07 October 2009

Turning in my keys...

This blog is officially closed: the keys are handed over, the deposit returned, and I bid farewell to the blog which I was terrible about updating! (Whoops!) 
As I begin to realize how long ago I should've contacted an internet provider (and feeling extremely frustrated that I still can't, since the estate agent still hasn't gotten back to me about what connection ability the flat has), I'm realizing that it may be some time before I'm online again (apart from the few bursts on an internet cafe) - so, while I had originally planned to wait until I had actually moved up to London, I have decided to open my new blog now (since, you know, I can).
Update your bookmarks, all ye my followers, for I am officially moving my thoughts and experiences to:
Bonney Olde London (terribly creative name, eh?)
It shall be updated again as soon as I can surf the web from the comfort of my own living room. :)

06 October 2009

1 Year Anniversary...

glitters

Congratulations to ... Myself!




One year ago, (at pretty much around this time), I was arriving at SeaTac airport with three very heavy bags, a plane ticket to London, a letter from the Arts Institute at Bournemouth saying I was going to be studying there for a year, and a lot of nervous excitement at what lay ahead. Things didn't turn out anywhere near what I expected, some of it admittedly for the worse, but a whole hell of a lot of it for the infinitely better.




I got to see an American election through the eyes of the rest of the world:


I cooked my first Thanksgiving dinner with a Canadian, South African, Londoners, German, Dane, Irishman... umm... who am I forgetting...


I got to examine clothing pieces older than my home country...


I worked on a West End show (!!)


I saw two theatrical GIANTS take on Samuel Beckett...


I had sugar glass smashed into my head, and made a medieval knight out of yarn and a duvet cover:


I've toured Berlin...


... and Dusseldorf (and Koln)...


... and even Milford-on-Sea (super exciting, that last one!) ;)


Had countless crazy days with some of the greatest and dearest friends I will ever meet (obviously, not all pictured here, but they know who they are ;) )


Some excursions were AMAZINGLY fun...


Others, a bit more painful:


I piloted a TARDIS...


... and became a werewolf (Aarrrrouuuu!)


Somewhere in all there I managed to become a Master of Arts...


... alongside these crazy (but oh so lovely) ladies:


There's so much more, but I only have the patience to upload so many. ;) Needless to say, this has been a truly amazing year of my life, and I am amazed to look back and reflect on how far I've come... and how far I may go in the year(s) ahead!!

In the meantime, however, I thought it only appropriate to bring this blog to its official end on the anniversary of the start of this past year - my course at the Arts Institute at Bournemouth (now officially renamed the Arts University College at Bournemouth) is over, my Master's awarded, and the city of Bournemouth nearly all but moved out of. Obviously, my undergrad friends remain, three of my four fellow MA Costume girls will still be in the Bournemouth area, and I think it silly to say that the ocean spray and the screaming of Toko are finished with me entirely. Nonetheless, I turn my attentions east-ward - to a new journey, a new adventure, new faces and new friends, new opportunities and a new horizon to ride off into.

I officially sign the lease and receive the keys to my flat in South London this Friday (October 9th) - I'm still working out massive amounts of details (arranging a mover, turning on utilities, filling out change-of-address forms, trying to find myself ID that isn't my passport (or an expired student ID), etc, but the plans seem to be falling into place and I can only fall on my knees and thank the good Lord that the next stage of my journey is beginning. A few days back, I went down to the sea and sat on the beach, throwing my hands in the air and saying, "Okay, where to next?" I guess we never really get to see too far down the road ahead of us, but it's always lovely when we can make out a road sign along the way. ;)

This post serves as my official ending to this blog, but I will update once more to point you all in the direction of the next - I don't know when, as I'm still trying to sort out internet connections at the new flat (dear old Katy, am I doomed to repeat your many misadventures as the days progress?!), but the next installment of the Bonney Olde series is on the docket. Stay tuned, loyal viewers, and many thanks for following me thus far. :) Love to you all, and - as we say - Cheers!

04 September 2009

Not a Student (Anymore)!

(Patrick wrote this on my hand after my final assessment was over - he wrote it upside-down and backwards, so excuse the messiness and over-all illegibility: it reads "Not A Student")

Only fitting I should finally sit down and decide to update my blog - apparently, my last post was also a 4th... though, of course, it was *May* 4th. (whoops!) Not a lot happens in... four months... right? ;)

Well, let's do the super-fast recap, shall we? By the end of May, I finished up the second unit of my MA course, then in June headed out to Hawaii with my parents and friends Julia and Ciaran -

Why yes, I did get a little pink, didn't I? :) We had a lovely time, wandering Hindu monasteries, snuba-diving, snorkling, visiting the Most-Rained-On spot in the world (well, getting pretty dang close, at least), and only once getting heat-stroke! (huzzah!) It was absolutely glorious to see the folks again, live in a flat with a dishwasher, and enjoy the absolute gorgeousness of the South Pacific.

