Onward and Upward

My train for Dresden leaves at 6am tomorrow, but I really wanted to make sure I posted this before I left. I mean, I can barely remember what happened in the last week. If I put it off for two weeks, well then I might as well just start writing stories for you guys. Last week I told you that I was getting ready to head out to the symphony. Where I ended up going was actually the Berlin Philharmonic. They are one of the top two philharmonics in the world. I had a great time, and now I can check one thing off of my list of things to do in Berlin! I went with AM's father, who seemingly knows everything about this city. It was like having my own personal tour guide :) We went to the introduction first, but it was all in German. I understood a lot of words, just not the overall meaning. I tell myself though that every time I listen to a bunch of German and don't understand I'm at the very least expanding my vocabulary a bit.

The building where the Philharmonic performs is absolutely stunning. Inside it has many different levels and tiers and there are staircases everywhere. It's like some sort of beautiful chaos. For the performance we had tickets in the fourth row. Every seat is really a great seat though, because the performers are right in the center of the room with seats on all sides. I'll post a link to some pictures at the bottom. I only brought my little camera though, so the pictures aren't all that great. The performers were great and some of my favorites (and the most talented) were those who had such an obvious passion for the music. The first chair violin guy was super into his playing. He kept nearly jumping out of his seat. I couldn't help but notice though that he looked like the scary evil doctor guy from American Horror Story and that freaked me out a bit. Also, I'm fairly positive that Bill Murray was there playing a cello. I swear it looked just like him! During the intermission I had champagne with raspberries in it. Now I don't normally care all that much for champagne, but that stuff was delicious! Afterward, AM's father (who was a perfect gentleman and helped me with my coat and opened doors for me) took me on a walk to show me a couple of other famous sites in the vicinity. We saw the Berlin equivalent of the Hollywood Walk of Fame and the world's first streetlight. It was dark and very cold that night, so I plan to go back during the day sometime and take some pictures.

I'm going to skip through the rest of the week a bit because not much happened and I'm in a bit of a hurry. Saturday I went out and met some new friends. We had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant, which was fun and new for me. I then got to experience the infamous Belushi's. It's this bar here in Berlin that everyone hangs out at. I didn't exactly care for it though. It is too American and I didn't come to German to hang out in an American bar. Also, the drinks were cheap, but were not very good. Because of some problems Saturday night I didn't get home until 6am. I actually rode the train most of the way home with a new friend of mine. Unfortunately, I have almost no idea what he said the whole time because his accent was so thick. He's English, but lived very near Scotland. Then Sunday I went back into town and we hung out in a cafe with the world's worst waitress all day. We also met this new guy who just came over and invited himself to sit with us. It sounds really forward, but he was an awesome guy and he had a lot to say. And that's why I love Berlin. The people here are amazing! Plus I've met more people from other countries in my month here than I probably have in my whole life. Oh, and Sunday night we went to an Italian place for dinner. I had the most delicious spaghetti... Oh my god. It was so good. The one thing that frustrates me about eating out here though is that you can't just get free water like you can in America. I mean, you can order tap water, but they will look at you like you're disgusting. And bottled water costs just as much as buying a soda. Plus, there are no free refills. So the food here is relatively cheap, but the drinks more than make up for the price.

I feel like I've been really busy this week, but I really have very little to report on. I worked a lot, both for my family and at the Kita. I made my first dinner for my family that was actually my idea. I went with pulled pork, thinking it would be easy and also that barbecue is very American. I had trouble figuring out the meat to get though, and the roast I bought didn't fall apart like I'm used to. So I just cut it up and mixed it all back together with the barbecue sauce. I thought it came out pretty good, so hopefully they enjoyed it too. I also went to German class, which is slowly getting better. Unfortunately, we now have a break for three weeks. Which is ridiculous. I mean, class just started two weeks ago. I guess that gives me a lot of free time though. And it means I don't have to get up early the Monday after the Super Bowl, so I'm staying up to watch it! Yeah! My host dad is super excited because the Giants are in the Super Bowl. And speaking of American past times, I went to an American store on Tuesday. It was pretty ridiculous. They didn't have a whole lot of selection, but what they did have made  me laugh. Pop Tarts, Cheerios, Rice A Roni... and Campbell's Soup!! I bought a can of soup to show my host mom what I'm talking about when I say cream of mushroom soup. But it is crazy expensive! It was something like $5 US dollars for one can of soup. Absolutely ridiculous. 

