Born at 11:46pm on April 22nd, 2008, weighing in at 6lb 1oz, heeeeere's Dario!!!
Wee! Poor nephew has to get used to zia Daniela being so loud!
Lil Beaker and me.
Nonna!
I'm keepin' my eye on you!
ET phone home? Aka chin-scratching/pondering the universe...
Mom, is that you?!
Yep. Ok, back to sleep now.
Ooohh, gettin' woozy...
Cannot....stay....awake....
After I hugged/kissed my mom at the airport (and cried a lil!), I asked her what the status was. I had no idea if my sis in law 1. was giving birth at that very moment, 2. was still at home waiting for the doctor to call her in to induce her, or 3. already gave birth. So as soon as I asked what the status was, she stopped in her tracks, realizing I was in dark about it all, and said, "The baby is born!" And from then on it was all a flash... :) It was an emotional day... Just looking at the pics, I'm gettin' faklempt!
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!
I think it should be done. There are very few things I preach about (at least, I think...) but this is one of them. So far I got a few friends and my boyfriend to stop purchasing dozens of bottles of water per week and instead to use a brita filter and fill up a nalgeen water bottle instead. (But I just ordered two stainless steel water canteens because after a long while of using and resuing my plastic canteens/nalgenes, the scratches made in the plastic from normal usage can actually lead to leaking bits of poison right into the water it holds. Eek!)
Here are some extracts from various sources about how bottled water 1> is a scam (i.e. not really being cleaner than most tap water samples), 2> reeks havoc on the environments by the oil it requires to produce, but also the oil (gas) it takes to transport it to all sort of sales points.
Bottled water, a natural resource taxing the world's ecosystem "...the United States was the largest consumer of bottled water, with Americans drinking 26 billion liters in 2004, or about one eight-ounce (25 cl) glass per person every day. Mexico was the second largest consumer at 18 billion liters followed by China and Brazil at 12 billion liters each. In terms of consumption per person, Italians came first at nearly 184 liters, or more than two glasses a day, followed by Mexico and the United Arab Emirates with 169 and 164 liters per person respectively. Belgium and France follow close behind and Spain ranks sixth."
"The study, citing the Container Recycling Institute, said that 86 percent of plastic water bottles in the United States end up as garbage and those buried can take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade."
Seven Misconceptions about Plastic and Plastic Recycling "Plastic packaging has economic, health, and environmental costs and benefits. While offering advantages such as flexibility and light weight,it creates problems including: consumption of fossil resources; pollution; high energy use in manufacturing; accumulation of wasted plastic in the environment; and migration of polymers and additives into foods.
“More than 90 percent of the environmental impacts from a plastic bottle happen before the consumer opens it,” said Dr. Allen Hershkowitz, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. Oil for plastic, oil for shipping, oil for refrigeration — and in the end, most of the effort goes to landfills."
Tapped Out: The True Cost of Bottled Water "Last year Americans spent nearly $11 billion on over 8 billion gallons of bottled water, and then tossed over 22 billion empty plastic bottles in the trash. In bottle production alone, the more than 70 million bottles of water consumed each day in the U.S. drain 1.5 million barrels of oil over the course of one year.
"Not only does bottled water contribute to excessive waste, but it costs us a thousand times more than water from our faucet at home, and it is, in fact, no safer or cleaner. "The bottled water industry spends millions of dollars a year to convince us that their product is somehow safer or healthier than tap water, when in fact that's just not true," says Victoria Kaplan, senior organizer with Food and Water Watch."
"While single-use water bottles should never be used more than once, some reusable water bottles simply shouldn't be used. The debate continues over the safety of bisphenol A (BPA), a hormone-disrupting chemical known to leach out of the #7 polycarbonate plastic used to make a variety of products, including popular Nalgene Lexan water bottles. New studies keep cropping up that don't bode well for BPA, demonstrating that even extremely low doses of the chemical can be damaging. [Buy stainless steel water canteens!] Recent research has linked the chemical to a variety of disorders,including obesity and breast cancer, and one chilling 2007 study, published in the journal PLoS Genetics, found that BPA exposure can cross generations. Pregnant mice exposed to low levels of BPA led to chromosomal abnormalities, which possibly cause birth defects and miscarriages, in grandchildren."
Contains essential nutrients for the body such as calcium and iron.
Natural minerals are removes by filtration.
Chlorine residual in water to prevent bacteria growth.
No disinfectant present to kill bacteria in bottles.