Two weeks later, I returned to Bournemouth which - happily - was also having a bit of a warm patch. The beach was glorious (if packed with people), the Halls were empty, and I had a fun bit of work to get on with! Delightful! Having decided that my final project would involve art direction in photography (and not knowing much of anything about cameras beyond point-and-click), I found myself a photographer off gumtree (the UK version of craigslist), and got to work. Six images were shot, printed, framed, and installed in a smaller space within one of our exhibition studios. I'd post the images here, but then I'd have to explain them - and, I have to say, I just finished writing up a 20-page research paper and 71 pages of "personal development" about these images - I don't think I have any words left to describe them again. I promise, I will do a post explaining what I've put up, but I need a short break from having to do so. :)




That said, the two-and-a-half months of this final unit have encapsulated a HUGE amount of work and, despite the fact that the exhibition hang and supporting work deadline was last Thursday, and the absolutely final Assessment Presentation was this past Tuesday (and, thus, I have NOTHING further I have to do for my MA, apart from show up to the opening gala night, drink plenty of champagne, schmooze with gallery owners and professional artists [an oxymoron if I've ever heard one - grin], and wait anxiously for my marks to come in), I nonetheless am only *slowly* de-tensing and relaxing. The idea of being able to read a book - for FUN - is so strange and foreign, yet utterly delightful. :)

If you would like to see our website, however, you can follow the link from here...
(www.fiftynorthonewest.co.uk)

So, what are you doing in the meanwhile, you may want to ask me? Well, I am still keeping myself busy...

Four of us from the Costume MA group (Sally, Aleks, Eva, and I) are helping out one of the film professors over at the Bournemouth Uni, who is working on his PhD. For the experimental part of his PhD, he's taking a modern script of Doctor Who ("Tooth and Claw" - the Queen Victoria/werewolf episode), and filming it with the limitations present in the 1960's series of Doctor Who. (All shot in one live take in a studio, in black-and-white, etc) While I am helping out with the scene painting and costume sourcing, I am officially in charge entirely of the Werewolf - giving me the absolutely fantastic title of "Creature Effects". :D Making this even more fun, the "shooting live" requirement of the series requires The Host and The Werewolf to be played by two different actors - so Andrew's asked *me* to play the Werewolf! (hee!) This works out great for me, as I infinitely prefer working with special effect make-up, prosthetics, and wigs on myself, rather than an actor. (Also means that, in about a month, you'll probably get images up here on my blog of me as a werewolf, running about the TARDIS - woot! My geekdom overfloweth!)

MEANWHILE, I'm also starting the process of looking for a flat in London, while I start my follow-up work on looking for employment in said city. For about the past month or so, I've been sending out my C.V. to various London theatres and making houses, though I've always had to add the proviso to the cover letters that I wouldn't be finished with my MA (and, thus, able to leave Bournemouth) until September 9th. Come Monday, I'll be starting up with the wonderful world of cold calling, hoping against hope to catch somebody *right* at the moment when they need a new maker/wardrobe staff. (fingers crossed) I have, however, started the ball rolling towards looking for a new flat; I have to be out of Bourne Chambers by no later than September 20th and, while many of my friends here in Bournemouth have offered me the use of their spare rooms / sofa-beds, the truth is that no theatres in London are going to want to hire me until I'm actually within a reasonable living distance. (Two hours by train, then probably another 20-30 minutes by tube is *not* a reasonable commute time, especially for dressing jobs that end at 10:30/11 at night!) So, it's just a million times easier to find myself a little one-bedroom, hire a moving van to cart all my books over there, and delight in once more living in a big city! :D

I'm sorry I'm not including more images this time around - I'm only really just surfacing from the summer; images of my typing at my computer are not nearly as fun as they might sound, and I sadly forgot to take my camera with me to the Air Festival. (And I do promise to get pictures of Milford-on-Sea [my friend Sally's house on the cliffs - it reminds me so very much of the English version of Camp Casey], but I keep going over with my laptop, which takes up nearly all the space in my bag).

