More impressions from Berlin

Mom came back with the best impressions from Berlin. She loved the vibrant, funky feel of the city combined with the notorious German organization (1,253 different kinds of public transportation, sidewalks to eat from, dogs allowed everywhere, you can't beat that!). Of course, the fact that everything was paid for, and that there was always a warm meal waiting at the hotel, as well as a heavenly bed (oh, the bed! Down comforters and mattress, how would I have loved to be there!) did also contribute to mom's impressions.

Mom found Berliners to be extremely friendly and polite, contrary to stereotypes. Whenever lost, all she had to do was pull out a map and someone would immediately stop and ask her if she needed help. Even older people who didn't speak a word of English, they would still try to help out. In the stores, sales people would go out of their way to find information about other stores, even if they had similar products available for sale. Unheard of.

Most of the time, mom hung out with another Fulbrighter from Sofia, Ted. The two made a good team because of their shared love for walking and indifference to fancy and expensive activities. Ted is an artist and on Monday he decided to do a performance piece at a train station in Berlin. He pretended to be a beggar but instead of money, he asked people (with the help a sign written in both English and German) for one word. People had to write a word in a post-it note and drop it in his hat. Mom was the official photographer of the project :) The responses Ted got were very interesting. Most older people automatically zoned out at the sight of a beggar, and did not even care to read his sign. Many younger people, however, took interest in him and gave him words. It was a very interesting experience for both of them, and hopefully Ted will soon post his more detailed, artistic views on the experience on his blog and I will post a link for your review.

On Tuesday morning mom gave a presentation at the special projects panel at the Fulbright Conference. She was the only one with no powerpoint or other props and gave her presentation in her usual theatrical way of presenting. Her topic was "Intercultural communication issues: when 'please' is not enough". She talked about cultural differences and the ways these are manifested in the subtleties of language differences. She gave the famous Bulgarian nod for yes and no as an example, and then talked about the extreme use of mitigation in English language and its lack in other languages. The audience was very interested as well as amused and later many people came to her to ask questions. That was a success.

On Tuesday afternoon, mom, Ted and Carolyn rented bikes and went around the city. That was a surreal experience for mom, whose biking experience is limited to the streets of Philadelphia. It felt so weird riding on the streets of Berlin and being so respected by all drivers. Surely, everybody knew that those three were tourists, since they were the only ones that kept waving 'thanks' to the drivers for not cutting through. They didn't feel they deserved such treatment :) For more on this fun experience, you can check out Carolyn's post.

On Tuesday evening mom decided to give Berlin tango another try. This time it was a success. The milonga was at the "gypsy restaurant" Ballhaus, and the atmosphere was reminiscent of Buenos Aires milongas. Mom had a few good dances, Ted enjoyed watching people dance, and a great time was had by all.

Some dancers that mom asked told her that the Wednesday event had been canceled due to space renovations. So that was mom's first and last milonga in Berlin. But it all worked out well, since the following day there was more walking, more sight-seeing, and then the Fulbright farewell party in the evening.

Of course, throughout her stay in Berlin, mom felt guilty for leaving me behind, and dog-deprived. So she would walk up to every dog she saw trying to get her dog-fix. Now, you must know that dogs have cultural differences, much like humans do. For example, in the U.S. dogs are treated like babies (I am over generalizing of course) and thus they behave as babies. They crave human attention and are more than excited to get it. In Europe, at least in Montpellier and Berlin, where mom's been recently, things are different. Dogs are treated as people and thus they behave as such. So you can imagine the reaction of the Berliner four-legged people when they saw a weird two-legged creature coming towards them full force, shouting "doggie!". Who is this wacko and why is she touching me? And where is she seeing a doggie anyway??? Ah, I'd love to be a fly on the wall (or a flee on someone's coat?) to see this! :D

Some pictures from Berlin are here.