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My first weekend started with the always exciting 1st of May. As some of you might know, there is some sort of traditional riots going on in Berlin on this day and it started with a little surprise. Usually the last night of April is most troublesome in the Mauerpark in Prenzlauer Berg, but this year I was quite happy not to have attended on a free festival just 15 minutes away from my new home, because this is where the action was. The police was absolutely not prepared for this situation, so it took a while to stop the violent protesters.
The morning began with the wonderful Myfest in Kreuzberg. This is a neighborhood party people started, to show that 05/01 can also mean a peaceful come-together of people of all ethnics and beliefs. It's really fascinating how several blocks are closed for cars, in every second street you can find stages with Hip-Hop, Punk, Hardcore or all sorts of ethnic music acts on them. Residents are selling food and drinks, Restaurants offer their meals outside and artists of all kinds impress you. It really was a nice start in the day with wonderful weather, good music, cool people, ice cream and Yellow Sunshine burger. 
I really appreciate YoYo Foodworld in Friedrichshain to be all vegan, but they just can't keep up with the burger at YS. During the last month they changed their buns and now the Double S chicken cheese burger with hot chili sauce is perfect! Me and the man spend some lazy hours in the SO36 neighborhood before we heated back home, just 10 minutes before the big street fighting began! It was crazy! Next day we read about what was going on that night and a week ago it was confirmed that this year, for the first time ever, the police was even attacked with chemical weapons. You can think about the riots whatever you want to, but chemical weapons? Man, that's serious...But let's come back to my life in general. The most recognizable change since my move to Berlin is, that I started to host couch-surfer from all over the world. In my first seven weeks I had visitors from the Netherlands, the USA, Sweden and Brazil, and I enjoyed having these people around so much!
It's a fantastic way to get to know great characters and to spend money you don't really have ;) Since I live alone (I'm not the right person for flat-sharing) it's nice to have someone around for two or three nights. It always feels a bit like a pajama party. You talk way too long, giggle about everyone and everything and share all your inmost secrets. You wouldn't believe what I now know about some of my new friends, incl. genital piercings...After almost two month in my new home, I can say: I'm really happy! I enjoy this city so much, know that there still are so many places to explore and people to meet. I look forward to have more couch-surfer and friends visiting me and show them around. If I only had one wish, a job would be nice, so I can buy more food :)
XO Marijke
