commentary on life in berlin

in class, i have met a very nice norwegian girl named ingvild. i asked her today if she had been to the fernsehturm (big tall TV tower) and she said no, so then i asked if she wanted to go with me to have coffee. she said, "sure" and seemed kind of happy and then a second after she thought about it, she said, "i think i heard that it wasn't so good." did she change her mind and not want to go with me? i wonder if i have done something weird and made her scared. i hope not!

anyway, i'll keep you posted on my one potential freunde...

so after class, i went to the grocery store to get some dinner and more candles since the smell keeps seeping back into the apartment. well, first, i had to hobble all the way there because my shoes gave me horrible blisters. everyone was staring at me on the way but i dont think it was because of my limping. i realized today that i dont think i'm cool enough for berlin. this is a very very alternative, yet totally trendy city. i just look too... boring or something. when i'm comfortable and in my tennis shoes, i stand out because they're so american. then when i'm in flat eropean shoes, i can't walk properly. i just cant win! and i saw some guy put a sticker on a lampost and i thought, "my friend, dave, would LOVE it here." which i know he will.

back to the grocery store. its a wonder they get any business at all because their store front is a restaurant. you have to go THROUGH the restaurant to get to the grocery store. isn't that funny? i passed by it three times before someone in class finally told me that its behind the Donner (kebab stand). now i like to go there just to walk around and laugh / stop myself from throwing up in my mouth. i wonder just how many animals they have to kill to fill a german grocery store. they sure like their meat here. today i noticed meat in soup (understandable), meat spices in the veggie section (?), then meat flavored breads and pretzels. oh, and speaking of pretzels: i could either get the smaller, "bio" pretzels (which means organic - but dont worry they're still "gut!") for 1.49 euro OR a bag twice the size but not bio for 0.35 euro. guess what i got. that's right - according to my uncle jerry, organic is not technically better from a food safety standard. and i certainly don't want to eat a deadly brazillian spider (danke, rich!).

on my way home, i passed a hair salon called Unicut. Unicut?? Is this really good marketing? How many people truly go to get his or her haircut just like the next person? and i think they cut men and women's hair. hmmm.... [mental note: do not make appointment there.]

then, a very seemingly straight looking guy rode past me on a bicycle (bike riding is a la mode here and everyone does it). i guess it doesnt matter whether he looked straight or not because what was weird is that he was carrying a HUGE metallic gold PURSE. a purse. not like a cool artsy bag or half-holding it like he was carrying it for his girlfriend. straight or gay: it looked really funny.

i was going to come home and do lots of studying, but then i was thinking that i won't have as much fun at places. e.g. in the grocery store, i make up whats in things since i cant read the labels. oh! and, btw, i might not be a vegetarian anymore! i went to a little asian stand after the grocery store and ordered some noodles. she kept asking me "mit fleisch" or something else and i know that "mit fleish" means "with meat" but i couldnt understand what she was saying otherwise, so i just repeated her. how horrible is that! 1) she was speaking german 2) with an asian accent so 3) there was no way i was going to get my point across and 4) i didnt want to confess to not knowing what she was saying. i know! i dont know why! why would i care that this person knows if i'm german or not?? i think i was so upset by not fitting in with my 'look' and hobble that i figured if i could fool one person, i should keep the ruse going. so, i pretended to be listening to my ipod more than them and every time they asked me if i wanted something, i'd wait until they reached for it "bitdkwlig?" and then look up as they pick up the soy sauce bottle. "ja, bitte." and then they said something else, "keptfurnameishen?" and picked up a scoop of something funny (probably dried meat flakes or something) and i said, "nein, nein!" and then they said some number and i handed over a ten euro since i knew that would cover it. success! i'm eating meat (uh-oh) BUT they thought i was german!