30.11.10

Sometimes I wonder, if there were a Zombie Apocalypse, would my faith in God become stronger or weaker?

Leipzig Schnee

The snow started before I woke up this morning and it hasn't stopped yet. Early on I made an attempt to go in to the city for class, but after freezing at the Straßenbahnhaltestelle (tram stop) for over a half hour I decided to give up and go back inside to curl up with a cup of coffee and a Mad Men marathon. At about 2pm the impetus came to get myself out of bed in the form of a sick friend who asked me to deliver some medicine to her. It was easy to get motivated when I knew there was something useful I could do for a friend, so I changed out of my comfy sweats once again and made sure to bring my camera along to capture some of the ongoing snowstorm.

Now I'm back home, again snug in my bed and ready to resume the Mad Men marathon. Well, that is, just as soon as I get back into those sweatpants...

Turkey times two...

Lucky me, I'm not even in the United States and I got to celebrate two Thanksgiving Days!

Erin's spread...

Thanksgiving round one was held at Erin's apartment. She really went all out, kudos to her! I believe her quote when I remarked on how it would be a very traditional Thanksgiving was "Go big or go home!" I love that girl.

There must have been about 15 of us crammed into her hallway, and there was delicious food and lots (and lots, and lots) of wine to share. We even streamed the Macy's parade, which, because of the time difference, was on while we prepared dinner.

OH YEAAAAAAH

The food was amazing; Jose lovingly prepared the turkey, Kyle made delicious stuffing, Tracy supplied the pumpkin pie... it really was as if we weren't 5,000 miles from home. I think all of us Americans felt really comforted by acting out the tradition, and the Germans and Brits who attended got to experience a real American Thanksgiving; alcohol-fueled disfunction included.

Later that night Elli and I went to Ilses Erika, an indie dance club in Connewitz, and spent half the time outside playing in the freshly falling snow. It reminded me a lot of a night I spent in Toronto many moons ago with my friend Gretchen.

I hosted Thanksgiving round two for my German "sister" Annika on Saturday, and invited some friends from school as well. I spent all day cooking and listening to Christmas music. I was in my element, and it felt absolutely divine. I made everything from scratch, even the pie dough and the vegetable stock for the turkey. It was a well-recieved effort, too.

festive, right?

yum.

your humble narrator, and a crispy brown bird.

I think the girls all really enjoyed the food, and the Americans among us had a good time stumbling over our German. We even played a drinking game, "Never have I ever..." auf Deutsch. 


After the guests left, Annika and I watched Friendship as we cleared up the kitchen. It was such an adorable movie, a new favorite of mine, auf jeden Fall. In it, two young guys from East Germany travel to the US immediately after the fall of the Berlin wall, and heartwarming high jinx ensue. Annika also showed me another really cool movie this weekend called Berlin Calling. That one was about an electronic artist struggling with drug addiction, which sounds really heavy but there were some pretty funny moments as well.


I spent most of today tidying up around the flat after sending Annika off to Madgeburg on the train. I'm almost completely caught up on Mad Men, which feels like an accomplishment. I should really be doing homework though. Time to say Auf Wiedersehen! for now.

1,000 plus!

First off, I have to say I am well pleased... the blog has reached 1,000+ hits! Thanks for looking! Please don't be shy... leave me a comment, let me know who you are and/or what you think. I truly do appreciate you taking time to stop by here.

The past few days have been really super-spectacular. I think I'll start with today and work backwards.

I had my first exam this afternoon... Grammar. Ugggh. I think it went pretty well, though, on the whole. After class I walked over to the train station (inside of which is a massive shopping center) and picked up a bottle of almond syrup and a milk frother, in order to be able to make myself London Fogs a la my lovely friend Jim's favorite Starbucks bevvie. Once home and with said beverage created (unfortunately there's a lot of room for improvement in my technique,) I settled down into a Gmail phone chat with my mom and type up this here blog. An excellent way to spend a chilly evening.

Yesterday I just hung about the apartment, doing not-much-of-anything all day until my GDR photography class. After that was over Tracy and I decided to try this place near the Universität called Maza Pita for dinner- excellent find on her part, it was DEEEELISH. I got a maza plate with baba ganoush, hummus, and lebneh. Yum.  I luuuuurve Mediterranean food.

After dinner Tracy, Melinda and I walked over to Petersbogen to see HARRY POTTER und der Heilige der Todes (or whatever the heck it's called in German.) and it was maaaagnificent.

HP7

I was so, so impressed with the film. It was definitely too scary for kids (I was thinking of the Reading clan the whole time,) and there were some pretty randy moments too, but on the whole it was incredible. Thankfully we waited to watch it in English, because it would have lost so much without the original voices of the actors. I'm really not much for over-dubbed films.

