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Published: June 16th 2005
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Sie sind gedient worden!
The eventual victors, the B-Town Allstars are on the left. That train ride was positively Brutal. The family opposite me in the six-seater cabin refused to put their luggage overhead. So, I query, where should it be placed? Why, directly on the floor!
Who needs a place to put your feet on an 8 hour overnight ride!!??
Not the stinky, grumpy American in the hilarious sleeping mask and earplugs.
Everytime the floorspace (approximately 2 square feet) shifted in dimensions, there was a mad tapdance as we all jockeyed for a place to put our barking dogs. For eight hours straight, everyone is barely asleep. Jostling occurs. As does tossing, turning, scooching and squeezing.
I have a good idea. Take this slice of heaven and knock about 30 degrees off of the cabin temperature. This makes the floor in Dublin International look like a room full of silk beanbags.
If given a choice, I would rather make a home under that escalator than endure another night like this in a train cabin. Unfortunately, I won't be given this choice as I plunge headlong into a world of general discomfort in exchange for new vistas.
Like Belgium, Germany is not exactly equatorial.
Really hating myself at
this point for not buying a sweater once I'd realized I'd left my jacket in Florida. Adding shoes and second shirt doesn't help anything, although I can't help but note it adds to the clamminess.
Bleary-eyed in Berlin
It's 8am and I'm just off the train at Zoogarten-Bahnhöf. I panicked and didn't wait for the right station, which was Ostbahnhöf.
I AM SO COLD. I'm shivering. My teeth are a-chattering. Eureka! A ticket office with space heaters. I spend the next 45 minutes sitting on one, looking through my documents, hoping no-one would chase me away. I safely eat some more chocolate gaufres and I begin to feel like an actual human.
I didn't book a hostel, but I knew it would be cinchy enough to get one as the prices are staggeringly low and Berlin can't seem to fill its rooms. Reportedly there is between a 20 and 30%!u(MISSING)nemployment rate, which tells me a few things.
One: I bet they don't extend alot of work visas for Germany.
Two: Broke and unemployed people have a tendency to find ways to have fun on a budget (note:find these people) and
Three: this is going to be
a cheap city.
Case in point: The
first hostel I land is 17 Euro a night. It's themed (impressively enough) after the Douglas Adams books "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." The place is clean, the bar is 24 hours and there is actual decorations.
So what if it's in an office building? Surely if you spice it up, add some friendly folks and free coffee, you'll have a place that people are comfortable coming back to. Maybe I was feeling a little nostalgic for the cubicle days at WorMar.
Of course, I left the very next day for
someplace less creepy. FEZ Wuhlheide - Berlin 05 Festival for Junge Politik
So I find myself in the middle of nowhere in a big nature area at 3pm and Stereo Total goes on at Midnight. And I don't have a jacket. And it's currently raining. Surrounding me are thousands upon thousands of German schoolchildren, aged mostly between 16 and 21. They're here for the festival, which is a pretty interesting concept. It's three days of events, centering around hundreds of small and large group discussions where the students and leaders of government, business and religion can all get together
and discuss the issues facing Germany. There's also a quality concert lineup. What's astounding is that the kids are really into the discussions.
The food and drink options are initially quite novel - isn't it funny, the food stands here only offer bier, sekt, and a half-dozen varieties of wurst. It's novel until you learn that these are the staples of inexpensive living in Berlin. Then they become dependable, beloved, sustaining.
Still, it's truly remarkable when I try to envision the scope of consumption taking place here. The bier and wurst consumption is inestimable. That morning in Dublin when I saw a truck unloading several hundred kegs in front of Farrelly's? Pedestrian in comparison.
But it is REALLY cold. 12 degrees Celsius. That's about 54 degrees Fahrenheit, which I really think the Germans should be obliged to use, as that's obviously one of THEIR words. I am literally the only moron here without at least a sweater.
It would be great to be 19 years old and living in Berlin. Your public transportation system is a marvel. You can get your haircut several times on the same block. Second-hand clothes are cheap and in good condition.
4 AM
Lost and needing a shower Your peers have alot of energy and the desire to make a party happen wherever and whenever possible. Some of them are at this concert doing headspins and debating global policy. Everyone seems to ride a bike, and the commies knew their stuff when it came to building bike paths. The girls are absolutely gorgeous.
I picked a group of kids to talk to and learned they were from an environmentalist/survivalist group in Thuringia. Hanny leaned in conspiratorially and said, "There is a big Nazi demonstration in my town." He smiled goofily and continued, " We were going to go with our friends, the punk rockers, and fight the Nazis, but instead we come to this concert." I nod, thinking I would have made the exact same decision. Nazis or Stereo Total???
We split up but agree to get together for a beer later in the evening. I head into the main building, where bands are doing soundchecks for adoring fans and there is a constant stream of kids going in and out of various rooms. I settle on a big forum where the panel is debating if there should be a Marshall Plan for Africa. I look
Onward, young Jason
Perhaps there is a shower this way. around and see some people wearing those excellent U.N. style headphones for translation. Alright! Time to play Ambassador Jason.
I sat down right as the Vice President of German Parliament began a row with a Ugandan journalist. The incendiary Ugandan was the clear crowd-favorite and he flatly denied the benefit of official state-channeled huminatarian aid. Instead, he proposed that foreign investement in private enterprise was the solution to raising the overall quality of life and keeping money out of corrupt hands. This elicited a storm of applause, but only dour expressions from his panelmates.
They challenged him to not be so
critical and to be constructive instead. Again and again, the panel implored him to present an alternative solution to humanitarian aid. Again and again he proposed investment in private enterprise. There were some very big brains on that stage and they had some very big mental blocks to go with them. Thankfully, when the moderator recognized the impasse, he sent the question to the floor, where a woman spent the next 5 minutes promoting herself.
Hanny: Eddy thinks that Nirvana is the best in the world, but Offspring is the best band you can find anywhere!
I wondered if he could say that having heard "Pretty Fly For a White Guy."
....
It's 11:10 and I'm really doing my best to hang in there for Stereo Total. My mind is racing, cycling through all of the things I need to do tomorrow, be they errands, sights, or plans for the evening. I'm overitinerating myself. I need to chill the hell out, have another overpriced Berliner Pilsner, and remember that I'm thisclose to finishing my first week.
2am
That was actually worth every minute of wait. What is it these people are yelling? It sounds like "Zukaray!" (ed note:zugabe means encore)
Dancing with my new friend Nils from Denmark, and a swarm of girls who look like Joan Jett, I can't believe the energy at the show. First of all, I have never before participated in a mosh-pit at an indie-pop show, but these were some rowdy folks. Many, many wonderful moments, including "Das Erste Mal", "Liebe Zu Dritt", "C'est La Mort", "Europa Neurotische".
Sadly, no on-stage access for the 2x encore of "Wir Tanzen Im 4-Eck", but that wasnae enough to stall the party. Afterparties erupted all over the park, and boomboxes kickstarted. These kids play hard.
Where will day two take me?
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Peter
non-member comment
The C-Board has corn pizza today (e)