Knuckles For You

How to get from Berlin to Ljubljana

2010-07-13T16:42:00.013+02:00

There are undoubtedly many ways to get from Berlin to Ljubljana as well as many reasons to do so. Maybe you go by plane, maybe by horse, or maybe by train. Maybe you have a meeting there, a dying grandmother there or just enjoy peeing there. I, personally, went the following way for the following reasons, maybe you will too! Here is how to do it just like me.

The first thing is you really have to want to go to Ljubljana. If you don't want to go there I suggest you go somewhere else. I stumbled upon wanting to go to Ljubljana with the help of a friend whose last name must be said with his first name, Micah Buckley-Farlee. Micah Buckley-Farlee and I have been friends for almost 8 years now. We met doing high school theater. We've never had the opportunity to be incredibly close but we've made up for that by doing a lot of the same things at different times. We've worked at the same coffee shop, shared some of the same friends, went to the same schools, studied the same language and both received a scholarship for a student exchange year in Berlin. In order to increase this list I've tried to enjoy techno and he's tried to bleed once a month. We can already add something very important, though, a trip to Ljubljana.

At first I wasn't conscious of my want to go to Ljubljana. I may or may not have known it existed at all, it's hard to say. But when Micah Buckley-Farlee asked me, "Do you want to go to Ljubljana?" I knew immediately that yes, yes I did want that.

The next question was how? How can this dream become reality? There we were in Berlin and in Berlin it's really fairly easy to see that you are not in Ljubljana. That was something I noticed right away. Maybe it will take you longer, have patience. Knowing this we knew we had to leave Berlin or there was no chance we were going to be anywhere else.

First we did what we knew. We took a regional train with our Berlin transportation tickets almost as far out as we could and ended up somewhere near Potsdam. We were not fooled, that was also clearly not Ljubljana. After a little walk around the area we decided to buy a map to give us a better idea of where Ljubljana might actually be. This helped tremendously, I can only recommend it.

(Right: "Every wall has a gate!" We spent a long time trying to find this particular one which led to this particular gas station)

Being at a gas station we saw cars and some of them were going in the direction we wanted to go. We made a sign (or rather Micah Buckley-Farlee made a sign because he could make letters of the same size, unlike others) and after one good talking to by an experienced Ukrainian hitchhiker, kindness of a man from Jordan, and three hours later we were at a different gas station also reachable by Berlin public transportation. Two hours after that we were dropped off by a Danish stove engineer (both he and the stoves are Danish) "near Dresden" or not near Dresden as the case may be.

It was just after sun down when we realized, hey, we're still here at this gas station. We thought it was perhaps soccer related because during the World Cup most everything is. So we waited for the Dutch to kick someone's butt before asking for a ride again only to be laughed at by big burly men about to go to bed at 10:30pm in their trucks.

After no sympathy from the gas station crew and a back up taxi number we started our walk to Bautzen. Micah Buckley-Farlee recognized this town as a place that makes mustard, so you can imagine we were pretty excited.

(Bautzen)

We looked for a hostel or a Pension or anything that wasn't a Holiday Inn, but all we could find was, yes, a Holiday Inn. And it was expensive. BUT we could exchange our pillows for slightly different pillows if we wanted.

The next day we decided to train it.

(This may look similar to standing at a gas station, but it's very different)

We spent the whole day on the train ending up in Munich in time for the Germany game. We had a beer and a sausage and tried not to throw up from the billions of 18 year old Americans glued to the bar at our hostel which wasn't much cheaper than the Holiday Inn but did include two free shots. We stuck it to the man and didn't order anything else there.

(And whoa, they had beer in the vending machine)

After a nice breakfast at the hostel we started hitchhiking again. We got as far as Rosenheim with a man from Georgia.

(It was HOT and my skin is still a little bubbly and peel-y from standing in this exact spot even though I had already applied sunscreen three times)

A couple hours later we got a ride to Salzburg from an Austrian man whose brand new car Micah BF ruined within one minute of being in the car. Then we got a ride from a woman from Ulm who missed her exit by a LOT and took us much farther than she intended. Good for us, sad for her.

We arrived in beautiful...

(I was there.)

(Get it? It's like the sign.)

And took a train to Villach and spent the night in yeah, a Holiday Inn. A more expensive one, but it had a red light in it and you could see through the glass walls into the shower and toilet. Micah BF and I are now very close.

The next day we had really had it with not being in Ljubljana. That was really enough of that. So we hopped on the train again and there we were!

(We chose pizza Burek over Human Fish. I regret it every day.)

(Traditional Slovenian, which seems like traditional all of this part of Europe)

(We went out at night and found this cool place. Sadly we were too tired and didn't like the music enough to stay, but it was cool.)

And that was that. It is a nice, comparatively rich, modern, chic city. The people were nice and we were able to talk to everyone in either English or German. The next day we took the train back to Berlin because Micah BF had to hurry up and DJ and go back to the states. To get the best deal we had to spend four hours in Vienna which was partially and well spent eating cheese Spätzle and apple strudel.

(That picture on the right is a church, not the Strudel)

Then we took the night train to Berlin. Weighing the cost of a bed instead of a seat on the night train against drinking most of the night we went for the beer. One was bought by a man at one of the stops for a euro less than the people on the train were selling it for, smart man. It had a goat on it, maybe we were in Hungary at the time? I don't know, who cares, we were busy chatting up some young Germans and going to the bathroom.

Eventually we did fall asleep and we were in Berlin an hour after waking up.

So apparently it's easier to get from Ljubljana to Berlin. Just do that.

Fuck You Body

2010-04-29T11:21:00.004+02:00

(From two years ago)

You better be better by the day after tomorrow. If I could pick one day to be in Berlin it would be the 1st of May and I am not going to be in bed with a fever for it. If I have to go dripping with sweat and freezing, I'll do it. Don't think I won't.

The 1st of May in Berlin is a very important day. The great people of Berlin get their chance to show how much they hate fascism, capitalism and more importantly how much they love beer. Also how much they love...communism? Well, you know, it's the workers' day. In the past they've shown these feelings through burning cars and raiding small stores, but the government has been trying extra hard to tone it down the last couple of years by adding more police and this year they're actually going to LIMIT THE AMOUNT OF ALCOHOL SOLD. And somehow bottles and cans aren't allowed? I don't think I understood that right. That's all just nuts. Plus they're rerouting the annual demonstration so it doesn't go through the main celebration.

I want see. Me.

GET BETTER BODY I'LL KILL YOU IF YOU DON'T KILL KILL

How to be furchtbar sick in Berlin

2010-04-25T13:17:00.009+02:00

What you'll need:
- an embarrassing and/or horrible illness
- a bedroom to yourself
- a laptop
- almost no food
- 3 or 4 different doctors within walking distance of you house, most of them almost far away enough to take transportation. Almost.

- Skype

- Limewire

- several pairs of Pjs

- addiction to a TV show at least 6 seasons long.

What you can leave at home (ha):

- good health

- friends

- family members in the vicinity

- Mirrors (trust me)

- happiness

- clean sheets (that's right, ol' school)

This is just an example of how you could go about it.

1. Notice something is wrong, ignore it.

2. Realize you have a fever and are shaking and have no thermometer.

3. Spend around 45 minutes trying to figure out if your nice hippie family German doctor lady is open and realize she isn't and that you have to go to the "other one" a couple doors down from her.

4. Be mistaken for a crack addict.

5. Wait for an hour and 10 minutes in the waiting room in which you slowly make it from sitting in the chair to sitting on the floor to lying on the floor, to being asked to stop lying on the floor and finally to lying in the back until you see the doctor.

6. Be told you wouldn't know if you have a fever.

7. Be told your fever is 39.5 (103).

8. Remember you read you can get hallucinations at this temp, be disappointed and personally offended you aren't.

9. Be yelled at for not remembering the name of your last doctor or what street he was on (this was of course not Hippie family german doctor lady).

10. Be yelled at for not having anyone with you and think about how you would love to have someone with you.

11. Hear the doctor tell the next doctor that you can't speak German so gut. Be confused as to why you have to be labeled as not speaking German well but still have to listen to fast complicated medical German. Miss your nice hippie German doctor. Resolve not to get sick on a Thursday again.

12. Cry.

13. Make sure this doctor doesn't do anything helpful.

14. Be sent to another doctor.

15. This doctor can be nice, but she can't be helpful either.

16. Be sent to another doctor who will do something very painful and not immediately helpful to you.

17. Cry.

18. Come back the next day only then to go home and feel much worse and come back to have the worse thing in your entire life happen to you during which you must cry out in such pain that the children and adults in the waiting room lose all color in their cheeks.

19. Hate life.

20. Cry.

21. Continue to have a high fever every couple of days for the next 3-4 (god I hope not 5) days.

22. Skype with your parents who are more angry that they're not here than sympathetic.

23. Think about how maybe you need to step up the friend finding if no one has called you for a week, two weeks?

24. Think, in general, too much.

25. Use up most of your Gilmore Girl episodes.

26. Eat nothing because you have no food and would throw it up anyway.

27. Consider hiring a nurse every time you need to make yourself tea or get out of bed to change your sweaty Pjs or pee.

28. Download Salt-N-Pepa, want to be them.

29. Think about all the things you're missing that could have changed your whole future.

30. Cry.

31. Wonder if you died in you room if anyone would notice but your parents who expect constant updates.

32. Don't take movie recommendations from your mom.

33. Hate the gorgeous weather. But know that since it's going to rain tomorrow, you'll probably feel a little better then. (BUT YOU WON'T)

Oh, and be sure you try and make jokes with the German doctors who aren't having it. And for god sakes, don't be optimistic. And don't ever stretch your neck so it can get nice and bed-stiff. Maybe go to the grocery store once, but realize you only left with expensive tea because you were nauseous. And don't even get me started about how you didn't deal with the papers you need to get your money back from your mysterious private insurance...

That should about do it. Let me know if you have any questions.

Edit (Later that day at 20h):

34. Start talking to yourself in a mix of all the languages you don't really know and find it really funny.

35. Cry

36. Be annoyed that new fieber is only two points down from your record.

37. Eat your last popsicle.

38. Wonder who ate your popsicle. Think is was "those-damn-Germans"

2010-04-25T11:29:00.001+02:00

The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.

Thomas Alva Edison

The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.

Ayn Rand

Try a thing you haven't done three times. Once, to get over the fear of doing it. Twice, to learn how to do it. And a third time to figure out whether you like it or not.
Virgil Thomson

And my favorite

Be like a postage stamp. Stick to it until you get there.
Harvey Mackay

According to everyone I've talked to in the last 5 days (besides my parents) my last name is Sea-moans. I've given in. My name is now Ruhbee Sea-moans.

Berlin Graffiti

2010-04-09T11:48:00.010+02:00

Berlin's graffiti scene started in the 1980's on the wave of American hip hop music and culture. It came in slowly with minorities breakdancing in the streets of West Berlin, mostly 2nd generation southern Europeans and Turks. The first 'real' piece of graffiti was supposedly done by RAY near S-Bahnhof Sundgauer in Southwest Berlin in 1982.

(This is not that)

It began with individuals and some two-teams, but really started to explode with the fall of the wall in 1989, when graffiti became "cool". Those who had done graffiti before the fall of the wall became "old-school" and everyone else was "new-school". New-schoolers were different because of the old-schoolers' influence and the general explosion of information that happened when with wall opened, including the arrival of graffiti magazines.

The western side of the wall was considered a challenge by graffiti artists and they went to work covering it fairly early. This side of the wall was not guarded like the other side was. The eastern side stayed a dreary grey and white deswegen. The eastern side would be the part left standing as a memorial, as it was more of a real barrier than the western side. This would then be painted after the fall and become the longest open air gallery in the world and my dad would have a picture of him taken in front of it.

Graffiti in and on trains aren't as common as in NY city, but riding the S-Bahn on the ring or through the middle of Berlin is more or less like being in a moving graffiti gallery.

