ABC Mirror-Maze

Started work on Tuesday in Mach-Mit, ran a fossil workshops and played in the Mirror-maze…..yeah, that’s right, a real Mirror-maze! Sent those TQ kiddos over to play here I would say next time they look at you like you just shot there puppy when you need to say again ‘No, sorry…we don’t have it anymore’ and than very enthusiastic start selling the ‘Flying Mirror’. ‘Yeah right, that’s not the same dude’, is what they than actually want to say... but never do.

Another cool thing of Mach-Mit is that it’s in an old church -that is still partly in tact- next to a Puppet Theatre in Prenzlauer Berg, a very trendy aria of Berlin. There are loads of second hand shops, bars, parks and funky people. It’s quite full on, the first two days it made me a bit uncomfortable when I walked round in my ABC QYZ jumper, felt a bit like an outsider -started in the Firt man by the way, thank you Kess! But am not going to spend 20 euros on a ‘vintage’ H&M. Saw a good charity shops this morning when I cycled to work on Schönhauser Allee, it had a big 1 Euro sign above loads of racks. That’s more my style.

The theme in the Museum is Energy and alternative energy resources. Translated ‘How to make a Solar-Powered Oven with a Pizza box’ into German and they loved it. Going to make a test model tomorrow or Saturday. …thought I got rid of the weekend work…NOT!

Ritterstraße 24

…that was all there was in the text. Had a look at the map, it was in Kreuzberg. We could have stayed in the bar that we were, which was nice and chilled, but the unknown seduced us. It was easy to get to, we just needed to change at Alexanderplatz to the U8. Didn’t have to wait of course; all transport runs frequently all night during the weekend. Was a bit gutted that we got to our station so quickly because the atmosphere in the U-Bahn was great. There was this very happy vibe like you almost forgot that weren’t in a bar. People were laughing, drinking. Behind those doors was a house party were you strait away start talking with the person next to you. It was half 4.

The street didn’t look that interesting, but when we got closer we got in this sea of locked bikes against anything and everything. Reminded me of some ace night in Tivoli –a club in Utrecht- were it was almost a sport to find a fens, lamppost, or anything else that meant having some kind of reference point so you didn’t take hours to find your precious bike back again. Been there.

More and more people appeared. We tried to count the houses and stopped when we got to 24, turned around and saw this massif old factory. We walked up the road that led into this courtyard were we saw the entrance. You could feel the music through the ground. Got there.

Getting in was like putting that extra cookie in your mouth when you already have crap in your jaws and starting to see black spots dancing in your vision, but we just drifted along with the stream. There were hundreds of people.

It wasn’t a Club but at the same time it was. There were loads of different rooms with little bars, stages and of course a DJ and dance floor. The way every room was decorated was well thought about but it wasn’t over done. You could sit in little corners on a comfy sofa, play table football, have something to eat or just wonder around in the maze of little allies that led to yet another change of scene. The music was a mix between Electronic, Techno, Hip Hop with a live stage with experimental music and performances, people could just join in with instruments or acts. There was this one mime player that I just absolutely loved. Watching a mime player at dawn is quite magical.

The stage was in a garden attached to the building with a fire in the middle and cocktail bar in the back. Spend a lot of time here, sitting on a little bench chatting away and listening to the birds singing.

It wasn’t really a club because it was organized by this Art community called: Die Kreuzberger Musikalische Aktion, basically a non profit organization that organizes different events and projects against racism and xenophobia –intense or irrational dislike or fear of people from other countries. There was no feel of insecurity but instead an amazing vibe of beautiful people having a great time. Left at half 9.

Diner from a plastic bag

Last day of Sprachenschule tomorrow, been studying for the last hours and had left over egg fried rice out of a plastic bag. We will be getting –ore having- a test about prepositions: eating from a bag, out of a bag….

