I believe August 19th marked my one-year anniversary of Berlin life. I can’t count the differences that the year marked, though a few of the big changes are speaking German regularly, a different career, no more grad school thoughts, moving in with a girlfriend, and living in a different country. Other than that, I won’t try and summarize a year in a poorly worded paragraph.
I was in the tiny town of Verchen (north of Berlin) from roughly the middle of July to the middle of August working as a camp counselor / English teacher. We ran three camps over the month; two one-week camps and one two-week camp. Overall I emerged alive albeit unpaid (I filed my pay claim a bit late, though hopefully that will resolve itself in the next two weeks). I have lots of stories about wacky things that little German kids did, but I’d probably bore you with them. Was it a great experience? I don’t know, but I did learn a helluva lot about teaching and dealing with people. I became better friends with most of the other counselors (and directors). Would I do it again? Yes, and I probably will, assuming I’m not fired first.
Nextly, Stephanie and I moved into our flat as of a week and a half ago. The place is starting to look good after a few trips to Ikea and a crash course in electrical fixtures. We did hire movers, which brought the actual moving process down to three wonderfully simple (for us) hours. I’ll take pictures at some point, but the highlights of the flat are a great balcony with Astroturf, two couches to nap on, and a TV that is hidden inside a locker.
Lastly, a large part of my “free time” at camp was spent drawing and re-learning Chess, which I’m thoroughly obsessed with. A few of my newer friends have also taken it upon themselves to try and get me into watching football (soccer), which has been working well.
Categories: contemplation, movement, culture shock, work
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I’ve been back for over a week but have been keeping busy with a successful move and getting back into the swing of (some) work. I’ll update more once we have our Internet back but I needed to post the following picture of the best product name ever.
Categories: movement, pictures, culture shock
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 As the subject suggests, I am taking a big breath before diving into the next month, which will consist of something like a month of straight work with one day off. So far I am excited about the prospects of working at an English language camp despite the likely intensity of the program.
Stephanie left for the U.S. for her one month visit that conveniently coincides with my schedule. It was sad to see her off though I know (and hope) that the next few weeks will fly by. She’ll be back shortly after I am done with camp and then we will move into our new flat.
We took another Ashtanga class and I think I was even more excited for the second class than the first. I’m still hurting a lot, but I psyched to think how the balance and strength will improve my climbing. We both had a lot of fun and will hopefully resume our classes at the end of the summer.
I don’t have anything more to add other than the obvious fact that I won’t be updating the travel blog for at least two weeks (if not a month). I’ll make sure to have some good (or at least better) posts for when I get back. Until then…
Categories: contemplation, movement, pictures, learning
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It’s getting really busy around here, especially as I approach the July 10th departure date for camp work. I’ll be gone for about a month and things will be just as hectic when I get back. The good news (and there is usually a nice supply of it) is that Stephanie and I signed a contract for a flat yesterday. Kevin, my old flatmate, helped us get through the German text, and we should be getting the keys in a few days (though not moving in until the middle of August). Pictures will eventually follow.This past weekend was spent with the lovely Johanniter people earning a certification for first aid. The class was entirely in German and I will probably strangle the next person who says Atem (breath) or bewusst (conscious). Each of those words was said at least forty times per hour at the class and I doubt I will ever forget them as long as I live.
Lastly, Stephanie and I tried Ashtanga yoga last night at a very cool studio. Bryan, an American I met at the boulder hall, recommended it to me and we both had a good time. I’m a bit sore today though I did try this style with my mother last year (in a much more relaxed class). The class focused much more on strength and balance than meditation, which is why it is so good for climbers (example). Stephanie got a lot of envious looks because of her zen ballet-inspired movements. Anyhow, I think we will both go back next week.
More updates soon…maybe
Categories: contemplation, movement, learning, work
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 I know it’s old and most might not get the reference, but I’ve uploaded a short comic about “What Really Happened to Doodlesheep,” and I hope you enjoy it. You can download the comic here.
Categories: pictures
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 …is probably making money from medical experiments, which is how I spent yesterday morning. I followed an ad that my flatmate brought back for the Audiologie und Phoniatrie center and spent three hours doing an experiment that tested the way people learn. Overall it was a fun experience though the tests were hard at first. A computer screen flashed individual words that made up a sentence and I had to decide whether they followed basic grammar rules (in English). Another word was displayed and I had to determine if the word was in the previous sentence. That was the easy part. The second part of the experiment involved playing many recorded sentences sung operatically. I then had to answer a yes or no question about the sentence. One such example was: “The boy, who was loved by the cook, ate the bear.” Then, “did the cook eat the bear?” The sentences were changed around several times throughout the experiment. Anyhow, you get the idea, right?
