I thought that Snacky Cracky brand snack foods were amusing. I found them so amusing that I have a small corner of a chips bag, reading "Snacky Cracky," taped to my wall. I thought my display of "Deutschlish" was complete until today, when I had the good fortune to run across... Krack Nuggets. Yes, this is an actual food product sold in Germany. I havenl't tried them yet, but it appears to be a peanuts coated in some kind of crispy, possibly carmelized coating. Let's just take a moment to savor that, shall we? I am now the proud owner of a pack of Krack Nuggets. A whole 250 gram pack, for only 1 Euro. Not too shabby, eh?
Aside from that... I HAVE INTERNET IN MY ROOOM!!!!!! Holy mother of god, my life is now complete. It's been 5 months since I could access the internet without either 1) going to an internet cafe, of 2) stealing my roommates computers while they are gone. I now have my OWN computer with MY pictures and MY internet that I can use when I FEEL LIKE IT. I've been chafing at my bit, but it all finally came through for me and I have internet access again. Halle-fuckin' lujiah!
And... I feel like I should make some kind of explanation of the nature of the Berlin Wall. The wall was put up in 1961, unexpectedly, by the East German government, to prevent East Germans from "deserting" to West Germany. Now, anyone who wanted to "desert" couldn't look like they were up to anything, so if someone decided to make a break for it they had to leave behind virtually all of their possessions in East Germany, walk in to West Berlin, and ask for assylum. Despite the obvious hardships of leaving behind everthing they owned, millions of East Germans defected in this way in the years before the wall went up. The wall was put up unilaterally by the East German government, and was never in any way approved by the west. It was, obviously, the most visible and poignant symbol of the cold war years.
So, the physical border between East and West Germany was opened up in 1989. Over the following years, The Wall was gradually dismantled, and the areas of the former "Death Strip" surrounding the East German border are still being built-up to this day. Almost all of the wall has been removed. There aren't actually (as I thought at first) random chunks of it floating around the city. There is a two-block long portion of it preserved in the main tourist area of Potsdamer Platz (near the Reichstag and the Brandenburger Gate), protected now from the souvanier-seekers by a wire fence. There is a small, 30 foot portion preserved at the site of the Mauer Museem (Wall Museum), and then there is the East Side Gallery. The East Side Gallery is a 1/2 mile or so stretch of wall that has been preserved on the far east border of the wall, right near where I live. You can see a little more info on it here: http://www.eastsidegallery.com/historyesg.htm
The wall itself is fairly anti-climatic, even with the graffitti and paintings all over it. Until I consider that I wouldn't have been able to get to almost any of the places that I regularly visit, it's hard to imagine the historical significance of such an ugly line of concrete. It looks so, well, dull. But as I walk along the edge of the East Side Gallery from time to time, and consider that that wall would have limited my ability to contact my friends, family, and anyone from the outside world... I realize that huge changes really are possible in the world if enough people are committed to making them happen.
Finally, on a lighter note, another great moment in Life With A German Speaker. Jörge, having recently bought himself the Nintendo Wii (pronounced "Wee") made the following, totally innocent, comment last weekend: "Yeah, Sarah said she wants to come over tomorrow and play with my Wii..."
Aside from that... I HAVE INTERNET IN MY ROOOM!!!!!! Holy mother of god, my life is now complete. It's been 5 months since I could access the internet without either 1) going to an internet cafe, of 2) stealing my roommates computers while they are gone. I now have my OWN computer with MY pictures and MY internet that I can use when I FEEL LIKE IT. I've been chafing at my bit, but it all finally came through for me and I have internet access again. Halle-fuckin' lujiah!
And... I feel like I should make some kind of explanation of the nature of the Berlin Wall. The wall was put up in 1961, unexpectedly, by the East German government, to prevent East Germans from "deserting" to West Germany. Now, anyone who wanted to "desert" couldn't look like they were up to anything, so if someone decided to make a break for it they had to leave behind virtually all of their possessions in East Germany, walk in to West Berlin, and ask for assylum. Despite the obvious hardships of leaving behind everthing they owned, millions of East Germans defected in this way in the years before the wall went up. The wall was put up unilaterally by the East German government, and was never in any way approved by the west. It was, obviously, the most visible and poignant symbol of the cold war years.
So, the physical border between East and West Germany was opened up in 1989. Over the following years, The Wall was gradually dismantled, and the areas of the former "Death Strip" surrounding the East German border are still being built-up to this day. Almost all of the wall has been removed. There aren't actually (as I thought at first) random chunks of it floating around the city. There is a two-block long portion of it preserved in the main tourist area of Potsdamer Platz (near the Reichstag and the Brandenburger Gate), protected now from the souvanier-seekers by a wire fence. There is a small, 30 foot portion preserved at the site of the Mauer Museem (Wall Museum), and then there is the East Side Gallery. The East Side Gallery is a 1/2 mile or so stretch of wall that has been preserved on the far east border of the wall, right near where I live. You can see a little more info on it here: http://www.eastsidegallery.com/historyesg.htm
The wall itself is fairly anti-climatic, even with the graffitti and paintings all over it. Until I consider that I wouldn't have been able to get to almost any of the places that I regularly visit, it's hard to imagine the historical significance of such an ugly line of concrete. It looks so, well, dull. But as I walk along the edge of the East Side Gallery from time to time, and consider that that wall would have limited my ability to contact my friends, family, and anyone from the outside world... I realize that huge changes really are possible in the world if enough people are committed to making them happen.
Finally, on a lighter note, another great moment in Life With A German Speaker. Jörge, having recently bought himself the Nintendo Wii (pronounced "Wee") made the following, totally innocent, comment last weekend: "Yeah, Sarah said she wants to come over tomorrow and play with my Wii..."
posted by Kristal at 6:35 PM
3 Comments:
Halle-fuckin'lujiah,I have used the expression a number of times, when I needed just the right word to describe or express my true feelings, but did'nt want to take all day to describe the situation and My reasons for the jubliation and My greatfulness to the powers above for finally allowing all things that seemed beyond my control to come together allowing me to move beyond that particular sticking point in my life and now I know how to spell it!Thank you. D
If Jorge plays with his Wii to much, will he grow hair on his thumbs?
Does the popularity of Krack-based snack foods somehow correlate to the popularity of David Hasselhof? C, G & E
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