wind will carry us

when i first came to berlin, the first thing that caught my attention was when i was walked aimlessly around and got lost further and further away. and there it appeared in big graffiti letters, "THIS IS NOT AMERICA".

i felt home. and for the next few days i walked a minimum of 6 hours a day to conitue to explore.

later that same day i meet my first berliners and now friends, simon and markus. we talked about biking, critical mass, played frisbee, and they showed me and told me about their neighborhood. the next day, we went to a hardcore german punk rock show, and i marshed with the rest of them, and got to play drums on stage. simon did not marsh but i got markus to come into the pit. we were cursed at, had beer poured onto us, and continually knocked around. luckily i came out with only a twisted ankle, a ruined shirt, and a swollen neck. i couldn't sleep the next few days and my fravorite shirt is ruined. the lead to the punk band came up to me after the show and thank me personal for my enthusiasm, along with many other random punk rockers. this not a bad way to start my journey in berlin. it makes me happy.

it makes me made mad when people watch and violently push me in the circle and find excitement from that. what pleasure is derived from being behind the screen and not have to worry about any consequence. ungrateful bastards all of them. so what we did inside the circle was, we braced ourself together, we hugged eached. then we sprung around in circle and pushed the pushers back, we let the wind carry us and hopefully one day they will too.

markus and simon have been kind and considerate, very hospitable. they spent considerate time and explained to me all about their neighborhood, and showed their loved for berlin, their home. when i went to simon's house, he served me water from a bottle, when he was sick and drank water from the faucet. he let me borrow his bike for critical mass, and i have had it for over a week and a half.

when i went to critical mass, there were four police vans packed with the polizei. the polizei came to us and asked if we were there for critical mass, the older man played dumb and returned with a question. "what critical mass is?", and we followed his routine example. the man seems to be having fun, the polizei very pissed. the current german polizei has learnt a lot from the stasi, and the old men from the east german people. only a few people met at the main street, and after an hour we then pretended to leave and went our seperate ways, but actually made a rendezvous at the park. the other folks were waiting for us. i felt like we were on a secret operation. we then road in the street and blocked all traffic, heading towards mitte in pouring rain. i came home drench in mud.