Long way to go

I've been here almost two months now, which is kind of hard to believe. The first week in Berlin was a little difficult, but I've been having a ridiculous amount of fun since then, and am surprisingly not homesick at all. I miss my family and some friends and Mexican food, but I'm really glad to be here and don't want to go back to Chicago.

What helps, perhaps, is that I've adapted to several of the small cultural differences that seemed so weird at first. There are a ton of other things I have yet to figure out and get used to, but here are some of the things I am cool with now:

- I don't reach for my returned change anymore from the cashier's hand when purchasing goods; cashiers set it down on a tray.
- I don't cross against red lights much.
- In restaurants, you pay the bill when it's presented to you, telling them how much you want to pay (round up a couple bucks for tip), instead of leaving the money on the table.
- I no longer look for light switches inside bathrooms, instead turning them on before I go in
- Most importantly: I can handle crowds better now.

The crowd thing occurred to me on Sunday night (well, Monday morning) at Beatstreet, a really fun occasional Sunday afterparty that sometimes goes until Tuesday. At the first one I went to shortly after my arrival, I felt kind of awkward. German crowds are different: there's more pushing than I was used to in Chicago. It's not rude here though, it's just how people get around, not just in clubs but on sidewalks too. At first it bothered me, until one day I realized it didn't. I'm not sure if I move through crowds differently now, but I don't even notice that much pushiness anymore.

Anyway, Beatstreet was a blast, an interesting juxtaposition between my first one and Sunday's. Also, I was there with a bunch of friends, and knew more people there, which was nice.

Going out in Berlin is quite cyclical, at least to hear techno. On weekends I have to pick between four or five DJs and musicians I want to see, but then everyone rests up on Mondays and Tuesdays, so nothing really happens until at least Wednesday. Thus I was expecting to not go out last night (Monday), but ended up doing something really different: I went to a rock show. I rocked out.

Someone I had met in Chicago a few years ago, a friend of Gabe's that I hung out with Sunday, was on tour as the lighting director of a rock band I had never heard of. He invited Atom and I to come to the show on Monday; since I've heard almost nothing but techno since I got here, I went for it. Turns out I didn't recognize any of Staind's songs, but that's ok, I still had a good time.

I'm glad I went, the whole experience was pretty awesome. We hung out by the tour buses before the show, drinking bad American beer (why go to Germany and then stock your tour bus with crappy beer?). Once the show started, I watched it from the lighting booth, which was the best spot in the house. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera, which I kicked myself for about thirty times. The soundboards alone were really sweet and made me want to photograph them, oh well.

Afterwards we hung out for a little bit, ate some catered cake, and stole a jar of peanut butter off the tour bus. I don't normally go for crunchy - I'm a smooth girl - but wow it was nice to eat Jif again.

Posted by j3s at 05:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Finally, a little downtime. The last thee weeks have been crazy, but fantastic. Basically, filled with non-stop running around various cities with friends, and then bringing them back to Berlin to show them around town. Everyone who came to visit seemed to really like it here, which is nice; I'm glad my friends from Chicago and New York understand why I love this city so much.

To pick up where I left off, Amsterdam was fun. It's not my favorite Dutch city (I really like Rotterdam for some reason), but it was great to explore again with a bunch of friends. We only had a couple days there, but that was long enough for me; I was surprised by how excited I was to get back to Berlin. We walked around a lot, shopped, ate (chocolate-covered waffles, conveyer belt sushi, amazing Indonesian), and giggled. Once again I learned that shopping is only fun for so long if you can't spend any money, but that's OK. I plan on hitting some thrift stores here in Berlin next week.

In Amsterdam I can't help but feel like a tourist, so I just went with it, which was fun. Usually when I travel I am quiet, but running around that city with a huge group of people, being rowdy and not worrying about anything, that was a nice change of pace. Then after two nights, it was time to go to Berlin.

Having friends here was pretty cool; it gave me an excuse to do all of the touristy things I had been putting off. In a week of hosting visitors, I went to the Brandenburg Gate, the top of the Reichstag, the top of the Fernsehturm, saw the Melancholie exhibit at the Neue Nationalgalerie, and headed an hour and a half south to the Bauhaus School in Dessau (pictures from that forthcoming).

It was also really fun to take friends out to the clubs here (Watergate, Panormabar, and a few other random places). When Atom, Nicole, Brian and I arrived at Arena at 8am Saturday and there was still a full-on party happening, they agreed that Berlin is an awesome place to be right now.

Most of my American friends left on Sunday; it was weird saying goodbye to them. For traveling with such a huge group for over a week straight, there was no drama. Everything just worked out. I thoroughly enjoyed everyone's company, and I think we all agreed it was the best vacation ever. I already miss them.

Kris stayed until Thursday before going back to London, which gave the three of us an opportunity to run around town more. One night we went to Nocti Vagus, a restaurant where you eat in complete darkness, and are served by blind waiters. I guess some people get very anxious in that situation, but I thought it was a lot of fun and enjoyed the experience. It wasn't even difficult to eat in the dark, though I suspect years of yoga has helped familiarize me with my corporal and spacial boundaries.

On Thursday afternoon before Kris left we walked up to Prenzlauer Berg, and I found an outdoor market by an old church that I am excited to patronize. It was small, about one stand each for cheese, bread, fish, wine, meat, and produce. But really, what more do you need?

