I woke up. I looked out my window. This is what I saw...
What the?????
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Gasoline on a long-forgotten bonfire...
Yesterday was one of those once-in-a-lifetime days that you can’t really believe happened. All expectations exceeded. I always find that these make up for a few of those days where no expectations were met. You see, when I lived in Germany as a kid I had a best friend in school. Her name was…well, it still is her name :) … Christina. About a year and a half before my family moved back to Canada our friendship started to fall apart. Christina started to get into a crowd that I wasn’t willing to join. Basically it included our whole grade. What can I say? I was a goody-two-shoes…for which I am still thankful today. :) Anyways, our friendship met a fork in the road and we were both unwilling to compromise. My grade 7 journal is half-filled with angry entries about my evil ex-best-friend. I’m pretty sure I even glued her school picture in there and drew a nasty face on it.
What?
I was 12!
Anywho, I think there were a lot of unspoken jealousies between us as our opposing interests pulled us in very different directions and by the time I moved back to Canada there was little contact between us. I wrote to her a few times and I think she sent me a letter once, but basically we hadn’t heard a thing from one another in 8 years. About half a year before I moved here this summer one of my friends wrote that she had seen Christina recently and that she now had a little baby boy and was still living in Ellefeld. So I decided that when I got to Germany I was gonna look her up. I mean, it’s funny how those matters that seem so life-and-death in a friendship at 12 become a distant memory…even a laughing matter! Well, I never got in touch with her in August when I was first in Ellefeld. I think it was a mixture of anxiety and poor excuses. I mean, it’s kind of a big deal to show up out of the blue at your former best friend’s place after nearly a decade of no contact - especially when there was something akin to bad blood between us. Basically I had no idea who she was anymore and I was freaked. This is the girl that I grew up with. She was like my sister at one point. I was afraid of being disappointed. That we would have nothing to say to one another. It was bad enough that our childhood friendship ended on less-than-satisfying terms. I didn’t want to find out if our paths had grown even further apart. That could just be too painful.
But then I remembered my promise to myself from 5 years ago when I had come to Germany for two weeks with my parents and never called up any of my old school friends. I swore to myself afterwards that I would never let that happen again.
So anyways, Nancy, the mom of the family I always stay with here in Ellefeld…I actually have a permanent bedroom here right now…knew that I wanted to see Christina again and when she ran into her on the street one day she told Christina that I was back in Germany and wanted to get in touch. Nancy told me about this encounter and also said that Christina was very excited about the prospect of meeting up. This gave me the necessary courage yesterday to find out where she was living and ring her doorbell. And you would not believe where she’s living, mom and dad. SUEDSTRASSE 10! She is living right next to our old house!!! How crazy is that? So to keep this blog to a relatively sane length... I spent 8 hours at Christina’s yesterday. We just kept saying over and over how amazing it was to see one another again and we kept apologizing for losing contact over all those years - like two identical broken records playing at the same time...come to think of it that sounds annoying...but it wasn't. The path she chose when we were kids led her into a very dark time, but as is so often the case she woke up a few years ago...albeit pregnant...and realized it. She’s back to my old Christina and I can hardly believe it. And she's the cutest mom ever! :)
Her son Paul’s biological father basically jumped ship once Christina told him she was pregnant but her boyfriend of one year, Denny, lives with them now and has totally become Paul’s father. He’s really great with them and it was wonderful to spend the day with just Christina and the evening with her and Denny.
It was funny cuz when I got there in the afternoon we just hugged and giggled and hugged again. And then we just didn’t know what to say to one another. There was so much to talk about but neither of us had any clue how to start. It was so strange yet so familiar. So comfortable. Talking about old memories, many of them long forgotten until yesterday, and ready to make some new ones.
She kept saying that Nancy had told her I would probably get in touch with her again at the beginning of October and she said she’s been waiting for me to ring her doorbell every day since then (meaning she waited 28 days!!!). And she said that not a day has gone by in that apartment where she hasn’t thought of me living in that old brick house next to hers…all the hours she spent jumping on my bed…all those Canadian homemade chocolate chip cookies and muffins. (Tons of greetings from her to you guys, mom and dad. So many of her memories include you two. :) ) It’s hard to think about the time…the years!…we’ve lost. But thankfully we’re not old and wasting away quite yet. :) It’s amazing though how quickly an old flame can be rekindled. I mean, I got there at 3 in the afternoon and left at 11pm! Forget a flame rekindled…it’s more like throwing gasoline on a dying bonfire.
I like metaphors.
And guess what? She and her boyfriend wanna move to Canada one day! Denny is totally obsessed. I’m like their dream connection. Lol. How cool would that be? Haha.
In any case, I just had to share this with you. How many more crazy things like that can happen this year yet? I’m throwing all my measly expectations out the window. They don’t even come close to the actual experiences I’ve had in the last 3 months.
What?
I was 12!
