Cultural Differences

Though I've noticed numerous of these, I cannot say that I've really sat down to capture them on paper (or, in this case, on the microfibers that transmit signals to the internet?). In so many ways, Berliners (I don't think living in Berlin qualifies me, or anyone else for that matter, to speak about "Germans") seem just like Americans. On the surface, it's not too much culture shock dealing with them. I mean, sure, they have a greater tolerance for public nudity. They engage (at least IMHO, Andy differs here) in more PDA. They seem much more aggressive and impatient about getting into and out of trains than Americans would be on similarly uncongested trains (think NYC in early evening, around 8:00 p.m.). But these are such small things.

There are bigger things like the Berliners' penchant for recycling. They bike everywhere and at all ages. They possess far fewer elevators for buildings much higher than would be the case in the U.S. They smoke like chimneys. They're far more aware of American politics than are Americans of their own politics. These, however, are only slightly less cosmetic.

One of the biggest thing I've noticed, however, is the prevalence of children in the city. Not just unaccompanied minors (I saw a 6 y/o boy going through the train station at 9:00 a.m. yesterday all by himself), that you would never see in the U.S. Rather, Germans take the children (including small children) to all sorts of things/events where Americans would leave their kids with either a sitter or a parent. This is especially noticeable at restaurants and cafes. MOST IMPORTANT HERE IS THE PREVALENCE OF MEN WITH CHILDREN EVERYWHERE. THESE ARE MEN BY THEMSELVES WITH THEIR CHILDREN (NOT MEN AT ORGANIZED EVENTS ONLY OR MEN LOOKING FRANTIC CAUSE THEIR WIFE OR SITTER BAILED ON THEM AND THEY'D RATHER BE ANYWHERE ELSE THAN TAKING CARE OF THE MUNCHKIN). THIS IS A HUGE DIFFERENCE. These men are truly having fun with their babies.

There are also loads of parks and parents everywhere have their kids out in droves. What's most interesting is the presence of these young families in the heart of the city. U.S. sub-burbs are filled with young, expectant parents desperately seeking better schools for their embryos. Cities are just no place for infants (who can fall into the wrong crowd by 6 months for heaven's sake). Certainly, they would never imagine allowing their 6 y/o kids to wander the streets of NYC by themselves. In fact, that would probably be grounds for a call to 241-kids. As much as parents here seem thrilled to have their children around, the children, for their part, are also amazingly independent in this sprawling metropolis. This relationship between the society and its children is probably the most striking distinction I've noted to date.

The entire time we've been here, Andy has noted the huge level of integration of disabled persons. In the U.S., these people are invisible. Here, they are quite visible and, at all ages, their friends and family demonstrate a deep care/love for their well being. They are not shunted into homes or kept isolated in sub-burbs where they rarely get out. You see people being pushed around in wheel chairs (or more likely motoring next to their friends/family) on a daily basis. Mind you, given the absence of elevators in German multi-story apartment buildings, it's somewhat puzzling where these wheel chair bound people live. But they seem not only to live, but to thrive here.

I would also note the general ethos (in german, gemütlichkeit) of the city. This comes from a combination of several of the above listed factors. First, the fact that this is not a car city makes it really quite hospitable. There aren't horns going off everywhere, no endless clouds of black fumes and you're generally not running for your life from cars hurtling in your direction. However, this ethos exudes as well from the endless, really, I mean endless, outdoor seating areas for restaurants/cafes. It comes from the families one sees everywhere. And it comes from the general (with a few notable exceptions) absence of poverty.

Although I mention the absence of poverty, there's really a different issue going on here. It's fair to say that one does not see the same level of disparity in socio-economic conditions here as we see routinely in the U.S. Put differently, people generally seem comfortable. There aren't loads of exclusive restaurants catering to the rich and famous with everyone else eating at Kabab stands (that are really ubiquitous). To the contrary, most areas seem quite similar in the external appearance and seem to offer a similar number, or saturation, of restaurants/cafes (if not the same ethnic makeup). Moreover, there are no areas where there are only liquor establishments and exploitative corner stores on the one hand, and others where it's all exclusive boutiques and 5-star restaurants. Americans with dreams of sugarplum fairies and white picket fences may abhor the comparative flatness of the socio-economic landscape here, but it makes for an exceedingly pleasant city.

Punk-rocking Drag Queens

So,

What a trippy Thur night/morning. I decided to check out the club that DJ woman promised would be so edgy (you'd have to go back two Mondays for a recap of that conversastion), Bassy Cowboy Club (ok, what a stupid friggin name if ever there was one). Anyway, I arrived promptly at 1:15 or thereabouts (just missed the last train, remember, they stop running at 1:00, that would have deposited me pretty much in front of the club and, instead, ended up completing the first stretch of what would later be a much, much longer walk) and walked up to the door. Didn't look too too edgy to me from the outside, but, hey? What do I know, I might as well be a farmer for all the Berliners know about Cincinnati or its geography in the U.S. Anywho, I walked in and first noticed the mix of ages present (i.e., too many old guys with saggy faces). I did try to strike up a conversation with a couple guys, but these went nowhere. It did seem like there were a number of rent-boys as well as a lot of people sniffling while exiting the toilet. The music was cool if not exactly inspired (is there such a thing anymore "inspiring music" or am I just dreaming of a music that never was as cool as I recall?). Then came the punk drag queens.

