Germans don’t make babies. It’s a national epidemic. In order to help encourage young couples to do the deed, the German government now offers paternal leave giving parents a whopping 14-months off from work after squeezing out a wee one. In Berlin, and especially in our neighborhood, fathers are happily taking on the role of [...]
Entries from April 2009
April 23, 2009
An Israeli, a German and a Palestinian Walk Into a Theater…
My latest review in the Forward.
A strange three-act drama is played out here in Germany with unsettling regularity.
Some public figure — usually a politician — will make a comparison between the present-day and Nazi Germany. I’ll grab the first example that comes to mind. Last year, a week before the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, a [...]
April 14, 2009
Don’t Make a Hitler
If there wasn’t already reason to think the Germans are unhealthily obsessed with their Nazi past, now comes a new German condom ad using the fear of having another Hitler to sell safe sex. Works for me. (There’s also one with Mao and Osama Bin Laden. Look here if you dare).
– Gal
April 13, 2009
My Birthday (Suit)
Everything does shut down here for Easter, but luckily the uber-modern spa down the street was still open on my birthday. So, I decided to get a birthday massage. I was instructed to take a shower in their plush digs, (“You must be clean!”–that’s my thought bubble not an actual quote) before getting my rubdown
Once [...]
April 12, 2009
Sunday in the Park with Germans
Mauerpark (wall park), not far from our house, was built up after reunification in the security zone between east and west Berlin (the wall was actually two walls, with a strip of the security zone in between). Here’s an aerial map of the park with the former walls in red and blue:
These days the park [...]
April 11, 2009
I Love Berlin in the Springtime
Spring has exploded in full force this past week, inspiring many plans that had been hibernating for the long winter months. One of which is trying to get this blog going again…Here’s some video from our street corner this morning. It did not look so bright and sunny and green just a week ago.