Which, since we're moving backwards, brings us to the weekend, happily spent split between my two Berlinerin friends Peggy and Kristy. I had a blast, as I always do in Berlin with such wonderful friends and exciting surroundings. Friday I walked around the city by myself for hours, snapping a million photos and generally being a tourist.

Siegessäule

Brandenburger Tor

 I picked up a Christmas gift for my baby bro and took in the Color Fields exhibit at Deutsche Guggenheim.

Stella @ Berlin Guggenheim

After a thoroughly satisfying Stadtrundfährt (city tour) I met Kristy around 23.00 at Warschauerstraße and we began our adventures in Kreuzberg, starting off after Berliner (donuts) at our favorite watering hole, Fuchsbau. However, it ended up being much too crowded and not as appealing a scene as our last visit there, so we ventured across the street where we encountered a fantastic DJ spinning some incredible 90's R&B and HipHop and loads of people dancing. It was the perfect spot to start off our night.

The DJ in this bar was so spot on.

Kristy as Jumpin' Jack Flash...

Friday night lasted well into Saturday morning with Kristy and her friends, "the Danish boys," as she refers to them, and a couple of their breathtaking girlfriends at a pub called "ä" in Neukölln.

Danish specimen.

I finally flopped into bed around 7am at Peggy's. I am so lucky to have the amazing friends that I do! There aren't many people as hospitable as the divine Ms. Peg.

Kaffee und Blümen

When I finally woke up in the afternoon, Peggy made some coffee and we sat and had a really nice chat. She's such a sweet and remarkably intelligent person. I'm so grateful to have been introduced to her (thanks Abby!)

Later on Saturday I met up with Elli (a Leipzig friend) and her buddy Jonas at the Warschauerstraße Ubahn station. We had a heiße Schokolade together inside a cafe as an anti-fascist/anit-Nazi demonstration marched by.

Heiße Schokolade mit Sahne

 I ran outside with my camera and made myself a right fool in the name of journalism, jumping up on a chair and taking photos as the crowd marched by chanting and blaring a White Stripes song (maybe it was Icky Thump? I don't remember...) from a huge set of speakers on a truck.

Anti-Fascism march through Friedrichshain

The three of us parted ways soon after finishing our hot chocolates, as Elli was off to see Interpol after having interviewed the band for motor.de earlier in the day.

Alone again, I headed further into Friedrichshain down Simon-Dach Straße and was greeted by Kristy in front of her local cafe, DachKammer. It was one of those lovely, warm, homey sort of places, and we snuggled down for a chat in an antique couch.

DK, Kristy's local coffee shop

After Kristy finished her cappucino we headed to her apartment and acted like complete and utter girls, quatschen (chatting), cooking, listening to music and dying Kristy's hair an intense shade of copper, which I was thrilled to do for her. She was so happy with the results!

We took it easy Saturday night, sticking mostly to Kristy's Friedrichshain nabe and some nearby spots in Kreuzberg, getting home around 3am desperate for pommes mit majo (french fries with mayonnaise,) as the nearby döner place was fresh out. Ever resourceful, Kristy sliced up some potatoes and popped them in the oven, and I whipped up some homemade mayo.

Don't have any mayonnaise? Whip up some homemade at 3:30 AM! 

Sated, we went to sleep with intentions of rising early for the Mauerpark Flöhmarkt (flea market,) and early we did rise, to a bright, crisp sunny Berlin Mittag (Yes. Waking up at noon is early.) We got ourselves pretty and headed out to do some filming for her upcoming documentary, and captured a few shots she'd been wanting to film. After the "work" was done, we took the Straßenbahn to Mauerpark, hoping for the famous Mauerpark Karaoke.

The crowd mourns the lack of Karaoke... or maybe that was just me.

Unfortunately it wasn't going on, probably due to the onset of winter, so instead we frittered away what short amount of daylight there was in a cozy log cabin in the middle of Mauerpark.

Log cabin in Mauerpark.

Glühwein-vision

Kristy, her friend Marie and Marie's Spanish friend and I spent the whole evening drinking Glühwein, which is warm mulled wine. It's called "glow wine" I suppose because of the lovely glowing feeling it gives! Half of mine and Kristy's time was spent making eyes across the table at a group of gorgeous German boys, of which there is no shortage in Berlin.

I was trying to move backwards through this post but I did the weekend in chronological order, so it's with hearty apologies that I skip back to Thursday.

I met my friend Elli in Connewitzer Kreuz here in Leipzig and we headed off to Conne Island where the British band Blood Red Shoes were playing. The plan was, Elli would interview the band and I would be her photographer. I was/am so grateful for that experience! It was so much fun. I hadn't heard of the band before Elli invited me to the show, and I'm happy to report that they were just as great as Elli said they'd be. We met Laura, the guitarist/singer, before the show and Elli conducted an interview with her. I sat at the table adjacent them and snapped a few shots but mostly just felt sort of awkward and intrusive, and tried to be very quiet and not interrupt. I got to take a few shots of Laura and her bandmate Steve.

