German Fruit Wine Festival

As an avid fan of alcohol, I knew it was going to be hard saying good-bye. But for the sake of the little person we don't even know yet, I have. And - shockingly - it hasn't been nearly as hard as I thought it would be.

While I love my beer (and Ian has continued to enjoy in my absence), I don't really feel like I am missing out. I have indulged my fair share and in this latest adventure I feel like I will take any step necessary to make this a success. I have avoided out beloved spätis in Berlin, abstained on our latest adventure through France and skipped beers in my favorite brewery city in Germany.

But this weekend I will be tested again. The Fruit Wine Festival (Baumblütenfest) is back.

10 Things Berlin has Taught Me

If I got you down with my last post - sorry about that! I've been feeling down while looking for work and seriously felt my love for this amazing city wane a bit. But - sorry parents - that doesn't mean we're going home.

We came to Berlin to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and I'm all out of bubblegum.

Our kiez: Wedding*

Falling out of Love with Berlin

Usually I look at the "Berlin Hates You" signs and smile grimly, happy to have made it this far in a tough city to call home. But lately the message has been feeling a lot more personal.

We originally moved to Berlin with something that can only loosely be called a plan. No jobs, no friends, no place to stay...we were young and dumb and thought it would work out and miraculously IT DID. We found jobs, Ian as a teacher and I wrote expat guides. We made friends. We traveled. We were happy and the city was our oyster.

Celebrating our Wedding Anniversary by Burning Down the Tower Bridge

Prepare to die Tower Bridge

You know the saying if you love something so much you have to let it go? This is kinda like that.

I'm Going to Miss this Place...

...the time is finally nigh - we're home in the States! No, not permanently. Don't be crazy Berlin, you haven't gotten rid of us yet. But we have returned to Seattle for a visit. We love Berlin, but we also really MISSED HOME (you like that parents?).

Tegel Airport

Testing Out the U-Blau

What to do on a Saturday night? 

What to do?

What to do?

What to do?

What about a drinking tour of the U-Bahn? OK! Let's call this an art project so it doesn't sound so...alcoholic.

I am skeptical about how this day will go

22 Things I am Thankful For & 29 before I'm 30

Have you seen the posts about "Things I'm Thankful For" & "29 things to do before I'm 30"? So sappy and sentimental amirite? Yeah, well....it's Thanksgiving and almost my birthday - I'm doing it. Basically, it's my blog and I can write what I want to.

22 Experiences I am Thankful For

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.

We're Going Home!

We have been teasing our friends & family with plans for a Seattle visit for months now. Now the rumors can die as we have something even better:

Plane tickets!

We are flying to NYC for the first time and will fit in as much hot dog/pizza/bagel/deli eating, Broadway shows, comedy, art and pictures as possible. I've got a happy little NYC Pinterest board together gathering all the info of things I want to see & do (please feel free to give us tips, we're flying blind). No joke, we're excited. 

Bratislava - Not as Bad as People Say!

We continue on our tour of central Europe with the p's & give our biased, unprofessional opinions of Bratislava, Slovakia.

How to Pose for a Christmas Card Photo

...don't do what we do - seriously. Euphemistically you could say we're quirky, but realistically we're a little off. If you do not want to look mildly insane to your friends & family, do not make a photo advent calendar like this:

Day 3:

Ian had pnemonia. So a day in bed, sleeping & watching movies had us a little loopy.

Lebkuchen eyes!

Quilt of Love

As the weather turns cooler, I snuggle under our new quilt. An instant heirloom, my mum gave it to me on their recent trip to visit us in Berlin. Lovingly crafted with my aunt, it is composed of the ribbons I won showing horses. It's amazing.

If you are unfortunate enough not to have a million ribbons from your childhood, a basic ribbon looks like this:

Jetzt, geht's, Los: Cologne

After a whirlwind trip through England & Wales, apartment searches & scams, Greg's visit, Copenhagen, Italy, we dreamed of a sleepy vacation on a sunny beach somewhere. That takes planning. That we didn't do.

