rennen, nicht laufen

points to any of you who know to which artist the title lyrics belong to.

in my first post post-arrival (hah), i exclaimed over the fact that people actually run here. this may not seem that surprising to you. after all, running is a lovely way to see a city and get some air, etc. but there are a few factors of berlin winter that would deter even the most avid jogger from making a go of it. for example, it is cold here. yesterday, it was -10 Celcius, which is no joke. this winter is, i read somewhere, the coldest winter berlin has had in 30 years (MY LUCK, OF COURSE), and the sidewalks are frozen solid. i mean, ALL THE TIME. it is a little like being a toddler taking one's first steps again. and, conversely, old people cannot walk here because they risk falling and breaking something. bjorn told me that this weekend, in only one hospital in berlin (there are a lot here, so this is significant), there were 150 people in for falling injuries because of the slippery sidewalks that mimic ice skating rinks (don't tell anyone, but i already biffed it royally once. would not like a repeat of that one, please).

that was a little tangential, but my point is that today i went on a run! a 45 minute run all over kreuzberg. well, ok, i did have to walk sometimes because it was either that or run on the road and get hit by a car, but i managed to make it without falling. i think i figured out that when running here, you just have to be extra light on your feet and not put too much feeling into a given forward step. that way, if your foot slips out from under you, you'll quickly recover your gait by lightly jumping forward again. niftily successful, if i do say so myself. of course, this isn't a metaphor for life: i'm just not that deep.

next time i go on a run, i'll take my camera with me! the spree (the river that runs through berlin) is eerily half-frozen right now. there are these giant ice moats (sp?) all over it that seem to be hanging precariously, about to break apart and float away.

til next time

yesterday, i experimented a bit: i decided to see if i could be mistaken for a german, rather than a clunky american. you see, i keep thinking that my gigantic coat somehow SCREAMS usa bumpkin (although this is horrendously paranoid of me because, as i said before, many people here do wear huge coats/boots and they can't ALL be americans... right?)

anyways, my experiment was successful! i actually wore nice shoes and a dress (with a jacket, albeit a thin one, on top of course) and three--THREE--people asked me for directions. well, ok, two of those three were in a couple, but it still counts.

• sidenote: there are a lot of couples here. i've had this theory forever that germans/europeans from colder regions are more monogamous than we americans seem to be. when it's this cold outside, it definitely makes sense to have someone to cuddle with.

you may be wondering: "why is jenny not in school? why does she has so much time to eat so much amazing food and wander this really cold city without a care in the world?"

i will tell you: i have a study-scholarship from the DAAD (the German Academic Exchange Program) that goes from february through the end of july. and the semester in here in berlin doesn't start until April 9th! i do start a language course on march 1st, which i'm actually quite excited for because that means i will meet lots of people. but for right now, i am entertaining myself by taking leisurely time learning this city--days of long walks and much exploring. tomorrow i may visit a museum. i think i'll go to paris the last week of february. as you can see, life is good.

food (part1)

the stories of food are my favorite ones. without further ado, here is a little culinary tour of the past week:

the first thing i bought myself in berlin: mohnapfelkuchen und latte machiatto.
the most delicious thing ever invented: the dönner kebab. you can get them on almost every street corner here. this one is from bistro baghdad, right off the schlesischestor Ubahnhof stop (U1 richtung Warschauerstr.). it has been rated as the top dönner stand in berlin for the last few years. i seriously (and embarrassingly) moaned out loud when i bit into it, and the nice turkish men who run the booth all winked at me. if any of you visit me, we are going here no questions asked.

deeply warming latte machiato (prenzlauerberg)

turkish market at kottbussertor, in kreuzberg

amelia and i indulged in the most delicious cheese+spinach wrap (fried to a crisp).

post-spinachcheesedelicious, we parked ourselves on a dilapidated bench next to the market and proceeded to eat our way through an unbelievably delicious melon. (the knife is mine; i know, it's a little intense--thanks dad--but proved itself very useful in this case).

my "new" "cellphone"

And...

a last word before I head out for the evening. This is my "new" "cellphone." It is not new and although it is technically a cellphone, it was made probably about five years ago. We all know this means it is basically defunct technology. BUT: it was free, I had to adventure into the realm of stores-that-cell-chargers-illegally(blackmarket,yo!, though not really), and it is also kind of charming.

I'm bouncing; see y'all on the flip side.

my bloggerprofil is somehow in german now

Guten Tag!

It has been, and still will be I'm sure, a tumultuous week! Let me give you a rundown of the first few days...

31.02.10 (learning to write dates eurostyle means reversing order of day/month. must practice).

