Nummer Drei

 #3
Listening to this!
and sorta this
with just a little bit of this

Hello From The Homeland!
It's been a while, hasn't it? Well to sum it up quickly, I left my American-to-European electric plug converter at friend's house in Berlin. So for two weeks I was computer-less and surprisingly it was....okay. Anywho, I'm back at it!
First some very bad news. Giacomo, Anna and I went to a beautiful lake named Trebus Sea. I was so overwhelmed and preoccupied with the gorgeous horizon that when I jumped into the water, I forgot my phone was still in my bathing suit pocket. As of now...RIP phone but more importantly RIP to my day-to-day camera. It's taking a relaxing two week bath in some rice so I still have hope that I can take pictures for this blog once again. We'll see. What's sad is that I can't put the pictures of the lake up! Scheiße.
Anyways, on this coming Sunday my organization LandKunstLeben has a huge Apfelfest (apple festival)! We have over ten types of apples falling all over the place from 50-60 apple trees! These festivals bring in over a thousand people from neighboring communities and Berlin. I'm lucky to have the chance to play two forty-five minute sets with me, myself and my acoustic guitar. I'm also going to be playing a bit with Pepé, both an Italian and an avid accordion player and with my housemate Giacomo. He is a superb DJ, BUT has pre-recorded many "nature" sounds from the garden which he will then sample live with dance music underneath. The sounds range from dried beans rattling in their shell to me taking a big bite out of an apple to bird chirps to wind through small holes in the wall to walking through wet grass...and more! I'm truly excited for this trio. The festival will have all of our homemade jams, jelly, juices, syrups, hand cremes, sect and tea for sale. Should be wunderbar.

Besides that, I've been enjoying the hell out of what this garden has to offer. I'm eating about 50% less meat but learning 100% more about previously neglected vegetables and how to cook them. Soups, pasta dishes, pizzas, interesting salads and much more. We leave the garden most mornings with our trunk looking like this:



In this next picture, Tomasz expresses HOW F*CKING FUN COLLECTING VEGGIES IS

Everything else around home is great. Gardening in the morning and then project work in the afternoon.
Projects, you ask? Some projects that I have been doing/starting: Translating a piece called "Forgotten Jewish Architecture" from German to English (about a Jewish architect in the 1920's), helping label all the various jams and jelly, beginning to put together ideas for an audio guide for our massive garden (The tour usually takes anywhere from 1 - 1.5 hours, depending on how much you snack, so it's time to give our gardener a break every time a fascinated visitor pops by). This will include a detailed text on top of many garden, nature and cooking sounds; the ones that stand out on a daily bases, at least. Wind, rain, animals, chopping food, sizzling food, middle aged german women giggling, you name it. The rhythms in all these sounds were what struck me the most. The chopping, weed-ripping, bird singing...all so rhythmic and fascinating. Besides the audio guide, I'm very interested in creating a piece of music with the integration of all these sounds. This may include instrument playing, vocals, who knows??? We'll seeeeeeeee......

LET'S TALK BERLIN, JA? What a city. After having spent about a month here, i've made it out to the city about 5 or 6 times. Every time is incredible and incredibly different. First let's discuss this public transportation system. WTF. Why doesn't all of the world have something like this!? With a regional train, underground city train, overground city train, bus lines and tram running all hours, one can get anywhere, all the time. I don't even consider cars, it's not part of the equation. I find this awesome. No one has to worry about traffic, expenses, drinking and driving or anything. I could talk on about the history and monumental sights of the city and what's all there, but I think i'll just describe some of the cool things i've been doing. Bare in mind that the last two or three visits to Berlin were phone (camera)-less.

The first day I went to Berlin, my housemate Anna and I discovered a gem. A flea market. Not just any flea market but the "Katermarkt". One of the most unique flea markets I've ever seen. It was hipster beyond belief, but filled with crazy clothes, electronics, accessories and food stands. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

Walking In This B*tch

Angles Eveywhere

It was a little bit better to be a girl at this market. Oh well.

Art?

Hanging clothes never looked cooler

We ran into my (slightly hipster) boss Arne (left), his friend, unknown name, (top right) and his boyfriend Sven who was obviously exclaiming something important!

Everyone was super chill, open minded, art/music appreciative and down to earth! My first impression of Berlin was out of the park. 

After this, we met up with Giacomo who had been in Berlin. This was the first time I got to see the city a little bit! Under this you can see the huge TV tower, located at Alexanderplatz, an important, central, vibrant part of the city with a main train station! It's a good landmark to remind you where you are.

 He took us all around! Good stuff.

The Sun Worx In Kewl Wayz

Our final destination with Giacomo was at his friend Giseppe's house. Giseppe, better known as Peppe, is also doing a FSJ volunteer service but actually in Berlin. As a result, he has a sweet 6 bedroom, couch filled apartment. We started and ended night there. We got some tasty drinks, I got my hands back on a guitar and the rest is history. It can only be expressed in pictures. 'Twas a journey to remember.

