NEW YEARS

MOVED IN

Neues Wohnzimmer (New Livingroom)
Neues Kuchen (New Kitchen)

Neues Badezimmer (New Bathroom)

Neues Schlafenzimmer (New Bedroom)

G10 PHOTOS

NEW FLAT: BERLIN MITTE

Finally. after days of searching, emailing and visiting wg's, We found our dream spot :) http://www.wg-gesucht.de/1401636.html Check out the photos. This is the site we had to look on, translate, and navigate! I will say, I now know many words in german that have to do with house amenities. haha

We move in on the First, or second. And Our roommates said that Visitors are always welcome! so! See you in berlin, stay with me for free.

NEW DIGI :)

Two days ago my new camera arrived after a long journey beginning at B&H photo in Newyork to Jenny's new place in Chicago and then all the way to Berlin Germany, where I thought I was going to get charged 17.5 percent because of Duty fees! To my surprise, being a student granted me a 100 discount from this duty/tax charge! So happy birthday to me! That is the best student discount ive seen. So here it is: The lastest, the Greatest, and by far, the most expensive birthday gift I bought for myself: the Canon G10:

THE REAL PINOCHIO

I cant be sure, but I think- my nose is getting bigger. I don't exactly have evidence- but i mean- look at this! i mean i know its not a close up, but just use your imagination... thankfully- there is a solution!

And if this doesnt work, Rudolph is in season!

1. • Understand cartilage: Cartilage is malleable connective tissue that protects bones from rubbing together too much so whatever you do to it will not move.
   • Cartilage is also used by the body to shape and support other structures, including the nose.
   • Over a lifespan cartilage can be replaced by bone in certain areas, including the nose.
   • Cartilage can be manipulated because it is made principally of water, about 70% of cartilage is water.
   • Cartilage can be redistributed with movement, but cannot be made smaller with pressure.
   • Other components of cartilage include collagen, proteoglycans, and chondrocytes, proteins and cells that help support and build the cartilage.
2. Understand that to make your nose temporarily smaller using this method you are doing home surgery by manipulating the cartilage in your nose.
3. Wash or moisten your nose area. This isn't compulsory, but it's a little easier to do this on smooth skin.
4. Hold the top of your nose with your thumb and index finger.
5. Slowly bring your fingers to the sides of your nose. Don't press or pull because this might make the nose bloat up a little bigger and can damage the cartilage.
6. Do this for two to three minutes, starting at the top of your nose each time.
7. Repeat about 50 times a day or even more.
8. The results may be visible in 2-3 months time.
9. As soon as you stop, and if you have not permanently disfigured your nose, your nose will return to its normal shape.

wow looks like i found a new hobbie!!! hahaha

more on noses:

http://dienekes.110mb.com/texts/greekmorphological/

http://www.angelfire.com/hi/Azgaser/p3.html

http://www.jstor.org/pss/984657

http://www.enotalone.com/article/3988.html

WHO KNEW... YOUR NOT SUPPOSED TO WASH WOOL.

I actually did know, but I didnt know it was wool. Plus, It's as ridiculous to say that sheep can't get wet!! I mean if wool shrinks so much... wouldnt the sheep too when it rained? I guess i never gave a sheep a bath...

When I took on this babysitting job, they called it 'kidtending', and some 'light house keeping' Well apparently it is more like being a maid, cook, and friend for the household... I felt like Alice Nelson from the Brady Bunch... but instead of a perfect day, this one was near perfect until I did the laundry.
I arrive at their household 2 hours before the boys get home from school. In this time, I am to gather the laundry from the rooms fold all the blankets and put them at the foot of the beds, do the dishes, iron what is necessary, and make lunch for the boys upon their arrival-

Well I was doing laundry, and for one particular item- it was on the ground in a ball in a bedroom- id say that is a sign of laundry. I should have known it was wool, but my goal is to clean the clothes, and on to the next task. I checked for a tag, there was no tag... so i washed it- and it came out as a miniaturized version of what it was an hour before... too bad I wasn't Alice, or else Mrs. Brady would have happily given her shrunken sweater, which was now the perfect size for her a young girl- to her daughter Cindy. And then, Mrs. Brady's teeth would have sparkled when she smiled at Alice while saying " no apology is necessary, Alice, We are just happy that we have such a sweet maid like you, who would tell me the truth, and mistakes are just part of life-and this is for the best". Fade to Credits, End episode.

