New Potter In Town-- And It's Me!

Well.  It's one kind of coincidence when you find a pottery studio and a yoga studio at the exact same address.  

It's another thing entirely when the owner of the pottery studio meets you, then tells you she is going on vacation for a month and is wondering if you'd be willing to look after her shop while she is gone.  

Yes. For the month of February, I helped run Feuer Zeug Keramik.  Now you understand why I haven't been able to post as frequently.  Sorry about that!  Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays I have been maintaining the shop and doing my own work on the wheel.  

I'll give you a little background on the whole process.  

First, let me tell you a little bit about the area around the pottery shop.  The shop is located between two very hip boroughs of Berlin: Kreuzberg and Neukölln.  If you look up these neighborhoods on The Google, you'll find expressions like "the center of all things hip," "home to Berlin's punk rock movement as well as other alternative subcultures in Germany," "famous for its alternative lifestyle and its squatters," "graffiti-stained shutters," "highest percentage of immigrants," "influx of students, creatives and young professionals," "social hot spot," et cetera, et cetera.  

Before arriving in Berlin, I'd heard it described as a "grungy" city, to which I was like "Yeah ok, what is that supposed to mean?"  Grungy did not sound like a very nice way to talk about a place.  I wouldn't be flattered if someone said I lived in a grungy apartment.   It sounded derogatory out of context, but the way it was being used about Berlin made it sound sort of cool or edgy in a good way.  I'm still not exactly sure what it means, but when I walk around Kreuzberg and Neukölln, I understand why the term is applied.  One of the most observable characteristics of these boroughs is the graffiti that is literally EVERYWHERE.   There are also posters and fliers plastered on every available surface.  And if there wasn't a free surface, the fliers were just layered one on top of the other.  

There are fantastic murals (some also on the "grungy" side) all over the place.  

This one is 2 blocks from the pottery shop and I feel like it captures the spirit of the area.  "Love Art Hate Cops" is written across the top.  You can see it from the U-Bahn stop where I get off.  And speaking of that U-Bahn stop- I used to feel kind of nervous walking down from the train platform because there are always guys (between 18 and 25 years old) standing in groups on the steps and down on the ground level under the tracks.  I couldn't figure out what they were doing there since they never seem to ride the train and they don't leave the train stop.  I thought maybe they were waiting for vulnerable commuters that they could attack and steal a wallet or two, so I was always very careful to walk up and down the stairs while there were lots of other people around me.  To my relief, I found out I was in no danger of being jumped.  These guys are merely selling marijuana and it seems interested customers know to meet them at this particular train platform.  Lovely.  

If I want to avoid the drug dealers completely, I can walk from our house, which, in addition to getting some exercise, allows me to discover some merry Berlin-isms...

... like this bike full of daffodils... 

... or this intricate and colorful pole warmer. 

In preparation for my month in the pottery shop, I needed to acquire the correct supplies.  Although Cordula (the owner of the pottery shop) said I was allowed to use her clay for my pottery projects, I did not want to take advantage of her generosity in letting me use her potter's wheel and space while she was gone... plus, I had some pretty big projects in mind.  

Time for a grand expedition to Carl Jäger, a pottery supply store in the southeast.  Cordula provided me with their address so the day before starting at Feuer Zeug Keramik, I threw an empty satchel over my shoulder and started out to by some clay and glaze.  

The trip requires 2 train transfers and a tram (or streetcar) taking almost an hour to get from door to door.  The transfers were in parts of the city I had not yet experienced and I was reminded just how big and dynamic Berlin really is.  

After taking the second train, I decided to skip the tram and walk the last leg of the journey to Carl Jäger.  

I was now in the former Communist part of the city, which also was quite residential.  Although there were fewer murals when compared to Kreuzberg, I still managed to find a few.  

I walked along backroads that bordered parks and bike paths.  

I discovered uniform efficient-looking German apartments.  The combination of the architecture and the cars made me feel like I was on the set of "Good Bye Lenin!" the famous German film about the end of communism in the late 80s. 

