Stasi-Museum (with pictures)

This afternoon I went with a big group of other students to the Stasi-Museum, which is all about the secret police of former East Germany. The entire complex is enormous, but the tour only took place in the bottom floors of Building No. 1. (I think there were 25 or 30 buildings.)

The tour was entirely in German, so I skulked around and took pictures of things that didn’t really require reading. For a look at all 73 pictures, see the link to Flickr on the right-hand side of the main page of the blog. As a warning – the light on the west side of the building is very orange, and on the east side of the building there was very little light at all, so some of the pictures look pretty weird.

I think I might go back later in my stay and get my hands on the little English information book they had for €3. I didn’t happen to have the money on me at the time.

So, now for some pictures. My favorite one is as the bottom, so be sure to click the “more…” link, and then scroll all the way down!

Hey!

How come no one told me there’s a really cool Museum of Technology and a Science Center here?

I know what I’m doing sometime next week.

Pictures

I’m editing and preparing a whole bunch of pictures from the Stasi-Museum to upload to Flickr in a few minutes. The light was really bad, so I’m trying to see what I can do about it. I’ll put some of the best ones in the next blog post.

Language Barrier

I’ve been spending some time with two girls from Spain, and doing so is bringing back the Spanish that I learned in high school. I can pick out a few words from their conversations, and when my response to them only requires one or two words, they sometimes come out in Spanish.

Unfortunately, it’s not Spanish I’m supposed to be learning.

I think I might be starting to get the feel for the way German works. I realized yesterday that my German-English dictionary has tables of irregular verbs so I can look it up if it doesn’t follow the typical conjugation rules. That’ll be helpful, I’m sure.

I think I’m also getting a feel for the afternoon teacher’s style of teaching. She has also gotten more willing to give quick translations in English for basic things, and then allow you to take the concept of the word one step further to use it in a sentence. And if I really don’t understand something, she’ll stop and explain the whole thing in English. This is very helpful, and is a drastic contrast to the morning teacher, who tries to explain herself in German, with lots of hand gestures. Sometimes this works, but it usually serves to make me more confused.

This morning’s classes were better than yesterday. I’m starting to feel like I can understand some sentences, even if I can’t say them myself. (How on earth do you make that sound in your throat…?)

I signed up for the trip to the Stasi-Museum this afternoon, and will bring my camera so I can take pictures. It is entirely possible that I won’t understand a word of what’s going on around me, but we’ll see how it goes.

Tomorrow after class I will be heading to Naumburg to see Miriam!

Change of Plans

I was still really tired after sleeping all afternoon, but I thought that if I got up and went out that I’d feel better and be able to dance. By the time I got to the school, I was still feeling pretty under the weather, so I decided to find a coffee shop and work on some German for tomorrow. As I was making this decision, the two girls that I had dinner with the other night, from Spain, walked by me and invited me to go to dinner with them. We went for pizza, but I just had pizza for lunch and wasn’t really hungry anyway, so I just drank an apple soda.

I signed up to go see the Stasi-Museum tomorrow after class. Hopefully that will be really interesting. And hopefully I’ll be able to understand it.

Today

I downloaded an alarm clock for my computer, so I did wake up on time this morning. Class was very frustrating though. The regular teacher for the morning class is out sick (she should be back tomorrow) and the substitute is hard to understand. She talks rather quickly and does not go back to explain what she was talking about. Our teacher in the afternoon also talks very quickly, but at least she makes sure you understand what she is saying before she moves on. She’s also a lot more willing to explain herself in English if need be.

Oh, well. Our normal teacher for the morning will be back tomorrow, and she was easier to understand.

After class I grabbed some pizza with Hattie. We were going to eat in the cafeteria in the school, but the line was very long and not moving very quickly, so we changed our minds.

After lunch I came back to the flat and slept. I have been asleep all afternoon. It feels great, but I’m hoping I’ll still be able to sleep tonight.

I’m just about to leave now to go salsa dancing at the school. After that, I’ll probably sleep just fine.

Sleep Soon

I decided to spend some time getting to know the transit system tonight, so I rode around on the tram and S-Bahn without any specific destination. I went to Hauptbahnhof and found the platform I will use when I leave to go see Miriam in Naumburg this weekend. I didn’t take any pictures: it’s too dark. I probably will when I leave on Friday.

Tomorrow after class the school is doing a trip to the Egypt Museum which might be interesting. I might still need a nap in the afternoon, though, so I’ll see how I feel.

In the evening, they are doing a salsa workshop, and I’m tempted to go to that. One of the girls I had lunch with on the first day loves salsa dancing, so maybe I’ll go with her. At the very least, it’ll be good for a laugh.

Actually, the more I think about it, the more I want to go. The former dance teacher that I’m dating insists that I’d be good at dancing, so maybe it’s worth a shot.

Train Tickets

I went to the station to buy a train ticket today. There are two tram lines that form an intersection at the street corner where I live, and I had to take the M4, not the M10, which is how I get to school. I took the M4 to Alexanderplatz, which was huge. Alexanderplatz is a stop for at least 4 different tram lines, some bus lines, and at least 4 subway lines as well. Next time I go by there I will have to stop to take some pictures for Dad. I did get a couple of pictures, of the fountain outside, but I was a little concerned because I didn’t know where I was supposed to go so I got distracted by looking lost.

When I found the main station, I still had to find the ticket office. The man at the information counter told me to head down the hall, and it would be on the left. It was, and I had to stand in line for 15 or 20 minutes. This wouldn’t have been so bad if there had been air conditioning. Or even a light breeze. It’s very hot in Berlin right now, and I didn’t think it would bother me. What makes it difficult is that very few places have air conditioning, so unlike Tucson, you can’t just go inside to get away from the heat. In fact, going inside is usually just hotter.

I walked up to the counter and asked if the woman spoke English. She smiled and responded, “Nein”. Fortunately, “ICE ticket from Berlin to Naumburg” made sense to her. We got the date and time figured out, and the return trip, and €78 later, I have my ticket. I leave Friday afternoon and return Sunday around noon. The trip will take about 2 hours.

So when I get there I will be able to spend the weekend with Miriam, getting to know her hometown and spending time with her!

Tonight I think I might go out and explore this area, but I don’t have any real plans. Maybe I should look up a place in my guidebook and see if I can find it. That could be fun.

Tuesday Morning

I woke up late (at 9) this morning, so I didn’t go to my first class. Tomorrow I will have to put an alarm clock program on my computer and use that. My iPod is clearly not going to do the trick for me.

I had a good time in class this morning, but have found it hard to follow that teacher. She talks very quickly, and switches between German, Italian, and occasionally English, so sometimes I’m not too sure what language she is speaking. However, I did manage to learn how to ask what you or your parents do for living (and stumped the teacher, who did not know how to translate either of my parents’ jobs), and how to say “I don’t know”. That one I have to make sure I memorize quickly.

After class, I found a nice little pizza place up the street from the school, and grabbed a cheese pizza to take home with me, for €3,50. That’s pretty much been my day so far. Now I’m off to buy a train ticket to Naumburg for this weekend.

I made it home!

That’s twice today that I’ve managed to find the flat after going out. It’s actually not hard. We live on the corner of the street, right next to the tram stop. I take the tram 4 stops, and then walk a little to get to school.

Tonight I went for a Coke with two other girls from the school. They are both from Spain, and have excellent English. It was fun. We found a nice little restaurant and sat and talked for a long time.

I’m getting very good at saying danke, and also at pretending I know where I’m going. My sense of direction has been very good so far.

Tomorrow my big plan is to try to buy a train ticket to Naumburg!