Since last time: Pigeons, Communists, and a tribute to Martha Graham...

Sorry for not writing; I've been meaning to since Wednesday, but (evidently) have not. So, let's see what I remember:

Dienstag, 2 September
Class visit to the Kreuzburg Turkish soccer club. Had tea with the club founder, a nice Turkdeutsch man who didn't speak much English (Toby translated for the most part; I was able to understand some of the German however, which made me very happy). Apparently, racism is still alive, especially in the former East Germany. :( Also, apparently, the Turkish soccer cub has been doing very well. :) Their top team is in the 2nd league, if I recall correctly (they have 4 adult teams and 19 youth teams, and their 1st men's team is either in the 1st or 2nd league, ie semi-professional). We then visited a mosque (and had a nice Islam Q&A session with the tour guide). It was a lot like a small cathedral, only with carpeting and geometric designs (& calligraphy). Very pretty. Got lots of pictures. The stained glass was pretty awesome.

Mittwoch, 3 September
Went to the Reichstag in the morning. Lovely view of the city, pretty cool architecture, and a fair amount of silliness. Also visited the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church (or what's left of it). Actually went inside this time and got to see the beautiful mosaics on the ceiling. We then trekked over to Ka De We, which, as the largest department store on the continent or somesuch, features ridiculously expensive clothing and very expensive other things too (like imported American food, fancy chocolate of diverse varieties, and the apparent favorite beer of the UW Germanics department).

A very interesting account can be found here (top post at the time of this writing):
http://rachelschlechty.blogspot.com/

Please note that, while I had a significant role in the contents of the concluding sequence, a number of persons were involved in bringing that particular idea to fruition. Really. Furthermore, they were all completely sober at the time.

After group dinner (ever read a German-English-Spanish menu?), featuring excellent chocolate milkshakes but somewhat poor service, I went dancing again. Clarchen's Balhaus reminded me a lot of the Century (dance floor + restaurant combination). Very hard to get a dance partner (another similarity to the Century...), but still worth checking out at least. Also, routines that I know were on the schedule. I missed the Shim-sham (they did it to "Don't Mean a Thing" instead of "Tuxedo Junction" so I didn't realize that I knew the choreography until after it started). Did join in on the Jitterbug Stroll, however. Haven't done that one in a year, so it sort of showed (but, fortunately, it's called in English so I was able to get back right away). I have a hunch that they might have even played the Big Apple (being the only other well-known routine in my repetoire...).

Donnerstag, 4 September
Slept late. Went shopping with Rachel in the early afternoon (the second-hand store on Oranienstrasse was not as cool as anticipated); tried fig ice cream (it was an experience). Lecture on the differences in the German and American school system (hint: they don't have tuition for colllege). Attended a club under the trainstation at Alexanderplatz, but left early as the music really didn't suit my idiom. Had an adventure getting home as the U8 was randomly closed, with no posted detour route (it took me an hour and a half to go the equivalent of 2 subway stops...)

Freitag, 5 September
Turkish market! Really awesome place (like a streetfair, only with more fresh fruit and very inexpensive). There were also lots of cloth merchants, so I will definitely be returning next week with a partial project list (ots of nice stuff in decorator widths, generally priced under 2 euro a meter--pretty cool satins, organza, and even some brocades). Class trip to the gay museum was postponed at the last minute, so I ended up wandering around Mehringdamm and finding cool used book stores (and funny pizza!). We then attended a very post-modern interpretive dance show that seemed to be about body parts. Will need to write up my impressions soon for class on Monday, but let's just say that "confusion" is right near the top of the list.

Samstag, 6 September
Outdoor market day. I swear, I don't normally spend all my time shopping. Anyway, ventured out to Musueminsel, where there was a great arts & crafts/antiques/second hand books market. When you see a sign marked "Best of Communism"... Anyway, that is very much the place for old coins/postcards/antique silverware/random GDR schmau that I've thus far seen. Also went to Hackesher Markt, which was smaller, and much more of the "modern local artist" variety. Tried to go out dancing this evening, but could not find the location on Rudolfstrasse.