Kyle’s European Adventure

I can’t believe it – it’s almost time for me to head home. I finished my last day of German Class yesterday, and i was actually a little bit sad it was over. I was pretty consistently the worst student in the class, but I actually had a lot of fun, the other students were all really nice, and I may have even learned a thing or two. My plan is to continue studying with my friend Sam when I get home.

Now I’ve got one week left, with all the free time I want. I think, more than anything, I just want to relax and spend time with my friends here before I check out. Tonight, I’m supposed to check out Berlin’s biggest club, which should be interesting, and I think I’m going to go enjoy a nice bikeride today.

I know it’ll be over before I know it, so I want to make sure I really relish these last few days. Wish me luck.

So, nobody bothered to prep me for this, but it went from sunny summer weather, to butt-numbing winter cold overnight here. And, of course, I was entirely unprepared for said cold. Did I mention that I only brought one hoodie with me?

So, some shopping was in order. I hate shopping, and I didn’t have Harrison here to make it easier. All that aside, I did manage to pick up a few new items, of the warm variety. Now I have a new coat, jeans, and a thermal to wear when I ride my bike. Please don’t ask much how much they cost – this damn exchange rate is murder.

In other news, I’ve signed up for one more week of German lessons. i don’t know what is wrong with me, but I figured I might as well keep it up while I’m here, especially with the temperature this cold. My long, all day bikerides are a little less practical now that it is Arctic here.

One of the best parts of this trip for me has been my return to my bookworm roots. I’ve kept up a pretty constant rate of reading, and this, more than anything, is something I hope I can keep up once I get home. 

Here’s the partial list:

Assasination Vacation – Sara Vowel
Better – Atul Guwande
The Windup Bird Chronicles – Haruki Murakami
After Dark – Haruki Murakami
The Ladies of Grace Adieu – Susanna Clarke
Prelude to Foundation – Isaac Asimov
Foundation – Isaac Asimov
Equal Rites – Terry Pratchett
Good Omens – Terry Pratchett and Niel Gaiman
Neverwhere – Neil Gaiman
Quicksilver – neal Stephenson
Shakespeare – Bill Bryson
Three Cups of Tea – Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
The Agony and the Ecstasy – Irving Stone
The Orientalizt – Tom Reiss
When You Are Engulfed in Flames – David Sedaris

THere’s 4 or 5 that I’m forgetting, but that’s the list so far. I’m currently reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chambon (thanks for the recommendation Jeff!) , with Kafka on the Shore by Murakami up next.

My friend from work, Dav, was here for a couple of weeks with his family, and we all met up for dinner last night! It was ARSEOME. Their little boy, Pinto, is about the cutest thing ever. We spent an entire meal swapping travel stories, plans, and news from home. It only added to my excitement to be back in San Fran, and back in the swing of things.

So, monday night I met Carsten out for dinner, where we sat outside and enjoyed some Mexican food. (I know, how good can Mexican be, 6,000 miles away from California?! But I was craving.) I had a margarita, and by the end of the meal, I had a distinct pain in my throat.

“Oh, hell no. I am NOT getting sick.”

So, yeah, all week I was fighting a bit of a sore throat. I immediately went into self-care mode, minimizing plans, going only to German class in the morning, and then resting all afternoon and evening. I had a couple of dinners, and other low key social engagements, but each day that I woke up and still had a frog in my throat, I made drinking tea, resting and taking it easy my priority. The damn sore throat lasted until last night, with this morning (Saturday) being the first time I woke up and felt the “all clear”, that whatever bug I was fending off had officially died.

Now, anyone who knows me well knows that I love to bitch and complain about always feeling too busy. I tend to fill my time up as much as possible, always making plans, and never seeming to have a free moment. Clearly, I do this to myself, and I am grateful to have so many wonderful things to do and awesome people to spend time with, but my near constant level of activity always seems to leave me feeling run a bit ragged. 

My take-away from my sick days was this: I actually, really liked the level of activity during my sick week. Everything moved a LOT slower for me, was much less hectic, and I had a great deal more down or free time, and it was GREAT. I read, I napped, I wrote, and all in all, felt much more centered, rested, relaxed and peaceful. Knowing myself, I am pretty damn sure that I won’t usually keep to such a reduced schedule, but it is nice to have a blueprint, something I can look at when I’m feeling especially run down and say, “maybe I need to have a ‘Sore-Throat Week’.”

Well, I’m not one to dwell on this particular anniversary, and I honestly had almost forgotten what today even was. I went to a quiet dinner party at Marcos’ house, where he cooked his famous Brazilian fish dish, which was a huge hit. There were six of us there, and the conversation turned to September 11th. I realized that not only was I the ONLY American in the group, but that ever person there was from a different country. There was a Muslim, a Jew, a Brit, Brazillian, German and a Swede. It was such a diverse group, and I was really surprised to hear the different tone to the conversation (different, at least, from what I’ve grown used to in the US). 

The British guy expressed surprise that ’suddenly’ the world was full of terrorists after 9/11, when he grew up constantly surrounded by the attacks from the IRA. The Muslim recounted a terrifying tale of passing through immigration in both the US and Israel – neither of which would I have been able to handle with the patience and grace that he showed. They all showed total scorn at feeling any fear of attacks within Germany. After all, “feeling any fear is giving terror power, no?”

So, at any rate, it was an enlightening conversation, and if anything, really showed me how differently the rest of the world sees the issue of terror, and most importantly, how much it doesn’t actually shape their lives, the politics of their world, and their overall outlook. It’s something that many of them were living with daily, well before the Trade Center was destroyed. 

