Boldly going where there are other people too: The things you find

It's been a fantastic 10 days in Berlin! I told you about the journalist I met at the East Side Gallery of the Berlin Wall. I just randomly chose to shoot him for my photo series. Turned out he was a Tunisian-British journalist, Zouhir Latif, who has years of experience reporting from crisis and war zones all over the world. Currently he's shooting a documentary for BBC Panorama and working as an advisor for the UN and Amnesty International. We met the other day and discussed freelance journalism and traveling. He was such an inspirational character. Proves that striking up conversations with strangers can sometimes lead to the most interesting new acquaintances.

Besides Mr. Latif I've also met up with a bunch of different people from Germany, New York and Finland. Entrepeneurs trying to build their businesses here in Berlin. It's always interesting to hear how someone has ended up where they have and what their dreams are for the future. This city is obviously a colorful place to hear those stories. Today I'm meeting with a bunch of artists who occupy the Tacheles Arthouse. It's an abandoned shopping centre with ateliés and dedicated artists who look like they've been caged up for a decade.

The other day I was meeting with my neighbor Anna at Hackescher Markt and switched trains at Alexanderplatz. Outside the train station they sell wurst and other barbecue items but the thing was there were these vicious smelling sewers right next to the stands. This evil smell was hovering all around, like someone had taken a massive dump right there in the street corner. Why the salespeople figured that would be the best place to sell food and how people could eat their sausages right there was a mystery to me.

I've actually gotten some things done in German too! I've asked for a lasagne to go ("mitnehmen"), bought a 7-day train ticket ("sieben tage karte für AB, bitte") and asked for a photographing permission ("kann ich ein par foto machen?"). I don't know if that's exactly right but I've been understood.

It's always kind of exciting, though, to use a language you don't quite know. What if someone asks something back? I'll have no clue what to say. When shopping for whatever they always do ask something and for a while I couldn't figure out what it was. Then I heard it's "Mit oder ohne tüte?" Then the question remained: what the hell is a tüte? Sounds like something a kid would need. But if ever faced with this question, with or without a tüte, say yes if you need a bag. My friend had once said "ja, danke" to this without knowing what they'd give him, but now we know!

Looks like it's going to be a beautiful day. +5°C and sunny. Looks like Finnish summer. Or winter. Or fall or spring. Heading out to Tacheles soon. Finally here are a couple of my shots from the East Side Gallery.