Munich

My time in Berlin is just about at an end, so I really need to get my post up to tell everyone about my trip to Munich. I've taken a lot of trips this year and seen a lot of places that I never thought I would. But even with all that, Munich stood out for me. This trip was special because it was my last excursion in a year of adventures. Even more than that, it was a place that I had dreamed of seeing for many years.

The very first thing I saw in Munich was the snow. The train ride from the airport takes about 45 minutes and brings you through the rural areas outside of the city right into the center of town. The snow was falling on the way in and it was beautiful, just the way winter is supposed to look. Unfortunately by the time I got into the city, the snow was more like rain. But I did manage a stroke of luck. I found an umbrella on the train that had been left behind, so I adopted it.

I checked into my hostel and then got in touch Chelsea, a friend from back home who happens to be living in Munich. It had been a few years since we'd been in touch, but it was really great to see her anyway. I think I was just kind of happy to be able to talk to somebody who knew everyone and everywhere that I was talking about. So that first day Chelsea and I went on the free walking tour, which was sadly the worst one I've been on yet. I didn't care much for the guide, but I will cut her a little slack as it was terribly cold and wet out and she was trying to hurry through the tour before we all froze to death. After the tour we went to Chelsea's house so we could warm up and I got to meet her family that she is living and working with. And then that night we went to Hard Rock, of course. I had the nachos and a ridiculously good raspberry margarita :)

So my second day in Munich got off to a much better start as the snow/rain nonsense had stopped. I had been pretty miserable the day before since I really don't have any winter gear. I was wearing my canvas Vans, which meant my feet were wet and freezing the whole day. But the plans we had for that second day made it impossible for me to look towards the day with anything except excitement. That was the day that I would get to check off one of the only for sure things that had ever been on my bucket list; Neuschwanstein Castle, King Ludwig II's fairytale castle in the Bavarian Alps. So we took a two hour train ride followed by a short bus ride to arrive at the foot of the mountain where the castle sits. And believe me, that view, with the castle nestled among the snow topped trees, it was beautiful. It was everything I'd hoped for and more. In fact, I'm pretty sure I may have come off as a bit crazy, as all I kept saying was "It's all so winter wonderland-y." The snow just made everything there look beautiful and perfect. Anyway, we got a quick bowl of soup to warm our bones and then we paid to ride in a horse drawn carriage to the castle itself. And yes, normally I travel really cheap and wouldn't waste money on an overpriced tourist trap like a horse drawn carriage, but I was fulfilling a dream here and I felt it deserved a little splurge. Plus it saved us some time and we even got those plaid blankets to lay across our laps! So when we reached the castle we had to wait awhile for our tour time. You can only go in the castle on a guided tour. We spent the time taking pictures and enjoying the absolute majesty of the surroundings, while stomping our feet and trying to keep our toes from falling off. When we finally got to go into the castle, it was just as breathtaking inside. Because Ludwig II died at age 40, the castle is not even half finished. But the rooms that were finished were gorgeous. King Ludwig II was known as the Fairytale King or the Swan King. He loved the works of Richard Wagner and had a special proclivity for swans. And it was obvious. You could see the inspiration in every room of the castle. The funny thing is, a lot of people think he was crazy. But I think he just dreamed too big for this world. In fact, I feel like we would have been friends, Ludwig and I. I bet he was a real cool guy to talk with. Anyway, I loved it. I loved everything about the castle. All the fairytale motifs, the hidden swans, the intricate wood workings, and the over-the-top romanticism. It was exactly what I thought a castle should be. The only disappointing thing about the whole experience was that they're doing repairs on one side of the castle, that being the side that you always see in all the pictures, so we couldn't go out to the famous bridge across from the castle to take pictures from there. But I guess that just means I'll have to go back someday! And maybe next time I'll get to see it in another season. I bet its just gorgeous up there in the fall.

Well anyway, that was Neuschwanstein. After the castle that night we went back to the city and Chelsea showed me some different Christmas markets. If you're ever in Germany during the Christmas season, particularly in Bavaria, the Christmas markets are definitely something worth seeing. And it wasn't even just tourists. The locals hang out there too to drink their Glühwein and eat their sausages. I myself partook in a delicious Rotwurst and way too many Lebkuchen and Magenbrot (which are types of Christmas cookies).

On Saturday morning Chelsea and I met up with nothing planned for the day, so we ended up just walking through some of the parks and things so Chelsea could point out all the places she knew. Even though it was winter, I could tell how the whole park scene and everything there is very different from the way it is in Berlin, which I found to be really interesting. The absolutely laidback park culture in Berlin is one of the things that I love dearly about the city, so I'm pretty sure I'd miss it if I lived anywhere else in the country. Anyway, at the end of the Englischer Garten Chelsea showed me one of the neatest things I saw in Munich. There's a bridge where you can stand and watch people surf on this single wave on a small man made river. It was super cool to watch. The surfers would line up on each side and take turns surfing for a minute or so before letting themselves fall back into the water and be pulled away by the current. You remember that I mentioned before how cold it was there, right? These people were far braver than I. And they were mesmerizing to watch. We ended up just standing there for quite awhile until my feet got too cold and we had to leave.

From there we actually went to a cafe to get some lunch and warm up. I really only mention the cafe though because I had a seriously delicious piece of Bailey's creme torte there. And I feel that's something worth recording in this blog :) So yeah, that's all I did on Saturday. We actually just spent the rest of the evening at Chelsea's house since she had to work, though it hardly felt like work with her adorable 2 year old and 2 1/2 month old charges.

Then came Sunday, which I spent by myself. I tried to get some shopping done, but I was basically unsuccessful because I forgot that Germany all but shuts down on Sundays, something I still find to be absolutely frustrating. So instead I went ahead and went out to see Dachau.

Dachau is a concentration camp outside Munich. It was actually the very first concentration camp, the one on which all others were based. Now I think it's important for me to say here that I have been torn about whether I should visit a concentration camp since I arrived in Germany. I always thought it was strange that the first thing most people say they would do in Germany is visit a concentration camp. I mean, first of all, there's a lot more to this country than that. There is a lot of beauty and a lot of life and culture here. And secondly, you don't need to visit one of the camps to see and understand the effects of the war here. The Germans, from what I have seen, are very open about what happened and have faced their history rather than try to hide it. And it's just that, it's history. But yes, I know the importance of learning from our pasts, though I never really thought I'd need to see something like that to know that thinking that way and treating anyone that way is wrong. So basically I spent 11 months trying to decide whether to go and in the end it came down to this: I had nothing else planned for the day and it wouldn't cost me anything, so I might as well. And I guess I'm glad that I did go. It was not, of course, a pleasant experience. But it did help me to let go of a little bit of the cynicism and hate that I've been having such a hard time with since my experience this summer. The memorial, and all of the information therein, kind of helped me to see from an outside perspective how easy it would be to end up filled with such irrational hatred. So it was good for me in a way. Honestly though, I expected to feel more, and I was kind of surprised that I didn't. I guess it was just the way other people had described their experiences that made me think I might have more of a reaction. But I didn't. And maybe that's just because it's not a part of my time. The war never directly affected me and even though it makes me sad that all those events happened, I am not personally connected to them. I don't necessarily think this is a bad thing. I think it's just part of life. A mental coping mechanism. Because if we let every terrible thing that's ever happened weigh fully on our conscious we'd be too broken down to ever get up in the morning. So instead I took the mental lessons that I could from the site and I left with that.

I didn't do much after Dachau. I went back to Munich and had lunch at a beer hall, the Augustiner. It's a nicer, less expensive, less touristy beer hall that is actually located directly across from the very famous Hofbrauhaus. I ate Leberkase and Stampfkartoffeln, though I can't really tell you what Leberkase is because I've never looked it up for fear that finding out what it really is might end in my no longer liking it. Oh, and I had a beer there that was absolutely wonderful. Now if someone would just teach me about beer so that I would know what to remember to ensure I get just as delicious of a beer every time I went out.

And then I went back to the airport and successfully snuck my overweight carryon bag back onto the plane. Oh, and on the way to the airport I managed to lose that umbrella from earlier on a train. I mean, I meant to leave it behind anyway, but I legitimately lost it. I think it was the world's way of saying share the love :) So yeah, that's about all I did in Munich. It doesn't seem like much, but it really was a big trip for me as far as my bucket list goes. As much as I adore Berlin, Bavaria is what we think of when we think Germany, and so I am really glad that I got to go there and experience what they had to offer.

I saved this trip until very last so that I could feel the magic, the wonder of traveling, that I used to feel, because I knew Munich, a place that I have always dreamed of visiting, would do that for me. And I was right. It didn't disappoint at all.

Come With Me Now

Sorry things got behind again. I know I've lost steam, but I still want to try and pull through. Like finishing my year here, I just want to finish my year on this blog.

Anyway, I guess it's only been two weeks since I posted, but a ton of stuff has happened in that time. First of all, like any good homesick American, I dealt with my first Thanksgiving abroad. I actually rearranged my schedule so I could work at the Kita that day. I figured if I couldn't celebrate with my family, I at least wanted to celebrate with all of my little ones and their unconditional love. And it was actually a really nice day. We had a feast (mostly consisting of desserts since we didn't really monitor the potluck sign up list) and I got to explain the reason for Thanksgiving over and over again. I spent cuddle time with my Hopis and I only cried once. As different as it was from every Thanksgiving I've ever had, I really did enjoy it. And I'm thankful that I got to spend it with those kids who give me all the hugs I want and scream my name when I walk in the room.

The day after Thanksgiving was a little bit crazy. First thing in the morning the hot water heater in my apartment broke. Again. So even though I hadn't been planning on moving houses with my host family that weekend, the plans suddenly changed. I actually had to pack up everything in my apartment overnight so that it would be ready for the movers the next day. But before I could do that I had to spend the day with J because his school was closed. He surprised me by asking if we could go to the Allied Forces Museum, something I had been wanting to do but had never gotten the chance. So we ended up going out there and, in my opinion, had a really good time. I think he enjoyed it, but it may have also been a little over his head.

Anyway, so the next day, Saturday, we moved. We only moved a few streets over, but it was a ridiculously long, hard day. I helped with the move and I swear I used muscles that I hadn't flexed in years. By the end of the night I could barely move my arms. But we got moved in, I unpacked in my new bedroom, and now we're making everything work for my last few weeks here.

On Sunday I desperately needed to get out and be on my own for awhile, so I actually went out and did the Berlin walking tour I had been meaning to do for months. My guide was a PhD student in German history, which meant he was extremely well informed. The tour turned out to be really good, maybe even my favorite of all the walking tours I've done this year. Of course, I might be a bit biased though, since we all know I'm full on in love with this city. After the tour I actually re-walked almost the whole route so that I could take more pictures and spend more time at some of the places we had passed. In the course of this I finally visited the Topography of Terror museum, another one of those free things that I had been putting off doing for the last 11 months for no good reason. By the end of the night I had walked well over 12 kilometers (about 7.5 miles) and seen a whole area of the city I had never properly explored before. I definitely deemed it a successful night off.