Anywho, I think there were a lot of unspoken jealousies between us as our opposing interests pulled us in very different directions and by the time I moved back to Canada there was little contact between us. I wrote to her a few times and I think she sent me a letter once, but basically we hadn’t heard a thing from one another in 8 years. About half a year before I moved here this summer one of my friends wrote that she had seen Christina recently and that she now had a little baby boy and was still living in Ellefeld. So I decided that when I got to Germany I was gonna look her up. I mean, it’s funny how those matters that seem so life-and-death in a friendship at 12 become a distant memory…even a laughing matter! Well, I never got in touch with her in August when I was first in Ellefeld. I think it was a mixture of anxiety and poor excuses. I mean, it’s kind of a big deal to show up out of the blue at your former best friend’s place after nearly a decade of no contact - especially when there was something akin to bad blood between us. Basically I had no idea who she was anymore and I was freaked. This is the girl that I grew up with. She was like my sister at one point. I was afraid of being disappointed. That we would have nothing to say to one another. It was bad enough that our childhood friendship ended on less-than-satisfying terms. I didn’t want to find out if our paths had grown even further apart. That could just be too painful.
But then I remembered my promise to myself from 5 years ago when I had come to Germany for two weeks with my parents and never called up any of my old school friends. I swore to myself afterwards that I would never let that happen again.
So anyways, Nancy, the mom of the family I always stay with here in Ellefeld…I actually have a permanent bedroom here right now…knew that I wanted to see Christina again and when she ran into her on the street one day she told Christina that I was back in Germany and wanted to get in touch. Nancy told me about this encounter and also said that Christina was very excited about the prospect of meeting up. This gave me the necessary courage yesterday to find out where she was living and ring her doorbell. And you would not believe where she’s living, mom and dad. SUEDSTRASSE 10! She is living right next to our old house!!! How crazy is that? So to keep this blog to a relatively sane length... I spent 8 hours at Christina’s yesterday. We just kept saying over and over how amazing it was to see one another again and we kept apologizing for losing contact over all those years - like two identical broken records playing at the same time...come to think of it that sounds annoying...but it wasn't. The path she chose when we were kids led her into a very dark time, but as is so often the case she woke up a few years ago...albeit pregnant...and realized it. She’s back to my old Christina and I can hardly believe it. And she's the cutest mom ever! :)
Her son Paul’s biological father basically jumped ship once Christina told him she was pregnant but her boyfriend of one year, Denny, lives with them now and has totally become Paul’s father. He’s really great with them and it was wonderful to spend the day with just Christina and the evening with her and Denny.
It was funny cuz when I got there in the afternoon we just hugged and giggled and hugged again. And then we just didn’t know what to say to one another. There was so much to talk about but neither of us had any clue how to start. It was so strange yet so familiar. So comfortable. Talking about old memories, many of them long forgotten until yesterday, and ready to make some new ones.
She kept saying that Nancy had told her I would probably get in touch with her again at the beginning of October and she said she’s been waiting for me to ring her doorbell every day since then (meaning she waited 28 days!!!). And she said that not a day has gone by in that apartment where she hasn’t thought of me living in that old brick house next to hers…all the hours she spent jumping on my bed…all those Canadian homemade chocolate chip cookies and muffins. (Tons of greetings from her to you guys, mom and dad. So many of her memories include you two. :) ) It’s hard to think about the time…the years!…we’ve lost. But thankfully we’re not old and wasting away quite yet. :) It’s amazing though how quickly an old flame can be rekindled. I mean, I got there at 3 in the afternoon and left at 11pm! Forget a flame rekindled…it’s more like throwing gasoline on a dying bonfire.
I like metaphors.
And guess what? She and her boyfriend wanna move to Canada one day! Denny is totally obsessed. I’m like their dream connection. Lol. How cool would that be? Haha.
In any case, I just had to share this with you. How many more crazy things like that can happen this year yet? I’m throwing all my measly expectations out the window. They don’t even come close to the actual experiences I’ve had in the last 3 months.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Ich bin ein Berliner...I WISH!
Ok I think I might just start crying. I wrote a giant blog just this morning…took me over an hour. I saved several times! I specifically remember! And now I just turned my computer back on and it’s all gone! Only the first two sentences are there!!!!! I’ve checked everywhere but it’s all gone! I don’t understand. Dad always said that with computers it’s “garbage in, garbage out”. WELL I PUT LOTS AND LOTS OF VERBAL AND EMOTIONAL GARBAGE IN AND NO GARBAGE IS COMING BACK OUT! I WANT MY GARBAGE! Dad, this might be the first time ever that you’ve been wrong. My faith in technology has been shaken straight to its core. And just thinking about rewriting my entire post makes me feel exhausted. But I guess there’s nothing I can do about it…so here goes. Hang on, let me just press the ‘Save’ button. OH WAIT…THAT DOESN’T REALLY SEEM TO BE ALL THAT IMPORTANT ANYWAYS! MY COMPUTER JUST DOES WHATEVER IT WANTS.
Kay, I’m going to try to calm down now.
Ah I’m still so frustrated. I already wrote all of this down! And it was so good, too! I don’t know if I can do this again!!!!
Sigh.
Knowing me I won’t be able to rest until it’s done, so here goes attempt #2.
