And then it was the weekend!

Friday night in Berlin was great. One of the Australian performers that I'd meet through Fringe was performing her show- Dirrty in Berlin with 2 other performers, Raven, a well known Australian boyesque performer and Rachman, an American comedian. As you can guess the show was gutter humor, very Australian and absolutely hilarious. I helped out, dressed in trashbag couture, complete with tea bag accessories. It was a great night and two of the people I had German classes with came along too and after the show we ended up at a beer hall. The weekend was spent exploring more of the city and going to the cheese festival which was so good! Then Sunday night i caught up with Donna and Mario at Maurpark.

The week in Berlin

I really felt like i wasn't a tourist as i slipped into my routine of German lessons in the morning and then sightseeing in the afternoon/catching up with new friends. Monday night i caught up with a lovely lady called Brigitta from Bonn, she came and shared a few drinks with me at the lovely hearth in the hotel and we talked and shared stories for hours. On Tuesday i caught up with another conference attendee Susan (originally from Ireland) and her German husband Phillip. I was invited to her home, a lovely apartment, for lunch and then we went out for the afternoon/evening and ended up at the G&T bar where i sampled some local gins. The next day i went to Bikini Berlin, has nothing to do with bikinis, with Clementine Davies, the sister of someone i work with who lives in Berlin. So bikini berlin is adjacent to the Tiergarten, the kings park equivalent in Berlin. It also borders the zoo, so from BB which is a shopping centre, you have the most amazing views over the zoo, and you can see the animals, and over the Tiergarten. Caught up with Udo from the conference and he took me to the Hackesche mart for a coffee in one of the original cafes. The serving sizes were incredible! Then i met up with Susan at the soho club...you get the idea! A great week and lots of brain challenging work as well as much socialising! Here's some pics xx

Berlin Change Days

Friday afternoon through to Sunday evening was spent at the BCD. It was a very creative conference that really challenged the 150 participants in thinking creatively. Some of it i found immediately useful, some things I'm still thinking about and some things were a bit wacky 😀 The great thing was the exposure to an amazingly diverse group of people and hearing how they approach their work. The market for organizational change consultants of course is much greater than it is in Perth, for one thing, they are actually valued! Not that i had any job offers but i was asked if I'd consider working here in Europe. I also of course chatted to many people, socialized after the conference each day and I'm catching up and furthering the conversation the next few weeks with some of these people. Yesterday (Monday) i started my week of morning German lessons which i really enjoyed. The lovely hotel staff here let me practice on them too which is great (slow but great) . It is at the same place that the conference was held so i enjoy a lovely 20 minute walk each morning with the beautiful lined streets, and cobblestones, which are nice to look at but a danger for me to walk on if I'm spending all my time not looking at where I'm going. The weather was very cold and overcast yesterday afternoon so i caught the train to the Liquidom. Huge pool, heavy with mineral salts so you just float and feel totally weightless, loved it! Daylight saving ended here on Sunday which means it's dark by 430/5. That's a hard adjustment on top of the time difference with Perth. Spent the evening reading next to an open fire at the hotel with a g&t and some lovely blue cheese 😀

Day 1 was long Perth to Berlin

Some days really do last longer than 24 hours! Left Perth at 5pm Wednesday and next got some seri

ous sleep at 2:30 AM Perth time on Friday. The flights were good, had a spare seat next to me which was nice. Would definitely fly Ethihad again. Because I was getting in really early on the Thursday I booked at another hotel that simon and I stayed in last time just so I could have a nap and a shower, which was a great idea. My accommodation is great. On a tram line to the city but less than 1.5k so I just walked in. Berlin is so quiet! Hardly anyone around. I went up the TV tower but it was very foggy so couldn't see much, but they did have a bar 😀 Went to radisson blu hotel to see their huge 5 story high fishtank in the lobby and just generally walked around enjoying the quietness which was both nice and eerie. Went back up to where I'm staying in had dinner - yummiest beetroot borscht ever, in the area I'm staying in and was back to the apartment by 8pm, didn't feel like 2am but I was certainly tired! Conference starts today! Here's some pics from day 1.

Day 1 was long Perth to Berlin

Some days really do last longer than 24 hours! Left Perth at 5pm Wednesday and next got some seri

ous sleep at 2:30 AM Perth time on Friday. The flights were good, had a spare seat next to me which was nice. Would definitely fly Ethihad again. Because I was getting in really early on the Thursday I booked at another hotel that simon and I stayed in last time just so I could have a nap and a shower, which was a great idea. My accommodation is great. On a tram line to the city but less than 1.5k so I just walked in. Berlin is so quiet! Hardly anyone around. I went up the TV tower but it was very foggy so couldn't see much, but they did have a bar 😀 Went to radisson blu hotel to see their huge 5 story high fishtank in the lobby and just generally walked around enjoying the quietness which was both nice and eerie. Went back up to where I'm staying in had dinner - yummiest beetroot borscht ever, in the area I'm staying in and was back to the apartment by 8pm, didn't feel like 2am but I was certainly tired! Conference starts today! Here's some pics from day 1.

2 days to go to Berlin

You may have heard...because I've been talking about it for a while, that I'm off to Berlin to a Change Conference then travelling around for a couple of weeks. Pretty excited about it. Berlin Change Days - the art of Disruption is the name of the conference if you are interested. Also on instagram - no pseudonym, so look me up! Sarah