Keine Ahnung

Just a pointless post to say that I will be updating next week about my trip this past weekend to Dresden, Goerlitz, and Leipzig and about my upcoming camping trip at Liepnitzsee in Brandenburg. But I really meant keine Ahnung re: the keffiyeh, which so many of my students wear. Had no clue that it was related to Palestinian jihad?* I was beginning to think it looked kinda cool and even ueberlegged buying one that I found for 5 Euro. By the way, I can't believe Benicio del Toro dedicated his best actor award at Cannes to Che Guevara???

*Yes, that is a link to Perez Hilton. One of the innumerable guilty pleasures I have picked up while living in Berlin. You don't even want to know what else is on that list!

P.S. LESS THAN ONE MONTH until my job ends! Total time worked in the past three weeks: four hours. Which reminds me, still gotta write that post about my dislike of the Berlin school system.

Bin ich verrückt?

Does this plan seem crazy to you? I feel like I am going to be constantly unterwegs, but I don't want to stay in some of these places for longer. I can't imagine many of my readers have been to the following cities, but if for some reason you have or at least know something I should know, please leave a comment.

BALKANS TRIP JUNE 26-JULY 14

June 26—Berlin-->Zagreb

June 27—Zagreb-->Ljubljana

June 28—Ljubljana/Karst/Skocjan caves

June 29—Ljubljana-->Bled

June 30—Bled/Julian Alps

July 1—Bled-->Ljubljana-->Zagreb-->Split

July 2—Split

July 3—Split-->Dubrovnik

July 4-6—Dubrovnik/daytrip to Bay of Kotor (Montenegro)

July 7—Dubrovnik-->Mostar (Bosnia)-->Sarajevo

July 8—Sarajevo

July 9—Sarajevo-->Belgrade

July 10—Belgrade-->Thessaloniki overnight

July 11—Thessaloniki-->Athens

July 11-14 Athens

Also, forgot to mention that I will NEVER take a picture of a U.S. Embassy ever again. I almost got arrested in Tallinn--a policeman ran after me, made me delete the photo, and took my passport and disappeared without telling me what he was doing. I remembered this because I walked past the new U.S. Embassy here in Berlin today and had a huge urge to take a photo. I don't get it--do they monitor everything people do in surrounding buildings? What if you live/work across the street? Actually, I bet they do.

Eine Reise durchs Baltikum

(VORSICHT! This post is super long. Also, no pics because there are just too many worth posting, so check all of them out at my Picasa page.)

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Ok, that sentence isn’t really the most accurate introduction to my trip to the Baltics. Put much more emphasis on the best, and much less on the worst. It’s really hard for me to sum up my trip to Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia, and thus this entry is probably going to take me a long time to write and a long time for you to read. The range of experiences I had was quite wide—there were plenty of cultural experiences, a lot of lonely moments, a couple of fun nights, and more than enough personal challenges. Each city had similarities with the others but at the same time was totally unique. I think what more than anything defined each city for me were the people I met.

I started out my journey in Tallinn, arriving at the airport on the night of Thursday, May 8. My hostel was right in the Old Town, and the first night I shared a 9- or 10-bed dorm with a guy from Ireland. He and I chatted a bit, but there wasn’t too much of a connection. My first day, I hit the town running. I decided to buy a 72-hour Tallinn Card, which gave me free access to basically everything that the city has to offer. Which means I really kept myself busy! I went on a 3-hour tour of the city by bus and on foot. By bus we were able to visit the Song Festival Grounds, which they consider a big part of their victory over Soviet control, and then we hit the numerous churches, main square, and Upper and Lower Towns on foot. Man, are there are a lot of American and British cruise ship tourists there! I swear that almost all the tourists were 50+ couples. And then there was me. Haha, but I thrived in the Tallinn museum scene, although it often appeared that I was the only person in any one of the museums I went to. On that first day I visited the somewhat blah Estonian History Museum and the very informative Occupation Museum, which detailed how evil the Nazis and Soviets were. Was a nice affirmation of all my thoughts on the subject already. As the night approached and I didn’t have anyone to hang out with, a little bit of loneliness set in. I spent a lot of time in the lounge area of my hostel, but there was basically no one around, and if so, they weren’t the friendly types. I was mentally preparing myself for a very lonely week and even started to regret my decision to travel alone. I do well being alone, but I realized that a whole day without so much as saying a few words to someone else was enough to drive me momentarily insane. Fortunately, things ended up getting better, as you’ll read below.

On Saturday I finished with the Old Town after visiting the Maritime Museum, St. Olev’s church, and the great Tallinn City Museum. I then decided to tackle Kadriorg Park and KUMU, the huge Estonian art museum within it. The weather was quite pleasant and thus I took a book and sat for a couple hours. I had prayed the night before for some encouragement for God, and boy did He give it to me. This park is huge, and I just so happened to sit down on one particular bench. Out of hundreds. As I was sitting there, I could hear an American girl talking, so I was eavesdropping a bit. Then she and her friend started singing I Could Sing of Your Love Forever and I just about peed my pants. A worship song! I kept telling myself to get up and talk to them but then time passed and I held back. I don’t know why I did—usually I am quite keen on going up to people if I think I have a good reason to. Eventually two other girls came and the other two went off for food somewhere. These other two girls, who were clearly Estonian, had a guitar and started singing How Great is Our God. And at this point I knew I’d better get up and go over to them. And so I talked to them a bit and they invited me to their English-speaking church the next day. I couldn’t believe it (ok, I could, we are talking about God here). But wow, in the middle of a park in Tallinn of all places!

