Birthday Lesson

Birthday trio still smiling at the brewery

Last weekend I celebrated my first birthday in Berlin. Well, my 27th birthday, but my first one in Berlin. A bunch of my friends here also have birthdays in July, so my buddies Keighley, Max, and I decided to throw a joint party on Saturday the 14th. Keighley's bday was the 13th, mine the 15th, and Max's the 22nd. Now it's important to know that in Germany, celebrating before your actual birthday is just not done. Germans believe this is very bad luck, indeed. So much so that when we celebrated my Opa's 80th on Memorial Day Weekend, a couple days before his actual birthday, we were only allowed to call it his "Pre-80th birthday celebration." So much so that when I cooked for my office on Friday (it's customary here to supply treats for your own birthday), everyone complimented my food and asked about my weekend plans, but did not dare to wish me a happy birthday.

Celebrating my birthday at the office

There is one exception to this rule called "reinfeiern" which translates loosely to "celebrating into," basically celebrating through midnight when it becomes your actual birthday. So Friday the 14th I was in the clear, and as is tradition, no Germans wished me a happy birthday until the stroke of midnight, when I was accosted with kisses, hugs, and gifts.

I was accosted by something else at midnight, namely the bar manager who decided he didn't like our group and threw us out shortly thereafter. We had picked a brewery called "Brauerei am Rollberg" for our shindig in Neukoelln, a neighborhood which is heavily populated by Turks and one of Berlin's poorest and most "dangerous." Many of my friends live there (if not there then only slightly north in Kreuzberg) and the area has become quite hip in recent years, with more and more young people moving in and cool bars and restaurants with them.

Two Americans, a Brit, and a Belgian!

We (I) had called the bar the day before to warn them we were a slightly larger group and to ask if it was ok if we brought cake. Right away I noticed the guy was an ass, but he claimed it would be fine if we were outside and that they just couldn't put tables together. So on the night of the party we started outside as promised, but when temps dipped into the 50s (yes, 50s in mid-July, my coldest birthday EVER) we moved inside, with the waitress' assistance. Our group grew over the next couple hours, to be expected when 3 people share a celebration, and we took up about 40% of the place, some of us at tables and some at the bar. We were a pretty lovely group though, if I do say so myself. Very diverse with Americans, Brits, Germans, French, Turks, Eastern Europeans, etc., and we all bought plenty of drinks to justify our presence without getting rowdy or too loud. But for some reason, the (portly, white, middle-aged) manager did not like us. So about 4 minutes before I could properly "reinfeier," he pulled me aside and very aggressively claimed I had not listened to him on the phone, that we were too big of a group, that he wanted us out. Mind you, there was no line at the door of people trying to get in. No inappropriate behavior from our group. But as he "reasoned," this was his place and he could do as he saw fit, which in this case was get rid of us.

So we left. As we trickled outside and waited for the last few paying out their tabs, he shut off the outdoor lights and locked the door from the inside. A guy from another group (with lots of piercings and tattoos) came out and started chatting with us, explaining that the real reason for us getting kicked out is that we seemed "rich." Oh? The same guy who warned me on the phone that if we nursed an apple juice for 4 hours he would kick us out because he had to make money thought we had too much money? Yes, too much money. Too much education. Too little "typical Neukoelln." We represented the gentrification this man hated and as a political statement, he had kicked us out of his establishment to make room for the real Neukoellners: the poor, the immigrants (though we were the only immigrants there that we could see), the down-trodden. I guess my sparkly tank top and birthday smile gave me away.

Celebrating at another bar after the drama

The next few days, a slew of my friends left nasty reviews on Yelp, Qype (Germany's Yelp), Facebook (which they promptly deleted), etc. Probably exactly what they expected from us "affluent, educated consumers" and all. But it felt good anyway.

So, lesson learned? Maybe celebrating before your actual birthday really is bad luck. Or maybe, I just really live in Berlin now, and have to take the bad with the good. Others deal with far worse after all!