Berlin - shall be immortalized in my mind as the city where I spent waaaaaaaaay too much money but it was so worth it. :)
It’s one of the many reasons why I’ve become half-anorexic and am usually covered in layers of sweaters and mounds of blankets in my as-unheated-as-possible apartment.
So Tuesday morning I took a bus and a train to Zwickau where my friend Claudia lives. Daniela joined us there in the evening and the three of us spent the evening excitedly going over our mini-vacation plans for Berlin. We kept trying to go to sleep, but we were so restless that we just kept chatting and chatting, long after the lights were out. 4am came far too early, but we were so ready to get on with our adventure. We immediately inhaled some cappuccinos and finished our last-minute packing, showered and made sandwiches, all the while practically going nuts with excitement. And soon it was 5:30am – time to make our way to the train station. And then we opened the front door. Rain. Grrrrrr. But we refused to let it dampen our soaring holiday-ready spirits. We got to our train well on time and at 5:57am we left the dreary skies of Saxony behind us.
We took the Vogtlandbahn, which is a super-cheap and super-fast route to Berlin. It’s basically there so that you can easily do daytrips to Berlin without paying an arm and a leg. It leaves early in the morning and comes back late in the evening. So I bought a coffee as soon as humanly possible 
and settled back into my seat, chatting with two of my best friends for the next 3.5 hours til we made it to the capitol of my beautiful Deutschland. Once there we scouted out a german rail office and bought our transportation tickets for the next four days. Can you believe that for only 28 euros each we got tickets that let us use any city train, subway, street car, or bus in all of Berlin AND covered our train ride back home to Saxony on Saturday? Well, believe it! I mean we used the trains and subways so much, it’s crazy! And the transportation system in Berlin is jaw-droppingly awe-inspiring. I mean, the street cars come by at least every 10 minutes, the subways and city trains every 4 minutes. It’s psycho! I mean, it really honestly doesn’t matter if you “miss your train”, cuz the next one is practically coming in as its predecessor is leaving. Incredible. But we still saw some hilarious movie-like moments where certain desperados got stuck in the train doors in a frantic attempt to avoid said loathsome 4 minute wait. It was such a Jim Carey in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” moment as this one middle-aged dude totally got his entire body stuck in between the doors of the train across the tracks from us…and it must have hurt! Those doors do NOT open easily. And another girl got the back wheel of her bike stuck in the doors of one of the trains we were on. HILARIOUS, people.
Anyways, once we got to Berlin (9:30am) we took a couple of trains out to Ostkreuz-Berlin where Claudia’s crazy computer-nerd-hacker friend Theo lives in a crazy man-apartment with another crazy computer-nerd-hacker guy whose name we never found out – we only know him as “Bär”, which is his Internet name. They had just kicked out their third roommate two days before we came so we even got a room to ourselves! No living room couches! Yay. But seriously, that apartment lacked the feminine touch. Or any kind of touch, really. We affectionately referred to that neighbourhood as our ghetto. :)
But the price was right – we just had to cook them supper for the three evenings we were there. Easy ‘nuff. So as soon as we had dropped off our bags we took the trains back towards the center of Berlin and decided to spend the day doing what girls do best. Spending money. Oh the shopping, ladies. The shopping! We eventually hit up the most famous street in Berlin…well, at least the most famous in terms of shopping possibilities. The Kurfuerstendamm. I could live there. Chanel, Gucci, Mango (Penelope Cruz’s line which is now one of my fave places to shop), Prada, Escada, Cos, Burberry, and anything else you’ve ever seen inside of a Vogue. And of course also the stores that fit our price ranges :) - H&M, Esprit, United Colours of Benetton, etc.
And then at the end of the street is the most famous store in Berlin – the KaDeWe, which is chalked full from basement to top floor with only designer everything – clothes, makeup, perfume, shoes, and so on. Obviously we didn’t buy anything there, but it was intoxicating none the less. Maybe one day I’ll be able to afford a pair of gloves or, like, an earring…from that place. :) Heaven on earth.
So by the time we were shopped out it was getting dark outside and our feet felt like lead anvils. Sure sign that supper is in order. So we headed back to our ghetto and made hawaiian toast for all of us (as in Theo and Bär included…).
Thursday was declared sight-seeing day. We wanted to visit anything and everything in Berlin that had to do with culture and history and was worth taking a look at.
Now if you know anything about this city you’ll know that this really does take an entire day. Well, really you could spend an entire week doing that, but we only had so and so much time and cutting down on the shopping excursions … well, that’s just a silly thought. I mean really. Let’s be serious. Not even an option.
Kay, I’m going to try to calm down now.
Ah I’m still so frustrated. I already wrote all of this down! And it was so good, too! I don’t know if I can do this again!!!!
Sigh.
Knowing me I won’t be able to rest until it’s done, so here goes attempt #2.
