jonathan’s blog

I know!…three posts on the same topic is a bit excessive…but I have to get this out, for some crazy reason, abortion has been on my mind and heart like you wouldn’t believe. So here is post number 3, and it’s about something I learned JUST LAST NIGHT!

I’ve heard the term ‘partial-birth abortion’ and in my ignorance I just assumed people meant partial-term or late term abortion. Basically, an abortion after much of the baby has already been formed…so it’s not just a collection of cells undergoing mitosis (which can still be a baby!). I never really considered what ‘partial-birth abortion’ really meant…I mean really, it can’t mean an abortion of a partially birthed baby…how do you ‘partially-birth’ anything?

I did a bit of Google-ing last night and was appalled to find out ‘partial-birth abortion’ is EXACTLY that…aborting a partially birthed baby! I couldn’t believe what I was reading! I felt like I took a bullet in the chest…the impact of all of this was that strong.

So…I’m no doctor here, but from what I understand there is ‘late-term abortion’, and there are 2 popular ways to go about performing a ‘late-term abortion’. One is called ‘partial-birth abortion’ and the other is called a ‘Dilation and Extraction/Evacuation’ (D&X or D&E).

Let’s start with PARTIAL BIRTH ABORTION. A medical professional will induce a breech (feet first) delivery with forceps. The baby will be partially birthed, legs, arms, and torso of the baby delivered…everything but the head. At this point, the baby is kicking his/her legs and flailing his/her arms…VERY MUCH ALIVE. The back of the baby’s skull is punctured with a scissors-like instrument and a suction device is inserted. The power of the suction sucks out all the content in the baby’s skull and ultimately causes the skull to collapse in on itself. The baby is now dead, and can be delivered more easily as the head is smaller. Technically this isn’t infanticide, because the baby is ‘dead’ before full delivery…but come on…


And now D&X/D&E. In short, they Dilate (D) the passageway to make the baby accessible. And then they Extract/Evacuate (X or E) the baby…what that means is they take a long clamp and literally just rip pieces of the live and fully formed baby out until there is no more left. The following is a quote from a Doctor that used to do this procedure. “A second trimester D&E abortion is a blind procedure. The baby can be in any orientation or position inside the uterus. Picture yourself reaching in with the Sopher clamp and grasping anything you can. At twenty weeks gestation, the uterus is thin and soft so be careful not to perforate or puncture the walls. Once you have grasped something inside, squeeze on the clamp to set the jaws and pull hard – really hard. You feel something let go and out pops a fully formed leg about 4 to 5 inches long. Reach in again and grasp whatever you can. Set the jaw and pull really hard once again and out pops an arm about the same length. Reach in again and again with that clamp and tear out the spine, intestines, heart and lungs.”

Obama has promised that one of the first things he’ll do as President is to sign the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA)…also known as the Abortion Anytime Anywhere Act. Among other things, this will allow for abortions to be performed indiscriminately throughout the 40 week pregnancy term, up to the point of delivery. The mother’s life does not have to be endangered, there are no rape or incest clauses…nothing but the choice of the mother (who can be a minor without parental consent). Furthermore, FOCA sets the stage to force medical professionals to perform abortions, even Partial Birth and D&E late-term abortions. Imagine being a pro-life doctor, now being forced to do a late-term abortion on a baby that you are certain is alive, healthy, free from disability…that has a soul given by God! I have friends that are excellent Christian, God-loving, pro-life doctors…and with FOCA they would be forced to rip out pieces of a struggling baby or deliver 85% of a baby and hold the baby down to suck his/her brains out before delivering the rest of the now dead baby.

What are we thinking? What kind of human being would support such legislation? ‘Choice’…is a gift from God, a responsibility he empowers us to use. Have we gone completely overboard with our mis-understanding of the moral bounds of ‘choice’?

admin Reflections

Some have said that Obama might have recently showed signs of changing his position on Abortion. There are some indications that he is moving from an extreme view of abortion…to a more ‘moderate’ position of abortion. The problem is…it’s STILL ABORTION. There is no indication that he might swing to the pro-life side…the indications (only indications!) are in relative orders of magnitude for the nuances of abortion…term, funding, and other supportive legislation, but still very much abortion.

