falsified documentation

Victory is mine!

2011-06-01T23:32:00.003+02:00

Well, at least a small one:

The groundwork for my permanent residency permit has been laid. thanks to my awesome boss. It's not signed or sealed yet, but she's agreed to help me out in a major way. So yeah. Thank heavens for that. It's a huge load off my mind and leaves me with more energy to deal with the rest of my insane to do list (uni application, wedding whatever and the basic chaos of my day-to-day).

My whole positivity mission isn't really working out, but I'm trying. I'm looking forward to spending some time resting and recharging this summer, as well as making major headway on the aforementioned epic lists.

Next week I'll be out in the Brandenburger countryside with a group of 6 monkeys from work and said awesome boss. It should be a pretty relaxed time, if last year was any indication.

Tomorrow's another obscure protestant holiday here (the Ascension) and the Monday after we come back is another one (Whit Monday), so I'm looking forward to some fun walks through Berlin in the sunshine with the Schatz. Speaking of whom, his final exams start on Friday. Please do wish him luck.

So, I hope y'all enjoyed your Memorial Day. I'll drink a cold one for you tomorrow.

Keep fighting.

Mimi

2011-05-16T15:59:00.004+02:00

So last night I did the weekly 'call your parents on your international phone plan to get the skinny' thing and got some sad news. Mimi, the woman who spent years taking care of my sister and I, has died. She had a long battle with cancer (I can't even tell you how long ago she was diagnosed. 10 years?) and I'm glad she has found peace.

She was an amazing woman--she was already old when she started taking care of us. She got her hair permed regularly, it was beautifully grey and she wore (avon) makeup and black underwear under monochrome sweatsuits and when she got dressed up, she always looked impeccable--although I never saw her wear a dress. She never talked about her age and hated having her picture taken. The radio was always on at Mimi's--inadvertently shaping my early taste in music. She was a huge fan of Rod Stewart, although she confessed to not really knowing what he was singing about. She had 3 children and adopted a young boy after her kids were grown and raised him into adulthood. She was so fiesty, so tiny...

She hailed from Vermont where she said she was raised by the nuns. She spoke with what I can only assume was a Vermont accent--calling my sister Marra-DETH (Meredith) and Cheerios Cheeri-OATS. She was catholic and went to mass, but it was more important to her that we be well-mannered, not interrupt or even listen when grownups were talking. We weren't allowed to peek out the windows to see who was coming (we looked like "gypsies" doing that) and she was one of the only people to reprimand me for unladylike behavior. I didn't much like playing outside as a child, she called me affectionately a "house cat" and made me play outside anyway. When we got dirty, she'd tell us we looked like war orphans. Bad behavior was punished by having a time out in front of the tea-pot wall...floor-to-ceiling open shelves which housed her extensive teapot collection. I arrived there when I was four. Somehow I never had the feeling that she ever condescended to me.

She spent hours reading me my favorite books (Bartholomew Cubbins and the 500 hats, and many others), she taught me how to use scissors and cut properly the summer after Kindergarten. She devoted the entire summer between 3rd and 4th grade to re-teaching me my multiplication tables and made me my favorite pink lemonade "from pink lemons". When I went through a phase where I wouldn't eat white American cheese, she bought orange. When I wouldn't eat the orange, she bought white, all the while telling me that both types of cheese were made from the same milk and that I was being picky and unreasonable. She taught me that there are times to be tough and times to do what you're told. She knew me for a time as well as my own mother did. For my sister and I, she was the absolute authority on just about everything. What Mimi said was law and that was that.

Now that I'm older, I realize that she wasn't just a central figure to my sister and I, but also for my Mum. Without Mimi, we'd have all been lost. She was my Mum's go-to person for parenting advice. Mimi had seen it all. And she'd tell it to you like it was. With her there was no beating around the bush. I am not only thankful to her for making me the person I am today, I'm thankful to her for helping my Mum be the best Mum she could be.

Of course I have regrets. I wish I'd visited more often when I was home, I wish I'd been home more often. But I know that at least as a child, I told her that I loved her. She knew I was working with pre-K kids and I hope she knew how extensively she shaped my ideas on education. I am so thankful to have had her in my life. She's undoubtably helped me become who I am today. If I can do half as well with my own children as she did with those who were entrusted to her care, I'll be a damn fine parent.

Negative Nellies

2011-04-29T21:06:00.005+02:00

Man oh man.

I'm starting to feel sorry for anyone and everyone who is exposed to my social media feeds. People have been emailing me being like, "gee, seems like you're having a rough couple of months!" and every time I see a post title (see my last one about funks) I feel a twinge of surprise. Much the same as I did when I got those emails.

See, the thing is...I'm an ungrateful bitch.

The Schatz's Mum has carpal-tunnel in one arm/hand and just broke her other upper arm. My dear boss is in the hospital after having lymph tissue removed, waiting for her biopsy results. Her sister died young of cancer.

And all I can seem to do is bitch about an overabundance of opportunity in my life.

"Ooh, will I get into the law program I want? Will it allow me to keep all my good paying private teaching gigs, or will I have to cut back? Will I get permanent residency in the country of my choosing?" LORDAMERCY.

It's luxury complaining is what it is. Damn it, there are people in Japan who lost everything, people die in bombings every day or die fighting for basic political freedoms (Syria, Egypt, etc.) and all I can do is piss and moan about not having *enough* extras in my life.

Sure, I'm sad that a good friend is doing a 2/3 move to some crappy city over an hour away and won't have as much time for me in the future. Yeah, I'm kinda sorta stressed about defending my early childhood ed thesis on Thursday but not enough to actually really DO something about it and gee, I'd love not to have to worry about how I'm going to finance my rockstar lifestyle while in law school. But really? Really? I'm fine. I'm better than fine--things are fcking fantastic! My life is great, not average and certainly not fcked.

I'm obviously lacking perspective. I need to be shipped back to the homestead posthaste for a good, swift kick in the butt from my yankee Mother who would knock some gratitude back into my self-absorbed skull. Or I need to go spend a few weeks meditating with Deepak Chopra, getting in touch with myself and the universe.

I follow Yoko Ono on twitter (seemed like a good idea when I reactivated my account a few years ago) and she drops these trippy pearls of wisdom on humanity. You know, things like "Write a list of everything you're afraid of. Burn it. Pour sweet-smelling oil on the ashes". Which I usually take with a grain of pink himalayan salt or completely ignore. However, she recently tweeted something along the lines of "Try not to say anything negative for 3 days. Then a week. Then a month. See how you feel." She kind of got me thinking, Yoko did. Or her ghost twitterers. Whoever. I think when I get lowdown and mean, I keep my self down. I bitch about my coworkers, my future mother-in-law, my too-many-chances and everything the Schatz does or does not do. I wallow. Seriously. And I've been doing it more on than off for MONTHS now. This aggression will not stand, man (to quote someone with a far healther lease on life than mine at the moment). So it's time. I'm going to follow Yoko's and my sainted Nana's example and try to quit talking smack. Slowly of course...gradually. Because I come from good solid smacktalkin' folk. Apart from my great-grandma, that is. But I think it's got to help. And two out of the next three days are weekend anyway, so that should be easy. I think.

...maybe I should start with three hours.

Wish me luck.

Who's got the funk? Does being in a funk count?

2011-04-01T21:58:00.003+02:00

Oh my poor neglected blog!

Terrible how busy I've been.

All the things I listed off in my last post (months and months ago, I know) have served to keep me effectively distracted with all kinds of whatnot.

This weekend is the Berlin half marathon--which I won't be running this year, although I signed up. The winter was essentially one cold after another for me and my doctor advised me not to train with any kind of upper respiratory funk. So I didn't. Which meant I didn't wind up doing too much training. The Schatz is planning on running, I think he'll pull of a much better time than last year. It was hard for me to admit that I wasn't going to make it, but the amount of junk on my plate at the moment means that every day that isn't a war of attrition is an exercise in prioritizing. So whatever. There are other years and other races.

My Facharbeit is due Tuesday--I've got it done, now there's really only the fine-tuning left. It's been so long since I've actually had to organize a paper over ten pages that my structure is kind of junk. Got to work on that. I'm not that proud of it...despite the topic being near and dear to my heart. Time and resources didn't allow me to make it what I really wanted it to be, but perfection is the enemy of done. And I really do want to be done.

After that, there's the defense of the paper--in about a month, and then two exams in mid-May. If everything goes according to hoyle, I won't need to have oral exams and I'll be done. I've submitted a round of planning for the rest of 2011 and 2012 at the adult education center where I do some freelancing...we'll see how that works, not knowing any details of my potential university schedule.

Work at the moment is a battle. Right now we've got a decent amount of staff (two precious interns both born in the 90's, one of whom is forever in my good book for complimenting my make up) so it shouldn't be that stressful, but somehow it is. It seems like I'm throwing my energy into a bottompless pit every day. When I'm not there, I'm thinking about how to solve problems we have, how to deal with difficult parents, coworkers, etc. I love the kids--they are really everything, but it really is time for me to be done with this job, before I drop dead of exhaustion. I hardly have energy to hang out with friends--the Schatz has to drag me out and persuade me to have people over, both of which are unheard of circumstances. I'm hopefully that it'll have an end soon enough, though. Keep your fingers crossed that I hear something from one of the universities soon (it probably won't be until July, realistically speaking). Le sigh.

The good news in this dreariest quagmire of work and stress is that spring has finally sprung in Berlin. I love springtime in this city--the buds on the trees are ready to burst open with those first pale leaves and the days are getting so lovely and long. It does really make life at this latitude worthwhile. I'm counting on the sunlight and steadily increasing temperatures to get me through my exam prep and these last few months of work. I've started counting down the days...

I feel kind of terrible that I've not posted in so long and then when I finally do, it's just full of ennui. Life isn't all terrible--we were in Switzerland at the end of February and it was delightful. We're getting a return visit in mid-June which I'm looking very forward to. We'll also be headed back to the Harz for Easter with the Schatz's grandparents. I already had to give his grandfather our estimated arrival time so that he could start his menu planning. I think I'm going to start fasting now.

I'd like to be able to say with some certainty that my next post won't be so long in coming, but until I'm done with this certification nonsense, I can't promise anything.

I hope everyone's well.

Why hello, 2011...

2011-01-16T13:56:00.007+01:00

Well, here we are.

New Year, all kinds of other new shiny things--off to a fresh start. Sort of. 2011 promises to be big for me--all kinds of official things will be decided.

Will I get permanent residency granted for 'Schland?

Will I get accepted to a German law program?

Will the Schatz win his latest lawsuit?

Oh, the fun that awaits--I simply cannot tell you.

As for what the end of 2010 gave me, I can give you the brief highlights:

There was the Christmas extravaganza, starting in Schierke-am-Brocken with the Schatz's lovely grandparents starting on the 22nd, the mad dash back to Berlin in crazy winter weather warning conditions on Christmas Day (fallen trees and snowdrifts on the train tracks included), Christmas Day-Evening-Duck-Dinner with the Schatz's Mom and Brother, the Boxing Day packing marathon and paranoid visit to the airport followed by the Dec. 27th epic show of my personal luck. It involved me, four airports, almost no layovers, delays of all sorts and for all reasons, nauseating turbulence, friendly customs agents, no pat-downs, close shaves, and a one-hour-late arrival in Portland, ME. Considering the horror stories we all heard about holiday travel in late 2010, I think we can all agree that I got very lucky indeed.

I was able to spend two lovely weeks in the Great State of Maine with my family and a very few friends (for those of you I didn't see, I apologize). It was somewhat restful and extremely caloric. My mother outdid herself with baked goods, as per usual and I watched a lot of Hogan's Heroes with my dad. I was fortunate enough to meet the wee Patrick Ramsey (Colleen's amazing, wonderful, hilarious, goregous son) and see my little sister's apartment (and experience one of her epic aerobics classes...albeit one for active older adults, which kicked my butt). All in all, it was better than I ever could have imagined.

Which always makes coming back harder. But I'm doing alright. All things considered. I only had to work 2.5 days last week, had to toe the line in school due to my recent absences and started training for the Vattenfall Half Marathon in April. Things were going well until I came home from the gym yesterday and brought in the mail. Inside was a letter from a law firm in Hamburg, alleging that the Schatz had downloaded some music in an illicit manner. And suggesting that he pay a certain amount of money for this infringement. Now, if you know the Schatz, you'll know that he is full of singleminded purpose and principle. And that simply paying up (especially if this suggestion is followed by an implied "or else") is out of the question. So it looks like we're kicking off 2011 with a legal battle. Whee!

I'm sure it will be thrilling. As will any number of other surprises that await me. For example, can I tell you, dear readers, what the Schatz's Mom thought to give everyone for Christmas this year? You'll never guess.

Tickets to see Drake.

Yes. Drake. Do you know who he is? I didn't. But now I do. And I'm going to the concert tonight with the Schatz, his Mom and his Brother. Tonight. Did I mention that?

Again, I'm sure it will be glorious. And I might post pictures, if I think to take my camera. So be very excited for that. I'm just glad that I've got today off from my .5 marathon training plan. That should mean that I'll be a trifle more hydrated and awake than on any other given evening this week. That's what I lovehate about training...you sleep SO WELL, and if you've ever struggled with that, you know how wonderful it is to be asleep before your head hits the pillow. However, it does seem to make me hungry for more sleep than is actually organizationally possible for me to achieve. This is tricky. Fortunately, there are a few days a week where I can squeak in a quick nap at work. Yay for being a preschool teacher!

Anyway, what I failed to put on my list of Events for 2011 is the end of my early childhood ed program, which entails a feisty final paper. (Mine's going to be 30 pages on bilingual language acquisition and how to best embed certain theories in educational mission statements for schools--I know, go for the gold, right? Most people are doing things like 'how beneficial is playing outside?') Oh, and there are exams. Written and oral. So that'll be fun. And considering that I didn't so much as crack a book during my supposed "working vacation" in Maine, I suppose I should make use of this somewhat sunny Sunday afternoon and get some work done. Or something like that.

Play Safe, lovelies. That's all for now.

Thanksgiving & Blessings

2010-11-29T22:07:00.007+01:00

Why hello!

I remember you!

And upon looking at the date of my last post, I also realized that it hasn't been as long ago and far away as I thought that I'd last send a missive through the wavy waves of the interweb.

Cool.

I'm not as degenerate of a blogger as I thought.

Anyway. Back to the wild and wacky world of yours truly and all of the random shit that entails.

Welcome, I say.

What's been going on?

Well, loads and loads. I just happened through the pure coincidence which is my raging internet addiction to stumble across one of the best, most thorough horoscopes for my illustrious sign that I've seen in years (YEARS, MAN!). And basically, what it told me was 'November is your month, child. Now get your ass in gear.' Really, essentially that. With a few unmistakables such as a particular week being declared especially good for the submission of applications FORGRAD SCHOOL (I think they mentioned college, too...but that obviously doesn't concern me as much) and one week being singled out as especially good for le babymaking (unfortunately notmy pervue, although it DID cause me to fwd the link to another cancer friend).

ANYWAY, long story short, as a result I got my sht together and finally sent in my application for two law programs here in Berlin. And last Friday, I told my boss.

And you know...it really wasn't all that bad. She took it like the Real Woman of Class and Substance she is and told me that I had to go my own way and that there'd always be a dooropen for me in her little corner of the world. Cool, huh? Considering I'd been losing sleep/getting my panties in a ROYAL twist over this little sit down for...oh, MONTHS now, not half bad. I'm still waiting to hear what's missing from my application (I'm sure there'ssomething. Gotta love those German bureaucrats. Normal people cannot think as nitpicky as they are.) and I won't be getting any kind of definitive news for academic aeons, but the wheelsare moving. Just posting the damn thing was terrifying, but I'm working on that.

Otherwise, there's been the usual insane level of stress with school, clients, work and you know...the little social life I try to keep alive. But I think I sort of manage to keep things in balance...if by balance you mean some kind of death-defying, somewhat productive tailspin. But I'm not complaining. Tis not the season to complain. Tis the season to be thankful!

And thankful I am. Really. For what seem like a thousand blessings. Not the least of which is a good group of friends who humor my need to throw a fck-off dinner party in late November ever year. I make them cook in teams. They make great things. We reached culinary heights this year, in my opinion with the herbed dinner rolls. Those things were FANTASTIC. Despite afew unfortunate last-minute cancellations and a very unfortunate boxing match which kind of put a damper on the mood, it was a great time. This year, we didn't even need to borrow a table! We can seat twelve! It's great.

Other things to be thankful for include loyal clients, gainful employment, a nice warm place to call home...and (nearly) five years with the most supportive, funniest, beardiest human teddy bear known to man. And not leastly or lastly, a great family and great, loyal, supportive, wonderful friends in faraway places (yes, I mean you yanks).

Yous wonderful, alluvyas.

Thanks for being yourselves, thanks for being great (although since you ARE ALL GREAT, it comes out to one and the same. Whatever.)

Take care everyone.

X's&O's

101th POST!

2010-10-19T17:56:00.004+02:00

Silly me, I didn't notice that I'd hit the 100 mark on ye olde blog until after I posted. So I'll have to commemorate the 101th post instead.

This won't be long, since all the whirlwindery of the last few weeks has knocked me a bit flat (might also have something to do with the miniature bacteria catapults with which I work). The Schatz has a long lab day/night tonight, so I'm on me onesies with my HSE and my sage tea. I SHOULD be writing a paper on something around the general health of small children based on some study or other, or better yet paying bills, or better YET putting together a presentation on the main jewish holidays, but instead I'm ensconced on my couch under several blankets with some physalis (for the vitamins) and some of the Schatz's secret swiss chocolate stash (for the soul) posting to all you internet folks and coughing my face off.

Sounds like a rollicking good time, non?

Berlin has decided to release her winter ire a bit early this year--it's only a shade darker at quarter past six pm than it was all day. It never really got light. Instead, it rained and winded and was generally ugly. Ohhhhhh uglyberlin. It's the jekyll side of this city to be sure. Some cities turn into sparkling winter wonderlands in the wintertime. Berlin is not one of those. From now until April, things won't really change much, barring perhaps an early March thaw. It doesn't really freeze, so snow doesn't really stick--things just get gray and rainy and raw. I think that's what has turned me into such a festive holiday person. I never used to be, but celebrating Thanksgiving and the Advent season in general last year was a turning point for me. It was so great having a mob here cooking and eating and drinking together. I'm looking forward to the planning for this year. It will indeed serve to distract me from the impending hounds of winter hell. Freezing rain was forecast for today. I hauled out my ski jacket and the lined clarks for the trip to and from work and was a happier commuter for it.

Time to get a move on with the Christmas shopping, I suppose. But also alas, time to get a move on all the work I've got to do around here.

So, happy Fall to you of the interweb and happy 101th post to me. May your apple pies be crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside and your jack-o-lanterns well cut.

Renovations and other Fall fun!

2010-10-10T13:12:00.005+02:00

Oh, hello internet friends!

Believe it or not, I have missed you so. There's just been so much going on! Well, I suppose not more than normal, but details, details. I'm here now. My dashboard was so kind as to inform me that I last posted on the 2nd of August. It is now early October. That means I left out most of August and all of September. Bad, bad blogger! Oh well. What all went on is the question?

Well, the Schatz had his birthday. For which he came back from Zürich. We celebrated withmany lovely folks here in chez Bänsch and I do believe a good time was had by all. I spent a few weeks in August working in a relatively relaxed fashion, did a Swim & Run with the lovelyMs. Carina (we didn't do very well, but seeing as we were both vacationing beforehand, we didnot train very hard either. It is logical that there would be a correlation between the two).

School started for me (my last year! Oh and how I cannot wait for my exams! Seriously.), the Long Night of the Museums came to pass (I was not out very long at all, visited the Helmut Newton archives, Schloß Charlottenburg and a Synagogue)...I trained my munchkins to run a 1km race, which was charming and rewarding...and last but not least, THE SCHATZ RETURNED!

I picked him up from the central train station here on the 25th of September, at the end of a very crazy week. The last few weeks have been light-duty in terms of work (thank heavens!) and have enabled me/us to get a lot done around chez Bänsch. In fact, last weekend we renovated the bedroom. It was pretty cool and I've got some lovely before/after photos.

Bedroom before ...and after.

Another view of the revamped bedroom and the NEW BOOKSHELVES in the livingroom.

Oh yes, and we finally have a dishwasher. Saints be praised!

This weekend, we helped some friends move. They left the lovely Südkiez in favor of less rowdy Potsdam...I wish them eversomuch love and happiness there. And I hope we get to visit them lots, even though it's quite far away (at least by urban standards). The move is my excuse for not prepping my lesson for il Dottore...I feel like I've been out for 3 nights in a row drinking, when all I really did was schlepp/unbuild/rebuild IKEA furniture for 11 hours and inhale lots of dust. Getting old is a terrible thing.

Since the Schatz has been back, we've started a little habit of going out to breakfast on Sunday mornings. It's been lovely really--last week we went to a tiny cafe and I had a most delectible bagel with some kind of a goat camembert, arugula, pesto & tomato. Today we hit up a place called Kuchenrausch (Cake High) and were very impressed by service & food. Service is a rare commodity here. I haven't felt so pampered by a server in aeons!

On the whole, there hasn't been too much of note going on. My application process for Uni is coming along well--as far as I can tell, I have all of the necessary official documents, and they have all been notarized. Now I just have to put together a detailed resume for one University (so that they can see where I've been in the 6 years since I took my last German proficiency exam) and I'll be good to go. The conversation with the Boss Lady is also imminent. We shall see how that goes. Please do wish me luck and balls.

Hope this finds you well and enjoying all the apple pies, cider and pumpkin delicacies you can all stand!

XoX

In case y'all thought I was a raging narcissist...

2010-08-02T21:52:00.003+02:00

I was never actually intentionally following my own blog. Still not sure how that happened...but I managed to un-do it!

Yay for that and yay for being back in the Hauptstadt.

Caio for now, Kinders.

Viva Italia

2010-07-30T14:44:00.005+02:00

So some of you clever folks might have gotten the memo that the Schatz and I went to Italy for a week. Florence, to be precise. And the even trickier ones of you have already cruised through my selection of photos posted at a certain social-networking site.

Be that as it may, I would be remiss I suppose, if I didn't post my impressions and culinary exploits here. That's what this damn thing is for. Aaaand the german amazon hasn't quite gotten around to delivering my book to me here in Switzerland. Bastards.

So anyway, Italy.

Due to my inordinate and inexplicable love for italian food (my family is WASP through and through) and warm, sunny places, I have always imagined that Italy would be a happy place for me. You know, the kind of place you visit and it just clicks and you say "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?!"

As you can see, I went with high expectations. Quite high.

I was not disappointed in the slightest.

I'll give you the less interesting things in a high-speed rundown:

Hotel: FANTASTIC. If you go, stay at the Hotel Cellai. The deskpeople are lovely, helpful and fluent in a variety of languages. Make sure you specify what kind of a room you want, because it's a boutique hotel, not Best Western. They have small rooms and pimp rooms. We asked and we received, if you know what I mean.

Shopping: Good enough to make a girl weak in the knees. They have (as apparently most European countries/cities do) annual sales in January/February and July/August. Really, really fantastic. Be prepared to hemorrhage money and be thankful for the opportunity.

Locals: Well, in the Summer, the city is overrun with Americans. Some of them look italian, some of them don't. The locals we encountered in retail and gastronomy were helpful and English-speaking. Bus/Tram drivers also very helpful, not so fluent in the foreign languages but verrry fluent in sign language. And you don't have the feeling that people are perpetually trying to snow you. Italy does somehow have that reputation and I can say that the worst thing that happened to us was that we got overcharged for one of the lemon sodas that the Schatz got addicted to during our stay. Really, coulda been a lot worse.

The City: Breathtaking. A little stinky in the summer because lots of the less fortunate like to pee in the sidestreets (do NOT assume that liquid on the ground is water, EVER.) but aside from that there is so much of the old architecture that's been preserved, so many goregous piazzas and cathedrals and duomos and old statues that you get the feeling you could change people's clothes and the stores and easily be in another century.
Funny related sidestory and the reason we have decent pictures of this escapade at all:
I actually set foot on this journey thinking that I'd be able to take all necessary photos with my phone. My old camera was broken in a drunken incident at the beginning of the year which I believe was also chronicled here, but bygones. Anyway I really did think that my lovely little BBbold would do Florence justice. We got in late and after dinner we went for a walk in the city. Just kind of meandering because that's what we do well and out of nowhere I saw this really breathtaking cathedral. The street ended in a huge central square and I'm staring at one of the most imposing churches I've ever seen (and as you know, I live on the old continent where they DO business churches). I looked at the Schatz, the Schatz looked at me and I said, "honey, we need a camera. NOW."
So we spent the first day asking around where the nearest, large electronics store was to be found. Successfully, might I add. Another testament to very helpful, English-speaking locals. So now we have a nice little sony. Nothing to write home about, but it got the job done.

That was the rundown. Now it's time for the grub.

The food we had was fantastic. We tried to do a good mix of everything--nice meals, street-food, take out, basic sit down meals so that we could get a real picture of what people eat there. Not just the tourists. I'm not going to write down everything we had, but I'll do a top 5. I'm not as good at food porn as Anthony Bordain, so I'm pretty sure a bite-by-bite chronicle of eight days worth of food might not be that entertaining.

(drumroll please.)

5. The mushroom strudel and the steak courses of our multi-course dinner. Divine.

4. Real buffalo mozarella in an insalata caprese. WHOAH. Real Mozarella TASTES like something!!!

3. Crazy things with rice. I in my ignorance, saw rice as the direct competition of pasta. This is not so.

2. These little fried soft salty chewy roll things we had the first night at dinner and never again.

1. PIADINE! Dear lord, find a place that serves them. Italian streetfood at it's finest. If you don't like it, you haven't had the right one yet.

I am now realizing that the things I liked the best and the things I took pictures of are two different kettles of fish. Probably because I was too busy stuffing my face with the deliciousness to commemorate the moment. Oh well. I do have what normal people would consider a ridiculous amount of food pictures. Most of which were taken before I realized that my camera had a specific setting for those types of pictures.

The motto of the story?

Go, try the shellfish and generally enjoy yourself. I highly recommend it.

Zürich is rainy and other thoughts

2010-07-29T14:04:00.012+02:00

Hello lovelies.

Greetings from once-sunny now soaking-wet Zürich.

Normally I don't have too many problems with the weather. This Summer has been quite nice...some heat wave, low humidity, a bit of rain...but the thing is, I'm living out of a suitcase and I have been for the past 2 weeks. Due to ridiculous weight limits for inter-euro flights, I was only allowed a paltry 20 kg of luggage. This left no room for multiple cardigans or rain boots. Hell, the only close-toed shoes I have with me are my running shoes! Long pants are also underrepresented. This has to do of course with the weather while I was packing. The foreseeable future looked like HEAT WAVE.

Oh well.

While visiting the Kunsthaus yesterday (GREAT collection folks. Really. And Wednesdays are free entry. Go if you're here.) I got stuck in the rain. In leggings and birkenstocks. I was wearing a windbreaker which got the worst of it, but generally a weather-appropriate clothing FAIL. I therefore announced yesterday that should the weather again be so miserable, I would refuse to leave the house. So I'm here. Doing laundry, watching old school disney flicks and waiting for the DHL man to bring me my latest Politkovskaya book (side note: I love that woman.).

All in all, not a bad way to spend a day of vacation. The Schatz is worried that I'll be bored and cranky, but I tried to persuade him he's got nothing to worry about...unless the DHL man does not bring my book. In which case I will not be bored, just cranky.

But let me tell you a bit about Zürich.

I know I already posted an overview of the city, but now I've seen some more things, taken some better photos and generally been here a bit longer. So I feel like another post is in order. I might not have done the old girl justice before.

So. Zürich is not really that exciting. It is beautiful, clean and full of great luxury shopping if that's your thing. If you don't mind paying substantially more than you would elsewhere, Zürich is the place for you. However, being as I am, a fan of alternative funk, I'd been searching in vain since my first visit, trying to find at least a single street with a few funky hip stores doing cool things. All leads I thought I had turned out to be funky fata morganas, and I was getting discouraged. Lord knows I'd really racked up the kilometers traipsing through Zürich and searching. Finally I stumbled across a website of an exberlinerIn living in Züri and though she listed mostly things that were not anywhere off the beaten path, she mentioned a store called EINZIGART. (einzigart.ch) in the Josefstraße in Zürich. I put in on my list and did my daily wanderings which included the Haus Konstruktiv (very very cool: hauskonstruktiv.ch) and a loooong walk through Zürich's "red light district" (rather tame if you don't count the occasional junky and the ageing prostitutes). By the time I got to the Josefstr. I couldn't even remember why I wanted to be there. And I walked down the wrong end of it first--lots of neat restaurants and a lot of indian folk but no cool stores. So I walked down the more boring looking side and PRESTO, a la peanut butter sandwiches, I see the SHUALA concept store. I couldn't really believe my eyes, I went in and had a wander. It's one of those stores that's a dime-a-dozen in Berlin (spoiled, I know) featuring handmade stuff from various european grass-roots designers. (shuala.com) It's cool, but vasssstly overpriced. I bought a bag just to convince myself this wasn't another hipness mirage. I continued my meanderings and found all kinds of neat stuff, including said EinzigArt store (really, really neat stuff there folks.) and another store called something like Liliputans...it was full of the most unholy kitsch you have EVER seen. We're talking everything available in red-white polka dots, plastic flowers and childrens toys in shades of bright my eyes weren't used to. Di-vine.

I recommend walking the street from Langstraße to its end (Hafnerstr.) which is also a treat. Just around the corner is a store that blew my mind...Garten Eden, full of antiques, the odd plant and really great glassware. In the Hafnerstr. itself there are a few hip-seeming clothing stores, which I didn't bother checking out...they looked cool enough.

I can't tell you all what a relief this was to me. I felt quite guilty passing this city off as lametoast...turns out there are a few highlights after all.

