So, all of my normal reliable friends are out of town this weekend, or otherwise occupied.
Today I mailed off my entry for a composition competition. They will decide later this summer - the winner gets a thousand dollars and a performance by the choir which sponsors the competition. I entered "Baking with Momma", so here's hoping!
I also bought ballet slippers today, I start my dance classes on tuesday I believe. Unfortunately, I have blisters on my feet because I walked to the dance wear store in terrible shoes with no socks. Ouch!
This evening I've been looking online for apartments in London. I think I've found the one I want - reasonable rent, the place looks really really nice, the landlord sounded very nice, phone/cable/internet, laundry in the basement. It's a house and the rooms are apparently quite large and it's in a quiet neighborhood. I'm not sure about that last point, I would prefer to be living downtown, but that would be out of walking distance. This apartment isn't perfect location, but I think all the places within that happy walking distance are not the type of place I'm looking for.
In terms of numbers (dollar cost), this is near the high end of what I wanted to pay for a place, but looking at the ads on the internet, unless I want to be somewhere dingy, I don't think I'll find something reasonable for less.
Nevertheless, I'm not quite ready to jump on it.... I'll give it maybe another day, see if my sister can go look at the place while she's vaguely in the area....

Today was a fairly good day for organization:
One of the first things I did was throw out a bunch of papers that were cluttering my bedroom, there were also some books that I put on a bookshelf. I also cleaned out 2 drawers of my dresser.... it hasn't housed clothes in a very long time, mostly old papers that I don't need anymore.
This evening I was working a bit on tidying up my Baking with Momma score. I want to enter a competition, but it requires a keyboard reduction for a cappella works. 8 Voices of independant nature do not lend themselves well to a keyboard reduction. As a result the reduction is scary and I certainly wouldn't want to play it, but I suppose it's still better than not having it and making the pianist read 8 staves at a time.... I did that, not fun. The other thing is that I need to print it on 8*14 paper, otherwise it would be a billion pages, twice as many as the original version. I bought the paper, but printer settings both in the program and in the control panel have been giving me troubles. For the competition, it has to be postmarked by the 30'th, ie 2 days from now - I have tomorrow to tidy up the arrangement and then whip up an impressive CV. But, tomorrow I have a meeting/rehearsal for Hair and then in the evening I'm going to a dance show. On the bright side, no ballet on Saturday because it's done!!! which means I have the morning and early afternoon to get all of it ready and then send it off.
This evening I went to the store to buy the Legal sized paper, and I stumbled upon the accordion folder section. I had been meaning for a long time to get one of these to organize my ballet music. Today was the day I would buy one..... So many choices. Did I want 5, 7 or 13 or 14 sections!? how did I want it to close/stay closed? how much was I willing to spend? I seriously wandered up and down that aisle, comparing every option for at least 15 minutes. It was agonizing! In the end, I got one with 7 sections....there is a rope that keeps it closed, but I'm not sure how... I think it's faulty. without overly stretching the rope, it keeps it from flopping open, but it doesn't hold the contents from spilling out - not that it would happen easily, but still. If I try different ways for the rope to cross the top, then it pulls too tight and buckles inwards. This is the problem with me picking things out... I know what I want (whether I can voice those specifics or not) and I see the fatal flaws in all the products that do not specifically meet that expectation. I never find the perfect thing, so I get stressed out in the purchasing process about how much that flaw is going to interfere with the function I wish the product to perform.
While I was putting the music in, I realized I needed a reasonable way or organizing the music. I made a list and came up with 8 types of ballet music, in very general categories.... I needed an extra slot, but oh well. I should have gotten one with 13 sections, and then I could have further specified the musical classifications.
I would say that I can't believe I've rambled for this long about such a lame topic, but I can easily believe it.
In other news, I called today and there is still room int he adult classes for dance starting next week, so I'm signing up! I'll be dancing for a few hours mon-thurs for the next 2 weeks. I wish I could do it for the whole month, but rehearsals won't allow for it. I will be taking beginner classes in Ballet and Jazz, also open classes in Musical Theatre and Modern. I get a 90% staff discount and the teachers have told me that it will be super fun. With that, how could I not do it?!?

Home, safe and sound.

I'm home. I didn't get a chance to see the Jolly Old Town of London though last night, by the time we got into the hotel it was 6pm and then there was dinner at 6:30 pm and it would have cost 25Pounds to take the train into the city and back, and I had to wake up early for the flight anyway. Excuses excuses, but it just wasn't meant to be.
The flight itself was great, 4 movies, 4 rounds of complimentary beverages (ie. liquor) and 2 meals and the most pleasant staff I'd had on a plane. They were really trying to make sure we would not hate them for the delay - but it was only an extra night to the trip.
After the dinner last night, I drank with some of the other young people.... SO EXPENSIVE to drink in a London airport hotel!
Long story short - all is well!

In other news, I checked my mail today and there were actual letters from the University which explained some of what the email caused me to be confused about. I bitched too soon. Everything is peachy-keen! Funding situation for next year is even a little better than I had expected.

