Discovering Space in German

In order to complete my German class registration at the Volkshochschule, I still needed to pay. Since we now have a German bank account with an IBAN, I could finally do it.

I took my bike and rode the 1.3 miles to the Pankow location to pay. It was such freedom to cruise on the bike path with the other riders, following the traffic lights just for bikers that are alongside the auto traffic lights.

{my bike patiently waiting for me in our courtyard}

Since I had already done most of the leg work and had taken the placement exam and pre-registered, I simply strolled into the building, rang a bell at the desk and a friendly, German speaking woman helped me finish up in less than five minutes. I’ve discovered that most bureaucratic things in Berlin take two or three visits to complete anything. And this certainly was the case.

{Volkshochschule Pankow}

Before heading home, I swung by the Schönhauser Allee Arcaden (shopping mall), which is two blocks from our apartment. I bought two accordion files to help us stay organized with all of the paper we’ve accumulated, some groceries from the Edeka and some fresh blueberries from the farmer’s stand outside the mall. I packed everything into my bike basket and went home.

We had lunch as a family and then Ben and I headed out to meet Bridget and her sons. (Isaac was still tired from yesterday and out of sorts, so he stayed home while Dave had an afternoon of work calls.)

We had agreed to meet at the Planetarium to see a movie at 2:30. We got there at 2:00 (taking the S 41 one stop to Prenzlauer Allee) and discovered there was no 2:30 movie, but a show on planets at 3:00, but only in German.

Since we had all made the effort to get there, especially Bridget coming from Charlottenberg (former West), we decided to stay and watch it. Oh, and the fact that the planetarium was air conditioned also sealed the deal. Remember, we are having a heat wave here in Europe.

{Ben outside the Zeiss-Großplanetarium}

We settled down and watched the hour show in German, which surprisingly held the big boys attention. Bridget had fortunately stockpiled enough snacks to help keep her little one mostly content during the presentation.

{how the Germans remember the names and order of the planets}

{Ben outside the planetarium}

After the show, we headed down to Kollwitzplatz for ice cream, playground and farmer’s market time.

{August and Ben outside of Il Glaciale in Kollwitzplatz}

We all would recommend their ice cream to anyone in the area. And at €1.20 a cone, you can’t beat the price.

{Nathaniel covering Ben in sand}

{too many beers}

After picking up some yummy Saturn peaches, aka doughnut peaches, from the farmer’s stand at the market and quickly eating most of them, we decided to walk towards our apartment for dinner.

Lured by the idea of Vietnamese, we walked to Gleimstraße on the north end of Maier Park, but decided on Mexican instead.

Bridget and I were reminded how similar we are and that we were meant to be friends when we ordered the same dishes for the boys and ourselves.

{August, Bridget, Nathaniel and Ben at El Sabor}

Since Aaron was driving in our direction to pick them up, we walked to our apartment (Ben was excited to show August) and we all hung out for a while. It was great seeing the boys, all four of them, together.