The whole waterfront thing tickles me. Not the Züri See...it's nice but often very crowded with cosmetically augmented older women (botoxed face+bleached blonde extensions+silcone rack+short shorts with jiggly chicken legs = unaesthetic, sorry. I don't usually bodysnark, but if you are that gungho with the plastic surgery you kind of invite it.). I'm talking about the Limmat. It feeds into the Züri See along with the Sihl and if you walk upriver, you encounter some nice places to swim, grab a coffee and just enjoy the day. Unfortunately, due to all the rain, some have had to close. The river is getting a tad full.

There was also the Swiss Ironman here last weekend and this Sunday is apparently some kind of national holiday (hence, I believe, all the flag-action in the photos) involving fireworks. I'm almost sad to be flying out on that day.

But only almost. Really, I miss Berlin and my apartment and my friends and using the smart functions on my smartphone. Vacation is cool and all, but I kinda want to go home now.

Topp, die Wette gilt...

2010-06-06T21:03:00.003+02:00

Hello, lovelies.

As usual, it's been far too long. I've had all kinds of time, especially this weekend. I've been feeling a bit under the weather, so I cleared my schedule to recover. I did important things like paint my finger- and toenails two different colors, sit on my balcony for hours, make chicken and rice for dinner, watch oodles of HSE and visit two markets.

Anyway, I've been up to all kinds of interesting whatnot since we've heard from eachother last. I got booster shots and an international immunization pamphlet from my Doc, got an EKG to check on my ticker, sworn off of watching Germany's Next Top Model...all kinds of terribly important things, as you can see.

Perhaps my most interesting undertaking has been to make a bet with my Schatz. Or the fact that my Schatz made a bet with me. Not of the nicest sort, I must warn y'all. As is known to my friends and acquaintances on the interweb, said Schatz is spending six months working for the Swiss in Zürich. He was here visiting over Pentacost (in the homeland of Protestantism, one gets long weekends for such things) and we got talking about my Great Loves. For example, pizza. I don't really care whether it's good, bad or frozen. I could eat it 8 days a week, 52 weeks a year, for the REST.OF.MY.LIFE. This presents a certain...problem for my figure.

I said that I would certainly be able to keep things under control with diet and exercise and not go all hedonist just because my Teutonic Half isn't around. He said I wouldn't.

I'm a lot of things, one of which is prideful.

This makes me an easy mark for bets of this nature.

If I manage to lose 5kg before the Schatz comes back at the end of September, I get to pick out a pimp electric toothbrush.

If I lose 7kg (which is about as likely as me going vegan), I get a kitchen aid mixer.

HOWEVER...

If I lose the bet, I have to do all the housework for 6 months...to the Schatz's standards.

I HATE cleaning. I'm not even good at it.

So.

I obviously have to win.

To my (dis)credit, I have never dieted in my life. I've never had to. I was a distance runner in my teens, and during college I was much too preoccupied with other things to be worried about my weight. Once I arrived in Germany, I was busy starting a new life to worry about losing weight. My weight has gone up and down in the last few years, but really all by itself. I've wondered at it, contemplated it...but never really tried to influence it one way or another.

Now it's game time.

I've been keeping a food diary, keeping track of everything I eat. It's embarassing sometimes, because it's never really been how I roll, but so far I'm doing an all right job. I get why people say that writing everything down is the first step. It's an epic pain in the ass to write down every cookie, every square of dark chocolate, every shot in my coffee. So you do less of it. It's easier that way.

It's Summer, so it's easier to skip the carbs and load up on salads and veggies. Still, I love noodles, like a fat kid loves...noodles. So I'm trying to cut back and when I do indulge, it's whole grain.

The other thing I'm trying to do is get the word out. If my friends don't know, they'll accidentally sabotage me. If they do know, they serve me whole grain noodles and/or brown rice when I'm there.

Other than that...I'm trying to not to inhale trucker-sized portions of everything.

...kinda thinking that might help a little.

We'll see.

In the meantime, I hope those of you who made the pilgrimage to Gambier played safe (& hard) and I also hope that my lymph nodes stop feeling like they're going to explode out of my neck.

Till then.

Visual Input

2010-05-02T16:02:00.003+02:00

This is a saying from the Ivory Coast: "One cannot live without such beautiful things."

Good Afternoon!*

2010-05-02T15:15:00.006+02:00

(Aren't these pretty?)

Hello, folks.

I'm not entirely sure this is in fact, a good afternoon...but I am determined to make it positive and not just productive (yes, it is a quarter past three European Central Time and I am FINISHED with my planning for the week. Normally I think about STARTING at this time. Ole!). So productive I have been.

Just not so positive. Despite a prettypretty princess bath and a chat with my Dearest. Perhaps it's the weather. Friday was so lovely and then Saturday and Sunday were so nondescript. Not warm, not cold, not sunny, not entirely cloudy...just terribly bland.

Perhaps it is also bland in regard to the last few days. I've been flitting all over tarnation, discovering delicious whatnots like Piadine (combines börek--a sort of turkish crepe usually filled with spinach and cheese or a ground meat mixutre only crispy and with FRESH italian fillings--procutto, arugula, fantastic cheeses) neat little shops full of neat little things, catching up with friends and just generally enjoying my lovely little pants off. I suppose that a Just Work Sunday is a bit of a let down.

Good, so now I've figured out where my general funk is coming from.

What about the other great mysteries of my life?

For example, why is there so much subtle residual glitter around here? I don't strike myself as the glittery type (unless of course there's a glitter epidemic at work. These things do happen. There will be a period of a few weeks where everything MUST GLITTER. Then of course, I'm covered in the damn stuff and it doesn't scrub off well, I can tell you.). For some reason, however, the back of my relatively new phone has a distinctly glittery sheen to it and when I washed the mattress pads and duvets, the next things to come out of my washing machine also had a sublte glittery sheen. Do I sweat glitter? I know I have a rouge that sort of shimmers...but I apply that to my FACE and not my ENTIRE APARTMENT. My lotions do not glitter and I have one body powder that does. Which I don't often use, due to the fact that body powder is kind of tricky to apply. The bathmat usually winds up looking like some kind of glittery drug explosion just happened...

So this is my question to you, folks. Where doth this glitter come from? And why?

This is what I think about instead of plotting my next career move. Or dreading my next career move. I don't dread going back to school. I'm all for it. It was my idea. I feel baldy for the people I'm going to be hurting/leaving behind. Which then leads me to contemplate the idea of living your life for other people. I think there's a difference between being selfless and loving and really basing every major decision in your life on someone else. I know, I've been doing one and attempting the other. I'll leave it to you, fair readers, to figure out which is what. Be that as it may, I know I have to move on and do Something Else with my Life. I even have an idea as to what that Something Else could be. At least a vague one. At the moment, it's a question of bureaucracy and finances. Two great loves of mine. Just kidding. You'd be hard pressed to find two things I dislike more. I also know it's time for me to (wo)man up and take care of the uncomfortable business in my life myself. Without diversions or excuses.

Ugh.

It's just that I hate uncomfortable business. We're talking about people who have trusted in me, given me responsibility and money and who are counting on me. And I don't think they're going to see it coming. I just want to do the Right Thing...that is of course, without having to work there for the rest of my professional life.

Anyway. Enough of that.

I feel like I've been so productive today that I MUST be forgetting something. It's just not possible that all of my planning and printing is already done, school work included. I keep thinking of other things I might maybe have to do...and I can't come up with anything, other than to call my parents (but not until 6pm CET) and clean the apartment--and if there's anything else to be done, I'd rather do that first.

*think think*

I can't think of a thing.

However, I did have a perfect Eiskaffee yesterday (coffee with vanilla ice cream and in this case, whipped cream, chocolate sauce and sprinkles) and my friend Carina had the perfect little strawberry ice cream mini sundae. And there are pictures.

*I am almost certain that I've already shared the anecdote of my maternal grandfather always saying "GOOD AFTERNOON!" in a resounding voice whenever we woke up after spending the night there. He was always up first, even when we were little and treated 8am as if it were 2pm. Whenever someone says "Good Afternoon" to me in a pleasant, normal voice, I think of my grandfather trumpeting this greeting throughout the entire house.

In that same spirit,

GOOD AFTERNOON!

Enjoy the last vestiges of weekend, lovelies.

The Rest of Züri

2010-04-19T21:28:00.005+02:00

So my lovelies,

I promised to finish my review of Zürich when I got back to Berlin.

Here's the rest of the story.

I was another few days in the city and I feel like it was enough to get a picture of the place. I know that to really know a city, you need to live there. And I don't live in Zürich, obviously. So all of what I'm going to let loose here is pretty much my subjective, prejudiced, reactionary ramblings.

In other words, business as usual.

I deliberately tried to do as little as possible while I was there. I work a helluva lot and this was kind of supposed to be something like a vacation. So I slept a lot and spent a lot of time people watching by the Zürich Lake. And staring at the Alps. You've got to hand it to the city--it's clean, the air is fresh and the scenery surrounding it is breathtaking. There are lush parks and the promenade along the lake is dotted with the perfect amount of benches. Pretty much the way you would imagine something created by the Swiss. They're thorough.

They're also filthy rich. I've never, in all my travels seen as many jags, ferarris and lambos registered to the same city. Mercedes and BMWs were, like...middle-class cars. The main street was full of your rank and file designer stores and the fun of course doesn't stop there. The whole city is full of lovely narrow alleyways that remind one of falling down a rabbit's burrow. There are neat little indie stores and even more ridiculously posh stores. The Swiss seem to like to buy their ladies lots of expensive jewelery and the women seem to take their interior decoration verrrry seriously. 2 Bedroom apartments cost around 2,500 chf (the frank is about on par with the dollar) wherever you want to rent in the city. The pimp cars you see are usually cleaned--for those of you who aren't filthy rich enough to know, this means that the only thing

you see on the back of the car is the audi emblem (or the ferarri, jag, etc.) --no information about the dealer, the engine, etc. It's cool to be discrete, apparently.

The city as I said is nice. The people are friendly if a bit reserved, and very polite. The city proper has a population of around 400,000--including all surrounding suburbs it's mayyyybe a million. This of course can't hold a candle to Berlin's 4 million inhabitants--not counting the surrounding bedroom communities. (You guys know I don't really do numbers, so these are not figures I've in any way researched, they're just things I've been told. If you really want to know, wiki it.)

I'm going to let you in on something.

I am not so much the outdoorsy type.

Zürich is full of people who ski, hike, climb and just generally love nature. I like nature, but I don't love it. I grew up in lots and lots and lots of nature. It refreshes me to visit it. I do not,

however, need to climb a mountain every weekend to get my kicks. Most people in Zürich do.

I'm going to tell you something else.

I currently live in a city that is the love of my life (Don't fret y'all, Stephan knows this. He's not thrilled, but he understands). If you can love a place more than anything, that's how I love this city. Travelling is great, but there always comes a point where I say, "ok, the party's over, it's time for me to get back to MY city". If I'm going to be enthralled by a new place, it's got to beat out Berlin in several different categories, a few of which are:

Funk/Flair

Character

Culture

Creativity

Action

...

I'm sure after I post this, I'll think of more, but these are the first few that come to mind. As you can see, beauty is missing from this list. I do not ask for beauty in a city. That's what makes it nice, but that's not what makes me love it. I can love ugly things. Not everyone can. Funk is important, character is important, things like art and music and theater are important (even if I don't go nearly often enough), and you've got to have bars, restaurants and clubs to go to, depending on what your thing is.

Zürich is a great place to spend time. It's probably also a great place to raise a family. A wonderful place to spend an outdoorsy vacation.

However, it's not necessarily anyplace I'd want to live, despite businesses throwing lovely flowers into historic fountains just because it's Easter.

Hope you're all well and that Spring has sprung in your respective areas.

love and swiss cheese,

Berliner Halbmarathon & de Schwiiz

2010-04-04T19:26:00.003+02:00

So. To all those of you who were wondering...

I did run that half marathon on March 28th. Although I felt prepared and although I had trained since mid January for this event, including 2 full-length training runs, it still kicked my sorry arse. Despite years and years of race experience, I still managed to go out wayyyy too fast over the first 5k. Silly of me, really...but running with 27,000 other people through my city just made my heart go so pitapat that I couldn't really control myself. On the whole, it was much more beautiful and amazing than I had imagined and much more terrible and painful. The organizers, SCC running said after the fact that ca 170000 Berliners came out to cheer for the racers. I believe them. There was no part of the route where there weren't spectators lining the course, cheering and holding signs. Bands came and set up shop and played and sang along the course, drumming groups drummed...it was like a festival. It kind of restored my faith in humanity to see all those people come out, you know? The weather was not the greatest. It was cloudy and blustery and approximately 10 °C, if that says anything to you. Above freezing, but a tad on the chilly side. Then it rained. Then the sun came out and it was glorious...except that I kind of wanted to stop and die at that point. People taking off their jackets and repinning their start numbers were faster than I was at this point.

Be all that as it may, my years of training paid off in that I was still able to sprint the finish (although some guy in a wheelchair cut me off directly at the finish...@$%&!) and I got all 21.5K done in less than two hours, which was my goal.

Now I'm on vacation in Zürich for a week and a half. Stephan's got an internship here for the next six months and I decided to stop by on the front end to bring him some stuff and check the place out. I've been here since Thursday night and it's quite nice. The people are very friendly, their dialect is a bit on the wonky side, but the city is impeccably clean (especially in comparison to Berlin), the houses are old and charming, and the view of the Alps from Stephan's place is rather breathtaking. The only catch so far are the prices...it's comparable to New York. I just find it silly in this picturesque little city to pay world-class metropolis-prices--we're talking $8 for a kebap, between $4 and $6 for a coffee...I'm used to being able to eat my way around the world for like, $10 for an entree. I know, I'm spoiled, Berlin is a gastrointestinal paradise...I'm working on getting used to the fact that other places have other prices. Oh well, I'm on vacation. I'm hoping the weather gets nice and I can spend some time down at the Züri See (Zürich Lake) next week while Stephan's working. I've been taking a few pictures and I hope to get them posted once I get home--I left all the proper cables in Berlin. : /

Hope you all had a great Easter. I'll finish my review of Zürich when I get back to the Fatherland.

NewPost

2010-03-13T16:40:00.004+01:00

I'm not entirely sure what merits posting today...probably the fact that this weekend is starting off mellow and I actually have TIME to post. AMAZING. Well, we all know that one makes time for what's important...I could be working on a paper for a class called (translated) Creating Living Rooms for Children. By that of course they don't mean living rooms in the American sense of the word, but Living.Rooms. Rooms where children live. You know?

...I don't. Well, I do, but it doesn't interest me a hoot to describe the rooms at work and how they could be improved. And I have an introduction already. So there.

Anyway. We've had a few wild weekends behind us with some spontaneous dinner parties that turned into overnights, me visiting some of my no-longer-work kids, a pro basketball game, gallery visits, more dinners and a whole helluva lot of kilometers. It's been fun. Apparently, it's also been exhausting. So much so that Stephan has actually opted for a formal nap IN BED instead of just dozing off to soccer on the couch. The boy never naps. He's a high-energy morning person. I nap. Whenever I can. I know it's going to be a tough day when I wake up and try to figure out when my next opportunity to nap will be. But enough of that.

Things here are rolling merrily along. We rediscovered the weekly market at Boxhagener Platz on Saturday mornings last week in a fit of sunlight induced spring fever. I bought a few magnolia branches which I'm trying to coax into opening their buds and we decided the culinary delights of this market could not possibly be enjoyed on one morning, so we vowed to return. And we did, today. With the express purpose of eating breakfast. They have such lovely things! Whole roasted fish, turkish breakfasts, waffles, swiss speacialities, sausage by the ton and everything fresh enough to sass you back and flanked by goregous produce. We chose to get a big mix of turkish goodness at one of the stands--my chickpeas in sauce, stuffed eggplant and chicken with mixed veggies didn't disappoint...although it did leave me with a hankering for really good turkish steetfood. I had stuffed mussels from some random vendor after a night of dancing with my landlady and her friends back in the day which occasinoally haunt me still. Is that what being a foodie is all about? I think so. Some things I've eaten just don't let me go. Another example would be the potato salad from Stephan's Grandpa. I could lay down and die happy in a bowl of it. Or his stuffed mushroom caps! The man can cook. He sent us a package of cured meats the other day which has had Stephan making himself secret sandwiches since.

Speaking of mushroom caps, one of the stands this morning had the HUGEST white mushroom caps ever. I got so excited when I saw them...and had to have them. I know they're not going to be close to what Stephan's Grandad can do, but I'm going to try. I'm envisioning a ground beef filling with elements of rosemary and feta cheese. Oooh, I'm already getting hungry. This isn't good.

Aside from the edible experiences of the last few weeks about which I could go on and on...things have been busy and I'm glad to have a weekend where not so much is going on to just kick back and relax. We're meeting friends later on for drinks...but just drinks, not dinner and not here for a change. Also refreshing. I love hosting. I love having people over and cooking and eating and wining together...but sometimes it's great when the action happens someplace else. However, the trip last Sunday to the Berliner'sche Galerie in Kreuzberg was fantastic. Well worth breaking my rule that nothing wild and social happens on Sundays. I went with a friend of mine who did some modeling work for them a while back. The exhibit was great...some really bizarre, thought-provoking art from the corporate collection of a natural gas company here in Berlin. I'd never really thought about it, but I guess it often happens that companies diversify their portfolios and that in large companies some of that "corporate art" hanging around might just be galery worthy. Let me tell you, the GASAG has some cool stuff. It's well worth a visit, although the neighborhood is a bit crap. Not dangerous or anything, just...nothing there. At least not in comparison to the bopping enclaves I'm used to in Berlin.

As interesting as all this is, I can't really surpress my hunger any more, so I'm going to go cruise the kitchen. I got some yummy greek yogurt today, and I think it's time has already come....

love and delicacies!

Catchup Post

2010-02-16T12:11:00.011+01:00

Hello Kinners!

(Berlin'risch for "Kinders", which in Real German is actually "Kinder" which in English is...."children"--not meant condescendingly, much more conspiratorially.)

Good afternoon to you all.

I'd've loved to have posted sooner, but you know, I was kind of busy trying to get a year started. My sincere apologies. Really. I know you out there in the interweb have been hankering for my double conjunctions and rambliness (oh, and did I mention the made up words?).

I think I can say after about a month and a half, this year is off and running. 2009 had a tendency to beat me up and steal my lunch money, among other things. Twentyten is going to be better of course (aren't they always?) but I have an inkling that things will be just as challenging.

To save time and space and my wrists, I'm going to give you the quick and dirty version of all the silly whatnot, drama, wonder and beautiful scenery I've been bopping around in since we

last heard from eachother.

Let's rock.

1. The Karkonosze.

Looked something like this. This lovely chalet was apparently a best-kept secret among the nordic skiiers in Bedrichov. You could get delicious czech food for silly prices in a wonderfully dark, mountainy atmosphere. Of course, being the foodies we are, Stephan and I couldn't resist. He had pheasant with those dense czech dumplings and I had venison with a lovely mushroom sauce. We were out of there for under $20 and it was so delicious. It came close to rescuing the whole vacation for me. I'm not going to get into too much detail, but suffice to say there was

pouting, a few yelling matches, some bewilderment, a few grudges and I won't be going on vacation with another couple (or 2) any time soon. I could have lived long and happily not knowing all the things I know about that crowd now.

But such is life, right?

2. Ringing in the New Year

Technically this is cheating, because we did ring in the New Year in the Karkonosze with That Crowd, but we did it at this random village party that our landlady told us about. They'd transformed some huge old soviet-style community center (there were murals of virtuous workers on the walls) into a place for a mixer for everyone under 80 from the surrounding 5 villages. It was ridiculous. Stephan had rousing conversations with the youth about soccer (what else?) and I beat all comers at the foosball table. And there was a pink wig involved in which we were

all photographed at some point.

3. I'm training for a half marathon.

Unfortunately, Berlin is covered in a thick layer of ice and snow, which occasionally turns into a thick layer of slush and then refreezes. This makes training difficult and has kicked my otherwise titanium immune system in the proverbial junk. I seem to pick up whatever bacteria are floating around in my general vacinity and take them for a test drive. This makes training tricky. I've got a little less than 2 months to double my mileage. It's going to be tight, folks.

4. There was the Lange Nacht der Museen.

I love the Lange Nacht. It commeth twice a year and I plan these outings with military precision which cannot be found in any other area of my life at any other time. This year, stops included: the Berliner Zoo Aquarium, a fanastic fashion photography exhibit at the Martin-Gropius-Bau, the very mediocre Film and Television Museum, an interesting exhibit of cover-jacket and poster art in the Kunstbibliothek and a depressing amount of religious iconography in the Gemälde Galerie (which reminded me why I'd never been there before).

I love aquariums. Not of the home variety...don't ask me why, but I'm not a fan. I love being in huge rooms just surrounded by even huger tanks of water full of fascinating creatures. It brings out the cancer in me, I think, being completely surrounded by water. I could lay down on a bench and sleep like a baby.

5. Sickness.

We're a bit out of order here, because technically, I was out of commission for the week before the Lange Nacht, but it was wretched. Stomach flu with all the fixings. I'll spare you the details, but it was noteworthy. Fastforward to now, which is me skipping my morning classes today to drink tea, take a eukalyptus bath and bond with the european homeshopping channel. I figured I have to give a course tonight and instead of doing everything today in a crappy/mediocre fashion, I could cut out a few things and do something well. We'll see if it works. I just know I also have to make it through the rest of this week somehow. Vive la Chamomile!

6. Matthias/Ladies Night.

Now we're back to recent things...like last weekend. Although Stephan and I have what we like to call our "rockstar" lifestyle, it usually does not include partying like said rockstars. It mostly includes eating like them...or eating really well, since I suspect that many rockstars subsist on pizza and random pills. This weekend, Matthias was in Berlin. Matthias of Rostock fame, who now lives in Hamburg who hasn't visited us in quite a while. It was great, but it was a bit on the ginsoaked side. Somehow it always is when we get together. We watched Bond, which is always good, but on Saturday I was invited to partake in a Ladies Night. Which is also something I don't do often. It wasn't ginsoaked, it was proseccosoaked. Oh dear, oh dear. On the way from Nici's house to the club, I think we entertained the entire subway. Without flashing anyone, which is perhaps a testament to the raucousness of the evening. In hindsight, I'm still pretty sure we were hilarious. I'm not going to pretend that Frannz is the end-all, be-all of the Berliner club scene, but it was appropriate for the evening. And they played almost all of the music we pregamed to. Since when is that not a win?

Somehow I think coming home at 6am on Sunday has something to do with my sniffleiciousness. However, I'm not that old yet, damn it...and I don't do it that often.

So.

It's official. You're all caught up. Mostly. Now I have to get caught up. I've got class to teach this evening, and I've got to finish the planning and perhaps get out of my nest here and get some photocopies made. And I need some sage tea. I'm fresh out and when you're feeling sniffly, there's nothing like sage tea. Chamomile is close, but sage is better. Take my word. You've got to get past the taste but once you do, it'll do you a world of good.

Anyway, I hope you all on the other side of the pond have managed to dig youselves out of your various snowpocalypses and are back to going about business as usual. Stay healthy and remember...the days are already getting longer. Spring is coming. I swear!

This post was brought to you by HSE24, Chamomile tea and my fuzzy pink blanket.

Weihnachtszeit, Weihnachtszeit...

2009-12-26T09:31:00.004+01:00

Merry Christmas to you and yours, lovelies. Hope Santa was good to you all and that you got to spend some quality time with your loved ones. I cooked up a storm and will detail the menu for you when I get back from our trip to the Czech Republic. The Germans have a practical name for the mountains we're going to visit, they call them the "Riesengebirge". In Czech, they're called "Karkonosze"--except with a few less vowels. I'm hoping for snow, since the temperatures here aren't really Christmas-y. I'm not expecting to have internet in our lovely village hamlet, so I'll update when I get back. Hopefully.

Have a great and healthy New Year, folks. Drive safe, take care of each other.

What A Difference 3 Days Make...

2009-12-23T10:55:00.003+01:00

I know it's not Christmas yet.

I'm not entirely sure whether or not I've got the Christmas Feeling yet.

It is December 23rd, though. I've been on vacation officially since Monday and it's been fantastic. I was getting burnt out as hell and just generally quite sick and tired of all the horseshit flying all over the place at work. I don't know if I've mentioned it, but I've got a lot of different things on my plate at the moment, job-wise. My life does not unfortunately consist solely of throwing lovely dinner parties. On occasion, I really wish it did. Between work at the KiTa and school, I get my 40 hours/week. Add the various team meetings, planning sessions or parents meetings and we get another extra ten hours/month, give or take. I teach one adult ed class/week (2 1/2 hrs), have the banker once a week (1 1/2 hrs) and the psychiatric practice every other week(ca 2 hrs). The aforementioned gigs require quite a bit of prep work, which of course happens on weekends and after hours.

Someone else can do the math, but suffice it to say, I've been busy. Which makes me appreciate two weeks where I've been able to clear my schedule completely of the aforementioned committments all the more. Even the weekends take on a different character. Sunday wasn't the first day of my work week this week. Normally I build a fort out of various books, magazines other printed resources and le laptop and plan all my lessons for the week. Vacation is great.

Thus far, I've had the time to meet up with several of the Lovely Ladies who I've not had time to see for the last few months/weeks respectively. I showed our new french/british intern around my charming hipster neighborhood and entertained at least 3 times for dinner. And once for breakfast. I also drafted a behavioral analysis and organized and wrapped the rest of the christmas presents. And I've slept in.

On the docket for today is a bath for the madame, a shopping list for the christmas eve viva italia dinner and perhaps my second behavioral analysis. There's a planning session set for 2pm for our trip to the Karkonosze Mountains on the Czech/German/Polish border. We're going with two other couples, which has not served to make the planning any easier. I'm a lone wolf when it comes to travelling. I do not like making compromises. When I'm someplace I've worked hard to be able to visit or perhaps have always dreamt of visiting, I want to do what I want to do and my companions can take it or leave it. This isn't really one of those instances--I have not always dreamt of visiting the Karkonosze but I do have a pretty clear idea of how my side of this vacation is going to go down. I will make minimal compromises, but god help the asshat that wakes me because breakfast is ready. I.WON'T.CARE. I'm paying money to squirrel myself away in a little snowy house in the mountains to relax, do a bit of skiing, appreciate real winter and snow, but mostly to relax. I do not anticipate further trips of this nature. Although Stephan and I are pretty equally strong-willed in most other things, when it comes to travel, he usually lets me run the show...I think because even he has to realize that I've got a damn sight more experience than he does.

Anyway, enough ranting. I know it sounds ridiculously egoistic. And kind of negative. But I do think/hope it's going to wind up being a good time, as long as they don't get too german (read: retentive) about cashmoney, food, etc. I mean...we're friends in real life. We should be able to manage a week's vacation. I'll keep y'all posted, but it's bathtime on the farm. If I don't get a chance, I wish you all wonderful holdiays and safe travels with people you love.

Be safe and know that I'm thinking of you!

stressstressstressstress

2009-12-13T14:57:00.004+01:00

Oh me, oh my...time does fly!

I was shocked to find out that November had finally come to a close. I felt like it was a big secret that I just wasn't in on. I also felt terribly unprepared for December and the holiday season. In the last few weeks, however...I feel like I've managed to get things under control. I mailed the last package yesterday along with the last christmas card. Now there's a bit of last minute shopping to do for people here, some research to do for school things and a few work parties to attend and I'll be on vacation. Thank heavens and not a moment too soon.

Yesterday was our second advent dinner party--we cooked up a duck (I thought it was going to be goose, but I thought wrong), baked some cookies and decorated the christmas tree, which was pretty cool. It's a bit minimalistic, but all things considered, I think it turned out well. I also learned a lesson...Stephans aesthetic perfectionism doesn't make halt before the holidays. He initially came home without a tree. His reason: they were all ugly, and the ones that weren't ugly were expensive. I told him that under no circumstances would Christmas be celebrated in this apartment without a christmas tree, ugly or not, and that I would be extremely pleased if we could get it up and decorated this weekend. Stephan, being as he his, went out and came back with what I must say might be the prettiest, fullest, greenest christmas tree I've ever seen. I didn't ask any further questions. I also busted out the double cd set of christmas classics--you know, the old Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong schtick and tortured my guests with forced christmas cheer. I got a little fascist-dictator-y and made them turn off the sound on the wii so we could enjoy the atmosphere. : D I don't think anyone really minded. Besides, the duck, the various kraut side dishes, the garlic dumplings, the baked apples and cookies were delicious enough to make up for any of my culinary/atmospheric tyrrany. I hope.

Now, after an evening full of much too much red wine, I'm having great difficulty concentrating on my lesson planning/catchup work for school. So I'm listening to HSE, posting to you all and waiting for Robert, a friend of mine, who allegedly needs some nutmeg, to come by and pick it up so that I can go take a bath. Now that's a Sunday.

F'hain Thanksgiving Extravaganza

2009-12-03T21:08:00.013+01:00

I'm going on a posting binge to make it up to those who care, but I had to separate these two posts. Thanksgiving in the F'hain grew out of a resolve from last year. Thanksgiving is the hardest holiday to spend outside of the states. My sister was so funny...I told her that on the phone and she was like "Why?! It's not like you miss anything here. Really." I'm sure it has a lot to do with expat-romanticism...the things we don't have, we tend to redschön. Thanksgiving has definitely become more important to me since I've taught it in a thousand lessons and explained it's history to tons of curious Germans. Last year was hard because we didn't celebrate, so I resolved to do it up this year in style, and Stephan had not choice but to go along for the ride.

It was pretty cool if I do say so myself.

The battle plan was as follows...we had a team of approximately 16 "guests" (if you can call them that while still expecting them to work for their dinner) who were then divided into three smaller groups who were then assigned to one of the three kitchens. The grou

ps were deliberately mixed so that people were with people they didn't know, and everyone had authentic recipes and ingredients distributed amongst them. They were then sent to said kitchens and told to produce said items.

