Hamburg Hooligans

We had a lot of fun while Travis was here, but I think the definite highlight has to be our whirlwind trip to Hamburg. Thanks to an awesome deal which the Deutsche Bahn offers, Travis, Ebe, John, Jeff, and myself were all able to go to Hamburg for only 7Euros a piece! The three of us met John and Jeff at the Ostbahnhof, where our trip was to begin... little did we know that Jeff had a little surprise for us: whiskey in a murse. Yes, that's right, a murse: a male purse. He insisted that it was manly, seeing it was the keeper of a fine bottle of Jim Beam, but we saw through the illusion and recognized it for what it was: a purse.

On our roughly five hour trip to Hamburg, we played cards and talked a lot about South Park. Unfortunately Ebe and I weren't up to date on our South Park viewing, but we found it quite entertaining none the less... needless to say, we've been making up for it the last week by watching South Park pretty much non-stop.

When we finally got to Hamburg it was already dark and quite chilly. Travis and I made the mistake of not dressing the warmest, but it wasn't a problem later in the evening after we put on our beer jackets. We walked out of the Hauptbahnhof and preceded on our way to the infamous Reeperbahn: our goal for our trip to Hamburg. The Reeperbahn is infamous for many reasons, mainly it being one of the biggest red-light districts in all of Europe...

The night started off great with a wonderful meal at a little local watering hole. We all ordered a beer and then ordered their special of the day: duck. But there was a problem. They were all out! We were bummed, so we figured we'd finish our beer and then find some grub at another spot. Half-way through our beers, the waiter/owner brought out a huge platter of anti-pasta with utensils and plates for all of us. We thought it weird that he would bring out huge plates just for this appetizer, but a few minutes later he brought out another platter heaped full of Rotkohl and duck legs! It was super tasty and we ended up drinking a few more rounds of beers, along with taking a few shots with the owner... and what did we have to pay for such a wonderful meal? Sixty Euros for five of us! It was going to be a great night.

The rest of the night was amazing as we wandered along the Reeperbahn going into any bars or clubs that looked like they might be fun. Amongst some of the highlights was a bar playing fifties surf music and the infamous Herbertstrasse, a street where only men over the age of 18 are allowed to enter... I think you can imagine what kind of "businesses" are along its sidewalks.

We had a blast until around 5:30 in the morning, when we had to leave the Reeperbahn and head back to the Hauptbahnhof. The walk back was amazing with the sun rising over Hamburg's harbor. We took a look at our watches and realized we needed to put a little kick in our step our else we might miss our 6:30 train, so we decided to skip there. Yes, that's right, we skipped and good thing we did, as we damn near missed our train. It was a long ride back to Berlin, but the five us were glad we had made the journey.

Tired ebe

Good thing we didn't have to do anything later in the day... oh wait, we had the Hertha Berlin game to attend!

Hertha Game at Olympic Stadium

 

More pics of our Night out in Hamburg

and a Day in Hamburg  

Post about the 2 Berlin Football teams Battling it Out in 

Hertha v. Union

We're back baby!

Well, a little under a month and we're back with a vengeance! Let's just say being half-way around the world without internet is a bit of a bitch when you want to try and stay in touch with everyone back home. If you plan on coming to Germany and want to get the internet in your apartment, try signing up for it a month in advance, as it seems to take forever to get it hooked up here. But now that it is finally hooked up, it's flowing like wine.... much faster than the internet at our old place.

In our little absence from the world wide web, we've had many adventures, in which we'll have to go into further detail in a later post. We saw the arrival and departure of two friends from home (Travis and the Cooledge), which led to many crazy stories and trips through Berlin and even all the way to Hamburg, and we will soon be welcoming Ebe's mom and dad to our little apartment here in Friedrichshain as well! We're looking forward to their arrival, and we hope you are looking forward to more exciting posts from your two favorite Berliners: Ebe and Ian!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!

There is much to talk about: new apartment, coke mirrors, new friends, American football in Berlin, friends from home coming here, and much more BUT it all must wait because the internet guys have still not hooked up our internet! Driving us crazy, but like any good story it can wait.

