Berlin

To All

Well, we are about 95% settled into our house and soon life could conceivably settle into a routine. Is that good or bad? We'll see. Mike had a good week of training in Washington, DC He had no idea what the training was all about when he went, but it turned out to be quite worthwhile.

My dad and brother (Curt) arrived safely about a week ago. It's nice to have plenty of room for them and to not be tied down with obligations so I can devote time to entertaining and cooking for them.

Last Sunday the 3 of us went to Frankfurt on the train to pick Mike up from the airport. It was my first experience on the train and all the instruction I got in my FLAG (Families Learning About Germany) class proved to be quite helpful. We got a "Happy Weekend" ticket that allows up to 5 people to ride all local trains and buses for 24 hours for 28 euros. We rode a bus and a train and a couple S-bahns along the way and everything went quite smoothly. In fact my dad is convinced that I must have lived here in another life. He is recovering from a siege of arthritis and is having trouble with his knees so he was kept hopping, getting up and down the steps to various trains - which always seemed to be about to pull away as we approached. After we picked Mike up we went to Romerberg (a particular area of Frankfurt) and ate lunch in an outdoor cafe, serenaded by a woodwind quintet playing all sorts of delightful classics.

On Wednesday Dad and Curt and I went to Nurnberg (OH, NO! - Nancy has braved the autobahn now, too!!!!) We spent some time in a museum there (the Documentation Zentrum) that Mike and I didn't get to go in when we went before. It was an attempt to explain and document "how" the Nazi phenomenon came to happen in Germany. It was really well done - but too much to absorb in one sitting.

This past Friday we took off about noon for Berlin to spend the weekend. We are learning that the autobahns work quite well as long as there are 3 lanes going in each direction. If there is only 2, they are a pain. Trucks are only allowed to go a certain speed (55 miles per hour maybe?) and they have to stay in the right lane except to pass, so the right lane is REALLY slow. All the speed freaks go in the left lane. There is a speed limit some of the time on the autobahn - 40 or 50 miles per hour through construction, otherwise 75 - but sometimes there is NO speed limit at which point the speed freaks kick it up somewhere over 100 miles an hour (miles per hour, NOT kilometers) When that happens and there is only 2 lanes, normal people like us have to change lanes constantly to dodge the trucks and the speeders. We've been told that American cars aren't built to handle the high speeds allowed on the autobahn - you can wear out the transmission really fast - so we've been refraining from going much over 80 mph - who would want to go any faster anyway? It's still rather mindboggling to be going 80 mph and have cars whizzing past you like you were standing still.

Anyway, the trip to Berlin took about 8 hours and the traffic wasn't too bad after about the first couple of hours. We stayed in a "pension" in Berlin (again recommended by Rick Steves). It was on the 2nd floor of a building on Kantstrasse (as in the philosopher named Kant) in the former West Berlin. The main train track was less than a block away and Kantstrasse is a pretty lively street at night but our rooms were quit quiet (concrete walls and heavy windows) and we felt quite safe.

Alot of the cities in Germany (including Berlin) have some kind of ticket you can buy that allows 5 people to have unlimited use of the local transportation system for 24 hours. We have made good use of that several times already and it worked again in Berlin. We basically did an overview of the city - lots of things we'd love to come back to another time. We saw the Reichstag (the German Parliament building), the Brandenburg Gate (scene of all of the rejoicing when the wall came down), Checkpoint Charlie (the only way into East Berlin when the Wall was up), and various other interesting buildings. The former "route" of the wall is marked by a double row of bricks in the pavement throughout the city. There really isn't much difference between East and West Berlin in terms of economic conditions. The whole city has lots of interesting old buildings but at the same time is VERY modern. Oct 3 was German Unification Day so it there were lots of celebrations going on. We ate lunch in a "fest" area near the Brandenburg Gate - really delicious brats and burgers and fries - and again we were serenaded - this time by the Blue Buba Swing Big Band. Berlin is a really interesting city.

This coming weekend is a four day weekend for both Mike and Deanna. On Friday we are headed for the Tirol - southern Germany and Austria. We have a reservation in a hostel just over the border in Austria. There are several first rate castles in that area among other things.

