Jüdisches Museum...Part 2

Today I went to the Jüdisches Museum (for the second time!) after work to see the current exhibition, Helden, Freaks und Superrabbis: Die Jüdische Farbe des Comics (Heroes, Freaks and Super Rabbis: The Jewish Color of Comics). The exhibition was AMAZING, as evidenced by my spending nearly two and a half hours there!

The exhibit featured Jewish comic book artists and authors (although Robert Crumb was featured, too, because much of his work explores Jewish cultural identity and stereotypes, and his wife--Aline Kominsky, who is also a comic book author/illustrator--is Jewish, too) and explored the progression of the genre, itself, and its relationship to Jewish culture. There were original comic books and prints, reproductions, photographs, video clips, animations, audio pieces, etc. etc. The accompanying text throughout the exhibit was really interesting and thorough, without being overbearing.

Suffice it to say, this was a truly enjoyable experience. Next on my list is the Berlinische Galerie, which is located near the Jüdisches Museum. I am also toying with the thought of going to see Potemkin tomorrow at Babylon--also part of the Stummfilm Fest. I will keep my readers posted!

P.S. I keep trying to upload video clips of the movies I'm referencing but for some reason, I can't. Posters and photographs will just have to do.

Jüdisches Museum und Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmeds

Okay, this will be short (especially because I know no one reads these posts) but I just want to mention two highlights of my weekend.

The first highlight of my weekend was seeing Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmeds at the Babylon Kino. It was beyond amazing. The film introduced the genre of cut paper or "Scherenshnitt." In total, the film--made in 1926--had 96,000 cut paper frames out of a total 250,000, which were made! The film had live accompanying music and the theater in which the film was shown was really cool too. As I think I already mentioned, this was part of the Stummfilm Festival currently going on here in Berlin.

The second was the Jüdisches Museum, which is where I went on Saturday. It was AMAZING. I plan on going back to see their current comic book exhibition, which features the work of Jewish comic book illustrators. I would also like to visit the Berlinische Galerie (very close to the Jüdisches Museum) to look at their current exhibition as well. The museum as a whole looks really interesting.

Me in front of the Jüdisches Museum. The quote on the wall states in German, "auch Helden haben schlechten Tage..." (translation: "Heroes also have bad days..."). This statue is part of the current comic book exhibition, which I plan on attending this week.

Untitled

Much like the pieces of art I make, this post is untitled because it is too difficult to keep thinking of different titles for my blogs. The ones I already have are not even that good.

Anyway, this week was the first week of the "Sommerferien Programm" at the museum and it was really successful! A lot of kids showed up and seemed to enjoy all the various activities, both in the "Wassergarten" as well as the "Werkstatt," which is a glorified arts and crafts table.

The "Wassergarten," or "Water garden" features the following"

A "Spritz Galerie," where kids stand on these green circle pads and shoot water through holes in boards that I painted (and still need to take pictures of so I can have them for my own records as well as post them on my blog!) to try and knock down these lego tile things. I'm sure a picture could better explain this than my description...sorry.

An experimentation station, where kids can experiment (shock!) with different properties of water. At one station, kids put a tissue in a cup and dunk it under water and are able to observe how the tissue stays dry. At another station, kids can experiment with what materials/objects will float in water and what will not. Another station allows kids observe the sort of skin that forms on top of water in a cup as more and more water is added. Skin might not be the correct word in English--in fact, a woman at the museum was asking me how I would translate and I wasn't quite sure!

Then, there is another sort of shooting gallery, but here there are two separate boards with, again, holes cut out of them. In these holes, however, there are funnels, which connect to hoses that lead into a little pail with a ship inside. As kids shoot water into the holes, the water then goes into the funnel, down the hose and into the pail and eventually the ship floats!

Lastly--and I will sort of clump this together, since it's probably getting boring--there is a little clam shell pool with toys in it for kids 3-6 years of age, there is a water memory game, an installation of balls and bells for kids to shoot water at and make music, two information tables, where kids can learn various facts about water, and a bucket with plastic fish in it for kids to put there hand in and count the fish that stick.