Then came Monday and back to work. I had to go to the Kita even though it was not one of my work days there because we had group pictures that day and my Hopis asked me to be in their picture, something that made me feel incredibly honored. I should be getting a copy of the picture, which will be really nice so I can remember them all. I do love those kids. Anywho, I spent the rest of the afternoon after that just hanging out in my empty, old apartment trying to go work done because we had no internet in our new house yet. Then I went to the new house for a few hours to watch the kids, and then back to the old house to clean the apartment. Another very exhausting day.

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty normal days. I worked at the Kita during the day and watched my host kids in the evening. The Kita was a little sad, since it was one of the teachers from the Hopi group's last day. She is headed back to Australia at the end of December. But that's life here in Berlin. Everyone is constantly coming and going. It's a dynamic of the city that I both love and hate.

And then Thursday I went to Munich! But that's a story for another post.

Right now things are moving both too fast and too slow. I'm desperately ready to go home, but I'm also exhausted half the time from trying to finish all the things I need or want to do before I leave. And on top of all that there's the adjustment of actually living in the house with my host family now, as opposed to having my private apartment before. I can't complain though. This is what I want and what is best for me. And the excitement about the step in life that I'll be taking soon overshadows everything else.

I have a feeling that life's about to get a little bit crazy. But I'm more than ready for it.

Today's song. I heard it in a movie trailer and immediately fell in love. I've basically been listening to it nonstop since then. It's amazing how the right songs always manage to find me.

That Time

I wanted to write a special post today because today is kind of special. Exactly one month from today I will be home. I'll set foot once again in the city that I have spent the vast majority of my life in. And, at least to me, that's kind of a big deal. So I want to see if I can try and explain a little bit what that feels like to me right now.

I am looking forward to going home. Going home will be easy. Like letting out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. Because you don't realize how much you have to think here. You know nothing here. Everything you've ever learned is thrown out the window. Every law, every societal practice, every proper channel, it's all different. And all that trying, all that thinking through every move, it's exhausting. But at home I'll be a master. Nothing can scare me anymore because if I can do it in a foreign country, then I can do it at home. No problem.

On the other hand, I'm terrified of going back. I left home for a reason. As beautiful and wonderful as Washington is, there were aspects that I had just outgrown. And I know that I've changed a lot since coming to Germany, I just don't know in exactly what ways I've changed. So when I go back, I don't have any idea what will happen. I don't know what I'll be doing or who I'll be doing it with. I don't know how I'll react to people and their views. I don't even know how long I'll stay. And I am terrible at not knowing things.

Berlin is the most welcoming city I've ever been in. It speaks to me and comforts me on a level that I hadn't known was possible before. I love this city. And I know I'll be back. But for now I also know, deep in my heart, that it's time to go home. For everything that my first year abroad has taught me and shown me, for every breathtaking moment that I'll never forget, there's always been that constant struggle. The learning, the mistakes, the hard days. I need to reset, regroup, and then start again. And I think only the familiarity of my childhood home and being surrounded by the people I've always known can do that for me right now.

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and while we're not celebrating it here, I just want to say that I am thankful. I'm so thankful for the past 11 months because they've given me the chance to fulfill so many dreams that I'd hardly dared to hope for and because they've shaped me into a whole new person. A person who is both excited and terrified to start on the next leg of an adventure that I know will continue to amaze and to challenge me for the rest of my life.

See you all in a month.

Amsterdam

Alright, well I promised it, so here it is.

Martina and I left for Amsterdam at about 3am on November 1st, which means we got to enjoy the sight of all the Halloween drunks meandering home on our way to the airport. The flight there and all that was pretty uneventful. We made it to our hostel and checked in, with the one big surprise of the day being that the hostel had a resident kitty! And you all know how I love kitties! So then we ended up just wandering around, as we always do. The area our hostel was in was pretty active for night life, but that meant it was absolutely dead before 10am. One thing that was open though was an H&M, where we ended up as our previous pants buying expedition had been unsuccessful and the jeans I was wearing were literally disintegrating. But with the goal of new pants finally accomplished and since it was raining (a fact that would end up to be true of just about the entire duration of the trip), we ended up hanging out in a restaurant drinking way overpriced cocoa and coffee and eating poffertjes, which are little Dutch pancakes. I, of course, tried all the available sauces and syrups, as I only really like food as a vessel for condiments.

That night we did our obligatory run at the Hard Rock Cafe. I can't say it was my favorite Hard Rock, but I did appreciate that we were directly overlooking a canal, which was very pretty. Plus they gave us both free sundaes, even though we only had a coupon for one! And these were like legitimate sized sundaes, not those little healthy person sundae shooters. Normally these cost like 7 euros each. So I have to give them props for that :)

The next day we decided to get up and do the free walking tour. This is another thing that we try and do in whatever cities we go to, if it's offered. As usual we were extremely satisfied with the tour and learned a ton (all of which I'm sure Martina remembers, but I am currently blanking on). And thankfully, the rain held off for the whole three hours of the tour! Can't exactly say it was warm, but at least my camera was safe.

After the walking tour we walked all the way back by our hostel to go to Wagamama because I wanted ramen. We ate at one of the Wagamama restaurants in London and were highly impressed. I can't say the same of this one, but at least our waiter was super awesome! And well, I think that's all we did that day. I mean, I did preface this whole thing with the fact that we were super lazy the whole time.

In fact the only other notable thing about that night was that when we returned to our hostel there was a nearly unresponsive girl in the waiting room that the staff was trying to get rid of despite the recommendations of a Red Cross volunteer that was there trying to help her. Apparently the girl had eaten way too much space cake and was having a bad reaction. Oh, and she threw up in her room. Did I mention she was one of our roommates? So that was nice. But as annoyed as I was by all this, I was more upset by the absolutely rude staff member who was trying to force this girl who couldn't even stand to go down a very steep flight of stairs and wander the streets. I mean, yes, it sucks that she screwed up and that she's staying in your hostel. But you work in a hostel in AMSTERDAM! This is going to happen. And besides, it's not like you're running a four star hotel here. I had talked to at least one other set of guests who had been forced to give up their beds and sleep on mattresses on the floor because the hostel overbooked. And that rude staff member? He proceeded to yell at Martina and I and then CHASE US UP THE STAIRS the next day because we rang the door bell to get in twice when there was clearly a (misspelled) sign that said to only ring once. Honestly, Martina and I are the least problematic tenants you could have. And we only rang twice because after the first ring the door made a sound like someone had tried to open it but not pushed the button down long enough. So no, the hostel did not get a good review from me.

Anywho, on Saturday we once again did basically nothing. I honestly think we just walked around the city. I remember nothing of note. That's not to say we didn't have a great time. I just think we had a great time doing basically nothing.I can't say the same of Saturday night though. We had a couple of the rudest people ever in our room. They were already asleep when we came to bed at 10pm, so we were very respectful and quiet. But at 1am they decided to get up and turn on the lights so they could get ready to go out. Two guys. Two very stupid, very stoned guys. And it took them well over an hour to get ready. They were extremely loud the whole time and didn't seem to understand that everyone else in the room was sleeping and wanted the light off. One of our roommates spoke a little Italian, so she even tried telling them in their own language. They agreed and turned the light off for all of 30 seconds. I honestly have no idea how anyone can be so stupid and disrespectful. They're extremely lucky that I did not throw their shoes out on the ledge outside the window the next morning, even though I really really wanted to.

Then came Sunday, the day we were supposed to leave. Since we had all day to kill before our 9pm flight, we decided to walk the whole way to the train station. It was a long ways, but we like to walk and we were in no rush anyway. On our walk we hit up the best fry stand in town for some delicious fries with garlic sauce that are literally making my mouth water as I think about them. We also made a run by a cafe for the best apple pie in town. It was delicious, but I can't say it was the best I've ever had. Honestly, the crust, the part that I find hardest to make, was awesome. But the filling just wasn't great.

So yeah, by that time we were both soaked because it was raining so hard. And the makeshift raincoat I had made for my camera out of a plastic H&M bag was losing its efficacy. Luckily we weren't too far from the train station and even though it was still five hours until our flight took off, we decided to just head to the airport. When we got there we found that our flight was delayed by an hour, which was annoying, but not ultimately all that bad. We took over a section of the lobby and spread our stuff out everywhere to dry.

After a few hours of twiddling our thumbs, offending the rich old people with our barefooted-ness, and trying to dry my falling apart shoes in the bathroom with my hair dryer, we decided to go back out to the main terminal and try to get some cheaper food since there really wasn't anything in our terminal that we could afford to eat. There was no clear exit, so we went out through the baggage area, where I ended getting yelled at in both Dutch and English to "Please leave this area immediately!". It was both off-putting and hilarious. We found a supermarket in the airport where as I stalked around hungrily Martina managed to make friends with the employee behind the deli counter who was having a bad day and asked her to "Tell me something funny that happened to you today."

Once our bellies were satisfied we went back through security to our gate, only to find that our plane had been delayed another hour. At this point I was getting nervous as I had to work at 7am the next morning. And it turns out I was rightfully nervous. At nearly 11pm, as they were shutting down everything in our terminal, a poor stewardess got caught in the hallway and finally spilled the beans that our flight had been cancelled. That resulted in a mad dash to the EasyJet counter, where we were given a brochure outlining our rights and told we would be put up in a hotel overnight. So then there was a second mad dash to get outside, where it turned out that there were only two eight person shuttles that could take people to the hotel. It ended up taking well over an hour for us to get to the hotel because we weren't gonna risk being pushed in front of an oncoming car by all the crazy people who just couldn't be civil about waiting for the shuttles. But hey, the hotel was really nice! And it was the first legitimate hotel Martina and I had stayed in in ages! Free little soaps and everything!

So the next morning we got up early to get back to the airport for our rescheduled flight at 9am, only to find it had once again been delayed for two hours. By the time we finally got to the airport, I was starting to get sick, I hadn't slept well, I was wearing still wet, dirty clothes, and I was starving. I went to the EasyJet counter to ask for the food vouchers promised in the brochure they'd given us and was met with one of the rudest airline employees I've ever encountered. Unfortunately, because I was so wiped, it ended up in my crying and charging food to my credit card (though EasyJet did later refund that money for me when I filed a complaint).

Well anyway, eventually we did get on a plane and get home. I missed taking the kids to school, but my host family was really cool and understanding. Unfortunately, I got home at 2:00pm and had to head out to pick up the kids at 2:45pm, so I didn't exactly get any down time. But I was just glad to be home and to have some clean, dry clothes.

