On Friday, I went to a fellow teacher's house for brunch with some of the student teachers. It was sort of a last minute thing, so Wiebke, who I was going to catch a ride with, didn't actually have room in her car. So, I took the bus. No big deal. Unfortunately, I actually had no idea where I was going. I mean, I had the address and the town, but not which bus stop or how to proceed from the bus stop. I asked the bus driver and he didn't know either. So, I rode to the last stop. (Sidenote: an old dude got on the bus while we were still in the city and sat right next to me. We were the only two people on the bus at the last stop, him still sitting right next to me) From there, I asked for directions and eventually found Julia's place.
This is relevant because I then decided that the same logic would work for finding IKEA. I hopped off the bus at a random bus stop in Kiel, figuring it's a small enough city that I could find an IKEA, which, as a rule, is a gigantic bright yellow building. Hard to miss. Or so I thought. I walked around for a while, leisurely wandering in the direction that I thought IKEA was. After half an hour or so, I still hadn't found it, even though I had checked a bus map (no streets, only bus stops) and was definitely going in the right direction. Instead, I went home.
Yesterday, I took the direct route: the bus that goes from Exerzierplatz (a couple streets away and where the Farmer's Market is) to IKEA. Much easier. Turns out, I was in the ballpark the day before and had only needed to turn right and walk a couple streets further to find it. Oh well. Anyway, there I was, IKEA.
We had gone to the Berlin-Spandau IKEA on a Wednesday afternoon; it's one of four in Berlin and it was a Wednesday, so it wasn't too crowded. I went to the only IKEA in the area on a Saturday afternoon. It was hilarious. If you are unfamiliar with IKEA, the basic setup is this: you walk around a gigantic show room of sorts along a path dictated by arrows on the floor. In this room are all of IKEA's furniture offerings, each with its own name, like Billy or Ektorp. They are set up not only so that you can test out the sofas and chairs but also so that you can see how they would work in your home. There are fully decorated apartments in an IKEA, all with named and coordinated furniture that you can buy too and set up in your very own small European apartment. You could pretty much live in IKEA.
As I wandered around and admired the furniture that I can't afford, I realized that next time I go, I'll have to bring my camera and try to play sneaky photographer. There was a family of five all sitting on one three-person couch. There was a young couple making out in a model kitchen, while other people also checked out the dining room. There was a young boy testing mattresses. And by that, I mean there was a toddler rolling around on mattresses and grinning wildly. Everywhere, there were people planning out new homes, entirely decorated by IKEA. Strange.
I kept walking and exited the showroom only to enter the Markthalle. Basically, this is where you accessorize. I bought a coffee press and a thermos. Because I didn't have either one and not having coffee at home was terrible for me. After checking out without buying any furniture, I hit up the hot dog stand. Because there was a hot dog stand. And Bine's roommate Steini had highly recommended the IKEA hot dogs last time we went, but we'd had a four hour long breakfast and were not hungry. But anyway. A 1 Euro hot dog! This had to be a good idea. You could also get a free drink with your hot dog, but I opted for a milkshake (the untold and uncompleted mission of Hamburg was trying to find a milkshake). I was handed a plain hot dog, a cup and a milkshake token. The milkshake token activates the milkshake machine which then gives you a milkshake. Then! You get to top the hot dog all by yourself with an array of toppings including ketchup, mustard, snack dressing, pickle slices and what I thought were bacon bits. I have no idea what the "snack dressing" was, pickle slices are not the best choice for a hot dog topping (this is why we have relish) and I'm not really sure what the not-bacon-bits were.
I built my hot dog, got my milkshake and everything while still holding onto my new coffee press. That was a feat of coordination that I wasn't sure I could handle, but it worked out in the end. The hot dog wasn't bad, definitely worth a Euro. And the milkshake was worth the wait. Then I went home and made a pot of coffee. Because I can.
24 October 2010
23 October 2010
Frühstück!
So, everyone, a question: what do you do with fish?
