What an end to the week...

Thought this was le funny. It's an unidentified artwork on display right now in Potsdamer Platz. (I work in that building just behind it.)

So what news! To be precise, I have a 4 year teaching assistantship (full ride + stipend) at UWM (again, Wisconsin is here, people) for my masters and some of the doctoral program. The first thing my brother, the die hard fan of University of Michigan's Wolverines (college football), says to me: "Michigan plays Wisconsin every year! Get me the fukin tickets!" Hahaha. Will try!

So on Wednesday, when I get home, there will be much to celebrate, because just to make it a double whammy (remember that game show? No whammies, no whammies, no whammies, STOP!!!!!!!!), my sis in law went to the doctor to see whether they should let the kid stay nice and warm in the womb for a while more (ie, kicking my sis in the ribs and stomping on her bladder all day long) or pop him out sooner, the doc said that if she doesn't pop the cork within the next three days, they'll induce her... on Wednesday!!! I guess my nephew is waiting fo his zia Daniela. :)

In a few hours in the Berlin's Olympia Stadion, Dortmund (a city in the northwest) will play Bayern (Bavaria) in the German national soccer championships. Historically, there was (and still is, to a certain degree) lots of tension between the north and the south. If you called a northern German a southern (Bayerisch), or vice versa, it would be like calling a Scot a Brit (ie, be prepared to run. Fast.) Anyway, biking through Zoologischer Garten aka "Zoo" (here's a virtual version of what it looks like) earlier this afternoon, it almost felt like the World Cup all over again. Zoo seemed as though it swarming with bees: thousands of beer-handed Dortmund fans dressed in yellow and black, all buzzing around, singing and shouting their team's (and other) soccer chants, waving massive yellow and black flags and brandishing 4 foot long blow-up bananas like machetes. There was about 10 Bayern fans, sporting red and black attire. They must have taken over a different part of the city.

We're off to a "Frühlings Fest" (Spring Festival) across the street from our pad, even tho it feels more like Herbst with this chilly 45 degree and zero sun. (Unfortunately, Frühling in northern Deutschland doesn't really come until later in May.) And damnit, I have to find my digital camera!