Closing this down

As some of you may have noticed, I haven't updated this in like a gazilion years. Reason being is that it's no longer a Travel blog. I've decided to stay in Berlin, don't know when I'm coming back to Canada. No sense in maintaining a blog, when a vacation becomes real life. Thanks for reading, it's been a blast.

Last weekend, this weekend and next weekend

This was "the Halloween gang". After a Saturday of shopping for second hand clothes we could destroy, this was us with a bit of makeup and 26 oz of Gin .....

Romain was obvs a vampire, not sure what Amelie and Maxie were. I guess they were Fashion Victims of the 80's, you had to see the dresses! We added 2 puncture wounds on their necks and voila, their outfits were complete. I, of course, did not fit in. Nooooo, I always have to be different. So I decided to be a dead soldier, or more accurately, one who got killed by a shot in the back. Ironic since the party we went to was in an old Nazi building, that is now part of the Berlin Police headquarters, by Templehof airport, that used to serve to supply West Berlin with goods. Apparently, a plane used to land there every 90 seconds. There was no other way to get anything into the city. So ironic then, with all the military presence in this particular area, that I show up as a dead soldier. But then, my life is one gigantic irony.

This weekend, after a wonderful Kneipentour with School (think pub crawl, european style), from which everyone was too wasted ( I asked a girl if she fancied another girl, just because she didn't seem interested in my guy friend ). I also kissed (on the cheek, of course) all of my friends. I looooooved them so much. I really do, but I know I'm drunk when I start going on and on about it. LOL Tonight there's a cocktail party at Judith and Jan, who is my new best friend. I spoke to him for like 2 hours last night, in really rotten German, and he's slowly starting to correct me, which is good, because I'm starting to realize the mistakes that I'm making, whereas before, I had just no clue. I guess I'm progressing :-)

I also met a guy from Quebec who is starting at School on Monday. So cool to be able to speak Quebecois with someone. Mind you, I've really picked up this French accent thing. In any case, yet another new friend!

Tomorrow, should be a quiet day. I may try to go to church (I've been wanting every week since I got here, but Saturday nights are always too festive!) The problem is, too, that I don't really have a desire to go or need to go. I'm not feeling particularly close to God at this moment, not because I'm mad, but because I'm having too much fun and things are going well. But I also know that's when I should go. And that's when I'm actually probably closest. So, we'll see.

And then next weekend, I'm going to Weisenheim am Sand, a small village south of Frankfurt, close to Mannheim, to see Dominique and Florian and petit Paul. Dominique is the sister of one of my best friends, JP. We're all kind of here because of him. Anyways, super excited to see them, saw them last when I was in Frankfurt, 3 yrs ago. Dominique was pregnant to the gills, and now Paul is 3!!!! I take the train on Friday afternoon and arrive around 7 pm. It's going to be a nice train ride.

Then, at the end of the month, I'm off for 1 wk to Ireland. 5 days in Derry in Northern Ireland, then 2 days in Dublin. Super excited. Interpol is playing in Dublin the night I'm there and seeing that the show is ausverkauft in Berlin, might try to see if I can get in there!!!! Mind you, I may just do scalpers in Berlin. I'll have to ask my Berliner friends how safe that is and what the consequences are. Don't want to get kicked out of the country early :-)

So that's it. I have one more week of school and then it's going to be pretty weird to not see everyone. Maybe, I'll just go and hang out with them at their breaks and for lunch. Also, I have to help Romain find and apartment and a job.

My new motto: sleep when I'm dead.

Toco und TRESOR (again)

Tocotronic totally rocked my world. I didn't think they would be so good live, but they so were. Better than Neubauten, albeit in a completely different style. Highlight of the night : Aber hier leben, nein danke and Sag alles ab. They tore the house down. They opened with Eure Liebe tötet mich, which is my fave off the last album. Disappointed they didn't play Gegen den Strich and Imitationen, but what they did play, was fucking phenomenal!!!