There's a good-sized flea market near my place every Wednesday and Saturday and they sell lots of good-looking fish. Today, there was even a tub full of live eel! I do live pretty directly on the Baltic, I guess. Anyway, I was looking at all this fish and realized that I do not even know the first place to start with fish. Catching, buying, fillet-ing, cooking, any of that. I pretty much only know how to eat fish.
Basically, what am I supposed to look for? How does one go about buying fish as though one knows what one is doing at a German farmer's market? What fish do I buy? What can I do with fish after I buy it? How soon do I have to cook it? Why don't I still have people cooking for me like on boats and in college?
Other than my fish quandries, the farmer's market was a good time. For about ten euro, I came out with kiwis, oranges, tomatoes, brötchen, a pastry for breakfast and a chai latte. Overall, not a bad haul.
I have also decided in the past few days that Germans do breakfast correctly, Americans do not. When I get back to America, you will all be introduced to a proper German breakfast/brunch. Technically, it's brunch, but at the hour I wake up when left to my own devices, it's breakfast. A heaping basket full of brötchen (crispy little German rolls=), all sorts of varied sliced meats and cheeses, nutella, butter, coffee, orange juice, (okay, only sometimes) champagne, amazing varieties of things to spread on your brötchen. Oh, I wish I woke up in time to make myself a proper breakfast feast more often.
Now, I am headed to IKEA. Musings on breakfast aside, I feel like I need to check it out. Not that I'll buy anything, except maybe a lamp or a thermos, but at least I'll figure out where on earth it is. More on my inability to find IKEA later. Hopefully, after I've found IKEA.
There's a good-sized flea market near my place every Wednesday and Saturday and they sell lots of good-looking fish. Today, there was even a tub full of live eel! I do live pretty directly on the Baltic, I guess. Anyway, I was looking at all this fish and realized that I do not even know the first place to start with fish. Catching, buying, fillet-ing, cooking, any of that. I pretty much only know how to eat fish.
Basically, what am I supposed to look for? How does one go about buying fish as though one knows what one is doing at a German farmer's market? What fish do I buy? What can I do with fish after I buy it? How soon do I have to cook it? Why don't I still have people cooking for me like on boats and in college?
Other than my fish quandries, the farmer's market was a good time. For about ten euro, I came out with kiwis, oranges, tomatoes, brötchen, a pastry for breakfast and a chai latte. Overall, not a bad haul.
I have also decided in the past few days that Germans do breakfast correctly, Americans do not. When I get back to America, you will all be introduced to a proper German breakfast/brunch. Technically, it's brunch, but at the hour I wake up when left to my own devices, it's breakfast. A heaping basket full of brötchen (crispy little German rolls=), all sorts of varied sliced meats and cheeses, nutella, butter, coffee, orange juice, (okay, only sometimes) champagne, amazing varieties of things to spread on your brötchen. Oh, I wish I woke up in time to make myself a proper breakfast feast more often.
Now, I am headed to IKEA. Musings on breakfast aside, I feel like I need to check it out. Not that I'll buy anything, except maybe a lamp or a thermos, but at least I'll figure out where on earth it is. More on my inability to find IKEA later. Hopefully, after I've found IKEA.
17 October 2010
Herbstferien
Last Saturday morning, I packed up my pack and took a train to Hamburg. There, I met my friend John (a fellow Fulbrighter and fellow Grinnellian) in the Hauptbahnhof, near a man dressed as Mario. John and I then spent about an hour wandering the train station, attempting to find Lauren, another Fulbrighter who had planned to spend the weekend with us. This task was complicated by our lack of any sort of contact information or a plan for finding her. Also, the Hauptbahnhof, if you don't speak German, is the main train station. Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany. Poor planning. After walking back and forth for a solid hour, we decided to just stand in one place for a while. Fifteen minutes later, Lauren came down the stairs. It worked!
