Long way to go

We're apartment-hunting again. The place we're in now was a February sublet only, and March 1st is next week, so the search is on. I was getting nervous; the Germans I talked to seemed to think it would take forever to find a flat, and they were concerned that we only had a week. I guess that's because all of the listings come out on Saturday mornings, and the flats are only shown on Saturdays.

However, we're not looking for a permanent home yet. So far, I like the whole sublet thing. Phone and internet are already set up, and I don't have to buy a bed or kitchen supplies. It's just much easier. And the sublets here are shown on a more flexible schedule than regular flats; we saw two on a Tuesday night, one of which I loved and we will probably move into next week.

The big news is, it looks like we are moving to Mitte. Friedrichshain is much cheaper, with a very collegiate feel: people hanging out all the time, dog poop everywhere, still a lot of squatters. But I surprised myself by wanting to live for a little while in a nicer neighborhood, with cultural things that extend beyond clubs and cafes. Maybe I'm just getting older, though I am only 28.

Plus, the place in Mitte is really nice. Well-maintained, recently remodeled, and with walls and walls of books (which made me swoon, since I only brought three books with me). Most importantly, we have a lot of friends coming to visit in the next couple months, some of whom will be needing a place to stay for an extended period of time, and it'll be nice to be able to give them a comfortable crashpad.

Funny though, I have a few German friends who I'd almost be a little shy about showing the new place to because it is so nice and we are paying a little more for it. (It's still ridiculously cheap by Chicago standards.) A lot people here seem to be really broke, and sometimes almost suspect of money. When Atom played at a squat bar on Monday, I tried to pay for my massive 1.50 Euro beer with a 10 Euro bill; the bartender sneered and asked if I had anything smaller. Of course, this was a breakcore party; there are more expensive clubs and such, like the one we went to our second night here to see Nick play.

I'm still having a bit of difficulty adjusting to the fact that I'm broke now. I quit my job three weeks ago and don't have a new one (note to self: start looking for more freelance writing gigs). In Chicago, I was used to having money and spending it on rounds of drinks and expensive sushi dinners without thinking twice. Here, I have to keep reminding myself that I am broke, partially because it's a difficult habit to break, and partially because even without a job I still have more money than a lot of the people I meet.

One of the reasons the clubs can go till the next morning or afternoon is because so few people work normal jobs in Berlin. Many are artists and musicians who can sleep till mid-afternoon and do their work at night. Others are on the welfare system, which is really different than the one in the US. It pays your rent, health care, and utilities, plus gives you 300 Euros a month for food, and you can stay on it as long as you want. Basically if you live cheaply, which you can do so easily and somewhat comfortably here, there's no real incentive to get off welfare. It's kind of no surprise to me then, that Berlin has a 20% unemployment rate. Not that I'm complaining; I didn't come here to get a job.

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Update: We didn't get the sweet place in Mitte. Damn. Back to looking...

Posted by j3s at 01:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I really like it here. Moving to another country is never easy, but I'd say we've had a pretty soft landing, even if most of the people I know here are out of town right now. I have a poem incubating in my head about how learning a new city is like learning a new language: you create small islands of knowledge, gradually increase their size, and then a bit at a time link them together.

I'm starting to settle into a good routine. Wake up around noon, make coffee, do some freelance work. Then spend the rest of the afternoon working on pictures, poems, and other writing. Run a few errands/explore the city before/as it gets dark out, and then come back home to do an hour of yoga.

Yoga has really helped a lot. I messed up my back pretty badly a month before I left Chicago, and traveling to London and here, hauling luggage, only made it worse. So I've been taking care to practice some yoga every day, and it's really helping. Not just with my back, but with overall well-being. Transitions can be emotionally difficult for me, but yoga and daily meditation help me stay centered and grateful.

I am so lucky: I know this. I love living here, I am doing something I have always wanted to do, and get to be in an amazing city that might not ever be the same again. Now definitely seems like a great time to be in Berlin: so much good music, art, and people, there's just energy in the air, even when it's gray out. I know, I am still in the "very excited to be here" phase and will probably end up bored and jaded, but I hope not.

