As American as Apple Pie

We had a Christmas office party on Wednesday to which everyone brought something they either bought or made. I figured I'd make something that was typically american. And apple pie was the frist thing I could think of. Although apple pies came from the English (and the Dutch had a version as well) it's as close as I could get without just bringing in corn. But the beautiful thing about America is that everything is easy. If you wish to make a pie you can simply go to your grocers (that is typically opened later than 8pm) freezer and get the frozen crust that come in a handy aluminum pie pan. (I originally wrote 'tin', but an aluminum pie tin doesn't make sense.) Thanks to Toytown the English speakers in Germany forum, I was aware of the difficulties I was about to face. There were a few forum discussions about pie crusts and other differences between baking ingredients here and the states. It's hard to ask Germans about these differences because at work yesterday we were talking about cooking and I said "There's no brown sugar in Germany" and I got the 'sure there is' response. I suppose they're right too, it may be brown sugar, but it's certainly not the same as the american stuff. But that's beside the point; there's no brown sugar in apple pie (however, there is in apple crisp). From Toytown I knew I would not find frozen pie crusts anywhere. I also knew that it would very difficult to find (or expensive to buy at KaDeWe) both a pie pan and crisco. I had found an recipie online that looked doable enough. I'd link it for you, but I don't remember which website I got it from. I needed one that didn't take ice water because we have no freezer so I had no way of getting ice. The one I found called for cool but not cold water, so I was good to go. I also needed Crisco, but I knew what to look for as a German equivalent (Biskin) and all-purpose flour (which I read is Mehl 405 in Germany).

I had stayed at work a little late and had to go pick up my bike from the shop. (My tire is fixed!) I stopped by Kaisers at first because it's pretty big and should have had Biskin according to Toytown. They didn't, of course but I still needed a pie pan, so I thought I was inevitably going to have to stop at KaDeWe, which according to the website closed at 8. It was 7. I didn't want to have to buy everything there because things would be cheaper elsewhere and I thought there was a possibilty that Woolworths would have pie pans. They have all sorts of different bunt cake and tart pans, but no pie pans. So I was hurrying to Gesundbrunnen because I was trying to get on the S-bahn before my two hours expired from coming home from work and the KaDeWe was closing soon, when I saw a sign from Kaufland. I had read about this place too. This is basically like a Giant or a Wegmanns or any other super food store. I knew I would be pushing it time-wise, and if I were smart I would have gone to KaDeWe and came back to this place since I think it was open later, but I didn't care, and I went investigating. After a long period of stupidly staring and wandering through the butter/margarine aisle, I finally found a small block of Biskin, and they also had pans that were generally pie shaped, so I figured they would do since I knew via Toytown that American pie pans were €22 at KaDeWe and that just wasn't worth it.

Victoriously, I returned home to make my pie. The directions in making a pie crust that I found had two places where they said something along the lines of 'DO NOT touch touch the shortening with your hands, make sure you touch it only with the flour because otherwise the heat from your hands will melt the shortening' and 'DO NOT exsessively knead the dough like you would bread'. I'm pretty sure I did both of these things. Not intentionally, I just wasn't sure how not to. I say this because it was supposed to 'look like peas' at one point and it never really did and it was supposed to actually hold together in a nice ball and it never really did that either. But, gosh darn it, it somehow worked. In the end, it rolled out rather successfully and turned into a delicious pie. I only wish I had a slice of American cheese to put ontop of it.

Weihnachtskonzert in Mittenwalde

This weekend the Blasorchester had it's last concert of the year, followed by a party. However, as usual, I didn't exactly know what was going on most of the time. I mean I understand the stuff they tell me, like when to get there, what to wear, and what and when we're playing, but along the lines of what is going on where we are playing is what I never fully understand. I knew we were joining another group. But what I didn't realize is that this group was some sort of marching band consisting of drums, marching glockenspiels and piccolos. More piccolos than should ever be allowed to play together in one place. All of the piccolo players also had a bugel hanging on their belts that they would also play depending on the song. But mostly it was the piccolo. Let me tell you, you have not lived until you have heard the piccolo/glockenspiel/drum versions of selections from ABBA or Andrew Lloyd Webber. I should probably get out my flute and practice since it's been awhile, and I tried to play someone's piccolo later in the night and wasn't very successful. I mean I could produce a sound, but reading the music and forming any semblance of melody was very much lacking. In fact, I bet the majority of people around me wish I has been unsuccessful at creating a sound. This melodic failure could very much be the result of the celebratory Champagne and crates of beer that the Blasorchester provided its members in celebration of the last concert of the year and Christmas. That's right, I said crates of beer. Beer that I've seen bought it bulk in Germany comes in plastic crates instead of cardboard cases. I'm guessing this is to make it easier to collect and return the empty bottles, since Germans are much better at recycling than Americans. Plus they have the incentive of getting money back for returning most empty glass and plastic bottles. Aside from my atrocious piccolo playing, the after party was a very good time. It can best be described as like the dance portion of a wedding reception. The host band offered us a classroom in which to spend the night since we weren't in Berlin. About a dozen or so people did so, and then they provided breakfast the next morning (free food being one of the main reasons I stayed). It was an all around good time.

One thing I don't understand is that while I'm pretty sure the whole occasion for the concert was christmas, I didn't hear much christmas music. The set we did in the beginning was apparently standard German christmas songs. I recognized a couple as tunes to hymns at church (one of which was Thine is the Glory, so evidently the text is very different from the German version since, for us, that's a song about the resurrection and not the birth of Christ) but that was about all I knew. Our second set had no Christmas songs at all and from what I heard of the other groups, they didn't play much Christmas music either (though one group did don santa hats). The DJ did blast Christmas songs over the loud speakers during any down time. This includes when they introduced the Blasorchester at the very beginning, when the large white room divider (we were in a gym) that was constituting a curtain slowly rose during which a dramatic version of the little drummer boy was crescendoing in the background. It was intense.

The Saga Continues

The Saga to which I am referring is that of my Fahrrad (bike). I got back from the states on a Thursday afternoon. Needless to say, when I awoke on Friday, I didn't really jump out of bed. After hours of snooze hitting, I finally dragged myself out of bed and into the shower (that was in the kitchen!) and decided not to bike, because I was too tired. I would just start biking again on Monday. I should also note, that I had brought my bike lock back with me from the states, because the one that came with my bike was pretty hit or miss as to whether or not I could get the key to turn. Sometimes it would take a little jiggling. Anyway as I was walking to the U-bahn, I realized I didn’t have anything smaller than a 50, since I had just gotten back. No ticket machine takes 50’s. Some of them don’t take any bills. Those ticket machines are really annoying at how picky they are sometimes, but that’s a different rant for a different day. So I turn back around thinking, screw it, I’ll just bike. I went to retrieve my bike, and sure enough had to jiggle like crazy to get the key to turn and get it unlocked. I thought to myself, “should I go get my other lock? Nah, it was probably just cold since it’s been sitting there for a whole week without being used." And I rode to work.

