Last day of German class

Thursday, our last day of our A2.1 German class.

It has been a bit of a mentally bumpy ride for us over the past four weeks. Day 1 was a bit of a full on immersion and the rest of the week was interesting to be 'doing it'.

Week 2 saw some of the class start to flake out, with some in particular missing many days for the rest of the course. Nordine and I were the only ones to attend every class. We thought we were getting into actual learning but by the end of the week we were frustrated and confused.

Over the weekend between Week 2 and Week 3 we did some homework that we simply did not understand. We guessed the answers and went to class the next week very frustrated. We got everything wrong. Suddenly everything negative about the course came to the boil in us (me particularly) and I went to speak to the front office about my concerns. We like the teacher, but we didn't feel like we were learning much. we don't have a textbook and we have no course outline. We just felt lost.

The person that we spoke to at the front office offered to move us to another class. Being half way into the course we didn't think this would be a good idea. They said they would speak to our teacher. We didn't want to get her into trouble but we also needed to say something. If we would have had a chance we would have raised the concerns with her directly but with the way the DeutschAkademie schedules the prior and after classes there is never any time.

Funnily enough on that particular day many of the students in our class were away. As we had a smaller class we got through the work quickly and had a chance to talk to the teacher directly. We told her that we had spoken to the front office and she replied that she had already been spoken to. It sounded like she wasn't in trouble and we had a chance to discuss what our issues were. We spoke about feeling confused, having no structure and never having a chance to talk to her. She said she could let us know a bit more about the structure but that German teachers are generally told to 'hide the grammar'. That's so stupid, all we are learning is the grammar but we aren't allowed to know about it? crazy.

After our discussion with the teacher we both felt a lot better. We also did a lot of study at home (both in the previous weeks and afterwards) which helped us to keep up or at least feel like we were learning something.

However, nothing else teaching wise changed for the rest of the course other than the teacher showed up early the next day! The rest of Week 3 we found to be less confusing as we covered some things we already knew and also revised some of the stuff from previous weeks.

Week 4 started and our class had halved in size. This is a voluntary course that people pay for in advance with no chance of refund, yet they don't bother to come. Week 4 was more relaxed as we completed what we needed to do with a small class size by the end of Tuesday's session. Wednesday was a couple of games in a group situation utilising some grammatical things we learnt earlier. On Thursday our teacher took us for an excursion to the library.

The library excursion seemed like a silly idea to me at first. We met at the Akademie and hung around to make sure everyone that was going to come had arrived.

We then went outside to the Wittenberg Platz markets to pick up some food before we went to the library.

Our teacher rode on her bike while the rest of us took the U-Bahn. Meeting at the library near Hallesches Tor station we were shown through some of the administrative aspects of the library.

The teacher then took us to the relevant sections of the library for things to help us with further study.

We even went into the children's library which had a surprisingly large amount of resources suitable for us.

The whole library thing was actually quite useful!

With our excursion over we said good bye to our teacher and she rode of into the sunset. A little bit of a sad ending to our time together - we really did enjoy being in her class. She had a great boisterous and non threatening style that we enjoyed.

Overall though we have to consider whether we liked the course and if we feel we have learnt something. To some extend we feel more confused than when we started. I think we have learnt quite a bit, but a lot of this is due to our work at home. Hard to say how much is due to homework and what is due to class work. Ultimately we enjoyed our class time but we don't think it was the best method of learning for us. If we want to continue to learn German properly (which we do) then we are going to have to do more structured courses - so we will look to enrol next time in what was our first preference, the Volkshochshule.

Holland in Berlin - De Molen

Anyone that knows us, and knows what a kroket is, knows that us + kroket = happy.

For those that don't know this formula. Shame on you. But for those in the dark, krokets are Dutch fried gooey meat snacks that when done right are the best thing ever. Yea, I said EVER. hah.

It has been a while since our last kroket and we've both been feeling foodsick for them. One would think that  with Germany being so close to Holland (hello, they are neighbouring countries) that these Dutch pieces of gold would be easy to come across. Well, we haven't seen any available while we have been out and about - not in the shops, not in restaurants and not in any of the street food vendors. Come on Berlin.

We turned to the internet and found that there is one lonely Dutch snack shop in Berlin - De Molen. It is owned and run by a German guy who had lived in Holland for a while. Interesting. Where is it? Friedrichshain - that's our patch!! Dinner plans made! Unfortunately the guy is not open Mondays so we had to postpone to tonight, Tuesday.

The place is so close to us that we can walk - about 15 to 20 minutes.