In an hour or so I am taking M to the Grüne Woche. It is "The world's biggest fair for food, agriculture and horticulture." Should be an adventure, especially with a three year old :) Tonight my friend is staying here with me so that we can leave bright and early for Dresden. I'm super super stoked about our trip!! I'll make sure to take lots of pictures and post them for you when I'm back. Tschüss!!

Click here for this week's pictures (only a couple, and they aren't on Facebook yet either). There's also a picture in there to answer Logan's question :)

One Step At A Time

I've always been proud of my ability to remember details from ages ago or lists of things that I needed to get done. Apparently, Germany has taken that away. And so when I don't get around to writing a blog for more than a week, I can't remember anything I did. Luckily, I have a super awesome Google calendar and my Facebook profile where I can go back and look for hints. Also luckily, not much happened last week. I really started getting into what is going to be my routine. Take the kids, work at the Kita, pick up the kids, cook dinner, sleep. And somewhere in there I also try to find time to workout. Speaking of which, I ran a 12:30 minute mile on the treadmill the other day! I know that really is a horrible time, but for having not ran in well over a year, I was amazed I could even still run for a mile, lol.

So the first interesting day I had last week was on Friday. I decided to go out on my own and do some sightseeing/picture taking. I already posted the pictures on Facebook, but I'll link them here too so that anyone who isn't a Facebook friend can check them out. I went to Ku'damm to sightsee because that is where I went with my group the first time I was here. It was extremely surprising to me the details that I remembered as soon as I saw the places where I'd been with all my friends. One of the places that we visited was the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirchen. It is a huge church that was severely damaged in the war, so a large part of the steeple is missing. If you know what it is, it is unmistakable. Well I spent an hour walking around where I remembered that it was. I was so confused because I knew I was in the right place. I finally walked up to this new looking building and inside an alcove was a sign saying that the "new building" was actually scaffolding that had been built around the church so that they can repair it over the next six months. So pretty much they hid the building from me and I felt dumb. But I was still able to go inside both the new church and the old. And it was really nice to just sit by myself and listen to the organ and feel that history all around me. That is one of the best things about sightseeing alone. You can spend as much time as you want wherever you want. After the church I went to H&M and bought a new hat and a new scarf for super cheap. Because even in Berlin, I am the queen of deals :) I've also become really good at watching everyone around me so that when I'm confused about what to do I can just copy them instead of sticking out of the crowd. Then I took the U-Bahn back and met up with my family, who took me to a great little Greek restaurant for dinner. We finished dinner with a shot each of ouzo, which is this clear alcohol that tastes like black licorice. It's the drink of Greece, if I understand correctly, but it definitely not my favorite.

Saturday I went out again with Martina and some other people. We had dinner at a pizza place and then went to a couple of bars. Apparently we are still searching for a new bar to hang out at regularly because the bar they all used to hang at was this American sports bar and some of the group didn't understand why they would hang out in an American bar when you're surrounded by a thousand German bars. One of the places we went to was super tiny and they had a projector showing 8mm films on the wall. Understandably, the bar was called 8mm, lol. I ended up not getting home until 5:00am that night, so Sunday was a day of catching up on rest :)

Tuesday my contact from the au pair agency visited to check up on me. We had a really good talk for about two hours and it's nice to know that if I ever needed it I would have someone to turn to. Wednesday was a rough day for me, probably just because I didn't sleep well and was feeling a little under the weather. I was feeling pretty short tempered already and then J and I had a bit of a problem with each other (though I think the whole thing was an accident). I ended up going to take a nap before dinner in my apartment and when I came back up he had drawn me a very nice picture of the two of us. It felt really special to me because I think it means that we are starting to figure each other out. It's hard to have to replace their previous au pair because she was here for a whole year and the kids were really attached to her. They don't always understand that I am not her and I can't do everything the way she did. But I have a little more hope now that with some time we will get to that same place, eventually. And I have a new drawing to hang on my wall :)

