I made juice early in the morning for Oma, Zane and myself. Oma came down just as I was leaving to Armin's to help him make beer, Zane was lost somewhere in the depths of his mind, curled into a ball, half exposed and half buried beneath the blankets. I left the juice on his night stand and took the car to Armin's without waking him.Armin was having breakfast when I arrived, he was happy to see me, "Lisa and Manuel are still asleep." He said with a laugh. "Yeah? Is that normal for them?" "Ohh yes! Happens most of the time." I had a mango and some water then helped him carry some pots and equipment into the garage. A short time later Lisa and Manuel came down for breakfast as well. They were quite surprised to see me. "Aren't you tired after last night?" "Not really.. But I was lucky" I said, with a rather humorous tone, then I joined Armin again in one of his many man caves, spread throughout the kit house he built himself. I've brewed beer a few times myself but Armins methods are far in advance of those I've used. It was a pleasure to see him work, and actually get to know him much better. We drank beer that he had previously made and talked about all kinds of things he's into. The five hours I spent making beer with my Uncle Armin is the most time I've ever spent with him alone, before that it was probably only 20 minutes! Crazy!!Before the batch was ready to poor I had to leave to buy Veggies from Edeka and return home to make more juice and get Zane for a meeting with Luisa Green a good friend of mine that I was introduced to through my mom. Luisa has had dyed green hair for over 10 years, is a huge Doors fan and is very skilled with baking. Her dream is to open a bakery in Amsterdam and live there. I can't wait to go their when she opens it up. Louisa's mom and my mom have been best friends since they were in Kindergarden here in Beitighiem, they both ended up in design. She's a clothing designer and my moms a website designer. Zane and I walked over to Luisa's place and chilled out, listened to the Doors, talked about travel and ordered up some Pizza from the local delivery place. Louisa had just gotten back from Amsterdam with her friend, who has had blue dyed hair for some time as well, they were both tired from their journey so we took our exit que and walked home. The next day we had a very early 2pm dinner at Armin's with Dani's father Ludwig, whose nearly blind, mostly deaf, and loves to talk about the past in terms of how it should have been the future. "Back in those days we knew what needed to be done, not like now, then we knew, now we've forgotten. We should be like we were then." The past really does have a long hand into the future. Living in the present, free from the clutches of the whats come before, or whats to come. It's a freedom few enjoy, fewer still for very long, but some have mastered it, we call these people enlightened, and rightfully so!After dropping Ludwig off at home, where he lives alone despite being blind and deaf, Zane and I watched Strange Days, a very interesting science fiction film with Ralph Finnes, written by James Cameron, that has aged without loss of credibility or interest from the passage of time and advancement of technology, as most dated sci-fi films seem to do. Tomorrow we leave Beitighiem and head for Austria, were Zane's girlfriend Zuzka will pick us up and take us back to her home of Bratislava, Slovakia.
It's Friday in Bietigheim
Its friday in Bietigheim, that can only mean one thing. Oma will have coffee and cake at Armin's and we'll all be going. Once were there everyone will get into the usual business of disseminating the newest local gossip. How bad the new parking laws in town are and what a catastrophe it is. Whose died over the passed week and what effect it's had on those left behind. Inevitably these topics are followed by someone saying, "Jesus mary!.." Or "its unbelievable! Or "children of men!" Ahh the German vernacular, what a gem. In small towns such as Beitighiem gossip is the original telegram. Its a system with very limited accuracy and tends to cause more issues than it solves but in the long run, its a cultural item not likely to ever fade away into antiquity. While everyone busied themselves with bread, milk, sugar, and caffeine I partook of the pineapple resting shyly on the table. Cutting it into small pieces and placing them into the bowl it previously occupied as a whole. Once the work was done, the bread and sugar were abandoned until the pineapple was no longer available, then their consumption was resumed.We talked about education in Germany and Americas failure with it in every sense of the word, or more accurately I talked about it and they listened. A situation I have successfully avoided more and more these days, in favor of listening, which is hard for me, but due to considerable gains attributed to this new skill, I have learned to bite my tongue, many times nearly biting it off in the attempt, especially if it becomes political. After this we returned home. I had made plans to go out with Sophia Green, Luisa's younger sister and a designer to be, following in her mothers foot steps. Coming along with Sophia were Jule, a tough and beautiful young lady. Also in the car were friends of Sophia's I met at a party on the Rhine last summer. My cousin Lisa and her boyfriend Manuel also joined us. The plan was to go to the Brauhause in Karlsruhe. Although we left before my cousin, and Jule was driving the backroads like a nascar driver, they arrived there before us. We ordered pizzas with Gin and tonics, and before I knew it we had left the Brauhause in a friendlier, more acquainted group. Lisa and Manuel went home and the rest of us went to a fancy bar inside of a hotel. They brought Zane and I gin and tonics but when I set my drink on an empty table right next to us and went to the bathroom it was gone when I returned. I asked the waitress where it went and she had no idea. When we all vouched for the situation she magically remembered that she had taken it and put it on her desk.My drink was then returned and we went home in the same nascar fashion that brought us to Karlsruhe and easily faded into deep sleep in the attic of Oma's cozy home.