Not to say there isn't ANY in train stations and on trains, but most of it is cleaned up rather quickly and/or if it's a train it's removed from service. The fine can be up to 3,000 Euros, which may be the deterrent if you're not super gangster like THC.

There's a lot of English graffiti in Berlin, partly because a lot of graffiti artists travel to Berlin from other countries, but partly for the same reason so many Germans sing in English. (That reason being: they're dumb, or they're smart and want it to be understood by "everyone".) There is, however, a good deal in German.

(Fight Fascism)

(The border does not run between up and down, but between you and me)

Nowadays there are many graffiti gangs and individuals who paint similar pieces all over Berlin, such as this guy above, a angry Berlin bear, and some guy/s paints fists all over the place. I like those. I'll get a picture at some point.

But even with so much graffiti and how dirty Berlin is it feels so safe (even though Berlin is the only place I've ever been molested (the bad kind, not the good kind)(well, that too)).

When my dad was here he asked about gangs in Berlin and I had no idea, I still have no idea. It's never talked about and I never see any. Where do all the drugs come from? Surely someone's fighting someone somewhere over something...in groups. If you know more about this, tell me. If you don't, make something up!

2010-03-07T19:37:00.007+01:00

(an I-love-my-life moment)

The rollar coaster of being abroad continues.

Spring is coming and I can already tell it's going to change my life completely. I think it's going to make everything not so goddamn depressing.

I've finally been interested in taking walks again. Exercise and sunshine make everything so much better. If I depressed when I leave the house, I'm not depressed when I come back.

I'm starting to remember why I love Berlin so much. I leave the house and within 20 minutes I've found something weird.

On my last walk I found a outside petting zoo that just takes donations. Today I was also lucky enough to find a good cup of coffee and a view of the TV Tower and river. Not so weird, but still great.

There's also this amazing smell. I don't know if it's the grass or dirt or throw up that's not covered by the snow anymore or a mix of all three plus dog poop, but whatever it is it reminds me of what I think of as my crazy Berlin days, which may or may not have been so crazy.

I never remember the weather affecting me as much as it has this year. I get depressed and I think, why? Whyowhyowhyowhy, I don't want to be depressed. Then I think, oh hey, the sun hasn't shown it's bloddy face in OVER TWO WEEKS MAYBE THAT'S WHY.

But that's all different now. Now the weater is just going crazy. It's raining, it's snowing, it's sunny, it's cloudy. Usually it's doing at least three of those things at once. Sometimes it's schneeregen (sleet-ing?). I teach the kids "it's raining cats and dogs". They laugh. I cry.

My favorite fruits and vegetables are getting better and cheaper. And since in Europe it's the law that you go grocery shopping every day this makes a pretty big impact on my life.

(homemade salsa. homemade by me. be astound)

I've been pissed at both German and English lately and have mostly tried not to speak at all. This has proved to be difficult, but people seem to like me more.

(Germans: this is one of those things we Americans call a "joke" or "Witz" in your language. Now start taking some initiative and start recognizing them yourself. You don't have to laugh or anything crazy like that, just make a small polite smile.)

Italy!

2010-02-14T12:17:00.004+01:00

Let's talk about the most important part first. Food and drink.

I stayed with an Italian friend of mine and we drank about 5 or 6 espressos a day. Normally I drink tea in the morning, so this is crazy. I would normally get a macchiato, espresso with a bit of milk. This or espresso is normally 80 or 90 cents!

At this machine below espresso was only 45 cents...and it was good.

For breakfast they normally eat something sweet like a cookie (biscotti, but just a cookie, not like our biscotti) and espresso. This, to a person who thinks a combination of protein and carbohydrates is very important in the morning, sounds crazy. But hey, cookies!

Wine is more common than in Germany and people may go from wine bar to wine bar drinking house wines and eating these things...

And they may eat a Frittelle with an espresso (which will be called a caffè)

Then they might be so weird as to get bread from a vending machine.

(ahem)

Everything else was just really beautiful. We visited a couple different cities.

This is Bassano...

Padova...

(Biggest square in Europe apparently)

Italy (Venice and around Venice) is beautiful! Who would have thought?!

Venice...

(This is the very famous "Bridge of Sighs", some people think it's called that in a romantic way but it's because it's the way to the prison. The advertisements ruined it for me.)

(This is my favorite)

(Great lady)

Carnival was starting while I was there. On my last day in Venice there were people wearing masks everywhere. Carnival is only once a year, but apparently the stores selling masks see enough tourists that they're always open.

And to end my great week in Italy...a carnival party.

When does my Italian class start? Where do I apply for scholarships?

2010-01-16T14:16:00.003+01:00

Meanwhile, my life partner, English, has also been annoying the heck out of me. I don't understand him like I do German and yet I'm expected to just because we've spent so much time together. (And maybe because I'm an English teacher, shh) Well, you know what, I don't get him. He's hard to read.

I've been trying to be better, though. Even if German leaves me, English and I are in it for the long run. I've started a writing creativity course, "The Artist's Way," and I'm hoping that will bring us closer. I've also been reading English grammar books to help me in my job, which has been helpful.

I've really been rude to him, but only because I know he'll never leave me. I have a feeling he'll forgive me.

What is happening.

2010-01-15T20:12:00.008+01:00

What is happening.

I mean, really. I feel like I've been thinking this for the past year and a half. What the ---- is happening? I remember being 5 and knowing I had 17 years of school in front of me. I knew more or less what I would be doing for SEVENTEEN YEARS. Is that safety or what. Sure, I didn't know what else I would be doing, but everything would some how be affected by my attempt to get a college degree. Now I have a college degree. And now? What should I do. What do I want to do. What AM I doing? WHEN will I stop asking myself these questions every day? (never)

What am I doing: Because I had trouble saying the word "spoon" in German 6 years ago (it's Löffel, by the way and I'm not going to tell you if it's masculine, feminine or neutral. Suffer.) I decided to rush into a life more or less revolved around German and Germany with no idea why I was really doing it (what reasons could there be?). Somewhere in there there was this bubble in my life when I was in Russia that I often forget even happened because it's so unrelated to the rest of my life. Then, back to my real life, I spent a year in Berlin on a scholarship and was some how pretty positive I was doing what I was "supposed" to be doing. I've been back for five whole months now. I came hoping I would still feel like I should be here. My German is so much better than could be expected, but I'm still unsatisfied with it and at the same time I think, 'Why the heck am I learning GERMAN?" Then I spend an hour working through my Rosetta Stone for Spanish. Then I open my mouth and something in outrageously stupid German comes out and I think, why did I waste all the time yesterday learning Spanish?

And it's colder here than in Minneapolis and I think, why am I learning German.
I don't have as many friends in Germany as in the States and I think, why am I learning German.
I miss my family and I think, why am I learning German.
Germans my age who only half paid attention in school drool out American slang in their sleep that's so cool _I_ don't even feel comfortable using it and I think, you guessed it, WHY AM I LEARNING THIS SCHIEßLANGUAGE?!

It's like having a boyfriend who's not good for me, but I still really want to fool around with him. I try to forget about him, think about how stupid he makes me feel and how he doesn't really support my goals. How he ignores me, doesn't really listen to what I'm trying to say even though I usually understand exactly what he's trying to say and am always an active listener. But mostly he doesn't care at all what I want. Selfish bastard. "---- you", I say. Then he tosses me a bone. He says he loves me and that I'm really actually very smart and some woman at a newspaper stand still thinks I'm German after hearing me talk. Then I wonder why that makes me happy überhaupt.

It occurred to me the other day that I could be this fluent in different language. Like, I could be fluent in Spanish or French. I could speak one of those fluently. Why does this seem so much more impressive than being fluent in German when German is actually "harder"? Because I think those languages would be more useful? I think I'm annoyed by the fact that there are no underdeveloped countries that speak German. There are some people in Africa that speak German, but not many. It's not like French in Africa or Spanish in Central and South America. Would I go there anyway? And when can I finally say I learned German? It will never end! Why did I start something I couldn't finish. I hate that.

I am so happy to be here and at the same time so annoyed. I keep feeling like German and I are going to have a bad break up. Just waiting for the shoe to drop. Some day he's going to do something that's really going to make me angry and I'm going to leave him forever and never talk to him again and these years that we've been together will have been a waste. And duh, yeah, nothing's a waste, what doesn't kill you makes you strong, whatever.

But really, he's not even good looking.

How can I complain when I'm doing EXACTLY what I wanted to do this year? Love is rough.

Being abroad is rough. I think that's what I really missed. This roller coaster of emotions. Without it life seemed boring.

I hate that things are so dramatic, though, but at least it's not boring. God forbid.

I turned 23 on Tuesday. The years are starting to feel like months.

2010-01-03T20:11:00.014+01:00

Christmas

(Yes, that's Sauerkraut!)

Christmas Day

Snow - After Christmas

New Years

Aftermath

New Year's Eve was actually pretty dangerous. I'm now thankful for how many fireworks are illegal in Minnesota. Drunk+fire=bad.

WEIHNACHTEN

2009-12-21T17:12:00.027+01:00

(Snow!)

Frohe Weihnachten!

Merry Christmas!

I missed Berlin so much last Christmas. Weihnachtsmärkte (Christmas Markets) have been my reason for living ever since I visited one for the first time two years ago. I love this "Christmas-y" feeling and I never get that more than when I'm drinking Glühwein and listening to Christmas music in the cold (but not Minnesota cold).

(Amusement-park-like Weihnachtsmarkt at Alexander Platz)

(Warm coats at the Kulturbrauerei)

(zum warm werden)

It's been amazing being at a school too. They "get to" celebrate Christmas in school in Germany. As a person who does indeed celebrate Christmas, this is great. I wouldn't tell congress to change how it works in the US, but it's certainly fun for me here and now. There were Christmas trees everywhere and Advent Calendars in every classroom, mostly homemade ones.

At one school there was a great Christmas concert. I want to put up more pictures, but I wonder how great it is to put up pictures of kids online without their knowing.

(This seems safe)

There were also two buffets for the teachers which I blame for my holiday weight gain in a very good way.

(Maybe a third of the buffet)

(The Christmas party for teachers)

At the other school a class sang a song, told a joke, or told a story in the second period of every day of school in December.

I was also lucky enough to be able to make Plätzchen (Christmas cookies) with Oma.

One type of cookies was apparently so bad that someone had to spit it out, but I'm pretty sure the rest were really great.

Vanessa and I also went to a Christmas concert in the Berliner Philharmoniker. One of the teachers from the school that we work at together sang in it. She was one of many, but I'm pretty sure she sang the best.

(Oh Germany, this is a fancy affair, Pretzels? You're so awesome)

(BVG)

Frohen Nikolaustag!

2009-12-06T12:21:00.013+01:00

Happy St. Nikolaus' Day! This is the day that kids get candy and toys in their shoes. That's the important part. The bad kids get twigs, though, as a warning to be good or they'll get nothing for Christmas. Sometimes they put in a wish list for Christmas too.

I'm celebrating today by lighting the first two candles on my Adventkranz (Advent wreath). I missed lighting the first one on the first Advent because I didn't want...to pay for it. After the first Advent my Adventkranz was only 5 Euros as opposed to 12. Score. I supposed that means I get think about Hope (candle one) and Love (candle two) on one day!

I'm also going to a Christmas concert with people from work. Should be fun.

I'll also be enjoying opening all of my Advent calendars. One with quotes from the Bible thanks to an Aunt (I'm not Christian, but I appreciate the advice), one with Chocolate thanks to a co-worker and one with tea thanks to the Sagerts. Am I ever a lucky duck.

( )
( )
( )

The last of Thanksgiving and Fall before Christmas and Winter

2009-12-05T23:36:00.001+01:00

Is it winter? I'm still going to open market today. It's December, there's no snow. People are still eating Kürbis (Pumpkin). I'm wondering if the extra batter for my pumpkin pie is still good or where I could find somethings that purees and what that has to do with questioning whether or not it's winter.

Today I'm going back to Boxxi today for some cheap fresh fruits and vegetables and I'll hopefully be back for the Trödelmarkt (flo market) tomorrow. These pictures are from two weeks ago.

