It’s been a very eventful eight months since my last blog. What began as a summer in Berlin has turned into a much longer stay and during that time I have grown so unbelievably lazy when it comes to writing that I have surprised even myself. That has got to stop.
Summer in Berlin is brilliant. Tour guiding was amazing fun, always meeting new people and sharing my love of this fantastic city. My summer was filled with sun, fun and way too much booze. I also started playing Aussie Rules Footy for the Berlin Crocodiles, which has been a great way to keep fit and connect with some Aussies over here in Berlin. We unfortunately fell short of our goal to make the Grand Final but did manage to secure third.
In August was a trip to Ukraine and Poland with Dimma. That was pretty ridiculous. For some reason it seems that Dimma and I bring out the worst in each other. I was drunk or hungover the whole time, and he managed to fall asleep with tea Tree oil on his face on the first night of the trip, ruining his skin and then proceeded to complain about his facial herpes for the next two weeks. Despite that however the trip was eye opening and barrels of fun.
In late October I spent two weeks travelling through Egypt. Good thing I did it then, as there seems to be some major political unrest in the country now. Egypt is absolutely amazing, however Cairo is a complete toilet. I couldn’t get out of that city fast enough. Some highlights of that trip were Abu Simbel, floating down the Nile on a felucca for two days and climbing Mt Sinai. The last few days spent snorkeling in Dahab were also great fun, and I think one day I might go back there and get my divers licence.
The cold set into Berlin quite early this winter, and by early December there was already a foot of snow. I was delighted to see my first white Christmas, and even more excited to go out and kick a footy with the boys in the snow on Christmas day, which is something I certainly wouldn’t have been able to do in Australia. For new Years I went to Edinburgh for Hogmanay, their NYW celebrations and had a fantastic time with Mojo and fell in love with the city of Edinburgh. Seeing Biffy Clyro play in the gardens was a highlight, but the whole trip was brilliant.
Then January 2011 was back to more guiding in the snow, with a quick blast to the Czech mountains for some snowboarding. It was a great week on the snow, ruined somewhat by Sonja getting her arm broken on the morning of the first day. Obviously, her trip wasn’t a whole lot of fun, but I was glad that I had speakers in my helmet, and spent most of my days trying to get better at jumps, the halfpipe and swearing of rails permanently.
Australia Day 2011 is a complete blur. The drinking started in the early afternoon and extended until the early morning. I have vague recollections of behaving like a tool, saying things I shouldn’t, trying to hook up with girls that I shouldn’t and in general being a prototypical Australian douche. I guess if I’m going to do it any day, it might as well be Australia Day. At least I didn’t start any fights.
And that, pretty much brings us up to date. I am going to try to write more regularly and it will therefore not be a summary of the travels I have done over the last 8 months like this entry. Coming up this year I have trips to Austria and Cuba booked, the possibility of going through the Baltics and a strong chance of going through the Balkans with Dimma and Woo. All of which should create more than enough crazy shenanigans to make my following blog entries significantly better than this one.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Back in the land down under
Twenty hours on a plane and I was back in Perth to the news that my 19 year old niece is 8 months pregnant. So, after I received that surprise, I made my way to the Como hotel where Alice and I had cooked up a little surprise of our own for Sara. As far as Sara knew she was just going out to dinner with all her friends for a casual chat on a Thursday night, possibly she was excited about my return in two days time, but not nearly as speechless as she was when I walked up behind her and proudly exclaimed “Did anyone order a jar of awesome?” In hindsight, my off the cuff decision of what to say when I walked in could have been less crap more rock, but jar of awesome it was…
Sara took a while to understand what was going on, and then all she could say was “Why are you here?” over and over again. It was great to see the whole gang again, and Sara’s reaction made all of Alice and my scheming well worthwhile.
Over the next two weeks in Perth I soaked up all that I remembered it to be. Sunny days, nice beaches, filled with my closest friends and utterly, utterly boring. I was lucky that my time there was so full of engagements with people, so I didn’t have too much time to wallow in the deafening banality that is Perth. With Ben and Ange’s wedding the first weekend, Trents bucks night the second weekend (at which, in a crowd of over twenty people, I was the only single guy. Oh how the times have changed.) The two weeks in Perth culminated with Trent and Tess’s fantastic wedding down south. All in all I really enjoyed my time in Perth, catching up with everyone was great, but as much as I knew it would happen, everyone has moved on with their lives, and I am no longer a part of it. Just as Perth is no longer a part of me.
After Perth it was the dreaded redeye flight to Melbourne before sleeping on a metal bench in the airport while I waited for Mick to pick me up and drive me back to Finley. Wow. Finley. Four days in Finley. That’s more time than I’ve spent in Finley in the last four years put together, and it felt like it too. It’s like a smaller, duller version of Perth but with a huge concentration of people whom I love. It was fantastic to see Cass and Azz and their children, who are all absolutely gorgeous. Although, just the sight of them as parents does make me feel exceptionally old. I used to say “You know you’re old when your ex-girlfriends are having kids”, well now I can say that I am old because my Nieces and Nephews have kids! Finley is definitely a place I look forward to visiting more regularly when I am back in Melbourne, but by the end of the four days, the pace of the town was beginning to do my head in. I think a weekend every month will be more than enough time there when I eventually move back to Melbourne.
