Aug
02
Well, this has been a very full two weeks. As I mentioned in my last blog, the time had come to really start practicing my German. That Monday I sat in on a course at PSP-Sprachpunkt, which is only a two- or three-minute bicycle ride from my apartment. I liked the class, so I signed up for a month's worth. Every weekday morning I show up at 9:00 for three hours of German grammar and conversation. I'm actually much better than I thought I was -- an enormous comfort and relief. In general, the class is a bit easy for me. It is technically at the level A2, which means it is the second-part for a beginner on the CEF scale. (First is A1 then A2, followed by intermediate/conversational levels B1 and B2, finishing with the advanced C levels.) They aren't offering any B-level courses during the summer, but it is great to just hear and read the language again. Plus, there are a lot of tiny grammar rules I had forgotten or never completely grasped last winter.Two weeks ago I also went to the doctor to get my ear checked out. I suspected I might have had a middle ear infection (lots of pressure, muted sounds, strange buzzing), so Denise sent me to the emergency room. I didn't want to wait, the following day I went to an ENT doctor up on the far north side of the city. He couldn't find the problem and told me to wait it out. The pain is much better now, but I think I am going to be a bit more sensitive to avoiding the speakers at loud concerts and clubs.
Last Friday Laszlo and I made dinner (chicken tikka masala) and ultimately decided to go dancing at the Bang Bang Club. We didn't even arrive until about 2 am, but that's Berlin. We even ran into my friend Susi on the U-bahn, although, I admit, she was on her way home for the night. The club was really great; there were two floors, the main floor played "indie dance hits of yesterday, today and tomorrow!" -- from Bowie to Babyshambles and The Cure to CSS. The DJ downstairs played a lot of soul, '60s rock, Dylan, Cash, the Violent Femmes... really good stuff.
Saturday night I stayed in to make a couple batches of cupcakes. On Sunday morning, I went up to the flea market at Arkonaplatz to sell them. I managed to make enough money to cover the batch costs, but then the police stopped me. They said it was too hot for cupcakes (who has ever heard of such a thing!) and that I ought to find a cafe to sell them to, that I can't sell them in the market. Psh. So later that afternoon Laszlo and I napped in the park near Kastanienalle, and then that night I returned to the Lichtblick Kino to see "Stranger Than Paradise."
On Monday, I went alone to the Badeschiff. It was packed full of people and I didn't have much time before the sun moved and left me in the shade. But it was still nice to lie on some soft sand and read. Tuesday I finally made it to the Neue Nationalgalerie to see the Sugimoto retrospective. For dinner, I had a real hamburger (with ham?) at Kreuzburger on Wienerstrasse/Oranienstrasse. I caught a late showing of "Night on Earth" on Wednesday, and after I closed the gallery on Thursday I went out for a drink with Laszlo and Frederick at Gorki's, a Russian café. Last night we hid from the thunderstorm in a bar located in Görlitzer Park, where Stina and Dominick had rented a room to throw a birthday party.
Yesterday was the last (regular) day of my internship. I will join Denise later in August to help prepare invitations for the upcoming exhibition, but I have turned in my key and even talked a bit with the girl who will be replacing me. It was a really great opportunity -- I expected to spend a lot of time sitting, completely bored, in a big, white room, but they kept me busy. I did a lot of work translating and writing new texts, which in terms of scholarly work was actually a lot of fun.