Berlin - shall be immortalized in my mind as the city where I spent waaaaaaaaay too much money but it was so worth it. :)
It’s one of the many reasons why I’ve become half-anorexic and am usually covered in layers of sweaters and mounds of blankets in my as-unheated-as-possible apartment.So Tuesday morning I took a bus and a train to Zwickau where my friend Claudia lives. Daniela joined us there in the evening and the three of us spent the evening excitedly going over our mini-vacation plans for Berlin. We kept trying to go to sleep, but we were so restless that we just kept chatting and chatting, long after the lights were out. 4am came far too early, but we were so ready to get on with our adventure. We immediately inhaled some cappuccinos and finished our last-minute packing, showered and made sandwiches, all the while practically going nuts with excitement. And soon it was 5:30am – time to make our way to the train station. And then we opened the front door. Rain. Grrrrrr. But we refused to let it dampen our soaring holiday-ready spirits. We got to our train well on time and at 5:57am we left the dreary skies of Saxony behind us.
We took the Vogtlandbahn, which is a super-cheap and super-fast route to Berlin. It’s basically there so that you can easily do daytrips to Berlin without paying an arm and a leg. It leaves early in the morning and comes back late in the evening. So I bought a coffee as soon as humanly possible and settled back into my seat, chatting with two of my best friends for the next 3.5 hours til we made it to the capitol of my beautiful Deutschland. Once there we scouted out a german rail office and bought our transportation tickets for the next four days. Can you believe that for only 28 euros each we got tickets that let us use any city train, subway, street car, or bus in all of Berlin AND covered our train ride back home to Saxony on Saturday? Well, believe it! I mean we used the trains and subways so much, it’s crazy! And the transportation system in Berlin is jaw-droppingly awe-inspiring. I mean, the street cars come by at least every 10 minutes, the subways and city trains every 4 minutes. It’s psycho! I mean, it really honestly doesn’t matter if you “miss your train”, cuz the next one is practically coming in as its predecessor is leaving. Incredible. But we still saw some hilarious movie-like moments where certain desperados got stuck in the train doors in a frantic attempt to avoid said loathsome 4 minute wait. It was such a Jim Carey in “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” moment as this one middle-aged dude totally got his entire body stuck in between the doors of the train across the tracks from us…and it must have hurt! Those doors do NOT open easily. And another girl got the back wheel of her bike stuck in the doors of one of the trains we were on. HILARIOUS, people. Anyways, once we got to Berlin (9:30am) we took a couple of trains out to Ostkreuz-Berlin where Claudia’s crazy computer-nerd-hacker friend Theo lives in a crazy man-apartment with another crazy computer-nerd-hacker guy whose name we never found out – we only know him as “Bär”, which is his Internet name. They had just kicked out their third roommate two days before we came so we even got a room to ourselves! No living room couches! Yay. But seriously, that apartment lacked the feminine touch. Or any kind of touch, really. We affectionately referred to that neighbourhood as our ghetto. :)
But the price was right – we just had to cook them supper for the three evenings we were there. Easy ‘nuff. So as soon as we had dropped off our bags we took the trains back towards the center of Berlin and decided to spend the day doing what girls do best. Spending money. Oh the shopping, ladies. The shopping! We eventually hit up the most famous street in Berlin…well, at least the most famous in terms of shopping possibilities. The Kurfuerstendamm. I could live there. Chanel, Gucci, Mango (Penelope Cruz’s line which is now one of my fave places to shop), Prada, Escada, Cos, Burberry, and anything else you’ve ever seen inside of a Vogue. And of course also the stores that fit our price ranges :) - H&M, Esprit, United Colours of Benetton, etc. And then at the end of the street is the most famous store in Berlin – the KaDeWe, which is chalked full from basement to top floor with only designer everything – clothes, makeup, perfume, shoes, and so on. Obviously we didn’t buy anything there, but it was intoxicating none the less. Maybe one day I’ll be able to afford a pair of gloves or, like, an earring…from that place. :) Heaven on earth.So by the time we were shopped out it was getting dark outside and our feet felt like lead anvils. Sure sign that supper is in order. So we headed back to our ghetto and made hawaiian toast for all of us (as in Theo and Bär included…).
Thursday was declared sight-seeing day. We wanted to visit anything and everything in Berlin that had to do with culture and history and was worth taking a look at.
Now if you know anything about this city you’ll know that this really does take an entire day. Well, really you could spend an entire week doing that, but we only had so and so much time and cutting down on the shopping excursions … well, that’s just a silly thought. I mean really. Let’s be serious. Not even an option.First things first, tho – Dunkin Donuts. 
Berlin is OVERRUN with Dunkin Donuts shops. I think there are more in this city than in all of the US combined. Every street corner and train station seemed to have one. Claudia is slightly obsessed. And by slightly I mean beyond comprehension. So we satisfied our sugar cravings every single day with some delicious donuts and coffee. And for an ex-Tim Hortons employee whose gag reflex tends to act up at the mere sight of said hole-y desserts I have to say that I really really enjoy Dunkin Donuts donuts. Lol. And they had Tchai Tea!!!!!!!! You have NO idea how hard it is to find Tchai in this country. I order it wherever I find it!
So we saw everything! Siegessaeule, Soviet Memorial, Brandenburger Gate, the Reichstag (german parliament building), the new Holocaust memorial, Checkpoint Charlie, … and we walked the whole Straße des 17. Juni….. that's a really long street, basically. I cannot even begin to describe how incredibly perfect the weather was on this day. I think when you take a look at the pics you’ll have an idea. But seriously. The bluest skies I’ve ever seen….the kind that only come around in autumn. Big fluffy white clouds. Crisp sunshine. A layer of gold, red, and orange leaves littering every flat surface. 