Upon leaving work, I went to unlock my bike. I inserted the key, and turned...nothing happened. No lateral movement whatsoever (ok, so I don't think the key turning constitutes lateral movement, but whatever). So I took the key out, and put it back in. I tried using my left hand. I took my gloves on and off. I said some 'magic' words. Nothing. So I left it there, telling myself I had planned it that way, since I was moving on Monday anyway. I can just wait until I move, and ride it to my new home after work on Tuesday.

Intermission story: On Monday I was riding the U-Bahn to work since my bike was still locked up at work. I was reading one of the books my parents bought for me while I was home: Green. Your Place in the New Energy Revolution, by Jane and Michael Hoffman. (I would recommend it if you want to learn about energy). I was sitting next to a man who was also reading. When people read on the U-Bahn, I like to look to see what language they are reading in, and this man was reading in English. I don't remember what it was. He must have done the same thing as me, because when he got up to leave, he said to me, "please visit this website, miss" (yes, in English) and handed me a card. And just like that, he was gone. (Ok, so that was a little dramatic) but he did seriously leave the train. I looked at the card and it says the following (I still use it as a bookmark):

,,The origin of the most far-reaching undertaking often lies in barely noticed events"
Vision of Idealistic Citizens Everywhere sponsors
,,Hands around the Globe" on 6.26.2026
(then there's a drawing of a world with people holding hands around it and next to it a picture of what looks like a rolled up peice of paper tied with a ribbon.)
Support a Citizen World Peace Agreement for Freedom and Justice
BECOME AN INTERNATIONAL VOLUNTEER
www.voice-consensus.com
epluribusunum@t-online.de

I have no idea if I got the card because he noticed I was reading an English book, or because of the book I was reading. Either way, I thought it was interesting and went to the website when I got to work. It's a bunch of really long narratives written by someone with English as their second language. I didn't take any further action. But, I'm passing on the website to you, so there.

Now it's Tuesday. The move went smoothly, and I'm ready to bike to my new home. I slowly approach the bike. It's been sitting there for 4 days now. I tell myself it'll unlock easily on the first try. No deal. But, alas, it's the same as before, plus it's really cold so my hands are freezing and my nose is running. I start to think of all of the irony behind the fact that the bike is here in the first place. So I began cursing my life and threw a mini temper tantrum to myself in the courtyard of the Umweltbundesamt, complete with a couple of tears (I kid you not) and then tried one more time. Success! Now I see why kids throw tandrems, apparently it works.

I rode happily home on my bike and continued riding the rest of the week. On Sunday I decided to go to church. It just doesn't seem like the Christmas season yet (despite the numerous amounts of lighted structures in the streets) so I figured I'd see if church would add to the Christmas spirit. I went to a place I pass on my way to work, only about 10 minutes down the road by bike. It was the family service so it was very kid oriented. They talked a lot about Saint Nikolaus since the day before was St. Nikolaus day (the reason we got an orange from Santa in elementary school) and I know nothing about him, so it was kind of boring. After the service, I went to unlock my bike only to notice the completely flat back tire. I definitely need a new innertube. So I had to walk back the whole way, dragging my bike. I've been riding the U-bahn to and from work this entire week.

From Sea to Shining Sea

So a lot has happened since November 14th (like Ashley's birthday - Happy Birthday) and my surprise trip to America. It felt good to be back, even if it was only for a week. I ate so much junk that my digestive trac is still in the process of forgiving me. But it was good, American junk. The most important part of the trip (not relating to seeing people) was that Lehigh finally beat Lafayette. My excitement was slighty masked by the fact that I couldn't feel my feet due to the cold. But, such is life.

Immediately after my return to the Fatherland, I left to go to Bad Saarow (which is somewhere not in Berlin) for the practice weekend retreat thing with the Blasorchester. Think band camp without all of the wierd tradition stuff and more ping pong, but an equal amount of beverage consumption. It was a lot of fun. I talked to a lot of new people and may have even come out of it with a swimming partner. On the way back on Sunday, those that wanted to participate went to this indoor/outdoor heated pool of salt water. When we were outside in the cold air, but warm water, it reminded me of the hot spring Ashley took me to when I visited her in Alaska. It was very relaxing.

Then the next day (last Monday) I had to move after work. So there I was moving to a new apartment with practically no clean clothes. But the move went well. Monika and Dieter drove me and my stuff, and they brought a box and a couple of bags to help me fit everything into some sort of transport device. Living with more people is so much nicer. And the apartment isn't as old and crappy. My room is no longer big enough to do a cartwheel in, but it's bigger than the one I had in college on Polk Street (I think, I've never been good with spacial relations). And, I have a bed now. No more plain mattress on the floor for this girl. Mila, the kitten is adorable and everyone is really nice and asks a lot of 'how is it in America?' type questions. Fun Fact: Apparently Germans (or at least the ones I live with) don't just stick potatoes in the oven and then eat them skins and all (a la baked potatoes). Because I did that this weekend and they all commented on how they had never seen that before. The more you know. This is rushed and not as entertaining as usual because I'm hungry, and I get to go home now. One bad thing about the new place is we haven't gotten the internet figured out yet. So this weekend I watched an embarassing amount of Dawson's Creek on DVD.

Erdnuss

So I was eating peanuts with Tanja, this lady I work with, in the break room when she decided to tell me about this idea she had.

Tanja (paraphrased and translated into English): I try this sometimes, watch. After you get the peanuts out of the shell, you add a little salt while they're in your hand, and then the peanuts taste salty.

I proceeded to tell her all about how, in America, you can buy peanuts with salted shells.

She was amazed.

America once again, has trimuphed.

Things that I don't like about biking in Berlin*

*some of these probably apply to more places other than Berlin

1) Googlemaps gives directions as if you are walking. Therefore you would be on the other side of the street. Normally, this doesn't matter until you get to complicated intersections which are complicated by themsleves. The fact that the 'links bei Kaiser-Wilhelm Platz' for only 23 m isn't acutually neccessary just adds to the confusion.

2) The streets are not well marked. There's one tiny street sign that is really hard to read. And sometimes, they're not marked at all.

3) What I would consider the same streets, have different names depending on what direction you're traveling.

4) Cobblestones. I hate the colbblestones.

5) It always starts raining after I start biking and then stops right when I get to where I'm going. Even if it's just misting, it's frustrating since I need windsheild whipers for my glasses.

6) The 'hill' on Hermannstraße.

7) I get really angry when I get lost.

8) Alexanderplatz (this is usually the cause of number 7)

My life right now basically consists of biking to different places. That's where all the excitement happens. I've gotten lost more times then I care to admit. I guess it's not surprising see as it happens a lot no matter what mode of transportation I'm using, although I still consider myself to be good with directions. I think I should reevalute that claim. Instead of good with directions, I think I'm good at remembering things. So if you tell me how to get somewhere, or if I copy it off of Googlemaps or something, I won't have to refer to the directions very often, if at all. But this is assuming all the turns are well marked and straight forward. When this is not the case, I suppose those people with a good sense of direction would be able to sense the general direction of their destination and would make enough turns to get back on track. Whereas someone like me, who relies entirely on the names of streets, is at this point lost. I think this is because I'm not good at visualizing things. For example, even though I lived in my parents' house for 13 or so years, I still have a hard time believing the bathrooms are build on top of each other. It just doesn't match the picture in my head.

