Favorite Part of My Job

After weeks of trying to hang on to a work schedule amid travels (NYC, West Side & East Side of WA), family reunions, and meet-up with friends in Seattle, we returned to Berlin and I, for one, was ready to work. Our internet connection, however, had other ideas.

We flew Seattle-NYC Sunday March 18th, the day after St. Patrick's Day. Strategically, we planned an evening flight. This turned out to be unnecessary as a stomach flu made swift work of the Porter family on Thursday and we were still a bit weak on Saturday. We were only able to handle a few tiny American beers for St. Patty - a sad send off of debauchery. No matter. We said good-bye to family, then friends, only to be dropped off at the airport and note a 6 hour delay. Shit.

Mosques & Unity in Berlin

Monday was both Day of German Unity (Tag der Deutschen Einheit) & a day of open mosques. Considering I've only been in one mosque (granted it is an important one), I was excited to see what all of our Muslim neighbors have got going on.

Let's Go!

Gorgeousness of gorgeousness! The open house was wonderful with a member writing names in Arabic calligraphy, prayer service, and henna tattoos.

When we exited the mosque, a news crew that had been video tapping the open house asked for his opinion. 1 euro for anyone who finds the footage!

We wandered down to Brandenburger Tor to check out the German Unity Day (Tag der Deutschen Einheit) celebration. A concert, lots of food & beer stands (including proud displays of Belgian waffles, Dutch fries, and other national speciaties) I was completely underwhelmed by the celebration. Isn't this one of the biggest days in history for Germany?

(Expat in Germany wrote a great post about the celebration & her disappointment here. )

Another beautiful day in Berlin, but certainty not the significance I thought a day like this deserved. Tired from our tramping around, we made our way back to the house. We saw this notice on the door:

Someone had put a quacking lawn duck in the courtyard that quacks whenever someone walks past. This German doesn't find it funny. After asking "Who would do something like this?", they said the quacking is driving them crazy. Come to think of it, we can hear up on the 4th floor. It must be loud for those on the bottom. At least one German voiced a different opion, writing in pink marker 

"I love the duck"

For more pics of Neukoelln & the day: photos

BlogExpat Interviews

Writing city guides, expat articles, and moderating the forum is fun. Really. I can honestly say I really like my job. But...I saw an area of growth. More and more I am perusing expat articles and our plethora of expat blogs and am really impressed with the quality of writing and creativity I see out there. Damn peeps- y'all are good!

I had an idea. Not exactly an epiphany, but pretty exciting for me. How about we shine the spotlight on these fine expat writers & blogs and get some interviews on? Luckily, bossman agreed and gave me practically free reign to write up our format, recruit interviewee victims, and put their interviews up on our new partnersite:

 http://interviews.blogexpat.com/

The blurb

"The expat experience makes for a great story of adventure, drama and surprise. While each expat’s story is unique, we can all learn valuable lessons from each other’s experience.

BlogExpat interviews offers expats a standard format in which they can be as funny, informative, and/or honest as they want about life as an expat. Interviews with expats in the UK, Italy, Russia, Cuba, Holland, Turkey, the United States, Cambodia, and more offers a view into their amazing lives.

These stories serve as inspiration, advice, and entertainment for expats, travelers, and people who want to hear more about the world. We appreciate their expertise and look forward to sharing their experience with the world. Enjoy the interviews & best of luck in your own adventures as an expat."

Truthfully, it has been even more fun than I thought it would be. It gives me an excuse to spend hours pouring over people's incredible blogs and making contact with the writers. And one of the best things about it was Ian got to be our guinea pig and go first.

(Check out his interview here: interviews.blogexpat.com/from-seattle-to-berlin-back-to-berlin-and-beyond)

We also just published our second interview with a Londoner who made the move to Turkey with his partner: Perking the Pansies. He is an excellent writer with fabulous English humor.

I'm thrilled with the results and can't wait to keep finding great expat stories to promote and share. We already have a nice little line up through April. Hopefully my fellow expats & friends out there agree.

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