My Fancy New Title

I am back in Berlin after a lovely Christmas time spent at home in Wisconsin. The whole family was there and I saw some of my closest friends, and also of course Alex! I was sad to leave, but happy to be coming back to this city I love. I'm really feeling at home here in Berlin. I haven't necessarily fallen head-over-heels for Germany as a whole, although it is a very nice place to live. However, I think I love Berlin despite some of the stodgy parts of Germany. It's a city where an artist actually has a chance. You can find around every corner little galleries, which appear and disappear just as fast. You can find clothing designers who display clothing in the front, which was sewn a few meters away, on a single sewing machine in the back of the store. People can afford to be creative in this town, because space is cheap. Unfortunately, while their prices are very reasonable, being something of an artist myself I can't afford any of it. But it makes me happy to know it exists, to see people creating and surviving from what they make.

So, as many of you may know, I have a new job. It's supposed to be part time, which is good as I already have a job. I am officially the newest Bricka Bracka girl, or as I sign my emails Ausbildungsdirektorin (Educational Director Germany). Last November I got a message out of the blue from Alison Gilbert, my roommate senior year at Vassar. She said she was coming to Berlin as a representative of a Software company at a conference here. She also offered to hook me up with a job at the conference, as they needed another promo girl. I talked to my boss at school, got cleared and accepted, although I didn't really know what I was supposed to do at this conference. The conference ended up being a lot of fun. We wo'manned the booth, talking to people about the company. We were the young, smiling faces of this small, hip CA company. The CEO, Brian (pictured above) was there and his friend and photographer/Educational Director Japan, Jesse was also there. We worked really hard, and I had a good time showing them around town at night.

So that's how I got this job. What it entails is marketing and setting up a Flash programming "Bootcamp" here in Berlin, to teach people some of the newest and most powerful Flash applications. Of course I have recently learned that the "Bootcamp" name will have to go, as the word bootcamp has been at the center of a controversy in German news. A German politician has proposed setting up U.S. style bootcamps to punish juvenile delinquents. Needless to say, many people are not pleased. So this is unfortunately the only context in which Germans know the word "Bootcamp." That and the straight-up military context, which is may even be less popular than the juvenile delinquent punishment camp idea. Suffice it to say we will be looking for another name. I'm kind of partial to something along the lines of MasterFlashClasses, or the Grand Masters of Flash Workshop. I will be taking suggestions here on my blog. Just submit your winning idea in the "Kommentare" (which means comments, sound it out) section. Prizes for winning answers!