Creative title...Dan goes to Santorini?

I write to you all from a smokey couch in the back of a comfy internet bar. This is the place that has random cats lying around on the furniture. I have taken a liking to the Greek coffee, which I think is very similar to Turkish coffee, grounds mixed in. I fund it by tapping into my "money saved by not buying alcohol" drink fund. I'm wiped out from a day of ATVing so my thoughts will not be flowing. I'm in Greece by the way. After spending a few days in Athens and Agina, Tom Kenny and I came to Santorini. We leave tomorrow for Paros. Most college students would hate it here, as 95 percent of this place is closed down for the offseason (almost all bars, ALL clubs, etc). I am really enjoying it. Obviously the beauty remains year-round, and being literally 3 of the...(counting) 10 tourist we've seen on the entire island, has been real nice. We go to the bars the locals go to, get to do our best to fit in. We ended up in the same bar last night that our cab driver was in, that's got to count for something. For being all but shut down commercially, the beauty here is breath taking. We rented ATVs today and took them up the mountain in South Santorini. We parked them and hiked along a ridge of a spur of the peak. We sat down among the rocks and ended up taking naps. It was great. I ended up getting a sunburn, which I was fully thrilled with. We then went on, eventually finding ourselves down on the black sand beaches of Perivolos. I threw up my hammock and had another nap. After that we went to see the site of prehistoric Fira. It was really cool to see the ancient caves and homes in the cliffs. After that we booked it to Ioa on the other end of the island to catch the sunset. The greeks say it is the best sunset point in all of Greece. It was partially cloud covered but beautiful even so. I have really enjoyed my time here in Santorini. The culture is SO laid back. We've spent well over an hour in each restaurant. So laid back. They let you sit until you mention the check. They then bring you out some sort of free dessert (often baklava), and then much later bring the check. MUCH LATER they come to collect the money. It's all very laid back, and Kenny and Tom and I have enjoyed taking it easy. The night prior we'd gone to Ioa to try and see the sunset even though a storm was brewing. It poured rain on us and we were having a sort of miserable time until we found this random book store that was open and went inside. You'll have to wait for my return to see pictures and understand how it was, but it was amazing. Sort of like a hostel. A book store where the person manning it comes and stays there free of charge, for the cost of running the store. I bought Steinbeck's The Old Man and the Sea in both German and English. I would encourage you all to check Facebook for the album and videos concerning the bookshop. It totally redeemed getting chilled and soaked in the rain. Anyway, my internet is about to go out, I'm sure I'll write more when I get the chance later on. Athens was really cool too. I'll fill in the gaps later. Till then


Dan

Cultural Submersion

Today's my work day, as a part of a Pre-finals birthday sandwich weekend. I'm taking tomorrow off from test prep to celebrate my birthday, and so today and Sunday are designated workdays. I like to start off my workdays with exercise to boost my brain productivity later. I went swimming today (this time without a "strike out" :-)!). It felt so good to be back in the pool after so long. At UF there's free swim but it's difficult to find space, impossible to find your own lane. You usually have to jump in with a few other swimmers. While it forces you to get in a good workout, the fact that most swimmers in the UF pool are hard core training makes it very hard to find your own pace and keep it. Here it was very much the opposite. With the exception of 3 or 4 20 somethings in the entire place, I was the youngest adult by a good 25 years. There were more decades of age in the pool than square mm's of spandex. Needless to say the single lane they devoted to "Sportschwimmen" was rather crowded with slow moving vehicles. Vehicles that you REALLY do not want to bump into while trying to pass. While it did cost 3 Euro for an hour, it was well worth it. The way from my place to the pool and back wasn't too long, and although it was pretty cold the sun was out, so I just went in shorts and long sleeve underarmor. Walking to and from and riding the train I got so many stares. Some were more of a "oh look that's kinda funny" while some people were a little more obvious with their "HUH?". You'd think the locals would be more used to and resistant to the weather than a Floridian but they were all bundled against the cold way more than they needed to. After I was done swimming and ready to clock out, I asked the lady what I needed to do. She incredulously asked me if I was ready, and motioned to my clothing. I told her the distance home was not so great. She allowed me through, but busted up laughing (very loudly for Germans) with her colleague as soon as I passed the turnstile. I was thinking about it, about how their laughter didn't really bother me, different from some times I am laughed at or made fun of. I think it's because I am secure in my decision. The object they find humorous, my decision to be colder than I could be, isn't an emotional issue for me. At the same time, it is quite an experience to pass a group of 15 elementary school kids and hear a bunch of little voices raise words such as "cold" and "why?"
I think this is a valuable exercise that I would recommend others take part in. Find something that is not morally wrong, maybe not even socially taboo, but rare to see nonetheless. Something that will attract stares and whispers in your direction. Go about your day and do your thing. It ends up as great practice with making the conscious decision not to let what others think bother you. It is a specific decision one can make, and there's not really any better way to grow in this area than to simply jump into real life practice. Just a few thoughts :-)