Misinterpreted

So we like art- but what is up with the interpretive music?

Last night we went to a modern art opening in an old squat house. Berlin apparently has tons of these where artists would squat in a vacant building and create a colony which the German government would then protect (pretty cool eh?) This one was particularly gorgeous with a 2 story entry way and mosaic arches. Good start.

Our friend Krysia had invited us to the opening after she had gotten a tip from another hipster friend so we really did not know exactly what to expect. What we found upon entering said archway was a white cloth laid out that with a block of ice melting under a spotlight. Can't say I understand the total narrative of this piece, but I'm no critic, power to the people wooohoo!

Climbing the stairs we see 5 paintings of women laid out in a cross with a piece of wood and an apple in the heart. As we discuss what it could all mean BAM BAM BAM, the drum it gets started. The artists themselves put on quite a show playing a variety of instruments from the drums to banging on a piece of metal to a harmonica to a chain. One guy is also toting a projector around shooting the beam of light around while tossing toilet paper around the stage and a women in a Kimono is opening her mouth awkwardly to emit loud groans. The main artist whose work we are looking at has wild gray hair radiating from his head and takes turns doing everything including shouting lines from a book. The artwork themselves were pretty interesting, with a fish bone motif making a frequent appearance and a variety of mediums used like the backs of cupboards, shopping bags, and blinds. I loved the idea of recycling all of this useless scraps and making them entirely different. However, Krysia was right when she said later the crazy music lessened their appeal. Maybe it's best not to see the artist?




Other rooms offered other artists perspectives including my favorite room from Charlotte Schleiffert's full length women with animal parts. One women's torso transformed to look at first if she was sitting on a chair, but her body actually morphed into 4 goat legs. Another horizontal piece has a person be rescued while pink and orange smoke waifed upwards past sketched chandeliers. A variety of other art was shown, which maybe Ian will get into, but probably not!

Afterwords we got a drink at a bar we had passed on the way in, the Milchbar (Milkbar). We were attracted by the fish & underwater scenes painted all over the walls including a scene where a polar bear is eating a seal, but Ian was first struck by something else. Remembering the name of the bar, all he saw were women and a it slowly dawned on him that he might have unwittingly entered a lesbian bar! Unfortunatly (becasue that would have been a much better story), it wasn't and we had to entertain ourselves. So all in all, all is well and a lot of randomness is going on.

Welcome All!

As the week of our move continues, we have been informed that Master Travis will most likely be visiting us in the next month or so. Hurrah!! On top of that we have plans to visit Sir Lasky in Dublin and he plans to visit us in Berlin. In addition to all this good news we have received word that the Ball-Mendenhalls will be joining us for 10 glorious days in April. Excellant. Everyone to Berlin, come along now.

Valentine's Day Mistake

When Ian woke me up to say "Happy Valentines" before leaving for his class at 7:30 all I could mumble was a puzzled, "It's not Valentines." Apparently he didn't hear me.

"Happy Valentines Day!" said his voice from the intercom as he waited to be buzzed up coming home from class. I told him again that it wasn't, and hit the buzzer. A moment later he walks in the door with a rose, some champagne, chocolate milk (it's my favorite treat), mushrooms, and a confused grin.

In the scope of mistakes, not bad at all and pretty funny. He told all the kids at school it was Valentines Day and just got a bunch of blank stares. Mystery solved!

Henceforth, the 13th of February will be known as Ian's Valentines where he confuses what day is, brings a couple gifts and professionally confuses the children.

...and we're home!

Whew! After some frantic scrambling we have agreed upon a studio in Freidrichshain. Red & white decor, nice kitchen, proper shower for Ian, washing machine, real bed, TV...it's great. What a relief to have a home for the next 6 months.

New Address:
Ian Porter & Erin Ball
c/o Philipp Creuzberg
Mueggelstr. 31
10247 Berlin, Germany

send cash and bonds...and refried beans. Ok not really- just the cash and bonds!

It's Official...

...we are moving. For better or worse we are outta here by the 25th. We have actually been a bit proactive & have a few possibilities, but we will see where Berlins winds blow. To the East or the West or into a dark Soviet hole of a cramped apartment. Till then we will play our cards a bit close to the chest and hope evil spirits aren't watching.

