From Bach to Baader Meinhof

Yesterday I celebrated spring by going to see Bach's St Matthew's Passion (Matthaus Passion) at the Berlin Konzerthaus. I'd never been to the Konzerthaus before and was pretty amazed by how nice it was - huge chandeliers, plush red velvet seating and gold painted details everywhere. It really all felt a bit spiffy! lol

The concert was played by the Berlin Sinfonietta, the Berlin Kantorei and Berliner Madchenchor. The conductor of the whole thing (Sung Jun Park) looked really young too so I was pretty impressed!

The reason why I really wanted to go and see this concert was that I used to be in a choir when I was a kid and we sang this every year at easter - so I was feeling really nostalgic about the whole thing. I had read that the whole uncut version lasts for three and a half hours but doubted they would play the whole thing.

How wrong was I!?

As the whole thing just kept going and going, quite a few people got up to leave towards the end or just didn't come back at all after the interval (although maybe they just found better seats). I was probably about the youngest person in the audience but other people around my age were the ones upping and leaving - and I have to say that if I wasn't familiar with the music and feeling so nostalgic about the whole thing I might have started to get itchy feet myself!

Anyway, all in all I really enjoyed it! And it even made me want to take up the violin again - those violin solos are lovely!

I thought of going to the cinema afterwards to see Green Zone, but seeing at it was nearly midnight by the time I got out, I'd missed all the movie showings. Instead I decided to amble home, enjoying the warmer weather and taking time to look at the window displays on Friedrich strasse... Incidentally I got SOAKED on the way to the concert but strangely I was the ONLY person who was wet... everyone else looked at me and was like 'oh is it raining outside?' errrr YES! lol... obviously just on me though! lol

Sooo, when I got back, my housemate had just finished watching a boxing match (he looked shocked that I didn't know who had played - so I guess it was a biggie!) and was eager to go for a drink. So we went to his fave local called the Clash - a punk bar which was apparently the birthplace of the Baader Meinhof terrorist group!

My flatmate got so drunk that when we got home and he couldn't take his shoes off, he sliced them off with a kitchen knife! lol... Needless to say he was a little worse for wear this morning!

Well... yet again I'm loving these contrasts of Berlin - sublime Bach one minute punk terrorism the next! ;)

Till next time, over and out! :)

Here comes the sun! :)

Well I thought the day would never come - but here it is!! :) Berlin has broken into sunshine and carnival! I walked down Bergmannstr and felt the warm summer's sun hit my skin and I think my heart was skipping for joy! (Dorky maybe but you'd know how I felt if you'd been through the kind of winter we've just had in Berlin! ;) Cafes put their tables back outside and they were packed with sun worshipers sipping on coffee and soaking up the atmosphere. Musicians ambled down the street with saxophone and accordions in hand playing songs for money... and people were smiling... glowing with relief that the sun was here at last! :)

A couple of days ago my housemate told me about a cemetery further down the street where we live. He said it was well worth a visit because quite a few famous philosophers, musicians and poets are buried there. So I let the sunshine guide me and thought I'd go have a look. Well the place was beautiful! Spring flowers had pushed their way through the earth and I even saw a red squirrel!! I've only ever seen the grey ones before in England so I was pretty amazed. I took a picture to put up here but it didn't really come out - plus the squirrel kept running away from me! (Who can blame him!) Red squirrels have these huuuge ears that I don't think the grey ones have... so cute!

Well I didn't spot any names on the graves that I recognised but I wasn't really looking. I also need a couple more German culture lessons to know who all these people are. My housemate is Costa Rican but lived in Berlin since he was eight and seems to have a really strong sense of pride about German history (no not the nasty stuff) - the good stuff that no one ever hears about, like how a German explorer first discovered South America (I think) and was very peace loving with the natives before the Spanish explorers came and killed everyone off ... or at least something along these lines. Every time I talk to him he has another story to tell about a German philosopher and painter and how wonderful German culture is - so I guess he'd be a good teacher! :)

It's really hard to believe it was snowing just a couple of days ago! The only evidence of snow I saw was a little leftover pile of snow by a statue in the cemetery. Even with the warm weather it stood its ground. I love these contrasts. It's sooooo nice to experience seasons again after three years in Dubai!

