today we felt like jumping.


we also felt like taking a trip to potsdam, to see palace sanssouci and the huge palace gardens.


jesse liked her


I liked him


we had a good day.





in the afternoon we got deal with screaming kids. that was less fun, but we managed. now we're too exhausted to party.
berlin is treating us well.

so poor jesse has had some complications in holland, aka a stolen wallet.
if western union comes through he'll be able to get a train pass today and be back in berlin by tonight, we will see. i'm not sure what his plans for the next few weeks are, i guess it all depends on how quick he gets new credit cards.

i just went on a walk around the nearby lake, and then had some second breakfast (cake!) in a really cute little coffee shop/bakery. the weather is absolutely perfect, it's a bit chilly, but if you walk in the sun you don't need a jacket. it's supposed to stay like this for a few days, so i am (as is all of berlin) making the most of it, trying to spend some time outside. the leaves are starting to change, still very green but you've got a hint of yellow and red in between. My host-family is now fostering a young hedgehog, we found him in the yard a few weeks ago, and he was acting very non-hedgehog-like (by this i mean he didn't run away immediately). so we took him to the "hedgehog rescue" (yes there is such a place) and he stayed there for a few weeks till he gained enough weight. so now he's back and he lives with the rabbit and is gaining weight on his catfood and rolled oats diet. if he gains enough weight to over winter on his own we'll release him, if not he has to wait till spring. i should get some pictures of him, i'll work on that.

"liter of cola"

my first real rain-day
it's been raining all morning and it feels like fall. it's beautiful gray and everybody had this lovely grumpy expression.
it made me happy in a sarcastic kind of way. i realized that being tall sucks in the rain, because everyone's umbrella is exactly at about face height, you're forced to learn to dodge pretty fast.
i tried to get a phone today, turns out i need my passport. so again tomorrow. but it seems that phones are ridiculously cheap, the one i picked costs 4.95 and already comes with a 5 euro prepaid card. sounds like a deal to me. that's about the only thing that is cheaper here though. for example i want to go see calexico in a few weeks, and tickets are 30 euros. crazy.
other than that not much news.
i'm happy here, but i miss going out in tucson. i think "SPRINGBREAK!" would only attract negative attention here. does somebody know when jenny h. comes to europe?

another weekend

so jesse is still alive, i got an email from him, it said he's in muenster. that's all i know, though.
robert came out to berlin yesterday (he's studying in wuerzburg) and stayed for a night. i'm getting a bit better at the tourguide thing, and i can find my way around the city fairly well now. this morning we visited the old jewish cemetary, it was really sombering and impressive. i'm sure robert will post pictures, i didn't take any.
so for now that's all, i need a nap right now.

posting pictures

today i'm posting pictures...
jesse just left for his bike tour, he was pretty excited. i hope it doesn't rain the next couple of days, but either way i think he'll be really cold. we had a really fun week together, and i'm already excited for him to come back.
this is me with two of my cousins

these are my two german/canadian friends sarah and daniel

jesse and me really cold and really scary looking

ridiculously happy. i have gums.

and jesse and a terrifying jesus sculpture in the german history museum

weekend 2.

Just a short update. Jesse got here on wednesday, without his bike and after a very long flight. his bike did arrive later, but without some of his gear, due to the huge hole lufthansa had torn into the box. way to go, lufthansa.
i've shown him some of the biggies (brandenburg gate, potzdamer platz, friedrich str., oranienburger str, holocaust mahnmal, reichstag, etc) and yesterday we went on a really beautiful bike ride through the grundewald (berlin's forest) and along the havel (really big lake). today we are going to see my mom's side of the family, and hopefully go to a museum or two (or if i get my way, go to the zoo).






also, i think jesse will be updating his blog periodically, so if you want to follow along his bike trip, this is the url. http://www.jessepeck.blogspot.com/

weekend.

i'm trying to decide wether to stay in, or go out tonight, but am tending towards an early night with some reading, chocolates and a glass of wine. which means i'm going to have to blow off my plans with an old friend i haven't seen in about six years, but fact is that i don't think i can make the trip into the city without passing out on the train (something i've come very close to all day).
last night i met up with this girl sarah, who used to be an aupair with a family in the area. she ended up staying in berlin after her time as an aupair and has been living in the city for about three years now. we went to a great thai place for dinner and connected right away. felt great having someone to talk to and just have a good time with. afterwards we ended up at this random "s-bahn ring party". --> berlin has a big subway (u-bahn) and lightrail (s-bahn, not really a light rail but that will work for now) network and one of the routes goes in a circle around the inner city ( http://www.vbbonline.de/download/pdf/liniennetze/su_berlin.pdf ). it's called the ring bahn. now the goal of a ring bahn party is to make it one full lap, however when you're on the train a die (dice sp?) is rolled and that's number of stops you stay on for. then you get off and have to find either a bar (kneipe) or a late-night liquor store (spaet kauf) and get a drink (or more). then everyone gets back on the train and the steps are repeated. we were in a group of about forty (most being international students, so everyone was very open and eager to meet people). Anyway, I made it about halfway and then decided that it was late enough, and i was drunk enough to make my way home.
so that was my night.
this morning i got up early to get my hair cut and colored (it takes a lot longer than i imagined to get to certain parts of the city, for some reason the buses and trains aren't timed very well. if you want to follow along on the map, my nearest station is Nikolas see at the bottom left of the B area, and i was going to eberswalder strasse, top right (on the red line) of the A area.) Anyway, my hair is now redish brown, not sure how i feel about it yet. afterwards I treated myself to a late breakfast in the prenzlauer berg area, then went to see my grandfather in tempelhof (Alt Tempelhof, bottom center in B on the purple line).
finally got back home around 6pm, and immediately passed out. woke up about an hour later for dinner, and now i'm ready to go right back to sleep.
Jesse gets into town on wednesday! i'm really excited!
ok, enough for now, this is getting too long.

pictures

Hamburg


baby cousin and really good outfit

german/mexican food

reunited


clouds

nice living

09/02/08

A little update.
i've been in germany for almost three weeks. so far: i've started to familiarize myself with the berlin public transportation system (though the buses are still giving me a hard time), have visited a good number of museums and galleries, walked all over the city, eaten bad fish twice (and thrown up bad fish twice), met up with my good friend kerstin, spent four days in Hamburg and Kiel, and moved in with the family i'm working for.
i'm starting to adjust, and while i'm still homesick it's not as bad as it was the first week. i'm trying to keep myself busy and positive. it's absolutely beautiful here, the family lives on the outskirts of berlin and everything is green, and if i just walk five minutes i'm in the forest. i've been going on runs and finding little lakes and secret spots. the leaves are already starting to change color a little, and the weather is still very mild. last night i walked home through really thick mist rising from the meadows and woods, it was really eerie (sp?) and beautiful.
i think the biggest challenge is going to be making friends. people aren't that outgoing (but i've been told that it's even harder in other german cities) and you generally have to make the first step. last night i made my first friend at a concert, and the mom just gave me the number of another aupair my age in the area. so i'll give her a call and see where that goes. other than that i've been spending some time with my aunts and grandma, and getting to know them is really nice, too. it helps with the homesickness. sunday night my aunt vio and me made dinner together and then watched the german answer to csi (tatort -> crimescene). it was pretty great.
ok, now i'm going to try to upload some pictures of the house, the family (sunday breakfast outside), the view from my room, and my trip to hamburg to mee my baby cousin marlene.
i miss tucson!




uploading is taking a while... more later.