Don't get the wrong idea though, I do enjoy having a bike in the city.

Ich fahre mit dem Rad zur Arbeit.

I biked to work today for the first time since the purchase of my old lady bike. I bought it last week from someone on craigslist. It's a one speed with only the right handlebar brake which is to be used in conjuction with back pedaling. I bought it because it was cheap and it already has a light on it. The problem with Paul's extra bike was 1) it's technically his ex-girlfriend's so I can't really take it with me when I move. 2) it doesn't have a working light and die Polizei are very strict when it comes to biking at night. A fine for not having lights is more than 2 months rent. No thanks. So I bought myself this beauty. It has a really wide seat and a basket on the back. It also has a bell on the left handlebar. So I pretty much look like an old lady casually pedaling to the grocery store all the time. It's not really a magnet for fine young gentlemen, but since when have I needed a ruse? I rode it home from my shady back alley purchase of it (just kidding, we were in a courtyard). It was dark, cold, and rainy on the ride home, but it was only 2 km away and I knew the way, so it was kein Problem (no problem). However, the next morning my calves were sore. That is apparently how long it had been since I rode a bike. I swear the fact that it was cold contributed greatly to the aching muscles, or I'm just that pathetic that I can't bike 2 km (which is 1.2 miles for all of you English system users) without being sore the next day.

I had the rest of the week left on my Monatskarte (month pass for the U-bahn) so I continued to ride it to work instead of biking (out of laziness and the fact that it wouldn't stop raining). I decided to give it a try today though. I had no idea how long it would take. According to google maps, it was 10.something km that would take 2 hours and 15 min to walk. I was going to leave early to give myself plenty of time for getting lost (the probability of which I thought was relatively high) but ended up leaving 45 mins after I wanted to. I was probably somewhere between 1 and 2 km away when I got stuck behind an actual old lady casually pedaling somewhere (probably from somewhere since her basket was already full). Not wanting to bike that slowly, I made my move to pass her.

Some things about Berlin you should know:
It is very bike friendly. On almost every street there is either a bike lane on the road, or on the sidewalk.
German roads and sidewalks are very often cobblestone.
The bike lanes are indicated by a different pattern in the cobblestone (normally small, close together stones to allow for a smoothe ride).

On this particular road, the bike lane was on the sidewalk. Separating the bike lane from the pedestrian lane, was a small line of bricks. Ontop of the bricks were lots of colorful autumn leaves. So in order to pass this lady, I would have to simply ride over the slightly raised bricks and go around her. Most people with basic bicycle maneuvering skills would be able to accomplish this feat without much of a problem. But for some reason, I forgot to take Physics into consideration. There are a series of laws pertaining to motion, that most people naturally execute. I failed to do so at this moment. I pretty much hit the bricks with my wheel directly parallel to it, which changed the direction of the movement of the wheels to directly perpendicular (sideways) to the one in which they were moving (forward). In laymen's terms, my bike stopped and I fell off. Now I was only going like 2 km/hr so the only things bruised were my pride and my left knee. There was no blood (and no 12 stitches needed). The bike was a little twisted at the handlebars, but I was able to move them back in place with relative ease. For a second I contemplated going back and taking the U-Bahn, but then I remembered some saying about falling off a horse and getting back on, so I persevered.

The remainder of the journey was uneventful. I didn't get lost and I made it there in about 50 min door to door. So it's pretty much exactly the same as the U-bahn. I was, however, really sweaty when I got there, and therefore got really cold once the sweat dried. Does anyone know how to fight that? I'm going to leave work early today in hopes that it will still kind of be light while I learn the way back. We'll see how sore I am tomorrow.

Halloween, German style

I'll be honest, I almost forgot about Halloween. There are very few stores that bombarb you with displays of jack-o-lanterns and black cats and those chunks of stretched out cotton balls that are supposed to be cobwebs. In fact, Germany may have America beat on the jump-the-gun Christmas decorations. Seeing as Germany doesn't really have Halloween and definitely doesn't have Thanksgiving, Christmas is really all the department stores have right now. But I had enough poeple asking me questions about Halloween the day before at work, that I did remember to acknowledge its exsistance. It was actully really cute on Friday. I was invited to dinner at my host parents' house and on the way, I had to stop by the post office to mail my ballot (I had already faxed it in so it would count, I just had to back it up with the real thing). I saw a couple of groups of kids dressed as ghosts and witches and goblins and other scary things. In Germany they like the scary costumes, not the recognizable characters costumes that populate US college campuses. So as I was leaving die Post (the post office), a troop of costumed youngsters entered die Post and said 'Süß and something I didn't quite catch because they said it really sing-songy and in unison'. Süß means sweet. So they were giving their targeted trick-or-treatee the option of sweets or I'm assuming, a trick of some sort. I saw the same thing in one of the U-Bahn Station shops. I think that's an adorable idea. And great for these businesses. Maybe this is how trick or treating is always done in big cities but it was the first time I heard of kids going store to store in addition to door to door.

Wie ist das Wetter?

It is freezing cold. It is 3.5 degrees right now and the high tomorrow is 7. In Fahrenheit that's 44.6 degrees for the high tomorrow. To make matters worse, Paul hasn't turned the heat on yet because he's waiting till the end of October (which is tomorrow, thank God) so it is even colder than outside, believe it or not. I'm not sure how that works, but it is, trust me.

Another wonderful thing about Berlin weather is that it rain all the time. I'd be willing to bet that it has rained 35-40% of the two months I've been here. This includes the last three days.

And lastly, if this doesn't make you want to run out and buy a ticket to Berlin, nothing will, it's really really dark. Ok, I'm sure it's nothing like Alaska, but it's noticeably much darker much earlier than it is in Pennsylvania. Oh by the way, we had Daylight Savings Time last sunday (the 26th, Happy Birthday, Adam) so for this entire week if you ever asked yourself "I wonder what time it is for Maggie" and then calculated it, you were wrong. I'm an hour closer now. But I think it's this weekend in the States (except for the weird places that don't follow DST for the sake of the cows or something like that). But anyway as I was saying, on Monday (the first work day after we "fell back" an hour, I worked until 6pm. I worked home in the dark. Not the 'it's getting dark' not the 'it's pretty dark', no, it was the same darkness as when I come home from something at 10pm or midnight. It starts to get dark at 4pm. To be fair, it has been a long time since I've led a life as 9-5 as the one I am currently living. In college I never had a 'quitting time' so the last time I had a usual time that I went home was in highschool and that was 5 years ago. So I don't remember how dark it gets how early. It certainly is depressing going home after dark. I don't see how you Alaskans do it.

die Wohngemeinshaft (WG)

If someone (from Germany) asks you if you live in a WG (pronounced vay-gay), they are asking you if you share an apartment with other people. From what I've gathered, 2 people living together also constitutes a WG. So right now, I live in a WG with Paul. I think there are unwritten rules about what is considered a WG as well. If two people are dating, and decide to get a place together, that is not WG. In that case when someone asks, 'do you live in a WG?', you would respond, 'no, I live with my boyfriend/girlfriend'.

