Regular day at the office, chatting with Rawane with whom i shared a bed the night before:
[7/28/10 12:47:14 PM] rawane-khalil: BTW!!!
[7/28/10 12:47:30 PM] rawane-khalil: WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED YESTERDAY!
[7/28/10 12:47:34 PM] rawane-khalil: yi.
[7/28/10 12:47:39 PM] rawane-khalil: chu sar?!
[7/28/10 12:48:24 PM] rawane-khalil: plz tell me u remember
[7/28/10 12:48:40 PM] Dania Bdeir: wat r u talkin abt??
[7/28/10 12:48:47 PM] Dania Bdeir: were u drunk??
[7/28/10 12:48:55 PM] rawane-khalil: no way dania
[7/28/10 12:49:00 PM] rawane-khalil: la la no way
[7/28/10 12:49:02 PM] Dania Bdeir: yoh
[7/28/10 12:49:05 PM] rawane-khalil: ma testelmine man'
[7/28/10 12:49:08 PM] Dania Bdeir: yoh
[7/28/10 12:49:14 PM] rawane-khalil: DANIA
[7/28/10 12:49:16 PM] Dania Bdeir: yoh
[7/28/10 12:49:32 PM] rawane-khalil: so u dnt remember? u sure?
[7/28/10 12:49:57 PM] Dania Bdeir: ro, i'm not gonna answer u until u say what ur talking abt!
[7/28/10 12:50:01 PM] Dania Bdeir: i'm supposed to be working
[7/28/10 12:50:12 PM] rawane-khalil: uff bad eza heik
[7/28/10 12:50:23 PM] rawane-khalil: khalass ill tell u when i c u :D
[7/28/10 12:50:34 PM] rawane-khalil: fiya reinactment w heik
[7/28/10 12:50:49 PM] rawane-khalil: hahah bad.
[7/28/10 12:50:54 PM] Dania Bdeir: bas tel mw shway what ur talkin abt
[7/28/10 12:50:56 PM] Dania Bdeir: cz i have no idea
[7/28/10 12:51:00 PM] Dania Bdeir: and its pissing me offff
[7/28/10 12:51:37 PM] rawane-khalil: am guessssing u did the thing that u usually do at night
[7/28/10 12:51:49 PM] rawane-khalil: bass chwey more extreme
[7/28/10 12:51:52 PM] rawane-khalil: :P
[7/28/10 12:52:02 PM] Dania Bdeir: lah!
[7/28/10 12:52:03 PM] rawane-khalil: 2ella eza the girls t3awwado
[7/28/10 12:52:05 PM] Dania Bdeir: i talked?
[7/28/10 12:52:07 PM] Dania Bdeir: with u?
[7/28/10 12:52:19 PM] rawane-khalil: talked chwey understatment :P
[7/28/10 12:52:42 PM] rawane-khalil: with me kamein understatement :P
[7/28/10 12:53:17 PM] Dania Bdeir: laaaah!
[7/28/10 12:53:20 PM] Dania Bdeir: please tell meeee
[7/28/10 12:54:03 PM] rawane-khalil: ma the thing is i cant tell u
[7/28/10 12:54:11 PM] rawane-khalil: enno i have to show u :D
[7/28/10 12:54:14 PM] rawane-khalil: ya alla no way
[7/28/10 12:54:42 PM] rawane-khalil: ktir funny enno u dnt remember man hahaha
[7/28/10 12:54:58 PM] rawane-khalil: i think i wanna shotgun sleeping next to u from now on :D
[7/28/10 12:55:10 PM] rawane-khalil: hahaha heik suspense btije chwey ente :D
[7/28/10 12:58:01 PM] Dania Bdeir: hahhahahaa
[7/28/10 12:58:03 PM] Dania Bdeir: ya allaaaaah
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
High Five: Miguele is here!!
We had a very tight and perfect plan: Wake up, rent a car, get Miguele from the airport, head to Duisburg at around 11 am, get there at 4 pm in time for the Love Parade, enjoy the love, head back to Berlin at around 2 am.
Well things didnt exactly go according to plan.
Everything worked out just fine. She's on the plane. It's still on time. She's heading to Berlin!
Dania and I go get the car, and then head home to get the girls and then get Mig from the airport.
We get home and there she was.
MIG IS HERE!! A WOO HOO. She had already arrived and took a cab home.
We get ready, and get some snacks and sandwiches for the road. Get in the car, put in our destination on the GPS (which we decided to name Romy; she was the only one missing so we had to have her with us in a way!)
Destination: LOVE PARADE.
We were on the roads of Germany with wind in our hair, and beautiful weather with great scenery around, following Romy's instructions to get to Duisburg and feel the love.
A little dance off here and there, a sleeping co-pilot, a very demanding pilot, snacks, beer, bathroom stops, music, the same song over and over again, Romy guiding the way, "I'll stand by you", and five hours later we finally got to Duisburg.
LOVE PARADE: We arrived there full of excitement and ready to dance the day/night away, but we felt something was very odd.. There was no music, no happiness, no love... We just saw a bunch of confused ravers, heard a looot of ambulances, and got shouted at by the police (Go home! The love parade is cancelled!). At first we weren't planning on taking that for an answer. We had not just driven 4.5 hours just to get turned away! We had the Lebanese in us turned on full blast and tried to talk to the policeman as if he was some bouncer at a club. Dania tried to put on her puppy eyes and really popped out her... um... other talents, but the police guy just walked away. We had no idea, but were in the midst of a tragedy.
19 people killed. 400 injured. 1100 people still missing until today.
Thankfully we arrived late. Thankfully we arrived late enough to miss it. We could have easily gotten hurt by following the crowd. Thankfully we got there late enough. Thankfully Mig's plane got a bit delayed.
The Love Parade is a huge dance event that was turned into a stampede. People were literally killed by being stepped on.