(Cheese and More...)(123 grams of More please!)
(I love the way this guy to the left is looking at me and how I didn't notice it at the time.)

(I also like how this guy isn't looking at me )

And here's the last post about Thanksgiving. Here are some of my favorites of the hand-Turkeys the kids drew at school. They're supper awesome and I had them hanging up in my apartment for the big day. I may or may not give them back (well, ok, I'll give them back, I promised.)

(An American artist wanted to buy this one, but he couldn't afford it)

4 Months

2009-12-04T23:46:00.003+01:00

I've been in Berlin for four whole months already. That's how long I was in Ireland and Russia, a semester. How can I have been here for four months already? I feel like I haven't done anything yet. Time to wake up from the adjusting-to-Germany-again-and-I'm-sick coma. Time to start doing things. Well, I'll start tomorrow.

Health Care in the US and Germany Part 1

2009-12-04T11:36:00.013+01:00

One of the teachers I don't know very well said on Wednesday that we have to go to the Zahnartz and I thought I had just misheard him and that he ment HE was going. I didn't quite understand why he was only teaching half a class instead of canceling it, but you know, whatever. But APPARENTLY there's yet another way in which the German healthcare system is better than the American. A dentist comes to the school every year to check on the kids' teeth. And when something is wrong, or even if nothing's wrong, the parents are informed. This is to make sure nothing is ignored if the children ~~have bad parents~~ forget to go to the dentist.

I think this is great. It's apparently paid for by the state which is also great. I dont' know why I find this so crazy. But it's like a doctor coming to your house! (That happens in Germany too, apparently.) They also brush with fluoride instead of using those little trays full of it that we use. The nice dentist and nurse were nice enough to answer all my questions, I should've taken a picture. ("EYYY MS. SIMMONS KANN DEUTSCH AHHHHH""No I can't, shut up, children, or speak English")

This is all opposed to in the US where we're just expected to have responsible parents.

I wanted to prove that German kids have healthier teeth because of it, but I don't learn anymore so my google skills have disintegrated a bit. Feel free to do the work for me. I would, of course, also be pleased with information that proves Americans have better oral health. Win-win. I wouldn't be surprised by that either, though, because no one seems to floss here. They think it's silly and don't use it. And I look for it (that's right, I looked in your bathroom!). I really just can't believe it. Are we being brain washed in the US? I can't believe that either....flossing is just important! It just is! (No, but really, Germans, it's important.)

Side note: I need to go to the dentist and am not insured for it...should I have bribed the dentist here? You think 1.34 euros would have been enough? I've been having those I'm-losing-my-teeth-dreams again..."in dream" that means I've been feeling insecure. I'll feel more secure when a dentist tells me I'm not losing my teeth.

EDIT: And then I was reminded that doctors do come to our schools, or at least they came to my school. No one ever checked my teeth, but they checked my eyes and hearing. (Raise your hand if you hear a beep.) That's pretty great. I give Germany 2 points and USA 1.2. I think that's fair.

2009-12-01T06:47:00.004+01:00

I was going to complain about the rain, but at least it's not going to be 25 and snowing! Or is it close enough to Christmas for me to want that?

And do you think DAAD hates me because I didn't see something on their website?

DAAD and Thanksgiving

2009-11-30T19:09:00.022+01:00

(Proving my application arrived in New York)

I applied for the DAAD this month, a scholarship to do my Masters in Germany starting next year. They would pay for EVERYTHING. Cross your fingers or press your thumbs (drück mir die Daumen), whatever you think is going to help. At least wish me luck!

And Thanksgiving was great! I made a pie! My first pie ever.

And then....!!!

I used this recipe for the crust and this recipe for the filling...

And that was a really good idea because I then didn't have to worry about conversions or not being able to find American products. I think it turned out pretty well! This was just another way way my German has helped create something wonderful.

And then some people ate it at my apartment among other things.

And I also went to Chemnitz with the Sagerts (I'll be calling them my German family from now on). We went to a Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market). Also great! And also more or less where I'll be for the next month (although not in Chemnitz)....(I mean at a Christmas market).
Christmas markets are amazing, there is no better way to prepare for Christmas. Since the middle of November Berlin as well as, I'll assume, most German cities, if not all, have been littered with Glühwein (warm wine with spices) and gebrannte Mandeln (roasted almonds) and Lebkuchen (gingerbread) and wooden toys and Räuchermännchen (figures that you put little triangle candle like things into that then smoke up through what is normally the mouth of a guy or girl) and so on and so forth. This is...I pretty sure...my favorite thing about Germany and I'm so happy to be here for it again.

And I got the present of meat from Frank, Father Sagert.

Germany's great.

I am, however, getting pretty bad Heimweh (homesickness) this year. When I was here for 10 months from 2007-2008 I don't remember having really any Heimweh at all. Maybe it's just not knowing when I'll be home again or what I'll be doing next year. Will I see my family in a year? 2 years? 3? 3???!!!! That would be far too many. 1 year is kind of pushing it.

They're doing a Christmas concert at the R.Fox elementary school and they were practicing yesterday. I teared up at "Swing low, sweet chariot" because of how many times they sung "home." I wondered why they're singing a song that was sung by slaves who wanted to die and be brought back "home" (read: to heaven) for a Christmas concert, but to each his own.

What's important, though, is that as an American I can now, with good conscience, start celebrating Christmas (now that Thanksgiving is over).

Übrigens, three Germans mentioned Black Friday to me when I mentioned Thanksgiving, but they didn't know why we celebrated Thanksgiving or what we did on this day. Hm.
(Disclaimer: I mean nothing bad about Germans with this, it's just..interesting)

What I do and 9. November

2009-11-21T16:00:00.021+01:00

(Because of the "New Flu" we will be abstaining from shaking hands - The Finance office)

After two or three months of being sick I've decided not to be sick anymore. That's it. No more. In the last two months I've had a fever at least 4 times and have had a constant cold. I also got strep throat somewhere in there. I blame the children. Everyday one third of the kids in every class are at home sick and the rest are...also sick and rubbing their gross germs all over me. Luckily I haven't had the Swine-flu, but I wouldn't be surprised if I got that too! I've heard of at least 8 people at the Elementary schools I work at having it.

Because it seems to be unclear what exactly it is that I'm doing here in Germany, I'm going to tell you in a little more detail! (No, I don't just sit on my ass all day eating bon-bons, I usually stand on my ass).

I have three different jobs and work about 30 hours a week not including preparation time.

Job number one: English Assistant at the Reineke-Fuchs-Grundschule (Elementary school).
I either work in the classroom with the teacher or I take a few students into the hallway and work on conversation (with the older kids) or on reading or exercises. I also do two workshops. I do an English cooking workshop on Mondays with Vanessa, the English girl who also works there but through the British Council (who will be leaving in February), and I do an England preparation workshop on Tuesdays for the kids who will be taking a trip to England in the Spring. I work here three days a week for a total of 15 hours a week.

Job number two: English Assistant at the Hermann-Schulz-Grundschule (Elementary school). I either work in the classroom with the teacher or I take a few students into the hallway and work on conversation (with the older kids) or on reading or exercises. I work here two days a week for a total of 11 hours a week.

Job number three: English teacher at the Volkshochschule-Reinickendorf (adult education center). I teach two lower level English classes mit Muße, which means that the classes are supposed to go very slow and often has older people, busy people and...slower people in it. This also means that I'm supposed to speak more German than I might otherwise in a normal course. So, I teach them in German but try to say most everything in English first so they get used to the sound and words. I work here 4 hours a week.

This job is obviously much harder than my other jobs. Preparation and the execution are both very difficult just because of how different the students are. Some can really speak English (like 4 or 5 out of 27) and some still need to learn "I, you, he, she, it" ect. How am I supposed to make everyone happy? This is very hard on my I-want-to-make-everyone-happy bone. But my boss came in to see me teach and said I was doing well, so...I guess I'm doing well! I'll just work on improving my teaching skills the best I can while realizing that I can't please everyone. I guess. This is, however, particularly rewarding just because it's so challenging. Not to mention that it pays a lot better than my other jobs.

This, below, is at the Reineke-Fuchs-Grundschule. This girl had her birthday. Whenever a kid has a birthday the birthday kid brings in candy or cakes or something for the class. It's unclear whether or not they always get lifted up in a chair. But in Bettina's class they do.

Notice the blackboard. I have yet to see a white board or a projector in an elementary school here, let alone a power point presentation. : ) Desks are tables for two and school bags are box-like. I should've written about the schools here earlier...most things are starting to seem normal now, so I'm forgetting the differences. Pencil cases seem to be more important, but possibly because they don't really have the desks that we have where you can leave all your stuff. They have cubbies, though. As far as how the class is taught it's surprisingly the same, as far as I can tell. University in Germany is so different from University in Minnesota that I expected school to be different too, but I find nothing odd about the way the classes are taught here.

There are some small differences like the shape and look of notebooks (no spiral notebooks here) or the fact that every child uses a fountain pen, something I find to be romantic, but not normal. To go along with this they have jars full of cartridges of ink and a thing called Tintenkiller, one of my favorite Denglish words. Tinte meaning ink, Tintenkiller means ink eraser and only erases the ink from these ink cartridges. Handwriting is very important here apparently. At first I bought a Tintenkiller and thought it was just an erasable pen. I tried writing with the pen-side then erasing it with the other side, but apparently the pen side is for writing on the part that you already erased. This was very confusing to me and I spent 23 minutes trying to get my new fountain pen to work. I, of course, ended up with ink all over my hands...in fact, every time I use it I end up with ink all over my hards. I like to think it's the quality of the pen. I also write in cursive now. I think it might look better than my normal handwriting. I remember my 2nd grade teaching saying my handwriting was horrible and that I needed to fix it and it hasn't really improved since then. But I was writing a letter at school the other day, in cursive, and this girl said my handwriting was...nice. That had never happened to me before. Very exciting.

The teachers at the schools are really great and supportive. I was very happy when I found out that I would need to speak German at school with other teachers. I feared that I would be speaking English the whole day if I was teaching English, but luckily that's not the case. My German is still improving rather slowly, but I think I've just reached that time with it. In the beginning it's so easy to notice improvements, but now that I'm relatively confident that I can express pretty much anything I want to German the next noticeable step seems to be being able to do that without making any mistakes, which won't...ever happen : ) So I'll just be happy with the opportunities my mistakes are giving me to learning new vocab and sayings for now. I'm starting to give my German learning some gas since I applied for the DAAD study scholarship last week (it would pay for my living expenses while I study). It's only like 10 months until I, hopefully, start my Masters program in German as a Second language (like ESL for German) and I really would like to do it well with minimal German mistakes. I'll be making enough of the other kinds of mistakes. : )

9. November

The 9th of November was the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall and there was a big celebration on Brandenburger Tor and Potsdamer Platz. They set up all of these Dominoes painted by different school groups and youth groups. It was supposed to symbolize, you guessed it, the falling of the wall. It was pretty neat. It's just too bad that it was raining and cold. We waited for the three hours for it to fall anyway.

At times with Glühwein.

And then, I think an hour after it was supposed to, it fell. I have a video, but it doesn't want to load. It took forever for it to fall because every person on earth had to say something about the fall of the wall first. Apparently the wall was bad. (Although not according to some West-Berliners I know).

Hillary Clinton was there too. I'm a little surprised Obama didn't make an appearance.

(Random party, pants on the ceiling)

(English/German Vocabulary Book)

My room and general update

2009-09-26T13:14:00.040+02:00

(-I'm so happy to be here! -Me too!)

I actually moved into my apartment at the end of August, but it has only recently started to feel like my room. I just need art and curtains.

I ended up looking at about 9 apartments. When I visited this one I put a star by my name when I wrote down my name and phone number next to the other dozen people who had already come over. They said the star really helped.

The sofa and two armchairs I bought on ebay for one Euro. Whoa.
Any idea on what I should name my new yellow cat (see rug) would be appreciated.

