Well folks…. Sorry for going MIA for the past two months. It has become clear that writing essay long blog posts doesn’t seem conducive to me turning it into a habit. My new routine will be just post pictures and captions maybe with some longer blurbs in between in the hopes that the photos can do most of the talking. A picture is worth a thousand words, right?
I’m going to start a longggg time ago, back on September 24th. I have some essay-esque writings that I have been trying to catch up with over the past month but it proved too much. Can’t have what was produced go to waste though, so I will post that and then resume with the new photo focused format.
“On Saturday (Sept. 24) Morning, I headed to a store on the property of a farm, Domäne Dahlem, that hosts educational days with workshops and events for kids. As I got off of the train, streams of adults holding the hands of small children also poured out of the other train cars. Hard for me to dislike how many Germans do their darnedest to make sure their kids get some level of environmental exposure and knowledge of how real food is grown…
After going shopping at the Domäne Dahlem farmer stand, I head to brunch! A member of our IES group decided, incredibly generously, to host a brunch for whoever in our program wanted to come. For just a small donation the spread was outrageously good. From fruit salad to muffins to eggs to French toast we had more than enough to feast upon while playing cards against humanity (a game which the world could really do without, lol) and then the fishbowl game (Shoutout to my Heritage Academy trip who taught me that game!).
After Brunch I had about 2 hours before I had to be at my first club basketball game. I had tracked a Facebook event for a Palestinian culture festival for about a week but unfortunately found out I had a Basketball game at 6, and the festival started at 4. It was 30 minutes away from where brunch was, and it would be 30 minutes from the basketball game. I balked and waited 30 minutes before finally deciding that this was a unique chance and decided to go. After the train ride and wandering around trying to find the darn place, I found it in a public park community center. Ultimately I went in and got to enjoy a plate of Hummus, tabouleh, grapeleaves, and couscous and listen to a couple musicians from Ramallah. It was well worth it.
I realized that I had brought my Keffiyeh to intentionally be able to rep that part of the world while elsewhere, but I had forgotten to put it in my bag in the morning. I was sad thinking that I didn’t have anything that people would identify with amongst all of the traditional dresses the women wore that were covered in Palestinian embroidery. I then pulled out my wallet to pay the small entrance fee and was pleasantly reminded that I carry Palestinian embroidery everywhere with me by way of my wallet that I bought in Ramallah. Not to mention it of course has my favorite color, orange, in its embroidery.
I rushed from the festival to my game and made it in time to play my first game for ISS Berlin. The team we played had not won a single game last season, and it seems as though that trend may continue through this season as well. We won handily 97-28. Regardless, it has been nice to play and meet some friendly folks along the way. The best insight I can give you into this undertaking is a sneaky pre-game photo, taken by a teammate, of me doing a Cory Walts (Shoutout HC S&C: Head to Heel Strong as Steel) approved stretch routine before the commencement of balling.
On Sunday (Sept 25th) I was able to make it to Meeting for Worship at Berlin’s Quaker Meeting for the first time. That Sunday also happened to be the day of the Berlin Marathon! On the way to Meeting, the first small batch of the competitors strode by my apartment before the thousands of other participants streamed by. Not too shabby to have the fastest runners in the world run by your doorstep.
The place where they gather for Sunday worship is also the office of the American Friends Service Committee in Berlin, so I of course had to take a selfie when I had first located the office; Quaker Oats man T-Shirt for the win.
After Meeting for Worship, I was determined to get the basketball shoes that I have so desperately needed. After rolling through high school with the privilege of having shoes provided for me through our sponsorship with Under Armor, it had been ages since I had actually gone to a shoe store to buy basketball shoes. On my way to the FootLocker House of Hoops, I came across the Berlin Marathon course again. It had now been about 5 hours since the race had begun and these were folks jogging along the final 10km of the course. Though google maps told me it was open, I was disappointed to find the FootLocker closed. I retreated to the Nike store I had passed a couple blocks back. Lucky for me, due to the marathon, they were running a 20% off sale which could be applied to things already on sale. My lucky day. Consumerism is still worthy of criticism 😉 but in short, I now have adequate footwear for all of my sporting/fitness/adventure endeavors. I know that was important for everyone to know…
After shopping I got home and promptly moved on to my next weekend mission, cooking for the week. I then realized that the dried beans that I had bought had to be soaked overnight before I could cook them. Experience is the best teacher… I sautéed my vegetables from Domäne Dahlem instead, and called into S-Chords rehearsal as I did. I hear they are performing rampantly, and bringing good vibes to campus and can’t wait to rejoin them in the Spring.
