Germany!

As some of you know, I'm in Germany. I had to book a last-minute trip to our Headquarters in Walldorf, which was pretty stressful. I was only supposed to stay here for four days, but then then I was asked to extend it for eight days. So here I am. I have traveled a lot, but I haven't ever traveled by myself. I have always been with a family member, friend, or coworker. Or Dirk. So, it's been a really interesting experience for me.  What has made it even more inetresting is that my phone decided that it didn't want to work here, so I have been relying on email, land lines, and smoke signals to communicate with people. It's been a lesson in careful planning and calming meditiation.

Since this wasn't my first trip to Germany, I wasn't completely helpless. I knew what to expect and I know a few people here. But what I wasn't prepared for was that they smoke in the hallways at work! Like, what is this? 1950? Armin was laughing at me like, "oh you silly American. It's fiiiine. We have these air purifiers here!" And they do, but they do absolutely nothing except sit there and look like an alien space pod.  Also, everyone dresses super casually here.  I was wearing black pants and a collared shirt today, and I was overdressed.  Everyone wears jeans. 

But I digress. Since I was staying over the weekend, I was able to visit Leah in Berlin!! It's so tough for me to visit her when I am here on vacation, because Berlin is so far away from everything else we are doing. I was able to book the ICE for Friday night, which would only take about four and a half hours. I wasn't really that interested in doing touristy stuff because I wanted to catch up with Leah AND I was still pretty exhausted with jetlag. (The nine hour time difference from CA is a bitch. No other way to put it.)

When I arrived on Friday, we had a nice little dinner at a Thai restaurant right next to her apartment. We slept in on Saturday, which I desperately needed. We met some of her friends that afternoon and went to some art exhibits that were scattered around the city.  The first was a contemporary art exhibit in an abandoned brewery. 

This was a herringbone wood floor made from reclaimed wood.  I couldn't be more in love with it.

I identify with the left, mostly

This person identified with the right.

The second exhibit was performance art, but I didn't take any pictures. For good reason. One piece was a (hot) man showering in feezing cold water. Another was a woman in an evening gown and S&M mask twirling in a circle. And another was a woman chopping veggies in a makeshift kitchen. I hate performance art. What is that crap? What am I supposed to get out of it? Pay your electric bill so that the hot naked man in your shower isn't cold? Got it.

Then I made the group go to this other exhibit that was called "Invalid Robots."  I love robots, so I was totally jazzed about it.  When I got to the exhibit, my eyes were assaulted with this:


Not a robot.

That is a PUPPET made out of PIGSKIN which is incredibly CREEPY. Honestly, I was actually disturbed by this exhibit. It seemed like some sort of Silence of the Lambs art, and it was scary. I do not want to run into a person who has the thought process of, "I'm going to make a big-breasted puppet by piecing together pig flesh." She was moved by a series of strings and bicycle wheels, which was cool. Post-modern art is just too much for me. I don't get it.

Anyway, Leah and I had some delicious German food and then went into a food coma/nap. Later on that evening, Leah's roommate Tally, her French boyfriend Flourant, and their Italian friend ____ cooked up some risotto. Leah and I were still full from dinner, so we just had vodka and club mate instead.  That is my new favorite drink, but I'm not sure if you can get club mate in the US. I will import if I have to. We moved the party across the street to a bar across the street at 3am and stayed until the sun was fully shining and the birds were chirping.  The inside of the bar looked exactly what I want the inside of my closet to look like: silver tinsel wallpaper, chandeliers, disco balls, and pink lighting. It was wonderful. 

L & L

On Sunday, we went to a flea market, which is one of my very favorite things to do. I like to collect street art, and I was on the hunt. Sadly, I didn't find anything to add to my collection.  Soon enough, it was time for me to catch the ICE back down to the Walldorf area. 

Saying goodbye at the train station :(

So that was my little weekend trip to Berlin. I'm heading back to CA on Wednesday, so that I can begin packing up for the move home.  Yay!