Obama is an incredibly charismatic person. He is saying all the right things about ‘change’…Iraq, social policies, and the economic crises. But this one thing regarding abortion, I can’t get over. And while it seems like Barack Obama may very well be our next President…I hope and pray that he does NOT get elected. I realize God is bigger than any president, and can work through/around Obama…even to end abortion! But it seems to me that McCain/Palin are such a sure bet in regards to ending this tragedy of abortion…if they get elected, there is almost no doubt we’ll see Roe v. Wade overturned. It is nothing short of mind-boggling…history in the making.

For this election…I think the issue of abortion trumps every other issue. Ugh…just saying that I can already feel glaring disapproval for sounding so narrow minded! But I do believe, that even that conclusion…that ‘all the people focusing so much on abortion are narrow minded’…even that kind of thinking is somehow a product of the spirit of this age. Somehow anyone that doesn’t want Obama and change, anyone leaning and still holding on too far to the right…is somehow un-‘sophisticated’, stubborn, and narrow minded.

So…at the risk of sounding narrow minded…why do I think abortion is the most important issue? Incidentally, most people would agree with most of the goals of the candidates…we just differ on the policies/plans that need to be put in place to realize those goals. I mean…who doesn’t want a strong economy, top-notch education, available healthcare, Middle East resolution, clean renewable energy, fair border/immigration laws, sound foreign policy…no one would argue with these goals. The question becomes which candidate do you think will get us there.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that, even if the candidate that you didn’t vote for wins, and policy gets put in place that you don’t 100% agree with…there is some redemption in the fact that at least you know this person is still working for the right goals, for the good of the nation…just in a different way than you prefer. Abortion is different. It’s an issue where the goals and policies/plans are polar opposites! There is no middle ground or compromise, it is life and death. And in the case between McCain/Palin and Obama/Biden…the abortion positions are on two opposite extremes. McCain/Palin will work to eradicate abortion, Obama/Biden will work to make it even more available to and accepted by all.

But why now? Abortion has been with us for such a LONG time!…why recast the importance now, all over again, when there are so many other things to worry about? Because as history would have it, Bush appointed 2 pro-life supreme court justices, and got us to within ONE Supreme Court vote away from overturning Roe v. Wade. That is crazy…and we cannot let a chance like this slip away. The timing and potential change regarding our nation’s federal position on abortion is too significant to marginalize…it must occupy center stage for this election. The blood of millions rests on OUR heads…we have an opportunity to change the laws of the land, to reverse a 1973 ruling that has resulted in more than 48 MILLION deaths…and we will be held accountable for it. With this coming election, we can put people in office who will change this issue of abortion forever. This is nothing short of a historic crossroads for our nation…and like it or not, we are a part of it! I’m utterly certain the LORD will someday ask us of our decisions and what we did (if anything) to end the tragedy of abortion.

The poor, the destitute, the disempowered, the unemployed, the uneducated, the unfortunate…are all very much on God’s heart. But life…life is perhaps the most basic fundamental sanctity, that when taken at a rate of 4000 abortions a day, grieves the heart of God like NOTHING else, screams out more attention and urgency than ANY other issue.

As a seminary graduate, an ordained pastor, and a father of three…with the help of the Holy Spirit my counselor and the Holy Scriptures my guide, I can say with 100% certainty in my mind and heart that God is FIRST and FOREMOST for life, and we as His chosen people must be as well.

—
I recently read a very stirring article written by Robert George, a Princeton professor and one of the most outspoken and eloquent pro-life activists. I’ve included below some summary points, some copy/paste directly from the article, and the direct link to the article. If you have time, I strongly suggest you read it…I did not summarize all of it.

