Berlin Graffiti

Berlin's graffiti scene started in the 1980's on the wave of American hip hop music and culture. It came in slowly with minorities breakdancing in the streets of West Berlin, mostly 2nd generation southern Europeans and Turks. The first 'real' piece of graffiti was supposedly done by RAY near S-Bahnhof Sundgauer in Southwest Berlin in 1982.

(This is not that)

It began with individuals and some two-teams, but really started to explode with the fall of the wall in 1989, when graffiti became "cool". Those who had done graffiti before the fall of the wall became "old-school" and everyone else was "new-school". New-schoolers were different because of the old-schoolers' influence and the general explosion of information that happened when with wall opened, including the arrival of graffiti magazines.

The western side of the wall was considered a challenge by graffiti artists and they went to work covering it fairly early. This side of the wall was not guarded like the other side was. The eastern side stayed a dreary grey and white deswegen. The eastern side would be the part left standing as a memorial, as it was more of a real barrier than the western side. This would then be painted after the fall and become the longest open air gallery in the world and my dad would have a picture of him taken in front of it.

Graffiti in and on trains aren't as common as in NY city, but riding the S-Bahn on the ring or through the middle of Berlin is more or less like being in a moving graffiti gallery.

Not to say there isn't ANY in train stations and on trains, but most of it is cleaned up rather quickly and/or if it's a train it's removed from service. The fine can be up to 3,000 Euros, which may be the deterrent if you're not super gangster like THC.

There's a lot of English graffiti in Berlin, partly because a lot of graffiti artists travel to Berlin from other countries, but partly for the same reason so many Germans sing in English. (That reason being: they're dumb, or they're smart and want it to be understood by "everyone".) There is, however, a good deal in German.

(Fight Fascism)

(The border does not run between up and down, but between you and me)

Nowadays there are many graffiti gangs and individuals who paint similar pieces all over Berlin, such as this guy above, a angry Berlin bear, and some guy/s paints fists all over the place. 

But even with so much graffiti and how dirty Berlin is it still feels so safe (even though Berlin is the only place I've ever been molested (the bad kind, not the good kind)(well, that too)).

When my dad was here he asked about gangs in Berlin and I had no idea, I still have no idea. It's never talked about and I never see any. Where do all the drugs come from? Surely someone's fighting someone somewhere over something...in groups. If you know more about this, tell me. 

(an I-love-my-life moment)

The rollar coaster of being abroad continues.

Spring is coming and I can already tell it's going to change my life completely. I think it's going to make everything not so goddamn depressing.

I've finally been interested in taking walks again. Exercise and sunshine make everything so much better. If I'm depressed when I leave the house, I'm not depressed when I come back.

I'm starting to remember why I love Berlin so much. I leave the house and within 20 minutes I've found something weird.

On my last walk I found a outside petting zoo that just takes donations. Today I was also lucky enough to find a good cup of coffee and a view of the TV Tower and river. Not so weird, but still great.

There's also this amazing smell. I don't know if it's the grass or dirt or throw up that's not covered by the snow anymore or a mix of all three plus dog poop, but whatever it is it reminds me of what I think of as my crazy Berlin days, which may or may not have been so crazy.

I never remember the weather affecting me as much as it has this year. I get depressed and I think, why? Whyowhyowhyowhy, I don't want to be depressed. Then I think, oh hey, the sun hasn't shown it's bloddy face in OVER TWO WEEKS MAYBE THAT'S WHY.

But that's all different now. Now the weater is just going crazy. It's raining, it's snowing, it's sunny, it's cloudy. Usually it's doing at least three of those things at once. Sometimes it's schneeregen (sleet-ing?). I teach the kids "it's raining cats and dogs". They laugh. I cry.

My favorite fruits and vegetables are getting better and cheaper. And since in Europe it's the law that you go grocery shopping every day this makes a pretty big impact on my life.

(homemade salsa. homemade by me. be astound)

I've been pissed at both German and English lately and have mostly tried not to speak at all. This has proved to be difficult, but people seem to like me more.

(Germans: this is one of those things we Americans call a "joke" or "Witz" in your language. Now start taking some initiative and start recognizing them yourself. You don't have to laugh or anything crazy like that, just make a small polite smile.)

Italy!

Let's talk about the most important part first. Food and drink.

I stayed with an Italian friend of mine and we drank about 5 or 6 espressos a day. Normally I drink tea in the morning, so this is crazy. I would normally get a macchiato, espresso with a bit of milk. This or espresso is normally 80 or 90 cents!

At this machine below espresso was only 45 cents...and it was good.

For breakfast they normally eat something sweet like a cookie (biscotti, but just a cookie, not like our biscotti) and espresso. This, to a person who thinks a combination of protein and carbohydrates is very important in the morning, sounds crazy. But hey, cookies!

Wine is more common than in Germany and people may go from wine bar to wine bar drinking house wines and eating these things...

And they may eat a Frittelle with an espresso (which will be called a caffè)

Then they might be so weird as to get bread from a vending machine.