There were some stressful moments where I had something close to boiling over/burning on on the stove and was taking a phone call from Stephan complaining that they had too many sweet potatoes and what should they do about it, while desperately waiting for a refill on my wine glass...but it worked. My team was fantastic, we were done with our stuff in a jiff and could get to work on the decorations/beverage consumption/serious relaxation.

I think all told, everything was ready and we sat down to eat shortly before seven pm. The cooking had started effectively at one. The last guest left at two am. It was a scene of mass carnage and destruction but everyone went home extremely full and at least a little tipsy if not roaring drunk.

What amazes me is that almost a week later, people still haven't come to claim their chairs or KITCHEN TABLES?!?! How does one live without a kitchen table? Or chairs? I mean, yes one can eat on the couch, but really? I'm glad we live on the top floor...we've just put everything out on the landing in the stairwell. Noone comes up here who's not invited anyway, and there are only four apartments.

However, if a photo is really worth a thousand words, I'll close with this picture of Vika and Stefan:

Guys, come get your effing table.

Thanks.

Love,

Mia

So Many Things...

2009-12-03T20:57:00.002+01:00

So yeah, for those of you who don't know, I had to give up my dog. It blew. Hard. I'm a crier, as pretty much everyone who knows me even casually can attest to, and I lost it all over the place as it became evident that we were going to have to admit defeat.

We'd called in the national guard of friends, friends of friends and partners of friends to make things work for about a month, and when my boss dropped the bomb that she hadn't understood me right and that she was against having a dog in the KiLa on a regular basis, our hand was forced. I talked to her about it and I think my problem is that I'm just so damn reasonable. I understood and empathized with her reasons for being against it. I really did. I still cried my eyes out, though. It was heartbreaking.

I learned so much though--about myself, about Stephan, about our friends...it was bittersweet but I don't regret it at all. We've got a lot of great people around us, and I'm really thankful for that.

Things I Love About my Dog

2009-10-28T19:59:00.004+01:00

1. She smells lovely. Not all doggy and stinky. I'm told it's because she's a puppy and that she'll grow out of it. I hope not.

2. Her fur is incredibly soft. I'm told this too is a puppy thing and equally impermenant.

3. She's cuddly. She likes to fall asleep with body contact. Right now, she's moved in half sleep so she can lay between my back and the couch.

4. She has beautiful brown eyes. I know you're not supposed to stare into dog's eyes because it makes them feel like you're calling them out. I have a hard time not doing it, though.

5. I love how happy she is when I come home. Yes, she sometimes overdoes it, but it's a welcome like no other.

...and I might have to give her up. I'm heartbroken.

The Story of Lenja

2009-10-15T12:58:00.005+02:00

As many of you might now, I now am proud owner/mama of a hungarian vizsla puppy. She's beautiful and soft and cuddly and a whole helluva lot of work. And her name is Lenja. Right now, she's passed out on the couch next to me, probably having nightmares about the dumb-ass husky and owner who got WAYYY too up in her grill on our way home from the vet today and then had the audactiy to ask me, "Did something happen to her that she's so scared?" Innerly, I thought, "No, you moron...it's just that your dog looks like it could eat her for breakfast!" Outwardly, I smiled and explained that she's still awfully young (9 weeks this week) and hasn't had a ton of experience with other dog breeds.

People.

Anyway, it was a bit of a circus getting her, and actually quite a good story.

It all starts with us not having a car. We don't, because the public transit in Berlin is so deluxe that you really don't need one. And a few streets down are some coops where the anarchists fighting gentrification tend to get their not-so-friendly fire on with parked cars. And I can't drive here and don't agree with the bureacratic hoo-haa I'd have to go through to change that.

But that's not really the point.

So we don't have a car, but we'd made an appointment to meet a breeder from Mecklenburg-Vorpommern over the weekend. She agreed that if we came by train, she'd pick us up at the station. We were going up to look at the last puppy left of the litter (all the rest were apparently spoken for already) and there were other appointments with other interested families the whole week before we got there. So we took the train up with the general battle plan of only staying for two hours at the most and being back on the train to Berlin by four thirty at the latest.

Well, all of a sudden it was six. Pm. We'd had lovely apple cake, watched home videos from the last litter, talked for hours with the breeder and her family about the dogs and the breed and their characteristics. We realized what time it was and started to get ready to leave. It took a few minutes, but we were in the car on the way to the station, with the verbal agreement that we were going to come and pick up Lenja in two weeks. Well, we got to the train station and the bars that block the tracks when trains go through had already come down. So we couldn't get across in the car. The woman let us out, sped off and I ask, "Hey honey, is that our train coming?" It was. We were kind of screwed. Standing on the opposite side of the tracks, watching our train roll in. What do I do? I suggest to my dear, law-abiding german boyfriend that we get the hell over those tracks and onto that train. He looks at me like I'm on drugs and says, " We can't do that! It's illegal to cross the tracks!" I don't really care at this point, so I dash over after the train had come to a halt, and Stephan followed. We reach the other side, are getting ready to dive into the first car when the conductor slams his window open and says, "Don't think you're going to be riding on MY train! You idiots can go take your own lives elsewhere!"

We were slightly flabbergasted. I hadn't ever previously been directly yelled at by a train conductor. Stephan apparently also had not. We decide to leave the scene of the crime, as the train had already left and the personel in the station still had the authority to fine us for our grevious "crime". We looked at the schedule after furritively wandering around this TINY village for a few minutes, thinking we'd only have to kill an hour, maybe two until the next train came.

WRONG.

We were not in Kansas anymore. Not in Berlin either, for that matter. That was the last train. At six thirty pm on a Saturday. We were stranded in a tiny, picturesque East-German village without a bank, pay phones, taxis or cafes. The train station was pretty much all they had going for them. We were kind of screwed.

So we started using all the jokers we could think of: phoning friends, trying to find out when another train would come, whether or not we could get to another station to get said later train and most importantly, how. It finally boiled down to us calling Stephan's mother, whose first words were, "Are you guys drunk? WHERE are you?" She lives in the same province at least. It still took her over an hour to find us...with her GPS. We waited as it got darker and darker in the middle of a village under the lone street light. It was really something out of a very bizarre movie.

Our idea was that Stephan's Mom drive us to the next major train station where we could possibly catch the last train to Berlin. She arrived with a big grin on her face and said, "Hi guys! You just saved my Saturday night! Wanna come back to my place?" What to do, what to do...your future mother-in-law has just rescued you from a cold, dark East-German village. Can you really say, "Aw, no Angie...we don't really want to hang out with you. We'd much rather go back to Berlin and go out. Can't you please drive us further out of your way so that we can get back?" I couldn't. So we spontaneously headed back to Güstrow to see her new apartment. Just what I always wanted--a surprise slumber party with my mother-in-law without my toothbrush or clean underwear. Awesome!

Of course you also can't wake up at dawn the next morning and say "See you later, alligator, we've got things to do--by the way, thanks for the chow!" We finally wound up in Berlin around 4pm Sunday.

This probably should have been some kind of sign.

Two weeks later after lots of soul-searching, we were still all about getting her. So we hijacked a visiting friend and her car to spare us the trauma of potentially being marooned in Rastow (the East-German village of my nightmares) again. She was a peach and drove us almost two hours one way (due to faulty GPS) and then back with our precious cargo.

Which brings us approximately to the present date. I'm getting over my perfectionistic tendencies and my fear of being an inadquate dog-mother, she's eating and listens to most of what we say...and one can fortunately distract her with kibbles hidden in various parts of the kitchen for almost ten whole minutes. We're celebrating the small victories. It's fun but quite demanding and I do understand why every second person we tell asks us "Did you guys really think this over?" She's a little diva and is not happy unless she has the combined semi-constant attention of Stephan, myself and everone else in attendance.

Somehow I think we're going to be just fine.

Sunday Sloth

2009-09-13T15:47:00.003+02:00

Fall's arrived pretty definitively. It's Sunday afternoon and I've not done much yet today other than have one of those European breakfasts that starts at like ten thirty and goes until quarter of two. We were joined spontaneously by two friends who are weekend Berliners only for the next six weeks/six months respectively--I have no idea how they do it--I was gone for a month and I missed it like drugs. Plans to hit the laundramat (no washing machine as of yet) and the gym were crushed by said epic breakfast. After all, why work out when you can eat for four hours straight instead? By the time the breakfasting was over, it was time for Lenny to come by and watch Formula 1 (Barichello/Button/Raikkonen)--I'm still pulling for my man Kimi but it's not really looking like he's going to place in the world cup at all. Sniff, sniff.

What's a girl to do? I still have to print out my handouts for my Tuesday course and I could go make copies, but I happen to find gunmetal grey skies incredibly unmotivating. Today is shaping up to be one of those where I don't leave the apartment. Some Sundays are like that...but I am a militant defender of periodic sloth. I have no problem with people randomly showing up for breakfast, as long as they have no problem with me running around in a beater and OSU scrubs & no makeup. And my weeks are busy as hell.

So sloth it is...

Somehow I find myself looking forward to winter this year. I'm sure this initial anticipation will be replaced by seasonally affective shitiness within a matter of months, but at the moment the concept of cold, dreary weather and sweaters is still novel. Especially since the new couch just got preordered...it's one of those big, fat, flat ones with lots of pillows. It's a leather/tweed mixture, although I hate leather furniture that's not at least 40 years old, the combination works. And it's coming in two weeks! I can't wait to get rid of our nasty-ass IKEA futon. It's so very "first flat after college"--not that there's anything wrong with that--I just feel like it's time for something else. And the damn thing is pretty rank.

Also on my To Do List for today is to break it to my parents that Stephan and I won't be coming over for Christmas as initially thought/planned. It'd be too much on a variety of different levels, to put it diplomatically. I feel bad, but I know it's the better decision for me. We'll see where Christmas happens this year, since Stephan's Mum is single...maybe we'll get to have it here, which would kind of rock. I think. As long as I get to do most of the cooking. It'd be the first year in ages where Christmas wouldn't involve a 3 hour car ride...although I will miss celebrating up in Mecklenburg in the willage. The novelty of it would probably win out, though.

Hm. Remind me again how Christmas came up? Not my most coherent day. Oh well, enough for now. Hope everyone's well.

xxxx

Americana Extravaganza Recap

2009-08-30T22:18:00.006+02:00

I really shouldn't be doing this.

The long night of the museums in Berlin was very long for me indeed last night, and I have resolved to go running on all of my 10am start days this week (4 in total)...allll reasons I shouldn'

t be starting this post at 10:30 pm. The third reason just came through the door.

I'll still try, though. And I might even be able to conjure up some photos, despite my technical ineptitude.

So. The first stop of the Americana Extravaganza was Liberty International Airport in Newark, NJ. From there, I took one of the most scenic cab rides of my life into the upper east side of Manhattan. The boys had a pretty intense first impression of the USA. According to the laws of jet lag, we threw the luggage into the hotel room and hit the streets.

My sightseeing tactic consists largely of wandering. This drives certain types of people

crazy, but Stephan and Max didn't really have a choice, and didn't really seem to mind too much. We stumbled on a great street fest on Broadway with some really fantastic food (and ridiculously colorful handbags of ambiguous legitimacy) and hit up Times Square. It was great. We met up with my girl Abby for dinner and a wander through the city. I was glad we extended another day...it gave us time to walk pretty much the length of

Manhattan (from our hotel down to the waterfront. We were on 9th street).

It was interesting...I've been on trips before, but

either by myself or with other people who more interested in constructing our schedule than I was...so this was the first time I really had to step up and plan things. All things considered, I think it went well. We managed to walk around so much and so far that we slept like the dead.

After NYC and a 12 hour bus ride, we were in

Maine for two and a half weeks or so. We took a

great side trip to see Colleen and Eric and their OP and did some serious outlet shopping in New Hamster.

Maine was relaxing and full of nature...and family. Lots of family. Some bittersweet familial whatnot, some great reconnections...some old friends. All in all, a good mix. My grandfather's memorial service was hard, and I wish I could say it helped me move on, but I'm not really sure it did. I hope it helped some of the

people who were there.

The boys built a small-scale croquet course on the back 9 at my parent's place and challenged all comers...I dug through the four corners of my room, we visited friends and grilled a lot. the trip to the coast to eat lobster yielded some great photos. We managed to hit Reid state park on a great day and the boys got wicked sunburns...really wicked sunburns. Which took at least a week to heal. We ran around some with Mike and Jane, which I think gave the boys a chance to see and do some American things we otherwise wouldn't have done (golf, tubing, etc.) --which I think they both greatly enjoyed...even if Max may or may not have chipped a tooth while tubing behind the party boat.

When we headed out, I think it was time. The trip to DC took all told I think 14 hours and was complicated by the fact that I somehow botched Ashwin's phone number and was calling New York the whole time during the ride down. The guys got to see a good swath of American countryside and a few cities from the interstate. I think they were probably alternately impressed and terrified by my driving "skills"--although to be fair, I don't drive here at all (a situation I should be working to rectify and am mostly ignoring) so I might have been a bit rusty. But we all survived. That's the important thing, right?

DC was amazing. To all of you that hosted us in any way shape or form: You rock. All y'all. It was just a really wonderful week with great people and intense heat and humidity. I'm not sure I could live in DC for a variety of reasons, not the least of which are the tropica

l temperatures. That and, apparently, I dig dive bars. Apparently Berlin is full of them. And in DC, they're kind of hard to find. We managed, though. The Argonaut somewhere near where Julia lives is fantastic. They've got an Allagash beer from Maine!

Anyway, it's getting late and I'm being reminded of my good intentions for tomorrow morning, so I guess the recap will have to end here and photos will hopefully follow. It's off to bed for the Miachen.

Wish me lots of motivation for tomorrow at 07:30 am...I've got to get started running off all that fabulous American food.

Take care of eachother, kids.

(Ed: Don't ask me what happened to the formatting after I inserted the pictures. I'm one of those people who needs a Kenyon Helpdesk in my real life. The finished product took...two days. Ugh. I'm so techtarded.)

Diet Update (more to come)

2009-08-25T16:59:00.003+02:00

Whoah.

So I haven't even gotten around to posting about my birthday yet. Hm. Well, I suppose it's not that bad, seeing as I was enjoying myself far too thoroughly to take pictures, I have nothing even remotely incriminating to post. Not that there was even anything terribly incriminating going on...I bought myself (as an extra birthday treat...not that I didn't get enough loot) a bottle of the best wine EVER (nieva sauvingon blanc, or something to that effect) and proceeded to drink it by myself while the other 20 people there emptied the hard liquor. I kept offering it to people, but I think everyone just thought it was cheap german wine from Lidl so they all said no. More for me! It was great though--officially the first party I've been at where there wasn't a huge traffic jam in the kitchen. We got clever and set up the buffet in the living room. Somehow the balcony became the new kitchen and was packed the whole night. It was a testament to all my new neighbors that nobody complained. As is apparently the trend when you get older, the party was decidedly more food-based than booze-based. I think I might be growing up. It was still a blast though. The dynamic was much better than last year--a lot of ways crossed for the first time, a lot of people met and liked eachother...while eating great food and drinking quality beverages. That's what I call a party.

WHEN WILL THE PARENTS GET THEIR KIDS TO QUIT SCREAMING IN MY COURTYARD?!

I deal with screaming children for a living. I consider myself a professional. As such, I know there comes a point where you stop inflicting the screaming child upon its surroundings. My neighbors seem unaware that this moment has passed and are letting their kid(s) just lose it all over the place and at epic volume levels in my lovely, echo-ey courtyard. I love kids, but I HATE poorly behaved, ill mannered children who know no boundaries. GAH!

Enough of that.

I'm reaclimating to Germany fairly well this time around. Two years ago when I went it was a lot harder. I cried for weeks. Literally. At the drop of a hat. This time, I've got some stuff to chew on, but mostly it's been nice to get back to a city where I'm the boss (and know how to buy public transit tickets, where to get groceries, don't get multiple parking tickets in one day, etc.)

I kind of want to get into all the fantasticness that I experienced at the hands of my friends in the US at this juncture, but at the same time, I feel like those shenanigans very much merit their own post with lots and lots of pictures. And it's getting close to my appointment with Sani--I should call her. Sometimes she's running wicked late...not sure if I want to walkjog three blocks and get all sticky and sweaty so I can read magazines for an hour. Though she's extremely entertaining, even when you're not getting your hairs trimmed. Decisions!

Bis bald, Kinders!

Failed Photo Uploads, etc...

2009-06-25T21:35:00.004+02:00

The last time I posted, I immediately tried to upload photos from my camera and then in turn to das Blog. However...it didn't work. I was supposed to go meet some people (for Tapas at the fantastic Spanish vinoria across the street) and I got frustrated and stopped. Now as it turns out, the photos didn't even make it from my camera to my computer. The question is whether or not my originals got deleted after the so-called upload. Don't know and because Stephan's hidden birthday presents for me in our chest of drawers, I can't go looking for my camera to check.

Since the move finding things here has been complete trial-and-error. There's something incredibly disorienting about a posse of extremely motivated, hyper-clean German women unpacking and organizing your kitchen. And all the rest of your apartment. Seriously folks, if you ever move, make German friends. They wiped out my cupboards, put away my silverware, my tupperware, my plates...and not a single thing got broken. It was great, especially for a little chaot like me. However, it remains at times, difficult to find certain things.

Anyhow, last weekend was the kindergarten overnight. Unlike last year, the kids didn't sleep much, which meant that I didn't sleep much. They did seem to be quite impressed though. The kids, that is. After all, that was the aim of the game. However, it became abundantly clear to me that I am in no way ready to be woken at 1:15 am by a screaming child. Everyone I work with tells me it's different when they're yours...but my sleep is sacred. Anyone who's related to, chohabitated or slept with me at one point or another knows that. It also seems to be getting worse as I age. This Friday (aka tomorrow) is the Sommerfest. Kind of an end of the year sort of thing where all the kids and their parents are invited and we've got all kinds of games, etc. This year, Julianita decided she wanted to have the kids perform a short theater piece. It's called the little black sheep. After having gone through somewhere between three and five different black sheep, I think she's regretting it. I for my part am ambivelantly counting down the days until we close for the summer. This means on the one hand four weeks of paid vacation for moi--and no children, but also the epic organizational feat that is the Americana Extravaganza. I get panicky when I think about it. I mean, I can't effing wait to get back to the states and see everyone I've been missing for ever--living abroad consists mostly of balancing your adventure/wanderlust with varying degrees of homesickness and longing. Oftentimes, though, it's more satisfying to long for something than it is to actually have it. I basically just have to cowboy up and start planning some shit and I think once I've actually gotten started, it won't be so bad.

Anyhow, I'm sure there will be more details on that subject whenever I do manage to get my shit together and start making real plans. In the meantime, I've got a birthday/housewarming party to throw. That's going to be lovely. I hope. We shall see. Hope you all are well, I'm going to contain the chaos in the kitchen leftover from my steamed pangasius in white herb-dijon sauce with carrots and get to bed. Or something. Tomorrow's going to be a long day.

Be safe.

What you missed...

2009-06-18T19:57:00.003+02:00

Ach, Kinders...

Sorry about that. The month of March really threw me for a loop and things just kept going from there. The early childhood ed program I'm doing also kicked it up a notch and two of my colleagues had some serious mental and physical health problems (respectively) that kept me doing overtime and away from regular updates.

But I'm back. I hope to keep y'all amused with some amusing tidbits more regularly from now on.

So here's a rundown of what all's happened since I last updated.

March:

-Gramps died. That was a rough one, folks. I haven't lost enough people close to me to be good at grieving yet. I'm still working on it.

-Angie seperated from her partner of almost ten years. Also rough--a real readjustment for all of us--and a lot of crisis management.

-The apartment search was also intensified in March because we realized that we had to be out of the old place by May.

April:

-Found and proceeded to not get a series of lovely apartments.

-Found, almost lost but did in the end sign on a really lovely apartment.

-Packed like a crazy person while working ridiculous overtime for 2 impaired colleagues.

-MOVED IN in a germanically organized move of epic proportions.

-Bought tickets for the Americana Extravaganza (coming to a city near you starting 07.19.09)

May:

-Intensive period of nestling, settling and socializing with all the new kids in the neighborhood.

-Un-packed like a crazy person.

-Enjoyed the obscene number of bank holidays Germany and Western Europe have on offer in May.

June:

-Wrote and handed in an idiotic number of small assignments for school. In German. Which turns a small idiotic assignment into a somewhat larger undertaking.

-Started going through the motions of planning the Birthday/Warming Party

-Ditto on the Americana Extravaganza

-Got a guilt trip and FINALLY updated my blog.

Sooooooooooo, time for a funny tidbit of the day.

Yesterday, my colleague Julianita (name changed for comedic/germans are discovering facebook purposes) started freaking out because my other colleague Mattholomew apparently has a habit of not being germanically cleanly. It'd be damn hard for him to, seeing as he's Australian. Anyway, Julianita is going on and on about how much it bothers her that he left his shoes laying around, etc. etc. What does she decide to do?

Hide them.

Yaaay for adult problem solving skills!

So this morning, Mattholomew comes to work and looks for his work shoes. Can't find 'em anywhere...which I admit was pretty funny. Everyone kept referring him to Julianita, but he doesn't take the bait and starts walking around in Uggs in June. Julianita can't keep a punchline to herself, so she starts trying to take the piss a bit to cover up for the fact that she well...actually cares. Except you could blatanly tell that she really cared, and it actually wasn't all that funny. Mattholomew was kind of like, 'well, eat me'--for good reason, if you ask me...I mean, she ain't his Mama and it ain't his problem that she has to clean up after her husband and sons at home all the time. I mean...I have to admit, I enjoyed the viewing/free worktime entertainment, but really folks--there are things WORTH getting upset about, and there are things that aren't.

Moral of the story: Take it easy. This sometimes means taking the easy way out, but you know...it keeps your blood pressure low and keeps you from turning into a semicrazed, shoe hiding Julianita.

Sad News...

2009-03-09T19:46:00.004+01:00

http://www.legacy.com/MaineToday-KennebecJournal/Obituaries.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=124935635

...my Grandfather died. He was a hero of mine.

Stress is...

2009-03-02T20:19:00.002+01:00

...putting on your underpants wrong side out and not figuring it out for 24 hours.

To laser...or not?

2009-02-15T17:19:00.003+01:00

Tagchen...

I'm posting from a remarkably snowy Berlin. It's too warm for anything to stick, but Mother Nature's been doing her best all day long. Things here are going well...Stephan got better, I got my flu shot and haven't been ill since (knock on wood). Valentine's Day was pretty catastrophic...Stephan doesn't believe in celebrating it, which is fine with me...I'm not a fan of the commercialism and of course it's better to take the time to celebrate your relationship and the person you're with ALL year round and not just on one dark winter day

...HOWEVER, sniping at eachother all day is not really a super alternative. Unfortunately, that's what we did. I finally had enough and called a friend and was getting ready to leave, but we wound up talking it out and getting along. That's kind of our thing. We rarely have knock-down, drag-outs...we'll just snipe at eachother until one of us has had enough, then comes the part where we ignore eachother for a few hours, and then one of us has enough of that and makes the move to talk it out. And then we usually do.

Anyway, we've had a bit of stress lately...because we found a really lovely apartment in the Bänschstr. in the same house as a buddy of Stephan's. It's got just about everything we want...except for a balcony. Which is a bummer, but sometimes one's got to make some compromises. We also finally managed to get all the necessary paperwork in order (pay stubs from the last three months, two credit histories, a document from our management company stating that we don't owe them any money and the application from the new management company)--which was no small feat. Now the only remaining issue is whether or not we'll actually get the apartment. It is certainly possible that they've already said "to hell with these clowns--let's take someone whose paperwork is already complete!" There were a TON of people at the viewing. More than I'd ever seen at a single apartment viewing before. So yeah. Stay tuned...we'll find out either tomorrow or the next day if we've made the cut. It's really almost as stressful as applying for a job or for college. I think that someone who made a business of finding best apartment for people would make a KILLING. Really...I mean, my job isn't that stressful, but I've certainly got enough to do without having to troll the internet for non-divey apartments in our district, making appointments for viewings and that dealing with the mountains of paperwork. I'd be willing to pay money to some sort of headhunters who'd find us the perfect apartment for the perfect price. Sigh.

In other news, I had my first appointment at a german optometrist this week. I had to get an official vision test for my driver's license. While I was at it, I thought perhaps I might replace my two year old contact lenses with something available on the german market. So I found out a lot about my eyes. My newfound optometrist pal told me that I'd be best served staying with my brand if at all possible, because my eyes could have a reaction to a new type of contact lens after all this time. She searched and searched and searched and finally found a distributor of my lenses in Germany...and now they're on order, but before she could order them, she had to measure me, and because I have toric lenses, apparently you can't just take them out and get an accurate measurement. I had to wear my glasses for a whole day, to work...the whole nine yards. My kids found me strange. All day, I had small children creeping up beside me--silently (they're otherwise NEVER silent) and trying to peek behind my glasses--almost as if to make sure my "real" face was still there. And of course the weather was just plain sadistic for someone with glasses--sleet and snow. I wasn't sorry to be able to pop my lenses in the next day. However, this was one of the first times in years that I'd left my house with only my glasses on. I had to surrender them at the optometrist's so she could measure them...and it was terrifying. I really had no idea how blind I'd become. I stood there, watching the fuzzy shapes of cars race by on the six lane road outside and I got so dizzy I had to sit down. Everything was so hazy, so unclear. I felt so helpless. I was happier than I'd ever been to put my glasses back on. The kindly optometrist told me that I have only 60% sight in my right eye with my glasses, so after I get my contacts straightened out, it looks like that's the next thing on my list. Stephan thinks I should get lasered. I've never really thought about it. Not seriously at least...but the best eye clinic in Germany is in Rostock. I'd never really thought about how poorly I really see until I sat there half blind and completely terrified in a strange place. Maybe it's not such a bad idea. I'll get a call within the next week telling me when my trial contacts (42€ per eye, thank you very much!) are in...I can ask the optometrist then what she thinks.

Right. So, enough news from across the pond...it's time for a chat with the folks. And some water. I hit the elliptical pretty hard after my ab course today...and now dehydration's hitting me.

Lots of love!

Die Perfekte Welle...

2009-01-25T22:02:00.002+01:00

d.h. die perfekte Grippe Welle.

Yes, yes y'all, a vicious wave of influenza is sweeping the northeast of Germany. Guess where it started? Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, of course. Guess where it's at it's worst?...Berlin, natch. So far, I'm taking it like a rock star. The only problem is, Stephan's been lying on the couch looking like death for the last four days. Seriously, folks. I have no experience with fever and other flu-based nastiness. The only thing I'm an expert in is gastrointestinal whatnot, and this has apparently nothing to do with that. The Europeans like to sweat this sort of thing out. You know, ninteenth century style, wrapped in blankets which get soaked in sweat so that you have mountains and mountains of contaminated laundry. Some people like to drink whiskey with some herbs in it, as they maintain it accelerates the sweating-out of the fever. Others prefer the sauna...I prefer meds. I picked up some paracetamol at the pharmacy Friday after things kept getting worse, and unfortunately it didn't help. So I went back Saturday morning and begged the pharmacist to give me something that would actually HELP. She gave me this shit called aspirin complex. I don't mean to get all advertise-y up in here, but it seems to be working, at least half decently. Stephan is able to make jokes and occasionally leaves the couch, which was more than we could claim in the name of progress Thursday, Friday or Saturday.

The thing is, as much as I love him--he's milking this. I don't say that because I've been drawing him hot eucalyptus baths, buying fresh kiwis and apples at the market and preparing them on little plates, brewing endless pots of sage and fruit teas. Nooo, I'm saying that because NOW...now that he's feeling better, I'm being forced into watching MISSION IMPOSSIBLE THREE on television. Grrrr. It's not only that he's sick, although that's his major point of leverge, but there's nothing else on for which I could even remotely make a case for. Sadly. So I'm blogging in protest. I've found out that's a red flag.

Anyway, aside from this mini epidemic we've got going on here, I can't really complain. Keep your fingers crossd for me that I don't catch it. Tomorrow is allegedly the last day the symptoms could pop up. I'm not sure how much stock I put in that, but I've got a two week buffer before my adult ed courses start where I could technically be sick. I know these things are inherently unplannable, but I like to exercise what little influence my free will allows. My personal theory is that I was the carrier monkey that brought the pestilence into our environment to begin with. I do get sneezed/coughed/snotted upon on a regular basis. Hopefully that's created a certain level of immunity.

However, in order to support whatever immunity I may or may not have against this really nasty flu virus, I'm going to sign off for now. Hopefully I'll remain healthy and be able to post again soon.

Take care, Kinnners, stay healthy and warm!

xoxo

So Kinders...

2009-01-11T17:49:00.003+01:00

Enter standard opener here-- (I know, people it's been forever, I'm sorry, I know you have better things to do than follow my blog, etc. etc.)

Anyway, out with the old, in with the new! Welcome to 2009--better late than never and all that. Things here started off well--we rang in the New Year with Lenny, Natta, Stephan and Vica and a few others eating wayyyy too much raclette and watching the ridiculous amounts of civilian fireworks around midnight. We then ventured to an artsy hipster houseparty somewhere near Ostkreuz (me in leather gloves, a woolly hat with a pom-pom and a bottle of Tanqueray and Tonic)--it was freaking freezing. Unfortunately, the cold sobered me up to the point that I had no patience for an overfilled apartment filled with über-hip hipster types wearing mostly black with those heinous plastic-rimmed glasses that are part of this intentional ugliness thing that I'm not sure I'll EVER get. Whew. So we jetted after like, an hour tops, leaving Lenny stuck waiting for Natta, who, as an art therapy major, has some kind of connection to these people. I think we were home around four. The next day was entirely wasted--I think I spent a total of six hours on the couch in some kind of sleepy, half catatonic state, watching skijumping and biathalon with Stephan.

That's how it was, folks.

And here's how it is...

