Na ja…



Ok, so I guess I should write something. I write in English this time cause I can’t use Spanish accents with this laptop and mine for some reason doesn’t start. It might be on vacation like everyone Berlin: my boss, the priests, NGOs’ staff, squatters, etc. I know that very well cause I’m broke and I’ve tried to contact them for clothes, food, housing and, in general, for help!!! But they are gone. So, I decided I’m going on vacation too.

Originally I wanted to go biking with Nico (my Italian friend and roommate) to Poland, but it's already getting cold and I need a visa to go to Poland, which means money and time. Then we thought Denmark cause I don’t need a visa to go there, but some small towns in the Brandenburg region, which is on the way, are kinda neo-nazis, and we both look very much like immigrants. In fact, I have the Latino passport in my face, like we say in Spanish.

So we decided not to make this biking trip. Instead, we planed to go to southern Italy and visit Nico’s family, friends, and the towns in the area. We go next week to Frankfurt, stay a couple of days there and then catch a plane to Rome. Once in Rome we will see what we do but always going to the south and with not so much money. Probably we will try to sell some t-shirts. So that is the idea. We will stay 11 days in Italy and then come back to Berlin from Rome.

Last week wasn’t really excited. I mean, after the chaos from the previous weeks things couldn’t get crazier. I’m living now with Nico and Dane. Half of the week I spend in Neuköln with Nico and the other half in Prenzlauer Berg with Dane. I do my groceries in Neuköln, cause it's cheaper and go out clubbing in Prenzlauer Berg, cause it's fancier, hehe. Not bad. But, anyway, I really can’t wait to start my PhD on October, start getting money, working and sorting out my life in Berlin, finally, after almost 2 years.

I mean, the last 2 years have been full of adventures: Canada’s farewell, USA, Italy, Spain, Germany, I got deported from Germany, I sued the state, won and came back…I’ve lived in so many different houses, sofas, mattresses, and sleeping bags. But now I’m kinda tired. So I’m glad I’ll have a more regular life starting October. In fact I’m already back in the system.

Last week I got a permit to stay two more years in Germany, a health insurance and I registered in Prenzlauer Berg’s city hall. I’m a visible human being again, which means I can enjoy some new benefits and I have to deal with some new responsibilities. In practice, I have to do lots of paperwork, spend money and the system gives me access to its institutions (banking system, workplaces, health, education and migration institutions, those sort of things). I’m back in the system after living “illegally” for 1 year in Berlin. I’m happy about it but the romanticism of living at the margin is also lost. I’m again part of the data, hehe.

Well, yesterday I went to this electronic and reggae music festival, Planet Pro Berlin (www.planet-pro.de). Like the Love Parade it took place in the 17th June Street. I didn’t really want to go cause I was tired and had a whole chicken in my rucksack. I bought a chicken in Neuköln before going to Prenzlauer Berg cause things in Neuköln are much cheaper, like I said before. So yesterday I cooked Peruvian (“lomo saltado”) at Nico’s and after I bought this chicken at the Turkish. I was tired cause I worked in the morning cleaning a house (working black). By the way, yesterday the family who I help cleaning this house asked me to help them with their computer, internet stuff. I did and they were very thankful. They didn’t pay me extra for that though, hehe…no need, my pleasure, really. Anyway, what I wanted to say is that I went to this festival cause Dane really wanted to see it. The festival was ok but nothing spectacular, or maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood.

Gotta go now, going to cook that chicken. Viel spaß.