Going Away

I have been procrastinating posting this, the last video from Berlin, but here it is. The final 1 week and a half were fantastic! I went to the world renown panorama bar a couple of times, watched a lot of football with Daniel, Daniel and Jurgen, and had a wow experience night at Dr. Pong with Caesar.

The most official goodbyes came at a going away party Daniel generously hosted with some of his fresh lasagna and leftover booze from the wedding party at the Ost-See. 9 of us fit into his cozy apartment and made a great night of it, which involved lots of alcohol sampling and waving goodbye. The video makes me sad when I watch it but the soundtrack doesn't help either, Jose Gonzales' treatment of the The Knife song "Heartbeats" chokes me up a little on its own. I tacked on some audio from the party of a goodbye song my drunken arm was twisted into playing on D's guitar very early in the morning.

Here is the video starring my friends:

Abel (Holland)
Anna (Holland)
Brendan (New Zealand)
Daniel (Deutschland)
Dirk (Deutschland)
Ena (Japan)
Rebekka (Deutschland)
Susumu (Japan)

Going Away

I don't have time to give this blog the finishing touches I want to put on it, stay tuned for one last post featuring video from my home reunion party - tomorrow night - so my friends back home in Berlin can see my friends back home here in the O.

Last days

I am home safe and sound, however my home does not have internet, so the last couple of videos will have to wait until next week to go up.

I had great going away parties, and cried on the plane home. It is nice to back in Ottawa though.

so,

stay tuned for:

going away

&

coming home

Der Hochzeit

By the time the weekend was over I had stayed up both nights to see the sun rise, been to 2 beaches, watched one football game and played one football game, eaten 3 Fischbrotchen and met dozens of amazingly nice people. A lot of the 30 plus people made the comment of this being a perfect weekend, and it would be really difficult to argue with that opinion; food, wine, beer, music, dancing, lodgings, games, and even the weather, could not have been better. Daniel & Natascha's wedding ceremony was in Berlin-Kreuzberg. It was brief and friendly. This saved more time for the weekend getaway at the Ost-See.

At The Northern Coast of Germany I saw fields of poppies, lots of naked women at the beach, windmills, and the UNESCO designated heritage site: city of Wismar. If you read the history of Wismar at the given link, you will see that it was at one time under Swedish rule. This may be the region from where the name Espig comes from, my swedish last name with only German ancestry - but this is just a guess.

The video of the weekend features some snippets of time from the 3 days, sped up (naturally) and for the lack of a long enough mp3 to fit its 9 minutes, also features music from LCD Soundsystem yet again. So without furthe ado, thanks to Daniel and Natascha for taking care of all of our needs for the party, and sharing your friends and family with me! ***

*** I Recommend watching this video from the original you-tube link in full screen mode if possible as this embedded player plays it back slightly too darkly.

Der Hochzeit

Ost-See

Lots of adventure and great times were had this past week, so much that I haven't had much time for the web log. But, this weekend should provide for a donkey-load (maybe the origin of ass-load? never thought of it that way...) of great video opportunities. Daniel and Natasha's wedding is all weekend long at his sister's place, which is a Commune on an island in the Baltic Sea. I am anticipating nude swimming, Russian Wodka fueled dancing and feats of strength, and observing the coming together of two very different cultures. I am also excited that I will be so close to Denmark and Sweden.



Since Poland, I have met a lot (more) really great people, including a really interesting woman from Ireland, who talked so quickly that I was hypnotized by her. I met her while attending friend Joao's grilin' fest at Treptower Park. It turns out she has big plans and dreams to set up an international exhibition based on a very original and provocative concept. Hopefully I will be involved in the design.

I also went to Daniel's bachelor party on Saturday which started with football at 6:00pm and ended at Karaoke at 6:00am. We had about 12 people crammed into the private room meant for 7 or 8 and trays of tequila kept floating in the door. There was a donkey-load of fist-pumping as I got to sing some German New Wave (NDW) which is always a treat, even for Germans.



here are some random pictures from friends and a link to Abel's Slide show from Karneval Der Kulturen to help tide the blog over until I get back from the north...






For Abel's amazing Karneval Der Kulture Pics click here