Berlin!

Oh how I love Berlin. It is by far the most beautiful city I have ever seen. I am not much for big city life, but this is a city I can see myself living in. The streets are clean and the air is clean. Most people ride a bicycle, walk or take public transport. The excitement is always lingering in the air and I feel so alive. The culture is rich and the history is deep. I find reminders of war and suffering all over the city, yet somehow everyone is happy and I find nothing but positive energy everywhere I go.

I have spent many days in Berlin. One day was spent in museums looking at artwork from the Baroque and renaissance periods, ancient Egyptian artifacts and even The Temple of Athena that is housed at the Pergamon Museum. Another day was spent at the Salvador Dali exhibit. Of course, his best works are in Spain, but it was inspiring and interesting to stand not a foot from his original pieces that did not even hang behind glass. I thought a great deal about my brother on these days in the museums. He loves both history and art and I hope that someday he too can enjoy these splendors.

Last Sunday I made my way around Berlin on foot as usual. There were many people visiting for a huge track and field event. There were concerts and live TV shows being held under the Brandenburg Tur. Beer gardens and food venders lined the "Unter den Linden" street and people buzzed around everywhere. I made my way toward Humboldt University and found another free concert in a park. I was tired and hungry and decided to grab myself a pretzel, take off my shoes and lay in the grass. It was such a delight to lie there amongst a couple hundred people doing the same thing. Children ran around dancing and jumping in the fountain, buck naked in the middle of a public park. You would never see something like that in the states.

I love my life!

I made it through the first week of my new job. I love it! Rapid Eye essentially created a job tailored to my resume and interests. They wanted to hire me and they want me to stay. The company is young and thus far nonprofitable. They hire young, ambitious individuals that will work for low pay. This is a great business plan if you are trying to save money, but can also lead to much inefficiency.

Today was an amazing day. I woke up and went for a run along the river. The weather was cool and breezy and I soaked up every minute of it. After the run I had a nice cup of coffee and decided to go get my hair cut. It was a little scary to attempt...not knowing if anyone would understand that I didn't want a mohawk. Fortunately, all went well and I had a very good trim (that took nearly two hours!). I went back to the house, had a sandwich for lunch and then borrowed a bicycle to explore the outskirts of town. I rode for over an hour and found myself in a little village in the forest. I hopped off the bike and went into a cafe that served ice cream and beer. It was a weird combination, but I decided a couple beers sounded pretty good on such a lovely Saturday afternoon. I had two Pilsners and hopped back on the bike to ride home. I now realize that German beer is much stronger than American beer. I almost toppled over when I tried to stand and I was a bit wobbly on the bike.

After returning to the house (where I am a house guest until September 1), the neighbors told me of a festival in town. I have no idea of the significance...maybe just a reason to party and drink beer. I ventured out and was stopped by a guy in the street that was trying to talk to me. I explained that I didn't speak German, but he claimed he spoke English. While he was trying to converse, he decided to pee against the building, right in front of me! As I walked off, he tried to talk to me in German. I have no idea what he was trying to say and his English was certainly lacking. Strangely enough, the same thing had happened on my walk to the hair cut, only then it was a 7 or 8 year old boy. I guess that people just pee anywhere at any time here.

After walking away from the peeing man, I returned to my search for the festival. Many of the apartment complexes around town as well as business parking lots had turned themselves into beer gardens with live music, DJs and dancing. I walked into the courtyard of an old apartment complex that had the best sounding music. They had a great DJ and a great setting filled with couches, tiki torches and ivy under the stars. Beer is cheaper than water here so imagine going into a place like this and spending a dollar a beer for good beer (or spirits). I had one beer and decided to leave as I was feeling a little awkward being alone. As I was about to leave, a guy came up and tried to talk to me in German. "ich sprechen nicht deutsch" I said and he asked if I spoke English. We managed to have a very simple conversation in English, and I established that he works in Potsdam and drives a caterpillar! After that I left for a goodnights sleep. Guten Nacht, I will fill you in on my Berlin adventures and add pictures later.

hard times

The last couple days have been pretty rough. After a wonderful visit to Berlin on Thursday, I decided that I would much rather live in Berlin and commute to Brandenburg. Unfortunately, I had made an oral agreement with a woman in Brandenburg regarding an apartment. She had already put money into installing a kitchen with the understanding that I was moving in. I had thought that she would wait until I signed a lease. Now I am stuck in this moral predicament and feel that I need to take the apartment for the 6 months of the lease. Furthermore, I made this woman very angry because she had bent over backward to help me with the apartment among other things. I feel terrible, but life changes and I need to be true to my own thoughts and feelings. Now I am still stuck with living in Brandenburg and these people are angry with me!