Love Parade just claims joy as a definition because of what it is and what its called.
But this year something about the joy of love just went wrong.
Condolences to everyone who lost someone.
We kept hearing updates about the tragedy as we drove back to Berlin and as people called to check up on us.
Music, nightfall, struggling and determined co-pilot, a very courageous pilot, 3 sleeping beauties in the back, 5 hours later we got to Berlin, specifically a Russian pub with our very own Claudia and Patrick (Patrick is back!! I know you all missed him just as much as we did!). A couple of double vodka shots, and a crazy Russian dance off, we were suddenly in "Surprise" dancing to RnB, Hip Hop, Reggae, Soul, and African music.
We grabbed a bite to eat and drove back home at around 6 in the morning.
Sunday: It's showtime!
Woke up at around 12.
Woke up at around 12.
Claudia and Patrick came over for Brunch.
We enjoyed the food, and got ourselves ready for the show.
I am sure you all know by now about our Sunday afternoons.
Mauer Park. I got chills. 6 girls. One stage. More than 1000 people watching.
1 girl. Beautiful voice. The remaining 5 were swaying. She got the crowd to sing along. Leaving on a jet plane. crowd cheering.
After Mauer park we head to Tacheles and then had a beautiful and relaxing dinner in an Italian restaurant. Then we had to show Mig Paradise.
A perfect ending to our weekend by the river and by the fire. On the swing and over the water. Beautiful lighting and perfect reflections.
4 am. Train station. This train. No this one. Jump in. Jump out. Some running. Some laughing. Some waiting. From train. to train. 5 girls. 1 guy. off the train. to the bus. Sun rise. Day time. 5:10 am. Waiting. On the bus. To the airport. Leaving on a jet plane.
She left. Good bye Mig.
It was short. But it was great.
4 again. 4 girls. 1 guy. Bus. Train.
Bathroom explosion.
Home.
5 girls. great weekend. beautiful people.
4 girls. missing her. wish she could stay.
will meet again. will be 6 again.
soon.
To Mig and Romy: We miss you.
Monday, July 26, 2010
It's time for an update
Thursday night:
It all happened so fast. Dancing under the rain in Badeschiff (that pub/nightclub/pool in the lake/sand on the floor place) was followed by the girls, soaking wet, running with Felix towards the swimming pool.
Felix: Our new German extremely tall friend.
A couple of minutes later I see Dania sprinting back
Dania's words: "Like a little munchkin with anger problems, the tiny bouncer dragged us out of the pool and attacked Felix. kaff men hon, kick men honik, this bouncer kept bouncing up and down to reach felix's face."
Zeina's words: "... One night. One pool. Rain. Bouncer. Angry Bouncer. kick. felix. ass."
And since Felix isn't a Lebanese-proud-i'll-make-a-call-and-bring-the-ghetto-to-kill-your-family type of guy, we were able to have a good laugh about it, and go on to an underground club called "Golden Gate".
It all happened so fast. Dancing under the rain in Badeschiff (that pub/nightclub/pool in the lake/sand on the floor place) was followed by the girls, soaking wet, running with Felix towards the swimming pool.
Felix: Our new German extremely tall friend.
A couple of minutes later I see Dania sprinting back
Dania's words: "Like a little munchkin with anger problems, the tiny bouncer dragged us out of the pool and attacked Felix. kaff men hon, kick men honik, this bouncer kept bouncing up and down to reach felix's face."
Zeina's words: "... One night. One pool. Rain. Bouncer. Angry Bouncer. kick. felix. ass."
And since Felix isn't a Lebanese-proud-i'll-make-a-call-and-bring-the-ghetto-to-kill-your-family type of guy, we were able to have a good laugh about it, and go on to an underground club called "Golden Gate".
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
An ode to Zeina Halawi
Zeina Halawi
we Love thee
Not just because
you cooked for me
i cook too, a lot of food!
difference is,
what you cooked was good.
Thank you Zeina!
Fridays have their own charm ...
After work:
Destination One: Paradise.
We all met in the long waiting line to get into Paradise (Bar 25).
The wait didnt feel too long with all the beers in hand.
Swings, beautiful trees, performances, swings over the lake, raining, pouring, swaying in the rain, music, more performances, under a small tent, and under the rain, dancing, dancing under the pouring rain, clothes on, clothes off, shirts flying, dare to a dare, pants off, girls flying, girls swimming in the lake, one after the other, shirt after the other, boy after the girl, a Mexican and a Lebanese, over the lake, in the lake, and around the lake, suddenly a lot of flesh wiggling over and in the water: flesh, as in naked, and wiggling well they were guys.
Two girls, one name, one swing, two guys, four people, one swing, and one crazy swing ride, and they just had to end it with a kiss.
Crazy bar, seven crazy people, beautiful night.
Destination Two: Berghain.
The biggest challenge yet.
Out of the water, out of paradise, in the cabs, at the door.
There was no queue.
Round one: Fail.
Round two: two girls, one name, giggling, back and forth, a Rawane and another, walked a walk, and talked some talk, at the door, one look from the bouncer, and they are IN!!
Jacket off, attitude walk (something like we knew what we were doing), a blond, a brunette, walked The walk, determined to get inside, another look from the bouncer and they are IN!
It took all four of us a while to realize that we got in.
We took the stairs up to the club. Got to the bathroom, a special bathroom, one that is open for all: one bathroom, all genders. (Sharing is only and merely caring after all). Danced. Danced. Danced. Danced together, and each alone. Danced with a guy, while his guy waited. Danced. Danced with a coach and got coached.
Crazy night. Crazy place. Crazy people.
Walked back to the train station, heads held high.
They didnt want it last time. But now they did.
We know what they want. They want it wet. (That's what she said)
Got back home in the morning, had a nice and comfotable sleep.
