another Saturday night

I don't know which I love more, coffee or internet.  Luckily I don't have to choose just one.  Brenda and I are currently at a coffee shop called Coffee Fellows (take that Starbucks!).  We spent a good portion of the day today rearranging our apartment.  We have too many pieces of furniture to work with.  Our breakfast nook is now comprised of a couch and a coffee table.  Breakfast has never been so relaxing.

We went grocery shopping today at a local 'bio' grocery store.  Bio seems to mean the same thing here that organic does in the US.  There are 3 such markets in Frankfurt and we happen to be a 10 minute walk away from one.  The real benefit is they have a large selection of fake meat so we are able to get numerous veggie friendly meal options.  We even bought veggie wiener schnitzel!

After a little shopping at the bio store we went to a more inexpensive grocery store.  We stocked up on the necessities but didn't buy too much since we had to carry it all home.  As we were headed to the check-out line I noticed some calendars.  Some beefy guy calendars and some bikini clad girl calendars.  The big difference from similar calendars in the US was the girls on these calendars had apparently lost the tops to their bikinis.  I never saw that when I shopped for groceries at Super Target.

In case you're wondering, fourth time is not the charm.  I went to the Ausländerbehörder (can you pronounce that?) again on Friday to get my residence permit.  I found out the next step is for them to mail my contract and information over to the office that deals with foreigners working in Germany (Agentur für Arbeit).  Then, hopefully, they will mail back the approval saying how long I may work in Germany.  The opera company arranged all of that for Brenda.  It took about 8 weeks.  The show I'm contracted for goes up in two weeks.  To speed things along I'm going to take my materials over to the Agentur für Arbeit in person and I'm going to beg.  I tried to do that on Friday but they closed at noon.  The begging will have to wait until Monday.

I almost forgot the most exciting news of ALL TIME!  Brenda got an iPhone.  As you may imagine she is now the coolest person in Germany.  We walk by people on the street and they immediately begin drooling.  Maybe someday, assuming I get a work permit and I'm not deported, I too will get an iPhone.  A boy can dream.

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.  Gute Nacht.