It may seem a sad, undignified end to something that once stood so tall and mighty, but on the contrary – it had simply outlived its usefulness and now it is very resourcefully transitioning into something new to maintain viability.

And to that end, presented without further comment, here is a video (in 2 parts) of a performance I gave at the Experimental Sound Gallery in St. Petersburg, Russia last November (2009):

But, at the moment I’m gonna take a short break from blogging in the past, to enjoy blogging in the now. Not that anything particularly interesting is going on at the moment, just hanging in the living room typing while Claudia is hard at work grading away on that neverending stack of student papers (of which she has less than 6 of 21 left to go at this point, Yay Claudia!, and yes, I stand by my choice of the word “neverending” for a variety of reasons which aren’t important right now), and so a typical night at the Claudia-Kenny Wohnung (apartment), although usually I’m doing German homework instead of blogging.

And this is some of my favorite time here, relaxing, sharing a bottle of wine with Claudia as we both tend to our business, taking breaks occassionally to eat, drink, be merry, and then back to it, whatever “it” happens to be on a given night. So, unlike most of my other event-related posts, this one’s in homage to the joyfully mundane… and to Claudia.

Incidentally one of my problems documenting the Claudia story is that she hardly ever lets me take pictures (granted I generally like to take them at the most inopportune times (well, inopportune for Claudia anyway. For me they are quite opportune.) ). But I’ve been more active with the camera lately, after realizing that I had been here many months already and had so few pictures (and incidentally, another problem which will be more and more readily apparent the more photos I upload, is that Claudia’s camera, the one I use, takes really crappy pictures which come out completely blurred more than half the time. No idea why. But I’ve compensated for that a bit by using it to take video).

So when Claudia went to the bathroom tonight, I thought it might be a good idea to go grab the camera to have ready later while she was doing her grading thing and document this most typical of evening activities. Only it occurred to me that, once she became aware of my presence with the camera she might object. So naturally, I pointed the camera at the bathroom door to at least get one good shot of her coming out…

…and there I waited, very quietly, patiently, listening for the door handle to move, finger on the trigger… but what about that delay from the time I press the button till the time the picture actually shoots? a good second and well long enough for her to react and blur tings up real good… or… perhaps I could switch to video mode…
and that’s just what I did. And here is the result.

(note: give the links a good minute or 2 to load. I don’t understand why they should take so long but it seems they do.)

And what’s that? More Claudia you say? I agree. So here’s a little bonus video I took while demonstrating to Claudia the video function on her own camera: Is it on?

And finally here’s a few shots of die Lehrerin (the teacher) in her natural habitat:

It doesn’t quite do that, but it does eventually leave, making way for the other season, which we are in right now. Everyday just seems perfect, clear skies, warm weather, people out and about living, making babies, drinking, playing music, feeling good. To celebrate, I went with Natalie last week to Pfaueninsel, a tiny island in the Southwest corner of Berlin where peacocks roam free.

We didn’t actually make it there till about 3 or 4 hours later than we had originally scheduled for a few reasons, namely dinner and church with Dragana the night before, and breakfast with Dragana the day of. And that’s not to make it sound as if any of these diversions were unwelcomed in the least, quite the opposite in fact. Dragana is quite the cook and her lasagna was, I must say, one of the best I’ve had in a long time, all the more impressive because of her strict dietary restrictions (e.g. no garlic or onions among other things). After dinner we went to her church, a Serbian church, for an orthodox Christian ceremony celebrating the Orthodox Easter (which occurs some weeks after the more commonly known Easter). Dragana is actually quite religious and so this was important to her.

We got there about 11:30 pm. The place was packed and when the ceremony began, Dragana was near the front of the congregation singing with the group as they proceeded to go out the door and walk around the church a few times, with the enitre herd of, well, I guess at least a few hundred people following, most of them holding candles. It was actually quite beautiful for a moment but I couldn’t help thinking how much cooler the whole thing would have been with some alcohol and drugs and perhaps some street performers and nudity, and perhaps even a mock battle between the two guys in front with the huge staffs with crosses at the end… anyway, the group made it around the church about three times before Natali and I snuck out for the night, now well past midnight.

