It was a busy week, and like most weeks these days, it was full of new adventures and experiences.

I had a busy week at work. Every day is full of meetings, usually spilling over into lunches where I get the opportunity to explore the amazing food scene Berlin has to offer. One amazing find has been the best Korean food Berlin has to offer, Yam Yam. In the one week since I’ve discovered Yam Yam I’ve been there 3 times. I’m sure this will continue to be a pattern since it is located just downstairs from our new apartment. 

After my trip to London we are looking for a new agency partner and that has made it so that I am burning the candle at both ends while I try to work Berlin and West Coast hours. In an effort to embrace change and reorganize the marketing department, I moved our area up to the 5th floor where we could be closer to the game teams and have a better view.

On Thursday Doreen and Logan headed to Frankfurt to see Oma and Opa and to celebrate Fasching, otherwise known around the world as Carnival. Logan is getting the hang of flying for travel. His first priority is to open the menu and decide what he will order when the flight attendant comes around.

Doreen got the opportunity to see some childhood friends while Logan took full advantage of his grandparents kindness and bought all the legos the local toy store had to offer. On Saturday the Fasching parade took place. Logan dressed up like a police officer and got all the candy the floats could throw at him.

While Logan and Doreen were busy celebrating Carnival, I took the opportunity to continue exploring Berlin - or rather to voluntarily get lost in Berlin. This city, like many European cities, is designed in a circle which makes it hard to navigate compared to gridded cities - the street names don’t make it easier. The layout combined with the street names has proved difficult for my navigation and I have been getting lost at night on the way home. So, on Saturday I decided to just let the city take me where it wanted to take me and boy did I have fun.

I set out with a single goal - to eventually end up at the electronics store to look at new TVs for our new flat. On the way I had an adventure. The night before left a nice dusting of snow on the ground which provided a wonderful calming backdrop to the early woke city. As I headed in the direction of the Media Mart, I saw interesting people, pugs, and shops.

If you’ve never been to Berlin you might not understand the massive amounts of graffiti that papers the city walls. There is a massive street art scene here and much of the gravity is beautiful. Of course the city has it’s fair share of vandals and wannabe taggers, but once you know what to look for, you almost magically ignore the random tagging and begin to see the beauty in the art and messages being displayed. When the wall was up this was one of the only means of expression accessible for the common citizen.

As I let the graffiti direct my path around the city, I stumbled across an old cemetery. This wasn’t just any cemetery. While I could feel something different about it’s energy I wouldn’t find out how special it was until Doreen came back and could translate the picture of the history.

This cemetery was established over 300 years ago as a part of the original garrison settlements of the Prussian/ German militaries. These would have been the first settlers to form a society outside of the Celtic tribes of the area. The part that remains is where the officers are buried. The picture of the bicycles next to the restaurant is where the enlisted troops were buried but didn’t last past the 1794 remodel. In 1703 the church was opened and in the early 1800’s the iron work of the time moved headstones away from stone to iron crosses. In the 1940’s the Wehrmacht took over - for those unaware this was the elite arm of the Nazi army. While officers were continued to be buried here up until the 1950’s, the Wehrmacht also used this area as a mass grave burying over 2,000 executed prisoners. You don’t have to be a believer in religion to feel the energy of this place. Only once before in Hawaii, at a site for human sacrifice, did I feel a similar energy. I paid my respects and politely moved on.

Looking for a happier place I wondered to the shopping district and I found a store designed for me - a dedicated Onitsuka Tiger shoe shop. I couldn’t help myself from going in and buying a pair. Doreen thinks this might end up being more of a curse then a blessing. I see no problem with monthly visits.

Feeling hungry I headed in from the cold to a burger joint. For some reason, Berlin is rich with burger joints - not all are good but many are and this one was very tasty. By this point in the day I was near the Alex shopping center where the Media Mart and Galleria are located. The Galleria is like a Nordstroms with a fancy grocery store on the ground floor. The Media Mart is like a Best Buy if Best Buy was all white and 3 stories tall.The Alex is the major shopping center that resides on the border of East and West as almost a giant F-You to communism - this was where the end of the Eastern society and beginning of the Western society met for over 40 years.

After I satisfied my sweet tooth with a chocolate gelato, I wondered back towards home making sure to take only streets that I had never been on and not opening my phone for directions. As if I had a honing becon in my bag I ended up directly in front of Marco’s camera shop. I had been thinking all week long about two lenses that he showed me the week before and went in with the intent to buy. Out of the three he had set aside for me I decided on the 2.8f 135mm prime lense. The whole trip took me 5 hours and I walked almost 10 miles according to my phone.

On Sunday I woke up refreshed and ready for another day. I took Maya and Georgia to the park and let them run around for a while. During this time I came up with a new project - taking selfies with the creepy statues that are all around Berlin. These statues are littered around the city and always have weird expressions on their faces. It’s my new goal to take a selfie with every one of them.

Doreen and Logan made it home safe and sound in the afternoon but not before I took one more walk around the city taking it all in. This time I went in a different direction but didn’t venture as far. I wanted to take a moment to reflect on all the change that has happened over the past 1.5 months. I brought my headset and found myself listening to Sturgill Simpson’s “A Sailor’s Guide to Earth.” If you’ve never listened to this album I encourage you to do so. It’s an album that he wrote as a letter to his new born son a few years ago. As I listened to the lyrics I couldn’t help but to reflect on where I’ve been and where I’m headed. As I stare down the barrel of turning 39 later this week I realize that I am lucky. I’m lucky to have this experience but I’m mostly fortunate to have Doreen and Logan.

 - Until next week, good luck & goodnight!  - The McNeills