Originally dated: Sept 10, 2006.

so a few more days have passed, and again, so much has happened!

Classes have been underway... German class is going well, and we actually went out with a few people from our german class (ruben from spain, and mariana from mexico) last night. the other classes suck, our academic director is a bad teacher, can't answer questions, and just, well, sucks as a teacher. BUT living in berlin, and going to the former yugoslavia soon, will make up for it.

A few days ago, I went with tyler to see the germany/san marino football game (we watched it on tv in a bar, not live). Now... Germany is really good at soccer, did incredibly at this past world cup, and has 82-83 million people. San Marino is a small landlocked country surrounded by Italy, with 30,000 inhabitants. So naturally, it was a pretty one sided game. We came in in the 25th minute, with Germany up 1-0. By halftime, it was 6-0, and the final score was 13-0. It was absolutely ridiculous... there'd be 3 goals scored in about 2 minutes.

the next night, the whole group went out together. this is kinda rare for us... we're sort of the spectacle whenever it happens. 10 american college students travelling together are usually loud and obnoxious. BUT we had a good time anyway... we went to a bar and just hung out. AND on the way there, I crushed an old woman's dreams!! I was walking to my s-bahn stop, and she was standing in the tunnel with a suitcase, looking left, then right, then left... then right again. she looked so confused. She sees me coming and says something to me, and all I can say is "Ich spreche nicht Deutsch." So I tell her I don't speak German, and she looks at me and says, "Ich spreche nicht Deutch. ich spreche NICHT DEUTSCH." and starts stomping her foot and getting all angry. it was HILARIOUS. i was like "uh, sorry" and hopped up the stairs to my awaiting train.

We've been exploring the city... slowly, but we have. Usually a few of us head out after class, and explore a new area before we head home. We checked out Rathaus Steglitz a few days ago, which kinda reminded me of the upper west side of NYC. there were a lot of stores and shopping and stuff. (it was much cheaper than the UWS though, heh). it was a cool area. Then tyler and i explored the area by our language school so we could find a bottle opener for me. And we go into a convenience store thing, then a supermarket, then a drug store, then a smoke shop, then a LIQUOR STORE, and NO ONE sells bottle openers. Everyone's like "do you need a bottle opened? i'll open it for you" but NO ONE SELLS THEM. it's so weird. (we didn't need bottles opened, it was like 3:30 in the afternoon).

yesterday, lisa and i were planning ongoing downtown and doing a bunch of tourist things! go early, beat the lines, the whole nine yards. SO we wind up leaving the house at 2pm, and have to skip things such as going into the Reichstag (seat of German government). There were still cool things in the area, such as the Brandenburg Gate, cool memorials, and the memorial to the people who died trying to cross the berlin wall. (PICTURES!! http://community.webshots.com/album/553757972ucrFzB).

The gate was funny... we passed it on our way to the Reichstag, and took pictures of it, but didn't really know what it was. then later we were like "where the hell is the brandenburg gate?? it says it's right here!!" then eventually we figured it out. we were both disappointed in it, heh. the memorials were sad, and then we headed out to Checkpoint Charlie and the museum there. which was INCREDIBLE.

Outside, they have everything set up like the famous pictures of checkpoint charlie (including the signs about entering/leaving the american sector). it's kinda cool. you can even get your passport stamped with a DDR (east german) stamp. There's a few HUGE walls with writing and pictures about the history of the wall, the wall today, people trying to cross the wall, etc. it's really really interesting. Then we went into the museum... which is awesome.

I don't have any pictures from inside the museum, but it's insane. They have pictures of before, during, and after the wall. They have stories about escape attempts, about guards helping people escape (and being shot for it afterwards), and everything else. They have info on the June 17th,1953 uprising. They have actual cars and other artifacts that people smuggled other people across in. They have clothes people wore, when they were shot with automatic motion-seeking weapons. They have contraptions people used to get around the wall (homemade boats, airplanes, collapsable ladders, info on tunnels, etc). it's a really really cool museum, huge, and it really makes you think... i cant even imagine what this city would have been like back then. it's like if there was a wall between brooklyn and queens, and you weren't allowed to go into brooklyn. (well actually, that wouldnt be so bad. :) ). it was intense.

so afterwards, we went to the "internet cafe at Chatpoint Charlie", and looked up hostels for our upcoming trip to krakow!! At the end of september, we're going to krakow for 4 days. we're going to go to auschwitz and the salt mines out there... im excited. the hostel i want to stay in was rated one of the top 5 in europe, one of the top 10 in the world. so it should be a good time.

other than that... just been going out, meeting people, and having fun! we went to our first club yesterday, which was fun. (we left at like 2 because we didnt want to stay out THAT late, then wound up taking the wrong train, winding up at the airport in the extreme southeast of the city (all of us live in the west), and not getting home until 4:30 or 5. whatever... it was an experience.

check out those new pictures, and let me know what you think.

-greg