Berlin, baby!

Berlin is growing on me more and more. It's hip, it's historical, it's easy to get around, and it's pretty. There's a surprising amount of wide open spaces and green parks right in the middle of the city.


We went on a free tour and learned the tragic and tough history the city's been through. From Prussian wars to Hitler's headquarters, communism's Wall (the Wall is below to the left)
to finally Reunification, Berlin's been absolutely rocked, and the fact that it's overcome its history is inspiring to me.
You can still take a spin in a Communist car. They're tiny, made of plastic or aluminum or something, and you had to wait five years to get one back in the day.

Berlin cathedral

Walking through the famed memorial to the murdered Jews of Europe.


Where the pacifist, Jewish-authored, etc book burning took place. Heinrich Heine, a German poet whose works were set to lieder, famously said that when books are burned, people will shortly follow... it turned out to be a prophecy. This was the most moving point for me of the tour, because now only books can be sold on this street, and on the day of the historical book burning, they give out free books. The right to have access to read whatever you want is an important right. I believe book banning is a sin, and literacy a key to compassion...

A mural showing how people would love communism...

A photograph of a stampede of people protesting the actual effects of communism

We went to a parade called Christopher's Street Parade, and it's held every year on the same weekend that the riots in New York took place that I guess Obama referenced when he spoke to gays, transgender etc at a speech recently. I'd post pictures of the event but they'd all be pornographic. Jacob and I walked away with a slightly stronger opinion on how we feel about the gay issue. This is where the absolutely massive, throbbing crowd was headed, the Siegsaule:

The issue is that of granting gay people rights to marry and other legal advantages. Had this parade been families, loving couples holding hands, or peaceful protesters, I would have felt inclined to be supportive. Perhaps this is how some pro-gay rallies are. But this parade was the most flamboyant, ridiculous, perversion-promoting event I've ever seen. I was slightly disappointed, because I have attended a gay wedding before, and felt it was quite tasteful, if...unusual.

I guess my point is, I believe everyone has the right to do what they wish so long as their decisions don't infringe on others. Freedom is in fact a marvelous thing, and I'm not the kind of person to say, "Look at how the times are. The old days used to be so much better, the world is getting progressively worse." People have been saying that since the beginning of time. In actuality, I believe that we are improving in many ways. To see something like this in Berlin of all places, when only decades ago, homosexuals were being persecuted and even killed, is a marvelous improvement. There's still too much hush hush I think in some very conservative circles, so people have to suffer in shame silently.

But I do worry about the state of the family. I worry about children growing up in homes with two fathers and no mother or vice versa. Obviously the ideal, a mother and a father, is difficult to reach in many cases, but this doesn't mean that legally we should support the destruction of the environment in which it is best to raise a child. I know someone who has SSA who is happily married to the opposite gender, and while that can't be the solution for everyone, I think that that ultimately is something to work towards.

If you had gone to this parade, you probably would have felt the same--these people want to do what they want, when they want, sexually and to be respected for it. That's really what it was all about--sex, not love. I guess I just have to hope that's not actually the underlying current of the majority of the gay rights movement. I left this parade thinking that most of these people were very confused with their identity, and that dressed as they were, not one of them could proudly look me in the eyes.
We're eating all kinds of exotic foods here. There's every kind of restaurant you can imagine. But always, Thai is our fave :)

Kaimug Thai Restaurant and Red Curry

We visited Sachsenhausen, the first concentration camp of Prussia. It's an hour train ride from central Berlin. I'd been to Matthausen in Austria before, but this was Jacob's first experience. What is there to say about the Holocaust, the blackest years in modern-day history? I never tire of learning of this subject, for one reason: to see how heroic people acted in the worst possible circumstances and to hope that I would do the same.Resistance fighters.

"Work will make you free" the false hope given to the concentration camp members on the sign entering the camp.

Community toilets. People were drowned sometimes by the SS police in them.