So yeah, that was Amsterdam. My last trip for awhile with my best friend and the greatest travel companion I've ever had. But I'm already looking forward to our next adventure, whenever that maybe be :)

Sorry that the post is a little business-y sounding, but I'm getting really tired and just needed to get it out or I would never get around to it.

Ok, now I'm gonna go pass out. Whatever this disease is, it's still kicking my butt.

Ready to Start

Several sources have pointed out that I'm extraordinarily behind on my blog. So I'm finally here to give you a little rundown of what I've been up to in the past month, after which I'm sure you'll see exactly why I haven't had a chance to post.

So my last post left off with my au pair meeting. After the meeting I went to have drinks with a couple of the girls in an attempt to make any new friends that might help these last couple of months pass faster. But nothing really panned out there other than discovering an awesome new bar. Then the next weekend I went to an Irish pub for a Toytown meetup. If I somehow manage to never explain it before, Toytown is a website for English speakers in Germany. There's a huge group of us that hang out pretty often, but I hadn't been out to an event in a while. The shock for me upon arriving was that I didn't know a single person there. I'm like the senior Toytowner now. Everyone I have met is seriously gone. So I stayed around awhile, had my first Guinness, and then I went home, mostly because the pub was directly on my bus line and I didn't want to go out further into the city with everyone just to have to ride home alone.

And just a few days after that little adventure Martina finally arrived! There was a lot of drama with her host family but she finally escaped Italy and made it back to Berlin. Her luggage didn't arrive until three days later, but I tried to keep her pre-occupied with awesomeness in the mean time. We went shopping for jeans (as all of mind apparently are disintegrating and I absolutely hate shopping for pants), we had falafel (my first time!) at a super delicious hole in the wall, we visited the Reichstag and the Jewish Memorial, and we had what was possibly my favorite night out on the town since I got here. Seriously, you know that saying that goes "Dance like nobody's watching"? I did that. And it terrified all the poor people in that club who weren't having nearly as much fun as we were. And after the club we hit that bar that I mentioned earlier, where we met some very strange men who apparently don't understand that to pick up a girl you have to actually talk to her. And the whole night was rounded off with a stop for 3am street vendor fries from the nicest guy ever. He gave us free sauces and even gave me free tea because of my cold. And all because Martina rocks at German :)

The other big thing that happened while Martina was here was Halloween. We're poor, so we made our own costumes for about 2 euros each. I was an angel and Martina was a devil. Fairly appropriate, I'd say. As is tradition for me, we watched Hocus Pocus. We also took my host kids trick or treating, which was mostly unsuccessful, but still invoked awesome childhood memories for us older kids. Oh, and earlier in the day I celebrated Halloween at the Kita with all of my little kiddos who were super adorable in their costumes. Not my most exciting Halloween ever, but I was pretty happy with it. And I was super grateful that Martina was here and that my host parents love her and let her hang out with us the whole time I was working.

The morning after Halloween Martina and I left for our final trip, Amsterdam. But I want to write about that in a separate post, so I'm going to skip right over to the day we got back, November 5th. I had to hit the ground running because my host mom was gone for an entire week, which meant I didn't get to spend as much time with my friend as I would have liked. But we spent her last few days in Berlin staying up late and chatting and all those things that friends do that I am going to miss way too much until I get to see her again. On Thursday the 8th I got up at 3:30am (because I'm such a devoted friend) to drive Martina to the airport. It was a little bittersweet. I wish she hadn't had to leave, but I'm glad she got to go home. She'd been here for 14 months (she's way more of a trooper than I) and I think she was glad to get to go home for awhile. But I'm pretty sure I've got a pretty good seed planted in her mind about Washington, so maybe I can convince her to come up some day soon.

After I left the airport I actually ended up getting lost and drove around Berlin in the middle of the night, but I did eventually find a street I recognized and made it home. I worked two more days and then I was extremely looking forward to having three whole days off to recover from Martina's visit and Amsterdam and the fact that my host mom had been gone for five days in a row. Unfortunately, my body had other ideas. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but I have had this cough since I got back from Italy. Nothing bad, mostly just an annoying tickle. But last weekend it started getting worse. And then my muscles started hurting. And by Monday morning I was almost ready to admit that I was sick. But it was Tuesday morning that finally convinced me. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't eat. I couldn't breathe. I thought I was dying. I actually broke down and asked my host mom to take me to the doctor. So that was fun. He gave me antibiotics and told me no work for a week. I ended up spending the entire week laying on my couch. It was hugely unproductive and miserable. By Friday I wasn't feeling too much better, so when I went back to the doctor I basically begged for anything with pseudoephedrine in it. But nope. They're just not big on decent drugs here. I gotta say, I miss that about home, even if it is terrible for my body. So anyway, I have been waiting it out all weekend with my herbs and teas and steamy baths and I am finally FINALLY getting a bit better. Well at least I don't feel like my sinuses are pushing my eyeballs out of my skull anymore. I do wish my stupid ears would stop feeling like they need to pop though.

The only time I really got out over the last few days was to go to my host dad's birthday dinner. It was fondue, and as far as I could tell with my blocked sinuses, it was delicious. And I particularly liked the decor of the restaurant. It was very rustic and cozy.

So that's why I haven't posted. And I swear, it's all true.

I'm gonna try and post about Amsterdam either later tonight or tomorrow. But believe me, it was our laziest trip ever, so don't expect too much.

Here's today's song. It's my favorite song right now and I think the lyrics really express how I feel about going home.

Italy!

I thought it would be good to get my Italy post up before I leave for Amsterdam in just over a week, so here I am, forcing myself to write despite the work I should be doing and the books I'd rather be reading. So here goes....

I left for Italy on October 3rd. My host family offered me a ride to the airport since they were also leaving that day, but I turned it down since they were leaving early in the morning and I wasn't scheduled to fly out until the afternoon. Unfortunately I forgot that the 3rd is a holiday in Germany and that the whole city basically ceases to function. I ended up getting to the airport 20 minutes before my gate closed. I think my nervousness was pretty perceptible because after standing in the security line for just a few minutes everyone was super nice and parted to let me through. I ran the entire length of the airport and made it to my gate just three minutes before they closed it. I have no idea what I would've done if I'd missed my flight, so thank goodness for those super amazing people who so nicely let me cut in line.

I spent my first day in Italy in Pisa, where Martina met me. It's a pretty enough city, and of course I had to see the Leaning Tower, but there's really just nothing else there. The tower is it. But hey, it really is leaning. Way more than I expected. So anyway we walked around, had some really awful pasta, ate some gelato, and then just chilled on the terrace at our hostel. Our hostel turned out to be super nice, one of the best I've stayed in to date. I only wish it had been in a bigger city so I could've justified spending more than one night there.

The next morning we intended to spend half the day walking through Pisa to the train station, where we would catch our train to Florence. But at 9:00am we found we had already walked the entire diameter of the city in less than an hour. It was a heck of a lot smaller than it looked on the map. We ended up sitting on some benches not too far from the train station to just talk and watch the people go by. But then this old Italian lady came out of nowhere and started freaking out at me. I had no idea what she was saying and Martina was able to piece together that she was worried about me being cold and getting sick because I was wearing shorts. Mind you, I was sweating. It was more than hot enough to be wearing shorts. Martina told the lady in Italian that we didn't speak any Italian, but she just kept going on and on. She even touched me. It was so strange. Eventually she wandered off, but it was definitely a weird encounter.

After the weird lady we got up to head to Florence. The train was nice and the ride was pretty short, about an hour I think. The only major complaint I had was the beggar ladies who wouldn't back off while we were trying to buy our tickets at the machine. They were pushy and I didn't like it. By far the worst beggars I've ever had to deal with. But we arrived in Florence, which ended up being my favorite city on the trip. It's much bigger than Pisa, though there's still not all that much to do. We walked a lot (all uphill of course). I took way too many pictures. We ate loads of gelato and fairly decent pasta. We also ate at the Hard Rock Cafe where we spent nearly three hours just hanging out and enjoying the food and the atmosphere. We climbed 463 steps to the top of the dome on Florence's major cathedral where we were rewarded with an amazing view. We went on the great canolli hunt. We saw statues and protestors and lots of mopeds. It really was a beautiful city. I can't say I'd go again though, as there's only so much to do there and we accomplished all of it in just two days.

When we left Florence on the 6th we took a train to Siena. Honestly, the thing that will forever stick in my mind about Siena is that it's on top of a huge hill and you have to take about 15 minutes worth of escalators to get from the train station at the bottom to the actual city at the top. Other than that, Siena just wasn't all that noteworthy. The thing about Tuscan cities is that once you've seen one of them you can basically imagine you've seen them all. They're pretty and old and all that, but they're all the same. So we spent most of that day just lounging in the Piazza del Campo. We also stumbled upon a Bentley enthusiasts car show and once again ate way too much gelato. Then to top the afternoon off we sat on one of the city walls and entertained each other by being strange. Because that's what we do.

That night we took a train (If you can call it that. It was only one car.) to Arezzo to meet Martina's host mom so she could drive us back to their villa. It ended up being quite the long night and we spent a good portion of it sitting on the steps of an old church in Arezzo drinking limoncello from a bottle. Maybe not my classiest moment, but definitely one of my favorite memories.

I spent the next two nights at the villa with Martina. There's really nothing to do there either so we walked around the vineyard while I took pictures and then we ended up just hanging out and watching movies. Not that I'm complaining. I definitely don't get enough hang out time with Martina anyway.

On the morning of the 8th Martina drove me to the train station in Cortona. I have to say, it was a beautiful drive, if nothing else. It was foggy out, but in a super surreal, beautiful sort of way. After a not so welcome goodbye, I took the train back to Florence and then had a three hour train ride from Florence to Venice.

Venice was, surprisingly, exactly the way you see it in pictures. It's a beautiful city and the canals do give it a really laid back vibe. Once again, I ended up taking way too many pictures. I walked all over the city for two days. I ate at the Hard Rock, again, where I made friends with a very gay waiter. I saw the Rialto Bridge and went to the Rialto Fish Market early in the morning, which was an interesting experience. I visited St Mark's Square and went through the Basilica. I actually went twice because as I was about to exit I heard a woman speaking English and I sneakily followed her back in to enjoy a free tour of the church. After seeing the Basilica I took a water bus out to Murano, an island famous for its hand blown glass. You may have heard of Venetian glass? It comes from there. When I'd had my fill of that island I took another water bus to Burano, which is famous only for the fact that all of the houses along the canal are painted in ridiculously bright colors. There wasn't much going on on either island. But my favorite story of the whole trip happened on Burano. I was actually lost. I had been wandering around for an hour trying to find my way back to the water bus stop so I could go back to Venice. I sat down on a bench to look at my map and this big cat with a collar on jumps out of nowhere and very insistently headbutts his way onto my lap. I scratched him a little and then expected him to take off. But no. He was there to sleep and that's what he did. He curled up right on my lap and passed out. If I stopped petting him he would meow the pushiest meow I'd ever heard. People came by and petted him. Lots of kids even. And he didn't care, not one bit. All the people asked if he was mine and were surprised when I told them what happened. After about half an hour I finally moved him off my lap so I could leave. He was not happy about that. Anyway, if you know me you know how much I love cats. And I haven't had any cats to love on since I left. So that totally made my trip.

