First week of September

Attended my first wedding party alone. Well, not exactly alone, I shall say it was the first one without my parents. I was invited, as an adult. That was Saturday night, an Yugoslavian wedding, which was held on the second floor of a banquet room with 500 guests. When we arrived, being the only Germans (OK, I am not even German, so you can imagine I felt everyone was looking at me) but we were directed to a reserved table, the only reserved table, in the center next to the stage. Half of the guests were teenagers, dressed in suits and ties or cocktail dress with high heels, some of them were pregnant while holding cigarette in one hand and whiskey on the other. The live music was great, and I even knew some of the songs from Kayah's album. But I did not understand a word because it was all in Serbian. The music blared all night, people danced all night, I was asked: will mine be as big as this one?

As we left the party early, we realized that we were half deaf because the music was so loud. He held my hand -- "'Til death do us apart".

"'Til death do us apart." he said.

Despite Sunday was his birthday, we managed to have that day ethanol free, which explains why we were able to get up at 6:30 Monday morning and go to the INS. The woman behind the bullet-proofed glass told us to go to French Embassy here to extend my Visa because my residence card is French. He then pulled out a bunch of paper from a lawyer, showed her the laws. I saw her shaking her head, and yet, I could not really argue or defend my rights, in German. My knees were weak, watching they both throwing big words back and forth... finally, she gave us a form to fill in and asked me to wait outside.

"And? And?"
"Everything is alright. We have to get you photos (again) and then we will have an appointment."

Half an hour later, we returned to the same window, and she gave us a piece of paper, on which states that "Come in on 29th of September at 9AM sharp, we will discuss your legal issue."

I am on the 29th count-down since then.

It was not clear why I did not get a 6-month extention in a single day, like a lot of my classmates did.

Then we rushed to the Kammergericht all the way from Wedding to southern Schöneberg to pay the court charge. We are waiting for a verdict from Kammergericht; only then can we go back to Standsamte for further appointment, if the verdict is possitive. This shold take a couple of weeks.

Waiting, endless waiting.

Mom called and asked me how the things were going. I tried my best to explain but the lack of vocabulary announced our conversation was senseless. No idea how to say "appointment" (I kept telling her it was a "date" but it did not sound right somehow), or "Kammergericht" or "Verdict" or "Registry Office".

"Why didn't you get your extention again?"
"Because... because... how is the weather there?"

Pale September

Sunny Weekend, for once. Some people were making a film right outside of window for the entire two days and the streets were closed for hours. This is not a popular part of the town, but on the street (about 600-meter long) where the flat is, you can find more than 5 corner bars, including two or three neo-nazi-tainted, two vacancies which occupied by various business every 6 weeks, for the moment, they are both frisörs, an Asian and an Italian restaurant who offer certain people free Absolute, Gorbatschow, Lambrusco or Sambucca while the customers waiting for their order, two tobacco shops fill with people holding Sternburg in hand as early as 7AM, kebab wraps, fast food left-overs can be easily find on the ground floor window-sill -- one of the reasons why we don't keep the window open during our absence. I suppose the film makers were a lot more inspirational than me.

Sunday, I was invited for a get-together in the park. I hesitated, despite my desire to go.

"Do you have plans?" He asked.
"No."
"Too bad," he put on his shoes and said that he would need to work soon.

Something hit me in a split of a second.
"You know what? I am going to the Mauerpark." I took my rolling tobacco and left the flat.
Sitting on the S-Bahn and feeling the heat of sun through the window-- something has changed. Wait, no, things don't change, people change things, we are the beneficials or victim of changes not the things; at times we are so desperate or jaded to a point where nothing but the moment matters. And that moment for me was to get on the S-Bahn and meet my friends.

Lovely day, lovely weekend, for a change, until the moment I stepped in the zone, no one's over-kindness could cheer me up.

We are in September already.
We are in September already.
We are in September already.

AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH