Pics

Oh, and while I fell behind on the blogging, I carried on taking pictures, most of which are up on my photo site (see link on the right), so take a look if you get a chance.

Hit and Run Kino

Last Wednesday me and Sylvia (a fellow tour guide) went to hit and run kino (cinema). It was super cool. We met at Janowitzbrücke Sbahn station with about 60 other people, walked about 10 minutes to an abandoned factory and "broke in" (climbed in through a window). There were too cinemas set up, literally sheets hanging from the ceiling, plastic chairs, speakers and a video projector. Everyone got a beer or wine and a cup of peanuts, and we settled down to watch Warriors (old school movie about gangs in New York), surrounded by graffiti and rubble. Nice.

Was a cool experience, and there are some photos up on my photo album.

G8

Tomorrow (morning at 3am) we leave to go and protest against the policies of the G8. In the run up to the conference the German government has, amongst other things:

• taken away accreditation from critical journalists,
• begun controlling european citizens crossing the border into germany, in contradiction of the schengen convention. people have been turned away at the border,
• built a 12km long steel wall around the hotel where the conference will be held,
• given police the power to ban identified people from being in a specific radius from a specific place without any judicial proceedings,
• held raids on ngo's and private homes in berlin without any specific reason other than the people involved in the raids may have fallen under article 129a (new terrorism laws recently enacted in germany). computers, seminar lists (from professors) and other information was confiscated,
• enacted a new law banning any demonstration from taking place within 6kms of the security fence,
• built a temporary prison for 14 000 people at Heiligendamm,
• declared a "security area of 50km around Heiligendamm.

I'm going to Heiligendamm not only to protest against the policies of the G8. There is a choice between living in a world with these measures, and with this level of state violence, and a better world, were people feel empowered, and feel they have the opportunity to make their voices and opinions heard. I'm going to Heiligendamm to exercise my right to protest peacefully.

Time is of the essence!

The new job is going great guns, so it's full steam ahead. Leading my second tour tomorrow. German course is great except my grammar is REALLY letting me down - now is when I wish I had paid attention in school!

I've posted some new photos - some taken by me for a change! Check them out (follow the link to Glen's Photo Album on the right)

Love and respect,

Glen

New job!

So yes, I've got a new job, hooray! Working at Fat Tire (yes, american) Bike Tours www.fattirebiketoursberlin.com. Not working for them essentially, they're starting up a non-profit company called Mosaic Tours to run a tour to the Saxenhausen Memorial (Concentration camp used by Nazis and USSR). I'm helping to research and script the tour and will then be one of the 3 or 4 guides running the tour. I'll also be working in the two shops, one at the TV tower at Alexander Platz and the other at the Zoo.

So all good really.

Poland revisited (already)

So I'm back in Poland - I liked it that much! Left on Saturday for Katowice. Rob Szabo (friend of mine from Rhodes) is teaching English here (I'm typing this from his office while he takes a lesson). It's been great seeing him again, and he's looked after me really well. On Saturday, I stumbled off the buss (which broke down 50m from the bus station - nice!) and was immediately whisked off to THE best vegetarian restaurant I have ever been too (granted they don't do breakfast, so Lola's on Long street is still winning there) amazing food with lots of bakes and lasagne's. 14 Zlotys (about R40/4Euros) for a piece of one of the bakes and two salads and a glass of juice (apple and mint was the last one I had - was there again today- but also cinnamon, clove and orange and others!).

After we were well fed we went on a tour of all the cafes and clubs in Katowice, which merged seamlessly into meeting all Rob's friends and going out on a great pub/club crawl. Needless to say it ended with Rob, J and myself (all SAan) in Spiz eating slap chips on the dance floor and getting disapproving looks from pretty much everyone. Fantastic. Get home at 6.

Next day we walked through one of the biggest parks in Europe and had lunch at one of the restaurants in the park, we then walked back to Katowice (rob lives in a small town just outside), and bought some of the biggest ice-creams I have ever seen. Watched a video that evening. (well watch is not quite right, we laughed at the nautical terms most of the time).

