the update

now that i am more emotionally removed from the events of the past month here's a short but juicy update. as most of you are aware i quit and then left my job, i think in that order. this was quite hard, especially the quiting ie informing everyone that i'm about to leave. for better or for worse things were going well at work, being sent to amsterdam and all and having worked with some high level, some just in rank but some really impressive, people. the day i quit i basically had to inform 5 different people in two different countries that were all in some way responsible for me and had helped me along the way. now, this is hard stuff, believe me. anyway i did them all in a row (no pun intended) and their behavior was much better than expected. i had prepared my speech about new opportunity and "now or never" and following dreams, i was open and direct and i think it worked. that was a hard day but in the end it worked out well with almost everyone wishing me luck and telling them to give them a call when i return to greece. that was the quiting part.
in my bluff, i gave a long notice period thinking they wouldn't take it but they did so i spent a long time "leaving". so when the day came at the end of june it was kind of blunt. of course in 2 years you form certain relationships bordering on friendship but all in all i left in good spirits.
since then i've been dealing with bureaucracy and planning -visa, banks, nyu etc- and took a weekend off and went to berlin with my parents which was simply wonderful, in all aspects. the city, the food, my parents we had some great laughs.
this past saturday i went to my country house where i got sick and basically spent saturday night moaning -stomach and stuff- so it wasn't that much fun and i have yet to fully recover or eat anything. while there, i got a call from erik, he's in indiana studying georgian!
next chapter, artemis is coming today from london and we're going to myconos so that's super exciting!!

here are some pictures from berlin with brief comments:

the inside of the parliament building. you can't see this from the outside which is still the same old building. very impressive. you also walk around and can see the entire city. not to be missed if you visit.




can you spot the happy family? see above to see where this is taken.




as if you wouldn't take that picture.




the memorial to the jews of europe. uneven blocks on uneven paths. it's brilliant in its simplicity.




the controversial jewish museum by Daniel Libeskind (the guy designing the new freedom tower in ny) entrance from the left building!




detail from the inside




the ku-dam. never repaired as a testament to war. not sure how i feel about the new tower-church thing next to it.




the bauhaus archiv




pink flamingos.