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Germany: ich war ein Berliner

Author: Samuel Peterson

Date Published
2018-10-01 (ISO 8601)
73-10-01 (Post Bomb)

In August of 70 PB (2015 AD), shortly after our nuptials, Amanda Nahm and I departed for Berlin, Germany. The reason for this relocation was the Humboldt research fellowship which my wife had earned study lunar geology. The initial duration of the fellowship was two years, however that period was extended to three years due to the birth of our first child, Elliot James Nahm-Peterson on the 28^th of 71 PB (2016 AD). On September 11^th 73 PB (2018 AD) we returned to the USA. Naturally this episode demands at least a couple of posts on this blog. I'll restrict this post to a broad summary of what we did in the old world, as well as some general impressions on the mode of life in a city like Berlin.

Oh the places we went

Naturally we didn't restrict ourselves to Germany during our three years in Europe. Being Americans, the old world has a romantic appeal, so we took advantage of the easier travel opportunities available to us. This travel was made even more convenient because Amanda's fellowship included an expense account for things like conferences which are held all over the world. Here's a list of all the places we managed to visit that I can remember.

Hamburg, Leipzig, Munster, Köln, München, Germany
Ascona and Zurich, Switzerland
Naples and Rome, Italy
Crete and Santorini, Greece
Vienn and Innsbruck, Austria
Stockholm, Sweden
Helsinki and Anokoski, Finnland
Prague, Czech Republic
Aizu, Kyoto, and Tokyo, Japan (described in previous posts
Amsterdam, Netherlands (just Amanda)
Beijing, China (just Amanda)

That may seem like a lot of different places, but to me, all the places in Europe (with the exception of Greece and Naples) seemed to be very similar. So for instance, arriving in Japan created the impression of being in a different world that was completely absent when arriving in Stockholm or Prague or Rome.

I think Amanda and I agree that the prettiest place we saw was Switzerland. Specifically the train ride we took from Zurich to Ascona, which is essentially a straight southward path taking you from trans- to cis-alpine Gaul. I would recommend it to anyone. The other places that deserve special mention are: Rome, Stockholm, Vienna and Hamburg. In fact, with the exception of Switzerland, which stood out to me for its natural beauty, I see that what I tend to like are places where the action is or was at some time -- so imperial capitals (Rome, Stockholm and Vienna) or major centers of commerce (Hamburg). By that logic, I would guess that Paris and London would have been right up my alley as well, but alas we did not visit.

Indeed, I actively did not want to go anywhere else. I had a belly-full of travel during these three years, and traveling with a very small child imposes a fair amount of restrictions on what one can do. I also grew to loath certain aspects of tourism.

I should clarify that I regard tourism as distinct from travel, although it is difficult to travel to attractive destinations without encountering the trappings of tourism. Travel is a fun though strenuous adventure where you see new things. Tourism is a nightmare full of tacky souvenirs, selfie-sticks, cameras, crowds, and charlatan restaurateurs. Here's my advice for someone interested in traveling: You can't do much about the souvenir shops, crowds and cameras if you want to see some of the jewels of a popular tourist destination -- just try your best to ignore them. But please for the love of all that is holy, don't eat at restaurants near tourist hotspots. They're never good for obvious reasons (they have an unlimited supply of hopeless people who've never eaten there), and if you see a staff member waiting outside asking you if you want to eat there RUN!

I'll post some stuff later on about some of the better destinations we visited, but as you might have inferred from the above paragraphs, I was ambivalent about the travelling we did. Much of it was fascinating, much of it was awful, but for the most part it was just less interesting to me than carrying on with my life.

Oh the stuff we did

These three years in Germany involved a lot of change for us. We moved in to the neighborhood of Kreuzberg as newlyweds and settled into life for about half a year. Then Amanda became pregnant just as I found employment. We moved to the neighborhood of Friedrichshain, where we resided for the rest of our time in Berlin. Elliott was born. After a period of maternity leave, Amanda resumed her research while I took care of our son. Amanda finished a contributing chapter to a book on the state of Lunar Geology, and she made a global map of lunar graben of unprecedented detail. I Started this blog, and later found employment in the US and then we returned.

As I don't want to get bogged down with details in this post, I'll let that summary suffice. It kept us pretty well occupied and was a good deal of fun.

Berlin life

So what's it like to live in Berlin? Not too much different than my notion of life in the US¹. Apart from the obvious differences in language, the only big differences were population density and mode of transport, and the consequences of those two factors.