Since you're obviously wondering what I looked like on my way to the pottery supply store, here's a picture of me sitting along the sidewalk with my empty, green, poke-a-dot satchel.  

After walking for 45 minutes, I arrived at Carl Jäger only to discover it was closed.  Apparently they have a mid-day break from 12-3pm.  Good thing I brought my book!

The surrounding neighborhood was quite residential but I did find a cozy cafe... 

...which serves latte macchiatos and waffles!  I've been trying to minimize my intake of glutenous foods so I haven't been eating many waffles, but I think it's worth noting that German waffles are delicious and readily available all over the place at almost any time of the day.  They are often served with powdered sugar like my little snack pictured above.  

I killed an hour or so in this little cafe, munching and reading until Carl Jäger reopened.  

As you can see, it doesn't really look like much of a shop.  And that is probably because it really isn't a shop.  If you walk in the side door, you enter a small room with a counter.  There are a few samples of glazed tiles hanging on the wall along with some tools that potters can purchase, but it really isn't a place to browse.  You need to know what you want ahead of time so you can place your order at the counter.  

I had come prepared since Cordula had given me the Carl Jäger catalog.  I wanted two varieties of clay and a blue glaze that I picked out by looking at the sample tiles on the wall.  Using a mix of English, sign language, and bad German I was able to place my order with the shop owner's son, a burly man with pierced ears and a long beard.  He turned out to be quite a sweetheart despite his gruff appearance.  

Considering how long it took me to get out to this shop, I decided to place a bulk order so I wouldn't have to go back and forth to this place every other week, but carrying 100 kilos of clay home on a tram and 2 trains would have been totally impossible.  Lucky for me, Carl Jäger delivers!  So I gave my new bearded friend my home address and set a date for the delivery.  I took one 10-kilo bag of clay in my satchel so I'd have something to work with at the shop over the weekend (for my fellow Americans who have no sense of the metric system, 10 kilos converts to roughly 22 pounds) and set off for home.  

I passed this random configuration of mushroom stools on the way back to my house. 

A few days later, my clay arrived!  Perfect timing too!  Fritz hadn't left for the archives yet so I had help carrying almost 200 pounds of clay up to our 4th floor apartment.  We selected a remote corner of the living room for it to hide and I've been transporting it to the pottery shop as needed, one bag at a time.  

Having successfully acquired all the neccessary materials, it was pottery time!!  I had planned ahead and brought my rubber pottery boots to Germany.  They aren't exactly high fashion, but what can I say, sometimes an artist must place a higher value on function and leave fashion at home.

Feuer Zeug Keramik is a small shop divided between a display of finished pottery for sale and a working pottery studio with two potter's wheels. The picture above shows some of Cordula's pieces. 

The two wheels are hiding behind the white shelf in the foreground.  The shelves on the side wall are loaded with unfinished pieces.  

I got right to work making a few mugs.  They haven't been glazed yet, but I'm quite happy with how they turned out.  It's been a least 6 months since I've done any throwing (that's the term potters use when they are making pieces on a wheel), but it wasn't too tricky to get back into the swing of things. 

I can't tell you how good it feels to be back in a pottery studio.  I still have to pinch myself whenever I think about how this all came together.  It blows my mind!  I've been quite busy producing surprises for our wedding in August, which means photos of my finished products will be limited, but if anyone has any special orders, let me know!  I'll make anything that can be shipped (so no giant vases please).  

Peace, Love and Pottery!

Birthday Photography and Life

Photo by Karin

Three years ago, my thoughtful fiancée gave me an awesome Christmas present: a Fujifilm X20 camera.  Basically, it has been glued to my side since he gave it to me and it is what I have been using to take all of our Germany Adventure photos.

It's awesome because it's light and little, but the optics are really good and it has all the manual options that a huge, heavy SLR (single lens reflex) camera would have.  Since I got the camera, I've been learning by trial-and-error how to use the manual settings as well as some of the other fun features (like when I take double exposures).  Still, my photography knowledge was a random hodge-podge of information acquired by reading the camera manual and soaking up as much information as possible  from my wise photographer friends.

Once again, my thoughtful fiancée struck with yet another gift that keeps on giving... for my 30th birthday he enrolled me in a Photography Workshop where I could formally learn the ins and outs of photography.  

We met on a Sunday morning at a funky cafe in East Berlin.  You can see the cafe ceiling in the picture above.  

Here Paul spent 3 hours breaking down the elements of exposure and how to control them using our respective cameras.  There were 6 people in our aspiring crew and we represented at least 5 different countries.  I was the only American in the group.  I was also the one asking most of the questions.  I'm not sure if these two factors have anything to do with one another, but hopefully I didn't come off as being too obnoxious with my inquisitive nature.  I just wanted to learn!

Paul was a wealth of knowledge touching on the mechanics of photography as well as artistic composition, and he even discussed the ethics of being a photographer.  Considering my current lifestyle, it was good to hear about the ethics of "street photography" and how to approach a stranger if you are hoping to take their portrait.  I'm not sure if I have the nerve to approach a stranger on the streets of Berlin, but at least now I know how to do it politely.  

After our instructional period, Paul led us out to the streets where we were able to practice everything.  We paired up and Karin from Austria, pictured above, became my partner.  We practiced taking each other's portraits using a shallow depth of field.  This is what happens when you make your subject very clear and sharp while the background is blurred out.  It's one of my favorite photography techniques.  I think it makes photos so interesting and portraits so beautiful!

Photo by Karin

Karin took this one of me.  I think she made me laugh about something but I don't remember what exactly. 

Here is another fellow in my class.  

Peace Karin!

We also experimented with shutter speed, which has to do with how long the digital sensor (or the film in the old days) is exposed to the light.  If you leave the shutter open for a long time, it would cause a photo of a moving figured to look very blurry.  So if you have someone jumping, like Paul here, you want the shutter to be open for a very short period of time.  

Paul's final advice to us, so that we might all become better photographers, was simply to get up and go outside.  "Go take pictures," he said.  You are never going to get that great photo if you weren't there to take it.  Carpe Photo 'em!  And really, isn't that how we should live our lives every day?  I'm glad I have my little Fujifilm to push me to experience the world around me and to give me an excuse to leave the couch and soak up my surroundings. But I hope I never forget that living my life is a choice I get to make every morning when I wake up, and I don't always need a camera to do it.  I will turn 30 years old this evening at exactly 6:34 and 19 seconds.  That isn't a ton of years, but it is long enough to look back and feel proud of all the living I have done so far and feel excited about all the living I have yet to do!  

I stood and watched this street performer sing "Stand By Me" under a bridge at a bustling intersection in East Berlin.  Thanks to my camera and all the thoughtful gifts that Fritz has given me, I will always have this image to help me remember the feelings that filled me on this day as well as the commitment I have made to live every day of my life on purpose.  

Cyber Apple Cake Baking with Irma

We did it again!  You might remember the last time Irma and I baked together over skype, but if you missed it, check out the time we baked pinwheels!

Just to remind you, Irma is my very dear friend whom I met when we both lived in the US.  Now Irma lives in Austria with her family.  This is lovely because it means we are in the same timezone unlike everyone else in my life.  

We skype pretty often and on this day, we decided to make an apple cake after I requested a dessert that could be made in a springform pan.  Our kitchen came equipt with a springform pan along with many other advanced cooking tools.  

Irma picked the recipe and provided all the instructions.  And now I shall pass it on to you.  

It's quite simple really.  

Oven Temp: 350° F

Ingredients: 

4-5 eggs (separated)

4 apples

1 Cup sugar

1 Cup flour

cinnamon and sugar topping

butter for greasing your springform pan

Start out by separating your eggs so the yokes are in one bowl, and the whites are in a medium-sized mixing bowl. 

