to go to Utrecht on thursay, but I ended up doing Amsterdam for a few hours and then collapsing on the bed for the rest of the evening.
Yesterday I made my way to Berlin. The trip from Amsterdam to Berlin took seven hours and I ended upp falling asleep quite early again, but it's really nice being here. I know my way around, I know my host and I don't feel like I'm in the way. My host in Amsterdam did let me stay even though I said I could find a hotel instead, but it was a bit of a strain for her to have me in the house all the time.
My stomach has stabilized a bit, but I visited a pharmacy my host here in Berlin recommended today, and if I'm not better on Sunday I think I can stay a day extra to be able to go to a doctor.
I suppose I feel safe here which is really nice when you're sick.


Jag har varit sjuk sedan onsdag kväll. Vi hade köpt fisk på en marknad och jag antar att det var en dålig idé... Det eller juicen gjord på råa rotfrukter. Det är lite svårt att avgöra.
Jag hade planerat att åka till Utrecht i torsdags, men det slutade med några timmar i Amsterdam varefter jag kollapsade på sängen och sov resten av kvällen.
Igår åkte jag till Berlin. Resan to sju timmar och det slutade med att jag somnade ganska tidigt igen, men det är skönt att vara här. Jag hittar utan större problem, jag känner personen jag bor hos och jag känner inte att jag är ivägen. Min värd i Amsterdam lät mig stanna trots att jag erbjöd mig att ta in på ett hotell istället, men det var jobbigt för henne att ha mig hemma hela tiden.
Magen har stabiliserat sig en hel del, men jag var på ett apotek min värd här i Berlin rekommenderade idag, och om jag inte mår bättre på söndag tror jag att jag kan stanna lite till så att jag kan komma iväg till en läkare.
Jag antar att jag känner mig trygg här vilket är väldigt skönt när man är sjuk.

Berlin pictures and all – Just a Friday

I spent half a day at the Jewish museum. The entrance looks like the security check at an airport (unfortunately you aren’t allowed to take pictures in that area), and after having had all your things scanned and passed the metal detector you have to check in your jacket.
According to Judith this is perfectly normal since this place is related to Jews. For a Swedish person it’s strange and a bit distressing.

The architecture of the museum was just as interesting as (and a part of) the exhibit.

The yellow stars the Jewish population had to wear during the Nazi ruling.

“Feminist prayer bookIn this prayer book God is not addressed as a male but as the ‘source of life’.”

Fore some reason the "Not Kosher" section interested me more than the "Kosher" section that mainly contained farm animals.

I never thought hyenas where that big. They’re huge!

Bugs aren’t Kosher so you should make sure not to eat any. A light board helps you check everything thoroughly (personally I just rinse my lettuce).Might be a good thing for vegetarians too I guess.

Gummi bears is something I strongly connect to Germany (I blame Hedwig and the angry inch) so I just had to buy some from this really cool vending machine. This is not for vegetarians though. They use fish gelatine.

I remember that they also had an Einstein action figure.

Stairs.
In Berlin there are stairs everywhere, but not that many escalators and elevators. I would be much more fit if things where the same in Stockholm…

There was October fest theme at the Ackerkeller and one of Judith’s friends had dug up a Dirndl (traditional Bavarian costume) for her.

I think most people have heard of Lederhosen (traditional Bavarian costume for men).

Blonds DO have more fun!

The party girls behind the bar!

Me and Judith somewhere between The Ackerkeller and SchwuZ.

At the end of the evening (or at about the time I usually get up in the morning) things got a bit blurry and cameras a bit unsteady.

So what conclusions about Denmark and Sweden did Ida and I come to that night? Well, we decided that Sweden is somewhere in the middle, that Swedes in general doesn’t understand Danish, that Danes in general understand Swedish and that the Danish “Ris a la Mande” is much better then the Swedish “Ris ala Malta”.

Berlin pictures and all (The Elin and Eiko part of the week)

I left Stockholm very early in the morning. It was raining and it was cold.

The first thing that met me after taking the train from Schönefelt to Hauptbahnhof was the logo of a Swedish company. (I actually surprised someone a few days later by pronouncing and translating it. It IS a real word and it means waterfall)

Desperately looking for something that didn’t resemble Sweden I focused on the sign on the train telling you where to get on with a bicycle.

The weather wasn’t the best so Elin and I decided to climb the big staircase going nowhere another day. That day never came though.

Elin have found a lot of people in the cities she’s visited through CouchSurfing (.org). We actually found the page independent of each other. I have been a big fan of CS ever since I joined, but this was my first time using it as a guest. Eiko was my first host and even though he was quite busy he made it a great experience.

Eiko did a bit of studying in the Couch, surrounded by our things.

Elin and I wandered about Berlin a lot the days she was there and this is a short summary:

A church we never looked closer at.

Another church, but we had a look inside this one.

We decided that Hitler makes a nice Lego character.

Elin.

The Tele tower sometime during the 60;s?

Me by a fountain.

Elin found a girlfriend. But as we all know she’s not always that well mannered. They did make up quite fast again though.

The Central Station in Stockholm has nothing on the Hauptbahnhof. This picture is taken from the middle floor.

What’s the time where you are now?

The compulsory Berlin picture

I asked the guide what the thing with the boats was all about. She said she didn’t know, but said that there had been a big anchor in the middle of the square the week earlier.

We did some American things too. Like Dunkin Donuts and KFC…

Der Reichstag. You can get up to the very top of the glass roof. When the politicians forget whom there representing, all they have to do is look up.

Propaganda

A huge reminder of the people who died due to the ethnic cleansing during the Second World War.

Now days the ruins of the wall is protected by… a wall.

The stones are placed all along the line where the wall once stood. Sometimes they disappear into a bush or something, but there always there.

The old East Berlin Ampelmann (now all over town ^.^)

“Trains to Life, Trains to Death”
Someone had put fresh flowers in the hands of the statues.

These pumps are all over Berlin. And they work!

Just a bunch of nice buildings and a painted wall (you don’t find that in Stockholm):

In Sweden we put a sign on the door saying “No commercial!!!! on it. I like this better. The mailbox simply says “Letters and papers”.

Eiko’s eggcups suited nicely for eggnog.

Very late on Elin’s last night in Berlin we decided to go out. At Kottbusser Tor we found an almost empty place with music we liked.



We realized that two nice drinks could be bought for less than a cheap drink in Sweden.












But the beer was equally cheap. (or maybe it’s Sweden that’s expensive…)