Berlin kids are now legally allowed to make a noise

I came across a funny story about kids in Berlin now being legally allowed to make a noise. Apparently until recently 'child noise' was an illegal issue to be dealt with swiftly by the police.

BBC report: Berlin's children get reprieve from noise police

The story discusses how child-friendly Berlin is on the one hand and how apparently comically un-child friendly it can be on the other:

Two Faced
There are toyshops by the hundreds. And puppet theatres. Sweetshops. Playgrounds with terrific slides. Ice creams scattered with gummi-bear jelly sweets. Sledging in winter, cycling in summer, tree-climbing and swimming in lakes. But should a little child fall off her bike, passers-by will laugh out loud. No mercy will be shown to a young child who has lost his ticket on the train, and beware like Hansel and Gretel children, those tempting German sweets.
Your teeth must be brushed three times a day, or Croko the Tooth Cleaning Crocodile might just gobble you up.
Take my elder daughter, Lilli's, junior school. The reward for keeping quiet in class? The teacher gives out a balloon filled with freezing water, to burst upon the head of a fellow pupil of one's choice.
An ancient history lesson included a film so gorily violent that even the toughest 10-year-olds covered their eyes.
"That's what life is like," they were told.
There is the science mistress who carries a long cane to "tap" wayward pupils. Recent school outings have included an unscheduled visit to a nuclear bunker, and a film about the struggles of an abandoned girl given up for international adoption.

This story kind of reminded me of when I was a kid. My mum is German - although we lived in England and only spoke English, which I guess pretty much qualifies me as 'eine Engländerin'. Well anyway, as lovely as my mother is in so many ways, she can also be ... to put it mildly... somewhat abrupt (at times - sorry mum!). She will think nothing of launching head first into a personal assault about the way you or anyone for that matter looks, physical features and all - and in fact a few of her German friends, one in particular, are exactly the same.

As a teenager this particular friend (who bearing in mind my siblings and I only saw occasionally every other summer or so) would think nothing of throwing up her hands and saying, "Oh my god, you look awful today!" and then going into great detail about all the reasons why she hates everything about you (something an insecure teenager doesn't necessarily need to hear! lol).

So anyway, my point is that as an English kid, I used to be really taken aback by these things, whereas now having spent a bit of time in Germany I have come to realise that maybe this is a pretty normal way for Germans to behave (gotta love them!!) and it's not always meant offensively. On the contrary it's possibly meant as a sign of endearment - much like a nit-picking monkey...

No I'm not comparing my mother to a monkey... am I digging a hole here!? lol

1/4 of all Berlin kids in therapy

I went to German class today and our teacher was telling us that a quarter of children in Berlin are in therapy. And the reason? Too many computer games and tv.

I was kind of surprised by this. Whenever I walk around Berlin I'm always struck by how well balanced the kids seem. For the most part they come across as happy, intelligent and bright. I started wondering if the kids in therapy are either really screwed up or if the state is just stepping in 'to be on the safe side'.

If kids in England are anything to go by then maybe the Germans are on the right track. Walk around any town centre in England and you'd be well advised to steer clear of any groups of children - even really young ones - and if you walk past them then be prepared for a bucket load of swear words and a few bits and bobs thrown at you... Well I'm generalizing slightly here - but not much. I once got shot by a tiny six year old as I walked to uni in Manchester. I wasn't sure what had happened but it felt like someone had punched me in the neck. I turned around to see this tiny kid with a rubber pellet gun smiling with delight as I winced in pain.

Actually one place I've lived where teenagers are a dream is Dubai. I guess kids traditionally have a lot more respect for parents etc out there. Groups of teenagers would hang out in the shopping area close to my home playing the guitar, rollerblading or even walking around with pet snakes. They always seemed really contented and would smile at you if you caught their eye - and certainly never shout at passers by.

