Here is the link to my first set of photos on my Flickr album.
Click Here For Photos
Enjoy!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Friday, December 30, 2011
You Have To Start Somewhere
So I meant to start this sooner, but you will all have to deal with better late than never (which I'm willing to bet will be a reoccurring theme around here.) I've been in Berlin for four days now. It feels like a heck of a lot longer though. I honestly don't remember much from when I arrived on Tuesday. I know I took a nap and slept through my alarm so I was late for the very first deadline I had. Whoops. Luckily, I just missed going to the park with the kids. I made it to dinner (cashew chicken, yum!), which is the most important thing, right?
I should probably go back and let you know about my trip here. I only slept a total of about 6 hours in the 72 hours leading up to my leaving. So when I got on the plane I was cranky from not sleeping and constantly trying to hold back tears from saying goodbye to everyone. On top of that, I developed a crazy horrible toothache on the plane ride from Denver to Newark. The girl next to me probably thought I was gonna lose it because I was in so much pain. Of course, there's nothing my dentist could do about it from the other side of the country and I then had to sit through the 8 hour plane ride to Berlin with pain that I couldn't even explain. Needless to say, I took a lot of painkillers. If it weren't for my tooth, that plane ride would have been excellent. There was no one in the seat next to me so I had a ton of room and the food was actually pretty good. Or maybe I was just starving. It also helped that I bought a delicious Grasshopper cupcake at the airport. I figured if my teeth were gonna give me hell then I was gonna eat sweets anyway.
So my second day in Berlin I got registered, set up my bank account and cell phone, and went to see the dentist! If you think dentists are scary in America, you should consider what it's like when English isn't their first language. Also, this dentist was wearing sandals. With socks. But he took Xrays and he didn't see anything wrong. He said the pressure changes in the plane probably just caused the pain. It's good to know that I have that to look forward to the next time I fly.
Yesterday I had most of the day to myself so I had planned to walk around and explore a bit. I've been having trouble sleeping through the night, so I thought I'd try and sleep in first. I find that I have to force myself to stay awake until it's late enough to fall asleep, and then I still awake up between 1am and 5am, usually starving. But the more I stayed in my room yesterday, the less I wanted to go out. About an hour before I had to meet with my host family I forced myself to get out of my apartment because I don't want to be a shut in the whole time I'm here. I walked for half an hour in a straight line and managed to find the S-Bahn station and a couple of stores and things. I didn't get the courage to talk to anyone and I nearly got hit by a bike because I was apparently walking in the bike lane, but other than that it was a successful outing.
Today I had a driving lesson. It was by far the thing that I have been most worried about doing. My instructor only spoke a little English. We spent most of the time trying to understand what one another was saying. But I didn't hit anything or anyone, so that's definitely a good start!
In a couple of hours we are taking the kids to the circus. It should be interesting, though my driving lesson had me so stressed out today that I'm really just exhausted and ready to go to bed now. We are taking the S-Bahn to the circus though, so I need to go to make sure that I can navigate it on my own come Saturday. I'm meeting up with a group of people from the UK to check out the big New Year's Eve celebration at the Brandenburg Gate. And yes, don't worry. I will be careful :)
My host family has been extremely good to me. They are always trying to make sure that I have everything I need. I have pretty much a whole apartment in their basement to myself. It is really nice. I will post pictures on Flickr and link to the album. The kids are pretty well behaved and they seem to like me. I've mostly been reading to them. They keep asking for more so they must like how I'm doing it :) Nothing is like I imagined it would be though. Nothing is easy here and I miss home a lot. I just try not to think about that too much.
I'm sure there was more that I wanted to say, but my head hurts too bad to think about it right now. Maybe I will write another post tonight. For now I'm going to try and get a quick nap in before it's time for the circus.
I should probably go back and let you know about my trip here. I only slept a total of about 6 hours in the 72 hours leading up to my leaving. So when I got on the plane I was cranky from not sleeping and constantly trying to hold back tears from saying goodbye to everyone. On top of that, I developed a crazy horrible toothache on the plane ride from Denver to Newark. The girl next to me probably thought I was gonna lose it because I was in so much pain. Of course, there's nothing my dentist could do about it from the other side of the country and I then had to sit through the 8 hour plane ride to Berlin with pain that I couldn't even explain. Needless to say, I took a lot of painkillers. If it weren't for my tooth, that plane ride would have been excellent. There was no one in the seat next to me so I had a ton of room and the food was actually pretty good. Or maybe I was just starving. It also helped that I bought a delicious Grasshopper cupcake at the airport. I figured if my teeth were gonna give me hell then I was gonna eat sweets anyway.
So my second day in Berlin I got registered, set up my bank account and cell phone, and went to see the dentist! If you think dentists are scary in America, you should consider what it's like when English isn't their first language. Also, this dentist was wearing sandals. With socks. But he took Xrays and he didn't see anything wrong. He said the pressure changes in the plane probably just caused the pain. It's good to know that I have that to look forward to the next time I fly.
Yesterday I had most of the day to myself so I had planned to walk around and explore a bit. I've been having trouble sleeping through the night, so I thought I'd try and sleep in first. I find that I have to force myself to stay awake until it's late enough to fall asleep, and then I still awake up between 1am and 5am, usually starving. But the more I stayed in my room yesterday, the less I wanted to go out. About an hour before I had to meet with my host family I forced myself to get out of my apartment because I don't want to be a shut in the whole time I'm here. I walked for half an hour in a straight line and managed to find the S-Bahn station and a couple of stores and things. I didn't get the courage to talk to anyone and I nearly got hit by a bike because I was apparently walking in the bike lane, but other than that it was a successful outing.
Today I had a driving lesson. It was by far the thing that I have been most worried about doing. My instructor only spoke a little English. We spent most of the time trying to understand what one another was saying. But I didn't hit anything or anyone, so that's definitely a good start!
In a couple of hours we are taking the kids to the circus. It should be interesting, though my driving lesson had me so stressed out today that I'm really just exhausted and ready to go to bed now. We are taking the S-Bahn to the circus though, so I need to go to make sure that I can navigate it on my own come Saturday. I'm meeting up with a group of people from the UK to check out the big New Year's Eve celebration at the Brandenburg Gate. And yes, don't worry. I will be careful :)
My host family has been extremely good to me. They are always trying to make sure that I have everything I need. I have pretty much a whole apartment in their basement to myself. It is really nice. I will post pictures on Flickr and link to the album. The kids are pretty well behaved and they seem to like me. I've mostly been reading to them. They keep asking for more so they must like how I'm doing it :) Nothing is like I imagined it would be though. Nothing is easy here and I miss home a lot. I just try not to think about that too much.
I'm sure there was more that I wanted to say, but my head hurts too bad to think about it right now. Maybe I will write another post tonight. For now I'm going to try and get a quick nap in before it's time for the circus.
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