The only other notable thing that has happened since then is that I started my language classes on Monday. I now go to class Mondays and Thursdays for two hours and am working at the Kita on Tuesdays and Wednesdays for five and a half hours. Getting into a German course has been a bit of a problem for me, because of my prior knowledge level and my schedule. I know too much to start at the beginning level (A1). I think I would have liked to be in A2, but those classes don't start for a month and there's no guarantee that there would be room for me. So instead I'm starting at B1 with a class in Kleinmachnow (which is just outside the Berlin city limits). It's a good class really, because there are only six students and the teacher is really helpful, but I'll admit that I'm struggling. It feels a lot like drowning. I mean, I know that people say the best way to learn is immersion, but it's not easy. I've always been good at school and I'm not used to being the person who has to constantly ask for help. And I get frustrated when I don't understand. Something I've had to overcome is the desire to give up and run when I can't understand someone or get them to understand me. I have to actually stop, take a deep breath, and force my brain to think of different way to get my meaning across. Weirdly, I often seem to understand less of what she is teaching than I do of just regular conversations. I can listen to my family or to others talk and understand at least the gist of what they are saying, unless they are talking about a specialized field/vocabulary. But today was my second day and it already felt a little less overwhelming. When I quit worrying about how bad I was doing, I noticed that everyone else is making mistakes too. And I just really need to keep reminding myself of that. They are learning too. Though there is one girl in my class who I'm super envious of because she already seems pretty fluent to me and it all comes so easily for her, not to mention she speaks great English too. AM said it's likely because she's from Denmark and their language isn't that different than German. Hopefully I will be able to get ahold of a grammar book soon and start refreshing my poor memory. Then maybe it won't be so scary. And being fluent is something I want so badly that it keeps me pretty well motivated.

Right now I'm just really looking forward to the week after next, because my family will be gone and I should be able to work out and catch up on rest and spend some more time exploring. I also can't wait for the weather to start cheering up. This rain is almost more depressing than snow. Tonight though I am going with AM's father to see an orchestra. I can't remember which one right now, but I think they are pretty famous. I'm very excited and I'll try to take some pictures :) Also, I leave for Dresden in a week, so I have that to look forward to as well!

Leave All Your Love and Your Longing Behind

Word to the wise: Don't underestimate the effects of any class called Bauch, Beine, Po (translation: Stomach, Legs, Butt). I have been trying to make use of the fitness studio membership that I bought, so when AM invited me to go to class with her on Sunday I thought "Sure, it'll be fun to try something new." Unfortunately, I was the most out of shape person there and it kicked my butt. Now, two days later, I can barely move. Stairs are my worst enemy right now. It probably didn't help that I went to Zumba the next morning too.

But let's back up a little to the weekend. Nothing really happened on Friday. I slept in, watched some movies, cared for the kids for a couple of hours, and that was it. Saturday morning M and I took the bus to the fitness studio for her Kinder Sport class. That went really well, minus the fact that the bus apparently doesn't run as far on Saturdays and we were sitting on the bus waiting for him to keep going, not understanding that the driver was telling us to get off. But we went to sport, and then I went and bought house shoes (which are required in the Kita I'm working in) and stopped at a larger grocery store where I had been promised that I could find peanut butter. And I did! I also located a Funyun-like bag of chips, which I proceeded to eat all in one night.

