Balkan-Hop and I'm Getting Dumber by the Minute

Yesterday started out bad because I was just not capable of thinking.

First, I decided to make a folder on my Mac with a copy of all of my favorite music to share with my friends. I changed my mind and deleted the folder, thinking I was deleting the duplicates; then I emptied the trash to make room on my hard drive. When I went to listen to the Smiths I discovered the iTunes link was broken, as was the case with every song I liked. It took me about 2 hours to recover all the music from my ipod.

Later, I decided to hand wash the jeans I wanted to wear out. When hanging them from the radiator didn't make them dry quick enough I thought of the most ingenious idea. I remembered reading that when electronics get wet you should put them in the refrigerator, so I figured I could dry my pants by putting them in the freezer. Not so. They were rock solid and cold. I still wore them out, but it was not pleseant.

Last night I didn't go to the theater like planned, but the people I was going to go with invited me to go dancing with them. We went to an abandoned warehouse complex in Friedrichshain where there's a dance party on Saturdays. They were playing Balkan-Hop and Latin music. There was supposed to be a band too, but they couldn't make it because they're being held by immigration.

Finally Update

Not too much happened so I'll give you the highlights of my week day by day:

Wednesday: At 6:30 PM I went to a bar for an event for NYU students to meet Germans. I made friends and stayed till 11:00 when the two Germans and I decided to get food, I wasn't home till 1:30AM.

Thursday: Went to a Justice concert (a French electro DJ duo). They were incredible and the crowd was really into it. Unfortunately the DJ that played after was awful and pun the same terrible techno I had been hearing everywhere.

Friday: Met with my new German friends and brought a pretty big delegation of American students. First we went to a diner where we shared 5 liter beer towers (I wasn't feeling well and couldn't fully appreciate them), then we went to Bang Bang Club. BBC is the first club I've been to here where they played music I like. I heard Le Tigre and the Smiths and a lot of songs I hadn't heard before but really enjoyed. Unfortunately I had a migraine and left by 1:45.

Saturday: Some Germans I met at a house party two weeks ago invited me to go see a play with them.

Officially German

Yesterday I got my passport back from the "Meldeamt." In Germany you need to register your location with the government and they note it in your passport. As you may be able to tell in the picture, they crossed out the "West Chester" part and wrote in "Berlin." What I'm excited about is the Berlin stamp that has the signature bear in it. Monday I go back to get my Perso, a national id card that Germans are required to carry at all times.

My weekend hasn't been to exciting. Thursday I went to a technoclub on the 15th floor of a hotel. Last night I went to a wine bar where you pay 1 Euro for a glass and then you can keep pouring yourself all the wine you want. At the end of the night you put as much money as you think is fair into a big bowl.

The English take a weekend in the country; the Germans take a country in a weekend.

Yesterday I went to Potsdam. It's a suburb of Berlin that was once a Prussian capital. It's mostly known for "Sans Souci," a palace that was built by a gay Prussian prince after his father had his boyfriend killed. He used the Sans Souci, which means "without worries," to host lavish parties where women weren't allowed.

Sans Souci

Something that used to be important but is now a movie theater.

"Culture is every other heartbeat of our life."-  Hans Marchwitza

Finally First Pictures

Well, I got pictures. I ended up starting my weekend plans earlier than expected so there are already pictures from Tacheles. It's known from Goodbye Lenin. Like I may have mentioned earlier, it's a former Jewish department store that was partially bombed out and was eventually taken over by squatters. Now it's an artist collective and nightlife spot where you can tour studios and drink.

My new bedroom.

My new institution of higher learning: Humboldt Uni.

Me acting cool at Tacheles.

The stairwell at Tacheles.

I have friends.

Chicks On Speed

Last night my friends and I went to see the band Chicks On Speed. They're a lot like Le Tigre, it's electro music but has a riot-grrrl feel. H&M was sponsoring the show because proceeds go to their AIDS charity, so we were really nervous that the club would be a bunch of 15 year olds. The audience turned out to be like Trash, the venue was like Don Hill's, and the music was like Cheeky Bastard- Uffie will play there next week (btw that entire description was for Mukai's benefit, the only one who can understand). At one point in the show, the band asked that some people from the audience go on stage to dance, so four friends and I decided to go, there were photographers there and we're not quite sure where these terrible pictures may surface. After the band they had an awful DJ who really pissed me off; he was playing these amazing dance songs but mixed them all to sound like non-descript techno, it was blasphemous.

My plans for the weekend:
Saturday: field trip Potsdam, take pictures to post
Go to Kunsthaus Tacheles, a bombed out department store that is now an artist squat and bar (see below)
Sunday: it's my friend's birthday so we're going to "Black Girls Coalition," a former squat that is now a club owned by a drag-queen from Brooklyn.

Squats are really common in Berlin, I can see two big ones from my balcony. Berlin always had problems getting people to move here; during the separation it was very undesirable for Westerners because you really couldn't travel outside the city, and after the wall came down, squats in former communist buildings were common because of the power-vacuum.

So, here's a video I found of Tacheles:

Fuck the Super Bowl, it's Super Tuesday!

It's finally Super Tuesday! The day that should determine who the next president is.

Sadly, I am undecided as to whom I would vote for if given the opportunity. Like Hillary said, I think it took a Clinton to clean up after the first Bush, and it will take a Clinton to clean up after the second. I would much prefer to see her in the White House over Obama. At the same time, I want Obama to win the primaries because I think he has a better shot in the general. especially if there's a moderate 3rd party candidate. Few Clinton supporters hate Obama, but I know plenty of Obama supporters who hate Hillary; additionally, his campaign work would be more enthusiastic on a grass-roots level.

I'm on my way to a Super Tuesday party now; my contribution is a litre of boxed wine that I got at Aldi for 99 Euro cents. 

I'll end this post with a picture taken last year of me hugging the man who was elected president 8yrs ago and now has an Oscar to his name. I know this is self-promotional and bragging on my part but isn't that what this blogging medium was made for?!

Finally home

So after two terribly bumpy flights I made it to Berlin. After being in Germany for only 2 days I have no doubts that this is home. I love New York, but it's not the same thing. I mostly realize how much I love this country when I find myself defending it to people who are only visiting. It's ok for me to call the people here Eurotrash, but when Americans say it sounds mean.

I would love to post pictures but I won't have good internet access before Wednesday so I'll end with a quick report of what I did today: I bought a bike for 10 Euros. We were walking near a flea market where 4 of my friends had just bought bikes for about 40E each. As we were leaving, a drunk guy came up to me, the only one without a bike, and asked if I would buy it for 15. I said no, so he said 10 and I took it. When I was leaving the lot I half expected someone to run up and yell at me for stealing their bike. Is it unethical to buy a bike if you're almost sure it was acquired illegally only 10 minutes prior? It's not like it would be returned if I didn't buy it.

Tomorrow I buy a lock and a helmet. (I also need a cereal bowl)

Promise to readership: When I get over jetlag and have better internet I promise to post pictures and more exciting, well written stories!