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Obama’s Abortion Extremism—Robert George
Summarized Points:
Obama supports legislation that would repeal the Hyde Amendment. Reversal of the Hyde Amendment would result in tax dollars of PRO-LIFE CITIZENS to be used to perform abortions through federally subsidized healthcare…this subsidy would also greatly increase the numerical occurrence of abortions. I don’t want my tax dollars going towards the funding of abortion.

Obama has promised as one of his first acts as President would be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). This legislation would guarantee the ‘right to choose’ abortion through ALL NINE months of a pregnancy, all the way up to the final weeks of a fully developed child. FOCA would remove hundreds of limitations on abortion, including parental consent and notification laws for minors, state and federal funding restrictions on abortion, and conscience protections for pro-life healthcare professionals that don’t want to perform abortions.

Obama opposed legislation to protect children who are born alive, as a result of an unsuccessful abortion, or by the deliberate delivery of the baby prior to viability. Basically, a child ‘marked’ for abortion gets no protection-even ordinary medical or comfort care, even if the baby is born alive…literally a form of infanticide.

Right out of the article:

They (Pro-life Catholic and Evangelical apologists) typically do not deny the facts I have reported. They could not; each one is a matter of public record. But despite Obama’s injustices against the most vulnerable human beings, and despite the extraordinary support he receives from the industry that profits from killing the unborn (which should be a good indicator of where he stands), some Obama supporters insist that he is the better candidate from the pro-life point of view.

They say that his economic and social policies would so diminish the demand for abortion that the overall number would actually go down-despite the federal subsidizing of abortion and the elimination of hundreds of pro-life laws. The way to save lots of unborn babies, they say, is to vote for the pro-abortion-oops! “pro-choice”-candidate. They tell us not to worry that Obama opposes the Hyde Amendment, the Mexico City Policy (against funding abortion abroad), parental consent and notification laws, conscience protections, and the funding of alternatives to embryo-destructive research. They ask us to look past his support for Roe v. Wade, the Freedom of Choice Act, partial-birth abortion, and human cloning and embryo-killing. An Obama presidency, they insist, means less killing of the unborn.

This is delusional.
In the end, the efforts of Obama’s apologists to depict their man as the true pro-life candidate that Catholics and Evangelicals may and even should vote for, doesn’t even amount to a nice try. Voting for the most extreme pro-abortion political candidate in American history is not the way to save unborn babies.
–
Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He is a member of the President’s Council on Bioethics and previously served on the United States Commission on Civil Rights. He sits on the editorial board of Public Discourse.
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Here is the link to the whole article:
Obama’s Abortion Extremism

admin Reflections

Tonight at Barnes and Noble, we walked by a stack of books featuring Barack Obama.

K: Daddy, isn’t that Marack Obama?
Me: Yeah. That’s Barack Obama. How do you know?
K: We learned about him at school. John McCain too.
Me: What did you learn?
K: That they are both trying to become President. Daddy, who do you like?
Me: Neither really…but…

And so there it started…a REALLY long conversation about our upcoming elections with my 5 year old daughter. Rather than give her lame answers, I tried my best to explain to her some of the challenges our nation is facing. She actually seemed really interested in some of the things our nation is struggling with…and kept asking for more.

So we talked about how our nation has a rule that allows you to kill babies that have not been born yet. This was really confusing to her, because she really likes America. She couldn’t get why our nation would allow such a thing…so I did my best to explain the choice thing. I told her that a long time ago, people thought it was more important to give the mommy the ‘choice’ to keep her baby or have it removed…and that some people don’t think the baby is actually alive until the baby comes out.

We talked about how many people can’t see doctors when they are sick or in pain. They don’t have the money to get help or go to hospitals. This was actually a big deal for Kay, because she loves her doctor and actually looks forward to doctor’s visits. Trying to imagine that some people can’t even see a doctor, any doctor, was a hard thing for her.

