You see a lot of
Arabic writing
and not just restaurants.
You see jewelers,
you see hair salons,
barbers, grocery stores.
Half of all Syrians.
11 million have
been forced
from their homes.
Today,
another 10,000 migrants
made it to Germany.
Germany has set aside
almost $7 billion
in support
of the migrants for things
like housing
and helping them
to learn German
Welcome to Berlin, Germany.
It's quickly
becoming Europe's
capital of Arab culture.
Even big companies
are present here.
You see a big billboard
for Spotify
essentially saying
they stand with refugees.
This street
that I've come to
is a direct result
of Germany's
former leader,
Angela Merkel.
Who decided to open up
to millions of refugees
over the past few years.
Its new nickname
is Arab Street.
The first thing you see
when you come
out of the train station
is the Palestine flag.
Today, businesses
here are thriving.
And I'm not just talking
about restaurants
and barber shops.
I'm also loving
some of the brand names.
So the Kleenex
at the restaurant
where I had lunch
was called Beirut.
The water that I bought
at that same restaurant
has Istanbul in the name.
They also have Arab
food delivery apps,
Arabic bookstores
and places
for Arabic concerts.
So what's it like to live
in a place
that's become home
to hundreds of thousands
seeking a new life?
On this street,
you see a lot
of Arabic writing
and you see jewelers.
It's really
cool to be here.
It totally feels like
I'm in the Middle East,
like I'm in Lebanon,
or what I would imagine
Syria to be.
I've never gotten to visit,
but it's really cool
to see all this.
The music,
the smells, the flavors,
even just the whole vibe
entirely.
Like you really forget
that you're in Germany
right now.
Pretty much every store for
I can see on
this street
has writing in Arabic.
Some are Arabic and German,
and then some would
even be German
in Arabic and English,
but it's mostly
just Arabic.
And maybe German
between 2015
and 2020.
More than 5 million
people sought asylum
in the European Union.
And of those people,
two in five settled
here in Germany.
Germany's leaders decision
to open borders to refugees
was controversial.
For those who said
this is not a good idea.
It also created
the largest cultural change
in Germany's capital.
Since the 1960s,
when a huge
influx of Turkish
immigrants came here.
Syrians
make up the largest
amount of people
who've come here to Germany
and this neighborhood.
I've arrived in is home
to more
than 300,000 people.
It's now considered
one of Berlin's
most diverse neighborhoods.
It's so interesting
because one block away
you have a lot of Arabs
smoking and having coffee
at the coffee shops.
And then here behind me,
you have a lot of Germans
drinking beer.
But to really get a feel
for this place,
I have to try the food
I had to this restaurant,
which is fully employed
by Syrian refugees.
They speak
German and Arabic,
but they don't
speak English.
So it's a little bit hard
for me
to really communicate
or interview them.
But sometimes all it takes
is a smile
to really
understand someone.
This is a lot of food
and it looks
and smells so good.
The whole experience
is so unique.
I really don't
feel like I'm in
Germany right now,
but I'm really excited
to begin
For lunch,
I ordered this chicken tawuk
coleslaw,
salad, grilled
veggies, hummus
and yellow rice
the portion is huge.
After eating German food
for a few days,
I got to be honest and say
This tastes so delicious.
And of course,
this is ayran.
This is a yogurt drink.
As my mom once called it.
It's like
the Coke of
the Middle East.
You can find it in Turkey.
Around the Arab world
and Iran,
we have something
similar called doogh
After lunch,
I see this
Arabic sweets place
and I ordered this
Arabic dessert
made of Ashta,
which is a Lebanese
clotted cream.
It totally reminds
me of Kunefe,
but it tastes different.
It's pretty good,
but too big
for just one person
while people here
seem to be
making a good life
for themselves.
The immigration
story here in
Germany is long
and complicated
and of course, political.
While there's mixed
data in general, economists
say that refugees
are overall
good for an economy
because they create
more people
who are working
and contributing
to the overall economy.
Remember, Germany
has one of the
largest economies
in the world, and
Angela Merkel's open door
policy wants to actually
see refugees
and immigrants
as an opportunity
for its country.
Overall,
this is a really
interesting experience
to see
how people
are coming together,
bringing their culture,
bringing their food,
and putting it in an area
that is familiar
and that excites them
and feels like home.
I swear that lunch
that I had really did
not feel remotely.
There was no part
of Germany
or even Europe that
I felt
while eating that lunch.
And I think it's overall
really interesting.
I come from over in
Los Angeles
you have something similar
where you have lots
of Iranian restaurants.
You see Persian written
many places.
You hear many people
speaking Persian.
And so it's not
that different
than what I experience
in Los Angeles.
I think
what makes it
different here is that
this is all relatively new.
We're talking
only within the past
five years or so,
while it is
predominantly
Arab, restaurants
and shops.
It's also fairly mixed.
I mean,
you see
a German restaurant,
you see
plenty of German people.
You see a good mix
of international people
living here, working here
and certainly eating here.
So it's certainly
not like divided between
Arab culture
and non-Arab culture.
It's a really interesting
mix of the two on
this street