My teacher said she thought the reason why German kids needed therapy was because they didn't get enough playtime at a young age. Kids in Germany start school at age 6 and go home at lunch time. (Kids in England start school at 4 and stay until 3 or 4pm). She said that there are new rules in place to make it a legal requirement for kids to go to nursery school to learn basic language skills before they start school - hence the lack of playtime.

My teacher is of African descent and only moved to Germany when she was 13 (I'll share some of her interesting stories in a later post) so she knows a bit about cultural differences between kids in Germany and her home country. Back in Africa kids can simply go outside to play, she said, whereas they can't do that in Germany without an organized playgroup and supervision.

I was kind of surprised by her views on this matter as I'd always thought Berlin was such a great place for kids - sooo many parks, ping pong tables and basketball courts scattered around all over the place... I guess compared to the UK, Germany seems really child friendly but compared to Africa it doesn't come close... All down to perspective I guess.

Is it seriously snowing... AGAIN!?

Well even though I've spoken about the weather a few posts ago it was definitely turning into spring again! We had a couple of really beautiful sunny-ish days where I was almost tempted to head out for a jog! I've already told you about the MONTHS of snow that we had - which after my initial delight really turned out to be a major pain the arse... Seriously it takes you 10 hours to walk down the street, you can't wear cute shoes... and generally it's COLD and WET!

Hmmmm so after a really lovely couple of days - weeks even - I looked out of the window yesterday and was like 'what the heck!?' I couldn't believe my eyes - there was a thick layer of snow on the ground and covering the trees and roof tops.

Judging by all the horrified comments by my Berlin friends on Facebook, I know I'm not alone in thinking 'snow?... AGAIN??? Are you kidding!?'

I hope it doesn't stay for three months again this time!!

Crazy cabaret

Yesterday I went with a girl from my singing group to see the woman who runs our singing group perform with her band. They were playing in a really cute little venue called Schoko Laden (which incidentally is a really old performing venue now sadly under threat of closure). There were three performers in total and let's just say - it was an experience!!

The first performer was an Israeli sex worker/poet/journalist who proceeded to strip naked, stick a fire cracker up her arse and then wiggle her bum around as the sparks flit up the room! Interesting! lol

The second performer was also a spoken word/poetry performer - a guy dressed in drag who strutted round the small room screaming at audience members and generally being quite scary. A couple of points during his performance he came close to where I was sitting and I started getting worried he might make me stand up and do a couple of cart wheels in front of the audience. As it happened he settled on a woman in front of me to whom he leaned in close and suddenly let out an ear piercing scream (with a terrifying look of pure evil) before stroking her hair and saying how lovely she looked... I wasn't convinced he meant it! ;)

After he finished, the Israeli woman came back to the stage wearing a big baggy skirt. Then she sat down, leaned back and spread her legs akimbo to reveal ALL (I thought we were going to get one of those infamous ping-pong ball shows!) as she read a poem about how she was far more than a sex worker - she was also a writer and a poet. After that she donned a jilbab (the Muslim woman's head cover) and stripped the rest of her body naked again to reveal drawings of the different Middle Eastern countries. Then she danced around to the song 'Do you want a piece of me?'

I have to say that despite the initial gasps of shock, it was a very though provoking performance! It's always nice to be challenged - and this performance certainly did that!

Well then our singing group girl and her band came on and were really good. They sang a great little song called Windows which my friend was a huge fan of (kind of a Chicks on Speed type song - I'll try to get a link up!)

After they finished the other guy came back again. He was also pretty good I think. I'm a sucker for poetry so I found it all really interesting! I think he must have been a leo because he just didn't want to get down off that stage! After being told time was up and the venue had to close, he started arguing with the venue's manager and eventually asked people to join him in the bar afterwards... so a group of us sat around as he went through his notebook and read all the poems he could find - even the ones he hadn't finished yet. Eventually his friends got up to leave and shouted at him that he was going to miss the last u-bahn (tube). He didn't seem to mind though...

