Addition to Ich Bin Ein Berliner!

Banksy's got a new documentary coming out on street art/political movement. Looks SOLID!

Here is the 5 min preview.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0b90YppquE

Here Piggy Piggy Piggy!

(please click on pictures for hi-res format)

Let’s talk food. Actually, let’s talk about the hardship I have been going through with food in this part of Europe. I am a foodie. I love trying new foods and cuisines, be it fine dining or budget eats. I don’t have a food I dislike. I have been served dishes that I dislike, but that is the cook’s doing, because I always give the same dish a second chance elsewhere, and I end up enjoying it.

Lory dropped me off at the base my first day, I went to a German restaurant in the mall. It was over-priced, but delicious. I ordered a cheese noodle dish, the name I cannot remember, with a side salad, and a 1 liter of German beer. I under-estimated how much a liter is. I could only drink half of it, especially with my carb heavy meal. That night we went to downtown Frankfurt to meet with her friends, but we had some time to kill, so we stopped at a Turkish Donner place, Ye Babam Ye Grill House. Donner sandwiches are a little similar to Mediterranean gyros or Mid-East shawarmas. I don’t know how authentic they are in Germany, but Turkish people are the largest minority in Germany, so it has to be close. Why Turks? Because of WW2, there was a massive decline in Germany’s population, especially of men. The government after Nazi rule reached out to Turkey (the only country they had not pissed off) for skilled workers to help rebuild the country. Three generations later, you will see a Turkish place to eat at almost every street. And let me tell you, Turkish food is LEGENDARY! I am going to eat it a couple times more when I am in Munich today and before I board the plane in Frankfurt. Mmm mmm mm!

In Berlin, I didn’t have anything mind-blowing. I got some street corner pizza slices, which are always good. Oh, hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurants are everywhere too. When my college buddy Josh got in, we went to an Irish Pub. I don’t know why I chose that, but I was hungry and it was convenient. The next day, we ate at this German restaurant where I ordered this cold pickled fish with cream on top and fried seasoned-potatoes. Sounds gross, right? The potatoes were fantabulous! Funny… my spell-check recognized ‘fantabulous’. Anyways. The fish was good to, but I wouldn’t order it again, as I just wanted to try it.
We did go to Burger King the next day, regretfully, only because they have some bizarre burgers on the menu. I ordered this double meat burger with a third layer being a fried mozzarella patty!! Well they are called Mountain burgers, and in the pics they look huge, but they were smaller than a Whopper Jr. So it was disappointing, but my heart was probably happy about it being small ;) By the way, Cokes taste amazing in Europe. The real cane sugar is god-sent. What doesn’t taste good? Twix, surprisingly. Yeah, I thought German chocolate would enhance the already splendid candy of the US. Side note, Kindereggs are DELICIOUS still. I am bringing back a bunch.

I had a great food experience in Prague though. First night, I ate a dine in Italian restaurant. I had the best Cream of Spinach soup EVER!
With that I had 4-cheese Gnochi (gn-yo-kee) which was superb as well.
Those little potato pastas are heaven in my mouth. With my meal, I had the Pilsner Urquell, and Gambrinus. I met up with Lory and her man the following day, and I asked them to take me to a Czech/Bohemian restaurant. They took me to Pivnice Pub & Restaurant in Old Town Square, where I ordered Beef Goulash with this spongy bread and fried potato balls. All of it was one of the highlight eats of the trip so far. I had a couple dark Kozel beers, highly recommended.

People are going ask me, why didn’t you eat German cold cuts, Schnitzels, Wursts that Germany has to offer? There are very few things I will NOT eat. I will not eat eyes, testicles or penis of any animal. I will definitely NEVER eat bugs. And I can’t fathom eating something that eats flesh (fish doesn’t count), ie: dogs, cats, bears…. humans (!)…. and pigs. Pigs will eat anything, if they are hungry enough. It’s vile. It’s not because I was raised Muslim either (come on, I drink and have a live-in girlfriend). I decided before the trip that I was going to open my mind, and try authentic foods of where ever I go. Germans and Czechs use a lot of pork. They are known to be legendary, so I wanted to try some stuff.

Well this is where I failed (or won, depending on whose point of view). It came down to ordering one of these processed pork dishes, and the idea grossed me out before ordering. I couldn’t fathom eating such dishes. I can’t do it. It smells good, it looks good, and it probably tastes good, but it’s still gross to me. I chose to take the limited menu options almost everywhere I went. Let’s see how it goes in Munich today. I will sign off with the logo and name of this "soon to be famous for its awesome name" cafe. Juvenile humor = 1, Adulthood = 0.