I got done working around noon on Saturday and was in a really bad mood because the person I was supposed to hang out with on Sunday had to cancel which meant I would be spending my whole weekend alone in my room. So I watched Push and Ocean's 11. I was all good and ready to have a complete Ocean's marathon with 12 and 13 when I got a text message from someone that I had only talked to online. She is also an au pair nearby and she invited me to hang out with them, if I was up for an adventure. I'll admit, I did a super dorky happy dance because I was so excited. So I went into the city center with her and another au pair. We ended up meeting with three Australians at this super shady bar. You had to walk down a little alley way and then up some stairs that looked like they weren't meant to be permanent. But the bar itself was way cool. They were playing older rock/soul/blues type music and the bartender was wearing a top hat. Enough said. We ended up leaving there around midnight because the smoke got to be too much for us. We tried a couple of other places, one being a bar called Bahamas where the floor is all sand. It was really cool. We finally settled at a cocktail bar and had coladas, which I thought were delicious. They were a really cool group to hang out with and it was so interesting to learn why all of these random people ended up in Berlin. And since half of our group was Australian and the three Americans were from completely different areas (Washington, Texas, and Minnesota), we had a lot of fun making fun of each other's stereotypes. I was really lucky to meet such open and fun people and I am looking forward to going out with them again next weekend. After an hour on/waiting for the S-Bahn and my first ride on the "night bus" I made it home around 3:30am. I had a seriously great time and I'm so glad that they took a chance on me and invited me along. It's amazing how one little thing can make you feel so different. Just knowing anybody in this town made it feel much more like home.

Sunday night was an interesting night for me too. A was super excited because it's playoffs time for American football. He's a NY Giants fan. Big time. So he gets the games on his computer and hooks it up to the TV. I'm not usually a football fan but it was a lot of fun to watch the game and to see all of the American commercials for the places that we don't have here.

On Sunday Martina, one of my new friends, also asked if I would like to go to Dresden with her. And of course I said yes! So now I'm going to see my first non-Berlin German city on January 27th. We are taking the train and staying in a hostel. I'm really stoked!

And then we come to last night. I only had to watch the kids for a few hours in the afternoon, but I was tired so I stayed in all day. During the football game the night before I told A that I loved mashed potatoes, so we had them with dinner. I freaking love mashed potatoes! And then they wanted me to try this jar of stuff they had picked up over the weekend. You spread it on a cracker and eat it. It's super salty, but otherwise not bad. They kept calling it schmaltz, but they didn't want to tell me what it was until after I tried it. It took me awhile to figure out why I knew the word. But then I remembered that Ben's mom had told me about it. Schmaltz is made from goose or pork fat and sometimes mixed with apples or onions. Very German I am told!

The last thing I want to tell you about is something that frustrates me a bit. My German is not great, but when I try really hard I can understand the general gist of most conversations. The only thing is that people assume that I don't understand, either because it takes me too long to figure it out in my head or because I just can't come up with a response. Then they automatically switch to English or translate for me. I so badly want to speak German. I know people are just trying to be helpful. I can't wait for my language classes to start though so that I can really begin to improve. On the other hand, I did answer a statement today that was in German. I mean, I answered in English, but I replied to something that was said in German. So that's a start!

Also, the blog title is from a song called The Dog Days Are Over by Florence + and the Machine. It's one of my absolute favorite songs and she has an amazing voice. Check out the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWOyfLBYtuU.

It Just Takes Some Time

Alright here it is. This week can only be described as crazy busy. Monday I drove M to her Kita for the first time. J didn't start school until Wednesday, so I took him to his Hort. For those of you wondering, Kitas are like a daycare system for children not old enough to go to school. The Hort is a sort of afterschool daycare for the school children. Then I went to get my food handler's permit sort of thing, which just required me to watch this 20 minute video about handwashing and not going to work when you're sick. It was actually kind of funny to watch, especially since it was all in German. We also ran a bunch of errands Monday, but I'm having memory issues (probably from the jetlag) and I seriously cannot remember much of that day.

