Herbst in Deutschland

Welcome back to my blog. In this very special double feature, you can see Germany when fall was in full bloom as well as well as an "Augenblick" back to my birthday.

23. Oktober 2009 was a significant day for me. 23 years ago on that date, I was born.

What made it exciting was that it was my golden birthday. Surprisingly, not many people in the IES program nor people here in Germany know what a golden birthday is. I had to explain that on the 23rd was my 23rd birthday, therefore it was golden.

My Vermeterin and roommate (from Minnesota!) baked me a chocolate cake complete with candles and a frosting "23" on the top. It was very nice and unexpected. They lit the candles and came into my room and sang Happy Birthday. Pictured are meine Vermeterin Katja and former roommate Amanda.

I ended up having a more "low-key" night. Rather than going to the bar or a club and drinking and dancing and inviting the possibility of drinking too much and not having fun, I met with a small group of friends in Kreuzberg. We bought some cheap beer and wine along with some snacks at the Kaizer's (a big grocery store chain in Berlin) just outside the U Bahnhof. We then proceeded to go to my friend Saundra's apartment. We all just hung out, sang, danced, and laughed a lot. At one point we made another alcohol run to Kaizer's where I danced in the aisles and took some pictures. Here are some good ones from those moments:

The birthday was fun. I even coined a new term: "Arschtisch". Someone asked what the word for toilet paper would be auf deutsch. Without thinking I said Arschtisch when I meant to say Arschpapier. Instead of saying "ass paper" I said "ass table", neither of which are correct. It was a good time.

The very next day, I went outside with the sole purpose of taking many pictures of the German Herbst. I really like the Fall in Minnesota, but the last few years have been lame.I was interested in seeing if there was much of a difference. I found that the weather is very similar, but the colors here are much more bright and..well...colorful. I walked to a park that is not much more than 5 blocks from the apartment where I am living. It is a beautiful park, and I got several good pictures. Take a look: