Berlinaling

Some of you may not be aware that Februrary is the month of the Berlinale International Film Festival, apparently one of the bigger of the worlds film festivals, up there with cannes and sundance et al (although I did read this on the festival website, and by that measure, every festival is one of the big ones).  So, there were a gazillion films on of late and apparently many big super hollywood stars here in Berlin for said festival.

Most of which, I missed out on.  One, because I failed to appreciate just how many people were coming and just how fast tickets would sell out (shutter island sold out in around 45 seconds).  And two because the emphasis was put upon people queuing up for tickets at silly little ticket booths like its still 1976, the internet/automation is still something rarely used here.  But!  I did manage to get some tickets, bought online, but I then had to go all the way to the cinema to pick them up (from the same place where they sell normal tickets).  Have they not heard of the postal service?  or at least printers/scanners?

All in all though it was quite enjoyable.  Watching a film in a huge cinema with lots of other film enthusiasts is a different experience.  Everyone seemed to engage with the film more and it was more like watching theatre than cinema (even to the silly point of the audience clapping at the beginning, throughout and at the end of the film).  A bit more of a communal experience.

So, what have I learnt?  Next year to go and queue up for tickets and be on the ball a bit more, buying every ticket in sight!

Otherwise, not a whole lot out of the ordinary has been happening.  Just more coffee drinking and photo taking.

This is the street I live on.  Yes, it is as noisy, busy and shitty as it looks.

But fortunately all the streets around it are not.

Pricks on a Train

I had, until today, thought that the bemusing pastime of listening to shitty music, played through shitty tinny mobile speakers, on public transport was something of a London centric occurrence.  But, after getting on the M10 to go down to a second hand shop in Friedrichshain, I was confronted by two of the little grunting twats, comparing their collection of aurally offensive excreta.  Playing one, then babbling on about how amazing it was before the infuriating gesture was repeated in reverse.  All the time giggling away, seemingly having the time of their little, insignificant lives.

During my next German lesson, I'm going to learn how to say "Oi, moronic pricks, turn that shit off before I ram those phones down your throats".

Ok.  So, I may be exaggerating my annoyance for comedic effect (after all, they were only on the same tram as me for two stops).  But in general the trip itself was a bit of a bust.  After eventually finding the second hand shop, I went in and was greeted by what appeared to be, from all accounts, a tramp.  He showed me his vast array of gleaming guitars, priced from 100 euros up to 210.  The 100 euro guitar was a putrid red colour and had been dropped off the wall once, meaning the back corner was cracked, hence the super cheap price of 100 euros!  Bargin.

I did realise I've not been to McDonalds in a very long time too.  They just haven't enticed me in, even if they are as lovely and communist as this one.

Day 254 - Normalised Berlin Life

The fact that life here in Berlin has taken on an air of normalcy, making blogging about it seem mildly out of place, should, I guess, be treated with jubilation. Two thirds of a year have passed, I now have a permanent apartment, lots of furniture/nick nacks and a good group of friends. I've settled in to a fairly regular routine, discovered (mostly) where to buy the decent food and mein Deutsch Studien laufen gut. My point being that life has become ordinary here, not that it being so is a bad thing, my ordinary life here is a world away from my ordinary life in Warrington.

But, of course, there are (and I think always will be) curiosities about Germany in general and Berlin specifically. Whilst irritating at the time, they do mostly keep things interesting.

Being Serviced by Germans

There is a distinct cultural difference here in regards to customer service. Most people perceive this as customer service here is shit, or people don't give a shit, that they've got far better things to be doing than be serving a piece of crap such as yourself. Personally, I prefer things here, its more of a take control of your own shit attitude. If you want something in a restaurant or shop, do something about it, don't expect the staff to be living their life waiting on your every move. The only downside is a lot of companies have the attitude that you are lucky to be able to pay them money, they are providing a service and you should damn well appreciate how good it is that they are doing so.

For instance, vodafone called me up to offer me a new fantastic deal. Cheaper texts and calls!! Fucking Awesome I thought, I've been a pay as you talk customer with them for some time now, and they are offering me a few incentives to stay with them (ie. like they do in the UK). So, the lady on the phone explained just how much cheaper they were (about a whole 25%!) but then slipped up by mentioning two things.

