Language

One of the characteristics about Berlin that I love is the international mix of people. Last night, when I was walking out of the train station (Bahnhof), a few Spanish tourist stopped me and asked me in English, "Scuse me, can you help find this address?" I realized how universal English really is...Spanish people traveling in Germany speak English to communicate, because they assume the people here can speak English more than they can speak Spanish.

Since I studied abroad in Spain while I was in College, I was able to answer them in Spanish, and show them where they needed to go. When I answered in Spanish, they were delighted! They were so excited that I could speak Spanish, that they hugged me when we said good bye.

Sometimes the opposite can be true, and you actually wish the people would respond in the language that isn't your native tongue, so that you can improve. Right now, since I don't speak German, I am grateful when people can speak English and can help me along my way. However, once someone starts learning a language, it is more valuable to speak in that new language, even if it takes longer to communicate. Also, it becomes a two-way street. As a native English speaking person, learning German, I will (soon) want to speak in German when I am lost and need directions, or if i need help in a grocery store. Currently, once people understand that I don't really speak German, they immediately answer me in English. They have their own desires to
practice their English, as well as to communicate effectively and efficiently. Their goal becomes to convey the information I need as I will best understand it. They will rarely consider whether or not I actually want to communicate in English, or whether I actually want to try to communicate in German.

For those who are actually learning German, this can be frustrating to have everyone always switch into English to communicate simply because it is not helping them to improve their German. On the other hand, communicating to people in their native tongue is always appreciated when those people are more interested in traveling than actually learning a new language, like the Spanish tourists.

I have some Italian colleagues here in Germany, who have decided they don't really need to learn German, because they can communicate in English. One of these colleagues told me that he managed to find an Italian dentist, and a doctor who spoke English.

Having studied in Italy while in college, I also speak Italian and try to communicate with my Italian colleagues in Italian, even though I am a bit rusty.  


I finally decided that it was time to learn how to read my own mail...and started taking German Lessons.  When practicing German, 60% is in german, all of my prepositions are in Spanish and the words I don't know yet in German are either in English or Italian. 


Also, I am now a proficient gesturer and would be very competitive at Charades. =)

Lost in Translation

Learning a new language is very fun, especially in the beginning. Not only is it very important to mix and mingle with the locals to understand the cultural differences, but it is actually an essential part of learning 'contextual phrases.'.

We rarely even think about how many contextual phrases we use on a daily basis. Many times, this happens when we are repeating lines from a movie.

If you said 'earmuffs' to someone who has never seen Old School, it would not be nearly as funny to them, as it would be to an 'Old School' fan.

This same contextual phrasing happens when learning a new language.

Today, one of my friends asked me if I wanted to come over to her house for spaetzle (amazing german style macaroni and cheese) and I declined, mentioning that I already have a dinner date. She has a lively personality and said to me in reference to my date 'Ich drück Dir die Daumen, dass er nicht nur eine "Schnitte", sondern auch noch eine "geile Sau" ist :))!!!

Now, I am still in the process of learning german, and I haven't quite come across 'german dating slang' in my level A2 deutsche course....so naturally, I plugged this into google translate:
"I keep my fingers crossed that it is not just a "cuts", but also a "horny slut" :))!!!"

Now...this was somewhat surprising, and in a way hysterical... I thought, there is no possible way that is the correct translation! So of course I had to ask her to clarify the meaning...

What she meant was: "Thumbs up. Hopefully the guy is not only good eye-candy but also one hot date!"

Language is more than just translation...

Privet Krasavitsa

I really enjoy traveling. While I was in college, I studied abroad quite a few times in Europe and frequently traveled on the train. When traveling by train, it is very common to share a six person room with strangers. Since many train trips are a few hours long, I would get to know my cabin mates along the way. More often than not, my cabin mates were from a European country and spoke English. Before going our separate ways, I would always ask them how to say "Hello" in their native language, which is how I learned "privet krasavitsa"...or "hello beautiful" in Russian.

Now that I am living in Germany, I am trying to learn more than just "Hallo Schöne." In my apartment building, my Hausmeister (Facility Manager or Super) told me who some of my neighbors were...

The lady right next to me is Russian and she has a very loud TV.

The couple two doors down is German and they are nice.

The girl three doors down is also German and she is younger. (I ran into her and her name is Wenke - pronounced "Ven-kah", and she is very nice.)

So last weekend, I was leaving my apartment and I saw my Russian neighbor. She is about 5 feet tall, which includes at least four inches of very curly reddish/orangish tinted hair, perhaps a typical Russian grandmother.