On Saturday night, my last night in Tallinn, I met Meredith, a girl from Michigan, and Hywel, her Welsh boyfriend, as they were staying in my room. The girl was so outgoing, and as we got to talking, I discovered that she is also a Christian. Her boyfriend is not, but she reads a devotional with him every night—I could hear them talking about it as I was going to sleep, and it was really heartening to listen to him ask her all the right questions (although he did ask her several times, “Why are you trying to convert me?”). It’s interesting how they met—she was in the Peace Corps in Ukraine (I’ve been told you should not use the article in front of the country) and was on holiday in Egypt, and the Welsh guy was on an excursion in the same group with her one day. They got on so well that he ended up visiting her in Ukraine and they ended up deciding to date. Although her parents just think he’s a travel partner (they’re traveling together for about eight weeks) and that he’s a random guy who’s going to chop her up. Sounds familiar! All parents are alike, eh? Anyway, they were both really outgoing and just plain nice, and I enjoyed talking to them about their adventures. I don’t think I’ve met friendlier people on the road before. It was especially wonderful to meet another Christian during my travels, as most hostel-dwellers seem intent on getting wasted night after night.

I had one last day in Tallinn on Sunday. I went to the church of the girls I met in the park. The pastor was American, from Texas, a real charismatic guy (not in the Christian sense, just in the general sense). The church only had about 15 members, five of them being the pastor and his family, and then another five being teenage Estonian girls, and one random girl from Rancho Cucamonga of all places! What a small world! On my tour of the Old Town, my tour guide explained proudly how pagan Estonians are, and thus I knew to expect a small church, but I don’t think I’ve ever been to a church service with a real pastor that was so small. I am praying that their outreach in the train station this past week went well. I know that they’ve got God on their side and are in good hands, and I just pray that they share with more and more people in Tallinn and across Estonia. It’s amazing to see God’s work being done around the world. After church, as the weather proved to be about 25 C, I went to the outdoor ethnographic museum. This is just the thing I love—I am such a nerd! It was basically like an Estonian Williamsburg. I enjoyed seeing all the typical 18^th- and 19^th- century Estonian and Estonian island farm buildings and listening to folk music. I can’t stress enough how beautiful the weather was, which made for a perfect outing. And it was right on the Tallinn Bay, which means I had some gorgeous views of the water and the Old Town. I ran into Meredith and Hywel there, and we had a fun time on this crazy Estonian swing (check out my pics), and afterwards we headed to a Tex-Mex restaurant in the Old Town that offered free U.S. phone calls, so I was able to wish my mom a happy Mother’s Day (well, since my parents were in Hawai‘i and it was 6 AM, it was over voicemail). But I ran into problem #1 with money—I had no cash, my Visa and German cards were rejected, and they had no change for my Euros. That was a real pickle, but my newfound friends saved my butt! Because of the fiasco I ended up sprinting the 1.5 miles to the bus station and nearly missed my bus. But only nearly!

The bus ride was no fun. It was nine hours overnight to Vilnius, an untraditional route for visitors to the three Baltic states, but because Easyjet flies from Berlin to Tallinn and Riga and not to Vilnius, it had to be that way. There were two men who of course would not shut up the entire time. 2 AM, 3 AM, 4 AM, didn’t matter. So that meant hardly any sleep! But at least I saved on a night of hostel accommodations. I really had to scrimp and save, so it was worth it. Also, they really need to do a better job of paving the roads. Or actually pave them in the first place!

When I arrived in Vilnius at 6:30 in the morning, I was delighted to find a free hostel bed in which I could crash for a couple hours. When I had enough energy, I hit the Old Town but was hindered by it being a Monday, when pretty much every museum in the Baltics is closed. I still had enough to keep me busy for a while. I did a grand tour of the Old Town. Highlights included taking a funicular up to the Upper Castle, hiking all the way up to the Hill of the Three Crosses, and venturing into the Republic of Uzupio, a very eccentric neighborhood that has declared itself independent from Lithuania. It even has its own constitution. Quite funny. I also visited several churches, as Vilnius is covered in them. The Gates of Dawn was particularly fascinating, as it is a pilgrimage site and a lot of pilgrims were praying in front of Mary. Also, locals turn and cross themselves every time they pass under the bridge on which the altar is. That night I went with two guys I met at the hostel—a Lutheran pastor from Minnesota and an incomprehensible but incredibly nice guy from Halifax, England—to watch the Kaunas-Vilnius basketball game. Basketball is huge in Lithuania and apparently it was the finals. Kaunas beat Vilnius by one point in overtime. A great game, but we ended up not watching it too closely since we ended up in a deep religious conversation, seeing as the British guy was a practicing Jehovah’s Witness. After that, a bunch of guys and I went out to Broadway, a local bar/club, for drinks and some dancing. I had a blast. We were all traveling alone, except a guy from Montreal and a guy from Brazil met each other in the airport in Tallinn and had been traveling together since. There was also a guy from Taiwan, the impossible-to-understand guy from England, and an older gentleman from Spain who happened to be a linguist! It made for a lot of fun, all of us random people hanging out together. It was my first night of real fun (no worries, friends, I wasn’t wild), and I could tell I was going to have a good time in Vilnius.

The next day I visited the KGB museum, which is also devoted to the evils of the Soviet Union. You can tell the Baltic states really hate the Soviets . . . I loved one of the quotes there: “A lot of people look back on Soviet times as the golden years, but young people can be brainwashed to believe anything.” STIMMT! After the museum and an authentic Lithuanian lunch, I had one of the greatest adventures of my life. I decided to head to Europos Parkas, a huge park about 15 km outside Vilnius that commemorates the geographic center of Europe. Some Lithuanian sculptor decided to capitalize on this by creating a huge sculpture park. It is nearly impossible to reach by public transportation, but I was up to the challenge. I had to ride a trolley-bus to a particular stop, which I missed, so then I went back a couple stops before realizing my first stop would have been fine. Then I got on the most crowded bus of my life. It was INSANE how crowded it was. And I kept thinking, oh, we’re going a long distance, people will start getting off. NO, instead more and more people just kept getting on. The doors could barely close. In fact, some people got pushed off the bus every time we stopped. And people were not nice to each other. One man wouldn’t move his arm to let a woman get off and so she missed her stop. So the next stop she tried to get off again, and was screaming at him, and he reacted by trying to block her physically, and as she managed to get around him he kicked her repeatedly. I’m not kidding! These were 60+ people! Anna, if you are reading this, I am so sorry for what you had to endure in Russia. I will never take Berlin public transportation for granted again. Anyway, after about 45 minutes of standing on that crowded bus and praying no one would mug me, I managed to get off at the wrong stop, thanks to terrible guidebook directions. The park is already 3 km from the bus stop, but I had to walk about 4-5 km down this country road with no clue if I was going in the right direction. Not a soul in sight. I prayed that I wouldn’t get run over or taken by some crazy person. Eventually—eventually!—I made it to the park entrance, only to discover that I pretty much had the whole huge place to myself. And what a weird place it is! All these strange statues all over the place. I didn’t see a soul the entire time I was there, besides the few people working there, and even then, no one made himself known to me in the bookstore or restaurant. My favorite “sculpture” was one of those wheels that mice run on, except it was human-sized. Since no one was around I had a go at it and really enjoyed running backwards and forwards on it. On the way home I managed to catch a taxi-bus back to the center, which saved me a lot of pain and fear. But I definitely had a good laugh over my adventure in getting there.

That night I just hung around the hostel. They had a great central kitchen where everyone congregated to eat (and drink, a lot!). We all decided to stay in, and it was quite fun talking to different people. Five of us agreed to head to Trakai Castle the next day, and that we did. Alex from Montreal, Thomas from Brazil, Ali and Dave from Tasmania, and I took the 30-minute bus ride there. I have to say it was a disappointing place, but it was pretty and the weather wasn’t too bad. It was also nice to have some company, since I was planning on making the trek anyway. When we got back I went with Alex and Thomas to a traditional Lithuanian restaurant and had something they translated as a zeppelin, since it did look like one. Yummy! And since a lot of us were leaving that night, we went to Broadway again and had a great night. I think we danced for like four hours. Everyone was just having such a great time, despite the sketchy Polish men. My newfound friends were great at protecting the girls among us. But we all realized that we’d have to get to bed at some point, and of course I could only sleep for two hours since people kept coming into our room to use one of the two showers for 26 people. Despite the lack of bathrooms, that hostel was really great at facilitating interaction among single travelers, and I am really grateful. I had some great conversations, particularly with Alex and Thomas, and enjoyed hearing about all their travels. And as opposed to Tallinn, I didn’t feel like I had to be sightseeing every single second, and I didn’t feel guilty about it at all. I realized that connecting with people was just as important. And despite my linguistic opposition to the dominance of English, I know that without it I never would have been able to have such a good time talking to people. Although funnily enough, a lot of the people I met in Vilnius were from different parts of California—Santa Barbara, Davis, and San Francisco. We get around, I guess.

On Thursday I took a very uncomfortable five-hour bus ride to Riga. We had assigned seats, and despite the number of empty seats the woman next to me wouldn’t move. My seat was so small I could barely fit in it. When I arrived at my hostel, the check-in person playfully warned me that I would be rooming with four German boys (all studying at Uni Koeln). Uh-oh, I thought to myself. More boys! All I’d heard about Riga was that it was a huge party city and that I should definitely avoid going on the weekend because of all the crazy British stag parties (British name for bachelor parties—because of all the cheap flights intra-Europe and the new EU countries, a lot of them take place over a whole weekend in another country). But my German roommates ended up being such a delight. I cannot underscore that enough. They were the most adorable and friendliest guys ever. From the moment I met them, they never stopped seeming to care about me—asking me how I was doing, what I had been up to, what life in Berlin/Orange County/(at) Harvard is like, what my thoughts on a range of issues are, etc. The first two nights they talked to me for a while before letting me be, since on the first night I was so exhausted and by the second night I had already confessed to them that I barely had any money whatsoever. Oh yeah, they also spoke to me primarily in English, which I initially protested, since there were four of them and only one of me, but they were quite keen to practice their English, and I wasn’t about to complain.

Anyway, on my first full day in Riga, I walked around a lot, visited yet another museum on the various Soviet and Nazi occupations, attended an organ concert in the Dome Cathedral, and went on a three-hour walking tour of areas of Riga I probably wouldn’t have visited alone. The sights included a huge indoor market where all the locals go to get all their groceries and a Russian market that sells everything (of the non-food variety) imaginable. I don’t even want to know how much of it is stolen property. We also got to see a lot of Art Nouveau, as Riga is famous for it. Some really gorgeous/really gaudy buildings! I also ate hardly anything, seeing as my budget was 25 Lats (about $56). In fact, I ate at the same Pelmeni XL chain four times since I could get a meal and a drink there for only 2 Lats. It was kinda sad, but so it is in the world of budget traveling, I suppose.

