Day 122

4 months: 17 weeks: 2928 hours: 175,680 minutes: 10,540,800 seconds.

We are alive (although I am hungover) in Berlin! Sorry for the lack of updates. I guess we are lazy or something. I have never had so much free time in my life and I dont even know what to do with it.

The last post in this blog showed you Stockholm. Since then we have been to France, Spain, Italy, and now Berlin. Someday I will have to do some backstories of our experiences in these different places because they were all amazing and full of incredible people. But for photos, check out the flickr

But now, we are living in a world of darkness. We find ourselves waking up daily from 12-2 after going out the nights before. We wake up to grey skies and then watch them turn into black at 4PM.

However, we can both safely say that Berlin is awesome! The city is massive, with copious things to do everyday and all night. We have explored abandoned locations like a massive hospital that hosted a party and Teufelsberg. We have partied until 10AM (not too uncommon for most here), played ping pong all over the city, bought kilos and kilos of produce and fruit for only a few euros from the Turkish market, kept warm with a coal heater, and gotten lost around the city for the most part.

We got a 2 month sublet here, and half is already passed by. Its amazing how time flies. Luckily we have met some really great people so far, and in my typical New York style, had a Sunday brunch that brought back fond memories!

As you can see though, we have a lot of time on our hands. Any recommendations on hobbies to take up? We have been watching Good Eats episodes on youtube to improve our cooking skills. But I think I want to buy a set of dominoes.

Stockholm: A Day in Pictures

as written by jeff:

we woke up at 530 kevin was pissed off as he suspected he would be. give him 5 minutes and he recovers and we get up and say goodbye to patricia as she heads off to work and go to the roof quietly. it was cold and beautiful the city was quiet and sleeping peacfully. fucking clouds. we go back downstairs and have some tea and read the news but we are hungry and want to buy some muesli so we go to the grocery store but its only 730 and everything is closed and people are still in their beds sleeping peacefully. 7-11 is open but it sucks and we decide to go back and kill time so i shower and shave and soon enough its 9 and the grocery store is open so we go out and buy some eggs and black beans and muesli which kevin proceeded to cook. we top the eggs and beans with sriracha (lovely) and have some more tea along with our muesli and yogurt. cheap eating is grand. we relax some more and go to the city in search of a jacket or shoes. all the teenagers look like rockstars of fashion models in their well planned outfits and hairstyles and we are still tired and the indian-whistle-playing-music-mafia are putting on an extravagant show with smoke and wireless mics. we go to a couple stores but they are all expensive and nothing fits right and its another day without these items. wait for france. we go to the system looking for wine for the night and we find one liter for 50kr which is about $8 so we are happy and leave to watch people playing dodgeball in a park. they are all drinking and it reminds me of new york and we eat free hotdogs but we leave to go to VEGO Massan (see picture earlier in slide) in hopes of getting free vegetarian food from vendors. the 40kr entrance fee sucks and the event is small with only tiny samples at a handful of booths and we are both dissapointed and feel jipped but we stay for a bit to keep out of the cold. the event stays boring so we leave and head back to patricias and eat a coke-float and we slowly pack our bags realizing we are going to miss this apartment but we say goodbye to patricia and go to Martin's house- our new couchsurfing host. We meet him and his roommate Sandra and they are both awesome so we cook some dinner and drink some wine and hang around talking before going to a party. Martin and Kevin and I walk for 20 minutes to a columbian birthday party which is full of guys dancing and a huge bowl of guacamole which is amazing so we eat and eat and eat and take pictures and talk with the people who are funny and friendly and can all dance well. kevin and i are in shock that we are in stockholm and continue drinking and our pictures get worse and it gets late and we are all tired and leave. it is brisk and we are dragging our feet and we make it back and fall into the couch and quickly pass out.

(Use the full screen option to see slide show...fullscreen!)

A Kick in the Ass for the Blog

We realize this blog has gotten off to a slow start. So today, one of our more aspirational days, we decided to focus on some key topics that should be more interesting to read... if anybody is actually still reading this thing.

Below is a list of the topics we are interested in covering (the main focus on top and other more rare topics on bottom).

FOOD (of course)
-Cheap eats, home and restaurants, with cost calculator
-Local recipes
-Kitchens we encounter
-Parks to eat in

PEOPLE
-Profiles\Comments and pictures on people we meet
-Profiles of people we stay with from Couchsurfing and Helpx
-Photos of houses\apartments we stay in

CITY PICTURES
-In addition to random photos of cities, take photos of an entire day from sunrise to sunset

(less important)

MUSIC
-Local music\bands to look out for
-Music tastes of people we meet

CHEAP TRAVEL
-RYANAIR and our experiences
-Being cheap

FASHION
-Photos of people on street
-The search for good and cheap products

POLITICS
-Political views of people in different countries. Both their country and USA
-Obama vs McCain thoughts


Now we realize this is a lot of topics and it will be tough to do all of them, but hopefully the more specific items will make it easier for us to post different things.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Goodmorning, Stockholm!