Italy was an interesting trip. I mean, I had a great time, but mostly that was because I was with Martina and we have fun no matter what we're doing. Plus I'd just missed her a whole bunch. But the country itself was not my favorite. It was too quite, too slow. I like big cities. I like lots of activity and hustle and bustle. And Italy also just seemed a little derelict. There were several times where I couldn't help but think "Man, it looks like the zombie apocalypse already hit here." So I don't think I'd go again. At least not to Tuscany. I saw everything I needed to see and checked loads of things off my list. Maybe someday I'll hit southern Italy, which I'm sure is completely different. Until then, Berlin still holds the number one spot in my heart. And as excited as I am to be going home soon (two months from today to be exact!) for now I can't help but feel happy to be back in the land that has so assuredly stolen my heart.

And because it's stuck in my head and it makes me feel peaceful and happy, here's a song for you. It's called Helena Beat by Foster the People.

P.S. I just watched the video for the first time and it's not peaceful or happy. But that seems to be the case with all of Foster the People's music. It's a good thing I can't ever actually understand what they're saying. And it's still a good song. I still suggest you listen to it.

Commencing Countdown, Engines On

I'd like to apologize for being a liar. I know I said I'd write before I left for Italy, but life really got busy for awhile there and to be perfectly honest, I just didn't feel like doing it. Now I know it's been awhile since I wrote about what's going on, so I'll do my best to remember everything that's happened.

After I got back from Hannover I was treated to dinner by my host mother's mother. We went to Block House, which is a steak house in our neighborhood. It was the first steak I'd had in nine months and it was delicious. I had a great time with my host family and felt really honored that they invited me along to what was obviously a family dinner. And I think it was good timing because even though being an au pair can by super hard and my kids can sometimes drive me right up a wall, it's afternoons like that one that remind how me how lucky I am to be here. I really am grateful that I was placed with a family that I get along with so well. We don't agree on everything, but all the most important things are there, something I can't say I've seen in every au pair/host family relationship. And sometimes I even get days like yesterday, when both kids were so perfectly well behaved for me and I got to enjoy a fun afternoon teaching my four year old how to play War and Go Fish. As much as I've been suffering through homesickness and maybe not always seemed as grateful as I should these last few weeks, I do appreciate everything they've done for me and will miss them a lot when I go home.

Recently, there have been times where the homesickness has really threatened to overwhelm me. I think there are three major reasons for that. The first is the most obvious. I've been here almost ten months now. That's a long time to be away from everything and everyone that I love and that is so familiar and so easy. The second reason is that they've started putting out Christmas stuff here and in my head I equate Christmas this year with going home. And I won't really get Halloween or Thanksgiving, not like at home, so I don't even have those holidays to distract myself with. I know I've still got just over two months until I leave, but it's hard to remember that when all that holiday cheer is starting to pop up everywhere I turn. And the third reason is that I'm alone all of a sudden. Every friend that I've made here has suddenly up and left. I still know people of course and I go out from time to time and socialize, but all of the people that I really considered to be good friends have suddenly up and left. It's a little disheartening and has left me feeling a bit abandoned, to be honest.

My best friend though, I did get to see her a few weeks ago. She came to stay with me for two nights while she was in Berlin working out visa issues. It was so great and when she got here I realized that I hadn't really had a chance to just cut loose and laugh since she'd left over a month ago. I also got to spend the last week with her touring Italy, something I'll be sure to post about next. And now she'll be back in Berlin for a final time in just another two weeks. I seriously can't wait until she gets here. We might actually get to have a decent Halloween celebration AND we're going to Amsterdam for four days. It's my second to last trip and I'm really super excited about it.

So what other things have I done? I went to a going away party and an au pair dinner. I changed a record seven diapers in just 15 minutes at the Kita. My host mom has been working lots and therefore so have I. I've also been doing some side jobs to save up money for home. Speaking of money, I went to Italy and spent way too much. And tomorrow I'm going to an au pair meeting with girls from my agency. We're going to take a tour of the Berlin Festival of Lights. It should be super pretty and I'm excited to see it.

I guess I don't have much else to say. I think that's ok though, because I don't think any of you reading this are really interested in hearing my every day to day action. So I'm just posting to let you know I'm ok. I'm enjoying the rest of my time here, but also really looking forward to coming home. I can't wait to see everybody and to just be home again.

Here's today's song. Thanks to Ben for finally helping me get the Christmas music out of my head for a little while.  Space Oddity by David Bowie

P.S. I do love that Bowie. In all his androgynous wonder. We'll always have Berlin in common :)

Hameln and Hannover

Well I've been back a week now from my first trip as a lone traveler. And I would definitely deem it a success. I left last Friday afternoon. I very nearly didn't make it as I stopped to buy snacks for the road and the bus that was supposed to take me from the grocery store showed up super late. But I got to the big bus station with a few minutes to spare. And the charter bus I took was super nice. More comfortable than any plane I've been on recently. So after three and a half hours I arrived in Hannover. It was dark and raining and it took me another hour to get to my hostel because the directions said to take either tram 1 or 2, but I couldn't find either of those trams. Turns out they're underground at that point and I hadn't thought to go into what I considered the subway. But I finally got there and finally got checked in to my nice, albeit strange hostel. There was no staff in the hostel building. You had to go across the street to a much nicer looking hotel and check in there. But the beds in the hostel were nice with privacy curtains and shelves and even personal lamps. And it was quite clean, by hostel standards. And most of the tenants were nice, though I think there was a circus troop staying there with lots of hula hoops and things. It was very strange. Anyway, I picked up a döner (which was terribly disappointing) for dinner and read my book for awhile (I got a ton of reading done on this trip) before heading to bed.

The next morning I got up early, took the tram back to the central train station and bought a ticket to Hameln. The train ride was only about 45 minutes. And the city was absolutely beautiful. It's wasn't a very big city, so I just hung around all day in the old city part of town and marveled at the beautiful timbered buildings and all of the intricate details on everything. I thought it was awesome how the city fully embraced it's heritage as the origin of the Pied Piper. Everywhere you looked there was some reference to the Piper or to rats. The cobblestone streets had these little rat stones in them that you could follow around to learn about different things pertaining to the Pied Piper. I followed it for awhile, but the signs were all in German that was a bit above my reading level. One of the things that I really loved about Hameln was that strangely enough, it reminded me of home. I think it was the mountains on the horizon. I hadn't seen mountains in awhile. I actually spent a long time just sitting on this bridge that looks a lot like one in Riverfront Park, staring out at the water and the beautiful skies. For lunch I ate in a Mexican restaurant and apparently made friends with the man next to me who was so incredibly proud of himself for having finished a bowl of the restaurant's hottest soup (Which was probably not that hot. I know how Germans do spicy.)

Hameln was a wonderful place to visit alone. I don't think I would've had as much of a chance to wander and marvel and appreciate all the small things if I'd been with someone else. Like the miniature key chain with salt, pepper, paprika, and curry powder that I bought in a little store. I fell in love with it because A) it's tiny and adorable and B) I'm always sad when German restaurants don't have salt and pepper on the table. I also got the chance to laugh when 99 Red Balloons, a song that is normally in German, came on in a German store in ENGLISH. I never hear it in English in America, lol. And I got to try my first bubble tea, which was surprisingly delicious.  Mind you, I was trying to buy frozen yogurt when I got the bubble tea, but it was a worthwhile mistake.

The major tourist things that I did in Hameln were of course to watch the Glockenspiel figures of the Pied Piper and to climb up to the top of the church bell tower in the middle of  the market. It required climbing up a ton of really narrow, really steep staircases and I spent half the time worrying that the bells would start ringing and I'd go deaf. But the view was absolutely worth it. The only downside was that on the way down I had to cross through this room with three doors and I couldn't remember which door to go through, so I ended up sitting in the room until some other people came through and then just following them like a dork.

Anyway, I took the train back to Hannover that afternoon and had dinner at this outdoor restaurant. I ordered chicken strips and jojos and then totally freaked out everyone around me by proceeding to eat them with my fingers. You can't use a fork and knife on chicken strips silly people! It was a great meal though. There was something going on next door so they were playing lots of loud music that I got to enjoy, including one of my favorite songs these days, Haus am See. You can find it here if you're interested.

I went back to the hostel and planned to go to sleep pretty early so that I could get up early the next day. Unfortunately at about 3am I think I might've swallowed a bug, because I woke up with the worst tickling throat feeling and couldn't stop coughing. And about an hour later, when I'd just finally drifted off back to sleep, this jerk checked into the room and decided that 4am in a room with 20 sleeping people would be a good time to have a fight with his girlfriend on the phone. Sadly, he was an English speaker and I might've been the only other English speaker in the room, but I didn't want to get involved.

So the next morning I packed up and headed out. I had breakfast in a bakery and then went to the tourist information center to buy the red thread guide. The red thread is a line that's painted on the ground in Hannover. With the guide (that only costs 3 euros), you can follow it around the city and learn about all of the major sites. It was probably the best sightseeing set up I'd ever encountered. I was able to go at my own pace and learn a ton. I spent all day doing that. I also spent a considerable amount of time in the Town Hall, which was absolutely beautiful. I waited in line for like half an hour just to go to the top of the tower. I'd say it was worth it. You could see the whole city, plus you got to ride up in the crazy elevator that switches angles on the way up.

All in all, it was a great trip. I took way more pictures than I normally do (probably because I had no one to distract me with conversation) and I got to practice my German quite a bit because people in Hannover either don't speak English or don't want to speak it with me. But I got to relax and take it slow and just spend a weekend taking in how beautiful the world can be. It was exactly what I needed.

Now I'm just getting ready to head off to Italy in one week. I'll be spending seven days seeing Pisa, Florence, and Venice with Martina!! I'm so stoked to get to see here again :)

I'll post about the last week and this upcoming week right before I leave.

*Edit: Does anyone actually look at my pictures on here? Is there anyone who reads this that isn't already friends with me on Facebook? Because if I don't need to post pictures twice, I'm not going to do it. I just don't have the time. So if anyone would still like me to post them here, please leave me a comment below and let me know. 

