-Mein Jahr in Berlin ist fast vorbei-

Es wäre eigentlich passend, wenn ich dieses Blog auf Deutsch schreiben würde. Aber dadurch, dass der grössere Teil meines Publikums in der USA ist, schreibe ich lieber auf Englisch. Oder?

My time in Berlin is slowly (actually incredibly quickly) coming to an end. I am prematurely in packing mode, as I have collected a lot of stuff since September and I am worried about showing up at the Frankfurt Airport with four oversized and overweight suitcases for my flight home. I am thinking ahead to summer but have not yet found closure for my time in Berlin. Really the city just has too much to offer; one year is far too short, as expected. But those are little stresses. The end of my semester is a bit more looming: in two weeks I need to write two 10-15 page research papers and take two final exams. Sometimes it sounds do-able and sometimes it feels utterly overwhelming. 

<-- drinking a large Milchkaffee at the Kant Cafe on Saturday, courtesy of Anna (photo by Robert)

Naturally I would like to save some time at the end for goodbyes - to Anna and Diego, to Judith, Gisela and Thomas, to Nancy, Peter, Jan and Lawrence, to friends in my language classes, to friends in my program, to people I have encountered and partied with along the way. And then doing the "last of" round in Berlin - last Kumpir on the Akazienstrasse, last Milchkaffee in Cafe Bilderbuch, last walk up the Kreuzberg, last trip to Rosa Luxembourg Platz, last walk around the Kudamm, last look at the Humboldt, last minute purchasing of german music that I can't find in the states at Dussman's... the list goes on. Packing and moving out is always a painful process for me (is there anybody that actually likes it?), so my biggest hope is that I'll be finished with my work soon enough to move out and say goodbyes in alle Ruhe. 

But there is one last that has already happened: this weekend Robert came to Berlin to visit me for the last time. Maybe I'm wrong; maybe if I come back for a Fulbright or some other noble cause he can take the ICE from Karlsruhe to visit me once again. We had a great time. On Thursday we went out for Mexican food and a concert in the Kreuzberg Festsaal, a chill small venue with plenty of chairs, dancing space and good drinks. After Diego downloaded some of her music onto my computer, I've been keeping a heads-up for a "Dota und die Stadt Piraten" concert. A guitarist, base guitarist, drummer and Dota, the singer, also referred to as the "Kleingeldprinzessen". She sings in Portuguese and German and writes incredible lyrics. We got Diego her songbook as a birthday present, but missed out on her autograph! Oh well, next time... But after a long day of studying at the library it was incredible to leave the heavy books behind and spend an evening on the town with Robert.

On Friday I could hardly believe how unnecessary my class was. I had class (daily life in the DDR) from 10 to 12, which consisted of two incredibly long and painful student presentations. I mean, really, when will someone in Germany figure out that assigning grades based on student presentations is an ineffective way of teaching a course?!? I left as soon as I could and vented to Robert; he completely understood my frustration, but said that the presentations can be useful if the Dozent gives you constructive feedback and keeps the presentations under a certain time limit. 

In any case, Robert and I left Mitte for our last day trip to Köpenick, at least for the time being. We went to Robert's grandparents apartment, where they had a full lunch of Schnitzel and potatoes and wine ready for us. Normally they eat at 12 everyday on the dot, but on Friday they made an exception and waited until our arrival. We had a relaxing afternoon, complained about the rain but then took advantage of thirty minutes of sunshine to go for a walk around their neighborhood. Aside from that, we essentially ate and drank and ate some more all afternoon - first a big lunch followed by homemade sour-cherry cake and coffee, afternoon wine, and then beer, dark bread, cold cuts, and an egg salad for dinner. 

<-- "Oma" Helga telling us about her custom tailored copper-red wedding dress

In the afternoon we took around an hour or so to interview Dieter and Helga (Robert's "Oma" and "Opa) about their experiences with Kabarett during the DDR. Dieter had attended shows of the Distel Cabaret in Berlin, and knew a wide range of Cabarettists who performed there (one even sat next to him once while he was getting his hair cut). The Cabaret performances were both political and entertaining, but not for an uneducated public. The satire required a good ear and an open mind. He then played some comedy records that he dug up from the bottom of his cupboard. I can't wait to have the transcript written out because, really, this is information that you just cannot find in the library. But even if I weren't writing a paper on Cabaret in the DDR, I'm glad to find a way to record some of their stories (and perhaps Robert is as well). 

On Saturday Robert and I visited the Käthe Kollwitz museum in Charlottenburg. This was part II in helping melissa write her papers - we looked at a big collection of her work as I tried to collect ideas for my research paper. I'd like to write about the way she interpreted Beauty, and compare it to conceptions of beauty amongst her contemporaries, like for instance Kaiser Wilhelm II (he was, well, a bit backwards, shall we say). 

We then went with Sara Mess, a student in my program from a tiny town near Ipswich, MA (small world, eh?), to the Berliner-Ensemble to see Brecht's Dreigroschenoper (the three-penny opera). Unfortunately we arrived a good half-hour late, but despite our lateness the show was incredibly fun. We decided at the end that it was modern yet accessible, although the singers were pretty hard to understand. Sara and I read the play in one of our classes, thus we were a bit more prepared and knew the famous lines and songs to listen for. As with most shows in Berlin, the stage was very sparse; this time they used racks of nylon lights to create space and rooms, which worked just as well for the walls of a store as for the bars of a jail cell. Definitely a must-see when one is in this city - I believe my professor even said that the Dreigroschenoper is the soundtrack of Berlin. Any German you speak with about it (including Robert) has learned the lyrics of the opening song in school, or at least can recognize the tune. 

The Berliner-Ensemble in the Berthold Brecht Platz, Mitte

(and a sign advertising for the Distel, still an active Cabaret)

We chilled a bit at one of my favorite beer gardens afterwards in the Victoria Park near my apartment, but seeing as Robert had to hop on a train at 7:30 this morning we did not stay too long. He has a busy week ahead of him too - his play opens on Friday night, and the set hasn't even been built yet. Other than that he is searching for apartments in Heidelberg - not an easy feat - and will be setting up his brand new laptop. So basically, none of us are on vacation quite yet. Sort of crazy to think that some people have been out of college for a couple of months by this point... My plan for today is to take advantage of this horrendously cold and cloudy "summer" weather to focus and get down to business, one paper at a time.