Ah Melbourne. The greatest city in Australia and one of my top five favourite cities in the world. The city that all my others are measured by, as I have realized in my travels that if a city reminds me of Melbourne, there’s a good chance I’m going to love it. Again there was more catching up with people, both old friends from Perth who have seen the light and moved over, or friends I met travelling the world. I was lucky enough to spend lots of time with Nate and Sarah, and really remembered how much I missed those guys. There is definitely a part of me that will not be broken hearted if the travelling doesn’t continue forever and I moves back to Melbourne in the not too distant future. I got to see a few games of footy, including an absolute debacle of a game where Hawthorn got up over Richmond by 3 measly points, and also got to walk around the city where all the events of my book take place and took a lot of inspiration from the city. I look forward to ripping out some more chapters soon.
My flight out of Melbourne was a 24 hour nightmare via Abu Dhabi. It seemed like I was sat in the infant section as a different baby went off like an alarm every 15-20 minutes, but after that little taste of fatherhood hell I was happy to be in London and very happy to be childless. My time in London is a little bit of a waste of time, and in hindsight I should have gone direct to New York, but I was able to spend in London to relax and chillout before what I expect will be the tantalizing unstoppable madness of New York. Excuse me, I have a plane to catch.
Sara took a while to understand what was going on, and then all she could say was “Why are you here?” over and over again. It was great to see the whole gang again, and Sara’s reaction made all of Alice and my scheming well worthwhile.
Over the next two weeks in Perth I soaked up all that I remembered it to be. Sunny days, nice beaches, filled with my closest friends and utterly, utterly boring. I was lucky that my time there was so full of engagements with people, so I didn’t have too much time to wallow in the deafening banality that is Perth. With Ben and Ange’s wedding the first weekend, Trents bucks night the second weekend (at which, in a crowd of over twenty people, I was the only single guy. Oh how the times have changed.) The two weeks in Perth culminated with Trent and Tess’s fantastic wedding down south. All in all I really enjoyed my time in Perth, catching up with everyone was great, but as much as I knew it would happen, everyone has moved on with their lives, and I am no longer a part of it. Just as Perth is no longer a part of me.
After Perth it was the dreaded redeye flight to Melbourne before sleeping on a metal bench in the airport while I waited for Mick to pick me up and drive me back to Finley. Wow. Finley. Four days in Finley. That’s more time than I’ve spent in Finley in the last four years put together, and it felt like it too. It’s like a smaller, duller version of Perth but with a huge concentration of people whom I love. It was fantastic to see Cass and Azz and their children, who are all absolutely gorgeous. Although, just the sight of them as parents does make me feel exceptionally old. I used to say “You know you’re old when your ex-girlfriends are having kids”, well now I can say that I am old because my Nieces and Nephews have kids! Finley is definitely a place I look forward to visiting more regularly when I am back in Melbourne, but by the end of the four days, the pace of the town was beginning to do my head in. I think a weekend every month will be more than enough time there when I eventually move back to Melbourne.
Ah Melbourne. The greatest city in Australia and one of my top five favourite cities in the world. The city that all my others are measured by, as I have realized in my travels that if a city reminds me of Melbourne, there’s a good chance I’m going to love it. Again there was more catching up with people, both old friends from Perth who have seen the light and moved over, or friends I met travelling the world. I was lucky enough to spend lots of time with Nate and Sarah, and really remembered how much I missed those guys. There is definitely a part of me that will not be broken hearted if the travelling doesn’t continue forever and I moves back to Melbourne in the not too distant future. I got to see a few games of footy, including an absolute debacle of a game where Hawthorn got up over Richmond by 3 measly points, and also got to walk around the city where all the events of my book take place and took a lot of inspiration from the city. I look forward to ripping out some more chapters soon.
My flight out of Melbourne was a 24 hour nightmare via Abu Dhabi. It seemed like I was sat in the infant section as a different baby went off like an alarm every 15-20 minutes, but after that little taste of fatherhood hell I was happy to be in London and very happy to be childless. My time in London is a little bit of a waste of time, and in hindsight I should have gone direct to New York, but I was able to spend in London to relax and chillout before what I expect will be the tantalizing unstoppable madness of New York. Excuse me, I have a plane to catch.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
The Long Road Home
I left Berlin early on a Saturday morning and made my way to Munich, where Dimma and I were picked up by Kingy, the Driver who is doing the job I would have done at Alpen Rider this winter if I’d have done what I originally planned. Dimma and I were already drunk by the time Kingy got there and we proceeded to get more drunk as the trip went on. Upon arrival in Kirchberg we left our stuff in our room, went downstairs to the bar and continued on that same path. Drinking in the Alpen Rider bar is always a dangerous activity as Shevy (the man in charge) loves to dole out free shots of Jagermeister to everyone in the bar at regular intervals. By 10pm we were both trashed and decided to head into the bigger town of Kitzbuhel (about 6kms away) to go to the Londoner, the largest pub in the area. At the Londoner we continued to get more trashed and ended up back at the chalet at around 4am. We got up and snowboarded the next day, but this set the precedent for the whole trip, and an eight day bender was started.
The snow itself was pretty slushy for most of the week we were there, however the sixth day was epic, and definitely the best day of snowboarding I had ever had. The problems for the five days before this day varied from getting out on the snow early when it had just been groomed to find it icy and hard, or getting out on the snow late to find it slushy and full of moguls as it had been carved up for four hours before we got there. Also, a standard for the whole week was feeling like crap due to being hungover, sick and not having had enough sleep the night before.