Soooooooooooo...we're off on a totally different tangent renting a car, visiting Thomas in Cologne, traversing Belgium and France, and returning triumphantly to Berlin. I'm pretty sure it will be awesome. Or a disaster. Either way- fabulous!

Update: 

Made it to Cologne! Thomas leaves this month for his service in Mexico City. Unbelievable that he won't be just across the country anymore. Damn world travelers ;) Trip to Mexico City anybody?

1st trip to Cologne 2007

Ian & Thomas Weihnachtsmarkt 2010

We are trying to firm up plans for what the next week will bring. Vague ideas of Belgium breweries, Champagne from Champagne, and Colmar- city south of Strasbourg. Let's see what we can do...

UPDATE 2:

Thomas liked Mexico so much, he dated it!... or the lovely Ivonne form Mexico City anyways. He finally came back to Germany and visited us in Berlin where we searched for ingredients for a Mexican fiesta. He is currently back in Mexico on a long vacation, so we really have to work on a way to visit him over there.

"Sie ist vom Pech verfolgt " or "Bad Luck Follow her Around"

Lucky Ian makes ebe angry!

It's always hard to complain to friends & family back home about how difficult it it living your dream as an expat. But it is difficult sometimes! Obtaining visas, apartment searches, scams can seriously suck. Lately, we have been dealing altogether too much with the icky stuff.

Everyone knows Ian is the lucky one. Usually I think since I've hitched my cart to his wagon I will be safe in his afterglow. But with all of our recent troubles it is unclear if he has lost his shine, or possibly my bad luck is just rubbing off.

Yesterday, a sign from above came to tell me- nope, you guys don't have bad luck (whew!). It's just you, ebe (damn it).

It has been a lovely spring and Monday was the nicest day so far at about 83 degrees F. We had a great day where we finally found some breathing room with a free book, great lunch, and we found an apartment
(we will write about that when we actually, for real, move into the place. Can't blame us for being nervous).

Hummus Plate: grilled meats, veg, & serious fries

Ian + free book

We decided to go swimming in nearby Weissensee. People lounging around the park, a fountain in the middle of the lake, boat rentals, happy dogs....Summer! All this positivity was dashed as I put my first foot in the lake. Something stabbed my foot. Startled, I sat down -plunk!- in the water as the many curious onlookers wondered what the hell was wrong with me. Ian was also looking at me.

Weissensee

"My foot!" I gasped. "Something stabbed it." Bringing it up for the inspection- yep, blood was gushing out fo a straight puncture into the bottom of my foot. Blood dripped into the suddenly disgusting-seeming lake water. As my foot throbbed, I asked Ian for guidance. German swimmers no longer cared that I had made a little scene and now just wanted me to move so they could get in. I hobbled over to the bank and sat with one damaged foot clenched to my stomach and the other dangling in the water. Ian looked at me helplessly, frozen by the awkwardness of the situation. "I don't know." he said. Stuck with a still bleeding foot and a struck-dumb husband I tried to play down the scene. "Just go swim." Thankful to be released, he frolicked into the cooling waters and I watched him swim around as my foot bled and ached.

When he had enough fun in the water world, Ian helped me limp to the blanket as people casually stared.

(I also saw later my ass had been scraped up when I abruptly sat down on the steps so another thing to feel awkward about).
Ian admitted that the swim had been great and I evily wished him Swimmer's ear. We eventually made the long walk back to the bus and all the way home. I opted for no medical care besides neosporin & a band-aid so we will be watching my jaw for signs of stiffness (just joking mum- I'm fine). Today we have to move our bags over to the new place which will be fun with my broke foot.

BUT I did make a positive assessment of our situation. Ian has not lost his luck, it's just me.

Guide to Berlin- out now!