But much is coming up in the next few weeks - opening night galas! Friends back here after the summer! Trips to London! Werewolf make-up experiments! Birthdays! Talk Like a Pirate days! TARDIS... es...? (Tardi?) I will, I promise, bring my camera and post pictures as they happen. I will also keep all and sundry updated on the flat/job hunting, so long as everyone promises to keep praying / keep fingers crossed (as your religious choices dictate). God willing, within a month or so, I'll have to change over to blog to something titled more accurate to my living arrangements... :D

04 May 2009

Step 1: Get Mione Drunk



Awhile back, Mione and I were coming with plans to solve world problems. Nearly all of the plans began with Step 1: Get Mione Drunk. As with all late night comedic conversations, I'm not entirely certain how we got there, but ... well... can you argue with the logic?



On Saturday, I got up early (9:30), fully intending to take a shower and get some work done. After hopping out of the shower, I heard my phone ring and raced across the room to catch it - it was Mione. I was surprised to hear from her so early, as she had gone out to a party the night before - turns out, she was still on the verge of drunk/hung-over and had decided that she, Abigail, and I should go have a picnic on the beach. She and Abigail went out to Lidl's for food while I dried my hair, then we set off around 10, after stopping for coffee at Costas and marveling at the absolute glory of the gorgeous sunny morning. On our way through the Lower Gardens, we noticed that the Bournemouth Eye, a massive hot air balloon ride, was up and running - and what a lovely day for it! We grabbed a ticket, jumped on board, and were whisked over 500 feet in the air.



Returning to the ground, we took some time to enjoy the art projects set up throughout the park by the Arts Institute and the Bournemouth Uni. (Huzzah for bizarre "fine art" projects) :)



The beach was absolutely gorgeous - sunny, wavy, and surprisingly not absolutely crammed full of people. We set down my Stonehenge blanket, and unloaded the "Drunk-Mione-Normal-Abigail-Bought-Food" (rolls, cheese, chicken, crisps, strawberries, chocolate, string cheese, etc) - we realized after popping the top of the grape juice that we'd have to drink it all in one go - whoops. The strawberries were deliciously juicy, and I should point out that string cheese in the UK is real cheese - not the light-yellow plastic of the states. :) Abigail warns that chippy sandwiches (an English "delicacy" - a sandwich made entirely of bread and crisps) with cheese are not a viable option. We tried to get a picture of our sandy toes, only for Abigail to cry out, "Wait, where are my toes?!" We searched for them the rest of the afternoon. :)



Or, when we weren't teasing Abigail, we also would burst out singing, "Pow-pow-Power Rangers", which led to philosophical discussions of which Power Rangers we would've been.



After finishing up the food and a lovely nap in the sun (although occasionally having to restrain me from stealing the dogs running along the beach, or restraining Mione from stealing the babies), we started a slow, leisurely walk down the beach towards Poole. Along the way, we saw several amazing sand castles, three different groups playing cricket, learned that "Sarah is the devil", PUPPY!!, BABY!!, and even saw a completely topless woman, despite the fact that this was a family beach, not a topless one. (Hrmm...)



By the time we reached Poole Harbor, we were getting slowly tired and exhausted, and decided to pop up to the shops area to see how we could get home. We sat around waiting for the bus for some time, nibbling on crisps and chocolate, listening to gossip from Abigail's old school, and acting out Waiting for Godot. We eventually called a cab, which whisked us home - where we discovered it was after 4:30PM and we'd been out on the beach for over six hours. Didn't really worry about that right then, as I collapsed into bed and slept for almost three hours.



I should point out that every time I get horrifically sunburnt, I end up having really odd dreams while the burn sets in. This is my body's way of trying to tell me, "Wake up, get out of bed, apply aloe, and stop baking yourself under the covers". Do I ever listen to my subconscious? Silly...
Three hours later, I crawled out of bed going, Hmmm... my face feels rather crinkly. Why could this be... Awww, crap. (This was me arriving in my bathroom, to see my face, neck, and arms (beneath a truly lovely farmer's tan) a lovely cooked lobster colour. Fortunately, a few days back I had bought sunscreen at Wilko's (even if I didn't use it earlier that morning), which came with a free tub of after-sun lotion. I applied it liberally, then stuck some dish towels in my freezer - pulling them out a few minutes later provided me with a lovely little cool tent I could wrap around my skin for a few moments. Abigail, similarly crimsoned, brought in sliced cucumber which we applied to ourselves like leeches, and Mione brought in tea-bags, which were dipped in ice water, then applied over the skin, while the arm dripped into a bowl like a medieval bleeding.



