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Riordinando e impacchettando mi sono trovato a sfogliare anche la mia tesi di laurea, ormai troppo sciupata dalla poca cura che ne aveva Jens (ha ricevuto più acqua delle piante che voleva annaffiare). Così mi sono imbattuto nella citazione che avevo messo all’inizio, tratta da Uguali Amori di David Leavitt, un romanzo che non mi era piaciuto come gli altri, ma che contiene una frase che a distanza di 5 anni ancora descrive la mia vita

…Intendeva chiedergli come facesse ad avere il coraggio di andare contro una corrente tanto forte come quella della convenzione semplicemente per soddisfare un desiderio, quando soddisfarlo significava capovolgere il mondo, significava capovolgere tutto. Sembrava folle e anche terribilmente coraggioso…

Yesterday I was as unproductive as ever!
I started packing all my stuff and realized I was moving just with the absolutely necessary:

• Clothes
• Mac
• Some books
• Important documents

I will send the most by post and take the rest with me on the train next Wednesday.
Although I don’t have a lot to do, today I’m still cleaning and packing and… aimlessly looking at my flat…
I even woke up today very late ’cause yesterday I went eating a pizza with Isabelle, Carmine, Desi and her relatives and friends. I finally met her (in)famous brother and a guy, Jens (I’m starting hating this name), who shamelessly flirted with me until we went to a gay place (Heile Welt), altogether, and I showed him what kind of guys I’m into

Auf sowas stehst du also?

Isabelle and Desi were not the only women however Isa found a way to complain (as usual, but she says the same about me! me complaining? never!).
The highlight of the night was absolutely traveling by Jens’ cabriolet on the streets of Berlin like I used to do with…
… with Jens, Jens my ex, but he didn’t own a cabriolet
… with Dominique, Dominique has a cabriolet, but in Paris, not Berlin…
… mmm… it’s so fucking confusing!

Good morning I missed ya
But ya bringing me down
I saw an Indian roller
Today on the line
It was the forty eighth hour
We fought our forty eighth fight
Madame Helga’s folly
Is where I spent last night

Yesterday was my last day in Jamba, but today I went to the office to give back the badge, the BB and use for the last time the precious printer
Leaving Jamba turned out to be more complicated than I thought since I had to collect a lot of signatures before leaving the building. Eventually I got my last freigabe and I could write my farewell-email which had a great success

As you probably might already know I’m leaving Jamba after 3 great years.
Since I have way too much fashion sense to say you goodbye in the same way a lot of people recently did, I will spend a couple of words more to say nothing but the truth about some of you

• Jens: one of the best in Jamba, first of all because you gave me the opportunity to work here, thanks a lot!
• Boris: you might be a bitch sometimes but you taught me how to run this business and I owe you all my professional skills

Ok now the corny part is over, let’s be serious

• Print team: my first real friends here, I will never forget you
• Jörg: I was your shadow for a while, thanks for your patience
• Marc: since Miguel was fired you were the best looking guy, but I was too shy and professional to ask you for a date… jetzt bin ich zu spät
• Steffie: when you started I couldn’t stand you, but you probably found a boyfriend and… wow, he did a good job I will miss your “:o)”
• Yosefine: You’re really friendly and funny, I hope to see you again
• Colitis: I will definitively not miss you, try to not cross my way again
• Jan, the viking: I always felt in awe of you and since Boris went to the States I prayed every single day to work for your team
• Simone: I guess I will have my tattoo in Amsterdam, it won’t be difficult
• Melanie: If people would know how nice is your smile, well… they might finally buy some FTM
• My team: last but not least, it was great to work with you! I had my best experiences in Jamba thanks to your cooperation, professionalism and friendship

If your name is not in the list above, feel yourself lucky: I either don’t have anything bad to say about you or it’s so bad I’m doing you a favor not telling it

Quite soon people started asking me who was meant with Colitis and here a couple of hints to understand: I use that term for a lot of different people who are as pleasant as a colitis, but lately I met him far too often and my relocation wouldn’t really solve the problem, hence my anathema…
There was also a big misunderstanding about Marc: there are too many Marc in Jamba!

