It's all about the cheese

Life so far has really all be about the cheese. Not that the cheese is good or we have had that much of it, but it comes down to the fact that I can’t read the ingredients or nutritional break down of this bag of cheese we just used for dinner. This problem does not solely apply to cheese. It permeates everything in every aspect of our day from how to get anywhere, to trying to figure out witch country my lost bike was in, to buying beds, couches, cookware, to meeting new people, buying lights (since most places don’t come with light bulbs or the wiring for that matter), to getting bank accounts, to getting internet, to witch bathroom to use. It is a huge slap in the face to someone that has most every aspect of his life wired back home. In a few short days this experience has thought me that I was comfortable back home, it was getting too easy, this decision of ours is not easy, and to be honest the last few days have had times that have really sucked, and times that have been really interesting ( usually after a beer garden) but it was/ is necessary. I am getting out side my comfort zone, not by falling off a waterfall, hanging off the side of a rock face, but by taking my ability away to know were I am going, how to get there, and what to eat once I get there.
Sometimes when you are kayaking you swim out of your boat. It’s not the preferred way to run a drop, but it happens, fortunately you have life jackets and safety gear to save your ass. Our life jacket/ safety gear for this waterfall of an adventure come in the form of Katie and Bob (Erin’s friends from Colorado). If we have any question the usually have an answer to it, from the best place to by groceries, to the people that have cheap furniture. They basically took this week (and probably many more) to get us set up with the million little things we will need to make this place home for a year.

(Our first dinner at our empty house)

Some of you are probably wondering about the little things like were we live, were Erin works, what city life is like. To those of you with these thoughts here is your answer. I am all about great deals and our apartment is one of them. Our place is huge! We have two bedrooms a big living room, and a nice sized kitchen. Currently it’s empty, but it is slowly filling up with donated/ cheap furniture that we have been able to get. It feels really weird going from to many roommates in our old places to no one but ourselves (So if anyone wants to move to Berlin for a bit I will give you a deal on a room). The part of the city we live in feels more like a suburb. It feels very safe, very clean, not smelly, and very orderly. There is a really cool little market that is about 150 meters away (things are in metric now) several large grocery stores and cool little shops tucked in on side streets and old world allies. It will be a cool place to live for a while, it a good mix of city life off set with a suburban feel. It’s hard to comment on Erins school, she has met most of the new staff, but really has not seen the classrooms or the other teachers. Everyone we have met so far seams like they are a bit shell shocked from there own adventure of moving from the states like we are. There are several mandatory trips to the beer garden that are built into training so I am sure I will have a better handle on who people and how the school is after they are done.
I have to get back to putting posters on the wall so this place looks more like home, hope you don’t mind but I am signing off for now. Life is good, challenging, and exciting and that’s how I like it!

Hope all is well

Patrick

This is "queer grizzly" that we ran into near buddy bar in Berlin.