She said "morgen." I said, "Privet" and her eyes lit up and with a huge smile, she said (what I believe to be) "Oh dear, you speak Russian!!"

To which I said, 'Privet Krasavitsa!' This was probably the most exciting thing that she had ever heard because she came over and grabbed my hand with both of hers and started speaking Russian... which I actually don't understand at all...

Then I explained in English, with a few German words, that I actually don't speak Russian, only English, Italian and Spanish, and 24 words in German...and that I will learn more German, since I plan to be here for a while.

I smiled and said, "maybe I should learn Russian..."

She said, "Yes, I tink dat is better."

Schwul and Schwül

The Umlaut. As it turns out, learning how to pronounce the umlaut is actually very important.

I went to an International party organized by InterNations, a networking community for expatriates and "Global Minds." The first woman I met was from Armenia, the second person I met was from Turkey, and the next two guys I met were German. Since there are so many different countries represented, the common language is English.

One of the german guys I met is a Teacher and we eventually started talking about the pronunciation of the 'umlaut.'

To explain it in writing is fairly simple, and in fact, this is how you spell the umlaut letter if your keyboard doesn't have the ability to do the umlaut.

ö sounds like oe

ü sounds like ue

ä sounds like aeh (like in Heaven)

The pronunciation is a lot more difficult. Especially the ü and the ö --they are sounds we don't really have in the English language.

Since I was speaking to a teacher, my "homework" was to find out the difference between "Schwul and Schwül," (keeping in mind that the 'w' in German is pronounced as the English 'v', just in case you are reading this and trying to pronounce these words out loud.) =)

The sample sentences were:

Das Wetter ist schwül. (Since we were talking and not writing anything down, I heard: Das sveater ist schvool. So naturally I started thinking about a sweater....which turned out to be unrelated to the actual meaning...)

Mein Bruder ist schwul. Again, to my novice ears, I heard "Mine Broder is schvool, and I could not discern the difference between the 'schvools.'

Before I left, I had him write down schwul and schwül so I knew how to spell them correctly.

When I looked up 'Schwül' (pronounced schvuel) I learned that it means "humid." The description actually said "please do not confuse with schwul (pronounced schvool), which means gay, or queer."

Homework is now complete...now I just have to work on the pronunciation.

Kreuzschlitzschraubenzieher

People ask me how long I will be in Germany..."A long time" I say...although I really have no idea how long...it could be a year or it could be 10 years.

Either way, I am extremely interested in learning the German language. One of my coworkers who started on the same day as I did, is German. His name is #5. There were five of us newbies who started at the company on January 4th, and he happened to be the last one to introduce himself. I happened to be the first, so when we see each other, we refer to each other as "#5" or "Funf" pronounced "foonf" and #1 or Ein (rhymes with 'nine'). Since #5 is German, he has decided to introduce me to one new German word per week. Last week the word was "Kreuzschlitzschraubenzieher" (pronounced: Croitz Schlitz Schrauben zeehuh). This is the German word for "Phillips Screw Driver." Since I have enough German colleagues to practice with, I decided to practice all weekend as well. It was a real hit at the bar scene and many people were entertained that this was the word I had learned so far.

The ironic part is that I have bought a bunch of ikea furniture and yesterday, I realized that I only have the screw driver with about 10 different flat head parts, and not the phillips one. Luckily, I was able to locate the nearest hardware store and tell them "Ich möchte ein kreuzschlitzschraubenzieher bitte!" =)

One of the first weeks I had to learn Lohnsteuerkarte, which is "tax card" and it is very important to obtain for salary purposes.

My word for this week is Adventkranzkerze, which is a tad less usefull...it means "candles on an advent wreath."

Totes MaGotes

If you haven't seen the movie "I Love You, Man" then this story may not make sense... It is about a guy who needs to find more guy friends, and how awkward he is while trying to establish a friendship. The first time I saw it I was with my Mom (I love seeing movies with my Mom!) and we both thought it was entertaining, not amazing...

The main male character who is looking for guys friends is seemingly awkward when trying to arrange plans to meet up with some potential new man friends and ends up saying things like "I will see you there, or I will see you on another time!," or "Totally...Totes MaGotes..."

Luckily, I am a bit better and making friends and usually say things that are socially acceptable and sometimes even funny in a witty way...