On my second day in Riga, I went to the top of St. Peter’s for a great view of the city, watched some folk dances at a festival in the main square, and explored the huge market more. Also, the German guys had invited me to go to the beach with them. I had told them I wasn’t certain, partly because the weather in Riga on Friday was cold and rainy, and I didn’t expect Saturday to be better. Also, I couldn’t imagine why four friends would want some random girl to go to the beach with them. I thought they were maybe just trying to be nice and/or felt sorry for me, and then I wondered if they just expected me to say no anyway. But then I remembered that Germans do not ask you to do something with them if they don’t want you to, and as Saturday rolled around and the weather ended up being quite simply amazing, I agreed to tag along. And I am so glad I did! We spent around five or six hours at the beach, just hanging out, reading, listening to music, and playing some card game called “6 nimmt!” Oh yeah, they also played in the water for about five minutes (crazy—it was freezing) in their relatively skimpy swimsuits (I enjoyed explaining to them my whole “Gay or European?” guessing game). I chose to keep to the beach and enjoy the absolutely gorgeous weather. I must not forget to mention that apparently Saturday was a very special day at this particular beach (Majori, on the Jurmala coast just outside of Riga)—there was a gathering of American car owners (as in owners of American cars, not car owners who were American). It was insane. There must have been 200 American cars lined up along the beach. We’re talking right next to the water. I found it hilarious. The cars ranged from classic sports cars to your average soccer mom’s minivan. All that mattered was that the car was from an American car company. Several of the cars had huge American—and Confederate—flags hanging from them. I have never seen so much American pride outside of a Fourth of July parade ever. Except I think if you asked the car owners what they thought about U.S., it probably wouldn’t be too favorable.

When we got home from the beach, we headed out for the night. I again thought to myself, am I imposing on them and their time together? (It was different in Vilnius, because almost all of us were traveling alone, and when it’s a group of four, they tend to stick to themselves because they don’t need the company.) But I just seemed like a natural progression for me to be going out with them. It was just assumed that I’d go with them, especially since they wanted me to have a good time on my (and their) last night. It was a special night in Riga, when all the museums are open all night long and there are a lot of free events. We headed to the harbor for a big concert, and sorta ended up missing most of it (the very large and drunk medieval rock band did sit next to me on the plane on the way home though!), but then we went into the very dilapidated old harbor buildings and tried to dance, but it turned out that people there were way too artsy for us. So it was back to the Old Town, where I finally got to drink some famous Riga Black Balsam, which I actually liked. That night I got to know the guys a little better, two in particular, and it was evident what great human beings they are. Well, one of them runs a 500-Euro seminar on how to meet women, and he was definitely a big player, but the other three are in committed relationships and weren’t interested in hitting on every hot girl that walked by, which made me even more comfortable talking to them. Anyway, the two I spent the most time with, Christoph and Christoph (their roommate is also named Christoph, incidentally; the two other boys with them were Pascal and Benedikt) told me a bit about what all four of them are studying—special education! They were surprised that I was surprised that boys were studying that, and blonde Christoph was explaining to me how important it is for young boys to have good male role models so that they don’t think all men are supposed to be irresponsible and treat women poorly. I was like, you’re telling me! Anyway, they said they really enjoyed working with special ed children, and I couldn’t help thinking how laborious a job it would be. I don’t know if I’d be cut out for it . . . After the guys went to bed I ended up talking to two Latvian guys who insisted on buying me a drink in the hostel bar. Boy, I just realized just how sketchy that sounds, but don’t worry, we had been talking to them earlier as we were sitting in the bar and it would have been really hard to steal me from my own hostel anyway. But they were so full of themselves! I don’t know if it had to do with how much they’d drunk, but it was annoying. One guy kept going on and on about how the U.S. is just like Russia and he refused to visit, but he wouldn’t explain what he meant. And he tried to convince me that the U.S. has 52 states, as if I wouldn’t know. He also told me I was an incredibly stupid person, and I can’t remember why—I think it was because 1) I live in Berlin and do not listen to techno/electronic music and 2) I didn’t spend every waking moment in Riga partying. Ugh, I was glad I did not have to spend my whole trip with people as pretentious as they were.

All of a sudden, it was Sunday, meaning time for me to go home! I remember the Sunday before, as I was leaving Tallinn and thinking, oh my goodness how am I going to get through a whole nother week?! But I did it, and I can’t believe how fast the time went! Will I ever talk to the people I met on my trip again? I don’t know. Several are now my Facebook and studiVZ (German Facebook) friends, but I can’t say that three days of getting to know these people created a strong enough bond. Still, I am really grateful to them for keeping me company, for sharing laughs, and, most importantly, for renewing my faith in humanity.

Now I am in a financial pickle. I technically spent more money than I have in my German bank account, and at the same time managed to take out $1.28 more than I have in my American bank account, which I am sure means I will have to pay a huge fee. So that means that I have a negative amount of money that I can spend between now and the end of May, when I get my next paycheck. Man, I gotta eat though! And it’s really unfortunate that I don’t at least have some money, since I have another week of vacation this week. Oh well, I guess I will take the time to get a lot of things done that I have been meaning to do for a while now. Like financial aid! Ugh. Back to Berlin means back to the real world. I’ll probably lose a bit of weight too, seeing as all I’ve got in the cupboard is some rice and soup. Yum.

