the nature of the beast the whereabouts of a peace corps volunteer in the west region of Cameroon.
Berlin and Dresden
“..there are more exceptions to the rule than instances of it..” Mark Twain in The Awful German Language
Oh man, OK so finally there’s a little time to give an update on the past few adventures—sars ktd! A couple weeks ago I was in Dresden for 4 days and then to Berlin for 3. It was a very exhausting trip, but really amazing just as well. I really loved Dresden because it felt much more like a small town, even though it’s really huge. The old side of Dresden was so impressive in how it was meticulously rebuilt after the bombings. It was mostly women who rebuilt the city because of all the lives lost in the war and such, and they tried to use the useable stones in the same places they came, so some of the buildings are spotted with dark and light stones.
New Dresden was also really hip and wonderful. There was some nice graffiti around, and there were a lot of punk rebels without a cause and lots of colored mohawks. It was a little difficult living all of us squeezed in the one hostel bedroom made for 2, but it was nice to wake up together for a wonderful breakfast made by monique and markus! (We were staying in monique’s boyfriends mom’s hostel- got it?) I also got to go to a flea market and bought a sweet 50’s bathingsuit (yes i bought a bathingsuit at a flea market nbd..) and a really old key that i made into a necklace! At night we got to hang out with some of their friends, but Inis was my favorite because she taught me how to poi and say a lot of things in german! Also one night they took us to this microbrewery that served bier in the liter mugs that you have to hold different so it can rest on your wrist while you drink it. Its crazy to think that monique just grew up in a city like that, jealous.
So then we have Berlin! I got lucky because Jenn’s friend Ben from KU actually is studying there right now for a year in the architecture program, and her and I stayed with him for the short time we were in Btown. The day we arrived he took us to a park and the weather was really nice so the park was full of people having fun and relaxing! I love Germany and their leisure! We got some walnut ice cream, and then at the next stand got some beer and walked through the park until we got to an abandoned amusement park, which is slightly hidden with all the overgrown vegetation. Ben had told us about some guards with dogs that were usually around so we walked around most of the park to make look-out and even saw some people on the other side making a cheap movie or something. So like how any good story starts i said “here, hold ma beer” and hoped over the fence. 5 seconds later the 2 guards with 2 big scary german shepherd came over and said some things in german that luckily Ben understood, but they made me delete the pictures I took on my camera and watched us as we climbed back over the fence. bummer. But I took a bunch of pics on the other side of the fence anyway.. The coolest part was the dinosaur park because all the dinos were missing their heads and fallen over, and it felt like a oversized toy graveyard.
The next day Ben had class so Jenn and I ventured off on our own into the city to shop—after we both put our gum on the berlin wall—and I realized just how big city Berlin was. We got lost everywhere we went trying to find the dots on the map that Ben drew to places they though we would like. It was pretty frustrating and everyone was dressed all fancy and hip, and I missed Trier and knowing my way around. That night we went to a really neat outside bar that was on a river, and i felt like i was in Louisiana on the Bayou or something, but it was very chill and we got to meet Ben’s friend Anja there who is really cute and is about to go to Australia for a year to follow a boy. how romantic. We had some of the best and cheapest falafels in Berlin. And walked a lot. And had a lot of coffee. And we’ll be going back for a trip through our school in Trier that will take us from Weimar, Dessau and Berling on a Bauhaus trail! We got back to trier finally at 1am and had to walk from our obscure drop off point to each of our respective homes. Finally home again… for 2 days! ha- the next adventure picks up from there and I’ll write it tomorrow! Thanks bye!
new blog post, new blog post, new blog post!
ja!
yes!
made my day! i’m so jealous! i miss you, let’s skype after i get done with these 2 papers, maybe, you’ll probably be traveling:)
loves loves loves kimz!