Morning came, Dragana called and invited us over to eat, which we did even though we had already eaten, and there we sampled some more of her delicious food, and her husband/boyfriend (can’t remember) offered me some Serbian schapps, homemade by Dragana’s father or uncle or something, and it was delicious, with a sneaky bite that lagged a few minutes behind. After three of these and some pleasant conversation I was ready to see some peacock with Natali.

And so by around 5pm, Ubahn to the SBahn to Wannsee to the bus through the forest to the boat, we made it to Peacock Island. It’s a quite nice place to spend a day, or in this case an evening, calm, peaceful, a few different walking paths around the island to explore, and then you can always go off-path, and then you hear some honking and follow the sound to the beautiful blue peacocks.

We took our time, making our way around the island, watching and playing with the compelling freaks of nature. As we were coming back around towards the dock we spotted 4 peacocks in the tall grass and ventured off to see them up close and feed them some chocolate, when it began occuring to Natali that she wasn’t quite sure what time the island closed and that perhaps we missed the last boat. I laughed it off, playing along a bit, sorta fueling the anxiety as the impulse hit: “well, I guess we’re spending the night here”.

I was quite sure we weren’t stuck there for the night, and though it would’ve given me a whole lot more material to blog about, turned out I was right. That’s not to say I didn’t start to get a bit nervous when I saw the boat comfortably docked without another human in sight. And then when a human did finally appear and I asked him in my horrible German something to the effect of: “Hello, we’d like to go home now” he responded sardonicly in words that, though I couldn’t translate, I understood intuitively meant: “sorry, no more boats today”.

You just don’t see humour like this very often in Berlin, and so, it’s very effective and quite refreshing when you do. After a minute or so watching us squirm he directed us over to the boat with a smile.

Some pics:

(incidentally, just a quick note on Thursday: After my first meeting with the new class I met with Natali and went to Phelipe’s (Columbia) from the old class, who was having a small lunch party. Sylvie (It) was there as well as Pascal (Fr.) and his partner. Felipe cooked a really yummy pasta dish and we sipped wine well into the evening. I mention this because, well, I’m trying to alleviate some guilt at not having brought in anything to Friday’s feast, and truth is, I just didn’t have the time after Felipe’s. It was really OK though. We had all explicitly acknowledged in class that bringing in something was completely contingent on everyone’s own situation, time, money, resources, etc. and no one was obligated to or expected to do anything.)
Anyway, Kaveem took some video with his cellphone of the event, which I’ve spent nearly the last 4 hours trying to figure out how to post online to share with my faithful readers. (Basically you can’t upload video to the blog with a free account, nor can you upoad it to flickr and embed it with a free account, and I really didn’t want to pay anything, considering I have my own webpage though it has nothing on it yet). So after much sweat and tears I believe I have successfully uploaded it to my webpage and hopefully I can link to it.

Meet my Class

(hopefully that works). If not, here’s some pics:

(continuing after some sleep).

The last Tuesday and Wednesday of class was the big test, a practice test actually, designed to model the actual official test one has to take in order to demonstrate to the state your level and progress. Many people in the class need this for various reasons (showing where they are on the path to integration, receiving certain state benefits and aids, possibly this test would also be the official way to demonstrate to a university that you’ve met entrance requirements, I honestly don’t know). The test is really of no consequence to me at this point, and so I’m really content to move along at my own pace. I hadn’t given much thought to it and so it was almost a surprise when it came.

It’s difficult to know just where you stand in such a class as this, in regards to your level of German, and this is in contrast to my first class at the private school where we were all beginning pretty much from scratch and so, were mostly at the same level. Many in this VHS class had been living in Germany for some time and regularly use and communicate in German fluently, though often with very poor grammar and many errors. Natali (Ukraine) for example, has lived in Germany for 10 years and speaks German quite fluently  but her grammar is not good. Erina (Russia) also speaks German fast and comfortably. Many of the Muslim women speak German comfortably and regularly communicate with each other in German.
I’ve always felt like I was somewhere in the middle to low end. My grammar is not terrible but vocabulary is practically non-existent. I tend to have to look up words 5 or 6 times before they make their way in smoothly. I’m also pretty slow to understand people speaking German at a normal pace.

