I’m hot, so I’m going to write about it.

And if only I were referring to my appearance.

IT. IS. SO. HOT.

A very important thing to keep in mind if you are considering the merits of a life in Germany, is that they have a bit of an aversion to air conditioning. Up until the last week, I have had little to no problem with this. I love our air conditioner at home, but Wisconsin in the summer is basically like taking a steam bath with 82377237712 mosquitoes. To this point, it’s been if anything, a little cool here. And it’s rained every day. Which has not been ideal summer weather, to say the least.

But, my God is it hot this week. 

And there is no escape. 

Germans love fresh air. That’s great. Wonderful. Even at home, I am more likely to drive around with windows down than have the A/C on. But… it’s an option. Now the option has been taken away from me and I do not like it one bit. My ugly American side demands it’s right to sit in a frozen pool of artificial air. I’m sure they’re right, and that it’s unhealthy for us at home to go from 95 degrees outside to a cool 68 inside. But as we all know, (at least where I live, I would not dare to generalize the whole country. ahem), it’s perfectly normal to leave your air-conditioned house, step into the outside world, climb into your air-conditioned car, step into the outside world, walk into your place of employment and enjoy it’s air-conditioning for your entire work day. It’s pretty easy to avoid the outside world if you want to. 

I’m currently sitting in my flat with the door and the window partially open. I was hoping to get a breeze from the storm that rolled through earlier, but it barely rained. We got some more sweet lightning action, but few drops seemed to fall. It got black as night, so I was expecting some serious stormage, but maybe later tonight. 

I’ve barely slept the last two nights as I have major issues sleeping when I’m really hot. And then I wake up, and have to figure out what to wear that will be somewhat cool, is still work-appropriate, and won’t show any possible sweat. News flash world: ladies don’t glow, they sweat just like the gentlemen and the horses. And it’s gross. Despite my best efforts, it seems to be unavoidable. Because unlike climbing in and out of my car to transport myself, I have to do some serious commuting to work every day. The company that I teach in isn’t all that far away, but it takes me about 35 minutes to get there. Additionally, the buses run at really inconvenient times so I’m either 20 minutes early, or late. I have to leave my flat about an hour before my first class, just to make all my transfers. But before I even get to the bus, I have to take a tram, and an U-Bahn. Then the bus, then a short walk to the company. Basically, it’s impossible not to break a sweat running from/to assorted forms of transport while carrying my heavy bag with books and the bag that I carry the CD player in. And trying not to fall out of my shoes, which are also hot and gross. And the company only has A/C in some of the rooms, but I don’t think I teach in any of them.

All around, it’s unpleasant. It’s also too hot to eat anything but ice cream cake. At least that’s my excuse.

I met up with one of my Sprachduo girls last night, and last week we had discussed how I wished it was a bit warmer here in summer. She told me that next time I make a request, I should probably be more specific. I daresay she’s right.

So the moral of the story is: if you want to move to Germany, there are many wonderful things to see and do here. But you might get toasty doing them. And then not be able to escape the toasting. It occurred to me tonight that I should just go to Cinecitta (since I was already in town), and just buy a ticket for the next movie showing in English. The theater has to have A/C, doesn’t it? DOESN’T IT??