And I am, by the way, very lucky to know the Sagerts. They're the family of a German girl I met when I was 17 in Ireland (hi, Hanna)! They were nice enough to loan me the mattress, the table, the small shelves, as well as doing countless other things for me. I'm sure my Heimweh (homesickness) would be much worse without them.

(Yes, those are beds)

Oma! (Grandmom)

So anyway, this is the biggest room I've ever had in my life.

It's in a nice Altbau (old building) and it's with two great roommates (find my blog yet, Flo? : ))

It's in a great area. Very far from my work, but I wasn't going to live anywhere near my work anyway.

The Euro signs are where are work, the green house is where I lived 2 years ago, the volcano is where I live now and the 'i' is there I studied. And these two fucking little yellow stars I just can't get rid of.

Why is everything so crazy far from where I want to live?

It's really been ok, though. I only have to change trains once, which just gives me time to people watch and read. At the moment I'm reading Russian Disco by Wladimir Kaminer, I very much recommend it. It's particularly great if you know Berlin.
I've finally opened a library account (I needed my visa first). It's amazing, they have all sorts of books and magazines for German as a second language (DaF). I'm also reading these Deutsch Perfect magazines from the last couple of years, I really wanted them before but they're like 6 Euros. They're really great, because they give definitions of the hard words in German at the bottom of the page and all the topics have to do with Germany (obviously). Also highly recommended.
I also took out a beginners French book and CD, a book on how to write love letters in German, which is pretty hilarious, and at least 6 other books. Two weeks for magazines and 4 weeks for books. Seems reasonable. They charge you 2 Euros for anything that's on the bestsellers list, so it's going to be classics and just plain old books for me, but that's fine.

Berlin's changed a little bit. It's always so weird when I see something new. This guy here for example was not there before (see picture at the top of this page). Not SO many things are different, but I also just forgot how some things are and I'm not going to pretend it didn't take a little effort to get used to everything again. A lot of my friends had moved away, I'm not going to school anymore, so making new friends is harder and just the paper work in general was crazy.

So having a couple Minneapoliser here when I got here was nice.

Micah BF and I got to hang out a couple times, including at the Fuck Parade ("less commercial Love Parade", sure why not).

Make it a parade against Nazis? Sure, as long as we're protesting against SOMETHING.

Then Micah left.

I also got to hang out with Kiley.

...but then she left too.

Now I spend my time working and trying to get myself to do anything else. I had been sick for a couple weeks, so I'm excited to have some energy again.

Be excited to find out more about the school system in Berlin.

VISAVISUMVISAVISUMVISAVISUMVISAVISUMVISAVISUMVISAVISUM

2009-09-19T19:14:00.007+02:00

I know I said post about something but visa...but...VISA.

As I said, they expected things from me they didn't tell me about. I had to wait another half an hour in the waiting room (number 343) before I was called in.

This was in German of course, but I'm pretty sure my translation is right on the nose.

Big German Lady: Ok, so what in zee hell makes you zeink you have zee right to teach English? Where did you study it? Where is you certificate?

Me: Um. I speak English, here is my CV, it says right here I speak English.

BGL: Zeat is not enough. Other German Lady, is that enough? You don't know? I must ask my other colleague, please wait in the waiting room.

Me: AHHHHHHHHHHHH

I wait in the waiting room and write frantic-scared-shit text messages to Jens. Start to fantasize about having to leave my wonderful apartment and go back to Minneapolis and having to tell the school that I can't work for them after all and having to tell everyone I know that life sucks and is not worth living. 11 years, 2 months, 4 hours, 30 minutes and 7 seconds later they call me back (343 flashes again on the score board).

BGL: Insurance?

Me: Yes, here.

BGL: Go pay 50 euros.

Me: Ok! Sure you don't want 500???!!!

(Me: Mench, das hatte mich aber erschrocken.
BGL: Ja, ist schon ok.)

Whoa. Not only does she show me the visa she's about to put in my passport, but it costs 10 Euros less than they told me it would! That's like getting 16 German Biere.

The other 23 doctuments they of course didn't actually need and the photos I paid like 20 dollars for were also useless, they used mine from before.

That means that I LIVE HERE IN BERLIN. No one's kicking me out! And I'm not on a program, I really just live here and work here! That is so unbelievably weird. It expires next Oktober, but I should be studying by then and not need it.

This means it is now illegal now that I'm working at a community college equivalent (Volkshochschule) on Fridays teaching two English classes for beginners (often in German!).

Look at that there. I'm a teacher. My name and everything.
Right between Bier and Fürk (not at all German names).

This is all very exciting.

Visa Update

2009-09-12T21:11:00.010+02:00

So.

I decided to go to the Ausländerbehörde (Foreigners' Registration Office) and beg for an appointment because I had to start working.

And let me tell you.

This place is fun.

I met a nice Pakistani man who I talked to for the hour and a half that I sat in the waiting room. Who told me that everyone goes in to make an appointment, that's what he was doing. Whoops. That's a mistake I won't be making again. Stupid Germany. Why can't I do this online.
And you won't be surprised to hear that once my number (209) was finally called, they told me they couldn't help me and that I should go to another room upstairs. Luckily I didn't have to wait there too.

This was also great.
(GIVE ME AN APPOINTMENT)

Even better is this *somewhat* racist statue (reminder: at a Foreigners' Office).
(The good ol' happy go lucky poor drunk black guy, who doesn't want one of those?)

And finally they give me an appointment...for when? Weeks and weeks later. September 17th. That's this week! Now it doesn't seem that bad, but I made that appointment two weeks ago. And I actually needed that for my apartment and to uh, work. But I'm working anyway...hopefully that won't be a problem since I won't be paid until October anyway.

I'll need...
- My passport
- General Formula
- Proof of insurance (that's a post in and of itself, but in short: Germany sucks, won't give me insurance as a freelancer for under 600 Euros, so now I have travel insurance and will be paying for any and all preexisting conditions myself. So long, preexisting idea that Germany is perfect)
- At least 2 offers for work (we'll see if two different schools work)
- A letter saying why a European can't do the job (because Europeans aren't as smart as Americans)
- Registration for my Apartment (will Ariella's apartment be ok? Close enough?)
- Something I guess I don't understand and need help with..
- And last but not least: 60 Euros.

Oh, and of course.. at least 3 things they forgot to tell me about but will hold me accountable for anyway, I'm sure.

At least I have a bank account with money in it from some translation work (goldmine apparently). And know this, people: you don't need a visa to get a bank account. Don't listen to the people at Postbank.

Posts about anything but visas to come. Look out.

Aufenthalts Erlaubnis

2009-08-26T16:51:00.006+02:00

I'll write more once I get my camera cord but for now I'm going to complain about not being able to get a visa yet.Why oh why is it so hard. Because Germany...well, any office anywhere isn't run well. Maybe in Sweden. But that's it.

I have to wait for them to e-mail me with an appointment time. I waited like a month. Then they finally e-mailed me! But only to ask if I was going to work freelance or as real employee. Freelance! Now will it be another Month before I get an E-mail? AHHH

Berlin...again?

2009-08-06T22:06:00.005+02:00

This is the first time I've ever gone somewhere I've already been to live. I had never been to Ireland, Russia, Montana or Germany before I moved there. It's so weird to know exactly what to expect. Well, more or less. My job and future apartment are still mysteries. I've had the chance to walk around a little already, though, and have found it so strange that I know where I am and where everything is. Even here am Nollendorfplatz, where I'm staying at a friend's place, I knew where to go to buy food and where to have coffee. This isn't even where I lived or went to school, it's just a place I visited a couple times. I walked around where I did live last night with Jens (friend from last year) and was disguested by the change around my old apartment...I'm pretty sure things should stay the same.

I'm amazed that I haven't taken any pictures yet. Just wait, my friends.

So far I'm very pleased with how much German I've been able to speak, but still have to keep close watch on my self-esteem. It's been doing well so far. Keep it up, self-esteem.

I miss my family and friends obviously, but google chat is pretty amazing though.

And so the apartment search begins again. I've written about a million people asking them if I could visit their apartment...still putting off the people who only take calls. We'll see. It might also actually be a little early to look for an apartment...I'm not sure. People are certainly starting to meet people and consider people for September 1st, but I think maybe there will be a lot more options in a week.

The best thing that's happend so far happened the night before last in Kaisers (supermarket). Two, most likely German born, Turks had to look though my bag as I left Kaisers to make sure I hadn't stole anything and saw my Luna bar and asked what it was. I said it was from the US not Kaisers and that it was healthy and good. The guy wanted to look at it. I said fine, go ahead.

Guy: Where did you buy this?

Me: In the US.

Then the girl comes over, puts her hand on the guy's arm and looks at me.

Girl: But...you're not from the US, are you?

Me: Um...yeah.

Girl: But...but...you can speak German!

Me: I hope so.

She then turns to Jens.

Girl: Is she your girlfriend?!

Jens: A friend.

Girl: She can speak German!

Jens: I've noticed.

Girl: Her German is really good!

Whoa. Then I just started laughing and said thanks. That's a really great thing that happened there. I should go to that Kaisers more often.

Rachel did a Movie!

2009-06-18T16:41:00.005+02:00

The 48 Hour Film Festival was last weekend and Rachel acted in it!

They got "Foreign Film" so they decided to make it German. I translated some of the spoken lines for them quickly at home before Rachel rushed over to North East to shoot the film. The credits, however, were all them : )

Watch it! It's great!

Do a girl a favor and...

2009-06-16T19:07:00.004+02:00

I let some girl downtown use my phone and since then I have gotten the following text messages...

"Whats your name?"

I don't respond.

A little bit later...

"Did that girl look like a hooker?"

"Hello?"

Then I saw that girl in front of Dream Girls downtown and promptly ignored her.

Two nights later more texts from the guy she called...

"Whats good"

Then this morning...

"whats poppin"

I write back something weird, like this is not my ex-girlfriend's phone, stop texting me (don't ask me why).

He replies...

"Stop playin girl im tryna get some of that bomb head"

Bomb head?

A Probably Typical Cooking Lesson by Siddharth Dani

2009-06-16T16:42:00.027+02:00

Butter Chicken!
Corinne, Jesse and I asked the Great Cook Siddharth Dani
to teach us how to make this wonderful Indian dish.

It requires Chicken, he says.

You have to take off all the skin and fat. You get grossed out by that because you're already on your way to being a vegetarian so you make Siddharth do it.

Put the chicken in something to mix, he says.

Add Ginger and Garlic paste. Mmm...garlic paste.

Siddharth becomes unsure about next step.

Checks the youtube video on his laptop in the corner.

(What??? This isn't a time tested family recipe???)

Add coriander powder.

Have Siddharth mush it around for you.

Not sure what this was...maybe pepper, I wasn't paying attention.

Did I mention I'm cutting down on meat?

What now, I say. You cook it, he says.

Ooooh.

Add 3/4 of the onions you had Siddharth chop in the liquid that the chicken was in.

Add this stuff...in some amount.

You then get Siddharth so annoyed with your incessant questions and picture taking that you're asked to leave the kitchen.

And voilà! Some light chatting in the other room and you can come back
and get your butter chicken! Amazing and so easy!

How a Flower Grows

2009-06-01T05:24:00.016+02:00

Frito-dumb

2009-04-22T21:04:00.005+02:00

Hi Ruby,

Thank you for contacting Frito-Lay. Your comments are important, and we appreciate your sharing them with us.

Our new "Only in a Woman's World" campaign is intended to celebrate women and to support and acknowledge their feelings on a wide range of topics. Women have wonderful ways to manage all that life throws at us, including support and acceptance from other women. Only in a Woman's World is designed to celebrate this strength of the sisterhood of women.

Our hope is that women who see the ads recognize the real conversations and real life situations, while putting a humorous and light-hearted spotlight on the unique way women handle life's challenges and day-to-day experiences.

The advertising and website www.awomansworld.com will touch on a lot of different issues women deal with, including dieting - reflected in the first webisodes.

Before we developed the ads and the website, we talked to a lot of women and found that women spend a fair amount of time reading, talking and thinking about dieting and weight. In our approach, we wanted to acknowledge that this is a significant topic for women and that they are not alone in their concerns… and that it's okay to sometimes laugh at these situations and at ourselves.

Thank you for your feedback. We appreciate your comments and the constructive spirit in which they were offered.

Best regards,

Tina
Frito-Lay Consumer Affairs
010546831A

I'm still annoyed with Frito-dumb. It is not ok with me that they are normalizing women's obsession with food and diet. This letter is such bull-lay. " Constructive spirit"...whatever, I was just rude. "Only in a Woman's World"....gross..."Only in a Woman's World" would you ignore your friend, while she is possibly telling you something important, to think about how you shouldn't have eaten a cookie.

I won't buy your stupid products, Frito,...even if they look good and would fit well into my daily calorie allowance!

Here's more thoughts on the campaign...
http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/feature/2009/02/26/frito_lay/

And now I'm on a Brochure...

2009-04-01T15:14:00.005+02:00

What kind of friend/person are you? Are you the kind that is excited that I'm on a brochure...or the kind that is more excited about the fact that it's a picture of Prague on a Germany brochure?

Jesse's in there too, but actually in Berlin. So...less interesting. And more dumb.

I was on German TV (a long time ago)

2009-02-20T23:02:00.004+01:00

I was SO on German TV as 'sogar eine Amerikanerin'.

I know. Just when you thought I was too cool...I'm even cooler.

2009-01-02T21:24:00.000+01:00

Dog - So cute in 2009

New Year!

2009-01-01T20:25:00.011+01:00

2008 - Lame.

2009 - So cool.

It's hard to be a white male!

2008-11-08T17:00:00.009+01:00

"The Price of Arrogance: A Financial Crisis changes the World"

http://medienkritik.typepad.com/blog/

This blog is about how the German media perceives US. I find it very liberating, to be honest. I've been reading the Spiegel in German class and we’ve felt pretty offended. Being in a position in which we feel the need to defend America is a pretty rare occurrence…and I think we’re not sure quite what to do with it.

Like many Americans who've been abroad I've felt, at one time or other, embarrassed to be an American. EVERYONE talks about America and Americans like...well, like they know what they're talking about. People watch Friends and see Bush in the news and think they have enough information to judge 300 million people.

"People", and I'm really just talking about young Europeans, act as though they're informed, but then ask me to answer for the entire United States…and only say what they expect to hear. I've met very few people (all of whom have been to the US) who understood why asking me to represent Americans is ridiculous. I can't tell you how many times I've heard the question, "what's the weather like in America?" GUYS, THE USA IS BIG. PEOPLE ARE NOT THE SAME.

Europeans accept that other Europeans are different, but not that Americans are. I can only assume it's because they don't meet many Americans. They use this to make another judgment. That Americans hate travel and people who are different than them. But when I tell people I never met an Italian or German before I made the effort to fly over to Europe...well...let's not talk about that, or America is expensive. Um, hi. Europe is expensive.

But the only thing more annoying than being asked to represent all American citizens is not being asked to represent even ONE. I'll admit, at first I liked it, but now I'm offended when people say that I'm a "European" or in one-way or another an EXCEPTION, somehow not really American. Even if there are parts of my personality that are not shared by the majority of US citizen, this does not mean I am in anyway exempt from being an American, nor do I want to be. I don't have to be embarrassed about being an American, because I'm proud of who I am as a person and that person is an American. My parents are American, I was born in America and I went through American public schools. Some of my best friends are Americans. My first boyfriend was American. My kindergarten teacher was American. My Grandparents are Americans. My dog is American. Do people understand that when people talk about ‘Americans’…they’re talking about all these people (and dogs)?

I didn't even MEET a European until I was 17. A boy once told me that I had "needed" to come to Europe. Like it cleansed me or opened my eyes. I'm not saying it didn't, but not in the fundamental ways that boy thought it did. If I learned anything in my time abroad it's because my upbringing in an American city by American parents allowed me to.

I just don't know what some people think. Do they think I'm an outcast when I'm home? That people throw rocks at me and tell me to go back to Europe? I know that I'm really great and all, but some people just need to accept that I'm 'normal'. I do not feel in anyway out of place in Minneapolis....

And yet...where's my picture here?

http://medienkritik.typepad.com/blog/2005/03/sterns_gallery_.html

And it's true what's said in that blog. If we did that about Germany it would be outrageously offensive and considered in bad taste.

Does any of this sound defensive? It would make sense that it would, because I'm being defensive. People keep pushing and I hold it in and then this is the result. I'm sick of feeling like I shouldn't be proud to be an American, like everyone else gets to be proud of whatever they are. Other countries have bad leaders, but we're made to think that OUR government is all that there is to our national identity. That and our ever present consumerism and superficiality...and ignorance. But that's it.
We Americans are led to believe that we have no culture and that makes it very hard to be proud of it. It is, in fact, part of our culture to think that we have no culture. Globalization, or Americanization, is somewhat to blame.
And just a note on that. When I was in Berlin I went into a McDonalds ONLY when GERMANS wanted to go there...and guess who was inside feeding the beast that is McDonalds...GERMANS. Guess what McDonalds needs to succeed in Europe...EUROPEANS.

I'm scared that part of American culture has become being embarrassed to be an American. But of course as I write that I recognize that I'm only talking about Americans my age that have studied abroad.

And really all I wanted to tell myself was...get over it. It sucks, but boo-woo. I have and will continue to have identity problems, but really...who cares. I belong to the most powerful country in the world and my most often complaint is that too many people speak my language, making life TOO easy for me (I'll try not to get into that now). I have SO MANY privileges as an American...I think I can deal with a little mischaracterization.

VOTE VOTE VOTE

2008-11-04T17:16:00.009+01:00

Today was my first presidential election! It could possibly have been the most exciting thing ever!

My Dad and I waited in line for 2 hours.

But with coffee and donuts!

Good day!

And remember...if you don't vote, you're a dumbhead!

2008-11-04T17:07:00.003+01:00

GUESSING JAR
The actual amount of candy in the jar was 187
ME was the closest with her guess of 214 and

Wow. I am person of the Dean's Office and a winner of candy...AND a good guesser. I'm cool.

I'm am finally in the system! Not just another college student barista, but someone in international education. No one needs to know that all I do scan business cards and add to invitation lists.

2008-07-19T15:56:00.001+02:00

My favorite Döner stand closed. That's my cue.

2008-06-23T10:44:00.003+02:00

Ruby: Fun times are going undocumented...does that mean they're not happening?!
Reader: Of course they're still happening.
Ruby: Prove it. You can't, can you. Maybe I'm not even in Berlin. You don't even know. Maybe I'm a unicorn.

2008-06-13T11:03:00.002+02:00

Like English, French is not a phonetic language: a single sound can be represented by a variety of different spellings and a single letter can correspond to a variety of different pronunciations.

Muuuugh....

2008-06-13T10:57:00.002+02:00

English is spoken as a first language by more than 300 million people throughout the world, and used as a second language by many millions more. One in five of the world's population speaks English with a good level of competence, and within the next few years the number of people speaking English as a second language will exceed the number of native speakers.
This could have a dramatic effect on the evolution of the language: in the process of being absorbed by new cultures, English develops to take account of local language needs, giving rise not just to new vocabulary but also to new forms of grammar and pronunciation.
At the same time, however, a standardized 'global' English is spread by the media and the Internet.
The main regional standards of English are British, US and Canadian, Australian and New Zealand, South African, Indian, and West Indian. Within each of these regional varieties a number of highly differentiated local dialects may be found.
Oxford dictionaries try to include many regionalisms encountered in different English-speaking areas of the world.

Jesus god....will exceed the number of native speakers...

2008-06-08T22:46:00.003+02:00

Thus….I do not have my bag lost… I have tried simply to think however finally have that not functioned… I must be simply sad….sniff. I have simply everything lost… mobile phone, portmonee, key, daily book, dictionary… my best friend, knit needles… and camera… ugh. I do not have myself always meant… I lose somewhat only thus I will be later SO sad if I somewhat very large lose. Perhaps that was it! Or perhaps not. But I would have been still sadder even last year. I for it decided that I am not to write on German… however I white that to most of you German can, therefore I so nicely my text by an on-line translator made. Ask.

hahahaha....

So...my favorites...

Ich habe meine Tasche verloren translates as "I do not have my bag lost"? That's...the opposite of what's true...that's kinda important.

"I do not have myself always meant"...theological gold...someone write that down.

Ich habe mich dafür entschieden, dass ich auf Deutsch schreiben soll - "I for it decided, that I am not to write on German." I think even someone with no german can see that that not came from no where....what's babelfish trying to do to the world? A not here, a not there...that kinda stuff could start a war.
Hello from space. We are not friends. We will not be peaceful. We don't not want to kill you, eat your babies and play with your stamp collection.

"Ich weiß" - I white....haha to know in first person is the same as white. ha.

And "Ask." I meant Bitte like there you go. Oh translator...you're no human that knows two languages well.

Now I'd like to not give a shout out to not you, yes not you, the reader! Oh reader...will there be not a bog anymore? I really just liked not to show not pictures that I not liked....no(t) more camera though...now I'm not going to not have to try and not be interesting....or not steal pictures from other not people....

...

...

not not not not not not not

...

not.

After Months of Waiting...

2008-05-27T09:45:00.006+02:00

I know.

Friends and I did this coming back from Poland. The Hall monitor was not amused as it was midnight.

Abgefahren!

2008-05-26T19:12:00.047+02:00

Trampwettrennen

I found this competition somehow online..I don't even remember how. I had partner, but he got "sick" so I found another one...a guy from Belgium, very nice.

Hitchhiking Competition! The news was there!
(Apprently a shit station, but I'll take whatever I can get, fame, here I come)

We had to exchange a snow globe for something on our way...we got a polish lighter with pigs on it, score.

T(d?)rice and I hitchhiked twice with a bus. I really didn't think you could do that, but we did. The first time with a bunch of old traveling Germans and the second with a company of old men that were going to look at stuff for on loading and offloading ships? Or whatever...some middle aged man thing.

They were so nice, this guy introduced us and said where we're from (apparently I'm from Manhattan) and said that we weren't dangerous and since we were now so international we could play more Irish music. I think he also said that my camera was now broken after I took this picture.

Some polish drivers. I think the second guy couldn't speak German or English and was getting a little frustrated.

This guy definitely couldn't speak German or English...but we amused ourselves.

It says easy traveling...and boy was it.

Kowobcheksjdfkajwef was our destination...29 km, we were very excited...

We left Berlin around 10:30am I think at got there around 4:15.
WE CAME IN 2ND PLACE OMG.
(We had to take a picture of us with the clock.)

Camera team was there. The second to last team had to pull up at least three times for the right shot.

You can guess what we did next.

This looks slightly familiar....

Winners and losers.

Eating wurst from plastic wrapping, you know how it goes.

Ostsee.

Another girl that lives in Berlin hitchhiked back with me, I think it was faster than the way there. This was in the back of a blacked out van in Poland. The hole I tried to look out of looks a little like Australia.

Back in Berlin with cuts to prove I did something.

It was really great. I think I thought that hitchhiking would be harder than it was...I think I thought I'd have to wait much longer, but really we didn't have to wait much at all. I want to hitchhike more! Benni said, dass ich es gar nicht machen darf. But whatever. Him and his ridiculous concern for my safety. I really think it would be ok. But...safety first and everything. Or I dunno. We'll see. I just can't imagine anything happening to me between here and Nürnberg. I mean...of all places.

puch....will auch was auf Deutsch schreiben...aber es ist nicht wirklich fair...niemand der dieses liest kann Deutsch...vielleicht soll ich ein Deutsch und ein Englisch Blog haben. Hm....muss mal sehen ob ich lust habe. Ich könnte immer auf Deutsch schreiben und dann es durch ein Uebersezter ...etwas ...oder was auch immer...uuugh...so spät...