So, I spent the holidays with my family (my mom, brother and sister) and my brother is really into movies...and my brother is really funny. He also watches an astonishing amount of movies and has an incredible ability to remember movie quotations. Almost everyday of our European Vacation, he managed to find an appropriate time to say "Totes MaGotes," which ended up being hysterical.

So now, as I am trying to settle into a new German company and make a good, solid impression with my coworkers, for some reason "Totes MaGotes" is at the top of my vocabulary. The best part of this scenario is that I still think the phrase is hysterical...because it reminds me of how funny my brother is, and how entertained my mom, sister and I were each time my brother would say this...only a few weeks ago. Ironically, my new german coworkers haven't actually seen this movie and have no idea what I am talking about. Soooo, a tiny bit awkward? Totes MaGotes! =)

Working out

So, I love to work out. I like challenging my body to do more than just sitting in a chair, staring at a computer developing back, wrist and eyesight problems. I love Bikram yoga, triathlons, normal yoga, running with a dog that I no longer have, biking, hiking, climbing... really, I love most outdoor activities.

Except when it is -12 degrees Celsius. I actually refuse to look it up and see what the temperature is in Fahrenheit simply because I think Celsius makes more sense, even though I grew up with Fahrenheit. Since I barely understand anything else around me here in Germany, I figure, I might as well learn celsius as well. Also, -12 Celsius just sounds colder. And when attempting to run outside, my nose freezes which means I start breathing through my mouth, which means the cold air is hitting the back of my throat directly, which means I am in perfect condition to acquire bronchitis or pneumonia. Since i dont yet have a doctor and have no idea how to call and set up an appointment, I am really trying to avoid activities that would give me either of the above.

After a month of excuses for not working out (trying to find a place to live, trying to furnish my apartment without being able to use a credit card since ikea doesn't accept credit cards here, trying to figure out what I am supposed to be doing at work, trying to learn german and make new friends...), I finally decided to buy a gym membership. I first tried to "shop around" and went to this gym right across the street from my house. Studio 90 is located right above a steakhouse, and while I was visiting, I was pretty sure all of the men in the studio ate downstairs every night, since they all looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was 50 Euro per month if I signed a year, and if I went month to month it was 55 Euro. Since I am still a newbie and still converting into dollars (which is a bad idea) I decided that was way too much considering they opened at 8:30am!! Yes, for some reason, German culture doesn't view working out in the morning to be necessary. I think the fact that some clubs don't close until 6am or sometimes just stay open may have something to do with this. Since I have to be on a train around 8am, I decided this probably wasn't the gym for me.

Fitness First for Ladies was my next stop. Here there was also a special, 39.95 Euro if i signed a year contract instead of 53.95 Euro, and I wouldn't have to pay the 45 Euro setup fee! Also, they told me that the gym opens at 7am, which they emphasized was very early. I thought about my other gym options (McFit, and InterSports) and decided this was a good option for me, especially since I can use all of the Fitness Firsts for Ladies and all of the normal Fitness Firsts throughout Berlin and all of Germany.

Then I figured out how to get a locker and hopped on a machine. All he buttons were in German and there were no pictures. =( I spoke to one of the ladies who worked there who spoke a little English and explained that I wanted "Hills" on the Eliptical. (This is a pretty standard request, I thought, and it is usually what I do on Elipticals in other parts of the world.) She basically told me that hills were very hard, and so they don't really do them on the elliptical, but rather people do hills on the treadmill. Haha. Soo, after some coersing, I convinced here that I really did want the "automatic hill setting" instead of the manual hill option, and she showed me which button to push. Victory!

Finding a New Wascherei

Still unable to interpret German directions online, I gave up googling washerei and asked my Hausmeister. He actually doesn't speak English either, but by pointing to the heap of laundry on my floor along with the new Laundry detergent I had bought, and my numerous different pronunciations of"Wascherei," he was able to understand where I needed to go. I gave him some paper and he drew me a map. Take a right, then a left and then a right, and it will be on your left hand side.

I have my two large Ikea bags full of laundry and I start trekking the few blocks to the wascherei. No wascherei to be found. Finally, I decide to go inside the Comfort Inn Hotel, and ask them where I can do my laundry. They tell me that there is one on this street, but it is 8 blocks north and on the right side. Finally, I reach my destination. I laugh at the intimidating machines and sit down. All the directions are in German. There are four rows of buttons and 16 different choices. A few moments later, someone comes in to pick up his laundry (thankfully!). I ask him for some help and he tells me i have to pay for a token to put in the machine! Luckily he arrived, because I was prepared to put euro directly into the coin slot. The machine fits 3 two towels and one sheet. It costs 4 euro.