Most of Berlin consists of rows buildings about 6 stories high directly abutting each other. Many of the cafes, bakeries and smaller shops occupy the ground floors of the buildings where people live. The resulting density of population makes it possible to support all of the types of stores and services one might need for day to day existence withing a 1-2 kilometer radius. That compactness, and the concentration of subways, trams, and buses makes life without a car quite doable. In fact, given the close quarters and limited space for parking, it seemed to me to be far more of an inconvenience to have and use a car than not.

A view from the balcony of our flat in Schreinerstraße. This is a very typical look for a neighborhood in Berlin

The result of this urban layout means that most groceries and supplies are obtained by foot, and as consequence of that, the size of one's purchases at the store is constrained by what one can carry (and also by the smaller pantry and refrigerators). This means more frequent visits to the store (think 5 times a week or so), and a lot more walking just in the day-to-day business of living.

If you want to go farther afield than your local Kiez, Berlin has a nice network of mass transit². You're never more than half a kilometer from a subway, city train, tram, or bus stop, and with such services, any half of the city you're in won't be much more than 30 minutes away.

Apart from that, day-to-day life in Berlin is just superficially different from life in the US. I've used this quote a bunch in describing it to friends and family, so they're probably sick of it, but Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction put it perfectly ... but you know the funniest thing about Europe is? It's the little differences... I mean, they got the same shit over there that they got here, it's just there its a little different... To which you might ask, as Jules does in the film, for an example. Off the top of my head:

The dogs on the street are incredibly well trained -- it is quite common for dogs to be off the leash, following their owner attentively, whether they be on foot or bike, and to stop immediately when ordered at a street corner.
Everything is in the metric system. And yes, a quarter pounder with cheese at McDonalds is called a Burger Royal with Cheese.
Most things, from appliances and furniture to store aisles and elevators, are just small enough to be inconvenient.
Most retail ceases on Sunday, which can be a pain when you consider the constraints on the size of a trip to the grocery store.
At a restaurant, you will not be constantly pestered by your waiter, and you'll have to flag them down for your check.
The bread is not the same. It is much denser and of a different shape.
Cards are often not accepted at shops and in taxis (this is a German peculiarity rather than a general European feature).
Though difficult to find whole Turkeys to roast, goose and duck are plentiful.
The eggs are not refrigerated.

There are other differences too, but mundane details can be somewhat difficult to enumerate from memory.

The health care system there also needs to mentioned as a significant difference from the American one. I'll keep my account of it here brief as I think it needs its own post. Right now I'll just say this: Much of the conversations I've had on the subject with fellow US citizens just degenerates to anecdotal arguments. If that's the state of things, then fine, I'll add our experience to the pool. We got good coverage at an affordable price. Furthermore, our use of the health care services was not negligible, for although we are not plagued by serious health woes, we did have a child there.

Some remarks about the food: The Germans have no notion at all of good Mexican food, and it was with some considerable pride that I served up something that did justice to the culinary tradition to two of our friends whom we met in Berlin. It seemed to me that the most influential cuisine in the German speaking world was Italian and Turkish/Eastern Mediterranean. As for the German culinary tradition itself, "Meh" is about all I can muster. Also, the US notion of German food seems more or less correct, so there's not many misconceptions to dispel.

There is one misconception however, and that has to do with the Beer. It's good, true; Indeed I consumed many cases during my time there. But there is almost no imagination in German Brewing. They do Pilsner and Weissenbrau. They do those well, but there is nothing like the variety found in American brewing. It's also cheap. When you buy by the case, a good pint of beer is about 80 cents (and can be 50-60 cents when on sale which is quite a common occurrence), and a lower quality (though still competently brewed) Pilsner is 50 cents. The only other thing to note is that I arrived in Germany very fond of Pilsner, and I left adoring Hefe Weissen.

People we met

I'll conclude this post with some words about the great folks that we met. Mostly we socialized with non-Germans. For whatever reason, we did not have much success getting to know many of them outside of our particular jobs, though there were exceptions. Italian was the nationality most represented in our social circle, and there were also people from Romania, Hungary, China, Finland, Germany, and some American expatriates. Some warm shout outs are in order for our friends Piero D'Incecco and Szandra Priegl with whom we spent many an evening, Carla Rojas Paz and Kevin Hempel, Sebastiano Padovan, Ina Pleza, Yue Zhou, Juulia Tarma and Aarto (?), Benjamin Guett, and Kyra Oakes. Life was much enriched by our knowing these excellent people.

Footnotes

I should note that I grew up in a suburb with married college-educated parents whose net income was around the 85^th percentile (I think), although that was supporting a family of unusually large size (7)
I say "nice" but that's only from an American perspective. The mass transit system, BVG (Berliner Verkehrs Aktiengemeinschaft, or Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe) is often the object of complaint, frustration and ridicule amongst Berliners and other Germans. It seemed to to the job satisfactorily in my opinion however.