Blogged Down II

My blogging pace has certainly slowed down with my settling into life here. My routines are now not unlike what they were at home, just a few thousand miles away and with a serious sausage flavor. I get up, let the dog out, make coffee, put the couch together, eat some breakfast, feed the dog, write for an hour, shower, dress, paint or read for a while, make lunch, take the dog to the dog park, do some shopping, write some emails, have some skype chats, make dinner, do the dishes, feed the dog, paint a little, read some more, fold out the bed, let the dog out, read in bed, and sleep. I might throw in an afternoon nap, too, if my morning reading has been particularly exhausting. On Sundays I do laundry and go to flea markets, but these are beginning to lose their novelty and blur into one big, slightly foreign yard sale, with a lot of old record albums, electrical cords and plastic egg cups on display.  I did buy a mirror one weekend, however.

A lot of the museums are open on Sunday, and are likely to serve as replacement outings for the flea markets. Today I bought a year pass for the cluster that is run by the Stadt of Berlin, so I can just pop into any of them I choose when I am out and about. I spent a part of the afternoon today at the Bode, in the medieval sculpture rooms mostly, until I got saturated with the lushly carved wooden drapery and gilded robes of saints and martyrs, the bland and beatific features of countless Virgins and their orb-headed infants, and began to be disturbed by the violent gestures and grisly allusions animating so much of Christian art. And so to lunch in the museum cafe and a browse in the bookstore, where I found a good book in English on the art and architecture of Berlin. An excellent find. And an excellent museum in a stunning building. I look forward to more curious wandering among the plinths and vitrines.

I had coffee later in the day with a new German friend, our first meeting as Tandem partners - she helps me with my German and I help her with her English - but we spent the whole time auf Deutsch with me struggling both to say what I wanted to say and understand what she said in return. We laughed a lot. I think I am more motivated to work on my German than she is on her English, which works well for me, although my motivation does not extend to doing much study on my own at home, which would help a lot... Next week we will go to a museum together, perhaps the Neues Museum to gape at the newly returned Nefertiti, who has not been on view there in 70 years. Egypt keeps trying to get her back but I don't think they'll ever succeed. Berlin has too strong a hold on her. It is developing a strong hold on me, too.