• I arrive in Berlin around noon, am greeted by the wonderful Susi and by the realization of lost baggage. Remained strong in face of considerable fear of snuggie loss (see previous post about extreme Berlin cold).
• Go see two apartments. The first one is beautiful but is sadly also inhabited by a 50-some woman. She wants to me to live there but I decline offer, hoping instead to live with people who might actually be fun. Second apartment is failure because i am not a boy, as requested, but which i did not read on the ad; it was awkward.
• Drink considerable coffee and eat chocolate croissant with Susi; enjoy hilarious skype conversation with my parents from Susi's computer wherein i can see and hear them but they cannot see or hear me and i must type responses. Almost died laughing; then was subsequently exhausted and thus fell deeply asleep.

01.02.10 (DAY OF EXTREME ACCOMPLISHMENT)

• wake up at noon; dress in considerable confusion because of jetlag and immediately go outside to eat a pretzel. it was delicious (a post about the food here is to follow. actually, there will probably be many posts about the food here because it's the only thing i've taken pictures of so far).
• i navigate subway system and then attempt to approach the dresdner bank (the ideal location my scholarship program has hinted at for quick money transfer). i get lost twice and then pull myself together by purchasing a map.
• make bank account; boring boring boring.
• kept having this problem where i would be distracted by minute tasks. for example: i needed to fax my bank account information to my scholarship office and finally found a place to fax. then i bought postcards because it was a stationary shop. then i decided to find a post office so that took me another half an hour... relatively distracting, you see.
• finally went to see the third apartment on my list; i hung out with the people for a few hours, as well as the other contenders for the apartment. when i got back to where i'm staying, though, i found an email offering me the place! i was pretty stoked about it and immediately accepted. i'll tell more about the flat/post pictures when i move in on 13.02.

To not go into too many more details of the rest of the week, let's just say that all is well so far. On Tuesday night I went out with Susi and Bjorn and a few of their friends to this fantastic bar on their street--they call it "der Rus" (the Russian) because...it is a Russian bar. We all took a few (or more) wodka shots together and, apparently Russian drinking tradition dictates that a shot is followed by a sweet pickle chaser. This is actually surprisingly delicious; it really cuts the sharpness of the vodka. I tried to explain that in the US, us little girls drink sugary sips of sodas or juices post-vodka, and I was greeted by blank stares. I also discovered that everyone here is tough enough to sip their vodka slowly, whereas I, being slightly baby, had to down mine in one gulp (can't stand the taste). It was, needless to say, a lovely evening; it snowed beautifully the whole time and it was so nice to watch those big white flakes coming down from inside a cozy bar.

Yesterday (Wednesday) was mildly lame because I slept horribly the night before and just wasn't functioning well (although I got to see Becca, a fellow Berkeley student who's been here since September, in the evening and that was very fun/nice).

This was longer and perhaps more boring than intended; I will try to be hipper and cooler and learn to be concise in the future.

Til next time

an apology, and a little bit of excitement, too

Hello whoever reads this.

I am finally, finally here, and maybe it is the jetlag, but it all seems just a little unreal to me. I arrived Sunday afternoon, completely and utterly exhausted, but still managed to stay awake enough to see two apartments and walk all over the neighborhood. I'm having a great time staying with Susi and Bjorn; they're suuper nice and fun people.

The airline lost one of my suitcases, so I spent the better part of Monday wondering if I'd be wearing the same pair of long underwear for the next three months. Fortunately, they found it and I breathed a long sigh of relief because that suitcase contains my snuggie which is an all-important item to have here in freezing winter Germany.

You know when I said before that it averages around -2 C here in winter? Yeah, well, when I arrived on Sunday, it was more around -8. Susi and Bjorn told me that ten days ago the temperature dropped below -20 during the day (!) But I am attempting toughness and although my cheeks take on a brilliant red hue whenever I go outside for an extended period of time, I have decided to accept this, being as it is my chosen life for the next few months. The crazy thing is that people run here even when it's in the negative degrees!

But the cold, unfortunately, brings us to the apology, which is directed towards my dear friend Avery D.

Avery--

I know that I promised you I would only wear those ugg boots as slippers. I admit that they are definitely vaguely hideous and bulky and unfashionable (and make me look slightly as though I have weird inflated feet). But, the thing is that here, everyone wears bulky shoes! Yes! It is wonderful and horrible that one must forego fashion in favor of warmth but that is sadly the truth. I promise to not allow photographs of my feet in the atrocity of UGG to be published where you can see them ;)

Love,

Jenny

Wait, hold up, I just looked up from my computer, and it's snowing outside! Excuse me while I throw on my, ahem, "shoes" and go frolic in it!

More later...

on the agenda today

• bank account
• cell phone
• looking at third apartment (imovefast)
• trying not to get lost
• praying that my errant suitcase returns to me from wherever evil lufthansa has stashed it. within the next century, if you please

it is cold here.