quiet weekend

It was our first softball-less weekend in Berlin. Friday night we had a entry level officer Happy Hour at the Bier Boerse. Boerse is the German word for stock exchange. The idea is that you are supposed to speculate on the beer and the prices change throughout the night based on consumption. Unfortunately they were having a few software glitches so it was more of a regular happy hour for us. Still a good time, though, and we stopped at our neighborhood Irish pub, the Lyr, on the way home from the S-bahn.(the happy hour crew)

Saturday we went to our new favorite market at Nollendorf Platz and then hit up the flea market in search of Oktoberfest attire. (David was partially successful; Christy is still searching). In the afternoon, David played some football with the marines and Christy enjoyed a nap!

(We saw these guys as we were leaving the market. Definitely a pinky camera moment. You can't make this stuff up!)

Saturday night we went to a birthday party. Good times had by all.

(This was a buddy bear display in the courtyard of our friend's apartment complex--each bear represents a country. You can buy smaller ones--a popular souvenier from Berlin!)

Sunday was more of a relax and clean up day. David grilled steak and made mashed potatoes for dinner so all in all it was a good night! Can't believe it's Monday already.

hmmmm.... fish...

Shame on me for not mentioning the amazing dinner David cooked for me Monday night! We got a good tip from one of our local staff that the place where the Ambassador's staff goes to buy fish is right in our neighborhood. Since good fish is hard to come by in Berlin, we decided to check it out. Sure enough, we hit the jack pot! We brought home two white fish filets, and David made a coconut cilantro sauce. Stuffed mushrooms and thyme and garlic carrots rounded out the meal. It was delicious!

Port of Spain, here we come!

That's right, we got our next assignment Saturday night, and for the next chapter in the Life of a Diplocat, we will be headed to Port of Spain, Trinidad. We are looking forward to some Caribbean sunshine, beaches, and fishing--starting in February 2010.

Saturday was quite a day, actually. After a softball-filled afternoon (2nd place finish), we rushed back to the apartment to watch Ohio State tear apart Youngstown State. Then, we drove out to the embassy at 09:30 at night to check Christy's work email and get the news about our assignment. A bit of celebrating topped off the night.

warming up for the game, sporting my pink Steeler's superbowl hat
home run hitter
team picture
the Commissioner of embassy softball and his trophy helmut

Sunday we enjoyed the embassy Labor Day party at the marine house to welcome the new arrivals. Lots of families and kids mixed with water balloons made for an interesting afternoon.

Monday was the best kind of day--an American holiday in Germany so all the stores were open. We got a "welcome to the neighborhood" coupon for a free breakfast for two at a nearby restaurant, as did all of our neighbors, so we started off the day with free breakfast for all 6 of us. Not a bad deal. In the afternoon Christy went shopping on the Ku'damm (someone's birthday is coming up) and David had some time to relax before heading to the airport to pick up Macy and Elizabeth.

So Senator Lugar met two Denison Lugar Program alumns in Berlin on Tuesday--Christy at the embassy and Macy at Starbucks. Tuesday night we (Christy, David, Macy, and Elizabeth) really enjoyed dinner in Prenzlauerberg and then enjoyed some Hungarian liquor and strawberry-rhubarb liquor in our new Hungarian appertif glasses that Macy and Elizabeth brought back for us from Budapest. We love them!

Besuchers in Berlin

That's right--Macy and Elizabeth came to visit us in Berlin! We were very excited to show off the Bundesratufer apartments and our favorite hangouts.

Sanssouci Park in Potsdam

beer sampling in Potsdam (no those were not all mine!)

at our favorite wine bar in Prenzlauer Berg
The Neue Palace at Park Sanssouci
the gardens in front of the Schloss
all 4 of us
a fox came to visit too, and check out the garbage

view from our boat tour on the Spree
since there are no beaches the Berliners have to pretend
after our boat cruise
at the wine bar
back on the boat cruise

at dinner in Hackescher Markt
we went to a Turkish hookah bar
Macy and David
Christy and Elizabeth


view of the Reichstag from the water

Eric Clapton

Friday night we dashed out of work and to the Waldbuhne for the Eric Clapton concert. Good thing we brought raincoats--it poured!-- but we had a great time and really enjoyed the show. You should have seen the line for the brats at the concession stand....




Saturday we started off the softball tournament well with a win--it was a close one though and David's home run helped a lot. Then we enjoyed some dinner with friends from the embassy (an attempted grill-out but the weather wasn't cooperating much so it was more of an inside night).

Sunday was a chill and relax day, starting out right with pancakes, of course. And David enjoyed a little flag football, which should certainly continue as we get into fall. Summer in Berlin is short-lived, we've discovered. It's already getting cold and the leaves are changing. Not cool. We turn in our bids for our next posting this week, and at least we can say this.... whereever we end up, it will be warmer than it is here. Probably the other extreme--hot and humid 365 days a year--but we can hope....

Go Team USA

Last week was pretty busy at work for both of us so it was a low-key weekend for the Machak family. Friday night was movie night--we watched The Constant Gardner, about a British diplomat whose wife was murdered in Kenya. It was Hotel Rwanda-intense, but not as gory. Saturday was softball but we're not talking about that. Finished the season in 2nd place, tournament starts next weekend. Saturday night David and a few others from the team headed to the Lir, which is now fully established as our neighborhood favorite. Christy headed to Hackesher Markt for dinner with Senator Reid and others in his Codel. The Swabish spaetzle was delicious. We met back up afterwards for some scotch and wine on our neighbor's balcony. Not too much though because it was time to rise and shine early Sunday morning.

We caught some of the Olympics on AFN this weekend and meanwhile David played on a Team USA of his own--the U.S. Embassy soccer team, that is, which proudly took bronze at a round robin tournament today.


setting up for the awards ceremony--we had to wait a while for it, meanwhile forced to listen to a German men's singing group sing Ole, Ole, Ole .... auf Deutsch. It was um, interesting.
The embassy team members receiving their trophy.

celebrating at The Bird afterwards--best hamburgers in Berlin
the dogs are so civilized, they even use forks....

our marine friend and a jar o' pickled eggs. David says they were good.

We are psyched for this coming Friday as we'll be going to see ERIC CLAPTON!!!!

BEER FEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The first week of both of us working finally came to and end, and we've both been enjoying the weekend. Friday night we had a happy hour with the First and Second Tour Officer's group. Saturday was gray and muggy day, and our softball playing just about equalled that. However, the day brightened when we realized it was time for..... BEER FEST!!!!!!!!!!

That's right, Saturday night we attended the 12th Annual Berlin Interational Beer Festival. BEER FEST!!!!!! It was literally a mile of road completely lined with beer tents from all the local breweries as well as beer from all over the world. It took us almost 5 hours but we made it the entire way, then stopped at our new neighborhood favorite, the Irish bar Lyre, to finish off the night.

The pictures can only scratch at the surface of the things we saw:

Started the night off right

We found boots of beer!!!

The beef was delicious
There were thousands of people there
Best Mustache Collection ever
I made a crazy hat friend
They even had nuns selling beer

Garlic Pickles What a mohawk

I was a pirate

On the train platform on the way home...We had a blast...to say the least we loved BEER FEST!!!