Greetings from cloudy Leipzig! I'm here visiting an old friend and having a marvelous time in this really gorgeous little (well, little compared to Berlin, still about 500,000 people) city. But before I tell you about Leipzig I must catch you up with what have been some lovely days in Berlin.
Now that the plays are over for the most part (thank goodness since my desire to see theatre is at a zero, you could say I'm a bit exhausted seeing nearly 20 plays in 4 weeks. But I must conserve energy for the avignon festival is fast upon me and I shall be extremely busy with theatre then. However, my project has moved on to phase two. I made it very clear that half of the project was getting to know the city, and I have been doing so. Visiting museums, seeing parts of the city I haven't and talking to Berliners. The other component of my project is writing my play (and soon to be another play when I finish this one, hopefully in Paris). So my day has been spent half sight-seeing what I havent seen cause I was working so hard at learning german and seeing theatre, and then writing a scene or two, and then finally closing the evening with a bit of rest, or socializing and maybe learning more about the culture here.
So Tuesday I got up, made myself a salad, like the old days, with tomato, lettuce and onion and a bit of oil and vinegar. It was wonderful. The german food you get on the street or in restaurants doesnt really offer that much in the way of veggies so I was craving one of those big salads I would always have in argentina after a huge amount of meat. Mmmmm I miss my patria just thinkin about it. Maybe I will go to B.A. soon, I should, anyhow.
Monday I arrived home a bit earlier than usual, but still full from the currywurst I had in the midday. Currywurst, for the uninitiated is Germany's national food. Basically, a cut up bratwurst (literally meaning fried sausage) and slathered in ketchup (or some red ketchup sauce) and then drizzled generously with yellow curry powder. It sounds disgusting, and it can be, but at Konnopke's imbiss they have it down to an art. I knew I was in for something special when I had to wait about 20 minutes for service, all local berliners and the occasional tourist. Kids from school businessmen, old men, society ladies and everything in between. The place had a cool mystique about it, the faded large cart blazoned with its words, while unappetizing sandwiches lay in the window and in teh column right under the rail where the imbiß was stationed was some faded paintings promising good taste.
The first currywurst I had, I should tell you was disastrous. It was like eating a lukewarm birthday cake made of lard. Never eat under the imbiß by the fernsehturm. Please.
This currywurst was crisp, filling, and surprisingly delicious. It was a delicious snack I thought, but little did I know just a currywurst and fries could last me the whole night.
Anyway, culinary adventure aside, I came home to my house to find a very peaceful man making green tea. I had just bought some groceries so I was stuffing the food in the small fridge when he offered me a bit of green tea. I of course obliged, the man being one of the boarders and having a young, friendly face. We soon got to talking. The green tea, I should add was sipped out of shotglasses, the way it is done in Peking (Beijing).
We spoke in Spanish, the man (whose name escapes me, I'll ask Sergio later) was originally from Spain, in Santander. He lived in Peking now, for about a year I believe. Before he lived in Bristol. Why he went to Peking, he told me "for a woman, of course". The man was an artist, visual, and was living in a small artists town right outside the city. It was a community of about 500 artists, basically just living, drinking tea, talking about life, and painting. It sounded pretty fabulous. There was a simplicity to the way he spoke, pointed, but still with a resounding peace, that seemed the product of having a peace of mind that one in cities sometimes forgets.
We sipped the green tea, it seemed like for ages, I was asking him about his life there, I was telling him about new york, my mission here, my impressions of Berlin, etc. etc. The tea was prepared carefully in what looked like a bowl, the top would be pressed against the water which would then be poured into the shotglass. The tea was fresh, it tasted healthy and gently warm, it was a soothing experience to say the least.
Soon Sergio, the owner of the place joined us. Sergio, I believe I have mentioned before, is a Peruvian photographer, filmmaker, performance artist and is a great host, and this man was a friend of his, working on a project. The conversation was light and spirited, and wholly original. I feel entirely at home here, in this place, feeling unhurried from place to place, a time for people to just sit around and talk is something I don't get much when I'm huddled under 10 hours of homework or I'm rushed around in NYC. Not to say I don't get time, I do, but it's something I have to seek out, not something that seems to find me, as it does here.
The next day I saw the Alte Nationalgalerie. I went for one reason and one reason alone. Caspar David Friedrich. Since I was by myself I took the audio tour, and what a great one it was! Each one had its own little theme song, taken from the best of classical music, and the british guides, male and female, each had their own distinctive appreciation of the pieces. It made you think each piece was desired by thousands of people, and hell, maybe it was. One pet peeve though, every time a piece is introduced, they spend about 2 minutes describing what you are seeing. I was a bit confused about this, after all, we were seeing the painting, we knew perfectly well what was in front of us. Sure the smaller details escape us, but even the broadest details become introduced as if we were just staring at a bunch of colors and couldn't piece them together.
Like, for example for one of Friedrich's paintings the man was like "a mountain stands in the background"! No shit! A mountain? Wow, I was wondering what the weirdly pointed thing among all those trees was. I never would have guessed it was a mountain, thanks audio guide.
They had the abbey in the oak wood, which I remember being Professor Glenn Shuck's favorite painting. I wish Glenn all the best and hopes he gets better, and definitely thought of him in the Friedrich room. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't have discovered this most mystifying of painters and through him the German Romantics that were of his age, and influenced my coming to Germany even. The paintings were phenomenal to look at up close. There you could see Friedrich's every brush stroke, and see the battle between precision and imagination.
The thing that most fascinates me about Friedrich, is how he painted most of these landscapes from his imagination. After all, for Friedrich, the landscape showed the mystical inner nature of the soul, of God, of the absolute, and not just the specificity of nature. In the grandeur of nature, Friedrich built these temples to the human condition, and they certainly shock you with their presence. Even in the darkest of paintings, like Abbey in the Oak Wood, we are shown in the glimmers of hope, and the presence of the absolute, in the half-crescent moon, teasing us with its fullness. Worth every boring German medieval painter I had to look through to get to Friedrich.
That night I had dinner with a German acquainttance of mine and her friends. They were a great bunch, one studying Art History German Literature and Psychology at Humboldt and the other Medicine, like my friend. It was wonderful not just to meet these students in Berlin but to hear them speak German to each other, it was flying fast and free, and after seeing theatre and seeing it spoken casually, it really is such an expressive language. I prided myself on being able to follow general concepts through the conversation, though they could all speak english thank goodness. We had Sushi, and I must say Berlin Sushi rivals American Sushi. Wowee.
I got home not too late and managed to crash in order for another day of sightseeing. Oh, I also finished act 2 of the Oblivious a few days ago, so I'm gonna take it easy I think.
Berlin part II includes my adventures at Gemäldegalerie, and UBU!
Tschüssies!
- J
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