Giant ancient trees lining walkways and sidewalks. It was a dream and it just made the experience spectacular.
Giant ancient trees lining walkways and sidewalks. It was a dream and it just made the experience spectacular. So many sights threatened to take my breath away permanently. I can honestly say that I have never felt so animate…so vital …so existent in my entire life as I did on that day. It was like every second was even more overwhelming than the last and it was just moment after moment of thinking to yourself “this is living”.
It’s impossible to describe, possibly because I had never quite felt that way before in my entire life. Strange and awesome. By the time we were finished our feet felt mangled and shredded but it just didn’t matter. After an awesome homemade supper of shishkabobs (how do you spell that correctly????) and potato wedges we were just exhausted. 
But Friday was a new day! Time for a trip to Potsdam, a relatively good-sized city just a half-hour or so from Berlin, famous for Babelsberg, where many movies and tv shows are filmed. Also home to one of the most important universities in terms of film studies and of course the well-known castle of Sans Souci. We walked and walked. And found the most romantic neighbourhood in the entire universe. It was beyond gorgeous - made both me and Claudia think of Nesthaekchen, mom!!! I’ll have to get the pics we took from Daniela cuz it was just breathtaking. Claudia and I are gonna buy an apartment there when we’re old widows. And I’m not even joking.
But Friday was a new day! Time for a trip to Potsdam, a relatively good-sized city just a half-hour or so from Berlin, famous for Babelsberg, where many movies and tv shows are filmed. Also home to one of the most important universities in terms of film studies and of course the well-known castle of Sans Souci. We walked and walked. And found the most romantic neighbourhood in the entire universe. It was beyond gorgeous - made both me and Claudia think of Nesthaekchen, mom!!! I’ll have to get the pics we took from Daniela cuz it was just breathtaking. Claudia and I are gonna buy an apartment there when we’re old widows. And I’m not even joking. It was another beautiful day with clear blue skies – chillier than Thursday, but still beautiful. We walked through the Park Sanssouci, which was fantastic. I have never been in such a giant park before! Just wild and gorgeous. You can get lost in there pretty quick but you’d probably never notice because it’s just so beautiful. Oh, plus there’s just this GIANT CASTLE in the middle of it. Only Europe, seriously people. It’s called the Neues Palais and it is ginormous! At first we assumed that this was the Schloß Sans Souci but then we realized we had gotten lost in the park (see, I told you it was easy) and so we had to find the Hauptallee (Main Alley), 
also absolutely gorgeous; it's a giant path lined with some of the tallest trees I’ve ever seen…I want to get married there! Lol. And this led us to the real castle Sans Souci. Very very pretty, although smaller than I thought it would be. After this we took the train back to Berlin to continue satisfying our shopping urges and once we could go no further and had probably seen every shop in Berlin twice we mosied on home to fall into our beds and regenerate for one final day.
Saturday morning we made our way over to the Potsdammer Platz where the wall used to divide east from west Germany but now houses the very new and very modern Sony Centre. A definite must-see if you ever go to Berlin. And we went to see “Whales and Dolphins” in the IMAX 3D center, which was a first for me. I never really thought 3D would be that cool, but I was totally wrong. Loved it. Oh, and I had the best chocolate croissant of my life in this little underground bakery there. The world of pastries will never be the same for me. I could bathe in that batter. Oh yum.
And by the time we were done there we had just enough time to squeeze in one last shopping run, which yielded a fantastic encounter with an all-natural face product store (first of that brand in Germany!) that I am now in love with. And I made sure I can order these products in Canada, too, before I left with my purchases. Oh yummy. (Yes I do realize they are supposed to go ON my face, not IN my mouth… :) )
And then it was time to cast our final glances towards what I like to call the city with a pulse. My childhood love, memories, and expectations of this city have been anything but disappointed. I am really quite frustrated that my words don’t seem to be expressing anything close to what I feel. I mean, this post is now over 2 pages long (in Microsoft Word) and yet I feel like I haven’t actually said ANYTHING. Why am I not able to adequately express myself? Why are my emotions ‘uncapturable’, inexplicable? See, I am one of those peculiarly paranoid persons who is constantly afraid that she will forget. Just anything and everything. I have been keeping journals since grade 6 as this anxiety steadily increases over the years. The more I realized that my recollections of past experiences (especially my time in Germany) seemed to become blurry, unrecognizable, and even indistinguishable, the more I started to worry that all my experiences and emotions would one day just be a giant messy haze. I am terrified of forgetting how certain situations and circumstances made/make me feel. How strange am I?
also absolutely gorgeous; it's a giant path lined with some of the tallest trees I’ve ever seen…I want to get married there! Lol. And this led us to the real castle Sans Souci. Very very pretty, although smaller than I thought it would be. After this we took the train back to Berlin to continue satisfying our shopping urges and once we could go no further and had probably seen every shop in Berlin twice we mosied on home to fall into our beds and regenerate for one final day.Saturday morning we made our way over to the Potsdammer Platz where the wall used to divide east from west Germany but now houses the very new and very modern Sony Centre. A definite must-see if you ever go to Berlin. And we went to see “Whales and Dolphins” in the IMAX 3D center, which was a first for me. I never really thought 3D would be that cool, but I was totally wrong. Loved it. Oh, and I had the best chocolate croissant of my life in this little underground bakery there. The world of pastries will never be the same for me. I could bathe in that batter. Oh yum.