Later I went with Elisa (not to the evil empire as usual) to Barcomi’s a nice coffee house in the Sophienhöfe: we had a delicious tea and 4 different cakes. Yummy! Too bad I discovered this place now that I’m leaving Berlin It’s all Rüdy’s fault who told me about it on the way back to the office after a delicious lunch at Kuchi. Yummy!

I’m back in Berlin but I still don’t know for how long (it could be one week as well as two). Yesterday I had some troubles with the trains in Amsterdam (which were late) and I almost missed my flight only to discover that it had 2 hours of delay Absolutely not the right day to travel. This morning was not that better because the strike by the German railways and the S-Bahn was not over yet.
Anyway, yesterday evening I went out with Carmine and Isabelle to Monsieur Vuong where we had a delicious Vietnamese dinner. I don’t know why, but lately I eat almost only Asian food…
Tomorrow I will go to the cinema to watch the new Harry Potter movie even if it’s the part I loved the least and the movies are not as good as the books. But it’s Harry Potter… Expecto Patronum!
Mmm… I forgot what I wanted to blog about! It’s ilGrisa’s fault: he’s bothering me on skype as usual and I can’t post this way

Es ist soweit would a German say: I’m definitively moving to Amsterdam.
Today I signed the contract for a flat in the neighborhood called Bos en Lommer, in the western part of Amsterdam.
The girl who rents me the flat is going to give me even her bicycle and as LonelyPlanet says: get a place to live, a bicycle and you’ll be an insider
Following Erik’s suggestion I started today changing my profiles here and there with my new hometown… Wow, doing that, in this virtual world, made it more real in my mind. It’s amazing how my mind works… It was not signing the job contract, it was changing my profile on facebook that I realized I was moving to Amsterdam.
On the other hand during the last few days I didn’t miss Berlin, not for a second, I was surprisingly already a part of Amsterdam. This might be connected with St Petersburg, which I miss so much and which is in some way very similar to Amsterdam. Being here is for my eyes and my mind really relaxing.
Before I signed the contract for the flat today I went with Krijn and a couple of his friends (whose name I already forgot) to the opening of the new public library: we had something to drink and eat on the rooftop and we enjoyed one of the best views over the city I ever experienced.
Now I have to go, because it’s late and… the house smells like something is burning… oh god… the kitchen is burning… do I have to call the firefighters? I hope they’re sexy as one thinks… Well, don’t tell Erik about the burning smell
Aaargh! Aiuto!

Wow, I’m blogging again Yes, I know I was away for a while and you all missed me and you were wondering where I was. Well, there’s no need to worry, I’m well  safe and sound (as ilGrisa always writes) in Amsterdam for a long weekend. I came here on Wednesday evening and I will stay until Monday.
Before moving to Amsterdam I have, indeed, to fight a little bit against Dutch bureaucracy and, most important and most difficult, I have to find a flat
Anyway, the title of the post refers to this place in Amsterdam where I will work from August 1st on. Funny, isn’t it?

The wise man doesn’t piss towards the wind

I should really remember this sentence
I have so many things to blog about but I’m not really in the mood for blogging (I don’t really feel comfortable using someone else’s, Erik’s in this case, pc).

