another day...

so welcome to monday.

monday was a day of many-splendored bliss. hmmm. given the fact that i think i'm suffering from an early-onset of memory loss (are there drugs for this?), i am having some trouble remembering what i did. contrary to what you might think, i was not in a drunken stupor. that is SO not me. really, it isn't. and please if you are related to me, please know that i am the epitome of a suitable girl.

okay, this is going to be shocking to some of you. but i just created an outline for my last few days so i could properly describe them. shocking because i never make outlines, i never revise or edit my work, i never put thought into anything. i just go back and change the introduction of a research paper to what i actually ended up saying. thank you UBC for rewarding mediocrity.

monday --

i went back to friedrichshaim to check out this glasses store that i spotted on sunday. it was closed on sunday because, well, everything is closed on sunday here. everything. it's a good thing i didn't cut my toe off because good luck to me for finding a pharmacy. convenience on the weekends, not a forte of the german volk. also lots of things don't open til tuesday. lazy. or really really smart.

so i went into the glasses store and tried on about 25 funky pairs. finally decided on some that i would never have picked out myself. they are way different from the plastic-y things i've been sporting since high school. i am proud to say that i did resist getting them tinted. some of you may remember my brief and disappointing flirtation with tinted glasses. ah, my blue tinted glasses that were only like 7.5% tinted (because my dad said any more tintation was too expensive) and the tinting was not at all noticeable. oh, how hard i tried to be "cool" and failed miserably.

anyway. back to the present. so bought some glasses. walked around some more. this women's clothing store i really wanted to check out (called, brilliantly, killer beast) didn't open until 3 pm!! (making victoria look like the epitome of convenience!) so i went to a coffee shop to read / wait around. there was an american guy (from michigan) sitting next to me, who tried (i think) to ask me out. see, i'm not very good at spotting these things. allow me to go off on a tangent and describe a rather sad event that took place at alt coffee on avenue a. so there i am sitting on a couch (a dirty, smelly couch, may i add) with some cases to read for work. i can't remember why i was working from the coffee shop, maybe it was christmas-time-ish. and a guy sits down beside me. we strike up a conversation. he tells me that it's cool that i'm a lawyer, so of course right away i'm suspicious. (the usual response to that statement is the guy looking around desperately for an escape route, ultimately insisting that he go get another drink for me and then never returning - only to be spotted later in full-on face to face contact with someone less lawyer-ish.) anyway, we have a very pleasant chat. he's into graphic design, lives in queens. we exchange life histories. my coloured history of moving around seems to be interesting to him since he's been living in nyc forever. so his friend (who is an accountant) comes and joins us for a bit and then leaves. i am completely oblivious when he asks me out for a drink. my immediate response is, "oh i can't drink now. i'm working." lame. he clearly meant we should go for a drink later. i couldn't possibly think ahead a few hours, so i gave a crisp, hardly inviting, lady-jerk answer. and he left. okay end digression.

where was i? (does it frighten anyone that i actually have to do analytical writing for a living?) okay so michigan guy asked me if i wanted to hang out later. again, i say "i'm leaving." as though i'm going to catch a flight back to bavaria right that instant. again, conversation ends. i am obliviously happy to return to my book.

but. i do go to killer beast. find an awesome dress. p.s. this store is amazing. they make most of the clothes themselves using vintage patterns. the dress i got is made from a pattern circa 1961. amazing. the last thing i sewed was in grade 8 - it was the extremely ugly, extremely turquoise pair of sweatpants with the cheapest possible fabric from fanny's fabrics. what's worse is that i actually wore those sweatpants (but only at home - whew!). so the dress needs some alterations which they will do for free. also these ladies are awesome, super fun and genuinely cool with a capital k.

eventually i wind my way home, after getting lost a few times. the u-bahn is brilliant; it's really my awful sense of direction that leads me to walk blindly many many many blocks the wrong way (even with a map!) so, i get home and check email. oh, i forgot to mention that on sunday, i posted an ad on craigslist to see if any german boys wanted to get a drink. it sounds sketchy, but craigslist is my lifeline. my roommate, K.R., and i spend much time reading craigslist personals to see who can find the sketchiest, yuckiest posting first. anyway. craigslist is not so big here, so i wasn't expecting much of a response. but i did hear back from a few people. one guy sounded nice and not creepy (i mentioned in my posting that a lack of creepy was necessary and also same-ish age.) so we met up (of course, it took a while to actually meet up since there was confusion about the meeting spot (this is foreshadowing for wednesday, fyi.)) finally, we meet. he looks weird in that normal way that we all are. and so we go get a drink at a cool nearby bar. the conversation flows, we're having fun and i'm feeling really happy to be chatting with a nice guy and practicing some german. we have banter with our waiter, who is super cute (also foreshadowing) and they collectively make fun of me for not understanding their german slang. but in a nice way. what i mean is, i didn't start crying. i go home, happy with another awesome day in berlin.