Whisk the whites until they begin to make soft peaks- like if you have ever made a meringue.  I haven't personally, but I saw my mom do it once.  Egg yokes never looked so appetizing.  But don't eat the stuff... I promise it doesn't taste as good as it looks.  Honestly. 

Add your cup of sugar and keep whisking until the egg white peaks are a bit firmer than before. 

Gently and briefly whisk in the yokes.  The meringue will flatten a little but not too much. 

Add in your one cup of sifted flour.  As you can see, I don't have a real measuring cup since the Germans use the metric system, but this approximate cup should be close enough.  And isn't that little metal sifter just the cutest?  Very carefully fold in the flour.  You don't want to take all the air out of your fluffy meringue.  

When it is just mixed, dump that stuff in your greased pan.  Try not to touch it too much.  Every time you touch it, you take some of the air out of it.  Irma was very clear on this. 

Now it's time to chop your apples and artfully display them on top of the fluffy batter.  

Once that's done, sprinkle your cinnamon and sugar mixture over the top of the apples. 

Put it in the oven for about 30 minutes.  You'll know it's done when the cake feels a bit springy if you gently push down on the apples in the middle.  

Tah-dah!  A beautiful apple cake!  

You can remove the outer part of the pan after it cools.

Let's thank our host, Chef Irma!  

Thank you Irma!  Your culinary expertise continues to impress and satisfy the mouths of many!

Now eat that tasty little morsel! 

Sunday Coffee and Museums

Berlin seems to be a Mecca for hipster coffee shops... and Fritz and I are determined to try them all.  We sampled caffeinated beverages from The Barn last Sunday.  

You know it's hipster when they serve imported raw organic cane sugar out of a heavy stone trough on the counter next to the barista.  If you are wondering if there is sugar on the tables, the answer is certainly not.  How else would the barista give you a stern look of equal parts judgement and disgust as you sheepishly spoon in one, two, three heaping scoops of sugar?  It doesn't help that there is a sign on the sugar trough suggesting that you taste the beverage before adding sugar since they use fancy-pants imported organic milk that tends to naturally add some sweetness to your latte macchiato.  Yeah ok.  Tasted it.  Delicious Mr. Barista.  Now can I add my sugar without your evil eyes glaring at me?  

It was very tasty coffee.  Fritz consumed his coffee as it was intended... without any sugar to taint the purity of the perfectly roasted beans.  

We would have liked to stay and read for longer, but space was limited and we didn't want to hog all the seats once we had drained our mugs.  

So we sauntered through the gallery district of Berlin until we came to Museum Island.  It actually is a real island and home to 5 internationally significant museums.  Because everyone was off work on Sunday, the lines were pretty long.  

We went to the Altes Museum which didn't have much of a line.  It was interesting and had some really old stuff! 

I took this picture of Fritz after he had mistakenly started up a conversation with a random young woman dressed in black thinking she was me.  He saw her looking at her phone so he asked what she was doing.  A second later he realized his mistake.  Unfortunately, she thought he was genuinely interested and started asking him for directions or advice on how to find some other museums in the area.  15 minutes after working his way out of the conversation he was still blushing.  

The Berlin Cathedral is standing behind me.  We didn't get a chance to go inside.  That will have to be another trip.  It certainly was a beautiful area to walk around!

The Definition of "Coincidence"

Coincidence: noun 1. a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection.

And remarkable is certainly what it was.  Please allow me to explain. 

Upon returning to Berlin, I knew Fritz would be spending most of the weekdays buried under documents in the archives.  Therefore, I would need to find my own purpose and assume responsibility for filling my own schedule during our 4 months here.  Entertaining myself has never been an issue for me.  Still, I aspire to be very intentional about how I execute each day in this lovely city.  Living life "on purpose" has always been important to me.  While moving to a foreign city can make intentional living a little easier, it still takes a conscious effort to stay fully engaged, especially since I am not allowed to get a job while we are here.  In order to accomplish this purposeful living, I set two priorities for myself.  

