This is a collection of 'Christmas fun time' photos in Berlin.

Here we are (Ashley, Nathalie, ich and Steffi - Stephan took the picture) at a Christmas market at Breitscheidplatz by the Memorial Church (left as a ruin after WWII). There are tons of Christmas markets all over Berlin with a variety of things to shop (not interested) and TONS to eat (VERY INTERESTED!!). Yummy for my tummy!




'Touche!' and yummy to boot! Chocolate-covered strawberries, t'were divine so they were....












'I don't wanna grow up, because if then if I did...then I couldn't be a Toy R' Us kid!'....oh Aaron, oh Aaron...forever stuck at 11...what to do...what to do....

In the meantime, I'll just continue having F-U-N!








These are pictures from our Institute Christmas party (which had a 'rude awakening' of a drunken 'investigator' who kept on yelling cuss words and saying how God wouldn't need another Bible, etc.)

We are definitely the international group: two Tongans, a German and Kenny from Ghana and many others from all over...




Elio (Mexico) shared with us a Christmas pinata and I got to use my 'strategery' senses and keep it away from the would-be attackers...












But evidently I didn't do a good enough job, hence the 'kiddies', i.e. sister missionaries, went crazy for the pinata candy! (I think we need to feed them more often... ;)

So my official reason for going to London the last week of November was for school stuff. I had to meet with my professor, go to a workshop and attend a presentation.

Here is my school, University College London. It's so funny...this has been there since 1828-ish, but I still felt a 'happy surprise' when I saw the dome.






This is me cutting Kevin Onabiyi's hair. I knew him from my Britannia ward days and he was very kind and let me stay with him - you can see my suitcase on the right.

I was worried because I had never done this before - 'White Handbook' rules say to never give your companion a haircut. I pointed this out to Kevin and he said to go ahead. I guess it was a success - he didn't cry ;) (Why do I always look so violent? Seriously, I look like I'm from 'Sweeney Todd' and Kevin is my next victim.)




It was good to see everybody. I met up with my old roommate, Arianna, and enjoyed getting caught up. Here is a picture of some of us reveling with Maria at her birthday party. It was really good to see everyone....







Just in case some of you were worried, the Thames (probably my fave) is still there. Here you can see the dome of St. Paul's off in the distance...

I was standing on London Bridge when I took this picture - don't worry, it's not falling anymore... ;)





And then to the right we find Tower Bridge. I love Tower Bridge at night! Truly beautiful!

So my friend Ashley and I went to the Jewish 'New' Synagogue in Berlin. It was very interesting to attend their services - we had a woman rabbi and you most definitely have to be a good singer to be Jewish. For almost 2.5 hours the people there sang Psalms, prayers, etc.! I was very impressed!

Afterwards I decided to show Ashley something that my German teacher showed us (my old German language school was just around the corner) - Dorothea cemetery. This cemetery is full of famous people! The building that is behind Ashley is where Bertolt Brecht (he wrote 'The Threepenny Opera' - one of the songs was 'Mack the Knife') lived towards the end of his life. The West and East Germans tried to get him to move to their part of Berlin - East Berlin offered him his own theater, Berliner Ensemble, and so there he went...




And here he is with his wife, but apparently he was quite the philanderer...













This is Heinrich Mann. He was a famous German novelist, but probably even more famous as 'Thomas Mann's big brother'. He fled Nazi Germany and died in California....















Here are the world-famous philosophers, Fichte and Hegel. I tried to read their ideas (Hegel THREE TIMES!!), but I don't understand such things, so...there they are! ;)












This is Karl Friedrich Schinkel. He designed just about any famous building in Berlin that you can name. He died in 1841.















I love this guy's last name: Schadow. He was Schinkel's 'mentor/predecessor' and designed the Quadriga, the 'Horse statue' on top of the Brandenburger Gate.










I don't know for sure of course, but these look like bullet holes. There is a 'mass grave' in the cemetery full of people who died April-May 1945. This was during the 'Battle of Berlin' in which tens of thousands of German civilians, German soldiers and Soviet troops died within a matter of a few weeks.....

So the dorm I live in is quite 'international' and there was an ad for an Armenian choral concert. I, loving all things 'new', went and enjoyed it immensely. The journey to the church where the choir performed was 'interrupted' with this heelarious Chinese restaurant - I tell ya, there's nothing like some good old-fashioned, Chinese, WHITE TRASH FOOD!! Heelarious!






The Armenian choir was fantastic! It sounded like Western European Middle Ages music until every now and then they would let out some 'new' sound that let you definitely know that this was something different and from the Middle East.















A better view of the choir. The girl kneeling taking the picture is the Armenian girl, Lillith, who let us all know about the concert...











I find this VERY interesting! I have never seen this anywhere else except here in Germany. There are two religious figures known as Ecclesia (Church) and Synagoga (Synagogue). Well, the representation of Ecclesia is always 'regal, powerful, beautiful', etc. Synagoga always has a blindfold on (she is blind- she doesn't see 'the true way', i.e. Jesus is the Messiah), she has lost her crown and and and I just find this interesting because I have never seen this elsewhere and I just thought it might be an visual symbol of prejudices amongst the Germans and other European peoples concerning the Jews.