1. A two year contract.

2. A monthly fee.

So, they basically wanted me to sign a regular contract. There was no offer of a new phone (unless I paid a few hundred euros) and there were no free calls/texts (outside a minimum to the vodafone network, of which not many people I know use). The end result being that although the calls and texts would be cheaper, it would in no way make up for the 20 euros a month I'd be paying. End result, I'd be spending more money. I pointed out the lunacy of such a scheme but it didn't sink in, she just couldn't grasp the concept. I just hope I had a rather moronic call operator rather than this being the norm.

Shopping

One, there are no huge supermarkets here. No Tescos, Asdas or Sainsburys. Now. In this world of anti-globilisation, you'd think that this is a good idea. Keep those big evil corporations out! But in reality, its just irritating. Yes, I can go to a local supermarket and buy regular food. But thats it, theres nothing special or out of the ordinary there. To get anything mildly exotic (hummous counts as such a thing here) you have to go to a small specialty shop. Which is great, I love small cooky little shops that have an odd eclectic range of bit n bobs. But as its a small shop, its near impossible to find and secondly, near impossible to remember where it was after you find it and what exactly it was that they stocked. The end result being that I spend far more hours each week than I should just looking for shit. I'd much rather suck on the giant corporate cock of tesco and do everything all at once in an easy and convenient place.

But there are a few little gems here and there, shops where you get things you wouldn't get in any supermarket in the UK, imported goods etc. Still, I'd like to be able to buy a normal (ie. non paprika) bag of crisps with hummous easily now and again.

Winter in Berlin

During the summer, I had a thousand people tell me "What?!?! You've never been here for a Berlin winter before. Fuck me, you're in for a nightmareish trip to hell and back". Now, as I've had people bitching and moaning at me about 'the cold' for my entire life, I took these prophecies with a pinch of salt. What exactly could there be thats so unexpected and bad? Winter, its cold, rains, mostly cloudy and it occasionally snows. The only thing that would constitute a hellish time would be if the entire city decided heating wasn't needed anymore.

So, when winter arrived and it turned out to be one of the worst the city (and I believe, the northern hemisphere) has had in years, I was a little disappointed. Sure, it gets down to -10 or -15degC a fair amount of the time. It snows quite a lot, melts and then refreezes creating an irritating ice rink across 95% of all pavements and for the most part, its grey and cloudy. But, to be honest, its allright. The cold air wakes one up and aslong as you're not a complete retard and wear correct clothes and shoes with, get this, GRIP on them! Its not so much a problem. Infact, I quite like most of it. So, as ever, it turns out that most people are just whiny little girls who go running home to mummy crying every time the temperature drops below 20degC. Losers.

Perhaps the most irritating thing though is that this, above, is what they do to cope with ice here. Put gravel on it. Just gravel. So instead of it being 98% slippy, its now only 96% slippy. Excellent job fuckwits.

The Good Things in Life

Now, after reading that big bitch fest at all the whiny people here in Berlin, you'd think that I'm disliking living here, or that I have taken a dislike to things in general. The opposite is most definitely true, its just, I do love a good moan. I guess its nostalgia, my Britishness wanting to poke its head out with an occational 'Now, just you listen here young chap, when we ran the world we didn't do it this way'.

My favourite coffee shop, where I do most of my writing, studying and general bumming around is still my favourite. Despite being mildly chain like.

Its very brown. And I quite like that.

Thursday night drinks are still every Thursday and still involve drinks.

And Daisy is still popping up now and again, being cute and demanding to be fed 24/7.

Wheres my food bitch?

For the most part, I'm out 5 or 6 nights a week, eating good food in restaurants, having a good laugh with friends and occasionally consuming much more vodka than I should be (which, thankfully for my liver, is far less than I was doing last year). Most pleasant indeed.

So, I'll leave you with a few further pictures of Berlin. The picture a day idea has died a death for the moment by the way, until I can come up with some better ideas than "oh, I'm sat in a restaurant/drinking a coffee and have just remembered to take a picture. Hmm, that wall/cup looks nice".