Wow! So I can't believe we have already been here for almost 2 weeks! Time sure does fly.
These first couple weeks has been a whirlwind of activity. The flight was pretty stressful and started off with a glitch in the check in involving Lukie's passport. We were at the counter for almost 1 hour before we had everything finalized. But thereafter the flight went without a hitch. No missed planes, no long delays on runways. Thank God! We only had the challenges of trying to entertain a little constantly moving person and keep him from pulling the hair of the lady sitting in front of us or kicking and throwing his pacifier at the man next to us. That was challenge enough!
So on July 3rd we arrived in Berlin. Rene's parents and Alex met us at the airport. It was just great to see them! Lukie was tired but also very happy. :o) Rene's parents have been so helpful and wonderful. They had already picked up our temporary apt keys and even bought us groceries. So first we took all the bags to our little temporary apt which is on a street called Am Iderfengrabben in the district Pankow. It is a nice little place that is surprisingly quiet in the midst of this big city. We share a small apartment with the owner Herr Geisler (everyone here calls people by there last names and people rarely use their first names unless they are friends) who is very nice and also has a wife and two children 7 and 2 years old. His wife is a krankenschwester or nurse! I will have to ask her some questions about how things work here.
For the next few days we stayed there in the apt. in Pankow with Rene's parents. We visited the city hall to register as residents, applied for kindergeld or state assistance provided to all parents, started the paperwork to register me as a foreigner in Germany, and also visited 2 apartments. It's a good thing we started all these things sofort (right away) because the apts we had been searching online started to disappear fast and the paperwork often requires appointments that are difficult to arrange since this is the peak vacation season for most Germans and sometimes the offices are closed. We then spent the weekend in Chemnitz at Rene's parents apartment and visited briefly with Rene's aunt and uncle. Then back to Berlin.
That was all last week! This week we secured an apartment. Our new address is Am Steinberg 18. But we don't have the keys yet. We also continued with all the paperwork we need to fill out and register, Rene signed his contract at the Charite, and we also managed to visit with a few friends! :o)
Overall our first 2 weeks have been packed with appointments and adjusting to the time change, new food for Lukie, different sleep schedules, and trying to adjust my ears to hearing German all the time. On average I feel like the adjustment is going pretty well. I sometimes have a headache from trying to think of what to say next or from translating what is going on in my head. But most times things " geht gut!" (go well) I still feel like I am on vacation. I haven't had any real chunk of time to let things soak in that we are actually moving. That is because Lukie is source of constant action! But I bet in a month or so I will start to realize that either Ann Arbor looks a whole lot different OR that we actually moved. But it is probably a good thing because I don't have much time to get homesick. Although, I do miss everyone! :(
Germany has been fun! But I also miss the airconditioning, the screens in the windows, and I miss the long American showers but the weather has been nice and mild until yesterday and the heat is drier here. The evenings cool off quite a bit so the heat is managable. I have always been told that Germans are less socially interactive with strangers. So I was not expecting too much small talk with any of the locals. However, it seems that Lukie is a people magnet. Quite a few people have stopped to say hello to him and pinch his toes or tickle his belly and then of course say "Hallo!" and most times ask a few questions to me too. I am pleasantly surprised especially given that Berlin is a big city. :o) Yesterday, we went to IKEA (which I guess is correctly pronouced EEE-kay-ah for all you American's saying EYE-kee-ah like me) with Alex and Karen. We were getting ideas for our apt. but have yet to purchase anything big. I haven't had too much other interesting experiences yet but I am taking it all in day to day. One thing I did notice that was interesting is that this song by Pink ' Dear Mr. President' is on heavy radio rotation here. I have never heard it in the states. Anyone else heard it there? I think it is pretty good and was just curious if maybe I hadn't heard it because it is too controversial there? Well better run! Take care all and many greetings from all the Bernards!
Much love til next time, Steph :o)
(view from winter garden) View into the living room+wintergarden