Approaching the shop there is no doubt what it is. A Heineken sign and a huge fake cone of chips inviting us in.

A big lit up menu on the outside wall gave us pause for consideration of what we would get. Would it be wrong to get everything?

Inside the place was bigger than expected and exhibited the classic indepenendant Dutch snack shop drab, shabby and excessive use of flags and sporting jerseys.

Atmosphere not important, what is in the cooler is the main focus. Artificially coloured (bright orange, yellow) crumbed goods just waiting to be ordered and fried. Gimme gimme gimme.

We ordered at the desk, and the Dutch/German guy was a bit of a weirdo  Ordering was hard work - 20 questions from him and incredulous responses to our orders. Nordine ordered a 'vegetarian bahmi' and he said 'Vegetarian - Why would you want that?'. He asked if we wanted mustard with out krokets, of course we do man.

It appeared to pain him to get back to work, and we sat down as he started to fry up. He was so slow, and we thought the other patrons in the place had already eaten but he was actually making their stuff first. By making I mean frying.

We watched him as he slowly did his thing. Spying as he finally got our stuff ready. Finally...it was ready. A kroket in a bun, a kroket without a bun, the vegetarian bahmi, a loempia and chips with oorlog sauce. All up 11.40 Euros.

He brought out the stuff. No mustard on the krokets. He said to Nordine 'I asked you and you said no', Nordine said she had answered yes. He took just her plate away so I had to run after him with my mustard less bun kroket. He pumped some mustard on the first kroket and when he turned round and saw me he was   seemed affronted that the second plate was getting sent back. I said to him that I had also said yes to the mustard. He took my plate and looked to be suppressing his urge to crack the shits. Not sure if this behaviour is his Dutch or German traits. People might get offended on both sides of our families  so lets just say its just this guy - just him...not a Dutch or a German thing. Hah.

We finally got our stuff back and set into it.

Unfortunately, the krokets were not up to our expectations. To me they had a strange odour and not the right consistency. The current horse meat scandal wasn't far from my mind with this kroket, but it wasn't the meat that was the problem, it was the coating. Maybe he got them on discounted special from Holland past their use by date. Disappointing.

The other stuff was spot on. Bahmi (Vegetarian) = good, Loempia = good, chips = good.

Overall we were pretty satisfied with this meal, just a bummer about the kroket. He has some other krokets in the magical cooler so we will definitely be back and try a different type of kroket instead. The guy and his weird attitude are an interesting addition to the independent snack shop vibe and this won't put us off from coming back. Maybe he'll warm up once we have been back a few times. Next visit we will make sure that the order for mustard is understood.

Hertha BSC - Olympiastadion

We have been wanting to go and check out some event at the Berlin Olympic Stadium for some time. We have only ever been past it before, but never in it or to an event.

Our mate Tom is a big sports fan, and a big 'football' supporter. He and Danika invited us to come along to 'our' local team match at the Olympic Stadium. Perfect!

The match was between Hertha BSC (our team) and Kaiserslautern. These teams are currently in the second division of the Bundesliga, and prior to the match were ranked second and third respectively.

We met Tom and Danika at Wittenburg Platz after their German class finished. From there it is just a straight trip on the U2 U-Bahn line to the Olympic Stadium. Once we got there the place was swarming with Hertha BSC fans.

Approaching the stadium is quite a site. Given its history starting with the 1936 summer Olympics and imposing Third Reich architecture - the searchlights certainly set an imposing sight.

Tom had to get himself a Hertha BSC scarf right away. What a loyal supporter. Plus it was freaking cold.

We didn't have tickets so went to look for the ticket booth. Before we got there we were approached by a few people trying to sell us tickets. We were very wary of these people, but one guy seemed very genuine and after some awkward procrastinating by the group we decided to buy tickets from him. We got the tickets for 15 Euros each, which we knew was a decent price.

To alleviate our fears, the guy said he was from a ticket agency and would show us his ID. We said what good is that if he takes our money and the tickets turn out to be phony. He said he would let two of us go in first and once we saw they were genuine we would pay him. So we did just that, the girls went in first, no problems. Tom and I paid the guy and we also got in with no issues.

Prior to the match we got some beers, 4 Euros for a 'small' (500ml) and 7 Euros for 1 litre. The stuff was reduced alcohol (3%) but tasted good.

It took us a while to find our seats but hey, more of a look around is okay by me. Up on the first level we could see more supporters coming in from the U-Bahn.

We took our seats in the historic stadium, built between 1934 to 1936 for the 1936 summer Olympics. Our seats were near the Olympic cauldron - which looks pathetically small given the colossal surroundings! The stadium is pretty much as it was in 1936, aside from some seating improvements and a large roof which was constructed for the 2006 World Cup.