And by the time we were done there we had just enough time to squeeze in one last shopping run, which yielded a fantastic encounter with an all-natural face product store (first of that brand in Germany!) that I am now in love with. And I made sure I can order these products in Canada, too, before I left with my purchases. Oh yummy. (Yes I do realize they are supposed to go ON my face, not IN my mouth… :) )
And then it was time to cast our final glances towards what I like to call the city with a pulse. My childhood love, memories, and expectations of this city have been anything but disappointed. I am really quite frustrated that my words don’t seem to be expressing anything close to what I feel. I mean, this post is now over 2 pages long (in Microsoft Word) and yet I feel like I haven’t actually said ANYTHING. Why am I not able to adequately express myself? Why are my emotions ‘uncapturable’, inexplicable? See, I am one of those peculiarly paranoid persons who is constantly afraid that she will forget. Just anything and everything. I have been keeping journals since grade 6 as this anxiety steadily increases over the years. The more I realized that my recollections of past experiences (especially my time in Germany) seemed to become blurry, unrecognizable, and even indistinguishable, the more I started to worry that all my experiences and emotions would one day just be a giant messy haze. I am terrified of forgetting how certain situations and circumstances made/make me feel. How strange am I?
So that is actually the second half of the reason that I blog. Not only do I want you to be able to keep up to date with my life this year, but I also want to print these entries out and turn them into a giant journal. Some days I can’t stop my mind from racing or my fingers from fidgeting until I have written. Something, anything, that will ease my fears of forgetting. To think that everything I go through and experience could one day end up as one distorted, nonsensical, and disfigured mass of retrospection is just too much for my little mind to bear. Why can’t my brain just be like a book? Everything permanent and immortalized, with the possibility of highlighting the important passages, or writing insightful, analytical comments in the margins. That seems ideal to me. But I guess these incompetent ramblings and descriptions will have to do…
In any case Berlin was heaven and the three of us had an absolute blast. It was the kind of trip that was so perfect you don't even feel sad about returning home because you know that you got to see and experience everything you had wanted, and more, so there is just a wonderful feeling of contentment and satisfaction.
If you need more proof, check out more pics by clicking on these links. :)
So now I'm back in Ellefeld for my last week of holidays. Phone in Eilenburg is still unplugged. :)
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Holidays for no reason...I could get used to this...
So this is just an informative note. I'm leaving on two weeks of fall holidays today. I'm taking the train to Claudia's place in Zwickau and tomorrow (at the UNHOLY hour of 5am) we and one more girlfriend (Daniela) will be taking a super cheap train to Berlin, where we will be staying with a friend of Claudia's and his roommate. (All we have to do is cook for them! Gotta love cheap accommodations :)) Anywho, we'll be there for a few days and I will not be reachable. So obviously I also won't be posting anything til the weekend. So if you try to call me and it says the phone is disconnected...it's cuz I'm disconnecting it for the next two weeks. :) After our Berlin trip I'll be back in Ellefeld and I'm sure the blogging will recommence immediately. Although I'm starting to wonder if anyone is even still reading...It's been strangely "quiet" on my blog lately. :D
Oh hey! I thought of another thing the other day that isn't so cool about living alone! I now have to pull my OWN hair out of the sink and bathtub drains. I could not BELIEVE what reappeared out of the plumbing depths of my bathroom this Saturday! How do I even have any hair still left on my head??????????? Dad, it's official. I miss you. :P
And since this is such a short post I'll provide a little more entertainment by leaving you with some more words by D.H. Lawrence. This guy is freaking insightful and rather hilarious sometimes!!!
Ah sisters! Nothing better....
I just like that one.
AHAHAHAHAHAHA
Anyways, have a good rest of your Oktober! :) Hey...it's Oktoberfest this weekend.... :P
Oh hey! I thought of another thing the other day that isn't so cool about living alone! I now have to pull my OWN hair out of the sink and bathtub drains. I could not BELIEVE what reappeared out of the plumbing depths of my bathroom this Saturday! How do I even have any hair still left on my head??????????? Dad, it's official. I miss you. :P
And since this is such a short post I'll provide a little more entertainment by leaving you with some more words by D.H. Lawrence. This guy is freaking insightful and rather hilarious sometimes!!!
"When they were together, doing the things they enjoyed, the two sisters were quite complete in a perfect world of their own. And this was one of the perfect moments of freedom and delight, such as children alone know, when all seems a perfect and blissful adventure."
Ah sisters! Nothing better....
"'Yes, but where's your special world?' said Gerald.
