Literatur

Today I went to a reading on the occasion of the Literaturpreis Bremen award ceremony. It was pretty rad.

These dudes won:

I think the one on top had swine flu. Because he had a super nasal voice. But his book was still pretty cool...all about the interesting kinds of people you meet at the Zoologischer Garten in Berlin (the zoo, not the station!)

And the other one's book was about the son of a writer living in Paris who gets closer to his father's legacy by translating his works.

It was also a great chance to creep on Berlin's literati in all their corduroy-ed '68 glory. Lovely.
Must say good night for now, though...I'm going to Potsdam at 7 in the morning tomorrow!

A little bit of East and West Pt. 1

"East German photography was always the embodiment of a subjective attitude."
-Ute Mahler, East German photographer

(Rosa Luxemburg Platz)

Election Results...

Could be worse! Hehe...

Clubkultur Part One

I can't get this song I heard last weekend out of my head. I can't even describe how good the music was at this one club, literally the first club where I heard Uffie being played EVER. Teehee I'm such an embarrassing hipster.

This is the song that obsesses me so:
E Talking (Soul Wax)

MAGNET CLUB = AWESOME.

More Funny Political Ads

I'm not sure who this is for, but apparently Ernst Ströbele smokes up (does smoking narguile "count" in that sense, linguistically speaking??)

Eee...I'm still undecided about who to vote for!!

OKTOBERFEST!!

Well. Sort of.

I spent the weekend in Germany´s southernmost province, which, as you may have vaguely gotten wind of, is playing host to a little beerfest known as 'Oktoberfest.'

I didn't actually make it there, but instead spent two days with some family friends in the most idyllic little mountain village right across the border in Austria.

That's a real picture. It was actually that gorgeous.

But don't let the quiet bucolic charm of the picture fool you...people that look like this:

...are the craziest party animals that you can imagine. [Ed. Note: I guess there's not much else to do up in the mountains.]

I was even invited to spend the night by one of these fine specimens, but of course I declined demurely...my gut instinct about men in knee socks is rarely wrong.

Overall, I definitely left Munich with a brand-new perspective on the supposedly 'spießige' Catholics in Bavaria. Seriously, if Berlin gets boring I am totally pitching up my tent on the Wiesn.

[Ed. Note: No food porn, sadly. I forgot my camera!]
But check out this wicked souvenir:

Say hello to...

Kaiserbase

Food, Glorious Food.

Breakfast

Lunch

Dinner

Dessert
Vanille and Marille's toasted sesame-honey & caramel beurre au sel ice cream:

Social relations involving authority or cheese

I will be exercising my democratic rights for the first time ever on September 27, 2009, because Germany is holding federal elections.

The question is: who to vote for?

Of course, there are online quizzes:
Wahl-O-Mat zur Bundestagswahl 2009
(In German)

And there are books:

But still. I mean, I know I can eliminate the NPD, the Marxist-Leninists, the Grey Panthers and other fringe parties like the Partei Bibeltreuer Christen and 'Die Violetten - für spirituelle Politik.'

But Die Linke has become mainstream, largely because many Germans want troops out of Afghanistan (sound familiar?) and because the financial crisis-as-metaphor for the inevitable decline of capitalism has become something of a leftist rallying cry. Plus, Germany is generally fairly left-leaning, far more than, say, France.

They also have kind of badass ads ;)

I definitely just went there.

Unexpectedly, though, the Christian Democrats have also tried to sex up their ads:

(spiegel.de)
Caption: "We have more to offer."
This is so completely out of character that it is kind of awesome.

The Green Party has a sense of humour, too:

More on the other political parties later. But for now:
What would you vote for?
Tits or bum?

Ugh. Public Transportation FAIL

So...yesterday and today, the citizens of Berlin are even more pissed off than usual. And it's not because the price of beer has gone up.

No. It's because almost the entire S-Bahn network has been shut down. For repairs. Apparently, the city of Berlin forgot to install the brakes properly, or something.

Luckily, I don't have to use the S-Bahn to get to work or anything, but there are a few places in the city that are kind of tricky to get to if you can only use the U-Bahn.

We shall see. In the meantime, I'll be able to get up close and personal with the Berliners ;)

(Bild.de)

Mein Kiez

I live in a 30m² one-room apartment in Kreuzberg's Großbeerenstrasse, close to Mehringdamm station on the U6 line from Alt-Tegel to Alt-Mariendorf.

I also live near the Bergmannstrasse, which has a lot of delightful little international restaurants (more later) and Yorckstrasse, which has an awesome cinema:

Kreuzberg is Berlin's most famous working class immigrant district, and some say it has the third-largest Turkish immigrant population in the world.

Strictly speaking, though, Kreuzberg is divided into two districts: S036 and SW61. The first is home to radicals and immigrants, and the second is more bourgeouis. I'm still not sure which one I live in.

Although apparently every May 1st, my street looks like this:

(spiegel.de)

We shall see...

The adventure has just begun

This is a photo blog about my life in Berlin.

There might be words. They will be mostly in English but sometimes in German, and I will translate accordingly.

There are no rules, except:

1. I will blog at least 2-3 times a week, probably more in the first few months.
2. I will try to source pictures where I can.
3. I will try to share as many personal experiences as possible, while protecting the innocent and not-so-innocent...

Enjoy!

premières impressions

Ok. I can go home now. That was my first thought after spending just 24 hours in my new little apartment in Kreuzberg.

I felt utterly lost, uprooted and lonely, and walking around the neighbourhood wasn't going to brush aside those feelings. I tried distracting myself by taking photos. Buying groceries. Visiting museums. Riding aimlessly in the subway, from Mehringdamm to Alexanderplatz and back.

But nothing helped.

Why had I decided to move to a city where I knew nearly no one? I had never felt a stronger desire to return to Canada and what felt like home.

Now, three weeks later, things look very different. It's amazing what time (and a little help from extended family) can do.

The adventure has just begun...