Ups and downs of the day:
Up: Swimming workout for only 3 Euro
Down: The laundry machine eating my THREE Euro wash coin, raising today's laundry trip's pricetag to 6 Euro (7.80 US Dollars)
Up: Being at Kaufland bread section right when the bread lady brought out the new batch of freshly baked and still hot rolls.
Up: Having already purchased (so in some ways free) jam to go with the hot rolls
Down: Having internet that doesn't work too well in the apartment
Up: Not being in my apartment while I write this.
UP: Lying in my hammock, relaxing suspended between two trees, bundled up and happily enjoying my internet's mobility.
THE UPPEST OF THEM ALL: Realizing that one week from now, I will be on a Grecian island, soaking up the sun in my hammock. All my fellow UF hammockers can eat their hearts out!

The Head and Heart Club

This morning I rediscovered the joys of stretching. Today's the second day in a row I went to bed giving myself the option of getting up directly at 7, and no other. I did my best to dig back into old wrestling warm ups and stretch routines. I ran a few days ago, and that compiled with a lack of stretching in months (possibly years)made the going pretty slow and painful. I'm thinking it would look a lot like if the Scarecrow and Tinman both decided the Wizard of Oz was full of crap and abandoned their quest with Dorothy, turning instead to a joint fitness venture, calling their workout tape "The Head and Heart Club: 5 Minute Yellow Brick Abs"

It wasn't all that bad though. It's not every day in the States that you can wake up and stretch to Michael Jackson's 'Beat It'. I love the way German's are selectively in love with American culture. In my first week, a German mentioned that Hollywood was our major import. I'd add that the Germans eat this export right up. Setting aside the way the Germans eat up our movie stars (See the Berlin Film Festival entry later, or the Facebook album), the Germans love our music as well. More than 50% of the music on the radio is in English. It may not be American, or at least not recognizable, which is ironic because they only play "The newest music from the West", but it is in English. The most ironic though is the American apparel the Germans will wear. My favorite is the guy from the bar that tried fighting a group of us. The group hadn't done anything to him but he had a chip on his shoulder. "F America! I hate Americans! F Americans! F you! I think it'd be a little more intimidating and less funny if the joker wasn't wearing a New York Yankees beenie :-)

Catching up and Mean Mr. Mustard (throwback to my familal peeps

So I tried the whole "hold off until you get a chance to write in order all the things you've been meaning to write" thing. Doesn't work. So I've decided just to cut my losses, move on, and write about certain thoughts and experiences when I get to them. I've decided this is the only way I'll ever end up writing blogs, even though this out of chronological orderness is killing my perfectionism (obviously my perfectionistical tendencies have nothing to do with grammer or proper diction). At first I tried doing this whole 'slap a date on here until I can catch up thing' which didn't work at all. So now what I'll do is just write when I get the chance, and if it works out for me to write about something that happened further in the past, so be it. Maybe I'll slap a "Throwback to earlier this semester" note in the title, maybe not.