Well most of us did. Dania got home, showered and went straight to work. That was just horrible!
We woke up at around 1.
Destination three: Lunch (well more of an aim than a destination but it works well for the chronology of the post).
Went to a nice cafe and enjoyed a good lunch, followed by coffee and desert.
Destination Four: Berghain again
Before we went there, we took a drink at a chilled out bar and then head to Berghain.
Long queue. Long wait. 2 girls, one name. found their way through the crowd. Skipped a long line of people. we joined them. and waited. We waited and walked and planned, and talked and waited and planned and planned and walked. Rawanes go in together. Dania and I go in together, and Nour goes in alone. We got to the door, rejection 1 Rawane and Rawane out! rejection 2 Dania and I out! And then Nour walks up all by herself, and there it is, we see her walking in as we walked away. It didnt feel too much like a walk of shame because we were all in desperate need for a bathroom and food.
And so early in the morning, we got to the closest open Mcdonalds, ate.
Got on the bus. Got back home.
Slept for a couple of hours.
Woke up.
Zeina Halawi and Nour left at noon.
It was only us and Rawane Jbara now.
Destination Five: Mauer Park. (SHOW TIME!)
Lady Marmalade, 5 girls performing, around a thousand people watching. We sang, they clapped, we danced, they sang along, we jumped, they cheered, it was a beautiful chain of cause and effect.
We left the karaoke place, heading to the park, 2 girls, one name, each on an instrument from derbakkeh to drums, tambourines to percussions , playing, mad skills with the hands, Dania, Tala and I run there and start the shaking, we took it all the way from Beyonce shaking, to Oriental belly dancing. We went on it non-stop and the two Rawanes were playing with the rest of them, sometimes trying to get the people to follow them with an arabic beat and most of the time they were just blending in.
They took turns, and while one of them played, the other one did a booty bounce, and taught a something-like-a-yoga dancer do the same. They bounced back and forth... it was magic.
A bit of things here and there, with a black spice of New York and a touch from Amsterdam, a blonde one on a high stool, massged by an angel, this day couldint get any better.
A nice dinner with the angel in a Mexican restaurant left us all mezmerized by his ways.
Finally we got home and had a nice good night sleep.
One long weekend, seemed like one exciting day.
Today, Rawane Jbara head back to Lebanon.
We are four again, only four.
A beautiful number.
One city.
Still that same city.
Berlin.
Destination One: Paradise.
We all met in the long waiting line to get into Paradise (Bar 25).
The wait didnt feel too long with all the beers in hand.
Swings, beautiful trees, performances, swings over the lake, raining, pouring, swaying in the rain, music, more performances, under a small tent, and under the rain, dancing, dancing under the pouring rain, clothes on, clothes off, shirts flying, dare to a dare, pants off, girls flying, girls swimming in the lake, one after the other, shirt after the other, boy after the girl, a Mexican and a Lebanese, over the lake, in the lake, and around the lake, suddenly a lot of flesh wiggling over and in the water: flesh, as in naked, and wiggling well they were guys.
Two girls, one name, one swing, two guys, four people, one swing, and one crazy swing ride, and they just had to end it with a kiss.
Crazy bar, seven crazy people, beautiful night.
Destination Two: Berghain.
The biggest challenge yet.
Out of the water, out of paradise, in the cabs, at the door.
There was no queue.
Round one: Fail.
Round two: two girls, one name, giggling, back and forth, a Rawane and another, walked a walk, and talked some talk, at the door, one look from the bouncer, and they are IN!!
Jacket off, attitude walk (something like we knew what we were doing), a blond, a brunette, walked The walk, determined to get inside, another look from the bouncer and they are IN!
It took all four of us a while to realize that we got in.
We took the stairs up to the club. Got to the bathroom, a special bathroom, one that is open for all: one bathroom, all genders. (Sharing is only and merely caring after all). Danced. Danced. Danced. Danced together, and each alone. Danced with a guy, while his guy waited. Danced. Danced with a coach and got coached.
Crazy night. Crazy place. Crazy people.
Walked back to the train station, heads held high.
They didnt want it last time. But now they did.
We know what they want. They want it wet. (That's what she said)
Got back home in the morning, had a nice and comfotable sleep.
Well most of us did. Dania got home, showered and went straight to work. That was just horrible!
We woke up at around 1.
Destination three: Lunch (well more of an aim than a destination but it works well for the chronology of the post).
Went to a nice cafe and enjoyed a good lunch, followed by coffee and desert.
Destination Four: Berghain again
Before we went there, we took a drink at a chilled out bar and then head to Berghain.
Long queue. Long wait. 2 girls, one name. found their way through the crowd. Skipped a long line of people. we joined them. and waited. We waited and walked and planned, and talked and waited and planned and planned and walked. Rawanes go in together. Dania and I go in together, and Nour goes in alone. We got to the door, rejection 1 Rawane and Rawane out! rejection 2 Dania and I out! And then Nour walks up all by herself, and there it is, we see her walking in as we walked away. It didnt feel too much like a walk of shame because we were all in desperate need for a bathroom and food.
And so early in the morning, we got to the closest open Mcdonalds, ate.
Got on the bus. Got back home.
Slept for a couple of hours.
Woke up.
Zeina Halawi and Nour left at noon.
It was only us and Rawane Jbara now.
Destination Five: Mauer Park. (SHOW TIME!)
Lady Marmalade, 5 girls performing, around a thousand people watching. We sang, they clapped, we danced, they sang along, we jumped, they cheered, it was a beautiful chain of cause and effect.
We left the karaoke place, heading to the park, 2 girls, one name, each on an instrument from derbakkeh to drums, tambourines to percussions , playing, mad skills with the hands, Dania, Tala and I run there and start the shaking, we took it all the way from Beyonce shaking, to Oriental belly dancing. We went on it non-stop and the two Rawanes were playing with the rest of them, sometimes trying to get the people to follow them with an arabic beat and most of the time they were just blending in.
