'I don't know why I think this,' wrote my brother in an e mail the other day, 'but I have the impression that you are about to leave Berlin. Is that true
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Ah! Kreuzberg sounds marvelous. I do remember fictional 'Mehmet' from my German I textbook being Turkish, and a short reading included on the Turkish population in Berlin. One of my favorite things about visiting my [Persian] roommate's home was her parents offering me tiny plates with raw almonds, tea, flat bread, and sour cherries to snack on [while I don't know terribly much about Turkish food, it sounds very similar to what people might eat in Iran].
A European city without at least one immigrant quarter is a dying city, a sad place of senescent blandness...
I am so curious to see and explore the ethnic communities of other countries. The United States are unique for the fact that all the different cultures are what make up its identity [but I find it rather disappointing how much of the majority in Los Angeles does not take advantage of the huge Asian supermarkets and their cheap, fresh and varied produce, etc], but to see different cultures mixing in a place that is more aware of how it identifies itself as a country, outside of how many immigrants it may hold, is fascinating.
I've called my suburb of Los Angeles 'the perfect suburb', mostly because there doesn't seem to be any type of food you can't get within 10 minutes of my house [there are Vietnamese, Japanese, all-around Asian, Mexican, African, and Middle Eastern markets and restaurants, tucked into sad strip malls literally everywhere], and I can get my fix for my favorite Japanese magazines, but I wonder if it is really just sad above all because every block is consistently turning into the hellish landscape of corporate America, and I want to crawl under my bed and quiver at the thought of my favorite yakitori hole-in-the-wall being run out of business. Hmm. I haven't decided if immigrant cultures come to Los Angeles to thrive, or to die.
Ah! Kreuzberg sounds marvelous. I do remember fictional 'Mehmet' from my German I textbook being Turkish, and a short reading included on the Turkish population in Berlin. One of my favorite things about visiting my [Persian] roommate's home was her parents offering me tiny plates with raw almonds, tea, flat bread, and sour cherries to snack on [while I don't know terribly much about Turkish food, it sounds very similar to what people might eat in Iran].
A European city without at least one immigrant quarter is a dying city, a sad place of senescent blandness...
I am so curious to see and explore the ethnic communities of other countries. The United States are unique for the fact that all the different cultures are what make up its identity [but I find it rather disappointing how much of the majority in Los Angeles does not take advantage of the huge Asian supermarkets and their cheap, fresh and varied produce, etc], but to see different cultures mixing in a place that is more aware of how it identifies itself as a country, outside of how many immigrants it may hold, is fascinating.
I've called my suburb of Los Angeles 'the perfect suburb', mostly because there doesn't seem to be any type of food you can't get within 10 minutes of my house [there are Vietnamese, Japanese, all-around Asian, Mexican, African, and Middle Eastern markets and restaurants, tucked into sad strip malls literally everywhere], and I can get my fix for my favorite Japanese magazines, but I wonder if it is really just sad above all because every block is consistently turning into the hellish landscape of corporate America, and I want to crawl under my bed and quiver at the thought of my favorite yakitori hole-in-the-wall being run out of business. Hmm. I haven't decided if immigrant cultures come to Los Angeles to thrive, or to die.
-Aurora
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