First of all, the MC took the mike and began singing/rapping/talking along with the track the DJ was playing. I was like, "hey, that's hot!" Then the MC woman drag person introduced our act for the night. A punk group from like Holland or something. They sang in English, but I still didn't really understand them. They wore drag minus the. The guys in drag without makeup? This was not itself a first. That they then proceded to drop some serious punk sounds, however, was a first and probably last. I mean seriously, ask my friends? I generally hate drag shows and generally consider the performers to be singularly without talent. Imagine my surprise, therefore, when these lads (though dressed like lasses........................kindof) started bringin the house down. It was crazy and most definitely a first. Berlin hasn't necessarily offered that many firsts for me; however, hard punk, non-feminine-makeup-wearing drag queens, was certainly one of them.

Photo Shoot et. al.

So,

It's been a couple days since last we spoke. In that time, I've had some interesting sharable (as opposed to the non-sharable kind, lol) experiences. Namely, on Monday, Andy and I met with a cool American photographer who's now a professor here in Berlin. We spent several hours with Bruce Spear and gained some really interesting insights. Of course, the first insight was, "what am I thinking about moving here?" To listen to Bruce, everything in Germany is bureaucratic, duplicative, and, therefore, completely lacking in any/all efficiency. Moreover, Germans are stodgy people who cannot step outside of their routines to see the world (or, whatever, issue you might have) in a novel way. I might be able to pass this experience off as an outlyer had I not heard it on several different occasions. Though the photographer was discussing the byzantine nature of the university at which he works (die Freie Universität Berlin), I'm not at all certain, his experience, and forgive me (my one and a half readers) for omitting the details, is so singular, so anomalous.

On Wednesday, I assisted Andy in a photoshoot with a local Berlin designer. We hit the pavement in the trendy fashion area, walked into various studios, and offered designers our service for free. Apparently, there are few cultural idiosyncrasies when it comes to knowing a good deal when one sees it. We then searched the net (i.e., ModelMayhem.com) to find both models and make-up persons who were interested in working with us (all at no charge of course). Yesterday was the big day and it went off, I must say, without too much of a hitch. Although the model was about an hour late, everything else went to plan. Of course, the cafe down the street from the designer's studio wanted us to rent the entire cafe in order for us to shoot for 20 minutes there. How really stupid. I was prepared to make them an offer they might have accepted, but Andy said it wasn't his first choice in cafes anyway. We ended up going to another cafe in another (less swanky, but nonetheless cool) part of the city where the proprietor had no issue with us using his cool space for shooting a beautiful (at least in full makeup and dress) model.

What concerned me about this day, however, had little to do with the shoot itself. That went without much of a hick-up. What concerned me were some of the statements made by the designer about the German mentality. She had, similar to our friend Prof. Spear, a highly critical perspective of Germans and their ability to adjust to new or different, or unexpected things. Moreover, when I mentioned to the designer that the Italian business owners I'd run into seemed more unfriendly than I would've expected from Italians (who, by reputation, are so nice and open) she blamed it on their prolonged exposure to Germans. Ouch.

To Miss a Conceptualized Version of the Real

What is the real Berlin, or New York, or San Francisco, or any city. What differentiates the "real" ("echt" in German) from the not real, the gentrifying usurping hoardes? This is an existential question, right? I was talking to a 26 yr old German, working in a cafe (someplace not "real" in his estimation) and he was prattering on about how unreal Berlin is becoming. He was, as well, bemoaning the loss of a historical sense of the place. In the good ole days (apparently, about 5 years ago), people opened cafes or discos with a political purpose. Apparently now, they just open these places to make money. In the old days, there were no clean cafes in Kreuzberg (historically a far left, grungy, hard-core punk area in Berlin) where happy tourists sat sipping their cappuccinos. Now, he works in one such cafe. In the old days..............you know the rest. One of his greatest complaints revolved around the displacement ("Verdrängung") of his friends by folks with the gall to buy these apartments. These are the usurpers. I tried to explain to him that every generation of people in a city represent usurpers. I also challenged this notion of "real". His definition of "real" seemed limited to everything that lacked, predominantly, an economic purpose. You can open a club and make money, so long as the making of money is not the purpose and so long as the customers come there for the political reason for which you opened the club. Ditto for bars and cafes. I challenged this notion of real. I find it somewhat fatuous (don't worry, I didn't call him that to his face) to believe that we can artificially freeze the essence of a place in any particular time and call "that" the "real" x, y, or z place. Berlin has existed for 800 years or so. Therefore, what logic exists in saying that the real Berlin is that from 3-5 years ago, versus from 20 years ago, 65 years ago, etc? There is none. The real must, it seems, always encompass the present. What is today was not real for 5 years ago, but that's rather obvious. But 5 years ago cannot displace today for its realness. They are both "real" for their respective times. And that's what I tried to express to my young German friend.