On the fourth day, we could see that the snow was going to come in, as we were boarding in nearly a complete whiteout on the Kitzbuheler horn. We came back to our side of the mountain to make our way slowly home when Dimma realized that he had lost his pass and wouldn’t be able to use the lifts. I did one run by myself but with the zero visibility it was incredibly slow and not the most fun in the world.
That evening we had every intention of going to bed reasonably early to get out on the snow for some fresh powder, but like most nights we went out for a few beers, and Bo and Beth at the boomerang kept us plied with alcohol all night, leading to another night that ended around 3am and another morning where my desire for snowboarding was waging a war with my desire for sleep. Of course, with half a foot of fresh powder on the slopes, my desire for snow won out and after many insults to his manhood, Dimma got out of bed also. We went up to the horn again and found a run with an off piste drop off into a fairly unused red run on the back side of the horn, and we stuck with it pretty much all day. It was the first time I had boarded on powder since I’ve had the skills to do anything, and it was a totally amazing experience. It’s all just so much easier than scraping through the icy bumps, scared shitless that you might catch and edge and end up on your head. Through powder it’s easy and it doesn’t hurt if you do happen to stack it, and it’s just so silent as you carve through the white mist. The only thing I could hear over the whoosh of my board was my own joyous laughter.
At the end of the week in Kitzbuhel, we gone out every night on the turps, averaged about 4 hours slept a night, got up every day and boarded, progressed to both being comfortable on blacks and a bit of off piste stuff and were both incredibly sick. All in all, an absolutely sensational week.
After finally getting back to Dimmas flat in Clapham, we parked on the couch, watched movies, ate pizza and lamented our sore heads and swollen throats. The next day I had to make my way out Blackheath, to stay with Roz, a friend of Scottie’s who I had met while snowboarding in Meribel. I sent her an sms to make sure she’d be home at around 4pm when I was planning on coming over, and was horrified to find out that she had changed her mind and said that it was no longer convenient for me to stay there. Of course, I immediately started to complain about women and the fickle nature of their promises. I then sms’d Scottie to let him know, and then he also wondered what the hell was going on, as it had all been organized weeks in advance. After Scottie talked to Roz we were speaking on Facebook when he said that they didn’t know what I was talking about, and upon closer inspection of the Roz I had sent the message to, I realized that I had sent the message to a Roz I had hooked up with many months before while travelling and hadn’t really spoken to since. No wonder she didn’t think it would be convenient for me to stay there.
So, after moving my stuff over to Roz’s place in Blackheath I spent the next week in London catching up with people I had met travelling, including Ash and her friend for a game of bogan bingo in Clapham that ended with all of us being covered in texta thanks to a Bingo Blotter fight throughout the entire game. And a day out in London with Holly talking about all things musical and creative and how the lead singer of one of her many bands is not particularly talented, before heading into Camden to see Loud Howards awesome new lineup ruined by Dimma’s still wrecked throat, one week after our return from Austria.
My time in London was soon up though and the long flight home beckoned. I was excited to see everyone again and although the timing was pretty awful with the Guiding job back in Berlin, I had a sneaking suspicion that I might be ready to fall in love with Australia all over again.
The snow itself was pretty slushy for most of the week we were there, however the sixth day was epic, and definitely the best day of snowboarding I had ever had. The problems for the five days before this day varied from getting out on the snow early when it had just been groomed to find it icy and hard, or getting out on the snow late to find it slushy and full of moguls as it had been carved up for four hours before we got there. Also, a standard for the whole week was feeling like crap due to being hungover, sick and not having had enough sleep the night before.
On the fourth day, we could see that the snow was going to come in, as we were boarding in nearly a complete whiteout on the Kitzbuheler horn. We came back to our side of the mountain to make our way slowly home when Dimma realized that he had lost his pass and wouldn’t be able to use the lifts. I did one run by myself but with the zero visibility it was incredibly slow and not the most fun in the world.
That evening we had every intention of going to bed reasonably early to get out on the snow for some fresh powder, but like most nights we went out for a few beers, and Bo and Beth at the boomerang kept us plied with alcohol all night, leading to another night that ended around 3am and another morning where my desire for snowboarding was waging a war with my desire for sleep. Of course, with half a foot of fresh powder on the slopes, my desire for snow won out and after many insults to his manhood, Dimma got out of bed also. We went up to the horn again and found a run with an off piste drop off into a fairly unused red run on the back side of the horn, and we stuck with it pretty much all day. It was the first time I had boarded on powder since I’ve had the skills to do anything, and it was a totally amazing experience. It’s all just so much easier than scraping through the icy bumps, scared shitless that you might catch and edge and end up on your head. Through powder it’s easy and it doesn’t hurt if you do happen to stack it, and it’s just so silent as you carve through the white mist. The only thing I could hear over the whoosh of my board was my own joyous laughter.
At the end of the week in Kitzbuhel, we gone out every night on the turps, averaged about 4 hours slept a night, got up every day and boarded, progressed to both being comfortable on blacks and a bit of off piste stuff and were both incredibly sick. All in all, an absolutely sensational week.
