start spreading the news...

....from our 'new york of europe' - city..

well, after 2 months of lots and lots of bread, ve decided to cut the carbs. we have been eating indian bread, turkish, german broetchen of course and many other ethnic varieties a few times a day - so time for a break.

we keep on finding new favorite places to eat and hang out. last night we found a funky greek place, called 'terzo mondo'. the owner is a greek architect that looks like a mixture of Pavarotti and Karl Marx. apparently it attracts actors and activists, he himself used to play in a german soap opera. he is a fun and interesting guy who seems to know a lot other architects, since he used to teach at the university of berlin… we will see …
another place we recently found is 'favela café' owned by sabine and henrique. not a full blown restaurant, but they serve feijoada and moqueca - we will try it sometime in the next few weeks. they are super nice people and their mandioca frita is pretty good!!

we live in the so called 'quieter neigborhood' of berlin - but we too have our share of odd to crazy people. there is one woman who has hair almost down to the floor and she wears layers of black. I know that does not sound so bad, but the aura - cloud that follows her is quite creepy. she walks extremely slow and keeps on stopping and looking around - at times in the middle of the street. sometimes she sits down on her stroll… the other day at an outdoor café and at her table was a normal looking woman. my theory though is, that the woman did not sit next to her voluntarily… as most of you might know, in germany you share tables with strangers… her estimated age is somewhere between 35 and 48… she could just be a harmless city neurotic. but she also could pull a knife if you get too close -- we tend to stay on the other side of the street. hahaha
(i will try and get a photo..in fact my newest plan is to try to talk to her the next time we see her... which is most days --)

last night was the 25 year anniversary party of our favorite hang out in berlin…. it was packed inside, outside and standing. they had a live dixie band and great energy. we met a couple from england who owns a place in berlin --
and we had some interesting interactions with semi drunk people... one woman insisted on wanting the bar stool that eduardo was sitting on - but when i explained to her that he had back problems, then the german mother was coming out ... and she insisted he stayed sitting - and the 2 of them chatted away for the rest of the night - haha - it was pretty cute. more details when we see you all in person.
the other cute incident was ve 'stealing' a cigarillo from a package on the bar... the british couple had reassured us that the people had long left. but a little later the 'owner' did appear back on the scene. he did not notice anything - except that ve seemed to be smoking what he was smoking. the 2 of them also somehow seemed to have switched their wine glasses... i am telling you - it was packed!!

these are all the news for now -
i am leaving with the regular: 'there are a few things that we like better in the US - segment:
germans are not so good at small talk...parties tend to start kind of quiet and slow... they usually do get momentum - but the start of any conversation with new people can be an effort - something that seems much easier with the generally cheerful and chatty american -

cheers to all our friends around the world -
we miss you!!