Propoganda: Jews are subhuman.The man who wrote this famous poem and claimed his Church should issue a public apology for not taking more steps to halt the Holocaust was a prisoner in Sachsenhausen.

The kitchen stove remains

We went to see the Tales of Hoffman, Offenbach's opera. The singing was incredible--but a great disappointment was there were no subtitles or even a summary, so we had no idea what was going on! Also, the choreography for the Barcarolle, the beautiful song found in Life is Beautiful, was very bizarre...

The big guy's first time to the real opera...

A moat outside a fortress

The famous bust of Queen Nefetiri

Berlin has the most variety of graffiti of any city I've seen.

Still waiting for visitors to our little apartment. Here's the eclectic kitchen.

Larissa, Leeds, and a little London

In the last month or so we've gotten to spend a lot of time with friends. That's really a nice privilege when living abroad. In Larissa, we stayed at Perry's house. It's a beautiful house in Greece, and his aunt lives upstairs and Perry lives downstairs.

Larissa

I liked Larissa much better than Athens. I thought it was very beautiful and family friendly. We spent most of our time at Starbucks working. I'm trying to think of observations to make about this central city...

It's full of shops and it was rather amusing that at any time of day or night all the cafes would be absolutely overflowing with people. I had to agree with Mary... "Do these people have jobs?" Heck, I liked the idea though. Spending day and night with friends can't be a bad lifestyle...right?

Perry came to pick us up super late from our long train ride from Athens and we toted our suitcases through the streets, a 20 minute walk, to make it to the apartment.

We saw the Meteora, 45 minutes away by train, while we were there. It was dramatically gorgeous. I wondered, though, how the monasteries could possibly still be operating because for every monk I saw, I saw 150 tourists.

Aunt Mary made the best rice stuffed vegetables while we were there. She is a single lady who works for the government processing court cases (transcribing them). Basically she gets to spend all day listening to gossip! She had a pleasantly deprecatory way about her, and we were pleased once again to come in contact with a "real Greek." Characteristically, she was very opinionated and spoke loudly. I think Greeks are even louder than Americans. She was an excellent cook and very interesting to talk to and I hope we will see her again.Here we are on the cool bridge in Larissa which lights up as you walk along it:

Perry and Luke got some male bachelor bonding time by going out in the evenings while Jacob and I chilled back at home. I'm perusing a tax book right now because Jacob and I are planning to incorporate The Jump Manual. It's a dreaded errand, that's for sure, but the guy's book is really handy. It explains ways to cut taxes mostly for small businesses. It's here if you want to see it.

We took a train to Thessaloniki. I kinda wish we'd had more time to explore this city--it's where the letter to the Thessalonians was addressed--but we got a little flavor of the religiousity of the city by viewing the church located within the train station and witnessing several people go up and kiss Mary in her frame right on the lips.

Flying to London

And then we hopped on a plane with British Airways (yes, the company who wants their employees to work for free for one month) to London. I'll put in a plug for their food, too.

London was my first taste of Europe and it was nice to be back. It was not nice, however, to ride back and forth between terminals for two hours to find the best and cheapest way to get to Leeds :( We finally got a bus and arrived at around midnight.

The Ballas

Ben Balla was Jacob's companion on his mission for one month. They had a marvelous time together speaking French, and at least Sally didn't understand it either so we had something in common.

Ben and Sally were so hospitable as to literally give up their bed for us to stay. It was a perfect newlyweds apartment--which means it was tiny! :)

You'll probably think I'm crazy but my favorite part about all of England was spending a Saturday with Sally going shopping and eating at a cute sushi place. I made a video of its unique concept: when something comes along that you like, you just take it. The bowls are different colors according to price.