After finally getting back to Dimmas flat in Clapham, we parked on the couch, watched movies, ate pizza and lamented our sore heads and swollen throats. The next day I had to make my way out Blackheath, to stay with Roz, a friend of Scottie’s who I had met while snowboarding in Meribel. I sent her an sms to make sure she’d be home at around 4pm when I was planning on coming over, and was horrified to find out that she had changed her mind and said that it was no longer convenient for me to stay there. Of course, I immediately started to complain about women and the fickle nature of their promises. I then sms’d Scottie to let him know, and then he also wondered what the hell was going on, as it had all been organized weeks in advance. After Scottie talked to Roz we were speaking on Facebook when he said that they didn’t know what I was talking about, and upon closer inspection of the Roz I had sent the message to, I realized that I had sent the message to a Roz I had hooked up with many months before while travelling and hadn’t really spoken to since. No wonder she didn’t think it would be convenient for me to stay there.
So, after moving my stuff over to Roz’s place in Blackheath I spent the next week in London catching up with people I had met travelling, including Ash and her friend for a game of bogan bingo in Clapham that ended with all of us being covered in texta thanks to a Bingo Blotter fight throughout the entire game. And a day out in London with Holly talking about all things musical and creative and how the lead singer of one of her many bands is not particularly talented, before heading into Camden to see Loud Howards awesome new lineup ruined by Dimma’s still wrecked throat, one week after our return from Austria.
My time in London was soon up though and the long flight home beckoned. I was excited to see everyone again and although the timing was pretty awful with the Guiding job back in Berlin, I had a sneaking suspicion that I might be ready to fall in love with Australia all over again.
Monday, March 22, 2010
The more things change, the more they stay the same
In the last five weeks I have been an average tour guide, a good bartender, a lazy student, a tired and grumpy extra in a German Television commercial, an overly ambitious snowboarder, a limping cripple, a bad guy and finally someone who has no idea what to do. But we’ll run through it chronologically.
For the last weekend in February, Jax came to Berlin for a visit. I love having people visit me in Berlin because I really, really miss my friends and also because it allows me to show off the awesomeness that is Berlin, and hopefully feel better about my choice to stay in self imposed exile in this awesome city, but a long, long way from all my awesome friends.
Jax’s four day visit was loads of fun, however we did kinda wuss out on the really hard partying. I blame that on Jax and I both being over thirty, and also the fact that we walked about 12kms participating in both Taylormade and Alternative Berlin walking tours, seeing as much of the city as we could while she was here. One night we came home to drink before we went out and Jax fell asleep on the couch fully dressed, and even though she said she was just resting her eyes, she woke up the next morning in the same state.
After Jax left I went back to being slack at school, doing the bare minimum to not look like a tool in my class, yet still mostly speaking English outside school, and hence not retaining anything from class. I missed a day at school on the Wednesday after Jax left to be an extra on a TV commercial for Alice (Alice is a company, not a person). Paula’s friend Julie works for the production company that was doing the commercial and hence we got asked if we wanted to be in the ad. It was a long and boring day, but I did walk out with 90euro in cash at the end of it.
That Friday night, Paula and I went to see La Roux at the Astra. It was a great (if not a little short) show. We than came home, where I fell asleep for a bit before having to wake up at 2:30am to pack and then leave for the airport to catch my flight to Geneva. When I arrived in Geneva I had a 4 hour wait before Scott and the rest of the group arrived and we could catch our transfer to Meribel. After waiting in the wrong terminal for four hours, I had to run with my suitcase and backpack to the other terminal to catch the transfer and meet the others before the bus left.
The week in Meribel was fantastic. Scott and I were of a fairly similar skill level so we weren’t forever waiting for each other. The rest of the group that was there were all fun and a good laugh out on the town or back in the chalet. After smacking my head 3 times in the first 2 days I bought a helmet and then proceeded to not smack my head again until the last run of the last day when I was wiped out by a skier about 100m from the end of the piste. This was three hours after I had ruined my knee attempting jumps with Scott and epically failing each time. So, when the 15 hour journey back to Berlin began the next morning, I felt like a broken shell of a man, and slept most of the bus ride back to Geneva. Geneva airport on a Saturday morning was awful, so was the six hours waiting in Liverpool airport for my flight to Berlin, but all in all it was okay until I got home and smelled the foul stench of week old garbage, dirty pots and dishes and a freezer with fish in it that had stopped working.
So after dealing with that smelly debacle I got my stuff together and ended my relationship with Paula. It was, unfortunately done over the phone, but there were reasons for that, and reasons that I felt definitely benefited her, more than me. That was probably the least fun I’ve had while in Berlin so I put that behind me and moved into my mate Goncalo’s house for the week before I go snowboarding in Austria with Dimma.
I am planning on moving to London after coming back from Australia, with the logic being that I will be around friends and be able to speak the language, hence get a decent job and earn some decent money with which to do a bit of travel. Even though it’s more expensive to live in London, I figure the extra money I will undoubtedly be earning with a full time job will more than make up for the extra expense of rent.
And now we come to today. Today I had an interview for a tour guide position. The job I always wanted to have whilst in Berlin. And they loved me. I have got the job if I want it. This is after I’d given up and on Berlin and decided to move to London. It’s also after I decided to flag London off and travel around Eastern Europe in June. It’s like Berlin waited until I had completely given up on her and then unleashed an absolutely gorgeous cloud free day, and the job I’ve always wanted, to go with the madness that will be the upcoming Berlin summer full of sun, light and craziness.
