On Sunday, in one of these days that the weather in Berlin, just like a girl before an important date, didn’t decide what it wants to look like. I was alone and went out to our balcony on the fourth floor, overlooking the flatness of Mitte. My neighbor was out smoking a cigarette. I apologized for any noises that our baby Maya was making in weird hours. He told me not to worry about it. I told him where I come from and so did he. I told him that my wife is German and works as a journalist. He told me that his wife is also a journalist working in PR. I swollowed my saliva. As a journalist, lately, we have to carry a lot of insults.

He told me that they read two newspapers every day, and about his brother who went to visit Israel only to meet people… weiter lesen

Just came back from  a visit in Israel (it was February, 31 degrees and everyone was at the beach—no wonder all three religions are willing to kill to have this place), where I had an extended conversations with my niece—she is 14 going on 20- about her life, growing up, Facebook, and how does she sees the situation. 

She told me two stunning things. The first was about her trip to Barcelona and how she felt so unsecured that she forced herself to wear a coat over her t-shirt that was emblazoned with some Hebrew words. “It’s weird to know that everyone hates you”, she told me. I tried to comfort her by telling her that when I was 14 I also thought that the entire world hates me, but I knew it wasn’t the same.

 The second thing she told me shocked me even more. She was telling me… weiter lesen

The first problem I had with eco-systems and global warming happened when I was traveling throughout the United States, in heavily democratic states. Outside the houses there were five or six garbage bins, each one for a different kind of garbage. It was a noble idea if it wasn’t for the fact that there were always five or six SUV’s parking in front of these bins. It made me feel that being “green” is just a fashion. What is the point of recycling every piece of garbage if afterward a person is climbing a car that helps pollute the air like it was a small industry?

But in Germany they take ecological matters seriously. People are telling you to shut your car off and freeze to death if you wait more than 60 seconds in your car for someone to come down, and in many regions in the East, the… weiter lesen

I remember my first time shopping in a German supermarket. It was at Kaiser’s in the west part of the city, it was a Saturday afternoon and I was buying all sorts of stuff in order to cook on the weekend. Naturally, coming to Berlin after 10 years in New York, I didn’t carry cash with me, so by the time the cashier finished bar coding me I just handed to her my credit card. She looked at me strangely and said: nur EC.

As I said, it was in the west so the people behind me were really patient when I apologized and left everything on the counter to go to the ATM to get some cash. I took out 50 Euros which were enough to make the purchase and even to get 6 cents back. Then I grabbed two bags from beneath the counter and was planning to throw the groceries in when the cashier looked… weiter lesen

I am taking advanced German course twice a week now. We are about 20 people from all over the world, and one tough and fair female teacher. These courses, with their length (about three months), intensity (two to four times a week, four hours at a time) and randomness of gathering people can be a micro-cosmos of the outside world. I am just trying to say that these classes have the potential to explode. They can sit together in one peaceful room people who otherwise would prefer to chew on each other.   Our teacher has her methods trying to break the ice. She is putting 18 chairs in the middle of the room, plays the music, stops it and the two left standing must talk. It is a little bit awkward but I don’t mind it–it gives me ideas to play with my daughter.   The other day the

… weiter lesen

Shalom. This is the first word I want to use in this blog. Shalom is universal. It sounds like its Arab counterpart. It is how you greet someone in Israel when you meet him or her. Sometimes we, Israelis, use it also to say goodbye.

And, of course, Shalom in Hebrew means peace. So what we have here is the most commonand used  word in the Israeli language, which also define a situation that we will never attain. In other words, it’s a cynical irony, just like “sun” would be the most common and used word in Berlin in Febraury.

I think that this is what this blog will try to show. The cynical Irony of living in Berlin (and Germany) as an outsider. This is not a philosophical blog, rather it is a blog that will collect daily stories from the street, snippets of daily life, with the hope that… weiter lesen