Sounds of the city

Well, I am now back from my retreat in the German countryside where I spent ten days cycling, walking, sitting looking out the window, writing and sleeping. That sounds like I was quite active but to tell the truth a lot of that time was spent indoors. It was a bit intense at times being on my own for that long and having all that time to think. It really was quite the psychological detox. How and ever, I came back to Berlin feeling really good and with a renewed appreciation for life in the city, though a big part of my heart still loves the countryside.

While I was in Stolzenhagen I got a real kick out of taking in all the sounds around me, just things that I would never hear in the city. Most of it was animal sounds, otherwise the place was pretty quiet. There was some funny ones like the donkeys who belonged to the woman downstairs, who sounded uncannily like a group of heavy smokers having a good laugh. We also passed a sheep that Eric said sounded like Kathleen burping. Must have been something in the grass.

Anyway, having returned to Berlin I have taken my ultra sensitive hearing with me. There is, of course, the ever-present noise of traffic. It's like a distant hum that quietens down at night. But there are lots of other sounds which I am finding quite endearing such as the opera singer across the road who sings in the late afternoon and the little girl in the next apartment block who practices her violin. There is also a constant stream of people going to and from the park beside of us, parents and kids mostly, sometimes happy, sometimes not. And there are also a lot of birds around here, probably because of all the trees, some who mimic car-alarms and some who just plain tweet. I think I am enjoying all these sounds because it is just a reminder of all the bustling life around me, which is really summertime in Berlin.

Taking a Break

Tomorrow we are off to the apartment of a friend of mine, Liz, out in east Brandenburg, out by the German-Polish border and I have to say that I can't wait. After nearly a year and a half in the city, and after months and months of saying 'let's go to the countryside' we are finally getting to ditch the bright lights of Berlin for greener and more importantly, quieter surroundings.

Liz's apartment is in the sleepy 'dorf' or village of Stolzenhagen. There are about 200 people as far as I know and a large part of that is a co-operative made up mainly of artists. My friend Liz is American and also happens to be a wonderful artist and performer. In fact she originally visited Stolzenhagen when she took part in a dance festival there a few years ago.

Now herself and her husband have an apartment in the village in the old schoolhouse (pic above), which they kindly offered to us while she is in Berlin having her baby (she is at this moment one week overdue).

Anyway, we are so looking forward to taking our break from city life, I think me in particular. Having grown up in the countryside I go through stages when, if I am away from it for too long, I get cravings for forest and fields and peace and quiet. Eric is actually coming back to Berlin for a week to record his album while I stay on in Stolzenhagen. I plan not to do too much, maybe just some reading, writing and mainly staring out the window at the wonderful green view and breathing in the fresh countryside air.

A Little Bit of the Middle-East in Berlin

Aha, another food post at last! As you all know, it's never far from our minds. Anyway, one of the foods that we have taken a fancy to here in Berlin is Middle-Eastern food. Germany has a big Turkish population and luckily for us they have brought their cuisine with them. The most popular dish in Berlin by far is the doner kebab. Now available around the world, this dish varies from country to country. In Germany, this is a minced meat compressed and cooked on an enormous skewer-like thing-a-majig, then sliced and put in a thick flatbread with salad and covered with a yogurt and also a spicy sauce. The Germans love it so much apparently they eat 2-3 metric tonnes of it a day which adds up to about €1.5 billion a year. That's a lot of doner. Eric loves it and often gets doner-cravings.

Me, I have to say I prefer the other vegetarian Middle-Eastern "sandwiches", those stuffed with grilled halloumi (a type of cheese, which Eric doesn't like 'cause he says it's too squeaky!) or falafel. It was while eating Falafel in pita-bread that I though to myself 'I could make this!' So we tried it out at home. First I scoured the internet and found recipes for both the falafel and the pita bread. The falafel were made by grinding together chickpeas, onions, garlic, and a load of herbs and spices. I made them into small bite-size patties (see top pic), and then fried them.

