The Chronicles of a Big Faker

Mission accomplished. I officially found a job sillier than selling Karaoke machines at the Costco in Eugene. I am a singer and Conga player in a Rock and Roll band. Yes, it’s true. Unfortunately, I don’t have any proof that this is my job. There is, however, talk of recording a demo. I don’t know if that will happen or not but if it does I will be sure to post me singing “La Bamba” on my blog. Stay tuned for that. Our band, the Extras, had our first gig two Saturdays ago. I would say it was a success. We even played for four hours straight.

You’re probably wondering how I fell into such a job. Well, I got a ride home from my English speaking Methodist church with the worship team base player: Andi. He asked me if I could sing and if I owned boots. I replied that I definitely own boots and I sing in the shower sometimes. I think it was pretty clear that I had the job.

Somehow I also became Andi’s personal assistant. He owns a second hand Rock Star clothing store and a transport company. (The pictures below are from a dress-up session. Who says you can’t have fun on the job?) I’ve been working this week in the store organizing things. I also help him with some travel planning. It’s fun, I feel useful, and I’m learning customer service vocabulary. It hasn’t proved to be super lucrative so I also have a job interview to work for a company that does “market research”. I’ll get paid to harass people by phone which isn’t glamorous but I’m willing to give it a shot.

When I am not working silly jobs I am meeting with my tandem partners. A tandem is a language exchange. I meet with different people everyday and talk English or Spanish half the time and then German. I found the tandems by posting an add on the Berlin Technical University website. Thus, it’s a bit like internet dating but somehow more dignified. The tandem has been a great way to meet new people, listen to different accents, and see different cafes and restaurants in Berlin.

I also found a new German speaking church, through Andi again, with lots of young people. The church is even in my neighborhood. Nevertheless, I am still going to the English speaking church because I have some nice friends there.

Along those same lines of broadening my horizons, I am proud to say that I went out tango dancing on both Friday and Saturday night. My roommie, Jörn, knows all the tango places in town and is a bit of an addict. I feel bad for the unsuspecting men who ask me to dance only to find out that I have no idea what I’m doing. But, Jörn has been giving me some lessons so I am improving. I don’t get to do the fancy leg crossing stuff yet but I’m working on it. In exchange for the tango lessons I’ve taught Jörn some yoga and most recently ballet. The tandems never stop.