As my host mom and I passed each other in the hallway at about 7 this morning, both cheerfully bleary-eyed, she turned and said emphatically, "Es soll heute Minus 16 Grad sein- noch kalter als gestern. Do solltest dich heute warmer anziehen." [Translation: It's supposed to be -16 degrees (Celsius) today- colder than yesterday (it was -12). You should dress warmer today.] Sigh. I have already developed a new fundamental doctrine for the Christian faith: negative degree weather is the direct result of sin. God never would have sent Adam and Eve into an Eden with weather like Berlin's!
For the record, -16 C is 3.2 degrees Fahrenheit (or so Google tells me). The larger problem this morning, though, was that I wasn't sure what else I could put on to dress warmer! Then again... for the past few days of my Praktikum, I'd sacrificed being able to feel my own limbs on the altar of cuteness. -12 degrees not withstanding, I was going to wear my black pencil skirts to court if it killed me. Compromising with myself, I wore thick wool socks and boots to work, then slipped on heels once I got inside the Justiz Zentrum. This behavior fascinated the German women. As I was about to leave after my first day, I pulled back on my boots; a Referandarin [female law student] saw me and exclaimed, "THAT's how you did that... I've been wondering how you got here in those shoes all day." Which immediately started a stream of conversation about my attire:
Referedarin: " And she's wearing a skirt- how nice..."
Female Judge: " Yes, all American women wear skirts to court." [to the law student]
" German women usually wear pants." [to me]
" Europeans dress nicer in general, though. That's probably why there's not such a difference between what we wear at work and outside. Americans wear track suits everywhere, and then dress up for work."
This exchange is nearly a verbatim translation from the German. It was a very sincere conversation on their part- no slight to me or American fashion intended at all- just the honest fascination that most women have with the dressing habits of another culture. I nearly died laughing inside. To my knowledge, wearing skirts is no more dominant in American culture than in German culture (I've seen a few German judges wear skirts, too. And I only brought a nicer pair of shoes to work with me because I saw a German lady do it when she came to my host mother's birthday party!
But this brings me back to the subject of dressing appropriately for Berlin weather. First of all, the appearance of Berliner women my age is a deception. They go outside in short fashion coats, thinly knit hats, and fitted jeans, and one thinks that one can also survive in such attire. The fact is, you'd get frostbite waiting 10 minutes on an S-bahn platform if that was really all the provision you had against the cold.
Go into a German apartment sometime, and you will learn the secret to the lack of frostbitten Berliner women on train station platforms: On the drying racks (which the Germans insist on using to dry their clothes even in the ides of January), you will see a plethora of long underwear. Underneath the cute jeans and the short jacket, those women are wearing approximately three layers of thermal underwear. No one ever tells you this, though. You just have to learn to add a layer every time you're cold. It also requires creativity to find clothing items in your wardrobe that will layer well without making the topmost layer look funny.
For example, getting dressed requires me to find the following items and put them on in the appropriate order:
1 pair thick tights
1 pair running leggings
2nd pair running pants
camisole
long sleeve shirt
thermal running shirt
North Face fleece
thermal ski socks
thick wool socks
thickly knit hat
scarf
I am now reasonably prepared to be warm while inside the house.
(You think I'm kidding, but I wrote, edited, and submitted approximately 10 law school applications in this exact outfit.)
If I actually intend to go outside, still more forethought is required- beyond the obvious addition of a wool coat, two pairs of fleece-lined mittens, and boots. I cannot appear in running pants, a pink North Face fleece, and a striped scarf in a German court. Neither may the under layers peak out from underneath a buttoned blouse. I must also have an optional topmost layer available if it gets cold in the courtroom, and I must be able to survive life indoors without the help of woolen socks (they don't fit in the high heels).
The challenge grows even greater when you wake up the next morning and must manage the same feat with a different outfit.
My conclusion: German customs officials should issue long underwear and ski suits to all visitors entering the country between October and March. For the time being, I've started wearing pants to court.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Back for More!!!
Dear Readers,
If you are reading this, you are to be commended for being the most faithful of blog followers. I realize that I haven't given you any incentive to continue reading since... November. As you might imagine, a lot has happened since my last post. Namely:
1) One of my last semester program-mates from Duke, Anthony Sanderson, and I started dating about midway through November. That would be the first reason why you haven't heard anything from me for a couple months : ) We spent a wonderful whirlwind month and a half in Berlin together, doing everything from making sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving, to attending La Boheme at one of Berlin's many opera houses, to visiting Christmas markets in multiple German cities.
2) I applied to twelve law schools: University of Virginia, Georgetown, Emory, Vanderbilt, University of North Carolina, University of Washington, Wake Forest, William and Mary, Washington and Lee, American University, George Washington University, and George Mason. That would be the second reason you haven't heard from me since November : ) I have since been accepted at Wake Forest, rejected from GWU and George Mason, and the jury's still out on the other nine... Keep your fingers crossed for me!
