What's up with Tim: Berlin lake cruise!

As of two days ago, the total hits on my blog since it was originally started has reached 1000!!! Most of those have been in the past few weeks, so thank YOU for being a part of that, I am super excited to reach that milestone! I hope to post a lot more in the future, too, time permitting of course...

The last few days have been cool and lots to talk about, but I was thinking today on the time when I was looking for an apartment, I didn't tell you about the other rooms for rent I looked at. Germans love to smoke, so you have maybe a 50/50 chance of getting a non-smoking roommate(s). I realized early on that I would have to look at each situation to see if it was good or not so much. The first place I looked at was pretty far north, but not unreasonably so. I got off the train and came up to the street. The neighborhood was not ideal, but I thought I'll give it a shot. So as I was walking there, there was this REALLY lout noise above me. It was a very large airplane. Apparently this apartment was on the FINAL approach to the Berlin Tegel airport and planes were literally (by my best guess) about 150 feet up. Most commercial jets are about that long. I was just a little taken back by how low they were, you could make out every detail on the plane and I'm sure if you looked hard enough, you could see people's faces in the windows. Not a deal breaker per se, but concerning. I met the gentleman and entered a very dark and dirty apartment that absolutely reeked of cigarette smoke. He said that he was about to start spring cleaning, there was crap stacked up out on the balcony and even spilled into the kitchen area. It was gross. He also had a cat. The room was very large, it was probably 200 square feet by itself or more and it was furnished. I basically told the guy I was not interested and he essentially begged me to rent the place. Ugh. I told him that I would call him back after I had a chance to think about it. I actually feel bad because I didn't call him back. Either way, as I was walking out of the house, I begged God not to have to live there. LOL and eek.

The second place I looked at was a small one-room apartment (think studio apt). It was nice, newer, but it would not have had any appliances or furniture and it was way far east of the city. It took me forever to find the place and was a longer way from the train. It was much cheaper too, but not worth being so far from the city and my friends. I'm very grateful for my place that God gave me here! :)

Fast forward to yesterday, May 1st! Maitag in Germany. We just say May day!!! So it was a holiday here and so the Singles had an event where we went to the Wannsee in SW Berlin, which partially was the border between the German city state of Berlin and the former East German state of Brandenburg. It's very beautiful out there, lots of forest and trails and boats out on the water. Wannsee is the largest of the lakes and its connected to several other lakes, so there is a 2-hour cruise around the lakes. I took a similar boat trip with my friend Thomas back in 1992 and I was excited to see how it looked now. The houses on the lake back then looked very dreary so I was sure things would be different now and I was not disappointed! There was about 20 of us all together including one married couple that leads the singles and campus groups in the church. They are great by the way, so it was okay they were there! LOL. Got a chance to meet and talk to a bunch of new people I hadn't met yet.

On that note, I have to mention here that it has been very surreal how people have reacted to me here. I think I'm just an average guy that has a great love for this country. People can't believe that I speak German so well (accent-wise I guess, because I struggle a lot with how to say things, understanding people, etc). My flatmate is blown away that I'm American and that I have been to East Berlin while the wall was still up in 1986. I'm kind of blown away that he's blown away about that, but I'm super encouraged that it is a point of commonality between us. He has told his whole family about me and wants me to meet his brother. He says I'm not a real American! I think it's funny. I think some people in the church are the same way. Everyone I've spoken to has asked me the *exact* same question: "So how is it that your German is so good?". I'm still surprised every time I hear it, but I always feel very encouraged, flattered when I'm asked, and I always thank them. This is going to sound really prideful, but it really isn't, it's super humbling if anything, but I feel like a bit of a celebrity or something. Everyone seems to know about me in the church. Its SOOO weird, but I'm not complaining, it's also super humbling and encouraging that there is such acceptance for me! As an older, overweight crazy American, acceptance wasn't necessarily a foregone conclusion! Thanks, God. Another answered prayer!!!

I took lots of pics of the cruise and I'll post a few on here. If you're on facebook, there are even more on there.

Since I am a car guy, I'm always looking around at the cars people drive here. One thing I have noticed is that the French have very odd looking cars. Renault and Citroen are the chief offenders, but Fiat also has what I believe to be the ugliest car on the road here. It's the newer Fiat Multipla (the old ones from the 50's were super cool, the new ones are horribly ugly, see below) Most the cars here are small. Very rarely do you ever see a large car. For instance, the Toyota Camry. Nissan Maxima and Honda Accord are the big models of these Japanese automakers. I have only seen one of these cars in over 3 weeks here, and that was today. I saw my first Camry. I still have yet to see an Accord or Maxima. Most cars are about the size of a Civic and most are smaller even than that. And Smart cars are EVERYWHERE. I wish I was the guy that designed those, I'd be a zillionaire! LOL

I have been really struggling with the job search. There is a lot to do and frankly I feel confused by it all and super overwhelmed. I tried to do some more today, but started having problems with my laptop. I hope it's nothing, I've been running virus scans all day, but it was extremely slow today. Please pray for me not only to have the time, but the motivation to jump on this task, to trust God with it and to be diligent. I figure I have about a month's worth of savings left because everything has been costing so much more than expected.

I also need to get into a regular schedule, which should include a gym membership. Now that I'm moved in and all comfy now, I need to get to the gym now. I've already lost probably between 5 and 10 pounds already, I'm down one hole on my belt and my clothes are beginning to feel loose on me! Yay! But I need to get more aerobic exercise to hopefully help out with my bad circulation in my legs. I don't want to wear my circulation stockings in summer because I would have to wear jeans.

I have also been super encouraged that all of my electronics are compatible with the 110 Volt and 220 volt systems! I'm really glad I brought my video camera, now I can take pics and videos. I'll have to bust that out soon and post some video! I could not find on my laptop where it said if it was compatible with both. Well, I found out that it is actually on the cord going to the outlet. I looked everywhere for that info!!! Well, I'm super relieved now!! :)

Well, I think that's about it for tonight. Thanks for letting me share my time here with you. Please pray for me (or send good thoughts and vibes) so that I can find a job soon. I'm ready to get back to work! Thanks all! We're almost to another weekend! Tschüß!!!