The test was in 2 parts: Verbal (Tues.) and written (Wed.). For the verbal part we were each paired with a partner and we were to (alone in the room with just 2 teachers/graders) have a Q&A with each other on a certain topic (which turned out to be “daily life”). My partner, as chosen by the teacher, was Natali who’s also my girlfiend. I blanked in trying to think of a question and so I came up with “Wie langa hast du in Deutschland gewohnt? (how long have you lived in Germany)”. This was a flub for 2 reasons: 1. It didn’t match the topic 2. I put Natali in the awkward position of having to admit that she lived here for 10 years and could only speak German at this level. I was quite sure it was a flub as soon as I said it because Natali immediately gave me a look that seemed to say: “WHAT??!!!??” – oops.

Anyway, it was really all in good fun and very casual. The teachers were friendly and laughing all the time, helping us when we needed it.

The next day was the written test which was more difficult than I’d ever imagined it would be. But I went through it slowly and carefully.

Anyway, let’s cut to the chase. I missed class Thursday to attend my new class (which unfortunately overlapped the first week, more on that later I hope), but came back Friday for the final day which was really just a big feast (more on that soon I hope). However, I was quite shocked to find out that I had actually scored second best on the test, a 92!! Second only to Erina (who incidentally didn’t come to class for the last 3 weeks or so. She’s dealing with a lot, including her second child who’s I believe about a year and a half.). They don’t give the tests back, only the number grade, I guess because they follow the official version quite closely and don’t want the questions and answers getting out, and so, to be honest I’m actually deep in my heart a bit skeptical. I know I did OK, but I can’t fully get around the thought that perhaps an extra 1 was carried erroneously or something.

But anyway, there you have it. I can now speak German at the A2 level. I’m taking a course now which focuses only on conversation, also at the VHS (though a different one), and is really just a chance to practice German at the A2 level. I’ll take up B1 in September I think.

moving on…

I’m about 2 months and 3 books behind at this point, but since I gotta pick it up somewhere, let’s start about 2 weeks ago with my completion of German A. The process of learning the German language here is quite standardized. I believe there are 3 levels (A, B, and C) each divided into 2 courses (eg. A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, and C2). (I don’t believe there is a D level, but I’m not sure exactly). A couple of weeks ago I completed A2 at the Volkshochschule and so I think some things here deserve some reflection, among which, but likely not limited to, are: the people in the group, the day we discussed politics, comparisons between the 2 schools I’ve so far attended, and the general experience of learning a new language.

I took Deutsch A1 at Die Neue Shule, a private school, with a max class size of 10, where I met some great people, whom I’ve already mentioned some months ago in my early days of blogging when I actually, well… ya know… blogged. (this reminds me I’ve got to remember to shoot some hello emails out to Marco, Cynthia, and Audrey to see what the latest with them is). I enjoyed that group very much. But that’s not why I’m writing now. I mean I wouldn’t mind writing more about that course – there’s still plenty to say afterall – but then I’d really never make any progress in detailing my progress with learning German and my general experience of learning the language. So here the focus is on Deutsch A2 at the Volkshochshule (VHS).

… and like the first, this was a truly wonderful group as well, though there were some interesting differences. The VHS is a wonderful institution run by the state. It’s considerably cheaper than any private school, and many who go there have their tuition subsidized. It draws a lot of people from the huge Turkish population here in Berlin who are doing their best to integrate into the the culture, as well as from a wide variety of other cultures, SES, ages, and general life situations. Some nationalities represented in my class: Chinese, Thai, Ukrainish, Russian, Serbish, Afghan, Spanish, Italian, French, Columbian, Turkish, Kurdish, Pakistani, and I think a few others. Many women were married with children, at least one was pregnant with her first, at least one guy was gay… well, not to go off on too much of a tangent here, but the point is, it was a wonderfully diverse and interesting group.

Unfortunately, this post is going to have to be a bit disjointed, because I’m really trying to sum up 3 months in about as many paragraphs. Every week was interesting, and so many people had such colorful stories which naturally lent themselves to such interesting conversations, but just to choose a single particularly interesting day, a couple of weeks before the end of the course we did a unit on politics. This was basically about learning the words and language to talk about the German parliamentary system (most of which I’ve already forgotten) but, as with every topic, we do a variety of exercises and have open discussions – an important part of becoming comfortable with learning a new language.

