yep, i live here

after being turned down for the handful of jobs i applied for upon first coming to berlin, i kind of put the part-time job search on hold while getting settled in here. after looking at my bank account last week, however, i decided to get back on the searching wagon and immediately applied for three positions, two found on the website of this berlin english language magazine called the "exberliner," (ex as in expat), and one found on the social sciences listserv at my university. i received a quick and friendly rejection from the boutique hotel looking for a marketing assistant (duh, not the right job for me), and highly positive responses from the other two - a research assistant for an international relations professor and a gallery assistant in a new gallery opening in my old neighborhood in kreuzberg. i must say, while i'm always happy to be a research assistant, being a gallery assistant in berlin would kind of be like a dream come true. the gallery is called FELLINI gallery, and is opening in a few weeks as a sister gallery to one of the same name in shanghai, both founded by the korean-american filmmaker yuri lee. the one in shanghai looks beautiful and kind of over the top, so i'm quite curious to see how the one here will be. i have an interview for the position on monday, so i've got to bone up on my art knowledge in the next few days...

in other news, i've made another new american friend, who went to high school with my friend marissa schneidermann, who introduced us briefly when i was in l.a. a few years back. michael also lives in neukölln and apparently has no american friends, so he was happy to make a new one. we went to this british hipster bar last night with a big group of other native english speakers (plus one swede, but they basically speak english like natives) and played trivia, which was loads of fun, even though we didn't win. after that we checked out this new bar that opened on the ground floor of my building in the time between when marija and i looked at our apartment and the time we moved in. that's something that still happens in this city all the time, and it's kind of wonderful. while rent is far more expensive than it was even three or four years ago, it's still affordable to just rent a small space, get a liquor license, tell some hip people about your project, get a local artist to hang something on your walls, and bam, you're the next it spot. literally, the place in my building is just the front room of an old apartment with the basement turned into a space for djs/hipster dance parties. it's kind of fabulous. i introduced myself to one of the owners last night, who's this young american guy who just decided to open something up with a few of his friends. i told him i was a neighbor and a photographer, and he seemed amenable to the idea of showing some of my work sometime in the next few months, so i hope that that pans out. i changed my "25 in berlin" project to "twenty something in berlin," due to a surprising dearth of 25 year olds in my immediate vicinity, so i need to get going on the new iteration of the project. so much to do! that's how i feel here - i want to be involved in everything i see, basically, and i want to make art and make friends and go out and see new things and practice my german and just fully enjoy berlin. because, berlin is not ankara. there is so much to do it makes my head hurt, but also makes my heart flutter.

for today though, i'm going to do some reading then help marija move her new bed into our apartment. oh, before i go to an 11.11.11 dinner party at which all of the guests have to introduce themselves/perform short pieces of some kind of work for 1 minute and 11 seconds. should be fun.