Tuesday I rode the S-Bahn and U-Bahn by myself for the first time! I met up with my contact from the Au Pair agency who went with me to the Auslaenderbehoerde to get my work visa. We already knew that my visa had been approved and they really just needed to hand it over. Apparently though, the people there don't mind a little sweet talking to help make sure things go smoothly. Luckily, Frau Krueger (from the agency) knew this and brought along a big can of chocolates for the lady, which ensured that I received my visa. And now I am able to work legally in Germany! Woo! After this whole experience (which I am told took much less time than usual, only about half an hour), I took the S-Bahn back to Zehlendorf, the suburb where I live. I decided to be brave and explored for awhile on my own. I successfully bought a few different things that I needed, including a big jar of Nutella! I went to the bank to use the ATM and I even went into a bakery and ordered another Pfannkuchen, since I'd been craving another one since New Year's Eve. I also bought lunch at a little street restaurant thing. I ordered a currywurst, which is a fried sausage cut into pieces and covered with a ketchup-like sauce and curry. It was sooo good! I didn't know what to do with my plate though so I kind of sat around and ate slowly like a complete creeper so that I could watch this little old lady and see what she did, lol. Anywhere, after all of this I walked back to my house feeling really awesome and successful. Nothing compares to that feeling of conquering something that seemed so scary at first and being completely independent. That night was also the first night that AM was away, so I made tacos for everyone. Thank goodness tacos are so easy that even I couldn't mess them up!

So Wednesday was my first day working at my Kita. It wasn't bad at all. I got placed with a group of about 9 two year olds. They're fun kids and I think I'm really going to like it there. It's definitely different than the crisis nursery though. It's a lot more laid back for one thing. And it's crazy how all of these kids can switch back and forth so easily between languages!

Yesterday, Thursday, I was scheduled to work at the Kita again. I had to take the bus to get there this time and I was very nearly late. I was at the wrong bus stop to begin with because there are two stops right near my house. I think I've got it down for next time though. After work I was supposed to walk to the nearest U-Bahn station to buy my transportation pass. We've been working on getting my unlimited pass for the year and we've had to go back and forth several times with different forms and such. Of course it was pouring rain yesterday and I was completely soaked by the time I walked the ten minutes to the station. My pants, my shoes, my purse, everything was wet. And I tried so hard to talk to the lady. She was nice and spoke slowly for me, but I just wasn't getting why she kept saying no. So I didn't end up getting the pass and I felt completely defeated. It sucked, but at least I used a little bit of German. I went back later that night with A, my host father, and it turns out that the particular person who was there that night didn't think I qualified for the discount on the pass, which is why she wouldn't give it to me. A bought me a monthly pass though so now I can finally start to go out and meet some people and see some places. I'm really glad about that because I am starting to get kind of lonely hanging out in my apartment all of the time.

I've started trying to get into language classes. There have been a lot of complications with everyone being on holiday for the New Year and everything. But I've got it figured out that I'm going to try out this morning class in a nearby area called Kleinmachnow on the 16th and if that one turns out to be too easy then I'm going to take the placement test at the Volkshochschule and hopefully start an evening class sometime in February. Until then I'm going to work on teaching myself. I find that I can usually get the gist of what people are saying. I'm having an incredibly hard time speaking though.

I've also been given the names of several Au Pairs in the area so I'm hopefully going to start meeting some people soon. I think I'm going to lunch with a girl nearby on Sunday, so wish me luck!

And my final big news is that I bought a ticket to Tokyo!! I will be going to see Ben June 22nd through July 4th. I'm super stoked to go to a real Ramen shop and to see a Neko Cafe!

Oh, and AM offered me a little bit of extra work doing some website upkeep and sending emails and such for a group she works with called FEPSAC. It's kind of nice to be doing some computer work again and it will be even better to have a bit of extra money!

I'll try to keep up with posting more often. With this headache I've had all week though it's just kind of difficult not to fall into bed at the first possible moment every night. I think things will be getting easier pretty soon though as I start to get a routine worked out.

I'd like to leave you with two links to check out. The first is a video by Jimmy Eat World for a song called The Middle. My iPod knows what I need better than I do and this song came on while I was coming home from the failed attempt to buy a bus pass. The lyrics were perfect and helped me to feel a lot better. Check it out here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKsxPW6i3pM or just read the lyrics here http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/the-middle-lyrics-jimmy-eat-world/fda58ed99c53970748256ba300203ecc.

The second thing I wanted to show was this German children's book I came across in M's room. I was reading it and understood just enough to realize that it was really gruesome. A said it was an old book written by some German psychologist in the 1800's to teach kids what will happen if they don't behave. Apparently it's also been banned recently. It's called Der Struwwelpeter. You can read it in English at http://konkykru.com/e.hoffmann.html.