Side Note: If anyone has been wondering what my most difficult experience with the German language has been thus far, undoubtedly it was trying to explain baseball to my host father in German…. What a convoluted sport… That being said, if that’s the worst it’s gotten, I am doing a-ok.
Wednesday (Sept. 28th) after class I was determined to not just sit around and look up different places I COULD go, but instead actually GO somewhere. I settled upon Tempelhof Airfield. Not only was it top of the bucket list, but it was also in biking distance. My hosts have kindly offered to let me use their bikes, and so I hopped on a bike and made the 15 minute journey to Hitler’s former airport project, now turned public recreation park. What a strange space. A looming airport building arches around one side of the fields/run ways. The arch was meant to be continued around the other side, but when the Nazi regime fell, the people of Berlin elected not to complete it. It also served as the runways where US planes conducted the airlifts to keep West Berlin fed when the Soviets cut off access roads in an effort to starve West Berlin into accepting food from the East. I got to write a couple postcards, observe the various activities happening, like rollerblading, kite surfing, jogging, biking, dog running, drone flying and all the rest.
On my way out I was treated to a gorgeous sunset across the open runways.
CouCou
Tiergarten
Last Thursday (Sept 29.) following class I decided to venture to the Technical University of Berlin where the International Peace Bureau would be hosting their World Congress on the theme of Global Disarmament. Preceding the World Congress was the annual meeting of the Abolition 2000, a coalition of organizations adamant about ridding the world of nuclear weapons that threaten human existence. I want people to really think about that… We have 100s of weapons, constructed in this world by fellow humans, which have the capability to end the human race.
Welcomed kindly by a woman from the Netherlands named Suzie, I got to sit through the back half of their Thursday afternoon meeting. The theme that constantly came up as people shared the different means through which their organizations have strived to bring attention to the topic, was the desire to do more non-violent direct action (i.e. blocking the roads leading to nuclear plants etc.). Another theme was the media’s silence on the topic, seemingly pushed to the side after being a hot button (pun not intended) topic during the Cold War.
I was lucky to get to chat with the man sitting next to me at the end of the meeting. He coordinates a global network of Peace Museums and is a professor in the Department of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford. His latest research focuses on Notable Peace Philanthropists like Andrew Carnegie, the widow of the founder of McDonalds and many more. Follow the link to see some of this work!
Starting that Friday (Sept 30th) the International Peace Bureau held their World Congress in Berlin at the Technical University of Berlin. The theme was Global Disarmament for a Climate of Peace. For the Technical University to host this was somewhat of historical importance given that they were one of the Universities that held responsibility for research being done towards lethal means in the Hitler/Nazi era.
I went to the opening plenary on Friday night and got to see a great lineup of speakers including Tawakkol Karman, 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate!
The night ended with a statement made by Samir Amin, a prominent economist and Director of the Third World Forum. His call was to amend UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s statement that “The world is overarmed and peace is underfunded” to say “The West is overarmed”. The points of view were varied. There were some who only called for the halt of the illegal weapons trade, and others who probably wished that all guns everywhere would be abolished. The common thread was that military budgets worldwide could be spent in was that could more effectively care for citizens of nation-states and of the world if people could just agree to stop wasting resources on an arms race that can ultimately lead only to fear and destruction.
Burgers and Hip Hop Oct 1st
On Saturday (Oct 1st) I strayed from my plant based diet for the sake of a unique event. As I investigated Facebook for events going on in Berlin, I came across one called Burgers & Hip Hop. The title speaks for itself. Burgers & Hip Hop is an organization that coordinates burger competitions complimented by Hip Hop parties.
On the way though, staying true to my love of real plant food I made a pit stop.
The Prinzessinnengarten, a huge urban community garden. Just yet another project on one of Berlin’s unused lots.
Annnnddd. Back to the greasy vein clogging.