WG stands for Wohngemeinshaft which translates to living community or more generally, a shared flat. Now a little bit about Berlin. Berlin is a pretty poor city. Therefore it is a very cheap city. Aparentments avaiable to rent are in abundance. However these apartments are all empty. Available rooms in a WG are in abundance as well, but the amount of people searching for a WG is probably about 15 times that. I say 15 because that's around the average number of people who were looking at each of the places I was looking.

In case you haven't figured out what I'm alluding to, I'm going to move to a differnt WG. I was first inspired to do so by Mark from Michigan. One of the guys with whom I play american football on Sundays (although I haven't been there for 3 weeks now). He's hanging out in Berlin trying to learn German. He was living with a lady from Kenya. So needless to say, they didn't speak German in his flat. He mentioned the website wg-gesucht.de where young people post offers about available rooms, so one day during the following week, I decided to check it out (during down-time at work [like right now]). What I discovered were tons of available rooms all around Berlin. My only requirements were that the people speak German (the entire website is in German, so that's pretty much everyone), that the room is cheaper than the one I have now, and that more than just one other person live there. From the first batch I contacted (I don't remember how many) I got one responce saying they already found someone. I decided to try again and was invited to my first 'let's find a new flatmate party' (There's an actual name for this in German, but I forget what it is). After the first one I knew what to expect. I started contacting lots more places because I had seen the number of people at the first place all vying for the same room. In order to get the room, you have to somehow stand out or impress the other people currently living in the WG. It's quite interesting. I certainly don't enjoy being on this end of it, though it's probably a nice way to pick an interesting new flatmate. I honestly can't tell you how many places I visited. For close to two weeks my evenings and weekends were packed full with looking at different WG's. I know a little bit about probability, and the more places you look, the better your chances that you'll get one of them. Most of them had one person come at a time in half an hour or hour intervals to look at the house and talk about interests, how you want to do food, the cleaning plan, and stuff like that. But there were three of them where people just mingled around chatting.

After rejecting via text message from some, and just never hearing from others, I finally got a call and an email from Mascha. I got picked! The room is much smaller than the one I have now, but the flat itself is much nicer. The rent is €90 cheaper a month and they have a kitten. It's directly north on the same U-Bahn I take now (U8) and it's on the boarder of Wedding and Prenzlauer Berg (which means nothing to any of you). But I didn't really care where it was. It's pretty much the same distance from work. Aside from Mascha (who is female and 19) Katherina (f,19) and Martin (m, 18) also live there. As well as some girl whose room I'm moving into, but I don't know her name and didn't really meet her. I'm not moving until the 1st of December, and I saw Monika and Dieter (my host parents from last summer) on Sunday and they offered to give me boxes and drive my stuff from one place to the other so I don't have to take the U-Bahn. I'm pretty sure I'll take them up on their offer.

The Truth About Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

I watched the movie Borat with Taras (a Tandempartner) and his friend Artur from Kyrgyzstan. They're actually both from Kyrgyzstan but Taras moved to Germany (obviously) and Artur to Russia. Although Russian is the official language of both Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, both countries also have there own languages Kyrgyz and Kazakh, respectively. Artur can understand both of these language (or at least enough to recognize the language).

The three of us haning out was an interesting linguistic situation. Artur spoke very good English, much better than Taras. We could lose him by speaking quickly. However, he didn't speak much German, so Taras and I (theoretically) could speak German quickly and Artur wouldn't understand. And finally, Artur and Taras could speak any amount of Russian at any speed and I wouldn't have a clue what they were saying. I did learn, several times, how to say "My name is Maggie" and "I am 22 years old" in Russian, but of course, I don't remember.

But anyway, back to the movie. Borat is a movie about a Kazakhstani 'news anchor' who goes to America to report on the 'greatest country in the world'. It's not recommended for the easily offended or the politically correct. Some parts are down-right disgusting, but in general, I think it's very funny. And watching it with people from the region was even better. First I should say that it was basically just Artur and I who watched it, because Taras had to get stuff ready for school. But Artur was the most knowledgable of the two anyway, so it worked out nicely. Now, onto the truth about Borat.

Things that are not accuarte:

1. They are neither speaking Russian nor Kazakh. We have no idea what language (if any) it is.
2. None of the ridiculous things involving toilets are (or would be) true. The have running water toilets and toilet paper in Kazakhstan (and Kyrgyzstan).
3. Pubic hair is not valuable or used as currency.
4. While some people greet each other by kissing both cheeks, it is not as common and used in as many situations as Borat uses it. (it's used a lot in Germany as well)
5. Borat has a lot of hatred for and fear of Jews. This isn't really accurate, but most likely stems from the fact that A) Sacha Boran Cohen (the actor who plays Borat) is Jewish and it's popular with comedians to make fun of your own.
and B) most of Kazakhstan is Musilm so I guess there is some sort of natural differing of opinion.
6. Borat doesn't really look like he's from the region. Artur could tell he wasn't and was just making a poor attempt at it.

Things that are kind of accurate:

1. When Borat ia at the Hotel desk and asks for a room for one night, the desk attendant responds with the price ($115 or something). Borat responds "I'll give you 85," spits on his hand and extends it for a handshake. - This elicited laughter from Artur along with something along the lines of "They do really like to bargain and try to do it a lot". Although the spit on the hand thing isn't super common.
2. When Borat is at the Rodeo talking to some of America's finest about homosexuals, he explains that in his country they put them in prison and kill them. (to which America's finest responds "we're trying to get that done here, too") Unfortunately, this is fairly accurate. Gays are treated very poorly in Kyrgyzstan at least.
3. Borat's distain for gypsies is accurate.
4. Borat often speaks of prostitutes in Kazakhstan. There are a lot of prostitutes in that region. This is another unfortunate truth. A lot of poor women have no other choice.
5. When Borat learns that the woman he is in love with (Pamela Anderson) is no longer a virgin, he is heartbroken. It is illegal for women to have sex before marriage (but only women). In some villages the parents listen in on the wedding night (either in the same room or next door) and then check the sheets for blood in the morning to make sure she really was a virgin. (we didn't go into what happens if she was lying)
6. At the end Borat attempts to capture Pamela in a sack. This is legitimate. If a man wants a woman, he can capture her (even with help from his friends). If he succeeds, she must marry him.

There were parts of the movie to which we didn't pay attention. We never stopped the movie to discuss, we discuss during the movie, so there are things we may have missed (or I may have forgotten). But overall it was a very interesting and entertaining learning experience.