Anyways, Today was a long long Monday. I actually got to bed at a decent time last night and was able to wake up promptly at 7 this morning, giving myself an hour to get ready this morning. I was able to get online and make a few Skype calls before heading of to school. Now the people I called were totally sleeping (as opposed to partially sleeping. 1) 1-2 AM in TOTALLY sleeping. 2)See The Princess Bride for more details on the difference betwen partially and totally. AnywayS, it felt good to start the day rested and relaxed. I think I'm gonna do the same thing tonight. I have some homework which I'll attend to after this, and then turn in. Even WITH all this rest, German DRAGGED today. For me, learning new concepts or pushing myself to perfect my understanding of review concepts really helps pass the 3 hours of instruction we have each morning. This morning was one of those times where I had to pay attention but the subject wasn't factual/structural enough to hold my interest. I spent the classtime bored out of my mind. Litterally, the last 5 minutes were crawling so painfully that by the tail end 2 minutes of class, I told the people sitting next to me that I'd pass the time by attempting to hold my breath until 12. I succeeded in hoding it for the required minute 20 seconds left, but the far greater success was the passage of the last few minutes.

I spent the afternoon catching up on reading for Business Cultures, only to get to class and find out it was canceled due to a sick professor. I'd be bummed that I was needlessly at BrentanostraBe all day when I could be at home...goofing around on Facebook? Ok the end of that last sentence shows exactly why I am glad I didn't know about the class being canceled. I ended up reading for this week's class and for the class the week prior (I'm...behind). This leaves me with just 3 more weeks of reading to catch up in...in this one class...until next week's additional reading...ok that's depressing moving on.

Today Michaela, Tom, LB, Kenny and I went to Kaufland (like Wal-mart but ten times better because of Proverbs 27:7) today to pick up a few things. We were making our way through the expertly planned store (in the shape of a horseshoe, funneling all customers through the majority of the store) when I came upon the mustard section. In america, section equals some shelf space. In Germany, the mustard section would better be described as a 'Mustard Shrine'. I knew their mustard is equivelant to our ketchup, but this blew anything we have out of the water. This was an entire aisle's shelf display to at least 40 different brands of mustard. Organic mustard, grey, yellow, sharp, mild, etc. I pointed it out to the others and Michaela had a conniption. After drawing the attention of some more frumpy Germans with her exclamations(your everpresent 65 year old lady standard model), she explained that she'd been looking all over for this. I dunno how you can miss a such a golden shrine as this one (yeah, I did just make a pun, that's right), but I went ahead and decided to be glad for her. The odd thing was she was so grateful for my pointing it out to her that she gave me a big hug. We pondered over it later that that was the first and only time that we'd ever hugged. We pondered later over the fact that our only hug was over a condiment, and whether that was A)frickin sweet, or B)really pathetic. Jurie's still out.

At Kaufland I only had 75 cents with me but borrowed 10 Euro from Tom. When it came time to check out I told LB and Michaela (Tom and Kenny had already had enough of woman shopping speed, and consequently left) that Iit was a big deal for me to be checking out with possibly not enough money for all my purchases, since it's always been an anxiety of mine to be shortchanged and embarassed at the checkout counter. We all took guesses of how much my total would be, and Michaela guessed 10.43. LB did our best to pull the strategic yet douchesque Price is Right move by trapping her into a 5 cent window, me getting open ended up and LB getting open ended down. My exact bill...10.43

Michaela would have walked out the glowing victor. Subjunctiive because she soon after had to pay for her own groceries and tipped her change purse, scattering 1 cent and 2 cent pieces all over the floor in all directions in the middle of the checkoutline at the front of a long line of scowling Germans. :-)

Dan discovers Google Maps (The way Germans are)

