Transvesite Field Trip

I had a field trip friday morning which required me to leave the house at 9 am. On a day I don't usually have class. Want to guess how happy I was about this? So despite that little hiccup, this actually was a pretty neat little endeavor. We went to the house of Charlotte Von Mahlsdorf, who was born a male, but starting cross dressing at age 15. Not convincingingly I might add. She didn't wear makeup or jewelry or anything, so especially towards the end she pretty much just looked like a balding man wearing a dress. However, even though she passed away a few years ago, she was able to live through and be a transvestite through both the Nazi and Communsist regimes. So, obviously, that makes her a figure of great intertest especially for the Gay movement in Europe, which is why we went to this house, for my Gender Studies class. In actuallity, however, the house itself is almost more impressive than the history behind it. Charlotte was an antiques dealer, so the house is the showcase of all these amazing things; beautiful wood furniture, player pianos, a gramophone, antique dolls and jewelry...oh and in the basement there is the original furniture from a bar that was a hot-spot in the 1920s, complete with backroom whipping table. For kinky stuff. No joke. WHIPPING table. So that was an outrageous way to start my weekend off.

After the field trip I headed toward Friedrichstrasse to explore a little and also to do a few errands. I went to the bookstore, Dussman, which is a 4 floor monstrosity, complete with a huuuuuuuuuge selection of English books. So I bought a John Updike novel and another novel called "The Kindly Ones" about a few lace dealer in France who was formerly a Nazi SS officer. It won all these international awards so I'm excited. I finished "The Help" and loved it, enough to allow another girl in my program to borrow it. She offered to swap me her copy of "Eat, Pray, Love" but frankly the whole concept of a middle aged woman "finding herself" through zen-like meditation is enough to make me gag. I only politely told her no thanks.

After shopping and browsing, I came home and got ready and then went over to Andrew's house, where Laurel told me she and Eliza were. However, when I got there, like 20 people were there and it was this huge party. It felt like a beatnik party from the sixties. Old music was playing, people were smoking inside, everyone was dancing and drinking and mingling and generally just being awesome. Some french kids from the German Language IES program downstairs were there too, and I have to say, aside from this one kid, French people seem to suck. They all sat on the couch and scoffed at anyone trying to make conversation. I said, "Hey where are you guys from," "Deee-John." "Oh awesome, like the mustard." "Non." Literally, it was like pulling teeth. And they were making fun of my dancing because I was having a great time and going crazy and they were all lamely sitting on the couch. So I said to the one I liked, "Do people not dance in France? Why are your friends just sitting?:" And he said, "I will ask them this." But he came back later with no results. But I had a great time anyway. German flats are so cool and cozy and it was one of the most fun times I've had my whole stay in germany, everyone just hanging out, getting along and having fun.

This afternoon I called Steve and asked if he wanted to go to the Jewish museum, and he did, so we got a group together; me, adria, steve, kyle, sam, laurel and eliza and all went together. The building is amazing. It's a zig-zag pattern that looks like a lightning bolt from above and the walls and floors are tilted so it's like an Alice in Wonderland feeling. And one of the neatest things was something called, "The Holocaust Tower" which is a room, not heated, not lit except by a small slit window that basically gives you the sensation of being at the bottom of a very deep well. There is a ladder, half way up the wall and out of reach, the window is out of reach...it gives you the feeling of complete isolation and despair. It's an amazing feature. There is also this room called "the void" which is empty space within the building to represent the void of the Jews from European society caused by the Holocaust. And in the empty concrete space on the floor are 10,000 little metal disks with faces carved into them, to represent the actual people. The actual exhibitions weren't that cool, but it's almost like the building itself is the museum and the art.

Tonight I've made plans to go to this bar called "scotch and sofa" and hopefully it'll just be a really fun low-key night!