Today I took myself of to Auschwitz, which was harrowing. What really did my head in is that it is now in the middle of an ordinary town. I imagine this would not be the case if it was in Germany, or if the Poles were the perpetrators.

Tomorrow I'm probably going to go to Krakow, and have a walk around. I head back to Berlin on Wednesday.

I'll also be starting my new job on Monday - scripting and taking tours of a concentration camp near Berlin. Working for a non-profit company set up by a tour guide company (I'll also be working in their shop). www.fattirebiketoursberlin.com

My day off

I've been on the job trail today... went to the arbeitsamt (state employment department thingy...) to register as looking for work. Felt very unemployed! I didn't have the right documentation from the Burgerampt (I think), and ended up getting the forms for the dole. Good. Nice to know my german is serving me so well!

However, while not doing very well trying to find a way to earn money, I am doing incredibly well at spending it. Bought the most amazing piece of tiramisu today from an Italian guy outside Hackescher Markt. Nice.

A poem...

Sometimes when I am on my bicycle,
I feel like an icicle.

(composed in situ on the streets of Berlin)

Shelf

I built a shelf in my room for a total of 6.50 Euros. The thing is that I used mayonnaise buckets from work. There's a picture on my photo pages of it. Every day we throw away (well, put into the recycling dumpster - whatever that means°°) at least two of these or the tomato sauce buckets. It's really hard for me to see them go, not just because I love using things that would otherwise go to waste, but more because of working in the townships of Cape Town. There people share communal taps and anything that can hold a reasonable amount of water is very valuable. Something that can hold water and has a lid is even more so. In their first life, the ones here aren't even used to hold paint or other toxic chemicals...

Even in the schools we worked in there, a container like the ones here were super valuable. From using them as watering cans to growing saplings in.

So, I'm glad I could use them for something useful, even though we've got a shower, bath, basin and kitchen sink all with fresh water, hot and cold, at a turn of a tap in our flat.

°° I hope they are recycled, but even if they are, there is all the energy to think of that the process of breaking them down to plastic pellets that can then be used to make more plastic things uses.

Ultimate

So I'm back playing ultimate, and it feels so good! Playing in a hall is crazy - no wind and laying out is a bit more painful. Keep remembering when horizontal in mid air that there is no grass underneath me. Impresses though when you pull it off!
I'm playing in a beginners group, so am nicely in the middle of the skill range. Maybe going to a friday night game as well which is training for a team, so could be more intense!
Best thing about a hall - no wind! You've never seen a long huk fly so straight, frikkin magic!
It's raining at the moment, and I think it's starting to stay light for longer - ooh 4 o'clock, great...
I'm off to my german class now, so aufwiedersehen und all that....

back to the craziness...

Okay, so I decided life was not busy enough, so now... I'm playing ultimate with a team in Berlin. The people seem nice, which would follow from my experience of ultimate in Cape Town. The german course is going well, although it's FLIPPIN hard! To give you and idea... this is an oberstuffe course which is basically D1 (although it's not classified as such, because the classification only goes up to c2 - by which stage you are fluent). My german training to date consists of my course in Cape Town which was... wait for it. A1.1 i.e. half of A1. I still theoretically have to do A1.2, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2. Good.

Also going to a south african stammtisch tonight (south african club meeting). So yeah, it's all happening! Despite a short bout of "what the hell am I doing with my life" I'm loving Berlin, and generally having a great time. It's got really cold and it snowed properly today (no snow storms here though!). Ice rink is also getting bussier though.

I've put some more photos up, so check them out if you get a chance (I've been meaning to put them up for ages!).

Love to all!

Pfotos

I just put some new photos up on my photo page - http://glentyler.fotopages.com/. check it. (before you wreck it al).

Send me post!