So the New Year is getting into week 2.5, I've survived my first full week of work/school, I get paid this week...things are good. I've got no new VHS (adult ed) classes to teach until mid February, which is fantastic. I actually have TIME to get a jump start on the New Year's Resolutions I've made (hit the gym more, be less of a whiny nagging bitch in private and less ragingly gluttonous) before things get all stresstastic up in here. I'm at a new gym now, with a new trainer and a new fitness plan that eerily resembles my first one at my old studio, but whatever...a start is a start. My plan is to spend the time that I used to devote to being exhausted and unmotivated on my couch to reattaining my foxy form. I'll let you folks know how I progress. I do have to say though that since I started two weeks ago, it's gotten easier. Beginning is the hardest part? We'll see, I guess.

In other news, I got my first exam results back on Thursday and I aced the damn thing. I had expected to do moderately well, but the fact that I perfect scored the sunofagun overshot my expectations. It's good to get positive feedback--apparently my studying methods still work. To be fair, though--it's not like the material is difficult. It hasn't gotten much harder since the last time I posted. School still really blows. I was more excited to go back to work after the Christmas break than back to school. I don't feel in any way challenged--but at the same time, there are people in the class who are hopelessly overwhelmed. It's crappy to think that pretty much no one's needs are being met by this circus. I spent an hour and a half this afternoon putting together a powerpoint presentation about Ben & Jerry's...it's my grade in a class about making presentations. Not like I know anything about that...working as I do in education and all. I try to avoid going if at all possible. I've scheduled a doctor's appointment for Tuesday during a class called "promoting health". It consists entirely of the students presenting on topics for which we won't ever be held accountable. I often ask myself what the point is.

Enough about that, though. I hope you all rang in the New Year healthy, happily and in style...with any luck, you won't have to wait as long for my next post. Ha ha ;)

The New News. Get up do date, folks!

2008-11-23T13:02:00.004+01:00

Buenos Dias, Compadres...

We've had the first official snow! There's a snowman in our courtyard (and a mighty professional looking one, considering how little opportunity the kids here in Berlin have to practice), and our neighbors waged a rather one sided snowball fight with our bedroom window last night. At least...I think it was them. I was ecstatic to see the cars and the parking lot covered, and the terrace. It was a rush like a little kid. Whee! Berlin is, to put it mildly, outside the snow belt. You've got to get down into the Harz mountains or real deep down in Bayern before you get serious snow like I know it from home.

Anyway, weather aside, the stress of Black November hasn't killed me yet. One more week and I'll officially have it all behind me. I'm not so sure I'll miss it, to be honest. Hopefully I've learned my lesson in terms of biting off more than I can chew, in terms of work...but somehow I doubt it. Deep down, there's that fear that suddenly there won't be enough work, ergo money. I mean...it's not a problem now. My job at the kindergarten is pretty secure, and it pays definitely enough to live on, but not enough to move to a new place, pay the lawyers fees if we lose the lawsuit or pay for the laptop...

Which brings me to my next topic. Stephan and I are going to become Macpeople. It should be here on Tuesday...somehow I doubt I'll see it often, but it's just as well. It seems like we spent forever trying to decide which model, which brand, what features, how much, why...whatever. I'm glad everything worked out, I'm glad it's ordered and I'm glad it's done with. I'll tell y'all what I think of it when I've had some time to play with it. The good news is...I'll be able to chat with you all on WEBCAM!

In other news, last Tuesday, we had a look at a FANTASTIC apartment near where we live. It's about 30 sqaure meters more than we have now, fourth or fifth floor, balcony, hardwood floors, a nice big kitchen, gas stove...perfect. Really great. We've been rushing around like mad this past week, getting all our paperwork together to apply for it, and now we'll have to see if everything falls into place. Technically, we'd really need the settlement money to get everything squared away there. There are things we'd need to buy for a new place...like a fridge and things we'd need to sell, like our patio furniture (tear! it's so pretty!)...It seems like too much needs to happen in too short a time, but I'm trying to stay optimistic. I have a crush on an apartment. It's close enough to where we live now so that our commutes to work and school wouldn't change that much and although it's on the main drag, it's high up enough that you don't hear jack and the bedroom is faces the courtyard anyway. We talked to the couple that lives there now and they also said that the management company and the landlord are all reasonable people...not like the jackals we're dealing with now. One can only hope that they realize it's really in their best interest to let us get the @#$% out of here and move on with our lives. We're only spreading hate and discontent here and I mean, they would EASILY get this place re-rented at whatever their asking price might be. It's a plum location, the terrase is an extra bonus, it's calm, quiet and if you're a total sap, you won't notice that you're being taken for a ride by the management. I mean...hopefully they'll have learned their lesson and play it a bit straighter with their tenants from now on. Bastards.

We'll have to see. If everything works out, we'll be moving between Christmas and New Year's. It's the only time we'll both have time to really do anything. My school/work starts back up on the fifth or sixth--whichever the Monday is, and Stephan's Uni as well. So we'll have a bit less time then. Keep your fingers crossed that it works out for us. The judge was supposed to have sent out his official verdict on Friday...we'll get it from our lawyer sometime hopefully next week. Stephan was at the last hearing (on Halloween--har har har) and the judge said he'd decide in our favor, but he'd leave the opposing side the opportunity to appeal (although they shouldn't actually have it, because they've already appealed once). Stephan went to visit our landlord (he lives coincidentally in our street. Isn't that bizarre?) and said that he didn't seem all that motivated to go for the jugular. Apparently he kept saying that he was a victim of the management company as well, and that he just wanted the situation resolved. We'll have to see if the situation really turns out that way...after all the horseshit that's gone down, I'm not so sure I actually believe anyone. Like I said, keep you fingers crossed. I never thought I'd say this, because I do love this apartment, but it would be so nice to be out of here and to be able to put this whole mess behind us.

My whole early childhood ed program is also starting to pick up. I've got a round of papers and presentations in early December that I'm trying to get a hold on. I spent part of yesterday banging out a rough draft of an analysis of a paper on the various forms of media and their effects on childhood development. It's shite in all probability...it's been aeons since I've actually had to write something in any way scientific in English, let alone in German. Stephan's been very patient about reading things for me. I mean...so far the semester as a whole hasn't been that bad. They try to give us as much prep time as they can in-class, because so many of the people there have families. It's crap for me, because I do so much work/research for all this shit online and the one computer lab that they have there is usually booked or being ruled by the super cantankerous, very flaming Bernd. I haven't asked, but I can't imagine that they have WLAN or anything like that. Not that I'd be interested in hauling my laptop to work and then through half Berlin to school. I change trains in THE addict hangout in Berlin. Junkies would rob their grandma without qualms in broad daylight. I mean, okay...it's Europe--it's not like they're packing heat or anything, but still. There's an awful lot of them. Not the right place for our new baby MacBook, if you catch my drift.

Wie dem auch sei...
(How/Whatever the case may be)
this has turned into a monster post. I was a bit under the weather this week--and have blown through a whole bottle of Tussin to prove it--so we're skipping out on our Sunday run this week, which is crap, since I have the feeling that I'm getting soft and squishy all over and don't have the time other days of the week to do anything about it. Argh. We all know that dietary restrictions and/or willpower is not my strong suit, so exercise is really the only way to keep things under control. Which means it's time to finally join a new gym. I think that's a story for another day, though. I think I'm going to read a bit more in the fantastic book that Mer sent me (love yis, dahlin), the Time Travelers Wife. It's so good---I stayed up way too late last night reading. That's how you know you're getting old and sedentary, right? God!

Anywayyyyy, take care of yourselves, don't freeze yer bollix off and don't get too stressed.

love and silky pre Christmas kisses,
.mia.

Wow.

2008-11-08T19:33:00.003+01:00

What times we live in, my friends!

I'm pretty excited, to tell the truth. I mean, for someone who got on the bandwagon relatively late. Living here, you see what kind of overwhelming support Barack Obama has on the international scene. It's such a great thing--although I think on a certain level, it's symbolic of the frustration not only of Americans but also of people all over the world with the Bush regime of the last eight years. I worry a bit, though that things will just be so catastrophic by the time Obama takes office that he'll have to be doing ridiculous amounts of damage control and won't be able to do half the great things he has the potential to achieve for America. But at least the potential to do good is there, unlike a certain other administration that comes to mind. Here's to hoping he can make good on the rhetoric, the enthusiasm and the good will that got him this far.

And what do we all think about "rogue" Sarah Palin positioning herself for 2012? I love all of the fantastic hate that's come out of the McCain camp over how much of a joke this woman really was. For me, the Canadian prank callers were the icing on the cake. The fact that she didn't catch on, that she really thought she was talking to the real Sarkozy is astounding and insulting to the man himself...but then, her camp CONFIRMING this whole ridiculous incident...was unbelievable for me. If I'd worked for her, I'd've lied my FACE off. I mean, there are some things you don't necessarily need to admit to. People thought George W. was idiotic--at least he had half decent handlers. Don't get me wrong--I don't feel sorry for her, and it's not based in some kind of catty woman-against-woman horseshit. I don't think she's qualified and I don't think she understands or appreciates the difficulty the office of the Vice Presidency presents...let alone the Presidency. Otherwise she would have never accepted the nomination for a job for which she was so completely unqualified.

But anyway...I suppose that's enough political blather for today. I don't even really want to hear it anymore myself. I was so addicted to news in the months and weeks before the election, but now it's all anyone talks about and I'm sick of it. Bring me new news! I know that Barack Obama won the election, and while I am interested in who he decides to tap for his cabinet, I don't need to hear report after report based on whatever speculations the expert of the hour has to offer. I'd prefer an insightful analysist of the choices when they've been announced. Enough, though. Really.

I took today off from everything...slept twelve hours last night and had a fantastic hot bath today...all efforts to try and shake off last week/prepare me for the next one. It was Stephan's suggestion that I try to do as much nothing as possible. He grocery shopped yesterday, cleaned the apartment and washed dishes yesterday. It was awesome, because I wouldn't have been able to do it. This week shouldn't be so bad, though. At least I'll have Tuesday afternoon to get my house in order. It was nice not to worry about anything--whether it be the stupid translations of the Thanksgiving recipes or the course prep for next week's adult ed classes or the reading for school. I mean--it's all still there, subconsciously at least, but my powers of repression are strong, so it's working. I did sneak in a bit of productivity and did some pre-shopping for Christmas today, so that I know where to find what when my next paycheck rolls in. I've got to get Christmas presents sorted for the family--my goal is to have the package get there on time this year. We'll see.

Anyway...hope everyone's well! Take it easy.

Happy November! or "Hurray for procrastination"

2008-11-02T18:56:00.003+01:00

Ahhh, Kinders--

How is everyone?

I just got back from a whirlwind trip to the Harz mountains to wish the Grandparents a preemptive happy birthday (although that's actually a HUGE no go here--brings bad luck, doncha know...). It was nice, and we got back relatively early this afternoon, so it wasn't too stressful. I hadn't been since May and there was snow on the ground, so I was excited all around. In light of all the upcoming insanity (KiTa Thanksgiving, My Thanksgiving, 3 different adult ed courses, school, exams and WORK) I should be doing about a bajillion different things other than updating this, but you know...vive la procrastination!
So anyway, the Grandparents are well, the Angie is well, the Max is well and it was really nice to be out of the city and in such a lovely quaint village like Schierke. It's one of my favorite places in Germany because it reminds me so much of home. Sometimes I think that one of my ways of dealing with being so far away is to find little pieces of home wherever I go. To be fair, however, there are definitely more conifers in the Harz region than in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern combined. And there was snow!!!! Not much, and we didn't go up the Brocken (weather was too foggy and craptastic) where there was allegedly more, but it was enough. In Berlin it rains. A lot. Last week we had four out of five days of constant.rain. I thought I was going to go crazy! I also had nothing to wear, because no one here has dryers. Everything gets hung out on the balcony on drying racks. But when it rains and is windy, nothing gets dry. And it sucks. In the depths of winter here is when I'm at my post patriotic. Wait and see.

In other news...the elections!!!
They're coming and I'm so excited. I voted about a month ago, but it doesn't matter. I absolutely cannot wait for Tuesday to see how committed America really is to being the change we want to see in the world. I mean, I'm not the hard core Obama fan that so many other people I care about are...and if I'm going to be honest, I would have preferred Hilary, but I think that Obama has the potential to take the US in a very fascinating direction, domestically as well as internationally. I don't have anything against McCain personally. I think it's a shame that he allowed himself to get strong-armed into making such poor and uncharacteristic decisions (choosing Palin as a running mate, abandoning his principles and giving in to negative campaigning). He's a good I guy, I think. He's certainly an American hero, and he definitely deserved a better campaign than the one he got. I think that's really only fair to say. However, as a result of one of his poor decisions in particular, I hope to heaven that he doesn't win. That woman is not fit to be president now, and she won't be fit to be president in 2012. I think she needs to go back to the hinterlands where she belongs. But I don't want to get too nasty here. I just happen to think that she speaks to the vilest part of America, really the bottom of the barrel of what we stand for as a nation. And no, I would not like to go out for a beer with her. Which is also, by the way, absolutely NO MEASURE of a person's ability to govern. I mean seriously, people. Whoever came up with that crap, anyway? Fortunately, as I heard James Carville say to Wolf Blitzer today, in times of trouble, America is less likely to vote based on likeability and more likely to vote based on capability.
Here's to hoping that's true.

Anyway, I'm going to pack it in for today. I've got some reading that I won't have any other time to do...so yeah. Take care of youselves and ROCK OUT ON TUESDAY!!!

New Look!

2008-10-20T20:13:00.002+02:00

Hey all,
I thought I'd try my hand at pepping up the look of things around here. Hope you like it!

Rock/Jam out, respectively.

Bland October Update

2008-10-18T15:40:00.004+02:00

What's up, y'all?

Things are moving along here...I got my absentee ballot in a timely fashion, thanks to the great folks at the Readfield Town Hall and VOTED which was a great feeling. Paying four Euro in postage wasn't so much the highlight of my day, but you know...even living aboad has a downside once in a while. I've also managed with the help of about a metric ton of lemons and gallons of sage tea to regain my health. Painful process, that--but fortunately unaccompanied by scarlet fever. That really would have put a damper on my Fall, since there's just so much going on!

Thankfully, my Early Childhood Ed program has started picking up. We've got articles to read and presentations to make and the dates for the first exams have already been set. It's a neat feeling to be learning new things, like German custody/family law and sensory disorders. My challenge at the moment is time management and making sure that I distribute my time and energy relatively equally. We're celebrating Halloween at the KiLa this year and of course, as the resident American, I'm expected to be spearheading the whole shebang. One of my colleagues came up to me yesterday and was trying to share her fanastic ideas about a puppet show for the kids and I was completely unreceptive. Ugh. I felt bad for a minute, but firstly, she was telling me shit I already knew and secondly, I had just spend two and a half hours trying to get my monsters to take their afternoon nap--unsuccessfully. Whatever. It was also Friday. I'm sure by Monday I'll manage to have an opinion. Or some ideas. Or something.
The adult ed classes are fun and cool and interesting...but it's definitely a drain. I'm on the fence about whether or not to tell my boss next week to cancel one of my courses for next semester. I mean...having the money is great, and since the exchange rate appears to be levelling out, we'll absolutely be able to use the dinero for our Americana Extravaganza. Ugh. I hate having to make grownup decisions of this kind. I hate it almost as much as I hate cleaning out food debis from the little thingy in the kitchen sink. And I hate that an effing lot.

So yeah...that's what's up here. November is going to be even wilder, since I'm probably going to wind up with 3 evening classes, plus KiLa work, plus school. Don't expect to hear too much from me, then...it's hard enough surviving the week, let alone having a social life or any other extracurricular projects of any kind (blog included). I'd love to go out more often, but by the time I get home from my Friday adult ed class, you might as well stick a fork in me, cause I'm done. I suppose it comes with the territory and getting older and having chosen to combine multiple careers--all of which require a certain amount of take-home prep work. So I can't complain. I guess. Pardon me for doing so anyway...

I'm thinking about saying to hell with lesson planning (I can do it tomorrow after yoga ANYWAY...providing I get there. I haven't been to the gym in so long, it's practically criminal.) and making some apple sauce. We got a ton of pears and apples and corn from Stephan's family while we were there, and we've been keeping them out on the terrace...I'm pretty sure the corn isn't good anymore, but the apples and pears should be fine. It's been about fifteen years since I've make apple sauce from scratch, though...so I'm a bit nervous. Oh well. If I remember correctly, it's not that hard. I could also make a cake, though. Germans have all these great recipes for apple cakes. H'mmmm. We'll have to see how motivated I feel/how many apples we still have. And how quickly I get tired of peeling and coring them.

But since it's already four, I should get moving, otherwise I'll be standing in front of the stove all evening, and I'm not a 1950's housewife.

Hope everyone's well.
Love.

German Unification Day

2008-10-03T16:49:00.002+02:00

Happy Unification Day, folks!
So far, I've celebrated by going our for nachos, taking a eukalyptus bath and drinking about a gallon of hot water with lemon slices. It's really too bad, actually. The weather's the best it's been in days, and I'm about to drown in my own phlegm. I mean, I should have seen it coming. Usually it hits even earlier--I suppose I should count my blessings that it was early October and not early September when my festering pestilence hit. The timing's actually great. I had to tough out work and Vo-Ho on Wednesday, the I cut classes on Thursday and spent the entire day on the couch. If I keep this routine up, there's no way I won't be cured by Monday. I hope.

Anway, not too much is new at the moment. This week school started "officially" and the idiotic project month finally came to an end. From the one day of classes I attended, it'll be interesting. It's also odd to be back in a classroom setting where I know I'm going to be held accountable for the information I'm being presented with. I mean, so far it doesn't seem too overwhelming, but I'll have to get back to you on that, I guess. I don't have too much to go on at the moment.

As I was walking back from La Cucina Latina today, I saw an older man who looked really fantastic. He was wearing a nice little tweed hat and a cape...but not Sherlock Holmes-like. This thing really looked much more like a garment bag, or a normal trench without any form or tailoring whatsoever...basically a garment bag with a collar. I wish I'd taken a picture with my phone, because it was so modern, but at the same time totally classic. Yeah. That was the streetwise fashion report of the day. Thanks ladies and gents for your time.

In other news...Stephan and I were up in Le Schwies last weekend to celebrate Max's eighteenth birthday. I think it was my dear Angielein who infected me with her pestilence to begin with, but getting there at one in the morning on Friday (or Saturday if you want to split hairs) didn't help much, nor did the ridiculousness which ensued on Saturday night.
I get along pretty fantastically with Stephan's Mum and the other women in the village. When we go up there, it really does feel like I'm visiting part of my family that loves me and looks after me in it's own special way. It's also a great way to really intensively experience the culture of the north east. But anyway, these women DRINK. Not with the desperation of the English, not with the carelessness of the Americans...they do it as methodically and precisely as Germans seem to do everything. They always made sure my glass was full--that everyone's glass was full. Constantly. There was fig vodka, wayyy too much sparkling wine, white wine, red wine, beer...and I forgot that my golden rule is not to mix my booze. God. Those women torched.my.shit. With impunity. Not only did I have red wine stains on my Tillys, I had one of the most godforesaken hangovers EVER. Wret.ched.

But...you know me. I recovered. I made it back to Berlin. With Stephan, a bag of corn, a bag of pears, a bag of apples, a bag of chestnuts, other nuts...and all our other kit. It was a schlepp of epic proportions. We made it, though. But barely, as one notices by the fact that I've been wearing my OSU scrubs for the last 48 hours straight. Anyway...I would say enough geschwaetzt for now. It's time for another hot lemon toddy and a short nap on the couch. Maybe with a side order of James Bond?

Find time to vegitate, kinders. It regenerates the soul.
(brought to you by YogiTea and My favorite pink blanket.)

Crime and Punishment on a Saturday Afternoon

2008-09-14T13:16:00.003+02:00

It seems like Fall is finally here. Not that I've been waiting for it with baited breath or anything, but temperatures have taken a crisp drop in the last 48 hours and it made me think of...closed shoes. You know, not sandals. My feet haven't seen the inside of anything since May (yes, they do look disgusting as a result--but I'm okay with that) and yesterday I started to really feel the chill.

So I was out and about with my trusted shoe-expert/fetishist looking for some trainers. We had some limited success in our Kiez area, so we thought we'd stop by and visit Kalina and Bernhardt who run a fantastic boutique called Episoda ( www.myspace.com/episoda ) and ask them if they knew of anyplace else we could find some hot little euro-trainers for me. Bernhardt was running some errands, so Stephan and I are chilling, talking to Kalina and examining the new arrivals (effing goettliche jeans from Kuyichi and really lovely scarves from Erfurt) when this guy comes in. He tries on a pullover for a pretty penny and says he wants a larger size. I was in the other room, playing with the amazing scarves, so I only registered this on a marginal level. This guy tries the L on, which was on the rack, and before he even has it all the way on, he's asking for an XL. Kalina thought it was weird, but she's super-friendly and open, so she went into the back to get him an XL. I came into the front room a second before she did and saw this guy heading out of the store at a pretty brisk clip. I didn't think anything of it, except that in Germany, EVERYONE says "Hi" and "Goodbye" when entering and leaving a store or other public place. I thought it was weird that he hadn't.

We didn't really take any notice of it and were both trying on various items and chatting with Kalina, until all of a sudden she says, "The cash box is gone!" They're not a big store--they don't have a register or anything, just one of those little lockboxes with a key. And like, 700 Euro. At first, I thought maybe she'd just misplaced it--but no. That bastard had really robbed them. We were all kind of in shock and Kalina was trying to serve the other customers like nothing had really happened. Stephan and I volunteered to have a look around the neighborhood, because he hadn't had any kind of bag with him or anything, so he must have at least theoretically wanted to get rid of the box as soon as possible. We searched our hood up and down, but the problem is that on a Saturday morning, so many people are up and about running errands and shopping and walking their dogs and sitting in cafes and whatever that if you're some guy throwing a lockbox off a moving bike, people just might notice.

Anyway, by the time we got back, Bernhardt was there and had called the police, who were then also there and took statements from Kalina, Stephan and I. I'm an official witness to an official crime. Weird. No one has too much hope of the guy getting caught, and that's the worst part. I mean, Bernhardt and Kalina are the greatest. They sell only things that they really think are cool, that they can stand behind. They're just a small business. I can understand people who
steal from huge facist corporations like Wal Mart or Old Navy or shit like that, but not from two people just trying to make a living selling organic jeans and hipster fair trade pullovers. My God!

It's frustrating when shit like this happens to good people. And it's unfair. I've never really been able to cotton much to the phrase "life is unfair"--it might be true, but it shouldn't be. I mean, I'm sure this guy had a reason to steal--a habit, a pressing debt--but damn it, it sucks for Bernhardt and Kalina. Living here in Berlin as an American, I have always had a certain feeling of safety. The knowledge that in an American city of comparable size, the crime rate is much higher. In the states, this guy would have had a gun. That doesn't really give much comfort, though. You still feel angry and violated. What I'm not going to forget is the first thing Bernhardt said to us when we came through the door. He was like, "I don't know if I should be sad or pissed off." He eventually decided on pissed. I think I'm sad.

Play safe, Kinders.

As if there aren't enough other things in life to get angry and hateful about...

2008-09-07T17:12:00.003+02:00

So I was sitting on my couch, relaxing with Henry who was visiting at the time, planning our coup of the Berlin nightlife scene when John McCain drops the bomb of Sarah Palin on my unsuspecting self.

Can we talk about this?

There are so many things about this nomination that get me unbelievably riled. It's like for the first time the GOP has noticed that there are a ton of Americans out there who'd like to see women in higher positions in government--the Hilary phenomenon isn't really explainable any other way--and they thought, "Oh, okay--we want a piece of that action. Women who would have voted for Hilary will indiscriminately vote for another vag as well. Who can we take who'll pose no threat whatsoever to our heinous agenda? H'mmmm..."

...E voila, ladies and gents, that's how Sarah Palin and her charming family were catapulted out of their Alaskan obscurity and into the national (and international) limelight. Oh boy!

Okay, to be honest, I was pumped for about a minute until Henry swiftly Wikipedia'd her ass. After that it was pretty much all over. Initially I thought...well, maybe it's the start of something. Maybe, regardless of their motivations, both the Dems and the GOP are rising above themselves and allowing American politics to ascend to a whole new level. It didn't take long for the wonders of modern technology to send me hurtling back down from cloud nine with a reverberating thud.

It hurt.

According to her Wickipedia entry, she also didn't seem like the antichrist. You know, with all her alleged anti-pork-barrelling and all. And honestly, I'm sure she's terribly nice, and certainly a great mom. I respect her "values" and all that jazz--more on that later--but what bugs me I think, about the whole kit'n kaboodle is that people are forgiving her things that no man would EVER get away with. I mean, she's trying to trump up PTA experience as a qualification for the American executive branch! Sorry, but I'm not okay with the post of VP for an aged potential president being filled via affirmative action. A woman so close to becoming the most powerful PERSON on Earth should be impeccably qualified. Or amazingly intelligent. I am offended by her being held to what appears to be a completely different standard than everyone else in those echelons of politics. It upsets me. She's a GOP poster child--or should I say pin up--and little more.

As a feminist, I've got to be honest and say that I don't want the first female president of the USA to get in the back door like this--as a pawn in the hands of the same old half dead white male elite. I want it to be REAL. I want her (whoever she may one day be) to run and win a REAL campaign, win the popular vote, win over the establishment and go in there and kick some ass! What's happening here is a sham. This woman might just manage to win over conservative voters who fall for the "Oh, she's just like me!" line of campaign logic. It might sound arrogant and condescending but the American president should NOT be just like you and me. What did that get us the last time?! People voted for GW because they thought he was accessable and down to earth and just an all around nice guy. Didn't really help him run the country, though. Did get us into the PR/IR/Ungodly disaster that is Iraq. Didn't help the economy any, or the national debt.

Let's sum up: THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE WHITE HOUSE SHOULD NOT BE A POPULARITY CONTEST!

I just sighed. Deeply. I know how things are, and I know that in all honestly, despite whatever Barack Obama is promising, they probably aren't going to change in the near future. I just had to get my frustrations out there, though. I just can't stand people mistaking this woman for a feminist and a role model. Okay, she's a role model in that she's a working mom. I respect that. And I respect the fact that she wrangled with some gut wrentching decisions regarding her youngest son, and most recently her daughter. Before things get all pro-choice-y up in here, I just want to say that whatever decisions a woman makes regarding her reproductive system are just that: personal, sometimes painful decisions and should not now, not EVER be misconstrued as politics, a litmus test or a qualification to hold higher office.

Anyway, I hope everyone's doing well.
Fight the good fight, guys.

Saying goodbye to Markus...

2008-08-25T16:27:00.003+02:00

Today was my colleague Markus's last day. Ohhhh, Markus. I want to post to do him justice, but that's just difficult. Somehow work won't be the same without him. Or certainly not as gossip-filled. I think I'll share my top 5 favorite Markus stories and -isms with you all...just because he's gone.

Number Five: Markus the steak-eating Buddhist

Markus is a practicing Buddhist. Buddhism's great! Now, I don't know how much y'all know about the various paths of Buddha and the different tenets of Buddhism, but one of the basics is "hurt no living thing". There are monks in parts of the world who walk around with brooms to sweep insects out of their path that they might possibly otherwise tread on. These folks take love of nature and her creatures very seriously. I had the good fortune to be around when our intern, Linda, started asking Markus about Buddhism. Markus was saying how he doesn't kill mosquitoes and since he adopted this kind and accepting stance to all of Earth's creations, he's noticed that bees and wasps don't sting him, and mosquitoes are no longer a problem. Linda eventually reaches the inevitable conclusion that Markus must be a vegetarian. Surprise! Of course not! According to him, it's perfectly okay to eat and also to purchase meat as a Buddhist, as long as you do not know where the meat comes from or who killed it.
I mean, I've heard very different things from people I know who have a great interest in or who practice Buddhism...but you know, whatever helps you sleep at night, right?

Number 4: "I won't work with another man"

I'm not sure if we all knew what we were getting into when we set out to fill the job of Sandra, our MIA caretaker with a jolly good fellow named Roland. Well, actually we were planning to fill the slot with Julia, and Roland was only a substitute until Julia could leave her old job, but whatever. In the beginning, there was Roland--and I think that was the beginning of the end.
One day during this process, my boss takes me aside and asks me if I would be okay with maybe switching into our other group for a month or so. I'm flexible--I don't care, and at work, we don't do too much work in our separate groups anyway, so I said sure. My boss explained that Markus approached her about the hiring of Roland and said that he refused to work in a group with another man. I was like...ummm...okay...wait, WHAT?! Who makes demands like that of their boss?! That's not normal. I asked my boss if Markus had given a reason--apparently not. That was when I realized that something wasn't quite right.

Number 3: "Just do what I tell you to, okay?"

The stage is set--my boss is on vacation, Markus and I are working the early shift with Roland in his first week. Roland is getting on well with the kids and making a general good impression. However, on that day he'd been running late and hadn't had time to eat his breakfast. He takes out his tiny German mini sandwiches at the breakfast table in front of all the kids, explains his situation and starts to unpack them. Markus looks over and was like "hey man, you know we we're not supposed to bring stuff from home here because some of the kids have allergies. You can just eat some of the stuff we have here." but in a tone where one would have thought 'oh, okay--I'll not do it again'--which was Roland's reaction. However, he continues to unwrap his sandwiches. Markus then does a 180 and was like "Put your sandwiches away!" Roland looks at him like he's crazy and doesn't do anything. Markus then ASKS HIM TO STEP OUTSIDE. All the while, I'm sitting at the table, looking from one to the next asking myself if they're going to start yelling at eachother in the hallway. I didn't hear any blows or screaming, and eventually they both came back in. Later, Roland told me Markus had said Roland just needed to do what he said and not question him in front of the children. Needless to say, relations between the two were strained after that.

Number 2: "If you don't like the way I'm doing it, then do it yourself!"