The gang came downstairs and we watched "Bright Young Things", written by Stephen Fry and starring Stephan Campbell Moore, Emily Mortimer, Dr-Who's-Agatha-Christie, The-Guy-Who-Always-Plays-Tony-Blair, Peter-O'-Toole-Man, and David-Tennant's-Mustache.
Yesterday, I spent the day sleeping, applying lotion, and watching films (in no particular order), while keeping my upper body aerated in the freezing, heaters-off room, while my lower half shivered beneath three different blankets. Today, while still quite red, I'm feeling a lot better and even showered, dressed, and ran out to Wilko's for aspirin, shower gel, and Special K (just have to make sure I don't mix them up).
Amusingly enough, the Daily Echo (our local paper) had an article today saying that meteorologists are saying that, after the last two disappointingly miserable summers, this summer should be ridiculously hot and sunny. Eep.

14 April 2009

Dusseldorf


I mentioned dichotomies before, but lest I made the impression that one way of life was better than the other, I must assert that I got just as much of a kick out of hanging out with Julia and her family as I did with Katy and Ryan - both fantastic, but in different ways. Variety is, after all, the spice of life. :)

Poor Katy was up with me at about 4:45AM, heading out the door to the S-bahn to get me to the airport. Sadly, the train which would've taken me straight there wasn't working, so Katy had to trundle me across Berlin to catch a different train. Having caught this one, I arrived at the airport and went through the true "joy" of RyanAir flights. Going through a pre-screening of the luggage, waiting in line to check-in, checking in, only to be told I had to go check-in elsewhere to pay a fee, going out of security to pay said fee, going back through pre-security, back in line, checking in, *then* getting in the normal security line. RyanAir, for those who haven't had the honor of dealing with these people... hmm... how can I best explain RyanAir. Well, they recently changed their policies, and now charge you for using the toilets on the planes. Yep. That's RyanAir. Anywho, they give the required dimensions of your carry-on, except that they enforce it by forcing you to jam your bag into a small box which is (they claim) the size of these dimensions. (Too bad I'm about 99.9% certain it's actually quite a bit smaller) If you can't fit your bag into this box, you have to go back to the desk and pay an "oversized bag" fee - generally about £40 (about as much as the overall price of my ticket!) Fortunately, I was stuck in line behind a girl who was *determined* to get her bag to fit - despite the fact that it was as stuck as Pooh in the rabbit hole. She was loudly arguing with the woman overseeing the process, insisting that her bag was *not* over the size limits - as my bag was not over the bag limits but was obviously not going to fit into the box, I tended to agree with her, but was perfectly happy to walk right past the two of them and continue on through security. I placed my bag, coat, bag of liquids, etc through the conveyor - as I walked through the metal detector, the very cute security guard overseeing the process asked me, in heavily accented English, "What part of the US are you from?" I smiled back, confused - what gave me away? My smile? My outfit? My straight teeth? "Am I that obvious?" I asked. He smiled. "I saw your passport", he admitted sheepishly, then wished me a pleasant journey. Not withstanding the early hour and RyanAir frustrations, I did have an easy trip over to Dusseldorf, where I was picked up by Julia and Tristan, who bundled me into the car and headed off to an old industrial iron smelting factory which had been turned into a giant park. So cool.

The park was amazing - we wandered the old gardens, which had been turned into giant playgrounds. (Including little secret gardens, an amphitheater, and a slide made out of old metal tubing which went through a brick wall and got you going at an absolutely ridiculously quick speed :) On one of the waits at the top of the slide, Julia and I were chatting as a young, blonde girl walked up to wait as well. She turned to me, and asked (obviously, in German), "What language are you speaking?" Cutest kid ever. :) The actual iron smelting buildings were available to wander through - and you can go *quite* a ways up. We got lunch and a beer at the little stand, as well as ice cream later on. We enjoyed the sunshine and the heat, watched Tristan climb just about everything, and got a whole load of pictures. We finally got back in the car and drove back to Julia's house, a gorgeous three-storey old house filled to the brim to character (you walk into the giant, airy living room full of windows, bookshelves covered in books, and gummi bears on the table) - we were all exhausted and went to take a nap. I woke up around 9PM and wandered downstairs, where I met Julia's sister Stephanie and her dad, an American actor who reminded me just how much I love hanging out in the theatre. :) We stayed up late eating bolognese, red wine, and finally went to bed quite late. I felt bad waking up the next morning around 10:30, but went downstairs to read "Moby Dick" in the sunlight through the windows with freshly squeezed orange juice - until Julia and Tristan finally woke up a little after noon. :)