I am still ironing out the kinks in my contract and I meet with the president of the marketing department at 1 pm today. He is a very intimidating guy to speak with and I am a little nervous about negotiating a contract with this man. All part of growing up I suppose!

To top off my last couple of days, I had to do a wire transfer of funds from the US into my new German bank account. The dollar is very weak right now and it costs about $1.49 for 1 Euro, not including the $35 wire transfer fee. I picked a hard time to transfer money, but didn't have much of a choice in the matter. Uhg

...3 hours later...

This situation is looking up. the landlord has agreed to have me stay for only 3 months rather than 6months. 3 months seems much less overwhelming. The downside is that there is no use purchasing things to make myself comfortable. I may be living like a nun until I move into Berlin.

Week 2

I don't have much to tell this week. I went out and about on the town with a girl named Antje who I met on couchsurfing.com. She took me around town and showed me where to shop and get good coffee etc. It was nice to chat with someone my own age.

I found an apartment, but it is not available until September 1st. I am couchsurfing until then. The apartment is on the top level (no elevator) of an old but recently remodeled building near the Fochochschule (Vocational College). There are lots of young people that live in the area and it's only a 30 minute walk to work. It is going to be rough in winter, but I might be able to figure out the tram system by then. The apartment has an entry room, bedroom, kitchen, bath and living room. This is considered a 2 room apartment! I am renting this for 375 Euros per month plus the cost of Electricity (30 Euros per month) and phone/internet (35 Euros per month). This is not too bad all things considered. I even have a neighbor that wants to learn better English and will trade me language lessons in German.

I went around with my future landlord and found some furniture and lighting for my new apartment. Most everything here is particle board that comes in a box for post purchase assembly. Most people rent small apartments in old buildings where it is difficult to get furniture in and out of. IKEA is big here since it is designed to maximize space. Everything is uber small here. Apartments come with mini fridges and washing machines are smaller than a dishwasher.

I also met a very nice woman who moved from Hawaii to Germany in 1993. She is married to a German Attorney and is very wealthy for the area. She has offered me all sorts of furnishings and linens for my apartment. The few Americans I have met here are very helpful and supportive. I have met 6 to be exact!

About 95% of the cars I have seen here have been hatchbacks. I assume that this is because they are useful for transportation of goods.

I start work on Monday and I am actually looking forward to it. I have had more time on my hands than I know what to do with. I still need to settle some issues with my contract and then I am set. I will probably try to take a trip to Berlin for the weekend.

Tsuss!

Week One

I made it to Germany!

After a somewhat painful flight to Frankfort, I ventured on to Berlin where I caught a train to Brandenburg an der Havel. I checked into my suite at the Girono Pension after some confusion with the receptionist, then slept for about 13 hours. The continental breakfast consists of pork liver patte, bread, soft boiled eggs and extremely salty meats and cheeses. They have cereal as well, but it is the super sweat stuff that one can only stomach as a child. I have resorted to eating rolls with butter and jam. I am afraid to eat any other meal and seem to be starving myself. I finally made it to the store yesterday where I bought some wasser (water) and green beans. I had nearly fainted the day before due to low blood sugar.

The coffee is amazing here, likely due to the whole milk!

I am rather amused by the older men that seem to feel perfectly respectable running there motor boats through the town center in Speedos. I have seen a few of them now. There are also several Russian woman in town that dress up in globs of makeup and teenyweeny clothing.

The hair here is hilarious. I see 60 year old woman with bright purple hair and big sunglasses. I have seen woman my age walking around with Cruela Duvil style hair with poofiness and skunk stripes and all. I just can´t get enough. I wish it was appropriate to take pictures to share.