Annoying Birds, Sons

So I take a few days off from writing and a million things happen...maybe that's why I took the days off. Anyway, where do I start? I guess with the pigeon poop problem.

Living a big city anywhere presents the problem of those darned pigeons who don't do anything but eat crumbs, leave their feathers, make their dumb "cooing" noise and leave their disease-spreading poop everywhere.

When I was looking for apartments in Berlin I really wanted a balcony. After not having one for 8 months in the dorms, I thought there'd be nothing better than eating breakfast out on the balcony on Sunny weekend mornings. Little did I know that there'd be a only a few breakfasts and instead lots of work involved.

Over time my balcony accumulated more and more poop...but it wasn't till I left for America for 3 1/2 weeks in Sept. that the real damage was done. I got back to a balcony absolutely FULL of pigeon poop and feathers...so much that I couldn't even walk out there. Not only that, but I was being woken up every morning at sunrise to the stupid pigeons sitting on my balcony making their cooing noise. So I'd run over and either bang on the window or splash them with water till they flew off.

So I took the issue into my own hands by searching online for a "pigeon scarecrow." I found this thing they sometimes use here, a black plastic raven. Apparently the raven hunts pigeon nests so they are very scared of them. So after purchasing a raven on Ebay, I prepared the arrival of my new buddy by scrubbing the balcony clean with many buckets of water and cleaning solution as to minimize the chances of me catching a fatal disease from the droppings. The balcony gleamed from the 3-hour scrubbing and I received the raven the next day.

The first couple weeks I only noticed a few pigeon poops on the balcony and was very pleased. Well, this week the pigeons seem to have finally noticed that the raven is fake and have taken over my balcony again. There are many droppings and I was even rudely awakened by them the other morning. Sigh. I guess I'll have to get the netting afterall.

Being woken up by pigeons is one thing. Being woken up by a loud, drunken neighbor is a different thing. Unfortunately that's been happening too much, too.

My little 85-yr. old next door neighbor, Frau Glück, is a tiny little old lady who looks like she couldn't hurt a fly. But her psychotic, always-drunk son makes up for that by screaming and yelling at her, sometimes even throwing stuff at the wall or hitting her, after he's become innebrieated.

He has his own apartment and even has a "restraining order" given him by our apartment owners, but that means nothing to him or the police. They never just take him away. I, being right next door, can hear everything. I have been asked by the landlady to call the police and write the apartment owners because nothing happens till they can get several complaints. Tedious? Yes.

Well I started calling the police last semester when it'd be late at night..or during the night. I called this week after he woke me up at 4a.m. with his screaming. Unfortunately once the police finally arrived, Frau Glück didn't answer her door, not that she would anyway. She hides her son, lies for him, and won't admit anything is wrong when the police show up. So the police came to my door and I had to talk to them and give them info. in my pjs. The drunk showed up again a few nights later but I saved myself the pointless trouble of calling the police and just tried to sleep it off with earplugs. But something will have to change soon here.

Sausage or Pepperoni?

One in 3 people in America are overweight. Didn't everyone use to think all Europeans were pretty thin? Maybe just the French. Anyway, I just saw on tv that one in 5 Germans is overweight. They just had a little report about a woman, who at 262 kg., had to be rescued from her home by a team of firemen who compared her weight to that of a small car. She couldn't move and basically just looked like a head on a big, round ball. The reason so many Germans are now overweight? The same as in America...fast food, junk food, video games, general laziness... Who knows. But it did make me re-think my idea to have some chips with my sandwich! Maybe I'll forget when I get hungrier and go ahead, though.

I had my extremely hard-to-follow music history course today. The professor is a typical smart academic who mumbles with his hand over his mouth and has absolutely no order to his lecture. It is really annoying and I'm tempted to not go anymore since I probably don't need the credit; at this point I'm taking it for "fun" and to have it on my transcripts, which, in the German college system is just a book where you hand write in your classes and your prof. gives you a hand-written grade or Pass/Fail.

