Where to buy Unique items online

Being a busy working mother, I don't often have the time that my lovely single friends have to leisurely stroll through Berlin searching for the next hippest store which sells lovely unique items. Although I have found a toy store and a children's clothing store I absolutely love, most of what I encounter on a day-to-day basis are chain stores which will suffice but definitely take the fun out of shopping. (you can see where my priorities are!)

In the US, I was completely addicted to Etsy. Although I enjoyed a good romp around, Target when I got back to the States, nothing could compare to the adorable handmade items that I found for gifts myself on Etsy.

Due to import taxes and the Zollamt (Evil tax office on imported goods) office being so far away, I found out you could click on "advanced search" and find only items made in Germany. (or other EU countries which also don't make me go to the dreaded Zollamt). I don't mind using this function but I have also found another alternative.

Yet another adorable website which sells wonderful handmade crafts is called DaWanda. I guess you could think of it like the Etsy of Europe. For some reason, I can't figure out if they are related or not but they also sell adorable handmade items in a similar format. It seems as though it is limited to Germany, UK and France right now.

I have been using DaWanda in German but you can use it in English. However, some sellers only appear to have their items listed in English or in German. Being barely bi-lingual, I have searched in both languages. For example, searching for "luck mushrooms" only gives you 19 results but "Glückspilz" gives you a completely different 15 results! (Really only 15?) Also, when you search, at the very bottom, it will ask you if you want to see results in other languages. I always check all of the boxes.

The only biff I have with DaWanda is that I always have to set the search function to "All Products" instead of the default which is "Unique and limited Edition."

Otherwise, I have found some very cute items like these "Liebe Schweine" earrings for a love-themed kitsch party. (not for me but as a gift!) Or how about this wurst shaped neck pillow for long plane rides?

Besides, where else am I going to find Baby Bird this new shirt?


Do you have a favorite store, online or else?

Funny Foto Freitag

One of the great things about living in Berlin is that almost every time I step outside my house, I encounter something strange, bizarre, and/or wonderful.

taken by a friend GP

This snowman Protest is in front of the Lustgarten. What are they protesting?

The sign says "We don't want to eat your shit!

They were protesting SPRING!!!!

I think this says "Don't just stare-do something!

Although I think some of them were confused.

Funny Foto Freitag

While we were in the Midwest over Christmas, it snowed. a lot. We had between 20-30 inches total (that is over 50 cm for my metric friendly readers!) In one day alone, we received over 18 inches! And it just kept coming and coming...

I happened to spot these palm trees looking a bit out of place but what were they doing there?

carwash decorations of course!

If you regularly read my blog (All 3 of you-Hi Mom!), you might think I really like car washes. Maybe I do?

Although I don't know anyone personally who owns a car wash, I would have to admit that they must be quite characters. Come on, have you ever seen a normal car wash? (WARNING: Clicking on link will be inside Pacific Northwest Joke that you will probably not get if you haven't visited/lived there)

Funny Foto Freitag - Angebote!

ATTENTION - ANGEBOT! SPECIAL OFFER!

Free coffee or specialty coffee...


with a booking at a brothel! This deal is too hot to miss!

We found this in the German version of the Yellow Pages called Gelbe Seiten.

The Scientist has decided he loves Germany!

Kultur at the Workplace - Opinions

I know I saw I was going to do Interviews next but I am inspired by the following clip to write up my experience with German culture and opinions a little early.



This video is obviously an exaggeration but some truth lies within.

One day at work, this picture came up on my screen saver.

This is Baby Bird when he was about 1.5 for what most of you reading would assume is a Halloween picture. (Dumbo the Elephant if you need further clarification)

This was not so clear to my colleagues.

"Halloween is for scary costumes!" they exclaimed. "You can't dress up like elephants for Halloween!" they continued.

Let me stop you here for a second. They all know I am American. They all know I lived in America for most of my life. Why in the world are they arguing with me????? (Just to clarify-these were German nationals who have visited the US once or twice or who have never visited)

I tried explaining to them that besides the 10-15 year age range of mostly Y chromosomes, most people in the US don't dress up scary in America. Not to mention, 2-year-olds are just too cute to dress up anyway else!!!

"But I saw an American movie about Halloween and everyone was dressed up scary!" they still continued.