We talked about how she goes to a good school, but that there are many schools that are not good places to learn.

We talked about how we need to find new ways to get clean energy. I mentioned that there are some cars that run on electricity, with batteries that you can recharge. She thought that was pretty amazing.

We talked about how some people think marriage can also be for a boy to marry a boy, or a girl to marry a girl. She gave me the weirdest look on this one…and really thought the idea totally absurd, so we didn’t spend too much time on this topic.

We talked for a long time…with Bekah just goofing around, playing with random things, totally bored of our conversation.

At the very end…Kay got really close to me, looked me square in the eye and said, “Daddy…out of all these things, the most important one, is that babies are dying.” She then proceeded to rattle off and rank all the other challenges, placing the electric car on the bottom.

So do I base the entire election off the intuition of a 5 year old? Is she not ‘sophisticated’ enough to have a valid opinion? Is she being narrow minded, and not seeing the big picture? No. She’s just 5 years old, loves life, loves babies, and loves God…and she’s right on. Abortion trumps every other issue on our nations list of problems, everything.

There is an estimated 4000 abortions performed in America EVERYDAY. That’s unfathomable. That’s like 4 of my high schools snuffed out each day. I think if we could visually/tangibly see this, if for instance we assembled 4000 students on a football field and just executed them, that would probably make the front page of the LA Times. And if we did that each and every day…hopefully it would make the front page of the LA Times each and every one of those days.

Here are somethings to help us put that into perspective…

Since the War in Iraq started in March of 2003, almost 4200 Americans have died. I love this country, and wholeheartedly support our troops. 4000 babies are being killed in America EVERYDAY.

The Dow Jones plummeted another 733 points yesterday, the worst percentage-wise since 1987. 4000 babies are being killed in America EVERYDAY.

On September 11, 2001, we watched one of the most horrific terrorist attacks on innocent civilians on live, national TV that resulted in almost 3,000 deaths. For months, as a nation, we had difficulty collecting ourselves and could not get passed this. 4000 babies are being killed in America EVERYDAY.

I just got back from Berlin, Germany. My hotel was not far from the Holocaust Museum, which stands in remembrance of the 6 million Jews killed under the Nazi regime. A horrible global memory…made all the more horrible because so many nations stood by for so long and did NOTHING! Since 1973-Roe v. Wade, more than 48 Million babies have been killed in America.

And to think…we are just ONE Supreme Court vote away from overturning Roe v Wade. We are just ONE presidential appointment away! We could see history change here! I hope and pray that we’ll see abortion end in the United States. If we can just get passed this, years from now I think we’ll look back, and like the mistreatment of Native Americans, Slavery, and Jim Crow Laws…we’ll wonder aloud, how in the world did we do something so wrong, when we knew in our hearts what was so right?

admin Reflections

Okay…this post is late…I actually had it ready to post while I was still in Berlin, but as carelessness would have it, I closed down the document without saving it! Lame. So here it is, a bit late…

October 10, 2008
The Popkomm Music Festival/Conference didn’t start until noon, so I woke up extra early to get in a couple of hours of shopping/souvenir hunting. I asked the concierge for a good toy store. He directed me towards a TOTS German Original Toys (perfect!), “just walk towards ‘the gate’”. I followed his directions and made my way several blocks towards ‘the gate’, not having the faintest clue what ‘gate’ he was actually talking about.

I finally found the toy store, and it had several of the wooden German toys I was looking for…only upon closer inspection, they were all made in Thailand! Guess the Original German Toys weren’t so German anymore! Right before entering the toy store, I saw a bunch of people taking pictures of this statue in the distance. Wanting to appear the savvy traveler, I fished out my camera and began snapping away pictures, just like everyone else…again, not having the faintest clue of what I was actually taking a picture of!