London Pics

Ok, here you are. Pictures of London. Finally got them uploaded. I mean, I did promise after all :)

Enjoy!

Chasing the Sun

First of all, super super sorry that I didn't post the London pictures. I'm going to do that next, promise.

Alright. Well the last two weeks have been somehow both excruciatingly slow and ridiculously fast. First I spent a good three days holed up in my apartment working on my website. Good news though is that it's finally done! If you're interested (or, you know, have a super awesome job that you're just waiting for an excuse to offer me) then you can check it out here.

So after the three day Actionscript marathon of doom I went back to work. Reading, playing, chasing, chastising, praising, cutting fruit, changing poopy diapers. This is my life these days. And I didn't even have to suffer nine months of what sounds like terrifying bodily changes to get here. And of course, with all of this fun stuff going on, I inevitably picked up the stomach bug that is apparently making it's way around my Kita that no one felt the need to warn me about. So then I spent two more days in my apartment making best friends with both the toilet and my bed.

I recovered just in time to enjoy the wedding madness on Saturday. The children's grandfather got married. My first German wedding! The ceremony was definitely interesting, in a tiny packed room in an old government building with only a couple of chairs and a lot of big German words that I didn't understand. But apparently that office (the Standesamt, of which I understand there to be one in each district) is the only place you can legally get married in Germany. And they do the ceremonies in 20 minute time slots. That part I liked. No time for a dawdling priest to go on forever.

The reception was wonderful. The way I often picture weddings to be, but have never really experienced because everyone I know is on the broke side. There was a great entertainer and delicious food. And a dance floor, which I did not partake in as I was still pretty exhausted from the previously mentioned days of disease. I took loads of pictures for the bride and groom and even though I wasn't doing any professional work, I'm very pleased with the way a few of them came out.

So after the hugely packed day of wedding activities on Saturday I spent Sunday just relaxing. Lucky for me I had Monday off as well. I did my Zumba class in the morning and then set off in the afternoon to do the free walking tour of Berlin that I've been saying I was going to do for weeks. But then I stopped at Potsdamer Platz to look for some food before the tour and well, turns out I'm easily swayed. I found myself in front of the big movie theater and I realized how badly I just wanted to sit down and relax. So instead of being a good student of life and taking the tour where I'd get both a decent dose of exercise and a load of historical knowledge, I treated myself to an outside dinner in the Sony Center and then went to see a movie by myself. I know, it sounds terribly pathetic. But sometimes you just gotta do what you want, whether there's anyone else around to enjoy it with you or not. And because I refuse to grow up, I ended up seeing Brave. My second choice was Cabin in the Woods. Probably a good thing I didn't go with that. We all know how my seeing scary movies alone tends to turn out... So I saw Brave, which I had really wanted to do for awhile. It was cute and sweet and may have even brought a few tears to my eyes. Not Pixar's best (but honestly, I don't think anything else will ever live up to Finding Nemo), but definitely a good movie.

Since then the week has passed pretty uneventfully. Except for that hour where I was alone in a room with 25 sleeping children under the age of three and they all started to wake up way earlier than they were supposed to and I definitely couldn't wrangle that many screaming babies at once. But hey, I'm still alive and so are all of those children, so I call that a success!

Tomorrow I'm heading off to Hannover. People keep asking what in the world I'm going there for. Honestly, there is no reason. I picked it because bus tickets are 9 euro each way and I wanted to get out of town for cheap. So that's all. Oh, and I love the Pied Piper. He's from Hameln, which is a short ride from Hannover, so I'm totally gonna go be geeky and learn all about him.

I'll be back late Sunday night. In the mean time, I wish you all the most wonderful of happy and relaxing weekends. And here's the song currently stuck in my head. Hope you enjoy :)

London (Not Nearly as Late as Istanbul!)

Alright, so London. London was definitely an experience for me. Honestly, it was not the best trip I've ever taken. I was still recovering and we hit a couple of bumps while there, but it was a good trip.

We flew Ryan Air. This was my first experience with a budget airline. It was great for what it was. Just a short hour and a half trip. But I definitely wouldn't fly anything overseas that way. Seats are not assigned, you get to the gate, wait in line, and grab the first seat you can find. Then the seats don't even have basic things like pockets on the back or the ability to recline. But the worst part to me was that the stewardesses try to sell you stuff the whole time. From suitcases to drinks (no, they're not free) to tickets to attractions in your destination city. I seriously just wanted them to sit down and shut up for a little bit.

So we arrived pretty late in the afternoon. By the time we got to our hostel I think it was like 7:00 or 8:00pm. The hostel was actually the biggest problem with the whole trip. It was a huge let down from what was advertised. It was not close to anything, though they'd promised a 15 minute walk to huge attractions (It was a 15 minute walk to the underground station where you could catch a train to attractions. Not the same.) They had promised a bar, but what they meant was that they sold a few overpriced drinks from a fridge behind the main desk. The staff did their jobs, but definitely didn't make any effort to be helpful or even friendly. And our room. Well. I'd never stay there again. There were four sets of three high bunks beds crammed into a room small enough that there wasn't enough space after the beds for all of the tenants to still stand in the room. And it was hot. Unbearably hot. I hardly slept the entire time because I was melting. I spent most of the nights roaming the hallways. Oh, and to top it all off, there was only one toilet on our floor for about 50 people. And it was broken most of the time. So in case anyone's planning a trip to London, please do not ever make a reservation at the London Eye Hostel.

Well once we'd checked in we found a restaurant that Martina had looked up to have dinner. It was a traditional fish and chips place. I had the chicken and mushroom pie (you all know how I feel about fish). But I did try Martina's fish and it wasn't half bad. Plus the place gave you shrimps and pickled onions and pickles and bread, all for free. And the portions were huge, so that was nice.

The next day we headed out to the National Observatory because we're nerds and wanted to see the Prime Meridian. It took us ages to get there due to closures from the Olympics. We had to walk up this huge hill of doom to get there. It sucked really bad. After that we went to the Tower of London. Ended up spending all afternoon there. I didn't realize it was a whole complex, not just a tower. But it was a really cool site, probably my favorite of the "must see" sites that we saw. And then that evening we did a Grim Reaper tour. Our tour guide was awesome. She enthusiastically told us all about the dark history of London while still be respectful of the history and the victims. After the tour our guide directed us to Brick Lane, a street full of Indian food restaurants. I do love my curry, so it was awesome.

On Friday we got started early with the free walking tour of London. This is one thing that I'd highly suggest to anyone going to London. There's no charge, but they ask that you leave tips at the end depending on how much you thought it was worth. And believe me, it is worth it. It's a great tour and you get a good overview of all the main sites. After the tour we were pretty exhausted, so we took it easy. We took the train up to King's Cross Station to be nerdy tourists and get a picture of the Platform 9 3/4 thing (it's not actually inside with the platforms, as you need to buy a train ticket to get in there.) And that night we had Groupons for Rodizio for dinner. It was so delicious. We spent a couple hours there just stuffing ourselves with the best, most flavorful cuts of meat I'd had since leaving home. I freaking love Rodizio.

Saturday we set out for Regent's Park with some sandwiches and the intention of having a picnic on Primrose Hill, where the views of the city are supposed to be spectacular. Unfortunately, we were pretty tired from our full days before and the lack of sleep we'd been getting. We ended up crashing somewhere in Regent's Park to eat. And then I passed out in the middle of the park and got an hour of sleep in so that I wouldn't be cranky the whole rest of the day. So I guess I can add London to my list of cities where I've slept in parks, lol. After the park we went to Hard Rock so I could buy my shot glass and get pictures. Then we went to Madame Tussaud's, where we had pre-purchased reservation tickets to get in. If you're going to go, then that's definitely the best plan. The line for regular tickets was crazy long. As usual, we had a great time at the wax museum. This is the third one I've been to, and by far the best. We even braved the Scream portion. I want to say it wasn't that bad, but I think my eyes were closed the whole time, lol. I did appreciate that once you got through the live actors part there was a section about the old beheadings and stuff, with replicas of a few of Madame Tussaud's original death masks. I know it's morbid, but I find that stuff so interesting. I also liked that this wax museum had a part called The Spirit of London. It was a ride where you sat in these taxes and were taken through the history of London. Very cool. When we finally left after three whole hours in the museum we headed to Piccadilly Circus to check it off of our places to see. At this point I was so hungry that I could no longer function. I grumpily stomped around until we ended up at an "American" diner. It was hokey and not the best food I've ever had, but I was so hungry that it didn't matter. And we had a great time making up backgrounds for all of the staff, who were some of the most varied men I've ever seen. After food we were going to go on a Pub Crawl, but we were just too tired. We ended up sitting there at Piccadilly Circus just watching the people and the street performers. There was a really great drum group and this dude who could limbo like nobody's business. I've always loved people watching, so this was totally great.

Sunday we planned to hit the free museums. Apparently museums are paid for with taxes in England, so entrance to a lot of them was free. We started at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Martina had wanted to see the old clothes exhibit for ages. We also wandered around to some of the other exhibits, but we honestly hardly saw any of what they had to offer. Next we went to the Natural History Museum. It was awesome, with a huge range of exhibits, though it did look a bit like it could use some updating. By the time we got done there though, it seemed too late to go the Science Museum, so we decided to put that off until the next day. We ended up at a Japanese place for dinner, where I had some absolutely wonderful ramen. I seriously wish there was a ramen place somewhere near me, either in Berlin or Spokane. And then that evening we walked along the Thames to see the bridges all lit up at night. We walked across London Bridge and the Millenium Bridge. And we got to see the Globe Theater, at least from the outside. It was a wondeful little walk. Another thing that I'd highly suggest to anyone heading to London. There were other tourists along the walk, so it felt plenty safe, but it was also quiet and not at all crowded. And the city lights over the water are beautiful.

On our last day in London we went to the Science Museum. I. Loved. It. We spent like seven hours in that museum. It was full of interactive exhibits and really interesting things to learn. I wish we had something like that in Spokane that I could take Harper to when she gets a little bit older. It was so wonderful and totally inspiring. After we finally escaped from the museum (at closing time, lol), we wandered over to check Harrod's. Definitely not my kind of store. I looked at a few articles of clothing and nearly had a heart attack. There was a hat, an ugly one in my opinion, that cost more than what I made in the last year. And they have a year round Christmas section. I feel so terrible for the employees that work there. Can you imagine having to listen to Christmas music ALL YEAR? Now that sounds like torture to me. So after we left Harrod's we had nothing planned. We went to the station where we would be catching our bus to the airport and traded in our Oyster cards to get our deposits back. I didn't mention the Oyster cards before, but they were absolutely invaluable. We loaded ours with a one week pass (which cost nearly as much as my one month pass for Berlin) and then we had access to all of the buses and trains by just swiping in and out of every station. I have to say, I much prefer Berlin's systems. And our underground trains are only a little bit underground. They never make me feel nearly as claustrophobic or get nearly as stiflingly hot as the ones in London. Anyway, we ate at a pizza bar that night because we couldn't find anything else and a buffet is a good way to waste time. Our bus picked us up at 9:30 and we got back to our airport at 11:00pm. Then we had a nice long night of sleeping on the airport floor ahead of us, since our plane didn't depart until 6:00am. By that time I was nearly ecstatic to be heading home to my own bed and a good night's sleep.