Can’t do English anymore. Had an early night last night and woke up cause my phone was ringing ‘Ja, hallo. Met wie spreek ik?…ehh sorry…Entschuldigung. I, mean sorry I was just aan het schlafen...sleep, sleep I mean!' But you get the idea.

‘…..Nothing is really only an idea, because physically everywhere is something. But maybe part of nothingness is that ultimately everything is pretty much the same in terms of physical presents. In other words even the most boring stuff, like snow, is actually physical as present as a diamond, or as a person. What makes it valuable, or not, is our projection into it, and that transformation interests me, how something suddenly through an emotional charge, becomes different. This idea that everything, from pure physical point of view, is pretty similar –for instance the density of atoms is actually not all that different from air and stone- is what interests me, and what we choose to see and not.’

- Wolfgang Tillmans - Hamburger Bahnhof, 21st March- 24 August

Hamburger Bahnhof is amazing. You should go there and have a look at Flanders Trees -Rodney Grahams- Lilith am Roten Meer -Anselm Kiefer- and of course Andy Warhol’s Mao.

Night night

Grammar vs Dr. Pong

Grammar, please tell me about it! Went back home after class and felt a bit disarmed, had such a good practice yesterday but most of the lesson today was abracadabra. Made loads of notes that I didn't understand, and when Svea -my lovely teacher, bless her- it afterwards again explained I still had 'Keine Ahnung'

What is the difference between an Akkusative or Dativ noun and how it relates to the preposition….die, das, was, tas..o no!! lieft, stellt im, ins, unter, zwichen…or was it den or dem haus???

Been a very good girl and stayed in the whole night ‘trying’ to do my homework. Had some bean chili and a couple of beers and resisted the temptation of going along to Dr. Pong, a table tennis bar in Prenzlauerberg. Next time.

!""$$%%^^&**(()___+++^

I’m really sorry for the crap Skype connection. Just tried to talk to my dad but it kept on cutting out. Everybody that tries to call me ends up quite frustrated so will send an angry email to the board of directors.

It’s not always bad you should know, sometimes you get lucky!

Ok, what have I been up to? First of all, I thought I new what a good night out meant…. NOT! Being used to get kicked out Chapter at 12 ish is history. Most of the places here only close here when there is nobody left. Just been here for a week and danced in an old factory, been club hopping and discovered plenty of funky bars. Be prepared when you come over! Will devote another post to where I’ve been so far but want to move on to some equally exciting.

I’ve been to my interview at Mach-Mit Museum last Thursday and it went really well. The museum is just amazing, a bit like Techniquest but more low-budget. At the moment one of the things they have is this special Easter corner with 3 special cases; one with eggs under a big heat lamp, another with eggs that are hatching -just imagine the little ones pricking holes in their eggshells and stumbling around- and the last one is with the chicks that properly rested, dried up and ready to step into the big scary world…. Thinking of it now, I don't know were they are going after this. Damn! There goes my bubble of fluffy happiness.

But the news is that I will be working there from the 29th of April! Will be running themed workshops and some of them are about the environment and energy saving technologies. They were very interested in my experience in Techniquest and would like me to get involved in assisting in developing some workshops, it’s just perfect!

www.machmitmuseum.de

Will still go two more weeks to German class, which is very nice. My German is improving very fast and I’m trying to speak it as much as possible. We have been to Wannsee today for lunch and a lovely sunny boat trip with some housemates that speak incredibly well German. They basically just refuse to speak there own language -Italian, French and good old English- Thanks guys, it was ace!

Have a test tomorrow and my grammar book is calling me…Judith, Judith….who bist du?

Lots of love, en knuffel voor Karlijn.
Judi

'Sprachen Sie Deutsch?'

There is a guy singing opera, think it’s quite a couple of streets (=hallway) away but can hear it loud and clear. When I got back this afternoon someone was giving a piano concert, wondering if it’s in a kitchen somewhere because the rooms are not that big.