A Fresh New Year Feels Appropriate

Well I've officially celebrated my first holiday here in Berlin. Last night was New Year's Eve, known as Silvester in Germany. I had planned to go to Brandenburger Tor to celebrate because Berlin has the world's biggest outdoor celebration there. Over a million people show up to listen to the live music and watch the fireworks. I ended up not going though because I was just too tired and not really ready to set out on my own, especially with a crowd of that size. Instead I stayed home with my host family, which turned out to be a really great decision. We watched an old British comedy skit called Dinner for One. It's about a 90 year old woman who is having a birthday dinner, but all of her old friends are dead. Her butler has to pretend to be her four different friends and drink all of their drinks, which results in him being hilariously drunk. Apparently the German people love this and have adopted it as a yearly tradition, even though the British know nothing about it. And it's in English, so I was actually able to follow along :) After the show we had cheese fondue for dinner and I had my first German beer! We lit some Tischfeuerwerk, which are little fireworks that pop and shoot confetti or little toys out. Then we did Bleigiessen, which were one of my favorite parts of the night. Bleigiessen are these little lead figurines that get passed around to each person. You put it on a spoon and melt it over a flame. Then once it is molten you quickly dump it into a bowl of cold water. The lead forms into a weird shape when it hits the water and you have to decide what it looks the most like. Whatever shape it takes gives you a fortune for the new year. J (the family's six year old boy) decided that mine was a fish. So my fortune was "A bath would do you good." Lol, I take this to mean that I need to relax, not that I smell bad! At midnight we had champagne, which was surprisingly good. We also indulged in another German tradition, which is to eat Pfannkuchen for the new year. Pfannkuchen are donuts with a range of fillings. I'm told that they sometimes even fill them with mustard as a prank. Fortunately I just got a delicious jelly filled one. Outside of Berlin, Pfannkuchen are known as Berliners. Hence the old JFK joke, I am a jelly donut :) After the midnight countdown we went outside to light fireworks. I guess this year was a big deal because it is the first year that they are legally allowed to put 3X as much black powder as before into the fireworks. It's crazy to think how much money was shot up into the air last night. The smoke from the fireworks going off everywhere made all the streets look hazy. It was really beautiful, in an eerie sort of way.

Since I didn't manage to go to sleep until 3am last night due to all of the rockets going off, I basically slept until noon today. AM (my host mother) and I went to Zumba at the fitness center this afternoon. It was a lot of fun, but definitely very different from home. We did two of the same songs that Heather teaches at home and I have to say that I prefer Heather's routines. I ended up purchasing a membership to the gym so I can go to more classes and maybe try the pool sometime. I am definitely looking to get in better shape this year and I'm sure the money that I'm spending on this gym will be a good motivator, lol.

Tomorrow is the start of my first real week of work (and my second week in Germany!). I am excited to be working out my schedule. I'll hopefully be getting signed up for my German classes tomorrow and Tuesday I am meeting the woman from Au Pair Care that helped arrange everything. We are getting my visa so that I can officially start working in Germany. My first day at the Kita is Wednesday and I'm surprisingly not that worried about it.

I finally feel like I'm settling in here. I still miss everyone back home, but the initial shock is wearing off bit by bit. My tooth feels way better, so that's a definite plus. I am still kinda jetlagged though. I'm working on getting onto a normal eating and sleeping schedule. No more of this waking up starving the middle of the night! Speaking of which, I attempted to make Mom's hashbrown casserole today, but it came out really weird. I couldn't find ground sausage in the store and the only mushroom soup they had was powdered, not in a can like I normally use. So the flavor was completely off, but at least it was edible!

Well tomorrow marks the start of a very busy week for me, so I'd better get some sleep. I'd also like to make a quick shout out to Ben, who leaves for Japan in 24 hours. You're gonna do great and have an amazing time Ben!

Talk to everyone soon!

Click Here for New Year's Eve Pictures