1.  Join a pottery studio.

2. Attend yoga classes 2-4 times a week.  

As my third day in Berlin began, Fritz and I initiated the search for a pottery studio.  Actually, I really should say that Fritz initiated the search while I slept off my jet-lag.  We assumed that most of the Berlin studios would have websites in German, but after he had spent over an hour using his German vocabulary and reading skills, he hadn't gotten very far.  At this point, I woke up refreshed and ready, fired up my own computer and entered "Pottery Studios Berlin" into the search bar. 

Feuer Zeug Keramik popped up as the first hit.  The website indicated that they have a pottery shop, they offer classes, they seem to have available studio space for experienced potters, and they speak English.  Conveniently, the studio is located one neighborhood over from our flat.  Well that was easy!  I wasted no time in emailing Cordula, the owner of Feuer Zeug Keramik, explained my desire to join a studio and wondered if I could stop by to meet her.   

I must have refreshed my inbox one hundred times in the 24 hours that followed.  Waiting for a response is always the hardest part.  Fritz had to remind me that if she owns a pottery studio, she probably isn't doing a ton of desk work and checking her email every 10 minutes.  Hands dripping with wet clay don't mix well with electronics.  He had a point.  So I had to be patient. 

The next afternoon, I opened my email and discovered the message I had been waiting for!  Cordula indicated that I was welcome to stop by the shop the next day around noon.  

I woke up that Thursday morning totally jazzed and ready to start my Berlin life.  With the first of my two Berlin priorities in motion, I decided to initiate the second; finding a yoga studio.  With any luck, I thought I might just be able to follow my pottery meeting with a zen-tastic yoga class!

Again, I returned to my laptop and typed in "cheep yoga Berlin English."  I actually even spelled cheap incorrectly.  Luckily Google doesn't discriminate against poor spellers.  I was a little worried that finding yoga in English would be tricky.  I wasn't totally opposed to German yoga, but so much of the experience comes from the meditation and dialogue a good teacher provides in combination with the physical challenge of the class. 

Unsurprisingly, Berlin is LOADED with yoga studios.  My search revealed several blogs where other young yogis had provided lists of studios that had English-speaking instructors, as well as classes that weren't too expensive.  I clicked on one of the top hits.  Yellow Yoga.  The website was inviting and clearly met all of my requirements.  This was going well.  

Now the location.  Berlin is a huge city with more yoga studios than Vietnamese restaurants (which turns out to be quite a lot!).  If this yoga studio was even in the same quadrant of the city, I would have considered myself very lucky.  Looking at the website, I found Yellow Yoga had two locations, one of which was in the very same neighborhood as my pottery studio.  How perfect!  And you won't believe me when I tell you it gets better than that.  

I had already plugged in walking directions from my flat to pottery.  It would take 1 hour and 4 minutes to walk there from my home.  I could also take public transportation and be there in 20 minutes, but it was a beautiful day and I thought the walk would be a great way to get a sense of my neighborhood.  

I switched back to Yellow Yoga's website to identify the address of the studio.  For a moment, I thought my computer was playing tricks on me.  I rubbed my eyes and refocused on the address.  It was EXACTLY the same as the pottery studio.  Was this a mistake?  

Apparently not.  Somehow, my random search for two completely unrelated activities in a huge city was bringing me to the exact same point on the map.  If this isn't the definition of a coincidence, I don't know what is.  

Of course, I still had to seal the deal with Cordula at Feuer Zeug Keramik.  She hadn't accepted me yet.  

Cordula said I could come anytime between 12 and 5pm, so I started my walk at 11am.  

Naturally I took pictures along the way.  The day was perfect for walking and discovering Berlin.  For example, I learned that Berliners love to make pole-warmers as you can see above.  Someone took a lot of care in knitting this multicolored, cozy pole-warmer.  If you look closely, you might even notice that decorative buttons have been added for extra pizazz. 

The bright Berlin buildings looked quite cheery under the blue sky. 

