why, yes, i do keep track of the number of photoblogs i've put up in 2006.
i've been busy, overworked, underpaid, tired, caring for felines and a human, cooking, washing, eating takeaway, and of course, snapping photos.
so here's 50 pics for your enjoyment from halloween to the end of my berlin trip. 
) enjoy!
don't forget to say hi 'coz i miss y'all dearly.
i love this ad --- we spent an afternoon in qibao eating snacks and watching everyone please the tourists
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more tourist trapping --- down by the river
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some sticky rice cake that everyone was buying --- look at how exciting qibao is!
hehe actually, the old town was pretty lively
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i wish shanghai looked more like this --- a parting pic
that night we bought a mattress pad from some americans... and now the rockhard chinese mattress is le comfy
c, i now understand why you like hard mattresses 
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NYSP - New York Style Pizza
Nanjing Xi Lu No. 1699
(Subway exit #5 at JingAn Temple stop)
our first experience at NYSP was unbelievable. we wept over our precious manhattan memories while enjoying the "new york style pizza".
if you love the NY thin crust and cheesy goodness, do make a trip out to the JingAn temple subway stop. every 16" pizza is only 88 RMB, and you can choose to do halfsies if you want.
we tried the Pesto, the Hell('s) Kitchen, the Manhattan, Tomato Basil, and the Brooklyn.
my favorite: Tomato Basil adey's favorite: Hell's Kitchen
eating in tends to be better than ordering delivery. we ordered in once and the pizza just didn't seem right. i guess like most other foods, its best straight outta the oven. well, minus leftovers. those are good too.
if you want to order their crispy garlic knots, make sure you go early. they seem to run out of garlic knots by 7pm or so
verdict: A
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like i said, Boots just made herself at home --- eating shenjian bao after my new chut haircut that cost 30 rmb. i tipped the guy 10 rmb 'coz i liked it so much.
that equals $5.10 usd. sweet deal.
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adey and Boots worked so hard on carving our mini-pumpkin that fell fast asleep after its completion
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tada! our first hallo-pumpkin was a portrait of Boots! --- oooooh
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Boots getting jealous of the new cat --- devouring pudong airport noodles before my flight to Berlin
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our uber-emo haircuts --- sophie and me at the olympic stadium after the workshop
i met up with PRC Study at the workshop 'coz they were there too... got to see vivian and met sophie there.
made me really want to move to beijing. i freaking love vivian's humor.
plug for PRC Study - if you're thinking about studying mandarin chinese in Beijing, sign up with PRC Study!
i did a super-beginner class for a month in summer 2005 and learned a ton!
enough to trick my university's chinese department that i knew enough to get into chinese 2 hehe kidding...
anyway, i highly recommend their programs, and if you want more info, go to www.prcstudy.com or message me )
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the berlin olympic stadium is soooo ugly... but i guess it fits the nazi-era well. solid pieces of stone, barely any design, etc.
at least the seats were uber-comfy. yes, i'm using "uber" without the umlaut (sp?) 'coz of the whole berlin theme...
anyway... all the italians there were drunkenly singing their song 'coz of the world cup this year.
sophie's from france. she was not enthused.
look, it's a bunch of weirdos by the Brandenburg Gate
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thanks to all y'all who left me advice about what to do in berlin!
i went on the free walking tour from New Berlin Tours (www.newberlintours.com)
and it was great! i saw and learned so much about berlin's history in just a few hours.
plus i met a few interesting people who i hope contact me sometime soon... love meeting folk while traveling.
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the holocaust memorial ... quite ze powerful in so many different aspects --- the building behind the lot where hitler's bunker once lay. gotta love that balcony!
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the Französischer Dom (French Cathedral), just one side of the Gendarmenmarkt square --- pretty self-explanatory
from this, i learned the germans were jealous and had a strange government. i hope i don't go to jail for this...
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Humboldt Uni, where my supervisor studied for a year and where the burning of the books memorial is. whooo... --- this is where the first potato was grown in berlin. neet ey?
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do tv towers look the same in every city? --- a currywurst!
yes, i ate a currywurst! a vegan currywurst with uber-deelish fries
if you wanna try some vegan german fare or fast food, try:
Yellow Sunshine
Wiener Strasse 19
Berlin 10999
030-69598720
verdict: A+
reason: coz vegetarian little me got to eat a wurst in germany!!! 
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after the workshop, i stayed at this boutique-type hotel:
Hotel Zoo
Kurfürstendamm 25 10719 Berlin
www.hotelzoo.de
overall, it wasn't bad. the room i had was on the second floor and faced the street, v.convenient.
it was really boutiquey, so if you like old school phones and tvs and furniture and showers, you'll love this place. i did. )
that's the lobby above on the left... and a bunch of chain-smoking italians
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one more good thing about Hotel Zoo is that they have an extensive breakfast buffet included with the nightly costs. a lotta hotels don't offer this... so me being the food whore i am, i loved it. tons of different breads and spreads, a variety of cereals, granolas, fruit, and cheese combined with juice and fresh coffee. mmm....
and a view of my window. glad i had the tree blocking part of the view so nobody could see me dancing to german mtv in my thermal underwear.
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on my second free day, i toured a farmer's market right near KaDeWe after some major wallet damage.
i saw some locals lined up at a booth that smelled delicious, so i leaned over to take a peek.
the guy in front of me, an older local berliner, explained to me that it was a "kartoffelpuffer",
basically a big potato pancake v.similar to hashbrowns that can be topped with applesauce.
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and ooooh, was it delicious! straight off the griddle. the guy and i chatted for a bit, and he told me he stops there every morning before work to have a kartoffelpuffer for breakfast.
he also told me it's his favorite "berliner fare." don't know if it's true, but he said berliners really enjoy that farmer's market because when the berlin wall was still up, people in west berlin couldn't get the fresh produce that east berlin had. so since the wall came down, west berliners have reveled in the farmer's market. well, something to that extent.
... and
don't know if you can see the pic well, but i thought it was hilarious to see HSBC in the same building as H&M
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more shots of my hotel for anyone who's searching online for more info on Hotel Zoo...
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on the left: Maja's Deli. a veg restaurant that ppl raved about online, but it wasn't that great... i had a not-so-tasty casserole with some mediocre rice that cost 5 euro. meh.
verdict: C-
being the polite endless stomach that i am, i finished the heaping serving and headed off to my second dinner of the night at:
on the right:
Imbiss W
Kastanienallee 49
I had a mango lassi and a rocket-sundriedtomatoes-mozzarella naan pizza there for cheap. And it was deelish.
much better than Maja's Deli, but if you're not a naan pizza person, then visit Imbiss W anyway because it'll convert you.
funky decor, crazy music... loved it. i felt a bit odd there 'coz everyone seemed german punk-emo, but whatever. i hid behind my semi-emo glasses.
verdict: B+
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the huge pizza --- the ridiculous mercedes-benz taxis
apologies for the meh-stunning ending shots. i'll put up another photo blog soon to make up for it and so you can catch up on what i've been up to since the berlin trip.
now say hello 'coz i'm ronery in shanghai and miss you all!
miss you all.
then i can
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