3) In late December and early January, I spent a little less than three weeks hopping continents and coasts for the holidays. I went to my parents' in Spokane first, then we caravanned with the Tenolds (Hawaii branch included!) and the Johnson family to spend Christmas at Brittany and Mark's in Billings (or rather, Molt), Montana. We had a fabulous five days together, playing Wii with Brandon, Beth, and Elita (though Bryceson and Ryan provided just as much entertainment), heart-to-hearting in front of the fireplace and in the kitchen, snowmobiling near Yellowstone, and skiing at Big Sky.
Then, there was a quick trip to visit the YakCats (my older brother's family in Yakima, Washington), and I flew to spend five days in Washington, D.C.
There, I met up with four of my closest girlfriends from Davidson: Rachel, who now attends Georgetown Medical School and graciously let us all crash in her apartment; Eva, who works at mobile med clinic through Americorps and lives just outside the city; Becca, who is a senior at Davidson still; and Mary Beth, working as an RUF (Reformed University Fellowship) intern at University of Tennessee, Knoxville. I also thoroughly enjoyed getting to hang out with Rachel's roommate, Kristina, who is from Seattle! We had about six months of our lives to catch up on in person, so you can imagine that there were a lot of deep conversations in the living room, with the obligatory tea-drinking and chocolate-eating, of course! Anthony stopped by for a few days in the course of a road trip up the East Coast and got to meet everyone, which made it extra fun.
---
I have now made it safely back to Berlin, to be greeted by VERY cold weather, but loads of snow. I was surprised at how easily I jumped back into German life- though driving in the States in winter had quickly made me want public transportation back! It was good to see my host family, and I was SO excited to return to my German church. I got into Berlin on a Friday, so that I was able to go to church only two days later, and instantly experienced that deep sense of home-ness that comes only with worshipping with a group of people you connect with well. My language skills came back in full force- better, actually, because I no longer spend my days in class with Americans, with whom it is easy to slip back into speaking English.
On that note, my current schedule is an odd one. Our program last semester ended with the American schedule in December, but my next semester starts with the German schedule- in April. While my program director, Jochen, is still available for me at any time, there is essentially no program in which I currently participate. My daily program is kind of cobbled together from a variety of activities, but I have so far found it productive and enjoyable. Primarily, I have a legal internship, officially through a Berlin law office and a court in Potsdam. I have greatly enjoyed this so far. One of nicest aspects of my internship is that both places tell me everything I can take part in, but then allow me to attend as much or as little of it as I like. My host mom has connected me to several friends of hers, which will also allow me to spend random days job shadowing judges in several different types of courts, and even accompany a member of the German parliament into one of their sessions! This flexibility also allows me to take time to do some of the traveling that didn't happen last semester. I currently have a trip to Stockholm and Barcelona planned for mid-February with my friend Kara, and I'm looking forward to visits from Anthony and my mom in March. My program will kick back in shortly thereafter with a program trip to various places in Germany- like classical Weimar. My classes at the Freie University here in Berlin will start after Easter and last through mid-July.
This week, one of the judges from the chamber I'm working with at the Justiz Zentrum Potsdam (Potsdam is the former East German city just to the SW of Berlin- it's practically in my backyard, a beautifully short commute!) allowed me to sit in on some of her cases, and then even took me with her to an offsite "Ortstermin." An Ortstermin is usually interpreted to mean "the scene of the crime," but, given that I'm working with a civil court, our Ortstermin was not nearly so dramatic as the term sounds. It was a case in which a woman was suing the man who built and sold her her house. According to her, he made everything cheaply, and it started falling apart immediately. So, when the judge and I came to the "scene of the crime," it was really a meeting of several lawyers, the judge, and the lady who owned the house to look at all the places in the house where she claimed it had been faultily designed. We documented them with photos in preparation for the hearing. The fact that everything took place in German may have added to the interest level, but I found it pretty interesting to begin with. Even when certain German legal terms go over my head and I don't understand exactly what's happening, I'm learning a lot about German civil and professional procedure. The German legal system is pretty interesting to begin with, because it is based off of law books, rather than natural law and case law, and there is no jury.
There you have the overview of my life at present. I hope to be a little more faithful with my blogging now; I find that an irregular schedule lends itself to blogworthy events!
If you are reading this, you are to be commended for being the most faithful of blog followers. I realize that I haven't given you any incentive to continue reading since... November. As you might imagine, a lot has happened since my last post. Namely:
1) One of my last semester program-mates from Duke, Anthony Sanderson, and I started dating about midway through November. That would be the first reason why you haven't heard anything from me for a couple months : ) We spent a wonderful whirlwind month and a half in Berlin together, doing everything from making sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving, to attending La Boheme at one of Berlin's many opera houses, to visiting Christmas markets in multiple German cities.