The match started with a great atmosphere. Hertha BSC supporters far outnumbering Kaiserslautern. As the players were introduced, the announcer read our the first name and then the crowd would shout out the surname. The names were displayed on big screens so we could shout along as if we were Hertha's biggest supporters!

It was so cold out there. I had thermals, two shirts, two jumpers, a jacket, gloves and a beanie and I was still freezing. Nordine and the others were less warmly dressed so they were icicles even more so than me.

In the first minutes of the game Hertha BSC were awarded a penalty. They missed. Not many other scoring chances for either side after that in the first half. The second half resulted in our team scoring a goal and that was the final result, 1-0 to us!! The win put us on top of the league table. Take that Kaiserslautern.

The game was over and we filed out of the stadium with the 37,000 other fans (the usual capacity is double that). Everyone was going a particular way around the stadium so we followed. We ended up pretty much walking around the whole stadium before we got back to the U-Bahn. An unexpected external tour of the grounds!

With all those people waiting for the train we wondered how long we would have to wait to get home. A train came and most people managed to squeeze on - sweet. We were home so much easier than expected - no delays.

Berlin Hofbrauhaus

We started off this week with a bit of angst towards our German course. We had done some homework over the weekend which we didn't understand. We got so frustrated and stewed on it overnight.

By morning the frustration was still fresh in our minds. We were question if we had really learnt anything at all and if we were more confused now than before we started. By the time we got to the school I was ready to say something, so went to the office and spoke with one of the people there. They took the feedback quite seriously and said they would speak to our teacher - oh oh!!

We really like the teacher and didn't want to complain about her method,, more about how we felt and how the Akademie doesn't allow for out of class discussion between students and teachers. We basically wanted to express how we felt and to seek some assurance whether this is normal or not to be feeling so confused.

We would discuss it with out teacher but the way the classes are stacked on top of each other there has never been any time before or after class to do so. We didn't want to do it in class time as it wouldn't be fair to the other students.

The lady we spoke to said they could put us in a different class if we wanted, but we felt that this would be stupid to do halfway through the course. So she said she would speak to the teacher and we left it at that.

The Monday class started and several students were away, leaving only a class of five. Of any day, today would have been the best day to have the more informal chat with the teacher as with less people there is more time for individual discussion. Oh well, we already spoke to the office.

The Monday class went quite well and we were already feeling more positive about how things were going. At the end of the class we had some spare time (for the first time so far!) and so we were also able to raise our issues directly with the teacher. She said she had already been spoken to by the office but didn't seem too upset by it and thanked us for our feedback as she doesn't often get anything constructive from the students.

That evening we did some more study on our own and a couple of concepts started to 'click'. All of a sudden we were feeling better about our abilities and the course. The rest of the week went quite well.

On Thursday night the Akademie had a get together at the Hofbrauhaus in Alexanderplatz. Some people from our class said they would come, but none of them did. We went with Tom, but unfortunately Danika was sick and could go. No one else from Tom's class went either!

Inside the place was quite packed with DeutschAkademie people, but like last time the tables were pretty full and we sat on a table with another couple. That couple was not interested to talk to us at all and were later joined by some friends who also weren't interested in mingling. No problems, we had Tom!

The was an oom-pah-pah band playing next to us, less oom-pah-pah and more country music. It was good and gives the place a good atmosphere.

We started with a stein (1 litre), then another, and then a half pint. It doesn't seem like much when you've only had 'three' drinks, but two and a half litres is still a fair bit of drink and we felt it the next day.

During the night the DeutschAkademie ran a raffle, we didn't know what for but put our names in a bag. A little while later someone called out Nordines name - she had won! They came over and presented her with the prize, a DeutschAkademie workbook. Not too bad considering we were looking for something like this earlier in the week when we were so frustrated about 'not getting it'.

After our two and a half litres it was time to go...we had had enough liquid! It was after 1am and we weren't sure if the trains were running or not. Most of the U-Bahns close around midnight during the week so we thought we may need to get the night bus. However we had come by S-Bahn and these were still running so it was a super easy ride home.

From our local S-Bahn it is a relatively easy walk for us. Normally, for where Tom is currently living (temporarily) he would get the U-Bahn. This U-Bahn wasn't running so he was going to walk, which isn't really that far. Berlin is good like that with lots of ways to get around, even if you have to just walk a little bit, you are never really stuck having to wait for ages or walk forever!

Cooking School - Ich bin ein Pfannkuchen!

