Date: Sunday, November 14, 1999 16:30 Subject: a pleasant fall Sunday Life here is so civilized. We woke up a bit groggy from a rather late night, a dressy cocktail party with a mixed Anglo-German crowd. Annette dragged herself off to run at ten, I made it out the door by eleven for a 2 1/2 hour ride in the Grunewald and down past Wansee to the Pfaueninsel dock. (The Pfaueninsel bears a creepy resemblance to the island in Myst, I've decided.) After a cold, grey Saturday, today was beautiful: blue skies, sunshine, the last traces of fall colour. Afterwards, a stroll to a very gemütlich little café at S-Banhof Friedenau for Milchkaffee and a meal-size Apfelstrudel mit Vanilliensoße, sitting in the window watching the leaves drift down onto a tidy, bürgerliche square in the late afternoon sun. Sometimes it is so pleasant here. The party was fun. It looks like we are going to have a good crowd of friends this year. (We're desperately trying to extend our Freundeskreis.) About half the ex-pats live in Kreuzberg, the other half in Prenzlauer Berg. More notable members of the gathering included: - The tall non-observant Jew who is attracted to devoutly Christian women. He finds the long preparation and even longer aftermath to be worth the few bouts of explosive, guilt-stricken sex that occasionally result. - The American sociologist studying working-class Turkish culture in Berlin. Part of his fieldwork (quite literally) includes playing soccer for a Turkish team, which by pure coincidence is also J's team. I will be seeing quite a bit of this guy in the coming year because our new apartment is not wired for cable so the only way I'm going to be able to watch any cycling on Eurosport is either to go to P&B's and deal with the baby or, after the appropriate introductions and negotiations are made, sit in J's team's café every Saturday and Sunday afternoon, drinking Turkish tea. If cycling comes on before soccer, it will work. We figure that it would be a great honour for this café to have not one but two regular Ferengis. - The smart-mouth from New Jersey who actually made the manager of a cocktail bar exchange his drink, because the drink he originally ordered tasted like cough syrup. Everyone at the table tried it, and we all agreed that it suggested nothing so much as a strong expectorant. The manager finally relented, but only because the bartender had dropped a bottle on his head a little earlier in the evening, for which he had not received a free drink. She did give him an ice cube for the lump that was slowly forming. We all congratulated him for scoring a free ice cube, something extremely rare in this country, perhaps even less common than a free drink. Otherwise, that's about it. I'm settling in for an evening of writing. Time to get off my ass and get to work. I've had two months to twiddle my thumbs and while it's been remarkably pleasant, I fear that I may get bored soon. Tomorrow is moving day. Poor, poor Vita. She will love the new place, however. Regards, Scott