Joined up with friends afterwards in the super long queue to Watergate. We then all got into cabs and went to TRESOR, wo gibt es keine Linie. I think it's the perfect place to go, because when you walk down that long hallway into the basement, and all you can hear is the deafening bass, you know you're in Berlin. I really love this place, particularly since they don't make a fuss at the door :-)

Berlin, endlich zu Hause.

Neubauten

Blixa got old and fat. But he also got a lot funnier.

I'd cut off an arm to join this band. Seriously. Mind totally blown.

My new baby, a burlesque show and the Russian Mafia.

My new baby. She comes from the Czech Republic and we're about the same age :-) She sounds amazing and feels great. Bought a small but more than capable amp and I look forward to start "the band", which we've yet to do. We're waiting on Judith to tell us what she wants or thinks she can sing. Did I mention she did 10 yrs of opera singing? And there's also Amelie who's studying to become and opera singer. Wow, lots of artists around me.

I found a cheap drum set for Romain and we're going to check it out tomorrow. It belongs to the guy at the music shop where I bought my guitar. His name is Stevo, really cool dude, easy going, not pretentious at all, which is what I was looking for. His store is Central Music in Kreuzberg, on Oranienstraße. Totally worth it. For those who are looking ;-)

On a more sour note, we got refused entry at Berghain last night. I was so pissed. I told the doorman to fuck off. I vow that I will return and this time get in, and then proceed to pee in every corner, then leave. If I still feel that strongly about it in a couple of days. Like my friend Ivan says : if they don't have time for me, I don't have time for them. It's a bit how I feel right now. But I don't like to be defeated.

Tonight is Einstürzende Neubauten, so excited. Will go and meet up with some friends before in the Tiergarten. It's such a nice day today, first in like a week. And we're due for another 2 days of rain and cold. I'll admit it, it's cold here. Hadn't realized they get the cold siberian winds. Mind you, shouldn't be any different than an Arctic wind blowing over Alberta.

Last night we went to a Burlesque show at my new favorite bar, CCCP. I believe it's run by the Russian Mafia (or so I like to think). The show was so-so and everyone that came ( I think there was 8 of us )  had no idea what a Burlesque show meant. (For those who don't know, a burlesque show is like a stripper show, but they don't get completely naked and it's all about costumes and fantasies. Girls are typically heavily tatooed and not your typical Playboy bunny. Think Suicide Girls without showing their nipples).

I just assumed everyone knew what it was. Judith was seriously offended, I felt bad. I also felt bad for the guys, cause the girls on stage looked a lot like dudes (it didn't help that there were two trannies walking around the bar before the show). Suffice to say that the guys all felt a bit awkward and Romain kept saying "there's something weird about this place". I think it rocks. Laura, our new friend from England said it looked exactly how she imagined a Berlin bar to look like. Which is soooo true. Louis XIV sofas, with red velvet lamps, soviet machine guns on the walls, gold skull light fixtures and stuffed animals on the tables (a badger even had a cigarette in his mouth!). You have to see it to believe it. And the girl at the door, Bettina, who is a French mulatto girl could've been cast as Josephine Baker. She's a talent agent/scout and is going to hook up Romain with some work here in Berlin. I kid you not. This has been kinda what my life's been like for the last 2 weeks, somewhat of a very freaky Lynchian movie. I wonder why this kinda stuff doesn't exist or doesn't happen back home?

I'm almost at the 1 month mark and now it's starting to go too fast. I kinda don't want this to end, as I'm getting closer to friends, and no closer to figuring out why I'm here. I also think I'm starting to crush hard on a girl, which is totally messing me up ...

My new favorite word and linguistic ramblings

Anyone that knows me, knows that I'm a sponge when it comes to languages and accents. Therefore, as most of my friends here in Berlin are French, I've almost completely lost my Quebecois accent and have shifted to a more Parisian-type. So I say things like "putain" a lot instead of "fuck", and "énorme" which equates to "massive" and "major" in British English (we don't really use these in North America). As well, as a lot of our peripheral friends come from other countries of which we do not speak the language, my English is becoming increasingly broken, so as to make it easier for the listener to understand (or so I think). So I'm saying things like "How long you stay at the school, here?" or "How long do you stay in Berlin?". Ot the funniest is that I've picked up a French accent in English, saying sings like "ze School".