London was an experience, that's for sure. The one thing I can say I truly loved was the food. I love diverse, flavorful food. We ate stuff from all sorts of ethnicities. Even in Berlin the food isn't nearly as good. So the food was by far my favorite part. My least favorite part was, unfortunately, the price tag. We did London on a really strict budget, something that is incredibly difficult and that I wouldn't suggest. We did not properly see a lot of the main sites for this reason. I loved my trip and I wouldn't change anything (other than the hostel), but hopefully someday I'll be able to go back on a bigger budget and experience the more lavish side of London.

So that's my trip to London. The next place I'll be going is Hannover in about two weeks. I'll try and keep you guys updated on everything that happens in between then. Now, I'm off to see what I can do about actually getting my butt out of bed and grocery shopping for the rest of the weekend. Loves to everyone, especially my beautiful Harper who is now three whole years old!

Oh, and pictures are done and up on Facebook. I'll sort out some for those of you who aren't my friends on Facebook and post them on Flickr with a separate post tonight.

What if I Say That I'll Never Surrender?

Sorry it's been a couple of weeks. I hit the ground running with work when I got back from London, so this weekend is the first down time I've had. I'm gonna split the last two weeks into two posts, London and home. I can't really remember all of what went down since I got back though, so I'll just give you a rundown of the more memorable moments.

So first, here's something that actually happened the day before I left. My host family had already left for their vacation and I got a letter saying that I had a letter waiting to be picked up. Now normally, a letter would just come to my house. Or if it was a package and no one was home to claim it, they'd take it to the postal place here in my neighborhood. But this said that I needed to go to the Zollamt in Schöneberg to get it. I really had no idea why, but I figured I could just swing by and get it after work at the Kita. So I took the bus out there, thinking this would just take a few minutes and then I could get back to finishing up all the pre-travel stuff I had to do. Well I was wrong. The Zollamt is the customs office. And it's just like the DMV. It actually took me forever to even figure out how to get a number (you had to wait in line at the desk in the first room and answer a bunch of questions to get it). Once I had a number, I waited. Like you do. For what seemed like forever. After an hour they finally called my number. I went back to a room with a row of cubicle type things. In my cubicle they had a little box that apparently Ben had sent me. It was at that point that I realized that it was the MagicJack he was sending for my friend to use. So I had to stand in this cubicle and open the box while the attendant stood back like this was some specialized SWAT procedure. When I showed her what was inside she asked me what it was. I tried to explain, but MagicJacks are kind of hard to explain in English, and this woman was one of the few people I've met who only spoke German. She ended up looking it up on the internet and found that on Ebay in Germany they go for 50 euros. She wanted me to pay that 50 euros, but I refused. It seemed ridiculous. I mean, most of the price is for the year's subscription to make it work and the subscription had been activated in December. After awhile she just got fed up and told me to leave. And I didn't have to pay at all. So that's my Zollamt story. Two hours later, I was done. I just sincerely hope that they never pick up one of my packages again.

Alright, so post London. I have worked loads in the week and a half that I've been back. School started again so my host mom has been gone quite a bit. Last weekend was a rough one for me because Martina finally left for Italy. I miss her like crazy. Even caught myself havng a conversation with myself this morning. Also last weekend I had to make 111 from scratch cupcakes with homemade frosting for my host mom's birthday party. I love baking, but that much of any one thing can be awfully repetitive. And then you have the added hazard of leftover frosting. And you know I only make delicious frosting, lol.

This week was just more of the same. Work and work and work. I decided to officially end summer and restarted my workout routine on Monday.  I don't know why I keep doing it, since I've made zero progress since I got here. But I guess deep down inside I feel like it's gotta be helping with something at least. And then last night I pushed myself to go out and try something new. I went to an English language film quiz in the city. The quiz itself was pretty enjoyable. The people I met up with were ok, just not really my types I guess. But it was good to get out. It was the first time I'd really been in the city since we got back from London.

Overall, things have gotten better. Life is busy again, and that helps a lot. And as soon as I get these two blog posts up I'm going to get to work on finishing my website so I can start applying for jobs in earnest. I can feel this chapter of my life ending and I'm getting excited about coming home for a little while before I figure out where exactly my adventures will take me next.

And here's what I'm currently listening to, in case anyone's interested. The Pretender by Foo Fighters.

All You Need

I'm leaving for London today, so I thought it would be a good idea to post an update. First of all, thank you to everyone who sent me well wishes. It helped a lot to know that so many people around the world actually care (and actually read my blog!).

I'm slowly but surely working my way back up. It was actually a chance Facebook post that I saw which helped me the most. I don't want to go into detail because the person would be easily identified, but I have to say that he inspired me and reminded me that this is not hopeless. So if he can do it, I can do it.

There are always brighter days ahead. I can't say when or how or why, but I know that they're out there, somewhere, and I just have to keep on moving towards them.

I found this song today after looking up some lyrics I had written down in my little notebook ages ago. Hope you enjoy it. Duran Duran - All You Need Is Now

Be back in a week. With pictures :) And hopefully brand new awesome stories to tell.

Maybe

I don't know where to start with this. I've been avoiding writing this post because I had nothing constructive to say. But things aren't getting better and now getting this out there is kind of my last ditch effort to force myself to change.

I went to Belgium for Tomorrowland and the trip was... one of the worst experiences of my life. We left hours late because of bad planning and miscommunication. We rented a car for the 8 hour drive, and the car we ended up with was some sort of Audi station wagon. It's a great car, but just not big enough for five people and all of their camping gear. So I was cramped and uncomfortable the entire ride. When we finally arrived it was 10pm, which is when they close the campground for new arrivals. We were only just barely able to squeak in. Once into the campground though, we had another nightmare to face. There was absolutely nowhere left to pitch our tents. Our bags were heavy, I was hungry and tired, and not one person in that campground had a single kind or encouraging word. I'd be walking past people's sites and they'd yell at me to go away, there's no space here, even though I hadn't stopped walking. Security finally let us move a fence back a few feet so we could pitch our tents in front of it, which just caused more issues with the people already set up there, as they had apparently asked to do the same thing earlier and been denied. So it was nearing midnight and we finally had a place to sleep, at the very least. After setting up and eating a bit of dinner I decided to go to bed. I thought a good night's sleep would help set me on the right path to enjoy the rest of the weekend. When I finally laid down it was 2am.

At 4am I sat upright in my sleeping bag, suddenly awake for some reason that I was too groggy to determine. Those of you who know me well know that I can sleep through anything. Alarm clocks, noisy pets, noisy people, lights, sounds, anything. But that night I woke up. After a second I noticed a clicking noise and that there were people unnecessarily close to the tent I was sharing with a friend. I crawled out of the tent to see what was happening and found all of the people from the next site over (the ones who already had an issue with us) plus a few other Germans standing next to our tent. Now something you need to know is that this festival is all about love, unity, and the future. They encourage you to bring flags from your home to hang on or near your tents so that we can celebrate the global presence. So next to our tent we had an American, a New Zealand, and a German flag. When I crawled out of the tent, the New Zealand flag was already gone. But that group of Germans was all standing there trying to start my American flag on fire. In a crowded campground where 60,000 people were staying. Where (extremely flammable) tents were pushed against each other as far as you could see. When I saw what was happening, I yelled. A couple of the people ripped my flag from where it was hanging and ran. The others, our neighbors, just stood there. I tried to talk to them, but they pretended they didn't speak English, which I know is wrong, because they'd spoken to me in English earlier. So I tried German with them. They still refused to talk to me. There was nothing I could do, so I crawled back into the tent, shaking with fear, frustration, anger. My friend, who is German, asked what was going on. I explained, and she decided to go talk with them. They told her that they hadn't seen anything. That they had come over in time to save the German flag at least, so what else did it matter?

I didn't sleep more than 10 to 15 minutes at a time the rest of that night. I was scared. Those people hated me. They never even met me, but they hated me. Enough that they were willing to put my life, and the life of all those around me, in danger. For something that I didn't choose to be, for decisions and actions that I didn't make, those people were willing to risk us all just to prove their hatred.

The rest of the trip never stood a chance. Between my bad experience and bad company, there was nothing I could do. I tried my hardest to enjoy the shows. I spent a lot of time on my own. I couldn't enjoy the atmosphere. I couldn't connect with anyone around me. All I could think was that someone in that crowd wanted to hurt me. They wanted me not enjoy a moment of this. And unfortunately, they succeeded.

A lot of pictures were taken that weekend. If you just looked at the pictures you'd almost believe that I had a great time. But that's partially due to the fact that we didn't tell one of our group members about the encounter. We just told her the flags were stolen. Our friendship was already suffering due to her constant put downs toward Americans and generally negativity. I couldn't have handled any further comments from her.

I had been warned before not to flaunt my nationality. I knew this. I knew that there were a lot of places where it was dangerous to be an American. But I thought that in just this one instance it would be ok to display who I was. I thought it would be ok to participate and be open and free. I guess I was wrong.

When we finally drove home on Monday, I was done. I hadn't slept the entire weekend. I was dirty, sore from sleeping on the ground, and exhausted. Unfortunately we got lost on the way home and ended up being in that car for almost 10 hours. All I wanted was out.

Since coming home I haven't been able to get back into my routine. I haven't been able to make life work right again. What happened hurt me, in a way I never thought was possible. I know that I shouldn't personally be offended, and I don't think that that is the problem. I think what those people did was far worse than insult me or my country. They broke me. They broke everything I believed in. I used to see a world full of hope. A world where I could do anything. Love could heal anything and whatever I dreamed was possible if I just worked hard enough. But I can't see that anymore. I've tried so hard over the last two weeks. I've tried everything that's worked for me when I was homesick or just down before. But nothing has helped. When I look at the world now all I see is hatred. Blind hatred. And stupidity. How can anything ever get better when so many people are so consumed by that anger and closed mindedness? I used to think that my generation would be the one to change the world. That things could only get better. Now all I see is hopelessness. It's hard to find a reason to carry on each day when chances are some crazy person is going to open fire on you while you're innocently trying to enjoy a movie or blow up your airplane for some ridiculous half cocked religious belief.