They took turns, and while one of them played, the other one did a booty bounce, and taught a something-like-a-yoga dancer do the same. They bounced back and forth... it was magic.
A bit of things here and there, with a black spice of New York and a touch from Amsterdam, a blonde one on a high stool, massged by an angel, this day couldint get any better.
A nice dinner with the angel in a Mexican restaurant left us all mezmerized by his ways.
Finally we got home and had a nice good night sleep.
One long weekend, seemed like one exciting day.
Today, Rawane Jbara head back to Lebanon.
We are four again, only four.
A beautiful number.
One city.
Still that same city.
Berlin.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Labneh in the House! (Yes this does deserve a post on its own.)
I'm making my own labneh.
I gotta say its not easy.
I need a break. A massage would be nice.
Mmm.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Work it!
A little update on our "work experience" so far:
Tala: interning at David O'reilly's office (Animation):
Tala has been learning MAYA (a very complicated and hard software that only by looking at it your mind might freeze for a second or so.. no, but really very complicated), she has been learning it through work and discovering it on her own. She's benefiting a lot from the internship, and the work space is comfortable and chill, and she enjoys work a lot. She always comes back home with new stories to tell us about either creating a character, or moving the character's finger or anything related to a character. It's always refreshing to hear her news since she comes back excited almost and practically every day.
Dania: interning at Viral Labs
Dania hadn't been enjoying the work as much. She had to work on an entire identity of a website (for children), and at the moment she's working on a youtube page for a channel for the middle east which is not really her definition of fun or exciting.
HOWEVER, yesterday while hanging out at work and dreading it at the same time, her second boss (whom she has recently met) walks in, plugs his laptop to the speakers and puts really good music on (high five!).. And then after a short while asks her if she wants to ditch the incredibly boring work she's doing and join him on his quest to find the right location for the next commercial they will be shooting. That quest was a little definiton of a bike ride (and by bike, we mean Motorcycle), across the coolest places in Berlin, with wind in the ends of her hair, and a great converstaion with quite a great guy. BY THE WAY, he asked her to be Assisstant Director on the shoot next week!
Work is getting exciting and fun. She came back home yesterday, excited as we have always seen Tala, as she told us about her day at "work".
Rawane: interning at Christian Weber's company.
Well, i am not sure what to say about that. Other than her occasional off days followed by occasionally starting work at 12, or sometimes 4, she was invited to dinner last night by her two bosses. I think they are smoothly becoming one little happy family. They all went grocery shopping together, and then they took her home and cooked for her. And they had a beautiful nice dinner all three of them with a lot, A LOT, and a little bit more than that, of wine. Perfect scene for Miss Khalil. Well she did work while she was there, she took pictures.
Other than her awesome-that-we-are-all-so-jealous bosses, she does work sometimes, sometimes in the office and often at home. She's been working on business cards and logos.
After all if it is fun, if it involves a lot of wine, and always has off days it doesnt mean it cant be called "work".
Zeina: interning at Bongout (and be careful there, it is not in English, but in french, bon gout, as in good taste: yes for all of you who want to mock her, they taught her that :P)
The sweatshop will always be a sweatshop no matter how hard it tries. Other than binding books, and packing books for shipping, they have generously taught her silkscreen printing, and she helped in printing out the poster for the upcoming film festival they are hosting (it is this weekend if anyone is interested.) Moreover, she has been doing all sorts of things at work like taking photographs of their work (paintings, books, plates, cups..), fixing the images, uploading them on the website, doing sketchbooks and all sorts of fantastic things .
Yesterday, she was privileged enough to run the gallery, and sell. Her part will remain limited to the work however, because she, unlike the other 3, has not yet bonded with her boss.
She tries to slip a bit of French here and there so that he feels they have a connection but well she doesn't think that's working. He was happy to see many people at the gallery yesterday so maybe that is going somewhere. Hopefully..
peace.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Our own little world cup ;)
So...
Monday night.
What to say about monday night...
As much as i am tempted to share everything... there is no way.
I dont remember that much anyways ;)
What i can give you are bits and pieces.
Try to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
Rawane, Zeina, And Nour (Dania's friends) finally got to Berlin . (Yes, we know it's confusing
that there are two Rawanes and two Zeinas.. What are the odds)
Now we were seven.
Seven girls.
1 city.
We went out.
We went all out.
Beer botttles in hand.. and sometimes wine.
Destination:
Club de visionnaire.
We chilled. We drank. More beer. More wine.
Music. House music.
Tequila shots.
1 tequila.
2 tequila.
On the floor.. the dance floor.. or was it the bathroom floor?
Italian guy. Sweet Italian guy. Love was in the air.
Brazilian guy. Fabio. Little mustache. Chose the big hair. A stripper. Samba. Yes, A stripper.
Argentinian Guy. A blond for the blond. Hello Argentina ;)
English guy. Bald. Little box. A secret box. A box for his hair. (What?!) Not a stripper. Yet, he
stripped. Twice.
Bad.
5 am: Home.. sweet.. un-air-conditioned home.
"Sleep is commercial."
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
WEEKEND
Friday July 8,2010
We all woke up early in the morning to go get our student IDs validated after being stopped by the "train police" because we needed to get a validation that we are students; but, that was quite a fail since we had gotten the high-school students ticket and not the university one. After that we had a whole discussion on whether or not to do as they told us(so that if we are caught again it wont be a problem)or to just wing it; and then after a thorough, deep, and quite analytical talk we decided to wing it. The geniuses that we all are!
Then Dania head to work, and on her way gets stopped for her ticket, and so there it is. Fail again!
