macgowan.com

Berlin Update, 22 Dec 2008

22 Dec 2008
Berlin, Germany

Hello Folks,

This is Chris Macgowan writing from Berlin. Sorry that it has take so long to write this email.

It's Sunday, 14 Dec 2008 (not really), Jennifer and Logan are at church in Dahlem and I just put Connor down for a nap. Connor is doing pretty good outside of a running nose and a cold soar on his tongue (that he got from me - we share food and silverware at dinner time from time to time). We are all healthy for the most part. Logan is working on a book report due this week, Jennifer has homework for German class and Chris is looking for a job!

I'm going to take you through the last 6 months in Berlin briefly in a moment, but first I'll put some bullet points up for the people that are at work and just don't have time to read this long email.

Also, Jennifer has posted a blog with more details about Berlin.
http://prettyblackcat.blogspot.com/

In 1986 my friend Paul Grausam and I set off for nice weeks to see Europe on Train and Bike for the first time. That was a wonderful experience that deserves it's own email with many treasured memories (Hi Paul!). My Mom (Sandy to many of you) got me my first journal, a little red book about the size of a wallet. I wrote in that book and three others during that time in Europe. Today the book is a standard black hard cover, and I'm working on volume 89. I skimmed through volumes 87-88-89 to pull notes for this email. Thanks Mom for getting that first journal.

Well it all started back in March or April when we started to take loads to my mom and dad's house. We basically had to empty the house and my Mom and Dad have graciously volunteered their basement for storage. We would eventually take a number of pickup truck loads and a 24 foot truck load to Mom and Dads. We even hired the College Muscle Movers in Saint Paul! The days of calling friends to move 400 tons of shit are over! There was moving and then there was packing ... oh my GOD packing!

We landed in Berlin on 4 July 2008 ... There were no fire works in Berlin on 4 July 2008. 'We' was (can you say "'we' was"?) Jennifer, Connor, Logan, Two cats, Grandma, Grandpa and Me ... Grandma and Grandpa (my parents) stayed for 3 weeks. We all landed ok. We only lost one bag, and then found it two days later.

My Mom and Dad have never been to Berlin before but have been to other parts of Europe. They rented a nice flat about a 10 minute walk from our place. As you will read, we did a lot of bathing and hanging out at Mom and Dad's during the three weeks they were in Berlin. They enjoyed the city.

The apartment at Niedstr. 19 was not ready so were offered another until ours was done. They said ours would be done in a week ... it took them three weeks to get everything ready. Day after day and week after week went by and we were not allowed to see what was going on in the apartment that we paid for! We could hear the people working and see the lights on at night. The fact they were working at night should have been the first clue that something was weird (and they were not working during the day). One day Jennifer and I knocked on the door. We had knocked many other times and either there was not answer - or we were told 'It's not ready and you have to come back'.

On this day Roberto answered the door. We said hallo and exchanged some pleasantries. We could see a freshly painted apartment behind him. We asked to come in and he refused and suggested that we talk to the building manager. No - we want to come in NOW! Well I won't go into the entire confrontation (in German!) ... Jennifer and I sort of played the good cop - bad cop thing - and Jennifer spoke some englisch ... Eventually he let us in. We looked around and it looked very nice. When can we move in? We would need to talk to the manager.

While we waited for our Apartment on the first floor to be completed, we stayed in the 2nd floor apartment with no hot running water, no sink in the kitchen, strange smells in the kitchen from the sewer vent, big rats in the back room - just kidding! Hey, huge kitchen! We were excited to get out of this place. Connor actually got some dust mite bits in this place! We spent alot of time and Mom and Dad's during this period. We were also sleeping on used mattress(s) that were left for us ... just gives be the creeps thinking about it.

I just tryed to think about the time that Paul and I slept on cardboard in a parking garage in some European city. In the morning we woke to cars pulling in on a Monday morning. The good ol' days!

To get a bank account (sometimes) and a visa and rent videos you need to register your apartment with the Burgeramt. This is the beginning of a number of burocratic steps that you need to take to live free and legal in Berlin. I went through all this when I lived here in 1990. I look back at those times as part of the fun! Sitting in rooms with hundreds of people to wait for a number to go to another room to wait for another number! Our number was 026. It wasn't so bad ... We didn't have to bring the kids.

When I lived in Berlin during the 1990's I met a boy (we were both boys back then) named Volker Grunert who became a very good friend. Volker died in March 1996 after a battle with cancer. I had spend Christmas of 1992 with the Grunerts in Magdeburg. Volkers parents, Christel, Gerhard and Volker's sister Antji would become very close over the years. Christel and Gerhard visited Saint Paul in the late 90's. This would be my Mom and Dad's first time to Magdeburg.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdeburg

Having mom and dad come to Berlin with us also had some ulterior motives. Wow - I don't think that I have every used 'ulterior' in a sentence before! Mom and dad wanted to see Berlin, but also wanted to spend time with the kids! This was the time that Jennifer were suppose to go and buys towels, beds, appliances - all the durable good that make an economy grow!

