Kyle’s European Adventure

So, the Indian Food Toxicity Event of ‘08 lasted another two days. I have never wished I was dead quite as fervently as I did for those 48 hours. Honestly, it was like all my internal organs went on revolt. Not. Fun.

Yesterday was the night of the Madonna concert, and then Jeff was supposed to arrive this (Friday) morning. I was laying in bed, resting up after my bout with the bug and my phone rings.

Me: “Hello?”

Jeff: “Hi!”

Me: “Uh, hi! Why are you calling me?”

Jeff: “I’m at the Berlin airport! Where are YOU?”

Me: “……You’re supposed to be coming in TOMORROW!”

This is the second time that Jeff and I have done this. Fortunately, no harm, no foul. He’s a New Yorker, so I wasn’t really worried about him finding his way to my subway stop. From there, we secured him an extra Madonna ticket, and started his Prussian Adventure!

We went to the concert with some of my German friends, and had a BLAST. We were on the grass, which meant that we were on the main floor of the arena, right up near the stage. While seeing over the heads of all the other fans was a bit of a challenge, we still saw a great show. Best number of the night? Like a Prayer!

Oh, and Robyn was the opening act! Double Score!

Today we’re up, and among the living, and our plan is to rent a bike for Jeff and go sight seeing.

Ohhhhmigod I’m dying.

Well, not really, but the shitty indian food from sunday night? 

Bad idea.

After class yesterday, my stomach started sending me those “Um, yeah, things are not going well down here” signals. I made it home, and have been here ever since. Without being too graphic, suffice it to say that I’ve spend the last 24 hours being turned inside out. 

Not fun.

Fortunately, it seems that whatever my body was unhappy about has passed, and now I just have to rest and rehydrate. One should always look on the bright side, and therefor I’ll just focus on the fact that I probably lost 10 pounds! Best. Diet. Ever!

My friend Michael has been living in Austria all summer, studying the arts of the opera. He wants to be an opera conductor, and I guess that’s the place to learn about it. He came to visit on sunday night, on his way to a new gig in Hannover. It was so great to see a familiar face and to talk about San Francisco a bit. It actually made me kinda homesick – I definitely miss my friends back home. We got some really bad indian food, and walked through the Mauer Park near my house. This morning, I put him on a train and headed to week three of my German classes.

I realize that it’s trite to “apologize” for not writing in a while, but, er, um, I’m sorry?

My classes are great. During the first week, I realized that I could probably stand to move ahead a bit – we were covering the most basic parts of german language. So, I requested to be moved up a bit. Monday morning, when I started my new class, I realized they’d moved me WAY ahead, and it was quite a scramble to catch up. Class went from 10 – 1:30, and after that I would come home and study up on all the stuff that I didn’t understand. It was frustrating, but also very satisfying when I caught up and managed to follow along with the rest of the group.

I’ve also managed to make some fun friends. One of my new friends is a bikram yoga buff, like me, so we found a studio and started going together. Another friend is a fellow I met at the gym – he’s trying to learn english, and I’m trying to learn german, so we have dinner and take turns speaking in the languages we’re trying to learn. It’s been a great way for me to try and put into practice all the stuff I learn in class.

My life has settled into a very comfortable routine here.

Today was the end of my first week in German classes. Thankfully, I survived, though my belief that my brain is not cut out for learning languages was reinforced. I was in the most beginner level of German, and I was only marginally better than some of the people in the class. This, from someone who studied German for YEARS, and who spent the two months prior to my travels working with a German tutor. 

I’m hopeless.

After class, a big group of students went to get coffee together, to bid farewell to those who were returning to their home countries. We sat around, making jokes about languages and talking about our home countries, and it hit me: while the whole group was speaking in English, I was the only American, and the only person there for whom English was my native language. Everyone else already spoke at least two languages. 

As one of them joked: 

“What is the word for someone who only speaks one language?”

“AN AMERICAN!”

Ouch.

Anyhow, next week’s classes switch to the morning, so I will have my afternoons off again to resume my explorations of the city.

So, I started my German class today, and I’m glad I did. I’ll admit that it’s kinda nice to have something on the agenda, something scheduled, that I need to do. Plus, having someone speak clearly and slowly in German for 3 hours a day is going to do wonders for me.

