Mir ist kalt!

I am one bad blogger. Sorry to keep y'all out of the loop. Let me catch us up to speed.
After Spain, I did a little mini tour of Germany with my friend Esther. We started in Frankfurt and then checked out her mama's house in Beleifeld. Beleifeld is a cute little college town and her mom's house is bright and inviting, like most of the living places I have encountered here so far. The high light of the trip was going to her Grandparents' house in the country. Esther's uncle, who also lives on the farm, is a dog breeder so they had some super cute puppies around. We all know I am not a dog person but you have to be just a real jerk not to like puppies.
Speaking of dogs...we have one at our apartment. Yoko is pretty darn cute. I plan on posting a picture of her sometime soon. My excuse for no pictures is that the internet access is a little sporadic these days at my apartment as our internet provider doesn't like American computers. Oh well, hopefully that will come together soon. Technology has not been on my side recently as my palm pilot took a tumble a couple days ago and is no longer working. grrr.
In general, life in Berlin is great. I am eating a ton of chocolate and yummy cheese. (I am hoping the bike ride will compensate for the much increased caloric intake.) The food and booze here is also really cheap. You can get some Turkish delicacies for 2 Euro, or $2.50. It's a whole meal here too. Mmmmm...
One really nice thing also is that I have a good friend who lives here. I met Anja, and Esther as well, in Nicaragua 2 years ago. Anja and I have been spending some quality time together eating Mexican food and salsa dancing. Anja is also a really great friend to have because she is a German teacher. Score. I am going to teach her some belly dancing in exchange for a couple German pointers.
Well stay posted to my blog because I should be posting pictures here soon. I took some shots of my ride to school. I cross the entire city which means I hit most of the major monuments, so you won't want to miss it.

Día de los Enamorados

Why the Spanish you ask...because I am living the good life in Cádiz, Spain. I am here for a week visiting my friend Alex who is doing a UW study abroad program here. Cádiz is sweet. I have been to the beach everyday since I have been here. (Never mind that it’s still a bit too cold to swim.) The sun is out. I also did the whole yahoo Spanish discoteca thing and set a new record of 7:30 am return from the bars on Saturday. That was pretty glorious. Tons of good dancing. Actually, that’s a little bit of a lie, the Euro techno is in full swing here which is not my most favorite type of music. On Friday I went out with my housemates to a party in Berlin and Germans sure do love techno as well. I better get used to it. Anyway, back to Spain.
I spent the first night in Cádiz a ghetto hippy hostel but then Alex hooked me up with a residencia that his Spanish parents own. I am staying in an apartment a couple floors up from the family and I get to eat with Alex and his family which is great. His Spanish parents are good people. I kind of feel like I am getting to do another study abroad but I don’t have to go to class. I mean not that study abroad is known for its academics but I definitely put in some study time in Chile.
So that’s the word on the street these days. I am pretty much living the dream. On Friday I head back to Germany for a road trip with my friend Esther. We are going to visit her mom in Bielefeld and hang out in Berlin for a couple days. Good times. So, I hope this email finds all of you well on Valentines Day. I am sorry that this is the first year in many that I didn’t send out Valentines. It´s a big bummer. Nevertheless, please send me some addresses so I can send out some pretty postcards.

Ich bin heir!

Howdy Team,
I made it here to Berlin no problem. The weather is similar to DC: cold with rain/snow. My housemate Julia came to pick me up at the airport which was very sweet of her. Thomas and Julia are so great. They are really friendly and eager to help me with my German. Thomas does freelance radio stuff and Julia is finishing up her masters in phyto medicine. Julia is a veggie and thus Thomas is too. Yahoo. They are also non-smokers which makes my lungs happy.
Speaking of happy lungs it appears that my commute is slightly longer than anticipated. I will be biking probably around 20 miles a day which is similar to my DC commute. This will mean I can drink as much beer as I want and not have to worry about putting on a belly. :) Adrian is also my friendly bike part benefactor so that works out well.
My German needs to jump on the fast track because I want to be able to get around town and loose the image of the American who lives in Germany but doesn't speak the language. If you speak German feel free to email me in German because I can use the practice.
Starting February 27th I will have class 6 to 8 hours a day so I have a feeling I won't be posting a whole bunch of info once school starts. I will be taking my core classes for a Masters of Science in International Health. If you would like to know specifically what I am learning you can click on this link, or paste it into your web browser, http://www.internationalhealth.de/programme_structure.html .

Contact Information

Address: Paige Beckley
Danziger Strasse 65
10435 Berlin
Germany

Phone: 011 49 30 44 04 87 05 or in Germany 0 30 44 04 87 05
Skype: paigecbeckley (free internet phone!)
Cell: 011 49 175 712 8393 or in Germany 011 017 571 283 93

Cell phone plans are expensive here so it's mostly for emergencies and maybe the occational text message. I don't get charged for incoming calls but international calls are expensive. Your best bet is setting up a Skype date with me or call my land line.

Just a heads up Germany is 9 hours ahead.