2) I applied to twelve law schools: University of Virginia, Georgetown, Emory, Vanderbilt, University of North Carolina, University of Washington, Wake Forest, William and Mary, Washington and Lee, American University, George Washington University, and George Mason. That would be the second reason you haven't heard from me since November : ) I have since been accepted at Wake Forest, rejected from GWU and George Mason, and the jury's still out on the other nine... Keep your fingers crossed for me!
3) In late December and early January, I spent a little less than three weeks hopping continents and coasts for the holidays. I went to my parents' in Spokane first, then we caravanned with the Tenolds (Hawaii branch included!) and the Johnson family to spend Christmas at Brittany and Mark's in Billings (or rather, Molt), Montana. We had a fabulous five days together, playing Wii with Brandon, Beth, and Elita (though Bryceson and Ryan provided just as much entertainment), heart-to-hearting in front of the fireplace and in the kitchen, snowmobiling near Yellowstone, and skiing at Big Sky.
Then, there was a quick trip to visit the YakCats (my older brother's family in Yakima, Washington), and I flew to spend five days in Washington, D.C.
There, I met up with four of my closest girlfriends from Davidson: Rachel, who now attends Georgetown Medical School and graciously let us all crash in her apartment; Eva, who works at mobile med clinic through Americorps and lives just outside the city; Becca, who is a senior at Davidson still; and Mary Beth, working as an RUF (Reformed University Fellowship) intern at University of Tennessee, Knoxville. I also thoroughly enjoyed getting to hang out with Rachel's roommate, Kristina, who is from Seattle! We had about six months of our lives to catch up on in person, so you can imagine that there were a lot of deep conversations in the living room, with the obligatory tea-drinking and chocolate-eating, of course! Anthony stopped by for a few days in the course of a road trip up the East Coast and got to meet everyone, which made it extra fun.
---
I have now made it safely back to Berlin, to be greeted by VERY cold weather, but loads of snow. I was surprised at how easily I jumped back into German life- though driving in the States in winter had quickly made me want public transportation back! It was good to see my host family, and I was SO excited to return to my German church. I got into Berlin on a Friday, so that I was able to go to church only two days later, and instantly experienced that deep sense of home-ness that comes only with worshipping with a group of people you connect with well. My language skills came back in full force- better, actually, because I no longer spend my days in class with Americans, with whom it is easy to slip back into speaking English.
On that note, my current schedule is an odd one. Our program last semester ended with the American schedule in December, but my next semester starts with the German schedule- in April. While my program director, Jochen, is still available for me at any time, there is essentially no program in which I currently participate. My daily program is kind of cobbled together from a variety of activities, but I have so far found it productive and enjoyable. Primarily, I have a legal internship, officially through a Berlin law office and a court in Potsdam. I have greatly enjoyed this so far. One of nicest aspects of my internship is that both places tell me everything I can take part in, but then allow me to attend as much or as little of it as I like. My host mom has connected me to several friends of hers, which will also allow me to spend random days job shadowing judges in several different types of courts, and even accompany a member of the German parliament into one of their sessions! This flexibility also allows me to take time to do some of the traveling that didn't happen last semester. I currently have a trip to Stockholm and Barcelona planned for mid-February with my friend Kara, and I'm looking forward to visits from Anthony and my mom in March. My program will kick back in shortly thereafter with a program trip to various places in Germany- like classical Weimar. My classes at the Freie University here in Berlin will start after Easter and last through mid-July.
This week, one of the judges from the chamber I'm working with at the Justiz Zentrum Potsdam (Potsdam is the former East German city just to the SW of Berlin- it's practically in my backyard, a beautifully short commute!) allowed me to sit in on some of her cases, and then even took me with her to an offsite "Ortstermin." An Ortstermin is usually interpreted to mean "the scene of the crime," but, given that I'm working with a civil court, our Ortstermin was not nearly so dramatic as the term sounds. It was a case in which a woman was suing the man who built and sold her her house. According to her, he made everything cheaply, and it started falling apart immediately. So, when the judge and I came to the "scene of the crime," it was really a meeting of several lawyers, the judge, and the lady who owned the house to look at all the places in the house where she claimed it had been faultily designed. We documented them with photos in preparation for the hearing. The fact that everything took place in German may have added to the interest level, but I found it pretty interesting to begin with. Even when certain German legal terms go over my head and I don't understand exactly what's happening, I'm learning a lot about German civil and professional procedure. The German legal system is pretty interesting to begin with, because it is based off of law books, rather than natural law and case law, and there is no jury.
There you have the overview of my life at present. I hope to be a little more faithful with my blogging now; I find that an irregular schedule lends itself to blogworthy events!
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