I had the wondrous good fortune to be chosen to co-lead the year-end KiLa trip with our "big kids" (5 kids ages 3-5). My boss had chosen the period of time and the location, and Markus and I were responsible for planning, packing, supervision and whatnot. During the planning period, one of the mothers made the suggestion that we take a day trip over to the island where their family had a camp. Markus and I were thrilled with the idea, but hadn't really planned anything, when word started to get out. During the run-up to the trip, my parents were here and I had vacation time and to put it simply, I wasn't often there. Apparently, some parents, my boss included had gotten the idea that this boat trip was set in stone, without of course, consulting them. The parents I work with REALLY like to be consulted, and my boss was starting to get a bit of flak. So she mentions to Markus totally offhand that he might want to maaayyybe run off some permission slips for this little field trip within a field trip with some extra information, seeing as boats, small children and deep water were going to be involved. Upon hearing this, Markus flips his shit and starts yelling at my boss, threatening not to do the trip at all if she didn't back off and leave him to do as he saw fit.
...Charmin' fella ain't he, folks?

Number 1: Giving up, Markus style

So remember the aforementioned boat trip? Permission was granted on all sides, slips were printed and signed and on the predetermined date, we woke up to drizzling rain. However, we went ahead with our plans, packed food, the kids, life-jackets, towels, rain gear...the whole shebang, and took the bus 15 minutes to the next village to meet up with this mother.
So. Now, we're standing with five very excited small children in a boat house at the water's edge, waiting for the rain to let up. It does, and the mother asks Markus if he would mind rowing one of the boats over to the island. Markus said he would, and he gets into one boat with Linda, our intern, and two or three kids. I'm in the next boat with the mother, her friend, her daughter and two other kids. We're busy loading up and shoving off, and all of a sudden, we notice that Markus and the boat are nowhere to be seen. We row over and find them--they've drifted into a little cove on the shore and Markus proceeds to have a fit. It's too unsafe, the weather is terrible, he promised the parents we wouldn't go out if the weather was like this, it's HIS responsibility, and he refuses to be a part of it. The two women try to reason with him and they manage to draw the discussion out long enough that the rain really does let up and Markus finally agrees it's "safe enough" to row over. However, he graciously allowed the friend of the mother to take over and row for him. Later, our intern Linda told me that he never even touched the oars. He got into the boat, let it drift and began to say over and over again "This is too dangerous, we're going to have to break it off, it's not safe..."
I mean, anyone with a grain of common sense knows that in a situation which might even remotely be construed as dangerous, one does not share one's fears with any small children who might be present. Even after the weather had cleared up, the kids were scared out of their wits. My boss's son greeted her with the words, "I didn't drown!" when she picked him up. True story.

So yeah. Those are my favorite episodes of Markus-mania. Stay tuned, we're getting an Australian starting in September. His name is Matt. Hopefully he'll be half as entertaining.

Mellonade!

2008-08-06T15:47:00.002+02:00

So yesterday, because my budget is relatively limited and I had nothing else to do, I decided to go to the turkish market at Kotbusser Tor. You can get fabulously fresh produce there at prices my beloved vietnamese greengrocer can only dream of. It's also the only place I know of in Berlin where you can get a whole lamb. I'd just been on Friday, but in a fit of summery gluttony all my mangoes had disappeared...and, like I said...there was nothing better to do.

One of my favorite things about summer has always been lemonade. Delicious, refreshing, not at all nutritious...I used to drink it by the gallon. I started out with Countrytime, then moved on to Paul Newman's virgin lemonade. However, due to either its complete lack of health benefits or it's inherent American-ness there is no lemonade to be found in these parts. Although products like Fluff and Oreos and Swiss Miss cocoa have long since started to deck the shelves in forward thinking German supermarkets, lemonade remains an outsider. So on my way to market, I thought to myself, in addition to buying mangoes and figs...why not get a dozen lemons or so and see if you can make good on that old English proverb?
...And that's exactly what I did. A friend of ours is doing an internship at a clinic outside Berlin and came over yesterday afternoon to help me out. Considering that I don't even have one of those hand-juicers, things went pretty well...albeit a tad on the sting-y, citrucy and sticky side. Marleen, who is studying medical biotechnology explained to me in great detail why this combination of citric acid, water and sugar pretty much created the fatal trifecta of doom for my teeth (btw--does anyone know a good dentist here in Berlin?) but the end result tastes all right.

My problem is that the longer I live here, the more subtley German my tastes become. I HAVE a little plastic package of the Countrytime lemonade powder in my cupboard here. I've made it several times...and every single time I think to myself 'Dear GOD, this is disgustingly sweet.' So the home made stuff is ungodly bitter in comparison, but I'm happy. It's far more refreshing that way...and at least it's citric acid gnawing away at my tooth enamel and not sugar. Because that's better...right?

Anyway, that's the view from here. I should hang up the laundry before it starts to stink in the washing machine...and translate my driver's license...but that's a story for another day.

Play safe guys, and fight the good fight.

Of vacations, spoons and immigration services

2008-08-04T19:44:00.003+02:00

Hi folks,
how're things?

I'm still on vacation, using the time to catch up with friends, work on forming some new good habits (for a change). My trainer saw me at the gym twice today and I thought he was going to fall over in surprise. We'll see how long my latest wave of motivation lasts, or how long my impending hectic schedule of doom will let me keep at my workouts and pilates, but I'm hoping to get the best out of the time that I have. In other news, I was at immigration services about a week ago and officially got my visa extended for two years with unlimited and unrestriced access to the german job market. I'm elated...mostly because technically I'm not even eligible (love your caseworker and she'll love you back is all I've got to say about that one...) and because when you've experienced having to check in with a government agency before even thinking about changing your job, knowing that your potential employer is going to be hunted down and grilled by the german department of labor regarding why they want YOU to work for them instead of a perfectly good, out of work German...well, it's just nice not to have to deal with that.

Not that I'm thinking about changing jobs. I've been listening around and for most Kindergartens and nursery schools aren't half as employee-friendly as ours is. My boss is fantastic and hardly ever plays the Boss Lady role and my co workers are mostly pretty cool. We all know what the odds are of those conditions cropping up in most places of employment. A lot of friends of mine who also work in "the business" can't even take vacation days during the first six months on the job. I know, I know...in the states it's normal, but I've gotten a trifle spoiled where I am now, I guess.

Let's see...not too much has been going on recently. The annual Beer Mile was this past weekend a few blocks from our place. We went down there Friday and wound up throwing a spontaneous party for some random people Stephan knows from school cause it started to rain. I drank a Polish kid under the table at a game of spoons...the poor bastard is still mad at me, I think. Oh well. He kinda had it coming.

Anyway, I just spent a fantastic hour skyping with Colleen (all y'all who have skype can search for me under tyler.margaret) and now I think I'm going to go dig into the leftover tiramisu. I mean...why else was I at the gym twice today?

Take care guys...I'm thinking of you!

2008-07-27T14:55:00.002+02:00

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/dreams.png

I don't know if the link is going to show, but I saw it on xkcd and I thought it was awesome.

I'm on vacation! It's pretty fantastic--I spent the last week in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern with Stephan's Mum. There was lots of getting up early, bike riding and lake swimming. All in all, it was nice to have a break from the city. However, planning my ATM visits days in advance was kind of annoying. The weather started off kind of weak, but we're now in the middle of a fantastic heat wave and my tan is coming along. I've got my appointment with Immigration Services on Tuesday and I'm kind of excited about it. It's looking like I might actually get a three year visa. We'll see.

Hopefully we'll get a chance to get down to one of the lakes here in the area as long as the weather's good. For whatever reason, I can't think of anything terribly witty or entertaining to write, so I'm just going to cut for now.

Take care, all.

Older and Wiser?

2008-07-02T17:50:00.003+02:00

Hey folks,
hope this post finds you all in great health and spirits. Here in Berlin, we're enjoying temperatures warmer than those in Rio and I'm lucky enough to have collected enough overtime at work to have had the majority of this week off. It was a great chance to recover from the stressful yet utterly fantastic combination of my parent's visit, my uncle's wedding and my 25th birthday. Celine was here for a short visit, which consisted mostly of wandering through my neighborhood and drinking tea on my terrasse. Next week, I've been tapped to take the four and five year olds on a week-long trip with Markus, my sometimes difficult colleague. I'm mostly excited, we've checked out the accommodations, and our intern Linda will be coming too (she's pretty cool) and I've got some pretty great stuff planned. My only worry is that Markus is going to somehow manage to botch the packing (because I'm not there this week) or somehow otherwise submarine my input. We'll see. I'll actually only be staying until Thursday evening because our negotiation hearing in court is on Friday. I'm hoping that we'll get the issue with our ridiculous landlord and his cohorts settled once and for all. Our lawyer is also of the opinion that we have nothing to negotiate, as we have done nothing wrong. Our demands--to put it frankly--our pretty basic. Our landlord needs to stop treating us like idiots, reduce our rent and preferably (my addition here) apologize for their ridiculous behavior.
We'll see...keep your fingers crossed for us.
My parents were here, like I mentioned--and I think things went swimmingly. No one got food poisioning or any other strange diseases, everyone tried new things, my parents got to meet Stephan, Stephan got to meet a big chunk of my family at Steve's wedding and we got to spend a lovely few days in an utterly charming Czech hamlet. I can only reccomend it. The people are friendly, the castles are imposing and beautiful, the landscape is breathtaking and the exchange rate is favorable for the dollar (places like that are getting few and far between these days). My only tip: do not drive through Poland. The roads are being renewed from the center of the country out to the boarders. This is unfortunate if you don't plan to drive through the center of the country. I thought the rental was going to bust an axle on some of those craters! Stephan narrowly escaped getting charged an exorbitant five euro for a sausage (polish sausage is good, but not that good), my sister got chased after for stiffing the bathroom watchman twenty euro cents and we got our windows forcibly washed by some cracked out guys with squeegees...while it was raining. A very colorful trip. I don't think any of the parties involved will forget it any time soon.
The rest of their visit was relatively uneventful--except that my Mum's bank card didn't want to work and the hotel reservations got botched somehow. It was a bit stressful...but rewarding.
However, all these events left me no time to plan my quarter-century birthday party. I managed to send some chaotic texts to a few friends, and Stephan did what he does best (shopping like he invented it) and when I came home from the kindergarten overnight (a preparatory measure for our trip next week) I had a fantastic birthday breakfast waiting for me--complete with my very own kiwi plant. A bunch of people came over in the evening for grilling and whatnot and it wound up being quite nice, despite the lack of planning. One of the coolest things I got, other than the kiwi plant of course, was a dvd box set of all the James Bond films with Sean Connery in them. I've already managed to watch From Russia With Love, and while I'm writing this, You Only Live Twice is running. I was ecstatic when I got them. All in all, I got to celebrate four times--once with my parents before they left, once with my kids at the overnight, once with Stephan and once with all my German friends. All in all, I can't complain.
The only bummer in recent weeks has been my bad spell with my bike. I bit it twice in as many weeks, hitting the exact same places on me and my bike. The last time was with substantial speed and I've gone through that from having nine speeds to having three...and because it's my own fault, there's no way it's going to be covered by my warantee, no matter how nice my bike guys are. So I'm hoping to get there either today or tomorrow and get things straightened out so I don't have to buy a transport pass for this month.

Anyway, I'm going to get started on dinner and whatnot. Hope everyone's doing well. Keep fighting the good fight.

Euro Cup, Vo-Ho free Fridays, etc...

2008-06-06T18:16:00.003+02:00

Hi folks--
Now that my computer's back among the living, I've resolved to update this thing more often. The big news around these parts is that the European Cup kicks off tomorrow night. In honor thereof, Stephan and I are playing in a fun soccer tournament tomorrow...I'm actually kind of psyched for it, considering that I haven't played soccer in about...ten years. It could be cool. Germany totally transforms during big, international tournaments like this one--the World Cup in 2006 was like Christmas, Easter, Passover and everyone's birthdays all happening at once. The traditionally anal-retentive and whiny Germans (okay, they're not ALL like that, but there are days when you really think that complaining is the national passtime) were happier than fat kids with a lifetime supply of free cake. So I'm looking forward to the atmosphere first and the actual games second, although they're not too bad, either.
Let's see...what else? I've got my German taxes about 9/10 filed...only a week late. I mean, I say "I've" got them almost filed, but I haven't gone near the damn things. This is one of the many moments where I'm glad I'm dating a "host country national" who has a vague idea of German tax law.
I also got some new plants! I replaced the oregano and the thyme that didn't survive the winter, got some strawberry plants and a banana tree. Don't ask about the banana tree. Wasn't my idea, but we'll see how it goes.
Aaaanyway...in other news, the rental still isn't reserved for my parents, because Stephan refuses to make an executive decision (ford or volvo) and insists on asking my dad, who checks his emails about once every three weeks. H'm...
Other than that, there's not a whole lot going on here. I'm going to sign off and enjoy not being at work. Yay!

My Laptop Liiiiives!

2008-06-03T16:20:00.002+02:00

Huzzah!
After months of senseless procrastination (one of my strong suits), I finally managed to shell out the 15 Euros and replace the power cable to my lovely old Dell. The graphic card on the desktop has kind of bitten it, kind of not, so we're living with a technical situation whose precariousness makes me realize how dependent on all this stuff I actually am. All my lesson plans and resources are backed up on an external hard drive, but when the computer isn't working AT ALL, that doesn't really help me get any work done. But enough of that, because things are good right now...

The short list of beautiful people to have graced my couch since I last posted is short but illustrious--Ms. Andrea Danielson stopped by to kick off her whirlwind European post-peace corps adventure and taught me an amazing amount about Africa and the Gambia...and we figured out how to make her ATM card work (PS to those of you intending to visit, a tip: Visa IS everywhere you want to be). All around a fabulous time. Then came the ever lovely Germanophile Mlle. Julia Follick for a jam-packed ten days of Germanic fabulousness, including but by no means limited to drinking gin at the kitchen table, helping me survive vicious stomach funk and going to bizarre garden parties. Also a rockin' good time. Next up....

The Fam.

(Dunnn Dunnn Dunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn)

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't just a tad stressed. Technically, I should be scouring the city looking for distilled water for my Mum's anti-snoreilator. Or doing about eight bajillion other things. Like looking for a wedding present for my unlce and his bride-to-be, or writing up the protocol from our parent night, like...over two weeks ago. Or filling out invoices for work. I also don't have a dress. You know, for the wedding. In the Czech Republic. The rental car has also not yet been reserved. I mean...I'm wicked excited that they're coming. They get to check out my whole life here, which is equal parts stressful and fantastic. Two weeks ago, we started using organic cleaners around the house so that no one gets an allergy attack from any freaky euro-chemical cleaners. Like I said...there's a lot going on.

The awesome thing is the weather, though. Berlin has had incredible sun and like, ninety degrees for the last two weeks. It's been wonderful. We take the KiLa kids to the garden every day for the whole morning, feed them breakfast, hose them down with sunscreen and let them go. Today it got a little intense, so my boss decided to put up a tarp over part of the garden. Guess who was in charge of climbing up all the different trees and securing all the corners? ...You guessed it. Yours truly. If that's not full-body enthusiasm for one's job, I don't know what is. The downside is, it's too hot to cook, to run or to do much of anything...but from being outside every day I'm getting a helluva tan.

So the motto of the story, Kinders? ...book yo' flights! My parents are going to be occupying my time until the beginning of July (inlcuding the necessary preparation and recovery time--all y'all know how it is...), but after that it's open season.

Anyway, that was a blitz update from here. Hope everyone's happy and healthy.

First post in aaaaaaages...

2008-03-25T18:31:00.003+01:00

I'm a miserable blogger.
I'll skip the excuses--you know, the tried and true "I've been really busy" (I mean, not that I haven't been), or "I've had guests" (I have and you know who you are), or "My boyfriend tried to "fix" my power cable and instead completely destroyed it, so now we have to share a computer and he LOVES his internet poker" (also true)...none of these of course are any excuse for the neglect being suffered by my poor, forgotten blog. And those who by some obscure twist of fate still read this thing. Love you guys!

Be that all as it may...

I'm fine. Berlin is fine. Work is good, and sufficient. Easter was nice.

Let's see...what else is news...?

I bought a bike! It's all white and graceful with lights and a basket and stuff. Unfortunately, Berlin is in the middle of a cold snap, which makes it easier for me to be lazy and take public transportation. This will soon pass, however and I'll be speeding around. spreading terror and risking life and limb. Not that Berlin isn't bike-friendly or anything. It's just that I'm a bad biker. Balance was never really my strong suit...but practice makes perfect.

For Easter, Stephan's mum came down with his brother and an aunt for a few days, which was nice, but a wee bit on the stressful side. I mean really, when mothers come to visit, they're generally ideal houseguests. They clean up after themselves...they clean up after others...they cook things...they bring their own sheets and towels...and butter...and eggs...and duck...it's when they start to reorganize your refridgerator that you might want to intervene. I mean...I'm speaking from experience. Once someone else gets in there, you won't find your goat cheese ever again. Until it walks out by itself, that is. No, but seriously, it was fun. We spent six hours shopping on Saturday. I can now say that I've been to every single store in the Alexa shopping complex. For those of you who don't know it, it's freaking huge. I also learned a new Easter-appropriate German saying, "She who looks for eggs at Easter gets a nice surprise at Christmas" (Wer am Ostern Eier sucht, hat am Weihnachten Bescherung). In order to get this, you have to know that in German, the slang word for "balls" is "eggs".

I thought it was funny.

Anyway, I know that all of you on the other continent have already switched to daylight savings time. Or back from daylight savings time. Whichever. We switch at the end of the month, but already, there's a noticeable difference. When I get up for the early shift at the KiLa at 6:30, it's already light out. I know it's pathetic that this is a source of shock, amazement and joy for me, but the winter in this part of Germany gray. Entirely. So increased daylight has the potential to one day become increased sunlight and that, I think is what has me so excited.

Let's see...what else?
I don't know. Come visit and find out. May is full, but the beginning of June is good, as are July and August. I know the dollar's in the toilet, so I understand, but you know y'all are welcome!

Take care.

2008-01-17T17:32:00.000+01:00

Hey all,

One of these days, I'm going to get around to posting some of the adorable pictures from the KiLa Christmas party (although I think under German law, it might be just a tiny bit illegal...I won't use full names.)...it's been an interesting first two work-weeks of the year. We got a new colleague Roland, and he and Marcus have been barely getting along. The male ego is such a fragile and amazing thing. Marcus has made comments in the past that have made me think "...ummm, okay, bizarre individual...", but I thought he would be happy to have a new team member helping us out.
Apparently he views Roland as competition for the pseudo-daddy role in these kids lives. I mean, I don't delude myself. I love "my" kids, but they're not mine. I teach them words, I change their diapers, I sing them songs, but only for five hours a day, max. I think that the unlimited trust these kids and their parents give us can lead to some types of people having serious power trips. I mean, sure--it's the most amazing thing I've ever felt to hear a child say my name for the first time, or to use an english word all on their own. Some of them are so cute, I wish they were mine. But they're not. I'd never say to any of my colleagues "I think that I'm a really important person for Tommy right now" because it's not true. Kids are fickle--their needs change daily, if not hourly and different people are better at meeting different needs than others. It's also not good for a child to get too attatched to one person or another in the Kindergarten setting. The goal of the whole Kindergarten concept in Germany is that small children become little independent, socially competent mini-Germans. Anyway, the long and short of it is that my boss is now dropping serious hints that Marcus's contracts will not be renewed in August when it runs out.
Aside from the male bitch-fest, things are cool at work. Most of the kids are readjusted from the Christmas vacation. I'm putting together my application for the early-childhood education training program. The deadline is March, but it's a private school and an overly punctual application=a slot in the class. As soon as my degrees from the US have been officially recognized in the Bundesrepublik, I'll be able to hand the whole shebang in.

In other news, I paid our "outstanding debt" to our landlord this week. I say that with great disgust and utmost irony, because they actually owe us money. However, before we take the matter to court (again), our lawyer advised us to sort things out, so that they don't have any grounds to evict us. Bastards. I'm so not impressed. But yeah. Not too much I can do about it.

Upcoming events in the Hauptstadt include a visit from a friend of Jordy's next week and Jeffy sometime in early March. And the Spring Semester of my adult ed classes starting. Is it bad that I'm crossing my fingers that they don't fill up? I've got enough stuff going on without working 5 nights a week. I mean, the money is good, but it's not that good. So we'll see. Keep your thumbs pressed, as the Germans say. After all, all work and no play makes for a very sad Mia.

So, I'm starving--which is a class A sign that it's time for me to sign off. I think I'm getting tandoori pork tonight...if all goes well.

Take care and stay healthy!

Merry 2008!

2008-01-03T16:06:00.000+01:00

So team,
here's what's up: I haven't posted in months. In that time span, my laptop was briefly revived and then subsequently semi-permenantly put to rest by a certain cohabitant of mine, some scissors and a small incision in a slightly defective power-cable.

BE THAT AS IT MAY,
we survived the holidays relatively healthy and harmoniously. Presents were given and recieved, mammoth quantites of homemade rum punch were consumed, along with about a metric ton of red wine, some rabbit, duck, tons of pig and goose. Stephan's Mum is a bad influence on me. Or something. Kai is now officially 30, I saw the fireworks at the Brandenburger Gate for the first time aaaaaaaaaaand I've made a few decisions about how my life is going to progress.

Okay, maybe one.

For those of you who don't get regular emails from me (hahahaha--good one, huh? no one gets regular emails from me!), I've really been loving my job at the nursery school. My boss is pretty cool and my little kids are hilarious. It's not really a "grown up" job, but I'm not really sure I want to be a grown up, either with quotation marks or without. My professional goal for the new year is to try and be more involved and make more suggestions--just generally take a more active role in my group with the kids, as opposed to watching/assisting/observing. It's not that I haven't wanted to before, but I wasn't really sure of my role in the partnership with my co-group-leader, who also happens to be my boss with about 10-12 years of job experience on me. We've talked that out and I've been working on a list of projects, crafts, songs and games to do with the kids in the next few months. So yeah...we'll see how that goes. I've also got to apply for my Ausbildungs-slot--I think the deadline is next month, or maybe March, and the courses start in August. I'm excited. It'll give me a concrete qualification to do something I love anywhere in Germany or in the EU. Other than that, things are moving along. My adult ed classes wrapped just before Christmas, and I've got few loose ends to tie up there (someone forgot to file the paperwork for the certificates of participation...oops), but all in all, things are going well.

In other news, my parents and sister have booked their flight to Berlin, arriving June 17th and leaving the 26th, so if any of you were thinking about swinging by in that time frame, I'll be otherwise occupied as tour-guide/hostess. Wish me luck getting my parents to a wedding on the border between the Czech Republic and Slovakia. They'll also be meeting Stephan for the first time. Allllll kinds of insanity, folks. Hopefully I'll have time to keep you posted, because I'm sure it's going to be more fun than a barrel of monkeys.

Let's see...is anything else interesting happening? Not really. I start work again on the seventh, which I'm actually looking forward to. It's a completely different feeling from last year at this time, where I really would have done just about anything to be able to leave my old job. Mission accomplished. I think I can say with relative certainty that last year was a bit rough, but ended with positive trajectory. I'm on the upswing, I think. It's just hard to tell from the inside.

Anyway, I know it sounds nerdy, but I got the Joy of Cooking 75th anniversary edition for Christmas and I'm reading my way through it. Out of interest. I know, it's sad, but I love it. I'm going to make me a melange and continue reading about different types of citrus.

Take care of eachother.
oxoxo
.mia.

2007-11-20T15:42:00.000+01:00

Hey all,
I know it's been ages since I've posted anything. Sorry. My computer is still dead and the magic (read: legal) passwords to revive it are all in the states. Awesome. My significant other is also an ebay-holic, so I don't spend a lot of time on the computer, unless I'm prepping for a course. Which I should be doing now. Next week and the week after that, I'm going to be evaluated by both my adult ed bosses. Tests of any sort are my natural enemy, so I'm a little nervous even though I get quite a bit of positive feedback from my participants. Usually. When they're not asking grammatical questions I can't answer. Or when I'm not misspelling the word "restaurant". I hate that my spelling and grammar are getting rusty--especially since it's my livelihood. Or part of it, at least. Let's see. What else is going on....? Kai is in Italy for a month, Tini's birthday was last week, Angie's dog died. Max is coming this weekend.

I started my Christmas shopping!

Work is a ton of fun--because of Sandra quitting, my hours got bumped up for November. I've been able to connect with the kids on a whole different level, just by being there longer each day. The progress is awesome. I'll be really sad when the month is over and I go back to working 15 hour weeks. The pay increase was also sweet. Oh well.

I've realized reading through this again that it's quite possibly the most disjointed post I've thrown up in a while. I apologize. However, I wanted to give a sign of life and let people who've emailed me know that I'm slowly replying. Slowly. Like the little engine that could.

Damn. I just lost a worksheet for my class tonight. Word crapped out on me. So. Back to the drawing board--hope everyone is well and I'll work on a better post soon.

kisses.

Fall in Berlin

2007-10-22T10:08:00.000+02:00

It's cloudless, sunny and frosty as all hell outside. I'm trying to adjust to working afternoons and evenings--which for a late-sleeper like myself is ideal. The challenge lies in not wasting an entire freaking morning doing nothing. Before I woke up this morning and realized that every single muscle group in my body was rioting (from my first trip back to sunday yoga deluxe at the gym--my re-arrival was delayed, but more on that later), my plan was to go work out. This has been postponed until tomorrow, when hopefully everything will have quieted down a bit.

In other news...there's all kinds of ridiculous crap going on here lately.

Sandra, the new care-taker at the daycare center quit last week, which sadly doesn't mean I get to work more hours, but it means that no one has time to sit down with me and get my issues sorted (insurance, hours, how my training is going to be, etc. etc.). I'm also stuck working the nap time shift, which is stupid not only for me because trying to make children sleep is just a pain in the rear, but the kids hardly get any face time with me, which is...well, kind of the point of sending your kids to a bi-lingual daycare. Oh well. So it's annoying, but I'm trying to make the best of it.

What really makes it annoying, though, is that I have a new job offer where I'd be working more hours. Which would solve the aforementioned insurance debacle. The new folks won't train me though. So I need to know which of these options is moer worth my while so that I can start you know...planning for the future...? I hear some people do that, and it's a pretty cool thing.

Let's see...other ridiculous crap...Oh! Our landlady ordered a contractor to trespass on our property. Except I was home and caught the bastard climbing up onto our terrace with a freaking ladder. Charges are being pressed.

What else...? I've taken two communications classes on the last two weekends, which were okay, and part of a certification to do adult ed. I'm thinking about trying to sign up for a third, because the first two were pretty worthwhile, and I mean...actually being qualified for what I do doesn't hurt. Losing two weekends in a row was a bear though. This was actually the first weekend where I was "healthy"* and not attending some kind of seminar in...well, a dog's age. So I went out friday with Tini and some of her friends to this bizarre warehouse-y kind of techno joint am Ostbahnhof and came home at five in the morning. It was awesome. I mean, I don't know if I necessarily have to go back to the club again, but the company was hilarious and dancing was fun. Saturday was a total wash, though. I chilled with authority and watched zoolander for the first time in AGES. Yes, cynics can also get nostalgic. Sometimes. Paujo (what an epic blast from the past!) was in town for whatever random reason this week, so I hung out with him on Tuesday afternoon--he makes me feel better about being obscenely indecisive in my twenties. Other than that, I'd forgotten how much he reminds me of Nicolas Cage. Very odd, but nice.

*Appropo "healthy" I'm not actually. I got my flu shot a week ago and at the time I kind of had the sniffles, but I figured "what the hell, my snot's not green so it doesn't matter". Yeah. Well, I haven't really tried talking anyone yet this morning, but I think I still have a frog in my throat. I've been napalming myself with all the wonders of German herbal remedies and so far, my voice is still not back to normal, but it doesn't hurt, and my snot got clear again. Hopefully despite my rambunctious party antics, I'll stay pestilence free for a little while. Although I look like rudolph the freaking red nosed reindeer from all the nose-blowing I've been doing. Ugh. I don't know what it is about Germany, but she does a real number on my nonexistant immune system. It looks like next weekend, we'll be driving up to Rostock (for hopefully more delightful dancing at the Keller) with Tini and Kai...so yeah. I'll have to rest up this week and try to pace myself.

Wish me luck staying healthy. I'm off to plan my lesson for this evening.
I'd Euro-Kiss you all, but I have phlegm in my lungs. Sorry.

Why my immune system just kind of sucks...

2007-09-28T11:17:00.000+02:00

Apparently, my body is just not capable of killing these bacteria. I went back to the doctor yesterday to check in, and although she had to concede that I'm making progress, in Germany you don't normally work as long as you're taking antibiotics. So I'll be home on my duff for another week, folks. I lost count of the MASH episodes I watched yesterday. I mean, I'm still doing my adult ed classes despite being ordered to stay within my own 4 walls by the doc...because after all, I am feeling better and better. My boss is taking the fact that I've worked precisely 6 days this month like a champ. I am slowly adjusting to a life filled with sloth...but am longing for the gym and general freedom of movement with a passion and a vengeance.

The truly awesome part is that scarlet fever is something you can get over and over and over again. Having it once does not guarantee any sort of immunity whatsoever. Great. I'm just hoping that my body has learned something from this. What that should be, I'm not sure. Perhaps how to kill streptococci bacteria? This whole month of rest things isn't all bad, though. I did get to ease into my 5-nights-a-week of adult ed without the added burden of working mornings. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to handle it when the time comes--or at least, I'm rarin' to try.

If there were other news or related news, I'd share...but really, with all the nothing I've been doing, I pretty much have a whole lot of nothing to write about. Except that I bought some shoes on eBay and I get to go pick them up today. And I got a really cool winter jacket from stephan from this fabulous danish label called redrabbit. Oh those Danes with their chic ladies and their perfect English...

Happy almost-Weekend, y'all. My resolution is to go to yoga on Sunday. After a month of sitting on my ass, I've got to start somewhere.

