die Mischung - mixture

Sorry I have not written in so long! I have been busy!

A few weeks ago I celebrated St. Patrick's day in Berlin! People here don't get quite as excited as they do at Notre Dame. We had our field trip for the week that day, and we went to the Friedrich-Elbert Foundation, where a representative from this organization discussed German politics and foreign policy with us. It was very interesting to see what she had to say. There was a large question an answer section, and we discussed everything from Sarah Palin and the Tea Party (Germany is much more liberal than the United States) to immigration (there is a parallel in emigration from Turkey to Germany with emigration from Mexico to the US) to which newspapers we read (ie she insulted Fox News). For me, this last comment was interesting because it seems to me that as a whole, Germans read the news more than Americans. Actually, reading the news seems to be one of Germany's favorite hobbies. Specifically, Germans like world news. I asked my host mom about this, and she said that when they lived in the US it was very difficult to find news about Germany.

Later that day, we found an Irish pub with live music.

I wanted to make some sort of St. Patrick's day food (green eggs and ham?) for my host family, but we all had chaotic schedules on that day. So I ended up making (you guessed it, mom) tacos! the next Monday. I also made guacamole using Natalia's recipe.

Also on St Patrick's day, March Madness started. Another thing that is strange not to be in the states for! Luckily I did get to watch some of the irish playing online (although we wont talk about what happened a few games later).

Also last week, my friends Ahmed and Walid who I met last time I was in Germany were in Berlin. It was really fun to get to see them again, hang out, and practice my German. Also, it was great to see how much my German has improved since meeting them (especially pronunciation -- German r's are really hard to say!)

Last Sunday I went to my first soccer game in Europe! It was SO much fun! Berlin has two soccer teams -- Hertha and Union. If Berlin soccer teams were like Chicago baseball teams, Herta would be the Cubs and Union would be the White Sox. We saw Union and the game was still so much fun! Some of the "seats" in the stadium don't even have chairs -- just standing bleachers (take note, Notre Dame. Consider redoing the student section). The game ended in a tie.

In our language class, everyone has to read an article, write a paper, and give a presentation over it. All of our papers are due at the end of the class, but our presentations are scattered throughout the course. My presentation was last Tuesday, so I also spent of time preparing that. The article was a psychological discussion of why there are NeoNazis in Berlin. It was interesting to read. The other nice thing about these presentations is that we get to hear about what everyone else read and then have a conversation discussing these various topics. It's definitely expanding my vocabulary.

This past weekend, our friend Sofiane who we met is Schwäbish Hall came in town! He's taking a language course here for a month and living with Michael and Chris, so we get to hang out with him all month!

So why did I pick Mischung as this week's word? I was thinking about Eat, Pray, Love and how Elizabeth Gilbert theorized that every city has a word that describes it. She claims London's word is stuffy, Rome's word is sex, and the Vatican's word is power. I don't know how much I agree with her words she's chosen, but Berlin's word is definitely Mischung. (And, good news! When I was thinking of Berlin's word, "Mischung" came to mind much quicker than "mixture"!) Berlin's history in the past 100 years has shaped it this way. Berlin is a mixture of East and West. It's a mixture of old European and German traditions and new, progressive thoughts, old buildings and new ones rebuilt. Neighborhoods with various personalities. Citizens with various backgrounds.

These past weeks have also been a Mischung. Our language of choice these days is a Mischung of German and English (Danglish). I've seen art galleries and soccer games, new friends and old. In general, a mixture of former American thoughts and habits melding with new ways of seeing the world and new ways to do things.