Sitting down to write things down again

I am ashamed that my last post was on my birthday because so much has happened since then that I probably have forgotten, but I’ll highlight a few things here.

Recap May: Jen O left Germany and Sebastian got to visit me for two weeks. He understands german and says he doesn’t like Berlin. I like living here in my ignorance then, because I still think the city is great. We did some typical tourist things including a trip to a Medieval Fair and walked around the aquarium and the zoo.

Little tip for those of you who want to visit the Zoo near Zoologischer Station. Don’t use the entrance that is across from the train station. Walk around the corner and there is another entrance near the aquarium (that is attached!) and you can essentially walk right in. At the end of May I packed things up and went back to the states for almost two months.

Recap June: I arrived back in NY and got to see my family for a few days before I drove up to Woods Hole, MA (without a license cuz I seemed to have lost it somewhere on my day of travel back from Germany). But never mind that really, I have a new one now. Woods Hole is a cute little town that you can spend an afternoon in and see everything. I was there for three weeks and exhausted my tourist abilities quickly, but fortunately for me, I was able to work. By work I mean, spend about 12 hours a day cutting up A LOT OF fish…

the best fish ever too… Batoids ☺ I pretty much slept if I wasn’t working and ate poorly in order to eat cheaply. My waist suffered and I didn’t fit in the pants that I wore when I got back to the US.

Recap July: My mother flew up to Boston at the end of my stay at Woods Hole. We did a highly amusing DuckTour of Boston and drove back to the Cape where we also took a ferry ride to Martha’s Vineyard. We then bought a $6 bus ticket and road around the island making up our own tour. Some of the views were spectacular. My mother is as crazy as ever…

Afterwards, we drove back to NY and got ready for the annual 4th of July party to be held at our house this year. The whole family packed into the backyard and some of my friends actually got to come for a little while – I was very glad cuz I could talk about work and they new what I was saying ☺ A couple days later, I flew to Texas and crammed in as many essentials during too short of a visit including excellent company and food. Also, I worked on cleaning those fish I cut up in Woods Hole.

Recap: July/August: At the end of July I went back to NY for Jen O’s wedding then flew to Berlin for 3 days before driving to Warsaw, Poland. I stayed in Poland for 4 days for a conference and a little fun then I flew to London and was there for 2 weeks. I got back to Berlin a few days ago, met up with my friend Steph (funny story to be posted separately) and then my brother and his girlfriend arrived Friday afternoon. It’s Sunday now – WOW! A lot has happened and fast since April 17th. I will expand on certain parts in their own section next.

Ich habe Geburtstag

It's my birthday and when asked what I wanted as a gift, the only thing I could think of was, 'A birthday cake with candles to blow out!' and Steffi with the help of Juergen came through with flying colors.

Hooray!

Day is not over and we will have a party tonight. Should be fun.

AND -- I just got a package in the mail from Kelly containing 12 boxes of marshmallow peeps!

Sorry, I Was Disconnected…

Since late February I have been host to several visitors here in Berlin. Featured most in this blog are the Jens. I have a short break of about 7 hours now between Jen D's departure and another friend’s arrival this evening… As a result of these visits, I’ve seen a lot more of the city and I am a pro at the “Potsdamerplatz nach Alexanderplatz tour” – finding new things on the way each time -- Including, the SUPERMARKT!














I also ventured OUT of Berlin too. I will tell you all about the sites I saw in good time. BUT first things first, I am not after all going to die of toxic fumes. The toilets have been addressed and despite the men’s room being in constant need of attention, we now know how to keep the smell under control. It sucks that the responsibility will ultimately fall into the hands of me and my office mates, but venturing into the men’s room once a week to pour water down a drain, flush the toilets, and open the windows is a sacrifice I will make and gripe about to make sure I don’t gag while I’d rather be working ☺

OK, so how about some of the trips I alluded to?

The last week of March, Jen O. and I went to London to work at the Natural History Museum. We ended up overlapping only slightly while at the museum, but the first day we arrived, we made like tourists taking pictures of anything we could.

I only scratched the surface of the fish collection at the museum. You should SEE the tank room there. It is outrageous. Biggest coffins I've ever seen -- they require pulleys and heavy duty chains to lift the lids and reveal what lies beneath ☺ A few museum patrons were in the tank room when the curator took me downstairs so we had fun with them showing off dead fish of all levels of freakiness.