We eventually got into the car and drove off to the city of Köln (known to the English speaking world as Cologne) - best known (according to Rick Steves - woot!) for its Cathedral - and it was quite gorgeous. A massively large, beautiful cathedral, and - after paying our 1 euro - we began our 553 steps to the top of the tower. On the way, we passed by the largest church bell in the world, discovered Tristan's fear of heights and my claustrophobia, and realized just how horrifically out of shape we all are. :) Eventually we reached the top, however, and it really was quite gloriously gorgeous. Another 553 down, and we went to get lunch at a local restaurant, with the greatest roasted chicken I have *ever* eaten (the exercise, warm weather, and local tap beer make any meal better, especially when eaten with friends in the shadow of a fountain that tells the story of how women ruin everything :) ), and mmmmm... struedel... We did a stroll through the lovely city, but the fine weather was sadly on its way out. Our plan for a boat tour had to be scrapped, as it began to rain slightly. Another drive home, another lovely afternoon nap , another lovely dinner, and this time we stayed up after dinner to watch "The Ring" for Julia's essay - poor Julia, however, had to watch it with Stephanie, Tristan, and I inserting our own commentary (Never been funnier) and finished up with Eddie Izzard (as all good evenings should end) - however, this put our evening as ending at nearly 3AM. (whoops!)

Next morning... well, "morning... we bundled up and headed out the door to see the main city of Dusseldorf - Julia as tour guide works so much better when she knows the city (grin). This was a day of wandering, talking, looking, shopping, eating "fast food" (well, German fast food), and just generally being easy-going tourists. Delightful. This time we weren't as exhausted upon returning home, so we sat in the living room, enjoying the crackling of the fireplace, listening to the rain pitter-patter on the windows, reading "Time", listening to her dad make dinner - we eventually congregated in the kitchen, listening to the Chieftans (and improvising our own Irish step-dancing, despite Ciaran trying to teach us the real steps one night ages ago... didn't really catch on, as our version included lots of hopping about and not a little bit of the Funky Chicken)

This time I had to go to bed early as, again, the ride to the airport + pre-flight buffer time + early flight = very, very rising. (bleh) Poor Julia had originally planned to drop me at the train station, only to get confused about *which* station - so she ended up driving me there. We got breakfast, then bid farewell as I wandered through security, got on my plane (And oooh... Lufthansa is a *nice* airline... highly recommended, especially after dealing with RyanAir), and arrived in Heathrow at 9:30AM. I switched my euro over to pounds, and began my trek back to Bournemouth (I think I took just about the most round-about way via trains back to good ol' B-town). Once home, I unpacked, remarked on how empty the halls were, bought groceries, then willed myself to stay up until bedtime... even though I spent the day in only semi-consciousness, watching Dr. Who on iPlayer and QI on youtube.

And yeah... :) The Halls are full again, I'm back to work, and holiday is over. (Though, only a month and a half to Hawaii! Woot!)

Berlin

Well, I managed to write about getting *to* Germany, then inexplicably seem to have stopped... sorry about that. :) 



The plane from Zurich to Berlin was delayed about 15 minutes, due to us sitting on the runway, but we made it to Berlin *about* on-time - and just in time to watch the sun set as we were coming in for our landing. (Huzzah for summertime, and the sun staying out later!) We wandered off the plane and "through" Passport Control, except nobody was manning either the EU or Alle booths, so we simply went straight through to reclaim our luggage. (Which rather peeved me, as I found it rather silly that I'd come out of this holiday with a Zurich stamp, but no German stamps) I stood about for a few moments, before remembering that - in true Rick Steves style - I had simply brought a carry-on and my purse. (woot!) I stepped out of the luggage carousel room and texted Katy, who - after a brief search for the information desk (I followed the signs advertising "I -> ", all the while hoping that I did, in fact, stand for information, and not something else in Deutch. We caught the bus as the sun was setting and made our grand journey home - thank goodness I was with Katy, or I'm pretty certain I'd still be sitting around the airport, trying to figure out the mass-transit. It's a sad fact that Seattle has no mass-transit system, and Berlin's did seem to be absolutely *amazing*, but it was still quite daunting in and of itself to the newcomer who doesn't speak the language. (While going for the S-bahn, Katy was stopped by a man trying to figure out what train she wanted, with whom she conversed in German - I still half suspect that she planted him there to impress me...) We arrived home to their absolutely adorable flat (though that staircase was just *waiting* to kill me, I'm pretty certain), with Ryan cooking dinner. Let me digress for a moment.