I am such ..... a freak.

In terms of my German, it's really progressing, which is such a relief, as I thought I'd be in Kindergarten forever. So I have a new favorite word, which is "genau", meaning "correct". So when someone is talking, and you agree with them, you say "genau" as a way of acknowledging what they are saying. However, Berliners use it to excess. So we (our clique) have started using it as a running gag, for just about anything. I tried to explain to my European friends that it's kinda like saying "that's what she said", but that just flew waaaaaayyyyy over their heads. True, without having seen "The Office", that's a hard one to appreciate.

So tonight was Stammtisch again (like every Monday) so we met a new crop of students. Looks like there's a new guy called Simone (pronounced Simoné) from Italy who will be joining us. He better learn French fast, otherwise it'll be boring for him. He's here for 2 months, so he'll join the clique.

Oh, and I got a pre-paid cell phone, which only works in for calls in Germany. That sucks, because some of my friends have a French number, so I can only text them, which is ok. I'm just using it as a way of coordinating where we meet next. In case anyone would care to call me on it (I'd prefer to use Skype or email, but sometimes, a quick hello is nice to get :-) its +49.1577.267.3692

Alright, bed time, school at 9 am in the morning.

Street Art und Les Copains

Ok, so Berlin is THE grafiti capital of the world I would say. Basically, they change on a daily basis. I live across from a vacant field in old West Berlin that used to be a bit of a No Man's land, by the wall. In any case, on a daily basis, I get to see Berliner Street Artists in action.

So the "bear" wasn't there yesterday. And I'm hoping he'll stick around for a while, but most likely, someone will paint over it soon enough. I swear to God, Kreuzberg reeks of spray paint. But it's so cool, to see this change on a daily basis. There is so much creativity and it's kinda great that Berlin let's it happen.

On a different subject, as I may have mentionned before, I've made some friends, and the core group is Francophones, but to that, we've made some German friends. So, let me introduce them a little bit.

The core:

Me.
Adrien. And he often brings Julna, who's from Lebanon. Adrien and I have very deep and complex conversations.
Romain. And his friend Amelie, who is West Berliner. We're becoming fast friends. I kinda have a crush on both ...
Judith and Jan. Jan is such a nice guy, and Judith is the ultimate French girl. I absolutely love her.

Then, there's Gülçin, who's Turkish, but was born and raised here. She tells it like it is. I also absolutely love her. She's so funny and speaks with a Brooklyn accent.

Then, there are Jan's friends, Max und Christian. Christian wants to take me to his village to show me what rural Germany is. He's from Brandenburg. No, not the state, but the village. As in Branderburger Tor (The Gate to Brandenburg). It used to be a very important place in the countryside.

And Max insisted we find a nightclub to go dancing. And so we did. Til 5 am. I know, early for Berlin.

And beyond that, there have been people in my classes. Some have already gone, but some will be here for a while. There's Dai, from Vancouver. He's my connection home. Nice guy, very committed to learning the language. Always offering a word of encouragement.

Then, there was Berglind, my beauty from Iceland. She is such a character. She left the school to go back and work at Icelandair, but she'll be back in a few weeks. Hopefully she'll stop in to say Go∂an Daginn.

So, that's it. Tomorrow we sleep, but the plan is to meet at White Trash Fast Food for dinner and whatever. We'll see. Julna wants to go "en boîte". On Sunday, I'm thinking of going to Potsdam, the former royal residence. It's but an S-Bahn ride away. I also have to get a "handy". I'll have to figure that out. And also get instruments. We're starting a band. Watch out Berlin.

Oh, and my German's coming along in strides. Of course, I make lots of grammatical errors, but Amelie told me that in Berlin, most people don't care. I keep getting corrected, however, for using the "formal" Sie (plural form of "you", used for formal situations or old people. They drill it into you, as the best way to speak in German). Jan, in particular, corrects me about that. Ich muss "ihr" benützen. I think that's so toll. Super porno.