Kuss.

P.S. I apologize for any grevious spelling errors that might appear in my recent posts. It drives me wacky that I'm apparently losing my touch with the English language and ont op of that, the spell check function this stupid program is on strike. If you figure out what it's demands are, please let me know.

Scarlet-bleeping-Fever

2007-09-20T11:55:00.000+02:00

So yeah. I'm home on sick leave, again. Apparently I was misdiagnosed the first time by my semi-retired Doc who assumed I guess, that everyone my age has had scarlet fever, otherwise known as Schlarlach. Because it's a normal childhood disease here...or something. And once you've had it, you don't get it again. Am I mistaken, or do American children just not get scarlet fever. Do you know anyone who's ever had it? Parents and Grandparents don't count. My mother is the only person I know who's ever had scarlet freaking fever.

All that aside, I don't feel that bad. I'd been on two different antibiotics by the time the Doc found out what I really had, so at that point, I didn't even have a fever. I'm not really sure I ever did...anyway, the point is, I feel fine and really wretched about putting my boss in a bind. I worked Monday and was fine, then I get the test results from my doctor, who tells me I've been potentially contagious the whole time. Great. So I feel bad about having possibly infected all the kids in the nursery school, but at the same time, I feel like a lazy ass for not working. Well...I am kind of still working. I have my adult ed classes that according to my doctor, I should also not be doing...but if I cancel them, I'd have to make them up at some point, and I don't have time for that. To be honest, it's also a relief to get out of the house for a couple hours a day. Sitting on the couch all day gets old fast.

Anyway, aside from that there's not a whole lot going on. Max's birthday is this weekend, so we're going up to Gross Schwiesow this weekend. I'm hoping I'm 100% by then--I was sick for Max's birthday last year, too. I guess September is just a bad month for me.

So, I hope you all are free of semi-infectious diseases and whatnot. I'm going to get back to my couch and the fourth season of family guy. I'm waiting with baited breath for the seventh season, in the meantime I'm re-watching everything Stephan can find for me on the internet.

Stay healthy!

Domestic Bliss

2007-09-15T18:40:00.000+02:00

It's Saturday. The weather is typically crisp and fall like, and makes me think of the leaves changing colors (they don't really here) and fresh apples. I wound up not being entirely healed from my malignant funk of last week, and barely managed to scrape through the work week this week with a late-afternoon visit to le Doctor on Thursday. She took a little swab of whatever the hell it is that's growing in my throat and sent it in for analysis (I was already liking her by then...this is one of the new Doctors who's taking over the practice of the old East German ladies), so we'll see what that turns out to be. For the interim, I've got new drugs so I'm pretty happy. It keeps the sore throat at a minimum.

At the moment, I'm going through a domestic dervish phase, and decided to bake bread today--which when you're all set up and ready to go in the morning pretty much takes the whole day. I think I got started at like, three pm...so we'll see what time I finish and how it comes out. I used my American measuring cups and my great-grandma's recipe, so I'm betting it's going to be pretty awesome...providing my evil german electric oven doesn't sabotage things. Someone's sitting next to me, drooling puddles already. ;) While the dough was rising and Stephan was playing pool, I got things cleaned up and squared away around here. It doesn't happen often that I get so into cleaning and washing and whatnot, so when I do, I try to take advantage of it. I also know that since my adult ed courses are starting, Stephan's going to get stuck doing a lot of the housework. If everything goes as planned, I'll be working until 9pm four nights a week. I mean, I like my job in the Kindergarten, but it doesn't cover all my expenses...we'll leave it at that. So far, everything's started more or less as planned. There were a few courses in the Lichtenberg annex that are reeeeally small, but fortunately my boss there has my back and is pulling all the strings she can to keep my classes going. I've got a great business intensive going until Halloween with four students--it's nice for once not to be the youngest person in the room by at least ten years.

I really like working with adults in this capacity because you get to learn a ton about all kinds of different professions. For example, in my business intensive course, there's a guy who's studying to become an accountant. He knows all kinds of fascinating things about tax law and what have you. I mean...if you think taxes are boring, you've never tried to file as being self-employed in a foreign country. The German department of Finance called me up the other day and I nearly shit a brick. I'm pretty sure everything's straightened out there, though. Hopefully, won't notice that I didn't turn in the invoices for my tutorial work. I forgot to ask my ex-boss there to send them to me. It's not like it was that much money, anyway...but with the department of finance you never know. Apparently here they can randomly call you up five years from now and ask to see your documents from 2006. You know, if they get bored. Although when I see it written in English like that...it sounds like an audit, just described differently.

In other news, as a part of our renovations-binge of last week, I've now got two new additions to the Tyler-Spindler plant family. Not that I'm one of those people who consider plants my children. I talk to them, but there are limits to my affections. So yeah, we now have an orchid and some gardenias. They smell lovely. And for those of you who were wondering, the yellow in the living room isn't too oppressive and the shelving unit in the bathroom is still standing.

All right, kids. It's time for me to go melt some butter for putting ye olde shine on those bread crusts.

Sick Leave

2007-09-04T12:01:00.000+02:00

Mannn is it cool to have a real job. Or at least, a sort-of real job with at least marginal benefits. As it happens, I'm sick with what zee Gehrmannz call "angina" (not anGInah as we'd say it, but anGEENa)--which apparently can be anything from a sore throat to strep. Whatever I have, it's been treated now by antibiotics I got free of charge from the pharmacy, and my next visit to the doctor (actually, all subsequent ones for the next quarter) will be free! It's just wonderful to be able to really rest and concentrate on getting better, as opposed to having to worry if I have enough money to pay the bill. My boss was really cool about everything, too. I called her yesterday to let her know I wouldn't be coming in, and she was just like "yeah, let me know when you're feeling better." Good stuff. That was the upshot of yesterday. The rest of the day I spent passed out on my couch. Quite literally. It seems to have done quite a lot of good, though. I'm feeling much better today. It's a lot easier to swallow and I've got quite a bit more energy. Es lebe antibiotiker. As long as my light itchy-ness doesn't turn into full-blown hives from the meds, I'll be a happy camper. My doc (not the same one as last time, sadly. The old biddies are retiring.) noted that I'm allergic to amoxicillin and penicillin, but proceeded to prescribe me another antibiotic that's apparently almost as bad. Literally, in the little notes in the package, it says 'if you're allergic to penicillin, it's highly likely that you'll react to this drug as well'. Oh boy.

Right now, it's not that bad. Stephan, with classic East German logic believes that if I don't think about it, I won't have any sort of reaction. I try to ignore this, since he's been really sweet and caring since I got sick. He brought home fresh fruit by the bushel, fresh squeezed strawberry-orange juice and this special "winter-bath" with eucalyptus. Now under the best of circumstances, I'm not a huge eucalyptus fan. However, after putting off using the bath crystals for a full 48 hours, the situation was getting pretty critical. I will tell you--eucalyptus in this concentration smells like cat pee. It also turned the water green. I of course drew the water too hot and got ridiculously dehydrated and dizzy, and proceeded to pass out on the couch smelling like cat pee. It was awesome. In the meantime, I've got the cat pee situation under control, but I won't be bathing in or inhaling any eucalyptus any time soon. Chamomile is much more up my alley.

Despite being relieved at the possibility, I'm actually a little bit bummed out not to be able to go to work. This is a pretty good sign of job satisfaction, I guess. I mean, the kids had just started to really get used to me, and I was right in the middle of finally starting to build up a rapport with some of the four year olds (they're a tricky demographic, I'll tell you), and now I'm afraid that after the week, they'll have forgotten all about me and I'll have to start from scratch again. It's a lot easier to change a kid's diaper if they're not fighting you off because they don't know you. It's not that bad, though, since it's been raining pretty much straight since yesterday and anyone who's ever had to take care of little kids knows they go crazy when it rains for days at a time and they can't play outside. I'm glad my boss feels the same ways about kids and fresh air as I do--I mean, yes, these are city kids and their exposure to "nature" is relatively low, but playing outside is just plain healthy. Not to mention tiring for the little scamps. Provided I'm feeling better, I'm going to be pretty excite to get back to work next week.

In other news, I just started readying a pretty fascinating book on Al Qaida by a German author. To be honest, I'd kind of been putting off starting it, because I thought it would be dry and dull, but it's actually riveting. I had no idea that the first attack on the world trade center by Islamic militants actually happened in 1993. I mean, where was I?! Probably in Mrs. Lavallee's second grade class...or perhaps Mrs. Ellis's third grade class, and presumably not at all interested in such things. Anyhow, it's a very well written account of the different attacks; planned attacks, attempted attacks, etc. Very factual without becoming dry or textbook-y. I doubt it's been translated though, since the English-speaking world has no shortage of written material on Islamic extremists and Al Qaida in particular. I've also been re-reading Russendisko by Wladimir Kaminer--I'd lent it to Julia about a year ago and forgotten all about it. There are some hilarious short stories there. What I SHOULD be doing, however, is preparing myself for my adult ed courses at the Volkshochschule that are starting (well, some of them) next week. Apparently, I'm supposed to have a new textbook. I realized this while checking online to see how many people had signed up for my courses. I do wish my myriad of bosses would keep me better informed sometimes. It'd make a lot of things easier.

Oh well. Hopefully they'll reply promptly to my inquisitive emails, and I can get on with my next herbal tea infusion.

Stay healthy, kids.

Of firearms, tantrums and small children.

2007-08-16T16:00:00.000+02:00

G'day, all!

Things in Berlin's fabulous capitol are poking along. But in a nice sort of way, I suppose. I think I've gotten over my pretty rocky re-adjustment phase (it's always such a pisser grappling with the truth of that age-old maxim "wherever you go, there you are."), and I got to spend a lovely weekend with Stephan's family up in the M-V. I rediscovered my healthy American love of playing with firearms--I'm not bad, really. Beat the pants off my European boyfriend, that's for sure. He spent the next day practicing. I had to laugh.
My second week of work is going well--most of the kids have adjusted pretty well to me, even if they're not yet quite sure what my name is, or what I want from them. I'm still doing a lot of thinking as to what my next step should be. I applied for a freelance translating job yesterday--we'll see if I hear anything from them.
I read a really interesting (and for me, really fitting) article in my favorite magazine here, Neon, about the virtues of planning your life, versus letting things happen. According to their experts, I am still in the middle of my "experimental phase" (the 20s). This means I should be trying all kinds of different things out, looking to see what I really want to do with myself. Well, I mean, that much is kind of obvious, I suppose. The more interesting thing they talked about was a sort of "internal career map". I mean, lots of little American kids are told "when you grow up, you can be anything you want--even the President!" but the thesis of the authors was that as you progress in life, your likes and dislikes as well as your experiences start to build up a profile of you that makes you compatible not just with certain types of jobs, but also gives you the characteristics required for certain jobs--for example, a high stress tolerance (moi: negative), flexibility (moi: affirmative), organizational capabilities (moi: negative) and so on and so forth. Like I said, a lot of it really is basic stuff--it really seemed profound to me because of my current "WHERE AM I GOING WITH MY LIFE!?!?!"-crisis. Well, crisis perhaps a slight exaggeration. It stresses me out sometimes more than others. It does irritate me though, that I seem to need so much longer than seemingly everyone else I know to figure out what in heaven's name my "thing" is. "Thing" is a pretty nondescript title, but I didn't want to bring the weighty words of "destiny" or "duty" or "calling" into play. Some people really do feel things like that...and I thought for a long time that I knew exactly what I wanted, too. Sometimes I have to wonder if it's not wrong to be configuring what you want to do/be to the place where you are, and not the other way around. At the same time, though I don't think it's necessary to wax so super dramatic over it.
I'm trying to limit my drama. Let's just say I've let my diva-tendencies get a wee bit out of control lately (I'll leave you all to imagine it for yourselves, though I probably shouldn't, and leave you with the tip--'t wern't pretty.)--believe it or not, working out actually helps. I really haven't any idea why. Perhaps because after doing all my reps and a stint on the treadmill, I just don't have the energy to get worked up over something idiotic, and crying would only dehydrate me even more. Also, with me only working part-time, and putting off doing my taxes and putting together the materials for my two new adult-ed classes (due at the end of the month and starting sometime in September, respectively) I've got all the time in the world for going to the gym! This is a good thing, and I hope the motivation holds on my part, since my new job isn't half as physical as my old one. It sounds weird to say that, since now I'm doing a lot more child-hefting and stroller-pushing than ever before, but it doesn't beat racing around Berlin on foot for several miles a day. All this added to the fact that I now have my own kitchen where I can make pretty much whatever I want, in whatever quantity I wish...as opposed to living with the crazy German roommates, with whom Kraut really was on the menu at least once a week, and I felt guilty taking second helpings. Well, not that it was a problem on the Kraut days...ew. Cabbage.

On a more somber note, I'm hearing and reading all kinds of disturbing things from home. There was a great article in der Spiegel that I read yesterday about how the Democrats, especially those with Presidential ambitions, have been waxing more and more hawkish in recent months. Innnnteresting, innnnteresting. I mean, I'm not so much of a hard-liner that I oppose conflict where conflict is necessary, but I do believe in diplomacy and I still think that even in the age of terror, it should be the first option. I'm very interested to see if the Democrats can play the war game any more successfully than their GOP counterparts.
Also, this whole sub-prime mortgage thing is pretty incredible. I wish I had the money for a downpayment on a house--it'd be a fabulous investment! Unfortunately, this opportunity will have to pass me by...but I hope we can avoid an utter financial collapse. I mean, I know foreign money's been pouring into the market, but the question is, will it help at this point, or is it too late. And sadly, I don't know nearly enough about markets to ponder that with you.

Aaaanyway, time for me to stretch my legs. Sitting indian-style with your laptop on your lap for too long is not recommended after extensive treadmill encounters.

bon appetit.
.mia.

My Personality...and other wildness.

2007-08-07T15:47:00.000+02:00

While trolling through the facebook today, I found this neat little thingy that measures your "personal DNA". I've always been a sucker for personality-determining whatever, so I took the test and found out I'm a "benevolent creator" type. I'd love to see one for someone who's incredibly negative. Is it possible to get "malevolent destroyer" as your personality type? I'll have to look into that.

In other news, I've been back in Berlin for a week now, and am slowly adjusting. The first week back was actually really hard. I'm not sure why, but I found myself just generally quite upset and at loose ends. Couldn't seem to get it together in a paper bag, as they say. I'm pinning it on excessive jet lag (don't fly Aer Lingus) and post-vacation depression. Being doted on in the states didn't help a bit. Things are going better now, though--I think the weather and getting back into a routine have helped.

I started my new job in the nursery school yesterday, though and it's pretty neat. There are only a few kids, the other group leaders are pretty cool and my patience hasn't run out yet with the young 'uns. It's going to be fascinating to see how they develop, linguistically. They're all at an age where they're imitating everything and absorbing so much--I don't think it'll be long before they start to show some signs of my presence. And thanks to this job, I'll have health insurance! I'm in the process of filling out the forms! I'll finally just have a co-pay and not have to front all the expenses myself! Yaaaaaay! It's sad how excited I am over this. Really sad. Getting paid vacation and time off if I'm sick are also things I'm looking seriously forward to. Doing my taxes for last year is something I'm not at all looking forward to. I got an extension until the end of the month, but even with all the time I have on my hands, I just can't bring myself to tackle it. It's not even that much paperwork. I just don't want to do it. I'd much rather go to the gym or loll around on the terasse...not washing dishes or doing anything productive whatsoever. Since I only work around 3 hours a day, I pretty much still have vacation. Which I could get used to. It's pretty dangerous. Eventually, I'm going to have to start looking around for another job, since I don't think I really want to do this forever...which might be...FULL TIME! Imagine!
I don't know. I said I'd go into this nursery school thing with an open mind--and the first few days have been really cool. So we'll have to see. It's a question of whether or not it's worth committing to a 2 year certification program/apprenticeship. I mean, part of me wants to be really and truly qualified for something...whatever it may be. Another part of me thinks "Jeezus! A double major and a minor and THIS is where you end up?!" I have to wonder if I'm just wasting my time and talents. The kids are cute, but how am I going to feel about working with them day in and day out when I have my own? Will I be satisfied doing a job that's fulfilling but not challenging? Can a job be fulfilling and not challenging?

That's what I've been thinking about, how about you guys? As usual, thoughts, comments and suggestions are welcome. Hope you all are getting some sunshine wherever you are!

Vacationland

2007-07-30T20:08:00.000+02:00

Rolling thunder is probably not the best pre-req for a new post, but I'll suppress my rural memories of blown circuits, ruined electrical appliances and power outages. I'm here for y'all. "Here" is actually Colleen and Eric's new house in Derry, New Hampshire. It's lovely--I've already taken pictures of the couch to aid Stephan and I in our hunt for home furnishings. Colleen's off getting her car inspected and I'm packed, organized and waiting for my new mp3 player to charge [for you tech fans out there, I got a creative zen V something or other with 2GB. Don't tell me if it's terrible.]. Anyway, I spent the last two weeks running around doing typically "Maine" things like going to the beach in the rain, not eating lobster and helping my dad paint the house. It's actually been really nice, in hindsight. We did a one-stop-shopping family/neighborhood grill-party at our house, so I got to see everyone there at least once. Highly recommendable, although due to the quantity of people, I had to scale back on the quality of visiting. And Janie working 3 jobs meant that I didn't get to see her as much as I'd've liked. But still, it was great seeing the family, catching up on all the latest whatever (some people call it gossip, others call it news...some call it insanity, you know. Whichever.).

Wow. Rural aside--we have the windows open here, and Colleen's house is on a curve at the start of a road. They'd just tarred the new road and so there are tire marks kind of all over. Some guy in a huge, pimped out truck just ground to a halt and shouts "LOOK AT ALL THE SKIDMARKS!" He then revvs his engine and adds one of his own to the many. I didn't know weather to laugh or shake my head.

Anyway, Colleen's back, with car...which means it's lunchtime.

And time for me to head back to 'Schland.

Peace out hoschis.

Of Flowers and Goodbyes

2007-07-11T15:06:00.000+02:00

[Imagine the world's hugest sigh of relief]

That's my general feeling right now. For about a week, I was showered with flowers, that special acerbic brand of German "constructive" criticism and bone-crushing hugs from incredibly small children. Most places I lied and said I wasn't sure I was coming back next year. The truth is that I'm done with a vengeance. I spent most of the morning throwing out old handouts from the kids and the millions and millions of unused photocopies I'd made. It amounted to two garbage bags full. I probably should have kept some of the stuff...just in case, but I'm really trying to break with my pack-rat past. I also have next to no storage space here, as Germans do not believe in wall closets. I still have to write up my invoice for June and the week that I worked in July, and do up my end-of-the-year reports for every.single.class, but getting rid of the sheer bulk of mess that had taken over my desk was really cathartic.

It wasn't a terrible job...and it was cool to hear the kids and the parents tell me how much they'd enjoyed my work. At the same time, though I know that this just isn't "it" for me. I've got a lot of potential and while the work I was doing was really challenging on certain levels, I feel like it's time to move on. The question is...to what?

I got a rather frightening letter in the mail today from the German Immigration Agency saying that I have the opportunity to go and state my case (concerning my application to work in a tiny bi-lingual nursery school here) on the 17th of July. Now, they used the word for "state your case" (vorsprechen) which can also be used for certain types of auditions or interviews. This all leaves me a little confused and wondering why they can't just tell me either yes I can do the job, or no, they want someone German to do it instead. So yeah, I have to call them and tell them that I obviously won't be able to attend, since I'll have already landed in Frankfurt by then. We'll see. The hell of it is, I don't even really want the job. It's moved from being plan B down to about plan C by now.

But speaking of jobs and plans, the interview I had last Thursday was with the headhunters, which I'd expected, but what threw me is that they really didn't say much at all about the specific job I'd applied for. They maintained that they would send my paperwork directly to an American law firm with their German headquarters in Berlin (a rarity, most of them are based in West Germany) who might be interested in me, but they didn't say whether or not this firm was the one who had placed the proofreader ad. So we'll see. It's all up in the air now. Kind of insanely so. And when I say "it's all up in the air" I really do mean everything.

Case in point: Stephan's financial aid for school. The issue is whether his dad is legally obligated to support him (normally parents are financially responsible for their kids in Germany until they're 27), or whether he'll get the money from the government. It's still not settled and until it gets settled, I've got way more financial responsibility than I'm comfortable with. I mean, in principle, I don't mind. When I came here, Stephan had to cover me for everything, since my money ran out after about a month and I hadn't started working. It's just that I don't have a job as of today. And that I may or may not get one in August.

There's also the wee little matter of our apartment. Which is one of the coolest apartments I know, due to it's great location, enormous terrace and huge windows. Unfortunately, we have the most evil landlady on the planet. She has systematically cheated us out of rent and is refusing to admit to anything (of course). Our apartment is over 10% smaller than stated in our lease. According to German law, our landlord is required to reduce our rent accordingly. The evil landlady from hell refused to believe our architect that we hired to measure the place, and sent her own--who deliberately padded his measurements to make the apartment bigger. I could scream! It's so obvious that they're wrong. Soooo lawyers have been hired (in Germany there's this amazing thing called 'legal insurance'--like health insurance, but for lawyers fees. We have that now. It's cool.) and the odds are good it'll wind up in court. We've talked to an advocate for tenants who said that there'd be no reason why we wouldn't win. That's good news at least, but god only knows how long it's going to take to get this circus settled. Sometimes I think it'd be easier just to move out...but I like it here and I'm sick to death of moving around. Anyway, stay tuned for updates on the battle for the Niederbarnimstr. 2.

So yeah, there's a ton of things that need to get settled, fixed, regulated and finished. When I think too long about it, I start to get a little panicky. Thank heavens the weather is wonderful and sunny and I can sit in the sun on the terrace and forget my troubles.

...Oh wait. It's not. I have a huge complaint to register with whoever's in charge of the weather in north-east Germany at the present. It's July. It's cloudy. It's freezing. I'm afraid for my tomatoes! There's no excuse for my having to run around in jeans and a sweatshirt two weeks after my birthday. It ain't right! I feel for you all who are in north America, suffering in the clutches of this heatwave y'all are supposedly having, but I hope it hangs around until I get there. I've had enough rain and crap weather to last me until next summer.

Enough complaining, however. If I'm honest, life here is pretty great. Stephan der 2. and his girlfriend Caro were here last weekend, Max was around for the last two weeks (Max is a great kid. Incredibly intelligent, incredibly spacey, writes his own hip hop...a general character) and we managed to get some good weather Sunday night so we could grill with Kai and Tini. I've got the next little while off to rest, relax and clean things up and Stephan hasn't failed an exam yet. Even if it sounds like life here is a battle, I'm incredibly thankful for what I've got. Ooh, speaking of things I've got...I've got skype! Add me, because I have no idea how to use it. Stephan got it for me for my birthday with this kick ass bluetooth headset. He went a little formal on the username, so you'll have to search me as margaret.tyler instead of mia.

But anyway, that's enough from me for now, it's time to get back to the clean-up, pick-up game. Hope everyone is well.

Friends, Romans, Countrymen...

2007-07-02T17:26:00.000+02:00

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.

Hilarious and Embarrassing

2007-06-12T11:38:00.000+02:00

So yeah. The last time I posted, I distinctly remember complaining that there was nothing worth posting about and that I was overworked. I was in a bad mood, forgive me. Really, there's always something to post. What I could have posted last time (as a potential reason for why one of my Adult Ed business English classes and I just haven't clicked) is the following story.

The scene is set. I'm stressed as hell, running around my apartment trying to find missing business English whatnot...like the textbook for the class and the corresponding CD. I'd been ravenous the entire afternoon, so I'd eaten basically everything left in the house (much to Stephan's chagrin when he came home, but that's another story. He still can't get over how much I eat.).
I leave, make my photocopies, come puntucally for a meeting with my department head, get a tour of the facility, my keys etc. etc. Fortunately, this kind woman also showed me where the ladies bathroom was. So I start teaching my class, and they're shy and quiet, like most classes are when they first start out--they don't usually know eachother and they're getting ready to wallow in their linguistic weakness for the next two and a half hours. It's a sobering prospect, I'm sure. I'm slightly nervous...more jittery, I would say, since of course first impressions are decisive and being as often is the case, the youngest person in the classroom by at least two years and coincientally being the person standing at the front of said classroom...well, it can be challenging and occasionally slightly unnerving.
About a half hour into class, I start feeling dizzy and sweaty. The air in the room is ridiculously stuffy and I'm sucking on my water bottle as much as my teaching duties will permit, but to no avail. After about 35-40 minutes of class, I feel the tell-tale stomach ache coming on. I excuse myself very curtly from my class and sprint to the aforementioned ladies bathroom. I made it with time to spare, get on with emptying my stomach and feel slightly better. I clean myself up a bit, and go back to class...because it's the first ever class I've had with this group, and I'd like to get it over with. Not 15 minutes later, I feel it coming on again. Deep breathing does nothing, and I wind up running out of my class again. This time it was really, really close and...well, I think after the fact, I managed to get most of everything I ate that afternoon off the bathroom floor. I do however, bear a grudge against the criminally non-absorbent institutional "recycled" paper towels they have there.
This time, I'm trying to be cautious and trying to clean up and before I can even get things half way cleaned up, I'm spewing like a fire hose again! This time, I managed to soak myself. It was one of the most disgusting things I've ever experienced. I'm sure I smelled godawful. I try to do what damage control can be done, and finally, I admitted defeat. I went back to the class, threw my coat on to prevent them from seeing that the entire front of my shirt was soaked and told them we'd have to make the class up another time.

So yeah. I then went home, slept for 12 hours straight and everything was fine. I have no idea what it was. I mean, of course, I was slightly nervous...but nothing that would facilitate something like that. I got up the next morning, taught 6 hours of preschoolers and did the next round of this Adult Ed class. I have the sneaking suspicion that the memory of our queasy beginnings haunts them to this day.

It's noon here, the weather is fabulously hot and I'm chilling in my bathrobe. My two morning classes in Spandau got cancelled, and at this point, I'm just glad to have some time for me. I managed to go running both yesterday and today and I'm hoping to be able to keep it up for the next couple of weeks. Since this latest flood of work, I've had neither the time nor the energy to work out, and I'm starting to feel it. It's amazing how much energy you get, though.

In other news, I got my second birthday present from Stephan, like...two and a half weeks early. It's so cute. He buys things and gets so excited, he can't keep them to himself for any length of time at all. (WARNING TO fe/MALE READERS--FOLLOWING TEXT CONTAINS DESCRIPTIONS OF FEMALE HAIR REMOVING TECHNOLOGY. you've been warned.)
So I'd mentioned I was interested in epilation which those of you reading this probably think is the fancy word for general hair removal. Wrong. Epilation is like motorized tweezing. Or for the more mechanically inclined, a lawn mower that removes grass by the roots. Right. So I'd mentioned that I thought this was a cool idea. Everyone knows that shaving sucks. My legs itch worse than a meth addict's when I'm done, and nothing helps. Sooooo I got one of these little buggers as an early birthday present. In lots of parts of Europe, these things are called Epilierer or Epiliergeräte. Mine is really cute and covered in lavender glitter. His name is Hugo. It looks like an electric razor, but the little barrels which go where the razor blades would be are actually full of little tweezers. Sound like a world of pain? Well, it kind of is. I'm still in the stage where I'm getting used to the the thing and for this purpose, the cool cats at Braun included a special little tweezing attatchment. With less tweezers. The annoying thing is, you have to grow out all your goddamn body hair until it's long enough for the little grabbers to grab. Bonus: you are shorn for a 3-4 week period. Now, it's possible that I'm just wayyyy behind on my hair removal technology and you can buy these things at home, but I'd never heard of anything like it. And the surprising thing is, it hurts while you're doing it of course...but when you're done, the pain is gone in like 5 minutes.

Anyway. I have the feeling that was probably wayyyy too much information about my hair removal practices for many of you. But I thought it was kind of cool. And if you saw Hugo, you'd love him. He's just so cute. That said, I think I've posted enough for today. Time to put the finishing touches on my application for a job as a documents editor in a law firm. I'm trying to break out of teaching...we'll see what the German Department of Labor has to say about it. I can have essentially any job I want as a freelancer/English teacher...but I have a feeling the minute you try to move into other sectors of the economy, you get shut down. But I'm optimistic. The job would be great...full time with benefits. Cross your fingers for me.

Tschao.
.mia.

So Kinders...

2007-06-04T09:48:00.000+02:00

It's been ages since I've gotten it together to post, here--but with good reason. The cables that once connected my computer to the Internet got jammed in one too many doors and therefore went on strike. Posting on Stephan's computer just isn't the same. (Excuse 1.) I just bought a wLAN router on eBay, though, so within the week the problem should be history. I'm also currently working until 9:30pm 3 nights a week. (Excuse 2.) This doesn't mean that I don't love you all, but it's been a bitch of a month. I really, really, really just want it all to be over. I love one of my business classes--it's this great mix of ages and personalities and there's just a fabulous dynamic among the students. When the class is over, I have the feeling that we haven't just learned stuff, we've a had a great time. My other business class which meets twice a week is...different. It's 6 people at the most, but since most of them don't ever talk, it feels like there are really only two or 3 people there. It's a good experience for me, because I have to bust my ass looking up extra grammar exercises for them and explanations for me. I'm learning a shit ton about my own language, but however much I do, it doesn't seem to be enough. At the end of that class, I feel like no one's learned anything and that they all hate me. Not optimal conditions, I must say.

Fortunately, everything will be over in July. My boss from BKS is on my case to keep working at least a couple of hours a week for her, which would be great for the money, but shitty in terms of the commitment. I'd be under contract for a the whole year, and even if things picked up at the nursery school, I'd have problems making it work with the scheduling. I dunno. If things keep going at the Volkshochschule, I won't need the money. Argh. Being a grown up blows.