I must have passed 15 playgrounds on my walk today.  Fritz told me that Germany has an aging population, but Berlin seems to be crawling with young families.  And therefore, loaded with playgrounds like the one in front of this church. 

I crossed over a lovely river.  Many of the Berlin sidewalks are made from cobblestones or bricks.  Here the street is also nicely cobbled.    

There were a bunch of people taking pictures on this bridge. 

When I looked over the other side of it, I saw that it was loaded with swans!

For a short time, I was strolling along the canal.  I was impressed by the apartments on the opposite side.  

The street art and murals of Berlin continue to catch my attention.  Some of them are so vibrant!

I was almost sorry to reach my destination after such a  lovely walk, but at last, I had reached Feuer Zeug Keramik.  Cordula was waiting for me inside.  It was a cute shop with lovely pottery on display and two potter's wheels in the middle of the showroom.  Cordula and I talked for a few minutes and I explained that I'd be living in Berlin for the next 4 months.  I was very interested in spending as much time working on the wheel as possible. More than that, I wanted to be a part of a studio where I could help with upkeep; carry out the laborious and often dreaded tasks of recycling clay and mixing chemicals for glazes.  "Sign me up for mopping floors," I told Cordula.  Really, I'd do just about anything to be a part of a studio.  

"I'm not really in a position to pay anyone," she said.  I quickly assured her that I was not looking for a job.  She told me she would think about it seeing as the studio was quite small and the space was limited.  In the meantime, she invited me to check out her other studio space that has a few more wheels.  It's where she teaches her pottery classes.  

"It's only about a 20-minute walk from here.  It's in the back of a wine shop that my brother owns.  He opens at 2 today and will let you see the studio if you want to check it out.  Just tell him I sent you."  Of course I wanted to see it!  She gave me the address and we arranged to meet again later in the week after she had some time to think about whether she might have a place for me in the studio.  

With my pottery goals in motion, I checked the schedule for Yellow Yoga.  An "advanced beginners" class was starting soon so I headed to the back of the building and up the stairwell to yoga.  

Appropriately, an open yellow door with a meditating buddha statue marked the entrance to a bright open room.  The signs on the door and floor indicated that visitors should remove their shoes and put them on the rack before entering the studio. 

That class was perfect.  Equal parts relaxing and refreshing.  If I didn't already have good energy flowing through my body, I did now.  We ended the class with a love meditation, during which we were invited to focus our attention on sending loving energy out into the world.  I try to do this regularly, but it helps to be reminded sometimes and it seems more powerful when I'm doing it with a group.  After the traditional exchange of "Namaste," my fellow yogis and I quietly shuffled out of the studio. 

Time to find the wine shop.  

Here I met Constantine, Cordula's brother.  He was lovely and happy to show me the secret studio in the back.  It was glorious in that it looked exactly like a pottery studio.  Potter's tools were neatly stacked on a shelf, the kiln was nestled in the back corner of the room, and five wheels sat in the middle of the floor, throbbing with potential if only the right potter would sit down and set them spinning.  

I thanked Constantine for the tour and asked if he could recommend a white wine to go with a vegetarian meal.  Conveniently, perhaps even coincidentally, I was planning on cooking a meal when I got home with a recipe that called for 2 tablespoons of white wine.  Funny how the day brought me directly to a wine shop, don't you think?  Will the coincidences never cease?  

Constantine was quick to select a lovely German riesling.  After paying him, I packed the wine away in my bag and started home.  

I'll share a few more photos before closing out this post. 

You might have noticed that in Berlin, bikes are parked almost everywhere.  

Similarly, you don't have to look far to find a little graffiti... or a lot of graffiti.  Here is a Berlin phone booth.  I haven't ever seen anyone using one, but they are still scattered around the city. 

Colorful children's art is also scattered here and there. 

Basically, if there is something to paint, it will be painted.  

Well, that about sums up my start to Berlin life.  I promise there will be more to come soon on how the happenings of this serendipitous day played out in the days that followed.