bad me

Ok I admit I am a bad bad blogger because I haven't updated my Berlin blog in a while. Ever since I returned from London, I've been somewhat stressed and depressed. It seems that the London trip was my last bit of amazing fun until returning home to Seattle. This past week it has hit me that I don't have much time left here, which really sucks... and I have so many things to do before I go. I wanted to make the apartment I bought liveable so we can move right in when we come back to Berlin, but there is still much to do. And the asshole T-Com idiots are not making it any easier. I wasted 4 hours on Friday waiting for them to show up and they never did. What the hell. I thought Germans were supposed to be punctual and reliable. ;-)

My irrational side just wants to toss my return ticket and stay in Berlin. I so do not want to go back to Seattle. It's ok and all, but I'm only happy in Berlin.

*big sigh*

Yay

I picked up the keys yesterday. Then I pretty much spent the rest of the day out and about instead of at home working. We went to the apartment and checked it out and took several pictures. I will post the pics soon when I have a chance, hopefully tomorrow sometime. Later Klaus met us and we went to the "kitchen place" to look at (you guessed it) .... kitchens. The unfortunate thing is that it may not be until after we leave Berlin that the kitchen is installed. Luckily Klaus will be here to take care of it if that is the case. Today I'm taking off from here early so we can go to Ikea. Kent's mom keeps saying how much she likes yellow because it is the color of "intelligence". Regardless of that, there is no way I will buy anything that is yellow. I mean... no. way.

anxious

I should be hearing from them any day now telling me I can come pick up the keys. I am hoping for today but it's already noon. I hate waiting.

the big signing and other things

Well, I signed the contract for the purchase of the apartment a week ago today. I felt a little intimidated when I first entered the conference room because I was greeted by several different people in "business" attire all seated around a big conference table. And there I was in jeans. Wow. However, everyone turned out to be very nice and it all went very well. One person was the owner of the property management company I bought the apartment from, another was the real estate agent who works for that company, another was the Notar (attorney) and the other was the interpreter. Then there was Kent, his mom, and me. The whole thing took two hours. The Notar had to read the entire 12-page document and the interpreter translated it to English for me every couple of paragraphs.

After a nice celebratory lunch (dinner for me), we headed back to Hackescher Markt area and sat outside at Caras, a cafe that is great to sit at and people-watch. And in this spot where we tend to see a lot of the same people, we saw all the usual suspects. Karin (the photographer) and her husband sat with us, and the guy with the anteannas passed by. I did not have the nerve to approach him, so I made Kent do it. Kent asked if he could take a photo of him and jokingly he said it would cost one Euro. He came over and talked to us for a bit... very melodramatic guy... he complained of a broken heart over someone he'd met just a few days ago. Because of this, I wasn't sure if his sobs were real or not and we all sort of giggled when he'd go into this sobbing fit. But he turned out to be very nice and ended up buying us all wine. He gladly gave me his permission to post his photo here. And he does have a name but I suck at remembering such things, all I know is that it starts with a J.

Later we went to the biggest Depeche Mode party ever. It was held at a large arena and they played everything! Of course, we ran into Crazy Depeche Mode guy, who also does have a name - he is Andreas. He's pretty crazy and both Kent and I wonder what he's like when he's NOT at a Depeche Mode party. Is he just as crazy? Unfortunately, he, among others, stepped on my foot at some point that night and I have a very colorful bruise now. It's really kind of gross. I don't have any pictures of him (or of the bruise) because I don't like taking my camera to crazy nightclubs.

Some pictures:


J the guy with antennas and Kent


the restaurant we ate at after the contract signing


what the hell is this, it looks like a ghost





I want to post some more about Frankfurt but I'll do that next time.