Biking with Swans

Most of last week was spent getting on some sort of schedule, and starting to do some new studio work. I started working out on Monday and that has gone really well so far. I also worked on some new drawings that became a short movie loop.

Last Thursday we had planned to go to a meeting I had signed us up for at Babylonia, to meet with a woman who gave free counseling on applying for residency permits. We were very sad to discover that our appointment had actually been the day before. I was afraid this was going to happen because I thought the woman was only there on Wed., but decided the date that I written down was the date on the sign-up sheet so I think ultimately that had been wrong.

We then had some time to kill so we biked through Gorlitzer Park. Oh yeah...this was the first day that we ventured out on the bikes that came with apartment. They are both very functional sturdy bikes, less streamlined than what most people ride in SF, but it is very flat here so biking is a very leisurely. In fact, not only are their bike lanes, the bike lanes have their own traffic lights! so cars, pedestrians, and bikes can move around with ease...and for the most part people absolutely wait for the green to cross the street.

So we biked through the part and I R some sort of ruins that SS had shown me before. I can't quite make out what kind of amphitheater-type structure this was, but it gives me the impression it was a fountain/amphitheater made to look like classical ruins that ended up actually being ruins. But, I can't quite picture Germans building something like that.





Across the way is a cafe that looks like it was an old train station that has been rebuilt. I imagine at some point this whole park was in complete ruins.



Then we explored the area a bit, ultimately headed in the direction of a cafe where we were going to meeting two more friends-of-friends that were former CCA undergrads. The cafe was called Anchor and is on a small canal...that we ended up biking along.



Berlin is divided by the river Spree, which also has two manmade canals, one in the northeast and one through the central part and south. The river carries barges and ships, but the southern canal we were on is mostly calm with quaint brick bridges and flocks of ducks. Occasionally you will even see a pair of white swans like the ones in this pic.



I really like the fact that there are these little water ways through the city. It some how makes everything seem so much...cleaner and fresh. I've always liked rivers and lakes, more than the ocean for example. So, I really enjoyed this bike ride and am really glad it is such an accessible thing to do here!

We meet the two former CCA students at around 4pm. Ec has been here for about 7 months and En has been here for about 2 months, on and off over the last 3 or so. They both seemed surprisingly indecisive about living here. I got the impression that they like it but the cold weather, not knowing the language at all, and a tight budget was getting them down. It was nice to share common knowledge though and we had a nice time with them, ending with a promise to stay in touch about things.