What can I say to that? {{throws up arms}}

I wish I could tell you I was exaggerating for this post but this was a real conversation between many educated people. I spoke with a few of them privately later and most freely admitted that Germans are an opinionated bunch. I also frequently see this attitude in meetings and until this conversation, I couldn't put my finger on exactly what was going on.

I have had to change the way I speak. Now, I basically just cut to the chase. They seem to appreciate it and I don't have to explain myself again anymore as often.

Although in the US, this attitude would come off as arrogant, it is seen as being confident and sure of yourself. Acting apologetic or prefacing sentences with contradictory arguments like I often do, is not a good way to get ahead in Germany as far as I can tell. Do your experiences mirror mine?

And I still don't think I convinced them that Americans don't have to dress up as vampires, witches and other scary creatures of the night. I dare not show them other Baby Bird's pictures of Halloween's Past.

After all, I am 25% German. :)

Our beloved Prez

Like many people all over the world, the Germans have a love affair with Obama. This was especially clear to me last year when his speech here in Berlin where the # of Germans far outweighed the # of excited Americans. They have gone as far as naming breaded chicken fingers after the poor guy.

Although they are normally reserved, I have had perfect strangers hear me speaking English or hear my lovely American accent while speaking German and immediately smile and say "Obama!" even if that is the only work they can utter auf Englisch.

This is taking it a little far though...even for Americans!

image taken from Der Spiegel

German producers have recently funded a new musical entitled "Hope." The premise? You guessed it - Obama! The cast of characters is all there-Obama, Mrs. Obama, John McCain...

image taken from Der Spiegel

and even Sarah Palin complete with her own scantily clad dancing troupe!

Too bad I don't live in Frankfurt! :(

Sometimes these posts just write themselves...

Our Geschenk to ourselves

For many reasons, (some of which will be revealed later), we decided to invest in a Slingbox on our recent trip to the States.

What is a slingbox you might ask (as the clerks did when we asked if they were in stock)? Our Slingbox allows us to watch American television in our own home here in Berlin. Our Slingbox is actually hooked up in my parents house (thanks Mom & Dad!) to a receiver AND the Internet. At our end in Berlin, it streams through our laptop once we have signed in to our account and downloaded the Slingbox Player (you can also watch it through the Internet without the player).

It is perfectly legal through some kind of loophole about having only one stream per cable box/satellite receiver/DVR etc. Anywhere we have Internet, we can theoretically use our Slingbox. We can even watch it on our TV by hooking up a cable from our laptop to the TV. Here is a (slightly blurry) photo of what we see on our computer.


As Emeril Lagasse and Mario Batali battle it out on Iron Chef America, you can see a guide on the right side. This guide helps navigate through the many cable channels. It substitutes (a bit poorly) for a channel changer. You can also hide the guide and make your show full-screen by the simple click of a button.

There are some cons.

• the picture is not perfect and can occasionally look pixelated depending on Internet connection speeds on both ends.
  
• The box itself runs from $170 (for SD)-$300 (for HD). There are no other charges involved except Internet service at both ends.
  
• The Slingbox Solo can have conflicts if someone uses the cable box at its homebase. Two people can not watch the same show at the same time which means possible angry webcam calls that start with "Hey - I was watching that!" We had my parents install an extra cable box that they will probably rarely use to solve this. At an extra $5-$7 a month, I think we can handle this. :)
• We had to plug in the Slingbox in the US directly to the Internet router. This was a bit of a pain as the router and the cable box were not in the same room.
• The Slingbox does not change time zones just because you do. We watch all of our TV 7 hours ahead. You can attach it to a DVR but we will wait and see if the investment is worth it.
  

The Scientist and I feel a bit like kids in a candy store. We aren't normally big TV watchers and haven't had cable in our house for, well....ever. Going from 10 channels - 700 is a bit of a surprise. Mythbusters, Daily Show, Colbert and even Rick Steves to help us decide our next destination...we can't get enough! Baby Bird even found a new show to watch besides his occasional Thomas the Tank Engine DVD's - Jim Henson's Dinosaur Train. (don't knock it until you have seen it - I even enjoy this and well, Dr. S is kind of a cute) There are a few surprises too. When did Discovery Channel diverge into 80 different shows. Do we really need Discovery Apocalypse?

However, after I saw television shows with names such as "Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura" and "The Hoarders" I am possibly regretting this purchase... :)

Gotta go....Dr. Who is beckoning!