A bit of Berlin

This month is my month of simply "being" in Berlin. No travelling (til the very end of it), no visitors, just living as one would normally live in such an amazing place. I can't remember exact details of everything that's been happening, but here's some highlights...

1) Weinerei. Been here a couple of times this month, and I expect there shall be more to follow. The idea is that you pay €1 for a glass when you enter, then you keep refilling this glass from the selection of wines available, and upon leaving, you pay what you belive your evening has been worth. I'm not a big wine drinker, but this concept appeals to me, and also seems quite typical of Berlin, which is fun.



2) Gigs. Actually, I went to one just before I went to Salzburg, Mnemic, Nightrage, Slowmotion Apocalypse and Karras @ Knaack Klub, which i forgot to mention in my hurry to recount all my travellings. Generally a thrash/"melodic death metal" (an odd term if ever there was one) evening, in rather a small club...nothing too amazing, but good fun nonetheless. Good to get gigging again, it had been a while. This Friday I'll be going seeing Type O Negative, so more on that story later....

3) Swedish things. Last Wednesday was Swedish National Day, so myself and Johanna went to celebrate at Ikea. Not most people's first choice of a party venue, I know, but it's the most obvious place to eat Swedish food in Berlin. After that, we went for cocktails somewhere in Kreuzberg with hanna and a load of friends from back in Sweden she had visiting. This was fun :) Also of note, in IKEA we found the first written evidence of our new language, "Schweutschlish" (Swedish/German/English), in a sign advertising "Köttbullar to go für €1".



4) Uni. Sadly, I am actually here primarily for "business reasons", and as such I have to do some work every now and then. This morning I did a presentation on the German Hausarbeit (it's sort of a dissertation), and I may also have to say something about a poem this afternoon. It's also not too long til the end of the semester now, where we have to sit some lovely exams. Oh joy.

5) Neuer Mitbewohner. I have (another) new flatmate. Except this time there are 2 differences to my previous ones. He's both German, and Normal. This can only be good, so I felt it was worth a mention.

6) Flunkyball and BBQ - being as Berlin has a bloody great park in the middle of it, as is our wont (and that of many other Berliners), we have been known of late to go and have a Grill there. Here we also play flunkball, a game involving balls and bottles of beer. I'm not sure if it's German (it was introduced to me by Norwegians), but it's fun.

7) Mauerpark/Flohmarkt - I currently live surprisingly close to where the Berlin Wall used to stand, and right on the border of a Sunday there's a sizeable flea market in the park there. You can buy everything from bikes to portraits to plants to hats...it's great, and as such I've splashed a little of the old birthday money on a couple of things.

Think that's about it for now, pictures and further reports of things to follow!

And this is our cat, Lulu: