Vhat? Unpimp your Auto?
A friend from DC saw these commercials on MTV this weekend. Funny, horrifying, both? You be the judge.
Horror 1Laugh 2Oh brother 3(I would like the suggest that this might be the result of showing 8-Mile on German television;-))
Istanbul was Constantinople...
First of all, it is still snowing! Here are some pictures...
But on another topic, I am thinking about studying Turkish. Turkish is currently a language that the State Department wants foreign service officers to speak. So if you can speak it at even a basic/intermediate level, then you get lots of bonus points... enough points that I would finally get "the call" to join the foreign service. There are other languages that get you bonus points too but speaking any of them would require learning a new alphabet, which I am not opposed to doing, but which would take extra time. Somehow I also feel like speaking Turkish is, well, German. There are lots of Turkish people in Berlin. Maybe I would get an extra falafel in my sandwich if I spoke Turkish to my local Doener Kebab guy;-)
Feeling a bit happy and smug about this decision, I had been singing along to The Might Be Giants all weekend. My visions of having a cool posting in Istanbul and being close to Europe were crushed a bit today when Jennie informed me that Turkish is also spoken in Iraq (well I knew that), Iran and Azerbaijan. But Azerbaijan could be cool too, right!? Isn't Baku on the top of your vacation list?
First things first, find a class.
I'll keep you posted...
The last hoorah
Ben Wettervogel, the slightly geeky yet adorable morning weatherman says that metrological spring has arrived. Mother Nature, however, has another idea. Although the crocus are starting to bloom outside my front door, it has snowed for the last two days! Yesterday afternoon the sky was bright blue and the sun was shining but the snow was coming straight down like a rainstorm. For the most part though, giant snowflakes have gently danced from the sky, floating through the air like the feather in Forrest Gump. I tried to take a picture, but it really didn’t do a justice.
Most of the flakes have melted as they reached the ground, but the trees in my courtyard look like a frosted fairyland. I cannot wait to experience spring in Berlin, but this unexpected last burst of winter reminds me to savor every moment, as my one and only winter in Berlin is quickly coming to an end.