Rawane, Tala and I had lunch in a cafe close to our home. It was a very chilled and laid back lunch followed by a nice cup of coffee. Then Rawane went home since she had a day off, and Tala and I skipped our way to the station while singing Rogue Town the musical all the way through. :-)
The Germans have a need to recreate the beach and so they have Beach bars that are practically made up of: sand, long-chairs, and mm yea, no beach there, but everything that usually comes along with it. Oh wait, they have a recreation of it, sometimes they get those incredibly cool children's blown-up swimming pools that they put their feet in to get the right feeling. Creative, is what they are!
After work, we cooked dinner then met with Patrick and Claudia at a park by the river. We sat down, it was very soothing and relaxing, and they had few of those pools here and there. The view was enough to inspire and to imagine. And yea well, everyone imagined what they pleased, from dancing schtroumpfs(well not just dancing they were pretty talented those schtroumpfs be it dancing, or singing, or head banging, they practically did it all..) to a whole new world.
A little background on Claudia:
She is Patrick's friend who we met when we went to Paradise the first weekend we got here. She is very, very, and i think very is not enough of a word for this, but very chilled. She's very cool and we like to call her www.claudia.com since she KNOWS the ins and outs of Berlin.
And then more people joined us and we went to an "Animal Party".. yea something like partying at the zoo is what we heard it will be. Some had printed out masks of animal faces and others had a full-blown animal skin on their backs along with furry uggs to complete the outfit. It was cool in a weird way. There was karaoke(those Germans love to sing!), and we almost waited long enough to put on another show but we left and went to "Weekend".
Weekend is a club in Alexander Platz. It is of two floors with the second one being a nice hang-out place on the rooftop of the building with a great view of the city. We stayed there until dawn and watched the sky lighting up.. it was beautiful.
We then went down to the dance floor at around 5 and partied the night away, well more like the morning away ...
Monday, July 12, 2010
Saturday Morning
It took us about two hours to actually leave the house, one hour to pick a bike each
And off we went
After visiting a church where Rawane was taking pictures of pictures where she spotted Hitler (hoping to convince people she really did see him), and where Zeina was connecting with the spirits around her, we decided to go to Tiergarten. A park that turned out to withhold different surprises:
Nice doggies popping everywhere around us
A beautiful not so clean lake
And a million naked bald men lying around on the grass
When we got to the "naked bald men" spot, Rawane and Dania couldn't hold their giggles. While Zeina couldn't stop screaming: LAH LAH.... LAAAH
I was mature of course
Prudes...
So we went back home, then decided to go to Watergate.
Chilling in the outdoor area, then partying inside to beautiful house music wasn't enough for Dania... LET's TRY BERGHAIN AGAIN.
If you hadn't read our older embarrassing wall post exactly one week ago, you should know that we had been stripped off of our self-esteem, after waiting in a two hour queue, by big scary bouncers who "don't want it". "It" as in us... weren't even acceptable enough to be subjects to them.
So off we went to Berghain, waited for an hour and a half, huge line before and behind us, 6 in the morning, blaming each other for being the reason we didn't get in last time. We got to the front of the line, put on our careless faces and forced "natural" poses, took the scary bouncer 3 seconds to mumble something in German while pointing out
Dania: We're not going in?
Bouncer dude: No
Walk of shame number two
followed by re-questioning our personalities
followed by... "Guys, let's go bike in the park"
One hour in the S-Bahn
It took us a lot of effort to avoid falling asleep (we failed)
But we didn't miss the stop, we pulled ourselves together, and ended up being on those bikes again, sprinting towards the park. There we were, Rawane, Dania and Tala (Flashback, Zeina before Berghain: That idea sucks I'm going home), with our bikes parked next to a tree, lying there on the grass in the morning sun. We kind of knew where we were. We kind of knew what was to be surrounding us once we open our eyes. And...there they were, just about one hour of sleep later, Naked, Bald, and There. Striking unsuccessful Greek God-like poses, or just playing around with their little dogs.
You'd think we woke each other up and ran away.
We didn't.
After that
Showers, putting on swimsuits, debating over if we should go or not, etc...
A couple of hours later we were in Arena (in Eichenstraße), in a pool on the lake, let's just say we even had to be in a queue to get in the pool.
Later we attempted to watch the finale in
But we just ended up going back home and sleeping like babies
Eventually, it all felt like it was still Saturday Morning
Sunday, July 11, 2010
PHARELL fo' ral!
For a High quality version of the video: http://www.vimeo.com/13241857
Thursday: July 8,2010
Woke up in the morning each at her own time. Got dressed, got going, and got to work.
As usual, and due to some of our downfalls we somehow all have a bit of anxiety when we are not together, at work we always find a bit of time to chat with each other. And by a bit i mean A lot!
So we were "working" and skyping Dania hits us with the news.
Tony Hawk and N.E.R.D, PHARELL (Fo Ral!!) Live in Prenzlaur Berg! (That would be an area close by, or as close as places can be in this big city!)
And so Dania, Rawane and I leave work early and meet at the station to head to the concert.
Wait, let me rephrase that, Dania and I leave work early and Rawane leaves the house since she had emailed her boss that day that she needs to work on the logo at home since she wanted to get dirty. (No not that other dirty, but the dirty involving ketchup, and other creative material she found at home).
So we meet and go to this huge hall filled with all them Germans, but they werent like the Germans we've seen or the ones we've met, they were a bit younger and just not very German.
We go there, and thankfully this time there wasnt a long queue and so we didnt have to wait at all to get in.
There was German band playing when we fist got there, their music is great, and fun, maybe slightly angry but still fun.
After that BOOM! TONY HAWK AND FRIENDS. Crazy on the Ramp! and by CRAZY i mean CCRRAZZY!! Amazing stunts, 360s, 720s, frontside 540-rodeo flips(and the list of numbers continuess... ), air walks,, front flips, back flips.. (yea, we knew what they were talking about!!) Anyway it was amazing!!!