It's the simple pleasures of life I guess, but it's been so long since I've done such a girly thing :) These are the shoes I bought, from the most popular store in Leeds. They were only five pounds! (money, not weight)

I also enjoyed going to a "hen" party with Sally. It's a bachelorette party and it was much more fun than a typical bridal shower! Bridal showers focus around gifts and they're much more formal. Hen parties have no gifts, you dress in pajamas, and do absolutely ridiculous things like race the bride to the store, make up songs for the bride-to-be, put on makeup quickly in order to eat chocolate with a knife etc. British people have a pleasantly reserved yet friendly way about them, but they know how to let loose and have fun when in the right situation! :)

And I love love the British accent. We Americans have a twang that the British like to mimic like we mimic theirs. Only it's not near so pretty when they do ours. Bloody Yankees.

We went hiking in a cove (with real live cows and swarming with gnats) with them, and Jacob left his glasses at the top. Despite Jacob's protests, Ben ran all the way back up to the top to get them! Thank you!

Temple

We went to the Preston, England temple. Boy, that was a trip. The rail system in England isn't exactly user friendly. Every official we asked had a different answer for the best way to get there. So we only did a session, because the actual travel time was about 8 hours, but the grounds of the temple were, of course, absolutely gorgeous. But it was worth the sacrifice because temples are few and far between in Europe!

Most of England in general is richly green, rural, and peaceful. I couldn't believe that I still needed a winter coat in June, but I'm not surprised now that I need one in Berlin too. Note to self: do not visit in winter.

Food
*Fish (fried and breaded) + chips (French fries) = best fast food in England.
*I had a red onion tart with cole slaw and new potatoes in an inn; that was tasty.
*Curry houses everywhere!! This addition needs to make its way to the US!
*Dinner at Sally's parents house and at Ben's parents house=too full to move. Wow. We had Yorkshire pudding and a roast and chocolate creme and we were basically spoiled, like Sally and Ben get spoiled every Sunday dinner. Ben's brother is really literal and Jacob and Ben took advantage of that by pretending there was a deep meaning behind the phrase "If you say jump, I say 'how high'" which was mentioned by Ben's grandpa. Who then fueled it by saying "If Hi Low is from China, how high is is brother?" Which really got Josh going. And Ben and Jacob laughed about that for about two hours as Josh struggled to understand what the joke was. Here's some of the clips, you can see what a great time Jacob was having, at the end of the post. You probably had to be there.

And we took a 25 hour bus ride (mistake. These buses aren't comfortable like Turkish ones!) to Berlin. Weil wir moechten unsere Deutsch verbessern. And we took the train underneath the English Channel, and we never even saw the water. How in the world did they build a train under the water, and why don't they build one from California to Japan?

PS Happy Father's Day Dad and Dude! (had to do that after saying Mom and Mum last time) :)

Photos from Luke

Because apparently you don't get comments on your blog unless you have photos... :)

Jacob likes to sleep on public transportation, and I get to be his pillow

The Meteora, where monks isolate themselves high upon cliffs only to be hoarded by tourists. Gorgeous.

Strolling Athens with Blagoj.

Playing with sand on the free beach in Athens.

Working away, big surprise.

Santorini and Athens

Well, I guess it's time for another update. We're currently in Larissa, staying at the Kariotis's residence, and it's very roomy. Thank you Perry (Jacob's childhood friend) and family for your hospitality!

We spent nearly two weeks in Santorini. It's probably the most famous Greek island, because it was formed by the eruption of a volcano 3500 years ago. The "caldera views" are referred to when looking at the sunset, you can see across the Aegean the volcano, which is apparently still active.

It was the most beautiful sunset we'd ever seen--I don't think the beauty of Santorini is overstated. However, I did find something sort of amusing and wanted to pose the question to you readers out there: What do you think consitutes a 4,000 euro/night stay in a hotel? I heard that this kind of accomodation was available on Santorini, and I tried to imagine just how nice one night's stay could be. I mean, I enjoyed where we stayed in Santorini very well, both places were quite cute--and they included breakfast and a swimming pool for 28 euros a night. What could be 100 times nicer?

Letting my mind wander, I suppose it would include your own private swimming pool and jacuzzi. It would be huge. It would have the best views on the island. Maybe you'd have your own gourmet chef? A horseback ride in the morning? Getting treated like royalty is a given. And probably laundry service. Maybe a comfy robe and socks? But I guess my imagination is kind of limited. I can't imagine what would cost the equivalent of 5,000 dollars/night. I'm pretty easy to please when it comes to accomodation though. Anyways...

One funny story that Jacob has already told enough people that I can't be embarrassed anymore is the ATV day. I'd never ridden on one, so we gave it a shot. The island of Santorini is really quite small. We saw all of it in one day. But Jacob wanted me to try driving at one point, and so slightly unwillingly, I did. I asked which was the go and which was the brake, started down the straightaway, and immediately got mixed up, forgot how to stop, revved the engine instead, and veered directly right into a sign. I didn't drive it again after that. Fortunately, there was no real damage done, just a scratch on the headlight that Jacob shaved off with his knife. It would have been hard to do damage since I managed to crash it immediately after getting going...well, that was funny.

I went snorkeling for the first time on Santorini. Like Jacob, I've become hooked. The waters were very clear, and there were plenty of fish--especially on the dramatic, unusual red sand beaches, my favorite beach on Santorini. We stayed on the black sand beach called Kamari, which isn't actually sand but rocks. Even though I've gone several times now, each time it's a surprise that I can actually breathe underwater and see the ocean floor.

Our stay in Atalos Villas was quite enjoyable. We made some friends with a married couple from Australia. We haven't met very many married people traveling around like we are so it was fun. Neil and Kate were taking a 7 month round-the-world trip. It consisted mosly of Europe, plus Egypt and Singapore. They were very funny, and the joke Jacob, Perry, and I liked to share with them involved Giannis, pronouced Yanni, the owner of the hostel.

The hot tub when we first arrived to Atalos Villas was very hot. However, on subsequent days it was never turned on. Yiannis's English was a strange direct translation from Greek to English, which meant he was near impossible to understand. In fact he was so hard to understand on the phone, Jacob and I just drove out there to reserve our spot. He and his wife made an adorable old couple, however, and so we weren't put off by his English. When we asked him to turn on the heat for the hot tub, his explanation was very confusing. While many aspects seemed to prevent him from turning the water temperature up, ranging from "insurance" "skin" and the naked Austrian child who was always playing in it, the number one problem had to do with the "chlor." The "chlor" in the hot tub could cause a lot of problems, so he simply could not turn the heat up. Forget that the pool had "chlor" as well, the "chlor" in the hot tub could apparently damage your skin, and then you'd need a lawyer, and he had no insurance. We knew this was nonsense.

One day Perry took matters into his own hands. He called his aunt up and asked her to speak to Giannis in Greek. By the end of the day, Giannis had promised to turn up the heat.

This was about the only place on the beach that had internet, but it was an inconvenient kind of system. We had to print out receipts with username and password every two hours to get any work done. Giannis got to the point where he printed out receipts every time he saw us.

The night before we left for Athens, Giannis had told us that he would drive us to the port at 1:30. Around 11 am that day, he asked to push it back to 2 pm. I agreed reluctantly "at the very latest", because we hadn't picked up our tickets yet and I wanted to allow plenty of time to catch the ferry, which began boarding at 2:30. At 2, I came down with the last of our luggage to discover that he had told Perry 2:30, Jacob 2:45. I said that would be too late. Jacob asked him to call a taxi.

I started getting mad when Giannis, all worked up, told us he couldn't drive us there because we hadn't checked out on time. There was no posted check-out time anyway, but he said he had paying customers who were staying 12 days, when we had stayed only 9, who had had to wait for their room. Things escalated into raised voices, the taxi arrived, only for us to realize Perry was nowhere to be found. We called him on Skype, he didn't answer his phone, it was 2:10, and we didn't know if we should wait for him. Meanwhile, Giannis was scolding Jacob, regretting the fact that he had ever given us the Internet receipts. That was funny. Then we saw Perry come strolling down the street (he was thinking we were leaving at 2:30).

