My time in Berlin has been a blur. I've
done a walking tour that covered everything from the fall of the
Berlin wall to Hitler's bunker to the concentration camps. It was
amazing to see the amount of history that surrounds this city. I also
attended a pub crawl as previously promised. I met some great people
from South Africa as well as an intriguing girl named Maytal who is
currently on leave from the Israeli military. She was involved in
intelligence which meant I couldn't enquire further or I'd probably
be killed. She did seem intelligent. My day today has stretched
across two thematic poles for sure. I decided to start walking and
ended up finding a place called Museum Erotika. You can probably
guess what the subject matter was. It was refreshing after being to
the same highbrow museums over and over. The place covered African
fertility rituals, women's sexual rights and an abundance of
genitalia artwork. After getting my fill of genitals (yes, I'm
content with that sentence) I wanted to change gears so I headed to
the museum that commemorates the Holocaust. I decided not to take any
photographs out of respect but I would highly recommend a visit, even
if you're going in blind. Over the course of my trip I've been noting
the cultural distinctions between my own upbringing and the places I
visit. The Holocaust exhibit reminded me of an important lesson.
Although its important to acknowledge our differences there are still
universals that unite us as humans. When you hear a statistic like 6
million Jews being murdered its beyond comprehension. Its only when
you put a face to the victim that you understand that these were
individuals, not just a number. Lovers, parents, children,
grandparents, when you read their letters and hear their stories the
gravity of it finally hits you. I was affected for at least a few
hours after and actually had to grab a beer to decompress. Humanity
can seem beautiful and disgusting all in one day depending on how you
spend it. But I don't want to meditate on the depressing for too long
so I'll leave you with a story of my most awkward experience so far.
Being abroad I'm constantly trying to find things to do that I
wouldn't ordinarily try in North America. After hearing about the
abundance of mixed saunas here in Berlin I decided to give one a
shot. So being my bashful Canadian self I went to a bathhouse
yesterday thinking it was acceptable to wear swimming trunks.
Entering the first sauna, I found only one man in it. A very German,
very fat, very naked man. When I entered the gentleman informed me in
broken English that it was customary to remove my shorts. Always
willing to adapt to the culture I was compelled to drop trou. Then it
was just me and an elderly German man sitting nude in silence, which
is not as awkward as you'd think. However, the atmosphere changed
when the man stood up and walked to the centre of the room. With a
look of resolute determination, the gentleman proceeded to raise his
towel overhead in a helicopter like fashion. See Petey Pablo.
Grunting far more than was necessary the man continued this for a
solid 45 seconds. I, not knowing where to look (his penis was at eye
level), struggled to stifle my laughter/anxiety before deciding to
bail on the spa altogether. I've since learned that the man was
simply performing a technique to circulate the air but during the
moment it was lost in translation. It taught me an invaluable rule
that I will follow for the rest of my time in Europe: no more
bathhouses.