There was both an outside portion of grills
and the inside portion that was later transformed into a dance floor area
The theme of this particular event? Bacon. For those of you who do not know, my nickname in the Haverford College Ford S-Chords, is Bacon-Strips. Among the reasons why, my love for Bacon. One may think the fact that I have been avoiding eating meat contradicts that statement. I believe one can part sadly from something that they love for reasons of conscience. This time, I could not refuse the offer presented. I paid for the “Feast” ticket, which got me in early and allowed me a half burger from each of the 7 vendors competing. Wow. There were some outrageously delicious burgers.
StadtLand Fest Oct 1-3
It was only later that I found out that Burgers and Hip Hop was actually part of a wider wonderful event. That event was the Berlin Food Week. I eagerly sought out the other components of such a week and found myself in a 4 block space of the city dedicated strictly to street vendors. There was a cheese street, a dessert street, a bread street and a street food street. It was glorious.
Schoeneberg KurbisFest Oct 2nd
After coming home from the StadtLandfest, I got to the front door of my apartment building and there was a poster for the local pumpkin (“Kurbis” in German) festival that had also been happening that weekend. It was listed to end at 8PM and I looked at my phone to see 8:05PM… classic. I went anyways, figuring I could catch the very end of the packing up phase. When I got there, there was a live band playing the end of their set and most of the stands still had their stuff out. There just seem to be street bazaars/markets everywhere (keeping me in eager anticipation of the renowned Christmas markets). There were carnival rides, pumpkin carvers, and booth after booth of either food or craft.
Because why wouldn’t you throw a giant trampoline structure in the road for a pumpkin festival?
The stand selling flower bulbs made me automatically think of my Grandma Lu and her love for flowers
Germans are capable pumpkin/gourd carvers… don’t doubt it…
German Reunification Day Oct 3
Monday, October 3rd was a national holiday for the day of reunification in 1990. We had classes off, so I spent part of the day at the Topography of Terror museum where the Nazi regime is recounted in the different ways that fear was leveraged to coerce citizens into submission with the Third Reich. It seemed like a fitting day to hold some attention to a time in which the state was unified around Hitler. Democratic institutions are fragile. The Nazis came to power democratically. There was no coup, just elections, concentration of power, and the resulting fear driven policies. Just a healthy reminder of what human civilizations have permitted to happen under the auspices of fear. 
GDR Museum Oct 4th
The Wednesday following Unification day, my Identity in Contemporary Europe class went on a field trip to the GDR Museum. The GDR was the state of East Germany, the socialist regime. Following the fall of the wall there has been a factor of Nostalgia for former citizens of the GDR who insist that life was better under the Soviet’s rule and long for the days of the past. The crucial thing missing in this “Ostalgie” (Ost=East in German; hooray wordplay), is the reality of the repression faced by anyone who did not conform to the regime. It’s easier to appreciate a system when you don’t feel it is restricting your freedom. In the museum it showed all the eastern goods that used to be sold in the grocery stores, it had segments from the radio stations. It also gave insight into the life of a Soviet soldier, the common working family, and the hypocritically luxurious lifestyle of most of the East German leaders. That reality is what leads one of my professors to say that, “socialism has never happened before.” The debate about whether or not that’s because humans naturally can’t work within such a system is one that I won’t get into here. Similarly though, one can say that the world has never seen a nation-state that is truly a democracy. That would entail everyone getting one vote on every single decision facing the nation-state. I’m gonna stop PoliSci lecturing though…
Innsbruck, Austria October 7th-9th
