I'm Legal!

After numerous trips to various offices, collections of forms, and 75 Euros, I now hold a German visa good until the end of the year! It's a tremendous relief. 

I'm so happy!

Thank you Shawn and Marlene for all of your help :)

Happy Birthday, Sis!

A few random photos from my life...

This is the American food section of the grocery store. 

Oy vey.

There is a farm school in my neighborhood and apparently they think it's necessary to have sheep, goats, chickens (who live in a different area), and a pony in the middle of the city. 

It makes me sad, but I do like to visit and feed them carrots.

There is a place in Friedrichshain called Cupcake, which serves vegan cupcakes, so I had to make a visit. I don't know if they usually have multiple vegan choices, but on the day I went they only had vanilla with raspberry frosting. It looks good...

...but the frosting was too dense and sugary and the cake was too dense and chewy. I ate it (because who would waste a cupcake?) but it really wasn't that enjoyable I definitely would have been better off just making my own.  Apparently they have root beer at the cafe though, so I might just have to go back for that.

I've been jogging along the river by our apartment and enjoying the bits of wildlife in the city, especially with the arrival of spring and the development of buds, flowers, and leaves.  It was kind of chilly and cloudy, but I managed to get Shawn to take a walk with me along the path I jogged on. We ended up having a grand old time.

I love the pussy willows. These were already past perfection and by now they are completely leafy!

I wish I knew what these were called. 

 

Just enough gate.

 

We came to a small playground, where Shawn spun me around on the wheel thing. I almost fell off.

And then we found a better playground! With a zipline!

But leave your hypodermic needles at home!

 

Yeah, we had fun :)

We also did a jigsaw puzzle together recently. It was 500 pieces, so nothing too crazy, but it was Shawn's first big puzzle. 

Hmm, now where could that piece go? 

Hurrah!