New York City is the greatest city in The World

You're probably thinking "But Chad isn't in New York City right now". Which is correct. So why am I talking about New York City? Because they have awesome tomato-salsa! No, not really. Because they speak English there and are nice to foreigners! Yes, although that really isn't my point either. New York City is cool because they have a 24 hour subway system. Subway systems are one of those enabling technologies that nobody cares about in and of itself but that lets you accomplish all sorts of cool stuff (like getting home safely from a jazz club after staying for the last set).

Tonight was my first night out in Berlin, so I went to a jazz club called B-Flat. It was a really nice club inside; the only downside is that everyone in Germany smokes. Including little babies. The band was good, and the German vocalist was even singing jazz standards in English.

Of course, like all good centers of nightlife, there was a middle-eastern restaurant on the corner where I went to eat the obligatory post-drinking shawerma. It wsa kind of a weird setup... the middle-eastern business shared a building with a fast-chinese-food business. While I was there I met a Dutchman that was fairly intoxicated and hanging out with his German friends. He was being obnoxious and constantly asking the Vietnamese proprietor of the fast-chinese-food counter if he had any sushi. Kind of funny actually.

Why is it that so many people around the world have a bad view of americans? All the dutchmen that I know are ruder than most americans that I know.

Then, I found out the hard way that the Berlin subway shuts down at 1am. I have composed a Haiku to voice my thoughts on the Berlin subway system:

Lame lame lame lame lame
Lame lame lame lame lame lame lame
Lame lame lame lame lame

If the berlin subway system were a work of art, it would end up in SF MOMA.

OK, enough about that.

I am an American. An American whose body is running on Sydney time. An American whose body is running on Sydney time in Berlin. Yes, I am extremely confused. My laptop says it is 8:30pm, my hotel clock says it is 4:30am, and my body says it is 12:30pm. I can't figure out whether I should be eating Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner right now. How does the infamous traveling salesman visit all of his cities and stay sane?

Tomorrow I hope to go out during the day and travel around the city. Perhaps traveling while the sun is out will give me a different perspective on the Berlin subway.