Second Time As Good As The First

Hertie bear

 I am back in Berlin for the second half of my Humboldt Award-sponsored time at the Hertie School's Center for International Security.  Last year, I was here from mid-February to mid-May.  This time, I am starting a couple of weeks earlier and going until the end of April.  I have successfully cleared the decks as we submitted the two major grant applications and the edited volume is now under review.  So, what will I be doing this year?  Mostly more of the same but more of it with a few key differences:

• Final stages of production of the book on parliamentary oversight (last year, we were still in the revising and submitting process).
• Continue interviewing German experts, MoD officials, and military officers for the next book on the relationships between defence agencies and militaries.
• This time, I am headed to Sweden and Poland to do interviews for this book.  Last year, I went to Finland.
• I need to write up the case studies from last year--Germany and Finland, while doing a better job this year of keeping up with the new case studies.
• Get a sense of how Europe is reacting to Trump 2.0.  Last year, I was more focused on how the Europeans were viewing the war in the east.
• Skiing the Alps.  Last year, I went to Austria for my first real Alp-ine experience.  This year I am headed to Zermatt and the Materhorn.
• Watch the German election up close.  Last year, there was an EU election.  This year, the stakes are probably more significant.  I keep getting approached at the Saturday street markets by reps of various competing politicians.  I just smile and say, "I don't think I can vote here" and move on.

The Marxist-Leninst Party
steals from Trump?

Olaf Schmidt is scary

The CDU messed up their whole
"choose stability amid the chaos"
thing by bring the AfD alongside for
an anti-immigration vote if
I understand it correctly.

 I am staying in a different place--much nicer, but less convenient.  It requires a 15 minute tram ride rather than a three minute walk to get the the Hertie Center for International Security.  It requires a 20 minute walk to get to the closest gym.  I am probably a 30 minute walk from the fabulous bakery, so the gym may actually help me lose weight rather than just maintain.  It is a very different place than last year--much bigger, in a very stylish building, the average age is much younger. 

the washer is
in a cabinet so it projects
the time left in the cycle
onto the floor

The apartment has been a bit of a mystery as it has very modern appliances, which have non-intuitive controls.  I eventually realized that one turns the hood fan and light on by pulling it out to get to the controls.  The place did come with manuals in German, French, and Italian, so Google Lens has been my friend.  I still haven't figured out how to turn on the under-cabinet lights in the kitchen.  Still, it is a bigger space with a desk, so I can get work done here or at Hertie, and the kitchen sink is actually large enough to hold a pot.

Disappearing controls.

 

 I have pretty thoroughly explored Berlin in previous visits so I will have to figure out which areas I have yet to visit.  As it is my second three-month stint, I will feel less obligated to eat German food and enjoy more of the foreign food that is all around me--Turkish, Portuguese, Vietnamese, Georgian, Italian.  I also repped myself at a bunch of Humboldt events last year, so I will not be doing that as much this year.  

And I will still take note of signs that amuse me:

Propaganda means word of mouth?
Best sign for a dentist's office