The Same. Only different.

Gutter Guards:

USA

Germany

Trash Cans:



Toilets:

Exit signs:

Grafitti:

Souvenir Shops:

Names:

Hamburg

USA

Traffic Signals:

Hier

There

Quotes:

Hamburg and Hamburgers

 There are a couple differences between Berlin and Hamburg besides the fact that Berlin's symbol is a bear and Hamburg's is a castle with two six-pointed stars and a cross. The Spree River runs through Berlin, but Hamburg is built with a major harbor on the Elbe River. Hamburg is home to a wealthier population than Berlin. Hamburg is dotted with old churches and other old buildings, while Berlin is full of buildings from Prussian times, Eastern and Western architecture, and new monuments. The people in Hamburg tend to keep distance while those in Berlin were generally willing to talk if approached. And finally, everything in Hamburg is more expensive from bread to souvenirs. I also heard that the Hamburg hookers are the best, but that I really can't confirm from personal experience.  Unfortunately I don't know German well enough to be able to pick up differences in accent or pronunciation although I did notice that in several cases "danke" or "bitte schön" turned into only "schön".  If I had to choose only one city to visit, I would be hard-pressed to decide. All of Berlin seems to be a museum of German history - ancient and modern, but Hamburg, built on the river, is full of life, wind, and modernity. If I was choosing a place to stay for a summer, I would choose Berlin because there is no end of things to see, but for a visit of a day or two, Hamburg is an exciting way to experience Germany.

TRAINS

Every time I stand waiting for an S- or U-Bahn I get this little feeling inside - something about trains are instinctively exciting to me. Then when they pull up and the wind makes my hair go crazy, the feeling gets stronger - this yellow piece of metal is going to take me somewhere new, somewhere else full of possibilities and experiences. In Germany, trains are not only exciting, but they are practical. Flying between cities at 120mph, not having to worry about gas or parking, getting to see people from every walk of life crowded into one place, these are only a few of the benefits of the train system in Germany. It's not wonder that they are so widely used.   So if they are so practical, why can't I use them in America? Naturally, living in a small town where one can practically walk anywhere renders trains rather impractical. But more importantly, our whole country is so spread out that building a national train system would be a massive undertaking. In addition to the size, the whole attitude of our country is one of individualism: we like driving ourselves in our own cars. We can buy gas relatively cheaply compared to the prices in Europe. We can get exactly where we want to go without the inconvenience of changing trains or walking to and from the station. So in America it's not as practical to ride the trains as in is in Germany. But I'm 100% sure it would be just as exciting...

Quark Please!!

Eating has always been one of my favorite hobbies. All throughout high school I cooked for my enormous family of perpetually-starving brothers. Naturally then, I am always curious about food from other cultures and was thoroughly intrigued by the idea of trying a whole new collection of comestibles. Of course, I'd heard about how German people loved their Bröt and as someone who never eats American bread, I was skeptical but willing to try it. I'd also learned about how breakfast was not usually very sweet, the main meal was in the middle of the day, and that dinner was light, easy, and quick. All of this appealed to me as my eating habits are fairly similar, but I was still not sure what to expect. I just knew that I had to see if their bread was really all it was cracked up to be. My first meal in Berlin was breakfast around noon on Sunday. Tea or coffee, honey or sugar, yogurt, Toasties and Quark. Something like the tastiest English Muffin you can imagine, my Toastie was not the bread I was expecting - but it sure ruined American breakfast bread. Not going to want another English Muffin any time soon. The best way my mind can categorize Quark is that it is almost like thin, flavored cream cheese. Unlike the strawberry-flavored cream cheese I've previously had, this Quark was flavored with garlic and green onions. I've heard that they also have horseradish-flavored Quark - which I would love to try! But so far, I haven't found any. I think that if I could by Quark in Tennessee, it would replace butter, Ranch, peanut butter, and mayo in my diet. I like it that much. Monday night I bought Bröt from a grocery store in Friedrichstrasse Station for .45 Euro. It was cold. And still amazing. Hard and crunchy on the outside, but soft and fresh on the inside, it's texture and taste was like nothing I've had in America. I think I could eat it every day, plain or with Quark, and never get tired of it. Unfortunately, I'll never get to to test that theory in Cookeville.

Mauer

The Berlin Wall seems to dominate modern history of Berlin as much as the wall itself dominated the landscape during the 1960s-1980s. As something that started small, it grew to represent the enormous and artificial barrier between Soviet-controlled East Berlin and the West Berlin. Although the Soviets wanted to appear humane and did not want the world to know how tightly controlled their people were, the wall was an obvious display of the oppression and cruelty that the Soviets practiced in East Germany and East Berlin. The area where the wall once stood is now mostly covered with modern buildings, memorials, or open spaces. Twenty-two years has not been enough to cover the traces of the division of East and West Berlin's landscape. Ideologically, however, Berliners have accepted the past as the past and moved on. It was a difficult time in their history, but now they are living in a modern, thoroughly Westernized city. As a barrier that was erected by an outside agent, many East and West Berliners saw the wall as a foreign entity and when it came down Germany could progress as it should: united.  Frau Baumeister grew up in a small town in the French portion of West Germany and the Wall had little affect on her until after it came down. She says that as an artist, she came to know many artists from East Germany whose artistic endevours had for years been necessarily covert. Following the dissolution of Soviet rule in Germany, many of these artists became famous in very short periods of time. These artists, previously stifled, became some of the many voices of the oppressed and finally freed East Germans. Travelling together to work on projects in Berlin, Sweden, and Moscow, these artists from East and West Germany, Great Britain and America worked together to show the reunited Germany.  The Wall is still dramatically evident in Berlin. Everywhere you look you can see pieces or replicas of it. It is a large part of all aspects of the culture in Berlin from the trafic signals to the artists. It was and still is a harsh reality of the recent history of Berlin, but as such, Berliners have chosen to accept its reality while moving on as a united city inside a united country.

Join me @ WWW!

It began when I was a small child listening to the guest missionary speakers at my childhood church. I saw their pictures and I began to wonder about the rest of the world.

Next came the globe game I would play with my siblings. We would spin the globe, put our finger on it, and where ever it landed, that was where we would have to live. So I began to imagine what my life would be like if I lived in one of those places.

Time went on and I met more and more people from more and more places... My Dad's Indonesian coworker who gave us a dyed cloth that I had to move every time I dusted our living room. My Grandparents Swiss friend who spoke 7 languages. The people who spoke Spanish and talked about "cinco Granny Smith" apples at the Dallas Farmers' Market. Missionaries, globes, maps, books, and before you knew it I was hooked. I knew that one day I would explore it for myself.

My exploring started with a trip to Mexico when I was 11. Then for years I only dreamed about the next time I could go on a world wide adventure. But finally, I went to Germany on a school trip for 10 days over Spring Break in March 2013. And now, there are only green lights for me to spend a whole semester in South Korea at Soonchunhyang University 2 hours south of Seoul.

Wow! Exploring, having adventures, and wandering around the world are the beginnings of what look to be an exciting life of new people, places, ideas, and blog posts! Please join me as as I share experiences, ideas, and pictures of my wild world wanderings!