We called Hilary, a Grinnell alum who's been living in Berlin for the last few years and was also traveling up to Hamburg for the weekend, and discovered that we had several hours to kill before we could celebrate 10.10 (on 10.9). It's a Grinnell tradition. We threw our bags into a train station locker and took off, sort of unintentionally riding the S-Bahn (mostly above ground train) all the way around the city, until we saw a tall ship, where we decided to get off and go see the boat.
Turns out, it was the Rickmer Rickmers and for only 3.50 Euro, we could go aboard and check it out. So we did, me showing off my nautical knowledge and explaining things. John and Lauren put up with my overexcitement quite well. We also saw several large churches and memorials and were good tourists. We settled down in Oma's Apotheke (Grandma's Drug Store), a bar, to begin celebrating 10.10. Hilary met up with us there; it was her idea to do the true Hamburg thing and party through the night and have breakfast at the famous Sunday morning Fischmarket. We gave it a valiant effort, getting kicked out of two bars at closing time, and wandering the Reeperbahn (the red light district) for a couple hours, but then it got really cold and we didn't really want to go inside anywhere on the Reeperbahn. So we went to the Reeperbahn McDonald's. Where I promptly fell asleep (it was about 4:30 am). At 6:30, we walked to the Fischmarket. There, we found a large hall, full of people drinking beer, eating fish and singing along to the really loud cover band. It was great.
After that, Hilary headed back to Berlin, the rest of us found a nice sunny warm park to sit in, then got some coffee and then found the hostel. Lauren and John fell asleep, while I discovered free internet in the hostel lobby and figured out my trip to Berlin. The next few days were pretty low-key, cheap food, a boat trip around the harbor, the Miniature Wonderland, more boats, a museum. Having a bed to sleep in was wonderful.
On Tuesday, Lauren and I headed to Berlin, a surprisingly quick trip. We made it up to Bine's apartment, where we got to hang out with Steini, her roommate, for a while until she got back. I felt kind of bad for Lauren, because she just kind of got thrown into Bine's normal life. While it was fine for me (and my German is good enough that I could deal with it), it was pretty awkward for her. But, anyway. We went to the bank, went grocery shopping, learned to play Skat (THE German card game) and went to a friend of Bine's for dinner. I learned that the German word for "moose" sounds a lot like the English word for "elk" and that what we call an elk, they basically classify as a large deer.
Wednesday was Bine's birthday, so we went to a Champagne breakfast with some friends of hers. It was a four hour breakfast, starting at 11. Afterwards, we went to Ikea. Bine had her eye on a bed, and the Spandau Ikea was the only one with it. And they had only one, so we had to go really fast. But I still go to try out a bunch of mattresses and ride the shopping carts like a skateboard, so it was fun. We went home to wait for the furniture to be delivered, playing Skat, which I was slowly getting better at. A few hours later, boxes of new furniture clogging the hallway, we went out on the town. We rode the newest and shortest U-Bahn (two whole stops) and walked from the Brandenburg Gate to Alexanderplatz. Normally, this is a pretty walk, but that night it was even better, because it was the beginning of the Festival of Lights, so all the monuments and important buildings were lit up in crazy colors and there were fireworks. We ended up at a bar called Yesterday, where the tables were old table games and the decorations were lava lamps and creepy moving puppets and had a few celebratory birthday drinks before catching one of the last S-Bahns home.
Thursday, we put the bed together. Then Lauren and I went out to see the city. She'd never been to Berlin before, and I wanted to see what had changed. I mean, I'd only been gone two and a half years, but it's Berlin. New buildings had popped up, the Palast der Republik was finally gone (they had to take it apart piece by piece instead of blowing it up because of its proximity to the Cathedral), Kunsthaus Tacheles had grown a lot, and a million other little things. No matter what, though, I managed a fairly thorough tour of Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg and Kreuzberg without the use of a map, which I am proud of. Oh! The East Side Gallery was totally cleaned up and repainted, so that you can actually see the murals on the wall, which was a huge surprise. We met up with Hilary again for a beer, then headed back up to Bine's, where watched Rambo (a great choice).
