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The First Two Weeks

From In Berlin
Hello! So I have been here just over 2 weeks now which is a bit crazy and things are finally coming together. I really like our apartment. Lots of room and it is very quiet as we are a block off the main road. We finally got some furniture last week so the place is not as empty and we actually have chairs to sit on and a bed to sleep in (that is not the noisy air mattress). I even have my craft table set up, but I am still looking for storage for my fabrics and such (the ones I wanted were out of stock). Yesterday I sewed up curtains for the front windows so we can have the privacy blinds (big metal blinds that come down and cover the front windows and are on most of the ground floor windows around town) up and Raymond won't freak out that people can see in.The bedroom/my craft room is pretty much done. The back of the house gets much better light during the day so I set up shop back there to take advantage of it. If I worked in the front rooms I would need the lights on as well and...it is just nicer to sit by the window and sew. We still need more things like bookshelves and couches and such, but we have the main things we needed which is nice. I will post pics of the apt with furniture once we get everything settled in.


From In Berlin
Last Friday I met Raymond down at his work to go out with his coworkers for foods and some drinks. Most people just went right to the drinking, but we were hungry so we went with 2 others to get some food. Side note - Max you can get amazing Mexican food in Berlin you just have to know where to go! We went to Maria Bonita for some tacos that were so delicious and a margarita for me!

From In Berlin
Then we headed over to the work meetup at a beer garden in Prenzlaur Burg and hung out with some coworkers until late. It was fun and for the most part I really liked his coworkers. We had a great time hanging out and it was a perfect night as it wasn't too cold (though the bike ride home was a little chilly). It was nice to meet everyone and it seems like they do a lot together so I am sure I will see them again soon.

What else...hmm..well it had been raining like everyday since I got here, then last Sat it was gorgeous and has been nice ever since! We rode our bikes all over the place and man I loved it! I got my bike a week ago Sunday and not that I didn't love Berlin before but with my bike I love it at least 10 times more! It is sooo easy to ride around - it is incredibly flat. There are some slight hills, but they are super easy to navigate as well. It is not at all like trying to ride around Seattle....I always wanted to ride my bike more, but with all the hills it just was not happening. Now, now I can ride my bike everywhere! And Berlin is set up for bikes - there are either bike lanes on the road (that people actually pay attention to and look for bikers before turning across them!) or bike lanes on the sidewalks almost everywhere. Also there are a lot of bike lights and even lanes/lights to turn left on busy streets on your bike! It is wonderful. I really love it.


From Vegan Gastrobot
Plus since we rode our bikes all over the place we could eat more ice cream! Berlin has a ton of ice cream places and most of them have at least a sorbet that I can eat and man is it delicious! The chocolate soy cream is so so so good. Some of the best ice cream I have ever had. It is so creamy and just delicious. Really the food here has been great and incredibly cheap. We have been eating out way too much, but I need to get my kitchen set up. One thing I wish I would have packed more of my kitchen things. Not plates and such as they got destroyed anyways, but like utensils and such. They are pretty expensive here and there is not a good selection unless I want to spent a fortune on a spatula and serving spoons (which I don't). Oh well, it will come together slowly but surely.


From In Berlin
While riding around you also stumble across a lot of parks. You can't go 2 blocks without finding a park it seems like...This one has all of these cool tiled animals and such and I really enjoyed it. Here are a few more photos:
From In Berlin
From In Berlin

One thing about Berlin is it is kind of a dirty city. Or it feels kind of run down in a weird way and there is graffiti everywhere. Everywhere. Raymond said there is even a shop next to his work I think that only sell paint for graffiti. They really embrace graffiti here. On the flip side they also have a lot of amazing murals on buildings

From In Berlin
From In Berlin
From In Berlin
It is a lot of fun exploring and finding all the cool areas. They also have a lot of sculptures around everywhere. My favorite one that we have found is a hippo fountain with 2 explorers on his back. He is super silly.

From In Berlin
See super silly. I cannot wait to explore more and find more fun things!

Lets see some notes on living in Germany that I have found these past 2 weeks:

1) Berlin is a big city. Like it feels like a big city. Not like Seattle. Seattle is a small big city. Berlin there are people out and about everywhere at all times. I see why people say it is like New York as it is in some regards. The main streets (and even a lot of the side streets) are lined with stores and restaurants and such with apartments above them. It has been great so far, though all of Raymond's coworkers warned me the winters are bad. It snows every week, but doesn't stick around for long...so it kind of seems almost like Seattle but it snows more often so it shouldn't be too bad.

2) The puppies here are amazingly good. That was really the first thing I noticed. There are dogs everywhere - it seems like everyone has one. Big dogs, small dogs, all kinds of dogs and they are all super well behaved. I think I have heard a dog bark twice since I got here and I have been out and about and run into a lot of puppies. They are also usually not on a leash and yet they stay with their people and don't run off, stop at roads and wait for their people, run along side their people on bikes, etc. They don't bark, they don't jump up on anyone, they don't run off....I don't know what they do differently here but it is a little crazy, but good.

3) They don't serve water with dinner. I really need to get in the habit of taking my water bottle with me at all times. 99% of the time I drink water and when we go out to eat a lot of the time if you want a beverage you have to buy one....so I need to start bringing my own.

4) On the water thing - Berlin is really environmentally friendly seeming except people don't drink the tap water they buy water. In small bottles. All the time. And other beverages but every time I go to the store there is someone walking out with a few cases of bottled water. Everyone uses bottled water. It is just.....odd to me. The tap water doesn't taste good, but we got a filter and now it is fine. That plus keeping it cold in the fridge is delicious.

Alright I should go to the store and see about some dinner for tonight. Since it is nice out I think we will have a picnic in the park! I still need to get the back yard under control and weeded, but hopefully I will have time for that later this week. It would be nice to get a few flowers into the garden :) I was thinking I might try and update the blog once a week or so with what we have done, things I have noticed, etc so we shall see if that happens. There never seems to be enough time in the day for everything!

Comments

Max said…
Mexican food. . . I might have to see it to believe it!
Suzannah Ashley said…
Snows every week?!?! No fair!

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