Speaking of pianos, I saw an awesome Jazz band last night. Went to a little café that wasn’t mentioned in ‘Tip’ –Berlin’s cultural magazine- but a teacher in die Sprache Schule said it was the best place to go to have a chill. So we got there and it was packed. Found myself a little red leather stool next to a big chunky sofa with three Japanese that were hypnotized by the pianist. I thought the drummer was the best, only his features were worth the U-bahn trip; greasy blond bob, pointy nose and stripy cadi.

Started my language course yesterday, really enjoy it. Am the worst in the class but think the most determinate to improve. Today after class went straight home and sat in the kitchen drinking coffee talking about modal verbs and conjugations. Have a school notebook with a panda, a German one.

Tomorrow after class we are going to do a city tour with all the Leonardo kids –all 6 of us- They sorted us out with an experienced guide that supposed to be hilarious. We are meeting him at the tourist information am Brandenburger Tour.

Need to study his photo so won’t forget what he looks like.

Bis morgen!


PS: next Thursday interview at MACH-Mit Museum; museum fur kinder

day 3

Think my little prayer worked or maybe they forgot about me, anyway got away with it this time. Not to worry Lisa.

Bought a bike this morning on a little flea market, actually I bought two but the first one broke down in about 5 minutes. Two lovely Turks took it a while before they discovered the pedal really abgeknickt and wasn’t that easy to repair. Got my money back and went on hunting and found a red one with a squeaky daffy duck horn, Pep Pep! You should try it Ismaël, next lesson is with both feet on the pedals.

Going cycling in Tiergarten later, supposed to be beautiful.

Language course is kicking off tomorrow but I have already been pestering loads of Germans to practice with me, which mostly ended up hilariously funny in a mix of German, Dutch and English. The rest off the group is much better.. I think.

But some of them can hardly say ‘Ein bier bitte’ but maybe that had another reason.

-

Had diner with a group of Portuguese from kitchen party last night that was a mix made by Neha a Russian girl who made a traditional salad, Radji from Pakistan the curry master and the dragon eye tea and funky egg dish –don’t ask me what was in it- were made by Taiwanese Chena. American cookies for desert, freshly made by a couple from… And I bought the wine. Do need to make some pancakes soon I recon. My dad thought me this ‘secret’ recipe; replace the milk with beer. They are pretty damn tasty!

day 2

Haven’t got the slightest idea if I can keep up with a daily but so far Berlin hasn’t been boring at all. Yesterday went into town after getting to the Iranische Strase 6, the place I will be staying for the coming 3 months or so, and said to myself like I always do every evening: No drinks, early night, fresh start, behave and most important don’t insult any Germans.

So… ended up at a house party in a massif house in Prinzlauerberg, got drunk and am getting kicked out of Germany tomorrow morning.

Today spend most of my day at the police station but on the way back hopped on bus nr. 100, got to see the bloody wall and lit a candle in the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche.

day 1

There I am, at Heartrow having my vanilla latte with an extra shot to wake me up. National express should start installing bunk beds, my neck hasn’t fully recovered yet.

It all looks very fancy and save over here, lots and lots of staff that have a sixed sense for travellers in distress. But is this a fake sense of security?

Last time when I flew I took my own lunch, made lovely sausage and mash the night before. Was a feast with 3 different kinds of mash with butternut squash, sweet potato, red onion, carrot, swede and ‘normal’ potato. You mach up which ones I put together. Anyway, enough bragging. The point is that I took it with me and before I left the house slipped a fork in my bag. Was looking forward to my lunch on 40000 feet. Security didn’t let me. How was I supposed to eat my lunch now??? Andrew told me that it was for the best because what if a terrorist felt a bit peckish, spotted my lunch and felt inspired to kill everybody on the plane by attacking them with my fork. ‘Blood and guts everywhere, you would want that to happen.’

But now I have got houmous, pita breads, carrots and knife with me.

Need to board now, see you in Berlin.