The following weekend Friday October 7th, I and 8 other IES students took an overnight bus to Innsbruck for the weekend. This also corresponded with the beginning of the SChords’ Fall Break tour. I got a wonderful 3AM call from the boys following their first concert and it warmed my heart to watch them perform at their little after-party. Among other things, the weekend included a museum visit, a group made meal featuring a questionably large spaghetti to sauce ratio, and a hike with many ups and downs, both literally and figuratively. It started with an innocent book on the hotel’s check in desk. As we checked into our camping ground Saturday night and debated our plan for the next days schedule, trying to balance a hike with maybe some other ventures into the city for those who weren’t feeling that a full hiking day was what they were looking for. I flipped through the pages of some of the random binders on the desk and happened upon one that listed a free, guided hike option for each day of the week. I asked the man at the desk if I was reading correctly that it was free. It seemed too good to be true. We would get a free bus ride to a town over at 9AM, hike from our elevation at 800m to a restaurant area at 1600m. We could all grab lunch together, and then those who wanted to cap their hiking quota there would be free to take a gondola ride back down and others who were craving more altitude could continue up to a 2400m peak. It was a beautiful compromise. But as I said, there were a few ups and downs. The bus that was supposed to come at 9, wasn’t there at 9. 9:10…. Nothing. I had double-checked several times with the receptionist that 9 had been correct. He confirmed every time. While we waited outside at the supposed bus stop, I asked another group member to go back to the desk to check just one more time—I was feeling bad that I kept nagging the guy and figured that maybe I might have been asking incorrectly. FINALLY the bus came around 9:20. We were relieved. We had to be at the tour meeting point at 10, and it seemed as though we were still on schedule. Little did we know we had to catch a connecting bus to the village and given that our first bus was TWENTY MINUTES LATE we missed that connection. Long story short, we hiked a long way up just to find the restaurant that we were promised would be open was closed. I am ever grateful for the group for being able to laugh it off and not throw things at me or roll me down the mountain… Half the group continued past the closed restaurant to a couple other peaks and the other half headed straight down to a restaurant where we all met happily ever after to eat and be warm after the day’s adventure. Not pictured is the spaghetti dinner that we made that night in our little camp apartments, or the heaping plate of leftovers I was left to finish in the morning because we grossly over estimated our pasta needs but NO FOOD GOES TO WASTE! (See Facebook for group hike photos!)
At the happy beginning
At the happy middle; somewhere around here Beatles songs were sung extensively 🙂
Luckily the clouds blew off a little for a view of Innsbruck
Just a happy hiker after his post hike meal.
Berlin Light Festival Running Tour Oct 14th
The Berlin Festival of Lights happens annually where buildings all over the city are illuminated with different projections. My IES friend Craig and Club Basketball friend Maxim agreed to join a running group tour Friday night starting at 7 which ran us around to all the main sights in the city center. Being abroad has given me a massive appreciate for combining sight seeing with physical activities and this was a happy medium.
You can’t really tell, but the Light Festival display on the side of the Environmental agency briefly had an otter in it. I tried to capture it, but you just see a blob of brown… Otters are the best and I am glad Berlin recognizes that, that’s really all you need to take from this…
With the Light Display on the Berliner Dom (aka Cathedral)
Budapest Oct 20-23 with Eric Ekas Westtown ’14. Been at it since 4th Grade
What better post midterms reward than to visit Ekas in Budapest. There was a vegetarian all-you-can-eat buffet, memorials, hummus, dancing, and some really long long nights…
Monuments on monuments
Strolling the Streets
Wow… Yum…
Columns on the second floor??? Ok…
Just some big boys in Budapest’s Heroes’ Square in Westtown quarter zips, and jeans. Classic 🙂
Zurich/Hinwil Switzerland Oct 28-30 to visit more of the Westtown family, Morgan and Jeanine Maddox!
The view looking out the plane window over Switzerland
Friday (Oct. 28th) upon arrival, after strolling the streets of Zurich for a little, Sir Maddox treated me to a dinner at Haus Hiltl, the longest consecutively open vegetarian restaurant in the world, open since 1898! (Ask Guinness book of world records, not me…)
On Saturday we made a venture up a mountain on a ski lift to share a lunch with a view of the Swiss Alps. Just strollin up above the clouds.
On the way home following our mountain adventure, we stopped at the exhibit of a local woodworking artist. Below are just a couple of his many cool works.
After a community concert featuring a youth orchestra with their son Caleb, and a percussion ensemble taught by Jeanine playing a couple pieces composed by Morgan, Saturday night had passed and Sunday had already arrived. Couldn’t forget a final selfie before heading through security at the airport. So thankful for these guys, their hospitality, and generosity. Awesome to have gotten a glimpse into their world post-Westtown.
The 21st Birthday Week
Oct 31st means only the beginning of No-Shave-November, and thus the fun that comes from the process of shaving clean to start the month.