Impulse Buy

Imagine this, you're standing in line at the grocery store, getting ready to check out. The person in front of you has a cart overflowing with various goods, so, like most people, you scan the headlines of the magazines, wondering if there could be any truth to the claim that some lady in Tennessee birthed a half man half monkey. When suddenly, you realize 'Oh man, I almost forgot. I need a new toothbrush' or 'My flashlight could use new batteries.' It's a good thing we have crafty business men and women in our country that know the importance of product placement. The checkout line self is teeming with things the average american might realize they need upon a simple reminder. Yesterday I was in the grocery store buying mushrooms on my way home from work. The line was rather long, so I looked at the impulse buy shelf. It's a good thing I did, because it reminded me that I had forgotten to buy ... an individual serving of Jägermeister, or a small bottle of some sort of whiskey. Welcome to Germany, where Jägermeister is like tic tacs.

The Mullet is back!

I ate two gigantic McDonald's fish fillet shaped mozzarella sticks for lunch today. Apparently it's a Käseschnitzel, but I'm telling you, it was a mozzeralla patty. And there were two of them. It was almost too much for me to handle...almost. Here at the Katine there are three entree options as well as a soup and a salad bar type thing. There's always a vegetarian option which I usually get since it's cheaper (and usually safer since I don't always know what I'm eating). My food vocabulary (in both English and German) isn't that expansive.

Another thing I enjoy about eating in the Katine, besides eating large blocks of deep-fried cheese, is watching the high school students. The Katine is open to the public, and on the days when we go to lunch a little later than usual (and usual is 11:45) I get to witness the high school crowd. They come from the Gymnasim (this is what some German schools are called, they are not all work-out fanatics) around the corner that we walk passed on the days we go for our saunter. They have an interesting style. And today, I saw a kid with a mullet. And it wasn't in the hill billy way that one would see one in the states. It was paired with a very stylish (and slightly femine) outfit. It also had bleached blonde streaks in it. It was pretty fantastic.

Deutschen sind pünktlich.

"Germans are punctual." This was what Taras (one of my tandempartners) said to me after I was 20 minutes late. (only he said it in German.) This is one aspect of German culture that I definitely did not inherit. I am habitually late. I was that way in college, and I continue to be that way here. At work it's not really an issue, because I'm pretty much on my own, and I don't have to punch in. I blame the U-bahn. The frequency with which it runs depends on the time of day as well as the day of the week. The U8, which is the line closest to my Wohnung, is usually a 10 minute wait between trains once you get passed 7pm or something. And, it's about a 10 minute walk door-to-station. Well, 10 minute American pace, probably about 6 minutes German pace. Germans don't always walk fast, but they certainly do when they have someplace to go. When George was showing me around the lab at UBA I had to basically jog to keep up with him. So it's sort of like walking around with R. Adam. But then, if they're just going for a walk or something, which we do if it's warm enough after lunch (kind of like Mom and her friends, only it's just once around the block) they walk very casually (i.e. slowly). By that's besides the point. So, the first time I met Taras I was 20 minutes late, because Paul was actually home the same time I was (which rarely happens) and we were talking about something while cleaning the kitchen. Before I knew it, it was 8, which was when I was supposed to be there. I wasn't too worried because it was only like 5 minutes away on the U-bahn. However, I forgot to account for walking to the U-bahn and waiting for it and then finding him once I got there. Luckily he wasn't mad though. I have yet to feel the wrath of a German. I've witnessed it from afar a few times. There was a shouting match on the U-bahn once and there was almost a hobo fight. But Taras was very nice and just said that next time he would show up a half an hour after the time we actually agreed to meet.

The bajillion Tandempartners have settled down to really only about 4. A couple of them I met once and never again, and then there are some that just kept getting canceled so we just kind of gave up. Now I have two that I meet once a week for a causual drink and conversation and then two that are more along the lines of actually hanging out with a little more frequently (both of those are men, go figure). Some things never change I guess.

There's also a lady I work with who is from East Germany and therefore never learned English in school. She's taking a class now, but she's 57 and the class is only twice a week, so it's really hard for her. So she trys to talk to me in English a little bit each day. She is really interested in America and dreams of visiting some day. I guess the stigma of the American Dream hasn't been destroyed for everyone. But she asks me so many questions about Pennsylvania and the sizes of different towns and how many kilometers away things are. In these meetings, I have discovered that I know nothing about facts like that. I have no idea how many people live in York, PA, although, I must admit, I have on several occasions made up some numbers on the spot. So, depending on which German you ask, York, PA has anywhere from 10-80,000 inhabitants. One would think I'd be a bit more consistant. But where's the fun in that?

I really don't understand why America can't just switch to the metric system. It would make things much easier. I asked someone how tall he was, and he gave me some answer in the hundreds. When Eva, (the lady I work with) asked how cold it gets in the winter where I'm from, I just tried to remember the coldest temperature I've seen on the Hanover Foods marquee that we pass on the way to church since it also has Celcius. And cooking is interesting, since I brought cookbooks from home and anything I look up online uses the English system. Since Paul stocked the kitchen, we don't have measuring cups we have Liter measuring things. Don't let the fact that he's English fool you. They also use the metric system. I often times blame him for coming up with the English system and for killing the Native Americans. And he makes fun of me for "mispronouncing" words. We have a nice relationship.

My Country Tis of Thee

I feel like I'm giving America a bad name. But then again, I'm pretty sure America gave itself a bad name, I'm just not clearing things up. Here in Germany, it's not taboo to talk about politics with people. So I've been getting a lot of questions about why we keep electing certain people, who I think will win this election, what I think about the war, and stuff like that. I find myself saying 'Americans are stupid' a lot of the time, and reiterating the fact that the United States is very large and I've only lived in a small part of it. Part of the reason I keep saying Americans are stupid is because the only television shows I watch here are The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. They're streamed online for free. To me, they showcase the obvious things that are wrong with politics. But, the average person who doesn't watch Comedy Central, seems to eat it up. I usually enjoy them, but The Daily Show especially is getting really depressing. The United States Economy is a mess. And I'm afraid it will be too late to do anything once we actually see the effects of it.

I also watched the Vice Presidential Debate online today. (I watched the first Presidential one awhile ago too.) I literally almost cried during the VP debate. To me, its obvious that Sarah Palin is trying to appeal to the average American. And what frightens me is that she's pretty damn good at. I'm terrified that enough people are going to fall for her sweet talking "straight talk" about big bad Washington that the Republicans are going to win another election. I'm sure I'm a little biased since I have supported Barrak Obama from the start, but I'll admit, he seems to be losing some steam. I think Joe Biden did much better in the debate than Obama did. I was really impressed. It's just all so frustrating. I still need to send in my ballot request. Hopefully I didn't miss the deadline.

Tandempartner

So I have found that usually when contacting people on the internet for various things, there's a little less than a 50% response rate. This is only speaking from my experiences, yours could be different. But bearing this statistic in mind, I when I found a website for Tandempartners, I sent messages (the same message, actually) to quite a few. Much to my surprise, this time I received about an 85% response rate. I had to literally make a chart to keep all of them straight. So now I've got myself 15 Tandempartners.

