Things I Have Learned ẗḤÎṨ ⱲƏẻĶ

My mom came to visit this past week and I got to show her around all the cool spots in Dresden. Later in the week, my nanny from long ago Berte, also came from Kiel to visit. It was great to see my mom and her catch up after some twenty-some-odd years and to hear a bit about myself as a child — at one point Berte described me as reserved. Sort of weird for a kid. The whole situation felt pretty natural in the end. Berte didn’t seem like some random German lady, she was somehow a familiar and comfortable figure.

Being with my mom again reminded me of the character of the dreams I have been having. I’d say it’s like two worlds pulling at opposite ends of a piece of cellophane. It’s like they’re fighting for thematic dominance and it ends up being some sort of hodgepodge, which is leaning more toward the German one as time progresses. They’re definitely not all positive. I remember one that involved the dissolution of relationships with people in the United States and in Germany as well. It left me feeling shitty and alone when I awoke. Other times, shit is just fucking confusing, for example where I “find out” that I’m in Germany and then still don’t believe it (sometimes when I’m awake it still doesn’t feel real).

• Something that sounds like “um” means pussy in Turkish. You can imagine how awesome that could make some things sound.
• And on that note, something that sounds like “natasha” means prostitute.
• Volkswagen has a transparent (“glass”) factory in Dresden where they produce the Phaeton, which is a luxury car that only appeared for a few years in the US (I think). Inside this factory is a restaurant called Lesage, which is really fancy and nice and yummy. I’d like to go for lunch sometime to actually see the factory in action.
• "Lila Soße" ist sehr lecker. Thanks Kristina.
• Dresden held the “Unity Party” this last weekend to celebrate the reunification of Germany. They converted a few downtown mall places into huge clubs. There was a DJ and a dancefloor in a McDonalds.
• Speaking of McDonalds, they are much nicer here. Like, it’s almost a classy establishment. They have this area called "McCafe", which is a rip off of Starbucks shoved inside a McDonalds…and it’s pretty fucking legit — the decor is nice, the food is looking and tasting good, all the fancy coffee stuff you want. I’m not sure why we can’t get any of this stuff. Oh and it’s not just like this because it’s in a big city. I’ve been to hella remote ones and they are equally as nice.
• The “intimacy” between males friends here is more intense than what I have observed or experienced in the US. it’s more touchy-feely here. It’s sort of like if you had male friends act more like female friends in the US…I’m hoping that makes sense. In the US, I sometimes felt like there was a weird negative undertone to closeness between male friends. Maybe this is just me? I really don’t think so though. Male friends seem a bit more distanced physically in the US.
• This vietnamese market is greeeeaaaaatttt. So cheap.
• Using “führer” is a bit taboo, obviously-ish.
• I have a ~* visitor *~ coming for the holidays. The hint is built into the previous sentence.