Posted by j3s at 03:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Wow, it's sunny out! Today is the first day I've seen the sun since I arrived in Berlin. A lot of that is because of the jetlag and clubbing; until Monday I was sleeping so late that I'd get up just as it was getting dark - around 4pm. But mostly, Berlin in the winter is very, very gray. I took some pictures of my neighborhood yesterday afternoon that look like they were shot in black and white, but really they were full spectrum.

Speaking of clubbing, there is so much good music here it's ridiculous. We haven't stayed out past 5 or 6am, which makes us big wusses by Berlin standards. Friday night we saw Ricardo Villalobos at Maria, a huge warehouse club that reminded me of the halcyon days of Drop Bass rave parties. Two chill rooms, a main and second stage, even a small separate room where a Japanese couple made spring rolls to order. While there, this kid Philip that we met at last year's Detroit Electronic Music Festival recognized Atom, and the next day he had us over for breakfast (at 4pm), and then took us on a tour of the city.

For dinner we ate at a place in Prenzlauer Berg, a neighborhood that reminds me of Wicker Park: used to be "edgy" but is now expensive and gentrified, selling cool as a commodity. (As opposed to my neighborhood, Friedrichshain - still kind of dirty, very cheap, lots of squats and clubs.) Anyway, Weinerei, the dinner place in Prenzlauer Berg, basically charges you 1 Euro when you arrive. With that, you can drink as many glasses of wine and eat from the excellent vegetarian communal dinner they prepare, and when you leave, you pay what you felt you owe. Something like that would never work in the US, but they seem to be doing really well here.

After dinner we went to a long-running squat party, which was packed, and then to see Ellen Allien DJ. She didn't play as well as I've seen her previously, though she seemed to be having some equipment problems. Unfortunately, I didn't know that Baby Ford was playing that night as well, otherwise we would have gone to see him, but Philip told us how to find all of the good techno events so I'm not missing anything else unless by choice.

On Monday we got up early (10am) and headed to Potsdamer Platz to get tickets for the Berlin Film Festival, which started the day we arrived. Specifically, we wanted tickets for the world premiere of V is for Vendetta; after standing in line for an hour, we got them! The screening was at 10:30pm, and we arrived right when Natalie Portman did; I stood about 10 feet from her on the red carpet. Hilarious.

The movie itself was pretty good. Very Hollywood, but well-made. It hit you over the head with some way to overt symbolism, but I was entertained, and it made some good points. Afterwards we missed the last train (they stop running at 1:30am here except on weekends, when they run all night), which gave me an excuse to photograph the empty station. It made me recall the Ghost Stations that existed here when the wall was up; it's strange to think that was all not so long ago. I live in an area that was formerly East Berlin, and walking around, it's difficult to forget that so much has happened here.

Posted by j3s at 02:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I figured I should post some pictures of my apartment. It was really nice to come straight here from the airport and not have to deal with a hostel. We have this place subletted for a month, and then need to find another flat. Right now we are in Kreuzberg-Friedrichshain, and I like it a lot. I want to do some more exploring, but I'd be fine if we found another place in this neighborhood.

My room:

Atom's room:

Kitchen:

Living room that we never use, could be a third bedroom:

Did I mention that this place is huge? Our lobby hallway gives you some kind of idea; Atom is 6'8" and he looks tiny standing in it:

Posted by j3s at 09:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Last time I was in Berlin (about five years ago), it took me only three days to say "I could totally live here." Well, it's been three days since I moved to Berlin, and I can say I love it here. I'm done with most of the difficult stuff: we have an apartment, I got a cell phone, set up a wireless network, and found the grocery store. Three days and I'm already comfortable. Next week begins the routine: work on writing/poems for three hours a day (while Atom works on music), and learn German with Rosetta Stone for an hour a day.

It felt pretty good to pare down my possessions when I left Chicago. I kept a few things at my mom's house, gave a lot away to friends, and sold the rest. I came here with one small suitcase, a carry-on, and a laptop bag; everything I own right now fits into those.

When I moved to Sydney for six months in college I brought two huge suitcases, though one of them was full of 65 cassette tapes, about 60 of which were drum & bass mixes. No wonder I got sick of that music and got more into techno. Hurray for mp3's: they make travelling with music so much easier. I might buy some computer speakers and a sub eventually, but right now I'm just using my laptop's built-in speakers. They're kind of crappy, but fortunately I converted all of my classical CDs to mp3 before I left, and most symphonies and concertos sound better from my computer speakers than microhouse and electro.

