Αθήνα

I'm a bit frazzled/worn out from island hopping today (Hydra, Poros, Aegina), but I wanted to record a conversation that I've had at least five or six times since I've been in Greece.

Me: Γεια σου/ευχαριστώ (Hello/Thanks you in Greek)
Greek Person: (in English) You speak Greek?!
Me: Ναι, λίγο (Yes, a little).
Greek Person: Are you half Greek?
Me: No.
Greek Person: Why do you speak Greek?
Me: I studied it in University.
Greek Person: In Athens? Here?
Me: No, in the US. In Seattle.
Greek Person: How is this possible?!

There have been a couple variations, but I guess that Americans who don't have Greek family don't typically study Greek? I don't know. It's been really interesting here and lovely and SO WARM. I'm definitely not looking forward to returning to the cold Western European weather. Paris better be really nice (har har har).

Final Project

Hey everyone, here is my final video project. I'm only going to keep this up on YouTube publicly for about a week, so watch while you can!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ssyp_9kyLY

Bye, Bye, Bye Berlin Bye Bye

I really, honestly cannot believe that my time in this city is almost over. Despite the rain and cold recently, I have been thinking about how much I am going to miss it here. But there are things here that will bring me back, most definitely. These include:

The Jewish community here
my current line of research/filmmaking
the offer from Ulf to conduct English tours of synagogues throughout Germany
the food
the clubs
My Berliner friends who I've made here
The cheap... everything


etc, etc, etc. Sitting in an internet cafe working on my project right now. I wanted a little break and so I thought I'd write about what I loved about Berlin, but I think I need to save that for another time. On Thursday I am heading to Athens to see family, and then on the 14th to Paris. On the 22nd I fly to Miami to go on a cruise with my parents, and then home to Seattle where I am currently homeless. sigh. Thus is the life, and I have nine more months to enjoy it. Tschuss!