I Don't Remember Asking for Cold Weather

I know I asked the Utahns to send us some of their snow, but I never expected the freezing cold to come with it. Unfortunately, I just can't have the best of both worlds: snow with summer temperatures. Maybe I'm missing the point somehow?

Happily, I did get the snow for which I asked. Over the weekend it snowed for 3 days in a row. Woo hoo! Just don't plan on driving anywhere in Berlin if the snow sticks and it's too cold for it to melt. Their snow removal system is about as good as it is in Portland, Oregon. However, the public transportation is better, so you can still get around. You can't expect a big metropolis like Berlin to shut down unless it's blizzard conditions.

Walking can also be a bit hazardous. Whoever thought that sand was as good as salt for melting snow was fooling themselves. The sidewalks are very slippery!

Unhappily, the temperature is frigid!!! It's gets so cold at night that the precipitation that collects on the inside of our windows turns to ice. Incredibly, the night before last it was about 5° in the middle of the night, and 1° by 8:00 in the morning. This morning I went to the bakery with Stewart and I felt like I was back in New York. It's the kind of cold that freezes all the mucus in your nose, just by breathing in. Stewart said we've been getting colder temperatures here than we got when we lived in New York. Ugh! I think the cold follows me. (Oh, and it's snowing again today). :)

Adversity is to Make Us Laugh

We have some wonderful friends here in Berlin named Clark. The family consists of Hugh (the father), Vivien (the mother), 2 children in Utah (Eleanor and John David), 1 son on a mission in Ireland (James), and two daughters living at home (Sarah and Elizabeth). They are from South Africa and we go to their house every so often. I must admit that I absolutely adore this family, and even the big, white cat who is worshipped (as all cats wish to be). Anyway, I've titled this post after something Vivien said the first Sunday we ate dinner with them. I really think this title fits them quite well. Here is a bit of their story (forgive me if I screw it up a bit):

In South Africa they had a car whose brake wouldn't work. One day, Vivien had to stop and ask for directions. She had three of her children in the car, and they were quite young at the time. She thought she could just jump out and get back in quickly. Unfortunately, the car didn't agree with that assessment, and it continued to roll down a hill. It was headed for a fence that, undoubtedly, had a swimming pool behind it. I can only imagine the panic she must have felt as her children rolled towards it. The car was stopped by a pile of sand or something, but not before it became evident that there was, indeed, a swimming pool behind the fence. Vivien is a very boisterous person, and she laughs about it now, but I'm sure it wasn't quite as funny at the time.

Vivien and Hugh told us of two different occasions when they were "burgled." I'm sure I'll get the two confused. One time they saw their stereo out on the lawn, so they knew someone was robbing them. I can't remember if this is the time the lights from the car scared them off, or if this is the time they got the neighbor's dog to help scare the burglar away. At any rate, it sounded terrifying to me. I only wish I could remember all the details.

They've lived through many different trials in South Africa, as you might imagine. They told us how people steal cars with the drivers in them. It's very dangerous.

Today they told us about Kruger National Park. You can see all kinds of wild animals there. However, they also have signs telling you not to roll down the windows of your car or get out of your car. Unfortunately, people don't always heed the signs, and lions and other large cats have been known to attack and eat tourists. One occasion in particular had a lion right up against the car window eyeing a child in the back seat. Apparently the natural prey of a large cat is a monkey, and children look a bit like monkeys to them. On another occasion, a tour guide was a bit too "cheeky," and the people on the tour bus watched as he left the bus and was eaten by a large cat of some sort.

Another story they told us was of an experience hiking around somewhere. It was near someone's farm, so it would have seemed to be a safer area. However, Sarah said that the owner told them to be back before dark. They were walking along a ravine and saw a whole line of baboons laughing at them as they walk. As you might imagine, it was getting rather dark, so they were hurrying to get back. During the night, lions or leopards or some other large cat came around. The following day, Sarah and some friends were down in the ravine and saw that a leopard (or some other large cat) had tracked and killed a baboon.