Then I was originally supposed to babysit/teach English to the little girl, but the parents pushed that to Friday. I just got a text message from my oboe friend from the orchestra I played in this summer. She just moved to Berlin and wants to get together. That'll be fun. I also got a call today from a lady who called in response to my ad online to tutor English. Her 8th grade son is getting a D in English and his mom wants him to get help. So they're coming to my apartment on Sat. morning.

Today has been a slow day, but that's okay because the rest of the week is very full, including our studio's concent at a nursing home this Sat. I have to practice and get ready for that. And I have a lesson tomorrow night at 7pm (groan) which means I'll miss my evening line-up of American trash tv including "Desperate Housewives." Okay, okay, it won't kill me, and to be honest, the shows aren't even that great, but it's kind of fun to watch them.

And I talked called David and seems as if his birthday weekend was tame and under control. Thadda boy...or is that just what he told me? He has met a lot of people and is having a good time at college so far. Those are fun years. Staying up chatting with floormates...ordering pizza at midnight... Oh, and what was I saying about gaining weight? Luckily I lost most of the freshman 15... Do a few "Master's lbs." count?

Happy Birthday, David!

Today is my brother's birthday. He's a 19-year-old freshman in college. Now, being the older, protective sister that I am, I had a dream about David last night which portrayed my subconscious worry about him partying too hard on his big day. Of course, in the dream, he was so drunk he couldn't walk straight. Then he threw up right there on the ground. Here comes the gross part: you know when you have a dream where it seems so true your senses actually really work like when you're awake? Well, I smelled the puke on his breath and it was so real that I almost puked too, and I think I even gagged for real. But I don't know. Anyway, that was gross, but I do have to call him and see if he was well-behaved on his birthday weekend... hmm.

I was, however, rudely awakened at around 5:45 am to the most horrible screaming outside my window. At first it played into my dream but it was so loud and kept going that I woke up. At first I thought it was a girl, then I thought maybe it was a dog being attacked. Whatever it was, it was either in true pain or scared to death, or just some drunk, rude teenagers coming home from the disco down the block. I ran to the window to try to make out what it was but to no avail. It was running and then the voice faded out. So there was nothing I could do at that point. If had been outside my window and not moving I would've called the police. But it really bothered me and made me ask myself, again, why I live in Berlin, let alone the largest Turkish (Germany's largest minority pop.) quarter. Of course, that was probably just because of the fact that I was half-asleep and assumed that whatever it was, was a girl being raped which really scared me.

As much as I don't love my area of the city, or even like it that much, I do love my apartment and the area is very quiet with lots of trees. So it makes living here worth it. I just always watch out and don't walk home at night alone. But bad things can happy anywhere, in any city. I'm careful and once I'm in my apartment I'm happy! It's better than being in the dorms where I was for the first 8 months, sharing a kitchen and (co-ed) toilets with too many others.

Anyway, onto less gruesome topics... This afternoon I went to my bible study leader's church. I ended up getting there about a half an hour late since there was construction on the tracks and I had to take different trains. But it turned out not to matter because they hadn't even started yet. I came in to find only a handful of people and some little babies. I thought, "where are all the people?" Turns out it is a just a very small church. After the service there was a little dinner. I was introduced to an American woman who's husband is from about 2 hrs. from my hometown. He wasn't there, but she and I chatted for a long time. They are missionaries living in a suburb of Berlin working with youth out there. She was really friendly and got my phone number because she wants to introduce me to her "missionary friends", who are several American girls around my age living in Berlin. She also invited me to their house for Thanksgiving. How nice!

I also talked to some other people there and everyone was overly friendly. I thought, "now this is the kind of feeling I want in a church." It may be small (considerably smaller than the one I'd been going to) and have less people my age, but I just felt so welcome. I don't know exactly which one I'll choose yet, but I did like it. I had been frustrated because I had the feeling of cliques at the other church, or at least people who already kind of had their circles and didn't feel the need to reach out to the new people. Of coure there were exceptions and some were really nice. But I didn't get a really warm overall feeling.

