Micha peaced out today. (Night shift back in Erfurt.)
I am staying in Berlin until Tuesday.
Then it's off to NYC, SF, BS and finally SLO.
Oh well. Some photos for distraction.
Micha in Erfurt before Spain creamed Germany last week (after photo not provided)
Ostrich man made of sand (at a sand sculpture exhibit in Berlin yesterday)
Discovering the self-timer in Dresden's Frauenkirche.
TV sand mountain, Berlin
Making a difficult decision at Dresden's Sheune, one of those cafe/restaurant/venue/Biergarten/dance club places. Note the man in the wine.
It is crazy until you feel it too: Basically summing up my current existence. Thank you, toilet at Rosi's, for your poignant wisdom.
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.)
I picked up Boombox/Michael at the train station in Erfurt, full of the incredibility of it all- seeing a friend from San Luis Obispo, here in Erfurt? Wild! We cooked, went to a wine bar and then stomped around at Stadtgarten, where a band called Supershirt was playing.
After we had seen the sights of Erfurt, we caught a Mitfahrgelegenheit (ride) to Berlin. We met up with Alena, saw her new Friedrichshain apartment, met her new boy, went dancing at a place called Suicide Circus.
Alena's neighborhood is quite hip, and oddly enough is home to lots of young parents. I spotted a building covered in peeling posters and graffiti and assumed it was a club until Alena pointed out that it was a daycare.
Boombox: "Those are going to be some savvy kids."
Indeed. There was also a 10-cent vending machine selling, funnily enough, knives and candy. Thus the following photo sequence:
What could it be?
Knives and candy!
Ten cents? I've got that.
Just candy. That's boring.
Oh wow. So much is going on! More to come when I am not so distracted tearing Erfurt apart, washing laundry, touring the Cathedral, eating homemade tortes and/or drinking beer in front of the police.
I leave you with some unexplained images from Berlin:
So. Boombox is arriving in Erfurt on Thursday. We are going to go to Berlin and stay with Alena, which means we'll be dancing the $%@*!out of that town come weekend.
Suggestions??
This causes me to reflect upon previous days and nights of greatness, when all one needed was Simpler Times and a cool ocean breeze...
The good ol' days: Heather, Boombie 'n' me.
Crashing an Animal Collective concert in the wilderness.
Using Michael's jacket as a nose-warmer.
Up to no good: Cruisin' for a bruisin' in Morro Bay.
Weather warm, pool glacial: What to do?
Like moths to the flame: A lamp shop near the beach.
A strangely eerie sight.
A road trip too long: One too many of everything.
Ready to go home.
This has been, of course, just a foretaste of the adventure which begins this Thursday. Needless to say, ich bin gespannt.
A writer living in San Luis Obispo, Calif., Anna likes cuddly animals, electronica, human absurdity, espresso, infobabble, sweet dreams, bicycles, German, good stories and traveling around.
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