A Tandempartner is someone you meet with to help learn a language. They want to better their English, and I want to better my German. So we get together, and speak a little bit of each. So yep, it's more awkward meeting someone in person you've only first conversed with on the internet. Although both of the ones I've met with thus far, have called first. I'm meeting with a new one today after work and then 3 on Saturday (one of whom is a for a second time). Gosh darn it, if this doesn't make me fluent in German, nothing will.

Oktoberfest

I've started several entries about my trip to Oktoberfest, but for some reason, I'm just not in the creative writing mindset to give an accurate description. Here's a lame and pretty boring version:

On Sunday after the Blasorchester preformance I rode down to München. Now that the trip is over, I can tell you how I got there, since this is probably one of those things that Mom would rather hear about after it happened so she doesn't worry. In Germany (and many other parts of western europe) they have something called Mitfahrgelegenheit which is where people are driving somewhere, and they offer the other seats in their car. It's much cheaper than any other form of transportation. It cost me € 30 to get to München and € 28 to get back. This is something Paul told me about and I did a google search for it and found several different websites.

The ride down was legitimately just a lady who was driving down to München in her little car and offered the other three seats if people wanted to ride along. And they were all full. The driver was a 27 year old actress going to München to film something for TV. She was very nice and obviously offered her ride because she liked the company because she kept the conversation going the entire time. The guy in the passenger seat was 31 and in some sort of experimental electronic rock band. He lives in Berlin but was originally from München. He talked to me in English during the breaks and rambled on and on in the car. I sat in the back with a 24 year old who had recently had a baby. It was quite a trip.

The way back was more roomy, but also much more quiet. Glen rode along this time and everyone kept to themselves and just wanted to get back to Berlin. This guy ran this van service as a business every week day from München to Berlin. There were 9 people including the driver.

Oktoberfest itself was pretty much how I'd imagined it. The beer tents are like any Brauhaus you go to in München only they squeeze in twice as many tables, so you're literally sitting back to back and you have to climb on the benches and over people to get out to go to the bathroom. And they have a brass band playing starting at noon. The frequency of Ein Prosit increases dramatically as the night goes on. (of course, so does ones awareness of how fast time is passing, so it probably seems worse than it is). I'll give more details later if I'm so inspired.

Success!

Simone, the Australian, is a genius. Simone is a guy here from Australia who is also in the Blasorchester. He plays the Baritone here, but trumpet is his main thing. I was talking to him about my situation with the fingerings this morning before the concert. And apparently, sometimes they switch the trigger. So that everything not with the trigger is the B flat fingerings, and everything with the trigger is in F. So all I have to do is switch when I use the trigger, or always use the trigger and play with mellophone fingerings. (which is what I did cause it's the easiest) This also explains why went I took out the valve pipes to empty the spit, it was backwards from the one in the states. When you take out the tubes you have to depress the valve or it creates a vacuum or something, and usually the top tubes are the single valves and the bottom is the valve plus trigger. On this horn, it's the opposite, and that's apparently because the trigger is the opposite of what I'm used to. My playing was much more successful today then at the concert.

The concert itself was about 45 minutes long at some horticulture place. We didn't tune, and he just called out the tunes 2 at a time before we played them. So it's really laid back. We do however, have uniforms: a white polo shirt with the name and logo on it, and a maroon sweatshirt with the same logo for when it's cold. Which it is already. The playlist consisted of the following:
Puttin' on the Ritz
ABBA Gold
A Billy Joel Portrait
Miss Marples Theme
Die verrueckten 20er Jahre
Udo Juerfens Live
Amsel-Polka
Dankeschoen - Heinz Ruehmann - during which we all stood up and sang "Ein Freund, ein guter Freund" and by we, I mean they sang, and I stood there

But, I'm doing my research. It's the chorus to this song.

There was another song, but I didn't have it and had to share and therefore don't remember the name. But it was a hogdepodge of a bunch of american songs. And we're not talking a medley, it was like a reckognizable line from a Burt Bacharach song and then all of the sudden a line from deck the halls and then a sousa march. It was weird.

Why isn't the French Horn a Universal Instrument?

This is what I thought I knew about the French horn:

There can be either an E flat horn or an F horn, depending on the size of the one tube.

There are single and double horns. Double horns have a trigger for the thumb which you press when using B flat fingerings. If you don't use the trigger, you're using F fingerings.

Apparently there's more to know, or I have something wrong. When attending my first rehearsal of the Blasorchester, I got my instrument from Micha (whom I have to call to find the place, but that's besides the point) and was relieved to find it had a trigger. For you see, every horn I have ever played was a double. So the fingerings I am used to are in F until the A above middle C, at which time I utilize the trigger and play with B flat fingerings. Even the one time when I was 16 and in Germany staying with Florian, and I played his uncle's horn; the fingerings I was used to worked. But of course they didn't this time. I had prepared myself for the possibility of playing a single horn, by printing out french horn fingering charts that I found via google. I printed out two because I found two that were slightly different. Here they are:
Number one
Number two
Upon further inspection of the horn, I see that chart number two has the fingerings I need to use. I can only use the second set of fingerings, the trigger doesn't move back and forth between the sets like it would on chart number one with a horn I played in the states. At least now I know the fingerings, but it still frustrates and confuses the daylights out of me.

Aside from the weird horn thing, practice was good. I jumped right into the performance time of the year (the first one is tomorrow) so during rehearsal we pretty much just ran through things ones, occasionally stopping to fix something. Those are my favorite type of rehearsals. And it was someone's birthday, so as is the German custom, she had brought beer and sweets for everyone. There's one other woman who plays horn (Karen). I was too busy consentrating on figuring out the new fingerings to really pay attention to how well she plays. She's certianly not bad (though during the warmup the band as a whole as the intonation akin to a middle school band). During the first half of practice she played first, and I played second, then after Pause, she asked me to play first. So I'm not quite sure what part I've playing tomorrow. I guess I'll find out when I get there (if I can figure that out too).

After the concert tomorrow (it's at 10:00am) I'm going to Munich to see Uncle Glenn. It's Oktoberfest. You can't have an extended stay in Germany and not go to Oktoberfest. In honor of Oktoberfest, I had my first German Bratwurst the other day from one of the venders by the S-bahn station. It was everything you'd imagine it to be. I took Monday and Tuesday off of work and Glenn is coming back to Berlin with me on Tuesday.

Oh, and I'm sorry to hear about the US economy.

Hallo, Hier ist Maggie Berndt

Finally, I have something to do at work....after lunch. I was given more to read until then. I thought Germans were supposed to be efficient. Berlin is also known for being really laid back. So I guess this is them demonstrating that facet of their lifestyle.

I need to brush up on my German phone etiquette. We were having a meeting in my office (how cool does that sound?) when my phone rang. And, of course these are the days of caller ID, so the name and extention number of the caller appeared on the screen.

"I don't know this person," I'm pretty sure I actually said out loud to myself in English.
"Es ist Dessau. Es ist OK" Anja assured me, gesturing for me to pick it up.
And so I did.