And now I can’t wait for my 18-day trip coming up at the end of June! It’ll be bigger, better, and warmer!

Ein Transvestit unterwegs

I've already started on a post about what I was up to this past week, but before I forget, I just have to write about an experience I had on the U-Bahn (subway) this morning on my way to work. The ride is only about 6-7 minutes, so I usually just sit there and think or watch the Berliner Fenster for news. At Rosenthaler Platz, one stop from my stop, a big transvestite got on the train. This guy was very, very, very obviously a man. I mean, he was wearing a pink dress that was extremely short, high heels that were relatively subdued for what I imagine the stereotypical transvestite to look like, a long-haired wig, and plenty of makeup. That didn't help him conceal his real identity. To top it off, when he plopped down on the seat across from me, threw off his shoes, then actually lay on the seat with his feet up on the seat in front of him, where some poor girl was sitting, he gave me a clear idea of his gender. Yeah, gross. There are several types of U-Bahn cars in Berlin, and I feel it necessary to highlight that I was sitting directly facing him. We were in seats that are meant to fit three or four people, ones that run along the side of the car. Anyway, he starts mumbling to himself and throwing sugar packets all over the place. I wanted to laugh so bad and had to turn away because I couldn't stifle my laugther. Everyone else in the car looked bewildered, particularly the Muslim woman sitting next to me. So then this guy asks where the Gesundbrunnen stop is, and no one answered, so I felt obliged to. And of course that was a gateway to a conversation (what, I wasn't gonna ignore him when I and everyone else knew the answer to the question!). So because of my accent he asked me if I lived in Berlin, then introduced himself as "Andrea" and shook my hand. Oh boy, the first thing I did when I got to school was wash my hands. He then considered me a friend and went on and on about how he couldn't afford the 30 Euros a day of something and how he was homeless. I had a hard time understanding him, but I do know that hookers have to pay 30 Euro a day in taxes--is that what he meant? I was forced to ignore him, because what could I reply? And when he got off, which was quite a spectacle in itself, he broke his smoothie bottle against the door and barely made it out before he was caught in the door. The poor fellow, I said a little prayer for him. I'm not sure if he was hopped on anything. He may have just been crazy.

Welcome to Berlin.

Oh yeah, there's also a weird fellow with a huge beard who walks around my neighborhood pushing some sort of wagon with maybe a monkey on it and yelling things with a microphone. This one might as well be from Cambridge.

Also, in other potentially funny news, a student wrote in his gerund* homework: "I enjoy spending time with my girlfriend for children." What do you think that means??? Oh yeah, and lest you think (because I did) that my students are innocent little beings, I spied some in the back courtyard really getting it on. Always a pleasure. I am sure their Turkish parents would be oh-so-happy to know what their children are up to.

*After a month of going over the gerund, I am quite sick of listening (HA!) to students make repeated mistakes, z.B. "I am good at to play football" or "I am good at to playing football." Which is less egregious?

Die Woche ist vorbei

Ok, I started to write this on May 4, and now it is technically May 8, but I think this will show up as being posted May 4, before the transvestite post. Anyway, I didn't get far in writing what I was up to the past 1.5 weeks, and now I am kinda rushing to get ready for my trip to the Baltics in just 16 hours, so I'm gonna have to just show some pictures and a little text and that's that. I don't have time to upload pics from my trip to Magdeburg and Halle this past Saturday, so you'll just have to trust that I was there!

Fernsehturm at Alexanderplatz. The weather has been oh-so-gorgeous the past couple weeks!

















Me with Marx and Lenin near Alexanderplatz. You can totally tell that this is East Berlin. And in the background you can see the remains of the Palast der Republik. (ahh, Ostalgie!)









Sandra, my tandem partner, next to a funny statue in the Nikolaiviertel, which is also near Alex.

















I won tickets to a concert featuring two indie pop bands. This here's The Hoosiers. The other band was Slut. What a name. They were actually both excellent. I also won tickets to another concert featuring Klee and Nevio Passaro. Not quite as good, but still not bad. And then I won tickets to another concert tonight, but couldn't go.








Typische Berliner punks hanging out on the street in Kreuzberg during MyFest on the Tag der Arbeit (May Day).

















Revolution sign in German/Turkish.













Kreuzberg 36 or Antalya? Your guess is as good as mine!













Trip to Koenigs Wusterhausen with SMD folks and friends.












Me and Susana, an American friend of mine with whom I spent oodles and oodles of time the past week, in Koenigs Wusterhausen.











A sign showing where we were in Dahme-Spreewald. On second thought, not so interesting, but I already uploaded it, so enjoy!

