RE-learning how to ride a bike

Ok, I've decided that I don't have the gift of blog. I don't really like doing it. I think it takes too much time. I'd rather be out there experiencing something than taking the time to write about it. Plus, I'm just lazy... :P So if my blogs are sporadic, sorry!

SLOW rider
I was so excited that my friend Kerstin was lending me her bike while she's away! Now, I haven't ridden a bike in years, and I technically never really owned one, unless you count the mini bike my parents bought me at a garage sale when I was in Jr. High. That was the bike I learned how to ride on b/c I it was low enough to the ground that I could peddle it Flintstone style, and not worry about falling. Anyways, I digress...

So, the point of that story was to show I know nothing about bikes. So when Kerstin lent me her bike, she told me it needed some air in the tires. Ok, I took the pump and accidentally let out all the air remaining in the tires. Hmmm...not good when all you have is a tiny hand held pump. So, I pumped and pumped til I was huffing and puffing, and thought I did a pretty good job. :)

The next day, I went for a ride in the park close to my house. This is the park that I refer to as 'Druggie's Park.' It was appropriately named that after Kerstin told me not to be alarmed if I saw "black men hiding in the bushes in the park." WHAT?!?! "Don't worry, they're not there to harm you, only to sell drugs. If you just tell them 'nein' (no), they'll leave you alone." Oh, ok, now I feel much better...

My ride through the park was very peaceful, although I did notice that everyone was passing me by. "Hmmm, well, I'll get faster as I ride more," I thought. The park was beautiful, I was able to see people with their kids, families, teenagers, black swans with red bills, rams (only in Germany...), and yes, black men hiding in the bushes pushing drugs. :)

The next day, Thur 9/11, I was going to meet a friend of a friend, Doo-Kyoung (aka Kay), for coffee in Pberg. I thought I'd save some money and get some exercise if I rode into the city. OH MY GOD...I was freaking out!!! Riding a bike in the park is different than riding it in the busy streets alongside cars and pedestrians! The highlights of that day included crashing into a parked bike, having an old woman yell at me in German and tripping over my bike in the middle of the street and spraining my ankle! Yes, I wasn't even riding it, I was WALKING it!!! And I still couldn't figure out why everyone and their mother (literally...I'm talking old people here) were passing me! I was barely going faster than jogging pace! The ride was nice, though, and even if I spent over 3 hrs biking from home to meet Kay for coffee, it was fun. I even got to catch the sun setting over the Fernsehturm (Berlin's famous TV tower).

OH, THAT WOULD EXPLAIN THINGS...
On Friday, I was supposed to meet up with an Art Center alum I contacted, Emily, for coffee in Pberg again. I thought I'd ride into the city again just so I could hone my biking skills. After meeting up with Emily and seeing the studio she works at, I stopped by a bike shop to buy a basket for Kerstin's bike since hers was stolen and I needed one if I didn't want to break my back riding around with my laptop. At the bike shop I spent the best 6,90 euros (approx. $10) I ever have! The bike guy did full-on bike maintenance for the cost of the basket! He 1. installed the basket, 2. fixed my gears and 3. pumped air into my tires! Yes!!! Apparently, I was going at a snail's pace b/c the gear shifter thingy was loose and that's why I couldn't change gears. And my tires only had air pressure of 0.5, when I was supposed to have 3.5! Oops!!! So, I was peddling around the city streets in 1st gear with flat tires. Hehe, no wonder I was scared for my life!!! Thank God I wasn't plowed down by a cute little smart car. :)

After I had air in my tires, the ability to change gears and my bike basket, I was one happy little Berliner. :)

Sunday Worship, new friends and goulasch

Day 3 - Sun 09.07
Visited Berlin International Church at 11am. Service is held in English, but we sang some worship songs in German, which I thought was pretty cool. We sang Brooke Fraser's "Hosanna" in German, which made me feel so at home b/c it was familiar to me. But it was so encouraging to see how other Christians worship in other countries and to realize that God's love transcends all languages and cultures. Amazing.

I made a friend in the coffee/snack line after service. Her name is Rachel and she's doing a study abroad research project for a month. She's a student at Univ. of Wash. (UDub) and I pounced on her after hearing her American accent! We became instant friends and spent the rest of the day together visiting the DDR museum and visiting another church service with die kreative (translates into "the creative").

Rachel and I met up with a friend of a friend to visit her church's (die kreative) service. I had only been in contact with Tabea through email, but she was nice enough to meet up with me to take me to her church service, which meets in the park on sundays. This week they were doing an outreach....but all in german. So Rachel and I just ended up looking around the park b/c there was a fair going on that day. We ended up eating these great individual sized pizzas which were YUMMY!!! :)








Day 4 - Mon, 09.08
This was my friend Kerstin's last day before heading off to get rehab for her spine/back. So you might be wondering where she was staying while I was in her room. Well, one of the other flatmates, Tobi, was letting her stay on his couch in his room since the day I arrived. To add to that, 2 of my other flatmates had friends/family staying over. So yeah, the flat was a leeetle crowded...I think at the peak, there were 7 of us sharing one bathroom. Wasn't so bad, though.