With Niedstr. 19, 1st floor not ready until like the day my mom and dad were boarding the plan back to Minneapolis ... there was plenty of time for Tourism!

Mom and dad made it to a lot of stuff. We went with depending on the kids. We did a nice boat tour to get some general history. In the end they saw most of the major stuff: Brandenburg Gate, Pergamon Museum, The Zoo, Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Unter den Linden, Alexanderplatz, Tiergarten, Checkpoint Charlie, Reichstag, Shopping at the Ka De We and more!

This experience would be another to add to the list of misery as we came into Berlin. Jennifer and I figured we would buy some beds before we got to Berlin so we would have them to sleep on when we got to Berlin. Three big beds and some frames, pillows, comforters and other stuff cost about $2000.00 from IKEA. IKEA takes only EC cards or cash as payment.

Not expecting to have a bank account in Berlin when we arrive (That would have made things too easy) I asked the folks at Wells Fargo for the best way to bring $2000.00 cash to Berlin before we get there. They suggested a foreign draft check. Take it to any German bank and they will give cash.

Needless to say, we went to a number of big German banks like Deutsch Bank, Dresdner Bank and Joes Bank and none knew what to do with the foreign draft check. Eventually Dresdner Bank got the money but it took them about 2 weeks!

Maybe a couple of years ago I was listening to some radio program about independent film. They commented that if you are making film you should have a facebook, myspace and youtube presence. So I put us a page for each ... and didn't tell anyone to see what would happen. About 43 people have viewed a short clip of Four Days. I had 2 friends on Facebook for the longest time ... The Facebook Admin and Josh from work!

Upon moving to Berlin Jennifer began to post to Facebook and I got a few more friends as a result. It's really a pretty cool tool to keep in touch with people ... but at the moment I'm not going out to my page too often. So I have to say 'excuse me' to the people that have sent messages to me via Facebook. I may respond, but probably via email.

Slowly Jennifer and I have been meeting up with old friends from the old days in Berlin. When we decided to come to Europe we looked at Italy and Berlin. Jennifer had some potential work connection to Rome through Saint Thomas. It was also warm in Italy!

Berlin was always on the radar as I have old friends here, lots of good memories and some knowledge of the language. In the end we moved to Berlin.

Many of the friends I had in the 1990's now also have families and kids, so connecting up with everyone has been slow but also very special. There are also a number of people that are living in Paris, Sweden and other regions of Germany that were in Berlin. So a special HI to the people that make Berlin a special place!

And ... from way back in 1986! Three people that I can still call friends after all this time: Hans Peter, Michaela and Ken.

We are getting ready for Christmas. We went and got a tree and some lights LED Beth, Martin and the kids are coming to visit on the 21 Dec 2008 from Vienna. We will spend Christmas with these guys and then travel to the Grunerts after the holidays. Our place here is still pretty bare with no couch only some chairs and big beds!

I have to make an interesting comment on Apartment living. You can like just see into everyone's windows! Across the street and in the back there are 5 story buildings. Some people (most) leave all their lights on and are walking around, eating dinner, reading, working on the computer ... bla bla bla. Check-out this Green Day video for inspiration.

Green Day - When I Come Around
http://www.greenday.com/site/picsnvids.php

Logan has three more days of school and then two weeks of vacation. Logan is in school at the John F Kennedy School (JFKS) It's a German/English international school K-12. He is doing good after a bit of adjustment to having four core teachers rather than one. He has a homeroom teacher, English teacher, German Teacher and Science Teacher ... Not to mention Art and Music. The children move between classes each hour.

Logan has met some good friends at JFKS and enjoys going to school. He is playing basketball on Tuesdays with the third graders.

Jennifer and Connor are going to a music class twice a week and Jennifer will finish her 2 months of German Class. She is doing very good; making appointments on the phone in German and we speak a little German around the house.

I think after the holidays she will also update her resume and start to look for employment opportunities.

I got my resume and website updated in October and started to look for employment opportunities. You can view my resume with the required photo and other personal info resume.

I have had interviews with three consulting firms; DIS AG, Manpower Engineering and Amadeus Fire. They are all looking for permanent and project placement for me. The latest interview was with Artificial Life http://www.macgowan.com/SoftwareResumeEnglish.html They are developing software for mobile platforms. This would be a change for me ... but looks interesting.

We will continue to answer ads for open positions, contact the BIG firms and do the network thing. We are also going to put some info out about media production and teaching englisch!

Again, check-out Jennifer's blog: http://prettyblackcat.blogspot.com/

I'll keep in touch as the adventure continues :--)

We are very excited about the Obama Presidency! Keeping our fingers crossed for Al Frankin!

Happy Holidays!

Hi to your family.
Take Care!
Peace and Love,
Chris

-- Chris Macgowan
Niedstr. 19
12159 Berlin
Germany

+49 30 695 4000 4
chris@macgowan.com
http://www.macgowan.com