Achtung, bissiger Löwe: Beten und nicht einschlafen

Last weekend I went on retreat with Christian students in Berlin through a group called Studentenmission Deutschland (SMD). The theme was the title above. (Rough translation: Warning, biting (better word?) lion: Pray and don't fall asleep!) We went up to Ruhlsdorf in Brandenburg, which is a tiny town with only 498 residents. I was a little hesitant about going, since I knew it was gonna be me and a bunch of real live Germans. Ok, there were also two Americans there, which certainly made the idea more tolerable. Don’t get me wrong, I was quite excited to be going, and I’m glad I did. We went up to the retreat center on Friday evening and had dinner and then a talk by a man that I found really difficult to understand because he’s from the Erzgebirge. Then I spent a loooong time talking about—what else—language with a German guy who enjoys correcting every little mistake I make. It’s ok, I asked him for it. I am quite the opposite of Calvin, an American who is one of the leaders of SMD at HU (the uni I took courses at first semester). He converses quite easily in German, but he makes so many glaring grammatical errors that it drives me crazy. Still, I'm envious of his ability to talk so freely. Anyway, back to the retreat. Saturday morning we ate breakfast, during which I discovered that Germans eat eggs differently. First, they’d never really heard of hard-boiled eggs (maybe that’s why my roommate once scolded me for leaving eggs in boiling water for too long). Instead, they eat them soft-boiled--yuck! Second, they apparently take the top part of the egg off and use a spoon to scoop out the rest from the bottom of the egg. They were laughing at me for peeling my egg (does one peel an egg?). I know this sounds inconsequential, but it’s one of those cultural differences that you never think about. Also, eating open-faced sandwiches for breakfast, something I became familiar with long ago during my summer in Portugal, I still find odd. Oh, and Nutella on bread as a typical breakfast item. Ok, I’m going off on tangents. After breakfast we had a talk on praying, this time in very clear Hochdeutsch. It was quite good. We met in small groups afterward, and because the weather was so gorgeous, my group met outside. About 30 Oldtimers (German word for vintage cars) drove through. Such a little town, couldn’t figure out where they were going. Ok, so after lunch, we had free time. As a mentioned, the weather was beautiful, so a few of us walked around a nearby lake and then played on a playground. The lake was quite serene and breathtaking. Except for the FKK people! FKK stands for Freikoerperkultur (a great example of a German compound word). Basically, East Germans are quite fond of getting naked. Especially when the sun and the beach are involved. So yeah, the naked men here and there were quite . . . a nice surprise to round out the afternoon.

Here's the lake from the far shore. I'd like to come back and go for a swim. Apparently rockin' Ruhlsdorf--a town without a town center--has festivals all spring and summer long.

After afternoon free time we had a Grillabend, which is basically a barbeque.
Scrumdiddilyumptious!

Half the group at the Grillabend. They all look really, really German. At the far right are a married couple, all of about 21 years old.

The other half of the group. They look German enough, except the two other Americans (girl in left foreground and hairy guy in shorts) are present. And wow, a German is wearing real shorts! Not the capri-like version! And an I love New York shirt. Because it's ok to love New York, just not America.

After the Grillabend we had a Gebetsabend—prayer evening. Then that night I played card games with the two other Americans and a German guy born and raised on a Mennonite colony in Paraguay. He speaks Plattdietsch as his first language. He was awesome, if only because I was fascinated by his story. I always hesitate asking Germans who were born and raised in South America how their families ended up there because that’s where a lot of criminals fled after the end of WWII and after the fall of the wall. But this guy was legit—his great-grandparents on one side and grandparents on the other fled to Paraguay because of religious persecution. I’ve been reading up on the history—there’s about 200,000 of them. This guy doesn’t even have Paraguayan citizenship and didn’t learn Spanish until high school. There’s basically no need to when you live on a German-speaking commune. Anyway (again), I left early on Sunday to go to church, and that was that.

Like I said, I'm glad I went on the retreat. Everyone was really friendly, and when I absolutely had to speak English (rather, use a few English words here and there), they were understanding. It also got me a lot thinking about prayer. The retreat was definitely very different than what I am used to with CF. There were only about 18 of us, and it was much more low-key and less organized, with much less worship music (just two guitars and a few songbooks). It was kinda nice for it to be a small crowd. Allowed me to feel much more comfortable in participating. And it was good to meet students from other unis in Berlin, because I've been going to the HU SMD group all year and haven't really met other German students outside the group. I do know a fair number of Germans from my own church, but they are so internationalized and thus don't always give me the best picture of what Germans my age are like. The students in SMD, however, are really what I imagine typical Germans to be like. (Except for their whole devotion to God thing. Yeah, it'd be nice if that were more typical German.) They all wore the typical German house shoes and were quite frank with each other and so on. Fun to be around--the most important thing!

Längst überfälliges Update!

It’s been absolute ages since I’ve last updated—I’ve become somewhat lazy, I suppose. Or rather, been the same amount of lazy but rearranged my “priorities” a bit. I’ll try to address the most important things, but I bet you’re not going to make it through this whole post, because it’s going to be really, really long!

First off—my spring break. I had two weeks off (this is one of the very, very few aspects of the Berlin school system that I love—lots of vacation—although the summer is drastically reduced to like 6 or 7 weeks) and thus had the privilege of going back to the U.S. for the admitted students weekend at HLS. It was great going back to Boston, especially since this time I didn’t feel as rushed to see everyone. Daren, thanks to some unfortunate circumstances, hosted me the whole five or so nights I was there (and thus in the end it wasn’t all that unfortunate for me, although I am sure my constant presence on her couch was a bit of a disturbance). Harvard totally sold me—for the second time in my life—although I think we all knew there was no doubt about it. Oh yeah, when I arrived in Berlin, I found a rejection letter from Yale in the mail. I was not at all surprised or disappointed, although my parents ask me every now and then if I am still upset about it. I would admit if I were at least a little sad about it (I guess it does lightly punch my pride in the face), but the reality is that I couldn’t see myself being there and I applied realistically knowing that I had a snowball’s chance in Hell getting in. I don’t think I’ve even looked at the YLS website before. But the weird thing is I still haven’t heard from Stanford! It is April 23 and the deadline to notify schools is May 1, yet they have told me nothing! I don’t know what to take this as meaning, but it doesn’t matter, because I just applied there because it’s Stanford. I love California and all, but I don’t see myself being back there just yet at this stage in my life, plus I’ve never even been to Stanford before. Anyway, this week I will be sending Harvard the first $500 of what will amount to be a small fortune over three years, which will make it official! HLS Class of 2011! I actually thought I was going to be in the Class of 2012 and even wrote that in some official emails before I sat down and did the math. I’m quite thrilled to be heading back (although at this point I really wanna go on a tangent about Berlin—I’ll refrain but see below).