Phew! That was a lot. Oh! And lastly, the "Werkstatt." Every two weeks the project theme changes. This past week kids made "Anderssehdoskope." Using toilet and paper towel rolls, kids decorate and attach a colorful film to either end of the roll to see the world--through glasses or a kaleidoscope--differently. The "Anderssehdoskope" have been really popular with the kids and next week, too, they will be making them.

Shifting gears here, my friend Gracie arrived Tuesday! As a result, I was given today and Monday off of work so I can show her around Berlin and do some sightseeing with her. To make up for the time lost at the museum, though, I will be working a double shift next Sunday.

Anyway, yesterday we went to the DDR Museum and to the Alte Nationalegalerie. Before going to either, though, we stopped off at the Radisson Blu Hotel to see their impressive aquarium. It was something else!

The DDR Museum was closing in ten minutes from the time we entered and because the woman at the register spoke SO fast, I did not comprehend this, and as a result did not get to see much of the museum. I will have to go back.

The Alte Nationalegalerie was just okay. The collection was not that impressive but it was free so it's one more museum I can now say I've been to.

Today we are going to the Türkischer Markt, which is supposed to be really great, and

the Jüdisches Museum, which is also supposed to be phenomenal. Then, I am making the

increasingly frequent Spargel und Kartoffeln mit Hollandaisesoße dish for dinner.

Afterwards we are going to Rosa Luxemburg Platz to watch Metropolis, which is going to be screened for free outside with live accompanying music. This is part of the one week "Stummfilm Fest" (silent movie festival) that is currently going on in Berlin.

On Sunday they are showing "Das Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmeds" and I REALLY want to see that. Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25SP4ftxklg

Paint, Paint, Paint

I truly cannot believe how fast my internship is going by! I have been being kept really busy, painting miscellaneous things in preparation for the summer program at the museum, which begins Monday. Therefore, from here on out I will be working the summer program instead of doing office/artistic work like I've been doing now. I hope I enjoy it! Right now Mürke has me (as well as the other Praktikanten) scheduled to work four shifts per week and she says if that is too much we can cut back. My only concern about the shift schedule is being outside for 20 hours per week...gah! The weather here is unbelievable hot...and occasionally cold (Monday and Tuesday I could have used a jacket!)

Next week on Tuesday my friend Gracie arrives and I am so excited for her to come! It will be nice to see a familiar face. I am picking her up from Tegel Airport because on Tuesday I work "Nachmittags," which is 14:00-19:00, and her flight gets in at 10:10 in the morning.

This past week I kept my Thursday evening museum-hopping going strong by going to the Bode Museum. Unfortunately, I left my apartment too late (8:00/8:15) and while the museums are open until 10:00, it took me a good 20 minutes to walk there and less than an hour and a half is not enough time to see this museum and what it has to offer. That being said, what I did see was amazing and I will most definitely return.

Tomorrow I am going to Hackescher Markt as well as this little vegetable market near my apartment and then just kind of playing it by ear. Sunday I am going to this dance thing with my roommate, so that should be fun, too. The weekend forecast calls for 32' - 36' so I'm going to do my best to not stay outside too long, lest I die.

And so concludes this entry. My last entry was really long (sorry!) and I know no one wants to read that much. Until soon, my loyal followers.

German Eating

Okay, so this will be short BUT I forgot to mention in my novella (*see previous post) the delicious dinner my flatmate made for me the other night. It was a very typical German dish of Spargel und Kartoffeln mit Hollandaisesauce. It was sooooooo good. She also bought some cheap Prosecco (similar to champagne), which complemented the meal nicely. Sadly, Spargel (white aspargus) season is coming to an end--if it hasn't already--so I don't know if I will be lucky enough to have this meal again :(

Another dish my flatmate is going to make for me at some point is Eier in Sempfsauce (eggs in a mustard sauce). Again, very German. I will be sure and take a picture of that dish, too, when she makes it for me!

Second Week At Labyrinth

The day you have all been waiting for has finally arrived! Yes, that is correct: Blog Update Day. Thank you to the many who have been so patiently awaiting my next post.

