Coincidences (coincidae??)

Last night I had planned to meet up with Janine, German au pair and good friend of Alena, with whom I spent loads of time in Berlin over the past year. She said some of her friends had unexpectedly come into town, and would I mind if three Swiss boys joined us? Would I mind? 
The funny thing was, I was the first one to arrive at the meeting point (Jamba Juice). Then came a gaggle of sharply dressed dudes rolling their r's and slaughtering their ch's, and I thought, I wonder if that's them. They sat down at another table and I spent about a minute hesitating to go talk to them, thinking, what if this is some other Swiss-German-speaking trio? Then Janine showed up and introduced us, and everything was all right. They said they had also been considering the possibility that I was Janine with blonde hair, since they hadn't seen her in a while.
After that silliness, we proceeded to Farmer's Market, where I hadn't been for several years. After getting a bite to eat, the boys wanted to play billiards, so in the quest to find a place to play we headed towards Downtown Brew, but were soon distracted by Bubblegum Alley, famous for its collection of chewing gum.

This disgusting deviation from SLO's pretty-perfect streets was all very engrossing to the Swiss folk. (One of them even pondered making such a wall in his own house.) Talking about something as familiar to me as Bubblegum Alley while speaking German was one of the trippiest experiences.
As it turned out, the part of Downtown Brew where you can play pool was closed, so we went to Native Lounge, which is kind of a snotty place but does have a pool table. There was a man there with an alligator named Spike who was doing a fundraiser for a wildlife conservancy foundation. The alligator was the sweetest reptile I have ever met, and didn't seem to mind us petting him or picking him up.

After that I had to run, because I was due at an Establishment Awkward Family Dinner, which I had spent the afternoon making punch with Kelly for. Dinner wasn't actually that awkward, especially once the punch began to flow, although at least one person was naked.

*    *    *

Speaking of the Establishment, I have had my interview at the house. Some of the questions I received were:

1. How do you feel about nudity?
2. Describe the last conflict you had with someone and how you resolved it sucessfully.
3. What can you contribute to the house?
4. Why should we pick you over any other applicant?
5. Why do you blog?

Tonight, votes are due by 5 p.m. and tomorrow I will know if I am 'in' or not. Not unaware of this, I have been hanging out there an obscene amount, even staying until 2 a.m. one night playing Settlers of Catan.

Oh God, I need to get in. I have invested so much time and energy and hope...if I don't get in I will be scandalized. Absolutely scandalized!

Slightly atypical in Berlin

At the breakfast table, oddly enough.

On my third trip to Germany's capital, I was free of the pressure to take pictures of the Reichstag and the Brandenburger Tor and the Dom, so I decided to capture things that were just plain interesting.

An anti-Capitalist march ("Die Krise heißt Kapitalismus").

Discovered amazing cafe called Kauf Dich Glücklich, complete with creepy stuffed fox guarding the door.

Erich in front of a sparkly store which sold, among other things, urban hipster outfits for infants.

My goodness. Trip to Berlin for my Final Seminar with the Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Procrastinators was saved by a certain half-Austrian kook. Thank God for Erich...

I strongly dislike being kept in large groups of Americans, which is what we always have to do at these seminars. I think after a year in Germany these people have sort of incubated and become more American than before (cultural incubation: has someone coined this term already?). I can't believe some people lived in Germany for a year without learning the language! And I can't believe the program leaders had to address the topic of alcoholism at the beginning of last week's seminar!! How humiliating.

I winced so much to hear people complaining to the organizers of their prestigious scholarship program. Perhaps it bothered me because I heard a bit of myself in their complaints: I was unhappy living in Erfurt for a solid 3 months myself (frigid temperatures, uninviting former living space, long commute, no internship possibilities in my field, loneliness) and I know I must have whined about it at some point to my friends, but I would never blame the people who flew me here, handled my paperwork and covered the bulk of my expenses. At least not loudly, to their faces.

We had another cultural trainer, like we have had at other seminars. And like we have done at other seminars, we drew on flip-charts, talked about German-American stereotypes, did role play exercises, slurped free coffee and didn't take things seriously enough.

(Let's talk about more positive things now)

I spoke a lot of Amerikanisch, which rang cheerful and sloppy in my ears. ("Like junk food that you speak," commented my freind Boombox once.)

We were guests at the Bundestag and at the new American Embassy. The American ambassodor to Germany greeted us and offered precious American commodities like Dr. Pepper and free water with ice cubes.

After the week-long seminar closed, I stayed with Erich in Potsdam, in order to hang out longer in the city.


(Like insignificant coincidences)

While getting lost in Berlin, we ran into Jens, from Aachen, who I stayed with during that last trip to Nord-Rhein Westfalen with Claudius and Daniel. He walked past me and I thought I recognized him, then dismissed it as impossible. Then he doubled around to ask me if there were any cool parties to go to in the neighborhood, and I ventured to say, "Haven't we met before?" and he said, "Don't think so." Then I reminded him that I stayed at his house in Aachen and that his name was Jens. That seemed to ring a bell.

The weird thing was, out of such an absurd coincidence came nothing of significance. We talked for a while and then went our separate directions. That was it.

(This sort of thing would never, ever happen in a film. In a film, it would have been Fate which brought us together. Something amazing would need to result from our encounter. We would have found each other for a Reason. But apparently, the cosmos just had coincidences to spare that evening. That was all. Like bakeries who toss out perfectly good bread at the end of the day.)

Enough. Gute Nacht, Berlin.