I really enjoyed listening to his poetry and was really glad I'd gone to the show!












(This picture is from another night but it gives you an idea of how cute the venue is!)

Trivial Pursuit in German!

The day after the art shows, I was invited round to a German friend's house for an afternoon of games. This turned out to be two Germans and three of us terribly useless English-type people (me from England, one from America and one from Aus). And the highlight? The game was in German!

Well anyone who's a regular player of Trivial Pursuit will know that even in English it's hard to get the hang of all the questions, so German was a challenge to say the least! At the 10th 'who was the third German foreign minister twice removed's cousin, living in a hole' type question or 'What German football player once did a backflip in honour of x, y and z', us English speaking people were pretty much just pretending we knew what was going on.

Thankfully we split into teams so the nice German people could give us all most of the answers! ;) However, I'm pleased to say that I DID know a couple of answers to the non-obscure questions and even managed to get my team a cheese! Wohooo!! :)

Anyway, I am feeling much less mopey and a whole lot more sane after the art shows/cocktails yesterday and games today and generally just spending time with such lovely people. Sometimes all you need is a bit of perspective!

Art and cocktails

Well just as I was sitting around moping at my horrible misfortune at living in such a lovely place and not feeling as great as I wanted to feel about everything, I suddenly end up having a really fantastic few days!

Sooo well firstly, on Friday evening I went with a friend to the opening of an architectural exhibition. The free vino always makes these events go with a swing! :)

As per usual I arrived horribly late and only heard the tail end of the architect's talk - apparently there were a few talks and they were all very interesting! There was a huge crowd there - more than was expected judging by the fact that the wine kept running out and they had to keep running out for more.

It was actually two exhibitions in one - the first being a mixed exhibit about several prestigious buildings like the New York Times building and the Scottish houses of parliament. It was quite interesting to see all the little scribbles and diagrams by the architects. Apparently the main speaking room in the Scottish houses of parliament is designed so that the light exactly hits everyone in their chairs in exactly the right place - all very interesting!

The other exhibit was about a new plan to build a community area by the Brandenburger Tor round the other side of Pariser Platz. Right now it's pretty much just a traffic island and Pariser Platz is basically a bunch of banks and embassies with a Starbucks thrown in for good measure. Well judging by the fact that this is one of Berlin's biggest tourist pulls, I'd say a 'people place' sounds like a great idea! They are going to build seating areas etc which sounds good...

Anyway, after that we went to a really cute little cocktail bar. I can't remember the name but I think it was pretty close to Senefelder Platz - possibly on Kollwitzstraße. One thing I really like about Berlin is the way that 20 years on, the GDR has become a really sexy phenomenon. Suddenly it's COOL (in caps!) to have a sexy GDR stamp in your passport (you can get this done as a tourist attraction by the Brandenburg Tour) or to go to a GDR disco or bars that look like old GDR living rooms - the fogey old 70s furniture and patterned wallpaper. I happen to love this look! So needless to say I loved this cocktail bar. My friend and I were just cooing about everything. Even a after a trip to the toilet we were like, wow, that was soooo nice! Crazy right!? lol

After our cocktail we went to another exhibition by an artist who takes pictures of light shows. It was also the opening night and was a pretty cool event. For starters it was housed in an old swimming pool - with pictures displayed in old lockers and candles everywhere - really cozy (the health and safety moguls in the UK would have had a field day! ;) ... So they turned all the lights out an this guy starts waving around florescent Star Wars stylie wands and taking pics with a really low shutter speed to capture the full effect.

We didn't get to see much of this as there were too many people in front of us. But the general ambience made this well worth the visit anyway. My friend was a bit disappointed that the exhibition wasn't in the actual swimming pool. I guess even the German health and safety folks have their limits... It would have been nice though!

