It's really unbelievable how time flies, especially when you've got lots of activities going on.
This week I had a few more interviews for my research. I went out to Friedrichshain to visit the school and saw some interesting messages scribbled on the walls of a building close to the school. Fascinating.
The school itself has a special focus on music, and the students were great. I enjoyed speaking with them. Now I have to finish up the tedious task of transcribing everything.
As I learned over dinner on Wednesday night with my HIA friend and colleague, Björn, though, I shouldn't be complaining about transcribing nearly 70 interviews. Björn is a judge in Berlin, and he told me that in Germany judges don't have stenographers. This means, he and his colleagues all have to type out transcripts, etc. on their own. Clearly, I was complaining to the wrong guy and really shouldn't be complaining at all...
It was fun to catch up though and pick his brain on studying law, etc. We were actually roommates during the HIA Senior Fellows excursion back in 2008. It was a fun trip, and we had fun reminiscing on activities from three years ago. I remember hitting three bulls-eyes in a row with a bow and arrow. I didn't blog much back then, otherwise it would've been an awesome post to write.
After dinner, I headed to a bar to meet up with Brandon and his parents. His parents were in two for only a few days to visit, so I was looking forward to meeting them. They were extremely nice, and I had a ton of fun talking and joking around with them. The beer selection at the bar was also extremely impressive. Our conversations ranged from prostitutes out on the street (we went to a bar on Oranienburgerstr.) to why the word "mushy" in English sounds hilarious to Germans (Brandon's explanation: in German, a similar sounding word means another way of saying "female cat").
I got home late that night and had to wake up at 6 AM to go to a school with the HIA Program, so combined with the work I had to get down that night, I ended up only getting two and a half hours of sleep. Worse, we had all heard that the BVG (Berlin's public transportation system) had planned a strike on Thursday morning, so all lines were assumed to be affected.
Thankfully, my tram and bus ran just fine. I even ran into three HIA Fellows on the bus; however, the ride is still long as ever, and I arrived nearly and hour and ten minutes after leaving my house. Gosh, I live far away.
The school visit was fun though, as it's the school where I have been volunteering as an English tutor. I was able to help give a short intro to the school, although I really didn't have much to say. We all got to visit different classes though, and Anton and I ended up going to the PE class, where the kids were nuts and wild. The teacher had an extremely difficult time getting them to pay attention.
But we participated eventually and had to throw a ball as far as possible. Embarrassingly, even though I threw second further out of everyone, I got out-thrown by about 10 feet by a 13 year old kid.
We also had lunch at the school and had some time for discussion. However, I left before their last discussion group 'cause I was feeling exhausted and also had evening plans I needed to get ready for.
I made it home an hour and a half after leaving the school. I definitely fell asleep on the bus too. Thankfully I didn't miss my stops, otherwise it would've been really annoying.
In the evening, I headed to Kreuzberg to my friend Manuela's. We had planned to have a little grill party on her balcony, so I went and picked up a one-time grill. There was only one left in the store! Thankfully, I got it before other people did. :) We had a great huge meal of chicken, Nürnbergers, chips, pretzels, sauteed veggies with melted mozzarella, and some beers. Really excellent.
The weather was nice too, so we sat on the balcony and caught up on all sorts of things. I also found out Manuela is a huge fan of The Wire as well, which is only the best show ever made on TV. No big deal.
I headed home after dinner and made it back by 11 pm. I was so tired that I crashed soon after and didn't wake up until noon today. After a nice lunch, I've been catching up on work and will get ready for other activities this weekend. Time is flying by, and I need more of it.
Until next time,
Sam
This week I had a few more interviews for my research. I went out to Friedrichshain to visit the school and saw some interesting messages scribbled on the walls of a building close to the school. Fascinating.
The school itself has a special focus on music, and the students were great. I enjoyed speaking with them. Now I have to finish up the tedious task of transcribing everything.
As I learned over dinner on Wednesday night with my HIA friend and colleague, Björn, though, I shouldn't be complaining about transcribing nearly 70 interviews. Björn is a judge in Berlin, and he told me that in Germany judges don't have stenographers. This means, he and his colleagues all have to type out transcripts, etc. on their own. Clearly, I was complaining to the wrong guy and really shouldn't be complaining at all...
It was fun to catch up though and pick his brain on studying law, etc. We were actually roommates during the HIA Senior Fellows excursion back in 2008. It was a fun trip, and we had fun reminiscing on activities from three years ago. I remember hitting three bulls-eyes in a row with a bow and arrow. I didn't blog much back then, otherwise it would've been an awesome post to write.
After dinner, I headed to a bar to meet up with Brandon and his parents. His parents were in two for only a few days to visit, so I was looking forward to meeting them. They were extremely nice, and I had a ton of fun talking and joking around with them. The beer selection at the bar was also extremely impressive. Our conversations ranged from prostitutes out on the street (we went to a bar on Oranienburgerstr.) to why the word "mushy" in English sounds hilarious to Germans (Brandon's explanation: in German, a similar sounding word means another way of saying "female cat").
I got home late that night and had to wake up at 6 AM to go to a school with the HIA Program, so combined with the work I had to get down that night, I ended up only getting two and a half hours of sleep. Worse, we had all heard that the BVG (Berlin's public transportation system) had planned a strike on Thursday morning, so all lines were assumed to be affected.
Thankfully, my tram and bus ran just fine. I even ran into three HIA Fellows on the bus; however, the ride is still long as ever, and I arrived nearly and hour and ten minutes after leaving my house. Gosh, I live far away.
The school visit was fun though, as it's the school where I have been volunteering as an English tutor. I was able to help give a short intro to the school, although I really didn't have much to say. We all got to visit different classes though, and Anton and I ended up going to the PE class, where the kids were nuts and wild. The teacher had an extremely difficult time getting them to pay attention.
But we participated eventually and had to throw a ball as far as possible. Embarrassingly, even though I threw second further out of everyone, I got out-thrown by about 10 feet by a 13 year old kid.
We also had lunch at the school and had some time for discussion. However, I left before their last discussion group 'cause I was feeling exhausted and also had evening plans I needed to get ready for.
I made it home an hour and a half after leaving the school. I definitely fell asleep on the bus too. Thankfully I didn't miss my stops, otherwise it would've been really annoying.
In the evening, I headed to Kreuzberg to my friend Manuela's. We had planned to have a little grill party on her balcony, so I went and picked up a one-time grill. There was only one left in the store! Thankfully, I got it before other people did. :) We had a great huge meal of chicken, Nürnbergers, chips, pretzels, sauteed veggies with melted mozzarella, and some beers. Really excellent.
The weather was nice too, so we sat on the balcony and caught up on all sorts of things. I also found out Manuela is a huge fan of The Wire as well, which is only the best show ever made on TV. No big deal.
I headed home after dinner and made it back by 11 pm. I was so tired that I crashed soon after and didn't wake up until noon today. After a nice lunch, I've been catching up on work and will get ready for other activities this weekend. Time is flying by, and I need more of it.
Until next time,
Sam
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