Trying to Get Perspective in A Confined Space
Hello!
I am still hibernating. This has been such a long winter so far. I've spent so much time inside that I actually feel like I am experiencing the world with an objective eye and a fresh perspective when I do go out. That is a sure sign of lack of outside stimulation. I have, however, been trying to go out once a day, for "fresh air." This has for the most part been freezing, icy, snowy, and rainy, but the fresh air is pretty essential. It helps me to remember why I have been staying inside. And so the cycle goes...
So here is how we have been entertaining ourselves: packing, looking for houses online, watching the kids freak out dancing to the Backyardigans CD, watching downloaded episodes of the new season of Lost and The Office at night when we should be packing, recording new songs when we should be packing, planning photo shoots when we should be ..., and eating loads of candy bars. Ever since I read in a magazine that Tom Ford eats several candy bars a day, I've sort of made it my mission to do the same. This has given me a nice distraction from my total freak out baby while waiting in line near the register at Kaiser's. Snickers, Twix, Mars bars, Kit Kat. Man, no one ever told me how GOOD candy bars are, especially Snickers. I haven't been so much in the baking mood (apart from the Brownies yesterday), so the Candy Bars are a fine replacement for the storm I am usually baking up in the kitchen.
How is the move going? Well, pretty well. We have a nachmieter for the apartment. This was a fun experience of having 3 or 4 realtors going nuts showing the place weekend after weekend. We answered a lot of questions about sunlight in the apartment. Unfortunately, we could only offer them light as reflected off the library across the street coming into the windows. Hmmm.... A family that lives nearby ended up taking the place. It was cool to have met them. We now have faces to put with thoughts of our old apartment once it is officially our "old apartment." They also agreed to buy our kitchen and to spare us renovation, which officially makes them the coolest people on earth. Both of those things take quite a load of stress off right here at international move time. And we've been mailing boxes and doing a lot of ebaying as well. Fun, Fun, Fun. Only a couple more weeks, and we will move into a ferienwohnung for about a week while we finish all the last minute things, clean our apartment and say goodbye to all our friends. I can almost hear the airplane jets...
So, here are some things I will miss:
1. Our friends.
2. German Food (rotkohl, sauerbraten, potato dumplings, schnitzel, apfelstrudel mit vanillesoße, etc., etc. Are you getting hungry???)
3. How relaxed Germans are about very natural things...the naked body, breastfeeding, giving birth, illness, you know...those kinds of things...
4. How loyal Germans are in friendships (you don't mind the sweeping generalizations, do you?)
5. How naturally healthy and free of preservatives and genetic modification the food is.
6. The punk rock pizza place on schönhauser allee (if you don't know this place, it is the BEST pizza served by italian punks on earth)
7. The Prenzlauer Bergian children all over the place in the summer.
8. The Saturday market on Kollwitz Platz (note to self: buy one of those beautiful, handmade cutting boards before I go)
9. The built-in dependability in everything...things run on time, professionals know what they are doing, how to fix things, etc.
10. Small stores (and the lack of choice, which is actually a good thing as far as I'm concerned).
11. Being able to walk or take public transportation everywhere (not necessarily a Berlin thing...just a big city thing).
12. My 70's travel agent dude, my pornstar baker, my Kaiser's treueherzen collecting obsession.
13. The awesome little bioladens.
Things I won't miss:
1. You guessed the first one...the long, dark, icy, grey, foggy, dead winters.
2. The self imposed limitations of perfectly bright people because of a system that requires such and such certificate or education for every fucking little thing, and likewise, the sense of insecurity/big egos produced by an education system that separates the smart-university from the "dumb"-technical at such a young impressional age.
