I had a great weekend. On Friday a bunch of people from my German school went to a bar together for a few beers. It was tons of fun, except for one small incident. I was sitting at a table with my back to the walkway in the bar, and I looked over and saw that a lady had fallen down right behind me. Several people were trying to help her up, and I reached out to offer a hand as well. It was only about 9:00, but she was completely drunk, about 40 years old, and a little crazy looking. I don't know what she thought I was trying to do to her, but when she got up I felt her hand on the back of my neck and assumed she was just steadying herself - until I felt her nails digging in to my skin. I tried to pull away, but she had a good grip and really sharp nails. By the time she was done walking past she had left four claw marks scratched in to the back of my neck, so deep they are still scabbed over three days later. Holy shit, right?! I still have no idea what it was all about, except I think she was angry that they were kicking her out, and I was a convenient target. Fortunately, this is really the exception - Berliners are generally pretty peaceful drinkers.

On Saturday, my housemates and I all threw a house party. I hadn't really thought about it, but I've never actually lived in a place where we've thrown a big party like this. Even just the preparations for the party were kind of fun - for example, none of us has a car, so we had to cart home 5 crates of beer (not cases of cans, but crates of 0.5 liter bottles) in a flat cart (think Costco-style shopping cart) over cobblestones. The cobblestones didn't mix too well with the wheels of the cart, so we ended up pushing the cart, stacked with beer as high as our heads and topped with a flat of chips and pretzels, along the side of the (somewhat major) street. Fortunately we're only two blocks from the liquor store, but I wish I could have taken a picture of it. It was hilarious.

I think the best part, for me, was that it's kind of normal to see something like that. So many people over here don't have cars that it isn't uncommon to see people carrying large potted plants, bedspreads, or small televisions on the metro. Imagine the looks you would get in the States if you tried that!

Anyway, the party was a success. Nothing got broken, nothing got stolen, no one puked on the floor, and I don't even think we had too many spills. Someone did get in to our fridge and drink all my buttermilk, but as I could see the remains of a coffee-making attempt on the counter, I have a feeling that the buttermilk was used as creamer... in which case we got even with the person for stealing the buttermilk and for using half the bag of coffee.

On Thusday some other Americans we know are having a potluck Thanksgiving dinner. I think I'm going to make an apple pie. One of my roommates wants stuffing, but we've never made it without packaged mix before... wish us luck!