Jacob told Giannis that if we missed our ferry we would write a bad review on the ratings site. Giannis changed his ways. He gave us 20 euro to pay for the taxi, and a CD of Santorini photos. He asked us not to write a bad review. We shook hands, whisked into the taxi, and left on a better note. The ferry was actually late, so we had plenty of time. We still really liked Atalos Villas, we just think that it was Giannis's lack of English that caused a miscommunication.

The ferry rides between Greek islands are very comfortable. There's restaurants, internet, and a beautiful view. I read "A Thousand Acres" which is a modern-day version of King Lear and won the Pulitzer Prize, and although no Gone With the Wind (another recipient of the prize) I found it well-written.

As we neared Athens, I felt a little thrill. This city is just so famous for us in the States, it's right up there with Rome with the sense of ancientness and beauty. My perceptions soon changed, however. The smog greeted us from the ferry, as did the smell. Yes, Athens is dirty and consequently your nose is constantly hit with unpleasant smells. It was, of course, modern. It was full of shops and apartments and the metro and people, 5 million of them. What did I expect, people to be walking around in togas?

Athens was one of the most diverse places we've been, that's for sure. The Senegalese were there selling the same items they sold in Istanbul--ironically enough, one of them recognized Jacob and I and knew us from our friend Landing--Bangladeshi people were selling toys like musical bikes and bubbles and tomatoes full of water that went splat and then resumed their original shape--Chinese men walked around selling their wares from restaurant to restaurant--and there was a family from Iran and a man from Afghanistan at church.

It was nice to go to an LDS church again. Very nice...there's a branch right on the street leading to the Acropolis. In fact, it's called the Acropolis branch. The talks were in Greek, but there was a translator.

The hostel we stayed in, Athens International Hostel on Victor Hugo St, was expensive yet still the cheapest option at 26 euros for two bunk beds. It was in an iffy location, and very cramped. But we survived there for a week, and even had Perry, Luke, and Blogve from Macedonia (er, Skopje) to keep us company.

We had the pleasure of meeting Perry's second cousins, who entertained us at a restaurant one evening and invited us to dinner at their home the next. Maria Lyn and Christina were avid fans of "doom" music, which they really built up to tell us we wouldn't be ready for it. I thought it would sound like heavy metal myself, but when we watched Candlemass the next evening--well, it was just amusing. It was an overweight man dressed all in black like a priest who made funny faces and sang about being "bewitched" and everybody turned into zombies. It was made in the 70s. Not nearly so hard-core after all.

Dinner at their house was good--I feel bad though, most people love meat and so it is considered a treat to be given a lot of meat and I just can't eat all of it and that's what happened with the moussaka. It is like the Greek form of lasagna. Actually it's kind of like shepard's pie with no vegetables. There were spinach and cheese pies which were exceptionally flaky, the ever-present feta cheese, tomatoes, and olives Greek salad, and dessert was syrupy nuts (were they dates?) and jellied grapes. It was quite a treat to see a side of "the real Greece." Then after being completely stuffed we went out together to get drinks, but Jacob and I were too full to order anything, and stayed out very late until 2 am, which is what Greeks do, but it's normally not what Kalli does. And so I fell asleep, and Jacob took notes about the business on his pad of paper. We aren't partiers anymore, Jacob and I, we're just old married people :). By the way, "Kalli" means good or beautiful in Greek, and "Kai" means "and." So I see both of our names in some version on signs everywhere.

The Acropolis was worth seeing even though it was going through extensive renovation and the museums weren't open. And the Athens Archeological Museum was also interesting, but we went through it quicker than most museums because statues all start to look alike after awhile. The best part was the frescos from Akrotiri in Santorini, theater masks from the ancient Greek theater, and just overall getting a sense for how the Greeks truly believed in the gods they made statues of--from Hercules to Hermes to Zeus to the Muses and nymphs.

