Procrastination

There's some pretty cool stuff goin on, and also I'm tired of writing essays for PoliSci, so I figured I'd update.

First of all, my German is really improving. On Thursday Rose and I went shopping and talked to the saleswomen in TWO different Birkenstock stores forever, and then we had a really yummy dinner at this Indian restaurant on Oranienburger Strasse (which we lovingly call "Hooker Strasse" because it's where all the cool ladies are haha, but also has a crapload of super yummy restaurants and bars and clubs, so it's worth the trip) and the tiny Indian bartender guy told me I was beautiful when he gave me my glass of tap water and asked me to come back tomorrow. It was kind of awkward! Then Rose and I went back to her apartment and ended up hanging out for hours with her hostparents and her hostdad's niece and nephew who were visiting. We spoke all German and they told me that I only have the slightest of accents :-) On that note, Friday morning I stopped at my favorite little bakery in my U-Bahn station and ordered the sandwich I always get and said a couple necessary things to the man working there, except I'd never seen him there before it's usually the same two ladies. And after all that he said something to me and I understood the words but didn't know what he meant so I looked kind of confused and he like, cocked his head and looked at me all surprised and said "Koennen Sie nicht Deutsch??" (You don't speak German??) and acted like he was really really surprised. It was such a good compliment, it meant I sounded really convincing when I was talking to him in German! Anyways, also on Thursday night Laura's and my friend Lauren from Duke got here for the weekend, and yesterday she came with us on our group trip to the Jewish museum.

Sidenote on the museum: it was incredible. It's not a Holocaust museum, it's a museum for the whole history of Judaism. The architecture is amazing and there is some really powerful stuff in there. There's this room, it's an art installation and it's the last place you end up when you walk through the museum. You come around a corner and there's this huge room with absolutely nothing in it, walls are white, and at the end of that room there's a corner and from the other side of the wall you hear really loud metal sounds, of clanking and panging, like someone was building a railroad on the other side. When you get around the corner, there is this narrow, really tall "room"--the walls are all concrete and the only light comes from way way above, and covering the whole floor are these thick circular pieces of metal, all just laying loosely on top of one another, and they're faces. They're just an oval with eyes and a mouth cut out, but the mouths are all open and it looks like they're all crying or screaming, and the point is to have to walk across them. When you do it makes these really loud clanking sounds as the faces situate under your feet...it's incredibly uncomfortable. I only walked a little ways when I had to turn around, some of us didn't even try, and Jochen's never ever done it in all the years he's been taking the students there. It was called "Fallen Leaves". I thought it was one of the most powerful art installations, or pieces of art in general, that I've ever experienced.

Anyways, after THAT we all went and ate...you'll never guess...SUSHI! It's a daily staple for us. And then we went out. I got dressed up all cute and we went to our favorite bar at Hackescher Markt called Adebar, where they have a five euro drink special every night from 6 to 1am, perfect for women. The cocktails are SCRUMPTIOUS. Claire, Candace and Nate met us there and then we all went to a club called Soda Club (or Club Soda haha), but not after having to escape from three German boys who wouldn't leave us alone! Spoke German with 'em though :-).

The most exciting thing about my life right now is that my hostfamily is out of town, leaving me with the apartment to myself. It kind of feels, what with cooking for myself, taking care of the cats, buying myself groceries and all that good stuff, like I have my own apartment in Berlin, Germany. It's really fun to pretend! This afternoon I took a break from working on my PoliSci midterm (gahhh.) and when into Zehlendorf, the quaint little town near me, to buy some batteries and some grocery-type items. I came back here, made myself some spaghetti, plopped down and watched Erin Brokovich on TV (not before I had to clean out the litter box). It was a nice quiet day.

The only bad thing is I'm definitely sick. I was fine yesterday, and I woke up this morning completely sick. My nose is stuffed, my chest is full of crap, I have that wheezy feeling in my throat...no fun! It's making me a little sad because I was sitting here tonight watching my movie, freeeeeezing because it's so cold here, and feeling sicky and it made me think of sick nights lying on my amazingly comfy couch watching a sitcom on tbs and eating chili or something. Nostalgic. I miss my family and my home.

Still lovin' it here, though, don't get me wrong!! :-)

the pics: the top one is of me and Laura last week at this bar we love, then under that is the Jewish Museum, then one of many pics we took of ourselves (that's Lauren on the left) and then the bar being on fire. Notice how everyone had evacuated the bar stools haha!