Blogsmeade: Guten Tag!

Beth: "You don't update your blog very often."

Me: "Yeah..."

That conversation took place exactly two minutes ago. You happy now, sister?

Anyway - Hello from Germany! I have been here now for 19 days. That's 19 days of trying to get used to a pretty permanent change... and I think it's going rather well. The first few days were sort of iffy, but the family I'm living with is so nice. Their names are Marek, Jeannette and Julie. Julie is 16 months and adorable. Fiery, but (sometimes) sweet. I think she may finally be warming up to me. Jeannette is also pregnant - they have a baby boy due in less than a month. Their flat is located on a horse farm 40 minutes outside Berlin. It's further than I thought, and it's really the only negative thing about my situation. The town they are in is TINY. Less than 200 people and not a single business besides the riding school. Ah... hopefully it is something that I will get used to.

My first week here I watched Julie and tried to get accustomed to my new home. Marek works in Frankfurt Tues-Thurs every week so it was just me and Jeannette for a lot of it. She's really great! Extremely welcoming and just wants me to feel comfortable. Last week I took a German class in the center of Berlin. I LOVED it! It was 9:30-12:30 everyday. There were 11 people in my class and we were a very eclectic bunch. Brazil, Japan, Sweden, Ecuador, France, Australia and the US were represented. We all got along great too. Unfortunately, none of them are going to be here for more than a month. Not only was it fun, but I feel like my German did improve quite a bit. We spent the majority of the week going over an area of grammar that English doesn't use so it was definitely helpful. That, and I now know my food vocabulary!

This past weekend was absolutely amazing. I was reunited with my dear, sweet, roommate extraordinaire, Bryanna. She and four friends are trotting across this great continent for a total of 6 weeks. Berlin was the third stop (not counting their landing in Frankfurt) after Oslo and Copenhagen. We met for a great walking tour, a quick happy hour, and dinner at a great Italian restaurant. On Sunday we checked out Kaiser Wilhelm's Memorial Church on Kurfürstendamm, one of the most famous avenues in Berlin, and tried to go shopping but soon realized absolutely nothing was open. So we went for a coffee instead and then to Berlin's oldest biergarten. It was just as wonderful as it sounds. Then we happened upon this amazing music festival and outdoor market. I later learned that it was an event called Fete de la Musique. All of the parks across Berlin had similar things going on. It was great. Saying goodbye to Bryanna, Sarah, Holly, Amanda and Seija was not easy! They were headed off to Prague next, followed by Paris, Barcelona, Rome and others. Bry definitely cured me of the homesickness that I had. I am so lucky I was able to see them!

This week has been good. I had my first two full days along with Julie. They were... interesting. The second was a lot better than the first. I think Julie is starting to realize that I am not going to replace her mother.