I arrived in Berlin's Tegel airport on Monday night around 9:00 pm and their customs consisted of grabbing my bag and going on to the information desk to buy a 7-day pass for public transportation. No, really, there was absolutely no one who checked my bag and no passport control whatsoever. Maybe that's normal for internal EU flights, I really don't know at this point. I did find it extremely interesting and completely foreign to what I'm used to when I travel anywhere overseas.
The first stop was getting to my couchsurfer's place by successfully following his directions. I'm getting pretty decent at that, which is saying a lot if you know my sense of direction. When I arrive, I'm greeted by a smoky haze caused by 2 girls smoking in the bedroom. 'Great,' I think to myself, 'this is just what I need to sleep tonight.' Then they ask me if I want to 'go out.' 'Sure,' I say, not having any idea what I'm getting myself into. All I know is that if it's anything like 'going out' back home I probably won't enjoy myself as that isn't really my scene. So we go to this techno club with everyone 'dancing' which really consisted of people barely moving, reminded me of when I try and dance. Oh, and we had to say a password so we wouldn't have to pay a cover charge. I tried saying this password for about 10 minutes and the bodyguard laughed and said, "Nice pronunciation." To which I replied, "I've been practicing for 10 minutes!" My couchsurfer's roommate asks me if I want to play table tennis and I think I mishear him. 'Did he just ask me if I want to play table tennis? Where exactly are we supposed to do that here?' Much to my surprise, we go to a back room, again smoke-filled and lo and behold there's a table. Now, I've never seen or played table tennis like what I did that night so I'll try and explain it to you. After getting our paddles, we join in this circle that encompasses the table with about 15 to 20 people walking around it and hitting the ping-pong ball in turn. If you mess up, you have to sit down. Then the last two standing battle it out with a game to 5. Definitely different than what I'm used to and I never got to the final two people standing but I enjoyed myself all the same. It was far better than pretending to enjoy dancing and making terrible small-talk with people who I don't know. After the club, probably around 2:30 or 3 in the morning, we head back to the couchsurfer's house. Thankfully, he left the window in the bedroom open and the smoke had cleared by the time we returned. There were 2 twin beds in the room on the floor, and there were 2 guys and 2 girls, go figure. I got one of the beds, one of the girls got a mat and a sleeping bag, and the other 2 shared a bed. Don't worry, though, they were 'ex-boyfriend and girlfriend,' riiiiiight.
The next day I go to Alexandre-Platz which is a hot-spot for tourists. They have an outdoor exhibition with huge pieces of art with words describing what the scenes were portraying. Being the nerd that I am, I spent 3 hours reading through the whole thing, which discussed the peaceful revolution in East Germany in the 1980's and early 1990. Very interesting stuff I must say. Basically, the East Germans were under communist rule and wanted a democracy like the West Berliners who were separated by a wall. After several desperate attempts to squash the opposition leaders and movement, the East Germans won their democracy, without shooting anyone, imagine that, it is possible. After that, I head back to my couchsurfer's place for the night. At this point, I haven't even opened my big bag because I know I will be switching couchsurfing hosts in a couple of days. That's right, I wore the same outfit for 2 or 3 days straight, I don't even remember at this point. Probably gross to most of you, but they were comfortable clothes so it didn't bother me at all. Also, probably not the only time that will occur on this trip I'm sure.
The next day I wake up and get ready to go to my new couchsurfing host's place. My current couchsurfing host has graciously offered to drive me there which I readily take him up on. Before we go, though, he eats one of my fish-oil pills. Not just swallowed it, mind you, but actually chewed the thing. This is coming from the same guy who informed me he smuggled hashish into the EU from Morocco by sticking it in his, ahem, 'backside.' A weird dude for sure. He was funny though, so that kind of made up for it.
Yesterday, I arrived to my new couchsurfing host's place around noon and set my stuff down and head out as he has a meeting to go to so I need to leave his place. Some couchsurfers give you a key, as the one in London and the one in Amsterdam did, but some of them don't want you home without them being there. Fair enough, so I go out and head to the German Historical Museum. I spend 3.5 to 4 hours in there, because I read about everything they have to offer in the exhibits and find it truly fascinating to go through the whole history of the Germanic people. After that, I go to a cafe and get a coke and relax for a bit as my host told me he wouldn't be home until 11. Then the fun really begins. I text him to let him know I'm on my way and he lets me know he's already home. Perfect, I think, now just to get there. I look at my public transportation map and behold! I find a shortcut to get to his place. Some of you already know where this is going. Well, of course the underground didn't go all the way to the stop I needed it to, so I have to take it back to where I came from. Then other things happen and a half hour journey turns into a 2.5 hour catastrophe, at one point with me thinking to myself, 'Well, I just might have to spend the night in this train station.' I finally get home at around 1:30 in the morning and apologize to my host for being so late. He's astounded that I didn't ask for help. No, no, no, that would make way too much sense. I'd rather try it on my own and fail miserably thank you very much.
Today, I went to a concentration camp just north of Berlin. It was pretty intense, to say the least. It was very sobering as well, to think that 250,000 people had been interned there and 100,000 of them put to death. How could something like that happen in a civilized society? How could God let that happen? These and other questions swirl in my mind as I take in everything from the rebuilt barbed wire fence with an electric fence behind it to the bunks to the camp prison. 6,000,000 Jews were murdered it's generally agreed upon. Some people say it's closer to 5.4 million but either way just an unfathomable act of terror. There were also Roma and Sinti people sent to the camps, which made me think of the article in the Economist that I read last week about Sarkozy kicking out the Roma out of France. Why is it that certain people groups are hated throughout the ages? Particularly the Jews, I can't even begin to imagine. I mean, you've been told your whole life that you're God's chosen people and then something like the Holocaust happens? How does that play out in your faith? Not to mention a history of being slaves to other nations and regularly occupied. Really makes me question the goodness of God. It's not like I'm going to lose my faith or anything, but I don't see how something like going to a concentration isn't supposed to shake you up a bit and make you question what you believe.
I came back tonight to the house and had a great dinner of lasagna. It seems like with some couchsurfers I eat better than I do at home. On top of that, even when I don't eat at a couchsurfer's place I eat out and the portions are so much smaller. It's no wonder I've dropped some weight. Now if I can just keep up the small portions when I get back to the states, that'll be the key.
It occured to me the other day that technically speaking, I'm currently homeless. I put all my stuff in my friends' garages so I didn't have to pay for storage and when I get back 'home' I'm not sure where I'm going to live quite yet. Interesting. So far I've been having an amazing time living off the generosity and hospitality of others, but what do I do when I get back. Oh well, there's plenty of time to figure that out between now and then. It is interesting living out of a backpack though. It hasn't bothered me up to this point, but I'm sure there will come a time when it gets old. Hopefully I'll be in Australia by then and can rent a room in a flat for 3 months to kind of settle down for a bit.
That's all for now, hope you enjoyed!
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