Gutes Neues Jahr!

From the fifth floor of an old old German building, I am watching tiny flakes of snow fall into the courtyard, where there is an array of about 12 different recycling bins. Last night, I was treated to a rooftop view of Berlin's version of fireworks, which put our 4th of July to shame. It really felt like World War II. There might have been one official fireworks show over by the cathedral spires, but otherwise it was just every drunk German (including some on the same roof as us) setting off their own, which can be purchased at all the corner stores. We were totally surrounded by "bombs bursting in air" both near and far, the church bells ringing the whole time. The sky steadily filled with smoke until the nearby cathedral was barely visible. This lasted for at least half an hour, but the individual hijinks on the streets (cherry bombs and whatnot) went on all night, I'm sure. We decided to stay in and avoid the mayhem, but fear not, I will be hitting up some German pubs in the nights to come.

The bells rang again at 10am this morning so I decided to get up and blog. Welcome to 2008. On Saturday, I gave my last exam, only after asking my students to line up for a photo. Unfortunately, I forgot to photograph my other classes, because I really miss them! It was sad to see the students unceremoniously walk out the door after the exam. One of the Moroccan teachers had organized a pre-New Year's soiree at a hotel restaurant, so Molly and I joined her, a bunch of her friends, and some other teachers for dinner and, of course, dancing. You cannot do anything to stop these Moroccan ladies from dancing, or from dragging you onto the dance floor. One of our American teachers, Lori, has been studying belly dancing and it was amazing to watch her hips wiggle!

My European odyssey began on Sunday when I took a train to Casablanca airport and flew to Madrid. Since I was only staying one night, I treated myself to an airport hotel and was thoroughly delighted with it, and with Spain in general. It was great to see Christmas trees, finally, but mainly, the people just seemed so happy! And of course I love hearing them talk (I put on some sit-coms in my room just to hear the language). There was a nice little pub in the hotel where I seized my first opportunity to have a beer in public (which I can't do in Rabat). I enjoyed it with an empanada, stuffed peppers, and some delicious Manchego cheese. Maybe it is just in contrast to Morocco, but I was immediately enchanted with Europe, especially the attitude, the environmentally-conscious lifestyle, and the freedom of movement. Living in Morocco has definitely taught me to appreciate all the freedoms I have in the western world.

The next day, I flew to Frankfurt on another discount airline, which like the first one, had amazing inflight magazines that gave lots of good info on travel in Europe. I then took a 2 hour bus to the Frankfurt train station, a trip I was not counting on but luckily left enough time in my schedule. I sat next to a nice Australian mom, who is a musician living in Frankfurt. I arrived just in time to grab a sandwich and hop on a fast train to Berlin. The 4 hours passed very quickly since the train was so nice and I had a whole compartment to myself. The Berlin train station was absolutely mobbed with New Year's revelers checking out the giant Swarofsky crystal Christmas tree in the lobby. Somehow, I managed to meet up with my friend Luisa and her husband, who said they had barely survived all the cherry bombs being thrown at their feet.

So here I am in Luisa's apartment. I met her at my TEFL program in San Diego. She and her husband are artists who are in Berlin to connect with other artists, as this really seems to be a cultural mecca. I've only seen one street so far but it feels a lot like New York. I'll spend about 4 days here, then travel down to the southern border to meet up with my 9th grade English teacher, Ms. Schreiber, who moved back to Germany a while ago. Hopefully I'll get to explore some of the pretty areas around Lake Constance.

Wow, the snow is coming down harder now. Maybe we will have a white New Year!