Berliner Relle: what a weekend

About the Relle

Born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand I was nearing my completion of the tried and true steps to becoming an adult. University? check! Job of 2 years? Check! Living independently away from home? Check! Ready for something more challenging and a whole lot bigger than Auckland, I moved to Berlin in April 2010. As a Kiwi, avoiding an OE is about as unlikely as Tom Cruise converting to sanity, although choosing Berlin made for a pretty bold move. Not being ready for adulthood and frightened by the multitude of friends marrying and contemplating children..it was time to gap. Armed with very little comprehension of the German language but a big yearning for all things unknown we set off on one big year adventure. I aim to provide insight into life on the other side and hopefully convince all those doubtful kids out there that you can conquer Berlin!

22 February 2011

what a weekend

Something that is never disappointing? Days and nights exploring the different boroughs in Berlin.

Saturday night was spent exploring Kottbusser Tor with a friend who unbelievably had her first excursion to Kreuzberg after living in Berlin for longer than any of us.

We began with a visit to Luzia - complete with vintage furniture, baroque wallpaper and built-in human size dollhouse. Across the road shining brightly were the words "Insert coin" - sitting pretty next to a trashy billboard. For only 10 cents in the slot machine this dico art installation named tamamümemu began. A big disco ball started spinning, lights shined bright, a gay anthem blared (Chaka Khan's 'I'm ever woman') and 3 pairs of happy feet danced up a storm. Much to the onlookers amusement.

Fits of laughter

We carried onto Multi Layer Laden where we sat on crates, sipping and absorbing our surroundings. A large cardboard cassette rotated, a home-made jukebox played pretty tunes and a creepy mannequin with duct tape over her mouth lingered over Sarah's shoulder. After a few of the best damn G&T's in town we started to notice the collection of rather explicit artwork gracing the walls. Feeling sufficiently trance-like we decided to leave and try out the bar above Kaiser's. After about 10 minutes of dancing next to a group of vigorous fist pumping Deutsch Jungen resembling something from Jersey Shore, we decided to call it a night.