This spring break was a fantastic look at dichotomies - the young, punk city of Berlin vs. the quiet, peaceful beauty of Dusseldorf; visiting historical sites vs. a more "hanging out" style of siteseeing; married friends vs. single friends. Living in the Halls tends to make me feel a bit old before my time - I don't go out clubbing every night, I don't put off homework assignments to the last minute, I follow politics, I've had full-time (serious, not summer) jobs, etc. Even still, my cohorts (generally ranging in age from 17-21) generally mentally forget that I'm several years older than than them, and give the funniest looks when reminded of this fact - for example, when I would mention that I was going to visit Katy and Ryan, I got *so* many weirded-out looks - "You have married friends?! Wow, that must be weird!" Ummm... not really... 


That said, while I love building trebuchets, making short films, playing Risk until 4 in the morning, and building forts in the common room, it was such an odd sense of joy and relief to be amongst my age range again. :) Cooking *real* meals (at normal hours), renting films, seeing the city via boat tour (complete with beer and sunscreen)... going to bed at 11PM... :) I was also absolutely delighted in the fact that Katy, Ryan and I managed to pick up where we left off - you do occasionally have those friends that you meet up with, years down the road, and you can't seem to get conversation flowing again as well as you did before - not so, here, as reminisces mixed with catch-up. Excellent times.  


Anywho: Berlin! First day, Katy and I took a 3 1/2 hour walking tour of the city, led by a guide who had been born in... Bulgaria? Hmm... it started with a B... but whose parents emigrated to New York when he was quite young, and he had only moved back to German about three years previous. You could definitely see the New York spirit, however - his voice carried just about everywhere we went, and he had a flair for, ahem, "involving" people - both within his tour group and random strangers passing by - in telling the stories. It was such a help to not only get a good view of the big tourist sites, but to get the history behind them put in a chronological order - growing up, I feel most of my history classes took us up to World War II, then said, "Umm... yeah... that's about it" as though nothing happened after the 1940's anywhere. I very distinctly remember a girl in one history class in HIGH SCHOOL very sincerely asking Miss Engnell "Wait, I thought we won the Vietnam War"... (sigh) In any case, history was sorted out and it was a truly gorgeous day - 22 degrees, bright sunshine (very bright...), a slight breeze, everything green and glorious, we had a fantastic lunch near Checkpoint Charlie, then later got the "finest" gelato, met up with Ryan after work, saw the Jewish Synagog and the Tacheles, had a cider in a beer garden (apparently, pronounced "see-der") with Simon and Sarah (K&R's friends, who were were to have dinner with the next night), then had pizza in the park, while watching the crazy bottle man talk to his stuffed cat. :) In true "old people fashion", we went home and watched the new episodes of the Daily Show, Colbert and The Office before turning in. At 11PM. Ah, I love it. :)


Second day, Katy and I went back to the Reichstag, the German Parliament building. It was a long line to get in, but quite worth it - you get whisked up to the top floor via elevator, then deposited on the rooftop next to the large glass dome that oversits the Parliamentary room. Again, bright sunshine and warm weather, this time warming my now bright red skin. Once inside the dome, you follow the ramp around right up to the top, where you can look straight down into the main room of the Parliament - the people looking straight in at the transparent government, while the government looks up to be constantly reminded that they are beneath the people, not above them. A truly lovely image. We climbed back down, and settled quite comfortably at a local cafe, where I had my first currywurst - wurst covered in a spicy, ketchup-like sauce... quite delicious and immensely satisfying in the way that a barbecue in the middle of summer can leave you pleasantly satiated, warm, sleepy, and purring in contentment. We met up with Ryan (who had been up ridiculously early for a ridiculously long bike ride - crazy bloke!), and went on a boat tour of Berlin, floating lazily down the river, beer in hand, as we watched the sites float by, listened to the speakers crackle with German and English, and enjoyed the warm sunlight. (Well, the second half of the journey had us sitting in front of a family with a little girl who wouldn't stop getting up, grabbing my seat (and, as well, my back or my hair), kicking my seat, and - according to Katy's German - constantly either complaining or demanding something from her parents. (grumble) We passed through the Tiergardens on our way back to our bus, where we headed home (after picking up dessert), then to Simon and Sarah's for dinner. At first mention, I had a rather striking image of Bridget Jones, going to her Smug Married friend's house for a dinner party - of all Smug Marrieds (Only this time, they'd be Smug Married Germans). Happily, both were absolutely delightful - Sarah was actually from Minnesota and met Simon when they were both living in DC. We talked for hours about odd German language foibles, crazy times in undergrad, The West Wing (Simon's a big fan! I knew he was cool!), living internationally, England/US/Germany, etc. We ended up leaving around 1AM and it was a testament to how quickly I had fallen back into my more "normal" living arrangement that, arriving home around 1:30, I was absolutely exhausted. (Despite this being the point most of the guys here would come knocking, to see if I wanted to watch a movie or go out to a house party) Making this late hour even more late was the fact that the next day was...