This is when I pick up my exciting new pink bottle of oxidizing laundry detergent and show my new wascherei friend. He takes a look and shakes his head. "Dies gilt nicht für die Maschine" he tells me. Seeing him shake his head, I knew something was wrong. Then we played some German pictionary and he explained that this detergent I bought could only be used for soaking "really dirty laundry" in a tub...and that I couldn't use this with a washing machine, or the oxidizing bubbles would cause too much pressure and break the machine. (read: exploding washing machine).

Thank GOODness I was able to avoid that disaster! So, I bought a tiny bag of laundry detergent powder from the attendant (this particular laundromat was combined with a liquor store, to the attendant was usually on the liquor store side, and could speak to me through a window.) The tiny bag of detergent was .50 euro cents. (No wonder people don't like to do their laundry here! It costs too much!) It also costs .50 euro cents to dry your clothes for 10 minutes..

An hour and a half later, less 7 euros, I had a bag and a half left of dirty laundry, two damp towels and one damp sheet. Note to self: purchase a drying rack and a washing machine.

Selecting the right Laundry Detergent

Normally, I don't spend more than a few minutes in the laundry detergent section of a grocery store. Luckily, I live right above a grocery store and so I thought I could make a quick purchase before running over to the laundrymat (Wascherei -- pronounced "Vasher-eye"). I locate the aisle with cleaning supplies and find the detergent section. There are white bottles, blue bottles, pink bottles, black bottles and a variety of other color bottles. The black bottles i decided were for dark/black clothes and the white bottles said Weiss on them, which is White. Now I had a load of new colored sheets and a bunch of jeans to do, so I knew I needed detergent for 'multicolor' clothes.

There were so many options. I finally chose a bottle with some smiley bubble faces on the design, with a word that looked similar to "Oxidizing" on the front. I thought, oxidizing bubbles will definitely help my clothes become clean! I grabbed the bottle and looked at the back, just to make sure there were images of clothes on the back, instead of dishes, and I took it to the register and bought it. I was so excited to have successfully selected some detergent that I didn't even realize that I left the detergent in the store. As I was about to cross the street, a man came running after me, shouting in German and pointing back to the store. Haha. woopsies.

So I grabbed my laundry detergent and ran across the street, only then realizing that the wascherei I was hoping to go to had gone out of business. =(

“Augustiner”

December 23rd, dinnertime

By the time my family arrives at the Hotel, I have already wandered around the area surrounding the hotel and have found an “Asia Super Markt” and quite a few “Erotik Dance Halls.” Interesting. I also located a row of Christmas markets and an Ice skating rink!

We walk around and try to find the most German restaurant we can, even though I explained the amount of Bratwurst I had consumed during the last few days on my expedition to find an apartment.

We decide to go into a place called “Augustiner” – Best choice ever! I highly recommend this restaurant! The waiters and waitresses looked like they were dressed in outfits made in “The Sound of Music” and there were Christmas lights and decorations everywhere!

Augustiner Großgaststätten

Neuhauser Str. 27 | 80331 Munich

Tel: +49 89 23183257 | Fax: +49 89 2605379

www.augustiner-restaurant.com

History of Augustiner: Since 1328 on Augustiner beer had been brewed within the monastery of the Augustinian Brotherhood near the cathedral of Munich. After nearly 500 years of tradition, the secularization in 1803 and the following privatisation led to a privately owned company: Augustiner Bräu.

I ordered the goulasch and my brother ordered this gigantic “meat platter,” which contained duck, rabbit, beef, and venison. Goulasch is my new favorite meal!! I can’t believe what I have been missing out on all this time! It is a bowlful of tender meat, either prok, beef or venison, slowroasted with the most delectable vegetables and tasty sauce! I have decided that I will now measure a restaurant on its Goulasch…Augustiner gets an A+.

Off to Munchen

Decemer 23, 2009

Germany is cold! Today I am flying to Munchen to meet my family for the beginning of our holiday vacation. I am hanging out at the airport, eating a brotwurst, because that is all they have that is warm and tasty under 3 Euro. It is the 16^th Brotwurst I have had in the last 8 days. I go through the security and sit at the gate and a lady starts speaking over the loadspeaker…in german, which I still can’t understand. A guy sees me looking very confused staring into a german-english dictionary and tells me that the roads are icy and the planes can’t land, or take off, and that the plane we were going to fly on has been diverted to another aiport. I smile, and say “Ahh, Danke!” and eat some gummy candy.

