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| Brandenburger Strasse |
We decided on a place called "Matador" and I had a delicious chili, which was more like a really spicy goulash with beans! Haha it was still delicious! Our plan was to get ice cream on the way back, but since we didn't leave until 10:30ish, all the places had already closed... sad day! (Not really) I ended up having to ride to the Hauptbanhof (Main station), which is the complete other direction than my dorm... but my other option was waiting 50 minutes for a bus, and I just wasn't feeling it! So at the main station I took a train to the train station at Park Sansoussi. From there, it is about a 10 or 15 minute walk to my apartment... the last time I made this walk was the night of Saturday 6th... the night my foot started hurting. Haha I thought about that as I made my way home. However, I was wearing my NISOLO shoes and they turned out to provide the perfect support for my foot, so it was barely hurting!!!!
Tuesday I woke up a little later and headed to campus to do my homework for my only class!!! Whooo! I love Tuesdays! After class I met the Argentinian girl that is in my class. She is actually here doing her master and will at least be here until 2015! She studies languages and loves them! I think she moved here for her boyfriend... but they broke up 2 days ago... YIKES! However, she says she loves living in Germany and she's hoping to stay after she graduates... So maybe she did the breaking up... Hahah...
Anyway, after grabbing a quick to go bite from the cafeteria I headed downtown to the Moses Mendelsohn Zentrum, which specializes in Jewish studies. There I found a lady that directed a project focusing on family histories through letters... they worked on digitalizing them. I was really excited to get to meet her, and I naturally got there about 45 minutes too early. However, it is located in a beautiful place, so I sat outside enjoying the sun and reading some of the million things I need to read!
At exactly 15:00 pm I headed up the stairs and asked where the lady was. They told me what I though meant 1/2 story deeper... I was like... "WHAT??" So I assumed I misheard and headed upstairs... so the lady repeated the same thing from the other room and I repeated oh yeah you said "tiefer..." Thinking to myself... I know that means deeper.. how do I go deeper into a building... So I thought, that must mean further back, but she said no you have to go outside.... So I did... And then I found an unlabeled door halfway down the stairs.. certainly that wasn't it.. Oh wait, it was!!! After going to the library and having a nice lady lead me to the door, I realized (like an idiot) that tiefer also means lower... so half a story lower... like just go halfway down the stairs bright one!!!! Anyway... the lady was very nice!
I am still struggling trying to find a guiding main idea for my thesis and was hoping she would help me come up with something. Instead, she helped me figure out a way to organize my archives of letters... Which would be great, if I was at home with the 700+ letters... Instead, I have digital copies of the important years... And organizing digital copies, will take me ages... ages that I don't have. I asked for titles, and she told me that there are a million! Jeeeeez thank girl! Haha all kidding aside, she pointed me to their library (like my professor had) and suggested one author who writes about Jewish identity. We talked over some main ideas: comparing the structures she describes to what I find today (not too interesting..), how her identity changed (as in what she kept) but also how she used some german, Jewish, and Uruguayan parts to become this person split in three worlds... etc. I'm still not a hundred percent on anything, but I'm back to the idea of identity... Now if any of you out there have an awesome concrete source that I can use as my basis for analyzing identity... PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!! I think of her transformation and I can see how I can compare what she saw as a child and how she described it vs. what she saw in her journey back in 1961... BUT I have to have some structure that I use to analyze the changes! UGH... that is SOOOOO not my thing. I just want to write her story... And use all the letters to tell about how her life that she was trying to start in Uruguay was plagued by continuos horrifying news from home... I'm waiting for this light bulb to go off... but it is just not happening yet and I'm starting to get worried....
After meeting with the lady yesterday, my awesome shoes that were giving me perfect support, were also rubbing sooo many blisters on my feet that I could barely walk... SOOOOO.... I rushed to the pedestrian street, went into H&M and bought some cheap comfy shoes! But darn all these cobblestones!!! I hate them!!!! If it wasn't for them, my foot would be back to normal, I just know it!!!!
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| New comfy shoes and some darn cobblestones |
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| Mother teaching child to blow bubbles |
Anyway, after that I headed to the bank to ask them to send me a new pin, since i never got it. Turns out they can't do that. So they took my debit card and are now going to send me a debit card and then a pin. Good lord, if I don't get it, I don't know what I'm going to do... probably cry. (no not really, it is actually totally fine for now)
After that, I knew I had to find a place to change shoes or I would loose my feet to blisters.... So Starbucks here I go! One of the only 2 places in Potsdam with wifi!!! Whooooo!! So I spent about 2 hours there catching up on some reading, re-reading about ethnic enclaves (deciding that is definitely NOT what I want to write about), and enjoying some people watching!
At one point this mother spent about 30 minutes teaching her little boy (around 3) how to use his new toy to make bubbles... There were bubbles floating around for the next hour, super precious!!!
At some point I decided to head home, but first!!!! I got some delicious ice cream!!!
This morning started earlier than I wanted it to... but I had an 8 o'clock class...
My class is really great! This is the first semester in a while, where my classes actually interest me! That being said, my German classes are a bore... But the ones with context... they are awesome!!!! I know someone will point this out in about 2 weeks when I am beyond sick of school, but for right now... I am pumped. In my first class we discussed how to use accounts from people in order to create a work of history (thesis, dissertation, etc). She talked about how to validate, how to disprove, how to research, etc... It was incredibly helpful and I wrote down many tips for my thesis! Comprehension isn't at 100% (since it is in German), but I'm getting better (I think....) The second class was in English and will be discussing Talmudic culture... Sadly I barely know what this is, so I have a lot to learn! But the professor is awesome and today's lesson taught me a lot already!! Can't wait!!!!! The magic here is that we use the whole class to learn from the teacher and they have a lot of interesting things to teach! Thus far, I love it!!! I had a 2 hour break after this class.... so I figured out printing on campus and how to load money to my student ID!! Big day!!!
After that, I picked up some food from the cafeteria and sat down under a tree to read for class! Love this weather!!!
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| I sat under one of these! |
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| Me looking ridiculous under my tree... Attempting to get the Asian tourist behind me without them noticing... FAIL |
My German grammar class is overwhelming... it is definitely not fun. There is sooo much I have forgotten... so much that I learned for a test and never applied... Ugh.... this is going to be frustrating, but I really need it, so I am going to have to suck it up. After class I dropped off my backpack at my dorm and headed to the BIO supermarket to stock up on organic products. I was officially out of food, so tomorrow starts my veganish diet back (cheese is my downfall, but other than that... no animal products!)! I felt great while I was doing it at home, and now that I am finally settling into a routine, I have noooo excuse! We shall see how this goes!
Back at home I have been reading letters! I reread everything I have transcribed, and realized how little it really is... I need an army to help me do this!!! I am meeting with Hannele tomorrow, so I might mention getting together to see if we can decipher them together. For now, I think I've done enough for today! Tomorrow I will be waking up too early to go back to the doctor to see if he has any helpful tips for my foot! I'll let you guys know tomorrow! Bis dann!
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