Some time ago I wrote about The White Stripes and their Blue Orchid (both the song and the video are great, thanks god there’s Floria Sigismondi, the one who makes gold out of everything she touches, even Christina Aguilera).
Today, a couple of weeks after the release of their new album, Icky Thump, I’m posting again about them. This weird duo, once married, then brother&sister, now simply Mr. and Mrs. White, always in red, white and black, on the stage, on the album covers, in the videoclips. The new record is simply amazing and I’m really enjoying listening any single riff in it.
My music taste is in a deep crisis lately… Surprisingly… I can’t stand the U2 anymore (hope holy Bono is not reading right now). And with this I’m not saying that I simply don’t appreciate late works like the really bad All That You Can’t Leave Behind, but I’m stating that I can’t listen at any song. Dunno why…

Who’s usin’ who?
What should we do?
Well you can’t be a pimp
And a prostitute too

Yes, I’m a rolling stone. Sort of. Whoohoo! You got me rockin’ baby! Ok, I’m a little bit crazy too.
Anyway, what was I saying? ah, yes, I’m a rolling stone because I went for the weekend to Wrocław and Poznań in Poland with Isabelle. In two weeks I’ve been in four different cities in the two most homophobic countries in Europe… Mmm, actually I didn’t want to talk about this, but about the nice time I had.
Almost spontaneously Isabelle and I decided to rent a car and drive to any city in Poland I never visited because she was never there and she wanted to be at least once in her life in the Germany’s neighbor country.
Actually, the part we visited (Silesia and Wielkopolska) was almost always German territory and she didn’t find any difference with the region where we both live. Btw… I will post later about the weekend (I friendly called elope) because now I have the biggest news ever: I’m going to move to Amsterdam soon, at the latest at the end of the month.
I found a very challenging job there that I will take over and, well… what should I say? I have the chance to change a lot of things in my life and I’m going to get the best out of it. Not that I’m not satisfied or not challenged enough by my life now, rather the contrary, I’m really happy and after such a nice weekend, even more. But… mmm… how to say… New experiences are alway welcome.
Obviously I’m going to miss Berlin, my Berlin… Here a short list of what I’m going to miss the most:

• Being a Berliner
• S+U-Bahn
• Fernseherturm
• Hauptbahnhof
• Potsdamerplatz
• Tiergarten
• Buddybären
• Klaus Wowereit
• My flat
• Die Mauer
• Big empty spaces
• Siegessäule
• Trabant (well, almost disappeared)
• Berlin sky
• Kuchi
• Morgenland
• Kreuzberg
• Prenzlauerberg
• Ampelmännchen
• Last but not least, all the nice people I met here: Jens, Desi, Isa, Gio, Yose, Sara, Giuliano, Someoneiforgot, Someoneelseiforgot…

Pino and Isabelle are eloping in Poland, Wrocław to be precise. They rent a car, and drove all the way to Poland for a last minute getaway. He’ll be back tomorrow evening.

I’m starting hating for how much he travels!

This is what the recorded voice in the St Petersburg metro says whenever the doors are closing.

And with this sound in my mind I came yesterday back to Berlin
For my last evening there I went by metro to the Автово (Avtovo) metro station which is the most impressive and decorated of the entire system. In fact, there was even a group of Russian tourist on my train who went that far just to take a look at the station. Unfortunately renovation works didn’t give me the chance to take any good picture, you can anyway read the description on wikipedia and see a great picture here.
Later I went to the Vasilevsky Island to cross again the Neva at sunset and enjoy the nice view of the island itself as well of the Hermitage. The night was colder than ever and a very strong and cold wind was blowing, which is why I went to a coffee house to recover and drink a tea. When the bridges opened I went out to say goodbye to my beloved city and take the last pictures
Walking back to the hostel I wanted to buy a bottle of vodka for my guests in Berlin, but sadly the shops yet open 24/7 are not allowed to sell alcohol from 11pm to 7am. I decided then to buy the vodka and the delicious honey sold in the shop next to the hostel only the next morning.
At the hostel, 3am, I met two guys from Boston. One of them wore a funny t-shirt

There are 10 kinds of people, those who understand binary, and those who don’t

They’re on a big European tour: Stockholm, Helsinki, St Petersburg, Berlin, Amsterdam and… Switzerland. Switzerland? Anyway… My English is all but perfect, but at least I don’t say Hermit-age!