Wie gehts?

Wie gehts? = How are you? What's up? How's it hanging?

Hi everyone! So, it's been a while...Wie gehts? I started my intensive German classes, so class along with homework have been taking a lot of my time. Plus, the weather has been so wonderful, that Jack and I have been taking long walks every day. High 40s, sun, it's sehr toll (very awesome!). For all of you back in Antarctica (aka USA) who made fun of how cold I would be in Berlin, HA! Who's laughing now?

The other day, my friend Stef back in the US asked me two questions that I have been asked a lot, so I thought that I would share the answers. Her first question was "What was the most difficult thing to adjust to when moving to Germany." Eine gute Frage (A good question). Here's a list of a few things that I can think of at the top of my head:

1. I don't know if you know this, but everyone in Germany speaks German. Shocker, I know. Unfortunately, I don't. Major issue. It was very hard to get around by myself while Jack was at the archives every day and I had very little Deutsch to get around. Luckily, classes and hard work have improved my German, but it is something that I still struggle with pretty much on a daily basis.
2. Remember those micro-fridges that you had in college? They were big enough in college because you went to the food halls for every meal. Now, imagine that two people have to live out of that, because those micro-fridges that you had in college are the size of our fridge. While I used to have a big fridge and do once a week grocery shopping, now I find that I have to go to the grocery store almost every other day. While this makes all of our ingredients fresh, the last thing that I want to do every other day is go grocery shopping because our fridge can only handle so much. 
3. My most favorite concealer is not sold in Germany. Major bummer. Neither is my most favorite brand of peanut butter. Or canned pumpkin. Or my favorite gum brand. Or Target. Or Sephora. Or Nordstroms. The list goes on...
4. The sun. It went away for a while. In fact, my solar powered watch stopped working because it wasn't getting any rays. That was very hard to adjust to this winter, and the lack of sun made both Jack and I kinda depressed. Now, as the seasons are changing, we're slowly getting a ton of sun. Come April/May, we'll have the sun until around 9-10pm. That will be hard to fall asleep with!

Stef also asked another question: How tricky is it to find work here in Berlin? To be honest, somewhat hard. I have been lucky with meeting people who need babysitters, but you really have to stand out because there are thousands of other people in your position, looking for the same kind of jobs. Don't worry, Stef, I'll hook you up!

I am loving your questions. Don't worry, I will eventually get to them all! Hope you are all doing well, and have a very Happy Valentine's Day!