3. Big, Dirty, city living. Dog doo doo. Broken sidewalks. Random nasty things. Germs on public transportation.
4. A lack of a choice in breakfast cereals.
5. The Bureaucracy.
6. The limitations I experience linguistically.
7. Being an American in a world where Americans ain't the most popular kids on the block.
Things I look forward to:
1. A backyard.
2. Sunshine.
3. Speaking English.
4. A sense of possibility.
5. Spontenaiety.
6. Exploring a new place.
7. Coming back to Berlin in the summers.
8. A choice in breakfast cereals.
9. Driving to Ikea in Virginia.
Things I am sort of dreading:
1. Minivans.
2. SUVs.
3. Enormous stores that always incite the flight response in my poor anxious soul.
4. Malls.
5. Packaged, processed food (which I WILL NOT eat).
6. Fast food (which I WILL NOT eat, except for Chick Fil A).
7. Plastic, especially plastic toys.
8. The distances between things.
I am guessing all of these lists will change once we have moved and see what we are really in for. I will keep you posted.
Trying to keep my spirits up, my eyes focused (I can't focus on people when I talk to them anymore), and my children feeling secure through all of my freakout sessions.
Love,
Mama Jens
I am still hibernating. This has been such a long winter so far. I've spent so much time inside that I actually feel like I am experiencing the world with an objective eye and a fresh perspective when I do go out. That is a sure sign of lack of outside stimulation. I have, however, been trying to go out once a day, for "fresh air." This has for the most part been freezing, icy, snowy, and rainy, but the fresh air is pretty essential. It helps me to remember why I have been staying inside. And so the cycle goes...
So here is how we have been entertaining ourselves: packing, looking for houses online, watching the kids freak out dancing to the Backyardigans CD, watching downloaded episodes of the new season of Lost and The Office at night when we should be packing, recording new songs when we should be packing, planning photo shoots when we should be ..., and eating loads of candy bars. Ever since I read in a magazine that Tom Ford eats several candy bars a day, I've sort of made it my mission to do the same. This has given me a nice distraction from my total freak out baby while waiting in line near the register at Kaiser's. Snickers, Twix, Mars bars, Kit Kat. Man, no one ever told me how GOOD candy bars are, especially Snickers. I haven't been so much in the baking mood (apart from the Brownies yesterday), so the Candy Bars are a fine replacement for the storm I am usually baking up in the kitchen.
How is the move going? Well, pretty well. We have a nachmieter for the apartment. This was a fun experience of having 3 or 4 realtors going nuts showing the place weekend after weekend. We answered a lot of questions about sunlight in the apartment. Unfortunately, we could only offer them light as reflected off the library across the street coming into the windows. Hmmm.... A family that lives nearby ended up taking the place. It was cool to have met them. We now have faces to put with thoughts of our old apartment once it is officially our "old apartment." They also agreed to buy our kitchen and to spare us renovation, which officially makes them the coolest people on earth. Both of those things take quite a load of stress off right here at international move time. And we've been mailing boxes and doing a lot of ebaying as well. Fun, Fun, Fun. Only a couple more weeks, and we will move into a ferienwohnung for about a week while we finish all the last minute things, clean our apartment and say goodbye to all our friends. I can almost hear the airplane jets...
So, here are some things I will miss:
1. Our friends.
2. German Food (rotkohl, sauerbraten, potato dumplings, schnitzel, apfelstrudel mit vanillesoße, etc., etc. Are you getting hungry???)
3. How relaxed Germans are about very natural things...the naked body, breastfeeding, giving birth, illness, you know...those kinds of things...
4. How loyal Germans are in friendships (you don't mind the sweeping generalizations, do you?)
5. How naturally healthy and free of preservatives and genetic modification the food is.
6. The punk rock pizza place on schönhauser allee (if you don't know this place, it is the BEST pizza served by italian punks on earth)
7. The Prenzlauer Bergian children all over the place in the summer.
8. The Saturday market on Kollwitz Platz (note to self: buy one of those beautiful, handmade cutting boards before I go)
9. The built-in dependability in everything...things run on time, professionals know what they are doing, how to fix things, etc.
10. Small stores (and the lack of choice, which is actually a good thing as far as I'm concerned).
11. Being able to walk or take public transportation everywhere (not necessarily a Berlin thing...just a big city thing).
12. My 70's travel agent dude, my pornstar baker, my Kaiser's treueherzen collecting obsession.
13. The awesome little bioladens.
Things I won't miss:
1. You guessed the first one...the long, dark, icy, grey, foggy, dead winters.
2. The self imposed limitations of perfectly bright people because of a system that requires such and such certificate or education for every fucking little thing, and likewise, the sense of insecurity/big egos produced by an education system that separates the smart-university from the "dumb"-technical at such a young impressional age.
