The Boys (and Girlz) are Back in Town

Reunited friends in Kreuzberg

I've always been a summer girl, but Berlin didn't make it so easy this year. I celebrated my July birthday in rainy 50 degree temperatures, struggled to climb a steep learning curve at work, and eagerly awaited the return of a few of my favorite Berliners who were off taking road trips across the US, visiting family in Italy, and working on farms and hitchhiking through Europe while surviving off Nutella sandwiches.

Now that summer is drawing to a close, I have three of my closest Berlin buddies back. Last night, a few of us gathered to celebrate Kelly's triumphant return from Portugal with sushi, red wine, chocolate, and lots of giggling. As if we needed to make Kelly coming back even more awesome, give Sophia some sushi, red wine, and chocolate, and she will really be im siebten Himmel.

It's not all good news, though. In a mere 10 or so days, we say goodbye to our dear friend Josh, who is moving to France to start his master's. Sad face!

It's to be expected. Berlin, like Washington, DC, is a transient place. People come and go with jobs, programs, and for a lot of my expat, traveling, study abroad friends, antsiness for their next adventure. In DC, it never affected me as much because my core base was so strong (you know, the whole having grown up there thing). In Berlin, I'm still on slightly shaky ground, so it hits me a bit harder. And while the new job, the travel, and my lovely guests have proven to be a good distraction this summer, I am very much looking forward to fall.

The Big B

Entrance to Katharinenhof

Berlin is, of course, my main B. And it's certainly big, population wise. But geographically, for a state, it's pretty small (did you know Berlin is one of the three cities in Germany that is a city and a state?). The other big B that I am referring to is Brandenburg, a former East German state that surrounds Berlin on all sides. See?

Brandenburg is perhaps most famous for the town of Potsdam, where tourists go to see Friedrich the Great's castles and Schloss Cecilienhof, where the Potsdam Conference was held after World War II. But B-burg has many more "corners" as the Germans say, and many of those corners are pretty rural. On Saturday evening, my friend Keighley and I took the train out to Brandenburg to attend a Hoffest, or farmyard party. Keighley's boss and a few other families co-own the farmhouse and throw this summer shindig every year, and I happily accompanied Keighley as her "plus one." 

Party invitation

The Hoffest took place out in Gransee, a town about an hour train ride from Berlin. Already 15 minutes outside of the city we saw livestock, pastures, and just lots of things you don't see in Berlin. Keighley and I were both starving and started to munch on some chocolate she had brought along and enjoyed the view. Once we got to Gransee her boss picked us up in a really old Jeep-like contraption, drove us a bit through town to show us the requisite main drag and super old church (didn't take long) and then we hobbled up the stone path to the farmhouse. The farmhouse is called Katharinenhof to which I immediately felt an affinity- but only because my middle name is Katharina, not because I am used to farms.

Grazers

I'm really bad at estimating numbers, but there must have been a good 150+ people at the party. And an extremely mixed crowd age-wise. I couldn't remember the last time I saw so many little kids, especially ones free-ranging and shrieking with cake smeared all over their faces. After making three efficient trips to the buffet for goodies like potato and cucumber salad, pasta, bread, cheese, and lots of red wine, we befriended a few other 20-somethings who were kind enough to share their blanket with us. A bunch of people had also set up tents because they planned to stay the night, but (not so) unfortunately, we weren't able to find ourselves one in time. (Shhh, I'm not much of a camper.)

Party Campers

Dance room

In the backyard they had a huge screen set up that played Jungle Book for the little ones (dubbed in German which was interesting), and then a movie they had created about the Hof which is about to celebrate its 100 year anniversary. The Hof was originally owned by two Jewish sisters in 1912 who grew fruit that was shipped and sold in Berlin. The sisters were later deported to a concentration camp, and in one part of the video, their now elderly niece talked a bit about her memories of her aunts and summers on the Hof. The rest of the video showed the young kids who now spend their summers there (probably the same ones who drew the invitation), jumping across bales of hay, exploring dark corners of the house with flashlights, and screaming in delight at bugs and strange noises. Made me think of my summers in the mountains in France with my sister and cousins: exploring the forest, picking blueberries, and splashing about in our nearby "Dream Stream."  

Keighley and I

Once it got dark, we were able to look up and see the enormous sky speckled with stars, and man, that stirs something inside of you if you don't see it often. At one point we may have even seen a shooting star. That, or a realllly small airplane. Not that this city girl would know the difference.