Speaking of which, last night my friend Nick from New York was playing at a club here, Weekend, which was a lot of fun. The space was sweet: 12th floor of a corporate office tower, glass walls, good sound system. It would be a great place to see the sunrise, though we only stayed till a little after 4am. Apparently Berlin doesn't have very strict liquor laws, because clubs here can stay open all night, and the kiosks at train stations sell beer and Jagermeister.

I'm still a little jetlagged, but excited for this weekend. So much good music! Tonight Goodiepal, who records on the same label as V/VM (I love love love V/VM) is playing, which we might hit before going to see Richard Villalobos and ZIP. Tomorrow Ellen Allien is playing, and Sunday night is Dan Bell. Atom and I high-fived each other multiple times last night because: it's good to be here.

Posted by j3s at 06:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's 4am and I just finished posting pictures on my photolog from my last week in Chicago. I could post pictures from here and London, but I feel the need to tie the Chicago loose end. It feels really weird to be looking at pictures that I took last week in another continent. For years I was really into taking artsy pictures of rust, texture, urban decay, architecture, stuff like that, but the last couple months I've been all about photographing my friends.

I'm really lucky to have known and gotten close to such an amazing group of people. I'm jetlagged and thrilled to be in an amazing city, but I'll be overly sentimental for a second and just gush about how very lucky I feel to have such people in my life. Especially after last summer, which began tragic but ended up awesome, because it brought so many people together. People I had known peripherally for years became some of my best friends, and I realized I loved people I had drifted from very dearly, no matter how long it had been.

OK, enough of the mushiness, I'm not even homesick! Our neighborhood is rad, I remember more of my high school German than I thought I did, and I love my life. I just did something I have always wanted to do: quit my job to travel. I also know that I wouldn't feel as comfortable doing so if I didn't have the support of my awesome friends and family.

So, 4am, I should go to bed. Thing is, it was not abnormal for me to stay out till 4am on a Wednesday night when I was working in Chicago, and it's only 9pm there now. I guess I did miss a day of sleep travelling, and didn't really sleep for a weekend before I left. I'm so glad we have an apartment here that Atom lined up, this is so much better than a hostel.

Posted by j3s at 03:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi! I've created this site as a way to keep my friends and family informed of my travels. If you don't know me, some background: My name is Jesica. At the beginning of February 2006 I quit my job in Chicago, which was awesome - I was a technical writer for a software company and had been working from home for over three years - to travel extensively for a year with my best friend, Atomly. The trip has two parts: Berlin, and RTW (around the world).

Right now and until mid-July, I am living in Berlin, and travelling around Europe to visit friends in London, Paris, the South of France, the Netherlands, and a few other places. I don't have a job anymore, though I am doing some freelance writing for a month and hope to find more work. Atom is an electronic musician (techno, breakcore, jungle, IDM, and whatever else he feels like), and already has a few bookings here.

So to family and friends: we made it safely! Next time though, I think I'd fly to Berlin direct; we flew United to London and then took EasyJet to Berlin Schoenfeld, which wasn't as good of as an idea as it sounded. For starters, it was a really long exhausting day, and any money we saved on flying not to Berlin we spent in London getting around. It's crazy expensive there, though the fish and chips are delicious and the Jameson's is cheap.

When we did finally make it to Berlin, we crossed our fingers and hoped that the sublet Atom lined up for February would work out. And it did! I love our apartment: 20 foot ceilings, huge Eastern European architecture, a meat slicer built in to the kitchen countertop, and a bedroom bigger than my whole apartment was in Chicago.

Right now I just got up from sleeping 13 hours, which is nuts because I am a lifelong insomniac. Last night we got into our apartment around midnight, and walked around the neighborhood at 1am looking for a place to eat. A few blocks away we found a place where we got a tasty sandwich ("homus" and "falafel" are the same in any language), two big pizzas, three glasses of wine and a Coke for 17 Euros, with a ton of leftovers to eat for dinner tonight. I'm relieved Berlin is so much cheaper than London.

Anyway, it's dark out now, time to go explore the city. Chrise is working on a design for this site, so it'll be prettier soon (thank you!). More later, including, of course, many pictures on my j3s.net photolog.

Posted by j3s at 06:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)