I then made up the pita-bread dough, which Eric kneaded and divided up. They were then rolled out and let rise and then popped in the oven.

They puffed up so nicely in the oven. It was so exciting to see!

Then when it was done and out of the oven we stuffed the pitas with the falafels, lettuce, tomato and hummus. Oh boy oh boy, the joy of eating something that you make yourself. Eric thinks he looks mental in this photo but I think he just looks like he is really enjoying our homemade falafel in pita-bread. (Okay, maybe just the teeny-tiniest bit mental - it's all in the eyes!)

PS I'm not posting the recipes as they are both really long (but not complicated) but if you want them just let me now and I'll email them to you.

Checking out Kobe

Oh my God! Are we going to be reading about Kusi and Eric's trip to Japan forever I hear you asking yourselves. And the answer is yes, yes, you probably are! This is going to be like one of those very long holiday slideshows, which people inflict on their friends and family, except mine is blog-stylee. This is because I keep looking at our Japan photos and thinking 'I must do a blog on that, and that, and that'. The options for blogs on Japan are many. In fact so much so that it's hard to decide which part of the trip to pick, so I end up doing nothing. Boo.

Anyway, here is an installment about our stay in Kobe. On one of the days we just decided to get in as many sights as possible. We started with the earthquake museum (pic above). Japan lies just where a number of continental plates meet and therefore is an earthquake territory. It has a couple of minor quakes every day. Most don't register that high on the Richter scale but in 1995 Kobe suffered a massive one in which 5,000 people died.

The museum was fascinating with an introductory virtual earthquake which is very convincing and pretty scary. It wasn't the may west (for my American relatives that is Irish rhyming slang for best) for a migraine sufferer so I cheated and kept my eyes closed for most of it, and was still impressed! They also had a number of English-speaking volunteers that talked to us about earthquake prevention. All in all, definitely worth the visit.

Right beside this was a sake brewery with a museum showing the intricate sake-making process. Seriously, when it comes to sake brewing the Japanese don't mess around. The sake is distilled from rice and can be drank either hot or cold and is pretty potent. It became Eric's official drink of our trip. The brewery gave us free samples (one of Eric's favourite things) and I have to say it was quite delicious.

They also dressed Eric up and let me take a photo of him in full sake-drinking get-up. Doesn't Eric look super happy with that big bottle. Pity it was just for the photo - they took it back after.

After the sake brewery we felt like a trip up into the hills behind Kobe via cable-car to check out the views over the city.

On our way back we walked around the area in Kobe where a number of foreign residents settled at the end of the 19th century. I can't remember what the area was called but knowing Japan it was probably called 'Foreign Town', or something like that. The houses of the residents have been renovated and are open to the public. We particularly liked this one (this is for you Ben!). The travel site describes this as "former house of Ben, an English hunter, and where fierce and rare animals he hunted (e.g. a huge polar bear and a moose) are displayed". It made me wonder what would be written about our place if was on a tourist trail. I don't think we are going to be a major attraction any time soon!

Anyway, speaking of hunting, we ended our day eating at a 'kaiten' sushi place, which is a restaurant in which the sushi sits on a revolving belt and you just pick which plate looks the tastiest. This kind of dining brings out the hunter in me because you spot something and you have to grab it before it goes past you and some other customer gets it instead. It's very easy to overeat at a place like this, though we managed to be relatively restrained. Surprising eh?

We both enjoyed our stay in Kobe and found it particularly good as a base to visit my family. It also had the best food that we saw on our trip. However, next time (!) we reckon we would spend just a day or two instead of six or seven. The reason was that as with most Japanese cities Kobe is super westernised so by the end of our time there we were ready to see a more traditional Japan, which luckily we did.

Before I sign off, the never-ending blogs on Japan was a joke by the way. Breathe sigh of relief! However there will probably be a couple more, interpersed with some foodie blogs and tales from Berlin.