As Kerstin's farewell gift to us all before she left for at least a month, she decided to cook us all goulasche. Goulasche is a traditional Hungarian stew that is really popular in Germany for some reason. Anyways, it was good! :) It was nice to have a home cooked "german" meal...

der Supermarkt

This post is dedicated to all the strange things I saw in the supermarket here in Berlin.


Haha...Corny and Corny free.
There are some friends who I wish I could give Corny free to...


Yum...weiners in a jar.
*Note the sarcasm in my voice*


Instant German meals include sauerkraut and sausages. Not my type of food.

I don't even know where to begin with this...

Fleisch Salat is a mayo based spread with minced ham and pickles.
Alaska-Seelachs Salat is a very salty salmon mayo spread.
I thought both were pretty gross.



This is a good one.
Strawberry yogurt mentos! I still have yet to try these.



AND I'VE SAVED THE BEST FOR LAST...



This one cracks me up!
Mini and Super Dickmann's comes in 2 sizes!
Apparently size really does matter... :P

An American in Berlin

So...it's about time I posted something right? I thought I'd post something on my one-week anniversary of my time here in berlin. but before I do that, let me rewind a bit...

WHAT?!? YOU'RE IN BERLIN? WHY?
Ok, if you don't know, or haven't figured it out yet...I'm in Berlin...for awhile. Hmmm...maybe 2 months? I'm hoping to live in Barcelona for a month, too, if I can figure it all out (but that'll be a later post). I'm in Berlin for particularly no reason except that I've always wanted to live in Europe. I thought this would be a good time to do it since I decided to move out of NYC (*sniff sniff*) to move back to the W. Coast (SF specifically) to be closer to my family. And although NYC will always have my heart, my family captures more of it. So these next few months while I'm in transition I decided to do something I've always wanted to do. Why not?

WHY BERLIN?
It reminds me of NYC. People speak English. Germans are nice. Eastern Europe is cheaper than Western Europe. It's a really creative city with tons of galleries, museums, great design and a rich history. And...I get to ride a bike. :)

Ok, now on to the posts...

Day 1 - Thu 09.04
I made a friend on the plane. A german american kid who's studying naval ship design and engineering in Long Island, NY. His name was Tophi (pronounced toffee) and he's probably traveled way more than I have in my life, even though he's like 10 yrs younger than me. He's studying in Southampton, England for a few months. When he told me this, I responded, "Oh, is that far from your school (thinking it was in the Hamptons, which is in Long Island)." To which he replied, "No, Southampton in England." Oh. Nevermind.

I get into Tegel airport in Berlin, figure out how to take the bus to the U-bahn (the underground subway) and meet 2 Americans on the bus. Both are from SF, ironically. One is a guy who decides one day that he wants to live in Berlin. That's it, and he does it. No job or anything. It's his first day in Berlin (like me) and he looks like a creative type (like me), but he's way more cool. Unfortunately, in his mad rush to get off the bus, he forgot his bag. Oh man, what a horrible way to start off...

After lugging about 80lbs of luggage (I'm not even exaggerating!) through buses, subways and stairwells, I got to my new flat in Neukölln. My sublet is a German girl named Kerstin who I met through a friend of a friend of a friend of a friend. I'm taking over her room for the month of Sept. It's nice and cozy...10 sq. meters...made me feel like I was in Manhattan. :) Rent in Berlin is cheap compared to NYC. 150euros (about $225) for one month and it includes internet, washer, utilties and phone!

Pros of new flat: cheap. Kerstin is nice, very helpful and speaks English really well.
Cons of new flat: all my flatmates smoke indoors...IN THE KITCHEN!!! I've officially lost my appetite. And for those who know my love of food, that's like Hell freezing over. Btw, the ever growing pile of dirty dishes, the flies and the full ashtray on the kitchen table don't help either.









Day 2 - Fri 09.05
Pretty uneventful day...just settling in and figuring out everyday things like exchanging money, shopping, etc.

Met my friend, Jouel, and his friends Eron and Jochen for drinks at night. Jouel is a friend who is from Vancouver but now lives in the Netherlands. He was visiting his friend Eron in Berlin, so it was nice to have a friend to hang out with my first weekend here.


Day 3 - Sat 09.06
Finally caved and got a cell phone. I wasn't going to get one, but then it was such a hassle trying to meet up with Jouel without a phone. I realized it would be impossible to meet up with anyone else in the future too.

Met up with Jouel and Eron later in the afternoon at Alexanderplatz, one of the main squares in the city's center neighborhood, Mitte. Eron showed us around SoTo (shopping area like SoHo, but it stands for South of Torstrasse) and walked around the hipster neighborhood Prenzlauerberg (nicknamed Pberg...I know, just like NY, right?!?). We stopped off for drinks at White Trash Fast Food...great name, right? :) And then Jochen joined us later on for dinner at Sian, a trendy Vietnamese restaurant. After dinner we each had 3 scoops of ice cream *YUM* and then checked out a few trendy bars and called it a night.