I learned German phone etiquette, several times actually including last summer when we went over it quite a bit. But did I execute what I've learned? Of course not. In Germany, it's common procedure to answer the phone with your name, some people do just last and some do first and last. My host mom last summer always answered it: Klinkhammer (said in the same tone you or I would say hello [you know, kind of like a question]) and that was her last name. When I called Anja on Friday, she answered thusly: Hallo, Hier ist Anja whatever her last name is. I like that one. It sort combines the best of both worlds. Plus if I say just my last name people could get confused since Bernd(t) (with or without the 't') is a man's first name here.

So that's what I should have said. But, of course, I just said "Hallo." And then she of course said who she was (some lady from Dessau) and asked who I was. I just gave my first name (like she would have any idea who Maggie is) and she told me for whom she was calling (Frau something German sounding). I sounded confused, squinted at my phone list and didn't find anything that seemed to match. I think she could tell I was either new or American (probably both) so she graciously said something along the lines of "That's OK, thanks" and hung up to probably dial a different random extention where that person will actually just look up Frau something German sounding's extention in our system and help lady from Dessau out.

Now keep in mind, this was during a meeting in my office. So when I hung up, looking rather flustered, Anja was just sitting there laughing at me. She too, told me it was OK. So I guess it's OK. That's one way to learn.

Essen

Once I get a way to get the pictures off of my camera and onto the computer, I'll post some pictures of my apartment. Before I left, I was very adamant about Mom bringing my memory stick drive with her to Lehigh when I had thought I'd forgotten it, but as it turned out, I did have it. However, I forgot to transfer it from my band camp bag to my Germany bags and, ironically, sent it home with her. One of these days, I'll go buy myself another one. I also need to buy myself a jacket. Already, in September it's in the 50's and the 40's at night.

We have a small kitchen in the apartment with a gas stove and oven, and a very small refrigerator. And when I say gas stove, I don't mean like the one I had at Polk street, although that was a gas stove. This is one that you have to actually light with a match or a lighter. The first week I ate basically sandwiches, granola, and yogurt since those were the only thing I bought the first time I went to the grocery store. Grocery shopping is interesting in Germany. There are different types of stores. There are the one like Aldi that have most of what you need. But then they usually don't have good vegtables. For fresh vegtables, you go to a market and for bread, you go to a bakery. So after you've been to those three places, you've got what you need. I went grocery shopping the beginning of last week. I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to get. I guess three months of not cooking for myself got me out of the habbit of menu planning and I wasn't quite sure with the German stores would have to offer (I still haven't really figured out all the possibilites) I bought chicken breast and deli turkey, cheese (Gouda and Swiss), eggs, and vegetables that I would eat in the States. So it's essentially the exact same stuff I eat. The only things I miss are frozen vegetables (that way you don't have to eat them right away) and cheddar cheese. I did make some awesome stuffed mushrooms the other day. This was during the week Paul was really busy and I never saw him and it was also my first time using the oven. It took me forever to figure out where to light the thing. And then it took even longer (and a whole lot of matches) to succeed at lighting it. And I have no idea what the temperatures are on it because it's just numbered 1 through 8.

I only cook dinner. I eat lunch with my work folks in the Kantine on the first floor of the UBA. I get a discount for being an intern and it's pretty cheap to begin with. I've eaten all sorts of different stuff there.

Blasorchester

I made the greatest discovery thus far today. This is another thing I found via the internet; through various links stemming from a question on the Toytown forum about Choirs to join in Berlin. I found my way to this website. It's the Young Ensemble of Berlin. It's an organization for people ages 18-35 that like music as a hobby. They have a chamber orchestra, a choir, and a wind ensemble. If you look at the information about the Blasorchester (brass orchestra), you'll find this:
ACHTUNG !!!! Wir suchen momentan insbesondere Percussionisten, Waldhörner und Tenorhornisten.
Translation: Attention !!!! We are momentarily especially looking for Percusionists, Horn, and baritone players.
Followed by a link to further information about when they meet and how to join. So, I clicked on that link to find out that they meet on Wednesdays from 7-9, and you don't need to audition. It said if you're interested to just come to a practice, or email this guy for further questions. So I emailed the address given and told them who I was, what I play and asked if they knew where I could rent a horn, preferably for cheap. I got a response that they're happy to have me and they have a horn for me! So next Wednesday I'm going to go check it out. They play show tunes and pop songs and classic rock song as well as some classical. The best part is, they're all (well, mostly) German. Meaning I'll actually be socializing with Germans instead of all of the English speakers I've been hanging out with.

Die Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der Letzten Tage

I got stopped on the way home today by a couple of Elders (ironically, these are young people, that's just their title when there doing this thing again) for the Church of Latter Day Saints. I actually had quite a conversation with them. It went something like this:

Elder Lang: Entschuldigung, haben Sie ueber das Buch von die Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der Letzten Tage. (Excuse me, have you heard about the book of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints)
Me: Wie, bitte? (what?)
Elder Lang: repeats the first sentence
Me: Oh, Ja. (Oh, Yes)
Elder Lang: Wirklich? Was haben Sie gehoert? (Really? What have you heard?)
Me: Viele. Ich komme aus der USA - (A lot. I'm from the US-)
Elder Lang: Oh really? Where? I'm from L.A.

and the conversation preceeded in English. We got into quite a religious debate. They want me to come to this thing they're having on Thursday. Ironically, I'm more skeptical of going to their thing than I was to go to the meetings with people I met on the internet. They're very nice and smoothe talkers, which is think is what makes me so skeptical.

Toytown Germany

So my second week of work is shaping up to be much more interesting than the first. Right now I'm working with a lady named Lydia. I basically just watch/help her since I don't know where anything is and I've never operated any of the machines before. It's all pretty straight forward thus far. I'm understanding everything too. I'm even moving passed the just getting instructions into the making actual conversation zone. Lydia plays the bass guitar in a rock band. She said they're looking for a singer if I'm interested. However, I'll have you know she's probably in the age range of 40. But she's very nice.

Paul was really busy this past week and I didn't see him at all Tuesday through Saturday. So since at this point he was really my only social outlet, I decided to find another source. And of course, in this day and age, that source is at my fingertips: the internet. Many of you probably thing meeting people on the internet is dangerous and slightly lame. While I agree, it might be slightly lame, I went about it safely. The first thing I found was a site called toytowngermany.com. It's a forum for english speakers in Germany. I found it by googling english speakers and Berlin. There's a section specific to every area of Germany and it's the largest forum of this sort. People post questions they have about living in Germany as well events in which people are welcome to participate.

The first event I attended was Thursday night drinks. The advice for newcomers was to go to the bar at which they were meeting that week and look for the group of people speaking English. It worked nicely; they were very easy to find. It was nice, a lot of small talk, but still it's something to do on a Thursday.

The second event I attended was playing American football in Treptow park. Unfortunately, only 4 people showed up so it was more like playing catch and occasionally keepaway in the park. But those people were the easiest to get along with. And then we watched american football streamed on the internet at one of their apartments. Two of the guys are cousins from Detroit and the other is from Philly. It's going to be heated next week when the Packers play the Lions.

