Gray Christmastime in Berlin

Patrick and Erin's apartment is very European (duh), nice big rooms but lots of things I had to figure out how to work! From the 2" square light switches to the toilet to the hard to remove plastic top on the bottled water. It's such an experience being a foreigner! I've gotten good at saying "Spreckenzie English?" to store clerks and waitresses via Patrick's lead. And mostly they do. You can't get a plain old glass of water in the restaurants...it has to be bottled mineral water or sparkling water. Apparently after the war (which WAS 60 years ago!) the water system was rusting and tainted so no one trusted tap water...and apparently they still don't.

We have ridden on hundreds of trains (S-bhan) and subways (U-bahn) all of which are ALWAYS on time. During the day they run every 10 minutes, you jump on and suddenly you pop-up at the Brandenburg Gate or you are streaming by the Olympic Stadium. It's very cool. One thing is, the Germans make very little eye contact and you could hear a pin drop on the trains if it wasn't for the loud Americans. They don't talk! Also, don't say hello on the street...however the Polish-German couple across the hall with their three young boys have become good friends.

Did you know they sell beer over here in ONLY one liter or larger sizes?? I saw Heinekin in a large champagne-size bottle in the airport! Kids can drink at 16 and even learn the chemistry behind brewing beer, making wine and distilling whiskey in school.

Erin's 5th grade class is filled with exceptional young kids. To get into the John F. Kennedy public school they must know both English and German. Plus many are Embassy kids or kids who have parents from different countries. Patrick and I took their Xmas presents into them on Friday which was fun.

And everywhere I go in the subway or train station I see Patrick Dempsey's FACE on a German poster advertising a new movie.

Oh, did I mention that it is gray here? Very GRAY. There's a dense cloud cover and has been for a very long time. I think the kids and their friends are really feeling the effect. Erin says when the sun does come out it doesn't exactly rise in the sky; it just goes up a little and proceeds in a straight line across the sky. We're that much closer to the Arctic Circle.

I am totally enjoying my time here...we went to a party hosted by some teacher friends Friday right after school was out; ended up singing carols around the piano played by the music teacher from school (a great guy from Atlanta!). And today we went with six of their friends, including two precious 18 month old girls to the BrauHaus to have a Weinacht (Christmas) brew.

Merry Christmas to all and don't forget to email me!

Pat