Visiting the Boy

2008-05-25T18:05:00.038+02:00

Nürnberg and München

I arrive in Nürnberg with three other girls visiting their boyfriends. I used Mitfahrgelegenheit.de, which turned out very well. People who are already driving from one city to another post on this website so you can ride with them for a relatively small fee. It was nice both ways, I only regret not giving one of the girls my phone number.

Bennichen had to work on Friday so I discovered the city a bit myself...

"Always watch TV"
...I think is the translation...hmm

I had a good time, obviously.

Berlin has an obsession with this Polar Bear Knut...I think he was the first Polar Bear to survive in Human care...or something, I don't even care. I just know I'm supposed to love him, so I do. But actually now I'm supposed to love the "new" Knut, Flocke, so I do. The sign says that, "Knut Was Yesterday," with a cutsie wotsie picture of Flocke

....Mmmm...Flocke...

As soon as Benni was done with work we rushed over to the Zoo as fast as possible to see her.

FLOCKE!!!

US NEAR FLOCKE!!!

(who doesn't love a little nose in the eye at the Zoo near Flocke?)

Reader: Gott, you guys are attractive.
Ruby: Duh.
(Dinner at a Biergarten)

Ice cream and off to bed to get up early and drive to München !

Benni's really tall.

After wandering around we bought some tickets to a Bayern München gegen Berlin soccer game....legally...from a guy on the street

It was very exciting.

I posed well for a picture with Benni's Bayern München scarf
just before running to the Bratwurst and Bier.

The hungry waiting was almost unBEARable.

That's actually a Bretzel...
there wasn't enough time to take a picture
between buying the Bratwurst and finishing the Bratwurst.

Reader: Whoa.
Ruby: I know, I know.

Hey, I just remembered that I don't have my flag...where's my flag??!!

The game didn't even matter to Bayern München
because they had already won first place,
it only mattered to Berlin's standing.
Berlin lost 4-1. Sad day.
After there was a big Ceremony
for Bayern München...they got like a metal thing.
There were some pretty balloons.

The next day we both worked a little, built a cabinet and had a little fair action.
I think I've been to five fairs in the last month.

Good times. Good eats.

2008-05-04T12:50:00.012+02:00

Ahhh! Falling behind! Here's just some cool pictures from the.....

TRENDY FLASH PARTY

Verkleidet Party: man muss FLUO KLEIDUNGEN TRAGEN!
*
Be trendy-flash-fluo attitude!
*
Bringt ihr Acohol mit!
*
ihr musst bei Walzer/Kuhn.. klingeln.

Yeah, there's not much to say about that. That's pretty much what it was. Be excited for Pictures from Berlin Beach Camp 2008 and Nürnberg!

May Day May Day!

2008-05-02T19:38:00.034+02:00

M A Y 1 S T

Apparently a big deal.

12pm: two ropes drop down in front of my bedroom window.
There is an applause and a whoo-hoo.
I'm not positive the ropes had a purpose, but they stayed there until I left.
Not sure what that has to do with May Day.

3pm: Trying desperately to read Frau Jeny Treibel for a Referat on Tuesday.
Over two hundred pages of German in one week plus readings for other classes. Ha, yeah, ok.
(If you look to the end of my highlighter (black part) and look up in a straight line until you hit green, there is a drunk man in a yellow coat signing old German love songs, it was somewhat distracting)

I heard hoots and hallas from over the hill, but didn't think much of it. Yeah, ok, May 1st. There are some protests. Good. Whatever.

But really it was so much more!

At every festival and on every sunny day I always think, where the hell did you all come from?

Oranienstraße was completely shut down for concerts and food AND fun! Every store was open the whole night selling cheap Becks, sausages, all kinda of Turkish foods and, you guessed it, more. There were concerts on every corner and all the punks were finally in one place. Finally. But not just punks, oh no, also a million tourists and men in business suits. I often saw the business men and the punks forced to cram up against one another in people jams. It was beautiful.

"I need a Vacation"

This is pretty amazing right here. It says, "Berlin May 1st 2008, I was there!" My roommate says that last year there weren't too many problems with riots, but that year before last there were people fighting everywhere, cars burning, the works.

The number of Policemen there was really unbelievable.
And so many different kinds of police. They came in at least three flavors.

This is just a woman doing office work.

And these guys scared the CRAP out of me.
FRIEND OR FOE?!

I was still happy they were there, though. As Itamar and I were sitting and talking in the dark creepy Görlitzer Park this drunk creepy Turk comes up to us and looks Itamar in the eye from about an inch away...

"Ach, Ich dachte ich kennte dich" (I thought I knew you)

Itamar asks if they speak English.

"Where you come from?"

"Israel"

"I'm from Palestine!" (or did he say it in German...?) (Either way, not true)

And then there is some drunken yelling back to his friends, the only word I can make out is the word Messer. Ah, Messer, ja. Das Messer, glaube ich. Ja. Hey wait...Ah! Messer means knife! Ah! I think the guy then tells Itamar to go back home. One of the drunk guy's friends comes over and tells drunk guy, "Sie sind auch Menschen" (They're also people). So uh, that was nice. And then he told us to have a "nice day". Ok, will do. And we walked away.

But that was the worst of it. The Roommate said that people would bring lawn chairs to Oranienstraßen to watch the fights. So, really, it wasn't that bad.

All in all a good day!
Bier, ice cream, confrontations, concerts, good times.

Some experiments...

2008-05-01T18:50:00.018+02:00

Failed Experiment:

Felting.

When I finished knitting it at school.

After the "felting".
Wait, no. It's floppier than before. It's supposed to be more firm....and....felted...
Wrong yarn?
No present for boy.

Successful Experiment:

Dinner.

+

And bam! Dinner! Just like that!

1/2....not too bad.

Sorry.

2008-05-01T13:07:00.001+02:00

I just wasted a hour of my life trying to figure out how to hide big blocks of text...but no go. If you want to explain it to me, please do.

I think it's interesting...listen in...

2008-05-01T11:58:00.006+02:00

Hi
No, French is not that difficult. I have strong reasons
(based on linguistics and natural languages acquisition
process) to think that there is no language really
harder than another, even Polish, for example, or some
easier, like English, as it's often said, (I hate
hearing that English is easy; English is a very easy
language... to make mistakes in!).
Care to comment?
Hope to see you there in Berlin,
Franek

Here I am, sad you haven't written back yet, because I
was interested in your response...and...it turns out
that I didn't write you back? I'm sure I wrote
something, because I remember what I said, but I guess
I messed up somehow : )

I said something like...do you also find that people
are more than willing to make a millions mistakes in
English, but then are really embarrassed to make even
one mistake in French? I've found that to be true
here, and I'd like to know if I'm making it up!

And I said something about all languages being the same
to Aliens, but that I really think that languages are
harder or easier depending on what first language you
have, I don't think you'll disagree. I think French
is really hard just because of the accent and the
rules for reading it. They are supposedly very
different from English.

Hopefully I'll hit "send" right this time... : )

-Ruby

Hi Ruby,

I did not write back, as I thought you had no desire to
keep on talking about all this with me. Obviously, I
was wrong! Now, excuse me for the delay in answering;
I've had a busy week-end.

So, to react to what you wrote: I've never thought
about this, actually, and it raised many questions and
problems, mostly about the status of our respective
languages. A lot of people consider English only as a
lingua franca (what they should rather call globish),
and an easy one. Maybe that's why they don't see their
mistakes, and more, they don't even care that much, as
the most important thing is to be understood, and
that's all. French is considered as a very difficult
language, and maybe sometimes sort of snobbish. There
are a lot of other things I could say about this, but
I'd rather say them in a conversation in front of a
pint!!

About what you wrote about languages being more
difficult depending on the language(s) you already
know (say, generally, your mother tongue, but not
necessarily), of course, I definitly agree with you! I
hear very often here in Poland that Polish is the
second most difficult language on Earth after Chinese,
which, in my opinion, is complete bullshit - excuse my
french. Polish is easier if you already know Russian
than if you speak only Spanish, or worse, a
non-indo-european language. That must be terrible if
you are Japanese, because of the syllable structure
(Japanese allows only CV syllable, if you know what I
mean), or if you are Thai because of the tonal
system.

What you said about French is true, but incomplete. For
English speakers, French prononciation is particularly
difficult because of the fact that the phonologies of
these languages are simply on the opposite. The
syllabification, the intonation, the accent, the
vowels, etc., everything is different. That's why the
French have all this terrible accent when they speak
English, and vice versa.

Reading French is also extremely difficult, but just as
English. Once again, these two languages have opposite
rules. But I don't think that reading English is
easier.

To get back to english, when I began to learn it, and
for a very long time, I was really afraid to use it in
front of native speakers, and afraid of making
mistakes. Today, I care less. Nevertheless, I hope I'm
my English is enough correct for you!

And I also hope I wasn't too long. If we meet (BBC?),
you'll see that I can't stop talking if it comes to
linguistic. So, maybe we'll have really interesting
conversations together... or really boring!

Keep in touch,
Take care,

Franek

PS: if ever you're sometimes on msn or skype, you can
find my contact on my CS profile.

Franek,

I'm ALWAYS delayed in answering, sorry : )

Hmmm. Was this true about English even ten years ago?
It seems like it happened so fast. People even just 10
years older than me don't seem to speak half as much
english as people my age. When I was in
Bratislava...and lost...my friend told me not to worry
and just find someone my age and they should be able to
help me...in English. Just ANYONE my age. Anyone?
And sure enough the first person I asked...

Do you also think that there's going be a new language
that's very similar to English as people continue to
not care about their mistakes? I feel almost like I
learned another language being here...I'm starting to
make the same mistakes too...and not really caring
about it until I talk to my parents and it's so
obviously wrong. A very good example is "I explained
him/her..." I say this all the time. It comes to me
much faster than "I explained to him/her..." This is,
I guess, already a language on Wiki...almost. There's
a Simple English...but my guess is, with time, all the
mistakes will be recognized as correct and people who
speak English in the US and England and so on will be
like, hey, we don't speak that. Boom. New language.

Or maybe not.

Some people have thought that I speak the same with
them as I do, say, my brother. When my brother came
here for 2 weeks everyone was somehow very surprised
that I could speak so fast or that I knew so many
words. It almost hurts my feelings that people think
that I can only speak as much English as they've
learned in school. I mean, for a native speaker, my
English isn't very good, but it's still my first
language. Geez. And I want to use English just to
communicate, just like them, obviously I'm not going
to make it harder than it needs to be. But then
there's the people that really want to learn English
and drill me about everything I say and just start
talking to me to practice and and and....and blah blah
blah. I could write a forever about poor little ol'
me, poor little ol' me, the native English speaker.
And that's another question? Where the hell are all
the Americans? I mean, I'm obviously very very happy
not to have met any, but where are they? Why are
people so surprised to when they fond out where I'm
from? Are they all in Spain?

And as much as I complain about having to speak in
English, I think it's safe to say I speak more in
German. And I do the same thing in German as other
people do in English. Some days I feel like I can
speak German perfectly...then I talk to a German and
get really depressed. But the difference is that way
less people are speaking German to communicate outside
of the country where it's spoken. German just has to
worry about becoming English, not a simpler German.
That's something I'd have to talk about over a pint,
it drives me crazy : )

Unfortunately my major is Global Studies and not
linguistics so I won't be able to add much outside of
experience to our boring conversation, but I'm excited
: ) Promise me that we'll do our introductions in
French? I just had my second French class yesterday
and I think I'll be able to do that much. Learning
French in German is definitely one of the more
confusing things I've done. Excuse my particularly
bad English in this unnecessarily long message, but
I'm...confused : )

-Ruby

Ruby,

Can't you see we're both always delayed?

