Friends, Romans, Countrymen...

Howdy.
First, thanks to everyone that sent me wonderful well-wishes on my birthday. I've got loads of love for you all. Even those of you who don't read this. I got heavily buzzed on my terrasse, grilling with some friends. It was nice. (Think flowers, tea lights and temperatures far colder than the current ones in America.)
The weather here has been wretched, considering the fact that it's now July. I'm hoping that the delightfully hot summer weather from the states will eventually hit Europe. "Eventually" meaning before I go home. Speaking of which, I am looking ecstatically forward to my trip stateside, and I hope to see as many of you hoschis as possible. I am also looking ecstatically forward to stopping my current job. My last adult ed (Volkshochschule) course before the summer break is tonight, which will be a wee bit sad, since they were a great group. I'm also nearing the end of my short-lived career in elementary education--a week from tomorrow, I'm done. My boss keeps sending potential new employees to check out my courses, so I don't feel bad about jumping ship. There are enough eager girls with good English skills and the necessary background in education to replace me. In other news, (I can't remember if I knew this the last time I posted or not...presumably not, so I'll write it again. If it's a repeat, please just pretend it never happened) I've got an interview with an international law firm for a job as a proofreader. The first thing my father said was "Good lord, how boring!" but it'd be something...real. Not to mention full-time with benefits. I have to keep selling it to myself like this, because taking this job (if of course the interview goes well) will require some pretty mercenary dealings on my part. I'm already under contract to work in a wee small nursery school that's had tons of setbacks and is just getting off the ground, who I'd obviously have to ditch if this law firm offered me a full time job. Fortunately, the German Labor Department has not yet cleared me to do so. Their decision should, however, come this week. So yeah, keep your fingers crossed for me that the bad guys say no and the good guys say yes. This would be a really neat experience for me, though--giving me both editorial experience and legal experience at the same time. Which in turn would help me to figure out what comes next. And enable me to continue paying rent while I do so.
So there you have it. The latest in weather, news and sports. Oh, wait. I forgot the sports. I'm a cursory follower of formula one racing. No, seriously. I am. It's oddly relaxing. And my favorite driver, Kimi Raikkonen won the French Grand Prix yesterday. I found that exciting. So NOW you have the latest in weather, news and sports. Anything I left out?

Of course. Entertainment.
How could I possibly forget entertainment?
So, because my birthday was on Thursday, and I was not content to let it go with a mere-"sorry, I've got to work tomorrow"-barbecue, I agreed to go out with Tini and some of her friends from work on Friday. Stephan, smelling a girls night out a mile away, begged off to hang out with Max, who's doing a 2 week internship in Berlin. So I rallied admirably Friday, after a hellish full day of work, got my stuff together and trekked to Tini's place. Got a bit well done with some of her people and headed off to this club called Bungaluu. Or Bungalu. Definitely not Bungaloo, as one might expect. Anyway, it's a fairly well-known gay club, or so I've been told. But for whatever reason, we got in for free and got some lovely little bottles of champagne and hung out. As I was wandering off to get rid of our bottles, I bumped into a small grey-haired man standing near the bar. He said something about pushing and I of course apologized and said that I only wanted to get rid of my bottles. He then starts talking to me, saying it's his birthday and introducing all of his friends. He then asks me where my friends are, and telling me I should bring them over. Bear in mind please, that I'm in a pretty well-done state. So this seemed like a fine idea to me. I got the girls and introduced everyone, and apparently this odd little man was some kind of owner or operator of the club, because he took us from top to bottom of the thing. It was a really great space, amazingly decorated with a beautiful roof garden. The gentleman was very courteous, but it was absolutely one of the more surreal things I'd experienced. We stayed there for ages, which was hilarious for a time (there was a convention of plastic surgeons. I met one named Patrick. He was utterly ridiculous.), but by the time 3am rolled around, I was absolutely ready to go. Tini took some cajoling, but we got out of there in time for me to catch the tram home, where I proceeded to fall asleep. Fortunately, I woke up for my station, but it took some serious effort to get myself home. I know why I don't do that more often. It's so exhausting. I slept all day Saturday--with an exception for brunch with Tini, Kai and Co at this restaurant named for Albert Einstein. It's directly across from Cafe Moskau in a neo-chic east Berlin neighborhood.

Anyway, enough of Berlin neo-chic for now...time for me to get ready for my last Vo-Ho class. Yay.

rock out, kinders.
.mia.