January 2010 – Page 3 – Phoenix Rose's Blog

In preparation for the blizzard that is supposed to hit Germany this weekend, all citizens were advised to get emergency goods (food, water, etc) to last for up to 4 days. This meant that I had to go out to the grocery store in 70km/hr winds with snow falling and get some food. In the process, however, I found an entire section of the store that was, quite simply, odd – and well filled with a series of Lost (gained?) in Translation moments. Luckily, I had my trusty camera phone so I can share with everyone a bit of a laugh.

Starting off – the chocolates – both are dark chocolate. One is written in German and translates to “Black Man chocolate”, the other English, but both seem to go to a different (perhaps more racist?) time:

Then, there’s the alcohol… Some of these you’ll have to use your own imagination for. Others are rather laughable. Explanations below where I think necessary….

20 years of “wall fall” liquor. It’s got arty drawings on the front of the Berlin wall being crashed through by a Trabant – and 4 leaders celebrating on one side of the box. On the other, the same 4 leaders have quotes about their role in the Berlin wall. The bottles? The cartoon of the leader, and it says under them the role each played. Perhaps if someone can better translate this for me, it’d make more sense, but seriously? I don’t want to drink shots that have come from the Berlin Wall 20 years ago. It might just taste like the gas in that old Trabant…..

Now I don’t know about you, but really – Any Vodka that proudly proclaims they’re “the Bum Pocket drink” must taste like ASS. Don’t think I wanna try it. Thank you, but No thank you….

Let’s see… this one has Viagra Blue (with words around it like recipes included, Good, Fun, Helps, Men) and the famed “ampel man” of East Berlin (the cross walk guy) with his “red” for “don’t walk” and “green” for walk liquors. These are sitting RIGHT NEXT to each other in the store. Are the store people trying to hint something about the crossing guard man? Things that make you go hum….

Finally, Unicum herbal liquor next to the goldwasser (gold water) liquor. Let’s just say that if you put your mind in the gutter, you really don’t want to go there….

On January 3, 2010, a friend of mine let me know that her daughter was going to be a part of an ice skating performance at Alexanderplatz. Since I have a camera, and I’d mentioned previously I’d love to come see M perform, I was asked if I could bring the camera and take a few shots of the kids and the show for them since, prior to the actual event, the parents are running around trying to get everyone ready and most only have small cameras. Despite the cold and frozen fingers (I forgot my gloves and it was well below zero F), I must say that I was totally impressed by these youngsters – ages 4 and up – some of whom practice 6 days a week, two hours or more a day (yes, even the under 10 year olds). They have put in a lot of hard work and absolutely left me surprised and amazed at how well they do.

A few photos are below – with more in my flickr set here.

First – the Spins…. Spins are difficult, but apparently one of the “easier” things to master as other than the first class, all ages seemed to have some variant:

Then there were the beautiful glides – whether it was with toes out, one leg up and straight out, or with one leg up behind the head – these were more complex (obviously) and starting with the young – and ending up with the older ones – they were just beautiful….