So Anke, the teacher, put the question out there about how important understanding politics is in our own life and why. I had a lot of opinions but since I’m a little slower with my German than many others in the class, and since this was such a complicated topic, I thought I’d sorta sit back and observe a little. Some of the Muslim women in the class, along with Kaveem (Pakistan) were quite vocal to start the conversation and some others from Western Europe joined in. I can’t remember specifically what they all said but there was general agreement about, well…, about everything.

With this discussion, as with my total experience here in Berlin thus far, it is the similarities rather than differences I find most striking. I’ll never forget my first day, first month, first time this or that, how anxious I was to do just about anything: (e.g. crossing the street – “oh, they stop on the red and go on the green too”). Everything was alien, and so I naturally adopted the perspective that I was alien to everything. This I think is a better way to approach things than beginning with the assumption that everything is familiar and thus learning the differences.

So it was striking to me how everyone emphasized ideas such as freedom, democracy, justice, empowerment… how important it is to be informed in order to hold those in power accountable for their actions. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I was open to it, whatever it was, and it didn’t come, and that was striking to me.

Anke was looking around the class, making eye contact with different people trying to draw them into the discussion, and I had the distinct impression that she was focusing a bit more on me than on others at this point, perhaps to get a US perspective. I had been quiet up till now, but I did want to say something. And so I began (and bear in mind we’re all having this discussion with the pedestrian vocabulary of people at the A2 level) “Politics is important to me because, the politics of my homeland is important to the whole world” … and instantly I could feel everyone nodding in agreement with me, acknowledging the fact that their worlds are so affected by US politics… and I continued… “und die letzte 8 Jahre war sehr schlecht (and the last 8 years were very bad)”… and at this point I couldn’t even look up anymore, it was difficult to continue… but… “und ich weiss was passiert wenn die Leute nicht politik verstehen (and I know what happens when the people don’t understand the politics)”…

…inside I was holding back tears. I was apologizing for what my government has done, for the trust the world put in us and how the current administration betrayed that trust. Even though people in the US have gradually been waking up to the fact that this administration is incompetent and downright disastrous, I don’t think that most people are truly aware of just how much damage has been done to the image of the US in the world, and how important that image is. (I’m half tempted at this point to continue on this tangent which could easily fill many books, and already has, from the manufactured case to go to war in Iraq, to warrantless wiretapping, to suspension of Habeus Corpus, to Karl Rove’s brilliantly evil campaign tactics, to Alberto Gonzales, to redefining “torture”, and the list just goes on and on and on… but I really didn’t mean for this post, nor this blog in general, to be political in nature and I have other things I need to get to. I will, however, recommend the always brilliant Frontline (PBS) with Bush’s War, available online in 10 minute segments, and well worth the time.)

Anyway, class discussion continued, and for awhile about the US. It truly is amazing just how much everyone knows about US politics. I think it was Kaveem (Pak.) who brought up the Florida recounting fiasco and others jumped in to talk about. Sylvie (Italy, pregnant) was involved as well, and she in particular is very knowledgeable in world politics in general (I believe that was her field of study and is her career. I do know that she had spent a few years in Afghanistan either in a political or perhaps humanitarian capacity, not sure exactly).

But that wasn’t the last interesting episode of the day. Then Anke came around to Liu from China. Liu is a sweet guy, at about 6 years or so my junior I believe the youngest in the class. He rides the same train as me for 2 stops on his way home and so we talked frequently after class almost daily, mostly small talk to practice our German together. He’s often smiling and I get the feeling he’s a devout church-going god-fearing Christian. He’s easy to talk to at this level of conversation and so always a welcome subway companion.
Liu responded to Anke that he did indeed think that understanding politics was important. Anke, visibly interested in Liu’s perspective, probed further and asked what he thought of politics in China. He responded in a sorta naive youngish way, “I think the politics in China are good”, and with that you could sorta feel the class collectively groan in disagreement. Anke probed a little further asking some more slightly pointed questions that I can’t exactly remember now, but Liu stuck to his initial opinion acknowledging here and there that “yes, perhaps that is not so good, but in general it is good”. Anke turned to the rest of the class to see if anyone wanted to get involved in the discussion. Paco (Spain) said something to the effect of “no comment”… and with that class had ended for the day.