My last night there was great. Julia and I stayed out late after a Wild Life Photography exhibit only to drink more wine at a nearby pub. She got me to Victoria Station safely and I paid for the bus (10 pounds) as I walked on and I got a receipt right there. The station was a little difficult to find because it is not right there when you get off the tube, but there were signs that take you to it. Also, there were notices that say not to stand outside alone because it is dangerous. If you can wait with somebody, I recommend it... In general though, you should try and avoid being drunk at the airport. I arrived around 2am on the bus and found a rest room (they are on either side of the airport) then tried to find a place to sleep as did dozens of other travlers. I got a little hungry, wandered, ate a sandwich, bought two books, found a better place to sleep and woke up at about 4:30/5:00am when people were starting to check in. I did so then went to find another place to sleep until boarding. At this point I sobered up and felt really sick -- great! I did everything I could not to completely lose it in the queue. I walked outside with my INCREDIBLY heavy bad and struggled and nobody offered to help me -- I must have looked really sick because I was so tired and very pale -- like I had plague or something. I had a one bag restriction so everything was inside my suitcase, but as soon as I got on the plane, I took half the shit out into my backpack and kept it that way after. I fell asleep almost immediately again and was the last person off the plane, and through customs. I got home fine after that to a cold apartment around 11am and felt good by about 5pm... I ate nearly an entire frozen pizza by myself and talked to my mom. It was a great week ☺

Two Days Later, Jen D. arrived. She conveniently has a very German last name, which impressed the locals. That didn’t get them to speak much English to here though, so there were some stressful moments on our Tour-de-Deutschland. We rented a car in Berlin and drove to Potsdam then onwards over the next three days to Rosdorf/Goettingen, Kassel, Bremen, Cuxhaven, Hamburg, Kiel, Lübeck, and back to Berlin. It costs us 98 Euros for the car and roughly 150 Euros for gas. Sheesh. Of those places I will intentionally visit Goettingen, Lübeck, and Bremem again. OK, a little more about each maybe?




Potsdam is a town just outside the city limits of Berlin and it is known for its incredible castles -- we were there late however and did not want to pay full price to see a castle for one hour. Instead we wandered the city, ate sausage, and found strange statues like the floating rhino...





Goettingen was a great town – the epitome of German Education in its day. Ryan works/studies there now as part of a German exchange fellowship. We started Deutsch 607 together at the same time, but he speaks it WAY better than I do, and he gets to learn Italian too because of his cohort ‘Romans’ in the same program. Wicked.



Next we took a drive to Kassel – there was nothing there. Except rain, a little sleet, and a sweet old lady who recognized our license plate as Bavarian and said she came from the area we did… I was reluctant to tell her we were not from there but she seemed pleased that I had understood her and that we were traveling in her country. That was the only good thing about Kassel this trip, I am afraid.

On to Bremen. We arrived really late and I was a fricken space cadet. The girl at the desk of the Hostel spoke the fastest English with a British accent I suddenly affected a very sloooooooow British accent to counter her trying to get her to calm down because my brain could not handle it. She suggested a place to eat once we were settled in and we walked towards the Italian place she likes. We decided on a little pub nearby instead and had a delicious dinner of Jaeggerschnitzel, Fish, and Pasta. We were ready to go to bed, except that we were in a 6 bed mixed suite, and the other people staying in the room were two Mexican men who were traveling during the break from studying in Spain. They wanted to chat for a while so we obliged and finally I said, “I am going to bed.”
A couple hours later I was woken by the most disgusting example of sleep apnea and hardly slept at all for the gasping, gagging, and snoring. I got up really early, got ready to go, and was paranoid about getting the car towed so I moved it, and of course I did not put enough money in the meter so when we returned from a rather COLD morning out on the town, I had a parking ticket – grumble! I did like the town square a lot though and I need to learn the story behind this statue with the donkey, dog, cat, and chicken. P.S. I don't know why they are sideways.



Cuxhaven, a.k.a. expensive version of a north shore port town. What? You didn’t think it was possible to be more expensive than Northport, Port Jeff, or Greenport? Well it is, and what is worse, there are less people and thus less to do… Moral of the story, don’t go back.

During the drive to Hamburg, we went north along the coast and took a ferry from Wischhafen to Glüchstadt and that was a lovely break. I wrote a couple postcards and drank a Mezzo Mix. Life was good. The drive from Glüchstadt was pretty good until we got to Hamburg…

HAMBURG! The worst city to drive in since Boston! And on an empty stomach after traveling for two days. That does not make a happy Jen – I was in the car solely to prevent her from going insane. The awesome GPS system in the car was dubious in getting us to our hostel. I finally made her pull over and we called to find out where they were. It turns out we were a few hundred meters from it, so not so bad. WRONG! I took over driving for a while and after about 30 minutes, we found our hostel and went inside to get our beds. EXCEPT, they couldn’t find the reservation, had no idea what we owed, or which room we were supposed to be put in, if we were getting breakfast… Thus, six bed mixed dorm without breakfast turned into a 3bed private sweet for the two of us with breakfast. Only after two tries – the first room we got had some girl’s clothes EVERYWHERE. Grumble grumble. We had McDonalds that evening for breakfast. It was real chicken in the McChicken Sandwich. I was impressed! We left straight away the next morning without bothering to view the city. It took me 45 minutes in bumper-to-bumper rush-hour traffic, driving a standard (as I pat myself on the back) to get out of the city. Kiel was bound to be better.