As I was about to leave and return to the hotel, I had this nagging feeling that I should be a bit more touristy and check out what the statue and fuss was all about. I made my way towards the statue, and found myself in this HUGE square with hundreds of people taking pictures of the statue on top of these pillars. Ah…this must be ‘the gate’ that the concierge was referring to!

It turns out, this is the famous Brandenburg Gate!…a historic entrance/exit of the once Berlin Wall. I stood there, under the pillars and felt the weight of history. Facing north, I knew that to my right, was once a Germany held hostage by the power of communism. And that where I stood, there was once a wall that separated Germans, separated families, built to keep people trapped inside and under a government that they so badly wanted to escape from. This was also the place Reagan gave his memorable speech:
“General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

Okay…glad I was able to catch that piece of history, but it was time for me to get to my conference! Popkomm 2008! So Popkomm was this international music festival/expo/conference. I got invited to speak on this panel regarding music opportunities in p2p. I actually had a really good time, listening to others share their views/accomplishments/dreams. And then I had the chance to brag about myself and what our company has been up to, fun fun fun! Sometimes I forget how ‘cool’ working for an internet anti-piracy company is perceived. I mean…we are basically hired ‘muscle’…companies hire us privately to do what the government and law enforcement can’t do!…we are like internet ‘bouncers’!


Popkomm brought me over to the western part of Berlin, the capitalistic side that enjoyed persistent economic growth over the last few decades. I ended up on this street/district called Kurfuerstendamm, which is a HUGE area full of shops, restaurants, department stores, car show rooms…really amazing and energetic, even at night!


The funny thing, on the flight over to Germany, I had this strong craving for Paella, a Spanish rice dish that Leonard and Liz introduced us to in NYC. I wasn’t sure how to even go about looking for a Paella place in Germany, but there on the last day, I randomly walked by this cool looking Spanish restaurant that happened to serve tapas and paella, score! I made a mistake with the 2 tapas I ordered…they were both shrimp dishes that looked and tasted almost the same! But wow…the paella was delicious!

Check out the new ipod nano! The night before flying over here, I found out my old ipod would not power up! I couldn’t imagine the LONG plane rides and German walkabout without music!…so the morning of the flight, I dropped by Bestbuy and picked this one up. My favorite song in Germany was, “High and Lifted Up” from Hillsong, and is HERE. Have a listen…you know how some songs just make you want to you do stuff?…like dance, sing along, shout! Well this one, makes me just want to lift my hands in worship! I had to watch myself in Wittenburg, at the department store, eating meals to make sure I didn’t do that and have people think I was crazy! Anyways…please have a listen…and when it gets to the “majesty” part…it’s so powerful!

So that’s it! What a crazy trip! Got to spend some time in East Berlin, the autobahn, Wittenberg, more of the autobahn, and now West Berlin. Not bad for a few days! Thanks Leonard, Liz, Lina, Eunice, and Eileen…for looking after my family while I was away. You guys rock, without you, life would suck. Thanks Mon and Dad for making sure Emily and the kids had food for the week; that was so thoughtful of you!

admin Reflections

Driving the Autobahn

The driving day started off wet, rainy, and full of traffic…getting out of Berlin was a headache of tremendous proportions. Once again, thank God for the GPS. Thank God for the change in weather too! By the time I got into the countryside, the road was open and dry…and more fun than I could have ever imagined. One day on the autobahn…has changed my understanding of driving forever.

Today, in my safe but sporty little Volvo wagon I got a taste of what driving is all about. I pushed this little car to the limits, dropped the hammer and pushed it to within 500 rmp of redline. I zipped past cars, and had others ZOOM by me. Even at my top speed…there were other, bigger, badder dogs. I looked at my speedometer and had no idea how fast I was going…everything was in Kilometers! But the best part, it didn’t matter…this is the autobahn!