Hello,
Today I took the day off to spend with God. I had a lot rattling around in my head and one of the best ways I clear out all the distractions is through exercise. I'd earlier scouted out a swimming pool two S-Bahn stops North of here, and I thought laps would be a great way to clear my head. I went online and made sure they were open on Sundays (something that, in Germany, is very important to do. It saves you a long trip home disappointed...usually). Surprisingly, the swimming pool IS open Sundays. I got up early and went all the way up to Lankwitz so I could swim. I arrived at the parking lot and was assaulted by an elderly German woman shouting something in German. The only word I could recognize at first was "STREIK!" Well, I didn't need to hear a whole lot more, but figured I'd make sure so i walked closer. I'm happy to say my German kicked in and I was able to understand the rest of what she was saying. Apparently the German Bathhouse worker's Association or something like that were on strike today and there would be no swimming for me today. I went up to the building and saw the nice little note explaining "we are on strike today. See you later. Thank you for your understanding." GERMANS! They are so arbitrarily rule bound! When there are no cars coming for 3 kms, and I cross the street, you could swear I punted a newborne, but when it comes to cleaning up after their dogs ("Only a Berlin problem" Germans swear) it seems I can't walk that same 3 kms to the nearest car without stepping in 4 different kinds of dog shit. (For my offended christian friends, it's "dog poop" until you step in it and have it all in the grooves of the sole of your shoe for the next week, and then it's "dog shit"). On one hand, Germans take certain breaks from the rules as "the way it is" and see anyone who has a problem with the switch up as a "tourist". On the other hand, when being shown a short film in a business presentation, we are informed that we are about to watch "a 2 minute 18 second film about..." If the train just doesn't come for an extra 20 minutes due to an unknown issue, it's the emporor's new clothes to point it out, but heaven forbid the DVD player tack on an extra second, making it an entirely different, 2 minute and NINETEEN second film! It's a weird mix of ruleboundidity (hey Will) and rule breaking...hood. This is the same with the strike. In America, it seems like the strikers would simply not show up that day, or maybe be around the building with signs. Here, it almost seemed like a scheduled inconvenience. "Thank you, come again soon" sorta thing. Now this politeness did NOT save me the long trip home disappointed (thus the "usually" mentioned above), because the strikers neglected to post this small detail on their website, of which I posted a photo. Regimented, orderly, and wrong.

So I went home disappointed and decided to go running. My goal was to follow the s25 tracks south to Lichtefelde Sued, and possibly even Teltow Stadt. Unfortunately I didn't realize that CelsiusstraBe curves, and so when I came to the end of Celsius, and had to go either right or left, I figured taking a left would keep me parallel with the rail line. Since CelsiusstraBe had taken a curve, this was actually taking me East away from the rail. You can see this on the map. The green is my run along Celsius, and the squiggled is the curve I was unaware of. The blue is the route that I thought the train was taking, and I thought I was running right next to it. The next hour was me trying to make my way "West" to cross the path of the train. The other blue line is where I thought the line must be, after continuing "Westward" along my route and not crossing or even seeing the tracks. This whole time I thought i was headed South and slightly West, I was really heading Very East and slightly south. Curse you stupid 90 degrees of directional error! So anyway, you can see the route I took, all movements South representative of me attempting to make my way West, thinking that the road right after CelsiusstraBe (the beginning of red on the map) was really roughly parallel with the s25 line (blue). Man was I wrong. I'd passed Lichtefeld Sued long ago and wound up kilometers away from Teltow. Exercise: check. Navigation: fail.

Tut mir leid! Entshuldigung!

So it's been at least 3 weeks and no posts. Sorry about that. I guess this is where what I said about my goal just being to get posts onto here actually comes into play. I write this write after finishing up the second of two papers I had to write for European Business Cultures, which was on the heals of a German Language exam which was in turn on the heals of a 10 minute Referat (public speech, nur auf Deutsch). Things here have been much more academically busy. I find myself coming home from campus after the day's courses are over and wanting nothing more than to go to bed. Of course I stay up so I can get some dinner and get through my homework before turning in, but this leaves little time and energy for A) making Skype calls back home, B) journaling/self time, and C)blogging.

What I'm doing/have done about this problem:
I dropped my Architecture of Berlin class, dropping down from 15 to 12 credits. hopefully UF and Bright Futures don't flip one and decide to crucify me.

I am making a schedule so that I can get into a pattern of making calls and getting work done and taking personal time.

I am going to bed earlier...ok I lied. It's 5:01 in the AM right now...I'm going to bed.


Dan