Ok, now that I sound like a friggin' tree-huggin, organic-eating, bleeding heart liberal, this Penn & Teller episode about the bullshit behind bottled water is really worth a watch, just for a laugh if anything:
Last bit of me being a pseudo-hippie: Think about where the stuff you buy comes from and how far it must travel in order to get to your local supermarket. Buy locally!
Yes, he really is always this sweet. He baked bread again with a message written on it again today but half the loaf mysteriously disappeared before I came home. :P But it said "Dani and Michi since 2005." Aww. :)
But before I get into that, my mom calls me yesterday and tells me the story about how Law & Order is going to be used to film a scene for Law & Order. Pretty cool, huh? Supposedly Ice-T will be one of the actors there on that day. In my parents' living room.
It's been a little over month since I moved from Italy to Berlin and the biggest difference (other than cultural or geographical...or climate-wise.. or food-wise..) is that the time goes by much faster here. For whatever reason. It's 4:18pm on a Sunday, I just got done looking at hundreds of pictures of Southeast Asia from my friend Billy, who's been backpacking there since January (!), I looked out the kitchen window to see a bleary Berlin sky and.. *sigh*. I got a tad of the Sunday blues. Don't get me wrong-- I'm way better than I was a few weeks ago, or even last week for that matter and I do love this city (poor Michi has to deal with my high-anxiety, constant-crises personality on a 24/24 basis) but I just get really jealous when I see pictures of people I know in places I've never been. So my latest mini-crisis (just a half hour ago) erupted (there's always one brewing): when will Michi and I ever have the time to disappear and travel-- Australia, New Zealand, Tazmania and Indonesia? 3 months right there!-- while we're still young? (ie, before kids and possibly before marriage?) He's graduating next August but I still have to do my masters and doctorate, since my ultimate career goal is to be a professor. Usually, the answer (from Michi, or just the logical one that I refuse to admit to myself) is "you just have to wait and find out."
And that brings me to the subject of this blog post. I'm apologizing to my sister-in-law in advance (prego or not, I bet she can do the human pretzel position in under 5 seconds. Cirque de Soleil ain't got nothing on her yoga poses!)
So I've been trying several classes at Jopp, getting a feel for which ones I like, which I don't, etc. So, Indoor cycling? Yep. Fit Bo (kickboxing)? Yep. Power Workout (barbells, weights, and heavy stuff?) Yep. Yoga? *cringe* Nope. Michi actually suggested I try one to de-stress myself since I'm usually a nutty basketcase (with or without caffeine.) I've come to realize that I usually try a yoga class once a year and every single time, it's the same result. Yesterday, I did Power Workout class (about an hour) then did Yoga. For an hour and a half. Unfortunately, I'll never get those 90 minutes back. Let's see... I spend roughly 15 minutes looking at clock, 10 wishing I was home playing Super Mario Galaxy on our Wii, and another 5 making a grocery list in my head. And 20 napping on the damn mat. Ok, ok, there were some really interesting positions like this one:
I call this one the Nancy Kerrigan.
And this one the Olivia Newton-John (in the "Let's Get Physical" music video.)
This was actually fun.
But then there were several poses like this one, which, even though I used a nice foam yoga mat, were killing my hip bones (even though I thought I had enough fat there to cushion it..)
I don't even wanna talk about this one. If someone slapped me on the back, I probably would have stayed that way just like those little girls making the ugly pig faces in One Crazy Summer.
And whenever I look at pictures of yoga poses, I think about how cool it is and get all down on myself cuz I just can't seem to get into it. I say to myself, "You lack discipline!!!" (usually in the Ahnold voice for the additional verbal flogging effect.) Maybe Power Yoga would be better for me since it's more aggressive but Jopp doesn't offer that, so I'm SOL. But then I just realize that I'm more of a ju-jitsu gal and I really miss it. And piano too, since we're on that topic (actually learning/playing pieces.)
Anyway, I'll be back for about 2 weeks at the end of April for the birth of my nephew, whose name is Dario (and I quote my brother, who says it's "a nice guinea name" hehe.) He hasn't been born just yet but my sis-in-law already had false labor last week! (The official due date is April 24th I believe.) Put a cork in it!
I just put the first 3 seasons of The Muppet Show in my cart on amazon.com. I'm so excited to start watching hilarious stuff like this with my baby nephew!
and this, one of my favorites:
In case you don't know what Rickrolling is:
Rickrolling is an Internet meme involving Rick Astley's music video for his song "Never Gonna Give You Up". In a Rickroll, a person provides a link they claim is relevant to the topic at hand which actually takes the user to the Astley video. It can also mean playing the song loudly in public in order to be disruptive. The practice began as a variant of an earlier prank called duckrolling, in which a link to a popular celebrity or news item would instead lead to a photoshopped picture of a duck with wheels.