My episode wasnt as picturesque. It ended with a dear apology letter stating that I am quite embarrassed, and that I would be happy to replace it- Her response: the sweater is quite expensive, so I dont think you would want to do that- and it was my favorite Jumper that I owned. Thank you very much.

We will see if they will be calling me again to watch the kids-

LIONS, TIGERS, AND BOARS!!

Wildlife is not the first thing you think about when you are exploring a new metropolis. And although i have yet to see one, I am really on the hunt for a pack of wild boars that are living in Berlin! Supposedly these things are aggressive, hungry, and quite populous and within the City of Berlin alone lives 10,000 boars! This mammal, like the Sasquatch and Unicorn- have been spotted on multiple occasions, but this creature is so abundant, that it is more hopeful that I see one. I will update the site when there is a sighting or hint of one. Look at the Babies! they look like little antelope- How am I ever going to smuggle a Grey Giant back home, let alone a baby boar?

Here are a couple of articles on the BOAR WAR IN BERLIN
(ive been researching it for sometime now---)

http://www.nwf.org/NationalWildlife/article.cfm?issueID=104&articleID=1316

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,583377,00.html

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Berlin-
tiergarten_luetzowplatz_herkules_20050506_p1030068.jpg

http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/24115/newsDate/04-Mar-2004/story.htm

Oh! and it happens in HONKKONG too !

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/people/bizarre/news/article_1431929.php/Wild_boar_is_shot_dead_after_five-hour_rampage_in_Hong_Kong

PUFFY SHIRT

so... i know im a bit quirky... but, i honestly dont think that this shirt is that crazy- am i wrong? I need some opinions- or does it remind too much of that seinfeld episode -

BERGHAIN TIL 6 IN THE EVENING

If you dont feel like going there at open (midnight), and you are too tired to go there at 2 am... just go at sunrise, or noon the next day- no worries it doesnt close till 6 pm on sunday and there will, no doubt be people there from the night before, the bald, topless- super buff gay crowd will have thinned out a bit, but the bass and the music goes the whole way through. Minimal Techno in the main room (berghain)- and Chicago house in the smaller (but still large) room called Panarama bar upstairs - im not sure why one place has two names, but i suppose its big enough to. Anytime you do decide to go, there will for sure be a line. We left at 530am and there were about 150 people waiting to get through security and in the club. You wait in line like there is a rollercoaster at the other end, but instead its just another line- one for guys and one for gals to get patt down and have your camera put aside before entering. No cameras- no mirrors in the bathrooms- just raw concrete, and your experience kept in your memory. Ike is convinced it was a missile/ gun factory- but i think it was actually a train storage building way back when- either way its supposedly the techno centre of the world right now! It was a really good night- before a full day of babysitting the 2 devil children (1.7 years old and 7 months old) all on 3 hours of sleep.

OBAMA WAY!!!

Well I was extremely dissapointed that I couldnt be at Grant Park on election night- But I cant really complain- being in Berlin. Thankfully- this election brought so much interest all around the globe, that Berlin was quite energetic and excited about the event. This theater had hundreds of people littered outside its doors celebrating before the decision was made. And the resturaunt/bar we had eaten at right before- had a live band singing original tunes poking fun at american politics and the current state of the country. It was all in good fun, and it really made me feel at home. The singers had a southern/ sort of folky twang that I could only put up with because of its hilarity. After this I went home-and went to bed-but Ike decided to party till the decision would be known. He finally wondered into the apartment, turned the tv on and began chanting Obama like things- 3 AM Berlin time- on a school night. Well I suppose I couldnt sleep on such a historic day!

TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL, BUT NOT FOR DEUTSCHLAND

I know im here for school, I love learning, and being in the German classroom, but I am just beyond ready to graduate. This is my 1st semester overseas, my 9th semester in College, and my seventeenth year strait in school. Enough is enough already. According to Snapple "Real Fact" #275: I could have walked around the world atleast 4 times in the amount of time ive been sitting in classrooms- imagine what could have been accomplished during that! With that in mind, I cant really blame myself for feeling a tad bit undermotivated to do my best. But, I have a 3.7 GPA, $40,000+ in debt, and 4 German Professors to impress, so I suppose, working for just a few more months will pay off.

MAYBE IM NOT THE BEST INFLUENCE...

This is Ellie- she is one of 5 of the kids I babysit here- I dont like babysitting all that much, nor am I even that fond of children, but its tax free- i dont need a permit to work, and it gives me time to work on school stuff or rosetta stone :)- so i say babies and diaper changing will do until schools out!

APPARENTLY, HALLOWEEN IS AN AMERICAN HOLIDAY...

Ike and I get all ready for a party in Friedrichstein on Halloween night. . . costume, face paint, the works. Its only natural on the 31st of Oktober, when youve been doing it your whole life. We leave the house, and for every 200 people we see, we see 1 person who is also partaking in such event- We had so many looks and glances in our direction. "they must be American"- is what all of the Berliners were thinking.... and with my red white and blue costume, there was no doubting that was where I was from.

BABYSITTING BULLDOGS

And this is what i did on my first night of babysitting... Ellie was sleeping when I got there, so me and the puppy hung out while watching some fashion shows on German's equivilant to Direct TV.

THE GERMAN GIANT

Now, if i didnt see one in person last year... i would think this were a hoax... So heres the story- beth and I were in Vienna last summer- one day we took a train out to the country (maybe like 40 minutes outside of the city). Gazing out the window i noticed something protruding upward from the bush. And sitting still, about 3 feet from the recently cut crop, was a GIANT RABBIT- we were going so fast, and i was in a daze because of the lengthy ride, so we were never SURE that we saw what we saw- and today- I find out that yes indeed, these things do live - in reality, and not just in the minds of christine and beth!!! wow- its like when the unicorn was found earlier this year! what a great world~



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-426231/German-farmer-breeds-bunny-big-dog.html
http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_giant_bunny.htm

MY NEW BOSS IS ON WIKIPEDIA

Well I may not be worthy of a Wikipedia Page, but my new boss is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_Jacobsen

...no im not a photographer, or a gatorade girl... im his new babysitter. haha I'm babysitting their 2 year old girl, ellie- shes pretty cute.

I feel like babysitting is quite possibly the best way to meet successful people in this town-
The Jacobsen's are the second family that contacted me to babysit-
the first is a CEO of a company that trys to place Freelance artists into permanant positions in European companies.

Heres his site: http://www.designerdock.de/

he wants me to help him with his next photo exhibition. Nice surprizes. Everything is comin up milhouse!

EVERYTHING IS SMALL HERE!

What if one day, everyone dissapeared from Europe, just like a snap of the fingers- all the people, all photos and historical documents- all memory of such land. Once the cities were 're-descovered', anthropologists would undoubtably believe that the people that once inhabitated Europe were smaller than the people of the rest of the world. I mean what people would own such small things !!!

For the amount of Bakeries there are here- youd think they would need more sugar!- this is a 'large' bag of sugar. the scissors are almost bigger than it!

A standard size frozen pizza....

Their standard milk carton- the bowl is almost bigger than it!And of course, to keep all this small food- their small refridgerators!
-even their ash trays have to be small, but for the amount that Berliners smoke, they would definatly benefit from a larger reservoir.

Charottenburg, Berlin, Germany

-our flat is in Charlottenburg, which is in former West Berlin. The area is a bit touristy, but the architecture here is incredible. My favorite are the block long buildings- kinda like the merchandise mart- here is a church, that's about 2 miles down the street we live, Kurfurstendamm. It is no longer functioning as a church, but just the remains of it after it was bombed during WWII. (notice the missing top)

This is a mix of coke and orange pop- its a Berlin favorite, you see it in all the gasstations, and the Getranken shops (huge stores that sell nothing but drinks- like a liquor store, but with more than beer)- I personally thought it was just okay..