For now, I'm going to put photos from my trip onto the computer, do some laundry and then return Kyle's luggage and Kim's clothes, and then maybe hang out with some friends, but generally have an early night and then I'll be all good for tomorrow.

Ok, so I'm at an internet cafe (sans cafe) in the London airport. The long and short of it is that the flight was supposed to be this afternoon, but they delayed it until tomorrow morning at 9:15 therefore I got free lunch today and free supper as well as a night in the London Airport Hilton. I'm not in a huge rush to get home, so I don't mind. except for the lines...
nevertheless, it gives me time to write about my last few days in Berlin. 35 minutes to be exact.

Saturday, this was my last day to really do anything in the city. I started by going to the Memorial for the Jews killed in the Holocaust, I had already been to the memorial part above ground, this time I went to the information centre underneath. It was powerful and moving. It was filled with information and perspective about the holocaust. I have to say it was fairly emotionally draining to read the letters and history of what happened. I forced myself to read everything they had on the displays. The exit from the info centre went into the field of concrete slabs, but rather than having a moving experience that might relate the meaning of it to me....
There was loud music blaring and people all over the place. It appeared to be a parade - the song playing was that one ''I saw your girlfriend who looked like your boyfriend'' one. That's right... it was a huge gay/lesbian pride parade going on in the middle of Berlin. I walked towards Potsdammer Platz and it was even busier there. I didn't really have any other plans for the day, so I walked along the parade to see what was going on. I walked beside the parade and at some points in it to get to the end of the line where there was a band playing - terribly; it was shit.
Then I was tired and went home.
Kim and I went to that restaurant like I had said earlier and then went for drinks.
yesterday Kyle and I went to Leipzig - a classical musician's dream place. I went to church with Bach in the morning, then we went to the Bach Museum. unfortunately all the manuscripts and things were not there, but it was interesting I suppose. We also went to the Schumann museum which housed those Davidsabend concerts that we read about in history classes. There was also a Mendelssohn museum, at which we went to a string quartet recital. It was very good. I loved the passion and musicality of the players. It was very different than some of the chamber music I've heard in the past and I think I rather liked it.
For dinner I wanted Schnitzel, after trying a few places that didn't look reasonable in terms of menu or price, someone suggested a schnitzel factory..... it was wonderful, it had over 50 types of schnitzel. I had one with Hollondaise and peppers, mmm!
Last night was fairly low-key, but Kyle Kim and I ended up staying up far too late anyway and only got a few hours of sleep.... it would be perfect to have gotten on that plane- i would have just slept all the way and then I'd be ready to go for tuesday. Instead I will be flying all day tomorrow and then the extra 7 horus of the day will drain me more adn then I will be tired on Wednesday too. maybe.
I guess I should email my parents in case I don't get to call them tonight. Still 10 more minutes, but I'm not going to spend another 10 minutes blogging.
Although...
The music is driving me insane... across the hall is a gaming lounge and the games play the tackiest shit music ever! I've also been hearing the same two announcements all day since I've been here. ''Passengers are only allowed one piece of handluggage on board. Please be informed that a ladies hand bag does count as a piece of handluggage.''
Anyway, I rather dislike airports, so I won't stick around here much longer. and I'm too cheap to spend another 25 Euro to go into the city, cause the airport is of course out of the city. I'm planning on getting into my hotel room and taking a nice long shower and then going for dinner. I'll chit chat around and see if any of the other fellow Zoom people are planning to be social. if not, then I will just watch British television all night and get to sleep early.
Take care everyone, hopefully there won't be anything else standing in the way of my travels. I will next blog from home.

Treasure Hunt

So as you may know, my time here in Berlin is coming to an end. I think at this point that I can say this has been one of the best trips I have been on. I love Berlin - the people, the buildings, the language. I love Kyle and Kim - as people are all heading in different directions with their lives, I see old friends less and less often and more has changed between encounters than ever before. To see friends in the context which is inspiring these changes is a wonderful experience.

Anyway, over the last few days I have been thinking of how bad I am - I told my secret blog reader who will later be coming to Berlin that I would leave her something in Berlin.... but it was seeming impossible and no opportunities were opening up or jumping into my head. Anyway, last night Kim took me to her favorite restaurant - a bar type place with delicious yet inexpensive food. As we were eating, she pointed out these coasters on the wall and explained that you're supposed to write or draw something on it and then put it up on the wall. Lo and behold - the one she had written on was still there, from 2006- about 1 year ago.

>>>This was the opportunity I was looking for<<<

I present the following treasure hunt for my secret blog reader friend. Below find the clues that you will need to find this marvellous treasure!

History - The Tiergarten is an amazing large park in the middle of Berlin. The name is German for Animal Garden. It was made long ago for the rich people - they would let wild animals run around the park and then they would hunt them - it saved them the hassle of going out into the actual wild.

Your Treasure Hunt takes place just outside the Tiergarten Banhoff Station (S-bahn line 5, 7, or 9- basically any of the S-bahn trains will take you here). The restaurant is literally steps outside of one of the exits. I can't remember the name of the restaurant, but I'm sure you'll find it. If I remember, I might ask Kim what it's called and post that later.