'Make it. Instead of chopping yourself down to fit the world, chop the world down to fit yourself.'"
I just like that one.
"'You don't think one could live with him' asked Ursula.
'I think it would be too wearing, too exhausting. One would be shouted down every time, and rushed into his way without any choice. He would want to control you entirely. He cannot allow that there is any other mind than his own. No, I think it would be perfectly intolerable.'
'Yes," assented Ursula vaguely...'The nuisance is,' she said, 'that one would find almost any man intolerable after a fortnight.'"
AHAHAHAHAHAHA
Anyways, have a good rest of your Oktober! :) Hey...it's Oktoberfest this weekend.... :P
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Where are the 'Mephitis mephitis'?
You wanna know what I just realized this week when we were driving home from the opera? I haven't seen one single piece of roadkill on the side of the road since I've gotten to Germany. Not a deer, rabbit, badger, fox, weasel, hedgehog ... not even a bird! I suddenly couldn't think of anything else! I mean, how on earth does that work? This country is 27 times smaller than ours, yet contains nearly three times the amount of people! That means (roughly) three times the amount of cars in a ridiculously minuscule space. This should = freaking tons of roadkill, shouldn't it?
I mean, I spend spring, summer, and fall in Canada counting the occurrences of roadkill on my way to and from work/school to pass the time. I've seen several deer carcasses get to a retch-inducing point of decay before someone finally realized that their job was to REMOVE those things from the road...I can see it now: "oh THAT'S where my pay cheque comes from..." At one point this last spring there were seven mauled skunks in numerous twisted positions and at various stages of decomposition just on the stretch of highway to university. I mean, I could have written an A+ worthy Bio paper on "The common battered and mangled Expiration and consequent Degeneration of the Manitoba Mephitis mephitis (thank you Google...)" just from driving past these skunks on a daily basis. So that got me thinking...what could possibly be the reason for the lack of flattened fresh-to-rotting red, white, and brown meat on German roadsides? I came up with 3 possibilities that I consider quite plausible.
1) Quite understandably Germans have to go through a much more
intensive and comprehensive "driver's ed". So perhaps they are simply much better drivers and just never hit any animals due to renowned German perfectionism and highly evolved bobcat-like reflexes with the steering wheel and brake pedal. (Plus their cars are so dang small it's probably nearly impossible to hit anything with them anyways. I seriously need to see a pick-up soon or I might get all claustrophobic and freak out...)
2) Or maybe Germany is just busting at the seams with people (even with the negative birth rate) to the point that there is simply no more room for wildlife and all the bunnies and bambis have had to seek asylum in France, Switzerland, Denmark and the Czech Republic. Hey, it could happen!
3) My final and, in my opinion, most plausible hypothesis: German efficiency has once again shown its indomitable flawlessness and superiority in the form of little German men, dressed in black lederhosen (of course) to avoid being spotted, sitting behind every bush, bramble, hedge, thicket, and shrubbery (thank you Monty Python) to contiguously (yes, that is a word...) take care of those little road-side inconveniences that might cast a doubting shadow on German impeccability, which the world has so indubitably come to depend on.
P.S. HAPPY WEDDING DAY ERIC AND MEL. XOXOXOXOXO. HOPE IT'S THE BEST DAY EVER!!! WISH I WAS THERE TO SHARE IN THE EATING OF PIZZA AND DRINKING OF COCA-COLA. :P
I mean, I spend spring, summer, and fall in Canada counting the occurrences of roadkill on my way to and from work/school to pass the time. I've seen several deer carcasses get to a retch-inducing point of decay before someone finally realized that their job was to REMOVE those things from the road...I can see it now: "oh THAT'S where my pay cheque comes from..." At one point this last spring there were seven mauled skunks in numerous twisted positions and at various stages of decomposition just on the stretch of highway to university. I mean, I could have written an A+ worthy Bio paper on "The common battered and mangled Expiration and consequent Degeneration of the Manitoba Mephitis mephitis (thank you Google...)" just from driving past these skunks on a daily basis. So that got me thinking...what could possibly be the reason for the lack of flattened fresh-to-rotting red, white, and brown meat on German roadsides? I came up with 3 possibilities that I consider quite plausible.1) Quite understandably Germans have to go through a much more
intensive and comprehensive "driver's ed". So perhaps they are simply much better drivers and just never hit any animals due to renowned German perfectionism and highly evolved bobcat-like reflexes with the steering wheel and brake pedal. (Plus their cars are so dang small it's probably nearly impossible to hit anything with them anyways. I seriously need to see a pick-up soon or I might get all claustrophobic and freak out...)2) Or maybe Germany is just busting at the seams with people (even with the negative birth rate) to the point that there is simply no more room for wildlife and all the bunnies and bambis have had to seek asylum in France, Switzerland, Denmark and the Czech Republic. Hey, it could happen!
3) My final and, in my opinion, most plausible hypothesis: German efficiency has once again shown its indomitable flawlessness and superiority in the form of little German men, dressed in black lederhosen (of course) to avoid being spotted, sitting behind every bush, bramble, hedge, thicket, and shrubbery (thank you Monty Python) to contiguously (yes, that is a word...) take care of those little road-side inconveniences that might cast a doubting shadow on German impeccability, which the world has so indubitably come to depend on.
