Long Time Gone

Between Christmas preparations, Christmas, Italy, New Year's, and visitors- I have been a long time gone. Christmas was marvelous and Italy was warm. In Rome I went about without a scarf or hat and when I first arrived in Venice- I wore a cardigan! Skies were blue and it was hard to believe it was winter.


I spent a few days with my Uncle Mike, Aunt Sam, their boys Noah and Abe, and my Grandparents- celebrating Christmas and playing with my active cousins. So much energy! But not surprising, they are 10 and 8 year old boys. Day after Christmas, we headed to Rome- it was gorgeous. Warm, sunny, and full of exciting buildings, etc. I'll need to go back some day, but there is so much to see!


Upon immediate return to Berlin, the blue skies kept for a few days- it was bitter cold, but beautiful and sunny. By New Year's Eve, the damp cold of before returned- this time much more cold than before I had left for Italy. And New Year's day, Melissa, the Grandparents and I awoke to snow. SNOW! Not much, but snow nonetheless. New Year's Eve in Berlin was an experience- to say the least. I was at Potsdamer Platz, it was a veritable war zone. Everyone had rocket launched fireworks and firecrackers that they threw every which way. The debris are still present to some extent on the streets of Berlin.


Around 1am, I got onto a train with some friends to head into Kreuzberg, another area of Berlin. The trains where completely packed with people singing, drinking bear, and celebrating the New Year. It was insane, when Melissa and I got on a train to go home around 4.30am- they were still quite full. That day, around noon, when Melissa and I went to meet the Grandparents, I spotted some people just tredging home.

Now my world has quieted down, visitors are gone and I am regaining energy to finish off my semester.


I am surrounded by light snowfall and the cold- New Year's resolve don't fail me now!

I went to Italy, and all I got was this stupid cold

That is not even remotely true. Well, except for the part where I went to Italy and I caught a cold. I spent the past extended weekend in Italy with my Uncle Mike, Aunt Sam, and cousins Noah and Abe. It was beautiful- beautiful weather, beautiful cities, and beautiful time had by all. For the crowd not in the know- the fam' lives in Vicenza, Italy, a city very close to Venice and with charms all its own. In one amazing weekend, I was able to see Venice, Vicenza and my family. On Saturday we went into Venice and had fun getting lost. Well- Mike, Sam, and I had fun getting lost- the boys not so much. We wandered the old and windy Venetian streets- basking in the sun and the 70's.



Oh my, so warm after so much cold! We walked in the old Jewish Ghetto and I had some fun reading the local Chabad chapter's banner in Yiddish. It being Saturday, however, I didn't find anyone to practice my Yiddish with. It would have been interesting speaking Yiddish with them, I wonder what they would have thought?

On Sunday I was able to go to Noah's school- Catholic- for a special mass to welcome the first grade class. It wasn't quite- I learned that Italians don't do quiet. Germans do. The Italians I met were amazingly warm and all wanted to cook for me- very nice and cute. I guess I'll just have to go back, oh wait, I am going back, at Christmas.


I did, however, get a cold. I am lying in bed and trusting whatever German medications the pharmacist recommended (even for over-the-counter medication you have to talk to a pharmacist here), but she gave me tea because I was so pitiful looking.


And a note to the wise- Germans don't have smoke detectors in their houses, I guess personal safety just hasn't caught on that much here. But smoke detectors do have their uses- like when you are sick and disoriented and accidentally turn on a stove burner that has an empty pot on top of it, and then an hour and a half later you go into the hall and smell smoke. Hey, nice knowing you plastic handle on the lid! Yeah, smoke detectors are handy.