Commute Home From Work

I observed the most entertaining site on the S-Bahn home from work today. There were three seats together, and on one end sat a young teenage girl dressed entirely in black with died hair and gothic accessories. On the other end was a old man with unkempt hair and unintended facial stubble. He had sad eyes and was wearing raggety jeans and T-shirt both covered completely in paint. These individuals shared one thing in common; they were both eating a bratwurst, presumably purchased at the S-bahn station before boarding the train. The best part was the lady who sat in between these two creatures. She was middle-aged, well dressed and had the most disgusted look on her face the entire S-bahn ride. She was sitting as erect as humanly possible, trying to avoid any physical contact with either party. She clutched her bags tightly on her lap and occasionally glanced, in digust, to each rider next to her. Both the teenage girl and the old man, who so elagantly whiped his mustard drippings on his pants, remained completely oblivious to this woman the entirety of the journey. The was the first time I had wished I brought my camera.

Mittwoch 3.September

What I've learned about myself so far: I have a short attention span.

I guess I never realized it before, but it was very apparent during the fantacy football draft (which lasted three hours) and it's apparent now while I'm at work. My first day at work (Monday) was nice. It was slighty boring at times, but it was nice. I met with the head of the Labor für Wasser Analytik (Lab for water analysis) who was the same guy who interviewed me, but not my direct supervisor. He's my supervisor's supervisor. He's around my parents' age I would say and wears fitted, faded jeans, T-shirts, and closed-toed sandals. He's very hip looking. We spoke for a bit, and then he gave me a tour of the place, including (he comes the fun part) my office! I have an office all to myself with a computer (where I am typing this now actually) and my own phone (extention 5719). I'm not good with spacial relations, but I think it's bigger than my room or at least the same size. Both of which are bigger than any room I've lived in thus far in life. But it's nothing gigantic, I've just had some pretty small rooms.

After the grand tour, I went with my direct supervisor (George Sawal), who sort of looks like Uncle Mike, to a Vortrag über Arbeitssicherheit und Umfallschutz. (Seminar on work safety and accident prevention). It was me and a bunch of new Auszubildene (trainees) all of whom were in college. I'm a Praktikantin (intern) which is different. I'm sure you've all experienced the work saftey lectures when starting new jobs in the states. They are, in general, pretty boring. Let me tell you, when it's in another language, it makes it 10 times easier to not pay any attention.

After that there was an Einführung in die Aufgaben des UBA (introduction to the duties and responsibilities of the UBA). This was as thrilling as the first lecture. Then I had to sign some papers and get a few more office related things, after which I went to a neighboring lab to have a tour of that. It had nothing to do with my job, but I couldn't get started until Herr Sawal gave me the saftey speach about the specific labs I'd be working in, which he couldn't do until the next day. So I went with the college kids to the lab with the animals. It was the biological department with the animals the do research on. So we got to see all of the different types of flies, rats, and roaches. By this point, everyone knew I was american because we had all introduced ourselves, so everytime we got to the American coachroaches or lice or whatever it was, people would look at me.

And that was my first day of work. All in all, it was pretty painless. Yesterday, during my second day of work, I got introduced to the research I'll be doing. Herr Sawal explained the background to me, and then Anja, the girl I will physically be working with, handed me a gigantic stack of stuff to read. Everything is in English except for one (the one I'm working through now). All of this reading has taught me that I have a shorter attention span than I thought. On an exciting note, I got a lab coat and gloves and goggles yesterday on my lab saftey tour. I've never had a lab coat before. This is the real deal! I should get back to reading.

Sonntag 31.August

Fun Fact: You can't go grocery shopping on Sunday in Germany.

I'm stuck without food now until tomorrow or Tuesday depending on when I get home from work and when the draft is over. The stores all close at 8pm on weekdays and aren't open Sundays. It's like the olden days!

I spent the day with Bryan Auslander yesterday. We saw most of the classic monuments that are must see if you only have one day in Berlin. We spent an extended period of time at the Wall memorial, the Reichstag (we went up into the dom), and the Holocaust memorial (we went in the underground meuseum. Then we went to Pottsdomerplatz to see how much tickets for the Blue Man Group are, and there was a sweet deal for students. Probably because it was an hour before the show. But we got third row seats for 19,90 euro. The Blue Man Group is absolutely ridiculous. They don't talk, but they do have a stuff playing over the loadspeaker at some points. Of course it was in German. I understood almost all of it exactly, and I got the jist of the things I didn't get. The Blue Man Group is a show based on rythum. There's a lot of drumming...and paint. Sitting in the 3rd row, we were given raincoats to wear (because of the paint). Sadly, I didn't get any paint on me. It's got to be interesting to be one of the Blue Men. There's a lot of eating that goes on in the show. And the ending, was ridiculous. Not in a "wow, that's amazing!" sort of way, but in a, "this is really silly" way. It was funny and very entertaining. Good news: I am writing this online in my apartment. However, I'm sitting in the hall because the ethernet cable is really short. So, in theory, the internet is working. I might have to be plugged in all the time though. Either way, it'll work for the draft tomorrow.

Deinstag 26.August

It’s taking forever to get my internet working in my room. Bryan Auslander is coming to visit on Friday till Sunday before his computer science gathering, or whatever it is he’s coming here for. So hopefully he’ll be able to fix it and you will actually be reading this instead of me just keeping it as a word document. The last few days have been uneventful. I have been sleeping a whole lot. I have a bit of a cold/cough still happening or happening again, I’m not sure which. Everyone at InWEnt gGmbH (the german partner company to CDS international [who found me the job]) is on vacation it seems. I have a lot of things they’re supposed to send me to get ready for the job, but I haven’t been able to contact them, a task especially difficult with no internet. I have semi-organized my room. I bought a little rug so the floor’s not entirely bare. I also bought curtains, but they were, of course too small, so I’m going to try to put them up somehow. The windows in my room are gigantic. Paul has been very anti-social and not really up for anything the past couple of days because he just broke up with his girlfriend. But he’s feeling better today, and I’m going to go with him to some seminar about some art type thing tonight. And he’s cooking dinner, so it’s a pretty sweet deal. Tomorrow I’m going on my dry run to try and find the Umweltbundesamt. I also want to scout it out to see if I tell what people are wearing so I know what to wear on Monday.

Day 1: Travel day(s)

So I made it to Berlin with only a few setbacks. I missed my train from Dusseldorf which was dumb on my part. It came to another track besides the one listed on my ticket. I never thought to double check and was oblivious to the fact that it was leaving directly behind me. The plane ride there was amazing. I had an entire row of 4 seats to myself, so I laid down and slept the entire time (when I wasn’t eating). It was pretty marvelous. Paul met me at the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) in Berlin and carried half of my bags and showed the way via the S and U-bahn to the apartment. My room is as plain as can be. I’m going to go shopping tomorrow to spruce it up a bit. We had tea, ate grapes, and then went out to pizza and to a bar. He’s very nice, not at all creepy and extremely helpful. I’m awfully tired, since it is 1 am here, so I’m off to bed.