Oma's 78th Birthday
I woke up early to make Zane and Oma some carrot apple juice. It was a crisp morning, enjoyably so, I thought. Oma and I ate together while Zane continued to hibernate in his way, whenever possible... I had Musli and Oma toast with coffee, and of course, the carrot apple juice on top. I brought Zane his juice in a german beer mug, thought it would do the trick.Oma and I drove to the post office for our rail tickets to Karlsrue, they would only sell us 5, 1 way tickets, so we drove to Beitighiem train station and I bought them from the machine beside the tracks. For cheaper too, I think..Upon return, Zane had had enough sleep and was ready for action. So I took him on a walk around the perimeter of town. We went up the stairs and through the alley next to the church and my kindergarden, where Incidentally I was offered my first cigarette at the age of 11 m, but flatly refused, and continued to do so for the next 11 years, until one drunken night I lost a battle against peer pressure and succumbed to the darkness. We went to the the center of town, then around the outside near the event grounds, soccer fields and shooting club. When we got back we made mini cheese pizzas from the freezer, Oma keeps all kinds of nice frozen foods in her freezer in the basement. She has them delivered by a sort of catering company that makes each food themselves for certain regions in Germany. When I was younger I used to think that it was scary going down there with the huge water heater the size of a room, spiders and cob webs, bottles of strange brews and racks of sharp and dangerous tools. Not to mention how dark it is. It still looks like that today, with a few newer additions to the decor, but still with the same feel. Some things never change, others very slowly, especially in Germany.My Uncle Armin came over with his wife Dani and my cousin Lisa. In true German style they brought with them pre dinner desert, a homemade coconut cake with Mango gelatin topping, and her new age (78) written on top, made of hardened sugar. When we approached the time of our reservation, They left us with whatever remained of the cake and went home to change before the main course. We all met at Saba, http://buergerstube-saba.de/index.php/en/ a restaurant made to look like a cave. Its one of the fancy places to eat in our little town. You know, special occasions only. I drove the three of us there, a journey of no more than 4 minutes, depending on traffic, and sat down some 5 minutes before Armin and company arrived to join us. I ordered a Flankuchen, and they brought me a flamkuchen... The last time I was here I ordered the same thing and they brought me the same different thing. Zane got a steak that oma suggested for him and he loved it. I suppose its just my bad restaurant karma from my terrorizing years of youth playing itself out, It's got to happen. Overall though dinner was a pleasant affair and passed quickly. I drove us home and we all Skyped mom in America, who was already talking to Michelle, my older sister on the phone, so she was put on speaker and we had one of those funny three way communications that the digital age has made possible. I gave Oma the necklace and bracelets that Michelle had intrusted with me to bring to her and then Zane and I started to watch a movie, but I went to bed as soon as I figured out the entire plot of the movie in 5 minutes and didn't care to prove or disprove my theories..
Bietigheim
If there is one thing I can tell you about Zane, it's that he's a sleeper. Unless he has no other choice than to get up really early, to catch a bus or plane for instance, he wont. Not that theres anything wrong with that, especially on vacation, but Im the opposite, as soon as the sun is up, I'm wide awake. Not that I'm jumping out of bed stretching my arms and running to get my shoes on to go chop wood in the misty morning light or anything, but still, were different in this way, and it greatly influences our experiences. 