As our bus pulled into the airport, we began to realize the size and scope of Stockholm. This was not Cork or Dublin, cities that are easily accessable by foot. The wide highways, open spaces, and urban atmosphere reminded us of parts of places we were already familiar with. The way you imagine a place to be and the reality of it is often different. We are dumped off the bus. It's close to midnight. We don't want to spend any money for a taxi. Shit. Time to walk.

We manage to find a computer and google saves us once again. We route a list of directions to our hostel, long names we can barely pronounce. Head east on Klarabergsviadukten. Make a right on Drottninggatan. A left on Strömgatan.

The central station is located downtown. The streets are empty, occasional younger people stroll by with their dates. Cab drivers pass up and down the highway. Bright windows light our way, lots of clothes and shoes we can't afford, but doesn't it look stylish? For a socialist country capitalism seems to be doing just fine.

The city is strange at night, the emptiness makes it seem even larger. But we feel safe. The air is cool continue to find our way.

We pass over another street and come to a bridge where people are fishing for salmon. 10 of them at least, throwing their lures over the edge and into a cold black river below.

We pass through a large green lawn in front of an enormous building. We later find out that this is a Royal Palace. There are guards with guns surrounding it.

The buildings are massive and old, but the streets seem immaculate. This, with the combination of the cool northern air, makes Stockholm appear to be the cleanest city in the world. We keep congradulating ourselves on the fact that we are 150 krona richer by walking, and richer in experience as well. Already we feel a bit warmer after jumping into this cold culture bath.

The hostel we stayed at was a small boat right on a river. It was late, probably 2 in the morning. We still have no clear idea of what this city looks like, or where we are, or what we are doing here. When we wake up, we look out from our boat to see the city in the early morning fog. Okay...we're in Stockholm now?

Things I have observed in Stockholm so far

-Stockholm is very clean
-Stockholm is much bigger than the cities we stayed in in Ireland
-Everyone drives on the right side of the road
-Nearly everyone drives stick shift
-Everyone is hip and well dressed... even older people
-I was one of three people wearing shorts, and definitely the only person wearing cut off jean shorts in Stockholm
-There is a lot of water
-Swedish is hard to read
-There are a lot of bikes
-Everything is expensive
-People are friendly
-Everything is expensive
-The subway is smooth and clean and pretty
-The weather is comfortable (so far)
-Swedish people like to bask in the sun

Peace Out Ireland

We are in the final hours of our time in Ireland. It has been a lot of fun, with a couple of sunny days (seriously!) and lots of drinking- which is nearly impossible not to do.

Here is a summation of photos taken in Ireland on our trip (posted on facebook as well so sorry for redundancy).

Some more will probably pop up eventually (especially the crazy ones) so stay tuned!

Hope to talk to you all again soon. Let us know if you have suggestions for Sweden because we have no idea.

Jeff & Kevin

So long Macroom!

It started out as one of the most beautiful days since our trip in Ireland started. We woke up at 830 and saw a ton of "fucking blue" in the sky along with some white fluffy clouds. It was actually warm enough to wear shorts and tshirt and still be sweating.

We were told the night before by our hosts that they would like to get some more painting done. Our hosts, lets call them Gereene (wife) and Ian (husband), were very happy with our painting job in the kitchen that we completed 2 days prior. We painted two doors, the baseboards, and two window shafts. Gereene called it "professional" and "lovely." We gathered up our painting materials and listened to what needed to get done today. We were to wash, sand, and paint: the molding of 4 doors, chips in the staircase, and a few dozen banisters of the georgian staircase. They needed to get some more paint so Ian got the color and went to town to pick it up.

Kevin and I worked about an hour or so washing and sanding the necessary areas. We left the chips on the staircase and the molding on a window undone because they could be done quickly and we didn't know if the window needed to get done or not. We decided to go outside and enjoy the sun until the paint arrived. We laid out in the grass with the dogs for around 15 minutes. It was bliss. Gereene came out front and asked us to help her hang up a sheet out front. We did so and then went inside. Kevin was a bit hungry so I followed him into the kitchen, not really intending on eating anything.

I went into the other room when I started to hear Gereene's voice rise a bit above its normal loud level. I listened for about a minute of her complaining to Kevin, picking up words of disappointment and complaining that we still had lots to do. We knew that we still had work to do, but really without the paint, there was hardly anything. I went in the room and took the same verbal assault. She was mad that we were given work to do and that we would just go outside and then stick our heads in the fridge. She felt like we hadn't done anything, even though we were trying to explain what we did and didn't do yet.

She told us "the work you have been given has been soft. Since you have been here, you have really only had to do one hard thing [laying concrete and putting up drywall for two days]. You didn't do anything yesterday [we were encouraged by her to go out and ride bikes, and then we worked for about 2-3 hours preparing dinner for the family]. You did a good job painting the kitchen but that was easy [took about 5 hours] and we could've done that [?]."