I'm looking incredibly forward to coming home in July, though. It's irritating that Stephan can't come, but the way his labs are scheduled, we don't actually have common time off together at all this summer, even though the German university's summer break goes until October. It's ridiculous. It'll be cool to see everyone, though and to be honest, a lot less stressful for me.

I'm also realizing that despite the amount of time lapsed between my posts, I don't actually have anything to say. My tomato plants are growing, I spent the weekend vegetating intensively (I lost track of how many hours I slept on the couch on sunday...) and I'm starting the week as slowly as I possibly can. Last week was great--Monday was a holiday, Friday I only taught one class, because it was International Children's Day and a lot of the Kindergartens and after school programs had special programs planned. The bad news is that technically, I'm supposed to make that time up. When or how is a mystery to me--my classes only go for another month. Wow. That's kind of awesome to finally be able to write. Of course, the last weeks are going to be hell. I have the last round of open classrooms, to which all the parents are invited. And they all have to take place in this one week. Ugh. I'm not as petrified as I was the Last time, but it's absolutely nothing to look forward to.

I keep panicking that there's something I should be doing other than this...but I have another hour before I need to leave, and I've got my lessons for today all prepped and the grammar exercises for tonight all laid out. I really just have to take out the trash, throw my stuff in a bag and head to the copy shop. All the same, I should probably get on it.

Hope everything is well where y'all are.

Who's ready for another hilarious dose of expat-life?

2007-04-23T09:53:00.000+02:00

Ooh, ooh pick me! Pick me!

So this is really fresh off the presses, ladies and gentlemen. By that I mean it happened to me about an hour ago. Mondays I have a late start--in exchange for not having to work until 12 noon, I teach a business English course from 6:45 to 9:15 pm. It all evens out, so don't hate. Anyway. I had some errands to run today, the first of which being getting my birth control prescription renewed. So I go to the doctor.

I hesitate here to say "my doctor" because I've only ever been there once before, for the same reason. She was a nice old lady, but apparently this week she's on vacation. So I went in to see her colleague, Mrs. Dr. Richter. I've gotten better at going to the doctor here--it doesn't make me half as nervous as it used to, but I still get a little stumbly with ye olde German. This lady was also not the type to put one at ease. We're talking a semi-ancient woman of Berlin-ese descent, which means although she's a highly educated woman, I could hardly understand her. She also corrected me for forgetting the Dr. between "Mrs." and "Pfeiffer" (the other Dr. I saw...) and had about as much of the much-praised bedside manner as a scrub pine tree. ANYWAY. I manage to explain what I want and how much of it, and then comes the classic part.

Me: Well, Doc, y'see I've got this rash...
Doc Richter: Show me.
Me: (shows her)
Doc Richter: Ahhhh. A clear case of 'alskduognehixxi'.
Me: Uhhhh...any idea what it came from?
Doc Richter: It's a fungus. You're too clean.
Me: whaaaaaat?
Doc Richter: Too much washing destroys the skin's natural defense mechanisms.
Me: So it's not from the gym?
Doc Richter: I don't know what-all you do at the gym...
Me: (blushes) ...So what should I do?
Doc Richter: It often comes in the springtime. Take this pill once a day for two weeks, use some cream and don't wash.
Me: For two weeks?!
Doc Richter: You'll stink like a pig, but each time it encounters soap and water, you disrupt the healing process. (vigorously writes out three prescriptions)
Me: Ummm...thanks, Doc.
Doc Richter: Get well soon!

So yeah. I just spend over a hundred Euro (not including the Doctors' fees) to get told I'm too clean. Only in Germany, man. It's not that I wash excessively or anything. At least not by American standards. Most of the time, I shower one a day and wash my hair then, too. Occasionally if I have to get up real early or something, I skip a day. And feel dirty. This is going to be a fun two weeks.

In other news, Matthias and the Scirocco were here this weekend, which was fabulous. He insisted that he wanted to go see a museum instead of shopping with Stephan, which is essentially unheard of. (In case this has not been previously mentioned, Stephan is very good at shopping.) Stephan, of course, rioted over being out-voted and went and got his hair cut instead. Matthias and I checked out two fabulous exhibits at the German Museum of History (which I'd previously avoided for no good reason): Art and Propaganda and Dictatorship and Daily Life in the GDR. I can highly recommend both. And of course, checking out the GDR exhibit with someone who was born there was really freaking cool. We walked through and Matthias was like "and we had that, and that and that..." Imagine how it must feel to be 25 and walking through a museum exhibit of things that were a part of your childhood. It's got to be bizarre.

However, I am really only putting off making some extremely necessary phone calls, here. Which isn't good. See, this weekend (i.e. next Tuesday) is the first of May. In many former Communist/Socialist countries, it's celebrated as The Day of Work and it's a holiday. In East Germany, lots and lots of socialists, anti-facists, angry turkish kids and neo-nazis like to riot then. We happen to live in an anti-fa hotbed, which is okay by me...I mean, they're kinda fun. Not, however when they are burning cars and causing our neighborhood to be full of cops. So we're trying to get out of the city for the long weekend...but in order for this to work, I've got to reschedule my tutoring appointment. Meh. Hopefully tomorrow or Wednesday aren't too last minute for them. But usually they're flexible. Anyway, enough of this.

have a very merry.

Happy Easter, Folks...

2007-04-06T12:17:00.000+02:00

This'll be a mini holler, because we're supposed to be on the 1:20pm train to Gloewen to meet up with Stephan's mum, who's driving us to the grandparents in the Harz mountains for Easter. It sounds complicated...but it's not really. I'm excited. Stephan's mum Angie is not the most relaxed person I know, so this may not be the most restful Easter weekend of my life, but whatever. It'll be nice to have a distraction from missing Easter with my family and the Passover seder with the Bickermans, all in one weekend.

Last night I met up with Carol Ladd, my high school German teacher, and the group of GAPP exchange kids she's taking through Berlin. It was really weird seeing them and the old chaperons-- and kids like Sam Whittemore who I used to read Roald Dahl to (he remembered, the darling). It's also wild to think that if, for whatever reason, I hadn't gone on the GAPP trip, how different my life would be. It sounds incredibly ridiculous to say that it was a life-changing, door-opening experience for me, but it was. On the whole, it was lovely. A little unsettling, but lovely all the same. And it was a weird kind of validation to be able to introduce Stephan to someone from home. I mean, I know his entire family, all his friends...almost everything, really and he has so few glimpses into my American life. When I think about the fact that he hasn't even met my parents, it's certainly a weird feeling. But it'll happen. In good time.

Hopefully.

Anyhow, I've gotten my 5 minute warning, which means I've got to start frantically searching the apartment for things I've previously forgotten to pack.

Enjoy your respective egg hunts!

Annamossweebela

2007-03-30T17:43:00.000+02:00

I've been meaning to post this for ages. There really are heartwarming or hilarious aspects of my job. Really. It's just that the insane ones tend to overshadow them. I have a new nursery school down in Southeast Berlin with really little children. Like, I think the parents are cheating and some of these kids are two and a half-little. So I'm there, doing my little intro-class with all the parents there and I'm teaching the kids how to introduce themselves. This entails going around in a circle and me saying several thousand times "My name is Mia--Ich bin die Mia--What's your name--wie heisst du?" and then prompting them "Myyy naaaame issss--wie heisst du?--" So becaues these kids are so young, this is taking a while. I finally get to this charming little girl. Really cute as a button. And I go through my whole little schpiel and she answers "Myyyy naaame isss Annamossweebela". Of course, I'm looking at this child like she's speaking in tongues, because this makes no sense in either English or German. My first thought is "perhaps she's Russian"--in any event, I ask her again what her name is, and she says "Annamossweebela" again. At this point, the nursery-school teacher jumps in and says "Anna". So I write her name down. The next kid says his name is "Doctor Haxe"--not that I have any idea what that's supposed to be a reference to, but the parents are amused and someone jumps in and tells me that this child is Paul. After this little info-class is over, I give the parents the little speech about how our program is set up and what they can expect and our philosophy and everything, and after I'm done, during the Q&A, a mother approaches me. She turns out to be the mother of little Annamossweebela and she was terribly apologetic--it turns out they call the little girl "Anna-mouse"--not only does she think this is her real name, but like many small children, she pronounces her first and last names as one gigantic word, making the end result an utterly unintelligible chaos. I didn't get a similar explanation for Doctor Haxe, but I'm keeping an ear out.

The other week, in another one of my schools, a smart, cute little six-year-old busted out with "Miiiiaaaaa, what's your real job?" I laughed a little and answered "Elias, this is my real job." His reply: "Oh. You can't make very much money, then." I've got to say, I was impressed with his shrewdness.
I've had the recent pleasure of doing Easter-themed classes and one of my favorite mistakes the kids make is referring to the Easter Bunny as "Mister Bunny". I never noticed before, but the two sound incredibly similar. The poor kids know that "Mister" is English, so it makes sense to them, and most of the time they can't understand why I'm correcting them.

Let's see...what else is amusing about my job?

H'm.

I can't think of anything.

The most important thing is that Easter Vacation started today, which means I'm now only working half time. It's like the psychotic part of my job just...falls away. Or at least one psychotic part. We were planning on going up to Rostock/Gross Schwiesow for the Easter holidays, but apparently the plan has changed, so we're going back to the mountains with Angie and the Grandparents. I'm okay with both plans, really. Hopefully the weather will be better. During the 50th anniversary (the last time we were there) it pissed rain the entire time. And since there's so much beautiful nature there, it was a real shame.

However.

Enough about beautiful nature. We're going to Kai's for dinner, and I've got to change up.

tschao.

Saturday Morning, or Wintersport

2007-03-10T14:47:00.000+01:00

*Enter contented sigh here*

...Finally weekend. And for March, the weather's finally starting to shape up. I have to say, I am among those who hate the month of March with a passion and a vengeance. However, Berlin is starting to come through for me. At least the sun has made a few appearances in the last week, and it's been warm--and both have helped me to deal with the reciprocating shitstorm that is my job. Like I mentioned in my last post, I'm in the middle of doing "open classrooms" for the parents of my students. It's a real mixed bag. I've had parents demand my replacement and threaten to take their kids out of the course, and I've had parents ask me to tutor their children privately. The words "hell auf begeistert" have also been uttered in regards to my teaching abilities, which loosely translated means super-enthusiastic. But I've also had a bunch of kids being like "I've quit, my mum has taken me out of the class because I hate it!" Aaaawesome. Those are the times I wish it wasn't against the law or my personal morals to hit a child. And of course, my boss hears all these things and is like "what the fuck is she doing?!" So I'm on probation again, and she's doing a surprise visit to one of my classes/schools next week. Grrrrreat. The good news is, after this woman called my boss, we had a big, fat teleconference and I was like, "guess what, I quit!" Which sounds wayyy cooler and more satisfactory than it actually is, since it stands in my contract explicitly than I cannot quit, I can only say I refuse to renew it after the end of the school year. So yeah. That's what the plan is. Which we all know has been the plan since, like...October, but my boss was pretty surprised. She was all like, "I really hope you change your mind--think it over," and telling me that trained teachers at our company have the same problems that I do and worse, and offering me only to work in nursery schools next year. Which would partly solve the problem...but partly not. I mean, yeah, I have huge discipline problems in some of my schools...and really none with my little kids. But what I don't like is the whole "you don't work, you don't get paid" deal--and the fact that I commute like, 15 hours a week between schools, all unpaid. It's an enormous waste of time and a huge drain.

So yeah, now my boss knows that I'm done. And that's good. It's just a question of getting through the next four months. Ughhhhh.

But back to nice things: I got woken up by my future mother-in-law this morning--she's planning a coup at her parent's golden wedding anniversary including Stephan's and my surprise arrival. So we had to discuss that. It'll be hectic trying to get it all organized, but worth it--the grandparents will be out of their heads. Again, I'm soooo lucky to have such a wonderful second family. This whole entry is procrastination, though. I should be writing my invoice for work so that I can get paid this month--but it's so freaking obnoxious to write down where I was on what day, add all the hours together, add up how much money I should get...track down every single receipt from every single photocopy I've made for work, write down on the back of every receipt what I photocopied and for what class...and add up the amount. Is it any wonder that I'm putting it off?! Christ!

I really don't want to talk about work any more, though. I'm lucky to have one, period. And I'm working on finding out what would be better/more fulfilling for me...and gasp! possibly long term. If you have suggestions, holleratcha girl. So far, I've spent the morning conspiring, sleeping on the couch during biathlon and watching the Nordic skiing world cup. It's so cool. You can sleep, wake up, get excited, sleep some more, wake up, watch amazing skiiers...it's incredibly relaxing. And I need to be relaxed if I'm going to rock my evening tonight. Thursday, I rebelled against the fact that I had to get up at 6am and went to an English-speaking social thing-y at a bar in Mitte. I was supposed to meet Katie, a friend of mine there, but I was early and she was late so I started talking to these girls who I thought were British. I was like "hey, do you guys know Katie Turner?" --"noooo" "Oh. Are you here for the English-speaking social thing?" ---"noooo, we're not English." "Uhh, well Katie's Scottish" --"we're not Scottish either." "Oh! Well, where are you from?" --"Iceland, Iceland and Denmark." At this point, I was kinda embarrassed and was ready to leave, but they were so nice and my gin tonic was still full, so I sat down with them and started to chat. Two hours later, I finally caught a glimpse of Katie, who'd been afraid I wasn't coming at all, but by then it was so late, I could only chat with her for a few minutes before I really had to head home. Still, it was hilarious. So the two Icelandic girls are throwing a party tonight and I'm really excited. I think it'll be a riotous good time. I also find it hilarious that I went to this thing hoping to network with english-speakers and wound up chilling with english-speaking scandinavians. Ri-ot.

But before I get to play, I have to survive dinner at Christian and Cindy's new apartment. 'Nuff said, I hope. Cindy actually said "hey! maybe we can have that board-game night we've always been meaning to have!" I tried to put it off on her being drunk, but...no. She was serious. Fortunately there's a boxing match tonight that Stephan really wants to see, so he'll make sure we're out of there in time. Niiiice.

Anyway, time to decide if I'm going to the hardware store or the gym. H'mmmmm.

kiss. (first cheek)
kiss. (other cheek)

.mia.

New Apartment, Moving and other Whatnot

2007-03-03T19:40:00.000+01:00

So yeah, it's been a while, as usual--things keep happening that keep me from posting. Like insane work (I'm subbing twice this week and have picked up two new classes of my own in the last month), doing crazy open-classrooms where I have to answer to the parents if the kids are their usual insane selves and...drumroll please...MOVING!!! Yeah, shit's been wild. But now things are sort of starting to settle--Stephan and I are completely moved in and starting to slowly acquire all the inane little things one needs to be self sufficient (i.e. vegetable peelers, vaccuum cleaners, mops...spices, plants--I could go on but I'll stop). It's cool. I've thrown a few pictures up on facebook of us in our first transitional weekend. I don't really like the baby pink kitchen or the lime-green living room, but we made a deal with the previous tenant that she could just give us the cash and we'd do the painting ourselves, so we could move in faster. I saw both my old roomates for the first time today on the way to the gym. It was a little weird. They both nabbed Stephan because they can't get their TV or their washing machine to work. I really had to swallow my laughter. The "man" in this relationship cannot (and I wish I were joking here) cannot change a freaking lightbulb. Really. I must have posted this priceless story before--but yeah. I had to show him how. Silly me, I thought Chrsitian was being sarcastic. Nope. So I'm really not surprised they need Stephan to come play handyman. I'm not overly traditionalist when it comes to gender roles, really I'm not. I can change lightbulbs and kill spiders and figure out why the toilet doesn't flush or whatever...but it's really nice not to have to, you know?
AAAAAAAAAAAnyway.
Tonight should be fun/weird/interesting. We're invited to the housewarming party of the people who moved into our apartment. Nice gesture, I thought. Christian and Cindy are planning on putting in an appearance, so I invited Julia for moral racous support. And besides, showing up at a party where you used to live, with an entourage...I love it. The girls that moved in there seemed nice, and if it's too "pass the wine, dahhling", we can always roll out to Julia's or something. And it's nice to not be totally spießig and go out for a change on the weekends. Last weekend was the roomate-change party at Julia's place, which was a glorious, glorious riot. She said they had to kick some weird Belgians out at 5am. We were long gone (both literally and figuratively) at that point, but it's a testament to the kind of party it was. I rocked the gin-soaked small-talk and occasionally checked on Stephan and his best friend Matthias (who was an absolute legend and came down for the weekend with his dad's SUV to help us move). Riotous good times all around. Late-breaking News: just found out that Christian and Cindy will be coming here preparty and we'll all be leaving together. I'm really hoping that I'm just being myself and seeing the situation overly pessimistically. Maybe it'll be nice. Great is out of the question, but there should be enough people there so that I can ignore them. God, do I sound like a bitch. However, these people made me feel unwelcome and uncomfortable in my own house. For like, the better part of four months. Not necessarily an unforgivable crime, but really...I just don't have the burning desire to have anything to further to do with them. Bahhh. Before I have time to work myself into a lather over this, I'm going to sign off and ummm...work on thinking positively. i.e. pregame.

love,
.mia.

Apartment-Hunting

2007-02-12T17:49:00.000+01:00

...I am. Well, I exaggerate actually. Stephan is doing most of the searching. I'm visiting (when my work schedule allows), looking at Internet montages of potential candidates and vetoing. The thing is, though, on Saturday, we found an amazing apartment. It's small (but so are we), has an open, i.e. "American-Style" kitchen, which makes the whole living-room area great for dinner parties and the hugest terrace/balcony deal I've ever seen. It's gorgeous and I want it to be mine. Other important side notes: it's like, a block over and a block up from where we live now, so the neighborhood stays awesome, it faces out into the back courtyard, so you don't get any of the street noise, the neighbors are allegedly relaxed about barbecuing and parties (which the terrace really begs for), there's a bathtub (despite the outrageous price of warm water and utilities here, I'm a bath addict), aaaand what is not necessarily a given in terms of German apartments: it comes with a kitchen. Y'see, here people buy their own kitchens at, like the home-depot equivalent and take them with them from apartment to apartment. It's real weird, seeing an apartment with nothing to designate the kitchen as such except a tile floor. But bathrooms do come with toilets. And sinks. And either a bathtub/shower or a shower. It's fun and exciting. Late-breaking news flash: apparently we have the apartment. I know there should be an exclamation point there, but I'm just so afraid it's not really going to work out the way it's "planned", I can't let myself set my hopes too high.

However, this is slated to be another short post--I have my Volkshochschule (it's like a super-well-organized adult ed) Course in forty-five minutes. Got to get prepared to get my business on for two and a half hours. Whee!

Till next time.

homemade ginger tea

2007-02-05T15:52:00.000+01:00

Soooooo...as usual, it's been a while. Things here on the Eastern Front are going ______.

Roomates are definitely still crazy (latest example: Stephan's brother Max spends his school vacations with us. It's tradition. He's 16, we live in a big cool city...it's logical, too. So they know this is the trend, and Stephan texts them to let them know we're coming home and they actually say "no, it's not okay. we agreed you'd tell us before hand. we don't want Max to come." I mean, what cheek! firstly, they got told--it's not like we just showed up or something, and secondly, they didn't say 'man, we've got a lot of stress, etc. etc. could we make it another time, or could he not come for as long'. They just said no. Which leads me to believe it's really just them being contrary bitches. )

So yeah, no real need to discuss that more thoroughly--they're just ridiculous. In more exciting, fun news, Henry was here last week. He was officially the first Kenyon person to mercilessly track me down and sleep on my couch--and it was really really cool. I'm always paranoid when people come visit me, because people judge. It's what they do. And no one's necessarily comfortable with the idea that their life is being given the once-over. Especially since I'm pretty sure noone from Kenyon would have imagined me playing with a fucking handpuppet for a living. But it works. For now. The weird thing was, having someone there made me see my life and where I live in a totally different light. I mean, you get used to anything (I've been told after 21 days), and I totally take all the cool things about Berlin and my life in general for granted. So having Henry here really made me see everything afresh. Or anew. Or whichever word you'd use in that context. I mean, my job pays decently, I live in an awesome city with an awesome boyfriend and yeah...it's pretty damn cool. Despite what I might write here.

Cool news of the moment is that Stephan got his slot in the biochemistry department at the Freie Universitaet, which has been his dream thing that's been on hold for the past few months. He was out of his head with glee last night when he got the letter. I'm ecstatic too, because it really is what he want to be doing. And there's not much cooler than that. So we toasted last night with Havanna Club (one of the beautiful things about not living in a country with a Cuban embargo: cuban rum) and rocked out over it.

Fortunately, I've got this week half-off, so I can catch up on communications/sleep that off. I've been emailing all freaking afternoon. It's been intense. And somehow, I don't feel all that productive. Probably because I'm putting off sending some pretty important onces...oops. Oh well. However, I'm banking on having more time to post later this week (probably a false assumption) and dishes are calling, so I'm going to go play housewife.

Happy, Healthy New Year!

2007-01-05T12:57:00.000+01:00

Hello everyone!
I hope you all survived the holidays in your respective homes or places of residence. We were up in the M-V with Stephan's family, which was pretty lovely and only a tad stressful. It's unbelievably peaceful and rural up there--they live in an old farmhouse which they're slowly renovating. Aside from the unheated bathroom, it was a nice break from big city life. We got to spend a bunch of time in the Ha-Ro (Hansastadt Rostock) with Matthias and Stephan der 2. and the rest of the crew--which was hilarious and partially unbelievable--New Year's was a little bizarre--we partied with some new friends of ours and their friends--I got my ass flagrantly grabbed by the male host (who I assumed was gay...apparently not...). Stephan was pissed. Oops. Oh well. There was a lot of gin drinking, a lot of Mia and Matthias hanging out and drinking in the kitchen, the odd bit of mingling and my characteristic "I'm Mia the American" schpiel. I'm always in the kitchen at parties. I don't know why--it must be some weird Cancer thing. I like to be where the food is. Speaking of food, there was wild boar there. Delicious! I am officially a huge fan. It tasted like my godmother's potroast. And Karen makes a really awesome potroast. Of course, being in the Ha-Ro, we had to go to the Stadthafen for the fireworks at midnight. In Germany, everyone is allowed to shoot off their own fireworks, which was petrifying for me initially, cause you know damn well that everyone around you is wasted and shooting these things off-- but I got over it and got some really beautiful photos.
After the fireworking, we sat around for a little while longer, but they were airing the madonna concert on TV (who sits down and watches a madonna concert at a party?) and the party was kind of winding down anyway, so we split around 3.
My favorite part of the New Years festivities was, however our departure from the party. I asked Stephan to give me a piggy back ride. I do this when I'm drunk--some of you have humored me, some of you have witnessed the phenomenon...but being Stephan, he refused. About three minutes later, Matthias takes off his backpack and goes into piggy back position. Out of the blue. I'm a piggy back whore, so I jump on. And the drunken bastard carried me almost all the way home. I was afraid for my life, and had to hold on so hard, my arms were unbelievably sore the next morning. Apparently my boots drew blood or something--I don't know exactly how, but he had these wretched scrapes on his hips. I felt terrible.

H'm. What else? I got books and bedding and hair stuff from Stephan's family, which was awesome. Our bed is not half so ghetto anymore--but enough about the festivities. Here comes the meat of the post. The delicious, ridiculous gossip that makes this worth reading. Or not. Depending on your taste.

So our roomates. Ahhh, the roomates. We were all supposed to ride up to Rostock together--one big happy family, you know? Well, our plan was to leave at or around 5pm. So on friday, we're doing our thing, last minute shopping, packing, cleaning, etc. and a little bit before 4, Christian sticks his head in and is like "one of you has to do dishes. now. so we can leave." Stephan was like "oops, sorry, gotta go get ingredients for Christmas cookies, can't do it." to which Christian countered that no, there would be no shopping, we were leaving in 15 minutes at the latest. Which was news to us. So Cindy came home, wound up washing all the dishes that were there (which of course I feel bad about, but she puts herself in this weird-ass martyr position) and we all wound up spendning the two and a half hour drive up to Rostock in complete and utter silence. But I really thought this was just typical roomate bullshit, and that after spending a week and a half with our respective families, it'd all be water under the bridge.

Ding-dong, I was wrong.

The other day, they both stormed out of dinner after having words with Stephan about the heat being on too much. So yesterday, after dinner, they held this little intervention with us, listed off their conditions for staying in the apartment as our roomates. I just looked at Stephan and was like "ummm, yeah...thanks, but no." I mean, Christian got pissed because of the frequency with which I bathe/shower. Sorry, but I'm still wayyyy too American to compromise my hygiene in the name of thrift OR cultural understanding. I realize that water and heat and electricity are more expensive here, and I pay attention to how much I use, but who the fuck is he to tell me when I can or cannot take a fucking shower!? When that point came up, I just started laughing. It's all so ridiculous. I refuse to freeze my ass off in my own apartment, or live like I'm in the 18th century to save a few bucks. It's not my nature. I don't think I'm necessarily extravagant, but shit, man--there are limits! So the upshot is we've sent in our Kuendigung of the apartment--I don't know if you cancel a lease in English or if you terminate it or what the right word is...since I've never had to do it at home, but hopefully by the first of April, we'll be living someplace else. Alone. Not with freak-ass roomates who really think that I should be sharing bathwater with my boyfriend. Not even because it's erotic! Beause it's cheaper!

I don't want to say I saw this coming from a mile away, but I did.

And then, of course, because none of this is personal, and we're all just "different" from one another, we had to sit at our dining room table and pretend that we all think everyone is still nice and funny and charming when all anyone really wanted to do was phone a friend and vent. Or perhaps that's just me...

So what did we do? Being the ridiculous, slovenly, decadent sons of bitches that we are?

Stephan, his little brother Max and I drank a bottle of vodka. Does it sound excessively alcoholic to say that I felt much better afterwards? I felt bad for Stephan, because really, they were his friends, and despite what anyone's saying, things aren't going to be the same after we all move out. Cindy made a point of saying about eight times that we'll have to have a knock-down, drag-out when the heating bill comes next year, because they don't use any heat and we do. I am really proud of myself for not hitting anyone or saying anything that would have made the next three months any more awkward than they already will be. But yeah. Now that everyone knows WAAAY more about my living situation than they ever, ever needed to know, I feel better.

Thanks for letting me catharse. I will now continue to enjoy the rest of my vacation (I start work again on Monday...eeeeeeeeew.) and perhaps watch a few episodes of M*A*S*H, or some of Family Guy, season 4.

Rock your respective post-holiday weekends. Rock them hard.

.me.

Dance with me

2006-12-18T18:18:00.000+01:00

Word. It's one of those Mondays that feels like hell. Sadly not because I was celebrating uproariously over the weekend, more like my wee children were ridiculous today. The whole "Christmas is in less than a week" thing has them set on screech. Some random parent visited one of my classes today, and I swear if I were her, I'd've taken my kid out on the spot. The kids were so insane! But enough of that--I'm actually lucky that I've got quite a few classes that have been cancelled this week. I don't think I could do a full week of insane children. I am so already on vacation.

I expected to be on duty with dinner tonight, but when I got home at 6, my roomate Christian was already making dinner. It looked and smelled suspiciously German...I'm wary after last night's dinner of green cabbage, sausage and potatoes. Cabbage is nobody's friend. There's really nothing outrageous to report here--no 6 year olds tried to steal my phone yet this week, or last week for that matter. I've been passing out candy and singing Christmas songs and explaining that "Merry Christmas" is actually an English phrase, and that Christmas stockings are stockings and not boots. Which is it's own kind of crazy kicks, I guess. Stephan went back to work today after having infected tonsils, among other things. It's weird having him gone--he was home for like, two and a half weeks. But it gives me time to finish up doing Christmas-y things. And time to update this...all kinds of time. Ooh! And time to listen to The Sounds, who are fabulous and retro and ridiculous. I overhauled my iPod over the weekend, hoping that a software re-install would do...something. But no, she's still as tempramental as ever. I'm in the market for a new mp3 player if anyone's heard anything good. I've decided I'm going to buy them like I buy sunglasses--me getting burned by my iPod absolutely marks the last time I'm dropping anything close to that amount of money on faddish and overrated technology.

On a decidedly girly note, I got a bunch of gift certificates to the main cosmetic department store over here, so I went in yesterday (yes, in Berlin during the Advent season, you can go shopping in most malls on Sundays. It's glorious.) and discovered orange blush. It sounds so much more gruesome than it actually is. It's translucent and far more subtle than a normal pink. In case anyone cares. I'm over it. What else is news? I watched this incredibly intense movie over the weekend called 'the Valley of Wolves'--the director was turkish and Billy Zane was in it--it was originally done in English, but I can't imagine it being easy to find in America--it was one of the most anti-Ami things I've seen in a long time. Like, really really hard core. I needed about four mammoth vodka and cokes to get me through the portrayal of my countrymen. At the same time, though, I'm really glad I had to chance to watch it--I don't agree with the perspective, but I can understand where they're coming from and the people making these movies are entitled to it. It's hard to convey the level to which the director portrays Americans as brutal, godless, insane and greedy--it's all of those things multiplied by ten thousand and then squared. Whew.

One last thing.
Submitted for the collective approval of whoever takes the time to read this:
I'm debating cutting my hair. Not shorter, cause I'm growing it out, but cutting more layers into it or getting long bangs or something. Thoughts? Questions? Comments?

out.

A day in the life

2006-12-08T17:53:00.000+01:00

So. Me again...here, writing to you. Etc. Primarily in sentence fragments.

