Yeah! Finally spring is here!

First of all, I have to apologize my dear readers, somehow I wasn't able to write for a while... busy, sick busy, sick.... seems like an vicous circle. So it's really helpful that the winter is over and spring is here although for a few days it was more summer than spring. Nature seems a bit confused.




The other day I read an article about the use to talk about the weather. Apparently  it helps people psychologically and is very useful. And Germans talk about the weather all the time. Mostly they complaint about it. Berliners are famous for complaining. However this winter I couldn't help complaining too. It seemed an awfully long winter, cold and dark.

Finally that the sun is out, Berliner enjoy the parks . And we're no exception. We've visited the Viktoriapark in the district Kreuzberg. This small hill Kreuzberg is 66 meter high and it's a lovely park.

 "In 1821 the Neoclassical Nationaldenkmal für die Befreiungskriege by architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel was inaugurated at the top of the 66 m (217 ft) promontory west of the road to Tempelhof, then known as Tempelhofer Berg or Runder Berg (i.e. Tempelhof or round hill). The king renamed the hill Kreuzberg after the Iron Cross (Eisernes Kreuz) at the top of the monument, in September 1921 it became the name giver of the Kreuzberg borough created by the 1920 Greater Berlin Act. The monument comprised only a small plot of land measuring about 2,839.83 m² (30,567.7 sq ft). The surrounding fields were private real estate." (source: wikipedia)

From the top you have a beautiful view. -  even up to Mitte.

The waterfall, which ran in 1893 for the first time, was empty today, no water .... Probably still too early and the water might be running in a few weeks time. The water has to be pumped up.

There is also a famous Biergarten called Golgatha (entrance via Katzbachstrasse) which can be very busy on sunny days or warm nights. A very gemuetlich Biergarten to watch the stars on clear nights while drinking a beer. We didn't get the time but you should check it out.
Here a few more impressions about the day:

Happy Easter!

Easter is a Christian festival. The roots of the Easter celebration are to remind us about the Resurrection of Jesus. Also death does not manifest the end but a new beginning.

The week before Easter is called Holy Week (Karwoche) and is an important date in the Christian calender.
Religious tradition has it that on Good Friday (Karfreitag) people grief. It's the death of Jesus, his crucifixion which people mourn. Then on Saturday, Holy Saturday (Karsamstag) the fasting period ends.

And finally on Easter Sunday the Christians celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus and rejoice.

In some churches Easter fires are organized.

The custom is to color eggs and decorate branches with Easter eggs. There will be Easter pastry in shape of bunny or lambs. Very important is the Egg hunt on Easter day. Children are looking forward to search the eggs which the Easter bunny hid. Ideally this is done outdoors, in a garden. Colored chicken eggs or mostly chocolate eggs. And sometimes you might see a bunny when hunting the Easter eggs.


Actually in our courtyard there are some bunny sometimes. So maybe we can see them on Easter Sunday.

Easter Monday is a public holiday in Germany and usually again spend with the family.

 But what about the Easter bunny? Why would he bring the eggs? It should be the hen, isn't it. Apparently there are a few different conclusions. Already in Greek mythology the bunny is a holy animal and as a sign of fertility belongs to Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love. Also the egg is a symbol of fertility and origin of life.

This year it's the coldest March and really really cold. It even snowed yesterday. It's also the time for clock change. Yeah, Summertime starts. I head the chirping of birds. Hopefully a good sign for the start of spring soon.

Wishing all of you a Happy Easter - Frohe Ostern -  and have fun looking for eggs even though it's still freezing cold.

Night Train to Lisbon - Nachtzug nach Lissabon.

I haven't read the book  by Pascal Mercier, however I really enjoyed the movie directed by the Danish film director Billie August. The movie really pulled me into the story. It's like for the protagonist in the story the Swiss professor Raimund Gregorius (acted by Jeremy Irons) who gets pulled into the story of the book (a philosophical novel) by Amadeu de Prado- a Portuguese doctor and poet, a serious man who fought against the dictatorship. Raimund gets touched deeply and like the viewer gets more and more thrilled and follows the persons that had touched Amadeu (acted by John Huston). He wants to find out about Amadeu's life. It seems more important than his life, Raimund's life in Bern, Switzerland., his teaching job.

Raimund crosses the bridge -  not knowing that this morning will change his routine life forever. The mysterious lady he saves on the bridge, leads him to board a train to Lisbon. From there his life takes a different turn. He doesn't  know this yet. Raimung and the viewer could have never imagined the turn of his life. 
You'll find a beautiful picture gallery here.

I can only recommend this movie.  It's a touching story and a brilliant movie. The right thing to watch on this never ending winter, the long lasting cold.

Beautiful Wernigerode - Harz

Because spring is not coming and this winter definitely goes on forever. I am very tired of snow, winter, coldness and want the spring badly. Apparently this winter 2012/13 has already been the longest winter, the longest hours without any sun shine. And now it's also the coldest March since 100 years, according to the Deutsche Wetterdienst. Frankly I could do very well without this record. After all officially spring begun three weeks ago.

Anyhow, I decided to dig out some pictures from a previous trip. We went to Wernigerode, situated in Harz in autumn. Here are just a few impressions as we didn't have much time. Next time we'll also explore the castle. You can go up with a small train or horse carriage. If you want to go higher up, the famous mountain "Der Brocken", it the highest mountain in North Germany and the Harz area. It's a very popular tourist destination and can be reached via a Gondelbahn. I've heard that on most days it's cloudy. These days for sure it will be very cold.

