A film on either Prime or Netflix is agreed on. I cook. We watch the film in the late afternoon and then we eat.

This might be the first dessert. Despite the icecream component this, to me, is definitely a winter dessert. Now I just need to find a main course which is not too heavy or rich.

I have been in many bizarre constellations, settings, and situations in my life, but the most bizarre is now, and has to do with one of my hobbies.

Luckily, there are some “normal” and really nice people involved, whom I am really grateful and happy to have met, but among the rest, one craves attention by deliberately making as much noise as possible, one is always whining about this, that or the other, and making bitchy comments every time I open my mouth (which I now try to do as little as possible), and one is the worst misogynist I have ever met personally, lecturing me, shouting, whatever I do or do not do, in a tone which he would never use towards any of the men in the room. Oh, and a couple of them crave praise and do not seem to mind the teacher praising them in a tone as if they were eight-year-olds (despite the fact that they are around my age).

Why am I choosing to spend so many evenings in such a toxic environment? Good question. I must be a sucker for punishment.

LAST UPDATED 14 November PM.

I signed up for this photography course which turned out to be a mistake. Partly because, as it turned out, it is more about paper and cutting and pasting and glue than about photography. Now, I don’t use the word hate lightly, but here it is: I hate paper and cutting and pasting and glue, for any other purpose than purely practical. And collages. They are too messy. And partly because I don’t have a creative, let alone artistic streak in me, and during the first class it became clear that those are required (although it is still not quite clear to me, what is expected of us, which is perhaps just another proof that I am out of my depth in this class).

However, I have always liked surrealist painting and sculpture and will try to dive into surrealist photography during the coming weeks. I did visit the Max Ernst exhibition in the photography museum, but came out totally uninspired, so he will not be on my list of favourite surrealist photographers :-).

Whether this post will turn out to be suitable for presentation in the class is doubtful, though.

Talking about collages, this, from 20222, is the closest I will ever get to making one:

Incidentally, going by some of the synonyms offered by the various dictionaries – “strange”, “dreamlike” – the above is from what I can safely say was the most surreal time of my life (described elsewhere on this site). Even surpassing the first Covid19 lockdown, AND 5 November 2024…..

I guess I have always found life, and the world, surreal (and not in a good way), and now more than ever. We are living surrealism, and humans – the most disagreeable species on earth – constitute surrealism personified.

In order to disperse all those dark thoughts (by the way, I was stunned to see how on 6 November, everyone else continued chirping and lah-di-dah-ing as if nothing had happened) I went to see the Sony World Photography exhibition, not looking for surrealist photography particularly, but to see if I could find something which I could juxtapose or otherwise use together with my own photos.

The first one is from the exhibition, the second one is my own (I call it “The Dingo ate the Baby”). But naah, they work better separately:

Having barely finished destroying Planet Earth, we are now looking for other planets to go and destroy, including, unfortunately, the moon (though strictly speaking not a planet, but we’ll still do what we can to ruin it). Personally, I prefer to enjoy it from afar with no signs of human interference. The first photo is from the Sony exhibition mentioned earlier – the second is a triptych I made of the setting full moon some time during summer 2024:

The day after, I went in search of some splashes of colour on a grey day, literally as well as metaphorically, and was also hoping for photos to illustrate the contrast between the abundance in this part of the world, compared to the abject deprivation in other parts. I have to say I was unprepared for so much distasteful ugliness, as well as the obscene food waste. But yes – the geese go well with pumpkin – in more ways than one.

On 9 November, Germany celebrated the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. In Berlin, a wall of posters was put up along the trajectory of the wall from a little north of the central station to a little beyond Checkpoint Charlie. Impressions from the day are in a separate post. This is one poster that caught my eye with surrealism in mind – I don’t really understand what it is referring to, but the photo looks like it fits the category of surreal:

The next day – birdwatching (a bit of a joke in thick fog) on Tempelhofer Feld. There was definitely a dreamlike atmosphere and again – more photos in a separate post):

Earlier this autumn, I was experimenting with ICM to see if it might make already strange photos stranger, perhaps even creepier.

Sharp or with motion blur – what works best? :

Some more ICM:

Other previous attempts at making photographs look “surreal” – not sure how many of those actually work:

A couple of older triptychs. The first one is what can happen during a pandemic lockdown – the second while walking along a beach somewhere in my favourite part of the world: The Wattenmeer:

I am compiling a list of favourite surrealist photographers – to be added in due course.

Desperately trying to fit in a visit to this exhibition “Surrealism + Antifascism” in Lenbachhaus in Munich. Sounds to me like a must-see exhibition.

Last updated 11.11. AM

UNDER DEVELOPMENT, IN PROGRESS, AND WILL BE UPDATED AS NEEDED AND RELEVANT

Since communication in this country is so complicated and bothersome (except with newcomers and although it is easier than ever before in the rest of the world), in addition to the whatsapp group I have created, this is from now on the only place where information on the quizzes I attend can be found.

1. Quiznight: Let’s get Quizical, advertised on Meetup here, on instagram here, and on Facebook here. Takes place mid-week at 19.30 in alternate weeks in James June, Karl-Marx Allee 93, and Sundays at 18.30 in alternate weeks in Alte Turnhalle, Holteistraße 6-9.

I have never, and probably never will, attend the mid-week quiznights in James June, but am trying to attend all the ones in Alte Turnhalle, and I assume the system is the same: reservations are done either individually or in groups, and up to now, walk-ins have been possible, but the quiz is getting popular and the hall fuller and fuller each time. The majority of tables are reserved for teams who register on meetup, and the rest are “mix-tables” where individuals can get together with walk-ins to form a team. A team is maximum six people.