One of these days, I will stop using this thing as a replacement for any and all forms of email communication. But I'm a terrible asshole when it comes to emailing. Not that I have a reason to be. My life is hectic and idiotic, but no more so than anybody else's. And I do realize that. But speaking of ridiculous and idiotic shit that has happened to me in the last week, I should tell you that I saw a three-year-old hit another three-year-old in the face yesterday, so hard that the second kid's nose started bleeding all over the place. And this was in one of the nice yuppie districs of Berlin. I was freaked out. You don't expect violence from little kids like that. But yesterday really wasn't my day. After seeing the kiddies beating on eachother, and having one wreck himself while allegedly in my care (I left the room to look for a missing child, and this idiot takes a digger on a pile of gymnastics mats in the corner and starts crying while also bleeding copiously from his nose. I win!), I go to my last school and proceed to get my cellphone stolen by a six year old! Here's how it happened. A new program was supposed to start in the Hort that day--some kind of choir, and a lot of the kids were sad, because it conflicted with English, which their parents had already signed them up and paid for. So they couldn't go. Two of them even started to cry. So I give them my phone and tell them they are the official timekeepers of the English class, because little kids like it when you give them extra special responsibilities like that, and I really didn't want to have them crying all through my class. So they stop. But being six, they lay my phone down on a chair while coloring, and some other kid picks it up and runs off with it. Of course, I don't see this happen, because I'm trying to bring some modicum of order into the chaos that is fourteen six year olds and an after-school English class. So once I realize my phone is gone, I stop everything and explain to the kids that it's not funny, that I'm sad that my phone is gone, but I'm not angry, and I just want it back. So we all look, and it's not anywhere in the room. My phone has literally vanished. After much looking and finger-pointing among the kids, this one girl comes up to me and says "Hey Mia, there are some blankets in the hall where someone could have hidden something, I'll go look." And I'm like, "no, that's silly. My phone's got to be in the room someplace, stay here." But she insisted, so I let her go. And I'll be damned if two seconds later, the little witch didn't bring me back my phone. Yeah. So that's the last time I trust small children, however cute, with ANYTHING. Consider that lesson learned. And picture this, of course: in the first nursery school I was at yesterday, they gave me a poinsettia for St. Nicholas Day. So for the next eight hours, I'm carrying this idiotic plant all over Berlin, and forgetting it literally every place I go. In every single other nursery school, in the copy shop, everywhere. And me running back like an idiot to pick it up. It was just one of those days where I had to step back from my life and think "this can't be real. this is just too bizarre." I mean, it really was like some kind of third rate film--the characteristic Bad Day.

In other news, last weekend Julia had two friends from the states in town--Graeme and Jason*, and Stephan and I got invited to a housewarming party on Saturday night. So we round up the crew and storm the party. Like whoah. We arrived at 11 and left around three, but there was chaos and carnage, man. And the fucking sony singstar game stole my soul. I always laughed at those commercials where people are at parties singing karaoke. I always thought it was dumb. Well, not once I've had a few gin and tonics, apparently. I was singing all kinds of crap--German, American...I so didn't care. Germans really enjoy "the eye of the tiger". I never knew, but mannnn, that was one of the burning memories I had from that night. And I woke up with "uptown girl" in my head. For whatever reason. It was an awesome party, weird singstar phenomenon aside. The next day, I got to do one of my favorite hangover things, which is namely to lay around and watch nordic skiing on tv. I think that's my favorite thing about Europe in general, is that shit like that gets airtime. It's such a wonderfully relaxing thing to watch. Not too loud, not too hectic, and if you've ever been a skiier, just exciting enough to merit watching. So, fabulous party at Christin's. Check. Ridiculous stories of children from this week. Check. What else?
*Notes on Graeme and Jason: Jason is a New York architect who is probably the dictionary definition of "cute and cuddly". He's also mailing my family my christmas presents to them, so he's A number one in my book. Graeme is a lady killer, hipster-bingo style. Totally charming and smooth, even when black out wasted. He managed to make out with Christin, whose older brother is a career soldier in the German Army, right under Kai (the brother)'s nose and not get murdered. I was amazed. Not that Kai is violent or typically "army" in any country's sense of the world, but he is very much the "are you really looking at my sister?" kind of guy. But lovely. Very nice.
H'm. What else is new here? I bought Stephan his Christmas present: the goofy shoes from the adicolor series. I'm now in the process of coloring them in with the little paint pens that came with the shoes. Of course the little goofys are tiny and the tips on the pens are freaking huge. Oh, the things one does for love. And the darling has tonsilitis and will probably have to have them out once he gets better. I'm imagining the nightmare that will be Stephan in the hospital for a week. He'll be bored out of his head the entire time. But there's not going to be anything for him to spend money on there, so that'll be an improvement...I think?
This weekend is our one year anny. It kind of weirds me out that we've actually been together this long. The year went by so incredibly fast. I have to wonder if all the years are going to go by this quickly from now on. They probably always have and I just never noticed. Of course this makes me think depressing thoughts like "am I doing the right things with my life?" and if all the years are going to go by this fast, am I going to wake up one day and think "sweet jesus--where has all the time gone?!" But that's kind of ridiculous. I mean...I'm not sure that thinking like that actually accomplishes anything, other than making me depressed and confused and unable to do anything other than contemplate all the things I'm not doing with my life. *Sigh*.
Enough of those thoughts. Stephan and Christian are musically reliving their childhoods, listening to bad German rap from the 90s and chick music from the same time. I'm debating taking advantage of the new extended hours the stores have during December to go look for an English book for Max, Stephan's little brother. Anyway, I'm out for today.

kisses.

2006-11-30T17:24:00.000+01:00

So it's been a while. But I've got a host of good excuses, really. The last two weekends, I've been out of town, which has left me totally wiped during the week. The weekend before last, in Rostock, was grand. Really, really awesome. We drank a bottle of gin & tonic on the train up and proceeded to go out and dance until four thirty in the morning. I needed it. But it kicked my ass. Seeing everyone from last year was also amazing--I really miss having a base group of people around. Meeting people in a big city is hard--especially when you specialize in pre-school. I mean, seriously. I don't get to play with the big kids. Which sucks.
However, last weekend, if a tad more stressful, was equally awesome. Both of Stephan's grandparents turned 70 last week, so they had a 140th bithday party last weekend. It was also really great to be with a family. And Stephan's is just right for me: loud, chaotic, friendly and unrefined. Mostly. They make me feel like a part of everything, which when you're far away from home and your own family, is an excellent thing. The only shitty part was that we had to go down on Saturday and come home on Sunday...Monday morning, I was totally destroyed. The whole week's been kind of hazy, and I've forgotten more shit than I normally do, but thank god I had a few classes cancelled. It'll be a pain in the ass to have to make them all up, but it was totally worth it to have a week that was just a skotch less stressful than normal. It also gave me a chance to catch up on household things, go grocery shopping with the boys ( I really almost had to cut a bitch when they started whining that I was walking too fast. Wusses.), set up a new bank account and at least contemplate Christmas shopping.
The real news of the hour, however is that I now actually have my visa in my hot little hands (passport). It looks pretty cool, but after seven weeks and fifty Euros, it had damn well better. I know the process isn't any better or any cheaper or any more dignified at home--or at least, in our post 9/11 paranoia, I assume it isn't--but I hate the subtitles that are oh-so-present in the whole experience. That the state workers have absolute authority over whether you get to stay or go. That you're tolerated, but not wanted. The precariousness is in the goddamn air in that building, I swear it. And I'm one of the "desirables", you know? I'm educated, American (i.e. $$$$$), I already have a job here...and still, walking to the Auslanderbehoerde this morning, I almost had a fucking panic attack. Even though I'd been told that everything had cleared, I was still petrified that I'd get there and the second copy of the puce paper would be missing or something idiotic and beauracratic like that. You might be chuckling, but it's not at all that far fetched. Something like 70% of all printed tax documents are in German. They believe in paperwork here. Paperwork creates order. And really, Germans do love order. Again, it may sound outrageously stereotypical, but it's true. It's a generalization, but very much based in fact.

I'm noticing slowly that even though it's the warmest November on record here, the whole Berlin-winter-funk is starting to creep over me. I haven't been to the gym in over a week. And before that, I think it was also a week. When I come home, I really just want to get in bed and read. Speaking of which, I just finished Middlesex--great book. I'm sure I'm reading it after pretty much everyone else who's going to, but it was really fabulous. Due to the excessive amounts of time I spend in public-trans, I chewed through it in, like, a week. Through this, I made the fascinating discovery that when I read in English here, I shut out absoultely everything around me. I scared myself a few times by not hearing the people doing random ticket controlls in the tram and by almost missing my stop a few times. All of which led me to think. I read voraciously as a little kid, and I think what happened in college was that I discovered with an excess of guys and booze, I could attain the same level of "away" from wherever I was. When they say books take you places, it's so much more than corny, literacy initiative bullshit. They do. But so do booze and men. It's just kind of different. And since I'm being monogomous lately, and my schedule doesn't allow as much time as previously for boozing...I'm getting back into books. Which isn't all that bad, really. Better for my liver in any case. Now if only I could get back into going to yoga/the gym, I'd be the all-around healthiest person I know.

If.

Wish me luck with my Christmas shopping this weekend. I have a feeling it's going to be stressful. I already had to have the awkward conversation with Stephan that my parents pretending he doesn't exist means that no, they're not giving him anything for Christmas. Which of course makes me feel terrible, because his family's been so great to me. I love my family, and I can't change them...but they can definitely make things difficult, even from a distance. *Big, fat sigh.*

Buuuut we're going out to dinner tonight. I'm excited. The eating's great in our hood. Since I'm making Indian Lentil Soup tomorrow with cumin and coriander, I'll forego that tonight...maybe italian? H'm....

The Beautiful People

2006-11-16T17:40:00.000+01:00

The really cool thing about living in a big city is people watching. I'm a junkie. It's the one thing that gets me through hours and hours on public trans every day. And Berlin is an ideal city for it too, because you don't just have homeless people and cookie-cutter-fashionistas. I see so many people every day that look so rad. Not just goregeous, either. People here wear pretty much whatever the hell they want, so you see just about everything walking down the street. I mean, the last time I lived here, I ran around in slips and camisoles all summer, and it wasn't an extraordinarily contentious thing. I adored the freedom. You see really beautiful people of all ages, really well put together people of all ages...you name it. I always want to stop people on the street and tell them I think their shoes are great, or that they have great skin or great hair...or just generally look awesome--but Germans in general would be even more freaked out by that than your average American...and even in America, that'd be considered weird. Good weird, but still weird.

Not everyone is beautiful here, but yeah. Lots of people are. It was weird. Today in one of my classes, one of my kids said she saw me in Treptow (the neighbor district where my gym is) last night. It was so totally plausible and probably true that it freaked me out. I don't want to prevaricate: I felt a little voilated. She's one of the sweet kids. But I definitely have bunches of hellish little ankle biters who I absolutely NEVER want to see outside of the classroom. Hell, I don't even really want to see them IN the classroom, but I don't really have a choice there. Today I gave at least 3 time-outs. I'm not so sure they were effective, but seeing how much money the parents shell out for these kids to be here, I can't just kick the kid out--and mostly that's what the little bastards want anyway. Children in the second grade are wretched. Well, okay...not all of them.

But lots.

I'm just excited that it's Friday tomorrow, and I can sleep in, pack for Rostock, have a relatively leisurely morning, teach my 3 hours and then my weekend starts. I'm debating whether or not to booze extensively on the train ride up. That could be lovely. It could also be lethal. We'll see. Right now, all I want to do is sit in bed and watch M*A*S*H dvds. They drink almost as much gin as Mer and I did senior year...and just a wee bit more than Matthias, Stephan, Julia and I did last winter. Mmm-mm. M*A*S*H sounds so good...I'm on it like a hornet.

'till after the weekend...

Making up for lost time...

2006-11-09T17:54:00.000+01:00

Being exempt from household chores is cool. Like not having to cook dinner or clean up or wash dishes. It's the cough-and-cold part that sucks. I got blatantly hit on by a father of one of my students today. it was a little weird. i had to step back from my life for a moment and say "hey, wait--this is my life, not 'Must Love Dogs'!" Turns out we're practically neighbors. Weird. I'll probably run into him grocery shopping sometime and it'll be awkward.

(So yeah. This is my second try with this post: I stopped writing 3 days ago, so I don't know under what date it'll post, and then Lennard, the friend of Stephan's who rescued my internet access a few hours ago tripped over my network cable and Stephan then exited blogger, thus deleting what I'd already written. And all while I'd gotten up to be the good, solidaritous female roomate and plan a conspiratory trip to IKEA next week sometime with Cindy. Grrr.)

Anyway. New news is that I got strongarmed into going to the doctor Friday. I don't like going even in America...but here, it's really a whole different ball game and most of the time, I leave feeling vaguely taken advantage of. Like last year, when I went in with Bronchitis and the fucking doctor gave me an ultrasound of my sinuses. I was like "Doc--that's not where it hurts! HERE'S where it hurts!" but he just kind of stared at me uncomprehendingly and stuck some kind of camera down my throat. I left feeling thoroughly voilated, and with a bill for 150 Euro. We'll see how much this visit runs me. Theoretically, my insurance *should* reimburse me, but it's weird German "travel insurance" and I have no idea how to even file a claim. This should be an adventure. But I made the acquiantance of Dr. Waltraud Pfeifer. Yep, her name is "Walt-rowd". It's a woman. It was pretty cool. She didn't stick a camera down my throat and she didn't violate my sinuses, either. What she did do was give me these kick-ass 3 day antibiotics and prescribe me some German birth control (the stash from home is almost out and I DO NOT need any mini-Stephans or mini-Me's running around). So I'm feeling all around much better. The dear Doctor also wrote me this handy little note which supposedly prohibits me from working. That's how they do things here--they write the note from your mother that excuses you from school. And it works when you're an adult, too. Well, almost. Not with my boss. She was just like "drink some tea and suck it up. Play Cds for the kids." This, however common it might be in America is rare here in Germany and was the source of much outrage among my roomates. But I'm tough, I'll survive. I kind of have to. There's a lot going on this week. Among other things, I've got this test-lesson at an elementary school which wants to outsource it's first and second grade English classes to our company. Somehow (personally, I believe out of sheer desperation) my boss has decided that I'm the one who's going to nail this contract for us. And take the hours. I told her I'd definitely do the test-lesson and I'd see about the actual hours. They shouldn't start until January--but just between us, with the hours I'm working now, I'm kind of all set for money (once I get paid for a full month of work that is) and as I've mentioned, the stress is more than enough with the hours I have. We'll see. She's still under the impression that I'm the greatful immigrant slave who will be loyal to her company for years to come. And that I'm still hot for the full-time position she promised me for next year. Boy does SHE have it coming. I'm tempted to avoid the subject completely and then spring it on her at the last second. But that'd be shitty and they have done a lot for me, in terms of filing paperwork for my visa and work permits (which of course I still don't have...).

So we'll see. This coming weekend, we're also slated to drive up to Rostock. Poor Stephan is languishing because he hasn't seen his family in, like months. I feel kind of bad, taking him away from his family and all his friends up there. It's basically because of me that we moved to Berlin. He wanted to study here, but for this semester it didn't work out. Because the universities here are funded by the state, money is tight and the slots in a class for a certain major are few and far between. But next semester is supposedly a sure thing. I hope it works out. Otherwise he'll get even more restless than he already is. But I'm excited to go back up north. I miss the Rostock kids and the bars and Stephan's family. They're a really great, chaotic pack. His brother also has all of my Family Guy DVDs. And the weekend after that is the double 70th birthday party for the grandparents, in this tiny little mountain village on the former East/West German border. The last weekend in November, there'll almost certainly be snow. I'm so excited! Berlin's not much for snow--it's more rainy and raw than anything else. When it does snow, it doesn't really stick, sadly. Just a lot of grey and wetness. I gotsta get me some sexy Euro winter boots. Tis the season, and I wore my black pointy ones from last year out. Literally. We're talking cracked soles and walked-down heels by New Year's. They barely made it through to March. God, I loved those boots. Sigh.

Anyway, the Hackbraten (meatloaf, I believe) with Feta cheese is calling me. And Stephan is so preoccupied with his new steering wheel for his video games that I don't think he'll be eating or sleeping for the next few days, so I'm on my own.

Rediscovering the beauty of baths and other bonuses of being ill...

2006-11-08T17:12:00.000+01:00

So I'm still sick. I could atttribute this to stress and tension, or lack of sleep, or the shit weather, or that my idiot German roomates insist on keeping windows open in Novermber for "fresh air". The nice thing is, sickness is kind of holy here. Preventative medicine still reigns supreme. Mostly. If you don't count my boss, that is. Any other German employer would have banished me to my house until I actually had a voice again. Not Frau Reder. Foruntately, in my apartment, this whole "sickness-as-holy" thing still works. My otherwise very resource-conscious roomates keep telling me I should take an Erkältungsbad, which is a bath with eucalyptus and other things that are suppose to clear out your upper respiratory system. (i opted for the bubble bath instead.) I get clucked over a lot, and Cindy, the other girl, makes me lots of tea. And I'm excused tonight from our communal grocery shopping extravaganza. Which is actually great, because as much as I love grocery shopping (and I really, truly do) going with my two roomates would really suck the fun out of it. The good news is however, that we've got our menu planned for the rest of the month. I wish I were joking and I wish that by "we" I didn't mean "Zee Germans". But I do. Here, for your amusement (please prepare to have every German stereotype viciously reinforced):

W: Schmorkohl mit Kartoffeln (stewed cabbage with potatoes)
Th: Gefüllte Paprika mit Gürkensalat (stuffed peppers with cucumber salad)
F: Milchreis (rice in milk. I can't actually explain it, but it's with cinnamon and sugar)
Sa: Hackbraten, Kartoffeln, Erbsen (Meatloaf, potatoes and peas)
So: Linsen Eintopf mit Wiener (yeah, that says "wiener". Lentil stew with vienese sausage)
M: Nudeln mit tomatensauce (Pasta and tomato sauce)
Tu: Rouladen, Rotkohl, Kartoffeln (some type of pig, potatoes and red cabbage)
W: Fetahackauflauf (hamburger & feta casserole)

...I could go on, but the overabundance of potatoes would overwhelm you. I had to lobby hard for the noodles. It won't surprise you at all to hear that last year, in the high school I worked at, when I asked kids what they would miss if they were forced to move to someplace like South East Asia, a majority of every class said potatoes. Yes. Potatoes. Like potatoes exist no place else. The prdominance of meat, otherwise known as "hack" (short for hackfleisch: literally, hacked up meat) can be attributed to Stephan and Christian, our two resident carnivores. I love a good steak, but there's a limit to how much meat and potatoes a girl can take!

Anyway, I should continue planning my lessons for tomorrow. As a rebellion, I'm just bringing word searches and other little riddles for the kids. I mean, how the fuck am I supposed to teach them English if I can't talk, for christ sake?! Oh well. I'm off to my copy shop. It's mine because I'm there literally every single day. They automatically give me the receipt now. It's nice.

General Update (for Adam)

2006-11-07T18:57:00.000+01:00

So. I haven't been updating lately, and for that I apologize--apparently people read this. Well...I know from personal experience (www.thesuperficial.com), you can get addicted to reading just about anything on the internet, so I understand. Things here have been humming along a little too fast for me. I'm ready for a break. My job (for those of you who tuned in during the commercial break I teach English in a bunch of different nursery schools and at after school programs around Berlin) has been taking off like crazy, despite me being put on probation after a parent complained*. My boss didn't fire me. She just keeps giving me more hours. Which I don't really understand, since all of the other girls that work for her are trained teachers and I'm not. And I have trouble dealing with kids with behavioral problems. Yeah, okay, everyone does--otherwise they wouldn't be called "kids with behavioral problems", they'd be called something like "little human beings". Seriously, though, some of these kids are little fucking monsters. And because we're a private company, the boss wants every last child she can get. However, when I've got a class of 12 kids and even one of them is hyperactive, the whole thing goes downhill faster than you can imagine. On the whole, it's not terrible, but the overall stress of it is starting to get to me. I've got 17 classes in like, six different places so I'm always running around or waiting for some train or something. Keeping track of all the different classes and who's doing what, who has what prior knowledge, etc. etc. it's a pain in the ass. I like working with kids, but I don't know.

*Before you start thinking that I caned a small German child or something, the mother was a total witch, complained about the class size, the time of day, the classroom, how the class was structured...pretty much everything. To my boss of course. And then she turned in a contract for her kid anyway. Fucking people.

So I'm not that ecstatic about work. And I've somehow managed to pick up a sore throat (little kids are also germ mangnets), which makes establishing my authority with hyperactive German six and seven year olds a little difficult. Safe to say I'm not going to be reproducing for the next 3-5 years. This job has SO scared the baby-making thoughts away. However, cause I don't like to complain about a situation that I theoretically control, I've got another job lined up for July. I'm under contract for the rest of the school year, and I'm stubborn enough to fight it out, even if it's not so great, but after that's done, I'm going to start working in a parent-initiative pre-school. It's small, it's in one place, the head-woman is down to earth--and they need a native English speaker to color and read stories to the kids. I mean, of course I'll have to change diapers and tie shoes and all that jazz, but it'll be less stressful WITH healthcare benefits and money I can live on. I'm just hoping that the fucking Auslanderbeörde gets their shit together and issues me a visa and a work permit before April--because otherwise things will just become hopelessly complicated. Or more so than they already are.

Then of course come the questions:
Is this actually what I really want, or am I just killing time?

If I am just killing time, what am I waiting for?

If this is really what I want...is it enough?

It's the last one that gets me. I must ask myself about a thousand times a day if the life I have here is "enough". I've gotten to the point where I just shake my head and smile at people who ask me if this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. It's an idiotic question, but they're just trying to understand. And the whole 'picking up and leaving your home country'-bit isn't something that everyone gets. I don't always get it. A lot of the time it's a fun-filled adventure. Other times, it's comic. And then there are the days when I ask myself what in god's name I'm doing here, and why I don't go home and start an ordinary life where people watch baseball and celebrate Thanksgiving and don't freak out if you go barefoot.

But enough about that. That's just the daylight-savings time talking. It's dark and cold here and that makes me restless. Thank god for gyms and twice-weekly yoga courses, otherwise I'd flip out entirely. I've been working out a bunch, but this week is automatically stricken due to sickness. I get home and I'm so exhausted, I could sleep for a week. Speaking of which, I'm going to go make myself a pot of peppermint tea and drink the whole goddamned thing. Take that, immune system!

Hallelujiah Berlin

2006-10-20T18:28:00.000+02:00

There's this really hilarious, corny German song that compares Berlin to the province Brandenburg which surrounds it. Among other things, Brandenburg is known for the German equivelant of hicks and neo-nazism. Compared to cosmopolitan Berlin, it stands no chance. This week I had a few really unexpected hallelujiah Berlin moments, in spite of working an amazing amount. You see, suddenly, school vacation ended, one of the other teachers from my company became ill and another one found out she was pregnant. So suddenly, I went from having 2 hours a week to like, 20. Of course, a few schools decided they wanted to add courses, and parents decided they wanted to add kids to existing courses...so yeah. It's been an intense week. And the hours that I've been substituting have been early morning hours. We all know I am not made of sweetness and light in the early morning. Other times, yes. Early morning, no. Despite this phenomenon, I had a few of those awesome moments when you just think "damn, my life is pretty awesome". One of the ones I can concretely remember was riding the S-Bahn (fast, overground public trains) to the outskirts of the city. The sun was rising and the whole city was fresh. Berlin is a city that goes from being hardcore urban residential to being woodsy at the drop of a hat--or within a few miles of train track. The leaves are also starting to turn color here--not nearly with the same glory they do at home, but it's an effort I appreciate nonetheless. So two mornings this week, I got to barrel out into the countryside and teach wee little German kids the intricacies of the English language.

That's the fun part. It's an exhausting job--don't ever listen to anyone who says otherwise. Little kids suck the lifeblood out of you. There is no better birth control on this earth than working with small children. What's not so much fun is teaching the slightly older kids--you know, the ones in second grade. That is officially my least favorite age. I teach these kids in Horte (plural of Hort), which are the after school programs (I think partially government subsidized) where the kids hang out from 1pm until whenever their parents are done with work, which can be as early as three pm or as late as five or six. Although I was in a pretty cool Hort today (music classes, sport classes, swimming, art...anything you could possibly think of, these kids do), I don't know how much of a fan I am. My initial impression is that there are always WAY too many kids for any number of qualified or unqualified personel to keep an effective eye on, so the kids get up to god-only-knows-what for hours and hours on end. I mean, sure, children need to be able to adapt to social situations and get along with their peers and be able to resolve conflicts, etc. but man...every Hort I've been in, even the best-organized ones, seem like pure chaos. As a result of this, when I get the kids to teach them, they're totally riled up and nigh on impossible to control, let alone teach. I learned a new German word the other day: Verhaltens-auffaellig. Literally translated, it means "noticable behavior". In real words, the kid is hyperactive or has behavioral problems. I definitely do not feel qualified for what I do. I mean, I have an extraordinary amount of natural patience...and I was born speaking English, but really...I have a whole new level of respect for elementary school and preschool teachers. They are superhuman individuals, that's for damn sure.

In other news...working out has been a fabulous release. The only problem is, I come home and I'm utterly exhausted. And I have little or no interest in working out. I crashed today for like, an hour. Stephan took one look at me and was just like "aaaand you're going to bed!" so I slept for an hour. Now I'm functional and putting off putting together material for Amelie, the nine year old that I tutor in German. Well, mostly German. We're supposed to do Math, too...but let's be honest, Math sucks. She's a sweet girl, and her parents are a riot. And the money is almost worth me giving up the better part of my Saturday morning. I have been able to make yoga twice a week for the last few weeks though, and it has been amazing. I spend so much time rushing from place to place and being on my feet that twice a week is barely enough decompression time. I'm pretty sure it'll balance out though--it's only my first week of a full course load. Oooh, other cool thing that happened this week: I got a new phone. And a real plan, like with a contract and shit. So I now have (though my cell phone) a German land line aaaaaaand a cell phone number. And 100 free texts a month. This just blows my mind. I mean, for those of you who have had American cell phone plans forever, this is probably not at all interesting. My only prior forays into the world of European cellular technology have been in the prepaid realm, so I find this exciting.

Anyway, I should probably wrap this up and outline some things for Amelie, otherwise I'll have to do it later and let's just say other things are planned.

Real Internet (among other things)

2006-10-12T22:48:00.000+02:00

Just so everyone knows, we at Boxhagener strasse 102 are now officially paying consumers of the internet, as opposed to syphoners of other people's wireless (as we were for the last three and a half weeks). It's glorious. I'm thoroughly enjoying writing this and not being out on the dark, cold balcony with the laundry. And the tram.

Today was pretty productive, considering it's still school vacation so I still haven't "really" started working yet. I was at Immigration Services again and finally managed to hand in ALL my paperwork for my visa and my green card. It's a good feeling...except for the whole "don't call us, we'll call you" the woman gave me before I left. That's always just a tad disconcerting. After that I interviewed at the Volkshochschule (kind of like a community college, but without the degrees--more like adult ed), and I'm now slated to be teaching a business English class twice weekly from November to December. It should be a nice way to pick up some cash before the holidays (and before I have to start paying taxes here...). Next week I've got another interview with a company that provides kids with tutors--we'll see if I have time for them. Sadly, the institute for Kurdish studies in Berlin hasn't got back to me after cancelling my interview (the day of) a week ago. Sad, because the guy sounded nice and it would have been cool to say that I'd worked for them.

Other developments include me getting my training plan for the gym (yeah, I think I've been ther every day this week, which scares me)...and that'd be about it. I'm actually pretty excited about the whole fitness thing. I mean, Stephan and Julia are really into it, which gives me added motivation to go, and added motivation not to cop out when I'm there. But this gym is awesome and did all kinds of neat tests when we all signed up, and even though I've lost weight since college ended, one could say that the results were...motivating. Which I suppose is good. I'm interested to see if the new trainings plan yields results, or if my trainer Janine is full of crap. I can safely say that the yoga class they offer there is fabulous. A real quality mix between getting your om on and really challenging poses and stretches. I felt so great afterwards. I also thing the whole zen centerdness of it is going to help me keep levelled out with all the cohabitation and weird relationship dynamics floating around here. Nobody get freaked out: I still like the dynamic of my relationship...it's just that when you live with another couple, sometimes shit is weird. Like when they have a tiff, and one of them is really being an ass. Or whatever. My work schedule, once it starts is going to be pretty insane as well. Fortunately my 2 tutoring clients are only once a week--all I have to keep straight aside from that is which Kindergarten I'm supposed to be at with which paperwork and whether or not it's a business English night. I really hope I'm up to this...it's scary. At least I got the wrangling with the Labor/Immigration offices out of the way while I wasn't really working. Hopefully. Because none of the jobs I have are ones where I can be like "oh, sorry--I'll be late/I was late because..." Well, I mean, you can always say it, but here it goes over a whole lot less well than at home.

Ooh, I also used the internet to load pictures of the apartment up onto Facebook. So if you look at this and not that, check them out. All right. I think it's time for me to brush my teeth and continue reading hilarious celebrity gossip/satire in bed. From the internet. Cause I can.

round 1: Immigration Authority 1,000,000,000 Me: -234,927,928,347

2006-10-05T16:19:00.000+02:00

I'm frustrated. I waited around for hours, compiled 3 different applications and achieved absolutely nothing. I couldn't even give them to the man behind the counter. I mean, I wasn't expecting to walk out of there today with a residency permit and a work permit, but damn! Total and utter defeat wasn't necessarily on the docket, either. Whoah! So I'm disgruntled about that and hoping that the two back-to-back job interviews I have tomorrow go better. And that my boss lets me know what I can do about this whole pesky "am I a freelancer or am I not" debacle. And that someone tells me what goddamned application I need to file next, cause the guy at Immigration was an ass-HOLE.

Grrr.

It's also gone from cold and rainy this morning to just plan bloody cold. Stephan and Christian have been gone all afternoon doing random shit--Stephan had a few job interviews and I assume Christian was just along for the ride. I've just been informed that I'm "allowed" to cook dinner tonight, which is a kind of hilarious situation, because I live with two guys who both cook well and enjoy it. I've got to say though, sadly I'm not in the mood for the job or the desired dish. But whatever, I'm going running with Julia at seven, whether or not they've returned from wherever they've been. Yay for physical activity as a way to cope with stress! However, I've been out here for fucking hours. We can get real internet aaaany time. It'd be fine with me.