Most of the other students are from Italy, and I’m feeling like the class is a little beginner for me – I guess I could go for a bit more of a challenge. My instructor says to stick out tomorrow, and if I still feel that way, she’ll recommend that I move up a level. Bah, languages are NOT my thing – it feels like I’m using a muscle in my brain that has completely atrophied. I just have to fight down the panic when I draw a total blank. For whatever reason, a lack of comprehension makes me seize up and have a total fight or flight reaction.

After class, to celebrate, I went to the Sony Center to see a movie. The only thing on the schedule that seemed interesting was Prince Caspian, so I saw that. I really enjoyed it, heavy-handed christian messages and all. The effects work was solid, and the pacing was great. Plus, the kids they have playing the leads are really fantastic together.

After that, I rode my bike home in the dark. I have this funky little contraption on my bike that clamps onto the back wheel to run a tiny generator, which powers the lights on my bike. Pretty swell stuff. It was late enough on a monday, that the streets were empty, and I loved riding through them – I felt like I had the place to myself. My ride home goes along the Unter den Linden, which has the Brandenburg Gate on one end, and the Palace, Operahouse and Berlin Dome on the other. They were all lit up, and beautiful – I felt like I was riding through a movie set.

Well, I went and found my first big, gay dance party last night. Carsten and I went out to Propaganda, which was held in a converted theater. The space kinda reminded me of Limelight, or Exit – one of those 3 story joints. But smaller.

Anyhow, we met friends of Carsten’s, and danced the night away. The music was fun, albeit generic, and there were lots of cute boys. (Who doesn’t love that?) I drank too much and got home WAY too late.

An observation: everyone here seems to have some kind of negative perspective on the nightlife. Last night, everyone had something to say about the unattractiveness of the crown, the lameness of the music, how tired the space was, etc. Is it always like that? As a local, do I do that to SF – bash the nightlife to visitors, trying to make it seem like what’s offered is just “ok”, while implying that I IF there were better to be had, well, THAT’S where I’d be? 

Hm.

Anywhooo, woke up this morning with a towel wrapped around my head – the room I sleep in is nothing but windows, and there’s no curtains. It was REAL bright when I was trying to sleep. A pair of vicodin cured my hangover, but it seems the world would like me to stay in and do nothing today, as it’s been pouring rain. I won’t argue with that – I think I’ve been looking for an excuse to have a “stay in and do nothing day”.Tomorrow is my first day of German lessons (gulp!), so I should get to bed early tonight. Wish me luck!

I was up at the crack of nine this morning, and ready for my next big ride. Today’s destination: Gross Glienicker See! This route was a lot easier than my last one, it was a straight shot out through the western side of town. It took me through the Tiergarten and past Pichelsdorf. After about 30km, I got to the lake, and it did not disappoint. The sun was shining, the water was refreshing, and the ducks were totally not scared of me.

The ride home was a bit tiresome. I wasn’t really sure how to get back (I REALLY need a bigger map), so I took the long way around. I was starving, having not eaten since breakfast, so I pulled into a little marina town and found a biergarten. There I experienced the most amazing lentil soup of my life. (Hunger makes EVERYTHING amazing, huh?) From there, I managed to find my way home, but it felt like it took forever. My legs are now quivering piles of jelly.

I seem to be drawing spokes out from Mitte, the center of Berlin. Maybe that will be how this bike thing pans out – I work my way in 30km spokes out from the middle. There’ve been worse ideas in this world, I’m sure.

Well, I did it – I bit the bullet and I signed up for German classes. I start on monday.

I don’t know why I have such an anxiety though about speaking/learning another language. They gave me this placement test to see which lever I should start at, and the whole damn thing was in German. The questions were in German! I mean, I get that this makes a certain amount of sense, but if you can’t understand the questions, how the hell are you supposed to fake the answers!?

Anyhow, I’m starting at the bottom – which is fine. I figure there’s no better way to get over this stupid fear of not being able to communicate than to just dive right in. The school is on the other side of town from me, so it’ll give me a good ride every morning to get there. Maybe at the end of two weeks I’ll be able to string more than a few words together.

OK, seriously – google maps is working my last nerve. I’ve tried and tried to create the map of my last ride, and it seems to just crap out when you have more than a certain number of twists and turns on your journey. Anyone know of a different mapping service that might not suck as bad?

In other news, I found a cute little cafe with wifi, and I’m indulging my internet habit today. I need a direction here, and so I want to get some kind of german language classes started. I think I’m going to need something to do, otherwise I’m going to turn into a pile of goo. Not that I mind being goo, but a little structure never hurt nobody, right?