The Japanese hi-tech experience

This is a blog about the everyday technology that we experienced in Japan. You may be asking yourselves why I've posted a photo of toilet then. Well, that is because this is a picture of no ordinary toilet but a hi-tech Japanese toilet. Yes, this baby is a called a "Western" toilet in Japan but unlike the ones over here, it comes with many trimmings. These include a pre-warmed seat, a bidet, a dryer and a noise-canceller (this makes noises like birds singing to drown out the noise of your "business"). These toilets are pretty much everywhere - you can see them in bars, restaurants, department stores and also in people's homes. The toilet experience was a firm favourite of Eric's, who could spend hours happily pressing buttons.

Transport in Japan is very hi-tech. The trains like the Shinkansen or "Bullet" trains not only look super-cool but are some of the fastest in the world, going up to speeds of nearly 190 miles per hour. Even the ordinary metro trains in the city are incredibly efficient. They precision park at the platform so that people can queue beforehand in orderly lines (which they do in Japan). They are known for their punctuality. I've heard that if you want to prove you were late for work because of the train, that you have to get a note from the train station saying the train was late, or else your workplace won't believe you. Eric liked how the Tokyo metro had a screen in each carriage that showed you position of the stairs, escalators and exits of the platform of station you are arriving at. I suppose this kind of efficiency is pretty necessary when you are dealing with the massive numbers of people as you are in Japan. Shinjuku station in Tokyo has 3.6 million people going in and out of it every day!!!

We were impressed with the hi-techness (is this a real word?) of everyday people's homes, like in our friends' Hitoshi and Kanako's home in Osaka. As well as the hi-tech toilets, they had a computerised bath which they could set in the kitchen. Basically they pushed a button when they wanted a bath. The bath would then fill itself to whatever temperature you set it to. To give you a bit of time to get ready, the computer would announce in the kitchen "Your bath will be ready in 5 minutes". Then five minutes later - "Your bath is now ready"!!! No toggling with the hot and cold taps. Just one press of a button and hey presto, you have a perfect bath.

Lastly, I was particularly impressed by their kitchen shelves which were designed for a vertically-challenged person like myself. Our friends thought this was pretty funny that we liked their shelves so much, but see for yourselves in above video and watch in awe!

Our week in Kobe: meeting the family

One the main reasons for choosing to go to Japan this year was to see my family. It had been nearly 9 years since I had seen my family in Japan! Also my grannie (Obaachan) is 88 now and the last couple of years has been in a home. She's very healthy mentally but can't walk because of one her legs and has needed extra care. Anyway, myself and Eric talked about it and it just felt like there was no time like the present, especially if Eric wanted to meet my Obaachan.

So on the Saturday we met my Ojichan (my uncle) and my Obachan (my auntie) and my cousin Nobuo in Kobe. They all live in different areas, some in outer Kobe, one near Osaka and Kyoto, but Kobe is a good middle point between everyone. Then we went to visit Obaachan. Boy, was she excited about our visit! She had a photo of myself and Eric by her bed so she knew what Eric looked like already. She was very keen to show him off to the other people in the home. Not only for his dashing good looks, of course, but also they don't get many Western visitors at the home so she felt extra special! Eric ended up wheeling her around for a while in her wheelchair as she non-chalently exclaimed to whoever passed by - 'these are my visitors from Ireland'! She was totally in her element.

It was lovely to see her and to see her in such good form. The woman has got a lot of oomph! Japan has so many elderly people - as a people they really live a long time. My grannie is the youngest in the room she shares. The oldest person is over 100. Obaachan says it makes for very loud and long conversations as most of them are hard of hearing and they are always having to yell at each other across the room.

Later that evening we met up with my other cousin Muneo, his lovely wife Hisako and their kids Yuusuke (4) and Manami (6). As you can see from the pic above they are super cute.

We had a really nice (and big!) Chinese meal with them all. We opted for Chinese as we had Japanese food for every meal for nearly all 21 days. Not that we were complaining. Anyway, the food was delicious and to Eric's delight, plentiful. It was also nice to see the kids and to play with them a little bit.