And Dania got a touch of Tony Hawks sweat and she hasnt showered since. (and i dont think she is planning on doing so...)
They finished while scaring the ramp itself by their tricks. After around 30 mins
BOOM BOOM BOOM!!
N.E.R.D .. PHARREL (for rall!!)
BOOM!
HE was beyond crazy on the stage( oh and didnt i mention we were on the fristtt first, like right-in-front-of-the-stage first row). He went crazy and we went crazy!
Thursday: July 8,2010
Woke up in the morning each at her own time. Got dressed, got going, and got to work.
As usual, and due to some of our downfalls we somehow all have a bit of anxiety when we are not together, at work we always find a bit of time to chat with each other. And by a bit i mean A lot!
So we were "working" and skyping Dania hits us with the news.
Tony Hawk and N.E.R.D, PHARELL (Fo Ral!!) Live in Prenzlaur Berg! (That would be an area close by, or as close as places can be in this big city!)
And so Dania, Rawane and I leave work early and meet at the station to head to the concert.
Wait, let me rephrase that, Dania and I leave work early and Rawane leaves the house since she had emailed her boss that day that she needs to work on the logo at home since she wanted to get dirty. (No not that other dirty, but the dirty involving ketchup, and other creative material she found at home).
So we meet and go to this huge hall filled with all them Germans, but they werent like the Germans we've seen or the ones we've met, they were a bit younger and just not very German.
We go there, and thankfully this time there wasnt a long queue and so we didnt have to wait at all to get in.
There was German band playing when we fist got there, their music is great, and fun, maybe slightly angry but still fun.
After that BOOM! TONY HAWK AND FRIENDS. Crazy on the Ramp! and by CRAZY i mean CCRRAZZY!! Amazing stunts, 360s, 720s, frontside 540-rodeo flips(and the list of numbers continuess... ), air walks,, front flips, back flips.. (yea, we knew what they were talking about!!) Anyway it was amazing!!!
And Dania got a touch of Tony Hawks sweat and she hasnt showered since. (and i dont think she is planning on doing so...)
They finished while scaring the ramp itself by their tricks. After around 30 mins
BOOM BOOM BOOM!!
N.E.R.D .. PHARREL (for rall!!)
BOOM!
HE was beyond crazy on the stage( oh and didnt i mention we were on the fristtt first, like right-in-front-of-the-stage first row). He went crazy and we went crazy!
CRAZY PHARREL, Fo Ral!!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Tis a sad sad day for all
It's here... The game... Germany/Spain...Semi-final... The last match between us and the final... it was going to happen... We were going to be IN Germany to watch Germany in the final... We felt it... enno 4-0 against Argentina! it was in the bag!
If only we knew....
The day passed pretty quickly at the office... Well, probably because we all left early at about 5:30 or 6, to meet in one of the stations. No the game isn't this early here, it's at 8:30, but apparently we had to go early to the place we were gonna watch it at.
As usual, there was a huge queue and we waited, and waited and waited for about 1.5 or 2 hours! Inside, was super cool.
It's a place called Burg 24, and as so many other places here, it seems it was made out of garbage! There's a huge cabin which seems, i swear, to have been built exclusively with junk found at a dump. It was beautiful randomness with clothes and sneakers hanging over our heads, hammocks, bars, a pool, a skateboarding ramp and a kind of mini stadium with a big screen.
no cameras allowed!
I wasn't too pleased...
We all sat there and filled the places, all Germanians, all patriotic, all excited!
We watched the game..
It wasn't pretty...
They/we (well mostly they), chanted some Deutsch songs which we thought sound a lot like: "ab dakht nein, who's that whore! Who's that whore! who's that whooooooooore!" and that is how we sang. We did not stand out!
As the game dragged on, and the Spaniards were bringing it on while the Germans watched confused, there it was.. The goal.
Suddenly a group of Spanish people emerged from their somewhat camouflaged presence among the Germs and went crazyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!
And here's the crazy part: The Germans didn't do anything to retaliate. They just sat there! Quietly! While the small outnumbered group of Spaniards were partying and gloating! Quite the sportsmanship! In Lebanon, there would've been bloody noses, broken bottles and some random angry guy burning a tire somewhere!
After the game, depression reigned. That is an understatement. People just kept sitting there, some with their head in their hands, others watching in disbelief, and others trying to drown out the sounds of the aftermatch commentary and the small Spanish group celebrating with beer, beer and more beer.
The only people out last night after the game were the Spanish, some French, British and a group of Lebanese girls (cz we, notoriously, get over sad stuff pretty quickly)!
If only we knew....
The day passed pretty quickly at the office... Well, probably because we all left early at about 5:30 or 6, to meet in one of the stations. No the game isn't this early here, it's at 8:30, but apparently we had to go early to the place we were gonna watch it at.
As usual, there was a huge queue and we waited, and waited and waited for about 1.5 or 2 hours! Inside, was super cool.
It's a place called Burg 24, and as so many other places here, it seems it was made out of garbage! There's a huge cabin which seems, i swear, to have been built exclusively with junk found at a dump. It was beautiful randomness with clothes and sneakers hanging over our heads, hammocks, bars, a pool, a skateboarding ramp and a kind of mini stadium with a big screen.
no cameras allowed!
I wasn't too pleased...
We all sat there and filled the places, all Germanians, all patriotic, all excited!
We watched the game..
It wasn't pretty...
They/we (well mostly they), chanted some Deutsch songs which we thought sound a lot like: "ab dakht nein, who's that whore! Who's that whore! who's that whooooooooore!" and that is how we sang. We did not stand out!
As the game dragged on, and the Spaniards were bringing it on while the Germans watched confused, there it was.. The goal.
