childhood © Lilly Schwartz 2011

Yesterday I managed to get a better picture of how the streets actually fit together in my neighbourhood. Maybe I have to clarify: My sense of orientation works in some way like in those strategy games. In those games you at first have only this blob of known area surrounded by total darkness. When you explore you see more things on your map until you’ve pieced it all together and then corridors of known space combine to a neat map of your surroundings.

I knew the area around Alt-Moabit, Turmstraße and Perleberger Straße as separate areas. Until yesterday when I connected them all together through walking along Rathenower Straße from Alt-Moabit to Perleberger Straße. There is a primary school and a youth centre on the way that seems to be partially abandoned. The building of the youth centre seems to be a bigger complex of connected buildings and it is covered in graffiti. Instead of the usual relatively old and beautiful buildings in the area there are more unappealing apartment buildings across from the youth centre. I probably wouldn’t want to live across from that half rotting youth centre in any case.

I’ve now explored a considerably big area around where I live and can say that I know it a bit. Moabit is neither particularly pretty nor ugly, it doesn’t seem dangerous although there seem to be quite some drug issues too and it’s very multicultural with a big Turkish community along with quite big Turkish supermarkets. So, in general it’s neither a very good nor a very bad area. I’m sure there are better areas too, but for now it’s more than alright. And before I run out of things to photograph I still have a few backyards to explore!

The picture was taken across from the court house. Someone had obviously lost a pacifier.