Should I stay or should I go

Well I probably should have written at least three posts since my last one, so I guess I'll do a couple of micro blogs instead of writing about everything all in one giganticus essay! :)

Soooo... well anyway maybe the biggest thing I was feeling last week is that although I loooove Berlin, I was starting to feel really under the weather and just generally a bit fed up with everything - like the struggle to get freelance work and also feeling like a big huge Billly no mates at times. Don't get me wrong, I've met some really lovely people since I've been here but on the other hand, at this stage in my life (well that would be the ripe old age of 30! ;) there are certain things that I would like to achieve and obviously that's not going to happen If I'm out partying every night. The flip side of that is that because I'm staying in a lot and working on my book etc, I'm not really experiencing Berlin in the way that it's meant to be experienced.

Well that just got me thinking that If I'm not experiencing the full extent of Berlin's wonders, then maybe I shouldn't be here at all! Is that a nuts or defeatist attitude to have? Hmmm...

So anyway, I am kind of thinking should I just move back to Dubai at least until I finish my book and get my freelance career of the ground?

Perks of Dubai:

• Lovely boyfriend who I miiiiissss!
• Sunny weather.
• No rent (lovely boyfriend ;)
• I could take up scuba diving again.
• I could set up a German group to keep up with my language progress - could be fun! :)
  

Why Dubai would suck:

• Horribly sunny weather - like stepping into an oven yanked up high.
• Nothing to do other than go to bars and drink - even though this is technically illegal without an alcohol license and could get you thrown into jail.
• Any 'activities' that I would like to do such as taking an art or language class cost astronomically high prices!
• Would like to do some sort of volunteer work but when I tried this the last time I lived there I was told flat out by several local charities that they already had far too many volunteers - obviously there are either far too many Jumeirah Janes (otherwise know as wealthy white Western housewives) with time on their hands or other similarly conscientious or even not so conscientious people who are despairing with the fact that there is absolutely nothing to do in this place... hmmmm now how was that for a rant!? ;)
• Most of my friends either moved away just before I left or since I left - hence could end up being a big Billy no mates! ;)
• You're always looking over your shoulder - will I get jailed for giving my bf a peck on the cheek, will someone dobb us in for living together etc. The consequences for seemingly normal things by Western standards can be huge!
  

Reasons to live in Berlin:

• Berlin is one of the most beautiful places I've seen in my life... and I've seen a lot of places! :)
• Intellectually stimulating environment.
• Loads to do - everything I've pretty much ever even vaguely considered doing is on the menu here - singing, dancing, yoga, eye yoga, singing yoga - hey you could even strip off and dance around with fire cracker up your arse (as I saw yesterday and will tell in another post - and no that's not on my to do list!! lol).
  
• I've met some really great people here (interesting, fun, intelligent) and it would be great to stay and get to hang out with them some more.
• There's nothing like Berlin in the summer - the place really comes alive. Would be really sad to miss that!
  
• Beautiful cafes and libraries that you can work in or just read a book and spend a really lovely day.
  

Reasons not to live in Berlin:

• Too many distractions.
• Sometimes I wish I had some old friends lying around. Would be so lovely to have my bf here and just be me without all that getting to know you type of conversation. Sometimes I look around me and am so amazed by this beautiful place but on the other hand it's easy to feel lonely too...
  
• Right now it's cooooold!!!!
  
• I feel like there's no point being here if I'm not experiencing it fully.
  
• I feel like maybe I would get some more work done in boring old Dubai!! lol... hmmm
  

Well I guess all in all the benefits of living in Berlin clearly outweigh the benefits of living in Dubai. Maybe I just need to sit it out... I guess those fleeting feelings of isolation really come with the territory of being an expat and moving to a new place. I know it won't last for ever. Maybe all I need is a good old moan! ;)

Sing song

I've been going to a little community choir which has been a lot of fun. Actually it's an English language choir but I've still got to meet some very nice Germans there. We went out for drinks last night for the first time and everyone seems really nice. I guess community choirs are a big thing in England so this is the emergence of that in Berlin - and it's set to be huge! Every week more and more people turn up so I guess the idea is really taking off. What better way to get to know people than through a good sing song!? And not a classical 'let's get this Mozart piece absolutely perfect' sort of way but just a very related sing your heart out, haphazard sort of sing song. Great stuff!