Kiel was not much better – it was another let down. We literally drove in and drove right back towards Lübeck on some back roads. It was a pleasant drive and Lübeck turned out to be a splendid city if not for the cold rain in the afternoon. We had a good curry for lunch and later Jen picked up a piece of art and I got ot practice some German when I tried to find the Toilet in a shopping center.

The best part maybe was the drive back from Lübeck to Berlin though. It was mostly green farmland with small, identical looking villages scattered along the way. We even saw a rainbow. We made it back to Berlin in great time and I drove the car back to the parking garage and backed into a space all by myself ☺ I am a pro I tell ya – except that I stalled out twice cuz I was in third not first after waiting at a traffic light! Thanks to Jen D for pointing that out.

I could honestly die

OK, I really wanted my next post to be fun and happy, but I am REALLY angry right now so I need to write it out. I sit in an office directly next to the men's and women's toilets. Do you see where this is leading? Every couple of days or so the bathrooms would stink. I mean, really smelly, like a port-o-potty at a carnival. But they would get cleaned and the next couple days it would be ok. My office mate has told the building manager this now on several occasions and we have been promissed that something would happen to rememdy the situation. Last Friday, the pipes were supposed to be sealed off and the bathroom shut down. This did not happen. I have not been to the office since then until today (Thursday). I almost vomitted while attempting to get my keys into my office door. It is so bad that I smell it through my office door. I dread stepping out again because the smell will intensify. I need to keep my office window opened despite forcasts of sleet today just to promote airflow. I wish I could scream and yell and make my point in German. I'm effing pissed and need to do work in the office but I cannot work like this. I want my office moved or toilets sealed off yesterday!

Scorpions, "Wind of Change"

It is nearly two decades later, but it is still touching.

Potsdamer Platz

Last weekend I acted the part of a real tourist and took a walk through Tiergarten on my way to Potsdamer Platz.
I would like to buy a bicycle, so I can ride my bicycle, (bicycle, Biicycle). It would make travel a little faster but for now I walk and pretend like it keeps me healthy.

It was a colder day than it had been in a long time but still above freezing at about 2 degrees Celsius. I am getting used to measuring the temperature in Celcius and actually getting good at the conversion thanks to my handy-dandy-Mac-unit-converter. So at a balmy 35.6F, Steffi and I made a day of it.

The park is right near my apartment and a pleasant place to stroll. We saw first the Schloss Bellevue where the German President lives (the president is more of a figure head there – the chancellor, Angela Merkel, who is more like the prime minister is the one, and she is responsible for governmental policies).

It was a much shorter walk than we thought it would be and we arrived by the Berliner Philharmonie after only 25 minutes. A strange façade of bright yellow, the buildings are home to some of the worlds greatest orchestral ensembles and soloists. I did not see a show. I am waiting for visitors to do that with.

Walking onwards, we arrived at the giant shopping mall. OK, it’s a little more than that, however, it had a lot of English speaking tourists and really felt like Time Square for a moment. Except for the giant Lego Giraffe that made me think more of Downtown Disney. In the giant shopping mall, which was in fact out destination, we headed for the gelato place. A small sit down café that served coffee, crepes, and gelato. I don’t need much more to be happy, but they provided it, in the form of the most delicious pistachio ice cream I have ever eaten in my entire life. Topped with strawberries and served on a warm crepe, it was as close to heaven that I’ll ever be ☺


I point out here again the striking contrasts that persist in Berlin. Once leaving gelato joy, we walked outside and visited the Holocaust-Mahnmal (Holocaust Memorial) which is a field of stone blocks on uneven ground that mimics waves disturbed and in motion.

Next we followed the Berliner Mauer marking, i.e. the former path of the Berlin Wall. There are four panels remaining in the Potsdamer Platz, near where the wall first came down. A young man, dressed in checkpoint-uniform, would stamp your passport with the old stamps as though crossing to and from the west and the east from or to the British or American sector. All in all something like 10 stamps were branded in the passport of a couple bright-eyed Japanese tourists as I listened to their make-believe journey through a divided Berlin. It was pretty unreal and hard to imagine – it was of course life at one time.



The Berliner Mauer stood directly in front of Brandenburger Tor the former city gate into Berlin. This picture is of the restored gate viewed from the East. You can’t see her too well, but Else is peaking up in the background over my head from where she stands in Tiergarten. During the Cold War, this view would be impossible, and the gate would be backed by the Mauer. It was at this spot that the wall first came down.