Ich Bin Ein Berliner! - JFK

Berlin is historically the most important city in the last century. I took a free tour 2 days ago with Sandeman’s Tour Company (http://www.neweuropetours.eu/), which I highly HIGHLY recommend. All the questions I had about World War 1 and 2, as well as the Cold War, were pretty much answered, and Berlin was the center point in all of the historic events. I saw the actual places that were significant in all the decisions and events that led to those intriguing events. Even if one is clueless about these events, they will get a great summary, and still be blown away with all the stuff that happened in this city that changed the world.

What really stands out about Berlin is how the Cold War truly affected it visually. I saw the difference between East Berlin (former-communist section) and West Berlin (the democratic section). East Berlin architecture is very sterile, grey, boring, but VERY bold and solid – you get a feel for the Soviet ego and might in the infrastructure. West Berlin in contrast is vibrant. Keep in mind, a lot of the structures have been rebuilt and/or updated in the last 20-30 years because WW2 pretty much destroyed all the major cities. Major rebuilding didn’t start until German Unification, after the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989. I felt the tension of the Cold War, not in the people or structure, but just in the architecture.

I remember when the Berlin Wall being taken down. I was living in Saudi Arabia then, and only 9. The coverage had taken over TV at that time, and I was an annoyed kid because it was interfering with my cartoons. What blows my mind about the collapse, its only 20 years ago. Most of the middle-aged people living in Germany right now lived through it. Then you see people walking about who are in there 70s-80s, that lived through Nazi Germany. It’s crazy to think that some of them were Nazi sympathizers, or showed fake Nazi support to stay alive.

The best and worst thing visually about Berlin is the graffiti. All who know me really well, I love graffiti. So obviously I took Sandeman’s Alternative Berlin Tour (paid tour, 12 Euros). I love anything street/anti/counter-culture. I have many coffee table books on graffiti, street art, skateboard art, breakdancing, etc. If you think graffiti is vandalism, you can eat my ass. I will admit tagging (where it’s just an effortless signature scribble) is worthless and primitive, just to mark a territory. But graffiti and street art real detail and effort, and its layer upon layer of genius design. It leaves you saying, “how did they do that without getting caught?”. I would go as far as saying that Berlin graffiti culture might rival NYC, the supposed birthplace of modern graffiti. There is SO much graffiti here, following are some samples, and unfortunately there is a lot of tagging as well. Keep an eye out for an artist names XoooX; he is from Berlin and is following the very-famous Banksy’s stencil graffiti method. Also, an artist named Cuttout, he finds great graffiti in Berlin and paints perforated lines around them with a tiny scissors, like a coupon, pretty much giving importance to the main art because “you must have it!” and also daring people pretty much cut it out of the wall…. which did happen to one of Banksy’s small one in Berlin. Keep in mind, no one knows Banksy’s identity, even having a best-selling book. One of his works sold for 280,000 British Pounds last year.

As for the night life, I tried the Alternative Pub Crawl, which was supposed to include quirky bars/pubs/clubs, like a ping pong bar, a hippie-themed bar, a toilet bar, etc. The only one that was worth a damn was the indie bar called King Kong Club… great music. Great music. Other than that, I have not partaken in the night life. I regretfully missed an opportunity to check out the Berlin dance/club scene. I increasingly love electronic music, and it’s something I should have checked out.

*** Fake bonus points for someone who can tell me what's wrong about my blog title. ***

Magic People, Voodoo People

My 2 roommates, at my first hostel in Berlin, were from Israel. When I told them my name was Umair, I could tell he put up his guard, as he asked “Like Omar? Where are you from?” I told him I was from America. His response was humorous to me – “That is a Muslim name. I hope you don’t have an issue with Israeli roommates.” I laughed and told him it didn’t matter to me. He said he didn’t know where I stood politically because I was raised Muslim and “you Americans seem to have a lot of opinions and issues with everything”. I did not take it personally. I, in fact, am always fascinated by international perception of America and its people.

Yesterday, I moved to a cheaper hostel too. I am having an incredibly hard time with the language, especially street signs and directions, so I figured moving to a hostel is centrally location will help. Thankfully, a lot of Germans speak enough English to help out. Whenever I asked them in Deutsch if they speak English, they always say “very little” and always turns out that they know it perfectly.