Palm Sunday! The three of us trundled off to the American Church of Berlin - oddly enough, *this* was my biggest culture shock of the trip. :) Although I believe the church was supposed to be non-denominational, we were given Lutheran hymn books and recited the dear old catechism. We went outside with our palm fronds to greet the Saviour and sang our first hymn walking back down the central nave. Nearly everyone spoke with an American accent, and with that unmistakeable "American Christian" way of speaking, smiling, walking, making small talk, having cookies and coffee laid out afterwards, etc. There was just something so bizarre - after spending so much time in England, where it's pretty unmistakably "C-o-E", and then to have the mindset of "I'm in Germany, I'm in Germany", to go three days of having to have Katy order for me, stammering out my little "bitte" and "danke" whenever I could, to suddenly be thrust back into that completely familiar and so absolutely itself environment - it was quite a culture shock. :) Lovely church with lovely people, but it absolutely threw me for a loop. Afterwards, we went to see the Topography of Terror exhibit (former site of the SS Headquarters). Once finished, we still had about an hour or so of museums and such being open, but Katy and I decided, instead, to simply stop for a snack at a cafe near the Brandenburg Tor and just enjoy the last of the sunshine and talk for a bit. We grabbed the bus home, made dinner, and - as my plane to Dusseldorf would be heading out bright and early, went to bed early as well. 


Impressions of Berlin? Our tour guide summed it up best - he exhorted us to come back to Berlin as soon and as often as we could, as the city was shifting and changing day by day. It was amazing to see the surfeit of history - and such *recent* history as well (Katy said she kept getting teased by old Berliners by her fascination with the bullet holes and bombed out buildings that are everywhere) - especially in Seattle, though definitely within the States in general, we just don't really have these massive evidences of war lying about on every doorstep. The times when war has come home, it's generally been in examples like 9/11 or Pearl Harbour - where we're hit, and SHOCKED that we can be hit, then resume the war happening somewhere *not* on our shores. The openness and honesty about WWII and the division of Berlin under communism was amazing to see - and quite heartbreaking to see how raw the scars still are. It is illegal to do the Nazi salute, or even to draw a swastika - it's a major news item now that The Producers is coming to Berlin for the first time. There's been a hail of controversy surrounding it; all the advertising for the show features flags with - not swastikas - but pretzels. :) And yet, despite all this history, this shadow of a dark and troubled past still lurking about the city, there is such an amazingly fresh, young voice taking over Berlin. Katy and Ryan joked that they lived in the "cool" part of the city - where all the stereotypical European youths run around with mohawks, tight jeans, and piercings. It is amazing to see that this city has managed to come out from its past, while still being able to display it - saying, "yes, this is what happened - it was terrible, we aren't trying to whitewash it, we aren't trying to deny it, this is what happened" - they recognize their past without being destroyed by it. The evidence is still there on every street corner (they've gone through the records and, in front of any house still standing that at one point was home to someone who died in the concentration camps, they've put a gold brick in the sidewalk in front of that house with the persons' name, date they lived there, and what camp they died at), yet this information hasn't killed the city's spirit, which is remarkably strong and quite young. 


Okay. Well, having gotten this far, I have just been invaded by Ciaran and Lars, looking to pay a game of Risk. On the one hand, it's only 10:30... on the other hand, they want to do World Conquest... hmm...  
  

11 April 2009

Zurich

I got a good price on my plane tickets going through expedia, though for my plane ride to Berlin I had to fly through Zurich. Look it up on a map if you don't understand how bizarre this is. However, I was flying Swiss Air International (a really nice carrier) and both flights were only about an hour long. (After regularly flying 9+ hours to Seattle and back, one hour flights are an absolute joke, especially since we were fed, essentially, lunch: a turkey curry baguette, drink, and Swiss chocolate in the short time between taking off and landing) That said, while both flights themselves were fine... the layover... 