Oh, and I am starting to get used to my haircut. I was able to straighten it to lose the fluffy, bird-tail effect in the back and it looked like a more normal hair style. The American lady loved it so much she wanted to get the name of the salon to get hers done there too. I still think it's a little too short on top, and I still miss the longer hair, but I will be able to enjoy this more that I know how to style it. After all, I did want short hair. I'll enjoy it while I have it and see where to go from there.

And again, happy birthday little, big brother! You were such a cute little baby and little boy...and now you're a tall, handsome fella. Remember the golden rule: all girls are evil but me (and Amy)! Just kidding. Don't party too hard at my alma mater and I miss and love you a lot!!!!!

New Cut on the Block

I just got back from a long walk, and much needed heart to heart, with a newish friend I met at the church I started going to. It couldn't have come at a better time. After not only praying for God to provide some more friends for me, as well as praying for some other things going on in my life, and subsequently getting frustrated at God for not "answering" my prayers (exactly when I wanted), He provided the perfect situation with someone who could offer me a way of thinking I'd certainly never come up with alone.

Okay, I guess I'm done being mad at God.. He showed me again how He really is in control even when my human nature and impatience tells me otherwise. It amazes me that He took care of me by providing a wise opinion and caring gesture from someone who barely knows me.

Now, something that didn't go as well today is my haircut. I had an appointment today at a chic place downtown. It's one of the places that has modern architecture and cool chairs, etc. I have never been there before, but the last time I got my hair cut (from LONG to shoulder-length) I got it done at the other chic place downtown. I liked parts of the haircut from that place, but other parts not, so I decided to try this new place. Besides, they had a great "haircut junior" deal, which simply included a haircut and 10 highlights for 45 euros total. The last places I'd been, including a couple other not so fancy salons, had all been considerably more expensive than that.

So I went there not having a real clear-cut idea of what I wanted, but knew I wanted it to be short. Since the last haircut, my hair had already grown out to a couple inches below my shoulders. So I wanted it to at least be above my shoulders. Well, the stylist convinced me that with my hair I'd need several layers in order for it to not be bottom heavy, since I have such thick hair. I said I straighten my hair and it's not a problem, and more laying would just add unwanted volume.

Alas, when do hair stylists ever listen to their customers (at least here in Berlin)? Three hours later I walked out with no hair left. Okay, of course that's somewhat exaggerated, but it is really, really short. I've never had my hair this short. I'll try to explain it: the bottom layer is right above my shoulers with the top layer above my ears, with a lot of blended layering in between. From the back it is really poofy and almost looks like bird feathers. To be fair, it is actually a good haircut, but my hair is just too thick for this style. It actually looks cute from the front. But when it grows out a little I'll want to have that bottom layer trimmed so it's more like a pixie style instead of in all different layers. And maybe I'll go to a cheap, crummy-looking place where they actually listen. I think the problem with these "professionals" is that they think they know more than I do about my hair.

I've always had a thing for hair and have even been accused about being anal-retentive about my hair. But I just can't imagine going out in public with messy, frizzy, or poofy hair. Without my longer hair I feel like I'm not quite as girly, but I know it'll grow back fast. I think I just feel older and am not ready to take on this look yet. It is cute, though, I guess. I will just have to get used to it!

But while I was there a British American lady came in for a "wash, dry, and curl." Oh, the rich. We ended up chatting for awhile. She's visiting from NY where she and her surgeon husband have an apartment in NYC and a house on Long Island. They're in Berlin visiting their novelist daughter while she speaks at the American Writers Association, or something of that nature. Her book, "History of Love," as well as her husband's novel are both now in stores in Germany as well as America. It was an interesting conversation.