When I got up at around 7am I went downstairs to the 1st story, and had a shower. Oma's shower head is the detachable kind you can hold and direct as you like, which is nice, only thing is it sprays water in tight ultra small needle-like streams, which sting regardless of how far away you get from it, which is why I sat on the floor of the enclosure and untangled my hair as I was stung lightly from above.I used Dr. Bronner's soap on my head, which as I would shorty realize is a mistake, lest you dilute it heavily with water, for it dried out my scalp immediately afterward. So Ill have to deal with dandruff for a while, Oh well, if it's not exploding ass syndrome it's another thing I guess...At 11 or so, three hours after Oma and I had breakfast, Zane came down from the attic to the ground floor and greeted us. The first thing to do was drive Oma's car, a fun little Kia four door hatchback to Edeka, one of many German supermarkets that riddle the country everywhere you go, Aldi being the largest, with over 10,000 stores and 50 billion in yearly revenue. Aldi also owns Trader Joes in America, and is the largest most profitable individually owned business in the world. Just a fun fact. We stocked up at Edeka with whatever we might need for the week were in Bietigheim, spending roughly €60.Then we drove over to a local mans house who has converted his two door garage into his own beverage dispensary. Serving mostly beer of varying German brands, but also suppling juice, and Mineral water. He's been doing this for a long time, and our family has been doing business with him since long before I was born. We bought a case of beer, 30 glass bottles of Hoepfner export for €14, a great deal really, and headed home, which is literally down the street and around the corner from his house.We ate lunch and then finished watching the Hateful Eight, Quentin Tarantino's eighth movie, which we started watching last night but were too tired to finish, and what a movie it is! Not nearly as bloody as some of his films, but just as violent and gruesome in so many ways. His mastery of dialogue and story telling however is still the main focus and attraction of his work.For dinner we made a big salad and baked a Pizza, Im not a big bread person anymore, but now that Im with Zane, it's practically a staple again. I have three choices if Im going to party, either I don't drink and eat whatever I like and influence the party with my normal overly logical and mind game playing self, which can go either way really. Drink and eat what I normally do but get so drunk so quickly Im out of the game before its even begun, or drink and eat bread and maintain myself throughout the festivities with acceptable levels of drunken psychobabble.Either way Im far too much of a lightweight these days being a Vegan and all to hold my liquor on nothing but salad and juice, and as I've already explained, drunk Danny has his quarks but at least when he's drunk he's way more relaxed about his attempts to rouse your soul and all its trauma, your mind and all it's ideas and beliefs to the heat of the moment, in what Danny hopes will be a defining moment in your life worth considerable thought and soul searching sometime in the near future. Which is what he does nearly every moment for himself, so I suppose he's just sharing what he knows.My uncle Armin, who also lives in Bietigheim, along with almost all my German relatives, came over to visit as we were eating. We greeted him and he invited us to join him in beer brewing this Saturday, three days from now, at his home. Tomorrow is Oma's birthday and we will be going out to Dinner with Armin, his wife Dani, and Lisa their daughter, my cousin. For now, Zane and I drink beer and talk about our future plans, as we listen to the rain rattle against the roof we sleep beneath.
Escape From Berlin
The sun had yet to rise in eastern Berlin, but the time of day was an irrelevant matter when I chose to get up. My mouth was as dry as the Golbi desert and I had finally reached the limits of whirl winding in my sweat soaked sheets like a fire dervish in heat wrapped in cotton straight jackets. Peter, Annika, her robust friend, Zane and I left the house around 11. Before we left for the station, Zane bought a little blue lighter from across the street to spark with before, during and after our 8 hour bus ride to my little home town in the south-west of Germany, known as Beitighiem. A small little village, as the locals call it, of no more than 6,300 souls. We all boarded the train and as we did I pointed out five open seats in a row close to us, but Annika pointed to the back and lead the way triumphantly without even registering my suggestion. There was only four seats together where she lead us to, and so one of us would be the odd man out on the other side. This man just happened to be me, and how perfect too, because as I sat down the woman across from me immediately started handing me pamphlets about kitten rescues and such, her plastic bag was over flowing with them so I guess she thought it best to share. She spoke in such rapid high German, an advanced form of the language spoken mostly in the major cities, all of which was slurred by her missing teeth and overly salivating mouth, that I couldn't understood a thing she was saying. Finally after a good two minute rant with eyes locked on me like a cats while lurking its prey, and more pamphlets refused but left on my lap regardless, I informed her in English that my German