after the first day of sunbathing on the balcony (complete with tanning oil and swimming togs!) i mistakenly thought it was warm enough to wear flip-flops and a summer skirt to a birthday get-together, a decision i regretted all afternoon and evening as my legs a toes froze. what a disappointment!
occassionally i feel settled here, and even think my german is pretty good. today's kaffee und kuchen party reminded me of the opposite. my semi-joke explaining a cat's erratic behavior as a symptom of menopause was lost when i didn't know the german word for menopause and said menopowza, germanizing the english word (it usually works with medical vocab). no one understood and i ended up explaining what menopause is to the whole group of people who i don't know well. yep, my face was bright red. now i know it's- die Wechseljahre. don't think i'll forget that one soon.

soon there will be a new mostly english magazine in berlin! we're aiming for a free happy to be here village onion feel, with mostly berlin-centric content. satirical, serious, funny: interviews, reviews, essays, practical info about living in berlin, cartoons, photos, and classifieds are all welcome. please send submissions in english or german to ourmagazine@gmail.com.

i keep checking my blog hoping that there will be something new posted and there never is. strange.

the weather is too nice for blogging. :-)

survived the camp and had some fun. went straight to kindergarten teaching followed by business english on monday and tuesday. somehow managed to forget my coat, with house keys in the pocket, on the bus. also managed to show up to a class on the wrong day. i never carry my pda, but now i guess i have to. it such a nerdy thing and mine is sooo uncool too. the other crap thing about it is that everytime the bateries run out it deletes everything. talk about a pain in the ass! most of the time i'd rather have an old-fashioned paper agenda, but i can't bring myself to buy one.
i'm really tired. this weekend i'm throwing a party like it's my 30th, even though it's my 27th. i hate that i get myself so tired and stressed about parties that i'm too tired to enjoy them. last time i said that this time it was going to be drinks only but now i've got a whole list of finger food to make, besides a cake to bake, apartment to rearrange and clean, beer to buy and schlepp up 5 flights, a trip to the farmers' market for fruit, veg, olives and cheese...