Friday, Lauren headed back to her Frisian Island and Bine had to work, so I wandered Berlin alone, unfortunately, the weather was pretty terrible. I am unprepared for a German winter. Upon seeing this, Bine immediately threw a sweatshirt at me for me to borrow and told me to get a jacket. But I got to spend part of Friday sitting in a coffeeshop, watching Berlin walk by, so that was cool. Friday night, Bine and I were sitting in her room watching Der Goldene Kompass, drinking Glühwein and eating chocolate (gotta say, always a good choice). Then Hilary called, "Hey, do you want to go to Poland tomorrow?"
So, Saturday morning, I hopped on a train and ended up having a rainy adventure in Schehzin, Poland. We followed a walking tour map for a bit before discovering that the entire path was actually marked on the sidewalk in red paint. We had lunch at a restaurant whose name translates to The Hut. It was underground, fairly typically traditional Polish decoration, Disco Hits soundtrack, large dancefloor, and, thank God, had a Polish/German/English menu. I still ordered by pointing at the menu. The entire adventure was made much easier by the fact that though all five of us spoke German, Hilary also spoke Polish, which made many things less difficult than they could have been. After everyone else picked up cheap fancy Polish vodka (I am running low on funds), we headed towards Berlin. Only to get off the train at one of bleakest looking train stops ever. The small village of Chorin, home to a large monastery, apparently also offers a golf cart safari. Unfortunately, everything was closed. We walked a couple kilometers through the woods to the monastery, which was totally worth it. We decided the monastery would be the perfect place for a DAG wedding, complete with a jousting tournament.
Our hike back to the train was uneventful, but the train ride featured Glühwein (I could get used to this), cookies, tomatoes and radishes. I knew I was going to be getting home late, by this point. I hung out in the Hauptbahnhof for an hour (less than I though) and hopped a train to Hamburg, then waited another forty minutes for the train to Kiel. I got home around midnight. Highlight of the train ride: two teenagers that I'd seen in the Hamburg Hauptbahnhof arguing getting on the train and sitting a couple rows behind me, arguing loudly for over an hour. Apparently, she'd gone to the bathroom and when she came back, a bus was leaving and she didn't see her friends, so she went to the Hauptbahnhof alone and it was all the dude's fault. I felt sorry for the poor guy. I also felt sorry for EVERYONE ELSE in the train (including me) who had to listen to this. Eventually, they walked off to another car with some friends. When I saw them get off the train in Kiel, the girl was crying and the dude was obviously so tired of the entire thing.
Anyway, I caught one of the last buses to my place and went home and went to bed. This next week, I still don't have school, so I'll have to be productive or something. Cheers.
We called Hilary, a Grinnell alum who's been living in Berlin for the last few years and was also traveling up to Hamburg for the weekend, and discovered that we had several hours to kill before we could celebrate 10.10 (on 10.9). It's a Grinnell tradition. We threw our bags into a train station locker and took off, sort of unintentionally riding the S-Bahn (mostly above ground train) all the way around the city, until we saw a tall ship, where we decided to get off and go see the boat.
Turns out, it was the Rickmer Rickmers and for only 3.50 Euro, we could go aboard and check it out. So we did, me showing off my nautical knowledge and explaining things. John and Lauren put up with my overexcitement quite well. We also saw several large churches and memorials and were good tourists. We settled down in Oma's Apotheke (Grandma's Drug Store), a bar, to begin celebrating 10.10. Hilary met up with us there; it was her idea to do the true Hamburg thing and party through the night and have breakfast at the famous Sunday morning Fischmarket. We gave it a valiant effort, getting kicked out of two bars at closing time, and wandering the Reeperbahn (the red light district) for a couple hours, but then it got really cold and we didn't really want to go inside anywhere on the Reeperbahn. So we went to the Reeperbahn McDonald's. Where I promptly fell asleep (it was about 4:30 am). At 6:30, we walked to the Fischmarket. There, we found a large hall, full of people drinking beer, eating fish and singing along to the really loud cover band. It was great.