wasn't good enough to understand her. I chose to do so in English thinking that this would dissuade her but it had the opposite effect. "Ahhh, English?!" She said with renewed vigor, she then rummaged through her purse, carelessly dropping a stack of pamphlets on the floor and then unfolding her wallet, which dropped a folded chain of something like 15 laminated coupons attached to it. She got closer and continued speaking her slither tung German with broken English in between. "My Son.." She said pointing almost violently at a faded picture of a man in his 20's, who it seemed to me, was no longer anywhere close to that age given her own, and they were very likely not on speaking terms, or so I assumed.She then showed me another picture, this one faded and torn, it was of an aged woman in a sun dress, somewhere in the streets of a big city, Berlin id imagine. "My mother..." She said, rather lamentably, with a far away look in her eyes which faded instantly as soon as the train stopped to let on more passengers. Her eyes flaring up at us and to the door, and back to us again. Time and space coming back to her she flipped to the last picture which was of her in a nurses uniform, probably not more than 10 years ago. "Me.. Me!" She said, with a wicked grin.While all of this was happening Zane and the others were quietly cracking up to themselves about whole affair. I was annoyed, yes, but for more reasons than having the privilege of being introduced to this pamphlet pushing tram sleuths family. The masala incident was still very fresh on my body and mind, also, given the veto of my choice to sit together unmolested in exchange for this, I was more apt towards cold and calculating looks towards our new friend than is usual for me. In any case, I took a deep breath and reached into my bag, handing her an apple I had bought earlier. "It's organic" I told her in German. By the look on her face you would have thought I had just helped her escape Auschwitz before her work set her free in less amiable of circumstances. She grabbed my hands without warning and shook them vigorously, thanking me three times with her twisted smile before blowing me a kiss, quickly standing and running out the door, leaving a trail of pamphlets behind her.Everyone had a good laugh as she left, except me of course, "the back is better huh Annika?" I said with a exhausted half hearted chuckle. We all got off the train, boarded another and after a few stops it was only us brothers. Finding our way to the bus depot we decided it would be wise to eat lunch before our long ride. We chose Andy's diner, a classic American copy cat establishment in the same building as the depot. I ordered a salad and potato wedges while Zane got linguini or something to that effect with a beer. Before we had eaten even 30% of our food we paid the bill, taking the wedges to go, without ketchup, which Zane quickly pointed out was a drastic error in judgment, and we ran out the door in hopes of getting good seats on the bus. When we got on board, there weren't any two seats in unison open to us, Not wanting to be separated I asked a lady sitting alone if she wouldn't mind changing seats to the other aisle where another man was sitting. Luckily for us, she easily accepted the offer and moved. We settled in and in moments the bus was on the way to Karlsruhe, the biggest town closest to Bietigheim. A few hours later we stopped at the expected highway robbery rest stop with prices so high they even give airports and amusement parks a run for their money. Three euros for a pack of gum and five for a half liter bottle of water? I think not good sir... Since we weren't interested in the rap fest going on inside, and we still had a full 45 minutes to kill before our bus continued on, we walked over to the children's playground and scaled the rope wall, crossed the chain bridge and sat together in the tower with the escape slide attached. Zane pulled out his little blue lighter and lights up his pipe. It was windy and pretty cold, so it took a few attempts. He hit it, then as he handed me the lighter It slipped from his hands down the slide and landed in the sand. I followed behind it and tried to hit the pipe, but it was a no good. Zane wanted to see it and as I handed it to him It slipped from my hands in between the chain bridge, again landing in the wet sand. For the next 30 minutes we tried everything to get it to light, eventually, with enough bangs against the towers frame it lighted, I hit it, and we boarded the bus. When we finally arrived in Karlsruhe it was 11pm, we took a taxi to Oma's which cost me €38.5 Euros. Oma said she would pay, but as we arrived I wouldn't hear of it. We all greeted for a moment and then went upstairs to sleep. After a few long painful days, Im glad to finally be in my home away from Home. ☺️
Party In The DDR