I've discovered that there is some chocolate spread stuff here (sort of like peanut butter but chocolate and hazelnut flavor) that comes in some German pastries and is similar to something you can buy in the store that is called Nutella. It is really good. For those (like my mother) who are/were addicted to chocolate, it provides a good excuse to have chocolate for breakfast. It is really good. I wonder if maybe that's one of things you miss if you take a "made for Americans" tour of Europe, because Dad and I don't remember my mother ever talking about it and we sure that if she had discovered it we WOULD have heard about it.

Deanna is a little frustrated with school - pray for her as you think of us. She has a couple of teachers that are just real losers. One in particular that is more interested in doing self-esteem exercises than in teaching the content of the course. Also - her AP Language teacher showed up for class the first time last Thursday. Apparently her father died suddenly a few days before school started and she spent a month in the states before she came back to school - no lesson plans for the sub while she was gone and no communication with the school as to when she would be back. The rumors are that she is "really hard" and Deanna didn't really find her very likable either when she showed up in class for the first time on Thursday. Deanna is a really good writer and she's never had a teacher who didn't like her so I think the whole situation is still potentially positive, but right now Deanna is feeling pretty discouraged. She wishes she was back at Covenant High School even if the junior year there is known to be a hard one! She moved out of AP Calc into the next lower math which is theoretically a repeat of last year but that seems to be a good move.

Alan has decided to scale back his course load for his senior year to essentials only in order to take a second part-time job with a software development company in Pasadena. He is still working a few hours a week for the CS department at Harvey Mudd. He and a friend compute to Pasadena on Fridays. He thinks he has a job at Expedia in Seattle (where he worked this summer) when he graduates but in case that doesn't work out, the job in Pasadena will supposedly led to something after graduation

Amy is still in Redwood NP working for the Student Conservation Association. She will be finished there the end of November and probably will head over here sometime after that for a visit.

Laura Carlson, let me know if you get this - I'm still not sure why you sometimes get my notes and other times don't. I'm not going to ask how things are going - I know you're still in honeymoon bliss!!! -- but I'd love to hear from you when you can pry yourself away from your beloved! Thanks for your last note that you wrote from the Frederich's house.

Debbie Haynes, I still can't get any of your e-mail addresses to work, but maybe Sandy can pass this on to you. I just want you to know that there are things to drink in Germany other than beer, but it is sometimes questionable as to whether water is any cheaper than beer. It is generally impossible to get ice in your soda or your water. And it is often hard to get water that doesn't come in a bottle with a huge price. I've learned that the word for "tap water" is "leitung wasser," But I've only tried it once and the answer I got was "I can get you some but you won't like it." Something is wrong with the formula for Diet Pepsi over here and it doesn't taste good - I've had to switch to Diet Coke/Coke Lite - such are the sacrifices one has to make to be in the Army and see the world!!!! We gave in to having water delivered to our house. The tap water here really isn't good - although I'd be happy to drink it in a restaurant to avoid paying $2 for a bottle of water!!!!

Ana, is anything new on your job search? How is Seth doing at Master's College? I was reminded of you many times during the week I took FLAG - our teacher was a 90 lb version of you - same sense of humor and ability to imitate people. Maybe you should learn German and come here and teach FLAG! Or maybe they need a FLAG instructor in Rota, Spain!

Laura Morris, do you happen to have an e-mail address for the Hartmans? I'm curious as to how things are going in Hawaii and if they are happy with Hawaii Baptist Academy. If you are in touch with them maybe you could forward this on to them.

Laura Hartman, in case you do get this, can you repeat again your advice to Cassie that day that she was so bored with school that she didn't think she could stand it another day?? Deanna and I were discussing that the other day and it seemed fairly apropos to Deanna's situation.

Alan, it turns out that Grandpa has a picture of a Harvey Mudd sign that I can use for my Washington collage. It doesn't have YOU standing in front of it, but I can possibly be satisfied with it and let you off the hook on that job if you want me to.

Howard, Deanna still hasn't quite recovered from your recommendation that she drop both AP classes. That wasn't exactly what she expected to hear from a high school principal. Guess she doesn't know you very well, huh?

On that note I must quit.

Love,

Nancy