After Kris left it felt a little empty here; that's when I realized I had been surrounded by old friends non-stop for three weeks straight. I do miss them, but I am kind of excited to get back into a routine: daily yoga practice, three hours working on writing and other projects, and an hour a day of language lessons. I bought a German workbook, which is helping a lot in conjunction with Rosetta Stone. I can speak in some complete sentences now instead of just blurting out what I want, though of course my strongest verbal ability pertains to buying food and eating out at restaurants. Everything in time, I guess.

Posted by j3s at 07:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm back from a week running around London and Amsterdam. I had an absolute blast, especially because I met up with a dozen friends from Chicago, New York, London, and Taiwan, but I was really surprised at how much I missed Berlin. I've barely been here a month and a half, but it feels like home. Strange that it happened so quickly.

My prepaid phone ran out of money on the first day I was away, and I only checked email twice in the entire week, so it was the most unplugged I've been in a very long time, probably since the month I spent in Ghana.

As opposed to the last time I was there, I really enjoyed London this time around. We stayed at Kris's awesome flat in Hoxton, where we met up with Nicole, Brian, Joanna, Tim, Sam, Jude, and Lauren. I also got to see Aidan, who lives in London, which was really nice because I hadn't seen him in a while.

I was a bit overwhelmed at first; it had been some time since I had been surrounded by a lot of people who have known me for a while. So I got very excited (and possibly a bit obnoxious), as well as loquacious, which was funny because as several people pointed out, my English had deteriorated a little. (Though after a week of talking to my American friends all day every day, it's back to normal.) We walked around a ton, rode the tube, shopped at some markets, ate a lot, drank a lot, and goofed off. So much fun.

While we were in London we went to a dubstep/grime night at Old Blue Last, where David Banner played. Saturday evening I went to the Tate Modern and saw the Albers and Moholy-Nagy and the Martin Kippenberger exhibits, which were both amazing. I also met up with Doris and Tony for the Alexander Robotnick show at Plastic People, which was a lot of fun.

Unfortunately, I got some really bad food poisoning or something on Sunday, so I spent a whole day in bed when I wasn't vomiting, ugh. I was better the next day, which was good because we had to fly to Amsterdam. The day I was sick I loaned my camera to Brian and Joanna, and will post the pictures they took on Flickr when they finish uploading. The photos I took in London are on my photolog, of course.

Next update: Amsterdam, once I get the pictures posted and a little more downtime. Friends are in Berlin until Sunday, and there is much running around to be done.

Posted by j3s at 09:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I've been here in Berlin almost a month now. At first it was exciting, then strange, then various permutations of fun, frustrating, somewhat comfortable, and increasingly more familiar. Now, on a sunny Saturday afternoon, I can look around and honestly say to myself that I am happy here.

To update the housing situation: we did find a new flat, not as nice as the one that fell through, but pretty sweet in a different way. For starters, it's a loft right off Rosenthaler Platz, which is very Mitte. The area feels similar to the Milwaukee North and Damen intersection in Wicker Park of Chicago. The flat is one huge room and a separate bedroom; I get the bedroom and Atom has the main room. We are subletting it for March and April, and the owner makes techno, so he left his turntables and records and stuff. It's really nice to live with a stereo again.

But the most interesting thing about this new flat is that a friend of mine from Chicago, Ben Goldberger, stayed here in this exact apartment when he lived in Berlin a few years ago. Such a small world.

Right now Atom is in London for DMZ, and to meet Rob, who is flying in from Chicago to visit; they'll both be back here tomorrow night. I woke up this morning to an empty apartment and realized how much I kind of miss living by myself. In my life I've had something like 25 roommates, but spent the last year and a half living alone for the first time, which I loved. So now I am enjoying a quiet flat all to myself, before I meet up with a friend tonight for dinner.

It's funny to think about how easily I am meeting people here, or at least, it's so much easier than when I lived in Sydney. Maybe it's because I'm at a very different stage of my life now than I was then; maybe it's just Berlin.

So yes, things are going well. Doris and Tony were in from London last weekend, which was great. It was fun hanging out with old friends again, and Tony's set with Karl at Berghain was a blast. We didn't even get to the club till 4am, and got called wusses for only staying out till 8am. That still kind of blows my mind. In Chicago, I went out more than almost anyone I knew - as a consequence of working at home and living alone, I had to go out every night or else I went nuts. I also stayed out later than most people (except the friends I was staying out till dawn with), yet here, I feel like a bloody amateur.

It's been a month and my sleep schedule is still so strange. I don't get tired till at least 5am, but I guess that works. A regular yoga practice helps with the (lifelong) insomnia, somewhat. My dreams reflect the strangeness of my biorhythms, or something like that. Rather vivid and intense.

Also, I've been thinking about Alicia a lot lately. I know there's a pretty strong chance that I wouldn't be here if it weren't for her. And while I love Berlin, I'd be in Chicago in an instant to have her back again. So, I guess I'm just feeling a bit conflicted, and kind of sad in an esoteric, unresolveable way. It'll pass. I am so lucky, so glad that she was in my life, and that her passing could inspire me to get off my ass and actually travel, like I have always wanted to do.

Posted by j3s at 05:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)