In both cases, questions are asked in both English and German, the cost of attending is 3 euro per person, and in every other way it follows a classic pub quiz pattern.

NOTE: For the next Sunday quiz, on Sunday 01 December, we have AD, QL, and myself. I have reserved a table for six (team name “The Village Idiots” as usual) and we are thus looking for up to three more people to complete the team..

In addition to meetup and instagram, the next dates are also advertised at the end of each quiz. Should anyone want to attend a future quiz, please let me know in time to reserve a table.

Oh, and there is a bar with drinks and snacks. I have ever only tried their redwine – once, and never again, but reportedly, everything else is good.

2. The Castle Quiz

Takes place every Monday. It gets quite crowded and noisy and is more like a classic pub quiz. If I can get a team of at least four, max. six people together I will try to reserve a table. I would need to know this well before 10.00 on Monday morning, since tables are usually booked out at about 10.02 :-).

Just to repeat – if you would like to attend this quiz on any given Monday, please let me know in due time.

Here is the overview on Wikipedia.

I have never attended any events commemorating or celebrating any of those dates, not even the fall of the wall, thinking it was not my party to hijack, although it was of course of momentous importance far beyond Germany and even Europe.

I also know that many Germans see this latest 9 November event as a day of mourning since it paved the way to the reunification on 3 October 1990 (obviously not celebrated today, but the association is easy to see). Not that they supported the GDR regime, but because they had other dreams, hopes and visions for their country than being annexed by FRG in a process which they feel was bulldozed into being.

But back to today – the 35th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin wall. One of the ways it is being commemorated is with a path of posters and banners, old as well as new, marking the trajectory of the wall from just north of the central station to a little beyond Checkpoint Charlie.

With the promise of a sunny day, I posted a photowalk along that display in the photography group of InterNations.org, “Let’s celebrate freedom while we still have it”, starting at 14.00 hrs at the start of the route just north of the central station. A map of the route can be found here.

I was moved by the number of posters, and the number of people out to walk the route and celebrate. My impressions:

Video I

Video II

The home stretch after an overwhelming experience, on what was actually a bitterly cold day, survived thanks to good company, a cup of hot chocolate along the way, and the thought of a curry in my favourite restaurant, Sadhu on the corner of Ritterstraße and Lindenstraße, at the end:

Video III

And finally, the setting moon spotted towards the end of the walk:

I read about one of the big pumpkin farms in Brandenburg that they exhibit about 100.000 pumpkins, 500 different kinds, some weighing only 35 grams. Some of them are for sale, and dishes with pumpkin can be sampled in a bakery, a café, and a restaurant, where goose raised on the premises can also be sampled. And with joyrides for children.

Spargelhof Klaistow, Glindower Straße 28, 14547, in case anyone wants to visit – this is the last weekend, but I am sure they will be back next year, and are in any case doing something similar during asparagus season. Easily reached on RE1 and bus 641 (but keep an eye on the schedule – the bus only runs hourly).

I thought that might add some welcome splashes of colour on a grey and misty day, and also provide some images I would need for a photography course, illustrating the abundance in this part of the world in contrast to the abject deprivation elsewhere, so off I went to Beelitz.

I was prepared for mountains of pumpkin – not for the way they had been built into tasteless figures and the sight of all that food simply rotting.

… especially for the planet, and for Ukaine (both now about to be thrown under the bus) – not to mention Gaza, is that who knows what might have been if stubborn Joe Biden had given his party enough time to find a suitable candidate ……

This definitely needed some crunch, so I made poppadoms, and also fried some salmon skin in the same oil.

200 g beetroot

850 ml vegetable broth

2 bayleaves

1 star anise

1 tsp szechuan pepper

2 cloves

1 tblsp lemon juice

1 pinch salt

6 gelatine leaves

1 tsp wasabi powder

4 dl whipping cream

Soak four gelatine leaves.

Peel and grate the beetroot.

Simmer for about 25 minutes in 700 ml vegetable broth, bayleaves, anis, peppercorns and cloves. Pass through a sieve and measure out 600 ml liquid.

Melt the now softened and drained four gelatine leaves in the liquid. Distribute in four glasses and let cool, then place in the fridge.

Soak two gelatine leaves.

Heat up the remaining 150 ml vegetable stock and add 1 tsp (or to taste) wasabi powder.

Melt the now soaked and drained two gelatine leaves in the wasabi broth. Let cool till it starts to set slightly.

Whip the cream and turn in the wasabi.

I thought this required some crunch so served it with papadams. Probably highly unauthorised 😊.

17 November Jewish Cemetery Weißensee with Umweltladen Mitte

14 November Berlin Zoo between medical appointment and cinema?

10 November Birdwatching Tempelhofer Feld See separate post

9 November “Posterwall” See separate post

2 November Birdwatching in English with VHS in Hasenheide and on Tempelhofer Feld

Lovely walk in great company and the best November-in-Berlin weather possible. Saw many different birds – did not get a chance to photograph so many.

Bonus tip: We finished with a coffee in the very nice cafe in “Spore Initiative” – interesting place and architecture, close to U Bhf Leinestraße.

City walk with Eckehard Heiber, Empor Berlin, 3 November

Interesting as always, although a very large group in which there are always people who can’t keep their mouths shut while Eckehard is talking. Anyway, the weather was just as brilliant as the day before, if a little colder.

Here just a couple of unedited photos from my smartphone.

Afterwards, I went to Humboldt Forum to see the exhibition on Palast der Republic, which I found interesting.

Then an early dinner in vegan Vietnamese restaurant Sora on the way to quiznight “Let’s get Quizical” in Alte Turnhalle, where the team I was on came in fourth out of 22 teams. All in all, a perfect 72nd birthday :-).