Now it gets interesting...

I have yet to adjust to the time change and didn't get going until noon today. First I had to find a laundry place. I'm spending 62 euros (I think that's what it was, it may be higher) to have my laundry done... thats about 100 dollars. Thanks Adrian, great idea on bringing less clothes and just washing my laundry here. It's so much cheaper (Nancy, you're dead to me!).

So, not being one to sit around and wait, I decided to find Prof. Jaap on my own. To this point I haven't heard from him. This was much easier said than done. Apparently there is some work being done to the rails I needed to be on. It took me 3 hours to maneuver the S-Bahn because they kept giving directions on what to do next in German only and it was taking a significant amount of time to wait for the next train. I eventually got to my destination even with the 90 degree weather, hot sun, and blister's on my feet; I'm feeling a bit neglected at this point. Not to mention, did you know your KNEE CAPS can sweat? They can, I'm living proof!

So, I walk the remaining 10 minutes to the psychology building. By now it's about 3:30 or so and its a sunny walk. I get there to find Jaap's office deserted as well as the whole building. Hmmm, at this point I'm not just feeling forgotten, I officially am! I wander aimlessly looking for anyone who may be there and may be able to speak English. Finally I stumble upon a secretary of sorts who speaks a little English. After a few phone calls, it seems Jaap has broken his leg and is at home. No one has his number, of course, so the only way to reach him is via email. After looking through an English language description of the faculty, I inquire about another faculty member with interesting research to see if he may be available. He's on vacation until September 26th.

Hmmm, now what you ask? Well, I fumble along trying to maneuver through the maze of the messy public transportation system and get back to my hotel. Someone told me the S-bahn will work normally tomorrow but who knows if I'll need it. I'm going to email Jaap and, because I won't have clean clothes until Wednesday, I'll probably work from the hotel tomorrow. If Jaap is out for the remainder of my time and isn't creative at finding something for me to do, I'm not sure what will happen. I'll probably create my own university tour to all the other Berlin schools but other than that, who knows? I'm starting to think the karma Gods are pissed at me, but what did I do?

The cowboy, playboy, and alter boy

This is what the Germans really think of our US presidents! I found this graffiti on the S-bahn on my way to my second hotel. My second hotel room is smaller but cooler and in a great area. I’ve gone from West Berlin to East Berlin; so I’ve included a picture of a piece of the wall placed where the wall used to be. Can you see Boris representing the West side?



Boris was an excellent tour guide but my need to see the sights hasn’t been satiated. I continued my sight-seeing on Friday with Itsie who is from Spain. It was an interesting day spent on the land that once was the headquarters of the Gestapo. We went to the Topography of Terror walking tour which describes the events of the war and the terror techniques through the remaining documents and photos. It was a sobering experience which left me wondering if I wanted to spend the rest of my sight-seeing learning more about the dark past of Germany. As someone who is not a history buff, I’ve been able to see the Berlin as a relatively new city. There are very few pre-WWII buildings in the city. Everything is new, the city is diverse, and there are plenty of green areas or parks. This has helped me see Berlin as a city unlike many others in many great ways. But by learning more about the atrocities and having them become real through pictures and histories of the individuals involved, well, it’s simply depressing. This is even more so as the lessons that needed to be learned by every “group” and/or society haven’t been learned. So, to deal with all these heavy thoughts, Saturday I went to the zoo with a new friend from the Ukraine (Natalia). The zoo was nice but there were no otters or groundhogs ;-)

I haven’t heard anything from Humboldt but I’ll plan on showing up on Monday. I’ve looked up how to get there from the internet (yay for having the internet back!). I also need to find somewhere to do some laundry!

I guess there is something special about some random Bear statues around Berlin. In support of the Berlin bear fascination, I’ve taken a picture with one and yes, that is the face I make when I’m concentrating on how to use the camera!

Today I've been wandering around my new area. I finally made it up in time to have my free breakfast which was great... except for the accidental choice of liverwurst. I did have a currywurst today and it was actually pretty good. Mainly it was sausage with curry sprinkled on top and doused in ketchup. I’m going to take it easy tonight by working, reading, and relaxing. The only English-speaking TV channels are CNN International and some similar news channel. I did see WWE on last night dubbed in German. Sad, just sad!

I'm alive and well

I'm alive and well, just no access to the internet for the last few days. I'm using a German keyboard right now so I'll be making this short. Oh, and I'm surfing in a very hot Dunkin Donuts right now :)

My hotel is nice but no phone in the room and right now, the internet is down. I need clean clothes and I haven't heard from Humbolt yet. It's Sunday afternoon and I don't even know where to go for tomorrow! Nothing like the last minute! One thing I've noticed about European's is they are pretty touchy feely. I've been cheek to cheek kissed more than I'd like!

Next blog will have pictures from my sight seeing and more details on what I've been up to, until then, I'm safe and sound!

Firealarms and Obama Drama

We had a fire alarm go off at 6:30 in the morning at the hotel. That was a bit early for a fashion show of pajamas from around the world... though really pjs look the same everywhere. I didn't get back into my room in time to get ready and make the 8am sessions so I opted for more sleep ;-) This made me a little late for my tour with Boris but we had fun nonetheless.

Boris and I went to Potsdamm and saw the Brandenburg Gate Bridge (I may have these spellings wrong because I don't have time to google stuff; I have to make a session in 15 minutes). But we did see where Obama will be giving his speech tonight and there were media already set up and the police were already in full force. It was a beautiful day for a stroll in Berlin. Oh, and we walked along where the wall used to be. I had fun and will give more details later!

By popular demand, a picture

Here is a picture of the YSPers that went to dinner tonight. We went to nice restaurant in Alexanderplatz which is the area I'll be staying at in the next two weeks. It was a much more lively part of Berlin. I had a great time at dinner and met some nice people. I look forward to more fun tomorrow with some presentations, another tour with Boris, and a pre-scheduled YSP night out. Oh, and I'll have more pictures during the two weeks I'm at Humboldt. Plus, those will be pictures of real Germans not conference attendees!

P.S. Mom, I will not be attending Obama's speech tomorrow. The papers here suggest people show up 3 hours before and there are a number of restrictions (no cameras, etc). Oh well, I didn't come to Germany to see an American anyways!

Beer really does grow on trees in Berlin

This afternoon I went to a beer garden with Boris. It is an outdoor area with picnic tables on the river with trees and shade everywhere. They serve beer and pizza and it's very large and pretty busy. I had a beer that is mixed with sprite which actually tasted good! I really dislike beer and finding one in Germany that I could tolerate is a bit of a shocker. I also took a mini-tour of Berlin with Boris. I think we are going to take another one tomorrow. Today we saw a bombed out church in the middle of the city shopping area that serves as a memorial of WWII. The jewelled angels had very austere facial expressions... Boris and I decided it must have been a Catholic church (hee hee)!

I met some senior psychologists this morning. It was interesting and I really enjoyed it. I could really identify with what my assigned senior scholar was saying and it was insightful. I also saw another big name researcher give a talk and it was awfully boring. I nearly fell asleep, which is not good when you are in the front of the room in front of the speaker ;-) Some people should stick to writing, not speaking.

In 20 minutes I'm going to dinner with the other YSP members. Some of them I really like, some are standoffish and seem very exclusionary with others. Oh well, I'll just stick with the good ones cuz the inclusive ones tend to be and have the most fun!

Fireworks and Schnitzel

As most of you know, I turn into a 12 year old child at the sight of fireworks. Well, last night I had the pleasant surprise of watching fireworks across the river from my hotel room window (I tried to take pictures but all I ended up with was my own reflection). They were awesome with red heart shaped fireworks and some neat ones where each flare looked a bit like a dragon fly. It was a nice way to celebrate my reunion with my suitcase!

I finally got to attend the conference with hair and make-up as well as dress clothes. I'm convinced I received a few appreciative glances, but they could have just as easily been thinking "she's obviously a horribly dressed American". Compared to everyone else at the conference, I'm dressed up as there are a lot of jeans and casual clothes at this conference. I've also noticed that German's like jeans. They're everywhere and never plain, always with a few pieces of flare!

I went to dinner tonight at the restaurant hotel with one of the YSPs. I got pork schnitzel from the buffet line. It's a German dish that I liked, but then again, breaded and fried pork has never been a dish I'd turn away! Yummy! Hooray for schnitzel! Now, before you go and think I'm going to gain outrageous amounts of weight and not be able to fit in my own clothes in the next few weeks, let me say that I've had my fair share of nutrition bars for breakfast and lunch. I've only had time for 1 actual meal a day. Funny thing happened in the buffet line though, an older woman came up to me and said something in German. Now, I'm convinced she must have said "What beautiful hair you have my dear!" but she MAY have said "hey, fat American quit hogging the buffet line!" Now, I don't know about you but I'm going with option #1. Isn't it nice that I don't speak the language? It's been quite a boost to my self-esteem!

And one final anecdote. I went to a talk where I swear the speaker was the spiting image of Einstein. He was from a German university and he kept raking his hands through his wild hair and flinging his arms around dramatically. He also had to talk forever and constantly repeat himself. Funny thing was, ole Einstein was fixated on a research "problem" for the last 20 years of his career that had been dealt with 50 years ago. It took every ounce of strength I had not to state the obvious "solution" to his 50 year old question. Thankfully someone in the back row burst his bubble. Best thing was, she started out with "I don't really know this research area but it seems to me that...". That's what you get for talking too long and constantly repeating yourself in the academic world, someone will take you down!