Berlin. I love you. I hate you. You bitch.
For the last weekend in February, Jax came to Berlin for a visit. I love having people visit me in Berlin because I really, really miss my friends and also because it allows me to show off the awesomeness that is Berlin, and hopefully feel better about my choice to stay in self imposed exile in this awesome city, but a long, long way from all my awesome friends.
Jax’s four day visit was loads of fun, however we did kinda wuss out on the really hard partying. I blame that on Jax and I both being over thirty, and also the fact that we walked about 12kms participating in both Taylormade and Alternative Berlin walking tours, seeing as much of the city as we could while she was here. One night we came home to drink before we went out and Jax fell asleep on the couch fully dressed, and even though she said she was just resting her eyes, she woke up the next morning in the same state.
After Jax left I went back to being slack at school, doing the bare minimum to not look like a tool in my class, yet still mostly speaking English outside school, and hence not retaining anything from class. I missed a day at school on the Wednesday after Jax left to be an extra on a TV commercial for Alice (Alice is a company, not a person). Paula’s friend Julie works for the production company that was doing the commercial and hence we got asked if we wanted to be in the ad. It was a long and boring day, but I did walk out with 90euro in cash at the end of it.
That Friday night, Paula and I went to see La Roux at the Astra. It was a great (if not a little short) show. We than came home, where I fell asleep for a bit before having to wake up at 2:30am to pack and then leave for the airport to catch my flight to Geneva. When I arrived in Geneva I had a 4 hour wait before Scott and the rest of the group arrived and we could catch our transfer to Meribel. After waiting in the wrong terminal for four hours, I had to run with my suitcase and backpack to the other terminal to catch the transfer and meet the others before the bus left.
The week in Meribel was fantastic. Scott and I were of a fairly similar skill level so we weren’t forever waiting for each other. The rest of the group that was there were all fun and a good laugh out on the town or back in the chalet. After smacking my head 3 times in the first 2 days I bought a helmet and then proceeded to not smack my head again until the last run of the last day when I was wiped out by a skier about 100m from the end of the piste. This was three hours after I had ruined my knee attempting jumps with Scott and epically failing each time. So, when the 15 hour journey back to Berlin began the next morning, I felt like a broken shell of a man, and slept most of the bus ride back to Geneva. Geneva airport on a Saturday morning was awful, so was the six hours waiting in Liverpool airport for my flight to Berlin, but all in all it was okay until I got home and smelled the foul stench of week old garbage, dirty pots and dishes and a freezer with fish in it that had stopped working.
So after dealing with that smelly debacle I got my stuff together and ended my relationship with Paula. It was, unfortunately done over the phone, but there were reasons for that, and reasons that I felt definitely benefited her, more than me. That was probably the least fun I’ve had while in Berlin so I put that behind me and moved into my mate Goncalo’s house for the week before I go snowboarding in Austria with Dimma.
I am planning on moving to London after coming back from Australia, with the logic being that I will be around friends and be able to speak the language, hence get a decent job and earn some decent money with which to do a bit of travel. Even though it’s more expensive to live in London, I figure the extra money I will undoubtedly be earning with a full time job will more than make up for the extra expense of rent.
And now we come to today. Today I had an interview for a tour guide position. The job I always wanted to have whilst in Berlin. And they loved me. I have got the job if I want it. This is after I’d given up and on Berlin and decided to move to London. It’s also after I decided to flag London off and travel around Eastern Europe in June. It’s like Berlin waited until I had completely given up on her and then unleashed an absolutely gorgeous cloud free day, and the job I’ve always wanted, to go with the madness that will be the upcoming Berlin summer full of sun, light and craziness.
Berlin. I love you. I hate you. You bitch.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Treading Water
It’s now six weeks on in 2010 and the question may be; what is happening in my life in Berlin?
Not much.
I came to Berlin with a list of things that I needed to accomplish for my life here to be a success; Write book, learn language, run marathon, get job and so forth and so on. So far, there aren’t any failures, but there aren’t any successes either.
I am thirteen thousand words into the book. Not breathtaking progress, but progress all the same.
I am in doing a German class. Three hours per day. Monday to Friday. I think I’m getting better, but when even my German girlfriend pretty much refuses to speak German to me because it annoys her, it’s hard to get a valid picture of where I’m at.
The Berlin Marathon is not till late September, so that one is not going to be completed or failed for a while. But I am training. I even joined a gym when it became impossible to train on the icy footpaths. As always though, most of my training could be described as sporadic at best as 20 minutes 4 days a week on the elliptical trainer is hardly going to prepare me for a marathon.
I still have the job at the Irish pub and have actually grown to quite like it. I know what I’m doing, I get along with the people and I get paid in cash at the end of every shift. Unfortunately I’m only getting 1 shift per week and that is not going to cut it with two snowboarding trips coming up and flights from Australia and a return to Canada to pay for.
But I don’t want this to become a sook page, so in other news…
Berlin is still absolutely gorgeous. For a city that is considered by European standard to be more “efficient” than “Beautiful”, it’s doing alright in my book. The days of snow, while cold, are gorgeous and I don’t think I will ever get sick of walking around with my iPod as my only company, just soaking up the images of the streets.