Categories: movement, pictures, learning, work
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Another fucking bad cold. One of the downsides of my job. Sure, being on the U- & S-Bahn so many hours per day sucks, but it doesn’t even hold a candle to getting sick so often. That being said, I do have a pretty good job even if I’m constantly surrounded by kid germs. I am currently shopping around the job market for a contract gig, which is pretty unlikely considering my super powers are limited to teaching English and rock climbing. It wouldn’t be a shock (or disappointment, for that matter) to find myself at the same job in a few months. Summer is approaching and my classes will be dwindling until first week of next month, but then camp starts.
Stephanie and I are still waiting for the paperwork to come through on an apartment that we decided on. It’s a cool place right around our current neighborhood and it’s pretty much what we are looking for. We have still be looking at other places (4 this weekend), but that’s more of a safety measure in case the current deal falls through.
I did some damage at the English used bookstore today by adding The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Underground to my Murakami collection. I’m trying to ration out the reading of his books though apparently I have no problem buying a whole bunch of them in a short span. I’m reading Norwegian Wood right now but have limited myself to a maximum of ten pages a day (which is a big step down from the two-day marathons of some of his other works).
I’m pretty sure I bored everyone with this post but hopefully I sated someone’s desire for more input. And remember, don’t be bashful, check out my ArtWanted profile.
Categories: contemplation, movement, learning, work
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 I spent the past weekend at a training session for my summer job as a counselor at an English-language summer camp. I was initially quite hesitant about spending 16 hours over two days (between an already hectic two weeks) but it all worked out quite nicely and I met some great people. Anyhow, I went into the office yesterday and got the contract for one month of summer camp somewhere around here, which is about an hour and a half north of Berlin by car/bus. It will mean spending a month away from “home,” though I think it will be fun although lots of work.
Stephanie and I have been doing lots of work trying to find a new place, though to her credit she is doing most of the research thus far. There are a lot of interesting flats in the area and I’m confident that we will find something good. Needless to say, we are both excited about the process.
I won’t bore whatever core audience I have managed to retain thus far, but I’ll close by talking about my typewriter. I picked up the Hermes Baby (circa 1970/80) at the Flohmarkt a few weeks ago and have really been enjoying the experience of typing with it. It’s not the first typewriter I’ve had, but certainly the first portable or manual one. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to break their bonds to their computer as well as instill a bit more creativity into their work. Shaun, try it out. I found mine for €10, but just make sure all of the keys work before you buy.
Rachel left for other parts of Germany last week and Danielle has been here for the past week, though she leaves today for London and the U.S. We haven’t had much time together because of work but I still think it was a good visit (though too short).
Don’t forget to check out my ArtWanted profile.
Categories: contemplation, movement, learning, work
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It’s been a busy few weeks and I have thought of literally dozens of potential travel-blog posts but as you can tell, they simply didn’t come to fruition. To start with, I have gotten a few more clients for private lessons and I’m setting myself up for a very busy pre-summer vacation schedule in anticipation for a not so busy summer schedule (aside from 3 weeks of working at a summer camp). I’ve also been spending lots of time with Rachel, who will only be around for another week before she goes to Stuttgart and then Munich.
I’ve joined two portfolio-esque websites and have been uploading some work there. Nothing has really happened with my fotolog site but my artwanted portfolio got some good attention, though unfortunately I can only upload three pictures a month (fotolog allows one picture per day). Anyhow, keep your eyes peeled there for a few occasional things.
Yesterday der Kegel, the local bouldering hall, had their competition. I don’t really know how I did because they didn’t upload the scores or announce the scores of the winners for each category. I do know that I didn’t take home any prizes, but that is more than okay and I had a good time. There was only one route that I didn’t send that I really wanted to, but that was more for the points than the quality of the route (which was shit). Some aspects of the comp were frustrating, but overall it was a good time and I climbed hard for five hours and got a free t-shirt. I’ll post more when they upload the score and pictures from the event.
Last, but certainly not least on the scale of good things that have been happening, Stephanie and I are going to start looking for an apartment to hopefully move into around August or September. She’s going to be away around the same time that I’m working at camp so hopefully we can find someplace before all of that happens. I think it will be a good move and we are going to try to stay in the same area (our apartments are about a ten-minute walk apart).
I have some smaller things that I wanted to add but I’ll save those for a slightly shorter future post.
Update: der Kegel updated their site. They don’t have so many pictures up but I did come in 10th in the men’s Fortgeschrittene (intermediate) level. Definitely better than I thought, though the still didn’t list the points of the winners.
Categories: contemplation, movement
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