Tomorrow I am going to my bible study leader's church. It meets on Sunday afternoons. Tonight I went to the church I've been trying out for the past several weeks. It meets on Sat. evenings. I'm glad these churches meet later because I don't know how motivated I'd be to wake up on a Sunday morning and go to church. It's one thing when you can roll out of bed and zip on over to church in the car, but here in Berlin, you pretty much always have to give yourself at least 30 minutes to get anywhere. And when it's the decision about getting up for a 10:30 service and taking the subway or staying in bed, the answer comes fairly easy to me.

Now that the weather has officially turned "fall," i.e., gray, rainy and cold, I've been leaving my windows shut more. The only problem with that is that the air is so bad in this apartment that it gets thick and starts to smell like stale cigarette smoke. I must be getting wafts of it from the neighbors. When it doesn't smell like cigarettes it smells like renovation. Ever since I moved in after it'd been freshly renovated, it's had a weird smell to it that doesn't ever fully go away with candles and poporri. Anyway, that means I try to leave the windows cracked all day with the heat off. When I come home I shut the windows and maybe turn on the heat, or just bundle up. But then when I go to bed I crack the window again so I can get fresh air during the night. I stay nice and warm under my thick duvet....ahh, cozy.

Sore Back?

The nice thing about Christmas here is the surplus of gingerbread in stores. Of course, Christmas is still a ways off, but without much Halloween celebrating here and certainly no Thanksgiving, it's the next holiday coming up here. Anyway, I bought some good, thick gingerbread cookies today and just ate one with a cup of chamomile tea. That felt good after a busy day; tea always helps my head when it's hurting.

I ate in the cafeteria downtown today. It's a cafeteria that many students from my music school, as well as businessmen and women eat at. After a whole year of living here, however, I just found out where it a few weeks was since there was no sign. I realized you have to go with someone the first time because it's very hidden, even though it's right around the corner from our bldg. Anyway, now that I know where it is, I have been going pretty regularly. It's a decent meal for about $2.60. Well, decent is relative. Today's selections were 1.)scrambled egg/ spinach/potatoes, or 2.) deer/cooked red cabbage/potatoes. I chose the deer. Not a good decision. You know how cafeteria meat is always a lesser quality than anywhere else in the world? Well it proved true here too. So I picked at it and ate the less weird parts until I felt not hungry anymore and just got a Twix bar from the music school vending machine later.

I also had Rueckenschule (back school) today. One cool thing about this music school is they offer a lot of different fitness/exercise courses, even yoga. I chose this "healthy back" because, frankly, when isn't there a person who could use some good stretches for a tight or sore back, especially as a cramped, tense musician? Anyway, the class takes stretches from yoga, some moves from pilates, and just some general "balancing-out" stretches and exercises. The point is to strenthen the muscles that don't get used as often as the ones we musicians use everyday and to balance the whole body to prevent unnecessary aches and pains in the future, much less do permanent damage.

The instructor is a, roughly, 65+ yr. old man who has abs of steel. Today we used a long piece of exercise rubber..like a huge flattened rubber band..to use as resistance for arm exercises. It's a practical, easily-stored means of exercise; using the tension from the rubber strip as well as your body as resistance is just as effective as hand weights. I might have to see about where one can buy such a piece of rubber for the future.

Oh, the joys of learning a foreign language

Well, as luck would have it, I don't have to look for a new English student. This is because the previously mentioned Russian English student of mine has informed me she would like a lesson next week, and proceeded to tell me she could put me on the VIP list for a Russian party the following night at the club we went to last week. How did I ever get so lucky...

I might try the party, though. Up to this point, I haven't really been out that much in Berlin. Sure, there's the occasional cocktail night and the very seldom dance night, but for me things have been pretty tame and homey. Well, remembering one of the reasons why I wanted to come to Berlin in the first place, this is a good chance to take advantage of the nightlife scene. I just don't know if that involves a party hosted and visited primarily by Russians.