Since I have some time, I may as well talk about gummy candy. Gummy candy here in Germany is amazing. Usually, I would consider gummy bears to be for children. Here, gummy candy is akin to a gourmet treat and adults love the gummy candy! The only word in the ingredient list I can understand is Fruchtsaft. “Fruitjuice.” Since I have been overloading on brotwurst instead of fresh produce, I consider my little pack of gummy fruits to be quite healthy.

Four hours later, we land in Munchen. The flight is only an hour. I arrive at the hotel and decide to walk around. Here in Munchen, it is a balmy 40 degrees, and I decide to leave my arctic-polar-goose-down-puffy-marshmallow-coat in the room.

Transportation

Searching for a place to live is one of the greatest ways to get to know a new city and how to navigate it. I have taken buses, trams, metros and trains all around Berlin. I now know the difference between the

The DB trains — go over ground, are fairly fast and go longer distances

the U bahn trains — go underground and are similar to the metro in Washington DC,

the S Bahn trains — go over ground and are slower than the DB trains

The tram — is yellow, goes over ground in the middle of the street with the cars

Buses – self-explanatory

Tickets – The idea with tickets is the honesty policy. You are supposed to buy a ticket, stamp it in the date stamping machine before you ride any mode of transportation. One great thing is if you buy a day ticket or a “Tageskarte,” it is good for all modes of transportation.

Today I learned that if you buy a ticket, it is only good for that day (When you buy a ticket, the date you purchase the ticket is printed on the top. Unless you buy a ticket specifically for another day, in which case that date is printed at the top.) Every so often, and it is more often than not, authorized personnel will come through the train, bus, tram or U/S bahn and check your tickets. If you are caught without a ticket it is 40 Euro. (A typical day pass is 7 Euro.) The man checking tickets, pointed to the incorrect date atop my ticket, and then ripped it up and gave me a very sad look. Luckily I was with a German friend who explained that I had know idea what I was doing, and I bought too many day tickets a few days prior.

Baggage

My luggage arrived today! Losing your luggage is kind of traumatic. The first day it was kind of nice, because I didn’t have to tug it around everywhere. On day two, I was still hopeful and tried not to think about it, but the idea of getting a couple thousand bucks to go buy some more clothes doesn’t seem that bad. Day three is when it starts to get bad. I start thinking about all the things I had in there, leather jackets, down jackets, sweaters and all of my work clothes. It actually becomes sad to think about how long it has taken to acquire all of these items. Years and years of buying things, and now all of my favorite jeans, shirts and jackets could never be seen again. =(

It adds a different spin to ‘starting my life over.’ Although, I was sitting in the train thinking about what my new apartment is going to look like and I began thinking about whether that is really what I am doing. “Starting over” seems difficult and troublesome even. One example would be when someone loses an ability to do something, they may have to “start life over” since they have a completely new perspective given their new circumstances.

I have simply picked myself and changed locations…although, in a way, I have lost some of my ability to communicate. It was very interesting when I had to draw a picture of cell phone minutes and text messages to understand the pricing structure of my prepaid phone plan. Some of the concepts I am used to mentioning in passing now take up huge chunks of time. Perhaps I will become an expert at pictionary.

Buying a cell phone

Buying a cell phone plan seemed to take hours longer than expected. First you have to decide between the prepaid phones and the contract phones. The prepaid are great because you can avoid a contract and you only spend as much as you need. This downside is that if you make international calls often or if you want to surf the internet, it is very expensive. Apparently with T-mobile, the daily rate for accessing a data plan, is 5 Euro! That is 150 Euro per month, just on data if you were to use it everyday!

The contract phone plans are much cheaper, but more expensive up front. Here you still have to buy the phone when you sign up for

Vodafone and O2 seem to provide the best service

T-Mobile is the only provider that provides the I-phone

Base seems to be less favorable

Also, a friend of mine told me that she had a lot of trouble getting out of the 2 year contract. Apparently German contracts are very strict and it is very difficult to get out of a contract, even if your time is up.

So, since I am not sure how long I will be here (could be six months or six years) and I have a hard time making long time commitments anyway, I finally opted for a T-Mobile prepaid phone.

Crossing things off the list

A few of the things you need to provide when applying to rent a new apartment include bank information and contact information. Now, this seems pretty obvious, until you apply and you don’t yet have either of these things. Today I set out to set up a bank account and obtain a mobile phone, which in germany, people call ‘Handys’.

