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.