So today, around 10pm local time, will mark the longest I have ever been in Berlin in a single stay. Let's hope the clock continues to roll forward.
While jet lag may be for old ladies it's kicking my ass in a serious way also. Nearly every night this week I have woken up at 3am, not to return to sleep until about 7am, which only leaves me feeling worse when I wake up at about 10:30. Then by 3pm I'm falling alseep again, hard, wherever I may be. Yesterday I was at Starbucks shamelessly using both their free internet and their over abundance of caffeen. Even with a huge Americano (appropriate I think) my eye lids felt like bricks. For whatever reason this is worse than it was in Vienna, but then again I was barely sleeping there either (thank you drunken 20 year olds crashing in every night at 3am). They say a day for every time zone is needed to readjust the body clock, so it should be soon that all is well. But I don't know who "they" are and I'll believe it when I see it at this point.
I am actively searching for an apartment at this point, for a couple of reasons. First, I need an address that I am officially registered at to get any sort of job or visa or anything. After flying under the radar in many ways in the States I am finding the radar to be much more intensive here. That "wellfare state" that Rebuplicans are so terrified of? Europe is of course what they're talking about. What they don't talk about is the fact that the state wellfare systems are set up for citizens of the country, not for interlopers like me, and they take pains to make sure I'm not moving here for a free ride. These pains mostly involve vast obstical courses of bureacratic hoops through which to leap, any number of which create interesting Catch 22 situations, like "no apartment for you until you have a job"+"no job for you until you have an apartment". So one must figure out the way around in each case, and in this case it means I must have a roommate. This I don't mind, I've had roommates nearly my entire life, but suddenly instead of living with someone I know I get to live with a stranger, which does not thrill me. A home is a man's castle, and living in someone else's castle can be a bit touchy. Here's to hoping a sane and stable situation can be found.
Second reason I'm looking to get into an apartment very soon is that I've moved into Thorsten's mother's garden hut. It is LOVELY here, really amazingly beautiful and very peaceful, I'm wildly grateful to have a place to stay, and for free. And it is a LONG way from the city. If you want to look up "Rudow Berlin" you should find it. Then go about a mile south. To get to town I ride the bike the mile to the U-Bahn (that's the subway, that sometimes runs above ground....) and take it to the S-Bahn (that's the above ground train, that sometimes runs underground...). To get to someplace like Neuköln it takes about 30 minutes, since that is closest to Rudow, and everything else adds up from there. To get to the music school I am hoping to work at yesterday it took an hour and a half, door to door. To get home from Potzdamer Platz/Starbucks last night took exactly 1 hour. This, combined with sleep deprivation, as left me feeling a bit cut off from everything. Honestly the sleep is a bigger problem, since even the idea of getting on the bike in the morning is torture when all I want to do is actually sleep. I have been trying to avoid Ambien, since I only have 4 left, but tonight is an Ambien night, I need to sleep.
In update land we have little but here it is; I talked briefly with the director of the music school, she wants to meet with me next week, which is great, though I would sleep better if it were this week. I need to continue gathering random stuff for my visa application, including a "certificate of good conduct", otherwise known as a "I'm a good boy and didn't cause any trouble" certificate. This I theoretically get from the Seattle Police, but usually they want you to get this piece of paper in person. Another hoop to jump through gracefully, while executing a tripple Salchow forward bending powerslide that defies gravity and various other laws of international physics. I also need to find a piano, if for nothing else but my sanity. An hour with Mozart and Chopin right now would go a long way to restoring some balance in my life. Other than that things are as they were; a work in progress.
There you have it for now. Tomorrow the plan is to get some pictures up of various things, which should be easy after a restful and full 8 hour of sleep night, which I WILL be having, one way or another. At some point I imagine I will arrive back at Starbucks for their internet caffeen and will try to post some more. Until then keep your beer warm and your lederhosen overly tight.
Tschüs!
-derdiedas Sean
No comments:
Post a Comment