Day 3 in Berlin

The Maddens have reunited. Sean and I met at the Frankfurt airport on my way back from Paris and after his trek across the States and the Atlantic. We've been in Berlin for 3 days now, having nothing but fun but mostly just enjoying each other's company.

Despite feeling under the weather the past day or so, my spirits brightened as Sean and I rose from the subway today straight into the Christopher Street Day Parade.

What is this, you might ask? Well it's none other than the Berlin's biggest Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade. It was awesome! Much like SF's usual suspects, these Berliners were fit as all hell, had 6-inch fake lashes, and leather chaps were definitely one theme to the party. Think Folsom Street Fair.

The techno music was blaring and everyone was drunker than drunk and still drinking. Good times had by all.

Tourists

Yes, I am a tourist. I am one of those annoying American backpackers with little cash and a beat up metro map. I try to keep a low profile by keeping my camera tucked carefully away in my bag (not a backpack, mind you) and I've even pretended to read a Parisian newspaper whilst on the subway to avoid potential stares.

I do this because I like to travel unnoticed. I like to tour popular sights without the locals thinking I'm just another one of them. Even I, who lives in San Francisco, occasionally gawk at those on MUNI with a camera around their neck and I watch as they spin a map in efforts to orient themselves. I don't want to be another person's source of entertainment.

I rose early to make my way to the Notre Dame. Unfortunately, about 200 other people had the same idea but it was definitely a must-see in the 2 and a half days I had in Paris. No worries, I thought. I'll just keep to myself like I usually do and enjoy the architecture and the history.

This was what I had hoped to do. Instead I was herded into the Notre Dame like cattle, ushered past the displays while being blinded by the thousands of flashes (your pictures are gonna turn out horribly, people!), and tried to ignore the touristy vending machines placed throughout the cathedral. You know the kind where you put a penny in plus some euros and out comes the penny flattened into a tacky souvenir. I desperately tried to pretend those weren't there. Because otherwise, the Notre Dame is quite breathtaking.

All this time walking around and I see a lot but have no idea what I'm looking at. I find a quiet corner where there is a description of one of the sculptures. Perfect. I begin to read and I am suddenly pushed to the side by a Japanese tourist who is filming the text on his credit card size Sony handycam. Fine, I'll move, I thought. But then, he continues to step in front of me unconsciously, blocking my view each time I reposition and I am quickly irritated. I finally blurt out, "Jesus, I'm trying to flippin' read!"

And then I realized, I just used His name in vain in the Notre Dame. I'm going straight to hell.

Bonjour and Tschüss

I arrived in Paris early in the afternoon on Sunday and I can already tell it is one of my favorite cities. It is beautiful in every way, and I'm sure those of you that have been here will agree. It's been 8 years since I've spoken a lick of French but I'm making my way around all right. Unfortunately there is also a smattering of German words mixed in. I think the French feel sorry for me and just appreciate my efforts.

I've already been to two boulangeries in 3 hours. At this rate I can only imagine my French will be perfect by Wednesday when I meet Sean in Frankfurt. Perfect being that I can pass as a local when ordering crépes and baguettes.

Go Team!

To my dear GSE teammates,

Thank you for putting up with me and my antics these past 28 days together. We never fought, we laughed A LOT, and I know we will have some amazing memories that will stay with us for a long time. I miss you all already and I cannot wait for our reunion when I return.

And I promise there will be no more complaints of spargle, schlöss, and kirche overdosing. I hope to not see any more for a long time.

Hope you all make it back to the U.S. safely.

I left my heart in San Francisco

We are in our final days of this GSE adventure, with the program officially ending on the 17th. To sum it up, it was an incredible learning experience and a lot of fun was had, but it was also physically and emotionally draining. Even today during a tour of the 100th church during our stay (don't even get me started on the number of castles I've seen), my mind had checked out. With the last week remaining, the team definitely has the end in sight. However, my sights are set on Sean’s arrival, which is now in single digits in the countdown! He will arrive in just 9 days and I cannot wait! I’ve been here for almost 4 weeks now and feel completely exhausted and missing SF, however, the thought of his arrival changes everything. It will mark a whole new beginning for my time in Europe. I’m all smiles just thinking about it!

If you do the math, this leaves about 3 days between the end of my exchange and his arrival. I’m taking advantage of this time and have booked myself a bullet train to Paris (just over 3 hours from Frankfurt) and a backpacker hotel in the Montmartre district. My only expectations during these days are two-fold:
1) visit as many bakeries as possible, and
2) eat as many pastries as possible

I can only promise that I will try my hardest. Which is dependent on how far my broken French can take me. Let’s just hope I don’t get slapped across the face.

I am so Asian

Today was our first day of free time thus far. We are supposed to be granted at least a half day off every week plus one weekend day off every other weekend. This has not happened.

But today, I embraced the day like a true Asian. For lunch I went directly to the nearest Asian restaurant (which happened to be Thai) with no fear of German taste or quality. I subsequently stuffed my face full of noodles and rice, seeming like some sort of savage Asian freak-beast, I’m sure, to all the polite and proper patrons I was dining with. I have no shame.

Remind me why I need travel insurance again?

