VLOG | first half of may

 

It's finally summer.

Overall, I've been extremely lucky throughout this pandemic. I've been privileged and fortunate enough to have my health, my job, my apartment etc. Being an introvert, it was pretty easy to navigate the past year as we fluctuated in and out of lockdowns. My flatmate and boyfriend had a heavy hand in keeping in a good headspace. 

However, earlier this year I was hit by the worse case of allergies I've ever had to endure in my life. I felt my quality of life drop from considerably and I was really struggling to get through my day-to-day life.  But since the seasons starting changing and Berlin started easing up on lockdown restrictions I started to feel that fog lift -- finally. These past few weeks have been so beautiful with the late blooming cherry blossoms and beers by the lake.

PERSONAL | spring in berlin

Seems like everyone (me included) is losing their minds over the first flowers of the season. It's funny how just a month ago I was freezing my buns off in subzero temperatures and once April hit everyone were basking in 20 degree weather -- almost feels as if we skipped spring and jumped straight into summer.

On an additional note, I can't wait until the cherry blossoms at Weinbergspark bloom. 

BERLIN | frozen waters

It was so cold a earlier this month that the rivers, canals, and ponds froze over. Lots of people were by the banks of the Spree taking photos of the shards of ice :)

Though it was interesting to experience my first true cold spell, I really can't wait to see the end of winter.

PERSONAL | the drawing hub

Last week Stanley and I participated in The Drawing Hubs Silent Art Auction in Wedding. It was fun participating in my first art event in Berlin and seeing my work hung up next to so many great pieces--some of which I would've really liked to take home with me. ;)

PERSONAL | cozy sunday out

Berlin has been very wet and cold lately (and the sun starts setting at 4pm nowadays), making it very hard for me to find the motivation to go out after work to do something interesting. Luckily there are some day-time events on the weekends for me to check out.

Today there was a special Dia de los Muetos themed breakfast market happening in Markthalle Neun, which I had been really looking forward to visiting. The decor was really festive and colourful and most of the regular Street Food Thursday vendors added a little Mexican twist to their menus.

I visited the market with my friend Ira, and we split a breakfast of buttermilk pancakes
and chicken & mole tacos. Odd combination.. but it was almost noon so it was basically lunch
and a dessert ok? :P

Later in the afternoon, I dropped by my friend Stanley's apartment in Charlottenberg.
He's been here two months already and this was the first time I was visiting. His roommate
really loves plants so their flat was filled with all sorts of lovely green things. They had a
massive Monstera hanging above the sink in the kitchen that I really wanted to take home with me.

Stanley made soup for our late lunch. I've been really into soups this past week--probably due
to the weather. Anyways, Stanley had some leftover beets lying in his fridge so he decided to
make { coconut beet soup }. The warmth from the soup really hit the spot especially since I got
caught in the rain on the way over to his. We even added this Radicchio filled pasta to the soup,
turning it into a really hearty stew. I want to try making this at home sometime when Roman
gets back from his trip.

BERLIN | kanelbullar & gröt

October has been a crazy month--what with my german class starting, mum visiting, and a quick trip to Copenhagen--I completely forgot about this set of photos I took one brisk Sunday early last month.

All of these (except the last one) were taken in Cafe Valentin, my new little favourite spot. I originally found this place because I had made it my personal mission to find the best Swedish kanelbullar in the city and Cafe Valentin happens to be one of the few cafes that stock it.

Since my discovery in August, I think I have been back at least 3-4 times for their Swedish style oatmeal, or Gröt. They serve it in a few different flavours, but I can't seem to tear myself away from their Blau Gröt, a beautiful thing of hot oats, blueberries, cardamom, and fresh fruits. It's probably the cosiest meal you can find in Berlin in my humble opinion.

PERSONAL | me in berlin

After a few months of hiatus due to graduation, internships, and job hunts, I think I'm ready to get back into the blogging game. Many things have changed since the last time I posted. Once again, I'm in Berlin, but this time I ditched the traveller title and am now officially living and working in this great city.

The last few months have been a rough back and forth. My 5 year plan had led me right to the moment I've been waiting for: to graduate and move to Europe (somehow). Even though I've been talking about Europe non-stop for about 3 years now, the fact that it was finally happening really scared me. I was scared I wouldn't find a job if I moved--that I had overestimated my abilities. Because with so many talented designers in Berlin--in Europe--why would anyone pick me? But luckily I had some pretty great people in my life slap some sense into me whenever I lost my center.

--

So now I'm settling comfortably into my new life here in Berlin. I started work at my new company, Tandem, one month ago and I'm loving it. My co-workers and the office are so lovely and more than I could ever ask for.

I'm really happy. :)

BERLIN | markthalle neun

Earlier last month, my friend Jon suggested we take a trip to Kreuzberg's Markthalle Neun to take some photos. To be honest I kind of regret lugging out my heavy canon to Berlin this trip because it was harder than I thought to stay motivated when the weather is so cold (this is also why I barely have any photos from Sweden in 2015). But anyways, this was one of the times I did take it out for some shots.

So Jon and I went to the market on their famous Street Food Thursdays due to the promise of a full house and great food. We showed up around 5pm, making sure to arrive at that time when the market had just opened up their stalls but the regular 9-5 workers haven't clocked out for the day. One thing that both amazed and threw me off was the hospitality of all the shop owners at the market. I've had instances in other markets when shop owners would shoo me away when I'd try to take a photo. But not here, not one, but a few owners at Street Food Thursdays that actually welcomed us to take photos. On top of that they were nice enough to tell us a little about their wares, and one even opened up the case and set up his produce for us.

Amazing! Moments like this are really what makes me love Berlin.

PERSONAL | beer day

Last Saturday the boys decided to brew beer at home. This plan has been a long time coming because I remember Roman mentioning this on our first date.

Day kicked off with some homemade crêpes made by me!

Now to wait...and in a few weeks they'll have 6 litres of home-made IPA. 

BERLIN | kottbusser tor

I think it's about time that Berlin get's its own category on the blog, considering how much time I spend and will spend there in there in the following months, and hopefully years.

I arrived about a week and a half ago and have just been taking it easy and getting myself reacquainted with the city. I did end up wasted a lot of time getting over the jetlage this time around, so I was pretty much useless for the first couple of days.

The other day I finally felt good enough to take my camera out for a spin. I never regretted not taking many photos during the summer (even though the city was gorgeous) because I was having such a blast trying to live in the moment for once. Not that I'm not doing it now, but I miss shooting, even if it's of arbitrary things. So here's my little visual diary of sorts from Feb 22nd--all I did was head out to Kottbusser Tor to hangout at my usual haunts.

As unremarkable as it is, I really like Roman's apartment/building and 

neighbourhood. There's a certain cozy quality to it, plus he told me once 

that this building was built pre-WWII, so it's essentially ancient!

Forgot to check what kind of flowers these were. I saw them being displayed
,in full bloom, at an & other stories storefront and they were so beautiful...

I'm pretty bummed that this turned out blurry. I still have so much trouble
being discrete when photographing strangers. The astigmatism in my eyes
aren't exactly helping either.