Suddenly a group of Spanish people emerged from their somewhat camouflaged presence among the Germs and went crazyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!
And here's the crazy part: The Germans didn't do anything to retaliate. They just sat there! Quietly! While the small outnumbered group of Spaniards were partying and gloating! Quite the sportsmanship! In Lebanon, there would've been bloody noses, broken bottles and some random angry guy burning a tire somewhere!
After the game, depression reigned. That is an understatement. People just kept sitting there, some with their head in their hands, others watching in disbelief, and others trying to drown out the sounds of the aftermatch commentary and the small Spanish group celebrating with beer, beer and more beer.
The only people out last night after the game were the Spanish, some French, British and a group of Lebanese girls (cz we, notoriously, get over sad stuff pretty quickly)!
Tis a sad sad day (prelude)
Ok... So before we jump into the excruciating devastating depressing loss of the German team and the way they/we (but mostly they) are dealing with this horrible feeling of emptiness, lethargy, hopelessness and grief, a quick update about the past couple of days.
No dramatization or exaggeration has been used in the introduction. It's that bad here
[Monday]
It was our day back at work, well, for Rawane and me at least: Zeina doesn't have work on Mondays (I know, shou hal ta2 7anak), and it was Tala's panicked first day.
Rawane is currently working on a business card for a guy who does experimental music, and I am working on a website for a kindergarten.
So anyway, Zeina, like the mama that she is, kindly woke up at 8:30 am with Tala and went to get her a phone number and dropped her off safely at work, where it's basically just her and four guys. She's very happy watching animation as it happens.
That evening, we heard about something called a bicycle orchestra where they do experimental music out of bicycle parts, but being the Lebanese that we are, we got there late and missed the whole thing.
So we ended up having dinner with Claudia then going to a pub nearby w yallaaa. Drinking games, fuzzy duck, ducky fuzz, who's the fuck, fuck the duck, funk the dunk and at some point we turn to the table next to us and ask two guys if they want to join.
That's how we met LARS the Norwegian and the other guy (no idea how to spell his name). They taught us a Norwegian drinking game called: Drink as you think and we laughed our asses off.
A few beers later, (and one Virgin Pina Colada) some gay French guys went crazy on a bar and we challenged them standing on our tables and shaking our bootays. We failed... Miserably.
[Tuesday]
Rawane and i left work early and finally went shopping at the supermarket. Well that took a good 2 hours more than it would usually take since everything is in German and mostly Rawane wanted to buy gummy bears and call it a night... But I got so excited to cook! We bought lemon, oregano, onions, garlic, lettuce and stuff for salad, potatoes, and I was expecting a beautiful chicken in the oven by the time Tala comes back from work..
We forgot to buy the chicken...
and the place closed.
So we ended up trying to cook the easiest thing in the world: hamburger and fries. oh my god the fries... BAD. I guess we burned the oil. They tasted horrible. They looked good though.
It was about 11:30 by the time we finished eating.. Shopping and cooking hamburger and fries basically took 5 full hours.
Tala slept. Rawane slept. Zeina and I went out at 1 am w uffffff a woohoo! Wild niight out on the town!
....
....
We basically went out, the trains closed half way to our destination and decided they wont open again till 4am, a few night buses, a few missed stops, a few "oh shit i think we're in frankfurt" moments, and we just spent the night trying to get back home, with a random sad Argentinian guy that we, i guess, adopted. Haram, he was waaay more lost than us.
No dramatization or exaggeration has been used in the introduction. It's that bad here
[Monday]
It was our day back at work, well, for Rawane and me at least: Zeina doesn't have work on Mondays (I know, shou hal ta2 7anak), and it was Tala's panicked first day.
Rawane is currently working on a business card for a guy who does experimental music, and I am working on a website for a kindergarten.
So anyway, Zeina, like the mama that she is, kindly woke up at 8:30 am with Tala and went to get her a phone number and dropped her off safely at work, where it's basically just her and four guys. She's very happy watching animation as it happens.
That evening, we heard about something called a bicycle orchestra where they do experimental music out of bicycle parts, but being the Lebanese that we are, we got there late and missed the whole thing.
So we ended up having dinner with Claudia then going to a pub nearby w yallaaa. Drinking games, fuzzy duck, ducky fuzz, who's the fuck, fuck the duck, funk the dunk and at some point we turn to the table next to us and ask two guys if they want to join.
That's how we met LARS the Norwegian and the other guy (no idea how to spell his name). They taught us a Norwegian drinking game called: Drink as you think and we laughed our asses off.
A few beers later, (and one Virgin Pina Colada) some gay French guys went crazy on a bar and we challenged them standing on our tables and shaking our bootays. We failed... Miserably.
[Tuesday]
Rawane and i left work early and finally went shopping at the supermarket. Well that took a good 2 hours more than it would usually take since everything is in German and mostly Rawane wanted to buy gummy bears and call it a night... But I got so excited to cook! We bought lemon, oregano, onions, garlic, lettuce and stuff for salad, potatoes, and I was expecting a beautiful chicken in the oven by the time Tala comes back from work..
We forgot to buy the chicken...
and the place closed.
So we ended up trying to cook the easiest thing in the world: hamburger and fries. oh my god the fries... BAD. I guess we burned the oil. They tasted horrible. They looked good though.
It was about 11:30 by the time we finished eating.. Shopping and cooking hamburger and fries basically took 5 full hours.
Tala slept. Rawane slept. Zeina and I went out at 1 am w uffffff a woohoo! Wild niight out on the town!
....
....
We basically went out, the trains closed half way to our destination and decided they wont open again till 4am, a few night buses, a few missed stops, a few "oh shit i think we're in frankfurt" moments, and we just spent the night trying to get back home, with a random sad Argentinian guy that we, i guess, adopted. Haram, he was waaay more lost than us.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Germany vs Argentina: world cup fever
The atmosphere in Potsdamer Platz. Almost as crazy and passionate as in Beirut!