P.S. HAPPY WEDDING DAY ERIC AND MEL. XOXOXOXOXO. HOPE IT'S THE BEST DAY EVER!!! WISH I WAS THERE TO SHARE IN THE EATING OF PIZZA AND DRINKING OF COCA-COLA. :P
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Where there are two...
Zoe oh zoe. wherefore art thou oh zoe?too cheesy? ok...well, I got up at 5:30am so sue me!
Anyways, the point of today's blog is to wish my best friend, Zoe, an unbelievably wonderful birthday. The big 2-5. Quarter of a century. Wooo! I feel like I should congratulate you or something, zo. lol.
Anyways, I wish I could be there to hang a real, live hug onto the birthday wishes, but I guess this will have to do. Sometimes I can't quite believe we've only been friends for a year and a half. Feels like ages. I wonder how many hours we have spent together since that fateful summer day when our hearts,
minds, and obssessive love for movies became one as we weeded more freaking potentillas and spireas than I care to remember. :D Although the circumstances surrounding the beginning of our friendship were perhaps less than enjoyable, the fruits of that day were immeasurable. (OH I AM SO CLEVER. GET IT? WE WERE WORKING WITH PLANTS AND IT BORE THE FRUIT OF OUR FRIENDSHIP. GET IT???????? again you must forgive my sleep-deprived condition...)Ok, before this hilarious display of wit, faintly tinged with uncharacteristic sappiness, gets completely out of hand I'm going to just be serious for a sec. Zoe, I wish you all the best this year. I can't wait til you come out to visit. I'm already planning so much in my head!!!
xoxo
P.S. What's with October? I've sent 4 birthday cards and one wedding card already plus my nephew was just born!!!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
All the power is going to my head...
So today was my first real day of teaching. I had my first English class with the grade 10s - I get to teach them all by myself every Wednesday afternoon. There are about six or so participants. I wasn't really nervous. I think teaching is just in my blood. I was so excited! We pretty much just spent the class talking. I asked them all to introduce themselves and give me as much info about their lives as possible. There were two reasons I asked them to do this: I want to know about all of them personally to try to gear class material toward their personal interests and I also needed a sneaky way of finding out how "good" their English is. I was just open and easy-going to try to keep them relaxed. I kept stressing that mistakes don't matter right now. They need to speak speak speak. I also asked them what their "trouble spots" are and what exactly they would like me to focus on - which happened to be speaking. lol. So I told them that I would do my best to make classes interesting, but I also emphasized that the whole speaking thing really depends mostly on them. If they don't speak up I can't help them learn how to speak English better. Stupid circles of life, hey?
I think the first class today went really well. I'm going to try to bring in tons of outside material. I have always found language books to be so dull and terribly cheesy. So I want to stick to its topics but maybe just make it a little less ... mind-numbingly irrelevant. I mean, none of these kids are even planning on taking the actual FCE exam, they just want to be in this class to improve their English. Heck, I can make their English AWESOME without those silly "Jack ______ the dishes. (wash/present tense)" examples. I mean, at least come up with some better sentences, people! And all the pics are still from the 80s even though these are BRAND NEW BOOKS. Lol.
This is where all of you come in, though. I also want to bring as much of Canada into my lessons as possible. I think it will make class a lot more interesting for them if they can learn about my culture in the lessons. I have several ... ok billions ... of ideas swirling around. But that's just it ... they're swirling. So if you come across anything "significantly/specifically Canadian" (topics, articles, songs, movies, interviews, ANYTHING) then just send your idea or internet link or whatever it is to jdhiebertAThotmailDOTcom. That would be greatly appreciated.
Well, I gotta go. I have two weeks of "autumn holidays" (Germans are silly, hey? :)) after this week and I'm planning a trip to Berlin with two friends! Things to figure out, emails to write, etc.
I think the first class today went really well. I'm going to try to bring in tons of outside material. I have always found language books to be so dull and terribly cheesy. So I want to stick to its topics but maybe just make it a little less ... mind-numbingly irrelevant. I mean, none of these kids are even planning on taking the actual FCE exam, they just want to be in this class to improve their English. Heck, I can make their English AWESOME without those silly "Jack ______ the dishes. (wash/present tense)" examples. I mean, at least come up with some better sentences, people! And all the pics are still from the 80s even though these are BRAND NEW BOOKS. Lol.
This is where all of you come in, though. I also want to bring as much of Canada into my lessons as possible. I think it will make class a lot more interesting for them if they can learn about my culture in the lessons. I have several ... ok billions ... of ideas swirling around. But that's just it ... they're swirling. So if you come across anything "significantly/specifically Canadian" (topics, articles, songs, movies, interviews, ANYTHING) then just send your idea or internet link or whatever it is to jdhiebertAThotmailDOTcom. That would be greatly appreciated.
Well, I gotta go. I have two weeks of "autumn holidays" (Germans are silly, hey? :)) after this week and I'm planning a trip to Berlin with two friends! Things to figure out, emails to write, etc.
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