I had an hour and five minutes between landing in Zurich and taking off for Berlin. Although I would have to change planes, I wasn't changing carriers (so I'd be in the same terminal); I should have PLENTY of time. I planned to stop by a shop and get some good chocolate for Katy and Julia as thank you gifts. Well, that "same terminal" bit? That rather went out the window when I realized that we were getting off the plane to get on a bus to be shuttled to the airport. No biggie, though - I grabbed a handhold and listened in amusement as an American behind me asked the English guy next to him how to get service for his iPhone here in Europe. I learned more than I ever needed to know, before the bus pulled up and deposited us at the main terminal. I had my notebook with all my flight information in my purse, but took a quick look at the screens to see that the flight to Berlin, leaving at about the time I remembered it should, was at a gate in the B terminals. The signs next to the screens advertised it as a 5-10 minute walk and, while there were plenty of shops right there, I somehow decided to head for my gate now, planning to shop closer to the gate once I found where it was. Thank goodness.

Following the endless signs towards my gate, I suddenly found myself in line for Passport Control. What? No, I'm going to the same carrier, I shouldn't... hmm... nope, this is the way to my gate. Confused, but realizing that this was, in fact, the way, I made my way through the queue, where I had my passport stamped for Zurich and was sent on my way. Umm... thanks? A few minutes later, approaching my gate, I realized the further implications of going through Passport Control - I had to go through security again, and the line was endless. Checking my watch - well, I still had five minutes before they'd start boarding and about half an hour before the plane took off. Surprise, surprise - Murphy's Law kicked in and, after placing my carry-on through the X-ray machine, I watched as it was pulled out the other end and trundled off to a table on the other side of the room. I followed the bag dutifully, wondering what I had done wrong this time, heart sinking as I checked my watch. "Dieses ist lhr?" Blank stare. "Is this your bag?" Ah, yes, yes it is. "Can I open this pocket?" Sure, why not. Ah... the big plastic bottle of cloudy lemonade that I hadn't finished at lunch, and had tucked into my luggage - because surely I wouldn't be going through security again. (grumble) He threw the bottle out, then ran my bag through a second time, this time coming out completely kosher. I flashed him a big smile, apologized for the mistake, then hot-footed it down the stairs to my gate. Okay, no problem - there's still a queue, the plane is still boarding, no problem.

Well, until I reached the front of the queue. The woman taking tickets at the door looked at my boarding pass, gave me an odd look, then said the most horrific thing I could've thought of at that particular moment, "This is the wrong flight to Berlin. You want flight 333 - gate A62." She helpfully wrote it on my ticket, then went on to the next person. Yep, two separate flights to Berlin, taking off within five minutes of each other, but taking off from opposite sides of the airport. Ten minutes before *my* plane would take off. 

"There are certain queer times and occasions in this strange mixed affair we call life when a man takes this whole universe for a vast practical joke, though the wit thereof he but dimly discerns, and more than suspects that the joke is at nobody's expense but his own." - Chapter 49, Moby Dick

I hustled back up the stairs, only to find myself trapped. I followed the exit signs back towards the security screening area, only to find myself in a weird hallway with a door that didn't open. I went back towards the staircase, only to see that the doorway there was a fire exit only and would set off an alarm. I went *back* to the hallway by the screening area, finally seeing a small green button. I pushed it. Nothing happened. I pushed it again. The doors still didn't open. I was about to scream, when I noticed a small woman shuffling at an intolerably slow speed towards the door with a key. After turning it, the door finally opened, allowing me back out into the main terminals. If you didn't find this sufficiently slapstick, you should realize that *all* of the walls in question were glass - thus, I could not only *see* exactly where I needed to go at all times, but the people waiting in the security line got to watch me race back and forth like a laboratory rat. 

I raced off down the main terminal hallways - well, "raced" meaning a quick walk, as my bag kept bumping into my knees no matter where I placed it, and I seemed to be continuously stuck behind zig-zag walkers (you know the kind - the ones who walk quite slowly, but don't walk in a straight line, so it is nearly impossible to pass them). I finally found gate A62, and fortunately the security checkpoint at the A gates was completely deserted (and hey! I'd already had a trail run to remove all contraband from my bag) - and I fell in line with the last stragglers on *this* flight to Berlin. Sweaty, out of breath, and on an adrenaline high, I took my seat on the plane, settled in... and spent 15 minutes sitting on the runway, waiting for our turn to take off.