Walking with Liu to the train after class, he asked me if I understood the topic today (remember, I’m generally translating here. Again, we’re speaking Deutsch like 6 month olds.) I replied that yes, I did and I thought it was very interesting. He then kinda confessed that he really didn’t know much about politics and he just didn’t know what exactly to say (not surprising considering he’s, I think, 25 or 26 not to mention from a country with a communist ruling party which suppresses information from beyond their borders, but mainly not surprising to me because of his age. Sadly I don’t remember having much political awareness at 25 either). So I asked a little about access to information and censorship of the internet and his thoughts. He said simply that earlier it was bad but it’s getting better. I really wanted to talk more but we only had a few minutes before he had to make his transfer and this was a bit of a complicated topic considering our Deutsch skills at this point, and he didn’t seem to have much info to offer anyway.

Anyway, this would be a good point to end this topic, but I did want to also briefly mention a related episode in class a day or 2 later (typically topics in class last a week) when we were doing activities in groups of 3. I was in a group with Liu and Lina (Lebanon). I haven’t had much contact with Lina but she always seems very sweet and friendly and my impression of her is that she’s also quite intelligent. The activity was to discuss with each other the systems of government of our homelands and to ask each other questions. I believe Lina was at least familiar with the names of all 3 US candidates in the running, and some of the basic aspects of the political system such as the names of our 2 primary parties. (frankly, I can’t really explain it that well past a certain point. This stupid super-delegate system that the democrats have come up with is so utterly self-defeating, and ironically undemocratic, and really makes no sense that I can work out). Lina tried to describe the system she has in Lebanon, but she also could only get to a certain point before breaking into a laugh and dismissing it as “kompliziert zu erklären (complicated to explain)”. However, I could grok that it was basically democratic in nature with multiple parties that each have comparable amounts of power currently. Liu then explained as best he could the one party system of China. Lina and I kinda looked at each other smiling, I think thinking the same thing. So I asked Liu, do you think this is good? He said he believes the current leader of the Communist party, Hu Jintao I think, is a good leader, and is good for China, compared to previous leaders. Liu did acknowledge that with the one party system when the leader is good then everything is good, but when he’s bad then the system is bad. Me and and Lina were practically jumping out of our seats trying to ask the next question: well when he’s bad is there any recourse for the people? Liu thought for a second and sorta replied: well, no, not really.

And that’s where the current story ends folks.

It’s true that you never really forget how to ride a bicycle, BUT, that isn’t to say that after 16 or 17 years your chops don’t suffer at least a little.

:: big yawn::

Naah, tonight’s not the night. I must sleep. I’m truly physically and mentally exhausted, and I have a very very long day tomorrow.

g’nite

So here’s some stuff, really quickly from the last 2 months:

1. Got my visa!!! which includes a (limited) work permit!!! – it’s a long story, better suited to the full-length post that will unfortunately likely never exist.

2. 5 days in Paris with Meghan!

3. New German Class at the Volkshochschule

4.  Gig at the gallery closing party in Friedrichshain – went well!

5. Lost iPod! (was sure it was stolen)

6. Natali – Ukrainisch girl from class. She speaks not a word of english, but she speaks German very fluently.

6a. 14 and a half hours of speaking nothing but German!! (and the mental exhaustion that follows).

7. Found iPod! (instead of it being stolen it turns out than I’m just stupid!)

8. Music listening with Katharina

9. Nokia study – I got to test their new cellphone navigation system in an early stage of production (it sucks BTW!) and they paid me 50 eu. for it.

10. Marlene – got together last week. We’re going to do some recording soon, and we talked about some other projects as well.

11. Moescafe.com – coming soon!

12. Storytime Books and Cafe – I’ll soon be playing and singing as part of a regular series of sing-along-and-learn-english-in-the-process events for very young children.

