HEY DUDES I’M IN BERLIN!

So.  I’ve been here a week now, and so far, alles ist gut (good).  Until Friday, I’m staying in a temporary house way over in West Berlin, with a  62-year-old retired teacher named Brigid.  Her house feels very German: sparse, simple, efficient, and all the doors are shut all the time.  It suits me well enough; I’m pretty quiet and private myself.  But I’m excited to be moving to the new place; there, I will have two housemates, and be in a more vibrant neighborhood (not to mention much closer to our language school, which means I can sleep in an extra half hour).

As it tends to go with traveling to a new country, there are lots of things I could talk about, but I don’t want to try to mention all of them here (that’s what my 1,600-page private journal’s for…).  So here is a taste:

On my first day in the city, I was all alone.  I should’ve figured that even when it came to scheduling plane tickets, things would run on Hampshire time.  That was okay, though; I had a free subway pass, so the city was mine to explore.  My first stop was (where else) a comic shop.  I went to the Modern Graphics on Oranienstrasse, which is a street in the heart of Kreuzberg, with lots of punks and dogs and graffiti.  Modern Graphics was terrific; a beautiful space, good music, and a fantastic selection of comics.  There was a small English-language section, but I decided to be bold and bought Joe Matt’s “Peepshow” auf Deutsch.  It’s an odd experience to read the work of a familiar author in another language.  I’m enjoying it.

I also saw a book by Matt’s friend, Chester Brown.  It struck my curiosity, because it was not a title I recognized.  However, upon flipping through, I realized it was one I’d already read; it just has a different title over here.  In English, the book is called “I Never Liked You.”  In German, it is called “Fuck.”

Perhaps that is enough news for today.  Suffice it to say, I am loving this city.