I am finally back in Berlin! It is humid and beautiful and there are many amazing and familiar faces surrounding me in my big 30 person housing project of X-B Liebigstrasse!
I was supposed to take a flight on Tuesday, June 13th, but in fact my flight was messed up and I ended up leaving the next day with a new ticket from Seattle to LA to Munich to Berlin. My luggage got lost also but was delived to my house later that evening. I am staying in my own room with a loft bed and double door balcony looking out on Liebigstrasse (which is also
above the bar in our house with loud punks till 4 or 5am almost daily. It is also the World Cup in Germany right now (or the VM) and there are country flags everywhere, tons of people standing around bars up and down the streets and TVs in almost every window with the games so you can keep score as you walk along.
My first night I was back, my roommate Lotta (from Sweden) came to the airport to get me and we then went out to a hill in the park to watch the sun set with people from our floor/WG and other friends (Anna, Nossa, Catalina, Courtney, Angie, and Me). Then we went to Barbie Dienhoffs (the barbie doll themed bar next to the wassaur strasse canal) and I saw tons of friends and met more filmmakers and filled up my party schedule for the weekend! We rode bikes back in the hot night with boys in jersys waving flags while coming off the S-ban (subway) and the wind blowing our hair.
Today a group of people from the Stock 4 (4th floor WG) will be going to the park again for a picknick and then we will our to a classical/country concert at Himmeilrich (gay bar) to hear my friend Christina's new performance group.
The rest of my weekend is full of meetings and birthday parties and BBQs and then a 'sex(y) party' on monday to meet up with more old friends. Next weekend is the alternative pride (called Christopher Street Day- CSD in Europe) and then a 'Mitmoch' drag show with the kings of berlin on sunday! (which I may perform in).
I leave for Vienna on June 27th for a performance at the University of Vienna for an American Queer Studies Class
(http://homepage.univie.ac.at/astrid.fellner/queertheory.htm) and then at a Club/Movie house on June 30th
(http:/ www.schikaneder.at/), the day before Vienna Pride. Then I head back to Berlin for a day and then off again to Queer Festival (www.queerfestival.org) in Copenhagen.
That is the update at the moment... will send more detailed updates again soon and hope you are all well!!!
XOXOX, Elliat