In a side note, one of my pictures of Vienna was picked up by Schmap, an on-line interactive guide map. There is a link to it in the column to the left. So officially I am "published"...with a pretty straight forward picture of a pestsaule and no payment. damn it.

Kids now-a-days...

There are times when I love my job, and then there are times when I utterly despise it... namely when I have a class with a little bastard named Justin. Every time my Thursday afternoon classes roll around, a shiver rolls through my spine. This shiver is reminding me of the cold heart of Satan's very own spawn: the very same Justin as mentioned above. From him running around the room, to throwing legos across it, there's really nothing I can do to keep him in control... unless of course, mention soccer. Soccer, and my growing disdain for it and the German's uni-lateral support of this "one and only" sport, almost shares my wrath I feel towards this child. I must, however, leave soccer to it's own blog topic. And here too I must turn my attention away from the negatives of teaching children (Justin) to the funny things I've experience, or else I have an attack thinking about what this Thursday brings...

I think the funniest thing about the kids here in Germany, is that pretty much everything they say is in German... naturally of course, seeing as we are in GERMANY! But I guess what I find funny about it is the way in which the kids put their sentences and the words they use. For instance our first experience with a funny child phrase was early in our trip, Munich I believe, where upon hearing he couldn't get a sweet, he responded to his mother, "Wahnsinn," or for the rest of the audience, "madness." I mean, what child would say such a thing back home? Maybe one to be destined to become either Frasier or Niles Crane.

The other day in one of my youngest classes, a girl kept repeating to me, "Nase laueft, Nase laueft, Nase laueft," which means "nose is running, nose is running, nose is running." I almost started laughing right in her face, but luckily I controlled myself and gave her one of my very economically cheap tissues (seriously, you can buy like 30 travel size packages for like 1.50 euros!), which she promptly threw onto the carpet after using it.

Right now I'm actually drawing a blank on further funny things said by German kids, but there are more, I promise. Something that I found funny and disturbing at the same time, and which keeps coming back to my mind, is the response I got from a boy named Mohammed (whose parents come from Egypt). After asking him if he or anyone in his family had ever been to the US, he said, "no and I'll never go. They'll kill me there." It really bothered me at the time, and it still does a little bit even now. I tried to explain to him that it's not like that at all, and that there are even more Egyptians and arabic peoples in the US than all of Germany. I don't know if he believed me, but something tells me his parents don't believe that, or else he wouldn't be taking English...

Making Friends

You never know how hard it is to make friends till you leave all of your own behind. Everyone here has their networks of friends from childhood, work, and social groups. You get friendly with some, but many slip by as acquaintances rather then someone you can laugh with. Luckily for me, Ian is a friend magnet and attracts all types! After a lot of hanging around the computer and staring at each other, we are finally creating a pretty good friend base here in Berlin.

Last weekend entailed a couple friendly enterprises- a house party, our first non-Washingtonian guests, the super bowl, and a somewhat unwelcome tag along. The house party was a success although the Israeli/German guests just weren't putting their full wrist action into beer pong. I guess some thing don't translate. A couple Ian works with joined us at the apartment before the Superbowl to talk about Germans, stamps, and you know- stuff. From there we started out for our favorite sports bar- Salamas with a surprise guest. Ian can take it from here:

" The game started at 12:30 here, so we got on the tram around midnight with our friends to go to the bar. As we're waiting, this drunk guys comes right up to us and joins our circle. He spoke to us in English, and he even had somewhat of a British accent. Come to find out, he's some gay German guy, and he decides to tag alone with us for the night. Almost the entire first half he's sitting next to me, chatting my ear off. I just wanted to watch the game! Luckily he left pretty quick after half-time, but not before hitting on our friend. It made for quite the experience."

Ian means he hit on Justin, our new Canadian friend with his girlfriend Krisha & I trying to tell the German "No, you should not fondle his bum!" It was an event. May every weekend be that exciting...but maybe without the aggressive attempts at a pick-up. Maybe.