So yeah, after about five days in Boston, I headed to NYC for two days. I stayed with a fellow Harvard ’07 linguist, Amanda, who is an all-around awesome person. I just truly enjoy being in her presence—especially because I can talk all I want about ling without her rolling her eyes at me like all my other friends do. And we did talk a lot about ling, especially when Mary, another ’07 linguist from Harvard and now Yale (studying Greek), came over for a dinner that Amanda prepared. She is seriously the best cook in the world. Her snickerdoodles kept me company all the way to London. I think my two days there were spent eating quite a lot, because we also went to an empanadas place and a Polish diner. This trip made me realize I could deal with living in New York if I had to. But I think I still prefer somewhere a little smaller and without all the edge (does that make sense?).

After New York, I was off to LONDON for 10 days and 9 nights! I wish I had written this earlier, because now a lot of what I wanted to say has totally escaped my mind, I’m sure. I loved London. I want to live there. If I had a good excuse to live there for a year, I would absolutely go there. Maybe in the summer during law school or afterward? It just combines the neatness of living in a foreign country with the simplicity of being able to speak your native language. And England is charming! I had good company while I was there, that’s for sure. I’m surprised that Ryan, Chris, and Neal were able to tolerate me for so long, as I’ve sure my periodic bossiness and irritability got on their nerves. But they make wonderful travel partners, that’s for sure. And it was nice to catch up with Peter and help him discover a little of the city he’s been living in for almost a whole year now. I think we did most of the major touristy things in London—all the major museums, the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s, changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace (my least favorite experience), etc. We also saw all the major sights as well. And we rented a car—an experience of which I have very fond memories—and drove to Stonehenge and Bath on one day and then Oxford on the next day. Stonehenge was cool to see, especially since you’re driving on the road and then out of nowhere pops up Stonehenge. Bath was a really cute city and the weather was actually nice on that day (the weather was miserable the rest of the time, if you ask me). And then Oxford was awe-inspiring. I want to study there now! It was so huge and I really think people who think Harvard is impressive should go to Oxford and eat their words. There is so much else I want to mention—the food, the people, the culture—but then this will truly be a never-ending post . . .

On my return to Berlin, I was informed that an English teacher at my school was going to be away for an indefinite amount of time. I knew that she’d be missing the week before and after break because I had to substitute for her (totally against Fulbright’s rules, but no German school seems to care about Fulbright’s rules, which I confirmed with all the other English assistants), but when I found out that I’d be taking over two of her classes indefinitely, I was a little peeved and alarmed. I had no idea what I was supposed to be teaching them. And I can’t teach each class three times a week, so two-three hours are canceled a week. The poor students—although they don’t seem to mind—are getting screwed, if you ask me. I am doing my best but I am not really preparing them for the Abitur next year. I have been teaching them about current events—like the pregnant man and the human-cow embryos—and showing political movies in another class, but I don’t feel like that’s helpful. Plus, until this week, only like ¼ of the students came because I didn’t know that I could take attendance (long story) and they figured they’d take advantage of the system. I have been trying to get the scoop from the other teachers (in an innocent way), but no one here seems keen on gossiping or speculating. I don’t really want the gossip, I’m just curious about how this could be possible! If this happened in my school, my parents would be furious. All the other English teachers have taken over her other classes, without more pay, which I find absurd (one teacher confided in me that in all her years of teaching she has never not had to do this). I found out this week that she is apparently coming back next week, although I can’t be sure, because there are conflicting reports from different teachers. I can’t wait, not for selfish reasons, but because I feel bad for the students. She’s only taking on my classes though—the other teachers will have to continue teaching her classes until the end of the semester. I knew she had been stressed out before, and that she was going to a Kur (which is like a health resort that German insurance pays for because stress is a medical problem—HA! I wish) to deal with the stress of getting a divorce. I didn’t know she was having such problems though, and I really pray that she’s doing better. I also hope that she doesn’t say: “You taught them about WHAT? A pregnant man?!?!”

