Yes We Camp!

So I'm throwing a little shindig for the 4th of July, you know, because I love big, sweaty Americans. So if you happen to be a big, sweaty American, come on down and bring your cute, fashionably emaciated girlfriend with you. Free cowboy hats for the first so many attendees!

Oh and the event is at a special secret location. Partially because I like to keep things underground, and partially because the place where we're throwing it wants us to keep our numbers low- to around 80 or so. So hit me up to find out the when and wheres!

Silvester

So I started seeing signs up for Silvester parties as soon as I got home. I didn't know what Silvester was. I thought it might be linked to New Years as all the parties were on the 31st. Turns out Silvester is the German equivalent of New Years. But why call it Silvester? Carlos found this equally confusing and asked his hair dresser about it. "Silvester?" He asked, while the hair dressed took away ribbons of black and white shiny curls from his head. "Yeah, you know, like the cat," is what his hair dresser replied, hoping this would somehow explain things.

Our new years was kinda shitty. The good part was before we left the house. Brian and his friend Eduardo, who looks like Mr. July in a gay men of South America 2009 calendar, came over and had some champagne with us. Carlos's cousin Aude and her friend Marine are in from Paris so we had a nice little mini party watching drunk people shoot off M80s in the street. Then it came time to go out and Brian and Eduardo left to go to a gay club that has a labyrinth below it, you know, for sexual exploration. Aude and Marine and Carlos and I started to walk to the Ubahn, despite the fact that Brian had warned us about people setting off fireworks in the ubahn trains. Getting to the train station (which is all of a block away) was frightening enough. As we ducked and weaved among the random bursts of soot, ash, and cinder, the 20 degree frozen air shook with booms and bangs. But the worst was yet to come. In the subway it turned out people were setting off fireworks at the feet of the crowds gathered to take the night train out to Alexanderplatz. It is a miracle no one was injured. Everyone was scared shitless except for the drunk people who were too busy setting off the fireworks to notice fear. There was another group of drunk people who were actually tossing fireworks down from the street into the subway stations, blindly. It was like being mini bombed. Carlos freaked out, and we ended up taking a cab to Ritterstrasse 42, a warehouse that excels in throwing banging electro parties. The line for eintritt was about 100 people long, and the cover was a whopping 25 euro. Having gone through so much to get there, we decided to fork over the cash. In return we were granted entry to 8 different rooms and over 30 different musical acts. There was techno, electro, and hip hop performed by muppets. There were also swarms of drunken tourists. Two of the tourists were nice enough to share their drinks with the front of my blouse. Soaked and not nearly drunk enough to be passive about such a thing, I forced myself to spend a miserable 3 hours attempting to dance in a crowd of 6 ft. somethings who kept elbowing me in the head before giving up and going home. It's 5 now. Aude and Marine are still at the club. I hope they are faring better than we did. Carlos and I took a bath and ate some fancy cheese. Tomorrow I think I'm staying in. I have no new years resolutions to speak of, aside from finishing up the myriad of projects I started this year. Carlos has two resolutions. 1) To Not Die 2) To Figure Out Why He Is Living In Berlin. I already solved the second one. I'm living in Berlin to figure out why I wanted to live in Berlin so badly. I haven't quite put my finger on it. Sometimes I think the answer is pure insanity, sometimes a lack of direction, lack of money, abundance of creative spontaneity. Not quite sure. Nights like these make me hate Berlin, make me feel like a permanent tourist, like I'm living in an expat playground. I still don't think the U.S. is better, but it is definitely, in some ways, more comfortable. And I miss my friends.

How was everyone else's Silvester? Any resolutions made? Mysterious strangers kissed?

My 4th of July

-Fireworks: none (naturally)
-Drinks consumed: 1 glass rose, 0,5 liters Hefeweisen
-Strangers hitting on my friend Sandra who insisted on sitting at our table and holding long awkward conversations with her: 05
-Languages spoken (by me): 04 (by others): 06
-Insults (re: Bush and / or the USA): 11
-Insults (re: my appearance / my gemischt gypsy heritage): 03
-Returned Home: EARLY - approx. 12:30
-Rain: constant, but unenthusiastic.

May Day

Today is May Day. A day when young people fill the streets in celebration, angst, and comradery- throwing bottles and punching each other in the face. I just saw about 40 cops go by on motorcycles, in cars, and vans. We leave for Praha in a couple hours. It is rainy.

Ich bin Auslander und spreche nicht gut Deutsch.

So I started school this week. It is interesting... The VHS (Volkshochschule) is something like a community college where people come to learn everything from knitting to cooking to, in my case, intensive German.
Today we sang a song to the tune of "She'll be coming around the mountain when she comes..." which went:
"Ich bin Auslander und spreche nicht gut Deutsch...
Ich bin Auslander und spreche nicht gut Deutsch...
Ich verstehe nicht was sie sagen
Bitte, sprechen sie mehr langsam
Ich bin Auslander und spreche nicht gut Deutsch."
Half of the class is Italian, and half are Turkish, and a small percentage are various other things (yes, there are three halves to my class). There is only one other American and native English speaker in the class, but all the Italian folk speak English quite well. They also seem to hate me. I think it is because I am borrowing Carlos's camo-print bag until I can afford to buy my own. Perhaps they think I'm some kind of war loving crazy?
That's not all. Yesterday the teacher asked me how many states were in the United States now (because it is plural - DEN USA) "56?" She asked. "More!" I said, making a joke about her overestimate. "No, no," she responded, "Iraq doesn't count."
Another faux pas was made earlier this morning when I suggested to one of the Italian students that they install a good ol' cafe / restaurant in the school, preferably one serving scrambled eggs. The joke was not responded to in kind. He said, "But you are in Europe now and we don't eat those things. If you want scrambled eggs then maybe you should go to London."
The Italian students are somewhat hard to relate to. For one, the Italian breakfast consists of cigarettes and black coffee. I think if I was from New York maybe I'd be able to fit in a little more. At least we both share a love of abstract art and electronic music. Oh yah, 30% of the class are electronic musicians. Apparently you can't call yourself an electronic musician in Deutsch because "musician" only applies to people who play classical instruments: piano, guitar, etc. Instead, you are supposed to refer to yourself as an "electronic music producer." Sure, sure.
I ran into one of my fellow classmates at an Indian restaurant today. Apparently he is a chef there. He gave Carlos and I 2 rounds of free highly alcoholic drinks, some extra naan, and changed the price of our normal dinner to a "kinder dinner" knocking off about 50%. I will buy him coffee tomorrow as a way of saying thanks.
Travel plans: 1. I'm going to Prague May 1 - 4. May 1st is a disaster in Kreuzberg, the somewhat more angsty / punky part of Berlin where I happen to live. It is a kind of "hate day" where people parade, riot, party, and generally EXPRESS their angst over whatever it is they are angsty about. Bottles are thrown. Cars are tipped. And so I intend to get the fuck out. I'll be visiting my friend Tom who I haven't seen in a bunch of years. He's super chill. It'll be good to see him.
2. I'll be in the states from May 11 - May 18th (or around then) as it turns out I have no school this week due to Pentecost. See you soon meinen freundin!