Potsdamer Platz - potsdamer platz
in italy i said that there was more english being spoken there than anywhere in germany. this is not true. i forgot about the potsdamer platz.
the current potsdamer platz is a new (2000ish) set of buildings concentrating on media and retail that occupies what was once no-man's land. (before the wall potsdamer platz was considered the center of life in berlin, with huge markets, etc.) since the wall fell all of the no-man's land space has sold or been made into public parks and gardens. the land that sold for development is now lying below 20+ story, highly conceptual architectural structures, like the potsdamer platz.
at the heart of the potsdamer platz is the forum: a circular courtyard surrounded by restaurants, a DIA like tent ceiling that changes colors, and the sony center building. the sony center houses a stadium seating multiplex which shows exclusively english language movies. we have now seen several movies at the "cinestar" and every time we walk into the lobby i am astonished to hear so many americans speaking english to one another. i'm not sure why this surprises me since here we are ready to watch "brokeback mountain" along with, presumably, a theatre full of other people who understand english.
but really, out in my normal daily activity, german people speak english to me, but i hardly ever hear american english. so where are all of these people during the day? what do they do here? and who are all these teenagers who clearly speak american english and also german? are there that many employees at the american embassy with kids?
i can't decide if this little enclave of english is comforting or just makes me more lonely knowing there are all these people to have a conversation with and i can't find them when i need them. i suppose i could just hang out at the potsdamer platz and watch the tent change color while i search for potential new friends... enh. the cat's pretty good company.
the current potsdamer platz is a new (2000ish) set of buildings concentrating on media and retail that occupies what was once no-man's land. (before the wall potsdamer platz was considered the center of life in berlin, with huge markets, etc.) since the wall fell all of the no-man's land space has sold or been made into public parks and gardens. the land that sold for development is now lying below 20+ story, highly conceptual architectural structures, like the potsdamer platz.
at the heart of the potsdamer platz is the forum: a circular courtyard surrounded by restaurants, a DIA like tent ceiling that changes colors, and the sony center building. the sony center houses a stadium seating multiplex which shows exclusively english language movies. we have now seen several movies at the "cinestar" and every time we walk into the lobby i am astonished to hear so many americans speaking english to one another. i'm not sure why this surprises me since here we are ready to watch "brokeback mountain" along with, presumably, a theatre full of other people who understand english.
but really, out in my normal daily activity, german people speak english to me, but i hardly ever hear american english. so where are all of these people during the day? what do they do here? and who are all these teenagers who clearly speak american english and also german? are there that many employees at the american embassy with kids?
i can't decide if this little enclave of english is comforting or just makes me more lonely knowing there are all these people to have a conversation with and i can't find them when i need them. i suppose i could just hang out at the potsdamer platz and watch the tent change color while i search for potential new friends... enh. the cat's pretty good company.
posted by jordan at
8:50 PM
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