So naturally I had Mexican food. Which I have heard is terrible in Germany, but it was actually very fulfilling. Plus I had bier mit Fanta! That was tasty. Reminds me of the Porrons at Macondo on Houston in NYC. I went to Prinzlauerberg today and biked/walked around. Stepped into a few shops and found things to expensive. While I sat at my Mexican restaurant and all the Germans watched soccer (?some sport nonetheless) I read my Marx readings for homework and pondered critique of religion and how the proletariate is a model of the disintegration of a nation. Interesting guy. Tough reading. MARX, FREUD, & NIETZCHE is going to be a fun class. Later I had ice cream too (after all I AM a Berliner for OVER a week now...).
Since I last wrote I have been a cultural fiend.
On Tuesday, Annie and I saw Die Kleinburgerhochzeit at the Berliner Ensemble. A raucous comedy by my own dear B. Brecht. Comedy? Who knew? €7. Thanks Berlin.
On Wednesday we went to the Berliner Festspiele, a huge nearly 3 week literature festival going on here right now, and heard Arundhati Roy read from her new book Democracy's Failing Light. She is an Indian writer and in this reading focused primarily on the potential civil war coming in her motherland. Her words were shocking, relatable, poetic, intelligent, inspiring, and absolutely made me want to read her book as well as know more about what is going on in the world--not to mention my own backyard. Her reading can be found here should you have the time and interest to check it out (which I would highly recommend): www.literaturfestival.com/upload//roy%20english%281%29. pdf
On Thursday morning our Literature class went three doors down from our school to visit--where?--oh right, Bertholt Brecht and Helena Weigel's home. The two of them--though separated at the time--each lived out the final years of their lives in this beautiful three story apartment building in the middle of east Berlin. They shared the ground floor (and beautiful garden out back!) but then each artist had their own floor above and the two would apparently write notes back and forth when they wanted something from the other. The apartment was giving to the two because the government of the GDR thought that surely if Brecht had a large space, he would host international guests--otherwise, Brecht's onstage commentary did little to please the authorities. I made an appointment with the Brecht archives to visit on Tuesday morning. You can do research and see copies of original manuscripts on what was once Weigel's floor.
Thursday night took me to the Berliner Staatsoper for Verde's La Traviata. I got a fourth row seat for €13. I turned to my (sophisticated?) opera going neighbors and asked "Kann ich lese bitte?" asking if I could read their opera synopsis. They were confused and replied "Englisch?" After one minute of talking I found out that they are related to someone who graduated from Tisch 3 years ago. Small world. The theater went black, the HUGE orchestra struck the opening chords and the primadonna appeared upstage left in a light up dress. She wandered downstage and wowed us all with her crystal clear soprano performance and eloquent characterization. She truly was the only performance up there. The chorus was terrible. Like community theater in Huntsville (no offense, this is a major metropolitan art city) bad. Plus they were in all black--and many in leather. A beautiful evening of italian singing and german supertitles. Oops...you're out of luck here Americans. Looking forward to Il Barbiere di Siviglia and perhaps I will sit through La Boheme again.
On Friday Paul and I biked over to Tempelhof airport. We were surprised to find an almost wholly abandoned monstrously huge building. The gorgeous terminal built btw 1936 and 1941 is made of limestone and was once among the 20 largest buildings in the world AND once among the busiest and most advanced airports in the world. It closed almost a year ago and has since been used for a fashion expo and a concert series. We couldn't get inside the terminal but what we could see was absolutely riveting and haunting. Hopefully we will get back for a tour. A park here would be really swell.
Friday night, a group of about 15 of us ventured to Friedrichshain to a Soul club that Annie found. After wandering around the residential neighborhoods of Berlin's equivalent of Bushwick. Somehow we found this place and it turned out to be a really great time. Two dance floors with really great soul music kept us dancing till 3:30. The fire pit under the outdoor discoball warmed us up as we cooled off from workin it out.
The weather is just great. I can deal with 60 degrees, sure.
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