so much stuff

Wow! So much happened to us this week. Last weekend we went to a mexican restaurant. That was a strange experience, not anything like Mexican food in California. There was a very German flavor about all the food. No sausage, but definitely olive oil, herbs I never tasted in mexican food before, and no chilis. That was a little sad.

Now we have two friends from Berkeley living in Berlin! Stefan came here before we did and is working at the Humboldt University, and Oleg just arrived to work at the Max Born Institute. It's a little America party in Berlin.

We also went to Miss UBahn. It was a lot of fun. There were ten contestants and they all had different clothes made by different designers. Here is a picture.

Everything was good design, but maybe they could have been better organized: "And now, Miss Rudesheimer Platz! Um. Instead, Miss... Alexander Platz!" The fuzziness was not limited to the MC:

We also went to the Berlin Beer Festival. There were so many beers! You buy a mug when you go in and then all the different stands fill it for you.

Then, when you are done, you sell the mug back and they wash it. It was pretty clever--there were no cups on the ground.

I also wrote a review article for Laser and Photonics Reviews... they wanted something about control of quantum systems using ultrashort laser pulses. I know about that! So Thomas and I put it together and we are about to submit it.

Today is hot and maybe we will go swimming. Right now though, I am going to drink some coffee.