I've never wanted to be the cynic. I've always been able to find something to believe in. But I can't get past this. I'm leaving for London in 5 days and I'm not even excited. That's how I know something is wrong. Travel used to exhilarate me. I used to love nothing more than seeing a new place. Now I don't even want to go. I'm afraid all I'll meet there is hatred.

Before moving here I never even gave a second thought to the fact that I was born in the United States. I was grateful not to have been born into a some third world country where I might have died or been sold into slavery before I was even a teenager. I was grateful for the things I had growing up. But I never ever thought of myself as superior or all knowing. I was just me. Now I'm Sierra, the American. And that includes all sorts of burdens that I'm not prepared to carry.

This is the hardest thing I've ever faced. It's changed who I was, but left me hanging in this state of limbo where I have no idea what to believe or to feel. All I want anymore is to go home. I want to lay on the couch and watch mindless TV and pretend that my world hasn't shattered. But I know that's not an option. I'll have to find some way to redefine myself and my beliefs. I just don't know what that way is right now.

Tomorrow I will pick myself up and go outside. I'll do all of the day to day errands that life requires. I might do something new, maybe some sightseeing. I won't be ok yet, but maybe I can start pretending. Maybe then, before I know it, things will balance out again. Maybe life will redefine itself and the world will be a brighter place again. I don't know for sure, but maybe. Just maybe. At least that much I can still hope for.

Look at Me Standing

Sorry guys, but this one really has to be short and sweet. Which is sad, because I actually have done a ton of stuff in the last two weeks. But I'm headed to Belgium in the morning and I haven't even started packing yet, so you're lucky to get whatever you do. In fact, I think I'll just make a list of all the things I did and maybe elaborate another time. Or not. We'll see.

July 9th: I had the day off, but Martina had to work a 12 hour day, so I helped out by going to Wannsee with her and her two boys. Wannsee is a big lake between my house and Martina's. And I gotta hand it to you Germany, it was actually pretty awesome, for a lake.

July 10th:  M and I went to Bambooland, which is a big indoor playground for kids.

July 11th: I was unexpectedly off. I honestly don't remember what I did. Probably nothing important.

July 12th: M and I went to the zoo and it was so cool! I still think I liked it more than her, but she at least had a good time, despite the rain.

July 13th: I worked in the morning. M and I went to the playground and Martina came to hang out with us there. I think we just spent that night at my apartment watching movies and eating ice cream.

July 14th: Didn't do much. Went out to a club with some friends and danced. Met a new friend from Turkey. (She was a couch surfer staying with our friends.)

July 15th: Nothing at all. Recovering from the previous night out.

July 16th: I didn't work until 4pm, so I slept most of the day, like a lazy bones. Hey, it was technically my vacation time after all.

July 17th: Went to the Ethnology Museum with M. I really enjoyed it, but it just wasn't a good place for a four year old. It sucks to be four and not be able to run, be loud, or touch anything.

July 18th: J didn't want to go to Hort so I had both kids. We were going to go to the planetarium (which I was so stoked for!) but J convinced M that it was stupid so we went to Bambooland instead. Hmph.

July 19th: I was supposed to leave for Kiel this day with Martina and her host family, but we found out at the last minute that they didn't need her to go along, so we ended up staying behind. At the time we still didn't know when Martina would be moving to Italy, so there was a chance that it would be her last weekend in Berlin and we decided to take advantage of it.

July 20th to 24th: We made a full run on Berlin. We hit our favorite free club, Soda Club, on Friday night (because Friday night is ladies night which means free entry and 7.50 euro worth of free drinks!). Saturday we relaxed and watched movies. Sunday we went to the Ritter Sport Schokowelt because I freaking love chocolate :) And then we went to the flea market at Mauer Park, another thing I'd been meaning to do since I got here. It was super cool. I'll definitely have to go again. Plus the weather was gorgeous (finally!) so we spent the afternoon just laying around the park, watching all the different performers that come to offer their art to anyone who will appreciate it. That night we made nachos for Becki and Stefan, as they requested. Guess we got some new Mexican food lovers on the bandwagon :) Then Monday we hit the ground running again. We went to Berlin's Madame Tussaud's and to the Sea Life exhibit, which ends in an elevator ride through an enormous fish tank inside the Radisson Blu hotel. It was a great time all around and it was good to finally cross some things off my "to see" list.

So that's the quick version for you. I'm off to Belgium in the morning for the Tomorrowland music festival. I am incredibly stoked! If you're interested, you can see what it's all about by watching last year's after video here.

And I do have another song for you! It's by a German band, but this one is actually in English. It has helped me through some of the low points (and even been enjoyed during the highs) of the homesickness cycle that I think will be a permanent part of the rest of my life. It's called Wonderful Life and is by a band called Seeed. Also, if you like their sound, I also recommend the song Ding. It's a little different style and is in German, but I love it.

P.S. I have loads of pictures from the last few weeks. I'll try and get them up as soon as I get back.

See you after Belgium!

Istanbul Pictures

Alright, they're FINALLY done uploading. I actually took about 600 pictures there, but my Flickr account has a limit, so you're getting 54. Enjoy!

Click here for Flickr photos.

Istanbul, Istanbul, Istanbul

*Disclaimer: This is really long. But it's broken up by days, so you can read just one day at a time. Or skip through it. Or don't read it at all. Whatever makes you happy. Also, pictures are still uploading, so I'll post a new blog with a link when they get done. Enjoy :)

Here it is. Long promised and probably highly over rated. It's hard to describe Istanbul because so many of the things that happened there were significant only for the mixture of sights, sounds, smells, and the way they made me feel. But I did my best and I hope you find it to at least be interesting, if not inspiring and world changing, as it was for me.

Day 1 (Wednesday):
We arrived at Sabiha Gökçen Airport at 5:30am. There are two airports in Istanbul. We flew into the one on the Asian side of the city because it was cheaper. So it was ridiculously early, we had both worked full days before, and we had only managed to doze during the two-ish hour flight from Berlin. Good way to start a vacation, right? I had written down which public transportation to take to our hostel, but when we got there all the things that I thought I had carefully planned just flew out the window. We ended up taking a bus to a ferry to a tram. We took the tram up to the stop that was supposed to be closest to ours, but must have looked super confused from there because multiple people tried to give us directions to the hostel. We ended up wandering around mildly lost for ages though and didn't actually find the hostel until 10:30am. The staff was nice enough to let us check in even though it was an hour before check in time started so we lugged all of our stuff upstairs to our room, which was on the 5th floor. Also known as the roof. Our room almost seemed to be an afterthought, just a hastily constructed room with 10 sets of bunks beds and two constantly flooded bathrooms. We did have an absolutely amazing view of both the city and the ocean though. And there were chairs and tables up there so we could just sit around and enjoy the scenery or the breeze. From here we went on a hunt for food. We had packed snacks for the plane, but I needed real food. And unfortunately for Martina, I was too hot and too hungry to make a decision on anything. We ended up wandering all the way back to the beginning of the tram line, where we finally bought döner that we ate in a park filled with what looked like dogs dying of heat exhaustion. After eating our extremely disappointing food, we wandered down towards the waterfront. There we got stopped by an Australian girl who had a question about something or other. We actually ended up running into her again after a little bit and so we ended up hanging out and spending a bunch of time together. Her name was Jess and she was (much to our jealousy) just traveling the world with no definite plans. She had been in Istanbul before, but wanted to go do something new, so the three of us took off to find the Galata Tower. We had to walk up some ridiculously steep hills through some shady back alleys, but we found it and I even braved my way to the top. The view from up there was wonderful and definitely worth the terrifying heights. We actually went at the perfect time because we got to watch the sunset over the city. After the tower we went back to Martina and I's hostel for dinner. I ordered the chicken curry, which started my obsession with curry that I still can't seem to kick. Then we went out to have drinks with Orhan, a friend of Jess's that she was staying with. He works in a travel agency and was able to tell us all about the best deals and things to do in the city. It was, all in all, an  awesome, but exhausting, first day.

Day 2 (Thursday):
We started the day by meeting Jess for the free breakfast at our hostel. We had the same breakfast every morning that we were there, so it was a good thing it was delicious. It included a kind of soft white cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, bread with jellies and honey, cornflakes or muesli, and coffee or tea. After breakfast we decided we'd go to the Spice Bazaar, where we experienced true Turkish salesmanship in all it's glory. Luckily for us, Martina and I are both really good at 1) saying no and 2) making the locals more uncomfortable than they make us, lol. So we wandered the Spice Bazaar. We of course bought Turkish Delight, as well as some honeycomb and what I can only describe as nut logs on a string. I thought they were going to be delicious but.... not so much. Then we went to a cafe to sit down for lunch. While we were having lunch a huge rainstorm broke out. It was great because we were safe and sound under the awning. Or so we thought. The awning started to collect water and bend dangerously inward. The staff had to poke it with a stick to push all the water up an out. Unfortunately (though I think it was secretly on purpose) the man pushing the water out did so right as a woman walked by and completely soaked her. It was really interesting to see the man with her just jump into action to defend her. Not that there's really much you can do at that point, lol. After the rain let up we thought we'd go to Topkapi Palace. We were lazy and cheap though, so we only managed to wander the palace grounds. Then we sat in a tea garden and looked out over the ocean while drinking delicious tea and feasting on Turkish Delight. After a while we finally decided to keep walking. We walked all the way up the tram line past the stop for our hostel. We were waiting to hear from Orhan, so we sat down for awhile. I walked over a bit to buy some corn on the cob (they have vendors all over the place that sell it there) and while I was gone some guy named Muhammad from Iraq came over to talk to Martina and Jess. Because people there just do that. It's obvious that we're foreigners and they just really wanna talk. So while we were waiting we went to find a post box so that Jess could mail some things. We finally found one, in the basement of some souvenir shop. As we were standing down there in the dark sifting through the postbox to make sure that she had the right amount of postage, a voice came out of the dark and nearly scared us to death. There was a man asleep on the couch under a pile of carpets. He told us he was an Olympic weight lifter and that he had competed in Sydney. (We looked him up afterward, he was probably lying as far as we can tell.) Then he tried to convince to eat at his sister's restaurant, as everyone does. We decided to pass when he said that we'd just have to get in the car that would come pick us up there, lol. After that we headed back to the area of our hostel. We decided to have dinner at the place across the street, which was called the Just Bar and had some really great music (they even let Martina and I make requests!). But we waited forever and ever for our food. That's when we realized that they call it the Just Bar because it is, apparently, only a bar. The food actually came from a restaurant down the street (I'm pretty sure every place on the street was related. They all knew each other and were good friends.). I had the manti, which is a kind of Turkish ravioli. It wasn't half bad, though I think I prefer good old Italian raviolis.

