SBSK

here in berlin, i frequently find myself in discussions (with adults) that involve the intricacies of the cartoon show we know as Spongebob Squarepants (SBSP). the germans call him 'Spongebob Schwammkopf' (SBSK) and he's pretty popular over here. at a recent dinner party at our house, the conversation inevitably turned to SBSK and for some reason one of our guests made this.



the SK part of SBSK can be translated as 'Eraserhead', and of course in english it's a term that already carries some significance in popular culture. at least in germany (i've never seen the show in either language), there seems to exist a certain fondness for the surreality of SBSK (eg it's a talking sponge), and so i thought fans would enjoy the connection to the filmmaker known for his 'surreal, nightmarish and dreamlike images'. or least they would recognize my extensive knowledge of 'culturally significant' art house films. but no one seems to appreciate the comments so now mostly i don't say anything about it.

kiez, a thing of beauty

a couple weeks ago we moved into our new place - only a few blocks away from the old kreuzberg digs, but now south of the canal and officially in a borough of berlin called neukölln. neukölln has a bit of a bad reputation here in berlin, and some (especially those trying to rent their apartments in the area) call our particular part of town 'kreuzkölln', although we have been told to avoid that lingo for obvious reasons.

don't worry, we live at the top part

one of the first things we learned in the course of our search for an apartment was the german word 'kiez' (pronounced like the poet). strictly speaking i think it simply means 'neighborhood', but at least in berlin there's a certain (positive) value attached to it (in hamburg 'der kiez' refers to the red light district). here you see it being adopted by businesses all over as a way to legitimate their presence and/or connect to the would-be consumer. of course even us americans can relate to the notion of the neighborhood corner store, but here the 'hood mentality seems like a prerequisite for just about any establishment: kiez eyeglass stores, kiez bowling alleys, etc.

south end of the ring: don't mess with neukölln

the typical berliner is very proud of the kiez that they live in, and so most days so you find yourself involved in some sort of discussion about who has the best bars, cafes, restaurants. to some extent this kind of thing exists in the states (most residents of capitol hill seem pretty content with their choice of neighborhood), but here you have otherwise like-minded folks involved in heated rivalries regarding the hip/realness of their respective 'hood. i guess the truth is that i do already find myself touting the benefits of the kreuzkölln (whoops) lifestyle, but come on, it seems pretty clear that it is the place to live in berlin. unlike kreuzberg and prenzlauerberg, there are no famous indie rock bands with songs about neukölln (as far as i know), but with scenic panoramas like this one it can't be long before all that changes.

the stuff of poetry

one month down

after crashing on friends' couches for the first few days, we spent the month of october in a 1 room apartment in the heart of kreuzberg. kreuzberg sort of looks like this: with nearby parks for the kids,
and a state of the art public swimming pool.