Well, I think it's safe to say that I am comfortably settled in my internship and I really enjoy it. The aspect of it that I most like is its variety--I am never doing the same thing. For instance, on Tuesday I served as translator for my boss (whose English is "not very good" but whose Swedish is...does not help me) when a gentleman from Qatar came to look at the museum. He is interested in building a children's museum in his country and wanted to learn more about what, exactly, children's museums should have and what is required in order to make that happen. Anyway, I translated for my boss and the meeting went really well. It only lasted an hour but afterwards my boss told me what awonderful job I did and how I should consider being a translator. While I don't foresee that, it was nice to hear!

Qatar Museum, designed by I.M. Pei.

In getting back to my variety of tasks, on Wednesday I actually worked "in der Halle," which refers to the current exhibition: Alle Anders Anders. That was my first day actually inthe museum; before then I had been primarily in the office. It was kind of a slow day, from what I hear, as there were not many kids for some reason or another. I roamed around and then pretty much planted myself at "die Werkstatt" and helped kids create puppets. One girl burned her finger on the hot glue stick and started screaming so I rushed her to the

bathroom to run some cold water over it. She was fine but...yeesh.

Theeeennnn yesterday I went to Labyrinth Unterwegs, the museum's offsite work facility, where I designed and painted these boards as part of the museum's summer program. There are three in total and I won't describe what they're for because it's too confusing but I will say that I finished one, started the second and on Monday will finish the second and start (and hopefully finish) the third.

Mürke (I'm not sure if I'm spelling her name correctly) is in charge of my work at Unterwegs and she is really pleased with the painting thus far, which I am super happy about. Before going to Unterwegs yesterday I was quite nervous because I didn't know what she would be expecting of me and if I would do a satisfactory job. My worries were for nothing, though, because--as I said--she was pleased. I will try and remember to take pictures of the boards on Monday when I go back!

I'm pleasantly surprised that there are so many art-related things for me to do at the museum. From what I hear, too, there are only going to be more! Mürke did tell me that if ever I get tired of painting, though, that I am absolutely free to do something else--again: variety!!

Now, to conclude this verrrrrryyyy long post (sorry) I will end on a sad--but in retrospect, funny--story:

After work at Unterwegs yesterday, I decided to check out Wedding Art, which was having the opening of their "best of" 2009 artists. According to Google Maps, it looked like it was in the vicinity so I thought I'd check it out. Well, it was a good 20 minutes away but, I thought, Oh well...should be good. It was not. I stayed for maybe 10 minutes, looked at some crappy watercolors and left. Now, let me say that I have NO sense of direction so if I veer from my known path, I will get lost. I thought that by instead of retracing my steps, which would take too long, I would go the other way because that will lead me to my ultimate destination faster, right? No.

Seemingly interesting event:

http://www.freeguide-berlin.de/kultur/wedding-art-14-kuenstler-13-monate-1-kalender/03-07-2010.html

I charted my walking route yesterday and here is the absolutely disgusting route I took. The only place I did not walk was from Gesundbrunnen Center to Schönhauser Allee:

Because I was trying to save money and not buy a Wochenkarte this week, I instead lost my soul by walking everywhere. Note to self: spend the 26 Euros next week and buy a week ticket.

I treated myself to a brownie from Impala Coffee because I thought I had earned it. Now, I cannot even begin to describe how good these brownies are. While my daily sandwich stint (*see previous post) did not really last (a Euro a day really adds up!), I do plan to make to make it a goal of mine to get one of these little babies every week. I can quite positively say that these brownies are the best I have ever had. Impala Coffee also has this delicious "Tiger Spice Chai Tea Latte" but with the onset of hot weather, lattes do not appeal to me all that much--shocking, I know. My friend visited Prenzlauer Berg a couple of months ago and recommended this place to me! Thanks, Allie!

I ended my very long day by going to the Pergamon Museum, which was superb. Even though I was utterly exhausted, the museum was totally worth the visit--mainly because:

Ishtar Gate, which, Wikipedia states, was the eighth gate to the inner city of Babylon and was constructed in about 575 BC.

1. Museums in Berlin are free after 6:00 on Thursdays.

2. Wedding Galerie was a bust.

3. I got to see a lot of really beautiful artifacts.