MR Martin Beth

Why is it that in the past few weeks, Germany has cracked down on my gender? Apparently I am now an incompetent male who doesn’t know better and subsequently continually enters my name backwards. Last name? First name? All the same really aren’t they??

Last night as I tried to check into my hotel in Munich, I was told that I had booked incorrectly and that they couldn’t accommodate me as they were waiting for a MR Beth, first name- Martin. I pulled out the booking to prove that I had, in fact, entered my details correctly and that they must have changed them in the belief that I was a man... I was begrudgingly given a room.

As I tried checking into my flight back to Berlin a few minutes ago, I was told they had no record of me.. again even though I had my printed flight confirmation on me... No, they were expecting a Mr Beth also. Indeed, thereafter followed an embarrassing conversation for the woman at the checkin counter as she tried to politely tell the main checkin centre that passenger Martin Beth was standing there in front of her; “no SHE is standing here. No, No SHE is standing in front of me. Yes SHE.” Etc. Etc.

I need a decidedly more German name - any suggestions?

Absturz

A recent fall saw me admitted into the German hospital system. Firstly I was taken down the many flights of stairs from my apartment not on a stretcher, but rather on a chair strapped to the back of the paramedics. Arriving at the Emergency Department of the hospital, we were greeted by a sleepy nurse, and told we could wait for the doctor... yes, in the whole hospital there was only one doctor. Visions of the many Australian ER's I visited full of bright lights and people running around made this tiny cubicle with devices I swear haven't been used since the second world war, seem more alien than ever to me. After not checking me for concussion, not attending to my nose (which was freely trying to bleed as much as it could), not really listening at all, I was taken to a ward... and left there. for a day and a half before any tests were done. It seems that the nursing staff were not amused with their jobs, sometimes coming past as little as twice a day and, if called, were extremely put out that we had "torn them from their card games" and "coulnd't you come to the nursing station if you had a question next time?" (yes I will get myself in my wheelchair, and drag my drip along behind me... nothing better for the circulation than a late night drip stroll.. .) At times I listened to the bell from others calling the nurses for up to 20 minutes, before they attended the patients... The photo is as I tried to get let out of the hospital, and had to wait for half an hour before a nurse was available to sign me out.

German humour

So with nothing better to do than to fight over whether or not Tempelhof Airport should stay or be torn down (and let's face it, choosing between yes and no can get a little old...), it seems that the German baggage handlers developed a sense of humour between unloading and sending out the cello that Dave bought me from Italy... At least the cello was bestowed with German sobriety... no smiles for that poor thing!

gegen Nazis in der Mitte

As the U-Bahn was striking, my feet had to take me towards Alexander Platz and I stumbled across this:

reminiscent of the pre-war signage throughout Germany.. but instead of Kauf nicht bei Juden (don't buy from Jews), this time it's Kauft nicht bei Nazis (don't buy from Nazis)

(no Nazis in our street - in Berlin - in Germany)

(We're against Nazis in the 'mitte' - area of Berlin)
and then found this telling me finally what it was all about - so a clothing store opened with brands that neo nazis like wearing and the whole people of Berlin are against it. Whole cinemas have stopped advertising their movies and instead have 'No Nazis in our street' plastered across their banners. Again this belongs to Berlin's fighting nature. The present and the past are so inextricably integrated.

three strikes...

Walking Jakob home from Kumon the other day, we were forced to wait for 20 minutes before we could get to our U-Bahn station - reason? The police and fire services were striking. (A little ironic that the striking policemen had to be ordered around by.. well, policeman, who were working at crowd control). Thursday night I had to go underground to get to the shops I needed to for carnival costumes because of, you guessed it, a strike in Alexander Platz. Yesterday's strike ,however, beat them all as, without any warning (at least the DB let's you know in advance when they are about to cut all train connections), the BVG, Berlin's public transport system, entirely shut down. No busses, no trams, no U-Bahn. The city couldn't function and my feet are now very sore! I guess it is this fighting spirit that tore down walls and reunified countries, but sometimes I wish they would just go to mediation and talk it out..

As four year old Paulina put it: "Die wollen mehr Geld für wenige Stunden? Donnerwetter sind die Faul!"
("They want more money and less hours work? Man are they lazy!")

getting political

"Where in the world has one ever seen a nation that erects memorials to immortalize its own shame?" said Avi Primor, the former Israeli ambassador to Germany, at an event commemorating the Holocaust and the liberation of Auschwitz on Friday in Erfurt. "Only the Germans had the bravery and the humility."

And as you look around Berlin and see entire city blocks devoted to striking, thought and discussion provoking pieces, memorials to a past designed by its future, you can only admire the honesty in their recognition of all that has gone before. Is admiration enough, though, to wash away truth and replace it with feel-good-warmth? Can tonnes of concrete and stone, arranged artistically by talented artists truly depict forgiveness and not just glorify, beautify, make more interesting, something so utterly horrific? Do these monuments just become some form of a symbolic Mecca: once reached, forgiveness is granted for all sins gone before.