Today I take you on a detour to the VagabondBohemian cooking school.

The subject is the "Berliner Pfannkuchen" - the most prominent doughnut in Berlin (and maybe the rest of Germany too). Most typically these are jam filled spherical doughnuts, no hole, covered in powdered sugar.

Immediately the name causes confusion, observe; 

• "Pfannkuchen" literally means Pancake.
• Everywhere but the Berlin areas calls these doughnuts "Berliners", because Pfannkuchen means Pancakes!
• People from Berlin call them "Pfannkuchen" and pancakes are called "Eierkuchen" (egg cakes)
• No wonder JFK got confused in 1963 and proclaimed "Ich bin ein Berliner" - I am a jelly doughnut. (However according to grammaticists, this use of the phrase is considered correct in JFK's use as himself as a Berliner but not an actual resident of Berlin).

We have had a number of these doughnuts over the past few months and like every other doughnut, you have to get them fresh. We are never up early enough to get fresh doughnuts so ours have always been a bit stale. 

Time for some cooking VagabondBohemain style.

TUNA FILLED PFANNKUCHEN

This is a savoury adaptation of the traditional sweet Pfannkuchen. The sweetness of the Pfannkuchen combined with the warmth, textures and saltiness of the filling makes for a unique combination that is surprisingly delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1 Pfannkuchen (39 cents from Kaisers supermarket)
• 1/2 small tin of Tuna (99 cents from Lidl supermarket)
• 2 tablespoons of mayonaise
• 1 large slice of young cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Step 1 - 

Clean and create a cavity for the filling. By following the original hole for the jam filling, cut a larger opening with a knife and scrape out jam.

Step 2 - 

Gently warm the Pfannkuchen. It is important not to toast the Pfannkuchen, just to gently warm it up. The method I use is a water bath, a kettle full of boiling water in a saucepan, a bowl to sit in the water, Pfannkuchen in the bowl, and saucepan lid on top. Leave in bowl until ready to fill. A short burst in a microwave on low setting would also be okay.

Step 3 - 

Gently warm the tuna in a pan over a very low stove top. The aim is to warm the tuna and not cook it. Leaving some of the juices from the tin assists this process.

Step 4 - 

Once the tuna is warm throughout, place slice of cheese on top. Mayonnaise can also be added at this point. Keep everything in the pan until cheese starts to melt. Season to taste at this point.

Step 5 - 

Once the filling mixture is ready (when the tuna is warm and cheese has begun to melt), take the Pfannkuchen from its water bath and spoon the filling in - as much as it can take!

Step 6 - 

Stand back for a moment and appreciate what you have just created. A savoury Pfannkuchen. Then eat it while everything is still warm. Enjoy!

End of week one German classes

Our German classes are four days a week, Monday to Thursday. Today being Thursday means its the end of the school week for us...woo hoo!

A few times a week there are markets just outside our school at Wittenberg Platz. These are a nice way to start the day, strolling through the mostly food items on the way to class.

The week of classes has been challenging but we are really enjoying them. It is really forcing us to start applying ourselves to learn the language rather than hoping to obtain it by osmosis from the streets. This week we have been pretty heavy on the grammar (the German cases). While we are starting to grasp the rules, we are from knowing them intuitively. Three more weeks to go!

Tonight the DeutschAkademie was also hosting a get together at Brauhaus Südstern in Kreuzberg. We planned to go, others in our class said they were going and Tom and Danika were coming too.

Tom and Danika came to our apartment after their class finished and we picked up some (very good) kebabs from our local guy and some (very cheap) beers from the supermarket.

Later on we went to the Brauhaus Südstern which needed three U-Bahn lines to get there.

At the Brauhaus Südstern we went in and there were lots of people from the DeutschAkademie. But none from our class! Liars!.

There were two students from Tom and Danika's class so we spent the night talking with them at our own table (the other tables were too jammed for us to fit in). They were pretty cool. We tried several pitchers of the Brauhaus's beers which were pretty good.

 We were joined at our table for a bit by 'Pascal' the founder/owner of the DeutschAkademie - seemed like a nice guy.

The night seem to disappear very quickly and we were then informed (perhaps falsely) by our new mate Paolo that the trains would stop running in 20 minutes. We were almost finished our beers anyway and didn't want to risk getting stranded so high tailed it out of there.

Three U-Bahn lines again.

And a tram, one stop for us, and stacks more for Tom and Danika up to Prenzlauer Berg.

According to Pascal, the DeutschAkademie run two of these things per course so hopefully we'll get another chance to spend some out of class time with out classmates.