Berlinale (the Berlin International Film Festival) is on at the moment, so there is quite a bit of excitement, but this makes it very difficult to get tickets, however I am hoping to catch some of the Australian films on the bill for a little taste of home.
It’s two weeks before Jax comes over for a weekend visit. I think I have the most fun here when I have people to take out and show the city to. I’ve seen it and Paula doesn’t care, but when we have a visitor, the tour guide comes out in me and I get to show off what I love about this place.
A week after Jax goes and I’m off to France for a snowboarding trip. I’m really looking forward to it, especially considering for most of the summer I assumed I would be snowboarding every day over the winter. It hasn’t quite turned out that way, but I’ll at least get to see if I’ve kept any of skills I found in Japan.
And with that, I’m off. I’ve got homework to do before my class tomorrow. Man, I haven’t had to do homework for eight years…. What a spin out.
Bis Bald (See you soon)
Not much.
I came to Berlin with a list of things that I needed to accomplish for my life here to be a success; Write book, learn language, run marathon, get job and so forth and so on. So far, there aren’t any failures, but there aren’t any successes either.
I am thirteen thousand words into the book. Not breathtaking progress, but progress all the same.
I am in doing a German class. Three hours per day. Monday to Friday. I think I’m getting better, but when even my German girlfriend pretty much refuses to speak German to me because it annoys her, it’s hard to get a valid picture of where I’m at.
The Berlin Marathon is not till late September, so that one is not going to be completed or failed for a while. But I am training. I even joined a gym when it became impossible to train on the icy footpaths. As always though, most of my training could be described as sporadic at best as 20 minutes 4 days a week on the elliptical trainer is hardly going to prepare me for a marathon.
I still have the job at the Irish pub and have actually grown to quite like it. I know what I’m doing, I get along with the people and I get paid in cash at the end of every shift. Unfortunately I’m only getting 1 shift per week and that is not going to cut it with two snowboarding trips coming up and flights from Australia and a return to Canada to pay for.
But I don’t want this to become a sook page, so in other news…
Berlin is still absolutely gorgeous. For a city that is considered by European standard to be more “efficient” than “Beautiful”, it’s doing alright in my book. The days of snow, while cold, are gorgeous and I don’t think I will ever get sick of walking around with my iPod as my only company, just soaking up the images of the streets.
Berlinale (the Berlin International Film Festival) is on at the moment, so there is quite a bit of excitement, but this makes it very difficult to get tickets, however I am hoping to catch some of the Australian films on the bill for a little taste of home.
It’s two weeks before Jax comes over for a weekend visit. I think I have the most fun here when I have people to take out and show the city to. I’ve seen it and Paula doesn’t care, but when we have a visitor, the tour guide comes out in me and I get to show off what I love about this place.
A week after Jax goes and I’m off to France for a snowboarding trip. I’m really looking forward to it, especially considering for most of the summer I assumed I would be snowboarding every day over the winter. It hasn’t quite turned out that way, but I’ll at least get to see if I’ve kept any of skills I found in Japan.
And with that, I’m off. I’ve got homework to do before my class tomorrow. Man, I haven’t had to do homework for eight years…. What a spin out.
Bis Bald (See you soon)
Thursday, January 14, 2010
A Whole New Year
Much to my relief things have improved markedly since my vent on my last post. There’s been visits by friends, we have got internet in the flat and I have started German classes, all of which have gone a long way to make me happier about my current situation here in Berlin. Of course, some problems still linger, such as the simple fact that I hate my job and am glad when I don’t get shifts, yet if that is the case, as it has been lately, I am burning through Australian Dollars like Deutschmarks in the 1920’s.
Just before New Years, Kate and Erin arrived in Berlin with some friends. It was great to see them again and go out for a few drinks in the city I love. While we did not have a white Christmas here, Berlin has been covered in a white blanket since about the 27th of December. There is something romantic about snow on a city and even through it’s very cold and messy, I still love the aesthetics of it.
New Years Eve was spent with a few of Paula’s friends at home, before going out the Potsdamer Platz to see the fireworks and then out to a club called “Ritter Butzke”. All of it was pretty awesome, the club especially was one of the coolest venues I have ever been to. I woke up with the expected headache and soon realized that I must’ve fallen on my ass quite severely as I could hardly walk. Paula later told me that I had fallen several times, and she had photos of the event. Nice
After having a few days to recover from New Years, Dima and Scottie arrived in Berlin after travelling through the Czech Rebublic and Poland. It was great to see Dima again as we always have plenty to talk about, even if it is only giving each other shit. I have really missed hanging out with guys and the time with Dima and Scottie was as much fun as I’ve had here. I took them on a tour of the historical sights of Berlin, along with telling them an abridged version of how it all went down. Even though that four hour walking tour is probably the coldest I have been in my life, it was still a great day, and reinforced my belief that I want to be a tour guide.
Dima and Scottie left, and I have now started German classes. They are every day from 2-5pm and while I definitely feel as stupid as I ever have, it’s nice to be learning something again. The class is full of Artists, everyone you’d expect to find in a Centrelink queue if I was with the same people in Australia. Painters, Dancers, Actors, Musicians, a Social Anthropologist and me, the Writer. Although I still haven’t made a great deal of headway in this regard. It’s coming up to 2 months and I have written a shade over two thousand words. I had originally planned to write at least 1000 words per day, not per month. Some planning has been done and major decisions regarding plot development have been made and then changed. I have two months before I go snowboarding and put another giant dent in my saving reserves, so I had better have written something worthwhile by then.