At 0600 we checked out of WoW hostel and sat on the bench outside smoking the last of the pot. We still had magic mushroom truffles with us but didn't care to risk them on our flight to Berlin, thus we simply left both containers and their instruction manuals on that same bench, and headed for the airport. If a hostel full of hopped up party animals can't make use of them, Im sure the janitor, who saw us leave them there, will have a nice little giggle with them while performing his daily tasks. Although I can just as well imagine him using them for more nefarious purposes, or simply throwing them away, we may never know.Once on the flight Zane put down his food tray and covered it with a jacket then laid his head down over it. He stayed in this position for the two hour duration of the flight, even as the person in front of him repeatedly slammed back in their seat attempting to recline, which would slam Zane's head each time in the process, but didn't phase him.Meanwhile I was nodding off back and forth in delirium. Which is the least beneficial, rest wise and the most damaging to your neck, but since I find it incredibly difficult to sleep sitting up, it would have to do. Once we landed we bought 3 day, all public transport passes for 29 Euros each and took the train to the outskirts of Berlin where our couch surfing host Annika lives. After exiting the station we walked a ways in her general direction, passing what seemed like whole city blocks of derelict buildings, which they probably were, this is the old East German portion of Berlin after all. The first building we went to was the wrong place, which itself ended up being an abandoned manufacturing plant of some kind. The second try was the correct one, we rang the bell and were let in by her roommate Thomas.Thomas was very courteous and helpful, open too. As he smoked a rolled cigarette and drank Hell beer, he told us about how him and Annika had started out as roommates then became lovers. Which despite what everyone else in the flat thought of, they went with anyway. "Which of course ended badly," he said, yet they still remain as roommates even now. After telling us this story he showed us the flat, which was not at all what you'd expect from the outside. It had a huge bubbler jacuzzi in one of the bathrooms, which didn't work but was just as impressive to look at, with a toilet, bidet, urinal, two basin sink, and a large marble shower room with rectangular plates on each corner that shot out water, it was a full body shower room, like being sprayed with a fire hose from all sides. Then there were four very nicely decorated and spacious bedrooms, and yet another bathroom with a normal shower, sink and toilet. Thomas said we were welcome to the food in the fridge and gave us the keys to the house before leaving to do some errands in town. Zane and I decided to grab a bite to eat, so I looked up a place on yelp that was close to us and we walked there together. The place was called Masala, the menu was all in German and the waiter was Indian but spoke no English. I ordered something Vegan and Zane went with the lamb curry. My meal was basically vegetables wrapped in leaves and smothered in Chinese sweet and sour sauce. It wasn't bad, but good isn't the right description either. Zane was happy with his choice though.Back at the apartment we both passed out for several hours until Thomas and another roommate, as well as two Israeli friends of Annika's showed up. The drinking and smoking began, but we had no supplies, so we went to the supermarket and bought four tall cans of beer, which was a shame, as Thomas put it, since they weren't in glass. To top it all off we got a 5th of Captain Kooks rum with a 1.5 liter bottle of Freeway cola, lol. All of which cost us something like 11 Euros. Once Annika and a few other people showed up the plan was to pregame (get drunk before the main event) at the house and go out to a club later. But the clubs don't open in Berlin until at least 11pm and the best time to go is 1am, or so we were told. In any case, after finishing the rum between us and a few beers, Zane still had his heart set on going to the clubs, but our hosts had other ideas.Annika & Thomas, Tal & Peter(the Israelis) Simone & Caroline(German girlfriends of Annika) Vincent(the French roommate) Zane and Myself all walked into the night and entered an old theater that had been abandoned immediately following the break up of East and West Germany. As I walked through this time warped piece of history I felt as though I was walking through the halls of the Titanic, had it been used extensively for 30 years and then simply been left to rot in dry dock for a half century. It really was spooky in a lot of ways, the grand red curtains torn upon the stage, hanging in tatters, old wooden chairs rotting into the floor, the hallways still lined with posters from the postwar period, faded in perfect hues of white and gray mold. We had split up into two groups while in the ballroom, Annika, Caroline and I went through the theater, along the aisles and up on stage, to the back where a wooden ladder led to the fly gallery above(where the ropes and cables are operated from above the stage) from there we squeezed through several tight spots and around a few ancient winches to the sky port access. We climbed up that and opened the hatch, where Zane and the others were already waiting. They had taken the stairs, which was the easy, but much less interesting way to reach the roof. From the top we could see lights reflecting off of the river that separates Berlin into two main areas. East and West. One side with new and brightly colored buildings, and the other with a quagmire of monotone miseries held together by lack of need or desire, to see them live, in any capacity other than pigeon coops once more. It was a fine time up on that roof, but by 4am not even the liquor could keep the icy wind from drawing us back to the house. And so it was. We returned to the comfortable confines of the apartment. Some of us continuing on till dawn, others fading into drunken slumber as soon as they got back, myself included..