After that, Hilary headed back to Berlin, the rest of us found a nice sunny warm park to sit in, then got some coffee and then found the hostel. Lauren and John fell asleep, while I discovered free internet in the hostel lobby and figured out my trip to Berlin. The next few days were pretty low-key, cheap food, a boat trip around the harbor, the Miniature Wonderland, more boats, a museum. Having a bed to sleep in was wonderful.
On Tuesday, Lauren and I headed to Berlin, a surprisingly quick trip. We made it up to Bine's apartment, where we got to hang out with Steini, her roommate, for a while until she got back. I felt kind of bad for Lauren, because she just kind of got thrown into Bine's normal life. While it was fine for me (and my German is good enough that I could deal with it), it was pretty awkward for her. But, anyway. We went to the bank, went grocery shopping, learned to play Skat (THE German card game) and went to a friend of Bine's for dinner. I learned that the German word for "moose" sounds a lot like the English word for "elk" and that what we call an elk, they basically classify as a large deer.
Wednesday was Bine's birthday, so we went to a Champagne breakfast with some friends of hers. It was a four hour breakfast, starting at 11. Afterwards, we went to Ikea. Bine had her eye on a bed, and the Spandau Ikea was the only one with it. And they had only one, so we had to go really fast. But I still go to try out a bunch of mattresses and ride the shopping carts like a skateboard, so it was fun. We went home to wait for the furniture to be delivered, playing Skat, which I was slowly getting better at. A few hours later, boxes of new furniture clogging the hallway, we went out on the town. We rode the newest and shortest U-Bahn (two whole stops) and walked from the Brandenburg Gate to Alexanderplatz. Normally, this is a pretty walk, but that night it was even better, because it was the beginning of the Festival of Lights, so all the monuments and important buildings were lit up in crazy colors and there were fireworks. We ended up at a bar called Yesterday, where the tables were old table games and the decorations were lava lamps and creepy moving puppets and had a few celebratory birthday drinks before catching one of the last S-Bahns home.
Thursday, we put the bed together. Then Lauren and I went out to see the city. She'd never been to Berlin before, and I wanted to see what had changed. I mean, I'd only been gone two and a half years, but it's Berlin. New buildings had popped up, the Palast der Republik was finally gone (they had to take it apart piece by piece instead of blowing it up because of its proximity to the Cathedral), Kunsthaus Tacheles had grown a lot, and a million other little things. No matter what, though, I managed a fairly thorough tour of Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg and Kreuzberg without the use of a map, which I am proud of. Oh! The East Side Gallery was totally cleaned up and repainted, so that you can actually see the murals on the wall, which was a huge surprise. We met up with Hilary again for a beer, then headed back up to Bine's, where watched Rambo (a great choice).
Friday, Lauren headed back to her Frisian Island and Bine had to work, so I wandered Berlin alone, unfortunately, the weather was pretty terrible. I am unprepared for a German winter. Upon seeing this, Bine immediately threw a sweatshirt at me for me to borrow and told me to get a jacket. But I got to spend part of Friday sitting in a coffeeshop, watching Berlin walk by, so that was cool. Friday night, Bine and I were sitting in her room watching Der Goldene Kompass, drinking Glühwein and eating chocolate (gotta say, always a good choice). Then Hilary called, "Hey, do you want to go to Poland tomorrow?"
So, Saturday morning, I hopped on a train and ended up having a rainy adventure in Schehzin, Poland. We followed a walking tour map for a bit before discovering that the entire path was actually marked on the sidewalk in red paint. We had lunch at a restaurant whose name translates to The Hut. It was underground, fairly typically traditional Polish decoration, Disco Hits soundtrack, large dancefloor, and, thank God, had a Polish/German/English menu. I still ordered by pointing at the menu. The entire adventure was made much easier by the fact that though all five of us spoke German, Hilary also spoke Polish, which made many things less difficult than they could have been. After everyone else picked up cheap fancy Polish vodka (I am running low on funds), we headed towards Berlin. Only to get off the train at one of bleakest looking train stops ever. The small village of Chorin, home to a large monastery, apparently also offers a golf cart safari. Unfortunately, everything was closed. We walked a couple kilometers through the woods to the monastery, which was totally worth it. We decided the monastery would be the perfect place for a DAG wedding, complete with a jousting tournament.