The other big point that ever, single one of them made?

“Your country had better not elect ANOTHER war-mongering Republican!”

People here follow our elections almost as closely as Americans do, and not a single one of them is pulling for McCain. Go figure.

Well, I decided to go back to German class, mostly because, well, what else am I going to do? Plus, if I get home, and I don’t know a FEW german words, I will be an object of ridicule. Can’t have that. So, yesterday morning, I came in early, and they informed me that there wasn’t currently a class that was right at the level where I stopped – there was one that was a bit below, and one that was much more advanced. Of course, I took the easy route. I figured I’d have a week of knowing all the answers and feeling like a smarty pants.

Funny thing is, I’m still getting a good majority of the answers wrong. I have ALREADY taken this section! How is that even possible?

Oh, right – I totally suck at this.

Now, don’t worry – I’m not all “Sad Sally” about it. I’m still going to classes, and still learning stuff. But this has been a gentle reminder that I really, really, really have a hard time with languages, and even though I’ve been here for over a month, my German is still completely rotten. Which is really OK – I can totally get by on my “Shheeesh I’m a dumb american!” charm.

The weather has been pretty great lately – not too hot, and not too cold. I’m slightly less of a sweaty wreck when I get to school, which is nice. Chakra (the bike) is still doing well, but she occasionally makes strange qroaning metal noises. I just hope she holds out for 4 more weeks.

Question: How long does it take for Kyle to get sick of wearing the same “One Week’s Worth” of clothing he brought with him on his lil trip?

Answer: About 3 months.

Ohhhhmigod I am so tired of my clothes. I am really and truly a boring person when it comes to clothing – I can wear the same stuff over and over without it bothering me. But, everyone has their limits, and I’ve reached mine. I’ve been living in the same tshirts for months now, and I am SICK of them. I did the whole “stare at a pile of clean clothing and say ‘I’ve got nothing to wear!’” thing.

My iPhone headphones also broke yesterday (aside: this is my third broken set, and these are only a few months old. The damn clicker thing is a weak link in the design, and that particular ear keeps going dead in each pair.), so today’s mission was to find a new set. And boy, that was harder than expected. I don’t know what happened to me, but I couldn’t understand anything anyone said to me today. It was like all the progress I thought I’d made in learning German had just vanished from my brain. The little language hampster in my head curled up and died and left me with zero comprehension. Or something.

That experience, to put it mildly, was frustrating. In the end I worked myself into a tepid fugue about the whole German thing. The refrain of “who’s going to waste $500 for more classes that aren’t going to do you any good, and you’ll forget anyhow” was blaring through my head all afternoon. I went to the gym, and the swung over to my favorite store (American Apparel, natch!) and tried a little retail therapy. Two birds with one stone, I say.

So, now I’ve got some new shirts, which will hopefully alleviate some of the clothing burnout. And, while I’m not entirely sure, I think maybe spending a little cash helped distract me from my total lack of mad German skillz. I also swung by the bookstore and bought a fluffy fantasy book – just the thing to get my head of of it’s negative loop. I know it’s friday night, but I’m going to park myself in bed and read myself to sleep. Tomorrow will be a new, slightly more German comprehending, day.

Well, after MUCH adventuring, drinking, exploring and bike riding, I put Jeff on a plane home this morning. (Rather, I got up at 4:30 in the morning and put him on the correct train.) It was really fantastic having him here – a little slice of home. It did make me a bit homesick, but I know I get to go home to all my friends in a few more weeks. So, in the meantime, I plan on enjoying Berlin as much as possible.

There is some debate (entirely on my part) as to whether or not I should go back to my German classes. On the one hand, I feel like I learn a lot when I’m in the classes, and it gives me good structure here. On the other hand, it’s not cheap, my long-term retention is probably close to nil, and when I’m in class I don’t have a ton of time for other stuff.

So, yeah, I should probably decide by friday if I wanna go back or not. If I don’t, then I’ve got 4 weeks of free time to fill. That should be fun!

Jeff and I have been having a blast. Yesterday, my yoga partner Jan invited us for a boat ride on the Spree, the river that runs through Berlin. As the sun was shining, we happily accepted! We went with Jan’s neighbor, Sebastian, on his boss’ boat – a hardwood yacht, right out of a Nautica ad. We cruised for hours, enjoying seeing the city from the water, drinking beer, eating food (Jan is an AMAZING cook), and swimming.

Afterwards, Jeff and I grabbed a disco nap, and then hit the town. First we stopped by a cozy little bar named Drama, where my friend Demi was bartending. He doesn’t speak much english, so I got to attempt to use my broken German to translate. (Jeff flatters me and tells me that I look like I know what I’m doing. ) From there, we went to Schwutz, a weekly party. It was in a big, basement space, and as we were walking around, I convinced myself that I was hallucinating. Across one room, I was sure I saw Cliff, a friend from San Francisco. Well, he turned, saw me, and said “I FIGURED I’d run into you here.”

Very. Small. World.

He was here for work, so the group of us hung out, had drinks, met mutual friends, and had a blast. From there, Jeff and I thought to go see Berghain, one of Berlin’s more infamous nightclubs, but being the old ladies that we are, the hour long line outside the club convinced us to head home to bed.

Today is another glorious and sunny day, so we’re off to ride bikes through some of Berlin’s parks. This afternoon the Berlin Philharmonic is giving a free concert by the operahouse, so we’re going to go find a spot and enjoy that.