Oh! and just to tie this all in with my prior post...
In connection with the online meme, Never Gonna Give You Up was played and performed at some of the Project Chanology February 2008 protests against the Church of Scientology. At February 10, 2008 protests in New York City, Washington D.C., London, Edinburgh and Seattle, protesters played the song through boomboxes and shouted the phrase "Never gonna let you down!", in what The Guardian called "a live rick-rolling of the Church of Scientology". In response to a website created by Scientologists showing an anti-Anonymous video, Project Chanology participants created a website with a similar domain name with a video displaying the music video to "Never Gonna Give You Up".
For 2 of my 3 jobs, I had to sign a very interesting separate contract clause that says exactly this:
I, [my name here] as a freelance worker for, among others, [name of my language school here], declare that in the fulfillment of my contract I will not in any way apply the teachings or technology of L. Ron Hubbard (founder of Scientology). I further confirm that I have never been and am not a member of IAS (International Association of Scientologists) and will not recruit new members for the IAS.
Violation of this agreement can result in termination of the freelance contract without notice. Furthermore, [name of my language school here] has the right to pursue any damages incurred as a result.
Oh and I love the title of this contract clause: "Voluntary Sect Filter Clause." Gotta love euphemisms. :) I know that Germany isn't too fond of Scientologists, but I didn't know this would be one of the ramifications...Interestingly enough, the Interior Ministry, which is actually right next to our apartment building, is in the midst of deciding whether Scientology will undergo federal investigation (since it's only undergoing state-level investigation right now) in hopes of eventually banning the "religion." Reason why?
Source - Time Magazine "...the Scientology organization, agenda and activities are marked by objectives that are fundamentally and permanently directed at abolishing the free democratic basic order" and in 2004, a German judge"... ruled that the monitoring was warranted because the activities of the Scientologists were a threat to German constitutional protections, and in particular the right of Germans to exercise their political will, the right to equal treatment, and guarantees against bodily harm. (The judge ruled, among other things, that the group brainwashes members.)" From what I've heard so far from colleagues and other Germans, the government here is basically treating it almost as a terrorist organization and doing their best to watch them as closely as possible to get clear(er) proof to ban them. About a month ago they shut down a Scientology daycare center in Munich, claiming that they were teaching the kids according to the Scientology ideologies. Meanwhile, the German Scientology headquarters sprang up in Berlin in 2005 (it's about a mile and a half from our pad.)
Scientologists ACTUALLY believe the evil alien ruler Xenu killed a lot of aliens (Thetans) from around the universe by bringing them to earth & blowing them up inside volcanoes. They believe the souls of these aliens (these souls are "Body Thetans") have attached themselves to us & cause many of our mental & physical ills. Members who know about Xenu will attempt to deny it or pretend like it doesn’t matter. They are required to sign a contract binding them to silence on the matter. Lower level members don’t know about Xenu & accordingly deny everything because they honestly don’t know.
To rid ourselves of "Body Thetans" & also “engrams” (past negative experiences stored in our unconscious mind) so that we can become “clear”, we have to go through "auditing" with a member of the “church” who uses an "e-meter" to measure our “reactive mind”...... & we have to pay lots & lots of money for “auditing” (purchased in 12.5-hour blocks, costing anywhere from $750 for introductory sessions to between $8,000 & $9,000 for advanced sessions) & to take courses on Scientology to advance to higher “levels” in the “church”. The “church” has also taken a very hostile stance towards psychiatry & psychiatric drugs irrespective of the fact that some people require medication to remain adequately functional in everyday life. They deny the reality of chemical imbalance & profound mental disturbance & accordingly do NOTHING to effectively stabilize the dangerously unstable. The “church” has been known to withhold prescription pharmaceuticals from member (with deadly results).
Scientology is undeniably a cult. For more information on what a cult is & what their damaging effects are, please visit the link provided at the bottom of the sources. Just know that Scientology DOES qualify by meeting these 5 criteria:
(1) It uses psychological coercion to recruit, indoctrinate & retain its members. (2) It forms an elitist totalitarian society. (3) Its founder leader is self-appointed, dogmatic, messianic, not accountable & has charisma. (4) It believes 'the end justifies the means' in order to solicit funds & recruit people. (5) Its wealth does not benefit its members or society.