I just started the guide to Berlin for EasyExpat. Should be fun and I am sure I will learn more about the city, but already feel the pressure from inevitable mistakes...

BUT- we really do love it here and I will do my best to make Berlin proud. And how about a few personal photos that encapsulate our adoration.

Badeschiff- My FAV place in the summer

Bier & bikes on Männertag

friendly graffiti

Ever moving, ever changing

Kreuzberg

Goerlitzer park

Shadow of the Fernsehturm in Alex

City Sunset

View of the Fernsehturm from Prenzlauerberg

Berliner Dom

My favorite statue 

Olympiastadion- site of 1936 Olympics and many a Hertha game

Statue at Sanssouci, nearby palace

Happy to be in Berlin

NEWS: It's out- read all about it! 
Guide to Berlin

And here about one of my favorite parts of the job - Expat Interviews!

Surprise Video (Only Partially Well Recieved)

Last time we were in London, this happened: Dec 5th, Day that will live in Infamy. Spur of the moment, we made a video in Piccadilly Circus with a surprise announcement. Unfortunately I am having trouble tracking it down, but it was just a sly hand wave with a ring that got some of the parents in a tizzy, and caught my dad blissfully unaware until my mum informed him we had just announced our engagement. 

As we wandered the square once again, we looked at each other & just couldn't resist freaking out the parents again:



We know- not very nice. My parents thought it was funny... once they got over their heart attack that it was, indeed, a joke.

To add to our current video extravaganza, how about a re-post of the video our good friend Phil helped us make for the wedding.

David Sedaris Reading in Berlin

third row back

12 euro got us into a reading by Sedaris. Glorious. He started off talking to people in the lobby and signing books. We got the inscription:

January Happenings

Yesterday was my most wonderful mother's bday- HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM! She deserves everything she wants in this world, and hopefully a Silvertips victory....and hockey fight if she's lucky.

We are officially in our new place. Although we will miss Janis's palace of a one room apartment, we are going to like being back in Prenzlauerberg in Antje's cozy apartment. And after this (& visas) hopefully we will find something at least a little semi-permanent.


View Larger Map

Google Street view of our apartment- pretty red one!

Happy 2011 to all. We are hoping to see some of you in the near future (Kayak is offering travel deals of $318 each way from Seattle to a variety of European desinations- sale ends the 11th). I also have a bit of a travel bug and will see if I can drag Ian off somewhere different for a weekend. Spain? Lithuania? Italy? Who knows!

PORTER

BALLs!

New Year, New Place

New Years was awesome. Really, really fun. We celebrated in front of the Reichstag as fireworks, professional and otherwise, shot into the sky. The Hof apparently was performing just off to the right on Unter den Linden. Awesome.

After this we rode the wrong way on the regional Bahn- whoopsy!- and made our way back to Kreuzberg with an older couple who didn't speak English. We all trooped through the ice to a bar, CAKE, and danced and laughed until our legs fell off. Ian ate a doener. Each us us fell on the ice. It was awesome.

And now to officially enter 2011 we have had to find a new place. And we did! It is a lovely little temporary in Prenzlauerberg, just around the corner from our first place. Pics will soon be up, as well as a video walk through of our current place. We celebrated with a meal at Tiergartenquelle which was super tasty and wandered through a Sunday market.

2011- AWESOME

We're going Sledding in Berlin!

Video of Görlitzer Park



And a little video of us enjoying the snow. Watch out kiddos!

 

 

Update:

Our new apartment in Wedding is near Volkspark Humboldthain with a little known, perfect sledding hill. Should I be worried about exposing our secret spot? Nah. We already introduced some friends and you'll have to locate teh exact hill within the massive park yourself.

Plus-  if you interrupt one of our perfect runs we'll cut a bitch. (Note Ian's killer 80s snow jacket)

Perfect accompaniment to sledding

Box Sledding. It didn't work well

Volkspark Humboldthain in Winter

Where is your go-to Berlin place to sled?