Once at the bar/restaurant, the hunt begins. Be careful - you may encounter cows...


or maybe even moose....

But don't be too afraid. If you feel like you may wet your pants, you can always go...



Here is what you are looking for - it is very close to those three signs. Sadly, I will not still be holding it, but I think you'll survive. Word to the wise - the bartender thought I was crazy for ordering Amaretto and diet coke... so maybe stick with the basics like Wein und Bier.

Gutes Gluck!

I am sitting here in Paris. It's not terribly late in the morning, but I wanted to be out later. I need to leave here in the middle of the night in order to make my flight and I don't trust myself to wake up if I were to sleep. I'll use this hour to play on the internet and then maybe I'll wander the nearby area of my hostel for a while and enjoy some paris night life.
I had two whole days in Paris and I managed to do most of the really touristy stuff - but I left the Eiffel Tower until the second day. Other things on the list are: the Louvre, Cathedrale Notre Dame de Paris, Centre Pompidou, Arc de Triomphe, Champs de l'Elysses, Statue de la Liberte, Radio France, Pont Neuf, and my hostel is minutes from le Sacre-Coeur, but I never made it to the actual church although I did go there at night to hang out and watch the Eiffel Tower from afar.
The trip has been good. I was expecting that I was going to fall in love with Paris the moment I got here - I did not. I've definately warmed up to it, but I think at this point I prefer Berlin. I've spent a great deal of my time with 2 fun Quebequois. I can't undertand what they say. I am not fluent in French by any means. But, talking to Parisians has been much easier than the Quebekkers. Regardless, it's been good company over the last couple days.
I was in a very bad mood this morning. I received two emails that changed the situation of next year. One of them is just that - a change; my roommate got a great offer so she's going with that - no problem. The other was the university telling me that they made a mistake and they're only offering half the money they said they would. That is NOT GOOD. That puts me in a bad situation and makes me feel shitty about having spent as much money as I have... actually any money on travelling this summer. But those are surface thoughts..... I am very happy that I came here, I just get easily sidetracked by finances. Anyway, when I get to Berlin I will talk with Kyle and Kim and then decide if I should email or wait til I'm home in Winnipeg to call them and explain how unhappy and insecure that email makes me -
and I don't know how bitchy I should be... I mean, my decision to go there was completely based on money. If the money was equal (like it currently seems they want it to be), I might certainly have made a different decision. Now I don't have the liberty of making a decision - it's made and it's too late to change it or do anything about it.
I don't want to change it or anything like that - I just want things to be just like they were before they sent me that damned email.
Anyway, Eiffel Tower today was amazing. I will not bother bitching about the nearly 2 hours of waiting in line involved in this experience..... It was a spectacular view of a gorgeous city. I am glad I left it to the end as I recognized the places I was seeing in context. It helped to bring together the experiences I had!
Oh, I also heard a free concert of the Radio France Orchestra playing Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique!!!!!!!!!! c'etait ca!

Ok, so these pictures are in the reverse order I wanted them to be in, so suck it up and just enjoy them! I'm not going to post everything or even a representative sample of the things I've done and the people I've encountered because that would take too much time. I'm doing this, well mostly to satisfy a certain bitchy friend who has been bitching on my comments about me not putting pictures up... take that bitch! haha!


This was taken in Tiergarten Park - the giant park in the middle of Berlin. So pretty. It was also very hot, so it was nice to stop and take a gaze.




Kyle's roommate has a snake - it's name is "Snakey". I wanted to ask the roommate if I could see his snake = "Darf ich dein Schlange sehen?" the word for snake can also have a secondary meaning..... I'll leave that to you to figure out..... We played with Snakey for a bit, I had a mild freakout soon after this when snakey was moving everywhichway and his skin felt odd and scary on my skin.

This is an S-bahn station. What can I say, I've spent a great deal of my time in Berlin, in these types of places. I love the public transportation here - simply amazing. It's so efficient and busy - it really hearkens to the vitality of the city. I especially like the above ground stations - they are so large and open. Underground stations are not necesarily dingy, but they are dark and remind me of the teenage mutant ninja turtles, which isn't necesarily a bad thing.
This is no-man's land - the area between the two parts of the Berlin wall. It's part of the East Side Gallery: a wonderful mix of Artistic and general graffiti. I must admit that I didn't really have a good concept of the Berlin Wall and it's signficance when I went here early on in the trip. I shoud have watched that movie before. Nevertheless, it was a powerful experience to be so close to the wall that had such an influence on German history and also to see the artistic statements that were put on it.






Here is Kyle and Kim and I on the S bahn. Terrible picture, but that's ok. These are my german friends!





Here is an example of taking a picture to make fun of the funny use of English when it may or may not have been understood. Kyle and I also ate a restaurant where the drink menu had the slogan "Cocktails - On the Cock's Tail". So funny!