Wow, how can I answer to all this? I was really
interested by what you said about the invasion of
non-native speaker's english in your own language.
Makes me think of a lot of different things. For
instance, I've always showed a taste (in French, of
course) for "refined language", especially when I was
a teenager, and up my early 20's. At the age of 20, I
stop my studies to work. I took what was offered, and
that's how I became a furniture mover, for a bit more
than one year. The guys I worked with were far, far
from being as educated as I was (which is quite
normal, considering that they had all left school at
least before 16). Though, I still kept in touch with
my friends from the uni, and to my horror,
progressively realized that my language was invaded by
my colleagues mistakes and rude way of speaking!

This sort of "new form of english" makes me think about
something else. Actually, it has a name, even if rarely
used: globish. Reminds me of the Greek Koinè
(translated, if I'm not wrong, by "the common greek",
kionè, meaning common). Maybe you've heard about
this. If not, you can find the info on Wikipedia.
Thing is, Ancient Greek languages were different
languages, and at a moment (around 3rd century BC if I
remember well), they merged into one, sort of
simplified (but not necessarily on all points), and
used as a Lingua Franca. This language did not erase
the other forms of Greek, but may sometimes have
influenced them. Doesn't it remind you something?
Looks like History is repeating itself.

So, to answer one of your questions, yes, I think that
another English language is going to appear. Look at
mine. I sometimes think in that form of new English,
which is mostly a mix of British, American and French,
on many different levels (phonological, semantic,
syntactic, etc.), which makes it mine, and I'm sure in
Europe this globish is being unified, but not by
British standards. And what you're doing is just
adapting to the situation where you are. You're
noticing it at the level of syntax, and thus spot it
easier as "faults", but you're probably doing it as
well as the level of pronunciation, maybe without even
noticing it. We've noticed with my friend Philippe, who
works in Wrocław, that when we speak in French in
Poland, our pronunciation is standardized (because
this is the one we use everyday with our pupils and
colleagues... adaptation). But if we begin to talk
about food, especially from Toulouse (or for him, to
talk about rugby), we begin to talk with the
Toulousian French accent!

This process with English is, as you noticed, getting
bigger and bigger. In a lot of countries (this is
particularly striking in Poland, and is explained by
historical reasons), there is a chasm between
different generations. Here, above 30, people just
don't speak English, but a lot of them speak Russian,
and the older speak German. In the liceum/gimnazjum (I
don't say "high school/primary school" for reasons I
shall explain another day) where I work, all kids can
speak with me in English (except those who are not my
pupils, cause, I don't allow them).
*
I'm not sure I understood that part about people who
were surprised that you could speak English very fast.
Did they know that you were American? If so, that was
really stupid of them, and of course, offending. If
they did not, well... how could they not notice you
were not a native speaker?

And if I understood well, you complain about you being
considered sometimes as a teacher/friend, is that it?
Ha ha!! Poor you, indeed!

One last thing, and leave you... So, where are the
Americans? He he, as a matter of fact, I've met one
this week-end, who lives in... Berlin! Of course, I
asked him if he knew you, but no, he doesn't. A very,
very nice guy. If you want, you can find his profile
on my friends list (Mark Leonard).

So, where are they? With this guy, we talked about being
a French in Poland, and an American in Europe in
general. That's a point I'd love to discuss with you,
because here is probably the key to your question. But
I think we'll talk about it in front of a pint, in the
BBC. Now, I'm a bit tired of writing on my pc.

Take care,

Franek

PS: ok, for our introductions in French, and maybe even more if you want. And I don't see why you apologize for your "particularly bad English", I can't make the difference after all with a "particularly good English. Just look at mine!!

I'm fighting the urge to rewrite what I said...but it's not that bad and it changes everything if I change stuff. Interesting stuff, though. whoa.

Reader: Why weren't you a linguistics major? Why?

Ruby: Good question, Reader! I don't know

2008-04-29T10:01:00.015+02:00

Die Route von Weichselstraße 34, 12045 Neukölln, Berlin, Germany nach 3641 18th Ave. South Minneapolis konnte nicht berechnet werden.

Ugh. Oh jesus. Oh god. Oh jesus.

I just bought my ticket back. I'm going to die. And there's a whole fucking month before school starts...jesus god.

I might miss some stuff.

Isn't that nice? That's where I live.

Isn't that cute? My roommate, a little of the dog, and my birthday breakfast.

Don't they look nice? Those are some of my friends

Isn't he handsome?

That's my part-time boyfriend. Handsome and rather imposing next to that bear.

Ok, this picture doesn't really have anything to do with my life,
but I'd like it to.

And last but certainly not least...!

My scholarship!

O' Scholarship. How-th I Will-th Miss You-th!

Let me count the ways...
1. They way you pay for everything.
2. ...yeah, that's pretty much it, but it's very important.

Ok, dancing to Jump Around by House of Pain, I will drink my last cup of morning tea and convince myself that going to Uni in my bra will get more stares that it's worth. Sunburn still going strong, though.

They were in the Parks all along...

2008-04-28T10:47:00.015+02:00

Ok, well, those aren't Germans, but you can see some behind them.

And a sneak picture of the Germans (with a little bit of Carlos) we were with.

Notice: Germans lying around drumming on bongos, reading, and being Germans.
Foreigners playing a murder mystery game.
I don't really have anything to say about this, but that's how it was.

When the sun comes out there's all this scattering as all the Germans grab their blankets and run for the park and make a big set up on the grass. Then a cloud comes and they all groan and start packing up...then the sun comes back and they frantically try to enjoy it. Ah, Germans. I understand, though. I never been so excited for Summer.

I think....after college....I'll spend a year working in a coffee shop...then get a full scholarship for a year in Luxembourg to study french and german. Good plan? Good plan. Prolly a perfect plan.

Each of the three languages is used as the primary language in certain spheres. Luxembourgish is the language that Luxembourgers generally speak to each other, but it is not much written. Most official (written) business is carried out in French. German is usually the first language taught in school and is the language of much of the media and of the church. In fact, around 65% of all articles published in Luxembourg are in the German language, 25% are in French and only 10% in Luxembourgish.

I spoke in a German class today for germans and wasn't heart poundingly nervous! I said things wrong! And that's ok! I didn't contribute anything particularly interesting, but it was great! I could maybe even do it again! This isn't, obviously, the first time I've spoken in class, but before today...really, every time has been like my heart was going to jump across the room. I like this feeling, so it's not THAT bad, but it's much better when a boy makes me feel that way. You know...there's usually some sort of reward after. In class it's just...more nervousness, though. Maybe some throwing up.

I found the Germans!

2008-04-27T21:10:00.023+02:00

Blog! I have a sunburn!

Ruby - Sunburn in progress.

Itamar - No sunburn in progress.

Reader: But Ruby! That's the beach! How long did you travel to get to a beach?! Forever?! Probably?!

Ruby: Well...I know you'll be very shocked and even somehow overwhelmed...

But. It's. Not. The. Beach.

Reader: AHHHHHHHHHHH

Ruby: I understand your confusion! I, too, was confused! You see...the Germans (Berliners) like to think they're on the beach when really they're in the middle of the city in der Nähe of a Flohmarkt....or especially confusingly, by the river. They put lawn chairs on imported sand and sell over priced beer with an attitude.

Reader: Oh. I see. That really wasn't all that confusing.

Ruby: Oh, no. I think it was.

10 pm. Pop french music. Decaffeinated tea (finally the late-night-tea guilt is gone). Roommate entering the apartment, coming back from a weekend with the boyfriend. My boy somewhere working. Me trying to give him some space since he's so busy, but also really wanting to send him a short "Küsschen" text message. Refraining. Looking more like a lobster with every second. Must get up early and read VI. Dogmatisch, yay. Three pages and I think it will take me three hours.

Let's start with the oldest newest pictures I have.

Ok. I was just walking. All normal like. And...

BAM

Circus.

Reader: What do you mean, "Bam, Circus"?

Ruby: That's just how it is.

Reader: I don't understand.

Ruby: What's to understand? I was walking, middle of the night, beer in hand and yeah...like I said. Bam, Circus. Middle of the road. Between me and the U-bahn.

Reader: What did you do? Did it hurt?

Ruby: Did what hurt? Reader...I just found a Circus in the middle of the road...I took some pictures and went on my way.

Reader: I...I want to see such pictures.

Ruby: Ok.

Sadly those are the best ones I could take, but really. Berlin is amazing. Like...St. Petes was amazing too. You walk around a corner and stumble on the most beautiful church you've ever seen, or like...anything in Cyrillic is obviously cool, but...in Berlin you can stumble on a Circus.

Reader: Doesn't a Circus have like...animals and trapeze artists and such?

Ruby: Yeah but...like, it's really more of a...

Reader: That just looks like a small festival...

Ruby: ...ok, well I guess I was thinking it would...

Reader: ...with some portable rides and...

Ruby: ...

Reader: What?

I gotten some more messages from Future Me recently......

"good Morning"

"My City, you are so big, where are you?"

Ok, maybe that one wasn't for me...I'm not sure yet.

Somethings have almost been caught....

I almost caught this rabbit.

The second train almost caught the first.
I swear, a second before I took that picture they were only a minute apart.

And last but not least! I found the Germans! Actually, no. You didn't hear that. I'll write about that tomorrow.

Reader: I heard that.

Ruby: Fuck you, Reader.

Recent Photos...

2008-04-19T15:35:00.010+02:00

Love? Yes. Romantic love? No.

In Berlin I drink at least 5 cups of tea a day.
Vielleicht sollte ich etwas dagegen tun.

One of these is not like the other...
Entshuldigen Sie, dass das Bild so schlecht ist.

Haha, Cash Poo.

Don't Eat!

This is York Strasse. There are about 5 pictures stuffed behind this plastic sheet.
This one is my favorite, the others are all young boys.
Expect to see my picture there soon, I wanna play too.

Spring has Come to the Forest

2008-04-19T13:50:00.001+02:00

2008-03-30T01:06:00.006+01:00

Knitting update! Some are missing, I'll put them up later, be excited!

My first and only crochet project...I call it Small-Pink-Ball. Gave it to the boy,

I think he was probably very impressed.

I don't care if leg-warmers are only sometimes fashionable, I love these and where them like every other day. Imagine - they look even cooler than this! Unbelievable, I know.

This is a dog sweater I made for Sir Flexington, that MAYBE he wore once.

More excitement to come as the vacation that never ends continues...

2008-03-29T19:48:00.002+01:00

Matt, a man who thinks differently than me and listens to different music, thinks I should write about the economy. Thank god, he did it for me.

Matt writes...

they're saying it's about to collapse because the only commodity the united states produces is debt
and no one wants to buy it anymore...
the rest of the world just realized that they'd make more money if they bought baskets and vegetables and shit from africa instead of debt from america...
unfortuntately america no longer has the educated workforce needed to make baskets and vegetables and shit...
there was an article recently that at&t responded to all these demands to bring telemarketing jobs back from India...
so they shut down a facility in India and rebuilt it in america...
and they couldnt find people...
it turns out americans don't know how to answer phones as well as indians now...
yet we insist on having these jobs given to us
"the indians stole my job I'm unqualified for"
...
don't paste this it sounds racist out of context

Thanks Matt, now I don't have to think.

You're going to be in incredible pain and bleed EVERY MONTH.

Someone told me that when I was like 9. That doesn't freak you out?

I thought maybe blogging was how I was going to be productive today...but I guess not.

Back and...not really better, but at least the same as ever.

2008-03-26T19:51:00.009+01:00

"We are deeply, deeply sorry to say that due to licensing constraints, we can no longer allow access to Pandora for listeners located outside of the U.S.
We believe that you are in Germany... If you believe we have made a mistake, we apologize...We share your disappointment and greatly appreciate your understanding."

Why don't people ever apologies to me like this when they've actually done something wrong?

Like the person who wrote this "Post Secret"...

And I'm sure it's no secret.

I can't even begin to count how many Americans I've heard of living in Germany that haven't even "bothered" to learn wie geht's. How ironic that an American would criticize the language abilities of others when Americans are so often stereotyped as only knowing, and only being interested in knowing, English. I've received so many surprised faces from people when they've found out that I speak German. This is after I've told them that I've been living in Germany since September and my German, really, isn't that good, at all, and yet they're still REALLY surprised. This is not a good sign.