Monday, July 5, 2010
Karaoke Sunday at Mauer Park
e
If the video doesn't play for some reason, try http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhR7vE1y6QY
Enjoy :)
Sunday, July 4, 2010
"WE DON'T WANT IT!"
BERGHAIN is considered the coolest club in the WORLD.. the whole wide beautiful world. You know Skybar? White? All of Gemayze? BO18? Basement?.. yea well this one is cooler!!
"Berghain is what Berlin is all about: a brilliantly insane club of clubs for the all-out hardcore, take-no-prisoner party animals."
http://berlin.unlike.net/locations/71-Berghain
So we went to the train station at around 1 AM(because nothing in this city starts before that), waited for 20 mins for the train to get there, then waited on the train for a while before arriving to the area. We then walked towards the club, and there was a long long long queue. We waited, and waited. We only moved 1 step forward every 15 mins, so you can imagine how that went.
We get to the door, and were trying so hard with our looks to get in. According to Dania's research, Berghain isn't fond on letting anyone in if he/she isn't of the Aryan race (la Race Arienne!) .
According to Tala, if we release enough "Pheromones" ("A pheromone is a secreted or excreted chemincal factor that triggers a social response in members of the same species. " ), we'd be in a second. bouncers talk amongst each other at the door in German (they were like 3 men, very scary looking), and then one of them tells us:
"No, you're not going in"
Dania: "WHY?" (getting ready to go all Lebanese on him)
Him: We dont want IT.
We gave him a questioning look.
He repeats: It's selective. We don't want it.
We dont want it?? What don't you want?
Then with a sad face and a broken heart, we walked back right by the queue we were waiting in, and it felt like the walk of shame. We walked, and kept looking at the ground, not daring to look up and see their faces. Suddenly the queue felt longer, and never-ending.
So we walked back to the station, and as we were walking we hear 2 germans talking:
"diese armen Mädchen nicht bekommen, um in Berghain. Sie machen die WALK OF SHAME"
Tala turned to them and said: "YEA!" with the saddest face.
We took the train back home and were there by 4:30 am. We had failed miserably, but they will see. We will be back. And they are going to want it, so bad!
We will be back!
We came back home, and just wanted to go to bed.
Tala was sitting in bed, i went in and jumped next to her and hugged her, then Rawane joined next to me, and then Dania came and slept right on top of Rawane. We were talking, and next thing we know, we fell asleep, all four of us on one bed.
Dania woke up and saw Rawane's hair in front of her face. She panicked.
"Berghain is what Berlin is all about: a brilliantly insane club of clubs for the all-out hardcore, take-no-prisoner party animals."
http://berlin.unlike.net/locations/71-Berghain
So we went to the train station at around 1 AM(because nothing in this city starts before that), waited for 20 mins for the train to get there, then waited on the train for a while before arriving to the area. We then walked towards the club, and there was a long long long queue. We waited, and waited. We only moved 1 step forward every 15 mins, so you can imagine how that went.
We get to the door, and were trying so hard with our looks to get in. According to Dania's research, Berghain isn't fond on letting anyone in if he/she isn't of the Aryan race (la Race Arienne!) .
According to Tala, if we release enough "Pheromones" ("A pheromone is a secreted or excreted chemincal factor that triggers a social response in members of the same species. " ), we'd be in a second. bouncers talk amongst each other at the door in German (they were like 3 men, very scary looking), and then one of them tells us:
"No, you're not going in"
Dania: "WHY?" (getting ready to go all Lebanese on him)
Him: We dont want IT.
We gave him a questioning look.
He repeats: It's selective. We don't want it.
We dont want it?? What don't you want?
Then with a sad face and a broken heart, we walked back right by the queue we were waiting in, and it felt like the walk of shame. We walked, and kept looking at the ground, not daring to look up and see their faces. Suddenly the queue felt longer, and never-ending.
So we walked back to the station, and as we were walking we hear 2 germans talking:
"diese armen Mädchen nicht bekommen, um in Berghain. Sie machen die WALK OF SHAME"
Tala turned to them and said: "YEA!" with the saddest face.
We took the train back home and were there by 4:30 am. We had failed miserably, but they will see. We will be back. And they are going to want it, so bad!
We will be back!
We came back home, and just wanted to go to bed.
Tala was sitting in bed, i went in and jumped next to her and hugged her, then Rawane joined next to me, and then Dania came and slept right on top of Rawane. We were talking, and next thing we know, we fell asleep, all four of us on one bed.
Dania woke up and saw Rawane's hair in front of her face. She panicked.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Deutschland über Alles
ARGENTINA VS GERMANY!!
We won!! Yes "We", since all four of us have merged in the country so perfectly today. We got ready, went down to a shop around the corner and got ourselves some flags and German-Hawaiian-fake-flowers, and head to Potsdamer Platz where they were showing the game. There were more than 7 huge screens hung, and over 1.5 million crazy Germans!!
Let's just say, blow-up black doll, crazy hair, face paint, flags, screams, crazy Germans, beer, goal1, beer, beer, goal 2, and some more beer, gaseous water( we still dont get how they drink it), chicken, sausages, flags, FACE PAINT, cheers, screams, who's that whore?, Deutschland, goal 3,DEUTSCHLANDD!!, dancing under fake water sprinklers, sun, heat, burning, burning sun! a bit of shade, goal 4, crazy Germans, and crazier Lebanese girls, waving flags, and "wave your flag", and dance with your flag while you are at it..normal water, and finally a nice nap in the park, and ... much, much, much more than that.
CRAZY DAY! CRAZY GAME! 4-0, we will be in the FINALS!!
Football's coming home!
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