Anyway, that is enough for now. Tomorrow I got to Paris, so I wanted to spend time today finishing up the touristy things so when I come back on friday, I can just spend the weekend with friends and perfecting my german speaking.
I went to the memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe today. It is a very interesting display of huge concrete slabs - differing sizes and angles - yet in rows and columns. You can walk through them and the perspective changes with each step. It is not meant to be blatantly or even just openly symbolic of anything, but it does lend itself to individual symbolism and the depth of the monument and the size of the slabs makes it a powerful statement of whatever you might take from it. There is also an information centre underneath that is apparently very powerful; it has information of the numbers and histories of the people killed and really puts things into perspective. Once again, things like that aren't open on mondays (reminds me of last monday with the Gemeldegalerie) so I was unable to go into the exhibit underneath. I do plan to go on friday when I come back to Berlin.
After that, I wandered Berlin mostly randomly. I took a U-Bahn and then walked and then a bus for a while and then I walked for 2 hours and made it back to where I started. I went through areas of very urban shopping and then through streets where there were lots of food places and then some residential areas and it was always interesting. I think it was the least touristy thing I've done - and it gave me a great sense of what Berlin is like - away from the tourists snapping photos of the historical buildings and all that.
So, enough blogging for the moment, I need to figure out what I will take with me to Paris, I don't even know if I have enough clean clothes, but I can't do laundry now because it wouldn't be dry by tomorrow when I need to leave.
In theory I don't want to blog or email while in Paris. The only reason I've been so computer present while in Berlin is because Kyle has the internet on his computer and his appartment is basically just his room or the kitchen. He also has the same laptop as I do, so it's all too familiar. I will certainly post of my Parisian escapades on Friday though.

Last night I went to a dance club in Berlin. It was super fun. Earlier Kyle's friend had explained that she would be going to an "Ice cream on a stick" party - I did not understand. I was happy with not understanding because sometimes it's just too much effort to figure out what foreigners mean, and I'm currently an auslander myself. Kim and I sat around yestereve and drank wine while trying to pick songs for Kim to learn how to play on her mandolin for busking purposes.
There was a band playing 50's rock style music and we danced, then they stopped. Then we went into another dancey room and the d-j was spinning the hottest tunes from the 50's, maybe even some 60's. Kim and I were dancing fools. We were at the bar dancing and having fun until nearly 4am and then we took the S-Bahn home and made it just before 5ish. We've decided that bars in Canada should be open super late - Kim couldn't remember what time the bars were open until in Winnipeg and then we realized that since they close so soon people are forced to go to Perkins or some similar place - it's better for people to keep dancing rather than eating.
Today was fairly subdued. Kyle and I did a fair bit of walking - I learned about the Berlin Wall and then we watched a movie about tunnels under the wall. I went to CheckPoint Charlie which was the way between East Berlin and the American section of Germany!

I went to the Kulturforum Museum of Musical Instruments today. WOWZERS! it was amazing. They had so many keyboard instruments from virginals and spinets and clavichords to pianos and organs and soo many things. It really put a lot of the historical information I learned in school into context when I could actually see the instruments and look at how the strings were laid and the hammers, or pluckers lined up.
They closed an hour earlier than I had seen on their website, so I didn't get to go through a second time for more details, but about 20 minutes before closing I discovered that there was a room with 5 different examples of their keyboard instruments. I played on a footpump organ, a harpsichord, early romantic grand, a beautiful Steinway upright grand and a few others. It was wonderful, especially keeping in mind that I haven't touched a piano keyboard in over a week.
I took far too many pictures of everything there (almost). After capturing everything on digital film, I was able to go back to a few of the exhibits on how they made early instruments - there was an exhibit of an early piano-makers workshop and they had a cool machine that was frozen in time during the process of making a piano string.
Also of interest which I didn't photograph so much in detail was the development of stringed instruments. I actually got to see the historical instruments like Viol Viola da Gamba, 8 stringed Cellos and well.. lots of novelty/fun ones. My favorite one was a walking stick/cane which opened up to be a violin type thingy. It was beyond awesome.
I would love to say that I could have stayed there all day, but the looking- not touching part was driving me a little insane. Regardless I am so glad that I went. It was an amazing experience that I will not soon forget.

