Ole, I love Germany, promise.

haha, seriously, i love germany, i love europe, i love being here and will be for at least another year if not longer. of course, id like to make my way to Columbia, NYU or Georgetown at somepoint for gradschool, but why not look first into studying in Paris perhaps? mal sehen. I went to Berlin for four days last week and had an excellent time. I stayed with Milli who was my classmate at MCO Gymnasium SIX years ago! it was so nice to see her again. We arrived at the brand spanking new hauptbahnhof which was really ill, i mean, it is so big and full of windows and shining silver. its like a shopping mall that you can take a train to. really cool, and we ran into this really drunk kid named nicki who was so funny and a really nice kerl. it was a good start. (although i told jeff to buy the wrong ticket by accident, but luckily it only cost 8 euro more). The first night we went to KuDam and walked along the main city center street and then wandered over to where I lived in schöneberg. I wasnt sure if my family still lived there, but i saw through the window my hostfather Bernhards guitars on the wall still as they were six years ago. so milli dragged me inside and hoopalah who was standing there but none other than my host mom and dad, haha, they were so surprised to see me. we had some beer and ate some abendbrot and caught up on life. the dog is still there, everything, cept all but ronja and johannes have moved out, both of whom are reall grown up, its crazy! i have videos and pics, but they are on my laptop in my apt. after that we went out for a drink with milli, caught up on things, and then the next day she had to work but we went strolling around where i went to school, and the area and then met up with her to get ready to out on the town. we met up with ALL four host sisters at this really cool shisha bar downtown and had a wonderful time, lots of pictures for sure. i might go back for christmas to celebrate. we went out to a place called soda in this really cool hof somewhere, met up withsome friends of millis and jeffs and danced in the hiphop room which was packed. apparently i was looked at funny the whole night cuz i danced so wierd...sigh. the next day we met up with Katie VL, who is btw the best. she was there for a German Foreign Affairs conference as the US expert on the EU. apparently she was haggled by the italians and germans there, but mostly due to misunderstandings, and partly due to her penchant for playing devils advocate and saying what everyone thinks but wont say. go her! learn from the best, i always say. we had a GREAT day touring around Berlin, went all over the place, visited Angie Merkels house and yelled for her to come out for some tea so we could discuss things. she didnt come out....:( we saw the dom and unterdenlinden and hakischerhöfe and the remenants of the wall, which was the first time katie was there since it fell, so that must have been a really cool experience for her. i love potsdamer platz and gendarmenmarkt, two of my favorite spots in the city. we had some nice german cuisine and beer and then dropped her off to head home to her family and back to the grind at adelphi. The last night jenny came over and we went out to a nice mexican place for some drinks and the next morning had to say goodbye to milli after going to visit MCO and take pics. it was a sad day but i cannot wait to go back! ps i got studivz and found a bunch of friends from my class at MCO which is ill, even Krümel i found, who is now living near munich unfortunately, but i hope to see her soon. and MARIA lives in Bremen now! like, 25 min away by train, she was my german exchange student friend at Chatham High, we sat next to eachother in physics and made everyone jealous by kicking some seirous physics butt. word. my renters came back yesterday, and things have worked out well, they are really quite a nice couple and i look foward to smoothing over our first bad encounter and building up a good relationship there. Well, there is more of course, like about Riepe and some new friends, and efforts made yet failed at trying to save this girls crazy exchange program in Ameria, and the einweihungs party from the brother of Neele in Hamburg, and the stupid saturday where i missed out on a flankyball tournament by fault of my own stupidity. sigh. but that will have to come tomorrow or when i get back FROM MALTA!!!! yes, thats right, im flying to malta eaaaaaaaaaaarly thursday morning for a week! i cannot wait to see the mediterranean! wooo! and then im off to amsterdam mostlikely to see my doublekbattery. who i miss dearly.
bis dann,
certainly, definitely, absolutely,
Shim

ps. Sambucada rocks my socks.

American Sarcasm...untranslatable. Just wonderful!

So...it has been a while since i've posted, it's becoming more difficult to do so since the internet i use is in school. I moved into my new apartment last week, and have already found myself getting into trouble. You know...i just cant seem to find a place to live either in the US or Germany that doesnt have an overbearing family around, strict oldschool landlords, or crazy nozy obnoxious neighbors (or the drug/alcohol addict kind). sigh. just once i would like to live somewhere where i had my own space and was free to do whatever i wanted without feeling like i was disturbing someone or breaking some invisible rule...really. that would be fantastic. My second night there Patrice, Martin, Robert, Sebi, and Jonas came by with some beverages and playing cards and we sat in a circle talking, playing games, and listening to music quietly on my computer in my big bedroom/livingroom. We're we loud? no, course not. did we smoke inside? no... we're we trashed...not even close (nicht mal annehend). but lo and behold here comes dashing into my room without knocking for which i am paying my renter in his bedclothes freaking out in german saying we knew what we were doing and that we were being bad and that we were smoking in the house and that we would have to discuss this in the morning cough cough TIM!....firstly...im 23 years old, im not your son, and im renting for you and we werent loud. oh yea and my friends went quietly downstairs outside to smoke. dont come barging into MY apartment and yell at me and embarass me infront of my friends, who are really nice and respectful btw and who now feel uncomfortable coming by. ugh. what to do. turns out that he is having the neighbors watch over me and the house and what i do and who comes by while they are gone this week on vacation. they have keys....hahahahaah oh goodness. silly silly man. oh yea, and he was waiting for my orientations teacher as she walked to her car (a neighbor told him when and where she usually parks) to talk to her while i was gone about our bad first start. and how horrible and how bad it looked to have all those young people around their cozy street and in their cozy little german home. im more than slightly irritated if you cant tell. ps. before that night we were shopping for food and beer in the supermarket and some customer told the cashier that we had stole something and some guy and a few others stood in front of us as we checked out, asked us to open our pockets and bags and then took us to the back in their office to inspect our things and investigate us...meanwhile what happened was is that i wanted to buy everone a small thing of kleiner feigling, but wasnt sure, and asked if they sold single ones at the counter, which they did, my friend showed me how big it was, i told him it was too much and he put it back, they thought he put it in his pocket or something. hah. i guess we are just outright hooligans! already causing trouble in germany! pps. did i mention the party full of neonazis? ill check back later, and if i didnt, ill write about it tomorrow. Aside from that, school is fine, i was observed the other day, the superintentent was really pleased with me, was really happy i was here, and said i had a lot of potential as a teacher. said that i really make the students have fun and feel comfortable and am very clear and easy to follow. woohoo for me. students handed me their characterization-photo essays the other day and they were all really well done! ich freue mich.
namaste leute,
Shim

ppps. please look up and sign the petitions for the Burmese monks, wear maroon, spread the word.