Anyway, we went for drinks afterwards and I was talking to a girl there who said she does 'on the spot feminist poetry' which I thought sounded pretty cool! She said she was doing it in a group and apparently someone just points in your direction and you have a couple of minutes to just some up with whatever sort of empowering womanly poetry that comes into your head. She was also telling me about poetry evenings that they have in bars in Berlin - similar to the poetry live mic nights that they have all over London. I was getting super excited about the idea so will definitely try to check that out sometime!!

Anyway, I was thinking today about the powerful woman thing. Whenever I get down or my career isn't going the way I want it to go or things aren't working out in other areas of my life, the word that goes through my head to make myself feel better is just to try to be strong - ok I know how dorky that sounds right about now, but that's just what comes to mind! But anyway, I think the words 'powerful woman' sound so much more... well, powerful. (For some reason the word strong seems to conjure up images of just about hanging on in there for dear life - I guess it's just more of a passive word)

So I was thinking very generally about the powerful woman thing today and whooosh! I got sooo much work done I was pretty amazed - five freelance story proposals sent out, rang round a few magazines, worked on my German vocab, read some German magazines, sent off those emails I'd been putting off for a while... I guess they're only words but your inner dialogue can have a bit effect!

Brrrrr!

Hello amigos, well the weather in Berlin has taken a sudden turn for the worse. After getting super excited with the feeling of spring coming it's suddenly gone freeeezing cold again. Yesterday it hailed and snowed and the ice started to gather on the pavements again.

For anyone living in Berlin this is a major bummer. For the last couple of months the ice on the pavements has been so thick you could literally ice skate along - the downside being that it took you ten hours to get anywhere at all and you were very likely to fall flat on your face at least ten times during any given journey. Apparently my arrival in Berlin sparked the worst winter since 1972, so yay! ;)

On the upside it was pretty adorable to see the ways that Berliners change when the snow comes. People just drag their kids along on sledges for example. They literally pack their toddlers on a sledge and trot off like so to the shops or to nursery school. Really cute to see!

On the issue of falling over, I once went for a coffee on Friedrichstrasse and took a seat next to the window. I'm not sure if my aura was to blame but ten people in a row fell over outside right in front of where I was sitting. It was literally like, whoomph!... wait a second... whoomph! And then I left the cafe and fell over too, so there to me! ;)

Pixie feet

Bonjourno amigos! Hmm was that half Italian and half Spanish?

Well I made a pact with myself to write one blog entry every day - provided of course I actually have something worth writing about. I didn't write one yesterday, so here's a rundown of nice things I spotted around Berlin today.

I woke up nice and early and headed to a lovely little cafe for a coffee and a quiet perusal of my emails. The whole cafe was filled with single women doing the same... odd that. I wonder if there are more women than men in Berlin?

After I finished up my milchcafe und Kasekuchen, I headed off to German class on the u-bahn and saw this great little busker in the station really giving it his all. He was sitting there in the walkway of the station putting his whole body into his guitar and singing at the top of his lungs followed by little bursts of laughter.

A few passers by had stopped to watch and also seemed to be really getting into the performance. One guy was filming him with a camera and the others were grooving in time with the music. Just as I was thinking how lovely it was that this guy was so into his song, I turned the corner and saw some people heading towards me who had just got off the train. They hadn't seen the busker yet but could hear his music.

One girl/woman was so excited by the music she was hopping from foot to foot in time with the song as she walked along - and I mean right on the tips of her toes like a little pixie. As I walked up to the platform I felt like it was one of those ahhhhhh, only in Berlin moments. What an invigorating start to the day! :)