My husband is watching MacGyver, who just escaped East Berlin in a coffin that turned into a jet ski… or something. It’s weird for me to think that I will be living in an apartment in what used to be East Berlin, and that for the first 20 years of my life I couldn’t have set foot on that street. If I walk 1.8 Km SW of my apartment, I can walk right past Checkpoint Charlie and go to McDonalds (which I wouldn’t, cuz ew. And how hilariously tacky is it that they built a McDonalds at Checkpoint Charlie?) So much history, and so much of it awkward or sad.
Personal Journal: Funk to Funky
My future German landlord, Herr Funke (we know Major Tom’s a junkie…), just emailed me. He called me Frau Messenger. I don’t know why that made me laugh. but it did.
Personal Journal: Bestattungen
So, I decided to take a little Google Street View tour of my future neighborhood in Berlin (Rosenthalerplatz FYI). Aside from the splendor that is the architecture of former East Berlin, I noticed numerous businesses called “Bestattungen” tucked into storefronts alongside the cafes, corner markets, and cell phone stores. What the hell is that, I wondered?
Undertakers. They’re undertakers. WTF Berlin?
Personal Journal: Gear
Field kit is (mostly) assembled! I’m not buying paper until I get to Germany. It’s too heavy. Everything else was INSANELY more expensive there (the Prismacolor pencils were $19 here $47 in Germany!) I’ve got my army engineers bag and I am ready to go!