Shenanigans Crossing Borders

The saying goes something like, “A journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step”.

And then there is the saying, “One does not simply walk into Mordor”. 

Either way, we just traveled a crap ton. A metric crap ton. That’s far.

And voila! We are here, in Europe, chilling on another continent. 3 children, 2 dogs, 2 idiot adults (your narrators, present company included), it is real, it is an emotional roller coaster.

The AirBnB is working for us, the contact people are very responsive, the location is great. We are near some Embassies (North Macedonia, Haiti, Ivory Coast), train and bus lines, shopping of all kinds but the neighborhood is relatively quiet. And it is perfect. 

Arriving on a Friday (instead of Thursday because of that involuntary layover), we decided we should just go out for dinner! So we signed up for dinner at the nearest Chabad house. It wasn’t such a long shlep (just a mere 40 minutes walking, in the cold, down streets we’ve never been on), and did we mention JP wrote the directions down, but because it’s the sabbath, we were completely offline, which also means no phones to get directions. Well, JP’s internal geopositioning satelite was pretty spot on, but his directions didn’t know that what he listed as a street was actually a sidewalk. So we missed a turnoff 1 block from the Chabad, walked a block out of the way, then started asking random people for help. They helped us, we met more people going to/from various synagogues, and finally made it to dinner. The rabbi, who coincidentally is from Postville, IA and has never seen Star Wars, was very lovely. They even seated us all with him and his wife (we got cute name placards). Another wonderful person we met was a woman who also reclaimed her citizenship and did a lot of family research. She was very helpful with contacts for people we might need (lawyers, insurance brokers, doctors). 🙂  After eating too much hummus, trying to talk in German, Russian, Hebrew, Yiddish, and English, the girls dragged us out of there. Our new found friend explained a shortcut that shaved 15 minutes off our walk home.. 

Shabbos we (some of us) slept in, except JP (as usual) who woke up and took the dogs for a 4a walk – or maybe it was 7a? We don’t know because our apartment doesn’t have a clock (the one we brought instantly died the moment we plugged it into the outlet). Also, the sun doesn’t rise here in Berlin until after 8:15a this time of year. It was dark, dogs got walked, birds chirped, JP drank cold instant coffee…

Aside from playing games, taking a relatively nice walk (it was warm in the sunlight, chilly in the shade), there was nothing major to report. Since there is not a lot of daylight, maybe 8 hours a day, shabbat also ended just after 4:30p. Soooo early, we should go explore? Nope, off to bed everyone!

Our first tourist day in Berlin, we ventured into the community in search of Elyce’s Great-Grandfather Kurt’s home. This was where he lived, practically until he was married. Honestly, it was cool to walk everywhere, but it’s a very urban environment. Unlike other major metropolitan cities we have visited and/or lived in, Berlin does not conform to a grid-pattern. There is no rhyme nor reason to the street/block patterns. You could go for a walk, turn right 4 times, and end up in a different neighborhood.

Thankfully, the essential Maps del Gøøgle helped us find our way. We found Indiana, a church that looks like a toaster, and cars parked on sidewalks.

Once there we tried to envision what the street or the building might have looked like, because this place was way to clean to have survived a war and look like this.

With firsthand knowledge of where our family’s roots were, we ate a lot of dried mango (seriously, 2KG of dried mango for just 19 euro is a pretty sweet deal, pun intended). Since we sat so long in transit, now we got to torture, er, build character with our children. We walked a good hefty 6KM (~3.75 freedom units for y’all back in ‘Murica). Our destination was a return to Chabad to begin celebrating Hanukkah with a kids party. 

This Chabad has so many vibrant colors all around.

And if you thought the day, filled with walking, sugar donuts, and games, wasn’t enough? Well, check it out, we got to attend a “private” ceremony at Brandenburg Tor (Gate) for the community-wide public lighting.

*Please note: This was a mixed emotional state. That morning we had learned about the tragic attack in Sydney, Australia. Do we attend or stay away?

We were told security was already going to be heightened and after the attack it was increased.

Elyce fretted while JP remained laissez-faire. We decided to go.

And there is no mistaking it was the RIGHT thing to do.

There was a lot of security around the area: barricades, fences, officers, a single line to get into the main area. It was a lot., yet we never felt scared. The US Embassy and the British Embassy surrounded most of the area. The Rabbis did a wonderful job (although we understood none of what was said in German or Hebrew). But the memorial to the members of the Sydney community was moving, even in a language we don’t understand. 

Watching the rabbis dancing on stage, singing, getting lifted in a boom to light a giant channukiah. The entire spectacle was awesome! The girls said it was really loud, but they also complained about being cold (right up until a rabbi walked around handing out sufganiyot). To Elyce, the sight was amazing, but to be honest, the sound was muffled (I guess hearing loss has its benefits).

What’s incredible about all this? Everything about this moment meant so much to Elyce:

Standing there, in the center of the capital of a country that wanted to rid itself of her family because of their religion.

Standing there, as a German citizen

Standing there, with the next generation.

Standing there, in opposition to terrorist attacks around the world against us.

This was the big middle finger to the ones who tried to kill us. We survived. Let’s eat!