Stress Relief

Hallo Freunde!  Welcome to my 55th blog entry (28th since I landed in Berlin) on this very beautiful 3rd day of July. Coming to you from Alt Treptow, Berlin, Germany.  Today was an absolutely perfect day, temps about 75, with a breeze at times, and despite the forecast, no thunderstorms. :)  It was a perfect day for another bike ride.

So you may remember that a friend lent me his bike about a month ago and have been absolutely LOVING it ever since.  My first ride was about 5 miles and I was really feeling it afterward.  Since then I have been going for longer and longer rides and enjoying them immensely... On Monday night I wanted to ride up to Alexanderplatz, which is only about 3 miles away, but thought it might be a little too far, so I drove to my old neighborhood where I lived in 1992, Prinzenstraße for those of you who know Berlin.  So I rode around there for a bit and then decided that I wanted to do some more riding, so I thought I would go ahead and ride up to "Alex" after all.  Got up there and decided to go further, so I rode to the Nikolai Quarter (google Nikolaiviertel, photo below) and the Berlin Cathedral and Unter den Linden to the Brandenburg Gate.

Nikolaikirche (Nikolaiviertal)

So at the BBG Gate I decided to take a picture for a good friend of mine back in Spokane, Maria, who, back in December, had knitted me a great scarf in the colors of the German flag.  I took a picture with the scarf on (actually I was assisted by a very nice Indian man who saw me struggling to take the picture myself) in front of the gate and posted it on facebook for Maria.  I hope she enjoyed seeing her creation here.

So then I went on, down 17th of June Street, past another Russian war memorial, down to the Kongresshalle, also known as the pregnant oyster.  Picture is below, you'll see why it was given that name.

So, my phone rang while I was there, so I spent some time there talking to a brother.  About 20 minutes into the call, a very ominous looking storm was beginning to approach very quickly.  I excused myself from the call and figured I had better get someplace dry and I had better do it very soon.  So I rode to the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) and decided instead of riding 8 miles home in the pouring rain, that I would take my bike back on the train with me. Just as I arrived at the station, it began to rain very hard, lightning, thunder, the whole deal...

So, I have to be honest, I was a little bummed that I had to take the train back.  First of all, I didn't know I could do a 9-mile bike ride since my first ride of 5 miles seemed like a lot.  This time, even after I rode 9 miles, I had no doubt that I could have made it home again.  I was extremely encouraged by this, because I just didn't know I could do it.

Today, I had to go find a white dress shirt for my trial work day at the hotel tomorrow.  I went a few places and the only place I could locate one in my size was at a big and tall shop near "Alex".  Unfortunately, they only had one style available and it cost $60.  *gasp*  I was hoping for half that or less.  Oh well, if I get the job, it will absolutely be worth EVERY cent.  If I get the job I may have to buy a few more of those and maybe a pair of pants as well.

So I was only gone for a couple hours today shopping for the shirt, but when I got home, I was really tired.  I rarely do this anymore, but I laid down to take a nap and was out for TWO hours!!  I only take naps that long on a very rare occasion, but I guess I needed it.

Spree River 

So after I got up and got my paperwork finished for my work thing tomorrow and was just feeling a bit anxious about everything, so I decided to go take another bike ride out to my favorite spot at the Russian memorial nearby.  It was so beautiful tonight, I just loved sitting there and praying.  I was alone, but some people did walk nearby a few times, but I still felt pretty alone with my thoughts and God and it was really great. I definitely feel so much more at peace about tomorrow. After a while there, I decided that I wanted to explore the rest of the park that surrounds the memorial which has it's east border on the Spree River.  What a great place to ride.  I wish I would have gone a bit further down because there's a large forested area at the south end of the park.  I then went back up to the top of the park, crossed the river and explored the other side of the river as well.  It was very nice, very relaxing and peaceful.

After I left that area, I decided to go further north, into
Kreuzberg, which is the very hip and popular part of town where there are a ton of cool restaurants, clubs, shops, coffee shops, and where funky people hang out. I was surprised how close I live to all that, it's only about 5 minutes by bike from where I live currently.  Even closer than when I lived here before, and I thought I lived closed to those places in that area!


On my way home, I was surprised by a bit of a treat.  Many of you know that I'm a car guy.  I bought my first car in June 1990 in Munich and it was a brown 1980 Civic 4-door hatchback.  They never sold that body style in the US, so I haven't seen one in over 20 years.  Well, while I was driving through this hip part of Kreuzberg, there was a car nearly identical to the one I owned 23 years ago!  I tend to be a bit nostalgic about such things, so I took a few pics of it, despite a lot of people wondering what the heck I was photographing this old car for! Oh well, I don't care, it was kind of cool for me. I started having some problems with my camera, so I ended up taking like 12 pictures of the car because of my camera issues, most of which didn't come out.  These did at least.

Another 9 mile ride today!

Tomorrow is a big day for me, possibly the turning point of my future, whether I stay in Germany or have to return to the U.S.  Please continue to pray for me not to mess it up!  LOL.  In actuality, either way I believe God's will will be done, no matter what the outcome.  Thanks for checking in on me, and I hope to report good news very soon.  By the way, I've had a slight hitch in my surprise I've been teasing all of you with, but it should be soon either way.  Have a great 4th of July everyone!!

Tim. Out.