1096

Yesterday it was 1096 days, or 26304 hours or even just an amazing, roller coaster, lightning fast three years that we've been living in Berlin.

So much has happened in that time that a summary hardly seems possible, or even necessary. It's been fast, difficult, boring, amazing, slow, eye opening, lonely, despair filled, colourful, dark, freezing, empty, busy, wonderful, joyous and a thousand more adjectives that my bilingual brain refuses to cough up.

In a lot of ways I've fallen in love with Berlin - it's a lot like home (Melbourne), and yet very different. It has it's good side - cheap food, beer, lots of culture and great connections to the rest of Europe. And it's bad side - Germans (not to mention their Ruhe - that will need to be another ranting post one of these days) , bureaucracy and Germans ;-) This is something I saw here on a postcard which comes close to summing Berlin up:

Die Berliner sind unfreundlich und rücksichtslos, ruppig und rechthaberisch, Berlin ist abstoßend, laut, dreckig und grau, Baustellen und verstopfte Straßen wo man geht und steht - aber mir tun alle Menschen leid, die hier nicht leben können!
Anneliese Bödecker

Roughly translated that works out to:

The people of of Berlin are are unfriendly and disrespectful, abrasive and full of themselves, Berlin is repulsive, loud, dirty and grey, building sites and clogged streets whereever one goes - but I feel sorry for everyone who can't live here!
Anneliese Bödecker

When all's said and done we're, very glad that we came here and got to do and see the things we have. That doesn't mean that we don't miss all of our friends and family any less - in fact at times like these it makes us realise how far away you all really are.

Take care everyone
Jack...