ackk I'm so far behind

...although not much has happened I feel stress from this backlog so I'm going to hammer out the goings-on promptly.

 Friday I went to a place in the neighborhood for spätzle and the place was really randomly decorated like a tiki bar but was a german place. The food I had was really great and maybe because I haven't had spätzle here yet so i have nothing to compare it to but yummm i'm dreaming about it right now.


Saturday morning I went to the gym for a class. For some reason I figured the language difference wouldn’t apply in this situation. Luckily it was small and the instructor switched off between the two languages although I can see in a large group setting how it could be challenging. I will have to learn the vocab for fitness classes because I don't think I will always get such special treatment.

Melissa arrived from New York on Saturday morning! I'm so excited to show her what I've learned about our neighborhood and explore more with her. We went to lunch and walked around the hood for hours.  We took a nap then met up with Randi for dinner and drinks. We went to this tasty dumpling place where one of the highlights was duck with chocolate sauce (served in an endive. I love me some endive so i took a bit out of it but it seems like it was under-ripe and more bitter than I'm used to). Next, we went to the bar that plays american sports. It's a hostel bar called Belushi's that I've encountered in other cities. The venue was not great but I was excited to see some AFC playoffs! We had some tasty hefewiezens

Sunday, Melissa and I went to brunch in our neighborhood. The restaurant had a buffet option which attracted me due to my obscene appetite. I wish I would have taken a photo of the buffet because it seemed like we were at someone’s potluck dinner. The various dishes were all very random and there wasn’t a common theme of type or ethnicity (e.g. hard boiled eggs, grape leaves, pesto pasta, potatoes and wurst, corn chowder, etc.). The food wasn’t bad but I think I would have rather had an omlet.

I went back to the gym to join and got into an in-depth conversation with the sales guy about whether I was American or not. I have variations on this encounter regularly because for some reason, strangers are very curious about my background however this is my first in the international city of Berlin:

SG: Where are you from?

NP: New York City

SG: No, originally

NP: I’m from Minnesota! (I beamed)

SG: No, where are you FROM?

NP: (ok, I know where this is going, I get it all the time.) OH ok, my father was born in India

SG: so you’re half American

NP: No, I’m fully American, I have lived there my whole life minus two weeks

SG: But your father is Indian so you are also Indian

NP: No, he was born there. He is also an American. Indian is our ethnicity, not our nationality.

SG: Oh I understand. So I am Turkish ethnicity and German nationality?

NP: Exactly. Genau.

Was this exchange necessary? No. Was it annoying? Probably. but I just couldn’t help myself. America is a melting pot of ethnicities and that doesn’t make anyone less American! (poor sales guy picked the wrong person to ask that question).

Sunday night was fantastic! One of Renee’s pals invited myself plus guests to the Berlin Philharmonie to see his conductor friend who is doing a short series of concerts with a small ensemble. I absolutely loved the music, it was so interesting and the performance was very entertaining. Also, the venue is very unique as the stage is fully surrounded by the audience with a very geometric feel. Our seats were front and center. I took a couple of pictures and later learned that it was against the rules. Sorry, didn’t mean to break the rules but since I already took them might as well post!

Great weekend, can’t wait to get into the week again. I think I’ll be more involved at work and have some explorations planned with my new neighbor.