(ahem)

Everything else was just really beautiful. We visited a couple different cities.

This is Bassano...

Padova...




(Biggest square in Europe apparently)

Italy (Venice and around Venice) is beautiful! Who would have thought?!

Venice...

(This is the very famous "Bridge of Sighs", some people think it's called that in a romantic way but it's because it's the way to the prison. The advertisements ruined it for me.)



(This is my favorite)


(Great lady)

Carnival was starting while I was there. On my last day in Venice there were people wearing masks everywhere. Carnival is only once a year, but apparently the stores selling masks see enough tourists that they're always open.

And to end my great week in Italy...a carnival party.



When does my Italian class start? Where do I apply for scholarships?

Meanwhile, my life partner, English, has also been annoying the heck out of me. I don't understand him like I do German and yet I'm expected to just because we've spent so much time together. (And maybe because I'm an English teacher, shh) Well, you know what, I don't get him. He's hard to read.

I've been trying to be better, though. Even if German leaves me, English and I are in it for the long run. I've started a writing creativity course, "The Artist's Way," and I'm hoping that will bring us closer. I've also been reading English grammar books to help me in my job, which has been helpful.

I've really been rude to him, but only because I know he'll never leave me. I have a feeling he'll forgive me.

What is happening.

What is happening.

I mean, really. I feel like I've been thinking this for the past year and a half. What the ---- is happening? I remember being 5 and knowing I had 17 years of school in front of me. I knew more or less what I would be doing for SEVENTEEN YEARS. Is that safety or what. Sure, I didn't know what else I would be doing, but everything would some how be affected by my attempt to get a college degree. Now I have a college degree. And now? What should I do. What do I want to do. What AM I doing? WHEN will I stop asking myself these questions every day? (never)

What am I doing: Because I had trouble saying the word "spoon" in German 6 years ago (it's Löffel, by the way and I'm not going to tell you if it's masculine, feminine or neutral. Suffer.) I decided to rush into a life more or less revolved around German and Germany with no idea why I was really doing it (what reasons could there be?). Somewhere in there there was this bubble in my life when I was in Russia that I often forget even happened because it's so unrelated to the rest of my life. Then, back to my real life, I spent a year in Berlin on a scholarship and was some how pretty positive I was doing what I was "supposed" to be doing. I've been back for five whole months now. I came hoping I would still feel like I should be here. My German is so much better than could be expected, but I'm still unsatisfied with it and at the same time I think, 'Why the heck am I learning GERMAN?" Then I spend an hour working through my Rosetta Stone for Spanish. Then I open my mouth and something in outrageously stupid German comes out and I think, why did I waste all the time yesterday learning Spanish?

And it's colder here than in Minneapolis and I think, why am I learning German.
I don't have as many friends in Germany as in the States and I think, why am I learning German.
I miss my family and I think, why am I learning German.
Germans my age who only half paid attention in school drool out American slang in their sleep that's so cool _I_ don't even feel comfortable using it and I think, you guessed it, WHY AM I LEARNING THIS SCHIEßLANGUAGE?!

It's like having a boyfriend who's not good for me, but I still really want to fool around with him. I try to forget about him, think about how stupid he makes me feel and how he doesn't really support my goals. How he ignores me, doesn't really listen to what I'm trying to say even though I usually understand exactly what he's trying to say and am always an active listener. But mostly he doesn't care at all what I want. Selfish bastard. "---- you", I say. Then he tosses me a bone. He says he loves me and that I'm really actually very smart and some woman at a newspaper stand still thinks I'm German after hearing me talk. Then I wonder why that makes me happy überhaupt.

It occurred to me the other day that I could be this fluent in different language. Like, I could be fluent in Spanish or French. I could speak one of those fluently. Why does this seem so much more impressive than being fluent in German when German is actually "harder"? Because I think those languages would be more useful? I think I'm annoyed by the fact that there are no underdeveloped countries that speak German. There are some people in Africa that speak German, but not many. It's not like French in Africa or Spanish in Central and South America. Would I go there anyway? And when can I finally say I learned German? It will never end! Why did I start something I couldn't finish. I hate that.

I am so happy to be here and at the same time so annoyed. I keep feeling like German and I are going to have a bad break up. Just waiting for the shoe to drop. Some day he's going to do something that's really going to make me angry and I'm going to leave him forever and never talk to him again and these years that we've been together will have been a waste. And duh, yeah, nothing's a waste, what doesn't kill you makes you strong, whatever.

But really, he's not even good looking.

How can I complain when I'm doing EXACTLY what I wanted to do this year? Love is rough.

Being abroad is rough. I think that's what I really missed. This roller coaster of emotions. Without it life seemed boring.

I hate that things are so dramatic, though, but at least it's not boring. God forbid.

I turned 23 on Tuesday. The years are starting to feel like months.

Christmas

(Yes, that's Sauerkraut!)

Christmas Day

Snow - After Christmas

New Years

Aftermath

New Year's Eve was actually pretty dangerous. I'm now thankful for how many fireworks are illegal in Minnesota. Drunk+fire=bad.