Potsdam was fun. I was totally disoriented when I got there and I started walking in the wrong direction, then I took the bus to a different starting place, but I never quite got my bearings. Basically I only walked around one park which housed at least 2 palaces and large open grassy areas and beautiful gardens. It was amazing, even in Canada, I rarely see such large expanses of greens, and even when you do, it's not done with such class. I took about sixty pictures today, mostly just of the overwhelming beauty.
The only downside was that I was having some lower blood sugars during my walking, so that added to my map-related disorientation. Luckily I'm always prepared - well not luckily, because I just have to be. Anyway, trying to keep my sugars in line has been difficult. I'm trying new delicious foods and none of them have the carbohydrates written on them and even when packaged stuff does, I can't relate things to 100g portions. Long story short, my sugars have been on the lower side more than I'd be fully comfortable BUT by walking for hours each day and eating healthy on this trip, I have kept my sugars under better control AND lowered the amount of insulin I've been needing.
It was good to see my friend Anna this evening, although we were both fairly indecisive. We walked around the town a bit and had a nice dinner at some italian wine bistro, although she doesn't drink so we just had bubbly water. Anyway, she told me about this Kino (movie theatre) where a few days hence she had watched Cyrano de Bergerac en francais with German subtitles. The catch was that there had to be at least 5 people there or else they woulnd't show the film..... I thought it was delightful and she said that they would be playing another french movie tonight. We went, but the movie was originally french - but dubbed in Deutsche with German subtitles when the songs were sung in French. Yuck. The movie wasn't all that great on it's own, and then add to that the fact that I didn't understand it... it was not the best choice for the evenings events. Nevertheless, Potsdam was beautiful and it was great to visit a friend who I live across the globe from.
In other news, it is thunderstorming right now and the thunder is amazing - loud and crisp. I'm not sure if it's because I'm in an appartment and there's concrete around the building, or if it's just that way in Germany, but I love it! I haven't felt so envigourated by the thunder since I was a little whipper-snapper!
Anyway, I don't know what's up for the weekend. Leipzig has been moved to next Sunday, I think... but in comparison to the Mass in B minor, the concert there is rather uninteresting... I don't even think it is Bach's music. I'll see if we can work something out....

I'm going to head out this afternoon to Potsdam, Kyle had a great book on the town with maps and history, so I will know what to do there. Kyle's suggestion was to just walk around and see everything so I think I will do that, maybe even pay to go into the palace there. I'm meeting Anna there at about 6 I think... I really should have written that down.
We were up late last night drinking, something I hadn't done in a while. It was fun.
Kyle has been having trouble with his beds.. a few days ago we tried to fix his actual bed with screws and whatnot, but I suppose a good screwing was not enough... The other bed he has set up is an air mattress, it is wonderful and comfortable - but it's been deflating lately. Kim and I spent about half an hour trying to find the hole/tear.... and we finally heard/felt it by just lying on it. We have a tire repair kit so we used the liquid solution of somesort and we'll wait for it to dry.
All three of us are going our separate ways tonight, so luckily Kyle made an extra copy of the keys, but it will still be a little confusing with only 2 sets for 3 people when no-one knows when they others will be home for sure. I'm the one without keys, so I know that Kyle will be home after 2am, and if I need to get home before that, I will have to stop by Kyle's work.
The good thing is that on the weekends, the trains run all night so I won't get stuck out in the middle of no-where. By the by, the transportation system here is amazing! There is and S-bahn (train) and a U-bahn and then busses as well as street trolly-type things.

Operation Esperanto yesterday was a complete bust. I walked to the office which was just a few blocks away from Kyle's and it was closed, possibly permanantly. The building was covered in scaffolding and it seemed like people weren't coming back.
Luckily I had brought another address with me. For some reason I coulnd't find the station I needed to get to on my map, but I looked it up on the internet and I had a vague idea of which region it was in.... Long story short - I was completely wrong. I was headed further than I needed to go and the exact stop was perfectly visible on my map. Somewhere between 1.5 and 2 hours later, I was at the right location. The address was for a bookstore: thinking that it would be cool to get some esperanto books, I went in, but the owner informed me that there was no such Esperanto club at that location.....
Sadness.
After that, I remembered that Kyle told me that I could take the busses around the city for a visual tour- so I tried. I got on a bus and I guess I missed the fact that it went out of service after a few stops.. so then I was on an out-of-service bus for about 10 minutes. I was fine with this, as it was still driving around. It went back in service on a different street and then made it back to the original stop I had been at. It went in the other direction, but then I got bored and bitter so I walked for about an hour or so to Alexander Platz, then took the train back to Kyle's.
Kim and I had dinner later that evening and then Kim needed to study. I didn't want to stay around, because I knew that I would be getting on her nerves - I'm like a puppy needing either something to do or attention of somekind. On Kim's advice I took the train into the downtown ish area. I'm convinced that Kim was trying to get me lost for the night because as I was on the bus, I read in my book that the trains stop at either midnight or 12:30, and it was past 11:30. I decided that I would go to Kyle's work because there had to be someway that he was getting home later that night... I got off the wrong side of the train and walked the long way to his workplace. Anyway, he said the trains would be running til 1:20, so I walked down Friedrichstraß. All the bars and restaurants were closing and it was a very uneventuful walk. I stopped for a drink at a hotel bar that had a pianist playing. Of course, once my drink got to me, the pianist stopped - and it ended up costing me almost 10 Euros!!! FUCK! Anyway, oh well the pianist was just playing the standard fare of lounge classics.
I ended up going back a little early to watch Kyle close up the restaurant. He introduced me to the bartender and we spoke a little french. It felt good to be foreign but still understand what was going on. He was from Paris and didn't make fun of my french, so I'm hoping things go that well next week.
Today, Kyle invited me along to his class (Teaching german to Middle-Stage German learners). Yay, I'm officially middle stage!! It should be interesting and it will give me experience listening to only German. I'm also going with him to check out some appartments and then tonight we are going to a museum (apparently thursday is free museum night in Berlin) and then some sort of partying after that.
Fun Fun Fun