3. Big, Dirty, city living. Dog doo doo. Broken sidewalks. Random nasty things. Germs on public transportation.
4. A lack of a choice in breakfast cereals.
5. The Bureaucracy.
6. The limitations I experience linguistically.
7. Being an American in a world where Americans ain't the most popular kids on the block.
Things I look forward to:
1. A backyard.
2. Sunshine.
3. Speaking English.
4. A sense of possibility.
5. Spontenaiety.
6. Exploring a new place.
7. Coming back to Berlin in the summers.
8. A choice in breakfast cereals.
9. Driving to Ikea in Virginia.
Things I am sort of dreading:
1. Minivans.
2. SUVs.
3. Enormous stores that always incite the flight response in my poor anxious soul.
4. Malls.
5. Packaged, processed food (which I WILL NOT eat).
6. Fast food (which I WILL NOT eat, except for Chick Fil A).
7. Plastic, especially plastic toys.
8. The distances between things.
I am guessing all of these lists will change once we have moved and see what we are really in for. I will keep you posted.
Trying to keep my spirits up, my eyes focused (I can't focus on people when I talk to them anymore), and my children feeling secure through all of my freakout sessions.
Love,
Mama Jens
posted by mama jens at 7:20 PM
8 Comments:
The weather's really doing my head in this winter. Not sure why, but it's biting harder. Especially the it's-snowy-oh-no-it's-melting-but-hold-on-it's-a-damn-ice-rink-now stuff.
I think I'm catching a cold at long last...this winter is taking too long...and the the temperature fluctuation's getting to me.
I wish I could be somewhere else right now...or just move somewhere else like you're doing.
Dear Jen ... Reading your entry today brings it all back sharply ... The list of things you will miss gets longer, as with the things you dread ... Promise us you will write from America!
Hope to see you this weekend ... I will bein touch.
Craig, Yeah, I think this is the hardest winter I've had in Berlin (or anywhere for that matter) ever. My mom pointed out to me that we usually leave for at least a month every winter which I guess has made a difference.
Elemmaciltur, Is it time for a vacation??? There must be sun and warmth not too far away!!??
Richard, It is so good to know someone else has been through these limbo days and made it to the other side intact. I promise I will write from America and I hope to see you this weekend too!
I am German and have lived in the US for one year. There are alwys things, that are better and things that are worse about "the other" country... But in the end, for me at least, it was (and is) the people I missed most!
Good luck with the move. I hope the Berlin weather will get better. I am going there on Sat. for the Berlinale.
Hi Katja, You're right about the friends. That is the hardest part about leaving for me. Have fun at the Berlinale!
Hey-
I found your blog in my continous quest for things about "living in Berlin".
We are planning to move to Berlin for one year this spring.
We are subletting our apartment here (in Brooklyn) and are moving into an apartment in Berlin that my father is letting us live in rent free (in return for some plumbing and maintance work) ( a big plus!) in Friendenau (not so exciting I hear!?)
Your worries about coming back to the US and what your are leaving behind I can totally relate to.
My kids (Bruno and Vincent) are 2 1/2 years and 4 1/2 month. I'm wondering what living with kids will be like in Germany (I'm German, but haven't lived in Germany for the last 20 years, my husband is Canadian/American), how will my older son ajust, not speaking much German. How will my Husband ajust not speaking German very well. How are the pre-schools/kindergarten...the list seems endless. But we are looking forward to going. The kids are still young and we are due for a bit of change. Leaving New York seems crazy somehow. I'm nervous about the culture- shock (there is a reason why I left to begin with...right?!) Berlin is much more international place now, I'm re-assured by my mum (she lived in Berlin in the 60's). I think we'll find it to be a good place to be. Yes, the playgrounds are a big plus. And the art community is alive and well (I'm a photographer).
I've enjoyed your blog. As as a mum and a fellow "mover".
Sorry we'll miss you there.
Good luck in your new place.
Let us know how your journey continous.
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