Steve and Laura

The band is comprised of just the two of them, they both sing and Steve plays drums, though during the encore of the show they did switch off and showcase how multi-talented they both are! During the show I was granted access to the photo pit, but being an ABSOLUTE amateur, I didn't realize photographers could only be in the pit for the first three songs of the set, and so I missed my chance. I still did get some first class shots from my spot in the crowd, using motor.de's Nikon D60. You can read (if you can read German) Elli's interview with Laura of Blood Red Shoes here. I'm really hoping to be able to collaborate more with Elli as her photographer- it was an absolute blast!

Straight rocking.

Laura shreds.

After the show we hung out with Steve, whose exuberant energy and open, positive attitude was remarkable to watch. The night ended, as ever, with POMMES MIT MAJO! Oh, and lots more wine back at Elli's house.

As for the upcoming week, tomorrow Tracy and I plan on taking in Menomena at Skala here in Leipzig. I'll happily report on the show if we end up going. Of course, Thursday is Thanksgiving so the Americans here are of course going to put out all the stops for a delicious meal and share with our British and German buddies. I can't wait for the parade!

Well, that's all for now. Thanks again for reading. I can't believe it, more than 1,000 hits! Yay! V. cool. Hope you keep coming back.

16.11.10

View of the altar at Nikolaikirche, Leipzig.

Nikolaikirche, Leizpig.

The organ at Nikolai

Bach, Nikolaikirche

Window, Nikolai

? Leipzig

Melinda

me.

things I do at 2 am...

made another video.
watch it here

16.11.10

Right now there are seven mugs, three glasses, two plates and four empty bottles in my bedroom.
I'm even not sure what I'm doing here.
Running away, I guess.
Very early this morning I had a horrifying nightmare.
Most of yesterday I felt ashamed of myself. Of my lack of accomplishment. Many people at twenty have achieved more than I could dream of at nearly thirty.
I don't like to let myself give in to this. I try to remain positive.
Giving in to these feelings of inadequacy causes nightmares.
Although really what caused the nightmare was sleeping on too many pillows. It was a mental manifestation of physical pain.
I dreamt I was choked with a necklace I own.
I almost wore that necklace today, just to show it who's boss.
But I didn't.

more experimenting...

This is just a little video I made about walking home from school (my classes are in the late afternoon and it gets dark early!)

watch it here...

The song is "Don't call me Whitney, Bobby" by Islands, and it reminds me of the drive Julia and I took down to New York in the summer.

2. Plagwitz

The destination on Sunday was Plagwitz; a neighborhood in the west of Leipzig. Leipzig has been referred to as "the Williamsburg [Brooklyn] of Germany," and if there's any truth to that statement, it resides in this neighborhood. 

Eine Brücke in Plagwitz.

There is a communal art/performance space there called 'der spinnerei,' located in an abandoned cotton mill/factory that I've been meaning to see since the second week I arrived. The place is massive, and there are artists of every kind creating and showing there; metal, ceramic, painters, whatever, in addition to a cinema and a theatre. In reality, there is probably lots more than that, but everything was closed when I went, as it was a Sunday. 

RUNWOLFRUNWOLFRUN

The only building I went into was the visitor's center. Inside there was a free library with thousands of art books and zines for anyone to peruse. There was also a small exhibit, which I wasn't too impressed by but whatever.

Love for Sale Library @ spinnerei

Love for Sale, close up

As I was leaving, I noticed an open door around the back, and ventured in. I climbed the stairs and walked into an open space, which was obviously used as a gallery but was completely empty. The light was breathtaking. I was literally gasping, the light was so beautiful, and the space was nothing short of amazing. 

yellow wall

tree shadows

reverse

FF

Something about this... I almost cried when I saw it. The lighting was just... unreal. 

arschgesichte

There were plenty of moments after I left the spinnerei when I was absolutely floored by the incredible beauty that surrounded me. I was trying to be "in the moment," and just enjoying what was happening around me, but mostly I had my eye up to the viewfinder of my camera.

Leer/Voll (empty/full)

Reflection of the factory smoke-stack.

Baumwollspinnerei (cotton mill)

Amazing sky

Golden windows

Turning the camera on myself. 

At this point I was just in the middle of some field, randomly, in Plagwitz. Everywhere I looked; the scenery, the sky, the shadows, the light... it was all awe-inspiringly beautiful. I'm so grateful for that day.

Canal

Sky

Unintelligible writing on a window.

The last shot before my camera's battery died.