Utter Miscellany

I realize that I haven’t posted on here for a long time. There are a few main reasons for this:

1) The photos I’ve been taking are too scattered to form a single narrative. No further examples of Augustus Gloop drinking dairy products from unexpected packaging, for instance.

2) The more I actually get to know other human beings and develop a social life here in Berlin, the less energy I have for writing entries, which in all fairness takes a stupidly long time. Especially humorous analogies. Like an undersea treasure-hunter, it takes a while to come up with anything good. (I’ll take one order of BADUM-TSCH and hold the groan.)

3) I’ve found other, more pressing ways to procrastinate my dissertation. That may seem comical, yet it is actually alarming. I desperately need some butt glue... you know, to glue my butt to a chair so my dissertation will occur. (Why, what were you thinking I meant? EW)

Since my last entry, I wandered around Cologne for a DAAD orientation, gave a presentation in German that was not nearly as exciting as it may sound, gave a presentation in English that was surprisingly more exciting than the one in German, started writing my dissertation and plateaued after 12 pages, took a 4-week woodcut class, explored a cavernous basement filled with sand, discovered the best fast-food chain after Chipotle, visited 6 Christmas markets, drank 7 Glühweins, booked a trip to Turkey in April that is essentially a platonic honeymoon, and figured out how to make decent veggie chili with ingredients from the discount grocery.

And it was delicious. 

More importantly: this time tomorrow, I will be meandering around London with a camera plastered to my eye. I’ll be cramming in as much sightseeing as possible in 1.5 days, then spending Christmas with a friend and her family in a town near Liverpool. An infinite improvement on my Christmas last year, which consisted of holing up in my apartment writing my proposal, not unlike this:

As you can see from my recent DrawSomething sketches, I'm getting into the Christmas spirit this year!

In Berlin, I’ve been enjoying the phenomenon known as the Christmas Market. These range from adorable artisan markets with actual adorable artisans, to kitschy large-scale carnivals that have cheap rides and all sell the exact same things: sugared almonds, creepy StaSi hats, and wool slippers for Hagrid-sized feet. Whether artsy or kitschy, all the markets serve Glühwein, a traditional hot mulled wine that is seriously tasty. This is supposedly a distinctly German cultural experience, but it turns out that virtual replicas of these markets also exist in American cities... like Denver. I was Skyping with my Dad as he strolled through downtown, happened upon a Christkindlmarkt, and drank a steaming mug of Glühwein, all in a setting that looked pretty much like the market at Potsdamer Platz.

Glühwein at a chic bar... with teeny cookie.

The Scandinavian Christmas Market. Featuring: people's heads.

Drinking Glögg (the Swedish equivalent of Glühwein).

As much as I'm enjoying Christmas in Berlin -- and soon, Christmas in Wirral -- I'll confess that it's weird to be in a place where Chanukah is not a thing. Of course Chanukah is not traditionally a major holiday, and only became a gift-giving holiday due to its concurrence with Christmas... yet I still feel sad to miss out on latkes and candles and family. There's a large Jewish community in Berlin, but most of the events I found were more religious than edible. And meanwhile I keep seeing these strange candly-things in people's windows, getting excited thinking it's a chanukiah, then realizing suddenly that it's just this:

A Christmas thingamabob. Oh well.

In any case, back to the future past: I had a fun time in Cologne, getting to know friendly DAAD folks and taking an unnecessary number of photographs of the Cathedral.

Why? you may ask. Because it is extremely large, ornate, and gorgeous.

The museum  next door has an interesting silhouette. 

I wish someone would give me a cathedral for Christmas.

Why even bother trying to capture grand spaces in tiny iPhone photos? 

Imagine for a moment sitting down in front of a block of wood and... carving this. 

Or this.

The cathedral at night... on Halloweeeeeeeeeen!

Part of the DAAD excursion included walking around the top of a very high building at night.

Almost looks like Chicago!

OH WAIT is that a giant cathedral? Guess it's not Chicago.

One of the highlights of my recent adventures in Berlin was my woodcut class. I managed to make three projects without losing a single finger. I have a new appreciation for the art form – I mean, seriously, try cutting into a slab of wood with a dull knife and you’ll suddenly worship Lynd Ward as a kind of god. (Not that I know anything about worshipping artists.)

Woodcut class final critique. Folks produced some really amazing work in a mere 4 sessions!

Wintry lights in downtown Berlin: making 16 hours of darkness per day bearable.

I've also been enjoying some concerts at the Salon Christophori, the strange underground-ish classical venue I mentioned earlier on the blog. Recently I heard violinist Adolph Menzel -- not to be confused with the artist Adolph von Menzel, whose diaries I am planning to read in the Kunstbibliothek for strange and probably fruitless research reasons -- and pianist Julien Quentin.

Adolph Menzel: a man outside his Zeitgeist. Both because he shares a name with a famous turn-of-the-20th-century artist, and also because he sports a haircut straight out of an '80s rock band. 

 They played a massive 2.5 hour program, which truthfully seemed a little excessive, but I had a blast. It was my first time hearing a Stradivarius live, and while the acoustics of the space were too strange to ascertain whether it actually sounds better than other violins, I did feel a hint of that special awe. I think it might have sounded juicier than average... or maybe it's just a placebo effect?

One of the weirdest aspects of the recital was my location: I was all the way over to the side, right next to a long wall of piano bodies. And at the end of every movement, the sympathetic vibrations between the final notes and the old soundboards caused the piano wall to hum. It was kind of magical.

Now: off to London!

So shiny.