This mixture of freedom, performance, and understanding between drivers allows for an incredible driving experience. Cars were made to redline. That’s the whole point of a redline…don’t go beyond this point, but everything else is fair game! Without pushing our cars, we only experience a fraction of their true performance potential. Add to that the fear of getting a ticket or arrested. Add to that a driving culture that is not ready for autobahnism…and we are left with great cars that will never reach their potential. Great cars that will never be driven as they were made to be driven. So sad! I wish I had my Bullitt here. (I wish I had Emily and the kids with me more, of course!)

The Luther Specials

The Castle Church
The Castle Church is a monster of a church. Imposing and beautiful. It’s a castle! The doors where Luther posted the 95 Thesis exude history and are a definitive signpost of the start of the Reformation. Not even Luther could have imagined the impact of nailing his thoughts onto that door. What was meant to begin a dialogue among scholars, was taken by the people, translated to German, printed and sent out. Within 2 weeks, the message had spread throughout Germany…within 2 months, all of Europe. Not even a message…just some thoughts, some questions about the selling of indulgences and the distribution of wealth within the church. Questions of Justice. Why does the pope, the richest man in the world, build new cathedrals with the money of the poor?

Who would have thought these ideas would change the hisotry of the planet!

The original doors that Luther posted on were burned down in a fire. These are made of metal and display the 95 Thesis.

Phew…my car is still there! I had no idea what the parking rules were, so I just tucked my little volvo beside the Castle Church, behind a tree and a bush in a planter!

The City Church
The City Church was a total surprise, and the show stealer of the day. I was intent on seeing the Castle Church and Luther’s residence, which is now a museum. I thought maybe, if I had time, I’d stop by the City Church. Somehow, in wandering the streets of Wittenberg, I ended up at the City Church. You kind of don’t have a choice…it’s in the middle of the city, thus the name ‘City Church’! The City Church stole my heart from the second I got close to it. It was there, right smack in the middle of the city. It was also the place where Luther did most of his preaching, where he got married (big news considering he was a catholic monk!), where there was the first German Service, and where Communion of bread and wine was first given.

Just being in that church, I could feel the excitement of the reformation, the energy of revolution, the secret hope that somebody found something so right in a world filled with so much wrong. If the Reformation was sparked at the doors of the Castle Church, it found it’s fire, strength, and maturity at the City Church. This was the place where the ideas of the Reformation were passed on to the people. Not just in word, but in action.

Imagine being German, living in Germany, fearing God, and needing to sit through the entire service conducted in Latin! Then imagine for the first time, hearing that service in German, your native language. I can only try to grasp the range of emotions the listeners must have felt that day. Freedom, victory, joy, trepidation?…that wonderful uneasiness of doing something ‘rebelliously right’, doing something ‘wrong’ that you know in your heart is so ‘right’. Mission and Movement together!

It was also at the city church that bread AND wine was given at communion. Before this, it was only bread. At the time, it was believed that the actual substance of the bread and wine was ‘transformed’ into the actual blood and body of Jesus. Therefore, while the priest could safely put the bread in your mouth, it was too risky to let anyone drink. What if they spilled the blood of Jesus!? Luther modified the whole ‘substantiation’ thing, and believed that the bread and wine should both be given. This was one of the first moves of dissolving the all powerful role of the single appointed priest, and opening the door to the priesthood of believers.

I spent the most time at the City Church. Sitting in the pews and reading through Hebrews and the description of our High Priest in Jesus. Sitting below the lectern where Luther preached, trying to imagine the fresh excitement of a new found faith in a God that is gracious and loving! A God that is accessible, outside the suffocating confines of the corrupt medieval Roman Catholic Church. Jesus is our priest. He is the mediator of this new covenant! And he paid the price, ONCE and for all. We can come to Him whenever we need/want. Salvatoin is not earned!…but freely given by a loving God!

Luther’s Oak
I completely missed Luther’s house. But I’m cool with that…I think it would have been informative, but not necessarily meaningful. I did get to see the Luther Oak. It was the place where Luther took and burned the Papal Bull, which excommunicated him and demanded the recanting of his teachings. The line drawn at the burning would forever separate Luther from the Catholic Church.