We then headed back towards my place stopping off at some additional government houses. There we saw the Kanzleramt, the building where Chanellor Merkel (is supposed) to live – kinda like the White House, and like Bush she spends more time elsewhere. She’s a bit different though and actually remains in Berlin where she governs instead of on a ranch in Texas. I offer peace and ask you to forgive the American stigmatism of selfish greedy pigs that precedes me. We are not all like the citizens you hear about most.

That ended the day and we shuffled on back home. It was a good day. Only 999,999 other things to do before I head back to the States.

Check the post above for a link to one of my favorite songs and one that I hear often in Berlin. Scorpions, "Wind of Change" -- it's starts and finishes at the Potsdamer Platz. It is nearly two decades later, but it is still touching.

Over Three Weeks In

Here’s the long and short of my life. I moved to Germany this January and I am in Berlin for pretty much the whole year. I have a nice office at the Museum für Naturkunde, access to a ton of fishes that were prepared before there were animal rights, and a super cheap, super nice apartment to live in when I am not in the office. Bummer is that I don’t get to share it with everybody the way I would like to, but I make due and took some pictures. They are already up on facebook and myspace.
This afternoon I will go to a neighborhood called Kreuzburg where I will vote early in the democratic primary (I still do not know for whom) and then will be like a tourist and hang around that neighborhood with my new friends Steffi and Florian. Steffi is my age, almost done with her PhD and was dying for somebody to arrive her age almost finished with her PhD… we were fast friends which is really nice and makes the whole, “Hey, you’ve just moved across the 2nd biggest pond on the planet, to a country where they don’t always speak your native language and none of your friends or family are ever likely to step foot on.,” a lot easier. Florian helps me a lot with my German and in return I help him with his English when he asks -- great to sit next to him. It’s been over three weeks already and I understand a lot more german than I did when I got here, I have more confidence when I try to speak german, but it still doesn’t make it any easier with the communication is not affective… Allow me to tell you a short story about my near breakdown yesterday…

Picture it, 6:25pm on a Friday night… about the time that MOST stores in my neighborhood shut down for the evening. I was sick all day and really tired. I decided to go to the bank and make a deposit so I could pay my bills here… Problem was, I had no English option on the ATM machine and could not remember the word for DEPOSIT. So, I decided I would go to the teller man and ask him, “Sprechen Sie Englisch?” He said a resounding, “NEIN!” and I did my best German to ask “Wie sagt man Deposit?” How does one say, Deposit? And I even did a little sign language to indicate money goes in… That did not work. So I said, “Wo sind die Tickets?” And made sign language for deposit slip… he pointed me to a table. I went to the table and thought, maybe I could look at the deposit slip, and figure out the word for DEPOSIT… NEIN! But then a young guy from the bank came over and said, “Kann ich Ihnen helfen?” JA! DANKE!!! And I started talking to him in English… “I just need the word for deposit, I can do it on the machine in there, I’m sorry I am not speaking german, I’m so tired.” Well, the word is einzahlen. Good to know. I made my deposit, walked outside, and almost started crying right there on the sidewalk. GRUMBLE…

So I walked to a grocery store, bought Sauerkraut und Gourmet Kateschinkenwürfel (no they don’t sell cat waffles here – it’s one of the many variations on pork that exist in Germany)… I went home and made dinner with the two and tried to relax. I still felt ill (krank) but I felt better. Most things have been really straightforward though. Setting up the bank account was no problem, finding a great apartment was no problem, cell phone – well that was a problem and still is… just not gonna happen. The landline will get hooked up on 20. Feb and you can call me at that number then…

OK, back to Berlin. I really REALLY like the city. I know that I only spent two hours in SF so I cannot compare it really, but Berlin is awesome. It is my Philadelphia+ and I like it better than New York because the buildings are not as tall so there is more sunshine. IT’s really bizarre. I work in the former East Berlin and I live in the former West Berlin. It is a 25 minute walk each day and it is a pretty clear mark between the two halves still. Mostly because the building that I work in still has bullet holes all over it. It is dirty and dark and fascinating.

They started reconstructing the ruined wing that goes between the museum collections and the building I work in. That is, they starting that two weeks ago, yes that is 60 years after it was blown up in the first place.

The neighborhood I live in on the other hand is fairly posh… I live across the street from a discrete plastic surgeon and a discrete dentist, a shoemaker is down a little further as is an interior design firm, also, some type of biomedical research lab is right next door. I see them each morning with pipettes and other scary equipment through the window. The trainstation is really close and i am walking distance to the equivalent of Central Park called Tiergarten. I enjoy the contrast. Makes me really appreciate what I have.