So, yesterday was different than I had planned. When I talked to my friend Anna, we changed the date to Friday, so that's when I will go to Potsdam. Yesterday I did a little shopping earlier on and then I walked down Unter den Linden street. It's a beautiful and history filled street. That's the area with a bunch of National embassies and old Churches, Humboldt university.... I was really touristy, snapping lots of pictures, and I even bought a souvenir.
I tried to stop for lunch, in as much as I sat down at a restaurant table on a patio and waited for about 10 minutes. The waiters had come out and seend me, but noone came to offer me anything, not even a menu. I ended up leaving after having read of some suggestions from a travel book about other things to do and see on that street. The Berliner Dom is a huge old church that was absolutely beautiful. I took pictures of the outside from afar and all around. I got to a part of the church that I couldn't walk around, there was a ribbon. So I checked to see if the scary looking door was opened - it was! I walked inside and tried some other doors, but they were all locked. Nevertheless, it was beautiful with old staircases and fixtures. I decided not to wander up or down the staircases because there were ropes across them.... funny isn't it that I will respect a ribbon or rope, but not a closed door.
I met up with Kyle and we went to key cutter to get an extra set of his appartment keys cut, then to a harware store then home to fix his bed which was broken in some sort of wild party before I got here... The evening was non-Berlinier at all. We made pasta for dinner and watched Beerfest, while drinking beerfest. Just because this trip wasn't linguistically confusing enough, I had to review my Esperanto last night. I remembered that there were several Esperanto associations in Berlin, and when I looked them up, I realized that one of them is just around the corner... literally less than 2 blocks from where I am currently typing. My plan for today is just to stop by there and say hello and let them know that there are at least a few canadians who are interested in the language.
After that, I don't know what I shall do - I'm not a big museum person, and we're going to one tomorrow evening - apparently a bunch of them are free on thursday evenings.
Big excitement, I've been trying to see how going to Leipzig would fit into my schedule. Kyle has agreed to come with me on Sunday, and we're going to go to a church service at St Thomas Leipzig - although it will be at 9:30 am, and it's an hour and a bit to get there.... but I'm sure it will be worth it! The other option if we don't want to go early.... they're doing the Mass in B-minor at 5pm that evening..... I can't think of a more amazing thing than hearing one of Bach's greatest works sung in the church he himself worked at! I will have to get Kyle to call and check on tickets and whatnot.

So apparently I've been efficient! In a few days of being somewhat touristy, actually mostly just yesterday, I managed to see most of the things that a professor of mine had suggested. I saw der Berliner Tor, die Reichstag, a monument to the victims of the Holocaust, der Tiergarten ( a beautiful park in the middle of the city), der Berliner Dom (huge Alte Kirche), I walked down Unter dem Linden Strasse which houses the Universitad Humboldt and many of the National Emabassies. I've walked around Alexander Platz, Potsdammer Platz. I've really enjoyed the flavour of the city and the people I've encountered.
Tomorrow I am going to visit my friend Anna that I worked with last summer in Potsdam. Potsdam is a smaller town close to Berlin that has castles and whatnot. I will be able to spend the day looking at the touristy things and then I can have dinner and catch up with Anna!
I'm also looking into a day trip to Leipzig for Bach, Mendolssohn and Schumann museums and I would love to go see Bachs Orgel im die Thomaskirche!

So, Ich bin im Berlin! Es ist shoen, aber nicht so schoen auch. Ich liebe meinem Freunded Kyle und Kim.
Ich bin Deutsche. Das Leitungswasser ist mein lieblings Wasser!

Anyway, the room temperature here has been a steady 26 degrees C, so it's hard to cool down anywhere. Outside in the sun, it has been well over 30 degrees. (Why do I insist on travelling in the summer - it's too hot. I should learn to only travel north in the Summer and south in the Winter).
Things are going great. I've met some of Kyle's friends, I'm trying to immerse myself in German, learning a few new words into my vocabulary a day, but getting far more used to hearing the language being spoken- I think that's the biggest problem for me is hearing the language and trying to pick out those bits that I understand and understand the context in which they are used.
I've booked a trip to Paris next week from tuesday to friday - I'm so excited. At the moment, I am associating being foreign with not understanding what people are saying. At least in Paris, I'll understand a good chunk and I'll be capable of communicating. My communication right now is comprised of silly statements that attempt to use the new vocab I am trying to learn. Let's face it - I am not good at German, though Kyle is especially supportive of my efforts!
Enough for now, I'll post more about things as they come up!