These are just some of the stories they've shared with us, but they laugh about all of them now. I can't even imagine some of the things they may have had to live through in South Africa, but they're a great example of looking at the sunny side of life and laughing at the rest. If I get a picture of them (and permission), I'll try and post it here so you can all meet them. :)

Happy New Year 2009!

We were boring last night, we did not go out. However, we saw and heard plenty of fireworks from our window. People were lighting fireworks from about 4pm until all hours of the morning. You can buy and light just about any kind of firework you can think of here...and they do. It sounded like bombs going off. Stewart went to sleep at about 1am, and it's a wonder he could sleep through some of the noise that went on.

At any rate, I tried to film the fireworks. Unfortunately, our camera doesn't really do well at night. So, the picture isn't great (and I filmed it the long way--stupidly--and can't figure out how to rotate it). However, you should be able to hear the fireworks, and you might be able to see them if you turn your head to the side (to the left). These are some of the neighbors lighting the fireworks in this video, and they were shooting well above the houses (which are 3 stories above the ground).




Today it has been "powdering". Basically, it's like misting rain, but it's snow. It lightly dusted the ground, but that's about it. Send us some of your Utah snow. :)

Crazy Dog!

I thought I had seen it all when I watched Rachel and Dave Edward's dachsund, Chaucer, bite his nails. Yes folks, he literally bites his nails. (He probably gets it from Rachel). Today, however, I was proven wrong. We arrived home late today and we stopped downstairs to chat with our landlady. I was petting and playing with Clara (the Maltese) while we talked. At one point, she decided she was excited enough to play back. So, she would lick my foot, then paw at my foot, then jump up onto my leg and stretch her whole body upwards so that I would continue to pet her. After a while, she must have decided that wasn't enough, because she started grabbing the hem of my skirt with her teeth and lifting it up. She wasn't really biting it, just lifting it up. It was hilarious! I wish I could have gotten that on film.

The snow did stick. An unusual Saturday morning in Berlin!

It's Snowing!!!

Our first day of snow in Berlin! Yay! Now, let's see if it sticks.

Berlin Zoo

As promised, we went to the other zoo in Berlin this last Saturday. I guess it is officially called the Berlin Zoo, while the other (as you may remember) is called the Tierpark. It was much smaller than the Tierpark. I love zoos generally, so I was not disappointed with the time we spent there. However, it was not as good as the Tierpark. Anyway, without further ado, here is a visual tour of some of the things we saw there.


I am not posting pictures of the pygmy hippopotamus because I didn't get a good one. It was a bad day for taking pictures for me. I tried to get a picture of him opening his mouth really wide and showing his teeth (I think he had something stuck in there that he was trying to get out), but I didn't get the camera out in time. :(

I also missed getting this hippopotamus with his mouth open wide. :(

We found this guy and one of his friends on the path (outside the Tierkinderzoo). I'm pretty sure they weren't supposed to be out.

They did have a lot of cool, exotic animals at the zoo. These kookaburras are some of them.

Another was the Coatis. I also missed a great shot of one of these guys. He saw me and climbed to the top of a short bush near me to see what I had. I was way too late getting the camera out for that. I've been kicking myself ever since. :(


Here's Knut...the one you've all been waiting for.


A digging warthog.


Me with Eeyore.


The wooing goats.


Penguins debating about whether or not they actually want to swim.



Playing sea lions. Again, I missed the best part. They were making quite a bit of noise, but I must have had bad luck that day.


A capybara.

This is a fossa. I believe it's some kind of feline...sure looks like it anyway.

This is a jaguarundi...also a feline.

These are dwarf mongoose. They were so cute huddled together like that. They must have been cold.

This panda was just chowing down on his eucalyptus leaves.

I know this picture is horrible, but this was the funniest thing. This spider monkey was playing with a little girl. You can see the other window in the background. Well, this little girl was running from one window to the other and he would follow her back and forth. It was so cute!

This seal was posing for everybody (while all the other seals swam around).

I got a little bit of this lion roaring, but not all of it. He did a lot more roaring than that.

And finally, the main entrance to the zoo…on the way out of course.