But actually being needed in school has been nice! I need to write a post entirely devoted to my school experience, and I am sure I will towards the end of my time here. Actually, in the past couple weeks, I think I’ve helped quite a bit. In two of my 11^th-grade classes, I’ve been teaching grammar alone (doubly not allowed by Fulbright). One class gives me heck—boys throwing paper airplanes out the windows, for example—but I actually like them as little people who are still being shaped. Although today a couple of them got busted for cheating on a test, which disappointed me and at the same time delighted me that they actually FINALLY got punished for something! That has like never happened before! And you thought Germans were disciplinarians! Think again! Anyway, it’s nice to feel a little loved by the students. In February I started with new classes so now I’ve taught almost everyone in the school, which means I can’t walk down the halls or outside of school without being greeted by broken English and “good morning” and all-around friendliness. Also, they wrote on the board last week “We LOVE MEGAN” (yes, Megan, which is better than Meggy, which one class still calls me without at all realizing their mistake) and they cheer whenever I come in class. I can’t decide whether they actually like me or if it’s because they hate their teachers and I’m a welcome relief, but I do believe that some of them actually do like being able to benefit from talking with a real live American (except six months into the school year: “Wait, are you from England or America?”). And all the 13^th-graders started taking their Abi exams today, which means they don’t come to school hardly at all, and I have to say I miss them a lot. They were my favorites, primarily because they were the most mature and their English was the best. I am keen on knowing what they are all going to be doing with their lives, but save the four who regularly came to my extracurricular English class, I really have no clue.

Let’s see, as far as what I’ve been up to outside of the classroom . . . well, I’ve gone to a couple birthday/housewarming/whatever parties, which are always fun. Good chance to meet new people and see Christians (Prots!) drink a lot (seriously, still can’t quite wrap my mind around that!). I’ve also hung out with friends in bars here and there. My tandem partner and I went to the Story of Berlin, a museum about the history of Berlin, and also the Botanischer Garten, which is beautiful (and it was finally a gorgeous day). It was kinda funny because she and I both don’t know botany in each other’s respective native languages, and so we sorta used Latin as an intermediary. She studies this stuff at university, so she’s an expert and knows all the Latin names. My problem is that I cannot identify most even common plants and trees, but the Latin names did help. Oh, I watched the Dortmund-FC Bayern Muenchen German championship soccer game on a huge screen with thousands of crazy Germans at the Brandenburger Tor last weekend with Anna and Calvin, American friends. While I don’t like soccer all that much, it’s a definite cultural experience that should not be missed while living in Europe. Sadly, FCB beat Borussia (Dortmund) 2:1 (German style of writing scores), but it was a pretty exciting match at the end (went into overtime), so it was ok. A couple of weeks ago there was a Fulbright conference, so I had a week of free food, although I still had to go to work. All the German Fulbrighters who live outside of Berlin got free travel and lodging and food, boo—I wish Fulbright would give us Berliners a free trip somewhere. Oh well. Oh yeah, the mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit—very notorious, openly gay, long-lost Baldwin brother—gave a speech at one of the sessions. I really liked the guy, even if our politics aren’t aligned. He spoke so frankly about Berlin—about all its problems, how poor it is, etc., and he seemed so proud of Berlin nonetheless. I don’t think he would have done well in America being so honest about things. Us Berliners at least got special treatment—a picture with him. My one consolation.

And a week ago today I celebrated my 23^rd birthday! A momentous occasion! Ha, not really. 23 is not at all an exciting year, but I guess we’ll see what I can make of it. For my birthday a bunch of my friends met up in a bar. This was quite nice for me because when I first got to Berlin I wondered if I would have any friends at all, and now 20 people are showing up to my party! And several couldn’t come, given that it was a Wednesday night. But it’s nice to feel loved! And to get some presents, which I totally didn’t expect! I got some good books and movies and flowers (which I left in the bar and had to go back and get the next day, after being explicitly told by the three different flower-givers not to forget them!). Oh, Peter sent me I am Charlotte Simmons and a book full of a lot of politically incorrect jokes (thanks again, Peter, that’s so thoughtful of you and now that I’ve finished my latest book I can start on the Wolfe). My mom came the day after my birthday and took me out to dinner at the American diner by my apartment. It was nice to have a burger and fries after a long time (although that’s what I ate just about every day in London). She’s coming again tomorrow, which will be nice. Everyone’s always confused as to why she’s here so much and only for a day or two at a time! The life of a flight attendant!

Today I met up with a new sorta tandem partner person. He’s friends with people in Hillsong, although not a member, and we’d met here and there at things. He’s really keen on learning American English and his English is already quite good, but he wants to learn like every idiom in the book and how to behave properly in America and all that. I have to say he is one of the most enjoyable people to talk to because he’s just so excited about everything and extremely friendly. Although if we do do a tandem together, it’s going to be English-English because he doesn’t want to speak any German whatsoever. Fair enough, I guess enjoying his company is reason enough to meet up. And we even went to McDonald’s today. Although he is a vegetarian! And tends to hate conservatives. This is going to be fun!

Last night was the last meeting of my Alpha course. Alpha is an introductory course on Christianity and my church was giving it for the first time. I don’t think I learned that much from it since it was generally pretty basic, but it was great to get to know people on a deeper level. Just going to church and chatting with people does not always lead to those deeper questions on the meaning of life and how people got to where they are today and why they believe what they believe and so on and so forth. Last night the two different groups came together at the new pastor’s awesome apartment, and it was nothing short of miraculous for me to see how many people had participated and been impacted by Alpha.

At this point, I really would like to talk about how I am saddened by the thought of having to leave Berlin in just three more months. But because of how long it’s taken me to write this post and the fact that I need to prepare for class tomorrow (remember, that teacher is still gone), I should sign off now. But to my faithful reader(s), I promise to write an update within the next week.

Oh yeah, no pictures this time around because that takes too long, but I have discovered the wonders of Picasa and now you can view my life over the past nine months in pictures (although I still have to upload a lot of them):

http://picasaweb.google.com/meghangrizzle

Enjoy!