Needless to say, I’m very moved by today’s experiences. Luther was a man of justice, revival, and reformation. Best known for his reformation ideas…but justice for the people, and a love for God…that’s what moved and motivated him!

The Currywurst
At Eileen’s insistence, she told me to try this German specialty. It’s a sausage, cut into pieces, and soaked in ketchup and curry powder. Yeah…doesn’t exactly sound mouth watering. In fact, the story is someone dropped all these ingredients and they accidentally got mixed. She ate them together, and ‘discovered’ currywurst. But trusting my little sister I used my ‘get out of fast free’ card today and got myself a currywurst. Two, to be exact, because she said they taste different at different places. My first currywurst I also got with pommes frites (French fries). They covered it all in ketchup, curry, and mayo. Yum. It was good going down…but wow, what a strange aftertaste! I wonder if it’s not unlike orange chicken at panda. Not the taste! But the ‘yum’, and then the ‘ugh’, and then the ‘I want some more’ three hours later…because a few hours later, I wanted another one! And sure enough, it was slightly different. The curry and spices of the second one actually reminded me of some meat I ate on nanjinglu in shanghai. So random.

The Doner
The second meat food insistence from Eileen. I guess there is a strong Turkish presence in Germany, and they brought this kebab type food.

All good food! Thanks Leener for the heads up!

And finally this. I kept seeing this on the autobahn…and soon just assumed it meant ‘exit’. But everytime i tried to pronounce it, I just started laughing. I know! Grow up.

admin Reflections

So here is my first day (evening) in Berlin, Germany. This is after I got my car, drove around lost for awhile, finally figured out how to turn on the GPS and realize it’s not in English! I drove back to the car rental facilities and asked them to change it back. It took them awhile…because it wasn’t in German either! Anyways…I was quite dissappointed that I didn’t get the Benz that I had reserved, and they were out of BMW’s. So I’m driving a volvo, and feel like a bit of a pansy, a very safe pansy…but a pansy nonetheless. No offense to volvo owners, they are great cars!…its just not what you envision when you think German Autobahn. I asked the Hertz guy, if there was anything German…and I really wanted to German experience. He said no, and that I’d have to settle for swedish, and that that might be German enough!?

However…after driving around the city and arriving at my hotel…I’m so THANKFUL that this car is GPS enabled, volvo or not! Thanks God, you know better than I do what I really need! I would have been so LOST driving in a new city, at night.

my tickets to berlin, with a stopover in Zurich. Yeah, haha…laugh it up, it DOES say Mrs. Jonathan Lee.

I’m staying at the Westin Grand Berlin. Checking in, I got the feeling this was an old historic hotel. I know some people LOVE that kind of stuff…but I always opt for the new and improved if possible. Thankfully, my room is located in a really far off wing, that happens to be brand new!

I know almost NOTHING about Berlin, except what I was able to frantically soak up on the flight here from the Lonely Planet guide to Germany. My hotel happens to be in Mitte, one of the districts of Berlin, right off of Unter Den Linden. According to Lonely Planet, “Mitte is the glamourous heart of Berlin, a high-octane cocktail of culture, commerce, and history,” and Unter Den Linden is, “Berlin’s most spendid boulevard.” Phew! When I made the hotel reservations, it was solely based on Starwood Points, I had no idea where in the city the hotel would be. Guess it’s a great location.

This is where I randomly ate dinner. I saw the word “filleto”, and asked the waitress if this was “fish”. “Yes”. Score one for me, the world traveler and linguistic expert! On the inside menu, there were three filleto’s and feeling a bit more confident of my new found command of the German Language…I asked her to make a recommendation of which fish to get. “Well…this is a filleto of fish, but this is a filleto of pork, and this is a filleto of beef.” Minus one for me, the not so world traveler/linguistic expert.

admin Reflections