There are several other things I have noticed about Germans. Most of the time I don’t get a “thank you”, or even eye-contact if I open the door. They don’t say “excuse me” when moving through a crowd. They just go through it, or say “move” in German without hostility. At first I thought Germans are stiff and rude, but they always greet me, always say thanks when any exchange takes place, and when leaving, they always say farewell. It doesn’t make them rude, because that is just the way it is. Manners in different cultures are always different. It’s a very matter-of-fact culture. I like that.

Here is a weird observation though. I get some unfriendly looks from whomever I try to get info from, when I have my black beanie on. If I have it off, people are much nicer to me. I don’t look that scary or intimidating. But I guess that is debatable. Ironically, the black beanie I own is one of my favorites, and was in the letter’s of the Nazi ‘SS’ soldiers. Creepy huh? I didn’t know that.

Tomorrow I will get into my tour and pub caul that happed toinight, with lots of pictures. I for some cool pictures. YES!

Bed-bugs on a plane!

Guten morgen America!

I have been looking forward to coming to Germany... scratch that... Europe since '98, when I graduated high school back in England. It's a long time away from what I considered my second home.

I quit my job of 3 years because I was burnt out. Myself-from-10-years-ago would kick present-day-me's ass for settling, for being creatively defeated, and doing a corporate job that is initially pointless for me. I know a lot of people support themselves and their families with that job, they have a purpose. But I didn't. I don't need the money. I have no dependents. I figured I would quit and, as cliche as it sounds, discover myself again. I have money saved up, and I don't have to ask for vacation time, seemed like a perfect time to do it.

Why Germany? Germany was my most favorite country I ever visited when I was in high school. We had several school trips there. I wanted to go again at this age, because I will take it in with open eyes, versus the narcissistic world of a teenager.

It is as beautiful as I remember it. I was skeptical. I feared the mass-consumer culture of over-indulgence and convenience like America has taken over developed-Europe, as it has in urban England.

I am going to try hard not to make comparisons between the States and Germany, except when I really have a need to share something unique or profound. That being said, let me get these 2 comparisons out of the way. It's true. Beer is at times cheaper than water here. I am not saying that the beer is ultra-cheap, but the water is achingly expensive. Regular bottle of water everywhere is around 2-3 Euros = $4-5. Crap! Tap water is perfect, so I have that where ever I stay, but you cannot get tap water at any establishment without really harsh looks. I will spend $5 to avoid that look. Second comparison: People here have a diet full of potatoes, breads, cheeses, processed meat, and beer... lots of carbs. But there are very few fatties here. Tell me whats up America, you fat-ass.

My high school friend, Lory, lives a bit away from Frankfurt, who picked me up from the airport on Sunday (4/4/10). A couple of her friends, including herself, convinced me that there is nothing in Frankfurt... unless I was into the whole Red Light District thing, which I am not. Got a gorgeous one back at home ;) By the way, prostitution is legal here, but regulated for safety and reputation. During WW2, Frankfurt was pretty much demolished due to the air-raids from all sides. So the city was re-built, leaving very little pre-WW2 history. It's funny to think Seattle is has an older infrastructure than Frankfurt.

We went out to a salsa club in Frankfurt last night... yeah, that just happened. A salsa club full of Germans dancing away. I talked soccer (real football) with 2 of Lory's German friends, since none of us danced. Talking soccer and having a few German lagers, no talk about player stats or what a player/coach/manager should have done. The guys knew their place in the sport as spectators, not aspiring sports agent or analysts that I am surrounded by in the States (oops, comparison #3).

This morning I got up and took a 7 hr (that was supposed to be 5) horrible trip in the famous EuroRail to Berlin. It's not the systems fault, I didn't know that Easter was a huge traveling weekend for the Germans. So the trains were flooded, and took about 10-20 min extra each stop to load/unload passengers. And since I didn't have reservations for a seat, I stood for 5 hrs. Got here about 2 hrs ago, and its 11pm now. Berlin is much more lively. I just needed a place to sleep since I am beat, so I just came to Meininger Hostel right by the main station, and here I am telling my first story and experience thus far. Tomorrow my actual 'tourist' mode is switched-on.

Lastly, what is with the title of this first blog? Well, American Airlines apparently has bed-bugs in their seats... I felt 3 itchy bites around my body when I woke up for landing. I think Ryan Durr needs to write a famous letter to AA to wash the international seats!!

The blogs will become more lively, promise. Leave comments, and let me know what you would like me to experience, even write about. Thanks.