damnit, I missed post 500! that's a huge milestone!
anyway, I stand dedicated to my blog and I will continue to keep it updated while I'm on vacation!
I'm bringing my camera and the cord and program I will need to download the pictures to Kyle's computer. Therefore I will keep you up to date...
Nevertheless, there's always the chance that I will be having so much fun that I won't even touch a computer.... hahaha!
Enough said, I am all packed, I've gone over things I needed to bring and everything is in it's place. I am heading out the door in about half an hour. I'll go over my list once more, I'll revue my directions from one airport to the next in London, even though I will do that over and over again on the plane. When I bought the tickets online it seemed so spontaneous, but now it doesn't at all. I don't think I've ever felt this prepared to travel before. with that said, I don't have ANYTHING planned to do in Berlin or which other places/countries I'm going to visit - that is what is so exciting!
I did get an email from my friend in Berlin assuring me that she will be at the airport to meet me, so I just hope that everything goes super smoothly for me in terms of going through security and making the connections of planes, trains, and well, the Tube in London.
I also hope to learn a heck of a lot of German on the plane - either that or get a good night's sleep.

I didn't think I could fit so much into my backpack.... actually I really wanted to fit more, but I still got a lot of stuff in there. I'm confident it's not so overstuffed that it won't fit the size regulations and it's well underweight.
Anyway, tomorrow will suck when I end up ripping everything out to double check things and then try to put it back together.... hopefully, I won't have similar issues at the security places, once you unpack there - things never fit back in where they once did! I'm convinced that once they have that taste of freedom, they will do anything to go back in. It's like when people get tied up, they push everything out, so they can get enough slack in the rope to wiggle free.
So, I'm very tired at this exact moment, and I have a feeling that this sensation will continue for a very long time. I should sleep....
Oh, I'm also realizing that I need to make sure that everything I will want during the flight, or generally before I get to Kyles, should be at the top of my bag - not as I currently have things... remind me tomorrow - clothes go in first, then the dictionary and medical supplies on top!

Grad dinner was tonight = good chance to take a lot of pictures with some people that I won't see ever again. It sucked that a lot of my friends weren't there because they're taking an extra year, but oh well.

Grad ceremony tomorrow = I'm not excited about the boring sitting around all day. I'm sorta starting to pack tonight. I need to do some laundry. I'm going to bring as many socks and pairs of underwear as possible, one pant, one short, and a few shirts. I might buy new clothes over there if I need them. I need some new clothes next year anyway, so why not be fashionable and then I can tell people I made a special trip to Berlin to pick out a new wardrobe!
Drugs, that's what's going to take up a lot of space and limit me in what else I can take. I need at least 150 pen needles ( at least they're small), I'm bringing 2 meters with 100 strips each, just in case something happens. I'm gonna bring 2 novorapid pens and my Lanuts pen (Oh, My Lantu(s)) and more insulin than I need, but once again, those don't take up much room.
Other than clothes and drugs, I'm bringing a pad of manuscript paper... I do intend on writing SOMETHING!, my digital camera, my german dictionary, electric shaver, and a notebook with some german phrases written and directions from one airport to the next.
I got money today, Pounds Sterling and Euros. I got less than I think I will need, but I'm fairly confident that I won't have problems using Master Card most places. Nevertheless, I have enough to get me to Berlin and settled into Kyle's and then if I need, I can get more while I'm there.

I really do hate packing... I totally don't have enough room in this backpack, but I'm far too stubborn to change my plan now!

super-duper excitement happy!

OK, so I never got around to putting things in my backpack to see how much will fit... but ya I'm sure it will work out. Although I need to make sure it's under 10 kilo's..... I have no concept of how much that will weigh...I'll have to use a scale.
Playing for dance class today was great. I'm almost not bitter about having to wake up early... but eventually I will have to re-enter the world of the people who actually wake up...
I emailed and called a bit today and I have at least one thing organized so that I feel comfortable leaving it until I get back from Germany. I've decided I'm not taking the Hair music with me because it will take up too much backpack room.
I've looked at it and even worked on some sections so I'll be in a good place for when I start playing rehearsals. Only thing is that I have a drummer and a bass player for the performances... so I need to figure out what I'm going to leave out and whatnot for balance. In all honesty, I'm not sure how much there will be for me to play once the bass line is taken care of... I suppose it leaves me more room for creativity. Anyway, that's all part of the excitement once we start putting the production together.
The big thing about this summer is trying to organize the scheduling of two programs during July... there are 4 days which are absolute conflicts... so I hope things work out there.
A blog reader (I hope she still reads) friend of mine is also going to Berlin later this summer, so I'm trying to think of something I can hide or organize there for her to hunt down.... we'll see how it works out.
I've been doing a fair bit of attempting to improve my German. My memory and retention of the words I'm learning is pretty shitty! Nevertheless, I'll keep trying to learn more all the way up to the point that I arrive in Germany, and from that point on, I'll try my darndest to only sprechen Deutsche!

Wow, my trip is real soon!