The next day my cousin Nobuo brought us up into the hills behind Kobe. It's not unusual to see mountains in Japan. In fact quite the opposite as most of the country is mountainous. Kobe city is particularly nice though, because it has the mountains on one side and the sea on the other. We took a cable car which was great fun. I don't know why there aren't more cable cars in the world. It is such a wonderful way to travel! I reckon I will spearhead a movement to bring more cable cars into being. Where there are hills, there should be cable-cars. It gives you great views, it's scary-fun, what more could a body ask for?

This is a pic of Eric with my cousin, who was an excellent tour guide for the day. Later that evening we met up with his wife Mariko, who had just come back from a business trip to Sweden, and my Ojichan and Obachan for a proper Kobe beef dinner. We have no photos of this for some bizarre reason, probably because we were too hungry and forgot. So was it as good as everyone says it is? Did it live up to the beef hype? Well, Eric reckons it was the best beef he has ever eaten (and this is a guy who has eaten a lot of beef). It was so tender he could cut it with a chopstick. Now that's tender! Anyway, it was a lovely meal. Not only was it great for me to see my family again but it was really wonderful for my family and Eric to finally meet. I think after that Kobe beef dinner it won't be the last they see of him either.

Arriving in Japan: the first few days

So Japan at last. After months of planning, weeks of excitement and a 10 and a half hour flight, we were finally in Japan. We were spending the first two days of our trip in Osaka, where my mother's family are originally from. It's in the Kansai area of Japan, known for it's cheery people and it's good food. It even has it's own dialect called Kansai-ben. As is in many countries, there is a great rivalry between this area (Southern Honshu) and the Kanto region of Japan, where Tokyo is (Northern Honshu). You will often hear people from Kansai comment on how things are better in Kansai. In fact I remember my Mum teaching me the phrase "Kansai is best" (to be accompanied with vigorous fist-waving)!

Our first few days were a bit of blur, mainly because we were crazily jet-lagged which is why we didn't take many pics then. Luckily our Japanese friend Kanako, who lives in Osaka, met up with us on our first day and gave us the run down of the city. We didn't manage to do too much with her as we were like the walking dead but she did get to show us a typical Japanese department store, or 'depato' as they call it. Mainly because of Eric's love of free food. Usually the basement of every Japanese department store is devoted to food. This is where they show off the best produce from around, everything from hot food like tempura (below) to all types of Japanese food to cakes and pastries. And there are a lot of free samples too. Let's just say our Eric was in his element.

The next day we just walked around taking everything in. Osaka is one of the biggest cities in Japan and coming from quiet Berlin, it was noisy, bustling and busy. Above is a photo of Eric on Dotonbori, one of the main streets in city centre Osaka. This is a crazy busy street, full of neon and loud music and hawkers yelling and people, people, people.


We didn't do any shopping, though there was amazing shopping to be done if you were into it. This is a photo of me in front of an Okamura furniture store. No relation I'm afraid, though Eric thought I might get a free chair if I showed my passport. Which I didn't, though the chairs did look very nice.

This is Eric in a guitar shop that had beautiful guitars, just the kind that Eric likes.

This is a photo of me in a noodle restaurant beside our hotel, one of the first of many fine noodle restaurants we went to. This was a typical Japanese restaurant where we sat on the floor on tatami mats. After the meal we just walked around and took in the area. Kanako explained that our hotel was in the traditional entertainment area of Osaka. Basically it was full of hostess bars where businessmen pay to be entertained by women. Apparently, it is strictly drink and conversation (no hanky panky), with the girls pouring you a drink and laughing at your jokes. Kanako explained that it is popular among older business men like her dad who goes quite often. We saw groups of business people, interestingly both men and women, leaving the bars as the hostesses, the older women in kimonos and the younger women in more "sexy" western clothes bowing and waving them off. It was a really interesting look at this side of Japanese nightlife. In my jetlagged state it was also quite surreal! After that we headed to bed as we were heading off to Kobe to see my family the next morning . We spent our last few days in Japan in Osaka as well, so more on it later.