Sprechen ze Deutsch????

My first day of school was quite challenging... Try three hours of lectures and orientation all in German. Yeah, we've been using Rosetta Stone for about a month and a half now- but you seem to forget just about everything when words are spit out at normal conversation speed, and when they arent complimented by nice- narritive images. I came home and had to take a nap from so much brain activity.

The paperwork i have to fill out is just as confusing- this form for example-
is to get 110 euro because i am a student- the top of the form states:

antrag aug gewahrung eines einmaligen bergrussungsgeldes in hohe von 110 euros

and here is its translation it into english:

request August gewahrung a unique mountain smoking money into high of 110 euros.

hmmmm.....haha the language barrier continues...

the people of berlin

They look alot like this...notice: there are no smiles...

Would you rent to us???

heres a like to the website where we are searching for apartments/ wohnungs...
are we marketable enough?!

http://www.studenten-wg.de/mietgesuch_506079.html

Maybe they are going to Sturgis???

We stayed out till 5.30am this morning... trying to embrace the ways of Berliners. But with staying up late, comes waking up late- so thank god these german bikers decided to come down Kurfurstendamm at 12.30. I woke up to endless horns, and noises of this traffic jam- but different from stergis, most of these bikes were crotch rockets. SWEET.
I can really understand the sleep schedules of people who live here- well for the ones who work real jobs anyway. The only way it seems to work- is by sanctioning sundays as a day to sleep- Thank god Berlin is still influenced by Christian traditions. Everthing is closed on sunday- grocery stores, banks, libraries, and even IKEA. So after staying up till 7 or 8 in the AM, you can sleep all day, wake up for a couple hours before nightfall, and get ready for another work week.

Hot Dogs and Hot Dog Dogs

The dog population in Berlin seems to parellel chicago's. Except- the breeds differ from the ones that are prevalant in the states.
All of them seem to be a variation of the 'hot dog' dog, and all the others seem to convey a wiser look- attributed to their greyish, scruffy, longer beard hair.
American dogs seem to have a more vibrant, interactive, nieve, exploritive attitude. The ones in berlin have buisniess to tend to it seems:

they have buses:
http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSL144087920080901

and pay taxes:
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9902E5DA143AEF33A25750C2A9679D94689FD7CF

Berliners like their Vices

There's nothing quite like a warm glass of wine in the morning. Of course I wouldnt know, but Ike felt it was necissary this morning cuz- it was just sitting on the kitchen counter, staling, from the night before.

Theres been a lot of new vices, and things i've seen since the start of my stay here. And in 8 days, i've seen a total of 2 cop cars, Zero fights on the streets, 2 kids doing coke in the midst of the crowd at a electonic club- dog poop littered about, recycling bins that separate green glass from white/clear glass, paper, plastic, and then the just plain rubbish. You can walk the streets with beers in hand, posess an 1/8 of green with no penalty, and you dont get carded for anything- (except for the hard liquors i guess)-

It seems as though people party much harder in Berlin. Any venue where music is being played, is filled, and about 90 percent of people are dancing. 3 o'clock is the appropriate time to go out at night. Anything before- is just plain early!

WG # 1

As romanic and nomadic as a hostel sounds... we were ready to retire to a WG. Its this system that they have - which like many other things here, makes a lot of sense. Its works like craigslist, but its specifically for finding and renting rooms that are furnished, include heat, electric and often include other roomates- and are w/o contracts (its basically like your subletting- but you dont have to bring all your shit there.

And for just 300 euro a month, we get this lovely room decorated with IKEA -its basically standard here- a cool german roommate- named Katha, and all the luxuries of german living, including a washingmachine in the kitchen.

(the first photo is a view out of the bedroom window)

BERLIN!!! but it was a bitter-sweet arrival.

We had finally made it- Deutchland! We got our passports stamped, and now- I have a total of 8 stamps, while Ike made 5. (pretty good for just beginning his international adventures just 3 weeks ago)