Overall, Athens was terribly crowded, quite dirty, rather expensive, sweaty-hot, full of smoke and pollution, and probably even dangerous even in some touristy areas (there's a lot of immigrants and so a lot of poor people) but still worth seeing, I think, to pay homage to the great thinkers of the past--Socrates, Aristotle, Plato and more, who founded the ideals of democracy.

For pictures, look on Facebook.

Ephesus and Rhodes

Goodbye Turkey...




Well, we've made it over to Greece... and we're loving it! I'm seeing the island mentality of "take it easy and enjoy some sun" and it is niiiice...

Turkey was a great place, but it's true that we like to walk down the street without people getting in our faces selling stuff.

It also feels ultra forward to actually wear short pants, and I'm shocked at the amount of skin we're seeing again now that we've left modest Turkey...and there are way more women in public now too.

Let's see, what have we been up to the last couple of weeks?

*Visited the burial place of the Apostle John in Selchuk, Turkey
*Visited Ephesus, the best preserved ancient Roman city...and absolutely overrun with tourists. This is where Paul preached and got thrown in jail for telling people to stop making miniature idols of the gods.
*Jacob played some ball with some Turkish youth
*We stayed at Tom and Ali's hostel and Tom really literally fell in love with Jacob despite his girlfriend of 3 years...kissed him right on the cheek and told me not to be jealous...Jacob would pretend to be Tom's boss in front of other customers and ask him to go vaccuum and Tom thought that was the best joke ever...I also almost left my computer at this hostel and remembered before the dolmus left to go to Marmaris...close call.
*We rode on a "Blue Dolphin" to get to Rhodes. It only took an hour on this super fast boat. The water is soo blue here, it is really beautiful.
*Jacob went snorkeling for the first time and feels it will now be a lifetime hobby. I did not go but opted instead to float on my inflatable ring while Jacob pushed me around looking for fish.
*We stayed in a reallllly nice place in Pefkos, for 20 euros a night. It had a kitchen and Jacob made us some yummy meals, including fish, spaghetti, and fish spaghetti.
*We went couch surfing for the first time, with a guy who generously picked us up, bought us lunch, dropped us off in the city, and left us at his house while he went to another island. He is really cool!
*The old city of Rhodes is where the Crusader Knights had their base, and it is like Jerusalem, without the intense religious and political undertones.
*We will be visiting Santorini tomorrow, and meeting up with Perry a few days later. That will be fun!
*Jacob and I are having weekly meetings now where we discuss our business, how to improve it, and set goals. It is really a blast! It is really motivating to work together, and to tell the truth, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine this work situation for myself when we first set out for Heiligenhaus, Germany. But it just shows God knows what's better for us than we do! Recently, I started focusing more on marketing The Jump Manual, and it's been really fun. I LOVE having no boss, choosing what time to get up in the morning, and setting my own goals for improving the business. It definitely helps that Jacob is an idea machine, and is so business savvy. A learning curve so high with starting an internet business would be so difficult to not have him around. Fortunately, he's made it past the hard part and I get to participate in the fun part, which is helping it grow. It also helps that The Jump Manual really is the best vertical jump program available, so finding ways to make it visible and promotable is easy.
*And last but not least, Mom made a beautiful wedding album for us! It's one of my greatest regrets to have no photo album from our wedding. If any of you, by the way, have photos of Jacob and I PLEASE send them to us. Our photographer lost all of our photos but two...But anyways Mom has made a really lovely collection of the photos we do have, and I'll post it here. Thanks Mom! It's made from a company that my cousin Andrea participates in, so I'll put in a plug for her that if you are interested you can find out more about HeritageMakers from her.

Because the connection isn't working so well, look for more photos on Facebook...

And, HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MUM AND MOM!!!! We love y'all so much!

Here is our balloon trip caught on tape!

Kurdish Music - This guy is awesome...

Kurdish musician we met. We though he was really good.