BERLIN

this is an e-mail i sent to my parents, so it might not make a whole lot of sense, but i only have 2 minutes left on my 2 euros time here.

I'm here in the Generator Hotel Berlin. This is a great place. I met some British guys yesterday and we went out to Unter den Linden. Before that I also went to Kurfürstendamm and saw the blown up church, and also I ate lunch at Alexanderplatz. The day before I went to Potsdamer Platz, and if you wanna see botched-up capitalism, just go there. Gargantuan buildings from Deutsche Bank, Daimler Chrysler and Sony and no people. That was in the former west, but that more than anything felt foreign, cold and frightening. At every Platz here, there are anti-war and pro-vegetarian protests. The whole S-Bahn system is covered with graffiti, and there's this one stop on the U-Bahn, I think, that is decorated with tons of quotations about humanity from Heinrich Heine. I took the Strassenbahn from S-Bahn stop Landsberger Allee, the stop by the hostel, and the closest stop to my room in Hohenschönhausen. It's very simple and fast. However, it seems to take a long time to catch the trains..... I saw my building. It's in a very surreal looking place that looks very East German-ish. Everything is square and gray. Some of the buildings around it have been painted blue and white which seem to be the Berlin colors. Very strange. The German's going well. I've only spoken English once, other than when I talked to the British guys. My impression here is that the people are very honest. There's no way to check if you have a ticket for any of the trains. I asked about tips at a restaurant and I didn't quite understand and she returned some of my money. I had tipped 2 Euros on a ten Euro meal, she said, NEVER more than 1 unless it's real expensive, I'll have to see about that. I just had a Berliner Pilsener, one of the two main Berlin beers, at a stand on Unter den Linden, while reading "Der Tagesspiegel". It was great. I'm going to meet the British guys again at the bar in the hostel, but I probably won't go out again tonight, cuy I have to repack and be out of my room by ten tomorrow morning. The transit system here is amazingly efficient, if you know what you're doing. There are almost no maps compared to all the other cities in which I've been to. When we went out last night we wandered around this one station for 15 minutes, it was hilarious. The weather: This is the most humid place I've ever lived, there's no use in showering, and the weather seems to be far more erratic than in the Bay Area even. I took my jacket with me to Hohenschönhausen, but it was so hot, I ended up not wearing it, but then I headed out to check out Checkpoint Charlie an der Kochstrasse and it started pouring, just like in Phoenix..... hard rain. Then, I took the U-Bahn through Museum Island (Museum Insel) to Hackescher Markt, but I couldn't find Hackesher Markt, and so I walked back towards Museum Island. I ended up walking past the Berlin Cathedral (Berliner Dom), and the Neue Wache (remembrance place for the deaths in the German past) and past my school again. As I neared my school, all of a sudden rain just dumped all over me. It was just ridiculous. These fairly heavy showers were over in about 10 minutes apiece. It's very strange. 

Well, the city has strange weather, sorta nice people, lots of interesting places to go, many reminders that I'm leaving in the former Eastern Bloc, good beer, good newspapers, confusing everything, and of course good beer. More later, after I move into my new apartment. I just can't believe this is now my home for a long time.

John