Our hike back to the train was uneventful, but the train ride featured Glühwein (I could get used to this), cookies, tomatoes and radishes. I knew I was going to be getting home late, by this point. I hung out in the Hauptbahnhof for an hour (less than I though) and hopped a train to Hamburg, then waited another forty minutes for the train to Kiel. I got home around midnight. Highlight of the train ride: two teenagers that I'd seen in the Hamburg Hauptbahnhof arguing getting on the train and sitting a couple rows behind me, arguing loudly for over an hour. Apparently, she'd gone to the bathroom and when she came back, a bus was leaving and she didn't see her friends, so she went to the Hauptbahnhof alone and it was all the dude's fault. I felt sorry for the poor guy. I also felt sorry for EVERYONE ELSE in the train (including me) who had to listen to this. Eventually, they walked off to another car with some friends. When I saw them get off the train in Kiel, the girl was crying and the dude was obviously so tired of the entire thing.
Anyway, I caught one of the last buses to my place and went home and went to bed. This next week, I still don't have school, so I'll have to be productive or something. Cheers.
09 October 2010
Lauftag!
You know how most American schools have Field Day to get kids' extra energy out? We had a Lauftag yesterday. A Running Day. There's this big old circular trail behind the school, so we took all the kids out and had them run it. For an hour and a half. I never did learn why, but I played hackysack with some of the boys in my class who'd given up early (I ended up with some 10th graders). This being a sort of rural place, there was a giant petting farm in the middle of track, complete with ponies, turkeys, goats and llamas. My favorite moment was when some of the girls in my group squealed over something silly and the turkey GOBBLED back at them, really loudly. Hilarious.
After that, all the kids went home and we teachers had a meeting. Maybe it's because it was in German, maybe because I'm not a real teacher, but these meetings are not fun. Nor do they seem particularly productive. Ah well. There was free candy passed around, at any rate. And as soon as the meeting got out, it was Fall Break! Two whole weeks without school. Today, I am heading to Hamburg for a few days, and then to Berlin on Tuesday. I am super excited. I'll probably not be online for the week, but I'll be back with updates after that adventure.
After that, all the kids went home and we teachers had a meeting. Maybe it's because it was in German, maybe because I'm not a real teacher, but these meetings are not fun. Nor do they seem particularly productive. Ah well. There was free candy passed around, at any rate. And as soon as the meeting got out, it was Fall Break! Two whole weeks without school. Today, I am heading to Hamburg for a few days, and then to Berlin on Tuesday. I am super excited. I'll probably not be online for the week, but I'll be back with updates after that adventure.
02 October 2010
Das Leben in Kiel
This morning, I felt sorry for myself because it was a Saturday morning and I had no friends and nothing to do. So, I forced myself to go outside for a while. I intended to go to the grocery store to buy some honey to go with my tea, but instead I got lost. And found a giant farmers market! At this farmer's market, I found apples and kiwis and coffee and bratwurst and honey and a Berliner. It cheered me up remarkably.
I moved into my new apartment on Wednesday. It's not so much an apartment as a room in a dorm, but I like it so far. I've met a couple people so far and they seem nice, but I need to work harder at actually meeting and hanging out with people. Luckily, the kitchen is a community kitchen, so I have to run into people every now and then. I decorated part of my room by putting up a whole bunch of pictures and postcards (hint: I would love more), but I still have a whole wall with almost nothing on it. My room basically has two walls. One "wall" has just the door and is covered by the wardrobe, the other "wall" is the window. So there are only two walls to decorate. I'm also thinking I'll have to buy a big comfy pillow (the one that came with the room is just not doing it) and a lamp of some sort. Maybe I'll try to find Ikea this week.