13. Transit strike, happening right now! Scheduled to last for, I think, 10 days. No clue what the heck I can do.

So that should cover what’s on the tip of my memory at the moment.

New Years here is called “Sylvester” (not sure why). It’s conventionally celebrated with fireworks… lots and lots of fireworks… set off by nearly everyone… of all ages and sizes… in every direction… throughout the entire night, and the result is quite unlike anything I’ve experienced anywhere else. But I’m getting ahead of myself, because the celebration begins a week prior to New Years Eve with the end of Christmas, and by “celebration” I mean “loud bangs occurring at seemingly random intervals and increasing in frequency with each passing day”.

It’s a somewhat unsettling time. Often during this week I’d be strolling casually down the street, thinking some less-than-profound thoughts, perhaps after having just exited the train station, or turned a corner, and then BOOOM!!!! right in front of me, and often at the hands of 10 or 12 year old kid (though admittedly supervised by an adult) (In the spirit of cultural relativism I’m ignoring the temptation to follow that with a ::sarcastic roll-eyes::).

At some point around this time I met up with Peter, who I hadn’t seen since my first few weeks in Berlin before he went to the US on vacation. I met him at an upscale Steakhouse in Mitte (I think) where he was just finishing dinner, and then we walked towards Kreuzberg, stopping briefly at a much more downscale (relative to the steakhouse, and not necessarily to other Christmas Markets) Christmas Market where I ran in for a quick bratwurst. I remember walking up to the guy behind the table and, with all my confidence and conviction, and in my best German asserting “ein bratwurst bitte”. He went to the grill, came back with the big sausage on a bun, and said “that’s two euros please”.

::sigh:: – I guess I got some more work to do before I’m fooling the locals.

And that actually leads me to another thought (and further digression) I had just this passed week: I find myself often, somewhat unconsciously, intentionally stumbling with my German, just a tiny bit, when talking to a stranger (i.e. in a non-social setting, like buying something or asking for directions or something like that) in order to communicate early on that I’m not a native speaker but I’m trying my best. I reasoned this might be due to a sorta micro-level fear of success: the pressure increases exponentially once you get passed the initial lines (words, sentences, remarks, – I can’t find the right word here) of a conversation. But this is not to say that there aren’t other days, during my more confident moods, that, instead of hedging, I take the dive without fear and actually come through it OK.

So anyway, Peter and I continued on, talking about American politics (about which he is surprisingly informed and follows with much interest) and the writer’s strike and other things, and eventually we came to Murray’s (aka Olde Emeralde Isle), the Irish Pub where I met up with others some months back to watch the Rugby championship. There were a couple of guys with acoustic guitars on the small stage there singing Irish folk songs, and the atmosphere was casual, and so upon leaving I mentioned to the bartender that I was a musician and I was wondering if she was looking for such to perform there. Se responded that, yes, actually she was looking for someone to fill a night in a few weeks, and BTW she was a music journalist, and oh also there’s this musician who is playing there the upcoming Sunday, a guitar-player from NY who I might like to meet, and she asked what kind of music I play, and I simply responded “minimal” expecting this to lead on to a further inquiry where I would get an opportunity to explain a bit about how I use the loop machine function on my effects processor to layer patterns and improvise on top, and perhaps she might like to check out my myspace page (which is here, incidentally) just to get an idea of my sound, though I can tailor the format to better accommodate the expectations of the space by structuring shorter chunks of music instead of one long improvisation… but I got no such opportunity; all the info she had about what I do was the word “minimal”. And with that she pulled out her big book of bookings, flipped to the page containing the date January 14^th, and penciled in “Kenny”. I was to play from 8-11pm for 50 euros and 4 drinks – horrible pay by the standards of most any major city, but really not bad by the standards of Berlin. In any case, I was just thrilled to be working, and to finally have an opportunity to try out the improvised loop stuff I’d been thinking about and working with the passed few months.

(BTW, to all my readers, I hope you’re enjoying my post about New Years Eve in Berlin) Arlo Guthurie: “Remember Alice? It’s a song about Alice.”

