August 2009
2 posts
Temporary tattoos, harmless jungle handicrafts or...
On my birthday, I figured it was a good idea to commemorate the occasion with a symbolic gesture of some kind…And I didn’t buy the handicrafts.
While hiking through the Darien Jungle recently, we were invited to participate in a nontoxic skin painting ritual. The Embera people squeeze the fruit of the Jagua and use the extracted juices to paint themselves. This act has the scientific...
June 2009
2 posts
Broke is the new black
It’s just not in anymore to say you have a job. Let’s face it, money is OUT and broke is IN. So are social services. Back in the day, my post Acting School-NYU years, I used to actually hide my unemployment stubs. I’d stash them away in my sock drawer like a dirty little secret. Today I am designing a fashion line using SOCIAL WELFARE Logos to cash in the latest craze. BROKE IS BACK and I’m...
May 2009
11 posts
GERMAN AEROBICS-GOTTA TRY THEM!
Yes, the eighties are back. And that means it’s time to AEROBICIZE. And while I was not able to coordinate my two left feet to my Cher Aerobics video in the late eighties, I thought I might give aerobics in Germany another try. It’s a sure fire way to brush up on one’s imperative or COMMAND form. “Hoch, links, Noch einmal” ….. The feet, however, are still both lefties.
It was all so easy for...
BBQ SEASON BERLIN
Yes, that’s right. It is officially würstchen (HOT DOG) season again here in Berlin.
In a city that delivers 9 months of cold, cranky winter, ANY sign of spring is ripe for a BBQ in the Park. Since we are having officially the warmest and driest April of all times, Berliners are racing at lightning speeds to claim their patch of green and grill up a friendly plate of meat. Unlike NY, open...
I personally found this Wurst pack (pictured above) a special treat, though it offers only the same colored processed, bleached meat in a few of my favorite geometrical forms. Has anyone ever encountered any such goodness in the USA?
Leberwurst: (or liverwurst) it’s every American child’s WURST nightmare. Made from Veal and Veal liver this is the classic smooshy, smoky, meaty spread. ...
Weisswurst: A long white puppy made of veal, cream and eggs. This is a must in Bavaria and often can be a culinary disaster in Berlin. There is a reason why one never sees dudes with lederhosen up North. They may not be able to part from such a wonderful Wurst. They often serve Weisswursts with a special sweet mustard and a fat pretzel or with rye bread and loads of beer. You may recognize this...
The Bockwurst (The Common Man’s Hot Dog): its offered everywhere in Berlin. There are mini marts selling their homemade brand and there are men on the streets with a bockwurst carrier selling their dogs for a euro or so. And then……there are Bockwursts in a glass (pictured above), which seem to resemble jars of pickled human parts often seen at freak shows. I also tend to steer clear of this...
The Turkish wiener in a can (Halal of course) : Oooooh the colors and shapes. I want to buy a selection of brands and re-do Andy Warhol’s Campbell Soup Cans. They are sooooo pretty I can’t take my eyes off. I HAVE NO IDEA HOW THIS CANNED, WET WURST TASTES. It would take a lot for me to crack this baby open.
Once these life-altering decisions are made, one must then fill up the bike basket...
February 2009
3 posts
COLOGNE CARNIVAL 2009
FOUR VIRGINS AND A STRAWBERRY
As a general rule of thumb, if there are clowns involved, I run screaming in the opposite direction. The exception is Carnival in Cologne, Germany.
Everyone has a notion of what Carnivals like Mardi Gras, Rio and Venice are like. But Cologne is different! It’s the people’s party. It’s in the blood, spanning across all generations. It can’t be purchased like a...
January 2009
9 posts
MY TRAVEL CHANNEL BLOG!!!!
http://no-reservations-crew-blog.travelchannel.com/read/venice
Finally after 4 years of making Travel TV I get a chance to kvetch about it. HA!!!!
The Ritual
PART ONE ETHIOPIA:
Admitting that I cannot dance is an understatement. Ask any friend of mine and they will wince. I am an embarrassment in clubs, a sore sight at weddings even Bar Mitzvahs are off limits. But what do you do when three men from the Hamar tribe in Ethiopia come carrying Kalashnikovs and invite you and your boyfriend to a midnight dance in the middle of the bush. They don’t...
ETHIOPIA 2008
Returning home after a few weeks of the hardest travel I’ve ever done. ETHIOPIA! In December we flew from Berlin to Addis Ababa, then drove 18 hours to Jinka and another 10 hours to visit an ethnologist who has studied the Hamar tribe on the Kenyan border for the last 35 years. It may just take a whole week to write that post. So here are a couple pictures to wet the appetite.
The restroom on the Deutsche Bahn
Suddenly, I got the urge to use the train restroom on a German train. I wouldn’t even think of such things were I still living in NY. Even on our prestigious, pristine, magnificent, Godly AMTRAK……ok, who am I kidding….riding Amtrak (for those who have traveled in Europe) is like your grandfather picking you up in his 1982 Cadillac and expecting you to still ogle over it’s fabulous, but...
October 2008
2 posts
Thirsty
Sometimes, though I try, translating directly from English to German doesn’t work. For example, last night I am standing in a great wine bar, just a stone throw from my house. After a few glasses of wine, I realize…gosh I’m thirsty. My tongue at this point looks like I licked a purple crayola marker and my precious saliva left 45 minutes ago. Since Germans living in Berlin have decided to...
September 2008
2 posts
How Jesus learned German from You Tube
I always pictured myself fluently speaking another language. I dreamed of being that cute American that spontaneously breaks into a foreign tongue so flawlessly that the natives around her gasp: “ You’re from where? America? No! You speak so beautifully.” At that moment I would toss their comment off with the shake of my blonde curls. “ I know, I know. I get that all the time. It’s hard to...
August 2008
4 posts
How to feel bad about another Birthday!
Do I look like I should start thinking about my golden years? Imagine my surprise when the cashier at the POST OFFICE, which is also the BANK asked me after stamping a letter to be mailed if I was planning to REMAIN HERE FOREVER (in Germany). Ok translations are a bitch and maybe that “forever” isn’t really like, MAKE UP YOUR MIND in the next 30 seconds or I won’t mail this important document,...
The Accordion
In general, I like my clothes on. Especially, in public. However, as I have come to learn in Germany….there is an art to the well loved sport of communal nudity. For instance, one must choose wisely which patch of grass to display their goods on. In summer, our city parks are filled with what I affectionately call “Penis Pastures”. To a foreigner this is a strange and arresting sight.
ALL...
July 2008
6 posts
Metal Pony, Giddeup!
I am in a constant state of being attacked by inanimate objects. I live in fear. Mostly, though, I am afraid of my bicycle. It’s my only form of transportation in Berlin and so I must battle my bicycle everyday.
In NY I had two very lovely legs that transported me safely through the city. Although I have heard that people use these so called “Bicycles” in NYC, I had yet to become acquainted...
Ahhh the little pleasures…like grocery shopping
After living in Berlin for 6 months, I finally have a little perspective on my life in the new world. I feel so wise nowadays. While I have made a few mistakes, some minor disasters, a few lost keys, some purchasing of unknown items due to the language barriers, nonetheless, I have LEARNED from most of them. Yet there’s still one puzzle I must solve once a week and with serious effort.
The...
Am Anfang
It’s July in Berlin. I’ve chosen to illustrate this with a photo from January-a barren, cold- urban landscape marked by a passing train and a colorful stop light. This is a self reminder that in just a couple months I’ll say goodbye to my friend, the sun, for another 9 months.
Today in Berlin, temperatures are reaching 32 degrees C- still haven’t figured out what that...