I'll end this post with a sweet poem I found about the Robin bird and I particularly like the end.

Robin

Robin sang sweetly 

When the days were bright: 

'Thanks, thanks for summer,' 

He sang with all his might. 

Robin sang sweetly, 

In the autumn days,

'There are fruits for everyone;

Let all give praise.' 

In the cold and wintry weather,

Still hear his song: 

'Somebody must sing,' said Robin 

'Or winter will seem long.' 

When the spring came back again,

He sang, 'I told you so! 

Keep on singing through the winter 

It will always go.' 

Anonymous 

Survival Kit for my Korean Husband

This should give you an idea how my dear Korean husband manages to survive

 living with a German wife in Germany.

 The very important Shin Ramyun
Korean instant noodles,
 includes a packet of seasoning (spicy)
and dry vegetables

You can add eggs, dumplings ...
whatever your taste bud wishes.

Sesame leaves in spicy sauce.
Best to be eaten with rice.

Home-made kimchi
white cabbage with leeks, onions, carrots
and spiced with garlic, ginger and of course chilly.
This is made by my husband. And I also love it!

Ok, Ok, before you think that we don't make some more real korean food ...

On a good day, we make Miso soup and Kimbap (Korean rice rolls)
And enjoy  :-)

Guten Appetit!

Ha, ha, ha you know my sweet heart is not really seriously fuzzy about food
 and loves non-Korean food as well. :-)

Dong-Xuan Center Berlin

We heard about the Dong-Xuan Center a while ago and always thought we should check it out. Finally we went to the Center. It's in Lichtenberg, for us the end of the world. You can use public transport: Tram M 8 (from S-Bahn Landsberger Allee) or 21 (U-Bahn Frankfurter Tor) stops in front of the center. - Herzbergstrasse 128.  But we went by car. ... so it was a bit easier, just through the city and Mitte, pass Friedrichshain and you reach Lichtenberg. This was my first visit in the Bezirk.

This Center has big market halls that offer basically Vietnamese stuff offered by Vietnamese for retail and whole sale. You'll find clothes, toys, plastic flowers, hair cutter, beauty salons and stuff for beauty salons, electronic items, Vietnamese food supply and restaurants. You walk trough narrow corridors. We found also one Indian Shop with food and many Indian DVDs. Normally we shop for our Asian cooking in a nearby Asian supermarket and didn't really need these items. But we were curious to see the specialties. And still to see so many Asians and Asian shops in one place was kind of fascinating.  

The Center is open from Monday to Sunday: 9 am till 9 pm but closed on Tuesdays.

At the end we were hungry and tried some food. It was basically good and the portions were really big.

Some winter impressions ...

"Winter is the coldest season of the year in temperate climates, between autumn and spring. At the winter solstice, the days are shortest and the nights are longest, with days lengthening as the season progresses after the solstice." This is how winter is described at Wikipeida. 

Although the days are slowly getting longer and the morning light shows up earlier, it seems that the grey winter lasts forever. It really seems the longest seasons in the year. Just today it snowed again in Berlin. I had to visit my doctor because I have a bit of a sore throat. On my walk in the snow I caught some winter impressions:

Auslaenderamt - Part 1

 When we entered Germany (now already one and a half year ago) my now husband (South Korean nationality) could enter and stay without visa for three months. Before this three months expired, we had to visit the Auslaenderbehoerde (Foreigners Office) at Friedrich-Krause-Ufer.

South Koreans fall under the same visa category like a few other nationalities (Australians, Israelis, Japaneses, New Zealanders and North,- Middle- and South Americans) who are privileged to change their status (Aufenthaltstitel) while in Germany.

You have to book an appointment by the internet. This link applies to all nationalities.

The first time we were foolish enough to go to the Auslaenderamt without taking a prior appointment. However we've been lucky because we came before opening time and waited for quite a while in the queue. Just shortly before the doors opened, the queue wasn't any longer respected - much to our frustration. Once the doors opened, we felt like being out in the wild (pushing elbows, running up stairs) people ran to get the few tokens they release on each day. We rushed to also get one too. Even these tokens normally are just there to make an appointment (we were told later) and not to clear your issue. However, we've been lucky. We had all the necessary papers and my now husband got a temporary extension from a friendly civil servant.

Unfortunately we had to extend this temporary visa once more because we didn't manage to get our marriage organized before the three months expired  (this is another story of crazy German bureaucracy ). Even though we had an appointment which we had booked  by internet a few weeks in advance, we had to wait a long time and only after I'd asked them what happened, we got called into their room. I think they simply had forgotten us and were embarrassed to say so. This time they were really unfriendly and we had to listen to some silly blablabla but anyhow, we got another extension of three months. Because we had the correct documents together. Note that you are not allowed to work with this temporary visa. 

A few weeks later we did get married. YIPPEE! 

Again we had booked the appointment at the Auslaenderamt in advance by internet and he got his 3 years Aufenthaltstitel (residence permit) without problems. This time there was again a friendly lady who served us. It's just so much nicer to deal with friendly people.

Make sure, you book your appointment and bring all the necessary documents.

And have a lot of PATIENCE and SMILE !