Weekend blur

Hi everybody! My first week in Berlin has come and gone, and I have many things on my mind as I both reflect and look ahead to the future. This post may be a bit scattered as I attempt to collect my thoughts...I find that lists are always helpful:

1) Friday was a very lazy day for me. At night, I rode my bike over to Anne's (only got lost once) which is near the train station and then we met up with her friends at a bar in Berlin. It was a pretty chill environment with good drinks, nachos, and conversation with a girl who has been to Australia so we had plenty to talk about :) Thankfully, Sandro (Anne's boyfriend) drove me home so I didn't have to bike from the train station at 3am. 

Thought from Friday: Hanging out with Anne's friends has introduced me to a new way of acting around acquaintances. Hmm, I'm not sure how best to explain this. Basically, I don't contribute much to the conversations because I don't always know what people are talking about (it's all in German - always). However, even if I haven't talked to someone or even introduced myself, that person will come up to me when they are leaving to go home for the night and shake my hand and say "tschüß" (which means "bye"). I feel so included! It has happened many times now. I think I like it. It's just very different from what I am used to. For their closer friends, they brush cheeks and make a kissing sound. Everybody seems to do this.

2) Saturday was busy busy! Anne came over in the morning and we all (Barbara, Lutz, Jakob, me, Anne, and even Emma the dog) hopped in the car to meet Barbara's parents for lunch - it was Oma's birthday! It was fun to meet more of the family :) Pictures! (Thought from Saturday's lunch: This meal confirmed that everyone here eats much faster than me, and I'm not even talking during the meal!)

3) After lunch, the "adults" went back to Oma and Opa's place for Kaffee trinken und Kuchen (coffee and cake), while the "kids" took the train to check out a big kite festival. It was neat! Tons of kites in the sky - all shapes and sizes. Lots of people were there for the event. We took a lot of pictures, so I have more if you are interested :)

 
 After the kite festival, we made our way back to the others and joined in for delicious cake. Jakob took this awesome panoramic picture of the situation.

 4) Ok after cake, Anne and I went shopping in a nearby mall to kill time before our evening plans with her friends. We then headed over to a friend's place, waited for others to arrive, and then went to a steakhouse at midnight. We were the only ones there and it totally reminded me of going with my friends to Perkins at ridiculous hours of the night. After the boys had their feed, we went to a club. Let me tell you - this club was terrible, but we went for a good laugh. As Jakob told me this morning, it's a "kids' club". I would say the average age was 16. Ha! We danced anyway. It was fun. Sorry - no pictures from that evening.

Random thought: I've been trying to train myself to eat like a European by keeping my fork in my left hand when I'm using a knife, and it's hard. It's like trying to write with my left hand!

5) Got home at 3am last night. Woke up super late. Barbara and Lutz left breakfast out for Jakob and I, which we ate around noon :) I cleaned my room today and did laundry. I live here now! It's been one full week! I feel like part of the family. It's very nice.

6) Today Barbara and Lutz picked up 2 old bikes from Barbara's parents, and I get to use one of them to go back and forth from the train station. Yay - I'm like a real Berliner! Tomorrow morning I need to get up quite early, bike to the train station, and then take the train into Berlin for my first day of German language school. I'm excited!!!

7) Today I bought a train ticket that is good for a whole month. It's getting real now :)

8) I feel like I had more to write about, but I guess I don't. Today was good. Yesterday was good. Tomorrow will be good. I like it here.

Bis Morgen!