Just before New Years, Kate and Erin arrived in Berlin with some friends. It was great to see them again and go out for a few drinks in the city I love. While we did not have a white Christmas here, Berlin has been covered in a white blanket since about the 27th of December. There is something romantic about snow on a city and even through it’s very cold and messy, I still love the aesthetics of it.
New Years Eve was spent with a few of Paula’s friends at home, before going out the Potsdamer Platz to see the fireworks and then out to a club called “Ritter Butzke”. All of it was pretty awesome, the club especially was one of the coolest venues I have ever been to. I woke up with the expected headache and soon realized that I must’ve fallen on my ass quite severely as I could hardly walk. Paula later told me that I had fallen several times, and she had photos of the event. Nice
After having a few days to recover from New Years, Dima and Scottie arrived in Berlin after travelling through the Czech Rebublic and Poland. It was great to see Dima again as we always have plenty to talk about, even if it is only giving each other shit. I have really missed hanging out with guys and the time with Dima and Scottie was as much fun as I’ve had here. I took them on a tour of the historical sights of Berlin, along with telling them an abridged version of how it all went down. Even though that four hour walking tour is probably the coldest I have been in my life, it was still a great day, and reinforced my belief that I want to be a tour guide.
Dima and Scottie left, and I have now started German classes. They are every day from 2-5pm and while I definitely feel as stupid as I ever have, it’s nice to be learning something again. The class is full of Artists, everyone you’d expect to find in a Centrelink queue if I was with the same people in Australia. Painters, Dancers, Actors, Musicians, a Social Anthropologist and me, the Writer. Although I still haven’t made a great deal of headway in this regard. It’s coming up to 2 months and I have written a shade over two thousand words. I had originally planned to write at least 1000 words per day, not per month. Some planning has been done and major decisions regarding plot development have been made and then changed. I have two months before I go snowboarding and put another giant dent in my saving reserves, so I had better have written something worthwhile by then.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Berlin – Boxing Day
I was hoping for a White Christmas while here in Berlin, but the weather decided to be a little premature. It snowed for a solid four days between the 18th and 22nd of December, but by Christmas morning there was none left. Nothing but damp, cold, grey streets to greet me as I awoke on Christmas morning, and the sense that I was on the opposite side of the planet to where I should be.
For Christmas Eve and Christmas night, Paula cooked up a storm, and for someone who had always told me she cant cook, she was spectacular. I got to feel the old Christmas feeling I know so well by eating myself senseless, resulting in a near inability to move for the hours following the feast. But unlike Christmas’s of the past, there was no basketball out the back with my nephews and brothers to wear off the over indulgence, and there was no knowledge that the next day would be spent dancing in a field in 40’C weather with my best friends to work off the excess calories.
Waking up on the morning of Boxing Day to a message from Sara that she was currently dancing to Stanton Warriors and missing me was pretty much my most difficult point here in Berlin. I am finding it increasingly difficult to give myself reasons why I should be here. I don’t want to be a quitter. I don’t want to be one of those people that moves to a place and doesn’t give it a chance, but every day here in Berlin I am starting to feel like I should be somewhere else.
Boxing Day itself was actually a pretty great day here in Berlin. Paula and I woke up at the relatively early time of 1pm and were out of the house by 2pm. The day was cold, but sunny with a sharp wind in the air as we made our way along the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall. It runs along Muhlenstrasse in Friedrichshain, and is called the East Side Gallery as it has been used as an artist space for countless murals by different artists painting about Germany, Peace, Freedon and the fall of the wall. It was great to see, as I’d been meaning to go there since we drove past it on the Busabout bus while leaving Berlin for Dresden nearly six months ago.
After the East Side Gallery we went into Postdamer Platz and had some Gluwein (hot Wine) at a Christmas market there before heading over to the Sony Centre to see Avatar in 3D. That was pretty awesome, and a really fun adventure, although I feel that we will never again see greatness the likes of T2 or Aliens from Cameron again. After walking out of the cinema, we went up a snow slope constructed in the middle of Potsdamer Platz and slid down on tyre tubes. It was ace fun and its always great to do something that I just could never have done in Australia.
That night we went out to the Berghain and Panorama Bar, which are two massive clubs, one on top of the other in an enormous old electrical building. The Berghain level was closed so we hung out in the Panorama bar dancing, talking and watching more than a few displays of public grossness before heading home at around 7am. Unfortunately it seems to be standard practice for me and Paula to have an argument on the way home whenever we go out on the town, which is pretty much always my fault and stems from the fact that I am feeling unfulfilled and unhappy in Berlin due to my own laziness and pick stupid little things and turn them into fights.
I know that I am a little depressed, and I knew that I would miss my friends and family, so don’t expect me on a plane home anytime soon. So much of how I feel at the moment is my own fault. I have done very little writing for the book, which was my main reason for isolating myself away from my UK friends aswell as my Australian ones. This isolation without reward is making me consistently angry with myself and making other problems seem larger that they would otherwise be. I kinda have a job in and Irish Pub. I don’t like it, and I don’t even know if I’m going to get another shift. I know that every time I have ever started a job I hate it until I feel comfortable and I know what I’m doing, and I’m sure that this is the issue here, but knowing that I could be in Perth or Melbourne earning five times as much in a job I dislike an equal amount makes it hard to keep a smile on while pouring endless pints of Guinness.
