Fröhliche Wiehnachten!

This is my email reply to Trish from Berlin.

It's cold and rainy outside. Not really rainy but just kind of drizzly. The sun was out yesterday but not really today. I look around and the buildings are all old but have new faces. This part of Berlin is in a new life. Former East Berlin on the "other side" side of the wall has been completely integrated into the west. This place is buzzing with life and prosperity.

I have had christmas with eve with a Brit, some Aussies, and around many other world travelers. Our night before Christmas dinner consisted of what I brought down from my food bag; some oranges and apples, meüslix bars, candy, spicy potatoe chips, bread and peanut butter. The Aussies ran upstairs to get the vegemite! It's not bad really, just kind of salty - I can see how it would be great on toast. So we ate everything...together. We tried combinations of every possible thing that was on the table. It was really a sight to be seen. On top of that we were drunk and enjoying every song that was playing.

It is good to be away from the middle east for a while. I do miss western civilization. I miss things working in some form of a system and working on a time table. I miss talking to women and hanging out in bars. I don't miss reading every little thing that is wrong with the world. It is nice to be in a bubble, you don't have here every detail about what horrible things go on in the world. Why can't we have "The nice News." (By the way, a German keyboard is hard to type on!)

I miss all of my family and friends. I knew if I went home for Christmas I wouldn't go back. So here I am at the half-way point and really savoring every minute of my time.

Fröhliche Weihnachten!

Love Chris