On Wednesday, the one and only Hannah Fairchild WT ’14 came to visit from Copenhagen for the bday weekend (but really coming from a hike in Slovenia…!) We ran around between markets, the East Side Gallery and a soccer game. We biked to Tempelhofer Feld and to a plant based burger joint just to bike back home in the freezing rain singing J Cole, Disney tunes and the Ants Go Marching… Here are a few pics from these adventures 🙂
Just checkin out Street Food Thursday (Nov 3rd.) at Markthalle Neun, a 125 year old market building
Naturally we found ourselves some Kanaan Hummus 🙂 
Outside the 1936 Olympic stadium before a Hertha BSC game on Friday Nov. 4th!
Inside the Olympic Stadium!
We’re just some happy campers 🙂
Shoutout Jesse Owens, stickin’ it to Hitlers whole superior race theory thing.. #4GoldsDoe
After a Saturday night birthday celebration that spanned from a vegan pizza dinner through late night dancing, Sunday had finally arrived and after I dropped Hannah at the train station I realized I didn’t really have any plans for my actual b-day. After some brainstorming I thought I would head to the Natural History Museum. I set on my way to the epic museum and then realized how nice of a day it was. Berlin has been pretty cloudy, windy, cold and gross in any combination of those things through October and November but the sun was out on the 6th and I wasn’t going to hole myself up in a museum. SO, still wanting to do something with animals, I headed to the Berlin Zoo! Zoos are still questionable to me in terms of the captivity of animals but at the same time it is remarkable to be able to witness the many variations of evolution all in one space. I took more videos than photos so I don’t have much for ya, but it was a good way to spend the day.
State of the European Union Address Nov. 9
One of my professors was able to get us in to the European Union State of the Union address by Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, the day after the US election. We quickly figured out it was a big deal that we were even in the room.
The location was so central that the balcony where the reception was held over looked the Brandenburg Gate
The venue, the Allianz Forum, is across the street from the U.S. Embassy. Following the speech as we walked to the train station we came across this vigil. I’d say it speaks for itself. We will figure out a way to heal. I hope people will let me know if they need support.
Bulgaria Nov. 10-13 visit to Molly O’Keefe, sibling by affection and Fulbright Teacher
As Molly would say, she and my oldest sister Rachel have been best friends since the womb when both of our mothers became friends while pregnant with them 26 or so years ago in Baltimore. Our fathers worked together with Catholic Relief Services and our families have been lucky enough to be able to cross paths ever since we moved away from Baltimore to Indonesia. Having never imagined visiting Bulgaria, Molly was THE perfect reason to go (credits to mom for the idea). I was welcomed by her Fulbright friend Andrew in the Capital, Sofia. After hopping on a bus Friday morning to her city of Stara Zagora, I was lucky to get a look into the life of Fulbright English Teaching Assistants as I sat in on Friday classes and her other Fulbright friend, Boris, joined us Saturday for a hike, some good food, and a night of darts and conversation. I also got to meet her boyfriend Nasko and some of his friends as we spent time out and about in Stara Zagora.
Thursday night at the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia (Photo Credit: Andrew)
Friday I got to visit classes with Molly both in the orphanage she teaches in and in the Language school where she is placed for her Fulbright position. In case anyone was wondering how to spell my name in Bulgarian! Thanks to one of Molly’s students at the orphanage, now we know!
Bulgaria has Roman ruins! Too bad for you my face is blocking them….
On our Saturday afternoon hike with Molly, Boris, and Nasko (Molly’s boyfriend)
SO. That brings us up to date to today… November 14th… like two months later… Obviously I have decided I can’t cover everything, but this is better than nothing. Looking forward, I get to go to a Chance the Rapper concert Wednesday, I meet my parents in Salzburg, Austria on Thursday, we come back to Berlin Sunday and head to the Philharmonic, Thanksgiving is on the horizon, a week-long program field trip to Paris, the Christmas markets and of course school.
Quick shoutout to HCBALL! They start the season Tuesday night, and I wish I could be there but I wish them the best of luck as we build towards the postseason. Every day I get more excited looking forward to January when I get to play again. I miss the Gardner Center grind like nothing else… Again, can’t wait to see you guys get after it. Get the ball rolling.
Where In The World Is Jeremy? 