I hadn't really been doing a countdown to my trip, but I just realized that I leave for Berlin in like 4 days!
I have put no thought into what I'm taking with me, although it will be as little as possible. I think it's going to be a backpack and a dufflebag type thingy. I need to keep in mind that I will have to lug whatever I have with me through London.
Right now I'm really wishing that I had one of those hiking backpacks that I could just put everything in. I could just check it on the plan and only take the essentials with me for the actual plane ride.
Actually, I think it might be ridiculous to try to do the other way.... the only downside is that it will cost me another 60-100$ for a reasonable quality one. Then I could just shove a messenger bag in there for my daily travel needs. or a FannyPACK!!!
OMG, do you guys remember those!?!
I hated them, but as a diabetic, I had to have stuff on me and that was the only reasonable thing.
Anyway, the backpack I have now that I've been using for school is too big for daily use but I don't think it's big enough to fit a few weeks of clothes in....
therein lies the question... while I'm not, I'm basically backpacking to Germany, so I should only take the bare minimums. Maybe there's a task for tomorrow, see how much I can fit in the backpack and then see if that is enough to last.
Actually, I think I've decided, I'm only taking that backpack and I'm only going to take what fits! I'm just reasoning out that it will save me time if I don't have to check in luggage, but then I realized that I paid 10pounds sterling to check a bag... oh well. Maybe if I buy lots of stuff there I can use that as my checked baggage.
Enough of that talk, I made a decision and now it's all good!

Tomorrow starts my last stint accompanying company classes for Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers. In terms of my professional work with dance, it is certainly the most fulfilling. Working with professional dancers is so rewarding; they respond to the music with the honesty that I see in little children, but with technique that allows them to take in and transfer what that music sounds like into a representation of how they feel it should look. Anyway, I'll be playing their morning classes with the guest choreographer until thursday, I would have liked to do friday as well, but alas I will be flying into jolly old England at that time!

Oh, so much excitment!

Yay, just when I was about to settle for laming tonight, I found a friend who is up for fun times tonight!
YAY

What a good way to retire from the RWB, well almost.
Today was the last day of classes for the ballet school, at least the last day for me during the regular season. The teacher worked the morning class hard right up to the end. At the end of the class, I announced to them that I was moving, to which they expressed sadness, but they wished me well. I gave them a mildly inspiring speech about always being artists when they dance and allowing the music to be an important part of that process.
I had thought of making a similar speech to the other classes, but those students are much younger and I only played for them the one year, so we didn't really have the same attachment as with students that I've played for at other times during my past 4 years.
For the youngest class, we did eurythmics, which was a refreshing change from ballet. For the older group later that day, they love to do improv, but it's always been vague and kind of random, so I led them on a responsive improvisation - I had them start with a partner and had them relate all of their movements to that partner, then I had them spread apart from that partner, but still have that sense of communication across the room. When I had them switch into free improv, they had a much stronger sense of communication and awareness of their surroundings.

Anyway, I was up way too late last night and up too early, so when I got home from work, I ended up napping before supper... which turned into me not waking up until 10:30. So I just at supper at 11pm and now I don't think there's anything to do tonight. LAME!
I suppose I have lots of cleaning and packing to be done in preparation for both my trip to Germany and my moving away in the fall.

I'm excited about tomorrow being my last day that I will ever have to work at the ballet at 9am on a Saturday. I will be working on saturdays later in august, but that's at 9:30am.....
I think I'm gonna try to not work saturday mornings anymore. Between the pharmacy and RWB, I've worked almost every saturday morning since I was in grade 10, aprox 8 years! But I have no idea what excitement London will hold for me on saturday mornings....

I dropped off my Manitoba Arts Council bursary application today, if that goes through, then I will have even less need for part time work next year!

Uh oh, I should sleep. Ich sollte schlaffen. Only 6 hours before i need to leave the house to get to work....

This summer seems to be about tying up some loose ends and doing some things I've always wanted to do that I'd never gotten around to..... in some way or another.
I've always wanted to hang out at the Woodbine, but it's proved too skeezy for my friends and it probably wouldn't be too safe, but a friend of mine actually lives in the same strip of main street and his building shares the parking lot with them, so hanging out there tonight was probably as close as I'll get... It wasn't skeezy though, it was quite a nice time.

Also, I've been going for late night walks the last few days, as in 1am or later. anyway, it's getting me off my ass AND I'm getting to walk around the community that I've always lived in but never really explored enough.... sure I did when I was a kid, but I was smaller, so I didn't go too far - by the time I got a little older, I only went where I needed to go, and as efficiently as possible. Once I started using the bus and car, it's amazing how you don't walk anywhere anymore. by amazing I mean disgusting. I've been such a lazy person since I finished high school and I'm not being mean to myself, just pointing out the fact - and it's a good thing to realize. The distance I've been walking according to standards of the last few years.... I never would have considered walking to say Unicity mall, I would drive there, which in light of the last few days seems ridiculous.
I also love the night. The air is so much more refreshing at night. And tonight and yesternight it was wet in the air and in the grass - a beautiful smell.

I'm finishing up my statement of career goals. ignore what I've said the last post or two - I'm not having to bullshit at all, I do know what I want to do in my life/career and it does sound professional and exciting. I'm not saying that I've simply been procrastinating, I think I've really needed this time to think things through and to understand not just the route my life will go on, but more where I stand right now and HOW I feel about that place and stance.