I discovered an small little Asian food store in my neighborhood, complete with bao and, inexplicably, Ginger Beer. So that was pretty exciting.
A couple friends and I have made plans for our upcoming Fall Break. First, a few days in Hamburg, both for fun and to celebrate the Grinnell-only holiday 10/10. Then, to Berlin! I am very excited to head back to Berlin. Sure, I haven't actually gotten paid yet, but it's Berlin! And Deutsche Bahn is selling 20 Euro tickets to anywhere in Germany this weekend, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of German unification.
In teaching news, I made up a Jeopardy game for my fifth graders just before class that they loved. It was great fun. And I helped my eighth graders with projects on tourist destinations in New York City. This Friday, the school is having a Lauftag. Basically, a running day. There's a big track near the school and all the kids run. They all have to run for at least half an hour and can run for up to an hour and a half. Why this happens, I have yet to figure out.
Oh yes! I am also slowly but surely conquering German bureaucracy! I am an official student at Kiel University, a fun process that involved going to at least three different offices, filling out two forms about my academic history, paying 103 Euro, relinquishing my right to University health insurance and explaining, in German, that yes, I did already fill that out. But now I have a bus pass! Which was the real idea. I am also an official resident of Kiel, which entailed sitting at the Einwohnermeldeamt for at least 45 minutes before I got called into the office, remembering my address in Berlin and trying to figure out the zip code there. Oh, and I got lost in the town hall and found these crazy elevators that were literally continually in motion closets that you stepped onto or off of at the correct floor. Made me a little nervous. But now I live here for real. And I have an appointment to get my Visa. In November. Someday, I'll be an official German resident.
I moved into my new apartment on Wednesday. It's not so much an apartment as a room in a dorm, but I like it so far. I've met a couple people so far and they seem nice, but I need to work harder at actually meeting and hanging out with people. Luckily, the kitchen is a community kitchen, so I have to run into people every now and then. I decorated part of my room by putting up a whole bunch of pictures and postcards (hint: I would love more), but I still have a whole wall with almost nothing on it. My room basically has two walls. One "wall" has just the door and is covered by the wardrobe, the other "wall" is the window. So there are only two walls to decorate. I'm also thinking I'll have to buy a big comfy pillow (the one that came with the room is just not doing it) and a lamp of some sort. Maybe I'll try to find Ikea this week.
I discovered an small little Asian food store in my neighborhood, complete with bao and, inexplicably, Ginger Beer. So that was pretty exciting.
A couple friends and I have made plans for our upcoming Fall Break. First, a few days in Hamburg, both for fun and to celebrate the Grinnell-only holiday 10/10. Then, to Berlin! I am very excited to head back to Berlin. Sure, I haven't actually gotten paid yet, but it's Berlin! And Deutsche Bahn is selling 20 Euro tickets to anywhere in Germany this weekend, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of German unification.
In teaching news, I made up a Jeopardy game for my fifth graders just before class that they loved. It was great fun. And I helped my eighth graders with projects on tourist destinations in New York City. This Friday, the school is having a Lauftag. Basically, a running day. There's a big track near the school and all the kids run. They all have to run for at least half an hour and can run for up to an hour and a half. Why this happens, I have yet to figure out.
Oh yes! I am also slowly but surely conquering German bureaucracy! I am an official student at Kiel University, a fun process that involved going to at least three different offices, filling out two forms about my academic history, paying 103 Euro, relinquishing my right to University health insurance and explaining, in German, that yes, I did already fill that out. But now I have a bus pass! Which was the real idea. I am also an official resident of Kiel, which entailed sitting at the Einwohnermeldeamt for at least 45 minutes before I got called into the office, remembering my address in Berlin and trying to figure out the zip code there. Oh, and I got lost in the town hall and found these crazy elevators that were literally continually in motion closets that you stepped onto or off of at the correct floor. Made me a little nervous. But now I live here for real. And I have an appointment to get my Visa. In November. Someday, I'll be an official German resident.
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