I can't even think about the German's opinion of people living in Germany and not speaking German well without getting really angry. I'll save that for later. You're fucking talking to them in German the whole time and they speak to you in nothing but English and then wonder h...later, later...

...and months after winning the German-English game with my roommate she is today, after spending time with her brother and his non-German speaking girlfriend, back for a rematch. Let the battle begin.

Time for a short update!

German: I don't think it will ever be where I want it to be. Every time I learn something new I find another million things about German I didn't know I didn't know. Which is why I find learning hard, I already know there's a lot I don't know, I can't stand to find out that there's even more. Biggest goal this semester is to be satisfied with however much I can do and to remember that being angry with people talking to me in English will not make them talk to me in German. I will simply continue to talk in German whenever I can despite what language I'm being talked to in.
It is safe to say, though, especially after the all-English-all-the-time pause when my brother was here, I am still in Deutsch verliebt. I love the way it feels when I say a long sentence with all the verbs in the right place and in the right form. Not just because I feel accomplished but because it just feels good...it feels different. I think it's my brain working.

I was actually really surprised at how many words came to me in German first when I was talking to my brother. Pleasantly surprised.

Mmm...German.

Weißt du was du mir bedeutest?
Auf einem Platz in meinem Herz
Steht dein Name an der Wand
Und ich will dass du es erfährst
Ich werde immer an dich glauben
Egal was auch passiert
Manche singen von ihm
Ich sang die ganze Zeit von dir

Tomte. June 18th, Erfurt, be there.

Thanks to Micah's clarification that I don't actually need a couch to be a part of the couchsurfing community I have finally plunged in. I haven't actually surfed yet (I tried!) and I haven't actually plunged, but I've treaded some water. Nice, warm, interesting water.

First Couchsurfing event attended...free hug day...

Even though my heart...ok, so I wanted to find out what the most delicate flower was so I could compare my heart to it, duh, and the first result to "most delicate flower" on google is a website of pictures of women's vaginae and the second is a wikianswers page to "What is the most delicate flower?" in which the answer is "a loaf of cheese:)". Internet, what am I going to do with you.

In any event...my heart is...very delicate. Reaching out my arms to people who immediately reject my love could be tiring if done everyday, but all in all it was very warming. I often want to reach out to the sad looking Germans of downtown Berlin, I found it very fulfilling to finally indulge in this urge. Not to mention the urge to touch attractive Italian tourists.

I decided to go because I like free hugs but also because I was sure everyone there would be able to speak English. I thought this would be a good break for my brother. He took good advantage of the fact that it was an English speaking event by indulging in his urge to speak loudly in English at total strangers.

"Hey! Where are you going?! I'm from American! Aren't you glad I'm here?! I've been waiting for you! What?! You don't want to hug me?! WHY?!"

I was surprised that I found someone that would talk to me in German even though he spoke very good English...but I'm still not sure how far out I want swim when so many couchsurfers are only interested in speaking in English at gatherings. Maybe that's not true all the time, we'll see. I met some very nice people that I would like to see again.

Relationships...or language...relationships....language...relationships...
language...my eternal struggle. I want both! But I want!

2007-11-22T13:34:00.002+01:00

ARE YOU READY???!!!

IT'S BACK!

That's right...pointless and endless rambling! Like you guys don't get enough : )

I really meant to write in St.Petes. But when you have no computer and the internet cost money...

But now! Time and internet galore! I'm sitting here wasting my sick time watching German children's tv streamed right to my computer. I'm currently watching two people get chased by a moose in a translated kanadische cartoon. Oh, technology. And now a little boy is being told what to do by two floating blue and pick unicorns...I need to get off the computer. And at the same time...I still just don't feel well.

Today is Thanksgiving. Hmmm.... I should probably go grocery shopping. Oh grocery shopping, bane of my existence. I just can't find anything. I don't think this is a german grocery store thing...I can just never find anything anywhere. But I'm pretty sure germany doesn't have salad dressing. Well, they have joghurt, which is supposed to be Salatdressing. Whoa, german is hard.

Hard Rock Cafe
This isn't your grandma's dining room, but it sure sounds like her Thanksgiving dinner: From November 22 through 25, the menu here will include the standard bird as well as sides such as corn chowder and pumpkin pie for dessert. Courses can be ordered individually or together prix fix for just €22.95 (including a drink). Book your table in advance!

Good god! I really just want pumpkin pie...must find...now....

2007-08-24T01:13:00.001+02:00

We could not calculate driving directions
between 2600 Taylor av NE Minneapolis MN
and Freie Universität map berlin.

Hmm.

Where will I live?

When will I speak German?

Do I really want to live with someone that doesn't care that we can't really communicate? : )

Argh. Incompetence!

Must learn all German in a couple weeks?!!

That sounds kinda hard.

2007-01-16T22:13:00.001+01:00

I haven't started packing yet and I have to be at the airport at 10am tomorrow : )
Ahem.

2007-01-14T08:31:00.001+01:00

Holy shit. I have three nights left. I'm panicking because I feel so serene. I should be more worried about packing and I still haven't done the power of attorney thing yet and…a bunch of other stuff. Darn.

It's warmer in St. Petersburg right now.

2007-01-01T19:13:00.001+01:00

I'm at my old apartment with Emily.

Um, Happy New Year!

Where's Erica with her glasses all eschewed?

2006-12-27T22:38:00.001+01:00

Three weeks! AHHH

Wrap up for the Semester

2006-12-20T02:50:00.002+01:00

This semester was different.

I moved into my first "apartment" with three of my good friends. We decided to live three to one room and one to the other because it was so small. Am I the only one that finds it ironic that here, in America, I slept in a room with two other people, but in Russia I will have a room all to myself? No?

I was mugged NEAR 2nd Moon. My first thought was actually that they were kidding. How naïve am I. It wasn't too bad, though, all they took was my feeling of safety and my laptop. My feeling of safety seemed to come back almost too quickly. I still travel alone at night, I don't clutch my bag when I see people in the shadows...I don't really know if I should. I think I've decided that I'd rather be the person that gets mugged than the person that assumes people have bad intentions. And I was so mad they were black. I really was. You're not helping this whole racism thing, guys. How nice it is to be white and not have to represent all whites like black people. I was surprised by the fact that this was the only reason I was mad at them.
Needless to say, my laptop has not found its way back to me. I was really attached to that computer. Micah's little post-its that said "Alles hat ein Ende, nur die Wurst hat zwei." All of my pictures from the last year and a half. AIM, jesus, aim. I was so obsessed with aim. Working in coffee shops. I thought it was going to be a really big adjustment, but I was surprised at how easy it was. When I really really missed it I organized my socks and underwear drawer or other random things I never would have done otherwise. I learned a lot more about all the computer labs on campus. Emily and Erica were so very kind and let me use their computers. Yeah, so going without my computer hasn't been hard. 263 days until I get a new one.

I took the only class I will ever take where I didn't have to go to class...and of course I didn't.

I filled out more paper work than I have probably ever filled out preparing for Russia and Germany. I won the biggest scholarship ever and possibly lost it? I hope not. I don't think I did. I hope I didn't. I think it's pretty safe to say that I've never worked harder on anything than that application. Anything academic anyway. I don't think I've ever wanted something that hard to get either. And I got it? That was definitely the highlight of this semester.

This has also been the semester in which I've felt the least competent. I've lost...just a ridiculous amount of stuff this semester. Like, probably billions of dollars worth of stuff. Prolly billions. My stuff is sitting all over campus in a thick sheet and I still can't find anything.

Like every semester, it seemed to go by faster than any other. It's weird that I don't think of a year as very long anymore. And now I'm going to Russia? I'm excited...but without really grasping it.

Did this sound like a rant from a person sitting alone in her apartment listening to radiohead? Because it was.

2006-12-19T19:27:00.001+01:00

They're coming very close to not accepting my IRSEP scholarship on accident. I'm not sure what I will do it they don't accept it today.

I think this semester was definitely the hardest in terms of deadlines. Organizing. Russia and Germany at the same time was very hard...is very hard...I don't think it will ever end. Probably.

LPE

2006-12-18T22:09:00.004+01:00

Section.............Score.......Passing Score....Total Possible
Listening plus
Reading.............52 - Pass .....44......................70..............
....Listening.......30.................20......................35..............
....Reading.........22.................24.......................35..............
Writing.............Pass......................Pass/Fail.....................
Speaking ..........Pass......................Pass/Fail.....................

Yay! I passed! Not so ridiculously horrible! Yay! I don't really suck at German! Yay!
(22/35 for reading may look bad, and it is, but oh well : )

YAY

2006-12-14T23:14:00.002+01:00

"Stand as far as possible from Gypsies, including the children." - Website on St. Petersburg, Russia.

"AIDS Testing. Russia requires submission of an appropriate HIV-negative certificate at the time of applying for a visa in case of an intended stay of 3 months or longer. Positive test results for HIV could be grounds for expulsion from the country. All travelers intending to reside in Russia are strongly advised to have the requisite tests performed in the United States, as the testing conditions in the region tend to be very unsanitary and could pose a hazard to your health."

We're have to get our tests when we get there....I'm not worried...

2006-12-14T21:51:00.002+01:00

My favorite so far...
I should probably stop. These will, oh I don't know, probably be taken by next october?

I can look for apartments in Germany...in German!

2006-12-13T22:06:00.001+01:00

Um, can I live here in Germany with the small park?

Classes in Russia

2006-12-13T05:38:00.001+01:00

CIEE Required Language Courses

RUSI 1003 RASP/RUSI 1004 RASP
Elementary Russian Conversation I and II
This course focuses on developing spoken language skills. There are three 90-minute meetings per week. Contact hours: 84. Recommended credit: 4 semester/ 6 quarter hours.

RUSI 1005 RASP/RUSI 1006 RASP
Elementary Russian Grammar I and II
Emphasis is placed on learning basic grammatical structures, their use in conversation with simple sentences, basic vocabulary, as well as comprehension. Correct pronunciation is also emphasized. There are three 90-minute meetings per week. Contact hours: 84. Recommended credit: 4 semester/6 quarter hours.

CIEE Required Area Studies Courses

AHIS 3001 RASP
The Arts of St. Petersburg
This course examines St. Petersburg’s rich artistic diversity. The city provides the setting for a discussion of Russian urban visual arts as well as its musical heritage. Lectures provide a historical perspective for the material examined. Assessment is based on class participation, weekly exercises, and exams.
Instructor: Irina Gulyakova

HIST 3001 RASP
Russian History: Perestroikas in Russia from the 9th to the 20th Century
This course covers the restructuring of Russian society during the past millennium. Major transformations of Russian society are discussed including Mongol Invasion; the Birth of Russian Totalitarianism; Peter the Great; Alexander II’s Reforms; October Revolution; Stalin; Gorbachev; and Contemporary Russia. The course is lecture-based and supplemented by readings. Assessment is based on classroom activities, papers, and exams.
Instructor: Sergey Akopov

RAST 3001 RASP
Russian Civilization
The course investigates a series of cultural ideas, compares and contrasts popular concepts of Soviet and Russian civilization and society, and probes some of the underlying assumptions of Russian social behavior. Students are expected to actively participate in an exchange of ideas stemming from readings. Assessment is based on class exercises and a paper.
Instructor: Nina Filippova

Notice the very Russian sounding names...ooohhhh

2006-12-12T23:16:00.001+01:00

Did I mail my request for a visa today? I think not...will I tomorrow? Who knows...

I'd really rather not send my passport through the mail.

2006-12-12T20:24:00.002+01:00

Also at F-U...

IRSEP

2006-12-12T04:42:00.002+01:00

I still won the IRSEP scholarship for a full year

in Germany at F-U!!!

(hahaha, FU....hahaha)...

Is that annoying yet?

The constantly talking about IRSEP, not the FU thing, that will never be annoying, duh.

Ruby and Erika

2006-12-12T04:08:00.002+01:00

Ruby and Erika Picture taken by the Doctor.