Day 3 (Friday):
Jess left on Friday to work at a super sweet treehouse resort thing somewhere else in Turkey. So we said our goodbyes in the morning and then Martina and I decided to take a boat tour up and down the Golden Horn. We are super cheap though, so we just took the public ferry instead of paying for a tour. It was nice to see, but we didn't really know what we were looking at so we didn't learn anything. And I learned something about the Turkish that made me really mad. They just don't care about the environment at all. As we were sitting on the ferry this old man told this little boy (probably his grandson) to just throw his trash overboard, even though there was a garbage can right behind them. I can't understand why he would have done that. Partially because I'm used to Germany where it's all environmental awareness all the time, and partially because it's just stupid. So that was that. We also had Turkish ice cream that day. It was strange stuff. Almost chewy in a way. Not my favorite at all, and I am a huge lover of all ice creams. After the ferry ride we were both a little cranky from lack of sleep, so we went back to the hostel and took a nap. It was a pretty lazy day. We actually spent quite a while just lounging in the park between the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia. We probably would have stayed longer, but there were these two men there who refused to leave us alone. The one guy kept telling us he had a friend with a boat and that if we came at night he'd give us a free boat tour. All I wanted to ask was who actually fell for that sort of thing. I mean, come on. Anyway, I was still stuck on my curry kick and that evening we ended up wandering the city looking for curry. All I wanted was a decent curry. One man finally directed us to a place called Dubb. When we got there we were a little unsure (mostly because of the prices), but it turned out to be the best decision of our whole trip. The food was AMAZING. We ordered a chicken curry and sweet and sour chicken, which we split. I had an amazing Anatalyan lemonade and then we even got the dessert platter where I tasted the world's most amazing ice cream. I'm pretty sure nothing will ever live up to it. And if the delicious food wasn't enough, we had a wonderful waiter (who might have also been the manager). He was so good to us and talked to us the whole time. He told all sorts of things about Turkey. He was really the person I'd want people to meet upon going to Turkey, because he gave us such a wonderful impression of the place and the people. After Dubb we wandered back to our hostel where we had planned to go straight to bed because we were so satisfied with dinner that we didn't even want to move anymore. But we had made friends with the hostel staff by this time and they begged us to stay downstairs and hang out. They even offered us free hookah, probably because they knew free anything would win us over :) I'm glad we stayed though, since we ended up having a great time and meeting some really strange people. There was a Brazilian man who seemed depressed about life and insisted that it was normal for grown adults to pee the bed. And then there was the Turkish man who worked at the airport who just wanted us to get in his van. He tried so very hard. He even drove by like six times, just hoping we'd change our minds. Sadly for him, vans with pimp lights are just not my thing.

Day 4 (Saturday):
We slept in Saturday because, well, we were on vacation. And I wanted to. Then we took a really old train line that runs along the coast and went to the aquarium. I know, I know. We're just big kids, after all :) The aquarium was amazing! It's the world's biggest themed aquarium (a distinction that I think is silly, because aren't all aquariums sort of fish themed?) Every room was full on decorated to fit the fish that were kept there. You'll have to look at my pictures to understand how cool it was. They'll be posted in another post, as soon as they finish uploading. So anyway, after the aquarium we hustled back to the hostel to clean up and change because we had booked a night dinner cruise. It sounded like a good plan but ended up being really disappointing. I did learn one important thing though. In Turkey, always pay close attention to what currency prices are in. I thought the cruise would only be 50 Lira but it was actually 50 Euro, which is more than twice as much. So the reasons that the cruise wasn't very good were that first of all, the bus that picked us up was late. Then, the food (at least my chicken) was really bad. Martina got the fish though and even figured out how to de-bone it! Because all of the buses had been so late, dinner was not served to everyone on time. We ended up being some of the last ones to get our food, which meant we weren't able to go out and get spots for the performances. We watched them from the upper deck, which didn't work well at all, but at least the performances were really good. They did this once dance that was supposed to be an interpretive dance about dwarves. Martina absolutely loved it :) We didn't get back to the hostel until really late though and we were absolutely wiped out.

Day 5 (Sunday):
We truly didn't do much on day 5. Our one attraction on the list to see that day was the Basilica Cistern. It wasn't a big attraction time wise, but it was one of our favorites. It was so cool to go down inside the old cistern and just think about the sheer enormity of the architecture and the science behind it. Plus I loved the Medusa heads that were hidden down there, not to mention all of the other detail work that they builders put into something that was at the time intended to just be underwater forever. After the cistern we went to get some lunch. As we wandered in the general direction of the hostel a man called out to us that if we were interested he would show us the underground palace beneath the restaurant he worked at. Normally, I'd say no, but it was the middle of the day and it seemed pretty legit. Thankfully for us, it was. We got to see (for free!) the rooms of an old palace that his boss was slowly excavating. It had been on the History Channel and everything! And he didn't even pressure us to eat in their restaurant, something I found to be both strange and refreshing. He was just really, truly interested in sharing his wonder with archaeology and the palace. I even let him hold my camera long enough to take a picture of Martina and I together. We did end up eating there anyway and it was actually quite good. I had a pide, which is a Turkish pizza sort of thing. So after that we had nothing planned. We went back to hostel to sit on the roof and relax while we worked on our tans. Also, my feet had swelled up to crazy sizes at this point, so I really need some sitting down time. Unfortunately this group of Australian boys with what seemed like no real life experience showed up and were being loud and just plain stupid. But then another couple showed up, Andre and Kate from South Africa. They were really awesome. We ended up hanging out the whole night, first up on the roof and then down in the restaurant/bar/lounge area. I haven't met a whole lot of people from South Africa, so I had a great time talking to them and learning about what brought them to Istanbul (it was a stop on the way to visiting family in England) and about what South Africa had to offer and everything.

Day 6 (Monday):
On Monday we checked out the Grand Bazaar. I personally preferred the Spice Bazaar, but this was pretty awesome too. It was so big and easy to get lost in there. Martina, being the friendly person she is, kept attracting people, so we made some cool friends there too. Like the shop owner who bought us tea and showed us the factory next to his store where they make what looked like thread. Or the jewelry sales man that just loved old psychedelic rock and was amazed that us young people knew and appreciated it. That evening we went across to the Asian side of the city (if you don't know, Istanbul is the only city in the world that is situated on two contents). We did a little bit of exploring and saw some cool park thing that I never caught the name of. We got back to the hostel area really late and were starving. Luckily one of the places across the way still had their kitchen open and we got some food there. We talked to the two men who worked there for awhile. They were both really cool. It was really just a chill day.

Day 7 (Tuesday):
One of the things that all the tourist guides say you should do in Istanbul is to see the Princes' Islands. We took the ferry out to one of the islands for the day. We were all prepared for beaches and cute little towns and everything. But we got there and there was hardly anything. We wandered the islandf or awhile and it seemed like we just walked uphill the ENTIRE time. We came across a military area and an old cemetery. We got approached by a group of Turkish girls who were super interested in us. We had really bad burgers for lunch at this one place. I was also eating Doritos out of a bag in my purse and as we were talking to the waiter he just reached into my purse and ate one. It was so strange. We did finally find a beach, but it was absolutely covered in trash. And when we walked out there some men told us we'd have to pay to use the beach. We refused (I wouldn't pay even if it wasn't full of trash), but as we walked away they came running after us and said we could go for free. We still didn't. The island was pretty, but other than that, it was really just a bust. We ended up just spending the rest of the night chilling at our hostel, being friends with the staff and enjoying being on vacation.

Day 8 (Wednesday):
By this time we had two tourist attractions left on our list of must-see's. So we used the day to see the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. What was interesting to me about the mosques was how disrespectful the tourists who visited them are. I mean, it's not my religion, but I'm still respectful of it. We made sure to cover our hair, shoulders, and knees, as is customary, whenever we went into a mosque. Especially at the Blue Mosque, which is still in use. They ask you to take off your shoes at the door and they will give you wraps to put around your waist if you're wearing shorts. But people would just go in the door and then take the wraps off as soon as they were past the personnel there. I found this to be incredibly rude and upsetting. The mosques though, they were absolutely gorgeous. I loved the art and history and everything. Which reminds me of another thing. The call to prayer. It is done five times per day and it is beautiful and serene to here. It's interesting to see how even the non-believers in Turkey turn off their music and get a little more reverential when it is played. So anyway, that night we once again didn't do much. We hung out at the hostel. Had some drinks and some hookah. We made friends with the travel agency guys from next door and with an Indian architect who lives in Istanbul. And we savored our second to last night of vacation, pretending all the while that we wouldn't really have to go back to work in two days.

Day 9 (Thursday):
This was our last day in Istanbul, so we had to take care of all those essential touristy things that you always do. We went back to the Spice Bazaar so that I could buy the last few souvenirs I wanted. We took one last look at all of the beautiful sites we'd come to love and all of the friends that we'd made. And then we did one final Turkish thing, which turned out to be my absolutely favorite part of the trip. We went to a hamam. A hamam is a Turkish bath. You go in and they give you a towel, a pair of bikini bottoms, and a scrubber. We paid for the full treatment, so we also had tokens for a traditional scrub and a full body massage. You get completely naked except for the bikini bottoms and then you go into this bath room. There is a big stone slab in the middle of the room and everyone lays on it and works up a sweat. When it's your turn a Turkish women will call you over to the edge of the slab and scrub you down from head to toe. It's crazy to see all the dead skin and dirt that they just slough off of you. Then they wash your hair and rinse you off and send you to the hot pools to sweat some more. After awhile the masseuse comes to get you. I had never had a professional massage of any sort before and I was truly in heaven. It was so relaxing. So cleansing. It was perfect. Choosing to do the hamam on our last day was definitely the right idea. After the hamam we wandered contentedly for a bit and actually ended up back at Dubb. We had loved it so much the first time that we just couldn't think of a better place to follow up the hamam with. And yes, it was just as good the second time. Then all that was left to do after that was to hang out at the hostel and wait. We had one last night with all of new friends. In fact, we're told that they still talk about us at the hostel because we were some of the most fun guests they'd ever had. We also even managed to make some more friends that night. We met some crazy guys from Canada and one from California (who sounded exactly like Crush from Finding Nemo). It was a great way to end the trip. We stayed up basically all night because our shuttle was picking us up at 7am anyway.

So that was Istanbul. I know it was long, but I wanted it all in writing as much for me as for anyone else. It was nothing like I expected. I honestly think I had a picture of India in my head. But I learned so much and I think I grew as a person. Maybe someday I'll go back, but in the meantime I have tons more world to explore. Oh, and one more thing. In fact, one of my favorite things about Istanbul that I just didn't know where to fit in.... The cats. They're everywhere. And they're not treated like a nuisance. They are just there. It really didn't help my cat lady-ness, but I loved it all the same. So that's Istanbul. Cats on every corner, more apple tea than you could ever drink, hospitable people hidden by pushy sales people, and too many mosques to keep straight.