Subways are rage. Peppe on the right, his friend Antony on the right and some other friends in the rear.

GRANDISSIMO

oooohhhhhhh italians. Six of them. They're great. So much singing, dancing and partying... it was phenomenal. You should've seen what happened when the song beat it by Michael Jackson came on the radio. Delirium. Love 'em.
Some other cool/interesting/important things i've been doing in Berlin:
-Playing music in a massive underground music store with many rent-able rooms and instruments.
-Visiting the Holocaust memorial.
-Attending a full day introduction workshop with the other 140 18-25 year old artistic and "cultural" German volunteers. We have five, five day workshops throughout the year where we spend the week in Berlin. Learn by day, party by night!
-Checking out the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie. Woah. Real shit!

-Spending time at the House of the Wannsee conference. A Beautifully done museum/gallery. Don't know the Wannsee conference? read about it here. It's important stuff and pretty crazy to see .... (I didn't know either)

-Getting kicked out of a 21+ club and not giving a f*ck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Until next time, yo.

#2
Listening to this

Yo yo Yo yo Yo....
A big hello to all my peoples!
Hope everyone is doing well whether in their new college dorms, hangin' around the house, working or traveling! .....Do you!
Big fucking news on my side. Just moved into the house that I'll be living in for the next 11 months.
I now reside in a small village town named Buchholz. With the train, it's about 30-45 to the center of Berlin. This organization is called LandKunstLeben. A non profit organization, subsidized by the government that literally translates to Land Art Life.

No RA's, no landlord.. just me, a 25 year old Polish guy named Tomasz, a 20 year old german girl named Anna and a 20 year old Italian named Giacomo (although he is currently in Berlin for the week). In November, 2 more Europeans will join us! We cook all meals together, grocery shop, clean, drink, smoke, party, watch movies, work in the garden and chillllll out in the beautiful countryside.
But! It isn't all just fun and relaxation. A lot goes on here. There is a massive garden, that both provides us kids with some of the freshest and bestest veggies and provides food for people in the area. With such a large ecological space comes a lot of work, meaning all of us here have to spend many hours cultivating and gardening. That's the life, right? Have you ever seen an artichoke flower? Me neither.

Besides that, many cooking classes are held in the garden. Elderly people, kids and really anyone can come by on the weekend and take themed classes, or just simply further their knowledge of vegetables. Us volunteers work a lot on organizing and planning these classes.
Every couple months, there are festivals here. There's always some fruit, vegetable or time of year to celebrate. Apples are huge, beer and/or wine or just summertime weather! (it's worth celebrating summer here, considering how brutal the winter is).
But then the fun part really begins. Not only is L.K.L. about that sustainable agriculture, organic, healthy eating lifestyle, but they're very into art. For all these festivals there are flyers, posters and postcards made. That's where us volunteers come in very well. They don't tell us what to do, but leave it up to us to create the "face" of LandKunstLeben. How can this organization look most attractive to outsiders? My housemate Tomasz just finished an awesome short film with interviews, garden and cooking class shots and some documentation of what life is like for us youngsters. You can watch it here. Keep in mind he used the shitty camera that we have laying around here from the 80's. We gotta be resourceful! But still really awesome, creative stuff. Our work day in the garden is only from 8-2, so we have LOTS of time to let our minds run a little wild. There are huge paper maché carrots in the garden, paintings, photographs, tree figures, and a bunch of other unique stuff. That's what time will get you! But as many of you probably know, my strong suite is not in visual art. So here I am, thinking of what I can do to connect music to vegetables? gardening? cooking? Hmm.... I have some really sweet ideas brewing and when/if they are put into action I'll spread the word. If you have any suggestions, don't hesitate.  
This is really a different lifestyle than at home in Berkeley. There are two streets in this village, and probably about 100 residents. There are animals everywhere, sparrows constantly chirping, mosquitoes sabotaging me, flies being...flies and obviously plants and trees swaying nicely. You see every star, wake up either with the rooster or with the sunlight and really live by the land. I will probably be going to Berlin most weekends to meet people, party and see music but for the week time a lot of thinking, sitting, music playing, cooking, strolling and gardening.
Me and my housemates are about to become very close, which I'm really excited for. Spending this much time with people can get you to an unbelievable point that I feel like doesn't really exist in the U.S. We live without many of the normal 21st century distractions and rely on each other for most things! I can already feel a level of camaraderie that is...uncommon to me. I like it. The woman who has organized all this and spends her days in the office is also really a friend. Although she is my boss, she is not reeaally my boss! As you can most likely feel through my writing, I'm running off a lot of adrenaline 'cause hey! I'm the little youngster again in a "real life" situation. Let's do this!!!!!
Enjoy some more pictures:
 

Shopping for myself. Grown man sh*t

Beautiful sunrise. Why was I up at 4:30? Massacring a fleet of mosquitos

These guys clearly love pictures

UNTIL #3