Today was a busy day, but the more I have on my plate, the more productive I am (to a certain degree, of course) because it gets me up and moving. And once I have to plan, make lists and organize my time I can get a lot done, and certainly a lot more than if I have the whole day free. That is the difference with this semester (actually taking some classes as opposed to just lessons and other related things). I also sent in an application for an orchestra academy position that's open here in Germany. Although the life of a poor (and by poor I mean sad and literally poor) musician is filled with many rejection letters, we stive forward, hoping for that big break...or small job, whatever comes first. So, we'll see what comes of this, if I even get an invitation to audition.

After teaching English to the little boy this afternoon, I had my bible study tonight. It's a small little group of 5, including the leader. But now that I'm in such a small group, I'm realizing how nice it is because you get to share your ideas and opinions a lot more. I started going to this bible study last semester somtime, so I am relatively new to it, but tonight there was a girl there for the first time. Turns out she is American, doing an exchange year here from California. Talking to her and hearing what she had to say about her "new life," albeit temporary, here in Germany, I had flashbacks to my junior year abroad in Freiburg, from the excitement of living in a foreign country to my broken, suffering German.

She did a good job, really, it's just when you're still learning German, it's really hard to say more than the usual: "My name is..., I study..., I come from...," etc. I know the feeling, because I was also a confused, tongue-tied American forced to learn the language full on. But after forcing myself to be brave and just speak it, as well as hours of grammar homework, it happened. Of course, I still make mistakes and get stumped sometimes, probably more that I'd like to admit, but the point is I can make myself clear, share my opinion and keep up with a group of people, sometimes even forgetting I'm speaking a foreign language.

I remember sitting with a group of Germans from my Freiburg orchestra on the train during our Russian orchestra trip. Every time they were talking about something I thought I could finally contribute to, I'd sit there, formulate exactly how I wanted to say it, get the courage....and...boom: subject change. And I certainly wasn't going to be the weird foreign girl that, after just awkwardly bringing back a subject up that was laid to rest 5 minutes ago, gets the polite nods and smiles from the others. So I ended up just sitting there a lot, wishing I could participate.

Luckily those days are mostly over, though every once in awhile there's a feeling of: can I just speak English, please?! Anyway, as I contributed to the conversation tonight at bible study and as she sat there, struggling to follow, I thought back of my early days in Germany and wonder: if I ever knew the road to feeling comfortable in German was such a long one, would I have ever started? Probably. I sometimes have to try something to prove to myself I can do it, like moving to Berlin alone, for example. Subways, trains, buses: I used to get freaked out by any kinds of public transportation. If I had that fear anymore, I'd be still walking home from bible study. Actually, I would have never made it there in the first place.

I just thought living in a big city for awhile was something I needed to try. I certainly like aspects of that, with something to do everyday and night, not that I take advantage of it, but I like knowing I could! I also love the Tiergarten, which is Berlin's Central Park. It's a huge area with many mystical paths, algae-filled ponds, bridges and open fields for sunning (naked, for Berlin's large gay community). It's perfect for a Sunday afternoon stroll, topped off with a Starbuck's coffee.

But I have realized by living in a big city that I certainly would never want to live in a big city, rather, a nice, quiet area near an easily accessible large city. I have really come to value peace and quiet and the serenity of nature on a new level. Luckily in my "new" apartment (after living in the dorms for the first 8 months) I have a lot of trees around and it's very quiet. But the noise and smell of the subway comes just one block away. While I don't intend to live here directly in the city, or any other large city (unless it's a really quiet, residential area) in the future, I am really glad I am able to live in Berlin, and I will definitely enjoy it while it lasts.