So, feeling quite good about getting my first paying gig, I left with Peter. At some point during the evening we talked about New Years plans and he mentioned he was going to be doing the big official celebration at Brandenburger Tor with some friends coming in from out of town and would I like to join? This was somewhat appealing because, well, it’s my first New Years here and why not get the touristy thing out of the way so I don’t have to deal with it again (I don’t believe I’ve ever done Times Square, best as I can recall). It was equally (if not more) unappealing for the same reasons I’ve never done New Years at Times Square (best as I can recall). But as of yet I had no solid plans and so it was an option. I did have less-than-solid plans, one of which was that Marlene had mentioned a week or so prior that, though her plans as they stood were to spend with her boyfriend and friends in Hamburg, she had spent the passed few New Years having a small party at her place in Prenzlauer Berg where she had rooftop access and it was possible she would choose to do his again. But I hadn’t heard from her since. My other option was to join Claudia and Lucille in whatever they were doing which was likely going to a fairly expensive (at least for me) New Years party at a club.

I was really holding out for the Marlene option because: (1) I really couldn’t afford the club party (2) the best New Years I’ve had have been intimate parties in someone’s house with a small group of friends (3) I enjoy hanging out with Marlene and her friends (which is not to say I don’t also enjoy hanging out with Claudia or Peter).

But it wasn’t until, I think, the day before New Years that I finally got the call from Marlene that she was indeed doing cheese fondue at her place for New Years (and had I known that cheese fondue was a possibility, that would have easily been a 4^th reason to be pulling for this option. Cheese fondue is one of my 2 new favorite ways to enjoy cheese that I discovered this holiday week in Berlin, the other being raclette which I was first exposed to on Christmas Eve with Claudia’s family). And so, now I had solid plans for Sylvester 2008!

There were 5 of us at Marlene’s, including Alexander (from “Rockstar”), and most of the conversation was in German, which I really didn’t mind, and the fondue was heavenly, the food-to-be-dipped being bread, chunks of pear, and broccoli – an absolutely perfect combination. And at about 11:30 we all made our way onto the roof.

And the view from the roof was unlike anything I’d ever seen. Since we’re talking here about fireworks, let me make the obvious comparison to the 4^th in the states. Now, there’s no doubt that the 4^th of July can be quite surreal. (I have an image in my mind as I think about this of casually driving to Howie’s out in Coram on the 4^th a few years ago as colorful explosions filled the sky all around me and contemplating how bizarre the whole thing was). But the main difference, as I see it, is that there is more of a sense that it is a show on the 4th. Either it’s an official one with huge, colorful, ornate, sophisticated fireworks, or an unofficial one which is just on a much smaller scale. There are pockets where a few people are providing the show, and then many from nearby come and gather round to enjoy it. If you’re lucky enough to live on the water, or know someone who does, you can relax in the backyard and watch perhaps 4 or 5 (or more) distinct pockets of firework shows, provided likely by others who live on the water, and you can “oooh” and “ahhh” at all the beautiful colors and sorta judge each new explosion based on what you’ve seen before and so some you may remark on as being more boring than others, and likewise some are more ornate and elaborate…

But this was quite different. During Sylvester in Berlin, there’s no sense of distinct, independent “shows” of colorful, ornate fireworks; instead, (1) the “boom!” itself is generally given more weight than aesthetics and (2) it’s happening equally everywhere in every direction. It’s on every street, off of every balcony, on every rooftop, in the sky in every direction (and this is presumably happening in every district). It quite literally feels like the entire city is a war zone. And this continues on ceaselessly throughout the entire night. (I guess I should mention BTW that fireworks are actually legal for this one night in Berlin).

Thankfully, due to the power of the internet, I can actually provide some video examples.

I was really in awe standing up there, surrounded by all this (though not so much so that I couldn’t join the others in a drunken yelling of Auld Lang Syne which, since none of us knew the words, went something like this: “Shouuuld old acquaintance beeeeeee forgot da da daaaaaaa da daaa daaa daaaaaaaaaa, and should old acquaintance be forgot da da daaaaa in Auld Lang Syne!!!!!” (repeat a few times).

Eventually, we made it back inside to do some more talking and drinking. And things wound down. And the night, like the year 2007 just a few hours before, came to an end, and it was 2008, and I went home to bed.