I watch Jakob as we take the tram from the Berlin Wall museum (school) back to our apartment block, as his eyes follow the TV tower, as we ride through the death strip, as we see the stones dedicated to escapees from the East who were shot, and I wonder whether any of this will strike him at all, or will he just see them for their aesthetic beauty and nor place any weight on their symbolic meaning?

oh no... :(

I was just listening to the australian news online:

"I am still trying to get in touch with an official interpretater". Yes. Interpre-ta-ter. I guess this is indicative then of the studies about only 1 out of every ten Australian primary school teachers being able to correctly spell 10 consecutive words.

aussei aussie aussie

I am glad to see that news.com.au is keeping up the high standard with the headlining article about our now most famous asset (apparently) Thank heavens wikipedia had other ideas...

oh Jakob....

Two new Jakobisms from today:

The scene: Beth is practicing English with Jakob and after working through our favorite colours and what we would paint the walls;

Beth: I love your pirate ship
Jakob: Was heisst 'love'?
Beth: I love... I love blue and you love red
Jakob: oh!
Beth: Do you know what I love?
Jakob: of course! - Me. (said so seriously!)
Beth: um ok. and do you love me?
Jakob: umm Ok.

Ahh to feel appreciated!
it got better though:

Scene: Walking past the wall memorial near Jakob's school, there is a stone in the footpath to the memory of "Rudolph Ulrich" one of the many who were killed trying to get to the other side of the wall and escaping the east. Jakob asked me to read it to him:

jakob: Why did they kill him?
Beth: well he was trying to get away and they didn't want that
Jakob: well why didn't he fly?
Beth: umm I'm not sure.. I don't think he would have been able to
Jakon: but why not? He can fly
Beth: Maybe he couldn't that night?
Jakob: so how did Christmas take place then?
Beth: umm .. (then it clicked..) Jakob, Rudolph was a man! Not a reindeer..
Jakob: Oh! I thought you meant the reindeer was killed and that made me sad because then Santa must have had a very hard christmas.

Good to see that Berlin history is being rewritten with a festive feel..

complete method in my madness

I knew there was a reason I stopped being a part of the surreality that is myspace: it was actually a preemptive cost saving initiative.

the parents in Berlin :)

I just put my parents back on the plane :( I am very sad to see them go. I had a wonderful week with them here in Berlin. I learned so much more about the city, saw so much more than i have with any other visitors-it was a gorgeous week.

Mum and dad outside the Berlinerdom with SNOW ;)

Mum and I


Dad and I (breathing in the asbestos...)

The Pergamonmuseum will never be the same again....
more to come...

Glatteis Gefahr

Tonight Berlin turned into the world's biggest Ice Rink. My parents and I were at a concert in the "philarmonie" and as we were coming out, there was an announcement to say we were to be careful of the glatteis through the whole of Berlin. Within five minutes there was the first woman down and the first ambulance was waiting to accompany the broken wrist and owner off. There began our crazy slide through Berlin as we tried to navigate the ice field. Funnier yet was when I finally got to my station - it would seem all my neighbours had decided now would be a good time to try skidding from one end of my street to the next. As I tried to walk from the station to my door I realised why: it was impossible to walk anyway, so we may as well make it fun :) I don't think I have laughed as hard in a long time watching others fall and skid and then fall myself. See how many bones I break when I go out a little later with friends

Christmas

A few photos from my christmas time:
Marquarstein - the family's house was just left of this picture

The cubby house we built in the snow.

the new member of the family...she was helping me study

The Catholic Church in Marquarstein. My hotel was right next door

My walk from the hotel to the house in the mornings

new years photos!

A few photos to whet the appetite:



The Crowd in the direction of the Brandenburger Gate.

Mark, his Ferris wheel halo and me

The crowd in the direction of the Siegessäule!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

New Year Berlin style...
I braved the sub zero temperatures, dodged the firecrackers being thrown out the windows into the street (seriously landing on spots where my feet had been not 30 seconds before), joined the one million... yes 1 MILLION people who were gathered between the Brandenburger Gate and the Big star (siegessäule) (yes this beat anything the world cup had to offer), joined the cues for Berliner Pilsner (beer), watched the others enjoy their jägermeister, met random people who are now going to be staying in my apartment.. it's all good, they have the same accent as me ;), watched the 20 minute fireworks display which was almost outdone by the personal ones surrounding the whole area being set off in the Tiergarten, watched the majority of Berlin males managing to pee standing next to each other.. trying to avoid getting hit, seeing the war monuments being lit up by fireworks, seeing the streets littered with streamers and bottles, watching people climbing the wall leading to the Brandenburger gate and being reminded of a similar wall they managed to overcome not so long ago.
This city is many things, but I am glad to call it home.

I wish you all an amazing new year filled with love and happiness

pictures are to follow