Teaching English

So I have been teaching English to 2 little kids for the past year, which translates to playing with them in English, reading books, having them repeat little English words, phrases, or songs. It's a real joy to do and I look forward to meeting with them every week. One little girl is 3 1/2 and I pick her up from the daycare every week and go to the park and play things like dolls or puzzles. The other one is a little boy, 4 yrs., who, being a typical little boy, loves trains, firetrucks, and building things. So I get a little of everything. I also had been coming early to the 2nd household to converse with the little boy's mother in English, as she wanted to improve her skills. Now that she's just started working again, we don't have nearly as much time together, sadly.

But in the meantime I picked up another "student," this one being a young, feisty Russian mother. She contacted me asking for long-term English tutoring after I put an ad up. So for the past 2 weeks, I'd been going to her house for 2 hrs. each time. That was when she told me about her passion: disco hoppin. Apparently this woman is a true party queen and was intent on bringing me along to the dance clubs. So I finally consented.

Bringing along my German friend, we came to her house, as she requested, early for pre-partying. Down in her party room in the basement we drank champagne and snacked on Russian gelee candies. Then we headed to the disco. It was a really cool place with hip lounging rooms and a few dance floors. Upon meeting up with our Turkish guy friends from the music school, we made our way to the dance floor. My Russian friend was already donning the stage, showing her many dance moves. We finished the evening by hitting a Turkish restaurant for Lentil soup at 5am. Not the likeliest choice, but that was really the only thing on the menu at that hour.

Needless to say, the evening was a hit, but I think that my Russian protege is a thing of the past. After having to turn her offer down for this Friday because of other plans, I haven't heard back from her. Lessons didn't happen this week, but why should they if we talk in English when we hang out? Can't say I blame her! But it does mean I'll have to try to find a replacement because I still could use the money!

Television German Style

I'm getting my weekly fix of American tv, well as close as possible; I'm watching "Sex and the City" in German. I only ever saw the final episode in America, in English, and really started watching the show here, so I basically only know these 4 characters with their German voices. On next is Desperate Housewives. Then tomorrow it's "OC California".... Later in the week it's back to German versions of "Super Nanny," "Mommy Swap," etc. Nothing beats the newest show "Bauer Sucht Frau," translated to: "Farmer Seeks Wife."

German tv tends to be pretty close to real thing, well, apart from really poorly acted court tv shows. But reality tv in Germany is shown fairly close to what actually happened, or at least closer than the highly manipulated American reality tv. The shows tend to be longer and give you a chance to see the characters a little more in depth. When I think back to watching "Average Joe" in the States, the only way they could really justify bringing on less than perfect looking dating hopefuls was to call them average and give them a mask so the girl didn't send them away with their bags packed after the initial hello. Instead, the point was to fall in love with the men for their personalities (what a concept)...but in the end (and this happened in both of the show series I saw) the girl ended up choosing one of the hunky, built model men that came in at the end to test her true character.

Now, keeping in mind what I mentioned about "sticking pretty close to the real thing", in the reality show "Farmer Seeks Wife," dashing looks aren't an issue, apparently. In the first episode they showcased the several farmer bachelors. Hunky bachelor farmers? Rich bachelor farmers? No, ugly, socially awkward bachelors, many of which still living with their parents in their 30s/40s. But all hope is not lost, for German women were encouraged to write letters to the farmer pick of their choice and win the chance of him picking her and making it onto the show. Each bachelor was allowed to choose two lucky ladies to woo on tv. While a couple of the better looking unattractive bachelors got an abundance of letters (one got 30), a few of them men were happy to get 2 each. It certainly made their decision easier as to whom to bring on the show.

But the show is charming. Even with their balding heads, bad style and less than suave moves with the ladies, some are really finding love. Now the big test is to see if the ladies can manage a new life of farmer's wife: cooking, cleaning, helping pigs give birth...

My First Post Ever!

Here it is: my first blog! Now I have a way to openly record and share the daily happenings of my life in a foreign country. Here in Berlin something weird, annoying, or just plain funny happens most everyday. I hope you enjoy following me through my experiences as an American music student living in Germany's capital city.