But more than anything, it’s the winter. I didn’t expect it to hit me the way it has. It’s not the cold. It’s not the rain. Its certainly not the snow. It’s the fact that of all the things in Australia I love to most it was the barbeques at Como, the trips to the beach with Trent, the blasts on Mundaring Weir road with Billy and Nate, the golf days and the pub lunches. It seems like all that is lost. And I constantly wonder why I am choosing to exile myself and miss out on all that. I know why I chose to do it. So I could write. But if I’m not going to write, maybe I should just accept that I am not going to be a writer and go home and suck it up.
I am sure that when the European Summer rolls around, things will change. There is ten times more stuff to do here in Summer, and I cant say that I haven’t enjoyed the differences in the Winter festive period. I started learning German in 2 weeks and I’m hoping that a little bit more knowledge of the language will help me feel less alone. There are reasons to stay. More reasons to stay than there are reasons to leave. I have not given up yet. I still think I can write this novel. I still think I can get a job I will enjoy. I want to be here for the summer. I just needed to vent.
For Christmas Eve and Christmas night, Paula cooked up a storm, and for someone who had always told me she cant cook, she was spectacular. I got to feel the old Christmas feeling I know so well by eating myself senseless, resulting in a near inability to move for the hours following the feast. But unlike Christmas’s of the past, there was no basketball out the back with my nephews and brothers to wear off the over indulgence, and there was no knowledge that the next day would be spent dancing in a field in 40’C weather with my best friends to work off the excess calories.
Waking up on the morning of Boxing Day to a message from Sara that she was currently dancing to Stanton Warriors and missing me was pretty much my most difficult point here in Berlin. I am finding it increasingly difficult to give myself reasons why I should be here. I don’t want to be a quitter. I don’t want to be one of those people that moves to a place and doesn’t give it a chance, but every day here in Berlin I am starting to feel like I should be somewhere else.
Boxing Day itself was actually a pretty great day here in Berlin. Paula and I woke up at the relatively early time of 1pm and were out of the house by 2pm. The day was cold, but sunny with a sharp wind in the air as we made our way along the longest remaining stretch of the Berlin Wall. It runs along Muhlenstrasse in Friedrichshain, and is called the East Side Gallery as it has been used as an artist space for countless murals by different artists painting about Germany, Peace, Freedon and the fall of the wall. It was great to see, as I’d been meaning to go there since we drove past it on the Busabout bus while leaving Berlin for Dresden nearly six months ago.
After the East Side Gallery we went into Postdamer Platz and had some Gluwein (hot Wine) at a Christmas market there before heading over to the Sony Centre to see Avatar in 3D. That was pretty awesome, and a really fun adventure, although I feel that we will never again see greatness the likes of T2 or Aliens from Cameron again. After walking out of the cinema, we went up a snow slope constructed in the middle of Potsdamer Platz and slid down on tyre tubes. It was ace fun and its always great to do something that I just could never have done in Australia.
That night we went out to the Berghain and Panorama Bar, which are two massive clubs, one on top of the other in an enormous old electrical building. The Berghain level was closed so we hung out in the Panorama bar dancing, talking and watching more than a few displays of public grossness before heading home at around 7am. Unfortunately it seems to be standard practice for me and Paula to have an argument on the way home whenever we go out on the town, which is pretty much always my fault and stems from the fact that I am feeling unfulfilled and unhappy in Berlin due to my own laziness and pick stupid little things and turn them into fights.
I know that I am a little depressed, and I knew that I would miss my friends and family, so don’t expect me on a plane home anytime soon. So much of how I feel at the moment is my own fault. I have done very little writing for the book, which was my main reason for isolating myself away from my UK friends aswell as my Australian ones. This isolation without reward is making me consistently angry with myself and making other problems seem larger that they would otherwise be. I kinda have a job in and Irish Pub. I don’t like it, and I don’t even know if I’m going to get another shift. I know that every time I have ever started a job I hate it until I feel comfortable and I know what I’m doing, and I’m sure that this is the issue here, but knowing that I could be in Perth or Melbourne earning five times as much in a job I dislike an equal amount makes it hard to keep a smile on while pouring endless pints of Guinness.
But more than anything, it’s the winter. I didn’t expect it to hit me the way it has. It’s not the cold. It’s not the rain. Its certainly not the snow. It’s the fact that of all the things in Australia I love to most it was the barbeques at Como, the trips to the beach with Trent, the blasts on Mundaring Weir road with Billy and Nate, the golf days and the pub lunches. It seems like all that is lost. And I constantly wonder why I am choosing to exile myself and miss out on all that. I know why I chose to do it. So I could write. But if I’m not going to write, maybe I should just accept that I am not going to be a writer and go home and suck it up.
I am sure that when the European Summer rolls around, things will change. There is ten times more stuff to do here in Summer, and I cant say that I haven’t enjoyed the differences in the Winter festive period. I started learning German in 2 weeks and I’m hoping that a little bit more knowledge of the language will help me feel less alone. There are reasons to stay. More reasons to stay than there are reasons to leave. I have not given up yet. I still think I can write this novel. I still think I can get a job I will enjoy. I want to be here for the summer. I just needed to vent.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