Although I’m headed into my last week of the Rotary program, I only just experienced my second professional day. These are days in which we spend observing our profession during our stay in Rotary. The purpose is to cultivate international relationships within the profession, share and discuss various ideas, and observe cultural differences. Rotary told us we will have at least 5 of these experiences, but this has not been the case. Before Wednesday, no one had yet to experience a vocational experience except for myself, and this was only because my host the first week volunteered to take me to the hospital he used to work at. Unplanned but a good first experience, however, it was short and I missed out on the very cool scheduled group activities. This happened to be a tour of the local power plant which converts trash into steam energy, because in Germany it is no longer allowed to dump trash into landfills. (Got that, America?)

So back to my vocational day. I went to Markus-Krakenhaus, a small Protestant hospital in the outskirts of Frankfurt, where I was paired with a general surgeon. I was able to sit in on one of his surgeries, a lung resection, and later toured a gastrointestinal lab and the ED. Here are some things that I noticed:

1) Birkenstocks with socks are not only acceptable forms of footwear in the hospital, but it seems to be the social norm.

2) A shy, hospitable person can actually be a doctor. This woman showed me around and was very apologetic and shy and turned out she’s a surgeon herself! A SURGEON! Take note, aspiring surgeons out there. You would rarely see that kind of personality in the States.

3) Sterility is not really all that important. Well, actually it is but Germans are not as paranoid as Americans. I was in the OR with everyone, not having had an opportunity or being told that I needed to wash my hands, meanwhile shaking hands with everyone I met. Granted, they all scrubbed in after meeting me, but the atmosphere was much more laid back than ORs I’ve been in in the past.

4) Along with sterility, gloves share the same importance. No, they didn’t crack open someone’s ribs without donning gloves but lines were inserted and blood was drawn and handled without using “standard precautions.”

5) If someone is having a cardiac arrest, find an anesthesiologist STAT. I asked the surgeon where the crash cart was and she had no idea. She quickly stated the anesthesiologist was responsible for any codes and finished up with “Let’s hope I won’t ever have to use one because I don’t even think I know how [to use a defibrillator].” Hmmm.

My 18-year-old host is older than I am

When I arrived in the new town of Kronberg, I was greeted my a mild-mannered gentleman with his daughter. They collected my things and off to their home I went. When we got in the car, the man points to his daughter and says, “This is Laura. She will be hosting you.” What? You’re going to pawn me off and have me be baby-sat by an 18-year-old? Then she proceeds to ask, “You’re 22, right?” Um, no. I’m not. Where is this going? I politely tell her that although I’m actually 26, I can surely act like I’m 22. We returned to their home which was literally less than 1 minute away by car and we sat out on the patio to have TAP WATER! Wahoo, blessed tap water. I’m getting so tired of that overpriced, mineral wasser mit gas crap.

Pleasant conversations were had but it’s always a bit awkward when you first meet your host. Fortunately they both speak English quite well, with the dad having spent 8 years in Toronto. Laura and I got along great. The afternoon was spent relaxing and reading on the patio, surfing the web on high-speed internet, and having beers with the “Missus.” Turns out she speaks better English than German (but her German is flawless) because her parents sent her to a British boarding school for 4 years of her middle/high school. She smokes like a chimney and probably lost her virginity before it was even possible for her to conceive. She’s traveled all over and has friends scattered throughout the world. She talks and acts like a weathered soul but of course, her teenage side comes out every now and then. Especially in discussions of boys. It’s definitely been nice to have a conversation with someone under the age of 60.

My first taste of Berlin

I wasn't able to post any pics before of Berlin but I must tell you about my very first Berlin experience.

This pic was taken within the hour of our arrival to this incredible city. Our Rotarian guide, Jules, had us quickly drop off our luggage at Hotel Kalifornia (clever, eh?) and off to lunch we went. Paul and I held our patio tables while everyone else went inside to grab their food.

So here I am, just people watching and taking in the scenery when all of a sudden I see this in front of me. Can you spot it? It's the Kaiser-Wilhelm- Gedächtniskirche, bombed in 1943. It was requested by Berliners to not have the church be demolished or rebuilt but instead be kept as a reminder of the destruction of the war. You can barely see the broken tower in the distance.

And this was only a taste of what was to come during my short visit to Berlin. It is a city with so much emotion and so much to say. I can't wait to go back.

Hamster Fatigue

At some point during our travels, Paul and I spotted Roger sort of zoning out and practically falling asleep during one of our tours. Paul leans over to me and whispers, “I think Roger’s hamster is slowing down” (note sleeping man in the reflection). For those of you that don’t get what this implies, it merely explains the fatigue Roger exhibited was because the hamster running the wheel in his brain seemed to have worn out. Now it’s been a running joke, sort of like the spargel (which, by the way, we had again last night) but today I think it was actually true for all of us. I think we’ve all hit some sort of wall. Initially I thought that the end of our second week (last week) was our biggest hump, and after moving to Kronberg, I thought we were getting our second wind. That was until today. Christine believes that we are now in actuality just sharing one hamster, because for the most part we have all checked out but usually there is one of us that can keep our everyone, including our hosts, fooled.