25 February 2012

Trike! Bed! Oh, that damned Cream Sauce!

Boddinstraße U-Bahn


Where to begin?  So much is happening!  I finally feel alive!  I have a home again!  I am aware that I make an impact, that folks care about me.  I am getting closer to achieving my goals.  I had an hour long conversation in German!!!  It was slow.  My conversation partner was very patient and had to repeat herself a lot, but when I landed here almost 6 months ago (has it been that long?) I NEVER thought I would be able to say more than a few sentences.  Practicing a language is a little like yoga, where at first you think, "Man, I will NEVER get the hang of this."  But then you just practice over and over again and soon you can touch your toes.  
I'm not making any money right now, but I'm flexing my creative muscles and making connections.  Not only do I perform improv regularly at the Space Station but I have been hired as a performance coach by Trike, a Canadian duo with a very unique sound.  We're all a bunch of broke-ass-artists living on a dream and barely squeaking by, so at the moment, there's no money, but so far Trike has fed me, kept me full of coffee or wine, and given me a pair of free tickets to their show tonight.  I really like working with them on the more theatrical portions of their show.  It feeds something important inside me.  Also, my network of artists is growing and diversifying as I try to figure out exactly where I fit into this crazy city.


Stephen (Trike) and I have a headphones party as I listen to his song and he listens to mine.
 I am moving for the 4th time in 6 months and after this one, I only have one more until I get my permanent home!  I moved a suitcase and my monster army backpack as well as a bag of groceries over to Rubensstraße today.  I take the rest of my things over gradually, the three bags of odds, ends and toiletries I still have at the temporary horror-sublet on Schillerpromenade go tomorrow and I hope to have the rest of my stuff out of Robert's place by the end of next week.  And on Tuesday, I get a BED!  It's a fairly thin and cheap futon, but it is the size of a full bed and it is FREE!  I now get to enlist a few other folks to help my move it via public transit on Tuesday.  Oh, boy, this is going to be interesting!  Maybe I can find someone with a car...

I've been pondering the idea of home and what the hell is it, and I have come up with this simple list of what it takes to make me feel like I have a home:
1) A bed that is large enough for me and one other person
2) Easy access to internet.  Doesn't have to be wireless, but I have to be able to access it from my laptop.
3) A roommate (at least 1) who enjoys sharing meals together occasionally.

And this I will have! I have a very small room with a loft bed for the next 1 or 2 months near Friedenau (there is NOTHING special about this neighborhood.  Boring and quiet and with transit nearby.  Sounds good to me.)  In April or May, we move to Wedding, on the U-8 line, right in between Pankstraße and Osloerstraße U-Bahn.  So cool!  Wedding is a still ungentrified area with a lot of Turkish and Arabic influence, and only 15 or 20 minutes away from Neukölln with public transit.  This area of Wedding was in my top three districts I was hoping to live in in Berlin, and now it's happening.  Woo!

Walking down Weserstraße past Silver Future in Neukölln I found this.  Disturbing really!  Doesn't it look like snow?  Now look at the close-up below


Spring is here early and it's lovely!  I am finally wearing my summer jacket again!  Know longer do I need to wear cotton tights under my pants!  I can't wait for the flowers to start blooming.  I hear the winter was extremely mild, but for my California blood, oh, it was hard!

I have been feeling good lately.  Alive!  So good and alive that I decided to make Robert dinner the other night.  I made pasta with chicken and mushrooms in a cream sauce.  I should have used cream, or sour cream.  But milk was easily at hand, so I used that.  A lot of it.
Um, a word to the wise:  even if you are not lactose intolerant, don't do this unless you want to have serious stomach issues for about 3 days.  Really.  It's still not over, but I'm through the worst of it.  Damn, there is nothing to make one feel vulnerable and helpless in this world like feeling ill in a foreign country.  I have health insurance, but am unsure of how to use it, plus, if I go to the Apotheke, how do I ask for what I need?  I did learn a new word though: Verstopft, as in "Ich bin verstopft."  Look it up.  Then hope it never happens to you.
I'm happy to say that thanks to the natural remedy of good quality (and sort of pricey) apple juice, I am feeling MUCH better. Although now there is the opposite problem.  Hmm.
Enough poop talk.  Here are a few more pictures.  Enjoy!
Neukölln

Neukölln

1 comment:

  1. Congrats, Harvey, on your inspiring endeavors and soon-to-be-permanent housing situation! Enjoy spring in all its blooming glory (without the tummy trauma, of course). Love and shiny latex, Mandy

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