Busy Saturday

We started off the weekend a bit early.  On Friday Marty and I picked Benjamin up at 1 and decided to all go out to lunch together.  There aren't many places here (or at least not many that we frequent) that serve burgers.  Living in a house of nearly all vegetarians, Benjamin misses a good burger.  We biked to a place i Zehlendorf that serves a mean burger. He was in heaven!!
And our final Saturday in April began the way nearly ever Saturday has since late November with Benjamin going to soccer practice.  Several weeks ago his best buddy, Clayton, also joined the team which makes it more fun for all of us.
After practice we all walked up to Sixteen Bites (our favorite and really only Mexican restaurant around)

It isn't really anything special and pretty much just like a Chipotle from the US but when you don't have Mexican food, in grocery stores or restaurants, readily available it feels pretty special.   And just because the sun was shining and we were among friends on a sunny Saturday we decided to treat ourselves to ice cream.

After a bit of downtime back home we headed into town,   to meet some fellow Northwesterners for dinner.  Hollis and her family moved to Berlin just a few weeks after us.  She had listened to Marty on the radio and saw through FB that we were headed to Berlin and she reached out.  We met up at the zoo in August and have seen each other a few times since.  We became fast friends but we live so far apart we barely see them, unfortunately.  They live in the center.  Like really IN the center.  Directly across from a Ubahn station and right above a handful of awesome restaurants in a very hip part of town.  We couldn't get over the fact that although we both moved to Berlin around the same time, have had to navigate a new country, language, rules, schools, etc. our experiences are so completely different given that we live so far out of the center in a sleepy little area.  Directly under their apartment was a fantastic Greek restaurant.  We ate dinner and connected over our Berlin experiences in ways that really only someone that in a very similar position could.  They have 3 boys ages 13-8.  The kids walked down to a park while we ate and drank and talked, we then went up to their apartment where the kids played hide and seek and had a ball.  It really is fun to see our kids become friends with others so quickly.  I think, like us, they know that these boys understand the living in a different country, recently having been uprooted from your home and friends. 
Anyway, a very full Saturday for us filled with good friends, great food and connecting and satisfying conversations.  Unfortunately no photos of our time with Hollis and family.  Next time.