Yesterday I registered at the Burgerampt, so I'm now officially a resident in Steglitz (a bizirk/suburb of Berlin), so I thought it might be fiting to finally get around to posting my postal address...

Leydenalle 35
12167 Berlin

Watching a home renovations show at the moment, and they just threw out a perfectly good sofa, because the colour didn't fit the room (as in broke it up and then threw it in the dumpster). That sucks because I need a sofa, and it sucks because now some factory in china is going to have to make a new one filled with more chemicals (we hates them). It is quite amazing how nearly every home's furniture is made by Ikea. Reckon they're the McDonalds of furniture. They are swedish however, so maybe they've got some awesome environmental standards going on. And I bought a beanie from sweden and it's super warm. Nice.

Okay, I've gotta go and sort out some stuff before work. Have a good weekend and who knows, you may soon see me stocking up on Marmite in a Pick 'n Pay near you.

Oh, and will try and post some photos of my room later...

Back to Cape Town...

Well, yes, I am indeed going back to Cape Town.

I have been offered an interview for a Chevening Scholarship, and unfortuanetly I can only have the interview in Cape Town, so after much deliberation I have decided to fly back for 5 days (!?!?). Very crazy I know, but gotta live life without regrets, and the course that I would study with the scholarship (Applied Environmental Economics) is something I'd really like to do, so as eminem says some opportunities comes once in a lifetime, yo.

Until then life carries on here, with working at the ice rink going well. Tomorrow I'm off to the second seminar of a series that Holle and I are attending on Psychoanalysis, Colonialism and Decolonization. The first was really interesting, and the reading for this one has also been good.

Something for your Sunday morning...

because sunday mornings are all about spreading love...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2689DultCE

if i was with you you'd definitely get one too!

German sayings...

As my german rapidly expands (I fear somewhat like a helium baloon slowly floating upwards towards the sun...) I come across some things I like and some things I don't. So here's one of each:

I don't like "doch". There is no english word for doch (thank goodness), but it is basically used to tell someone they're wrong. So if I said there are no more trains to Berlin, but you knew or thought there were, you'd say Doch, there are (or just doch). Bit too abrupt for my english sensebilities.

I like "feierabend". Again there is no english word (that I know of), but it is basically the time after work. So the customers at the end of the day say "Schön Feierabend!" to the person serving them, and all the people who work together say "Ich habe jetzt feierabend" (I now have finished wrk time) once they're finished work and are refusing to do anything more their boss tells them.

I'm currently enjoying a Berliner Pilsner (fast becoming a firm favourite) and contemplating my moving into my new (super cool) room tomorrow after work.

A place of my own..

Just a quickie (oh behave!) to say that I haven't heard from the flat people I was hoping to today... they are going to phone me tomorrow.

How Much Reality Can You Take?

An excellent article by George Monbiot on climate change that I think everyone should read...

http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2006/09/21/how-much-reality-can-you-take/#more-1015

I'm going to try and find a 2nd hand bike... pictures follow!

Conferences and meeting

Been going to a couple of conferences and meetings for green things.

Went to a conference on "The G8 dead end energy agenda". Basically all the big NGO's getting together to formulate a response to the G8's energy policies. Nice networking. There was some idiot from the Chancellors office saying that they can't do anything because it's all politics and that'll upset everything 8like airline taxes). **insert strong language here** One lady said that we'll speak to him in 10 years time and hold him accountable and remind him of what he said. And kick his ass (okay I said that). Nice.

Also been to a couple of meetings on school gardens. Really cool to see the situation here. Lots of similar problems like vandalism and children not wanting to eat vegies from the garden because they're not "real" (shop bought) vegies... Interesting.

Skateboarding

Berlin rocks for skateboarding. Lots of smooth pavements - very cool. So as much as possible I skateboard around and once I learn how to jump pavements I'll be virtually unstopable (excpet by a bus). My new sweatshop produced shoes are also great for skateboarding.... hmm, still haven't gotten over that one...