hi and hi!

its a VERY sunny day here in Berlin.... around 32 degrees celcius with a stroooong sun. Its actually a very nice change ... and it makes it feel like summer is finally coming.

So I had a very adeventerous day yesterday. I explored very northern Berlin...so northern that one of my destinations was a whimsical village green. Its called Alt-Luebars ... and it took a looong time to get there. To see a picture go to this website . I found out about it through a website about Berlin hidden places .. and it was indeed hidden! It was basically a village green with old taverns, an old church, and lots of horses. I took a long peaceful walk on sandy roads through horse fields...if thats what you call them. I even talked to a nice man ...dressed in tall leather boots and farm clothes ... who was walking his horse for some a-grazin'. It was really nice ... and made me smile for seriously 10 minutes ... nothing makes me happier than making friendly small talk with strangers. I think what brought us together was the boiling heat ... to which we both said "hoo!" as we shook our heads .... Anyway ..

After that I went up a few subway stops to Frohnau ... and from there I visited a buddhist house. if you want, here is their website ...you can click on english, then on photo album for photos. I loved it there....the three main parts are the library, temple, and garden. I spent most of my time in the library...and some in the garden. I was gonna maaaybe meditate .. but something didnt feel right.....iiiiii don't know. There were tons of pine trees there and many pine cones were on the ground .... the smell of all the pine reminded me of something but I couldn't put my finger on it. I think it was Viriginia ..

So that day of exploring was very sunny and hot ... and as a result I got a little sunburn. And then today, the crazy that I am .. I walked around more in the sun and now Im more so (Sorry Mom!). But do not fret .. I read extensively about what to do now that the sunburn has occured ... so the healing process is on its way.

Not much else to report ... oh, I attended a Stanford function last night. It was a reception with lots of yummy food ... like curry chicken, tomatoes and mozarella, pasta salad with tuna .... and for dessert there was this red berry jelly thing with vanilla sauce. it was all really tasty ... and really free. good and good!

alright, thats it for now. tschuss!

Deb