I go inside Commerzbank and see the sign that says “private banking” and decide that I want all my banking to be private, so I follow the sign up the stairs. A gentleman meets me and notices I speak English, and greets me in English. He wants to know where I work, whether I will be making investments and asks me if I want a credit card.

Now, in America, credit cards are not linked to one’s bank account. Usually, people have numerous credit cards that they overspend on all the time, which is why so many people are in debt.

Here in Germany, the system is set up to avoid that exact problem. Here, you can have a debit card, which pulls immediately out of your checking account when you use it. A german credit card allows the user to make purchases everyday using ‘credit’ however at the end of each month, it automatically withdraws the money you spent on the credit card from your checking account. You don’t have the option to ‘pay later’ or ‘carry a balance.”

The second option is to get a “gold credit card.” This credit card costs 70 euro pr year, and will provide the user with insurance, so this one is the choice credit card for heavy travelers. Now, I suppose I find this strange, since most American credit cards also provide insurance. I decided to sign up for the free credit card and evaluate later whether or not to “Go Gold.”

Apartment Searching

So, if you are ever looking for an apartment to rent here in Berlin, you should know that Germans seem to believe that Kitchens and everything in the Kitchen is personal, just like your TV, your bed, or your couch. I looked at a few apartments today, and only one of them actually had kitchen cabinetry, a fridge and a dishwasher. All the others only have a sink and a stove. Apparently, people here like to bring their kitchens with them, when they move! So interesting.

First real day in Berlin

It. Is. Cold. Outside. I have a wool and cashmere coat that practically touches my ankles, a hat that makes me look like an eskimo, and mittens that make me look like I am going skiing. How will I ever find a place to live!

I decide to ride the bus. I pick the 200 bus and ride from one side of Berlin to the other. I see a street called Luststrasse. I wonder how that street was named. I see a ferris wheel, and many Christmas fairs and bratwurst stations, and mercedez cabs. I see a lovely area called Zoologischer Garten. Perhaps I can live there!

Honestly, I wish I could have taken a bunch of photos to include here while I am describing what I saw today. Unfortunately, the battery is in my luggage and my luggage is still on vacation.

First night in Berlin

First night in Berlin, I am staying in Postdamer Platz in Berlin. There are Christmas decorations everywhere! The Potsdam square is complete with an Ice hill, where people are sliding down on rugs, there are tons or little booths with crafts, warm toffee covered nuts, bratwurst, coffee shops, even a little ice rink. I sip my coffee with bailey’s and find a place to eat. I could definitely live here!

Carry-on baggage

Tip number 1.

Always pack a carry-on with at least three days worth of clothes, because you will thank yourself when the airline tells you they don’t know where your bags are. Luckily for me, the lady at the airline 'lost and found' desk, told me that my bags are “still in transit” rather than “missing.” It makes me believe that she is more hopeful that they will find my bags, even though I didn’t have the bag claim tickets with me. (When I arrived in New York, my connection to Berlin had just closed its gates. When the delta lady re routed me to London, she exchanged my old tickets for new tickets, and my baggage claim stickers were stuck on the back of my old tickets.)

The lady in London seemed pretty off-put when I told her I didn’t actually have my baggage claim stickers…she seemed like there was no hope and I would never see my bags again. The Berlin lady was much more cheerful and made me believe I would have my bags in a few days. I like the Berlin lady better.

Adventure #1

5pm…So, adventure number #1 has begun! My flight is delayed 2 hours. The flight attendant says “luckily your connection to Berlin is also delayed, so you might even make your connecting flight.”

7:30pm…the flight attendant lied. Just landed at JFK, and my 7:40pm flight to Berlin just closed its gates. The lady at the “Interrupted Service Desk” tells me that I can fly to London, and then to Berlin, arriving at 5pm the next day. She says it is the only option that will get me to Berlin on Monday. (It is still Sunday.) Or, my other option is to fly Monday night and arrive Tuesday. I accept being rerouted through London. The lady takes my tickets and reissues me two other tickets for my flight to London and to Berlin.

While waiting for my flight, I start pondering what exactly I am getting myself into. I am leaving a really comfortable life…I had a job, great friends, a mortgage, the cutest dog I have ever seen, I even had real crystal wine glasses and a crystal decanter. Now, I am on my way to live in a city where I will no longer be able to communicate with everyone around me, I am supposed to find a place to live when I can't understand what my options are, and when all I can order on the menu are bratwurst. Luckily, Bratwurst are delicious.