Life in Berlin

I am going to try to keep my blog going, after all, living in Berlin just feels like an extension of my RTW trip. And of course I plan to do some traveling while here but the funny thing is that at this point I am so tired of traveling I even have a hard time site seeing here in Berlin!! I really have no urge at all to hop on a plane or train and go anywhere, and I think I may just stay put here until I go home for Christmas (Dec. 23-Jan 7).

So life here…I absolutely love my apartment, more than anywhere I have ever lived. I just want to be here all of the time and never go out. It is so nice to have a home, after a year without. Having my very own space (and there is a lot of it!) is just great- I love it.

I am getting to know my neighborhood a little better and just 5-10 minutes away on my bike is a really cute shopping/eating area, and some of the main tourist attractions and shopping areas are just a 10-15 minute bike ride. There is a flea market right down the street on weekends and last weekend I bought myself my first set of silver. Nothing fancy but better than the 2 forks, 3 spoons and 2 knives I had before.

My cross bike finally arrived after a 3 week hold up in customs- it was sent from a bike company at home, friends helping me out since it cost much less to send from a company, but German customs, who are absolutely nuts, didn’t believe that my bike (and comforter, boots, and miscellaneous junk in there) wasn’t new from Santa Cruz Bikes. Finally, after writing 3 letters, sending copies of my passport, work visa, and housing lease agreement, they released it to me. The forest is just about a 20 minute ride from here and there is single track. This town is flat, though.-really flat, but there is one hill (made of rubble from the war) and I even found a kind of technical trail going down it  (the descent last about 30 seconds but it’s better than nothing!)

Yes, I am finally trying to get back in shape, as painful as it is. The first cross race here in town is October 3, just down the street from me and I am going to swallow my pride and give it a go. I have been riding to work, about 45 very flat minutes and well, that is just going to have to do for my training.  I never was too big on training anyway but I’m not sure how this year off the bike is going to effect me- I think it may hurt…a lot.

School has been really good. We started about 3 weeks ago. I am teaching 6th grade homeroom, math and science and the kids are absolutely adorable. 6th graders are great. I have a class of 16 and I teach the 2 other 6th grade classes science as well. We have kids from many nationalities- in my class Germans, Americans, Israelis, Dutch, and Russians, and in the other 6th grade classes kids from the UAE, Thailand, S. Korea, and more! Many of their parents work for the various embassies so these kids have moved around a lot and as a result they are really open to new people and ideas. It’s pretty fun being around them- they are all speaking different languages and I get to learn about how schools in different parts of the world work. (In Russia kids must do all work in pen at all times- I insist on math in pencil but little Dmitry who just moved from there can’t seem to break the habit). Anyway, they really are adorable and I really do look forward to going to work every day. My colleagues are pretty good too- it is actually a very laid back group of people- I am never alone in my last minute lesson planning and I love that. We have a lot of time off during the week- each day is long- eight 40 minute periods and a 1 hour lunch. Most of my classes are in blocks (80 min each) and have at least 1 80 min block off each day, usually more. Fridays are great though- I only teach 1 class!  It is really nice because I actually have time to get things done.

My only complaint is that our school is really meeting happy. We have a staff meeting for an hour and a half after school every week and lunchtime meetings every month, as well as extra meetings thrown in just for fun. It’s pretty painful but survivable.

My German is still terrible but next Monday starts my class- the school provides a teacher once a week and hopefully it will be of some help because I am getting really tired of trying to pantomime everything.

Well I think that’s about all for now. Life here is really pretty good so far. I’ll let you know how I survive the cold. It is already pretty dreary here- cold and windy today and not so awesome but after all, I didn’t come here for the weather.

photos on flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/51763198@N00/