She went on to tell us that this wasn't some sort of holiday vacation and not a hippie camp (staring at Kevin). She felt that we were deceitful and lazy. The paint still had not arrived and we listened to her complain for about 10 minutes. We tried to explain what we had and hadn't done, trying to reason that really we have been waiting for the paint to arrive- we never intended on being done with work for the day. Her stubbornness was amazing. We had seen it before in awkward arguments with the husband and son, but never expected to be in the line of fire of it. She demanded to be right, and would not take any other input seriously.

So in the end we decided she was a bit too crazy for us (and racist- ex 1. they had a black child statue with sponge in hand and "coon" hat) to last the two final days of our agreement, and we went upstairs laughing to ourselves and packed our bags. We said our goodbyes to the husband and son who were hiding out in the horse field, were able to make some conscience clearing sandwiches so we wouldn't leave hungry, and walked into town.

We emailed a bunch of people and around 4:30pm attempted to hitch the 45 minute drive to cork. We waited about 20 minutes before getting picked up by two 70 year old sisters- one of which was a nun. They were very friendly (although sadly scared of Obama) and drove us to a hostel.

15 Days Without Updates

Oh yes, finally an update! Here we are at a library in Macroom. Kevin is in an unfortunate mood and there are screaming children running around. Georgia and Russia are still in a weird situation, the sky is grey (naturally) and we are going to be in Ireland for another 6 days.

Because it would be nearly impossible and rather annoying for a play by play update up until now, here is what we have accomplished, failed, and embarrassingly did while here so far in Ireland:

-Arrived in Dublin after 5.5 hours of uncomfort (being 6'3 rules in coach)
-Left my 4qt canteen on the plane
-Took the Dublin bus to city centre and asked numerous people for walking directions to hotel
-Stayed 3 nights in renowned 5-star Shelbourne hotel
-Hung out with Frank and Ellen McCourt for 3 days and nights
-Laughed at frustrated Kevin after getting lost and soaking wet on first day in Dublin
-Went to Temple Bar x2
-Experienced what we were told to be "one of the worst summers in the history of Ireland"
-Kevin bought a 59 euro guitar
-Laid out in lovely Dublin parks with Kevin, his guitar, and children eventually calling him a fag
-Looked left, right, then left again after getting confused with driving conditions
-Ate expensive meals for free (thank you for the generosity!)
-Looked at and heard of lots of castles
-Ate 5 euro Irish breakfast with eccentric Irishmen
-Avoided Dublin tourists
-Heard many tales about Irish history, how the Irish built America, and about the famine
-Hitchhiked from Macroom to Cork and back
-Rode bikes around the incredibly beautiful Kilarney mountains/lake and lived in pain and hatred after the 45km bike ride back - legs = jelly
-Played with 2 irish wolfhounds, 10 pugs, one coughing old terrier, lovely killer poodle, mellowed out irish setter and horses
-Laid a concrete floor, put up drywall, and painted kitchen doors and baseboards
-Found and stayed in hostels
-Met many "single serving friends"
-Talked to Irish guys/girls, German guys/girls, French guys/girls, American transfer students and travelers, Austrailian guys, a magazine editor, a professional folk singer, friends of family, rugby player, italian dude, spanish guys, and many others who were lost with our short term memory
-Swam in a 5-star gym/spa
-Received dog poo presents in bedroom twice
-Listened to the frequent yell of "EDWARDDDDDDD"
-Chased red herrings (Kevin)
-Hung out at Irish flat with 2 xboxs
-Ate cod, salmon, sea bass, lots of potatoes, chicken fast food sandwich, ham, bacon, lamb, pork, black pudding, guiness braised beef, chips aka fries, lots of toast and tea, salami and brie, oysters, mussels, calamarie, many cheeses, asparagus pesto, patte, pizzas, and ate blackberries on dozens of strees.
-Got stung by thistle
-Had many language barrier conversations
-Met girls from Paris who "liked money"
-Watched olympics and listened to Irish people constantly bringing up Michael Phelps
-Went to Guinness brewery
-Drank Guinness, Murphy's, Heineken, Beamish, Bulmers, Bavaria, Carlsberg, red and white wine, whiskey and other unknown foreign beers
-Admired the beautiful countryside
-Tried to surf web on .01kbps 3G connection
-Rode mountain bikes through mud and water and over rocks
-Got lost on confusing streets that change names after every block and often dont have street signs
-Battled a cold (thanks Jenn!)
-Played poker
-Saw a russian guy looking at porn in an internet cafe
-Went to thrift stores
-Learned how the Irish view the sky/weather: "I think I see fucking blue!"

And plenty of other things that have momentarily skipped our minds. It has been great so far. Will try to keep a more steady update schedule now. Oh and the library computers don't allow Kevin to plug in his camera, so we are still without any pictures... SORRY!!!! They will come soon.

So we plan hitch to Cork again on Saturday, stay for 2 nights, and maybe even try to hitch all the way to Dublin (although bus is only 14 euro). If there is anything else we should do while here please let us know!