a weekend in the life

i narrate entries in my head all the time, but don't get to writing them down.

i feel like things have been sort of crazy since christmas - i think "when it rains it pours" is the best way to describe my time here so far - socially, academically, it's either been very little to do or completely overwhelming.

2008 also marks the beginning of my interest in techno - which means i'm enjoying the berlin clubbing scene a lot more. i've been starting to find out more about these clubs that start at like 10am sunday mroning - i found a few clubs on youtube, and....i think i'd rather be sleeping at 10am on sunday.

to give you an idea of how i spend my time, my thursday-sunday:

thursday:
9am - meet my tandem partner at an american cafe. today is our english day, and we talk about the global nonproliferation regime and philadelphia cream cheese (which they had imported). district: kreuzberg.
12noon - meet a friend from hong kong who happens to be in berlin. we go out for pizza and catch up. district: zehlendorf.
==study==
6pm - go to class, get frustrated beecuase i still dont understand the questions people ask, or worse, their answers. get annoyed at my neighbor who, instead of sitting with me, sits with a guy i think she has a crush on. because my only other friend in class isn't there, i sit alone which makes me feel kind of sad. district: zehlendorf.
9pm - go to meeting of residents initiative of my neighborhood - to make it a better place, etc. it was my first meeting, and they are all excited to see someone young (they are all 35+). i think it's cool to meet born-and-raised neukoellners who speak with berliner accents. district: neukoelln.

the british barkeeper at the place where we met spoke to me with hand gestures. when everybody in the group asked him about it later he was "you looked indian or pakistani so i wan't sure if you spoke english." but i spoke to you in german, a language you speak too...
==study/surf the internet==

friday:
wake up ungodly early to go to my language class which starts at 830. i arrive at the ubahn station at 7:55 and take my chances (and succeed) with an alternative route. score...
8:30am - language course. my language teacher is very nice but has a pointed way of answering questions that comes off as a little brusque. she also seems annoyed by my questions. a few of the internationals speak english today, which was new. district: zehlendorf.
1pm - go home, talk to my friend on the phone about his erasmus drama. finish job application.
7pm - a berlin newspaper wants to take a picture of all the people in the residential initiative. because of anonymity concerns (some people work with some sensitive issues) i go, but chicken out at the last minute. with fabulous german directness, the photographer says in a completely condescending way: "it's an anonymous picture and you STILL dont want to be photographed??" no i don't, and it's not your place to comment *shakes fist* district: neukoelln.
10pm - michelle and john come over and we (or they) have political discussions with my roommate while i just observe. then we finally head over to club 103, which was fun bc i was with them, but the club itself didn't knock my socks off, esp. for the steep entry (10 euros --->lol, berlin prices have gotten to me). district: kreuzberg.
530am - though i still have lots of partylust, my other friends are tired, so i go home. im not familar with the post 6am club scene in berlin anyway...

saturday
1130am - woken up by a phone call from a friend who i haven't talked to in a long time and told that the regarded postcolonial theorist gayatri spivak is speaking at the humboldt university.
1pm - hear her speak, which was a little underwhelming. she was either too theoretical or jumped around too much to really give her audience anything meaningful to take away. district: mitte.
3pm - get coffee with friends of my friend and listen to them talk about department drama. still mitte.
6pm - first meeting of IBFS, an orgnization that helps at-risk youth (usually turkish students) in school. i understood the idea behind the organization as more getting people from within the turkish community (or whatever is applicable) to serve as tutors/mentors. but at the first meeting i had they said that it was only coincidentally so, and that involvement would be us doing the tutoring/mentoring ourselves. i guess that's fine, but it's not as exciting (or original) as the other idea. but we'll see how things go. there are more young people in this one (ranging from a first year in uni to a 30 year old bookstore owner)... have a nice conversation with the bookstore owner on the way to the subway station. district: mitte.
8pm - couchsurfing meetup at this weird leftist rock bar. district: kreuzberg.
1230am - we migrate to a leftist rock club.
2am - the club sucks, i go home.

sunday
1030am - wake up (oops).
12noon - attempt to go to a bunch. realize i dont have the address with me and walk around and admire the fashion - sophisticated but chic . and probably expensive. i go to a bakery that promised fresh goods every hour, but wasn't particularly impressed. district: prenzlauer berg, berlin's hipsterish district full of young people and older people seeking to be cool.
2pm - ==study==, clean room, talk to a friend online about berlin's techno scene.
720 - meet a friend for dinner, we have food in a brazilian restaurant...(im not convinced it was very brazilian). district: kreuzberg.
==come back, clean my room, study and surf, write this entry==